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Ensuring personal and produce safety for packinghouse visitors
Get PDFA packinghouse can be a bustling and chaotic environment, making it challenging to comprehend everything at first glance. It is important for visitors to know and practice safety when visiting a packinghouse in order to keep themselves, employees, and consumers safe from harm. With the many activities that occur in a packinghouse, numerous safety measures must be observed by visitors. These measures help ensure the overall safety of everyone involved and maintain the quality and safety of the produce being processed
EXPERIENCES OF LIVING IN REMISSION WITH MULTIPLE MYELOMA
Get PDFAims: This descriptive phenomenology qualitative study explored the following question, “What is the lived experience of individuals diagnosed with multiple myeloma (MM)in remission following a period of active disease with treatment?Aim 1: Assess the lived experience of individuals diagnosed with MM during remissionafter one or more occurrence of active disease with treatment.Aim 2: Expound on specific experiences that describe the remission period forindividuals with MM, particularly how remission is coped with and identified needs.Aim 3: Explore how individuals diagnosed with MM define and describe their quality oflife during remission.Background: Cancer knowledge has grown over the last several decades, leading to improved treatments and more individuals experiencing cures and extended remissions. Multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, has experienced increased remission periods. Multiple myeloma weakens the immune system, causes kidney damage, and weakens bones, leading to fractures. It predominately affects older adults, with 69 years old being the median age at diagnosis. Multiple myeloma is cyclical, marked with active disease and remission periods. Relapse will occur for all individuals diagnosed with MM. Remission with MM involves ongoing treatment and regular oncology appointments to monitor for treatment side effects and disease relapse. The current literature does not contain research on those in remission with MM, particularly regarding their quality of life.Methods: Cancer support groups were used to recruit participants from the Pacific Northwest. Colaizzi’s (1978) seven-step analysis process was used to examine the data. Direct quotes from participants were used in formulating themes and subthemes. Data was collected through phone interviews.Assessment of Findings: 12 recruited participants were determined eligible for the study (See Table 1). Analysis of the interview data revealed three themes and nine subthemes (See Table 2). Theme 1: "A sense of an axe hanging over your head" – Living with MM. Theme 2: “Every day's a gift" – Hope. Theme 3: "It's an opportunity to give and receive support" – Community.Conclusions: This study highlights the unique needs of those in MM remission. Future research in MM remission may include development of a clinical tool to assist healthcare providers understand the goals of care of cancer survivors in remission. Increased utilization of oncology nurse navigators should be studied to determine the best process for connecting MM clients with resources such as support groups and financial aid
THE CRIPS’ LOST LIBERATION A NOTORIOUS STREET GANG’S EVOLUTION FROM WOULD-BE LIBERATION INSURGENCY IN THE LATE 1960s, TO LATENT POLITICAL POTENCY AS A NON-STATE ARMED GROUP
Get PDFNot since the secession of the Confederate States in the 19th century has the United States been closer to revolution or secession than during the height of the insurgent liberation movements in the 1960s. In 1965, following the assassination of movement leader Malcolm X, the Watts Uprising in Los Angeles and its aftermath proved to be an inflection point for grassroots groups that had otherwise been participating in the greater Civil Rights Movement under the auspices of national coordinating groups. Two of the most efficacious and potent of these grassroots insurgencies, the Black Panther Party and the New Afrika Independence Movement, would go on to capture the nation’s attention, pitch the nation’s security services against them as “the greatest threat to the United States,” and inspire future generations of individuals and groups, both on the ground and in popular culture. This project focuses on one particular insurgent group among those inspired ranks of the then-rising liberation generations: the Crips.This study is designed as a plausibility probe in two parts: first, as an analysis of differentiated insurgency types looking at the phenomenon of the Crips as a would-beliberation group, and secondly, as a modern (post-1979) iteration turned amorphous non-state armed group (NSAG). Drawing upon the theoretical frameworks of liberation (i.e., secession), social movements, and peripheral groups, such as warlords and mafia, this study attempts to locate the elements of the Crips’ emergence likely to have made the difference in the trajectory of their insurgency compared to foundational contemporaries, and the most plausible catalysts for their ballistic trajectory as a violent NSAG.With nuance, the study found that the Crips lost their liberation formation because of prematurely pruned political ideology; the cascade of dissipating leaders of indoctrination; an unaccommodating, hostile relationship with the state; and an existential, inward pivot toward localized security that halted their then-known repertoire of contention in perpetual stasis. The study further found that in its modern iteration, the Crips’ group-centric formation, historical and intermittently recentering ideology, lack of popular political legitimacy, and comparatively diminutive territorial control make comparisons to either mafia or warlords generally inaccurate and at best case-by-case empirical stretches.Arguably, the Crips are a politically latent NSAG with mutable activist elements and capacity for sudden sociopolitical destabilization. Because of their level of organization andpropensity for violence, considering institutionalized gangs such the Crips through a conflict lens moves the conversation away from criminological senses of good or bad to instead the group as social actors and a social movement with potential for drastic political change
STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE SENSITIVITY AND ENABLE TANDEM MASS ANALYSIS OF BIOMOLECULES USING DIGITAL WAVE TECHNOLOGY
Get PDFDigital wave technology (DWT) is an emerging and promising technique in mass spectrometry (MS) instrumentation, which has been alluded to as “the future of mass spectrometry.” The DWT discriminates charged ions for mass filtering using a rectangular waveform rather than a sine wave used in traditional mass filters. The unique advantages presented by the DWT, which include limitless mass range, low voltage requirement, and handling flexibility, have positioned it as a potential alternative to sinewave-driven systems. This work takes advantage of the flexibility of the digital waveform duty cycle variations of the DWT to improve the mass resolution of the digital waveform systems with a major goal of converting the so-called “low resolution” quadrupole instruments into a medium-high resolution mass filter. Hence, this work covers the development and application of a digital tandem quadrupole mass filter (DTMF) in analyzing biomolecules. A DTMF uses two low-resolution quadrupole mass filters aligned in series to create a new stability mass window whose width corresponds to the resolution of the isolated ion. This stability window can be narrowed by adjusting the duty cycle of the digital waveforms applied to the quadrupole rods to improve mass resolution. Chapter one of this work introduces the background of the quadrupole mass filters, the digital wave systems with attractive features and capabilities, and the digital tandem mass filters. A new technique that helps to improve ion transmission into the higher Mathieu stability zones – the digital pre-filter was also introduced.Chapter two focuses on developing the DTMF instrumentation and the initial testing of its applicability in analyzing low-mass molecules. This chapter covers the experimental evaluation of the DTMF principles and optimization of the operational parameters. Chapter three explored the application of the DTMF in analyzing peptides and proteins using a soft ionization technique. This chapter investigates the compatibilities of the DTMF with the native analysis of proteins and its potential in the analysis of large biomolecules. Chapter four covers the studies of the digital pre-filter (DPF), a new technique enabled by the DWT. This work presents the operational principles, performance optimization, and the experimental evaluation of the DPF. Overall, this project accomplished the use of digital wave technology to improve the mass resolution of a quadrupole mass filter through the development of a digital tandem quadrupole instrument, thereby increasing the boundary of the quadrupole instrument usage, examined a native quadrupole MS analysis of proteins with the digital wave system to enable biomolecule analysis, and developed a new method of sensitivity improvement for higher stability zones accessibility
ESSAYS ON MINIMUM WAGE AND AUTOMATION
Get PDFThis dissertation consists of three chapters on minimum wage and automation. In the first chapter, I examine the employment effects of the minimum wage increase in South Korea and investigate whether these effects vary by the routine task intensity of workers’ occupations. Using the synthetic difference-in-differences, I found that workers who were subject to the new minimum wage experienced a greater decline in the probability of being employed as wage workers, working full-time, and in their annual hours worked, compared to those who were earning higher wages. However, I did not find evidence that workers performing routine-intensive tasks who were bound by the higher minimum wage suffered from greater disemployment effects than less routine workers. In the second chapter, we study the employment effects of the changes in the EITC and the minimum wage implemented between 1990 and 2001 using the continuous difference-in-differences. We found that the minimum wage reduces employment, while the positive interaction effect between the two policies alleviates such negative employment effects. In the third chapter, we examine how automation affects the demand for unskilled and skilled labor using a task-based model. We found underlying forces that affect the labor demand in opposing directions
STRIPE RUST RESISTANCE GENES AND QTL FROM TWO PAKISTANI WHEAT LINES
Get PDFStripe rust is an important fungal disease of common wheat that can cause significant yield losses. Multiple forms of management are possible, primarily either by controlling the virulence of the pathogen by deploying specific fungicides found to mitigate disease or the resistance of the plant by employing certain cultivars bred to tolerate disease. On one hand, regularly spraying recommended fungicides is effective, but is a less favorable option because of corresponding cost, time, skill required for proper use, and risk associated with improper use. On the other hand, simply planting resistant cultivars is also effective, but is a more favorable option because disease can be reduced and delayed intrinsically via innate resistance rather than extrinsically via fungicide use. However, selective pressure eventually enables new combinations of virulence genes to overcome resistance genes. Thus, scientific research continually seeks new combinations of resistance genes to overcome virulence genes. This research focuses on finding molecular markers linked to genetic sequences responsible for phenotypic traits such as reduced or delayed disease. The results will enable continual marker assisted selection of new lines and breeding of improved cultivars
EXAMINING MEASUREMENT INVARIANCE AND DIFFERENTIAL ITEM FUNCTIONING IN READING SELF-CONCEPT
