Identity, Religion, and the State: Haredi Politics and Social Change in Israel

This thesis is about religion and the state. The ethnography is based on fieldwork conducted in Israel with Haredi (ultra-orthodox) women, mainly in the performing arts community and in the women’s rights activist groups. The thesis demonstrates that Haredi identity formed as a resistance to secularising forces, and through negotiations with secular power structures and the state became an entwined political-religious identity. I argue that through constant negotiations of religious ethics with secular values and the state of Israel, Haredim are picking apart their political identities from their religious ethics, and these choices insinuate implications for the nature of the role of religion and Jewish identity in the state of Israel in the future. I place women at the centre of this negotiation, and attribute much of these changes to the agency of Haredi women, with a wealth of ethnographic examples. This thesis contributes to understandings of the relationship between the secular state and religion by suggesting that the state may expect a specific type of religious citizen, and that in order for religious minorities like Haredim to resist the state, more stringent observance is produced. I suggest that not only are religious citizens capable of critique, that they critique the state through religious choices, and critique their own societies in ways which are designed to produce more resilient forms of religious ethics and community. The agency which is used is pious in its ethics, but it allows for the inclusion of certain secular forms of knowledge in order to bolster religious life. The thesis also offers an exploration of religious women’s feminism which applies liberal secular feminist goals to parts of life outside the direct dictates of religion, and in doing so curtails the authority of patriarchal religious leaders in a religiously ethical way. Furthermore, this thesis explores the experiences and contributions of Sephardi and Mizrahi Haredim, and discusses them as central to political and social change in the Haredi world

Caspofungin induced cell wall changes of Candida species influences macrophage interactions

Acknowledgements We thank Gillian Milne from the University of Aberdeen Microscopy and Histology facility for help with EM, Dr David Stead (Aberdeen Proteomics) for proteomics analysis and Prof. Gordon Brown for Fc:Dectin1. We thank Dr Judith Bain and Prof. Lars Erwig for advice on the macrophage assays. Funding We acknowledge funding from the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy and the Medical Research Council (G0400284).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Caspofungin Treatment of Aspergillus fumigatus Results in ChsG-Dependent Upregulation of Chitin Synthesis and the Formation of Chitin-Rich Microcolonies

Date of Acceptance: 23/07/2015 We thank Gillian Milne for help with electron microscopy, Sophie M. Schäfer for pilot experiments, and Emilia Mellado for strains. All authors acknowledge financial support of Gilead Sciences through Ph.D. studentships for L.A.W. and K.K.L. We also acknowledge research grants from the Wellcome Trust (080088, 086827, 075470, 099215, and 097377) and the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Cell wall stress induces alternative fungal cytokinesis and septation strategies

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Identification of defence-related genes in banana against Fusarium Wilt

Bananas (Musa sp.) serve as a staple diet and source of income for millions of people worldwide. The crop, however, is vulnerable to several important diseases such as Fusarium wilt, caused by the soilborne fungus Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense (Foc) . During the mid-20th century, thousands of acres of export banana plantations were lost in Central America due to Fusarium wilt. The epidemic was brought under control only by replacing the highly susceptible Gros Michel banana with Cavendish cultivars. Cavendish bananas, however, are susceptible to Foe race 4, a highly virulent variant of the pathogen that also causes disease to banana varieties susceptible to Foc races 1 and 2. Only this time, no resistant replacement varieties acceptable to the commercial market exist, while cultural and/or chemical control strategies proved to be ineffective for disease control. The only sustainable solution, thus, would be the improvement of existing banana varieties that are acceptable to consumers for resistance to Fusarium wilt. An understanding of how plants defend themselves against pathogens is an imperative first step towards the development of disease-resistant plants. Two broad defence mechanisms against pathogen attack exist in plants: Constitutive defence mechanisms that are pathogen non-specific and induced plant defence responses following recognition of specific pathogen features. A primary objective of this study was to elucidate induced banana defence responses. Induced defence responses may include the induction of regulator and antifungal proteins, the production of active-oxygen species or products from the phenylpropanoid pathway. A few studies have attempted to elucidate the genetic factors involved in the banana defence response but to date no clear answer has arisen. Forward and reverse genetics encompass approached by which plant defence responses can be studied; a particular technique of interest which can be classified under both forward and reverse genetics is cDNA-Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) In a field trial conducted in an Foc-infested field in Kiepersol, South Africa, cultivars Rose and Calcutta IV proved resistant, and FHIA-17 tolerant to Foe 'subtropical' race 4 (VCG 0120) when compared to the highly susceptible Cavendish cultivar 'Williams'. The genetic basis of defence to Foc in FHIA-17, Rose and Calcutta IV was verified using quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase PCR (qRT-RT-PCR). Catalase, POX and PAE were strongly up-regulated in the tolerant and resistant banana varieties. These genes are involved in the oxidative burst and secondary metabolism leading to the phenylpropanoid pathway and cell wall strengthening. Resistance to Foc, 'subtropical' race 4, thus seems to depend on the early recognition of the pathogen and subsequent blocking of its progress into the plant's vascular system. The response of resistant and tolerant banana varieties to Foc was elucidated by analysing the banana transcriptome 6 and 72 hours post inoculation (hpi) using cDNA-AFLP. Seventy-six differentially expressed transcript derived fragments (TDFs) were isolated, sequenced and subjected to BLASTX and BLASTN searches. Many of the sequences were not significantly similar to any other sequences in the databases, but several genes fragments showed homology to defence-related genes. TDFs representing genes such as S-adenosylmethionine synthase (SAMS) and isoflavone reductase, which are potentially involved in the production of cell wall strengthening compounds such as lignin, were identified. Expression patterns of selected TDFs as seen on the cDNA-AFLP gels were confirmed using qRT -PCR. As additional endogenous controls, two TDFs which displayed constitutive expression on the cDNA-AFLP gels, were isolated, sequenced and were optimised for use as endogenous control genes for the normalisation of the qRT-PCR data. In most cases, the expression patterns seen on the cDNA-AFLP gels were replicated by qRT-PCR. This study concludes that the tolerant (FHIA-17) and resistant (Rose and Calcutta IV) banana varieties induced defence-related genes upon attack by Foc and that the cDNA-AFLP technique was further effective in identifying additional defence-related genes. Looking to the future, the greatest understanding of the defence responses induced during the banana/Foe interaction would be obtained by using additional molecular approaches or techniques. It is in some cases sufficient to look exclusively at transcriptomic i.e. cDNA-AFLP and microarray data to study the plant's response, however, a look at differential protein and metabolite expression would complement transcriptomic data and add insight into the fate of certain expressed genes. This would possibly speed up the identification of the defence pathways used by resistant bananas to resist infection by Foc, once identified these pathways can be manipulated in the susceptible plants and thus the generation of a Foc resistant banana could finally become a reality.Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2008.Microbiology and Plant Pathologyunrestricte

