A holistic framework for environmental change: socio-environmental cohesion for sustainability

Research purpose: Environmental issues have become a regular debate within social, business and political arenas. The need to combine social, environmental and economic systems to achieve a sustainable future (Triple Bottom Line), is gaining prominence within many international development projects. The study of traditional business Environmental Management Systems (EMS) leads to the observation that such systems place primary emphasis upon economic and environmental factors. The project begins with the proposal that an EMS built by an organisations employees' has a greater potential to identify practical environmental impacts and reduce social resistance to change.Methods: This thesis details the development of a seven-stage framework for environmental change referred to as Socio-Environmental Cohesion for Sustainability (SECS). The framework is trialled within a case study organisation (OrgX) using an interpretivist philosophy of social constructionism to guide the research. An action research project is conducted with the researcher acting as an observing participant of the change process. The developed framework follows a multimethodology design of organisational engagement, with strong emphasis placed upon the social values that can drive environmental management practices. The combination of cybernetic and social tools of organisational analysis is shown to provide a unique approach to environmental strategy design; Viable Systems Model, Team Syntegrity, Cultural Analysis, Social Network Analysis.Results: The Cultural and Social Network Analyses provide evidence of an informal environmental network (EWG) contained within OrgX, and identify the core social environmental values of the employee group. A Team Syntegrity workshop is performed and develops a bottom-up participatory approach to environmental strategy designs between the EWG and business management. Following the workshop, OrgX is shown to implement 56% of the developed environmental strategy within eight months. The Viable Systems Model is used to diagnose the organisations structure, which is then combined with the Social Network Analysis to establish the outreach of the EWG.Conclusions: The recognition of the informal environmental network as an official management committee, improvements to operational efficiency and practical benefits to onsite biodiversity, indicates that the SECS framework is capable of addressing all aspects of the Triple Bottom Line

BRAIN Program and Promotion of Self-Regulation for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: A Case Study

The purpose of this qualitative case study is to explore, through the lens of self-regulated learning theory, the interrelationship of the BRAIN program and the development of positive classroom behaviors for students with emotional and behavioral disorders in a selected Midwestern school district. This study used purposeful sampling to select five school sites implementing the BRAIN program. The study participants were principals and BRAIN teachers at the five school sites. Data were collected through interviews of four principals, five BRAIN teachers, observations, and documents. Identification of self-regulated learning theory espoused by Zimmerman and Campillo (2003), Zimmerman (2000), and Pintrich and Zusho (2002) occurred prior to conducting the study, providing a lens through which to present and analyze the implementation of the BRAIN program at the five school sites. Findings indicated the BRAIN program is a district-led program implemented with consistency at five school sites for grade levels K-8. The BRAIN team at each site has autonomy in flexing the program to meet the needs of students with support from the district BRAIN team. Self-regulated learning theory helps to explain the interrelationship of the BRAIN program and the facilitation of the development of positive classroom behaviors. Through the cycle of forethought, performance or practice, and self-reflection, students learn to self-regulate behaviors and gain control in the general education classrooms. As this cycle continues, students become more confident in their abilities and are intrinsically motivated toward greater autonomy in controlling the behaviors. Additional research could focus on BRAIN students as they progress and exit the program to better understand their perceptions on their ability to self-regulate behaviors

ActiveChat : Development of an 8 week school-based intervention to increase motivation for physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour in secondary school pupils

This poster discusses the development of an 8 week school-based intervention to increase motivation for physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour in secondary school pupils

'I just want to watch the match': a practitioner's reflective account of men's health themed match day events at an English Premier League football club

This study reflects on the effectiveness and delivery of a series of health themed match day events at an English Premier League Football Club which aimed to create awareness and motivate men to adopt recommended health behaviours. A range of marketing techniques and activities were adopted within a targeted space and time to increase men's exposure to health information. The first author adopted a practitioner-cum-researcher role and was immersed in the planning and delivery of the events utilising the principles of ethnography. Data were predominately collated through observations and personal reflections logged via autobiographical field notes. Data were analysed through abductive reasoning. In general, men were reluctant to engage in health-related behaviours on match days. However, subtle, non-invasive approaches were deemed successful. Positive outcomes and case studies from the latter techniques are presented and suggestions for effective strategies that will better engage men in health information and behaviours are made. © 2014 © 2014 Taylor & Francis

Neurofilament light oligomers in neurodegenerative diseases: quantification by homogeneous immunoassay in cerebrospinal fluid

