Towards a framework for cooperation:spatial public diplomacy on the island of Ireland

European spatial planning arguments advocate a blend of strategic thinking, coordination and related initiatives to promote and secure territorial cohesion. These ambitions embrace a set of normative agendas around economic, social and environmental convergence, competitiveness, policy coordination and efficient infrastructure provision across space. In practice, territorial management then involves devising interventions across inter-connecting scales of governance which comprise complex agency relations, differentiated places and defined communities. In transnational contexts, attempts to foster appropriate spatial governance arrangements and relations across sovereign borders necessitate re-crafting planning and development cultures and service delivery practices to advance territorial cohesion. Transnational working necessarily involves cooperation across an extended range of institutions, interests, influences and potential actors. This paper examines attempts to secure bi-lateral commitment to a joint planning framework for the two distinct territories on the island of Ireland. Specifically, it traces the formal and informal activities involved in the development of the 2013 Framework for Cooperation between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Informed by ideas of cross-border regionalism, it discusses the necessary spatial public diplomacy involved in the social reconstruction of strategic spatial planning to improve policy coordination and cross-border working

Substrate stiffness and VE-cadherin mechano-transduction coordinate to regulate endothelial monolayer integrity.

The vascular endothelium is subject to diverse mechanical cues that regulate vascular endothelial barrier function. In addition to rigidity sensing through integrin adhesions, mechanical perturbations such as changes in fluid shear stress can also activate force transduction signals at intercellular junctions. This study investigated how extracellular matrix rigidity and intercellular force transduction, activated by vascular endothelial cadherin, coordinate to regulate the integrity of endothelial monolayers. Studies used complementary mechanical measurements of endothelial monolayers grown on patterned substrates of variable stiffness. Specifically perturbing VE-cadherin receptors activated intercellular force transduction signals that increased integrin-dependent cell contractility and disrupted cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesions. Further investigations of the impact of substrate rigidity on force transduction signaling demonstrated how cells integrate extracellular mechanics cues and intercellular force transduction signals, to regulate endothelial integrity and global tissue mechanics. VE-cadherin specific signaling increased focal adhesion remodeling and cell contractility, while sustaining the overall mechanical equilibrium at the mesoscale. Conversely, increased substrate rigidity exacerbates the disruptive effects of intercellular force transduction signals, by increasing heterogeneity in monolayer stress distributions. The results provide new insights into how substrate stiffness and intercellular force transduction coordinate to regulate endothelial monolayer integrity

Exploring Challenges Faced by Early Career Primary School Teachers: A Qualitative Study

This study explored the challenges faced by 23 primary early career teachers (ECTs) in their second, third or fourth years of teaching. Qualitative data were collected through an online semi-structured interview. Three themes were evident: parents, workload and behaviour management. These results were also reflected in the review of the literature. All three themes have been linked to increased ECT stress and have been found to undermine ECTs’ self-confidence. The results suggest that some challenges are potentially aligned to the stage of ECTs’ career development and that ECTs face different challenges as their teaching experience levels increase. A range of cohort specific themes were also identified. For second year ECTs, many of the challenges may potentially reflect their limited experience within the profession. As such, the challenges focused more on the logistics of doing the job and adjustment to the emotional and time demands of teaching. By the third and fourth year of teaching, the cohort-specific themes identified in the present study had changed to reflect broader school-based and interpersonal relationship issues. Three recommendations are made in the light of the research findings

Higher Education in Nigeria: Challenges and Suggestions

Nigerian higher education is plagued with many challenges. This paper discusses the various challenges facing higher education in Nigeria. To do this end, the researchers employed the use of secondary data. These data were sourced from online and print materials. Inadequate funding, corruption, inadequate infrastructural facilities, shortage of academic staff, Strike actions, Brain-drain, poor research, weak administrators and insecurity. To resolve the challenges facing higher education in Nigeria, the following have been recommended: adequate funding of higher education, employment of more academic staff, provision of adequate infrastructural facilities, motivation of academic staff, appointment of qualified administrators, fight all forms of corruption in higher institutions, provision of adequate security in all higher institutions and implementation all agreement with union groups

The Road to “Severe Obesity”: Weight Loss Surgery Candidates Talk About Their Histories of Weight Gain

Much research focuses on the causes of weight gain, but few studies examine the perspectives of those who have been categorized as “severely obese.” This paper discusses the findings of 54 interviews with weight loss surgery candidates in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. We explore participants’ perspectives on their histories of weight gain, focusing on their explanations for weight gain as well as the emotions surrounding their weight gain experiences. We find that the dominant individualized, medicalized construction of obesity both (1) adds to the burden of blame for weight loss surgery candidates, with potential emotional health implications, and (2) overlooks key social determinants of health