Hellbent on Heaven

A collection of stories that follows a family contending with their daughter’s mental illness and substance abuse

Olmstead as a Tool for Decarceration

Olmstead v. L.C. ex rel. Zimring established that the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990’s integrated-care mandate requires the government to make reasonable accommodations to protect the right of people with disabilities to live in the most integrated setting possible. In response, counties began releasing people from restrictive mental-health institutions but did not provide the necessary resources, such as supportive housing and outpatient care, to allow people to live successfully in their communities. As many people contending with disabilities were left homeless and the United States increased its reliance on incarceration, shuttered mental-health institutions gave way to jails and prisons. Olmstead litigation focused on decarceration could establish counties’ legal obligation to release eligible people from jails and prisons and to provide them with mental-health care in their communities

Book Reviewed by Sarah Kahn: Bich Minh Nguyen. (2014). Pioneer Girl. New York, NY: Viking Press. 296pp. $26.95 (Hardcover). ISBN: 978-0-670-025-09-1

Book reviewed by Sarah Kahn: Pioneer Girl by Bich Minh Nguyen. New York, NY: Viking Press

Rethinking the Ill Body in Phallocentric Western Culture: A Critical Engagement with Luce Irigaray

This capstone critically engages with the work of prolific, contemporary continental philosopher Luce Irigaray on subjectivity and the body in order to challenge widely held notions of the ill body in phallocentric culture. Within my project, phallocentrism means the privileging of an erect, rational, individually autonomous body with defined boundaries. Using sociologist Ken Plummer\u27s journal during his liver disease, I extend Irigaray\u27s critique of phallocentrism to the experience of illness in Western culture. Ill bodies occupy a space analogous to that of female bodies within Irigaray\u27s theory, because phallocentrism subordinates ill bodies to the normative phallic body that is functional, bounded, and under control. I read Plummer\u27s text as an example of Irigaray’s sensible transcendental : a non-religious transcendence grounded in the body\u27s sensibility. I argue for the potential of a sensible transcendental in the mode of speaking the sick body to disrupt troublesome phallocentric bodily ideals, and further that the sensible transcendental may be an especially useful model for ill bodies because these bodies are in an immediate state of change

Rethinking the Ill Body in Phallocentric Western Culture: A Critical Engagement with Luce Irigaray

This capstone critically engages with the work of prolific, contemporary continental philosopher Luce Irigaray on subjectivity and the body in order to challenge widely held notions of the ill body in phallocentric culture. Within my project, phallocentrism means the privileging of an erect, rational, individually autonomous body with defined boundaries. Using sociologist Ken Plummer\u27s journal during his liver disease, I extend Irigaray\u27s critique of phallocentrism to the experience of illness in Western culture. Ill bodies occupy a space analogous to that of female bodies within Irigaray\u27s theory, because phallocentrism subordinates ill bodies to the normative phallic body that is functional, bounded, and under control. I read Plummer\u27s text as an example of Irigaray’s sensible transcendental : a non-religious transcendence grounded in the body\u27s sensibility. I argue for the potential of a sensible transcendental in the mode of speaking the sick body to disrupt troublesome phallocentric bodily ideals, and further that the sensible transcendental may be an especially useful model for ill bodies because these bodies are in an immediate state of change

Nuptial gift chemistry reveals convergent evolution correlated with antagonism in mating systems of harvestmen (Arachnida, Opiliones)

Nuptial gifts are material donations given from male to female before or during copulation and are subject to sexual selection in a wide variety of taxa. The harvestman genus Leiobunum has emerged as a model system for understanding the evolution of reproductive morphology and behavior, as transitions between solicitous and antagonistic modes of courtship have occurred multiple times within the lineage and are correlated with convergence in genital morphology. We analyzed the free amino acid content of nuptial gift secretions from five species of Leiobunum using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Multivariate analysis of the free amino acid profiles revealed that, rather than clustering based on phylogenetic relationships, nuptial gift chemical composition was better predicted by genital morphology and behavior, suggesting that convergent evolution has acted on the chemical composition of the nuptial gift. In addition, we found that, species with solicitous courtship produce gifts consisting of a 19% larger proportion of essential amino acids as compared to those with more antagonistic courtship interactions. This work represents the first comparative study of nuptial gift chemistry within a phylogenetic framework in any animal group and as such contributes to our understanding of the evolution of reproductive diversity and the participant role of nuptial gift chemistry in mating system transitions

