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- Creators: Department of Psychology
2D fetal echocardiography (ECHO) can be used for monitoring heart development in utero. This study’s purpose is to empirically model normal fetal heart growth and function changes during development by ECHO and compare these to fetuses diagnosed with and without cardiomyopathy with diabetic mothers. There are existing mathematical models describing fetal heart development but they warrant revalidation and adjustment. 377 normal fetuses with healthy mothers, 98 normal fetuses with diabetic mothers, and 37 fetuses with cardiomyopathy and diabetic mothers had their cardiac structural dimensions, cardiothoracic ratio, valve flow velocities, and heart rates measured by fetal ECHO in a retrospective chart review. Cardiac features were fitted to linear functions, with respect to gestational age, femur length, head circumference, and biparietal diameter and z-scores were created to model normal fetal growth for all parameters. These z-scores were used to assess what metrics had no difference in means between the normal fetuses of both healthy and diabetic mothers, but differed from those diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. It was found that functional metrics like mitral and tricuspid E wave and pulmonary velocity could be important predictors for cardiomyopathy when fitted by gestational age, femur length, head circumference, and biparietal diameter. Additionally, aortic and tricuspid annulus diameters when fitted to estimated gestational age showed potential to be predictors for fetal cardiomyopathy. While the metrics overlapped over their full range, combining them together may have the potential for predicting cardiomyopathy in utero. Future directions of this study will explore creating a classifier model that can predict cardiomyopathy using the metrics assessed in this study.
This paper also delves into feminism in Islam and argues that Muslim women should not be forced to choose between their faith and their human rights; rather, women should be able to obtain an education and should play an essential role in the interpretation of religious texts.
The purpose of this thesis project is twofold: to examine the intersection of Islam, women, and sexual violence prevention as well as to develop and apply a sexual violence prevention curriculum that can be implemented within Muslim communities. The textual analysis of this project will include discussions regarding the primary source of the Qur’an as well as the secondary sources of ahadith and existing literature written by Muslim scholars, primarily female Muslim scholars. This will allow for an analysis of how women are portrayed in Islam as well as how Islamic texts and traditions challenge the patriarchy and rape culture in which sexual violence manifests. Using this foundational knowledge, the goals of the sexual violence prevention curriculum will be to facilitate a discussion between Muslims regarding what sexual violence looks like and what rape culture is, create support networks for survivors, discuss what to do if a friend discloses that they are a survivor or victim of sexual violence, reduce roadblocks to reporting, and analyze literature on feminism in Islam in order to support a movement for sexual violence prevention.
male bias in the English language. Male bias can be traced through American history in the form of laws of coverture and the categorization of women in law. Taking into account the connections between sexist language, history, and law, this paper investigates 1) how and why legal language is biased, 2) why male bias has persisted in law over time, and 3) what impact male-biased law has on women. The works of ancient philosophers, feminist historians, psycholinguistic scientists, and modern philosophers of law are used to explain the patriarchal gender hierarchy’s influence on law. Case law and legal policies demonstrate that sexism has been maintained through history due to the preservation of male-biased language and the exclusion of women from the public sphere. Today, the use of masculine generics continues to taint the legal profession by reflecting, rather than denouncing, its patriarchal roots.