BACKGROUND: Neurofilament light (NfL) is a widely used biomarker for neurodegeneration. NfL is prone to oligomerisation, but available assays do not reveal the exact molecular nature of the protein variant measured. The objective of this study was to develop a homogeneous ELISA capable of quantifying oligomeric NfL (oNfL) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). METHODS: A homogeneous ELISA, based on the same capture and detection antibody (NfL21), was developed and used to quantify oNfL in samples from patients with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD, n=28), non-fluent variant primary progressive aphasia (nfvPPA, n=23), semantic variant PPA (svPPA, n=10), Alzheimer's disease (AD, n=20) and healthy controls (n=20). The nature of NfL in CSF, and the recombinant protein calibrator, was also characterised by size exclusion chromatography (SEC). RESULTS: CSF concentration of oNfL was significantly higher in nfvPPA (p<0.0001) and svPPA patients (p<0.05) compared with controls. CSF oNfL concentration was also significantly higher in nfvPPA compared with bvFTD (p<0.001) and AD (p<0.01) patients. SEC data showed a peak fraction compatible with a full-length dimer (~135 kDa) in the in-house calibrator. For CSF, the peak was found in a fraction of lower molecular weight (~53 kDa), suggesting dimerisation of NfL fragments. CONCLUSIONS: The homogeneous ELISA and SEC data suggest that most of the NfL in both the calibrator and human CSF is present as a dimer. In CSF, the dimer appears to be truncated. Further studies are needed to determine its precise molecular composition

The Professional Portfolio: An Evidence-Based Assessment Method

Competency assessment is critical for a myriad of disciplines, including medicine, law, education, and nursing. Many nurse managers and educators are responsible for nursing competency assessment, and assessment results are often used for annual reviews, promotions, and satisfying accrediting agencies\u27 requirements. Credentialing bodies continually seek methods to measure and document the continuing competence of licensees or certificants. Many methods and frameworks for continued competency assessment exist. The portfolio process is one method to validate personal and professional accomplishments in an interactive, multidimensional manner. This article illustrates how portfolios can be used to assess competence. One specialty nursing certification board\u27s process of creating an evidence-based portfolio for recertification or reactivation of a credential is used as an example. The theoretical background, development process, implementation, and future implications may serve as a template for other organizations in developing their own portfolio models

Historical measures of social context in life course studies: Retrospective linkage of addresses to decennial censuses

Background There is evidence of a contribution of early life socioeconomic exposures to the risk of chronic diseases in adulthood. However, extant studies investigating the impact of the neighborhood social environment on health tend to characterize only the current social environment. This in part may be due to complexities involved in obtaining and geocoding historical addresses. The Life Course Socioeconomic Status, Social Context, and Cardiovascular Disease Study collected information on childhood (1930–1950) and early adulthood (1960–1980) place of residence from 12,681 black and white middle-aged and older men and women from four U.S. communities to link participants with census-based socioeconomic indicators over the life course. Results Most (99%) participants were linked to 1930–50 county level socioeconomic census data (the smallest level of aggregation universally available during this time period) corresponding to childhood place of residence. Linkage did not vary by race, gender, birth cohort, or level of educational attainment. A commercial geocoding vendor processed participants' self-reported street addresses for ages 30, 40, and 50. For 1970 and 1980 censuses, spatial coordinates were overlaid onto shape files containing census tract boundaries; for 1960 no shape files existed and comparability files were used. Several methods were tested for accuracy and to increase linkage. Successful linkage to historical census tracts varied by census (66% for 1960, 76% for 1970, 85% for 1980). This compares to linkage rates of 94% for current addresses provided by participants over the course of the ARIC examinations. Conclusion There are complexities and limitations in characterizing the past social context. However, our results suggest that it is feasible to characterize the earlier social environment with known levels of measurement error and that such an approach should be considered in future studies.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57747/1/Historical measures of social context in life course studies Retrospective linkage of addresses to decimal censuses.pd

