Imagine one million and six hundred thousand years ago — a prehistoric character points. There in the moistened soil, the hominid Homo habilis draws a line, inscribing with her finger the first mark. At the core of my work is a meditation on this very scene as the otherwise unknowable origins of image making. And at the center of this discovery is a prehistoric woman — a previously invisible character within human evolution. My work aims to insert these characters into the origins of tool use, image making, and other supposed markers of humanness while also examining historical representations of women. Like science fiction, the field of physical anthropology allows me to reimagine our past, or even our future, with a criticality of the ways in which patriarchal and religious structures have shaped our understanding of human evolution and our representations of our past. In substituting aliens for extinct species of human ancestors and the unknown of space for the primordial earth as we will never know it, I have a vast imaginable world within which to invent and recreate narratives of origin and discovery.

Chronologically I have described the different environments that I have been exposed to in the past five years and how my interactions with the different locations have affected my work. I started writing about what I was doing a year after finishing my undergraduate degree, when I started to feel as though I needed to re-invent my work in a way that also meant trying to see the process of creating art differently. I didn't know yet how this new work would begin to generate, or what would inspire it, but I knew that I was seeking a studio practice that would be personal enough to sustain a lifetime of exploration. In the end I found the inspiration had always been all around me.

Det finns inte mycket forskning på ämnet förtexter, speciellt inte i film som utspelar sig i framtiden. Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka förtextens form och funktion utifrån en semiotisk analys som använder sig av de begrepp semiotiken medför i tolkandet av tecken. De två frågeställningar i arbetet är “I tolkandet av förtexten utifrån semiotisk analys, vilka val och budskap går att finna i förtextens form?” och “Vilka funktioner fyller de utvalda förtexterna för filmernas narrativ?”   I urvalet av filmerna utgick jag från filmer som utspelas i framtiden, detta för att möjliggöra ett eventuellt eget och nytt uttryck för den tid då filmerna utspelar sig. Filmerna är Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979), Brazil (Terry Gilliam, 1985) och The Matrix (Lana och Lilly Wachowski, 1999). Dessa filmer utgår också från tre decennier. Mitt material för att göra analyserna utgick från hermeneutisk metod tillsammans med semiotisk analys. För att kunna tolka de tecken och begrepp som semiotiken medför utgick jag ifrån bl.a. texter av Gripsruds och Bignell. Detta förenat med historia och förhållningssätt till titeldesign, samt information om filmerna och deras produktioner. Uppsatsen resultat framställer att förtexternas form följer filmens funktioner i alla tre filmerna. Analyserna tydliggör att de val som gjorts i skapande ofta går att härleda direkt till filmens narrativ eller konceptuella idéer om varför titelsekvensen uppfattas som den gör utifrån de semiotiska begreppen. Samtidigt visar resultatet att förtextens design skulle vara ett tydligt sätt för att utöka filmens värld ytterligare och skapa ett sammanhängande uttryck till filmernas paketering och marknadsföring.

O estudo foi realizado com pessoas do sexo masculino e que viveram a experiência de sofrer um trauma que acarretou a lesão da medula espinal. Teve como objetivos: - compreender os significados que a pessoa atribui a sua experiência de ser lesado medular; - compreender a maneira como a dimensão atribuída ao significado de ser lesado medular se manifesta nas ações da pessoa; - desenvolver um modelo teórico representativo da experiência da pessoa que sofreu uma lesão traumática na medula espinal. Utilizou-se como referencial teórico o Interacionismo Simbólico e como referencial metodológico, a Teoria Fundamentada nos Dados. A estratégia para a obtenção dos dados foi a entrevista. Dos resultados emergiram dois fenômenos - Sobrevivendo ao Acidente e Vivendo uma Nova Realidade. Destes, identificou-se a categoria central - Re dimensionando limitações e possibilidades. A compreensão da experiência da pessoa que adquire uma lesão da medula espinal possibilitou reconhecer como as vivências, que ocorrem após a constatação da deficiência física, são percebidas por esses indivíduos, e como redimensionam os significados que vão atribuindo às situações diferentes que passam a vivenciar. O modelo teórico mostra que a experiência de ter se tornado um paraplégico ou um tetraplégico, é permeada pela vivência de limitações, e dependências, sentimentos e reações que vão sendo dimensionados e redimensionados à medida que vai re elaborando significados e valores, e desenvolvendo ações que lhe apontam possibilidades, as quais toma posse mediante as escolhas que faz para dar continuidade ou sentido à vida preservada, porém modificada / A study conducted with adult males who had undergone the experience of suffering trauma causing spinal cord injury (SCI). The aim was to: - understand the meaning patients gave to their experience of being an SCI bearer; - understand how the dimensions attributed to being a SCI bearer manifested itself in the person\'s behavior; - develop a theoretical model representative of the experience of the person who suffered SCI. The study used as a theoretical reference Symbolic Interactionism and used the Grounded Theory methodology. Data was collected through interviews. Two phenomena emerged from the findings: \"Surviving the Accident\" and \"Living a New Reality\". Of these the central category was identified as Re defining limits and possibilities. Understanding of the experience of SCI bearers made it possible to recognize how the events that occurred after the diagnosis of the physical deficiency is perceived by the persons and how they redefine the meaning attributed to the different situations they came to experience after suffering the acquired physical deficiency. The theoretical model reveals that the experience of having become a paraplegic or tetraplegic involved a lot of coping with limitations and dependency, emotions and reactions that go on being defined and redefined as the individual restructured values and developed actions that led to possibilities of overcoming, which were adopted through the choices made, so as to give continuity of meaning to the life that remained, although in its modified state

