Impostering: Complicating Power in Social Practice

How can we complicate the dynamics between insider and outsider in socially engaged art? Through ficto-criticism, this thesis explores the intricacy of power and position and place and practice in crossing boundaries. Socially engaged art is by nature an imposter practice, reaching out into communities, institutions, and other disciplines. This act is not currently always done intentionally in a way that fully owns up to power (particularly funding), identity, and context. As a result, we as social practice artists and arts organizations often sometimes do work we are inexperienced to handle, labour for projects misaligns with available resources, thinking can be co-opted by boosterist social innovation frameworks, and other problematic engagements. Social practice writing is currently divided between those who dismiss it as anti-aesthetic and overly utopian and those who are uncritically hopeful about its liberatory potential. With this work I instead seek a self-reflexive operator working intentionally within shifting hierarchies and contexts to pursue complexity. I use ficto-critical writing as a methodology for implicating myself in the work and gaining a nuanced perspective—both critical and generous—after four years of work in the field. I weave in three coherent conversations with artists—Cristóbal Martinez, Orev Katz, and cheyanne turions—as a way of articulating difficulties and possibilities. I conclude by determining that making boundaries and crossing them are parallel impulses each with a multitude of motives, and propose a process of owning up both inwardly in relation to subject position and externally in relation to context as a way of acting with intention. I articulate this as impostering, an intentional crossing of boundaries, leveraging or ceding power from within, or interfering in relation to difficulty and complexity

“Do you have a brother? I have two!”: The Nature of Questions Asked and Answered in Text-Focused Pen Pal Exchanges

Authentic learning experiences are those in which students engage with texts as well as the behaviors of reading and writing within contexts of real-world use beyond traditional academic use. This study provides quantitative analysis of how students (n=200) engaged with an adult pen pal in a shared literacy experience. Findings indicate that students actively participated with their adult pen pals asking and answering more personal questions than literature-based questions. Data were disaggregated for reading ability and gender. Students who were considered above-grade level readers asked and answered significantly more questions than students considered below grade level in reading. Girls asked significantly more questions, both personal and literature-based, than boys, however there were no significant differences in the number of questions answered. Implications and need for future research are discussed

Absence of HIV-1 Evolution in the Gut-Associated Lymphoid Tissue from Patients on Combination Antiviral Therapy Initiated during Primary Infection

Mucosal mononuclear (MMC) CCR5+CD4+ T cells of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract are selectively infected and depleted during acute HIV-1 infection. Despite early initiation of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) CD4+ T cell depletion and activation persist in the majority of HIV-1 positive individuals studied. This may result from ongoing HIV-1 replication and T-cell activation despite effective cART. We hypothesized that ongoing viral replication in the GI tract during cART would result in measurable viral evolution, with divergent populations emerging over time. Subjects treated during early HIV-1 infection underwent phlebotomy and flexible sigmoidoscopy with biopsies prior to and 15–24 months post initiation of cART. At the 2nd biopsy, three GALT phenotypes were noted, characterized by high, intermediate and low levels of immune activation. A representative case from each phenotype was analyzed. Each subject had plasma HIV-1 RNA levels <50 copies/ml at 2nd GI biopsy and CD4+ T cell reconstitution in the peripheral blood. Single genome amplification of full-length HIV-1 envelope was performed for each subject pre- and post-initiation of cART in GALT and PBMC. A total of 280 confirmed single genome sequences (SGS) were analyzed for experimental cases. For each subject, maximum likelihood phylogenetic trees derived from molecular sequence data showed no evidence of evolved forms in the GALT over the study period. During treatment, HIV-1 envelope diversity in GALT-derived SGS did not increase and post-treatment GALT-derived SGS showed no substantial genetic divergence from pre-treatment sequences within transmitted groups. Similar results were obtained from PBMC-derived SGS. Our results reveal that initiation of cART during acute/early HIV-1 infection can result in the interruption of measurable viral evolution in the GALT, suggesting the absence of de-novo rounds of HIV-1 replication in this compartment during suppressive cART

Strategies to improve effectiveness of physical activity coaching systems:Development of personas for providing tailored feedback

Mobile physical activity interventions can be improved by incorporating behavioural change theories. Relations between self-efficacy, stage of change, and physical activity are investigated, enabling development of feedback strategies that can be used to improve their effectiveness. A total of 325 healthy control participants and 82 patients wore an activity monitor. Participants completed a self-efficacy or stage of change questionnaire. Results show that higher self-efficacy is related to higher activity levels. Patients are less active than healthy controls and show a larger drop in physical activity over the day. Patients in the maintenance stage of change are more active than patients in lower stages of change, but show an equally large drop in level of physical activity. Findings suggest that coaching should at least be tailored to level of self-efficacy, stage of change, and physical activity pattern. Tailored coaching strategies are developed, which suggest that increasing self-efficacy of users is most important. Guidelines are provided

The West Africa Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program, a strategy to improve disease surveillance and epidemic control in West Africa

