In bed with the arts...

In the same way that an embryo is formed, exciting and creative new things can evolve by a synergy of two things coming together. However, with new things, there is always a process of adaptation and growing pains, as the new being takes shape and form. This article will address some of the issues that arise through the synthesis and innovative nature of collaboration between visual methodologies and social research. It will draw specifically on examples from a recent research project that looked at the sex and relationship needs of young people with learning disabilities (hereafter referred to as the Sex and Relationships project), where drama was used as a research tool. It will highlight the way in which the young people in the study had their voices heard by producing a play based around their experiences and views. The article will draw the discussion together by considering the contested nature of visual methods and I will reflect on my own personal response to being a researcher on the Sex and Relationships project. Finally, I will attempt to answer the question, ‘…but is it really research?

‘Do we all get a PhD?' Attempting emancipatory research relating to disability in an academic environment. Relating to disability in an academic environment

Within the model of emancipatory research, the researcher is situated as one member of a team. They are often conceptualised as providing methodological tools and skills to others involved in the research project but the definition of topic, data analysis and dissemination is presented as a joint enterprise. This model of research (deliberately) contradicts with the view of the expert researcher prevalent within higher education establishments and particularly with the individualised construction of research degrees such as PhDs which requires a thesis to be the exclusive product of one individual. The paper discusses attempts which have been made to reconcile the tensions inherent in adopting an emancipatory model within an academic environment including our own experiences of researching and supervising a doctoral thesis on citizenship and disability. The project is led by an advisory panel of disabled people who are involved in the preparation, selection and analysis of the interviews and pragmatic aspects of attempting such an emancipatory model of research from the viewpoint of the entire research team. It raises the question as to whether such models can only be completely adhered to in particular, probably non-academic settings

Living in Hogwarts: The Experience of a Dean of Honors and His Wife While Living in an Honors Residence Hall

On Friday, May 17, 2013, we watched the class of 2013 Honors Scholars at West Virginia University (WVU) enter the Honors Convocation to the sound of Non Nobis Domine. While certainly not our first Honors Scholars graduation since Keith had been running honors at WVU, it was nonetheless special. This cohort of graduates was the first freshman class to live in the specially built residence hall that houses the honors college administrative offices, each new freshman class of the honors college, and an apartment for faculty living in-residence

Living in Hogwarts: The Experience of a Dean of Honors and His Wife While Living in an Honors Residence Hall

On Friday, May 17, 2013, we watched the class of 2013 Honors Scholars at West Virginia University (WVU) enter the Honors Convocation to the sound of Non Nobis Domine. While certainly not our first Honors Scholars graduation since Keith had been running honors at WVU, it was nonetheless special. This cohort of graduates was the first freshman class to live in the specially built residence hall that houses the honors college administrative offices, each new freshman class of the honors college, and an apartment for faculty living in-residence

The complete mitogenome of two Australian lampreys: mordacia mordax and mordacia praecox

As one of only two surviving outgroups to all jawed vertebrates, lampreys (Petromyzontiformes) can provide important information in our understanding of early vertebrate evolution. However, with many phylogenetic aspects of lamprey evolution still uncertain, the ability to use contemporary lampreys in this role depends on robust phylogenetic hypotheses regarding the interrelationship of the three lamprey families, as well as the relationship between lampreys and hagfishes. To achieve this, complete mitogenome data of Southern Hemisphere lampreys is required. Another contentious issue in lamprey taxonomy is the status of paired species. Whilst many studies have focused on Northern Hemisphere species pairs, this study is the first to compare Mordacia mordax and Mordacia praecox, two lamprey species endemic to Australia and the only species pair in the Southern Hemisphere. The complete mitochondrial genome of Mordacia mordax and Mordacia praecox was determined twice independently, in a single shotgun sequencing run on an Ion Torrent PGM, and using a combination of Sanger sequencing of short range PCR products and Roche 454 GS Junior pyrosequencing of long range PCR products. Both of the mitogenomes contain the 37 typical vertebrate genes. Their gene order and contents are identical to those of previously described lamprey mitogenomes, with the exception of a novel tandem repeat array located between Cyt b and tRNA proline. The tandem repeat array, referred to as NCIII, contains pseudogenes of tRNA proline and phenylalanine, indicating that it has arisen by tandem duplication of the tRNA proline – phenylalanine region. Characterisation of NCIII revealed that the number of repeat copies was polymorphic between individuals of both species, and was a source of both intra-individual and inter-individual variation. Consistent with other studies of lamprey species pairs, the mitogenome of M. mordax and M. praecox are nearly identical. Phylogenetic analyses were carried out using the newly determined mitogenomes, together with five additional lamprey species and two hagfishes. Most tree topologies obtained strongly support the hypothesis that Petromyzontidae plus Geotriidae are a clade whose sister group is Mordaciidae. Additionally, lamprey divergence times were estimated by a temporally-calibrated phylogenetic analysis that included 20 vertebrate mitogenomes and was done using nine well-established fossil calibration points. The recovered topology strongly supported the hypothesis that lampreys separated from hagfishes about 409 MYA, and that lamprey divergence involved the early radiation of Mordaciidae (about 132 MYA), followed by the monophyletic divergence of Geotriidae plus Petromyzontidae about 85 MYA. Taken together, the results in this study provide robust hypotheses regarding the interrelationship of lamprey families and the relationship between hagfish and lampreys, whilst providing an estimation of their divergence times

