HEADSPACE: Architecture for Mental Health

This thesis proposes a mental wellness center that will act as a free resource for mental health services, specifically anxiety and depression. The goal of this project is to create a resource that will help mitigate the ignorance around mental health by educating the public, creating opportunities for positive social interaction, and giving the scholastic and residential communities a safe place to examine their individual mental health. This will be accomplished by finding mediators between clinical and non-clinical types of program

Influential Article Review - Evaluating Annual Reports and CSR Activities of Multinational Hotel Chains in Mauritius

This paper examines corporate social responsibility. We present insights from a highly influential paper. Here are the highlights from this paper: The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the level of CSR reporting of the top multinational hotel groups in Mauritius. Content analysis method is used to identify the social responsibility patterns found in their annual reports. This study thus investigates the level and the reasons for CSR disclosure of multinational groups in the hospitality sector in Mauritius through a review of their annual reports. The aim is to explore the possibility of using the legitimacy theory as a plausible explanation for CSR reporting practices by multinational hotel groups in the context of a developing country. Mauritius proves to be an interesting case study as the hotel industry is one of the main engines of growth and the country is also actively trying to attract foreign investors in terms of FDI and multinational enterprises (MNEs). Furthermore, the country has also made it mandatory for profit making entities to devote 2% of their book profits to CSR activities since 2009. The annual reports of 6 hotel groups have been analysed using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) indicators. The study shows that CSR reporting is prevalent among all the hotel groups in the sample but there is no primary area of CSR focus in the sector. The emphasis placed on CSR also varies significantly. Furthermore, the majority of the CSR information tend to relate to particular categories showing that the hotel groups take a narrow view of CSR and tend to prioritise particular areas at the expense of others. The findings also suggest that the disclosures tend to have a public-relations bias, with ‘good news’ type of disclosures being mostly dominant while ‘bad news’ disclosures tend to be minimal. The findings thus provide some support for legitimacy theory in explaining CSR disclosures. For our overseas readers, we then present the insights from this paper in Spanish, French, Portuguese, and German

Mechanistic Studies of Atypical Reactions and Uncommon Substrates Native to Bacterial Cytochrome P450 Enzymes OleT\u3csub\u3eJE\u3c/sub\u3e and NikQ

Cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes typically perform hydroxylation chemistry on small molecule substrates using atmospheric oxygen and electrons from redox partner proteins. This reactivity is dependent on a thiolate-ligated heme cofactor that also allows for spectroscopic detection of ligation, oxidation, and environmental changes to the iron metal. The onset of the genomics era has resulted in the discovery of CYPs that deviate from this paradigm in terms of reaction performed, cosubstrate requirements, and substrate-scope. This work focuses on two of these unusual P450s – OleT and NikQ. OleT performs an unconventional H2O2-dependent decarboxylation reaction on a standard small molecule fatty acid substrate to yield 1-olefins and CO2. A desire to maximize the biosynthetic potential of this enzyme while addressing limitations imposed by the peroxide requirement has resulted in numerous reports that OleT may have the capacity to utilize biological redox donors and O2 in a canonical P450 reaction mechanism. Chapter 2 centers on transient kinetics, cryoradiolysis, and turnover studies used to investigate the precise origins of OleT alkene production using surrogate redox systems and dioxygen. While results show that this enzyme is ultimately incapable of performing true O2-driven catalysis, conclusions do illuminate several strategies for improving OleT for downstream biocatalytic applications. Chapters 3 and 4 focus on NikQ, which carries out classical P450 β-hydroxylation chemistry using O2 and reducing equivalents from redox donors on a ʟ-histidine substrate requisitely appended to NikP1, a ~75 kDa nonribosomal peptide synthetase protein. The first half of the CYP catalytic cycle is typically regulated at multiple steps by the binding of substrate; however, this mechanistic gating in P450s acting on protein-tethered substrates is not well-elucidated. We use various spectroscopic techniques, transient kinetics, and spectroelectrochemical studies to investigate the influence of this complex substrate on early NikQ catalysis. Results indicate that NikP1-binding does not substantially regulate NikQ, which is highly atypical of P450s. Possible molecular determinants and functional significance of this mechanistic peculiarity will also be discussed

