Thesis advisor: Heather Rowan-Kenyon / According to the National Center for Health Statistics (2007), 18-24 year olds are most likely to report heavy drinking in the past year compared to other adults. Heavy alcohol use is problematic not only in itself, but also because it is associated with a host of other negative outcomes. Research has identified traditional-age college men (age 18-24), who are White, and members of a Greek organization or athletic team as the most likely to consume alcohol in excess (Ham & Hope, 2003; Hingson & White, 2012). White men, members of Greek organizations, and college athletes are also the populations least likely to change their behavior as a result of current alcohol interventions employed by colleges and universities (Fachini, Aliane, Martinez, & Furtado, 2012; LaBrie, Pedersen, Lamb, & Quinlan, 2007; Lundahl, Kunz, Brownell, Tollefson, & Burke, 2010; Mattern & Neighbors, 2004). The primary shortcoming of previous research into this problem, is that it has failed to take an intersectional approach to the phenomenon of college men’s alcohol use. To address this gap, this study surveyed 1,457 college men across five college in the Northeastern United States, using the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI; Mahalik et al., 2003) the Revised Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM-R; Phinney & Ong, 2007) and the Social Dominance Orientation scale (SDO; Pratto, Sidanius, Stallworth, & Malle, 1994). Alcohol consumption was predicted using zero-inflated negative binomial regressions and zero-inflated Poisson regressions, and alcohol problems were predicted using logistic regressions. The study found that the college men’s drinking was primarily predicted by the masculine norms of risk taking, having power over women, emotional control, and desiring multiple sexual partners. Although the sample size was smaller, for non-White respondents in the study, men’s drinking was also predicted by a focus on heterosexual presentation, and the SDO factor of group based dominance. Alcohol problems were largely predicted by the same masculine norms. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Recent advances in neuroimaging and electromagnetic measurement technology have permitted the exploration of structural and functional brain alterations associated with chronic pain. A number of cortical and subcortical brain regions have been found to be involved in the experience of chronic pain (Baliki et al., 2008; Jensen et al., 2010). Evidence suggests that living with chronic pain shapes the brain from both an architectural and a functional perspective, and that individuals living with chronic pain display altered brainwave activity even at rest. Quantitative EEG (qEEG) is a method of spectral analysis that utilizes a fast Fourier transform algorithm to convert analog EEG signals into digital signals, allowing for precise quantification and analysis of signals both at single electrode locations and across the scalp as a whole. An important advance that has been permitted by qEEG analysis is the development of lifespan normative databases against which individual qEEGs can be compared (Kaiser, 2006; Thatcher et al, 2000). Pilot data utilizing qEEG to examine brainwave patterns of individuals with chronic pain have revealed altered EEG activity at rest compared to age- and gender-matched healthy individuals (Burroughs, 2011). The current investigation extended the findings of the pilot study by utilizing qEEG to examine a larger sample of individuals with chronic pain. Individuals with chronic pain displayed significantly reduced slow wave activity in frontal, central, and temporal regions. Findings will be presented in terms of specific patterns of altered EEG activity seen in individuals with chronic pain.