Significance of ancient Mesopotamia in accounting history

The article draws attention to the vast archive of accounting records from ancient Mesopotamia available to historians, and the advances in Assyriology which have taken place since the revival of interest in the origins of recorded history. Understanding of the materials has been advanced, in part, by specialists from other fields, such as mathematics and astronomy, yet accounting historians do not seem to have been attracted to the problems of interpreting the elegantly simple records and the societal context within which they were made and used. To exemplify the challenges facing the accounting historian, the author considers evidence on the Dreham archive, the temple as a financial institution, and the use of loans, interest and banking. Finally, the author suggests that the records of Ancient Mesopotamia offer a rich field of research in accounting history

An investigation into the mechanisms underpinning the pH-sensitivity of GLP-1 release from the enteroendocrine cells of the gut

GLP-1 is a gut hormone primarily secreted from the enteroendocrine L-cell in response to a meal. GLP-1 acts to potentiate insulin secretion from pancreatic beta-cells and suppress appetite through actions on POMC and NPY neurons in the PVN. Reports of a lower average gut pH in obese and diabetic patients, prompted a preliminary investigation into the pH dependence of GLP-1 release. Work from our laboratory has shown that GLP-1 secretion is pH dependent when using a non-physiological HEPES buffering system. To further dissect the underlying mechanisms of pH-dependent GLP-1 secretion, the pH sensitive ratiometric dye, cSNARF1, was used to visualize the extra- to intracellular pH relationship in GLUTag cells, a model L-cell line, I show that, comparable to other cell lines, pHi of GLUTag cells is slightly more acidic and directly responded to changes in pHo. Decreasing extracellular [Cl-] or [HCO3-] resulted in significant intracellular alkalinisation, demonstrating a significant role of the proton-loading anion exchanger (AE) for pH regulation in GLUTag cells. Using a FRET-based and ELISA assay, the pH-dependence of GLP-1 secretion was confirmed in both CO2/HCO3− buffered and HCO3−-free (HEPES) media despite inconsistent pHi regulation. Furthermore, I show that, specifically, the rate of GLP-1 secretion is markedly lower in acidic conditions. Considering the multifactorial nature of multiple mechanisms for both intracellular pH regulation and GLP-1 secretion, more sophisticated methods will be required to robustly investigate in real time the underlying pH-dependent intracellular mechanisms which impact GLP-1 secretion from gut enteroendocrine cells

Runaway Slave Women of New Orleans: An Urban Perspective in the Antebellum South

While working on a project collecting runaway slave ads called “Documenting Runaway Slaves in the Deep South, 1800-1861,” it became apparent that women slaves were less likely to run away. So what can we learn from looking at those women who did run? Our University of New Orleans team is working with the Times Picayune. These runaway slave ads provide fascinating detail about the fugitives: how they looked, spoke, who they traveled with, and where they were going. This poster provides insights into female runaways in the city (New Orleans), and compares our early results with those of our cohort in Mississippi and Alabama, where there were largely rural populations