The purpose of this study was to examine potential predictors of PTG across time in Veterans with acquired physical disabilities. Specifically, this study aimed to understand how various demographic and injury characteristics, coping styles, appraisals of injury, and social support might predict trajectories of PTG from discharge from inpatient rehabilitation through 12 months after baseline. Initial curvature analyses suggested that a cubic polynomial trend best fit the movement of PTG over time, generally conforming to an initial increase, decrease, and then plateau or slight increase. Four HLMs were run to examine whether demographic and injury characteristics, coping styles, appraisals of injury, and social support predicted the height of this cubic architecture of PTG across baseline, 1, 3, 6, and 12-month follow ups, and a final HLM examined whether any statistically significant fixed effects in the first four HLMs interacted with time in the prediction of participants’ PTG trajectories. Estimated premorbid IQ was negatively associated, while age was positively associated with the height of PTG over time. Reframing and religious coping were positively associated with PTG over time, as were challenge appraisals. Three types of social support did not independently predict PTG trajectories, although bivariate correlations suggested the presence of isolated relationships between different types of social support and PTG at certain time points. None of the significant predictors interacted with time in predicting participants’ PTG trajectories.

The numbers of people with spinal cord injuries (SCI) in Thailand are increasing. Thai rehabilitation care focuses treatment on acute care with little attention to the lives of clients after discharge from institutions. To date, there has been no research on rehabilitation outcomes and factors relevant to these issues for people with SCI at home and in the community in Thailand. The purpose of this study was to identify and compare the outcomes of functional status, depression, anxiety and stress, and health status of people with SCI, both at discharge and at three months post-discharge from hospital. One hundred twenty-one participants with SCI were recruited from ten major hospitals in Thailand. Data was collected at 48 hours pre-discharge and again at three months post-discharge using the Functional Independence Measure (FIM), the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS), and the SF-36 Health Survey. The results demonstrated that mean scores of functional status at discharge were significantly higher than at three months post-discharge. Depression and anxiety scores at discharge were significantly lower than depression and anxiety scores at three months postdischarge. Stress score had not significantly changed from discharge to post-discharge. Health status scores at discharge were also higher than at three months post-discharge on eight subscales. Factors relevant to or predicting functional status were marital status, attendant care, number of architectural barriers, fulfilled occupational therapy (OT) needs, and number of different services required but not received. Factors predicting depression, anxiety and stress were marital and economic status, age at onset, education level, duration of disability, fulfilled OT needs, number of different services received, and numbers of different service required but not received. / Factors predicting health status were marital status, economic status, age at onset, education level, duration of disability, attendant care, number of architectural barriers, fulfilled OT needs, number of different services received, and number of different services required but not received. Some predictive factors are culture-specific, but on others, rehabilitation professionals could ease the transition from hospital to home for people with SCI.

<p>Climatic variation and change affect the dynamics of organisms and ecosystem processes. This thesis examines phytoplankton as a target variable to trace climatic impacts on Lake Erken (Sweden) with special emphasis on the spring bloom. </p><p>A strong correlation between the timing of the spring bloom and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) illustrates the link between atmospheric pressure variations and local biological processes. The predictive power increased by applying a recently established regional Scandinavian Circulation Index (SCI). Changes to an earlier timing of the spring bloom and elevated water temperature were induced by the global warming trend. The climate signal was still persistent in summer manifested by an enhanced summer phytoplankton biomass. </p><p>Between spring and summer, the phytoplankton was mainly controlled by phosphorus limitation. The application of a new method to measure alkaline phosphatase activity revealed that P-limitation varied between species and among individual cells.</p><p>Combining the above knowledge and literature data, the impact of the NAO on the timing of life history events, biomass and trophic cascade in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems was quantitatively tested with a meta-analysis. In all environments, pronounced effects of the NAO were apparent, indicating the generality of climate effects found in different ecosystems. </p><p>Finally, a regional climate model was applied, forcing a physical lake model from which future lake conditions were simulated. The simulation revealed a one-month shorter ice cover period with two years out of ten being completely ice free. Internal eutrophication is one of the expected consequences. </p><p>In conclusion, the strong influences of global and regional climate are apparent in local physical, chemical and biological variables and will most probably also in future affect the structure and function of processes in lakes. </p>