The purpose of this essay is to study how feminists portray themselves and their opinions about gender issues and other political matters in popular feminist blogs. The blogs that are studied are Lady Dahmer, Fanny Åström, Hanapee and Genusfolket. The overall essay questions are: How does the feminist bloggers present themselves? Which subjects are discussed in the feminist blogs? Which rhetorical devices does the feminist bloggers use? The theories that are used to answer the essay questions are the four spheres where there are inequality between the sexes, theories about third wave feminism, the rhetorical concepts ethos, logos and pathos and the SPADER-model for writing good argumentation. A descriptive method is used to study how the bloggers present themselves, a quantitative content analysis is used to count which subjects the bloggers write about and a qualitative rhetorical text analysis is used to study the rhetorical devices the bloggers use. The result shows that the two bloggers Lady Dahmer and Fanny Åström describe themselves with provocative words while the other blogs have more neutral descriptions. The provocative language was interpreted as a sign of the harsh debate climate that surrounds feminists. The results also shows that the bloggers write about different feminist and political subjects; Lady Dahmer writes mostly about family and relationships, Fanny Åström writes mostly about politics, Hanapee writes mostly about politics and objectifications of women and Genusfolket writes mostly about violence and sexual abuse of women. All bloggers write about racism and this can be related to the third wave feminist notion of intersectionality and antiracist activism. They also debate feminism as an ideology and meet the harsh criticism they get.  This can be related to earlier studies that show that feminists get a lot of harsh criticism in the media and on the Internet and that feminists meet this critique. The rhetorical analysis shows that the bloggers all use some rhetorical devices from the SPADER-model but none of them use statistics or expert quotes in their argumentation. Instead they use personal experience and examples to make their points. The bloggers use mostly pathos-arguments in their texts. They show ethos to different extent and it is most abundant in the analyzed text from Genusfolket.

Bakgrund: Sepsis är ett akut sjukdomstillstånd med varierande symtom och är därför svårt att upptäcka. Tillståndet innebär lidande för patienten och mortaliteten bland drabbade är hög. Snabb identifiering och behandling är av betydelse för patientens hälsa och överlevnad. Sjuksköterskan har ansvar för omvårdnaden, såväl för beroende som oberoende omvårdnadsåtgärder. För att möjliggöra god och säker vård ska sjuksköterskan arbeta förebyggande med patientsäkerhetsarbete. Syfte: Syftet var att undersöka faktorer i sjuksköterskans arbete som är viktiga för att tidigt upptäcka och behandla patienter med sepsis. Metod: Artiklar med kvantitativ design har sammanställts till en litteraturöversikt och analyserats med deduktiv ansats. I urval och datainsamling har Polit och Becks niostegsmodell används och totalt gick 11 artiklar vidare från kvalitetsgranskning till resultat. Resultat: Tre faktorer hittades; Utbildning, screeningverktyg samt riktlinjer för behandling vid sepsis. Utbildning ledde till ökad kunskap och ökade sjuksköterskans förmåga att identifiera sepsis. Vid användning av riktlinjer ökade följsamheten till behandlingsåtgärder och tiden till behandling minskade. Screeningverktyg och riktlinjer för behandling minskade mortaliteten. Slutsats: Sjuksköterskans är central i arbetet för tidig upptäckt och behandling, då sjuksköterskan screenade patienter för sepsis, initierade till och utförde behandlingsåtgärder. För att säker vård ska möjliggöras vid sepsis krävs såväl kunskap, screeningverktyg samt riktlinjer för behandling. / Background: Sepsis is a critical condition with varying symptoms that makes it difficult to detect. The mortality is high and the condition causes the patient suffering. Early identification and rapid treatment is important for the patient's health and survival. The nurse is responsible for nursing care, both independent interventions and ordered by physicians.  The nurse needs to work preventing regards patients and providers safety to provide good care. Aim: To survey factors for early detection and treatment in the nurse's work with patients having sepsis. Method:  A literature overview with quantitative articles and a deductive approach. For selection and collection of data Polit and Becks nine-way model was used. A total of 11 articles was quality reviewed and included to the result.  Results: Three factors were found; Education, screening tools and guidelines for treatment of sepsis. Education led to increased knowledge and increased the nurse's ability to identify sepsis. When using guidelines, adherence to treatment measures increased and time to treatment decreased. Furthermore, screening tools and treatment guidelines were found to reduce mortality. Conclusion: The nurse is central in the work of early detection and treatment. The nurse screened patients for sepsis, initiated and fulfilled treatment measures. Knowledge, screening tools and guidelines for treatment are required to enable safe care in the case of sepsis.

