This project examined the effects menstruation may have on visual attention in women. A recent study examined electroencephalographic (EEG) gender differences using a visual object recognition task. Results indicated certain EEG amplitudes (specifically, P300 and N400) are greater in women than men. This study extended the previous findings to determine if these increased EEG amplitudes vary across menstrual phases. Eighteen female participants participated in a series of 3 EEG recording sessions using the same visual object recognition task from the previous study; 18 male participants completed this task once. Analyses from 15 of the 18 female and 16 of the 18 male participants support the previous finding of larger P300 amplitudes in response to relevant stimuli for women compared with men. While there was no distinctive N400 component in this study, there was a late negative (LN) component which was found to vary significantly between men and women. In addition, multiple visual evoked potential (VEP) components varied significantly across the menstrual cycle. In particular, the N200 component appeared to provide greater differences between menstrual phases than either the P300 or LN components; however, the results varied greatly by head location. The differentiation found with VEP components in response to the pop-out task used in this study provide support for basic visual processing variation across the menstrual cycle and between genders.

Following excavations in the Promontory Caves and at several open sites in the Provo River Delta region, Steward (1937) characterized the Promontory culture as large game hunters. He based this on the high number of bison bones recovered within the Caves. Excavations at additional Promontory sites along the Wasatch Front contain faunal assemblages which differ significantly from those in the caves, showing that people living at open sites relied more heavily on small game, waterfowl, and aquatic resources than large game. These differences have been mostly attributed to Steward's sampling strategy and lack of screening, but faunal material recovered during 2011 excavations at the caves support Steward's initial assessment: the people living in the caves were hunting large game and little else. Using faunal data from seven sites, I discuss how the faunal assemblages differ and the implications of hunting practices in discussions of Promontory culture.

In my paper, I argue that the underlying social ideals of the late modern labor market, namely flexibility and singularity, undermine human flourishing as conceptualized by Martha C. Nussbaum. It is on these grounds, that we should be critical of late modernity. For an account of late modernity, I rely on the sociological works of Ulrich Beck (1992), Zygmunt Bauman (2000; 2007a), and Andreas Reckwitz (Reckwitz & Pakis, 2020). My account of this socio-historical era focusses on the three main components that set it apart from the previous industrial modernity according to the aforementioned sociologists: the revolution in ICT, the creative economy, and the socio-cultural revolution within the new middle class. It becomes clear that these three components contribute to a more liquid, flexible, and singularized setting. On this basis, then, I will introduce the ethical theory of Martha C. Nussbaum: The Capabilities Approach. I will justify the methodological choice of using her theory, and not that the Capabilities approach of Amartya Sen. My focus on human flourishing will be defended against the accusation of being universalist or biased, and the suggestion that preference utilitarianism would be a better fit for my research objective.  The main body of my paper is the ethical analysis and weighing of arguments for and against my thesis, that we ought to object to the social ideals promoted by the late modern labor market because they undermine human flourishing. I will give two main arguments in support of this thesis, each corresponding to one of Nussbaum's central Capabilities. The first one identifies a conflict between the requirements for our emotional Capability and the kind of self-sufficiency needed to achieve the social ideal of flexibility. I show, that flexibility has become a necessary coping strategy for the late modern individual, making the conflict a pressing one to solve. My second argument draws out a lack of respect and dignity granted to those who perform functional labor (mostly in the service sector) in late modernity, because the functional worker can not live up to the social ideal of singularity. The lack of respect for functional workers pushes them below the threshold required for human flourishing. Finally, I will consider the counterargument, that the late modern labor market provides better opportunities for creative expression and self-actualization. Is that not the epitome of human flourishing i.e. the actualization of one's potentialities? However, I refute this counterargument on multiple grounds: firstly, the goal is not human flourishing, but economic profit. Secondly, it promotes a kind of consumerism, that seems to conflict with emotional needs. Lastly, the workers who are enabled creative expression, are and will remain few.

