Dance-making on the internet: can on-line choreographic projects foster creativity in the user-participant?

Interactive Internet artworks invite viewers to become involved as user-participants as the creative process unfolds. Through analysis of selected Internet projects, the authors discuss the potential for facilitating an interactive, creative experience for participants in the process of making dance. This study was carried out in 1998 and 1999, but the findings remain relevant, as there have been few subsequent developments in the field

Aging Parents & Dilemmas of Their Children

Hogg Foundation for Mental Healt

A process of developing a national practice assessment document

This paper will share how one country within the United Kingdom (UK) collaborated on a national partnership approach in developing a consistent pre-registration undergraduate nursing practice learning assessment document. In 2011 the Scottish Heads of Academic Nursing and Allied Health Professionals (SHANAHP, now Council of Deans Scotland, CoDS) agreed to support the development of a Scottish national approach to practice learning assessment document (the “Scottish Ongoing Achievement Record”). Whilst no direct funding was received to support this work, each HEI agreed that this work would be recognised via the release of staff time to enable completion. Utilising a communities of practice approach to collaborative working, the national group incorporated the collective knowledge and experience of representatives from all Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) in Scotland that provided undergraduate pre-registration nurse education. The work of the group will be described in four phases, Mapping of Influential Drivers; Guiding Principles and Good Practice; Document development; and Implementation. Appraisal of the advantages of this approach in light of international literature will be considered alongside challenges encountered during development and implementation

Faces of Neglect

Hogg Foundation for Mental Healt

Listening to Voices of Latinx Immigrants in Rural America

The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to capture and gain an understanding of Latinx immigrants’ lived experiences during their transitions from their native countries to rural Arkansas. Using purposeful criterion-based sampling, the population of interest was five Latinx immigrant students and families who migrated from their native countries to the state of Arkansas. The analytic strategy included a single-case model of each family’s transcription, two-case model, cluster analysis to identify likeness, document portrait, and subtheme development. The structural descriptions that formed the essence of the experience resulted in three themes: education, migration, and emotional experiences. The three overall themes embraced the importance and provided dimension to the Latinx immigrant experience, as rural districts, teachers, and communities can learn how to better support Latinx immigrant families’ overall needs

Potential consequences from Maple River dam removal based on sediment properties.

General EcologyThe oxymoron of dam removal brings to question its practicality. The process of removing it is an ecological disturbance, yet it repairs river ecosystems by reversing harmful effects from the dam's existence. Lake Kathleen is the impoundment-formed-lake of the Maple River Dam, and with the dam's impending removal, knowledge about what lies within the lake and river is important. We sampled in Lake Kathleen and along the Maple River to discover chemical and physical properties of the sediment, to understand possible ecological effects of the dam's removal. Carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphate (PH4) levels differed in Lake Kathleen, as did sediment size. However, no difference was found for nitrate (N03) levels, ammonium (NH4) levels or ratio of C to N (C:N). These findings provide valuable information in regards to possible consequences of the dam's removal on the Maple River. This project is the first of its kind, by studying ecological components before and after dam removal.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116839/1/Smith_Jacqueline_2015.pd

Improving participation of the public in coastal flood management: A case study from the Suffolk coast, UK

