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Determining the Concentrations of Trace Metals in Caffeinated Beverages by ICP-AES
Full text linkA myriad of different caffeinated beverages are advertised and readily available to consumers. Previous research has identified the presence of elevated levels of metals unsafe for consumption in many of these beverages, energy drinks in particularly. We aim to analyze concentrations of chromium, aluminum, and lead, three such metals, in a variety of different caffeinated beverages. A calibration curve relating concentration of chromium, lead and aluminum to corrected peak height for five solutions of standardized concentration was created using a ThermoFisher iCAP 6000 Series. The same instrument was then used to analyze samples of eight different caffeinated beverages. The corrected peak heights of each metal in each beverage was collected. Using these values in conjunction with the equation corresponding to the relationship between concentration and peak height, the concentration of each metal contained in the eight samples was calculated. The resulting concentrations were compared with both literature findings and safety regulations relating to metal concentrations in consumer products
It\u27s Habit Forming: Nunsense as a Production Electrician
No full textAn archive of the experience serving as the production electrician for the University of Mary Washington Department of Theatre and Dance\u27s 2024 production of Nunsense, this blog showcases the development of both technical and intrapersonal skills. A gallery and description of all practical lighting instruments is included, along with journal entries discussing the process of taking the lighting for this production from paper to performance
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena: Exploring Post-War Ethics
Full text linkIn my paper, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena: Exploring Post-War Ethics, I explore the embodiment of care ethics and informed altruism through the novel’s protagonists, Akhmed and Sonja, respectively, who each care for a local girl Havaa whose home has been destroyed and whose father has been disappeared by the Russian Feds from their small Chechen village. Akhmed immediately takes her on as his own while Sonja is hesitant. As the novel progresses, Sonja and Akhmed each provide an even amount of time and effort into her care, though they approach it differently. Akhmed—Havaa’s neighbor and family friend—works together with Sonja—the surgeon of the nearby hospital who returned to Chechnya during the First Chechen War to find her sister—to maintain a refuge for the girl. Through research on feminist theory regarding care ethics and informed altruism, I analyze the ways in which both characters respond to Havaa and their post-war society through those respective lenses. I further contrast their embodiments of care ethics and altruism to utilitarianism through another character, Ramzan—Akhmed and Havaa’s neighbor, former friend, and current informant to the Feds who, it is suggested, is indirectly responsible for Havaa’s father’s disappearance. This paper aims not to conclude what an appropriate response is to the trauma of wartime and its aftermath, but rather assess how these characters do respond and provide an understanding of why, and how it may reflect real world reactions
Barcoding the Unknown: Primer Development for Diverse Nematode Strains
Full text linkDNA barcoding has significantly advanced species identification and revealed many cryptic species with significant biomedical and agricultural research applications. Nematodes are frequently used in DNA barcoding due to their short generation times and ease of laboratory maintenance. However, the rapid increase in newly discovered species presents a taxonomic impediment, where traditional identification methods struggle to keep pace. In this study, unknown nematode strains underwent a modified Caenorhabditis elegans bleaching protocol to eliminate contamination and accommodate varying developmental stages. DNA was extracted and amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), targeting regions of the 18S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene. Established primers (18S and 26R) were used alongside primers (UW429 and UW430), which target a different segment of the 18S rRNA gene. The resulting sequences were analyzed using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) for species identification. This research highlights primer design and DNA barcoding as tools for closing the gap between species discovery and classification, offering a solution to taxonomic challenges in nematode research
Gender and Party Polarization in the US Congress: Hypervisibility and Invisibility
No full textThe history and practice of party polarization in Congress is a gendered concept. Men have comprised the overwhelming majority of legislators from both parties, served as their party’s leaders, and dominated the party caucuses. As women and women of color have increased their presence in the institution, particularly among Democrats, gender and race have emerged as important themes in understanding party polarization in contemporary congresses. In an analysis of legislative activity of members in the 104th to the 117th Congresses, I find the two most distinct groups of partisans, Democratic women and Republican men, are prominently featured in the opposing party’s negative messaging to constituents and voters. The prominence of Democratic women as the focal point of negative messaging from the opposition has significant consequences for this group of officeholders. This study enhances our understanding of how gender dynamics inform party polarization in legislatures
