More yuppy stuff coming soon: gentrification, cultural policy, social inclusion and the arts

Responding to gentrification has become a key planning issue for many urban municipalities. Local governments need to balance the often-competing agendas of urban regeneration, social inclusion and arts access and participation. This paper argues that arts and cultural units within local government bear the impact of such tensions. More importantly, however, local government policies and their implementation represent a third position in the polarised discussion on the cultural impact of gentrification. The example discussed here is the rapidly gentrifying City of Maribyrnong in Melbourne’s western suburbs: a municipality where any potential realisation of the economic benefits of gentrification is balanced against the needs of a significant population of resident professional artists, and the social inclusion needs of socio-economically disadvantaged residents. Maribyrnong’s arts and cultural unit, like those within many municipalities in the developed world, has had to develop cultural policies and plans as tools for negotiating complex relationships and diverse needs of community members by considering the economic, social and cultural benefits of the arts for all residents

Building arts audiences : arts participation and barriers report

This report was commissioned to investigate the level of arts participation in Moonee Valley, and the barriers local residents face in experiencing and accessing the arts. The need for this research is motivated by a desire to ensure the success of Council’s investment in the arts and culture, and to maximise the benefits of participating in the arts for all residents

Coproduction in museums: a study of museum work with culturally diverse communities

 This study examined work done by museums and communities to jointly produce exhibitions and public programs. Collaborating with communities is a way for museums to develop authentic and distinctive offerings for visitors. However coproducing with communities is not the manner in which museums have traditionally worked. This research therefore enabled broader insights into collaboration and organisational change

Understanding the evolution of two species of highly migratory cetacean at multiple scales and the potential value of a mechanistic approach

An improved understanding of how behavior influences the genetic structure of populations would offer insight into the inextricable link between ecological processes and evolutionary patterns. This dissertation aims to demonstrate the need to consider behavior alongside genetics by examining the population genetic structure of two species of highly migratory cetacean across multiple scales and presenting an exploration of some potential lines of enquiry into the behavioral mechanisms underlying the patterns of genetic population structure observed. The first empirical chapter presents a population genetic analysis conducted on a data set of new and existing samples of Bryde’s whale (Balaenoptera edeni spp.) collected from the Western and Central Indo-Pacific and the Northwest Pacific Ocean. Levels of evolutionary divergence between two subspecies (B. e. brydei and B. e. edeni) and the degree of population structure present within each subspecies were explored. The subsequent three empirical chapters represent a series of population- and individual-level genetic analyses on a data set of more than 4,000 individual humpback whales (Megaptera novaengliae) sampled from across the South Atlantic and Western and Northern Indian Oceans over two decades. Patterns of genetic population structure and connectivity between breeding populations are examined across the region, and are complemented by an assessment of genetic structure on shared feeding areas for these populations in the Southern Ocean. Collectively, these studies demonstrate that a hierarchy of behavioral processes operating at different spatial scales is likely influencing patterns of genetic population structure in highly migratory baleen whales. Notably, for humpback whales, the widely assumed model of maternal fidelity to feeding areas and natal philopatry to breeding areas was found not to be applicable at all spatial scales. From an applied perspective, the complex population patterns observed are not currently accounted for in current management designation and recommendations for applying these findings to the management and protection of these species are presented. As these empirical studies highlight the importance of behavior as a potential mechanism for shaping the genetic structure of species, the final chapter offers a research prospectus describing how behavioral and genetic data may be integrated using new individual-based modeling techniques to integrate data and information from the fields of behavioral ecology and population genetics

Compound specific isotope analyses of harp seal teeth : tools for trophic ecology reconstruction

This work resulted from the ARISE project (NE/P006035/1 awarded to CM and RJ, and NE/P00623X/1 awarded to SS), part of the Changing Arctic Ocean programme, funded by the UKRI Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).As sentinels of ecosystem health, high trophic level predators integrate information through all levels of the food web. Their tissues can be used to investigate spatiotemporal variability in foraging behaviour, and with the appropriate analytical methods and tools, archived samples can be used to reconstruct past trophic interactions. Harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus) teeth collected in the 1990s from the Northwest Atlantic were analysed for bulk stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes (δ13Cbulk and δ15Nbulk), and compound specific stable nitrogen isotopes of amino acids (δ15NAA) for the first time. We developed a fine-scale, annual growth layer group (GLG) dentine sub-sampling method corresponding to their second and third year of life. In accordance with previous diet studies, while there was individual variability in δ15Nbulk, δ13Cbulk, and δ15NAA measurements, we did not detect significant differences in isotopic niche widths between males and females, or between GLGs. Relative trophic position was calculated as the baseline corrected δ15NAA values using trophic (glutamic acid) and source (phenylalanine and glycine) amino acids. Variability was measured between individuals in their relative trophic position, but within individual variability was low, suggesting that they fed at the same trophic level over these 2 years of life. These novel δ15NAA data may therefore suggest individual, specialist harp seal foraging behaviour in sub-adults. Our findings show that compound specific stable isotope signatures of archived, inert predator tissues can be used as tools for the retrospective reconstruction of trophic interactions on broad spatiotemporal scales.PostprintPeer reviewe

