Ignatian Leadership and Place-Based Learning

In An Ignatian Method of City Dwelling (2011) John M. Staudenmaier, SJ notes that “Ignatius teaches that prayer is geographical at its core.” On his own journey of leadership, Ignatius himself learned much about the lives of others, and of himself, through the particular places he visited (often for much longer than he intended). By focusing on a specific geography, place-based community engagement can foster Ignatian leadership as it encourages faculty, staff and students to journey with a community in their own home. Because this unique way of engaging the community emphasizes depth of engagement over breadth, it is an opportunity to better understand the history, future and current reality of a neighborhood, and to allow that place to transform one’s self. Place based learning encourages us to see a place with new eyes and discover important aspects of what it means to be an Ignatian leader with others

Oxidative stress in skin induced by chemical and physical agents

Free radicals threaten various tissues and are involved in the development and progression of many pathological states and diseases. More than other tissues, the skin is exposed to a variety of chemical, environmental, and physical agents which are capable of inducing radical formation resulting in the development of oxidative stress. The skin possesses an elaborate antioxidant network to deal with reactive oxygen species (ROS); however, excessive exposure and/or radical production can overwhelm the antioxidant capabilities of the skin causing oxidative damage to proteins, DNA, and lipids. The central hypothesis of these studies is that exposure to oxidizible chemicals and/or environmental agents to skin are able to induce free radical formation with subsequent antioxidant reduction, oxidative DNA, lipid and protein damage, and inflammation. Excessive inflammatory-based oxidative modification of the major skin constituents following long-term exposure could trigger redox-sensitive cell-signaling pathways via activator protein 1 (AP-1) expression thereby causing the development of skin cancer. The specific aims of the project are: (1) To study the mechanisms of phenol (PhOH)-induced oxidative injury in skin of animals with normal and reduced antioxidant milieu; (2) To assess the role of the antioxidant defense system of the skin of young and old mice exposed to cumene hydroperoxide (Cum-OOH); (3) To investigate the role of oxidative stress and the activation of AP-1 protein in the development of skin cancer; (4) To study the mechanisms of simulated solar light (SSL) induced skin injury with respect to antioxidant imbalance, oxidative damage of DNA, protein, and lipids. Results obtained from these studies provide critical knowledge about the mechanisms of dermal toxicity of phenolic compounds, organic peroxides and UV light with regard to reactive oxygen intermediates formed in skin. The efficiency of the antioxidant network is essential to withstand an oxidative skin injury due to aging, occupational and environmental exposures

Strategies for improving the prevention of intimate partner violence against women in Burma

This research combines an understanding of gender in Burmese society with contemporary techniques for preventing intimate partner violence (IPV). It is designed to provide individuals and groups with a comprehensive understanding of intimate partner violence in Burma as well as strategies to best improve programs dealing with this form of violence. To understand the current state of gender relations in Burma, interviews were conducted with 24 college students in Yangon, Burma. These interviews were used as a context for creating strategies which would best aid interested organizations in preventing intimate partner violence. These strategies include program development, legislation, social gender norms, local community engagement, female empowerment, male engagement, and alcohol use

Post-transcriptional regulation of the Type IIA sodium-phosphate cotransporter by parathyroid hormone.

