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Responsive Polymer Grafts for Patternable Self-Oscillating Gel
Get PDFMaterials that can mimic biological behavior by converting chemical energy to mechanical work under constant external conditions represent an exciting opportunity for extending traditional responsive behavior via energy harvesting and autonomous function. One such material is the self-oscillating gel which exhibits periodic swell-deswell oscillations driven by the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction. A key step in increasing the functionality of these materials is the ability to form arrays of individual oscillators that can behave in a cooperative fashion. To achieve this ability the gel must be patternable while maintaining enough versatility to design its polymer backbone for optimal performance (e.g. maximum swell-deswell amplitudes). To address this challenge we explored the synthesis of vinyl terminated responsive polymer grafts. By incorporating these grafts into a nonresponsive polymer backbone at sufficient concentrations and applying an appropriate stimulation, the grafts should form microdomains (physical cross links between chains), enabling printing of any desired gel pattern. Poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAm) was chosen as a test candidate due to its extensively studied thermo-responsive behavior. PNIPAm grafts with vinyl end group were made first by adding a primary amine group at one chain end using 2-aminoethanethiol as a chain transfer reagent during radical polymerization. Then the amine end-group was replaced with a vinyl group using an amide condensation reaction. Future work will involve the incorporation of this graft into various polymer backbones and exploring techniques for chemically fixing the networks after physical gelation
“The Passing of the Test is Inconsequential”: Exploring the Relationship Between AP English Literature and Composition Courses and First-Year Composition Courses
Get PDFCollege students are typically expected to take a first-year composition (FYC) course within their first year of college. However, while still in high school, many students have the ability to waive the college requirement and earn credit for the course if they receive passing scores on the Advanced Placement (AP) English Literature and Composition exam. As the number of students testing out of FYC courses increases, FYC courses and their corresponding AP exams should be explored for content comparability. The speaker discusses the results from a case study of high school AP English Literature and Composition courses and two- and four-year college FYC courses in Western Michigan. The extreme differences in course goals and writing assignments between the high schools’ and colleges’ courses suggest that AP English Literature and Composition courses are not equivalent to FYC courses. Therefore, students who pass the AP English Literature and Composition exam should not receive credit or exemption from FYC courses. Instead, the speaker offers alternative actions colleges can take based on passing AP exam scores
Clothed and in Their Right Minds: A Study of the Salvation Army\u27s Developing Social Work, 1865-1890
No full textIn 1865, William and Catherine Booth, both of whom came from poor, working class families, founded the East London Christian Mission, a revivalist organization meant to convert the destitute population of London\u27s East End. The Mission became the Salvation Army in 1878, and then underwent a distinctive change around 1890. What began as an evangelistic movement became a largely social work organization, the latter defining the Army’s reputation to this day. Understanding The Salvation Army\u27s changing conception of what the poorest Victorians most needed can give a clearer picture of the organization\u27s transition.
In its early days, the Christian Mission viewed ignorance of the gospel as society\u27s greatest problem, and implied that if the unsaved only knew the good news, they would seek God and better material conditions would inevitably result. By 1890, however, the Salvation Army mostly conceptualized those it was trying to save in terms of their inability to find work, and when the diagnosis changed, the Army followed a different course of action to remedy the problem. Interestingly, the Salvation Army was doing its religious and social work among the poorest of the poor at the same time that the British state was beginning to reconsider its role in the well-being of its citizens. As a prominent voice in the social welfare debate heating up in late Victorian Britain at this time, the Army is worthy of study in its own right, as well as having significance for questions of welfare that are still debated today
The Benefits of Medical Mission Trips for Healthcare Professionals: Jean Nienhuis, Amoy, China, 1920-1952
No full textMedical missionary work presents health professionals with the harsh realities of ill- equipped hospitals, cultural and language barriers, and the emotional toll of being beyond the comforts of home. Despite these challenges, the inspiring accounts of Jean Nienhuis’s service as a missionary nurse in the early- twentieth- century China proves that these obstacles are worth overcoming. The purpose of this research study is to explore the effects of medical mission work on health professionals’ faith. The project is based on Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring. Watson believes that nurses provide a caring environment for patients when modern science has nothing else to offer. This qualitative, retrospective study examines Jean Nienhuis’s papers held at a historical archive in West Michigan in order to discover her personal experiences as a nurse missionary to China. Three grand themes emerged: God provides, God is faithful, and sowing the seed. By sowing her seed and giving herself to China, Jean experienced many challenges, but through these challenges, she experienced God’s faithfulness and provision. This, in turn, led to a deeper desire to provide a healing and caring environment for patients in China. Limitations of this project include a small sample size and the difference of long term mission work compared to short term. Implications for nursing consist of contributions to research on the history of medical missionaries as well as the understanding of the benefits of participation in medical missionary trips for healthcare professionals
A Study of Effectiveness of a Five-Week Wii Fit Yoga Training Program on Flexibility and Balance in College-Aged Females.