Our brain and nervous system is a vital organ to us, since it is from there our thoughts, personalities, and other mental capacities originate. Within this field of neuroscience a common method of study is to build and run large scale brain simulations where up to hundred thousand neurons are used to produce a model of a brain in three dimensional space. To find all neurites within a specific area is to perform a range query. A vast number of range queries are required when running brain simulations which makes it important that the data structure used to store the simulated neurons is efficient. This study evaluate three common data structures, also called spatial index; the R-tree, Quadtree and R*-tree (Rstar-tree). We test their performance for range queries with regards to execution time, incurred reads, build time, size of data and density of data. The data used is models of a typical neuron so that the characteristics of the data set is preserved. The results show that the R*-tree outperforms the other indices by being significantly more efficient compared to the others, with the R-tree having slightly worse performance than the Quadtree. The time it takes to build the index is to be almost identical for all implementations. / Vår hjärna och nervsystem är ett grundläggande organ för oss. Det är där ifrån våra tankar, personligheter och mentala kapaciteter kommer ifrån. Inom neurovetenskap är en vanlig forskningsmetod att köra storskaliga hjärnsimuleringar där hundratusentals neuroner används för att skapa en modell av hjärnan i 3D. För att hitta alla neuroner inom en viss area används en så kallad intervallfråga. En stor mängd intervallfrågor behövs för hjärnsimuleringar vilket gör det viktigt att datastrukturerna som används för detta är kostnadseffektiva. Denna studie har som mål att jämföra tre stycken vanliga datastrukturer som används för intervallfrågor. Dessa är R-tree, Quadtree och R*-tree. Deras prestanda testas för exekveringstid, antal läsningar, konstruktionstid, samt storlek och densitet på neuroner. För att skapa hjärnsimuleringen används en typisk neuron som standard sådant att dess karakteristiska egenskaper bevaras. Resultaten från studien visar att R*-tree hade den tydligt bästa prestandan för de givna kriterierna, och att Quadtree har en något bättre prestanda än R-tree. Tiden det tar att mata in neuronerna i datastrukturerna är i stort sett densamma.

The topic of this diplomma work is how Czechoslovakian social democratic party was described during preelection period in 1946 in newspapers Rude pravo and Svobodne noviny. The text aims to introduce the topic of the way how Czechoslovakian social democratic party (ČSD) is reflected in contemporary press: Svobodne noviny and Rude pravo. The Constituent Assembly ellections at 26. May 1946 were for a long time period the Last elections, which could have been called democratic. The communist party got 40,17% of votes and entered the government for the first time in history. This issue has not been satisfactorily elaborated yet. The thesis is divided into two main parts, the first one being theoretical and the second analytic. First, I describe the general situation in the post-WWII Czechoslovakia and the position of the Social Democracy. In the second part, I provide a characteristic of the analyzed newspapers and discuss the articles in order to verify the hypothesis.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-03-12Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:52:40Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 montezuma_r_me_rcla.pdf: 2261471 bytes, checksum: e8de3c70b94bdde4b8cd09e24247eaf2 (MD5) / O objetivo desta pesquisa foi determinar o Perfil de Textura (TPA) em formulações comerciais de “carne bovina em conserva” (corned beef) enlatada processada termicamente e avaliar sua relação com os valores de esterilização (F0), com a Concentração da Proteína do Tecido Conjuntivo Colagenoso (CCTP) e com a Concentração da Proteína do Tecido Muscular (MTP). Foram selecionados 14 lotes de produção de corned beef em latas tronco trapezoidais de 340 g correspondentes ao padrão continental Campden A e destes foram retiradas 24 latas do produto dos sub lotes submetidos ao processamento térmico. Destas latas foram retiradas seis amostras aleatórias para determinação do TPA e para análise da composição visando determinação da Proteína do Tecido Conjuntivo Colagenoso (CCTP), da Proteína do Tecido Muscular (MTP) e do Conteúdo Carne Magra (LMC). As latas de corned beef analisadas foram submetidas a tratamentos térmicos de 75,0 a 76,7 minutos, com a temperatura da autoclave a 121o C e resfriamento a 