SESSION 3 [Panel]: The Anthony Martin BC Penitentiary Collection at TRU: Disseminating the Archive

Panel Proposal for BC Studies Conference 2019 (May 2-4) Thompson Rivers University “Intersections: Peoples and Places in British Columbia” Title: “The Anthony Martin BC Penitentiary Collection at TRU: Disseminating the Archive” Panelists: Jennifer Murphy, TRU, SSWHS; Mary Hemmings, TRU Law Librarian; P. J. Murphy, Dept. of English, TRU. This panel is a sequel to “Relocating the Martin BC Penitentiary Archive at the Old Courthouse in Kamloops”, BC Studies Conference, May 3, 2013, Douglas College, New Westminster, “Transforming British Columbia”. This session was well attended and generated a lot of interest among archivists, curators, and local historians. If, as Michel Foucault argued, our institutional structures form a “carceral net”, then prison as a key intersectional point in that network can tell us a great deal about ourselves, our convictions, and our attitudes towards marginalized peoples. This panel will focus on major developments in networking the Archive since the earlier presentation in 2013. Foremost among these is the establishment of a designated Archival Room in the TRU law library. Our panel could, indeed, be held there; in addition to archival holdings, a number of curated exhibitions and various art works are on display. Jennifer Murphy will discuss the Catalogue for the Collection that she compiled with curator, Kristina Bradshaw. Mary Hemmings will discuss how the website for the Collection has been made available to TRUSpace thousands of vintage photographic images et al. P. J. Murphy will raise a number of possibilities for scholarly research on this Archive of provincial and national importance

Infertility and women's life courses in northern Malawi

BACKGROUND: Anthropological and epidemiological studies have identified infertility as a significant health and social problem, yet it remains largely overlooked in reproductive and sexual health policy and practice in developing countries. This study examined the effects of infertility across women’s lives in rural northern Malawi. METHODS: Qualitative data were collected during in-depth life history interviews with forty-nine fertile and infertile women. These data were supplemented by key informant interviews, group discussions, field notes and observations. Demographic survey data were analysed to contextualise findings and quantify selected outcomes related to infertility. The importance of infertility for current understandings of sexual and fertility related behaviour was evaluated. FINDINGS: Women experienced infertility within a complex social and metaphysical context, in which they had few alternative life course options apart from marriage and childbearing. Little help was available at hospitals, and most women took long courses of traditional medicine. Infertile women were more likely to be HIV positive, but only a minority of infertile women reported ‘risky’ sexual behaviour. Divorce was more common among infertile women, as children stabilised marriages in a variety of ways, but infertile women were no more likely to be polygynously married. Many infertile women had supportive marriages, often with polygynous men who had children with other wives. Infertile women negotiated marriages and living arrangements to make the most of their compromised situation, and were unwilling to tolerate secondary social status. Infertility was on a continuum of risks to successful childbearing: most fertile women had also experienced reproductive health problems and/or marital disruptions. IMPLICATIONS: Routine health services and information are inaccessible and inappropriate for infertile women. Current reproductive and sexual health programmes focus on fertility reduction, but there are feasible ways to improve infertility management in resource-poor settings, which could contribute to meeting other objectives such as tackling STIs and building trust around contraceptive use.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Challenges in Enggano orthography development

This paper details three challenges encountered in developing an orthography for Enggano (ISO 639-3 Code eno), an endangered Austronesian language of Indonesia. Enggano, as spoken in the 1930s, was documented by Hans Kähler in a grammar, text collection, and dictionary (Kähler 1940, 1975, 1987). However, Kähler used different orthographic conventions in each publication. Moreover, the language has undergone significant sound changes since Kähler’s time (see Yoder 2011). Hence, developing a standard orthography for contemporary Enggano is an important goal of our ongoing documentation project. Following Seifart (2006), we want the orthography to reflect the structure of the language, and also to be practical and easy to use for speakers who are familiar with Indonesian. We report on our progress in developing a phonemic orthography while also adopting the conventions of Indonesian as far as possible. In this paper, we discuss how Enggano central vowels, nasal vowels, and glides present a challenge to this endeavor, and outline the collaborative approach adopted to choose between different orthographic options

Correlating Remote Sensing Data with the Abundance of Pupae of the Dengue Virus Mosquito Vector, Aedes aegypti, in Central Mexico

Using a geographic transect in Central Mexico, with an elevation/climate gradient, but uniformity in socio-economic conditions among study sites, this study evaluates the applicability of three widely-used remote sensing (RS) products to link weather conditions with the local abundance of the dengue virus mosquito vector, Aedes aegypti (Ae. aegypti). Field-derived entomological measures included estimates for the percentage of premises with the presence of Ae. aegypti pupae and the abundance of Ae. aegypti pupae per premises. Data on mosquito abundance from field surveys were matched with RS data and analyzed for correlation. Daily daytime and nighttime land surface temperature (LST) values were obtained from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)/Aqua cloud-free images within the four weeks preceding the field survey. Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM)-estimated rainfall accumulation was calculated for the four weeks preceding the field survey. Elevation was estimated through a digital elevation model (DEM). Strong correlations were found between mosquito abundance and RS-derived night LST, elevation and rainfall along the elevation/climate gradient. These findings show that RS data can be used to predict Ae. aegypti abundance, but further studies are needed to define the climatic and socio-economic conditions under which the correlations observed herein can be assumed to apply

Why “intergenerational feminist media studies”?

