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• 281. [Article] The Biological, Psychological, and Social Properties Children and Adults Attribute to Virtual Agents

  For children, high quality friendships are associated with adaptive social, emotional and academic functioning. There is also evidence that children experience real and imaginary friendships in similar ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: The Biological, Psychological, and Social Properties Children and Adults Attribute to Virtual Agents Author: Aguiar, Naomi Year: 2016 For children, high quality friendships are associated with adaptive social, emotional and academic functioning. There is also evidence that children experience real and imaginary friendships in similar ways, and that imagined relationships could have an impact on development. However, less is known about the relationships made possible by virtual agents in digital media. This dissertation research was designed to provide preliminary data about children’s concepts of virtual agents, and the social opportunities they attribute to such entities. In Studies 1 and 2 (combined N = 48), preschool aged children differentiated the social affordances of a stuffed dog and a virtual dog. Participants played a game in which they guessed whether a child in a video was referring to a stuffed dog or a virtual dog in a series of statements. Items designed to assess high quality friendships, such as comfort, protection and love, were attributed more to the stuffed dog than the virtual dog. Studies 3 and 4 examined adult and child concepts of a virtual child, and how concepts of this entity might differ from a real child, a child on a video chat program (e.g., Skype™) and an inanimate doll. Adults and children attributed a range of properties to each child agent, including biological, psychological and social properties, as well as opportunities for relationships. In Study 3 (N = 144), adults did not differentiate between the virtual child and the doll on the social property; however, they favored the doll on opportunities for unilateral relationships. In Study 4 (N = 30), five to eight-year-old children indicated an overall preference for the doll on the social property, as well as on opportunities for reciprocal relationships. Children also favored the doll on opportunities for love, companionship, and intimate disclosure. Altogether, these findings suggest that virtual agents afford more limited social opportunities than inanimate artifacts, and they are less likely to be loved by children and adults alike. These results raise important questions about the design goals for virtual agents, and the functions they are intended to serve in our everyday lives. This dissertation includes both previously published and co-authored material. Title: The Biological, Psychological, and Social Properties Children and Adults Attribute to Virtual Agents Author: Aguiar, Naomi Year: 2016 For children, high quality friendships are associated with adaptive social, emotional and academic functioning. There is also evidence that children experience real and imaginary friendships in similar ways, and that imagined relationships could have an impact on development. However, less is known about the relationships made possible by virtual agents in digital media. This dissertation research was designed to provide preliminary data about children’s concepts of virtual agents, and the social opportunities they attribute to such entities. In Studies 1 and 2 (combined N = 48), preschool aged children differentiated the social affordances of a stuffed dog and a virtual dog. Participants played a game in which they guessed whether a child in a video was referring to a stuffed dog or a virtual dog in a series of statements. Items designed to assess high quality friendships, such as comfort, protection and love, were attributed more to the stuffed dog than the virtual dog. Studies 3 and 4 examined adult and child concepts of a virtual child, and how concepts of this entity might differ from a real child, a child on a video chat program (e.g., Skype™) and an inanimate doll. Adults and children attributed a range of properties to each child agent, including biological, psychological and social properties, as well as opportunities for relationships. In Study 3 (N = 144), adults did not differentiate between the virtual child and the doll on the social property; however, they favored the doll on opportunities for unilateral relationships. In Study 4 (N = 30), five to eight-year-old children indicated an overall preference for the doll on the social property, as well as on opportunities for reciprocal relationships. Children also favored the doll on opportunities for love, companionship, and intimate disclosure. Altogether, these findings suggest that virtual agents afford more limited social opportunities than inanimate artifacts, and they are less likely to be loved by children and adults alike. These results raise important questions about the design goals for virtual agents, and the functions they are intended to serve in our everyday lives. This dissertation includes both previously published and co-authored material. Close

• 282. [Article] Grafted Identities: Shrews and the New Woman Narrative in China (1910s-1960s)