No full textThis study was designed to determine if five weeks of Wii Fit Yoga training would result in significant improvements in flexibility and balance. It was hypothesized that Wii Fit Yoga training (WII, n=8), which required the completion of 12 yoga poses (30 minutes) on each of three days per week for five weeks would result in greater improvements in flexibility and balance than no training (CON, n=7). All participants were assessed for flexibility and static balance before and after the five-week program. Following training, both groups improved in the following measures: sit and reach flexibility (pre: 39.77 ± 2.35 cm, post: 42.34±1.98 cm, p=.014), left hip extension (pre: 32.63±2.56º, post: 38.36±2.5º, p=.018), left shoulder extension (pre: 54.34±3.4º, post: 60.85±3.23º, p=.005), and balance as assessed by center of pressure path length during quiet standing on two feet with eyes open (pre: 46.98±2.65 cm, post: 47.0±2.48cm, p=.014). The only measurement that resulted in a greater improvement in the WII group (pre: 177.5±0.98, post: 179.25±1.00º), compared to CON (pre: 180.0±1.05, post: 179.29±1.07º) following the training period was left shoulder flexion (p=0.012). Therefore, Wii Fit Yoga training was not shown to improve balance or flexibility (with the exception of right shoulder flexion) compared to no training. For future research, it may be beneficial to better familiarize the participants with the assessment procedures to minimize learning effects, and to have the study last longer than five weeks
Knee Internal Derangement in a 19-Year-Old Collegiate Football Player: A Case Study
Get PDFFootball is comprised of intense, high-velocity movements that result in relatively high injury rates at all levels of athletics. Knowledge of how to adequately prevent, evaluate, treat, and rehabilitate sports related injuries is imperative for medical professionals, especially athletic trainers. Specifically, knee internal derangement is a common set of pathologies in football athletes; the structures involved mainly include ligamentous and cartilaginous structures. In our case, a 19-year-old collegiate football player experienced a Grade-III PCL sprain, Grade-I MCL sprain, tear of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus, and a lateral tibial plateau fracture with accompanying traumatic synovitis, all in response to a hyperextension mechanism. Internal knee derangement is commonly associated with a hyperextension mechanism; however, the specific combination of structures involved in this case is quite unique, allowing for in depth discussion on the intricacies of knee anatomy and biomechanics as discussed in peer reviewed research. Further, our case’s specific combination of pathologies complicates the injury evaluation, treatment, and rehabilitation phases of care. This case highlights the role of athletic trainers in diagnosis and how to adequately prioritize care for an athlete suffering from multiple concurrent pathologies; each varying in their severity, ability to heal through natural processes, and timeline for return to play. Through applying the principles and take home points of this case, medical professionals may further prevent, evaluate, treat, and rehabilitate sports related injuries
Why It Shouldn’t Have Been a Surprise: The Story of Japanese Immigration and Anti-Japanese Prejudice Before World War II
No full textRather than highlight the plight of the Japanese-American community during WWII as many scholars have done before, I will explain, using a variety of period and contemporary books, newspaper articles, and encyclopedia sources, how prejudice against the community began and led to the incarceration of Japanese-Americans in the internment camps. In the beginning, Japanese in America experienced spillover prejudice from the Chinese who came during the Gold Rush. However, once the Chinese were no longer able to immigrate into the United States, anti-Japanese sentiment became a movement of its own due to the same white fear of losing their jobs to immigrants. Japan’s government anticipated this problem by protecting and controlling the immigrant communities to minimize negative attention. Though the first generation of Japanese immigrants, the Issei, were guided towards surprising success in establishing themselves in the United States, the middle-class dreams of their children, the Nisei and the Kibei, were frustrated. This history touches on significant events of national interest as well as abstract topics such as the politics of race and citizenship in the Supreme Court, challenges to the doctrine of separate but equal concerning racial segregation, the teaching of nationalism, and hidden institutionalized racism
