Environmental Racism and the Movement for Black Lives: Grassroots Power in the 21st Century

This thesis explores the ways in which the environmental justice movement, which is in opposition to environmental racism, and the Black Lives Matter movement, which is in opposition to police brutality and other forms of racism, are part of the same struggle: a struggle against the neoliberal violence of the state. This struggle against neoliberal violence is at the same time a struggle for communities of color to achieve self-determination on a global scale, a monumental task which might be informed through a revolutionary intercommunalist framework of global grassroots solidarity. State oppression embodies violence in more forms that one, including co-optation—which entails the assimilation of people into a political framework that answers to the gatekeepers of transnational capital. This work includes input from environmental justice activists from Los Angeles County in its exploration of local grassroots struggles

Pool-based Dance/Movement Therapy With An Elder Population: A Literature Review

Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT) is used widely with elders, yet little is known about the sub-field of pool-based therapy. Specific practices in DMT with elders appear in the literature with groups and individuals and uses of props that support issues of balance. While pool-based DMT literature is limited, there is a body of knowledge in related fields that tie closely to the idea of this approach. While implementing treatment in a pool setting may be limiting due to fears or ability, the literature review revealed that using pool DMT would benefit elderly health. Benefits to physical aspects such as balance, muscular strength, gait variability, flexibility, and addressing issues of cognition are some of the areas that can be considered in pool-based DMT

Pigment biosynthesis genes in the blue cheese fungus Penicillium roqueforti

The fungus Penicillium roqueforti is used in the production of blue cheese worldwide. It confers a distinct flavour and texture due to a wide range of volatiles and enzymes produced. Blue veins that develop during the culturing process add a uniquely recognizable characteristic to the final product. The resulting colour comes from the pigments that make up melanin covering the spore surface. The process by which P. roqueforti produces these melanin pigments has yet to be identified. New strains have been produced using UV mutagenesis to generate spore colour mutants whose conidia range from brown, pink, green, intense blue, and white in appearance. This research may have commercial potential because it might facilitate the production of novel cheeses with a range of vein colours. In this study, the genetic controls of pigment biosynthesis in P. roqueforti were investigated using a combination of bioinformatic, biochemical, and gene manipulation approaches. Initially, bioinformatics analysis was performed to determine whether a DHN-Melanin pathway, involved with pigment biosynthesis in the phylogenetically related Aspergillus fumigatus, was present in P. roqueforti. This identified a set of six genes, some of which were clustered in the genome. The genes identified were homologues of alb1 (Albino 1), ayg1 (Aspergillus yellow-green 1), arp2 (Aspergillus reddish-pink 2), arp1 (Aspergillus reddish-pink 1), abr1 (Aspergillus brownish-red 1), and abr2 (Aspergillus brownish-red 2). To determine whether the DHN-Melanin pathway was functional in P. roqueforti, first biochemical inhibitor work was performed. Second, gene sequencing of a series of UV colour mutants was undertaken to assess any correlation between change in spore colour and mutation in genes of the DHN-Melanin pathway. Third, deletion strains were produced targeting each of the six genes believed to be involved in pigment biosynthesis. Finally, experimental work was conducted to gain insights into the ecological importance of spore pigment formation in P. roqueforti. As a result of the combined bioinformatic, biochemical and gene manipulation work, a definitive DHN-Melanin pathway for the fungus P. roqueforti is proposed. This information will be of importance to both the scientific community who study Penicillium roqueforti and related organisms and the industrial cheese producers who use them

Students’ and their parents’ experiences of inclusion in mainstream schools.What does inclusion mean for parents with children that have special educational needs and what does it mean for the children themselves in today’s mainstream schooling system?

This thesis examines experiences and critical incidents that parents and their children with special educational needs encountered in mainstream school settings. Research was carried out within the methodological framework of autoethnography, reflecting the author's desire to make sense of her own experiences of inclusion in mainstream schools, both as a professional 'insider' and parent of a child with special educational needs. A purist approach to autoethnography was used, where stories were seen as stand alone pieces of gold: individual, unique case studies giving rise to questions and emotions in their own right, (Ellis & Bochner, 2006, Vickers, 2010), combined with the rigour of an analytical approach to make sense of what unfolded (Andersons, 2006).Differing meanings, values and interpretations surrounding inclusion have shaped the current inclusion discourse and understandings of 'need' and 'disability', giving rise to significant impacts on the disabled person and the symbolic value of the disabled body. The work of Bourdieu and Foucault was used to better understand concepts of capital, power and agency and the impact these have on the disabled entrepreneur.Research findings indicate that positive experiences of parents and children with SEN in mainstream schools were rare and sporadic. However, success is possible if we redefine the language surrounding SEN, taking a more detailed and sensitive approach that recognises the power of words in shaping values, attitudes, feelings and practices. A more equal distribution of power is required to stabilise the SEN system, listening more to parents and children and empowering them as agents of their own lives. Standing in people's shoes, seeing them as valued, unique and capable, as wanting to find their true abilities and to realise their hopes, their dreams and their full potential will lead to the term SEN no longer being necessary

The Study of Resistance and Stability of Vegetation in Flood Channels

Preface: The following report was prepared by the Utah Water Research Laboratory of Utah State University in Logan, Utah. The report contains the data and conclusions of flow tests conducted with different types of shrubs and woody vegetation in the hydraulics flumes of Utah State University. The funding agency for this project was the U.S. Army Engineers Waterwasy Experiment Stations, Vicksburg, MS.; Project Name - Flood Control Channels; Work Unit Title - Stability of Vegetative Cover in Flood Control Channels; Work Unit No - 337A3; Federal Contract No - DACW39-94-K-0009. The study was the result of a proposal submitted in response to the U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station Broad Agency Announcements

Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short Course: Program Evaluation

Survey results (n = 3,748) collected over a period of 7 years from the Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short Course (BCSC) were analyzed to evaluate course demographics and the impact of the course on attendees. Results of this survey demonstrate that attendee demographics of the BCSC are representative of beef cattle producers in the United States and that the BCSC is effective at delivering information that positively impacts beef production in Texas. Extension professionals can make use of these findings to tailor future education programs to better serve the needs of beef cattle producers nation-wide

Recommended Procedures for the Departmental Handling of Line of Duty Death

Discusses the effects line of duty deaths have one the survivors when a policy does not exist

Stocking rate and stocking strategy for steers grazing rotational or continuous stocked rye-ryegrass pasture

Last updated: 6/1/200