This research has been inspired by problems and delays that began with a change in policy proposed by the Environment Agency in 2003. The change was from a strategy of ‘hold the line’ of a sea defence to one of ‘managed realignment’ on a part of the coast of Suffolk, UK (Smith 2003). Many reactions to the proposed change were not favourable, protests and bad press ensued and the problem of acceptance was exacerbated by limited public knowledge, understanding or public participation before the change in policy. One outcome of the initial negative reaction to the policy change has been the response of the Environment Agency in the area of the village of Orford, and indeed all along the Suffolk coast (See Figure A1). The Agency has been seen to make improvements in their efforts to be more inclusive of local people in their plans. Observations of how they have proceeded to engage with local populations along the Suffolk coast have been made in the ten years since 2003, and are reported in this research. The Environment Agency approach in this area, at least initially, has been from the ‘top down’. This research aims to focus on improving engagement from the ‘bottom up’. An integration of these approaches could be where solutions to problems with public participation lie. Solutions to integration have been reported in other research. One example is the work of Webler and Tuler (2006) in the US, which has particularly influenced the direction of this research. The research focuses on the knowledge and involvement that individuals have about coastal flood management in a local area. Levels of knowledge and involvement are then used to aid an investigation into their problems with, and preferences for participation in flood planning. Assessment of the levels of knowledge and involvement of the whole sampled population of Orford was undertaken in a questionnaire administered in 2008. The classification of people with various levels of knowledge and involvement demonstrated that different groups of people and individuals had a variety of perspectives to participation in flood management. Perspectives were identified by using a Q Methodology carried out in 2009. People with different perspectives and levels of knowledge and involvement were engaged in interviews for their views in 2010, and a cross section of villagers attended a workshop in 2011. The workshop provided an opportunity to suggest preferences for different forms of engagement. The main implication of these findings is that a variety of engagements need to be planned to include a greater proportion of a population, and that previous approaches, for example village hall meetings and a ‘one size fits all’ approach, is not an inclusive solution to participation in coastal flood management. The research identifies significant problems or issues that local people felt inhibited involvement and makes recommendations for improving participation in flood management. Figure A1 below shows the location of the case study on the coast of Suffolk in East Anglia, UK

Listening to Voices of Latinx Immigrants in Rural America

The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to capture and gain an understanding of Latinx immigrants’ lived experiences during their transitions from their native countries to rural Arkansas. Using purposeful criterion-based sampling, the population of interest was five Latinx immigrant students and families who migrated from their native countries to the state of Arkansas. The analytic strategy included a single-case model of each family’s transcription, two-case model, cluster analysis to identify likeness, document portrait, and subtheme development. The structural descriptions that formed the essence of the experience resulted in three themes: education, migration, and emotional experiences. The three overall themes embraced the importance and provided dimension to the Latinx immigrant experience, as rural districts, teachers, and communities can learn how to better support Latinx immigrant families’ overall needs

Analysis of HIV-1 specific antibodies induced by Ugandan viruses or virus encoded peptides

The main objectives of the work presented in this thesis were to develop an assay to subtype viruses circulating in Uganda and to study virological and immunological factors that might be important in HIV-1 vaccine development in East Africa. Development of an antibody binding assay for serological subtyping revealed a complex pattern of cross-reactivity, and led to further investigation of these responses. Competitive inhibition and adsorption studies identified a spectrum of antibodies in the human antisera, possibly due to multiple immune responses to more than one viral epitope or to one immunodominant epitope. Neutralizing antibodies to specific V3 loop peptides were raised in rabbits; MN and U31 peptides were good immunogens, but Ugandan consensus sequence peptides raised antisera with weak peptide reactivities. Antibody binding assay of partial V3 loop peptides indicated that most Ugandan antisera recognised an epitope(s) in the C-terminal region of the V3 loop, not at the apex. Virus samples from the UVRI clinic and the Natural History cohort in rural SW Uganda were isolated and characterized. Comparison of primary isolates in PBMC cultures and cell adapted variants indicated that SI and NSI variants may be present within a primary isolation culture. Neutralizing antibody titres were compared between cell line adapted viruses and primary isolates: Differences found led to the use of low passaged primary isolates for this investigation. Cross-clade neutralizing antibodies were present in most antisera, many with high neutralization titres (>640); suggesting a shared immunogenic epitope, which could be important in vaccine design. Analysis of sequential serum samples revealed no decrease in neutralizing titres with time. One sequential virus isolate (3029), re-isolated after 2 years, was more resistant to neutralization by heterologous antisera. No correlation was established between antibody binding and neutralization by human or rabbit antisera. Comparison of clinical data with neutralization data was inconclusive