"I don't know where is me" : lost and found in art therapy- a transcultural approach exploring cultural bereavement, trauma, and grief

Pre-school aged refugee children are at a higher risk for sustained traumatic grief, in which childhood trauma symptoms intrude on a child's ability to bereave their multiple losses. A transcultural and developmental approach provides a framework for understanding the multiple issues of pre-trauma, trauma, and host country integration that challenge refugee children and their families. An instrumental case study methodology is used in order to integrate these theories and capture the complexity of issues of one young refugee child referred to art therapy due to post-traumatic stress symptoms. Through case session descriptions and qualitative analysis of the resulting themes, this case study seeks to explore how this child expresses cultural bereavement, trauma, and grief in his art and play expressions. As well, the case will explore the ways that art therapy can help children experiencing traumatic grief re-engage developmental coping strategies in order to work through grief and trauma symptoms. The findings from this analysis will demonstrate how 'anchor points' of a child's traumatic memories express themselves in verbalizations, repetitive images, traumatic play, and how these are entry points for the therapist to work with in therapy through art and play. Through creating a warm therapeutic alliance, with engaged and sustained reciprocal communication, this case demonstrates how art therapy can help re-engage a child's capacity to communicate symbolically through art and play in order to integrate losses and grief into a growing self-concept

miR-155 induction is a marker of murine norovirus infection but does not contribute to control of replication in vivo.

Background: Due to their role in fine-tuning cellular protein expression, microRNAs both promote viral replication and contribute to antiviral responses, for a range of viruses. The interactions between norovirus and the microRNA machinery have not yet been studied. Here, we investigated the changes that occur in microRNA expression during murine norovirus (MNV) infection. Methods: Using RT-qPCR-based arrays, we analysed changes in miRNA expression during infection with the acute strain MNV-1 in two permissive cell lines, a murine macrophage cell line, RAW264.7, and a murine microglial cell line, BV-2. By RT-qPCR, we further confirmed and analysed the changes in miR-155 expression in the infected cell lines, bone-marrow derived macrophage, and tissues harvested from mice infected with the persistent strain MNV-3. Using miR-155 knockout (KO) mice, we investigated whether loss of miR-155 affected viral replication and pathogenesis during persistent MNV-3 infection in vivo and monitored development of a serum IgG response by ELISA. Results: We identified cell-specific panels of miRNAs whose expression were increased or decreased during infection. Only two miRNAs, miR-687 and miR-155, were induced in both cell lines. miR-155, implicated in innate immunity, was also upregulated in bone-marrow derived macrophage and infected tissues. MNV-3 established a persistent infection in miR-155 knockout (KO) mice, with comparable levels of secreted virus and tissue replication observed as for wildtype mice. However, serum anti-MNV IgG levels were significantly reduced in miR-155 KO mice compared to wildtype mice. Conclusions: We have identified a panel of miRNAs whose expression changes with MNV infection. miR-155 induction is a marker of MNV infection in vitro and in vivo, however it does not contribute to the control of persistent infections in vivo. This finding suggests that the immune defects associated with miR-155 deletion, such as lower serum IgG levels, are also not important for control of persistent MNV-3 infection

How to Share Prosocial Behavior without Being Considered a Braggart?

When people share their prosocial behavior on social media, they always face the braggart’s dilemma. By sharing their good deeds, they run the risk of being considered braggarts and thus less likable; by staying silent, they receive no credit for what they do. This study proposes a framing strategy to alleviate this concern. By acknowledging a third party involved in the prosocial activity (e.g., organizer or sponsor), one will be perceived as more likable through reducing the suspicion of self-promoting and perceived to have put in more effort. An empirical study based on Twitter data was conducted to confirm our prediction. An experimental study follows to verify the mechanism. The findings provide implications for various stakeholders that take part in prosocial activities

Beyond the 'triple helix' : examining the implementation process of knowledge-based innovation in the North East of England

The capacities of innovation have been widely recognized as central to the knowledge economy. The notion of interactive innovation based on collective knowledge has broken the traditional view of innovation which is focused on individual firms and industries. There is an increasing trend towards collaboration not only between different academic disciplines, but also between academics, business practitioners and government. Such a trend is manifested in the emerging concept of Triple Helix relations of universitygovernment- industry, which has been seen as the key driver and strategic model for creating knowledge-basedin novation. However, critically reviewing the literature reveals that the appropriateness and effectiveness of implementing Triple Helix remain problematic. This research aims to examine and evaluate the processes of creating knowledge-based innovation through successful implementation of Triple Helix relations of universitygovernment- industry to generate innovation capacities in the North East of England. The TH in this thesis is regarded as a heuristic model of creating knowledge-based innovation and a guide to innovation policy making. Following the establishment of a theoretical framework for analyzing the process whereby innovation capacities are generated and enhanced, a pilot study was conducted with the involvement of the regional government agency and sub-regional partners. Furthermore, a main study was carried out and data were collected from 48 in-depth semi-structured interviews with senior government officials, business managers from local support organizations, regional firms, technology transfer centres, spin-off companies and academics from universities in the North East of England. The research findings suggest that while recognizing the significance of its strategic thinking, the strategic intention of Triple Helix for knowledge-based innovation has been challenged from a number of perspectives during the process of implementation. First, the cooperative relations of university-government-industry remain fragmented due to diverse self-interests and different perceptions of the roles performed by innovation actors. Second, the loosely coupled partnership relations between university-governmentindustry created confusion at different levels in coordinating and leading projects related to knowledge creation. Furthermore, the Triple Helix is also challenged by the preconditions such as institutional norms and culture gaps between university and industry, originating from the historical context of the region, which have hindered the development of new ideas and innovation. Finally, despite limited evidence of academics, business managers and government officials interacting across institutional boundaries and learning each other's roles, the effectiveness of such interactions for knowledge creation is still strongly affected by their traditional roles and institutional values. Triple Helix, as a heuristic concept emerging from the dynamic knowledge economy, has certainly offered strategic value that reinforces the understanding of the importance of university-government-industry relations in generating knowledge-based innovation. However, empirical evidence from the research indicates that the totality of the Triple Helix concept is facing challenges in practice and needs to be further validated in a much wider context. The distinctiveness of this research lies in contributing to the existing theories of Triple Helix by highlighting the importance of redefining the strategic intentions and roles of key actors in building up knowledge-based innovation. The research findings also have significant implications for government policy makers, business practitioners and university academics when addressing the existing deficiencies in the implementation of knowledge-based innovation strategies in the regions. This may enable innovation actors to think beyond Triple Helix, taking into consideration the preconditions, institutional dynamics and complex networking processes for the success of knowledge-based innovation. Future research is suggested to investigate Triple Helix networks during the implementation of the new knowledge-based initiative - Science City in the North East of England.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo