#tsom analysis

[florida3exclamationpoints]

The Sound of Music + textposts pt. 1/?

[yetanotherlesbianonthiswebsite]

An overly complicated analysis of everything we know about Neve Gallus in canon, as well as some additional thoughts of mine on the themes surrounding her (because I am so gay for her already)

1. Canon information

- Her age is, as of yet, unknown. In the Tevinter Nights story The Streets of Minrathous, narrated in the first-person perspective by Neve, we read “He greeted me with a dismissive ‘young lady’ that made me think he’d forgotten my name” (216). However, this is a description by an older man, whose nephew is alive long enough that his “parents had disowned him years ago” (213). In another passage of the story, the following can be read: “The man was a con artist I’d turned in the year before. To be fair, he’d nearly gotten me killed the year before that, so we were even” (221). We can therefore be certain that she has engaged successfully in detective work for at least two years, and has likely been doing so for a while. We do not know when the story is set, neither do we know anything about the parallel stories of “The Wigmaker Job” and “Luck in the Gardens”. We get the information that a Venatori cultist was wearing clothes that are fading (220), and that the cult had long since lost much standing in society; it has likely been quite a number of years since 9:42. At the same time, we know of a Qunari invasion in the eastern part of the Tevinter Empire from 9:44/45 onward, with several major cities falling to the invaders. Neve describes the catacombs as “a place to hold a year’s worth of food and supplies, securing the city’s survival in case of blight or Qunari invasion” (232). A woman as observant and politically savvy as her would likely not frame an invasion as that much of a hypothetical in case of an ongoing war. It is reasonable to assume that the story takes place sometime around the middle of the forties. Which means that by the events of Veilguard, in the middle of the fifties, we should expect Neve to have had at least twelve years of experience as a private investigator, which places her likely age at minimum in the early thirties. (Not that I am hoping for anything 40 or upward, no, there is no MILF agenda here)

- She describes the manor of a rich man as “a residence nowhere near the third-rate bookseller where I rent a room” (216), locating her residence both outside of the rich parts of town, and informing us that she does not have the greatest of means.

- Likewise, we learn that her “family has more templars than mages. I’m sure that says a lot about me. The point is, I’m not from an old family and I felt as at home in Lady Varantus’s house as Jahvis looked” (218). Within the rigid social hierarchies of Tevinter, she is privileged by magehood, but not by blood. To the degree that Tevene social classes can be broken down so neatly into stratified categories, she seems to be somewhere in the lower ranks of the middle class.

- She is canonically disabled; an amputee wearing a prosthetic leg made of dwarven metal (215). In the comic The Missing #4, we see her prosthetic, it is designed as a cobra standing up in intimidation of an attacker, and the metal seems to be predominantly a bronze or gold with blue or silver accents (6). On her foot on the other leg, she is wearing a boot which has a bronze or gold tip symmetrical to the tail of the cobra, and a high plattformed heel (ibid). Combining that with the fact that she fights and runs with a prosthetic and a heeled boot (TSoM 215, TM4 16), we learn that she expresses immense control over her body.

- Likewise, she approaches all her actions, her appearance, and her communication verbal and physical with a high degree of precision and deliberation. Her outfit is perfectly composed, with white and dark leather as primary colours, the same blue-gold metal that her prosthetic is made out of for accents as well as her belt (which is a coiling snake, TM4 6), a dark turquiose for some of the cloth (such as pants and cravat), a light turquiose for such accents as her fingernails and her meticulously applied eyeliner, and some manner of cap akin to a graduation cap at the right side of her head, in an almost black brown, with gold details. The shape of the cap has the exact same angles as a rhombus as her earrings (TM4 9). The detail on the cap forms a snake. It has been posited by tumblr user @cleric4vampire that even her movement in the trailer reinforces the cobra/snake motive (https://www.tumblr.com/cleric4vampire/752850000700194816). Despite sometimes excrutiatingly long workdays (223), Neve puts an extreme amount of emphasis on her appearance. Even in the comic, while the style does feature very dynamic character movements while talking, her gestures stick out as particularly deliberate; she talks with her hands a lot, and with deliberation (see the appendix of this post for more). This speaks to a plethora of willpower, control, and a desire to maintain a controlled barrier between the self and the larger world.

