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The People of the North: Influencer Histories and Miniaturization in Eleventh-Century Italy
Full text linkThe Norman invasion of Italy in the eleventh century was a process that required political support and legitimacy for its leaders, the Hauteville dynasty. The members of this dynasty either commissioned or financed three individuals as they wrote three respective histories of the Norman conquest in order to accomplish this legitimation. In these sources, each author took inspiration from the classic works of history and poetry of the Greek and Roman world and applied symbolism and direction from their understanding of medieval Christian theology. In addition, these works catalogued examples of events, people, places, animals, and behavior as exotic objects for the audience. In this way, the authors “educated” their audience about the events of the conquest, miniaturizing what might have felt foreign and frightening into simple categories. The three writers used this technique to ease the many contradictions of their own ideology: the violence of the Normans yet the necessity of their rule, the dominance of Islam in a Christian world, and the Greek character of a Roman Empire. Each source, however, had its own focus and key differences with the others. Through comparison, we can see how the priorities of each author, whether that meant cultural ties, theology, personal priorities, or political endeavors, affected their presentation of history. Their similarities are also significant, as the three sources often corroborated a coherent mythological recounting of the arrival of the Normans and their political ambitions in southern Italy
Optimizing Stroke Rehabilitation: Towards Closed-loop Phase-shifted Electrical Stimulation for Reduced Muscle Fatigue and Enhanced Arm/Hand Control
No full textMovement is the most sophisticated function arising from the cooperation between body and mind. Yet, the central nervous system (mind) faces the challenge of coordinating complex movements in a highly dimensional musculoskeletal system (body), known as the motor redundancy problem. To address this problem, we designed a neural network solution to computationally solve the inverse kinematics problem using raw motion capture recordings, as described in Chapter 2. Another solution to the redundancy problem can be observed through the reduced dimensionality of the neural control space, a concept known as muscle synergies or motor primitives. Although various mathematical methods applied to differently structured datasets obtain low-dimensional control space solutions, their neuromuscular or biomechanical underpinnings are unclear. Therefore, in Chapter 3, we investigate the link between muscle synergies and limb dynamics (forces) through two components: 1) a gravity component for supporting the limb against gravity and 2) a dynamic component for propelling and orienting the hand. We further examine these two components in the context of stroke. Poststroke, the outputs from the primary motor cortex to motoneurons are disrupted in patterns unique to individuals. While each stroke is different, common patterns of abnormal muscle activations are frequently observed. In Chapter 4, we find how gravity and dynamic components are differentially affected during the sub-acute and chronic stages of stroke recovery and how this knowledge can inform personalized rehabilitation using neuromuscular electrical stimulation. Chapter 5 focuses on the surface neuromuscular electrical stimulation to reduce rapid muscle fatigue, improve non-linear “all-or-none” recruitment of muscle fibers, and alleviate pain and paresthesia – critical factors for the long-term application of electrical stimulation. There, we leverage a phase-shifted stimulation approach, in which pulses of electrical current alternate between two or more electrode pairs. This approach minimizes fatigue, discomfort, and sensory issues while enabling more effective control of muscle contractions. By combining these approaches, we aim to develop a closed-loop stimulation system to support the hemiparetic arm against gravity and assist in the rehabilitation of reaching and grasping movements, as discussed in the final chapter
Optical Measurements of Magnetic Fields in Low-Temperature Plasmas via Quantum Spectroscopy
No full textAccurate characterization of the magnetic field strength and direction within a plasma is increasingly important as experiments attempt to probe the physics of plasmas at kinetic scales. Non-perturbative laser-based diagnostics which are spatially and temporally localized—such as laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) and Thomson scattering for the measurement of ion and electron distribution functions, respectively—are increasingly relied on for measurements in laboratory plasmas. This work seeks to develop a spatially and temporally localized non-perturbative laser-based diagnostic for the measurement of magnetic fields in laboratory-relevant plasmas. Two such techniques are investigated here: Zeeman-split LIF and quantum beat spectroscopy (QBS).
