Spirits, shamans and communication : interpreting meaning from Iroquoian human effigy pipes

Québec Université Laval, Bibliothèque 201

The Matchless Six : Highlighting Canadian Women Track Athletes at the 1928 Olympic Games

This film is the story of the Canadian women's Olympic track and field team in 1928, comprised of Bobbie Rosenfeld, Myrtle Cook, Ethel Smith, Jane Bell, Ethel Catherwood and Jean Thompson. They were called 'the Matchless Six' after successfully competing in the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam, the first Games that allowed women to compete in track and field events. The Canadian Matchless Six successfully earned 2 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medal, propelling Canada to finish 4th place overall in the medal standings, its best showing to that point. This film is an engaging portrayal of women's participation in elite-level sporting competition in events for which women's participation was not uniformly accepted

Sir Henrys @UCCLibrary: Telling the history of a live music venue through a librarian-led research exhibition

In 2014, University College Cork presented the Sir Henrys@UCC Library research exhibition, which documented the history and socio-cultural significance of a famous Cork live music venue called Sir Henrys. This article explains how the story of Sir Henrys was researched, shaped and told, how it was presented to as wide an audience as possible, and how that audience responded. It also looks at the impact and legacy of the exhibition

'There is a lot to be learnt': assistant principals' perceptions of their professional learning experiences and learning needs in their role as middle leaders in Irish post-primary schools

This thesis explores Assistant Principals' perceptions of their professional learning and\ud learning experiences as Middle Leaders in Irish Post-primary schools. The purpose of the\ud study is to gain insights into and an understanding of the key enablers and inhibitors of\ud Assistant Principals' learning, an area hitherto ignored in the Irish education research context.\ud The study aims to contribute to the qualitative knowledge base on Assistant Principals'\ud learning and to inform Irish discourse and policy with regard to the continuing professional\ud development of this group of educators in Irish post-primary schools.\ud The literature called upon is found within the fields of teacher professionalism, adult learning,\ud and continuing professional development. It serves the dual purpose of shaping the data\ud generated in the study and of providing a theoretical lens through which data are interrogated.\ud Using qualitative methodology, the empirical investigation is based on semi-structured\ud interviews with 21 Assistant Principals, incorporating the range of Irish post-primary schools,\ud both religious and state run, both genders and a range of experience in the role.\ud With regard to this area of professional learning, the findings are significant in that they have\ud disrupted a prevailing silence and have made overt issues hitherto neglected in the Irish\ud education context. They pose a range of challenges to our understanding of the complexity of\ud Assistant Principals' learning. They highlight that Assistant Principals' learning is haphazard,\ud time-poor, emotionally charged and neglected both by themselves and the system. The roles\ud of school culture, school leadership and emotions emerge as significant variables which\ud impact on Assistant Principals' learning.\ud The outcomes of the study are challenging for Assistant Principals as professional learners,\ud for their school communities as enablers and supporters of their learning and for those\ud charged locally and nationally with overseeing and developing a learning agenda for middle\ud leadership in Irish post-primary schools

LES CORPS EN BAIGNADE: CONTEXTUALISER LES BAINS PUBLICS À OTTAWA, 1924

Résumé Les bains publics furent établis originellement sous le mandat de la reforme sociale de l'époque victorienne. Sous l'auspice de la nouvelle conscience pour l'hygiène, ces bains devaient promouvoir le lien entre la bonne santé et l'hygiène corporelle. On retrouvait d'ailleurs des bains publics dans les grandes villes nord-américaines et européennes de l'époque, pour lutter contre les effets négatifs de l'urbanisation. Selon des rapports populaires, les deux bains municipaux d'Ottawa inauguré en 1924 furent établis autour de ce discours de l'hygiène. Cependant, à partir d'une analyse historique qualitative de journaux et de documents municipaux, cet étude démontre que les bains publics d'Ottawa ne s'alignent pas avec ce mouvement de reforme sociale, mais se situent plutôt dans le contexte de reforme urbaine caractérisé par le développement du sport élite et récréatif pendant les années 1920 au Canada. Mots clés : reforme sociale; reforme urbaine; recréation.  Resumo O Corpo de banho: Contextualizando Banhos Públicos de Ottawa, 1924 Banhos públicos foram originalmente criado sob o mandato da reforma social da era vitoriana. Sob os auspícios da nova consciência para a saúde, esses banhos devem promover a ligação entre boa saúde e higiene. Encontramos também banhos públicos em cidades da América do Norte e Europa no momento, para lutar contra os efeitos negativos da urbanização. Segundo relatos populares, tanto de banhos de Ottawa municipais foram abertos em 1924, construído em torno do discurso da higiene. No entanto, a partir de uma análise qualitativa dos jornais históricos e documentos municipais, este estudo demonstra que os banhos públicos de Ottawa não alinhar com o movimento de reforma social, mas sim no contexto da reforma urbana caracterizada pelo desenvolvimento do esporte de elite e recreação durante a década de 1920 no Canadá. Palavras chave: reforma social; reforma urbana; recreação.   Abstract The Bathing Body: Contextualizing Ottawa's Public Baths, 1924 Public baths were initially instigated under the mandate of social reform in the Victorian era. Under the auspices of the new awareness for hygiene, those baths promoted the link between good health and corporal hygiene. They were thus found in major North American and European cities of the time as they helped fight against the negative effects of urbanisation. According to some popular reports, Ottawa's two public baths also followed that hygiene discourse. However, using a qualitative historical analysis of newspapers and municipal documents, this study demonstrated that Ottawa's baths do not conform to the social reform movement. Instead, they can be placed in the context of urban reform characterised by the development of elite and recreational sport that took place in the 1920s in Canada. Keywords: urban reform; social reform; leisure

