Intergroup Dialogues, Building Community and Relational Justice

Intergroup Dialogues, Building Community and Relational Justice Abstract Research suggests that civic engagement in American communities and connections among their residents seem to be in decline. With demographic changes indicating a greater population diversity, many are concerned about the social fabric that binds people together. One solution offered in the last two decades is engagement in intergroup dialogues - efforts to bring diverse populations into face-to-face facilitated conversations that attempt to craft better understanding, stronger relationships, and possible social action. This paper will look at the current research on intergroup dialogues to address three questions. First, why might such dialogues be important to building community, promoting reconciliation, and seeking social justice. Second, what does the research on these dialogues, in both community programs and on college campuses, tell us about their outcomes? And third, do intergroup dialogues provide a road to reconciliation that might be applied in the future to address broader issues of diversity

Alien Registration- Judkins, Ardith M. (Dover-Foxcroft, Piscataquis County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/10379/thumbnail.jp

The Transformation of High-Risk Youth: An Assessment of a Faith-based Program in South Africa

This paper considers the case of Outward Bound South Africa (OBSA), an outdoor adventure education program specifically designed for disadvantaged youth in the aftermath of apartheid in South Africa. Founded by American philanthropist Charles Stetson, the goal of OBSA is to provide recourse for South Africans who are victims of history and culture. OBSA seeks to instill values and to create economic empowerment for at-risk youth in the midst of severe social and economic deprivation. Recently, OBSA initiated a faith-based component to their program that follows many of the tenets of the original founder of Outward Bound, German educator Kurt Hahn. This paper is an assessment of that effort. The research consists of pretest and posttest surveys of 453 South African students who went through the OBSA program between 2005 and 2012. Results suggest that of the fifteen different variables studied, participants showed statistically significant improvement on twelve in the traditional educational program. In the faith-based program, the average increase was greater than for the traditional data in thirteen of the fifteen variables, and it was statistically significant from the pretest to the posttest on 11 of the variables

What is the appropriate evaluation and treatment of children who are "toe walkers"?

The evaluation of toe-walking focuses on differentiating normal children from those with mild cerebral palsy. Gait analysis may be a useful diagnostic tool, but further investigation is needed to confirm its reliability (strength of recommendation [SOR]: C, based on case series). Observation alone is generally as successful as serial casting and surgery in decreasing the frequency of toe-walking at follow-up (SOR: C, based on case series)

When should you treat scabies empirically?

Empirically treat patients when they have pruritus and lesions typical of scabies in at least 2 places--even if there is no known household contact diagnosed with scabies, and even if the diagnosis cannot be confirmed by light microscopy (strength of recommendation [SOR]: B, based on a single large cohort study). Also give empiric treatment to all sexual and household contacts of anyone diagnosed with scabies (SOR: C, based on expert opinion)

Peripheral Arterial Disease Affects the Frequency Response of Ground Reaction Forces During Walking

Background—Walking is problematic for patients with Peripheral Arterial Disease. The purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency domain of the ground reaction forces during walking to further elucidate the ambulatory impairment of these patients. Methods—Nineteen bilateral peripheral arterial disease patients and nineteen controls were included in this study. Subjects were matched for age and gait speed. Participants walked over a force plate sampling at 600Hz. PAD patients were tested before (pain-free condition) after the onset of claudication symptoms (pain). We calculated median frequency, frequency bandwidth, and frequency containing 99.5% of the signal for the vertical and anterior-posterior ground reaction forces. Findings—Our results showed reduced median frequency in the vertical and anterior-posterior components of the ground reaction forces between the control group and both peripheral arterial disease conditions. We found reduced frequency bandwidth in the anterior-posterior direction between controls and the peripheral arterial disease pain-free condition. There were no differences in median frequency or bandwidth between peripheral arterial disease pain-free and pain conditions, but an increase in the frequency content for 99.5% of the signal was observed in the pain condition. Interpretation—Reduced frequency phenomena during gait in peripheral arterial disease patients compared to velocity-matched controls suggests more sluggish activity within the neuromotor system. Increased frequency phenomena due to pain in these patients suggests a more erratic application of propulsive forces when walking. Frequency domain analysis thus offers new insights into the gait impairments associated with this patient population

The Structure and Properties of Carbon Fiber Based Adsorbent Monoliths

Carbon fiber monoliths manufactured by a novel slurry molding process from isotropic pitch-derived fibers are being developed at ORNL for gas separation and storage applications [1]. Low density (p = 0.2 - 0,3 g/cm3) monoliths have been successfully demonstrated to have an acceptable pressure drop for gas separation applications and are currently being developed for C02/CH4 separations, whereas monoliths with densities in the range p = 0.4 - 0.6 g/cm3 have been "shown to have natural gas storage capacities of >100 VIV at 500 psi pressure and room temperature. Thermal conductivity, as a function of temperature, was measured using the LASER flash, thermal- pulse method. Another approach to minimizing the temperature gradients that develop in a storage bed is to increase the thermal conductivity of the adsorbent carbon. To this end, we have developed hybrid monoliths that contain small fractions of mesophase pitch- derived carbon fibers. Our hybrid monoliths exhibit thermal conductivities in the range 0.2-0.9 W/m.K depending on the blend and density of the monolith. In comparison, a packed bed of granular carbon at comparable density would have a thermal conductivity of approximately 0.1 W/m.K [ 1 ]. The thermal conductivities of several of the hybrid The improved thermal conductivity of our monoliths is attributed to the bonding between the fibers and the incorporation of high thermal conductivity, mesophase pitch-derived carbon fibers. These features are visible in the SEM micrograph in Fig. 4

Biosynthesis of Modular Ascarosides in C. elegans

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans uses simple building blocks from primary metabolism and a strategy of modular assembly to build a great diversity of signaling molecules, the ascarosides, which function as a chemical language in this model organism. In the ascarosides, the dideoxysugar ascarylose serves as a scaffold to which diverse moieties from lipid, amino acid, neurotransmitter, and nucleoside metabolism are attached. However, the mechanisms that underlie the highly specific assembly of ascarosides are not understood. We show that the acyl-CoA synthetase ACS-7, which localizes to lysosome-related organelles, is specifically required for the attachment of different building blocks to the 4′-position of ascr#9. We further show that mutants lacking lysosome-related organelles are defective in the production of all 4′-modified ascarosides, thus identifying the waste disposal system of the cell as a hotspot for ascaroside biosynthesis

Comparative Metabolomics Reveals Endogenous Ligands of DAF-12, a Nuclear Hormone Receptor, Regulating C. elegans Development and Lifespan

SummarySmall-molecule ligands of nuclear hormone receptors (NHRs) govern the transcriptional regulation of metazoan development, cell differentiation, and metabolism. However, the physiological ligands of many NHRs remain poorly characterized, primarily due to lack of robust analytical techniques. Using comparative metabolomics, we identified endogenous steroids that act as ligands of the C. elegans NHR, DAF-12, a vitamin D and liver X receptor homolog regulating larval development, fat metabolism, and lifespan. The identified molecules feature unexpected chemical modifications and include only one of two DAF-12 ligands reported earlier, necessitating a revision of previously proposed ligand biosynthetic pathways. We further show that ligand profiles are regulated by a complex enzymatic network, including the Rieske oxygenase DAF-36, the short-chain dehydrogenase DHS-16, and the hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase HSD-1. Our results demonstrate the advantages of comparative metabolomics over traditional candidate-based approaches and provide a blueprint for the identification of ligands for other C. elegans and mammalian NHRs