Unpacking challenges in student-faculty partnerships on Departmental Action Teams

This paper is a case study analysis of one student-faculty partnership working to enact departmental change. Students as Partners (SaP) is an approach in which students and faculty work in partnership on the co-design of a curricular or institutional change effort. Our team implements SaP through Departmental Action Teams (DATs), which are facilitated teams of faculty, students, and staff within a single STEM department working on an issue related to undergraduate education. In our research, we aim to understand the ways in which SaP becomes enacted in DATs. Through analyzing interviews with student and faculty members of a single DAT, we construct a case study of the complexities and challenges of student-faculty partnership. We find that members of a partnership can hold different views of that partnership. Underlying these differences are differing views about their joint work as well as differences in the visibility of power dynamics. In self-critically analyzing the ways in which we mitigated and reproduced power dynamics, we reflect on our project’s areas for growth

Supervision 2.0: Culturally Competent and Creative Online Supervision Practices

The below documentation is an analysis of online integrative based supervision ideas with multicultural considerations. Various interventions with supervisees, which are aimed for supervisee reflective growth and client beneficence, are also discussed. Following Integrated Supervision Framework (ISF) description, a case vignette introducing reflective and inclusive online strategies is described. Future issues potentially affecting consideration of online supervision will also be described

Toward Institutionalizing Successful Innovations in the Academy

Due to the “wicked problem” of the Academy’s resistance to innovation, new teaching and learning programs struggle to become integrated into the fabric of the Academy, which slows the uptake of evidence-based practices. This wicked problem is rooted in the lack of slow, intentional mechanisms for cultural change in the Academy. In this article, we analyze the institutionalization journey of the Departmental Action Team (DAT) project, which is a model for slow, intentional change. Over the last four years, partnering with two campus centers for teaching and learning (CTLs) allowed the DAT project to make institutionalization progress.This analysis is focused on the institutionalization activities of the DAT project team and their co-creation of value with diverse stakeholders across two institutions. Results of the analysis include the definition of seven areas of effort (Team Development, Program Design, Awareness Communication, Program Implementation, Program Assessment, Outcomes Communication, and Financial Stability) that are valuable for the institutionalization of innovative educational programs. Within each area of effort, we describe specific strategies for institutionalization progress. We also analyze the timing of different areas of effort and present a model describing the cycling between areas of effort over time. Throughout the analysis, we provide recommendations for CTL staff working to institutionalize innovations

Kate 2008 Spring

Each year, kate seeks to: explore ideas about normative gender, sex, and sexuality work against oppression and hierarchies of power in any and all forms serve as a voice for race and gender equity as well as queer positivity encourage the silent to speak and feel less afraid build a zine and community that we care about and trusthttps://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/kate/1008/thumbnail.jp

Challenging the obesity paradox: Extreme obesity and COPD mortality in the SUMMIT Trial

Populations with COPD demonstrate higher survival in overweight and obese compared with normal weight; the “obesity paradox”. Relationships in less-severe COPD are unclear, as is the impact of cardiovascular risk, and few studies include individuals at extremes of obesity.  We examined the relationship between body mass index (BMI; defined as underweight: 40 kg·m−2, suggesting that obesity may not remain protective at the extremes in this population

Lipid Metabolism at the Nexus of Diet and Tumor Microenvironment

Obesity is a leading contributing factor to cancer development worldwide. Epidemiological evidence suggests that diet affects cancer risk and also substantially alters therapeutic outcome. Therefore, studying the impact of diet in the development and treatment of cancer should be a clinical priority. In this Review, we set out the evidence supporting the role of lipid metabolism in shaping the tumor microenvironment (TME) and cancer cell phenotype. We will discuss how dietary lipids can impact phenotype thereby affecting disease trajectory and treatment response. Finally, we will posit potential strategies on how this knowledge can be exploited to increase treatment efficacy and patient survival.B.P. is supported by a grant from Barts Charity and Cancer Research UK core funding (Core award C16420/A18066). A.S. is supported by grants from the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Cancer Aid