Road: artists and the stop the M11 link road campaign 1984 - 1994

The project 'Road' is an archive of text, images and oral recordings that document the living history of the 'No M11 Link Road' campaign in East London (Leyton, Leytonstone and Wanstead) from 1984 to 1995, and the people that lived in and visited the area. Road: Acme Artists and the Stop the M11 Link Road Campaign, 1984 – 1994, celebrates and preserves the experiences and thoughts of artists, protesters and the community that lived and worked on the route of the M11 link road

Promoting sustainable Indian textiles: final report to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), London, UK

In 2009, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), through the Sustainable Development Dialogue (SDD) fund, backed the Centre for Sustainable Fashion (CSF) at London College of Fashion and Pearl Academy of Fashion (PAF), New Delhi to run a project to promote Indian sustainable textiles. Improving patterns of sustainable consumption and production (SCP) in India and the UK is one of the agreed areas for collaboration under the UK-India Sustainable Development Dialogue. The project is also part of a body of work taking place under the Defra Sustainable Clothing Roadmap, which aims to improve the sustainability of clothing. Defra has identified that ‘while an economic success story (globally worth over £500 billion) the industry has a significant environmental and social footprint across its supply chain.’ The Roadmap aims to improve the sustainability of clothing by gathering a robust evidence base of impacts and working with a wide range of stakeholders, to build on existing interventions. For more details on the roadmap see: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/business/products/roadmaps/clothing/index.htm This report is only one of the dissemination tools associated with the project. The project film, images and website should be viewed in conjunction with this report

Evaluation of Stem-Loop Reverse Transcription and Poly-A Tail Extension in MicroRNA Analysis of Body Fluids

MicroRNA has been demonstrated to be a viable tool for body fluid identification purposes in forensic casework. Stem-loop reverse transcription (slRT) is regularly used for cDNA synthesis from mature miRNA, along with poly-A tail extension. Both have been used in a forensic context, but no direct comparison has been carried out. It has also not been shown whether poly-A tail extension can be used upon DNA extracts, as previously shown with slRT. Blood and saliva samples were collected and underwent DNA extraction with or without on-column DNA digestion. All samples were then aliquoted and underwent slRT and poly-A tail extension separately. qPCR was then conducted targeting microRNA markers hsa-miR-451 and hsa-miR-205. It was shown that the DNA digestion step did not affect the ability to differentiate between blood and saliva. It was also shown that this differentiation was possible using poly-A tail extension, and that poly-A tail extension exhibited more amplification than slRT. So whilst the choice of slRT and poly-A tail extension for the purpose of forensic body fluid identification is not critical, it may be best to use poly-A tail extension, particularly where there are low traces of sample

Not Quite “Justice for All”: How Provisions of Victims’ Rights Legislation Can Harm Plea Negotiations

Undoubtedly, the history of our criminal justice system has been unkind to victims of crime. This demographic, if acknowledged at all, would historically sit in our nation’s courtrooms and watch as the criminal justice system happened to them. Congress fundamentally altered the role of victims in 2015 when it enacted a statute granting victims a plethora of new rights. Victims suddenly could confer with the state’s attorney and rely on protections from the government against the accused. Interspersed within victims’ newfound rights is the right to be reasonably heard at any plea proceeding and the ability to reopen a plea if the defendant did not plead to the highest offense charged

The Foundation of an Uprising: Spatial Socialization and National Identity Formation in Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Protests

The Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Protests (Anti-ELAB) brought an end to an era of psuedo-democracy in Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous region of mainland China operating under a One Country, Two Systems model of governance. Following the proposal of the Fugitive Offenders Amendment Bill, an article allowing for criminal suspects to be extradited out of the region and into mainland China, Hong Kong erupted into a city of political resistance and civil dissent. At the root of the conflict is a civil society that has developed in opposition to the systems and structures of its hybrid regime, a form of governance inconducive with the region’s bottom-up campaign for democratization. The Anti-ELAB movement demands an interrogation of the relationship between national identity formation and political resistance throughout Hong Kong. By utilizing the theory of spatial socialization to understand the complex relationship between society and the state, this paper seeks to establish the factors that transformed Hong Kong into a region of contention, and the impact of the protests on the development of China and Hong Kongs’ transitional, hybrid regime

A theoretical discussion of psychosexual illness – creative reading and writing as care

This theoretical study outlines the application of creative reading and writing to women affected by issues of sexual dysfunction. A frame of the UK healthcare system and current treatment practices will be maintained, with a view to exploring the possible applications of theoretical reading and writing in self-care for those who are affected by these illnesses. The paper will aim to briefly discuss two primary female illnesses of sexual dysfunction, namely dyspareunia and anorgasmia, and their relation to theoretical writing as a possible care practice. The huge diversity of experiences lived by women who are diagnosed with these conditions cannot be overlooked, and this paper will not attempt to provide answers to all of the multiple and complex issues that women seeking treatment for psychosexual illness may be faced with, but will rather be a focused exploration of one possible treatment avenue for psychosexual disorders. It will be argued that a practical use of creative reading and writing in the sphere of psychosexual illness is not only possible, but could be beneficial to women affected by these problems