35o C durante 60 minutos, obtendo-se valores de F0 no centro de massa do produto variando de 14,8 a 20 minutos. Os parâmetros de TPA dureza, fraturabilidade, coesividade, elasticidade, adesividade, mastigabilidade, gomosidade e resiliência foram determinados no bloco integral do produto bloco resfriado a 4ºC em oito pontos na superfície. Os mesmos blocos do produto utilizados para determinação do TPA foram analisados quanto à composição média, apresentando concentração de 0,4 a 2,5% para CCTP, de 21,7 a 25,3% para MTP e de 102,79 a 107,95% para LMC. Os tratamentos de corned beef avaliados apresentaram diferenças significativas pelo teste de Tukey nas médias dos parâmetros dureza, gomosidade, mastigabilidade, adesividade e elasticidade. Os três primeiros parâmetros apresentaram correlações significativas fortemente negativas com o valor... / The objectives of this research were the determination of the texture profile of canned corned beef thermally processed and to evaluate its relationship with the sterilization value (F0) and the composition. Fourteen production batches of Campden A grade 340-g corned beef cans were selected, from which twenty-four cans of the thermal process sub-batches were retrieved. From the sub-batches, six random sample cans were taken and its content submitted to the Texture Profile Analysis (TPA) and to the composition analysis to determine the concentration of the Collagenous Connective Tissue Protein (CCTP), the Muscular Tissue Protein (MTP) concentration and the Lean Meat Content (LMC). The corned beef samples analyzed were submitted to thermal treatments at 121o C (retort steam temperature) for varying heating times, from 75 to 76 minutes and cooled at 35o C (retort water temperature) during 35 minutes, to obtain F0 values at the product center point varying from 14.8 to 20 minutes. The TPA parameters were determined in 8 points of the whole corned beef loaf of each sample, previously chilled and stabilized at 4o C temperature, to obtain hardness, fracturability, cohesiveness, elasticity, adhesiveness, springiness, gumminess, chewiness and resilience. The same sample material were then analyzed in terms of average composition of the product, resulting in concentrations in the range of 0.4 to 2.5% for CCTP, 21.7 to 25.3% for MTP and content from 102.8% to 108.0% for LMC. The treated corned beef samples analyzed showed significant differences in the means for hardness, adhesiveness, chewiness and elasticity. These parameters showed dependence with the sterilization value (F0), revealing negative strong significant correlation for F0 with hardness, gumminess and chewiness. The MTP and LMC values showed a high positive significant correlation with cohesiveness. It was observed a high... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Orientador: Roger Darros Barbosa / Banca: Pedro Fernando Romanelli / Banca: Marcos Franke Pinto / Resumo: O objetivo desta pesquisa foi determinar o Perfil de Textura (TPA) em formulações comerciais de "carne bovina em conserva" (corned beef) enlatada processada termicamente e avaliar sua relação com os valores de esterilização (F0), com a Concentração da Proteína do Tecido Conjuntivo Colagenoso (CCTP) e com a Concentração da Proteína do Tecido Muscular (MTP). Foram selecionados 14 lotes de produção de corned beef em latas tronco trapezoidais de 340 g correspondentes ao padrão continental Campden A e destes foram retiradas 24 latas do produto dos sub lotes submetidos ao processamento térmico. Destas latas foram retiradas seis amostras aleatórias para determinação do TPA e para análise da composição visando determinação da Proteína do Tecido Conjuntivo Colagenoso (CCTP), da Proteína do Tecido Muscular (MTP) e do Conteúdo Carne Magra (LMC). As latas de corned beef analisadas foram submetidas a tratamentos térmicos de 75,0 a 76,7 minutos, com a temperatura da autoclave a 121o C e resfriamento a 35o C durante 60 minutos, obtendo-se valores de F0 no centro de massa do produto variando de 14,8 a 20 minutos. Os parâmetros de TPA dureza, fraturabilidade, coesividade, elasticidade, adesividade, mastigabilidade, gomosidade e resiliência foram determinados no bloco integral do produto bloco resfriado a 4ºC em oito pontos na superfície. Os mesmos blocos do produto utilizados para determinação do TPA foram analisados quanto à composição média, apresentando concentração de 0,4 a 2,5% para CCTP, de 21,7 a 25,3% para MTP e de 102,79 a 107,95% para LMC. Os tratamentos de corned beef avaliados apresentaram diferenças significativas pelo teste de Tukey nas médias dos parâmetros dureza, gomosidade, mastigabilidade, adesividade e elasticidade. Os três primeiros parâmetros apresentaram correlações significativas fortemente negativas com o valor... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The objectives of this research were the determination of the texture profile of canned corned beef thermally processed and to evaluate its relationship with the sterilization value (F0) and the composition. Fourteen production batches of Campden A grade 340-g corned beef cans were selected, from which twenty-four cans of the thermal process sub-batches were retrieved. From the sub-batches, six random sample cans were taken and its content submitted to the Texture Profile Analysis (TPA) and to the composition analysis to determine the concentration of the Collagenous Connective Tissue Protein (CCTP), the Muscular Tissue Protein (MTP) concentration and the Lean Meat Content (LMC). The corned beef samples analyzed were submitted to thermal treatments at 121o C (retort steam temperature) for varying heating times, from 75 to 76 minutes and cooled at 35o C (retort water temperature) during 35 minutes, to obtain F0 values at the product center point varying from 14.8 to 20 minutes. The TPA parameters were determined in 8 points of the whole corned beef loaf of each sample, previously chilled and stabilized at 4o C temperature, to obtain hardness, fracturability, cohesiveness, elasticity, adhesiveness, springiness, gumminess, chewiness and resilience. The same sample material were then analyzed in terms of average composition of the product, resulting in concentrations in the range of 0.4 to 2.5% for CCTP, 21.7 to 25.3% for MTP and content from 102.8% to 108.0% for LMC. The treated corned beef samples analyzed showed significant differences in the means for hardness, adhesiveness, chewiness and elasticity. These parameters showed dependence with the sterilization value (F0), revealing negative strong significant correlation for F0 with hardness, gumminess and chewiness. The MTP and LMC values showed a high positive significant correlation with cohesiveness. It was observed a high... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

The natural environments of organisms present a multitude of biotic and abiotic challenges that require both short-term ecological and long-term evolutionary responses. Though most environmental response studies have focused on effects at the ecosystem, community and organismal levels, the ultimate controls of these responses are located in the genome of the organism. Soil nematodes are highly responsive to, and display a wide variety of responses to changing environmental conditions, making them ideal models for the study of organismal interactions with their environment. In an attempt to examine responses to environmental stress (desiccation and freezing), genomic level analyses of gene expression during anhydrobiosis of the Antarctic nematode Plectus murrayi was undertaken. An EST library representative of the desiccation induced transcripts was established and the transcripts differentially expressed during desiccation stress were identified. The expressed genome of P. murrayi showed that desiccation survival in nematodes involves differential expression of a suite of genes from diverse functional areas, and constitutive expression of a number of stress related genes. My study also revealed that exposure to slow desiccation and freezing plays an important role in the transcription of stress related genes, improves desiccation and freezing survival of nematodes. Deterioration of traits essential for biological control has been recognized in diverse biological control agents including insect pathogenic nematodes. I studied the genetic mechanisms behind such deterioration using expression profiling. My results showed that trait deterioration of insect pathogenic nematode induces substantial overall changes in the nematode transcriptome and exhibits a general pattern of metabolic shift causing massive changes in metabolic and other processes. Finally, through field observations and molecular laboratory experiments the validity of the growth rate hypothesis in natural populations of Antarctic nematodes was tested. My results indicated that elemental stoichiometry influences evolutionary adaptations in gene expression and genome evolution. My study, in addition to providing immediate insight into the mechanisms by which multicellular animals respond to their environment, is transformative in its potential to inform other fundamental ecological and evolutionary questions, such as the evolution of life-history patterns and the relationship between community structure and ecological function in ecosystems.