- While writing this, I have come up with the theory that the blue accents of her apparell might partially be lyrium. If she is literally wearing lyrium makeup, I will marry her.

- The only two offensive types of magic that we see her use are ice magic (e.g. TSoM 226, 227, 235, TM4 16, 17), and a manner of magic that lets her freeze the moisture in the air around a person to stagger them (e.g. TSoM 214, TM4 17). Through cooling the air around herself a bit less, she manages to hide herself in mist (e.g. TSoM 214). She is capable of some healing magic (227).

- She has a network of contacts, acquaintances, and informants all over Minrathous, particularly in its underground.

- She loves salty fried fish (221). This is not only in line with Minrathous being a coastal capital, which has a distinct influence on the caloric inflow into the city and cuisine at large, but also, once again, stresses that she does not have much money at her disposal, by emphasizing that she eats fried fish from a cheap street food stall very regularly (221), which she calls her “fish dinners” (228).

- She canonically has straight dark brown hair, meticulously kept at the left side of her face to keep space for the cap on the right, brown eyes, and brown skin. It is furthermore canon that anyone who has a problem with that or wishes to change that with mods will be exploded via elemental magic. It is furthermore canon that I will not buy Veilguard if the game whitewashes her.

- She is involved with the Shadow Dragons in helping fugitive slaves (TM4 9, 20). She expressly approves of the use of armed violence against the institution of slavery. At one point, she comments: “The cult’s dead god wanted to bring Tevinter back to what it was—to its “glory.” It was nonsense, of course. It always was. The old empire was even more corrupt and heartless than what it is now, no matter how pretty the picture Corypheus painted” (TSoM 221). In her vocal resistance to the empire, she sees it as a good usage of her time to track down Venatori (214). In spite of her resistance against the empire, she considers the city her home and would like it to be better than it is (214, 221).

2. Themes: The noir detective and the empire

It goes without saying that the formational archetype behind the character of Neve Gallus is that of the noir detective. A solipsistic cynic with little means, a private investigator, called to investigate a crime scene in dance with and against the police, depending on the point of the story. The noir detective of the movies of the first half of the 20th century, the formational corpus from which stems the archetype, is distinctly tied to the metropolis; a story that needs the urban context, the urban scenery. While of course featuring a plentitude of settings and configurations, at the root of the archetype rest particularly a white, male, US-American figure. To bring Minrathous in parallel with New York particularly is in so far a welcome change as it means a partial departure from the orientalism underlying a lot of early descriptions of Tevinter in Dragon Age canon. But, to me at least, it raises the question of how well Dragon Age is equipped to tackle the arising thematic implications. Just like the Tevinter Empire, the United States of America is a slave society fueled by the deprivation of Indigenous communities and the physical exploitation of a racialized, disenfanchised class. The metropolis is the core of the imperial core; and Minrathous is, as the largest city of Thedas and the capital of Tevinter, certainly that. The Streets of Minrathous manages but a partial critique of the society of the imperial-colonial metropolis. While Neve remains critical of the templars, the undeniable cop stand-in, the critique remains bound to corruption the higher one goes in the chain of command, as well as the bureaucracy (231). The story, in particular, follows the very dangerous trope commonly found in copaganda that the base-level officers should be allowed to disobey the chain of command and act on their own, particularly when it comes to the deployment of heavy weaponry (234). That the base-level officer is as much an agent of imperial violence as the top of the hierarchy, turning the systemic and depersonal violence of the system into concrete interpersonal violence, cannot be formulated by the text.