Plato's 'Crito' depicts Socrates in prison awaiting his execution and arguing that despite the injustice of his sentence, he is morally obligated to remain there so that it can be carried out. The early Socratic dialogues were concerned with the nature of the virtues which formed the foundation of Athenian morals. This "primacy of virtue" has developed into the modern theory of virtue ethics. In this thesis, I argue that in the 'Crito', Socrates sets aside his typical virtue ethics approach, and instead utilizes a deontological framework for his arguments. I apply the deontological theories of Immanuel Kant and W. D. Ross to the 'Crito' in an attempt to demonstrate that it has a distinctly duty-based focus that is consistent with the work of Kant and Ross. Finally, I raise the question of whether Ross' theory can be viewed as a bridge between virtue ethics and deontological ethics.

ABSTRACT The Characterization and Analysis of In-vitro and Elevated Temperature Repassivation of Ti-6Al-4V via AFM Techniques Aaron J Guerrero Research in the corrosion of orthopaedic implants is a growing research field where implants have been known to show adverse effects in patients who have encountered the unfortunate dissolution of their implants due to corrosion. Once corrosion begins within the body, many adverse biological reactions can occur such as late on-set infections resulting in severe health complications. The focus of this research is specifically related to the problem of late on-set infections caused by localized corrosion of orthopaedic implants. In medical implants today the most common form of corrosion protection is the implant materials’ ability to impede corrosion through the formation of an oxide layer. This ability to passivate and quickly repassivate a uniform and stable oxide layer dictates how well an orthopaedic implant will survive in-vivo. To better understand the repassivation of orthopaedic implant materials, research was conducted at the nanoscale via atomic force microscopy (AFM) on anodized Ti-6Al-4V. Using an Asylum Research MFP-3DTM AFM and AFM lithography techniques, nano scratch test methods were created simulating in-vitro surface repassivation conditions. These nano-scratches were created and characterized in Hank’s balanced saline solution (HBSS) with the AFM in contact mode at 1 and 3 Hz scan rates. HBSS was used as it best simulates the pH, ionic compounds, and constituents that are commonly found in blood. It was discovered that the AFM was successful in creating in-vitro repassivation conditions. However, the ability of the AFM to successfully observe repassivation was limited by the speed of the AFM scanner. Using the same AFM scratch methods, experiments were performed in air and in-vitro and characterized with AFM conductance measurements at 20, 37, & 45 °C. The conductance measurements were taken using an AFM conductance module and allowed for observations of decreasing current measurements over time. The current data was then used to calculate current density, resistivity, conductance, and electron mobility and compared to similar experiments This study highlights the ability of the AFM to create and characterize repassivation and shows promise in developing further capability to use the AFM for characterization of repassivation on the nanoscale. Keywords: Orthopaedics, late on-set infections, repassivation, AFM, lithography, conductive measurements.

As a novel on contemporary issues (shishi xiaoshuo 时事小说), the unfinished novel The Stone of Goddess Nüwa (Nüwa shi 女娲石; 1904-1905) recounts a story about new women’s attempts to save the nation, which is a reflection of late-Qing China. From a historical perspective, I aim to provide a study of the Nüwa stone and characterization of new women in the novel with the help of multiple intertexts. My thesis explores how the stone and the characterization elaborate the theme and design of the novel: new women saving the nation, which includes radical ideas for women and national salvation in the late Qing. Against the socio-cultural context of The Stone of Goddess Nüwa, I argue that through the characterization and narrative designs of the stone, the novel presents its explorations to solve social and political problems for national salvation, in which female power plays a central and crucial role. This thesis endeavors to both enrich the understanding and value of The Stone of Goddess Nüwa from a historical perspective and call critical attention to its meaning in the decades’ exploration of improving both China and Chinese women in literary works from the late Qing.