  My dissertation examines the unacknowledged role of negative female models from traditional literature in constructing the modern woman in China. It draws upon literary and historical sources to examine ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Grafted Identities: Shrews and the New Woman Narrative in China (1910s-1960s) Author: Yang, Shu Year: 2016 My dissertation examines the unacknowledged role of negative female models from traditional literature in constructing the modern woman in China. It draws upon literary and historical sources to examine how modern cultural figures resuscitated and even redeemed qualities associated with traditional shrews in their perceptions and constructions of the new woman across the first half of the twentieth century. By linking the literary trope of the shrew, associated with imperial China, with the twentieth-century figure of the new woman, my work bridges the transition from the late-imperial to the modern era and foregrounds the late-imperial roots of Chinese modernization. The scope of my dissertation includes depictions of shrews/new women in literary texts, the press, theater, and public discourses from the Republican to the Socialist period. Although there exists a rich body of work on both traditional shrew literature and the new woman narrative, no one has addressed the confluence of the two in Chinese modernity. Scholars of late imperial Chinese literature have claimed that shrew literature disappeared when China entered the modern age. Studies on the new woman focus on specific social and cultural contexts during the different periods of modernizing China; few scholars have traced the effects that previous female types had on the new woman. My research reveals the importance of the traditional shrew in contributing to the construction and reception of the new woman, despite the radically changing ideologies of the twentieth century. As I argue, the feisty, rebellious modern women in her many guises as suffragette, sexual independent, and gender radical are female types grafted onto the violent, sexualized, and transgressive typologies of the traditional shrew. My research contributes to the studies of Chinese modernity and the representations of Chinese women. First, it bridges the artificial divide between modern and traditional studies of China and expands the debates about the nature of Chinese modernity. Second, it brings to light the underexamined constructions of the new woman as an empowered social actor through her genealogical connections to the traditional shrew. Third, it provides a methodology for rethinking the contested depiction of women in Chinese modernity. Title: Grafted Identities: Shrews and the New Woman Narrative in China (1910s-1960s) Author: Yang, Shu Year: 2016 My dissertation examines the unacknowledged role of negative female models from traditional literature in constructing the modern woman in China. It draws upon literary and historical sources to examine how modern cultural figures resuscitated and even redeemed qualities associated with traditional shrews in their perceptions and constructions of the new woman across the first half of the twentieth century. By linking the literary trope of the shrew, associated with imperial China, with the twentieth-century figure of the new woman, my work bridges the transition from the late-imperial to the modern era and foregrounds the late-imperial roots of Chinese modernization. The scope of my dissertation includes depictions of shrews/new women in literary texts, the press, theater, and public discourses from the Republican to the Socialist period. Although there exists a rich body of work on both traditional shrew literature and the new woman narrative, no one has addressed the confluence of the two in Chinese modernity. Scholars of late imperial Chinese literature have claimed that shrew literature disappeared when China entered the modern age. Studies on the new woman focus on specific social and cultural contexts during the different periods of modernizing China; few scholars have traced the effects that previous female types had on the new woman. My research reveals the importance of the traditional shrew in contributing to the construction and reception of the new woman, despite the radically changing ideologies of the twentieth century. As I argue, the feisty, rebellious modern women in her many guises as suffragette, sexual independent, and gender radical are female types grafted onto the violent, sexualized, and transgressive typologies of the traditional shrew. My research contributes to the studies of Chinese modernity and the representations of Chinese women. First, it bridges the artificial divide between modern and traditional studies of China and expands the debates about the nature of Chinese modernity. Second, it brings to light the underexamined constructions of the new woman as an empowered social actor through her genealogical connections to the traditional shrew. Third, it provides a methodology for rethinking the contested depiction of women in Chinese modernity. Close

• 283. [Article] An Examination of Motor and Cognitive Recovery Following Concussion