Metadiscourse use when shifting from L1 to EMI lecturing: implications for teacher training

Purpose: Research on EMI (English-Medium Instruction) has addressed the extent to which content lecturers speaking in their L1 perform as well as when they lecture in English. In this study a lecturer who gave the same lecture in his L1 (Catalan) and English was observed to examine if and how transitioning from one language to another impacts his use of metadiscourse. Methodology: Drawing on Adel’s taxonomy (2010), data from four lectures were obtained to compare the quantity and quality of metadiscursive items in the L1 and EMI lectures. Findings: Findings show that the lecturer made a similar use of metadiscourse across languages of instruction, suggesting that EMI does not always affect the use of metadiscourse. A closer analysis of the content of the lectures suggests that metadiscourse seems to be determined more by the complexity of the lecture content rather than by the language of instruction. Value: These results substantiate the need for bespoke training that accommodates to different lecturer profiles in terms of English proficiency, pedagogy and the complexity of the content to be taught.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Glycosylation of hyperthermostable designer cellulosome components yields enhanced stability and cellulose hydrolysis

Biomass deconstruction remains integral for enabling second‐generation biofuel production at scale. However, several steps necessary to achieve significant solubilization of biomass, notably harsh pretreatment conditions, impose economic barriers to commercialization. By employing hyperthermostable cellulase machinery, biomass deconstruction can be made more efficient, leading to milder pretreatment conditions and ultimately lower production costs. The hyperthermophilic bacterium Caldicellulosiruptor bescii produces extremely active hyperthermostable cellulases, including the hyperactive multifunctional cellulase CbCel9A/Cel48A. Recombinant CbCel9A/Cel48A components have been previously produced in Escherichia coli and integrated into synthetic hyperthermophilic designer cellulosome complexes. Since then, glycosylation has been shown to be vital for the high activity and stability of CbCel9A/Cel48A. Here, we studied the impact of glycosylation on a hyperthermostable designer cellulosome system in which two of the cellulosomal components, the scaffoldin and the GH9 domain of CbCel9A/Cel48A, were glycosylated as a consequence of employing Ca. bescii as an expression host. Inclusion of the glycosylated components yielded an active cellulosome system that exhibited long‐term stability at 75 °C. The resulting glycosylated designer cellulosomes showed significantly greater synergistic activity compared to the enzymatic components alone, as well as higher thermostability than the analogous nonglycosylated designer cellulosomes. These results indicate that glycosylation can be used as an essential engineering tool to improve the properties of designer cellulosomes. Additionally, Ca. bescii was shown to be an attractive candidate for production of glycosylated designer cellulosome components, which may further promote the viability of this bacterium both as a cellulase expression host and as a potential consolidated bioprocessing platform organism

Modeling solutions to Tanzania's physician workforce challenge.

BACKGROUND:There is a great need for physicians in Tanzania. In 2012, there were approximately 0.31 physicians per 10,000 individuals nationwide, with a lower ratio in the rural areas, where the majority of the population resides. In response, universities across Tanzania have greatly increased the enrollment of medical students. Yet evidence suggests high attrition of medical graduates to other professions and emigration from rural areas where they are most needed. OBJECTIVE:To estimate the future number of physicians practicing in Tanzania and the potential impact of interventions to improve retention, we built a model that tracks medical students from enrollment through clinical practice, from 1990 to 2025. DESIGN:We designed a Markov process with 92 potential states capturing the movement of 25,000 medical students and physicians from medical training through employment. Work possibilities included clinical practice (divided into rural or urban, public or private), non-clinical work, and emigration. We populated and calibrated the model using a national 2005/2006 physician mapping survey, as well as graduation records, graduate tracking surveys, and other available data. RESULTS:The model projects massive losses to clinical practice between 2016 and 2025, especially in rural areas. Approximately 56% of all medical school students enrolled between 2011 and 2020 will not be practicing medicine in Tanzania in 2025. Even with these losses, the model forecasts an increase in the physician-to-population ratio to 1.4 per 10,000 by 2025. Increasing the absorption of recent graduates into the public sector and/or developing a rural training track would ameliorate physician attrition in the most underserved areas. CONCLUSIONS:Tanzania is making significant investments in the training of physicians. Without linking these doctors to employment and ensuring their retention, the majority of this investment in medical education will be jeopardized