Zeeman-split LIF measures the σ± distribution function peaks, the location of which provides a measure of the magnetic field strength. Presented here are first-time measurements of the two-dimensional magnetic field using Zeeman-split LIF. A measurement resolution of \u3c 10 G is demonstrated. Pulsed Zeeman-split LIF measurements in a plasma-gun generated flux rope are also attempted. QBS measures the energy difference between electron states, in this case Zeeman-split states, by preparing an electron into a superposition of both states. First time quantum beat spectroscopy measurements of Zeeman-split states in neutral argon and neutral helium are presented here. A method for measuring the magnetic field direction using QBS is demonstrated
Understanding Rural West Virginia Primary Care Provider Perspectives on HPV Vaccination to Inform Communication
No full textHuman papillomavirus (HPV) is a sexually transmitted infection that produces high- and low-risk strains. Most low-risk strains can be asymptomatic and go away over time, but high-risk strains are some of the leading causes of cervical, oropharyngeal, penile, vaginal, vulvar, and anal cancers. Although the burden of HPV-associated cancers is an ongoing issue, HPV vaccination is one of the most effective tools in modern practice to prevent and mitigate effects of HPV infection. One of the most significant factors in increasing vaccination uptake among children, teens, and adults is receiving a vaccination recommendation from a healthcare provider (HCP). Therefore, an understanding of HCP perspectives and beliefs surrounding HPV vaccination is needed to inform communication and education strategies for recommending vaccination. To better understand rural West Virginia HCP perspectives specifically, this study used qualitative in-depth interview methods. Grounded in previous research and using the Reasoned Action Approach (RAA) as a theoretical lens, interviews probed rural West Virginia HCPs’ perspectives, beliefs, prior behaviors, and behavioral intentions surrounding HPV vaccination communication and policies. Seven rural West Virginia physicians participated this study. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis of verbatim transcripts, notes, and jottings. Results add to the meaningful body of literature surrounding public relations, public interest healthcare, and risk communication, and add to the theoretical vigor of the RAA framework as a means for predicting and enhancing effective healthcare communication from trusted messengers (HCPs). Practical implications provide insights and guidance for rural West Virginia HCPs to hold effective conversations to build vaccination confidence in an ever-evolving public health environment
“SITUATION IS OUT OF CONTROL:” Drug Use, Violence, Resistance, and Politics During the Vietnam War
No full textThe Vietnam War was notable because it was a very violent and very public war. Throughout the course of the conflict, the United States imposed anti-guerilla warfare on a grand scale. American soldiers were often given orders to destroy the enemy at all costs; but in a war with no discernable front lines, the difference between combatant and non-combatant was, at best, blurry. The way the war was being fought, coupled with its unpopularity and emerging counterculture at home, made the Vietnam War a hub for illicit drug use among American soldiers. American soldiers use drugs for a number of reasons: they were bored with nothing better to do; they used them as a method of resistance against the war; and they used them to cope with the reality of fighting in Vietnam. Drug use became more acute after the Tet Offensive in 1968. More and more soldiers turned to using drugs like marijuana, opium, and heroin. As the drug problem increased, along with internecine violence, military officials and politicians took notes and searched for solutions. At first, the military took punitive measures by court-martialing drug users. This proved ineffective and more solutions via urinalysis and rehabilitation centers became a focus for military officials and politicians. While the results of rehabilitation programs were mixed, they were a step in the right direction. However, they did not address the root cause of the problem: the United States’ war in Vietnam
Exploring Relationships Among Higher Education Accreditation Outcomes, Credit Ratings, and Subsequent Institutional Responses: A Quantitative Study
No full textThis dissertation examines the financial pressures facing colleges and universities, focusing on the impact of accreditation outcomes and bond credit ratings. Utilizing a quantitative approach, the study posits that adverse accreditation outcomes and credit rating downgrades can be anticipated by observable, measurable attributes at higher education institutions. Additionally, it explores institutional responses following these adverse events.