  Cognitive and motor impairments have been identified as signs following a concussion which may compromise the performance of everyday tasks or physical activities. However, little work has been done in ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: An Examination of Motor and Cognitive Recovery Following Concussion Author: Howell, David Year: 2014 Cognitive and motor impairments have been identified as signs following a concussion which may compromise the performance of everyday tasks or physical activities. However, little work has been done in the adolescent population using laboratory based measurements of attention or balance control to identify recovery from concussion. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was to prospectively and longitudinally observe how individuals who have sustained a concussion recover on measures of attention and gait balance control in comparison to individually matched, healthy control subjects from within 72 hours of injury up to two months following injury. Individuals were identified as sustaining a concussion by healthcare professionals and began participation in the study within 72 hours of injury. They then returned to the laboratory at approximately 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, and 2 months post-injury. Control subjects were individually matched by sex, age, height, and weight and tested in similar time increments. Attentional abilities were measured via multiple computerized testing assessments, and gait balance control was measured with whole-body motion analysis. The results indicated that following concussion, adolescents display deficits in conflict resolution ability, task switching ability, and gait balance control during dual-task walking for a time period of up to two months following injury in comparison to a matched control group. During dual-task walking, the complexity of the cognitive task performed may affect adolescents with concussion to a greater degree than matched control subjects. Adolescents also displayed regressions to gait stability recovery following their return to physical activities. Finally, adolescents with concussion displayed greater gait balance control deficits than young adults with concussion throughout the two months of testing when each group was compared to a respective healthy control group. Results from this dissertation indicate that concussion affects cognitive and motor functions in adolescents, who display deficits throughout two months post-injury. Computerized attentional tests and dual-task dynamic balance control assessments represent a multifaceted approach to concussion management and may provide another assessment battery for healthcare professionals to utilize in order to identify recovery following concussion. This dissertation includes previously published/unpublished co-authored material. Title: An Examination of Motor and Cognitive Recovery Following Concussion Author: Howell, David Year: 2014 Cognitive and motor impairments have been identified as signs following a concussion which may compromise the performance of everyday tasks or physical activities. However, little work has been done in the adolescent population using laboratory based measurements of attention or balance control to identify recovery from concussion. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was to prospectively and longitudinally observe how individuals who have sustained a concussion recover on measures of attention and gait balance control in comparison to individually matched, healthy control subjects from within 72 hours of injury up to two months following injury. Individuals were identified as sustaining a concussion by healthcare professionals and began participation in the study within 72 hours of injury. They then returned to the laboratory at approximately 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, and 2 months post-injury. Control subjects were individually matched by sex, age, height, and weight and tested in similar time increments. Attentional abilities were measured via multiple computerized testing assessments, and gait balance control was measured with whole-body motion analysis. The results indicated that following concussion, adolescents display deficits in conflict resolution ability, task switching ability, and gait balance control during dual-task walking for a time period of up to two months following injury in comparison to a matched control group. During dual-task walking, the complexity of the cognitive task performed may affect adolescents with concussion to a greater degree than matched control subjects. Adolescents also displayed regressions to gait stability recovery following their return to physical activities. Finally, adolescents with concussion displayed greater gait balance control deficits than young adults with concussion throughout the two months of testing when each group was compared to a respective healthy control group. Results from this dissertation indicate that concussion affects cognitive and motor functions in adolescents, who display deficits throughout two months post-injury. Computerized attentional tests and dual-task dynamic balance control assessments represent a multifaceted approach to concussion management and may provide another assessment battery for healthcare professionals to utilize in order to identify recovery following concussion. This dissertation includes previously published/unpublished co-authored material. Close

• 284. [Article] HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS IN ARGENTINA: AN INDEPTH STUDY OF THE CAUSE OF THE FREQUENCY OF HPV IN WOMEN IN BUENOS AIRES

  38 pages. A thesis presented to the Department of Biology and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Science, Spring 2...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS IN ARGENTINA: AN INDEPTH STUDY OF THE CAUSE OF THE FREQUENCY OF HPV IN WOMEN IN BUENOS AIRES Author: Galvin, Foley Year: 2016 38 pages. A thesis presented to the Department of Biology and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Science, Spring 2016. Title: HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS IN ARGENTINA: AN INDEPTH STUDY OF THE CAUSE OF THE FREQUENCY OF HPV IN WOMEN IN BUENOS AIRES Author: Galvin, Foley Year: 2016 38 pages. A thesis presented to the Department of Biology and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Science, Spring 2016. Close