The type IIa sodium-phosphate cotransporter (Npt2a) is expressed in the apical membrane of the renal proximal tubule and is responsible for the reabsorption of the majority of the filtered load of phosphate. Parathyroid hormone (PTH) is secreted by the parathyroid gland in response to a decrease in serum calcium or an increase in serum phosphorus, and acutely induces phosphaturia through the rapid stimulation of endocytosis of Npt2a and its subsequent lysosomal degradation. Chronic PTH stimulation leads to sustained phosphaturia, but the mechanisms for the chronic regulation of Npt2a by PTH remain unclear. We hypothesize that PTH decreases Npt2a mRNA levels as a mechanism for inducing chronic phosphaturia. We address this hypothesis within three specific aims. The first specific aim addresses the kinetics and mechanisms of the PTH-stimulated decrease in Npt2a mRNA expression. The second aim details the signaling pathways involved in PTH-mediated downregulation of Npt2a mRNA. Lastly, the third aim characterizes the PTH-responsive phosphoproteome of the proximal tubule, and how changes in the expression and phosphorylation of RNA-binding proteins may affect Npt2a mRNA stability. In Aim 1, we found that PTH decreases Npt2a steady-state mRNA levels with a 50% loss in 2.2h compared to 8.6h in the absence of PTH. This effect is post-transcriptional, and is dependent on both transcription and translation. In Aim 2, we determined that PTH destabilizes Npt2a mRNA through both PKA- and PKC-dependent mechanisms. The rapid initial decline in Npt2a mRNA levels corresponds to and appears to be dependent on early PTH-stimulated PKA activation. In contrast, PTH-stimulated PKC activation occurs more gradually over several hours and likely contributes to the latter phase of Npt2a mRNA destabilization. Finally, in Aim 3, we found that PTH alters the phosphorylation status of almost 1200 proteins in the proximal tubule, including 68 RNA-binding proteins (RBPs). Two of those RBPs, KHSRP and Roquin-2, bind to Npt2a mRNA, and their expression varies inversely with Npt2a mRNA levels. From these studies, we conclude that PTH-mediated Npt2a mRNA destabilization likely occurs through PKA- and PKC-dependent modulation of RBP expression and activity, and that KHSRP and Roquin-2 are potential mediators of the PTH response

Bars, Brawls, and Blocks: An Examination of the Associations Between the Locations of Liquor-Serving Establishments and Felonious Assaults

Research on the effects of liquor and liquor-serving establishments as they relate to crime is substantial, although conclusions on the type or size of effects have recently varied considerably. This research attempts to distinguish between particular types of liquor-serving establishments and isolate their effects on felonious assaults, with particular attention to the effects of bars or taverns as separate from both offsite liquor-selling establishments and other onsite establishments such as restaurants. Additionally, this research attempts to determine if dispersion or diffusion effects exist for bars. Findings show that there is a marked difference among the effects of the three types of liquor-serving establishments, indicating the importance of distinguishing type of establishment. They reveal a statistically significant effect for felonious assaults for both bars and for offsite establishments, with no significant effect for “other onsite” establishments such as restaurants or sports arenas. Results of this study also show a dispersion effect for bars on felonious assaults within a one-block area. Thus, blocks that were adjacent to blocks with at least one bar were significantly more likely to have had an assault occur on them

Factors contributing to the decision of former 4-H campers to return or not return to the District IV Junior Camp in 1976 as seen by their parents

The purpose of this survey-type study was to determine what factors, as seen by parents, influenced Junior 4-H\u27ers decisions to return or not to return to 4-H camp in Tennessee\u27s Extension Supervisory District IV in 1976. A total of 111 parents of former 4-H campers responded to a mail questionnaire designed to determine parental attitudes, preferences, expectations, and suggestions regarding junior camp. Seventy-one were parents of returners (i.e. 20 of boys and 51 of girls) and 40 were parents of non-returners (i.e. 16 of boys and 24 of girls). Characteristically, the members themselves: 1. Were 11.49 years of age 2. Had attended camp an average of 1.62 times 3. Had made decision to attend or not attend camp was made jointly with their parents. Other major camp findings included the following: 1. To have fun was the major reason for returning to 4-H camp 2. To make new friends and because their friends were going were other reasons for returning to camp 3. Miscellaneous reasons including other camps, ball teams and vacation constituted an additional major reason for those not returning to camp. Expectations of what parents wanted their children to get out of camp were: 1. A sense of responsibility and independence 2. New and worthwhile learning 3. Fun or a good time 4. New friends 5. Learning to get along with others. Parents expected their children to participate in various activi ties including: 1. Everything offered 2. Sports of all kinds 3. Crafts 4. Classes. Purposes for having camp were expressed by parents as, (1) to learn to assume responsibility, (2) to learn to get along with people, and (3) to develop individual personality and character. Favorable responses implied parental support of the camping program. Other implications and recommendations for use of findings and further research were included

Activity-promoting gaming systems in exercise and rehabilitation

Commercial activity-promoting gaming systems provide a potentially attractive means to facilitate exercise and rehabilitation. The Nintendo Wii, Sony EyeToy, Dance Dance Revolution, and Xbox Kinect are examples of gaming systems that use the movement of the player to control gameplay. Activity-promoting gaming systems can be used as a tool to increase activity levels in otherwise sedentary gamers and also be an effective tool to aid rehabilitation in clinical settings. Therefore, the aim of this current work is to review the growing area of activity-promoting gaming in the context of exercise, injury, and rehabilitation