Furthermore, the Venatori, in their supremacist-fascistic death cult, remain cast in ableistic terms that deprive their ideology of systemic connectedness: “that didn’t stop remaining loyalists from acting delusional and stirring up trouble when the mood struck. That’s fanatics for you” (213). That fascism is but the logical conclusion of empire, particularly a weakened and collapsing empire, remains just as unacknowledged. And yet, what haunts the story is a profound sense of loneliness and alienation. A rich man estranged and alienated from his nephew because of his fear of social repercussions for the nephews behavior, said nephew dying while grasping to any semblance of connection he can (“He knew what came next. He was searching for whatever company he had left” 215), Neve facing the cultists in their hideout alone because the templar Rana does not want to breach protocoll, hell, even the Venatori preacher making a ridiculous figure, alone and ignored on his soapbox while the masses rush by him and shut him out of their attention; everyone is lonely, seperated by the dividing and isolating forces of the empire. The imperial metropolis condenses people, yet they are emotionally distanced from one another. Neve’s final action in the story is to return to the rich old man, explaining to him that his nephew was trying to be good after all; a post-mortem attempt to mend but one severed connection between humans. Her entire character is defined by the trajectory that comes from wandering almost aimlessly in a desperate attempt to escape the solipsistic nature of the empire. Her defining emotional conflict is with the reality of empire, as much as her status as a brown, disabled, bisexual woman clashes with the roots of the figure of the noir detective. We see by the time of The Missing #4 that she finds a sense of fulfillment in working with the Shadow Dragons for the slaves and against the slavers, which hints at a character arc from TSoM to TM4. As Varric correctly observes, she has a heart of gold (TM4 20), one which she hides behind a particularly controlled facade, as stern as beautiful. How well her character plays out in Veilguard hinges entirely on the stories limited ability to discuss empire in meaningful terms, and the story’s willingness to further explore her emotional arc suggested between TSoM and TM4. I am furthermore worried about how well a series known for its overt centrism can handle the nuances that make her character so great, as well as fearing the reaction by gamers[TM] to having a brown, female, disabled, bisexual detective.

3. Appendix: I am gay for the way she talks with her hands and body

TM4 9

TM4 9

TM4 5

TM4 10

TM4 14

TM4 19

[bedofthistles]

I didn’t like it!

I have thoughts and opinions

[teawithemmie]

I absolutely love TSOM and am so grateful I found your scene analysis posts! I've read them all and oh my goodness they're so delightful! :) Thank you for sharing your insight, I'd love to read any additional ones that you create! <3

Aww thanks so much 💗 in the midst of finals right now but hopefully I’ll have some new ones up asap :)

[juniperpublishersanatomy-blog]

Class Attendance and the Performances in Physiology Board Examinations: A Study in a Caribbean Medical School-Juniper Publishers

Abstract

Objective: Many faculty members in medical schools encourage their students to attend classes regularly emphasizing that some studies have reported strong positive correlation between the performances in the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) examination with their class attendance. The objective of our study was to assess the association of the physiology class attendance and NBME physiology scaled score.

Methods: For this study, 93 medical students who completed two terms of medical physiology at Trinity School of Medicine (TSOM) wereselected. They had their first attempt of NBME physiology examination from summer 2014 to fall 2015. Their physiology class attendance andNBME physiology scaled score were tabulated in Microsoft Excel. The correlation of the percentage of physiology class attendance and NBME physiology scaled score was determined by a Pearson correlation coefficient and regression analysis, using the SPSS version 24.

Results: The class attendance was a significant predictor of performance in physiology NBME subject examination (R2 (91) = 0.295, p = .000). A significant positive correlation was found between the class attendance (%) and NBME physiology score (r(91) = .543, p < 0.001).

Conclusion: The class attendance (%) was significantly correlated with the NBME physiology score. The physiology class attendance appears to be related to NBME physiology scaled score. However, the impacts of other factors such as study habits, environment, cultural habits, gender difference, and personal, familial, and socioeconomic stresses need to be assessed in further studies.