• 285. [Article] A STUDY OF THE MOTIVATIONAL MECHANISMS OF CARDIAC REHABILITIATION PATIENTS

  49 pages. A thesis presented to the Department of Human Physiology and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Science, ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: A STUDY OF THE MOTIVATIONAL MECHANISMS OF CARDIAC REHABILITIATION PATIENTS Author: McNeilly, Samuel Year: 2016, 2015 49 pages. A thesis presented to the Department of Human Physiology and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Science, Fall 2015. Title: A STUDY OF THE MOTIVATIONAL MECHANISMS OF CARDIAC REHABILITIATION PATIENTS Author: McNeilly, Samuel Year: 2016, 2015 49 pages. A thesis presented to the Department of Human Physiology and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Science, Fall 2015. Close

• 286. [Article] Seeking Equity in Industrial Wastelands: Evaluating Environmental Justice in Residential Neighborhoods

  140 pages. Examining committee chair: Roxi Thoren

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Seeking Equity in Industrial Wastelands: Evaluating Environmental Justice in Residential Neighborhoods Author: Pierce, Nancy Year: 2016 140 pages. Examining committee chair: Roxi Thoren Title: Seeking Equity in Industrial Wastelands: Evaluating Environmental Justice in Residential Neighborhoods Author: Pierce, Nancy Year: 2016 140 pages. Examining committee chair: Roxi Thoren Close

• 287. [Article] Where the Heart Meets the Mind’s Eye: Associations Between Cardiac Measures of Autonomic Activity and Selective Attention in Children and Adults

  Multiple theoretical frameworks posit that interactions between the autonomic nervous system and higher-order neural networks are crucial for cognitive regulation. However, few studies have directly examined ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Where the Heart Meets the Mind’s Eye: Associations Between Cardiac Measures of Autonomic Activity and Selective Attention in Children and Adults Author: Giuliano, Ryan Year: 2017 Multiple theoretical frameworks posit that interactions between the autonomic nervous system and higher-order neural networks are crucial for cognitive regulation. However, few studies have directly examined whether autonomic physiology influences brain activity during cognitive tasks, and even fewer of those studies have examined both autonomic branches when doing so. Measures of selective attention derived from event-related brain potentials (ERPs) are particularly well-suited for addressing this question, given that ERP selective attention tasks are designed to control for the influences of psychomotor processes and arousal and are predictive of higher-order cognitive function in children and adults. Such research is particularly promising for understanding how early adversity impacts neurocognitive development in children, given that stress experienced early in life impacts both autonomic function and selective attention. Here, a broad literature review is presented, integrating findings across studies of autonomic physiology, cognition, and brain activity in children and adults (Chapter 1). Then, two experiments are described where cardiac measures of parasympathetic and sympathetic activity were recorded concurrently with ERPs during an auditory selective task in a sample of adults (Chapter 2) and in a sample of preschool-aged children (Chapter 3). Results from both experiments demonstrate a key role for the sympathetic nervous system in selective attention for adults and children, such that greater sympathetic activity is associated with larger effects of selective attention on ERPs. These findings are then reviewed with suggestions for how existing models of neurovisceral integration might be updated to better emphasize the role of sympathetic nervous system activity in neurocognitive processes, emphasizing measures of threat-related and reward-related arousal, as represented by galvanic skin response and pre-ejection period, respectively (Chapter 4). Future directions are also discussed, including recommendations for future studies of neurovisceral integration to examine associations between physiology, behavior, and brain activity at the single-trial level, to incorporate participants from more diverse backgrounds of life experience, and to examine the plasticity of autonomic mechanisms implicated in neurocognitive function. Title: Where the Heart Meets the Mind’s Eye: Associations Between Cardiac Measures of Autonomic Activity and Selective Attention in Children and Adults Author: Giuliano, Ryan Year: 2017 Multiple theoretical frameworks posit that interactions between the autonomic nervous system and higher-order neural networks are crucial for cognitive regulation. However, few studies have directly examined whether autonomic physiology influences brain activity during cognitive tasks, and even fewer of those studies have examined both autonomic branches when doing so. Measures of selective attention derived from event-related brain potentials (ERPs) are particularly well-suited for addressing this question, given that ERP selective attention tasks are designed to control for the influences of psychomotor processes and arousal and are predictive of higher-order cognitive function in children and adults. Such research is particularly promising for understanding how early adversity impacts neurocognitive development in children, given that stress experienced early in life impacts both autonomic function and selective attention. Here, a broad literature review is presented, integrating findings across studies of autonomic physiology, cognition, and brain activity in children and adults (Chapter 1). Then, two experiments are described where cardiac measures of parasympathetic and sympathetic activity were recorded concurrently with ERPs during an auditory selective task in a sample of adults (Chapter 2) and in a sample of preschool-aged children (Chapter 3). Results from both experiments demonstrate a key role for the sympathetic nervous system in selective attention for adults and children, such that greater sympathetic activity is associated with larger effects of selective attention on ERPs. These findings are then reviewed with suggestions for how existing models of neurovisceral integration might be updated to better emphasize the role of sympathetic nervous system activity in neurocognitive processes, emphasizing measures of threat-related and reward-related arousal, as represented by galvanic skin response and pre-ejection period, respectively (Chapter 4). Future directions are also discussed, including recommendations for future studies of neurovisceral integration to examine associations between physiology, behavior, and brain activity at the single-trial level, to incorporate participants from more diverse backgrounds of life experience, and to examine the plasticity of autonomic mechanisms implicated in neurocognitive function. Close

