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Gender Representation in Children\u27s Media and Preschool-Aged Girls’ Internalized Beliefs About Gender
No full textThe current study examines patterns of gender representation through three categories (distribution, presentation, and stereotyped behaviors) in children’s media and how these patterns relate to preschool-aged girls’ internalized beliefs about gender. Both historical and presently available children’s media tends to display high levels of stereotypical gender representation. By preschool age, children have already developed distinctions between boys and girls, and hold internalized beliefs regarding gender. The objective of the current study is to examine the relationship between these two factors. To accomplish this, preschool-aged girls were interviewed to assess their internalized beliefs about gender. Their caregivers completed questionnaires related to their household’s demographics, media usage, and gender representation in the children’s media being viewed. Analyses demonstrated patterns suggesting a relationship between stereotypical gender representation in children\u27s media and stereotypical internalized beliefs about gender in preschool-aged girls. The current study suggests a need for further research on the topic, as well as a greater number of counter-stereotypical representations of media in available children’s media
Structural Engineering of Thermostable Fluorescent Proteins TGP-E and YTP-E and Crystal Structure of TGP-E
No full textThermostable fluorescent proteins, such as thermal green protein (TGP) and yellow thermal protein (YTP), could be used as biosensors to monitor cellular activity and as a fusion tag to monitor a protein of interest. The use of fluorescent proteins can sometimes be limited in certain organelles with low pH and in thermophilic organisms. This research aims to improve the thermal stability of TGP and YTP. TGP was created from a synthetically derived eCGP123 protein to improve solubility by substituting residues on the positively charged b- barrel surface with negatively charged glutamate (E) at Los Alamos National Lab. YTP was developed by mutating a histidine residue located under the chromophore into a tyrosine (H193Y) by the DeVore lab. The properties in which we are targeting improvement are thermal stability, pH stability, overall fluorescence, and the ability to withstand extreme conditions. To accomplish this overall improvement, we altered the chromophore using sited-directed mutagenesis to mutate glutamine 66 to glutamate in both YTP and TGP proteins. The YTP-E protein improved the thermal stability and the overall pH stability compared to TGP-E and YTP. A TGP-E protein crystal structure was obtained with a resolution of 2 Å which gave us insight that there is an additional hydrogen bond formed between Glu 66 and the backbone. The conserved hydrogen bond became shorter than in TGP, making TGP-E more stable - which explains the changes to the protein’s properties
“Laugh, When I Gives You a Joke”: The Forms and Functions of Humor in the Great War
No full textIn today’s popular memory, the First World War experience is not well-known for its humor. Yet during and after the war, soldiers produced a small but significant wave of wartime joke books and humorous war-story collections, in part to cope with their experiences in terrible, industrialized war, and also as a way to interpret, commemorate, and remember the war. These humorous interpretations and memories of the war clashed with the dominant literary reaction to the war, that of the mutilation of bodies and pointless deaths. But humor appeared in the midst of the slaughter, and today serves as an opening for understanding the World War One experience. Soldiers used humor to cope with wartime stresses, even their own impending deaths. Humor also served as an unstable mediator in tense interpersonal interactions between officers and rank-and-file soldiers, at times serving both supportive and subversive roles. One instance of the latter was how humor undermined traditional romantic and medieval tropes of ideal soldiering, altering what the ideal soldier looked like in the new age of warfare. Meanwhile, humor also demarcated the battlefront-homefront divide, showing both conflict and connection between soldiers on the front and those at home. Humor shows anew how this divide was underlined by gender, and reveals a significant trend of male anxiety on account of the changes to the gender divide brought on by the war. Finally, some soldiers pondered how humor would fit into visions of world peace after the ‘war to end all war,’ showing how the relevance of soldiers’ humor stretched far beyond the conflict
Physicochemical Constraints to Melts From Láscar Volcano Recorded by Syn-Eruptive Apatite
