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Wrecked: women's bodies as imperial ruin
No full textThis dissertation uses the lens of ruin and ruination to interrogate the workings of empire, broadly defined. Ruination, the ongoing creation of ruin, continues across historical time and exists in physical and remembered forms, as well as textually constructed memorials like novels and life writing. This dissertation argues women are ruin and detritus of empire while constituting imperialism as constructive actors. They both perpetuate empire and become the wreckage, reflecting imperialism back onto itself. This dissertation searches for and examines the moments where ruination is experienced or prevented, where regulatory standards regarding women’s bodies are troubled, or where violence is imposed. Chapter One argues that sexual transgression in early eighteenth-century novels requires explicit association between women characters and the colonial economy. The second chapter moves from London and prose fiction to the southeastern coast of India and life writing, arguing that ruin and ruination in fact define imperialism in India in the mid-eighteenth century. The work of imperialism occurs in small, personal interactions, holding up its more visible edifices of occupation and exploitation. The third chapter places two different accounts of the Haitian Revolution next to one another, juxtaposing narrative form, the causes of revolutions, and the effects. Chapter Three argues Black ecofeminism, the tying of liberation of bodies to liberation of nature, counters white imperialism. The epilogue looks forward to nineteenth-century iterations of the “ruined” woman, finding inescapable reminders of the violence of settler colonialism and violent reactions to disability. This dissertation extends and complicates historical arguments regarding the ruins of imperialism to argue people are also left with the debris of bodies—physical, narrative, metaphorical. Ruin and ruination can be and have been written on both actual and literary bodies
Crisis
No full textCrisis is a collection of poems that focuses on specific social issues, such as women's rights, racial issues, and religion. When writing this collection, I focused on a theme of liberation. Whether it was issues of a lack of liberation or the desire to obtain it, the central theme is freedom, and those who lack the ability to be free. Within my collection, I have sub-collections of issues within marriage regarding gender roles, as well as a sub-collection of Apartment 113, describing the experience of being a young woman in a society where we have to be defensive at all times. I've drawn on current issues that have occurred over the past two years as inspiration for my poems. I want to share a specific perspective of what womanhood often includes, such as being held to a double standard. I often feel there is a negative connotation to the word "feminism", and I hope with this collection, there is a shift in my reader's perspective on womanhood and feminism as a whole. I also included issues of sexuality and religion which I find important to acknowledge the issues faced in these identities as well. For many, there is a struggle of having faith and exploring their sexuality. Oftentimes, people create a separation between the two, and one is put in a position where they feel they have to pick between their faith and sexuality. Religion has been used as an attack on people, rather than an open and accepting place for anyone and everyone. There are many communities under attack in the present day, and this poetry collection is a response to these issues at hand
Driftwood Hard Tea
No full textI carried out extensive research into the alcoholic and seltzer beverage industry, specifically the branding, advertising, and business models of various ready-to-drink cocktail and beer companies. They range in the type of canned cocktails they offer, how long they have been in business, as well as how they sell and distribute their products. The market is saturated with hundreds of companies and I chose to research the ones that push themselves in branding or have unique advertising and business strategies in order to understand what stands out in today's market. I also explored different art movements that aligned with my project to incorporate into my graphic style. This research led me to develop a Florida inspired hard tea called Driftwood where I designed the brand identity, packaging, advertising, and web design
Identifying Contextual Factors and Evidence-based Approaches to Promote Retention in HIV care after Re-engagement
No full textResearch Question: 1) What are barriers to care re-engagement which may have contributed to individuals who are socioeconomically challenged to have fallen out of care, and what are individual perspectives on facilitators of care re-engagement that may improve upon re-engagement and retention in HIV care? 2) What is the available evidence in literature on the effects of financial incentives which promote care engagement, adherence, retention after re-engagement in care among people with HIV (PWH) who are returning to care?Background and Significance: Retention in HIV care is associated with durable viral suppression and improved HIV-related health outcomes. Prior reviews have summarized studies that assessed the effects of financial incentives on HIV prevention, testing, linkage to care, treatment adherence, and virologic suppression. There is currently no review which addresses the effects of financial incentives on retention in HIV care. A systematic review of studies that addressed retention in care may be useful for informing decisions about which