• 288. [Article] Tangled Up in Blue: Narratives of Glacier Change in Southeast Iceland

  This dissertation reports the findings of an ethnographic field study that examined the plurality of glacier-related narratives, knowledges, and practices of people living on the southeastern coast of ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Tangled Up in Blue: Narratives of Glacier Change in Southeast Iceland Author: Jackson, Jerilynn Year: 2017 This dissertation reports the findings of an ethnographic field study that examined the plurality of glacier-related narratives, knowledges, and practices of people living on the southeastern coast of Iceland. A growing amount of research is directed at glaciers and society from a variety of disciplines within the social sciences, however, a crucial gap in research remains centered around local perceptions, values, beliefs—of how and why people and ice interrelate today and how such experiences compare from one glacier community to the next. Everywhere glaciers are located on this planet, there are people, and the two have been interacting for the entirety of human history, but very little is known about the nature of people-ice relations. To better understand how people and ice interrelate, I completed nine months of field work from September 2015 through May 2016 on the southeastern coast of Iceland. Iceland was chosen as field site because people and ice on the southeastern coast exist in extreme proximity. Local glaciology models predict these glaciers will lose 25-35 percent of present volume over the next fifty years. As such, to better understand the nature of relations in this rapidly changing environment, alongside focus groups, participant observation and preliminary field work, I interviewed 84 Icelandic women and 112 Icelandic men ranging in age from 18 to 96 years old using a semi-structured, in-depth ethnographic interview method. The results of this dissertation demonstrate other ways of looking at glaciers and people, highlighting profound connections, the power glaciers enact upon communities, the perceptions of glaciers as alive and self-aware, the plasticity of glaciers to verify multiple conflicting narratives all at once, and the intertwined positive and negative consequences glacier change engenders for local communities. I argue glaciers have rich social and cultural context and variability that is largely unstudied, that glaciers are contested, controversial, and that what is widely assumed does not match what is happening on the ground. The aim of this work is to contribute to the development of a global geography of glacier change that includes the physical and social dimensions of ice across the cryosphere. Title: Tangled Up in Blue: Narratives of Glacier Change in Southeast Iceland Author: Jackson, Jerilynn Year: 2017 This dissertation reports the findings of an ethnographic field study that examined the plurality of glacier-related narratives, knowledges, and practices of people living on the southeastern coast of Iceland. A growing amount of research is directed at glaciers and society from a variety of disciplines within the social sciences, however, a crucial gap in research remains centered around local perceptions, values, beliefs—of how and why people and ice interrelate today and how such experiences compare from one glacier community to the next. Everywhere glaciers are located on this planet, there are people, and the two have been interacting for the entirety of human history, but very little is known about the nature of people-ice relations. To better understand how people and ice interrelate, I completed nine months of field work from September 2015 through May 2016 on the southeastern coast of Iceland. Iceland was chosen as field site because people and ice on the southeastern coast exist in extreme proximity. Local glaciology models predict these glaciers will lose 25-35 percent of present volume over the next fifty years. As such, to better understand the nature of relations in this rapidly changing environment, alongside focus groups, participant observation and preliminary field work, I interviewed 84 Icelandic women and 112 Icelandic men ranging in age from 18 to 96 years old using a semi-structured, in-depth ethnographic interview method. The results of this dissertation demonstrate other ways of looking at glaciers and people, highlighting profound connections, the power glaciers enact upon communities, the perceptions of glaciers as alive and self-aware, the plasticity of glaciers to verify multiple conflicting narratives all at once, and the intertwined positive and negative consequences glacier change engenders for local communities. I argue glaciers have rich social and cultural context and variability that is largely unstudied, that glaciers are contested, controversial, and that what is widely assumed does not match what is happening on the ground. The aim of this work is to contribute to the development of a global geography of glacier change that includes the physical and social dimensions of ice across the cryosphere. Close