Keywords: NBME; Physiology; Scaled Scores; Class Attendance; Caribbean Medical School

Abbreviations: NBME: National Board of Medical Examiners; TSOM: Trinity School of Medicine; SAT: Scholastic Assessment Test; HSGPA: High School Grade Point Average; USMLE: United States Medical Licensing Examination

Introduction

Many faculty members in medical schools encourage their students to attend classes regularly emphasizing that regular class attendance facilitates learning and enhances their performance in examinations. Class attendance appears to be a better predictor of college grades than any other known predictor of college grades - including Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) scores, High School Grade Point Average (HSGPA), studying skills, and the amount of time spent studying [1]. The efforts to increase the class attendance rates among college students helped to achieve dramatic improvements in average grades [2].

The National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) provides subject examinations in the basic and clinical sciences to medical schools and other institutions that educate physicians or other health professionals. The NBME subject examinations assess the educational achievement of medical students in specific subject areas. These examinations are used at virtually all allopathic medical schools and many osteopathic medical schools in the United States and Canada, and approximately 25 international schools in the Caribbean, Mexico, Europe, Middle East, and Asia. The NBME examinations are primarily used as final examinations after courses, clerkships, or other units of instruction. However, the scores achieved on NBME examinations cannot be used by examinees for credit toward the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) [3]. Some studies reported that the NBME performance has a strong positive correlation with the class attendance [4-6]. Hence, we aimed to assess the correlation of physiology class attendance (%) with the NBME physiology scaled score.

Material and Methods

The present study is an analytical comparative study. The study was conducted in Trinity School of Medicine (TSOM), St. Vincent and the Grenadines, West Indies. At Trinity, Medical Physiology is taught to students in their first and second terms each of which comprises 15 weeks. The two terms of medical physiology are designed to give the students sufficient mastery over basic physiology and its application in clinical contexts to prepare them for the physiology sections of the USMLE Step 1. The students take part in NBME physiology at the end of their second term.

The medical students who studied two terms of medical physiology and took their NBME physiology subject examination from summer 2014 to fall 2015 at TSOM were included into this study. The students who dropped their physiology course before taking the NBME physiology and continued the same next term, those who did not study their two terms of medical physiology at TSOM, those transferred from other schools to TSOM, and those with low levels of attendance due to medical leave of absence and other extenuating circumstances were excluded from the study. Ethical clearance for the study was obtained from the research ethical committee of TSOM.

Three physiology faculty members utilized sign-in sheets, which were passed out in each class period to record the class attendance. Students were informed that the class attendance was being recorded for informational purposes and that there were no consequences regarding their absences. The students’ cooperation was good. At the end of the second term, their first attempt of NBME physiology scaled score and class attendance were tabulated in the Microsoft Excel. The correlation between the class attendance and NBME physiology scaled score was determined by a Pearson correlation coefficient and regression analysis, using the SPSS version 24. A p value of 0.05 or less was considered as statistically significant.

Results

A total of 93 students were included into the study of whom 42 were female and 51 were male. The students’ physiologyclass attendance was measured by the overall attendance percent (mean = 85.1%, SD = 11.9%) (Table 1). The students’ performance was assessed by the NBME physiology scaled score (mean = 45.9, SD = 9.1) (Table 1). There was wide variation in the class attendance (%) and NBME physiology scaled score of individual students.

The correlation coefficient (adjusted r2) of our study was 0.287 (Table 2) and significance F was <0.001. A significant positive correlation was found between the class attendance (%) and NBME physiology scaled score (r(91) = .543, p < 0.001) (Table 2). The regression model significantly predicted 29.5% (R2 = 0.295) of the NBME physiology scaled score of the students (Table 2).

Simple linear regression analysis between the class attendance (%) and NBME physiology scaled score showed that the class attendance contributed 26.9% (confidence interval 0.283, 0.552) of the variation in NBME physiology scaled score (Table 3). The regression model showed that for each 1.0% increase in class attendance, the NBME physiology scaled score is expected to increase by 0.417 (Table 3). The equation obtained from the regression model is: NBME physiology scaled score = 10.423 + 0.417 x class attendance (%). Hence, according to regression model equation, a student is expected to have 94.9% of class attendance to achieve a scaled score of 50, which is the national average in physiology NBME subject examination (Figure 1).