financial incentives, if any, to implement in efforts to retain PLWH in HIV care.Materials and Methods: Our target population of interest are PWH who returning to HIV care after being lost or disengaged from care. Routine programmatic data from the JPS Healing Wings Clinic in Fort Worth, Texas was used to identify barriers and facilitators to sustained engagement in HIV care. The systematic review synthesized evidence from literature to assess the effect of financial incentives interventions on promoting viral suppression and retention in care. For the review, PubMed and other databases was used to queried to identify relevant papers that meet our inclusion criteria for the review. Reviews were limited to literature from previous 15 years.Results: Information gathered about barriers to care from PWH who returned to care in the local Fort Worth Community demonstrated that behavioral barriers were reported the most by respondents at 45%, followed by financial barriers at 24%, structural barriers at 19%, knowledge barriers at 9%, and communication barriers at 3% of respondents. Results from the systematic review are still in progress, however, we expect that financial barriers will have a positive effect on retention in care with PWH.Conclusion: The collected information on barriers to care within the local Fort Worth community provides healthcare providers a better understanding of the difficulties in retention and adherence to treatment in target population. This data can help to inform efforts to prevent further disengagement in the local Fort Worth Community. Results from the systematic review provide an evidence-based guide to the efficacy of financial incentives that can be adapted and implemented to help promote retention in HIV care
Spotting virtue: the legibility of skin in early modern drama
No full textThis thesis traces how feminine virtue appears on the skin of early modern characters, especially in ways legible to other characters around them. In four tragedies— Shakespeare’s Othello and Hamlet, John Ford’s ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, and the anonymous A Warning for Fair Women— I discuss how men use the fantasy of legible skin as justification for violence against women. I establish the early modern conflation between whiteness and moral purity, then investigate how medical history, criminal justice practices, and cultural racial anxiety from the period make marked skin emblematic of besmirched virtue
The experiences of trans and gender nonconforming counselors-in-training: a critical phenomenological inquiry
No full textThis study addressed the lack of empirical research that exists on the experiences of counselors in training who identify as trans or gender nonconforming (GNC). The literature that does exist paints a troubling picture of systemic oppression and othering (Blumer & Barbachano, 2008; Bryan, 2018; Carroll & Gilroy, 2002; Chan et al., 2018; Cor et al., 2018; Shipman & Martin, 2017; Singh & Chun, 2010)—using a critical phenomenological theoretical framework and a queer and trans methodology. This study investigated the lived experiences of trans and GNC counselors-in-training. Participants included seven trans and GNC counseling students attending counselor education graduate programs across the continental United States. Three semi-structured group interviews were utilized to collect data. A post-methodological analysis found three thresholds and five spaces. Threshold 1) Gender (dis/re)orientation, Space 1) (Dis)orientation: The world doesn’t get us, Space 2) (Re)orientation: Recognizing Privilege. Threshold 2) Power and Problematization: Action and its cost, Space 3) Problematization through action, Space 4) Power and Problematization: The cost of continued action. And Threshold 3) (Dis/re)orientation with clients, Space 5) Self-disclosure. Findings are discussed in reference to implications for counselor education programs and recommendations for future research
Treaty Expressions or Contract Obligations? How Treaties do or do not Mitigate Conflict
No full textThe concept of international law is vague. Concepts like anarchy and state sovereignty prevent international law from taking on the same meaning of law as is meant in the context of individualized states. Nevertheless, it is there, and it is important to know the ramifications of it. This thesis attempts to provide an empirical analysis to a legal argument, that treaties should be viewed as contracts. In applying this framework, this paper then examines what type of treaties are unstable treaties, those that end as a result of conflict between the states or an unfulfilled obligation, as well as what types of treaties lead to a mitigation of war. To accomplish this, the paper conducts a Cox proportional hazard model examining the hazard rates of treaties becoming unstable and treaties leading to war. Through this analysis, the paper adds to the current literature on how security treaties work and provides foreign policy advice as to what type of treaty would best lead to peace
Compliance with social norms in the face of risks: Delineating the roles of uncertainty about risk perceptions versus risk perceptions