Injury to the cervical spinal cord results in complete or partial loss of arm and hand function, severely limiting the performance of daily activities. Deficits in hand function in individuals with cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) are primarily due to a loss of descending motor pathways that are vital for fine control of the hand and fingers. In addition to these deficits, secondary plastic reorganization may create further loss of function. This thesis will explore the following questions: 1. What are the similarities and differences between cortical organization of muscles affected by a cervical SCI to those not affected by the injury?; 2. Do individuals with cervical SCI improve in hand function and cortical organization after an intensive hand training intervention?; 3. Which physical therapy intervention provides the optimal conditions by which to improve hand function following cervical SCI? In chapter 2 we compare cortical motor maps of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) evoked responses of muscles rostral and caudal to the injury to those of ND individuals. The cortical maps of the biceps brachii or the thenar muscles were constructed, and compared between ND individuals and individuals with SCI. The motor threshold (MT) for the thenar muscles in individuals with SCI was significantly higher than ND individuals. The purpose of the study described in chapter 3 was to compare the functional and cortical changes associated with two different interventions: unimanual or bimanual massed practice training, both combined with somatosensory stimulation. There was a significant difference between pre- and post-intervention scores on tests measuring unimanual hand function, bimanual hand function, and sensory function. This difference was associated with a difference between pre- and post-intervention cortical map area. The purpose of the study described in chapter 4 was to compare clinical and cortical changes associated with either a delayed intervention control period or a combined intervention of massed practice training with electrical stimulation. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: delayed intervention control group or immediate intervention group. Participants were also randomly assigned to one of four groups: unimanual training with somatosensory stimulation, bimanual training with somatosensory stimulation, unimanual training with functional electrical stimulation, or bimanual training with functional electrical stimulation. There was a significant difference between the control and immediate intervention group on the test measuring unimanual hand function. Participants in the bimanual group performed significantly better on the test measuring bimanual hand function. There was a significant difference between the control group and immediate intervention group in cortical map area. In chapter 5 we discuss the clinical relevance of the results of the studies described in three prior chapters. Conclusions drawn include the idea that cortical maps of muscles caudal to the level of injury in individuals with SCI have higher motor thresholds than ND participants. Individuals with tetraplegia can improve in hand function and sensation with a physical therapy intervention of massed practice training combined with somatosensory stimulation. Finally, the type of training (unimanual massed practice or bimanual massed practice) influences the type of improvements gained, however the type of electrical stimulation does not influence the clinical outcome.

Climatic variation and change affect the dynamics of organisms and ecosystem processes. This thesis examines phytoplankton as a target variable to trace climatic impacts on Lake Erken (Sweden) with special emphasis on the spring bloom. A strong correlation between the timing of the spring bloom and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) illustrates the link between atmospheric pressure variations and local biological processes. The predictive power increased by applying a recently established regional Scandinavian Circulation Index (SCI). Changes to an earlier timing of the spring bloom and elevated water temperature were induced by the global warming trend. The climate signal was still persistent in summer manifested by an enhanced summer phytoplankton biomass. Between spring and summer, the phytoplankton was mainly controlled by phosphorus limitation. The application of a new method to measure alkaline phosphatase activity revealed that P-limitation varied between species and among individual cells. Combining the above knowledge and literature data, the impact of the NAO on the timing of life history events, biomass and trophic cascade in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems was quantitatively tested with a meta-analysis. In all environments, pronounced effects of the NAO were apparent, indicating the generality of climate effects found in different ecosystems. Finally, a regional climate model was applied, forcing a physical lake model from which future lake conditions were simulated. The simulation revealed a one-month shorter ice cover period with two years out of ten being completely ice free. Internal eutrophication is one of the expected consequences. In conclusion, the strong influences of global and regional climate are apparent in local physical, chemical and biological variables and will most probably also in future affect the structure and function of processes in lakes.

With shows such as Big Bang Theory and the increased mainstreaming of San Diego Comic-con, now more than ever before, it is acceptable to be a “nerd”. The question now becomes what efforts are being made to appeal to fans of color in traditional “nerd” activities, specifically comic books (this can include television shows and movies based on comic book characters), anime, and science fiction. Throughout the decades, there have been various attempts to have a discourse about the lack of diversity in nerd culture, both among its creators and characters from various properties considered beloved to nerds. Only, at the time of this writing, in recent years does there seem to be an increase among fans of color discussing these issues in the world at large, and not just in their own social group(s). This research will discover how minority fans feel about representation, or lack thereof, in the three above fandom. It will examine how minority fans feel about specific instants involving race and ethnicity in fandom from the past year. What I have discovered is that, issues of race are not discussed among the majority of fans and creators. Occasionally, when such issues are discussed there is an amount of hostility from white fans.