Data was collected from IPEDS, FSA, DAPIP, BLS, and Moody’s Investors Service, covering the period from 2012 to 2022. Logistic regression models estimated the odds of negative accreditation outcomes and credit rating downgrades based on predictor variables such as enrollment levels, expenses, revenue, financial metrics, admissions selectivity, and economic conditions. Separately, ordinary least squares regression models analyzed revenue, expenses, and acceptance rate two years after such an event.
The results indicate that certain institutional characteristics significantly affect the likelihood of receiving a negative accreditation review or a Moody’s downgrade. In separately modeling both negative scenarios, a lone variable – unemployment rate – was found to be statistically significant in both models in the same direction. Other variables that were significant in both models but with opposite effects include non-white enrollment, out-of-state enrollment, graduation rate, and institutional control. Institutional characteristics were seen to have large effect sizes in the accreditation review data (e.g., HBCUs, Privates, and those on HCM), whereas the model fitted to Moody’s downgrades showed attention to institutional finances (e.g., revenue and expenses).
In a separate analysis of aftereffects, institutions that received negative accreditation reviews or credit rating downgrades exhibited minimal to no significant effect sizes on acceptance rates, revenue, or expenses two years later. The sole exception was in the expenses model, in which a credit rating downgrade resulted in a mean predicted decrease of $19.1 million in expenses.
This study contributes to the literature by illuminating common and uncommon institutional behaviors before and after receiving accreditation sanctions or credit rating downgrades. The findings provide valuable insights for higher education decision-makers to identify and address financial risks proactively, enhancing institutional stability and resilience
Framing the Moment, Shaping the Movement: News Narratives and Public Response to George Floyd’s Death
Full text linkThis study investigates how national and local U.S. news outlets framed George Floyd, Black Lives Matter protesters, and the surrounding protests in the immediate aftermath of Floyd’s death. Through a qualitative content analysis of YouTube news broadcasts posted between May and June 2020, coupled with thematic analysis of popular comments that viewers posted in response, this research explores media narratives and public understanding of a pivotal moment of an ongoing racial justice movement. Drawing on framing theory and construal level theory, the study identifies a range of frames (i.e., pro-accountability, anti-accountability, raw perspective, neutral, episodic, riot) used by both local and national news.
Findings reveal that framing choices had the dual effect of amplifying calls for justice while also reinforcing common media reporting patterns that may obscure or distort the full complexity of events. Importantly, analysis of YouTube comments demonstrates that audiences are not passive recipients of themes frames: commenters frequently echoed calls for justice and solidarity but also actively challenged, corrected, or reframed media narratives especially when coverage relied on ambiguous or delegitimizing frames. In many cases, commenters used the platform to demand greater accountability, highlight systemic injustice, and reclaim marginalized perspectives, thereby shaping the discourse in real time.
Ultimately, this study underscores the media’s power in shaping public discourse around race and protest, while also highlighting the interactive and contested nature of meaning-making in digital spaces. Results call for more critical engagement with journalistic narratives during times of social upheaval and demonstrate the importance of audience agency in negotiating and contesting media frames, as clearly reflected in the dynamic, corrective, and often justice-oriented responses found in the YouTube comment sections
P23H rhodopsin accumulation disrupts synaptic protein levels in rod photoreceptors
Full text linkRod photoreceptors are specialized neurons located in the retina, the neural tissue that lines the back of the eye. Rod photoreceptors are necessary for dim light and peripheral vision through the photoactivation rhodopsin (Rho). Rho is synthesized in the inner segment of rods before being unidirectionally trafficked to the outer segment. In diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP), Rho trafficking can be disrupted, leading to progressive rod cell death. In many cases of RP, Rho is mislocalized to the rod photoreceptor synapse (“spherule”). The impact of Rho mislocalization on spherule structure and protein organization is poorly understood. We hypothesize that in mutant RP rods, Rho mislocalization to the spherules disrupts the normal secretory system for synaptic proteins, leading to localized presynaptic defects. Using a combination of super-resolution microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and proteomics, we performed an in-depth analysis to test our hypothesis and determine how Rho mislocalization impacts spherule morphology and protein trafficking. Super-resolution imaging revealed differences in synaptic mislocalization and synaptic protein changes in a RP model for the P23H-Rho mutation, in which misfolded P23H-Rho protein accumulates in the rod’s endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Taken together, our data suggests an ER secretory system used by rods to supply their synaptic terminals that can be disrupted by misfolded P23H-Rho
\u3cem\u3e303 Creative\u3c/em\u3e for Everyone?