No full textSocial norms are often considered as behavioral guidelines to mitigate health and environmental risks. However, our understanding of the magnitude of their impact on risk-mitigating behaviors and how perceptions of risks affect the magnitude remains limited. Given the increasing importance of understanding factors influencing behavioral responses to health and environmental risks, this research examines whether the relationship between social norms and behavioral intention to mitigate health and environmental risks is a function of (1) risk perceptions and (2) uncertainty about risk perceptions. A cross-sectional survey involving a national sample (N = 803) across three health and environmental risks (i.e., infectious diseases, climate change, and water shortage) is conducted. The results reveal a three-way interaction between descriptive norms, uncertainty about susceptibility, and uncertainty about severity on behavioral intention to mitigate the risk. Individuals exhibit the strongest intention to engage in risk-mitigating behaviors when they perceive prevailing social norms and are uncertain about their susceptibility to the risk and the severity of the risk. Moreover, injunctive norms interact with uncertainty about susceptibility to influence behavioral intention, such that the more uncertain individuals feel about their vulnerability to a risk, the stronger the impact of injunctive norms is on behavioral intention. Neither descriptive nor injunctive norms interact with perceived risks to influence behavioral intention. This study contributes valuable insights into the interplay between social norms, uncertainty about perceived risk, and behavioral intention, and offers valuable theoretical and practical implications
Development and External Validation of Clinical Features-based Machine Learning Models for Predicting COVID-19 in the Emergency Department
No full textIntroduction: Timely diagnosis of patients affected by an emerging infectious disease plays a crucial role in treating patients and avoiding disease spread. In prior research, we developed an approach using machine learning (ML) algorithms to predict serious acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infection based on clinical features of patients visiting an emergency department (ED) during the early coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In this study, we aimed to externally validate this approach within a distinct ED population. Methods: To create our training/validation cohort (model development) we collected data retrospectively from suspected COVID-19 patients at a US ED from February 23-May 12, 2020. Another dataset was collected as an external validation (testing) cohort from an ED in another country from May 12-June 2021. Clinical features including patient demographics and triage information were used to train and test the models. The primary outcome was the confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19, defined as a positive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test result for SARS-CoV-2. We employed three different ML algorithms, including gradient boosting, random forest, and extra trees classifiers, to construct the predictive model. The predictive performances were evaluated with the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) in the testing cohort. Results: In total, 580 and 946 ED patients were included in the training and testing cohorts, respectively. Of them, 98 (16.9%) and 180 (19.0%) were diagnosed with COVID-19. All the constructed ML models showed acceptable discrimination, as indicated by the AUC. Among them, random forest (0.785, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.747-0.822) performed better than gradient boosting (0.774, 95% CI 0.739-0.811) and extra trees classifier (0.72, 95% CI 0.677-0.762). There was no significant difference between the constructed models. Conclusion: Our study validates the use of ML for predicting COVID-19 in the ED and demonstrates its potential for predicting emerging infectious diseases based on models built by clinical features with temporal and spatial heterogeneity. This approach holds promise for scenarios where effective diagnostic tools for an emerging infectious disease may be lacking in the future. [West J Emerg Med. 2024;25(1)67-78.
IMPLICATIONS OF STERIC CONGESTION ON SHEET FORMATION: 26-ATOM MACROCYCLES
No full textMolecular engineering of large macrocyclic compounds offers new avenues to disrupt protein-protein interfaces and potentially halt pathways that lead to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. The hallmark of Alzheimer's disease involves the aggregation of so-called amyloid peptides that exhibit characteristic B-sheet structures. Thus, designing macrocycles that structurally/topologically mimic B-sheets should enhance the affinity of these macrocycles towards the amyloid aggregates and lead to rational design of more advanced scaffolds with therapeutic potential. These scaffolds could potentially present opportunities to interfere with protein-protein interactions, thus preventing amyloid plaque formation.
This work will describe the synthesis of structurally- and functionally-diverse macrocyclic scaffolds to understand the factors that contribute to B-sheet formation. Here, 26-atom macrocycles prepared in three-steps will be described. Using a triazine core, a protected hydrazine group and an acetal on an amino acid tether, a monomer can be prepared in two steps. Acetals ranging from 2-4 carbons can be used to yield rings of 22-28 atoms. Treatment with acid leads to dimerization in very high yields. Varying the amino acid choice can lead to synthesis of different homodimers and heterodimers. Previous work proves acetal length dictates morphology; three-carbon acetals give folded conformations and five-carbon acetals yield crinkled B-sheets. Four-carbon acetals yield the flattened B-sheets described here. NMR spectroscopy provides confirmation of synthesis and 2D-NMR techniques offer opportunities to probe solution structure more efficiently. Intramolecular hydrogen bonding within the template exhibited by 1D-NMR may corroborate the belief that that these macrocycles adopt a B-sheet like structure