The purpose of this study is to determine if significant audio-metric characteristics exist in individuals having cochlear lesions who trace a Bekesy pattern characteristic of individuals with normal hearing or conductive losses.

Diabetes typ 1 är en av de sjukdomar som ständigt ökar. Sjukdomen för med sig stora kostnader för samhället och på individnivå kan komplikationer utgöra stor risk och livshotande tillstånd för patienten. Behandling vid diabetes typ 1 består till största del av insulininjektioner och noggrann kontroll av blodsockret. Vården som ges till de som insjuknat i diabetes typ 1 strävar efter att hjälpa patienten till god egenvård och som i längden kan bidra till bättre hälsa. I samband med att sjukdomen tar plats i den sjukes vardag, i detta fall hos barnet, kommer sjukdomen inte enbart påverka barnet utan även familjen. Författarna valde att belysa ämnet då de båda har erfarenheter och intresse inom ämnet. Syftet med denna studie är att belysa ur ett föräldraperspektiv hur familjen påverkas när ett barn har diabetes typ 1. Författarna valde att göra en litteraturstudie som innebär att redan befintlig kunskap sammanställs. Studien består av 10 artiklar av både kvalitativ och kvantitativ forskning. Resultatet i studien visade att föräldrarna uttryckt familjens upplevelse. Det visade sig att familjen upplevde att deras rutiner i vardagen förändrades i och med att barnet blev sjukt. Familjen är i behov av kunskap och stöd för att få den nya vardagen att fungera samt stöd från vårdpersonal och andra familjer. I diskussionen tar författarna upp de tre teman som framkom i resultatet.

Due to psychosocial and hormonal changes, adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) are at risk for poorer regimen adherence, quality of life (QOL), and glycemic control (HbA1c). Authoritative parenting (AP) supports youth development during the transition into adolescence. To date, the mechanisms behind authoritative parenting and better HbA1c are yet to be examined. Parent-youth dyads completed measures of authoritative parenting, adherence, and QOL. As hypothesized, more authoritative parenting related to higher socioeconomic status (SES; β = -.13, p = .04) rather than ethnicity. Further, more authoritative parenting related to better glycemic control via the mechanisms of higher youth QOL (β = .24, p < .001) and better diabetes adherence (β = .17, p = .008). Parents who provide more authoritative parenting have youth with better QOL, better adherence, and better glycemic control. More authoritative parenting helps youth achieve better diabetes care and quality of life during the transition into adolescence.

Master of Science / Department of Animal Sciences and Industry / John M. Gonzalez / Pigs fed ractopamine-HCl (RAC) are more prone to fatigue and exhaustion when improperly handled. Wireless electromyography (EMG) can be used to directly measure median power frequency (MdPF) and root mean square (RMS) as indicators of action potential conduction velocity and muscle fiber recruitment, respectively. The objectives of this study were to determine the effect of RAC on exhaustion, EMG measures, and muscle fiber type characteristics when barrows were subjected to increased levels of activity. Thirty-four barrows were assigned to one of two treatments: a commercial finishing diet containing 0 mg/kg (CON) RAC or a diet formulated to meet the requirements of finishing barrows fed 10 mg/kg RAC (RAC+) for 35 d. After 32 d of feeding, barrows were walked around a circular track at 0.79 m/s until subjective exhausted was reached. Time, distance, and speed were measured. Wireless surface EMG sensors were affixed to the Deltoideus (DT), Triceps brachii lateral head (TLH), Tensor fasciae latae (TFL), and Semitendinosus (ST) muscles. After harvest, samples of each muscle were collected for fiber type, succinate dehydrogenase, and capillary density analysis. Speed was not different (P = 0.82) between treatments, but RAC+ barrows reached subjective exhaustion quicker and covered less distance than CON barrows (P < 0.01). The end-point MdPF was not affected by the RAC diet. The RAC diet did not change end-point RMS values in the DT or TLH; however, the RAC+ barrows tended to have decreased ST and increased TFL end-point RMS values (P < 0.07). The percentage of type I fibers tended to be greater (P = 0.07) in RAC+ barrows, but the RAC diet tended to increase (P = 0.07) size of type I fibers and increase (P = 0.03) the size of type IIA fibers. Succinate dehydrogenase was not different between treatments. The RAC+ barrows had more (P = 0.03) capillaries per fiber than CON barrows. A diet containing RAC contributes to increased onset of subjective exhaustion, possibly due to rapid loss of active muscle fibers and chronic loss of oxidative muscle fibers with no change in muscle metabolism.

Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Vincent Amanor-Boadu / Transaction costs, one of the most significant barriers to market participation, may vary by buyer type. Depending on who a farmer sells their produce to, they may alter their potential transaction costs consequently influencing their market participation. This study examines the effect of buyer type on smallholder market participation in Northern Ghana where poverty is still endemic and often exacerbated by fewer opportunities for commercialization such as limited access to markets. The analysis is based on data from the agriculture production survey conducted in 2013 and 2014 and the Population based Survey conducted in 2012 in northern Ghana. Analysis is performed using the Double Hurdle approach to control for self-selection bias, ensure more flexibility on the variables affecting the decision to sell and how much to sell as well as to provide unconditional effects of the variables on market participation. The results reveal greater market participation of cash crop producing farmers than those producing a lower value food crop - Maize. The results also show that farmers selling to aggregator-type middlemen and other buyers have a propensity to sell more. The aggregators and ‘other buyers’ buy in bulky, offer lower prices and are associated with lower transport, loading and offloading costs than consumers. Farm output, access to information and price also have a significant positive impact on intensity of market participation. These findings support policy initiatives such as supporting aggregator-type middlemen, increasing the provision of information, promotion of cash crops as well as supporting more interventions focusing on increasing production and yields.

Background: Physical activity (PA) poses an additional burden on people living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) as it increases the risk of hypoglycemia, if performed at a moderate intensity. It is hypothesized that adding vigorous PA (VPA) into moderate PA (MPA) may help attenuate exercise-related hypoglycemia. Methods: Seventeen participants with T1D (23.7±6.6 years) completed an observational study of six days with continuous glucose monitoring and accelerometer-derived measures of PA to determine the association between PA intensity and both hypoglycemia risk and glucose variability (GV). Results: Higher evening moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) increased the risk of overnight hypoglycemia (OR 1.03; 95% CI 1.002-1.047, p=0.031). Increased evening VPA was not associated with reduced hypoglycemia, but decreased overnight GV (3.20±0.25 for low vs 2.27±0.29 for high; p=0.022). Conclusions: Performing evening MVPA increases hypoglycemia risk overnight, but incorporating VPA did not prove to be protective. However, VPA reduced GV, which is a predictor of hypoglycemia. / May 2016

Thesis advisor: Michael Malec / My motivation for this research study comes from my own experience with and observations of body image issues among female students on the Boston College campus, as well as my observations of and research into the homogenization of beauty in the high-end fashion industry. Through various social institutions, namely high-end fashion media, our society supports an extremely narrow definition of beauty for women (read: White and thin/ultra-thin). There is an overwhelming lack of representation of women of color and women who do not fall in line with the thin body standard. I aim to contribute where there are holes in the conversation regarding diversity and exclusionary practices in the high-end fashion industry. Chiefly, I seek to contribute to an understanding of how fashion industry producers might continue to engage in the homogenization of beauty while evading liability with intermittent diversification effort. I conduct a content analysis of 11 issues (past and contemporary) of the high-end fashion magazine, U.S. Vogue. The units of measurement for my data collection are images, articles, and text produced by Vogue, as well as featured advertisements produced by other industry players. My data consists of recorded frequencies and two major codes (Race and Body Type) with various sub codes. I ultimately conclude that: (1) despite our society’s supposed increased sensitivity to diversity and diversification effort, we have made little progress on this front in the fashion industry (especially body type representation); and (2) U.S. Vogue does in fact continue to engage in racial exclusion while concealing its liability via the practice of racial capitalism. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Sociology.