• 289. [Article] Contributions of Distinct Trunk Segments to Control of Posture and Reaching During Typical Development

  The relationship between the development of sitting postural control and of reaching during infancy has not been addressed in detail. It has recently been shown that trunk control develops starting with ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Contributions of Distinct Trunk Segments to Control of Posture and Reaching During Typical Development Author: Rachwani Parshotam, Jaya Year: 2015 The relationship between the development of sitting postural control and of reaching during infancy has not been addressed in detail. It has recently been shown that trunk control develops starting with the head, then the upper trunk and subsequently the lower/pelvic regions. However, previous studies on infant reaching evaluated infants during supported supine or reclined sitting positions, failing to address the contributions of distinct regions of the trunk to reaching. This dissertation explores the relationship between the progression of trunk control and reaching performance in healthy infants. The effects of stabilizing the upper and lower regions of the trunk were assessed by providing vertical trunk fixation at two levels of support (thoracic and pelvic). Documentation of postural and reaching performance reflected how control of the free regions of the trunk modulated both behaviors. First, kinematic data were collected in infants aged 4-6 months who were grouped according to their sitting ability and extent of trunk control. Second, a longitudinal study was implemented in which kinematic and electromyographic recordings were collected bi-monthly from 2.5-8 months. Results from the cross-sectional study showed that postural stability and reaching kinematics of the two groups were similar when they received support at the thoracic level but differed when the support was limited to the pelvic level. Infants who were able to sit independently outperformed the infants who were unable to sit without help. These data were further expanded with the results obtained from the longitudinal study, showing that during the months prior to independent sitting, infant reaches were impoverished and were associated with a lack of postural stability when provided with pelvic, in comparison to thoracic, support. In addition, infants displayed inefficient muscle patterns in response to the instability. Differences between levels of support were not observed once infants acquired independent sitting. Taken together, these results offer detailed measures of the progression of trunk control and its relation to reaching. This raises important questions regarding whether this more specific approach may create the foundation for evaluating and improving trunk control in atypically developing populations. This dissertation includes previously published and unpublished co-authored material. Title: Contributions of Distinct Trunk Segments to Control of Posture and Reaching During Typical Development Author: Rachwani Parshotam, Jaya Year: 2015 The relationship between the development of sitting postural control and of reaching during infancy has not been addressed in detail. It has recently been shown that trunk control develops starting with the head, then the upper trunk and subsequently the lower/pelvic regions. However, previous studies on infant reaching evaluated infants during supported supine or reclined sitting positions, failing to address the contributions of distinct regions of the trunk to reaching. This dissertation explores the relationship between the progression of trunk control and reaching performance in healthy infants. The effects of stabilizing the upper and lower regions of the trunk were assessed by providing vertical trunk fixation at two levels of support (thoracic and pelvic). Documentation of postural and reaching performance reflected how control of the free regions of the trunk modulated both behaviors. First, kinematic data were collected in infants aged 4-6 months who were grouped according to their sitting ability and extent of trunk control. Second, a longitudinal study was implemented in which kinematic and electromyographic recordings were collected bi-monthly from 2.5-8 months. Results from the cross-sectional study showed that postural stability and reaching kinematics of the two groups were similar when they received support at the thoracic level but differed when the support was limited to the pelvic level. Infants who were able to sit independently outperformed the infants who were unable to sit without help. These data were further expanded with the results obtained from the longitudinal study, showing that during the months prior to independent sitting, infant reaches were impoverished and were associated with a lack of postural stability when provided with pelvic, in comparison to thoracic, support. In addition, infants displayed inefficient muscle patterns in response to the instability. Differences between levels of support were not observed once infants acquired independent sitting. Taken together, these results offer detailed measures of the progression of trunk control and its relation to reaching. This raises important questions regarding whether this more specific approach may create the foundation for evaluating and improving trunk control in atypically developing populations. This dissertation includes previously published and unpublished co-authored material. Close