Understanding the Role of Polygamy and Genital Mutilation in Traditional African Societies
No full textFor hundreds of women in traditional African society, polygamy and mutilation of genitals remains a large part of their everyday lives. In the “polygamy belt” stretching from Senegal to Tanzania, it is common for more than one third of married women to be in polygamous relationships (Jacoby, 1995). Polygamy has been cited as a possible contributor to Africa’s low savings rates (Tertilt, 2005), widespread incidence of HIV (Brahmbhatt et al., 2002), high levels of child mortality (Strassmann, 1997), and of female depression (Adewuya et al., 2007). Even more shocking, the World Health Organization estimates that there are about 140 million women and girls worldwide that have been victims of female genital mutilation. While this practice happens on every continent, in Africa about 101 million girls over the age of 10 have been cut, mostly in sub-Saharan African countries, according to different United Nations agencies. These shocking statistics illustrate the difficult life for so many women in these countries. In this paper, the films of Ousmane Sembene, the father of African cinema, and the writings of Guillaume Oyono Mbia will be analyzed to illustrate their efforts to educate regarding the effects of polygamy and the mutilation of genitals on young woman, and to criticize and eliminate these African traditions. Education through film and theater is very important in identifying and criticizing the harsh realities of traditional society
Marianne et le Marabout by Slimane Benaïssa: North African Culture Faces French Culture
No full textSlimane Benaïssa’s play Marianne et le Marabout (1993), my primary research source, displays what it was like to live as a first generation Algerian immigrant, or part of an immigrant family, in France. Various secondary sources allowed me to grasp more fully the historical, political and cultural situation between France and Algeria and, as a result, explain the frustration and discontent that the characters in the play express. The social, religious, cultural, and economic conflicts described in Marianne et le Marabout are the root of many problems between Algerian immigrants and the French that still exist today. Benaïssa’s play shows the harsh realities experienced by a first generation Algerian immigrant family in France; yet, their story and others from this immigration wave help one to approach with understanding the civil unrest between more recent Algerian immigrants and French citizens today. The conflict between immigrants and French natives will likely pose a controversial political problem for a long period of time since the complexities of the situation do not lead to an easy solution in French society. However, the relations between individual immigrants and French citizens could be greatly improved with the implementation of artistic activities designed to attract both French natives and immigrants in French cities. Community members would participate in dialogue unrelated to the political conflict and exchange ideas about the arts and life. As a result, the burden of the large societal problem would be reduced and the importance of civility and friendship would be augmented
The Independent Woman: Simone de Beauvoir and Feminism
Get PDFDespite her bourgeoisie background, Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) was one of the twentieth century’s most influential writers. Her high level of education allowed her to succeed in a world where the “rules” were put in place by men and for men. Her schooling also brought about a lifelong intellectual friendship with existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. With her famous work, The Second Sex (French: Le Deuxième Sexe) (1949), and one of its most famous quotes—“One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.”—Beauvoir laid a strong foundation for modern feminism by piercing the hegemony that existed in contemporary society as a result of so many years of patriarchy. She has been described as a miracle among the women of her generation because of her strong conviction for her cause, and this single work of literature was praised by many critics for opening the door to women questioning their social status and role in society. Through my research, I hope to show how Beauvoir’s feminist beliefs, including her opinions on the female mentality, and the professional and family life of women, were highly influenced by existentialist thought