Glacier surges are amongst the most dynamic of glaciological phenomena, but their controlling mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Surging glaciers are characterised by cyclical flow instabilities and the rapid transfer of ice to the ablation area, typically resulting in significant mass loss. The High-Arctic archipelago of Svalbard is one of several regions in the northern hemisphere which contain a high-density of surge-type glaciers, variously estimated to be between 13-90% of the total glacier population across the islands. Developing a better understanding of which of these figures, if either, is most realistic is important in the context of glacier dynamics and related contributions of small glaciers and ice caps to sea level change in the immediate future. This study presents detailed assessments of the margins of several known surge-type glaciers in Svalbard in order to update and improve the existing framework by which they are identified, and to provide a foundation for future reassessments of the surge-type glacier population based on distinct ice-sediment-landform assemblages. A range of techniques is utilised, including geomorphological and structural glaciological mapping, sedimentological analysis, basal ice descriptions, and stable isotope analysis. This work provides further insight into diagnostic indicators of surge behaviour preserved in basal ice sequences; provides links between surge dynamics and basal ice sequences, the glaciological structure and the landform record; and investigates the structural and tectonic development of surge-type glaciers. Based on this, surge landsystems are proposed for: (1) small valley glaciers, (2) large land-terminating glaciers, and (3) large tidewater glaciers. It is suggested that these three landsystems, with some variability, broadly characterise the geomorphology of the vast majority of known Svalbard surge-type glaciers and, in conjunction with structural glaciological and basal ice investigations where relevant, may allow previously unknown surge-type glaciers to be identified in the field, from aerial photographs, and on sea floor imagery. This work adds to the existing repertoire of modern analogues and the breadth of surging glacier landsystems, and provides a holistic basis for assessing possible palaeo-surge behaviour within the Quaternary record.

Cu+-ATPases receive Cu+ from specific chaperones via ligand exchange and subsequently drive the metal efflux from the cell cytoplasms. Cu+-ATPases have two transmembrane metal binding/transport sites (TM-MBS) and various cytoplasmic domains: the actuator (A-domain) and ATP binding domains (ATPBD), and regulatory N-terminal metal binding domains (N-MBD). Archaeoglobus fulgidus CopA, the Cu+-ATPase used in these studies, contains a single N-MBD and an apparently non-functional C-terminal MBD. The Cu+ dependent interaction of N-MBD and ATPBD was postulated as a possible mechanism for enzyme regulation. The Cu+ transfer from the chaperone to CopA is independent of the N-MBD capability to bind Cu+. Therefore, we hypothesized that ligand (Cu+ or nucleotide) binding to cytoplasmic domains might affect the interactions between the cytoplasmic domains. To test these ideas, the interactions among isolated cytoplasmic domains were characterized. Studies using isolated domains showed that while the N-MBD interacts with ATPBD, the presence of Cu+ or nucleotide (ADP) prevents this interaction. The N-MBD does not interact with the A domain. Alternatively, the C-MBD interacts with both ATPBD and A-domains in a ligand independent fashion. Only one Cu+ is transferred to CopA in absence of nucleotides, while the presence of ADP allows full loading of TM-MBS. These results suggest that the ligand binding affects the interactions between the cytoplasmic domains, and also change the conformation of CopA to help it accept the second Cu+ from chaperone.

Bacteria are under constant threat by their viral parasites, the bacteriophages (phages) and have evolved a range of anti-phage systems to defend themselves. One of these systems is termed abortive infection (Abi) where, upon phage infection, an Abi system may be activated which initiate a bacteriostatic or bactericidal response. While the infected bacteria do not obviously benefit from the activation of these systems, the cessation of bacterial growth or premature cellular suicide prevents the release of phage progeny. Thus Abi can be viewed as an altruistic process as only the remaining clonal bacterial population benefits. The Type III toxin-antitoxin systems have previously been shown to be involved in Abi, however the mechanisms through which these systems are activated are still poorly understood. A common approach to reveal the phage product involved in triggering these systems is to first determine the mutations that a previously sensitive phage evolves to escape after exposure to an Abi system. Analysis of viral "escape" mutants has been used in this study to try to elucidate the activation mechanism(s) of two Type III systems (ToxIN$_P$$_a$ and TenpIN$_P$$_l$) of several environmental phages. Several new phage products were identified in escape mutants as candidate factors involved in circumventing Abi - and possible roles in phage metabolism predicted. Furthermore, the genomes of several phages that could not evolve escapes, or were insensitive to Abi, are sequenced and these data exposed interesting curiosities regarding Abi (as well as the discovery of several novel and rare phages). Previously, no coliphage was identified that was capable of escape of the ToxIN$_P$$_a$ or TenpIN$_P$$_l$ systems. However, this study defined and characterised the first ToxIN$_P$$_a$ and TenpIN$_P$$_l$ coliphage escapes as well as a new method for isolating host-dependent coliphage escapes. Finally, multiple phages that infect the insect pathogen $\textit{Photorhabdus luminescens}$ TT01 (the bacterial strain from which the TenpIN$_P$$_l$ system originated) were isolated, genomically sequenced and characterised in terms of host range. The results revealed a large superfamily of flagellum-dependent phages that exhibit remarkable host promiscuity, possibly defining the most promiscuous phages thus far identified.