Discussion

The principal result of our study was a significant positive correlation between the class attendance (%) and NBME physiology scaled score (r = .543, p < 0.001). The result of our study is in line with the meta-analytical review done by Crede et al. [2] who found a strong relationship between the class attendance and college grades. Hence, they suggested increasing class attendance rates among college students to achieve dramatic improvements in average grades [2]. In a study of relationship between class attendance and NBME part I examination done by Fogleman et al. [4] analysed the results of survey via a 2 X 2 chi-square for each item and scores on the NBME examination. It showed that only class attendance were significantly different between students scoring above the mean (511.2) and those below the mean on the NBME part I examination (chi-square = 4.766; p <0.05) [4].

Similarly, Hammnen et al. [7] indicated a negative correlation between grades and number of absences from class. However, their correlation was weak, indicating that other factors were involved as most of the studies, including theirs, did not have matched experimental and control groups. Hence, it is impossible to state whether regular attendance caused slightly higher scores or whether the better students attend the classes more frequently [7]. Millis et al. [8] demonstrated that a significant correlation (r = 0.203, P < 0.05) between the attendance and students’ grade averages at the end of their second year. They found increased grade averages as attendance increased. Students may assume that the self-directed study and distance learning are equivalent to the class activities. The risk of poor performance in a significant number of first-year medical students may be because of their belief that the internet- and classroom-based instructions in basic medical science courses are equivalent [8].

In a study done by Subramaniam et al. [9] in a medical college, they found a significant correlation between the attendance and the students who passed the University examinations. The number of students passing the examination was maximum (>90%) compared to those getting distinction and failing the exam after they made attendance mandatory for the medical course [9]. A moderate to strong negative correlation between absenteeism and academic achievement suggested that the class attendance is very critical for learning and important in improving the knowledge and academic achievement [10]. Bamuhair et al. [11] reported the positive effect of attendance on the academic performances with a stronger effect for lectures compared to other teaching modalities. They suggested that the lecture attendance is critical for learning even in nontraditional methods of education [11].

In a study of association between lecture attendance and grade outcomes done by Horton et al. [12] they reported the positive correlation of exam grades with the lecture attendance in male students (r = 0.29, P < 0.04) and overall (r = 0.21, P < 0.02) but not for female students considered separately (r = 0.10, NS). They also found that the overall grades were correlated positively with lecture attendance in male students (r = 0.35, P < 0.01) and overall (r = 0.31, P < 0.001) but not when female students were considered separately (r = 0.20, NS) [12].

However, Cohall et al. [13] in their study found no significant association between the improvement in attendance and improved academic performances in the examinations. Their findings suggested that the other factors are more critical to academic success [13]. Therefore, even though the present study suggests that the higher percentage of class attendance add value to academic performance in board examinations, the other factors such as quality of lectures and the study habits may also have an equal impact in academic performance of the students in board examinations.

Conclusion and Recommendation

According to our study, the physiology class attendance (%) has a strong positive correlation with the scaled score in physiology NBME subject examination. It means that the performance of students in physiology NBME subject examination improves with increase in their class attendance (%). Therefore, we recommend that the faculty members should encourage the students to attend the classes regularly by implementing incentives such as points for class attendance or by applying academic activities during the class such as discussing comprehensive questions at the end of the lecture. Implementation of class attendance policies might enhance the performance of medical students in board examinations too.

We conducted this study only in the subject of Physiology. The study that includes a larger sample size from multiple basic medical science subjects and study samples from more than one medical school might further strengthen the results. Further studies should address the quality of lectures, other ways to increase intrinsic motivation for attending lectures, whether the relationship is causal, and whether the improvement in attendance percentage can improve the NBME physiology performances. In addition, the impacts of other factors such as study habit, environment, cultural habit, gender difference, and personal, familial, and socioeconomic stresses need to be assessed in further studies.