Feminism and generation are live and ideologically freighted issues that are subject to a substantial amount of media engagement. The figure of the millennial and the baby boomer, for example, regularly circulate in mainstream media, often accompanied by hyperbolic and vitriolic discourses and affects of intergenerational feminist conflict. In addition, theories of feminist generation and waves have been and continue to be extensively critiqued within feminist theory. Given the compelling criticisms directed at these categories, we ask: why bother examining and foregrounding issues of generation, intergeneration, and transgeneration in feminist media studies? Whilst remaining sceptical of linearity and familial metaphors and of repeating reductive, heteronormative, and racist versions of feminist movements, we believe that the concept of generation does have critical purchase for feminist media scholars. Indeed, precisely because of the problematic ways that is it used, and the prevalence of it as a volatile, yet only too palpable, organizing category, generation is both in need of continual critical analysis, and is an important tool to be used—with care and nuance—when examining the multiple routes through which power functions in order to marginalize, reward, and oppress. Exploring both diachronic and synchronic understandings of generation, this article emphasizes the use of conjunctural analysis to excavate the specific historical conditions that impact upon and create generation. This special issue of Feminist Media Studies covers a range of media forms—film, games, digital media, television, print media, as well as practices of media production, intervention, and representation. The articles also explore how figures at particular lifestages—particularly the girl and the aging woman—are constructed relationally, and circulate, within media, with particular attention to sexuality. Throughout the issue there is an emphasis on exploring the ways in which the category of generation is mobilized in order to gloss sexism, racism, ageism, class oppression, and the effects of neoliberalism

Understanding outcomes and processes of a social prescribing service: a mixed method analysis

Background: Evidence of the effectiveness of social prescribing is inconclusive causing commissioning challenges. This research focusses on a social prescribing scheme in Northern England which deploys ‘Wellbeing Coordinators’ who offer support to individuals, providing advice on local groups and services in their community. The research sought to understand the outcomes of the service and, in addition, the processes which supported delivery. Methods: Quantitative data was gathered from service users at the point they entered the service and also at the point they exited. Qualitative interviews were also undertaken with service users to gather further understanding of the service and any positive or negative outcomes achieved. In addition, a focus group discussion was also conducted with members of social prescribing staff to ascertain their perspectives of the service both from an operational and strategic perspective. Results: In total, 342 participants provided complete wellbeing data at baseline and post stage and 26 semi-structured qualitative interviews were carried out. Improvements in participants’ well-being, and perceived levels of health and social connectedness as well as reductions in anxiety was demonstrated. In many cases, the social prescribing service had enabled individuals to have a more positive and optimistic view of their life often through offering opportunities to engage in a range of hobbies and activities in the local community. The data on reductions in future access to primary care was inconclusive. Some evidence was found to show that men may have greater benefit from social prescribing than women. Some of the processes which increased the likelihood of success on the social prescribing scheme included the sustained and flexible relationship between the service user and the Wellbeing Coordinator and a strong and vibrant voluntary and community sector. Conclusions: Social prescribing has the potential to address the health and social needs of individuals and communities. This research has shown a range of positive outcomes as a result of service users engaging with the service. Social prescribing should be conceptualised as one way to support primary care and tackle unmet needs

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

2024 SPARC Book Of Abstracts

Welcome to the Book of Abstracts for the 2024 SPARC conference. Our conference this year was called “Celebrating your research and growing your networks”, with a focus theme of sustainability.Sustainability is important for us all, sustaining the ecological and physical environments we depend on, but also to sustaining the economies and communities in which we live. For postgraduate researcher sustainability is also about managing work life balance and sustaining energy for and during the journey. The support, encouragement and constructive challenge peers provide each other is a truly invaluable part of sustaining and getting the most out of journey. There is no better place to see the value of the PGR community and peer support than at SPARC, where PGRs come together to share and celebrate each other’s research. SPARC is also a great networking opportunity. It’s a wonderful, exciting, energising event and this year we further extended our peer network, with PGRs from both Huddersfield University and Manchester Metropolitan coming to join us and share their work.It’s fabulous to see that SPARC is growing, building on the huge value it offers the PGR community, and this was our biggest yet. We have received a tremendous contribution from our postgraduate research community; with 85 presenters, and 36 poster presentations, the conference showcases our extraordinarily vibrant, diverse PGR.The abstracts contained here provide a taster of the diverse and impactful research in progress and contact details of authors are provided to enable you to make connections with people whose work interests you SPARC is part of a programme of personal and professional development opportunities offered to all postgraduate researchers at Salford. More information about this programme is available on our website: Doctoral School | University of Salford. Registered Salford students can access full details on the Doctoral School Hub - Home (sharepoint.com). You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram @SalfordPGRs use the #SPARC2024 to see how the conference went.If you would like more information about studying for a PhD here at the University of Salford, your lecturers can advise, or you can contact the relevant PGR Support Officer; their details can be found at Doctoral School | University of Salford

Discovery of 95 PTSD loci provides insight into genetic architecture and neurobiology of trauma and stress-related disorders

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) genetics are characterized by lower discoverability than most other psychiatric disorders. The contribution to biological understanding from previous genetic studies has thus been limited. We performed a multi-ancestry meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies across 1,222,882 individuals of European ancestry (137,136 cases) and 58,051 admixed individuals with African and Native American ancestry (13,624 cases). We identified 95 genome-wide significant loci (80 novel). Convergent multi-omic approaches identified 43 potential causal genes, broadly classified as neurotransmitter and ion channel synaptic modulators (e.g., GRIA1, GRM8, CACNA1E ), developmental, axon guidance, and transcription factors (e.g., FOXP2, EFNA5, DCC ), synaptic structure and function genes (e.g., PCLO, NCAM1, PDE4B ), and endocrine or immune regulators (e.g., ESR1, TRAF3, TANK ). Additional top genes influence stress, immune, fear, and threat-related processes, previously hypothesized to underlie PTSD neurobiology. These findings strengthen our understanding of neurobiological systems relevant to PTSD pathophysiology, while also opening new areas for investigation