Detective Narrative and the Problem of Origins in 19th Century England

Working with Fredric Jameson's understanding of genre as a "formal sedimentation" of an ideology, this study investigates the historicity of the detective narrative, what role it plays in bourgeois, capitalist culture, what ways it mediates historical processes, and what knowledge of these processes it preserves. I begin with the problem of the detective narrative's origins. This is a complex and ultimately insoluble problem linked to the limits of historical perspective and compounded by the tendency of genres to erase their own origins. I argue that any critical reading of the detective story beginning with the notion that real crime and working class unrest are the specters that the detective story seeks to exorcise misapprehends the real class struggle that is evidenced in, but also disguised by, the detective story: the struggle between the ascendant (though never assuredly so) bourgeoisie and the receding (though, again, never assuredly so) aristocratic and post-feudal ruling classes. Instead, I argue that it is this class struggle that is apparent in the detective narrative's special structure—the double structure by which it can pose any-origin-whatever as a moment of history and construct that history forward while appearing to uncover it backward. The detective narrative erases precisely the problem of the bourgeoisie's lack of origins (from a feudal perspective) and counterfeits history. For this reason, I locate the detective narrative's beginnings in specific sites where the transfer of power from traditional institutions to bourgeois institutions or institutions reformed by the bourgeoisie, including the Chancery court (in Charles Dickens' Bleak House), the construction of the New Poor Laws of 1834 (in Wilkie Collins' The Dead Secret), and marriage and inheritance in Bleak House and Collins' The Moonstone. Ending with a study of the commonly acknowledged first detective novel, The Moonstone, I conclude that this novel and the generic paradigm of the detective narrative it exemplifies succeed in encrypting the historical discontinuity between post-feudal modes of production and capitalism and that, ultimately, crime is just an alibi for the work of historical reconstruction that the detective narrative carries out

Not all Icequakes are Created Equal: Basal Icequakes Suggest Diverse Bed Deformation Mechanisms at Rutford Ice Stream, West Antarctica

Microseismicity, induced by the sliding of a glacier over its bed, can be used to characterize frictional properties of the ice-bed interface, which are a key parameter controlling ice stream flow. We use naturally occurring seismicity to monitor spatiotemporally varying bed properties at Rutford Ice Stream, West Antarctica. We locate 230,000 micro-earthquakes with local magnitudes from −2.0 to −0.3 using 90 days of recordings from a 35-station seismic network located ∼40 km upstream of the grounding line. Events exclusively occur near the ice-bed interface and indicate predominantly flow-parallel stick-slip. They mostly lie within a region of interpreted stiff till and along the likely stiffer part of mega-scale glacial lineations. Within these regions, micro-earthquakes occur in spatially (<100 m radius) and temporally (mostly 1–5 days activity) restricted event-clusters (up to 4,000 events), which exhibit an increase, followed by a decrease, in event magnitude with time. This may indicate event triggering once activity is initiated. Although ocean tides modulate the surface ice flow velocity, we observe little periodic variation in overall event frequency over time and conclude that water content, bed topography and stiffness are the major factors controlling microseismicity. Based on variable rupture mechanisms and spatiotemporal characteristics, we suggest the event-clusters relate to three end-member types of bed deformation: (1) continuous creation and seismogenic destruction of small-scale bed-roughness, (2) ploughed clasts, and (3) flow-oblique deformation during landform formation or along bedrock outcrops. This indicates that multiple processes, simultaneously active during glacial sliding, can accommodate stick-slip behavior and that the bed continuously reorganizes

The University of Nebraska at Omaha Economic Impact Study: 1980-81

The major findings of this study on the economic impact of the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1980-81 are the following: 1. The Total expenditure (excluding double counting) within the Omaha SMSA by the university, its faculty/staff, students, and visitors was $62.3 million. 2. The increase in the Omaha SMSA activity caused by the university was estimated as$56.1 million. 3. A total of $62.3 million of additional income attributable to alumni having college degrees was not included in these estimates of the university\u27s economic impact