Relatedness between the two-component lantibiotics lacticin 3147 and staphylococcin C55 based on structure, genetics and biological activity

BACKGROUND: Two component lantibiotics, such as the plasmid-encoded lacticin 3147 produced by Lactococcus lactis DPC3147 and staphylococcin C55 produced by Staphylococcus aureus C55, represent an emerging subgroup of bacteriocins. These two bacteriocins are particularly closely related, exhibiting 86% (LtnA1 and C55α) and 55% (LtnA2 and C55β) identity in their component peptides. The aim of this study was to investigate, for the first time for any two component bacteriocins, the significance of the relatedness between these two systems. RESULTS: So close is this relatedness that the hybrid peptide pairs LtnA1:C55β and C55α:LtnA2 were found to have activities in the single nanomolar range, comparing well with the native pairings. To determine whether this flexibility extended to the associated post-translational modification/processing machinery, the staphylococcin C55 structural genes were directly substituted for their lacticin 3147 counterparts in the ltn operon on the large conjugative lactococcal plasmid pMRC01. It was established that the lacticin LtnA1 post-translational and processing machinery could produce functionally active C55α, but not C55β. In order to investigate in closer detail the significance of the differences between LtnA1 and C55α, three residues in LtnA1 were replaced with the equivalent residues in C55α. Surprisingly, one such mutant LtnA1-Leu21Ala was not produced. This may be significant given the positioning of this residue in a putative lipid II binding loop. CONCLUSION: It is apparent, despite sharing striking similarities in terms of structure and activity, that these two complex bacteriocins display some highly dedicated features particular to either system

The potency of the broad spectrum bacteriocin, bactofencin A, against staphylococci is highly dependent on primary structure, N-terminal charge and disulphide formation

Bactofencin A is a novel class IId bacteriocin, produced by the intestinal isolate Lactobacillus salivarius DPC6502, which has potent activity against medically significant pathogens including Staphylococcus aureus. This bacteriocin is unusual in that it has a highly cationic N terminus and a single disulfide bond between Cys7 and Cys22, resulting in a large C terminal loop. In this study, a library of synthetic bactofencin A variants were screened against the mastitis isolate, S. aureus DPC5246, to identify key residues responsible for activity. It was apparent that substituting either cysteine of the disulfide bond with either serine or alanine significantly reduced the activity of the bacteriocin, confirming the importance of the C terminal loop. Substituting N terminal amino acids with alanine had no effect on activity, whereas sequential removal of the N terminal positively charged residues resulted in an increasingly inactive peptide. A complete (synthetic) alanine scanning analysis revealed that the residues between Val9 and Gly17 were most affected by substitution suggesting that this area has a major influence on the potency of the bacteriocin. Substituting residues in the loop region between Cys7 and Cys22 for D-amino acid equivalents had a more detrimental effect on activity than L-alanine substitutions. Specifically Y10A, N11A, P15A and T16A are active at 4, 16, 1 and 16 μM respectively while their D equivalents were inactive at 1000 μM, the highest concentration tested. Ultimately, this study identifies the critical features in the primary structure of the bacteriocin which gives it such potent activity against pathogenic staphylococci

Gut microbiota in older subjects: variation, health consequences and dietary intervention prospects

peer-reviewedAlterations in intestinal microbiota composition and function have been linked to conditions including functional gastrointestinal disorders, obesity and diabetes. The gut microbiome encodes metabolic capability in excess of that encoded by the human genome, and bacterially produced enzymes are important for releasing nutrients from complex dietary ingredients. Previous culture-based studies had indicated that the gut microbiota of older people was different from that of younger adults, but the detailed findings were contradictory. Small-scale studies had also shown that the microbiota composition could be altered by dietary intervention or supplementation. We showed that the core microbiota and aggregate composition in 161 seniors was distinct from that of younger persons. To further investigate the reasons for this variation, we analysed the microbiota composition of 178 elderly subjects for whom the dietary intake data were available. The data revealed distinct microbiota composition groups, which overlapped with distinct dietary patterns that were governed by where people lived: at home, in rehabilitation or in long-term residential care. These diet-microbiota separations correlated with cluster analysis of NMR-derived faecal metabolites and shotgun metagenomic data. Major separations in the microbiota correlated with selected clinical measurements. It should thus be possible to programme the microbiota to enrich bacterial species and activities that promote healthier ageing. A number of other studies have investigated the effect of certain dietary components and their ability to modulate the microbiota composition to promote health. This review will discuss dietary interventions conducted thus far, especially those in elderly populations and highlight their impact on the intestinal microbiota.PUBLISHEDpeer-reviewe

Student voice in work integrated learning scholarship: A review of teacher education and geographical sciences

Work integrated learning is an umbrella term that refers to the opportunities provided to university students to integrate knowledge of theory and practice as part of their degree program. As the role of students in higher education is evolving, we sought to develop our understanding of the role of students in the work integrated learning (WIL) space through exploring current literature on student voice. In this paper, we consider what has been reported about WIL in relation to student voice, how it has been represented, and how this has influenced practice. We undertook a systematic literature review for two different disciplines, one which represented an example of a professionally accredited undergraduate degree program (teacher education), and the other an example of a program with no professional accreditation (geographical sciences). The teacher education literature demonstrated more clearly the use of student voice to inform WIL within curriculum design. However, the geographical sciences literature did include examples of student voice being incorporated within the design of collaborative community-based forms of WIL. A role for students as researchers, who lead research and initiate curriculum change into WIL, was noticeably absent in both disciplinary sets of literature. The lack of evidence of the inclusion of students in the design, conduct, and analysis of WIL provides an invitation for SoTL scholars to redefine the role of students in this space