The Lantern, 2012-2013

• How They Run • What Was Said in Boston • On the Last Day of the Month • An Angel Tries to Surprise Humans • I Wonder if God Modeled Boys After Books • Marred with Modern Scars • Feather Bed • Ode to a Pen • Objet Petit A • Breaking News: Grownups Fear Return of Disco • Neuroscience • New Document • We Were Stars, and the Sky was Our Grass • About a Man • Trojan • An Ode • Yr Body Sour • That Lake in Jamaica • Live While Chiefs are Still Fighting • Lament for Mathematics • The Robert Frost House • People Fell in Love on Me • Sunday Review • Looks Silly in Tiny Desk Chairs • Two Years Later • Better Than Nothing • Istanbul • Packs of Cigarettes • Sonnet • Outside King of Steaks • Obstinance • Coffee Grinds • Autumn Equinox • Homecoming • Oh, San Francisco • Slide: A Beginning • Slowly Last Summer • Of Dogs and Men • Letters Not Sent • Before the Race • The Little Things • Tarpon Springs • Payment for Rebellion • Wednesday • When is President\u27s Day? • Heartless Parallels and Perpendiculars • Railway • Presto Agitato • Easier Said Than Done • Waves • Four White Women • Rope • Alter Ego Self Portrait • Pebbles • Coney Island • Guanjuanto • Growth • Evolve • Winter Blackout • Honeybee • Frames • Wanderlust • Guiding Light 1 • Frick\u27s Lock • The Ones That Never Leave • In Memoriam: Rachel Blunthttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1179/thumbnail.jp

Analysis of the expression patterns, subcellular localisations and interaction partners of Drosophila proteins using a pigP protein trap library.

Although we now have a wealth of information on the transcription patterns of all the genes in the Drosophila genome, much less is known about the properties of the encoded proteins. To provide information on the expression patterns and subcellular localisations of many proteins in parallel, we have performed a large-scale protein trap screen using a hybrid piggyBac vector carrying an artificial exon encoding yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) and protein affinity tags. From screening 41 million embryos, we recovered 616 verified independent YFP-positive lines representing protein traps in 374 genes, two-thirds of which had not been tagged in previous P element protein trap screens. Over 20 different research groups then characterized the expression patterns of the tagged proteins in a variety of tissues and at several developmental stages. In parallel, we purified many of the tagged proteins from embryos using the affinity tags and identified co-purifying proteins by mass spectrometry. The fly stocks are publicly available through the Kyoto Drosophila Genetics Resource Center. All our data are available via an open access database (Flannotator), which provides comprehensive information on the expression patterns, subcellular localisations and in vivo interaction partners of the trapped proteins. Our resource substantially increases the number of available protein traps in Drosophila and identifies new markers for cellular organelles and structures.This work was supported by a project grant from the Wellcome Trust [076739], by a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellowship to D.StJ. [049818 and 080007], and by core support from the Wellcome Trust [092096] and Cancer Research UK [A14492].This is the final version of the article. It was first available from The Company of Biologists via http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/dev.11105

CSF glial markers are elevated in a subset of patients with genetic frontotemporal dementia

Background: Neuroinflammation has been shown to be an important pathophysiological disease mechanism in frontotemporal dementia (FTD). This includes activation of microglia, a process that can be measured in life through assaying different glia-derived biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid. However, only a few studies so far have taken place in FTD, and even fewer focusing on the genetic forms of FTD. Methods: We investigated the cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of TREM2, YKL-40 and chitotriosidase using immunoassays in 183 participants from the Genetic FTD Initiative (GENFI) study: 49 C9orf72 (36 presymptomatic, 13 symptomatic), 49 GRN (37 presymptomatic, 12 symptomatic) and 23 MAPT (16 presymptomatic, 7 symptomatic) mutation carriers and 62 mutation-negative controls. Concentrations were compared between groups using a linear regression model adjusting for age and sex, with 95% bias-corrected bootstrapped confidence intervals. Concentrations in each group were correlated with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score using non-parametric partial correlations adjusting for age. Age-adjusted z-scores were also created for the concentration of markers in each participant, investigating how many had a value above the 95th percentile of controls. Results: Only chitotriosidase in symptomatic GRN mutation carriers had a concentration significantly higher than controls. No group had higher TREM2 or YKL-40 concentrations than controls after adjusting for age and sex. There was a significant negative correlation of chitotriosidase concentration with MMSE in presymptomatic GRN mutation carriers. In the symptomatic groups, for TREM2 31% of C9orf72, 25% of GRN, and 14% of MAPT mutation carriers had a concentration above the 95th percentile of controls. For YKL-40 this was 8% C9orf72, 8% GRN and 0% MAPT mutation carriers, whilst for chitotriosidase it was 23% C9orf72, 50% GRN, and 29% MAPT mutation carriers. Conclusions: Although chitotriosidase concentrations in GRN mutation carriers were the only significantly raised glia-derived biomarker as a group, a subset of mutation carriers in all three groups, particularly for chitotriosidase and TREM2, had elevated concentrations. Further work is required to understand the variability in concentrations and the extent of neuroinflammation across the genetic forms of FTD. However, the current findings suggest limited utility of these measures in forthcoming trials