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<p> Most people in Western culture are inclined, if not obsessed, with the need to maintain perpetual youthfulness in their actions, attitudes, and image. This cultural ideal is fueled by inner fear as well as age-related stereotypes, prejudice, media messaging, consumerism, and lifestyle strategies. Most of these age-related factors are connected to "ageism," a 1969 term coined by Robert Butler. While the majority of people display various ageist attitudes, often it is without awareness. In a culture that is so profoundly accepting of such a phenomenon, individuals and the church should consider an appropriate Christian response in light of ageism's impacts that include discrimination, loss of self-worth, fear of aging, and judgment of self and others. Once aware of its prevalence and impact, this thesis proposes that the church can respond by raising awareness of ageism and its implications, and modeling a "better way" in its daily life and ministry.</p> / Thesis / Master of Divinity (M.Div)

Ultimate is the fastest growing field sport in America. Created in 1968, forty-five years later the sport was still on the periphery of the mainstream but reached new heights in 2013 – two professional leagues, over 800 college teams and a broadcasting deal with ESPN – and the discussions throughout the sports’ history have never been as relevant. Self-officiation and the Spirit of the Game are the main tenets that make up the ethos of the sport and its community. These unique aspects differentiate Ultimate’s predominate culture from that of mainstream sports culture. This study shows the countercultural ties and survival of the ethos during the adolescent period of Ultimate’s evolution (1987-2010). It examines the progression of the community’s established grassroots culture and the governing body of the sport alongside the influx of young players with mainstream sports attitudes who bolstered certain organizers’ attempts to alter Ultimate in the hopes of gaining “legitimacy” through adding third-party officials, commercialization and corporate sponsorship.

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My dissertation examines the broader social context of hookup culture and dating in this current digital age. Data comes from a mixed-methods study that draws on original self-administered surveys (N=196) and focus groups with undergraduate women (N=21) at a university in Ontario, Canada. In this dissertation, I show that hooking up and dating coexist on campus and I examine the broader social context of hookup culture as constituted by women’s friendship groups and new technology to date and hookup. Through this research, my findings reveal how the pursuit of pleasure comes alongside many non-consensual encounters for undergraduate women. Taken as a whole, my research reveals the pleasures and perils of partying, dating, swiping, Snapchatting, and hooking up for undergraduate women. In Chapter Three, I draw on the descriptive statistics from my self-administered online survey and focus groups with undergraduate women to investigate whether hookup culture has emerged in a different social context without a dominating Greek culture and the role of new dating/hookup technology in this culture. In Chapter Four, I draw on the focus groups to show that hookup culture should not be understood as only about a set of expectations around sexual partners, but rather, hookup culture is heavily organized around women’s friendships with other women who support each other as they navigate the hookup scene and attempt to mitigate risks to their safety. In Chapter Five, I examine the potential of new dating apps to improve women’s dating/hookup experiences, revealing that they often fail to achieve their promises and, in other cases, they introduce new unforeseen risks to women’s safety. / Thesis / Candidate in Philosophy / My dissertation examines the broader social context of hookup culture and dating in this current digital age. Data comes from a mixed-methods study that draws on original self-administered surveys (N=196) and focus groups with undergraduate women (N=21) at a university in Ontario, Canada. In this dissertation, I show that hooking up and dating coexist on campus and I examine the broader social context of hookup culture as constituted by women’s friendship groups and new technology to date and hookup. Through this research, my findings reveal how the pursuit of pleasure comes alongside many non-consensual encounters for undergraduate women. Taken as a whole, my research reveals the pleasures and perils of partying, dating, swiping, Snapchatting, and hooking up for undergraduate women.

In this dissertation I use the production of culture perspective as a lens to analyze the emergence of craft beer in the US. In doing so, I examine how the six facets of the production of culture perspective have both constrained and stimulated the production of craft beer in the US. The six facets of the production of culture perspective are: law and regulation, industry structure, organizational structure, markets, technology, and occupational careers. These six facets, in concert, allowed the craft beer movement to emerge in the 1970s. In order to demonstrate the effects each facet has on the production of craft beer I employ a content analysis of All About Beer, an industry trade publication that reports on the craft beer culture. Additionally, I analyze the structure of the brewing industry through secondary data regarding technology, production, and industry concentration. In my analysis I demonstrate how the POC explains the production of cultural goods. I also highlight the limitations of the perspective and suggest future avenues of research. / Ph. D.

The primary purpose of this investigation is not only to improve the present technique of culture of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but also to make a comparative study of the media use, namely, Veterans Administration modification of Trudeau's medium, Lowenstein's egg medium, and that developed by the author, in order to find which, if any, of these will most easily and effectively meet the needs of the hospital laboratory.

The popular use of in vitro systems for toxicity studies has increased dramatically over the past decade. Among the in vitro systems used, primary hepatocyte cultures are the most widely employed. However, in addition to being difficult to obtain and maintain in culture, the functional heterogeneity of liver is absent. Primary organ cultures of thin liver slices should overcome these limitations but the lack of a reproducible method for the rapid preparation of thin, consistent slices, combined with the difficulty in maintaining adult liver tissue in culture, has hindered their use for in vitro hepatotoxicity studies. Using a recently-developed tissue slicer, thin, consistent liver slices were prepared rapidly under minimally traumatic conditions. Subsequent culture of these slices in a novel dynamic organ culture system (DOCS) resulted in a maintenance of hepatocyte functional integrity. Slice adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and K⁺ content were maintained at in vivo levels, following an initial recovery period (2-4h) for up to 20h. Protein synthesis and secretion were linear for 20h and 16h respectively. Slices also synthesized glycogen between 4 and 12h in culture and were hormonally-responsive during the 20h culture period as demonstrated by a two-fold stimulation of glucose production by glucagon (10⁻⁷ M). Bromobenzene and allyl alcohol hepatotoxicity were studied in this system of organ culture. The slices retained their biotransformation ability for at least 6h based on maintenance of cytochrome P-450 content and O-deethylase activity. Either compound caused dose (.01-1.0 mM) and time (0-6h) dependent cytotoxicity as indicated by the loss of slice K⁺, inhibition of protein synthesis and leakage of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). By 2h, a significant (p < 0.05) inhibition of protein synthesis was observed in allyl alcohol (.05 mM) treated slices. At 4h and 6h, significant loss of slice K('+), LDH, and inhibition of protein synthesis were evident in slices exposed to allyl alcohol (0.25 mM) or bromobenzene (0.5 mM). This toxicity was blocked by co-treatment with pyrazole (1.0 mM) or SKF 525-A (100 μM) in slices exposed to allyl alcohol or bromobenzene, respectively. Therefore, this system provides a new tool for the in vitro study of hepatotoxicity under conditions where hepatocellular functional integrity and biotransformation are maintained.

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