South Road

SOUTH ROAD, a novel told in third-person limited, follows Adrienne Harris as she navigates the trials of her coming-of-age summer and then must deal with the aftermath. 1997: seventeen-year-old Adrienne Harris wants nothing more than to flee her eccentric grandmother’s rule and leave Harbor Point and never look back. When she meets her new neighbors, Adrienne knows her life will never be the same. Adrienne quickly falls in love with the charismatic Quinn Merritt. They decide to keep their relationship a secret since both families disapprove. This secret starts a chain reaction that seemingly leads to the suicide of the troubled and poetic Lucas Merritt. The summer culminates with Adrienne running away, pregnant and heartbroken. 2011: thirty-one-year-old Adrienne is an out of work line cook and single mother. The story opens as Adrienne reluctantly returns home to Harbor Point to care for her ailing grandmother. Once home, Adrienne has to confront the things that haunt her—the summer she met and lost both Merritt brothers, and also her dysfunctional relationship with her grandmother—in order to heal and repair her own life and her relationship with her daughter. In the end, Adrienne discovers many truths that alter her perception of her past in Harbor Point. Adrienne is finally able to move forward and start to build a life for her and her daughter. Harbor Point, the last place in the world Adrienne Harris wanted to be, turns out to be the only place she wants to call home

Getting in the zone: flow experiences of high school students in language arts

There are severe gaps in reading achievement among students based on ability, race, and income levels. As a result, many high school students with reading difficulties, particularly those who are minorities and living in poverty, are not able to read with the same level of skill as their peers, which can affect their chances of success later in life. Flow theory may offer guidance regarding how to engage and motivate these students in school, particularly when it comes to reading. When individuals have a flow experience, Csikszentmihalyi suggests that intrinsic motivation to participate in that activity will increase and more participation may translate to improved performance. In this mixed methods case study, participants included a language arts teacher and 22 10th-grade students attending language arts classes at a Title I public charter school. A reading assessment was administered along with surveys measuring self-efficacy, motivation, and flow. On three occasions, students’ flow scores were evaluated and compared. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, including hierarchical linear modeling and mediation analysis. Follow-up interviews were conducted with 13 participants to better understand their flow experiences including what motivates and engages them across contexts. These data were analyzed via domain analysis. Results indicated that although there were no differences in flow across activities, there were differences based on individual characteristics, including intrinsic motivation to read and perceptions of skill/challenge balance. In addition, reading ability and flow together explained a substantial portion of variability in reading motivation overall. Interview data centered on students being driven to succeed. Other themes identified related to teacher attributes, motivation, engagement, reading, and flow. Implications and suggestions for practice are also discussed

A scientific synthesis of marine protected areas in the United States: status and recommendations

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are a key tool for achieving goals for biodiversity conservation and human well-being, including improving climate resilience and equitable access to nature. At a national level, they are central components in the U.S. commitment to conserve at least 30% of U.S. waters by 2030. By definition, the primary goal of an MPA is the long-term conservation of nature; however, not all MPAs provide the same ecological and social benefits. A U.S. system of MPAs that is equitable, well-managed, representative and connected, and includes areas at a level of protection that can deliver desired outcomes is best positioned to support national goals. We used a new MPA framework, The MPA Guide, to assess the level of protection and stage of establishment of the 50 largest U.S. MPAs, which make up 99.7% of the total U.S. MPA area (3.19 million km2). Over 96% of this area, including 99% of that which is fully or highly protected against extractive or destructive human activities, is in the central Pacific ocean. Total MPA area in other regions is sparse – only 1.9% of the U.S. ocean excluding the central Pacific is protected in any kind of MPA (120,976 km2). Over three quarters of the non-central Pacific MPA area is lightly or minimally protected against extractive or destructive human activities. These results highlight an urgent need to improve the quality, quantity, and representativeness of MPA protection in U.S. waters to bring benefits to human and marine communities. We identify and review the state of the science, including focal areas for achieving desired MPA outcomes and lessons learned from places where sound ecological and social design principles come together in MPAs that are set up to achieve national goals for equity, climate resilience, and biodiversity conservation. We recommend key opportunities for action specific to the U.S. context, including increasing funding, research, equity, and protection level for new and existing U.S. MPAs

Soluble guanylate cyclase signalling mediates etoposide resistance in progressing small cell lung cancer

From Springer Nature via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: received 2020-12-10, accepted 2021-10-19, registration 2021-10-26, pub-electronic 2021-11-17, online 2021-11-17, collection 2021-12Publication status: PublishedFunder: CRUK Manchester Institute (grant no. A27412) CRUK Manchester Centre (grant no. A25254) CRUK Manchester Experimental Cancer Medicines Centre (grant no. A20465) CRUK Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence (grant no. A25146) NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research CentreAbstract: Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) has a 5-year survival rate of <7%. Rapid emergence of acquired resistance to standard platinum-etoposide chemotherapy is common and improved therapies are required for this recalcitrant tumour. We exploit six paired pre-treatment and post-chemotherapy circulating tumour cell patient-derived explant (CDX) models from donors with extensive stage SCLC to investigate changes at disease progression after chemotherapy. Soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) is recurrently upregulated in post-chemotherapy progression CDX models, which correlates with acquired chemoresistance. Expression and activation of sGC is regulated by Notch and nitric oxide (NO) signalling with downstream activation of protein kinase G. Genetic targeting of sGC or pharmacological inhibition of NO synthase re-sensitizes a chemoresistant CDX progression model in vivo, revealing this pathway as a mediator of chemoresistance and potential vulnerability of relapsed SCLC

Native American Men - and Women - at Home in Plural Marriages in Seventeenth-Century New France

‘To live among us without a wife is to live without help, without home, always a vagabond’.1 So declared an Algonquin ‘juggler’ (or healer, or as the Jesuits had it, sorcerer), Pigarouïch, who was in the process of converting to Christianity in the 1630s. He fretted over the consequences of giving up multiple wives (something acceptable, even desirable, for a powerful healer), should his wife, by choice or necessity, leave him. He found this possibility a powerful deterrent to adopting monogamy; he was not the only one. He was also not simply pointing out, in a sweetly pathetic way, that men could barely survive without their loving wives. Rather, ‘to live without help, without home, always a vagabond’ was to be a socially, economically and politically disadvantaged man. A man needed a home, and a wife (or wives). Social rank came in part from the ability to live in one's house, to be a husband and father.2 Such begins to explain why plural unions mattered so much in New France in the seventeenth century.3 Understanding the importance of these unions illuminates much about men – and women – at home.Mellon funding from Cambridge University British Academy Small Grant National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship at the Newberry Librar