No full textDoes the holding in 303 Creative v. Elenis give businesses open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to provide expressive services for interracial couples’ weddings, interfaith couples’ weddings, or for couples’ weddings in which one or both partners are disabled? As indicated by questions raised during oral arguments, this is one of the troubling new legal questions created by the Supreme Court’s 303 Creative decision where the Court held that a Colorado web design business had a First Amendment free speech right to refuse to provide wedding website services for same-sex couples’ weddings. Understandably, both the Court’s conservative and liberal justices appear wary of extending the Court’s holding to provide a right to refuse service for other protected couples’ weddings. Yet, so far, advocates of the Court’s decision in 303 Creative have been unable to give a plausible explanation as to why it does not so extend. Often, when pressed, such advocates appeal to Justice Kennedy’s statement, made in dicta, in Obergefell v. Hodges, that “[m]any who deem same-sex marriage to be wrong reach that conclusion based on decent and honorable religious or philosophical premises.” I show why the arguments based on these appeals fail. Such arguments violate longstanding core aspects of the Court’s First Amendment and public accommodation law precedent. Such arguments also undermine the dignity of LGBTQ people, subjecting them to an inferior class status. In light of this, I argue that the best way out is for the Court to narrow 303 Creative’s holding to cover only cases where a state is seeking to enforce its public accommodation law for the purposes the Court attributed to Colorado in 303 Creative. Because states virtually never seek to enforce their public accommodation laws for such reasons, 303 Creative would rarely, if ever, be controlling in future cases
No Just Cause: A Decades-Long Strategy of Deception and Secrecy that Enabled America\u27s Deadly Opioid Crisis
Full text linkThis Essay examines the national epidemic of prescription opioid addiction and overdose deaths that began in the mid-1990s and continues to the present. Litigating from West Virginia—ground-zero of the opioid crisis—the authors draw from their experiences providing pro bono representation of a West Virginia newspaper and The Washington Post to successfully uncover long-buried facts. If revealed to the public, that hidden information could have stopped the epidemic in its tracks, saving millions of Americans from addiction and hundreds of thousands from cruel overdose deaths. The Essay highlights how political influence and industry capture hindered effective oversight of prescription opioid profiteers. The authors reveal the two-decade strategy of drug companies whose pernicious abuse of Civil Procedure Rule 26(c) protective orders and sealing of court records manipulated the courts and conned government regulators. That strategy effectively concealed the corrupt, unlawful corporate actions that created and fueled the opioid epidemic. Importantly, the Essay also identifies and documents the largely overlooked actions of judges, lawyers, federal and state law enforcement, and regulatory agencies that effectively prevented public disclosure of the intentional, unlawful and corrupt activities of prescription opioid manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies and “pill mill” doctors. These prescription opioid supply chain actors lined their pockets with enormous profits while fully aware of the unfathomable number of addictive pills—one hundred and ten billion pills—one billion in West Virginia alone—that inundated communities throughout the nation from 2006 to 2014. Ultimately, the authors provide a critical examination of the systematic failures and corruption that enabled the epidemic and reveal the devastating costs of corporate greed and governmental failures and complicity