Causes of variation in human cooperative behaviour

This thesis investigates variation in human cooperative behaviour in naturally occurring contexts. I critically assess the prevailing consensus on human cooperation derived from laboratory games (such as the dictator and public goods games), by identifying real life analogues and conducting extensive field observation and experiments. My second chapter investigates the importance of context on social behaviour by taking a commonly used laboratory game, the dictator game, and studying analogous behaviour, giving to mendicants in the street. I conclude that individuals cooperate less in the wild than they do in the laboratory and that monetary pay-offs are important in cooperative decision-making. My third chapter examines how social cues influence peoples’ likelihood of giving to mendicants. I conclude that increased group size and crowd density negatively affect donation behaviour. My fourth chapter investigates dog fouling in public parks to understand the causes of variation in cheating in a naturally occurring public goods game. I conclude that despite evidence that a social game is being played, the cues that influences decisions are unclear, and behaviour may depend on local social norms. My fifth chapter investigates social influences on red light jumping by cyclists at pedestrian crossings. I find that the probability of cheating is higher with fewer observers and when other cyclists also cheat

Rim Pathway-Mediated Alterations in the Fungal Cell Wall Influence Immune Recognition and Inflammation

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We acknowledge Jennifer Lodge, Woei Lam, and Rajendra Upadhya for developing and sharing the chitin and chitosan MTBH assay. We thank Todd Brennan of Duke University for providing MyD88-deficient mice. We acknowledge Neil Gow for providing access to the Dionex HPAEC-PAD instrumentation. We also acknowledge Connie Nichols for critical reading of the manuscript. These experiments were supported by an NIH grant to J.A.A. and F.L.W., Jr. (R01 AI074677). C.M.L.W. was supported by a fellowship provided through the Army Research Office of the Department of Defense (no. W911NF-11-1-0136 f) (F.L.W., Jr.). J.W., L.W., and C.M. were supported by the Wellcome Trust Strategic Award in Medical Mycology and Fungal Immunology (097377) and the MRC, Centre for Medical Mycology (MR/N006364/1). FUNDING INFORMATION MRC Centre for Medical MycologyMR/N006364/1 Carol A. Munro HHS | NIH | National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) https://doi.org/10.13039/100000060R01 AI074677J. Andrew Alspaugh Wellcome https://doi.org/10.13039/100010269097377 Carol A. Munro DOD | United States Army | RDECOM | Army Research Office (ARO) https://doi.org/10.13039/100000183W911NF-11-1-0136 f Chrissy M. Leopold WagerPeer reviewedPublisher PD

The PKC, HOG and Ca2+ signalling pathways co-ordinately regulate chitin synthesis in Candida albicans

Open Access via PMC2649417Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Accessible Justice? Rape Victimisation and Psychosocial Disability

In a context in which research evidence indicates high rates of alleged sexual victimization amongst adults with psychosocial disabilities (PSD), this paper sets out to explore some of the challenges that are posed to the criminal justice system by these types of complainants. We do so by drawing upon rape allegation data recently collected by the London Metropolitan Police Service over a two month period. Our analysis of this snapshot of Metropolitan Police rape reporting suggests that a significant number of rape complainants have recorded PSDs, and that these complainants are significantly more likely than those without recorded PSDs to experience additional, circumstantial vulnerabilities, including intellectual disability, alcohol and/or drug dependency, and repeat victimisation. Our findings also suggest that cases involving complainants with recorded PSDs are significantly more likely to suffer attrition – to ‘drop out’ of the criminal justice system - due to police or prosecutorial decision-making. In this paper we reflect upon possible explanations for this heightened attrition rate but also use our snapshot analysis as a stepping off point from which to highlight the need for more sustained critical research on the treatment of complainants, and the adequacy of police and prosecutor training and practice in this area