Get PDFReading self-concept is a key predictor of academic (e.g., performance) and non-academic outcomes (e.g., career progress). The present doctoral dissertation examines (1) what psychometrics properties of reading self-concept measurement instruments were provided through a comprehensive systematic literature review, (2) to what extent reading self-concept measurement instruments in international large-scale assessments (i.e., Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)) hold sex-related measurement invariance with a series of multi-group confirmatory factor analyses, (3) to what extent items in reading self-concept measurement instruments in international large-scale assessments exhibit sex-related differential item functioning (DIF) with item response theory models, and (4) what potential underlying factors may have been contributing to the presence of sex-related differential item functioning in items in reading self-concept measurement instruments in PISA with a machine learning approach. Overall, the systematic literature review found a significant lack of providing psychometrics evidence for the use of reading self-concept measurement instruments. Testing for measurement invariance found that there was at least one violation on establishing measurement invariance in reading self-concept measurement instruments across PISA and PIRLS assessments. Detection of DIF in each PISA and PIRLS assessments showed that at least one item in reading self-concept measurement instruments exhibited DIF. Finally, machine learning analysis results showed differential predictions of endorsing a reading self-concept item across sexes which could help explain the underlying potential factors that contribute to the existence of DIF. Implications, limitations and future directions of the present doctoral dissertation are discussed
Construction and Analysis of an Active Dwarf Galaxy Database
Get PDFAt the center of all massive galaxies (M∗ ≳ 1010M⊙) resides a super massive black hole (SMBH). The growth and evolution of SMBHs alongside their host galaxies is not well understood. Dwarf galaxies serve as an avenue to investigate the progression of central BH and their host galaxy at lower mass scales which are reminiscent of massive systems at earlier times. However, the population of BHs in the center of dwarf galaxies is difficult to identify andcharacterize. Accretion signatures of SMBHs form across the electromagnetic spectrum has been used to identify SMBH in massive galaxies. Within this thesis work, we work towards identifying actively accreting BHs in dwarf galaxies while investigating the biases of the selections methods built for massive galaxies. We select active BHs in galaxies across the mass range using ultraviolet variability and categorize their optical spectrum and infrared colors.We use their x-ray emissions to construct spectral energy distribution models to explore relationships of emissions to massive active galaxies. Moreover, we compile a database of dwarf galaxies that were selected as active from a list of previous studies. Utilizing archival data, we investigate the recovery rate of each active BH selection technique applied to this database. Finally, we draw conclusions about the biases of each selection technique in connection withhost galaxy parameters
Elucidation of Phase Distributions in Engineered Tetraphenylethene-Based Metal−Organic Framework Systems
Get PDFThe field of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) has rapidly evolved from disconnected examples of multi-dimensional coordination polymers into an expansive collection of functional materials containing over 100,000 structures. Because any material’s chemical structure dictates its function, a robust structural understanding is a crucial prerequisite for the optimization of a material’s physical properties and its effective deployment towards an application. This is especially true for MOFs, which frequently demonstrate multiple possible structures from a single metal-ligand combination. Without proper identification, these phase distributions confuse analysis and hinder applicability of the material(s). Conversely, when well-understood, phase multiplicity serves to increase the number of available structures (and functions) within an established chemical window. Thus, control over phase distributions in MOF systems is a critical aspect of their analysis and utility.In this work, a luminescent ligand based on the tetraphenylethene (TPE) molecule is used as a foundation to generate three distinct MOF systems, which are analyzed for their essential structures and functional properties. All three TPE-based systems are found to demonstrate various degrees of phase multiplicity; while some distributions depend solely on the initial synthetic conditions to generate distinct framework isomers, others undergo dynamic and reversible phase transformations according to their post-synthetic treatments. These structural aspects are characterized in detail, and mechanistic explanations are presented that can be applied to broad design principles towards phase-controlled MOF systems
A citizen science guide to wild bees and floral visitors in Western Washington
Get PDFWild bees and other pollinators are critical for the sustainability of natural and managed ecosystems. Identifying the diversity and species composition of pollinator communities can aid in developing conservation plans and determining if pollination needs are being met. This guide is intended to provide the tools to identify and monitor wild bees and other floral visitors in the Puget Sound Region. Within the guide are labeled diagrams showing the morphological features, size and shape, pollen-carrying device, flowers frequently visited, and flight pattern for each wild bee group. Moreover, we provide a dichotomous key to aid in identification. This field guide was part of our citizen science program, the Citizen Science Initiative for Bees (CSI Bees), which sought to deliver locally specific, data-driven education on wild bees of the Puget Sound Region. This guide is not intended for taxonomic identification, but rather a means for citizen scientists to become familiar with and monitor wild bees in western Washington urban gardens, farms, and landscapes. Since wild bees are difficult to monitor and identify, this guide acts an introductory document for those who would like to understand wild bee biodiversity and contribute to conservation through monitoring