No full textGeochemical microanalysis of apatite crystals was conducted to model the composition and thermodynamic conditions of melts involved in explosive eruptions at Láscar volcano (NE Chile). Apatite crystals were extracted from representative samples of Láscar’s eruptive stages II (Soncor ignimbrite), III (Tumbres scoria deposit), and IV (1993 CE pumice). I used electron microprobe analysis, laser ablation - inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and secondary ionization mass spectrometry to generate quantitative compositional maps and gather data of major, trace, and volatile element contents in crystals. Major and trace-element behavior in Láscar apatites reflects general whole-rock compositional trends of Láscar and other Andean volcanic centers. Additionally, trace element signatures of Láscar apatite mirror those of wholerock and glass data of their respective samples, making it an accurate compositional proxy for their parental melt. My crystal- and sample-scale textural observations reveal that Láscar apatite records a late stage of magmatic evolution where the compositional behavior of melts is primarily controlled by magma mixing and subsequent volatile saturation and exsolution. Thermodynamic effects of volatile exsolution drive temperature and compositional changes that allow for apatite syn-eruptive crystallization. Observations suggest that microphenocrystic apatite can record the composition and physical conditions of melts in the weeks to months before paroxysmic events at Láscar, making them an accurate proxy for the composition of melts in the weeks to months previous to past eruptions
Invisible Monsters: Chuck Palahniuk’s Transgressive Look at a Hyperrealized Society
No full textBy critically analyzing Chuck Palahniuk’s Invisible Monsters, I was able to conclude that the transgressive portrayal of hyperrealized consumerism warranted a close examination into the value American society places on an individual’s ability to replace authenticity for consumer obedience. Palahniuk’s dangerous representation of the body throughout the novel serves to highlight numerous ways in which a consumer transgresses against their own physical and mental well-being to achieve happiness constructed by capitalistic agendas. By using French theorist Jean Baudrillard’s concept of hyperreality in connection with gender, disability, and feminist theory and ecocriticism, I attempt to deconstruct the neoliberal ideology to which each character in the novel is bound and offer a critical opinion on the fictionalization of the trans community as a hallmark of both escapism and the epitome of consumer fetishism
Crisis Communication and Public Relations: How Fairs Communicated Cancellations During the COVID-19 Pandemic
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic halted aspects of a traditional fair including the agriculture, home economics, entertainment, and carnival exhibits that were missed by the diverse stakeholders who enjoy the traditions of this industry. This study examined how fairgoers reacted to the news of cancellation and investigated fair managers’ communication decisions. An explanatory sequential (QUANT → QUAL) mixed methods design was used. A survey was conducted asking fairgoers to recall communication strategies and feelings after the communication. A more in-depth focus group with fair managers was hosted to understand how crisis communication was utilized, and if active information seekers versus passive information processors influenced communication decisions. Fairgoers in this sample did not have a communication strategy preference and did not have strong feelings toward a specific strategy. Managers utilized training from the industry and modeled other fair’s cancelations to learn how to implement crisis communication tactics. Fairs found that stakeholders have expectations for fairs, and it is the job of a communicator to uphold these expectations when communicating during a crisis. Despite limitations, the future of this topic can be studied to better crisis communication in the fair industry
Structural and Magnetic Study of Epitaxial Ni/NiO Thin Films on Various Single Crystalline Substrates Using Pulsed Laser Deposition
No full textIn recent years, magnetic thin films have gained significant attention in the field of spintronics, which is a branch of electronics that utilizes the spin of electrons in addition to their charge. The applications in the spintronic sector rely on the magnetic properties of the thin films. To address this, Ni (FM)/NiO (AFM) thin films on single crystalline sapphire and lithium niobate substrates have been investigated using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique prior to hydrogen-reduction annealing to explore new functionalities. The manufactured films were extensively analyzed by state-of-the-art characterization techniques. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray reflectometry (XRR) show the structural fingerprint with deposited film thickness which is related with laser shots. The morphological analysis performed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) shows the single crystalline nature of the film through revealing dotted electron diffraction pattern. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) data provides the surface properties of the films along with the oxidation states of Ni and O. The Magnetic force microscopy (MFM) study reveals the magnetic nature of the Ni/NiO film which is further supported by ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) data. Finally, static magnetization data confirm the ferromagnetism at room temperature in both Ni and Ni-NiO composite thin films. In both cases, tunable magnetic properties have been achieved, which can be a great deal in spintronic device applications such as magnetic switching sensor. This research work explicitly explains each step from synthesis method to each characterization with extensive analysis