The West Africa Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (WA-FELTP) which was established in September 2007, is an inter-country, competency-based, in-service and post -graduate training program in applied epidemiology and public health that builds the capacity to strengthen the surveillance and response system as well as epidemic control in the French-speaking countries where they are implemented. The overall purpose is to provide epidemiological and public health laboratory services to the public health systems at national, provincial, district and local levels. The program includes four countries: Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Togo with an overarching goal to progressively cover all French speaking countries in West Africa through a phased-in approach. WA-FELTP's 2- year Master's program was launched in 2010 with 12 residents, three from each country, and consists of medical and veterinary doctors, pharmacists, and laboratory scientists. The training comprises 25% didactic sessions and 75% practical in-the-field mentored training. During the practical training, residents rovide service to their respective ministries of health and ministries of animal resources by contributing to outbreak investigations and activities that help to improve national surveillance systems at national, regional, district and local levels. The pressing challenges that the program must address consist of the lack of funds to support the second cohort of trainees, though trainee selection was completed, inadequate funds to support staff compensation, and shortage of funds to support trainees’ participation in critical activities in field epidemiology practice, and a need to develop a 5-year plan for sustainability

The comorbidity of depression and neurocognitive disorder in persons with HIV infection: call for investigation and treatment

Depression and neurocognitive disorder continue to be the major neuropsychiatric disorders affecting persons with HIV (PWH). The prevalence of major depressive disorder is two to fourfold higher among PWH than the general population (∼6.7%). Prevalence estimates of neurocognitive disorder among PWH range from 25 to over 47% – depending upon the definition used (which is currently evolving), the size of the test battery employed, and the demographic and HIV disease characteristics of the participants included, such as age range and sex distribution. Both major depressive disorder and neurocognitive disorder also result in substantial morbidity and premature mortality. However, though anticipated to be relatively common, the comorbidity of these two disorders in PWH has not been formally studied. This is partly due to the clinical overlap of the neurocognitive symptoms of these two disorders. Both also share neurobehavioral aspects — particularly apathy — as well as an increased risk for non-adherence to antiretroviral therapy. Shared pathophysiological mechanisms potentially explain these intersecting phenotypes, including neuroinflammatory, vascular, and microbiomic, as well as neuroendocrine/neurotransmitter dynamic mechanisms. Treatment of either disorder affects the other with respect to symptom reduction as well as medication toxicity. We present a unified model for the comorbidity based upon deficits in dopaminergic transmission that occur in both major depressive disorder and HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder. Specific treatments for the comorbidity that decrease neuroinflammation and/or restore associated deficits in dopaminergic transmission may be indicated and merit study

Propuesta de un sistema MRP para incrementar la productividad en la línea de fabricación de calzados de la Empresa Estefany Rouss, Trujillo

El presente trabajo de tesis titulado: “PROPUESTA DE UN SISTEMA MRP PARA INCREMENTAR LA PRODUCTIVIDAD EN LA LÍNEA DE FABRICACIÓN DE CALZADOS DE LA EMPRESA ESTEFANY ROUSS, TRUJILLO” pretende plantear el uso de una herramienta actual, como es la planeación de requerimiento de materiales (MRP), siendo el objetivo principal lograr el aumento de la productividad dentro de la empresa y en consecuencia mayor competitividad. La presente investigación se inicia con el diagnóstico actual de la empresa, describiendo las etapas del proceso productivo, maquinaria y herramienta; además se detallan todos los modelos de calzado que se fabrican, su participación en el mercado y finalmente se halla la productividad inicial del semestre julio-diciembre del año 2016. Se recopilaron datos históricos de ventas del periodo 2012 a 2016 para poder elaborar el pronóstico de ventas para un horizonte semestral del año 2017. Luego se elaboró el programa maestro de producción mensual, semanal y el plan de requerimiento de materiales (MRP); cuantificando los costos de la compra de los materiales requeridos para finalmente poder calcular la productividad del recurso materiales con el MRP propuesto. Finalmente, los resultados obtenidos nos demuestran que con la propuesta de un sistema MRP se incrementa la productividad de 2.78 docenas por cada S/. 1000 invertidos en el segundo semestre del año 2016, a 3.87 docenas por cada S/. 1000 invertidos para el segundo semestre del año 2017, lo que representa un incremento del 28.17% respecto a los costos incurridos en la compra de materiales de la empresa ESTEFANY ROUSS.The present thesis entitled: ""A PROPOSAL OF AN MRP SYSTEM TO INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY IN THE FOOTWEAR LINE OF THE ESTEFANY ROUSS’S COMPANY IN TRUJILLO"" proposes the use of a real tool, such as material requirements planning ( MRP), which the objective of increasing productivity within the company and consequently greater competitiveness. The present investigation begins with the current diagnosis of the company, describing the stages of the production process, the machinery and the tools, it also details all the designs of footwear that are manufactured, their participation in the market, and finally the initial productivity from July to December in 2016. Historical sales data were compiled for the period 2012 to 2016 in order to prepare the sales forecast for a semiannual horizon of 2017. Then the monthly master production program, weekly and the material requirements plan (MRP) were developed; quantifying the cost of materials purchased and required to calculate the productivity of the resources with the proposed MRP. Finally, the results obtained with the MRP model increase in the productivity of 2.78 dozen for each S /. 1000 invested in the second half of 2016, to 3.87 dozen for each S /. 1000 invested for the second half of 2017, representing an increase of 28.17% over the costs incurred in the purchase of materials from ESTEFANY ROUSS.Tesi