Exploring Students’ Problem Framing in Historical Inquiry: Towards A Framework for Research and Instruction
No full textProblem framing is an essential yet under-explored aspect of problem-based historical inquiry. This study investigated how tenth-grade students in one AP US History class framed an ill-structured historical causal reasoning problem. Data included students’ written brainstorms, students’ responses to open-ended interview questions, and researcher-created causal diagrams. The analysis, grounded in both empirical data and existing literature on historiography and problem-solving, reveals three key dimensions for researching and teaching problem framing: (a) establishing the scale of the problem space, (b) identifying relevant agents and structures, and (c) establishing causal interactions. The findings underscore the importance of metacognition, particularly the need to weigh the affordances and constraints of alternative framings. The study concludes by offering relevant instructional interventions, such as explicitly teaching problem framing concepts, designing tasks to elicit problem framing, and using prompts and visualizations to help students reflect on their problem framing
Gender Violence in Late Antiquity: Male Fantasies and the Christian Imagination
No full textGender Violence in Late Antiquity confronts the violent ideological frameworks underpinning the early Christian imagination, arguing that gender-based violence is not peripheral but is fundamental to understanding early Christian history. By analyzing hagiographical and doctrinal writings, Jennifer Barry reveals how male authors used portrayals of feminized suffering to shape ideals of sanctity and power, exploiting themes of domestic abuse, martyrdom, and sexualized violence to reinforce their visions of piety. The study first traces the roots of gendered violence within the Greco-Roman and early Christian imagination, and then explores the disturbing role of male fantasies and dreams in hagiographical traditions. Barry draws on womanist scholarship and engages with trauma studies and feminist horror theory in order to challenge traditional readings of Christian texts, offering new perspectives for understanding how narratives of violence continue to shape contemporary interpretations of gender and power.https://scholar.umw.edu/cpr_books/1005/thumbnail.jp
German Memorials, Motifs, and Meanings: A Cultural History in Bronze, Wood, and Stone
No full textGerman Memorials, Motifs, and Meanings offers a unique cultural history of German memorialization. The book focuses not on a single, isolated era, but rather on enduring memorial motifs—enchanted stones, magical trees, raised fists, stone circles, and similar evocative symbols derived from myth, folklore, Christianity, national iconography, and post-Holocaust imagery. It thus takes a long-duration perspective, sweeping across the centuries to explore abiding themes such as death, rebirth, and redemption; violence and reconciliation; and sacrifice, identity, and community. Along with a consideration of the historical and social circumstances of each memorial and its motifs, author Jennifer Hansen-Glucklich answers the questions of why and how these cultural markers survive the passage of time and how they endure amidst cultural, social, and political upheavals that include the rise and fall of empires, catastrophes of war and occupation, and genesis of new national identities. She uniquely focuses on lesser-known or unknown memorials found either in smaller German cities or tucked away in villages and hamlets.https://scholar.umw.edu/modernlanguages_books/1001/thumbnail.jp
Board Attributes, Firm Performance, and the Moderating Role of National Culture: A Meta-Analysis
No full textThe impact of board structures on firm performance remains a contentious governance topic with competing theoretical paradigms and inconclusive empirical support. Scholars propose that national culture could reconcile contradictory evidence; yet, argumentation is fragmented and direct tests are rare. We meta-analyzed 513 samples across 54 countries to examine relationships between board structures (i.e., board size, board independence, and CEO duality) and firm performance. We model national culture, using Hofstede\u27s six cultural dimensions, as moderators to test whether these relationships align with agency or stewardship theory across different cultural settings
The Importance of Being Different: Disability in Oscar Wilde\u27s Fairy Tales
No full textOver the course of his remarkable career, Oscar Wilde published two volumes of fairy tales: The Happy Prince and Other Tales and A House of Pomegranates. Both collections feature numerous stories with protagonists who may be said to be disability-aligned, owing to their pronounced physical differences. In The Importance of Being Different, Chris Foss explores the way that Wilde’s stories problematically replicate many of the Victorian era’s typical responses to disability but also the ways they diverge, offering a more progressive orientation—both through more sympathetic identifications with disability-aligned characters and through a self-conscious foregrounding of the mechanisms of pity and the consumption of pain. The first ever monograph to examine Wilde’s work through a disability studies lens, this groundbreaking book encompasses all of his fairy tales as well as his writings during and after imprisonment. Even though Wilde unflinchingly represented the extent to which these peculiar bodies suffered rejection by society, he encouraged his readers to embrace them and to advocate for emotional responses that engage love and kindness toward both individual transformation and social change.https://scholar.umw.edu/elc_books/1001/thumbnail.jp