Late Ordovician (Cincinnatian) strata of the central Appalachians provide an opportunity to study the effects of both tectonics and eustasy within a foreland-basin setting. The Juniata Formation consists of red sandstones, siltstones, and shales that were deposited as part of an extensive siliciclastic basin-fill that resulted from the Taconic Orogeny. This study attempts to resolve some of the questions regarding tectonic and eustatic influences on sedimentation by (1) reconstructing the paleogeographic environment of the Juniata Formation and (2) examining the stratigraphic architecture of the Juniata Formation. A combination of both outcrop and subsurface data was analyzed. Seven facies were identified in this study, including: (1) "proto-vertisols", (2) red shale/mudstone, (3) siltstone/silty mudstone with interbedded sandstones, (4) quartz arenite and sublithic arenite, (5) argillaceous sandstone, (6) hummocky-bedded sandstones and siltstones, and (7) lithic sandstones and conglomerates. These facies are grouped into four facies associations (A–D), which are interpreted to be deposited from the inner shelf to the upper shoreface. Isopach and paleocurrent data suggest the shoreline was oriented NE–SW and detrital sediment was dispersed west and southwest across the basin. Tectonics controlled the 2nd-Order basin-fill pattern, and these patterns vary along the strike of the basin. Eustatic changes are expressed in two 3rd-Order sequences that were identified in the formation, and possibly in the 4th-Order (?) cycles of Facies Association A. The Ordovician–Silurian boundary is expressed as an unconformity throughout the study area, and along-strike variations in the structural setting of the basin were important in its development. / Master of Science

This work offers an interdisciplinary study of preventative health in 16th and 17th century Italy. Previous studies on the practice and prescription of early modern preventative health are few, and scholars have tended to assume that medical understanding of the body's humors remained relatively static during this period.

This research attempts to describe the material culture of the Gaelic labouring classes living in western Ulster in the Late Medieval period. The research combines ethnohistorical contextual and technical scientific analysis of ‘chance’ finds discovered in the region’s bogs. Technical analysis dates fifteen museum objects, characterises the materials from which they were made, and explores their cultural significance. Absolute dating indicates that one third of the 15 objects analysed relate to the Gaelic lordships of late medieval western Ulster, with the remainder reflecting aspects of Iron Age and Post-Medieval material culture and related cultural pracrices. Contextual analysis of the later medieval objects and their find locations provides new insights into Gaelic Irish culture and landscape interactions in this period and place. In addition, the research explores the trajectory of indigenous materiality in western Ulster beyond the Late Medieval period. To this end, the thesis examines the relationship between Late Medieval indigenous materiality, and the folk material culture that emerges in western Ulster in the Modern period. / Heritage Consortium, Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK)

This thesis investigates new late Quaternary vegetation records from four sites in the Craven District of the Yorkshire Dales. The chosen sites fall along an east-west transect broadly following the line of the south Craven Fault. The rationale for site selection was not based on conventional palynological considerations of potential for rich core samples, rather to provide a range of different locations within a distinct micro-region each existing in some specific proximity to known archaeological features. The logic was to attempt to get beyond broad ¿natural¿ climatological and vegetational inferences to understand the nature and level of potential anthropogenically produced change at a local scale as a sub-set of natural change in a broader regional zone over time. The sites reveal varied vegetation histories from the Late Glacial period to the present day and all show signs of being influenced by changes in their arboreal structure at some time, although no two sites have exactly the same vegetation communities until around 5000 BP when the tree canopy is opened to allow an open grassland to dominate. The results indicate the possibility that Betula values, in particular, might indicate cooling events found in the Greenland ice cores for Greenland Interstadial 1 as well as the Pre-boreal Oscillation and the Holocene 9.3 ka BP Event. Closer chronological control of such values could help to determine whether vegetational dynamics were synchronous with fluctuations in temperature and the speed with which trees respond to severe temperature fluctuations. Various hiatuses identified during analysis of the cores may be caused by human influence on the wetlands, given that archaeological evidence from caves shows human occupation of the Craven area from the late Upper Palaeolithic onwards. / Natural Environment Research Council