Intraspecific Hybrid Identification of Black Walnuts Via Marker Assisted Selection
No full textThe improvement of Eastern black walnut (Juglans nigra L.) cultivars could increase market expansion. Improved cultivars with superior qualities would increase profitability for both the seller and the buyer. Agronomically and economically important traits such as heavier nut weight, disease resistance, tree structure integrity, and yearly nut production can be efficiently improved by breeding black walnuts via marker-assisted selection. Microsatellite/simple sequence repeat markers were used in this research to determine potential intraspecific hybrids between ‘Football’ and ‘Sparrow’ cultivars. Intraspecific is defined as of the same genus and species. This quality makes it more difficult to identify hybrids because the parent plants DNA have similar base pair sizes. The two main goals for this research are to identify hybrid plants for the expansion of an existing mapping population and to optimize annealing temperatures of publicly available primer sets for the identification of additional polymorphic markers between ‘Football’ and ‘Sparrow’. Of the 1,015 progeny plants tested, sixty-one were determined to be intraspecific hybrids. Those sixty-one new genotypes were added to the F1 mapping population to a total of 237 plants at the Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station, Mountain Grove, MO 65711. Two hundred and eighty markers were tested for polymorphism and fifty-seven were detected as polymorphic for ‘Football’ and ‘Sparrow’ and kept for further assessment in future research
Machine Learning Strategies for Potential Development in High-Entropy Driven Nickel-Based Superalloys
No full textIn this study, I developed Deep Learning interatomic potentials to model a multi-phase and multi-component system of Ni-based Superalloys. The system has up to three major phase constituents, namely Gamma, Gamma Prime, and Transition-metal rich Carbide. I utilized invariant scalar-based and/or equivariant, tensor-based neural network (NN) approach as implemented in DEEPMD, NEQUIP/ALLEGRO codes, respectively, and Moment Tensor Potential (MTP). For the training and validation sets, I employed the ab-initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) trajectory results and ground state DFT calculations, including the energy, force, and virial database from highly diverse compositions, temperatures, and pressures following a “High Entropy Strategy.” The Deep learning potential was systematically developed for 4, 5, 7, and 10 component systems based on the complexity level of the phase mixtures. To optimize the hyperparameters, I used a series of machine learning (ML) algorithms to lower the RMSE of the force components and then compare the accuracy of both the potentials developed using the two types of Deep Learning potentials through a variety of large-scale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations The GPU-based supercomputer support from NERSC (Perlmutter) is gratefully acknowledged
Dynamics and Timescales of Magmatic Processes at Cerro Uturuncu, Bolivia
No full textBetween 12-25°S latitude there is prolific volcanism fueled by the Altiplano-Puna Magmatic Body (APMB), a mid-crustal magma body above the 30° angle subduction of the Nazca plate and within 60-70 km thick South American crust. Cerro Uturuncu, a stratovolcano constructed above the center of the APMB, can provide insight to the evolution of the APMB over time. Previous research suggests that the APMB is more homogenous near its center as opposed to its edges. However, the processes that led to greater homogenization as well as the structure of the magma body below Cerro Uturuncu remain unknown. This research contributes greater understanding to the homogenization of and mixing within the APMB and comments on how this relates to magma architecture and residence times. While previous research on Cerro Uturuncu has focused on whole- rock geochemistry, this research evaluates sub-crystal plagioclase geochemistry and geochronometry. Textural classification, major and trace element analysis, and Sr diffusion modeling were performed on eight Cerro Uturuncu samples representing the four largest lava stages in recent Cerro Uturuncu history (1 Ma) using optical microscopy, LA-ICP-MS, EPMA, and Lubbers et al. (2022) trace element diffusion across plagioclase python script. Overall, in the past 1 Ma, the APMB magma chamber architecture below Cerro Uturuncu condensed while the magma itself became increasingly homogenous through convection mixing events. The magma was stored at or above plagioclase closure temperatures for under 1000 years prior to eruption for the youngest two of Cerro Uturuncu’s lava stages