Multi-decadal environmental change in the Barents Sea recorded by seal teeth

This work resulted from the ARISE project (NE/P006035/1, NE/P006000/1), part of the Changing Arctic Ocean programme, jointly funded by the UKRI Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). We thank Jim Ball for his help in the isotopic lab in Liverpool University. This work resulted from the ARISE project, part of the Changing Arctic Ocean programme.Multiple environmental forcings, such as warming and changes in ocean circulation and nutrient supply, are affecting the base of Arctic marine ecosystems, with cascading effects on the entire food web through bottom-up control. Stable nitrogen isotopes (δ15N) can be used to detect and unravel the impact of these forcings on this unique ecosystem, if the many processes that affect the δ15N values are constrained. Combining unique 60-year records from compound specific δ15N biomarkers on harp seal teeth alongside state-of-the-art ocean modelling, we observed a significant decline in the δ15N values at the base of the Barents Sea food web from 1951 to 2012. This strong and persistent decadal trend emerges due to the combination of anthropogenic atmospheric nitrogen deposition in the Atlantic, increased northward transport of Atlantic water through Arctic gateways and local feedbacks from increasing Arctic primary production. Our results suggest that the Arctic ecosystem has been responding to anthropogenically induced local and remote drivers, linked to changing ocean biology, chemistry and physics, for at least 60 years. Accounting for these trends in δ15N values at the base of the food web is essential to accurately detect ecosystem restructuring in this rapidly changing environment.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Development of a measure of the patient-provider relationship in antenatal care and its importance in PMTCT

The prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) is a complex challenge in heavily affected and resource-limited settings such as South Africa. Management of PMTCT requires a cascade of interventions that need to be addressed to effectively decrease the risk of HIV transmission to infants. This PMTCT cascade includes incremental components that can be shaped and influenced by the patient provider relationship. The relationship that a pregnant woman has with her care providers may possibly affect decisions that she makes concerning her antenatal care and may, in turn, influence the quality of the care provided. A patient provider relationship scale (PPRS) was developed in Pretoria, South Africa with two aims: first, to quantify the patient provider relationship in an antenatal population in a resource-limited setting and provide preliminary evidence of its reliability and validity; and second, to determine whether the patient provider relationship has an effect on PMTCT. The instrument was administrated in a cross-sectional pilot study to a group of women at discharge after delivery (n 192) at two major hospitals in South West Tshwane. Statistical analysis of the instrument showed high reliability (a 0.91) and preliminary evidence of its validity including significant associations with participants’ attitudes regarding the functioning of the clinics and a single statement (the clinic staff ‘‘know me as a person,’’ R 0.47, pB0.001) that has been shown previously to have a significant association with adherence to antiretroviral treatment. For HIV-positive participants, the PPRS was significantly associated with statements related to important components of the PMTCT cascade. In addition, those with substantially inadequate antenatal care (52 visits) and those who did not initiate highly active antiretroviral therapy, although eligible, had significantly poorer PPRS scores. The PPRS is a potentially useful, context-appropriate instrument that could have an important role in future research focused on improving PMTCT and decreasing the risk of HIV infection in children.The Wilbur G. Downs International Health Student Travel Fellowship and Yale School of Medicine Office of Student Research grants.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/caic2

Ethanol reversal of tolerance to the respiratory depressant effects of morphine

Opioids are the most common drugs associated with unintentional drug overdose. Death results from respiratory depression. Prolonged use of opioids results in the development of tolerance but the degree of tolerance is thought to vary between different effects of the drugs. Many opioid addicts regularly consume alcohol (ethanol), and post-mortem analyses of opioid overdose deaths have revealed an inverse correlation between blood morphine and ethanol levels. In the present study, we determined whether ethanol reduced tolerance to the respiratory depressant effects of opioids. Mice were treated with opioids (morphine, methadone, or buprenorphine) for up to 6 days. Respiration was measured in freely moving animals breathing 5% CO(2) in air in plethysmograph chambers. Antinociception (analgesia) was measured as the latency to remove the tail from a thermal stimulus. Opioid tolerance was assessed by measuring the response to a challenge dose of morphine (10 mg/kg i.p.). Tolerance developed to the respiratory depressant effect of morphine but at a slower rate than tolerance to its antinociceptive effect. A low dose of ethanol (0.3 mg/kg) alone did not depress respiration but in prolonged morphine-treated animals respiratory depression was observed when ethanol was co-administered with the morphine challenge. Ethanol did not alter the brain levels of morphine. In contrast, in methadone- or buprenorphine-treated animals no respiratory depression was observed when ethanol was co-administered along with the morphine challenge. As heroin is converted to morphine in man, selective reversal of morphine tolerance by ethanol may be a contributory factor in heroin overdose deaths

Кредитний механізм реалізації фінансової стратегії розвитку великого промислового регіону

Мета даної статті полягає в розробці на основі системного підходу концепції вдосконалення кредитного механізму реалізації фінансової стратегії розвитку великого промислового регіону, яка призведе до підвищення його прибутковості