• 290. [Article] The Phenomenology of Frames in Chaucer, Dante and Boccaccio

  When an author produces a frame narrative, she simultaneously makes language both a represented object and a representing agent; when we imagine framed speech, we imagine both the scene its words represent ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: The Phenomenology of Frames in Chaucer, Dante and Boccaccio Author: Asay, Timothy Year: 2015 When an author produces a frame narrative, she simultaneously makes language both a represented object and a representing agent; when we imagine framed speech, we imagine both the scene its words represent and a mouth that speaks those words. Framed language is thus perfectly mimetic: the words we imagine being spoken within the fictional world are the same we use to effect that fiction's representation. Since its first function is to represent itself, the framed word acts both to push us out of the frame into our own temporality and to draw us into fictional times and spaces. This dissertation explores how first Dante and subsequently his successors, Boccaccio and Chaucer, deploy this structural feature of frames to engage difficult philosophical and theological disputes of their age. In the Divine Comedy, framed language allows Dante to approach the perfect presence of God without transgressing into a spatial conception of the divine. Intensifying Dante's procedure in his House of Fame, Chaucer forecloses the possibility of representation; he transforms every speech act into an image of its utterer rather than its referent, thus violently thrusting us back into the time we pass as we read. Boccaccio--first in his Ameto then in the Decameron--eschews this framed temporality in favor of the temporality of the fetish: while his narratives threaten to dissolve into their basic linguistic matters, the erotic energy of the people that populate those narratives forces them to cohere as fully imagined spaces and times. Finally the Chaucer who writes the Canterbury Tales fuses his initial reading of Dante with Boccaccio's response to it; he constructs the Canterbury pilgrims as grotesques who each open up a limited angle of vision on the time and space they collectively inhabit. These angles overlap and stutter over one another, unsettling the easy assignations of identity any given pilgrim would enforce on a tale or agent within the narrative. In doing so, Chaucer makes the temporality within his Tales strange and poignant in a way that fully mimics our own experience of extra-narrative time. Title: The Phenomenology of Frames in Chaucer, Dante and Boccaccio Author: Asay, Timothy Year: 2015 When an author produces a frame narrative, she simultaneously makes language both a represented object and a representing agent; when we imagine framed speech, we imagine both the scene its words represent and a mouth that speaks those words. Framed language is thus perfectly mimetic: the words we imagine being spoken within the fictional world are the same we use to effect that fiction's representation. Since its first function is to represent itself, the framed word acts both to push us out of the frame into our own temporality and to draw us into fictional times and spaces. This dissertation explores how first Dante and subsequently his successors, Boccaccio and Chaucer, deploy this structural feature of frames to engage difficult philosophical and theological disputes of their age. In the Divine Comedy, framed language allows Dante to approach the perfect presence of God without transgressing into a spatial conception of the divine. Intensifying Dante's procedure in his House of Fame, Chaucer forecloses the possibility of representation; he transforms every speech act into an image of its utterer rather than its referent, thus violently thrusting us back into the time we pass as we read. Boccaccio--first in his Ameto then in the Decameron--eschews this framed temporality in favor of the temporality of the fetish: while his narratives threaten to dissolve into their basic linguistic matters, the erotic energy of the people that populate those narratives forces them to cohere as fully imagined spaces and times. Finally the Chaucer who writes the Canterbury Tales fuses his initial reading of Dante with Boccaccio's response to it; he constructs the Canterbury pilgrims as grotesques who each open up a limited angle of vision on the time and space they collectively inhabit. These angles overlap and stutter over one another, unsettling the easy assignations of identity any given pilgrim would enforce on a tale or agent within the narrative. In doing so, Chaucer makes the temporality within his Tales strange and poignant in a way that fully mimics our own experience of extra-narrative time. Close