To Know More About Anatomy Physiology & Biochemistry International Journal Please click on: https://juniperpublishers.com/apbij/index.php

For more Open Access Journals in Juniper Publishers please click on: https://juniperpublishers.com/index.php

[persaephone]

One thing I love about The Ländler™ is that the main point of contact Maria and the Captain have in the majority of the dance is their hands and when they begin to touch more and more of each other is when the tone of the dance drastically changes. Even when Georg puts his hands on her waist, it's through Maria's hands, and everything is still lighthearted - they're smiling, at ease with each other, and comfortable.

One could argue the tone changes when Georg reaches behind his shoulder to join their hands for the final time before they begin the series of intricate turns and loops. But he still has a mischievous look on his face, though I will concede Maria looks worried - because she knows what is coming next.

However, I argue the full change occurs when they have multiple points of contact during the turns and loops (their arms, chests, etc.). Both have it clearly written on their face that they know something is going on between them. After all, it's the closest physically they've ever been and the most they have ever touched. This physical closeness causes the pretense between them to fall apart as they stare into each other's eyes, just for a moment, before Maria backs away with the excuse she doesn't remember anymore.

It's awe-inspiring.

[florida3exclamationpoints]

SHUT UP YOU'RE SO RIGHT AND IT'S SO CUTE

now that im on my tsom crackheadedness yet again, ive found that this song is literally maria. give it a listen and tell me how right i am LOL

[florida3exclamationpoints]

I remember seeing a post one time that said it was so terrible how Maria said she was frightened and ran away from a man and the reverend mother told her to go back and sometimes I think about that and get so annoyed... Maria said "I was frightened" and the reverend mother's FIRST reaction was a very frantic and worried "were they unkind to you?" And Maria said no very sincerely and then explained. The reverend mother isn't stupid she knows Maria very well. She knows when she's lying. And even tho the movie never said it specifically (besides Maria's "wicked childhood / miserable youth") in real life she was abused as a child so the reverend mother probably ALSO knows what Maria's trauma responses look like. She ALSO ALSO said that Georg was a "fine and brave man" and was comfortable sending Maria to work for him in the first place so already knew him and his character pretty well too!!! This woman oversees a community of all women including lots of young and confused women trying to escape something (including nazis!!!) and she obviously takes her responsibility seriously and she wouldn't just throw Maria into a potentially abusive situation!!!

[florida3exclamationpoints]

Maybe if yall were more like me and read tsom fanfiction about gossiping socialites and reformed slutty high society men you'd appreciate cowboy like me more .

[florida3exclamationpoints]

Maria and Georg fight so well I wanna see them have an actual Married Couple™ fight. Like not over smth extremely important but they're both really mad and Yell At Each Other. They'd slay.

[florida3exclamationpoints]

Maria: I don't suppose I'm used to dancing

Georg:

[florida3exclamationpoints]

Idk why I've seen so many posts about "lo and behold you're someone's wife, and you belong to him" being toxic or sexist or something bc it's actually the most romantic line in the film actually!!!!!!!!!! Not to be like IF tHe RoLeS wErE rEveRsEd but would we not go feral if Georg had said "and you belong to her"??????????? She is not his in the way that she is a possession he owns, she is his in the way that she is his wife, his partner, the same way that he is hers. They belong to each other. They are the blueprint for romance methinks

[florida3exclamationpoints]

The way Georg says "and have you found it... maria?" and he sounds like he's done when he pauses but then he says her name bc he just said it without "fraulein" for the first time and he loves her and he just wants to say her name bc he loves her so much

[florida3exclamationpoints]

I think I may have a very specific type with my ships (they only see each other they only have eyes for each other THEY ONLY SEE-)

[florida3exclamationpoints]

Max blowing a kiss to tell his best friends goodbye knowing very well he might never see them again is something that can be sooooo personal

[florida3exclamationpoints]

is maria a manic pixie dream girl yes or no. discuss

YES YES YES OF COURSE OBVIOUSLY except for the part where people say manic pixie dream girls are one dimensional. Every other way yes