Building the Biofilm Matrix: Gene Regulation and Cell Organization

The biofilm lifestyle is the pervasive method for bacteria to resist environmental stress. Biofilm protection results in a decreased ability for human hosts to clear infections and an increased rate of antibiotic resistance among bacteria. In Escherichia coli, biofilm formation depends curli and cellulose, which form a protective extracellular matrix around the cells. Cells within a colony biofilm can be divided into at least two physically distinct subpopulations, including a population that produces the extracellular matrix and a population that does not produce matrix. Extracellular matrix production during biofilm formation is under complex regulation that is still poorly understood. My work has identified new pathways and regulators that alter extracellular matrix production and subpopulation development in E. coli. We identified over 300 genes including those involved in LPS biosynthesis, gluconeogenesis, purine metabolism, cellular respiration, and other fundamental cellular processes which, when disrupted, result in changed curli production. To better understand subpopulation development, whole transcriptome and proteome data was collected from both the matrix and non-matrix cells. Gene products involved in anaerobic respiration were dramatically increased in the cells comprising the non-matrix subpopulation as compared to the matrix subpopulation. Deletion of nrfA, which is a gene involved in anaerobic respiration, resulted in a loss of the non-matrix cells producing subpopulation. Finally, I identified small RNAs and c-di-GMP produced by DgcN that regulate the expression of csgD, the master biofilm transcription factor. CsgD levels and matrix production were altered by redox changes sensed by the periplasmic repressor of DgcN, YfiR. Cysteine auxotrophic UPEC isolates were hyper-oxidized and produced more curli under normal and non-permissive biofilm growth temperatures. Deletion of YfiR or supplementation with a reducing agent restored WT curli production in cysteine auxotrophic strains. Taken together this work defines the complex regulatory network controlling biofilm matrix production.PHDMolecular, Cellular, and Developmental BiologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162875/1/janetep_1.pd

Who Determines Need? A Case Study of a Women' Organisation in North India

Summary This paper addresses the issues of women's empowerment and political participation in relation to development programmes. Drawing upon comparative work within western capitalist societies, I suggest that needs discourse in development can be seen as three major trends: an oppositional form, a reprivatisation discourse and an expert discourse. If women are to be empowered to play a full role in determining their own development needs, then it is clear that there is a need to move away from expert and reprivatisation discourses and adopt a politicised view that aligns development research and programmes for women with women's own need interpretations. This introduction is followed by a case study of a women's development organisation in northern India. This explores the process of organisational change from a welfare type approach to development to one in which the organisation has aligned itself clearly with women's politically expressed needs. These included village water supplies, as well as state?wide campaigns around issues of deforestation, liquor and violence. It also looks at the personal changes taking place for individual women, and their growth as women activists, within the context of a broader politicised women's movement becoming established within the villages of the area. Resumé Les femmes et leur développement: programmes de bienfaisance sociale ou restauration de pouvoir politique? L'auteur s'adresse aux questions de la restauration du pouvoir politique et du pouvoir de participation des femmes dans les programmes de développement. En faisant appel aux recherches comparatives effectuées au sein des sociétés capitalistes occidentales, elle propose que le discours sur les besoins au sein du développement aurait trois tendances principales: une forme oppositionnelle du discours axé sur la reprivatisation, et un discours expert. Si le pouvoir des femmes de jouer un rôle intégral dans la détermination de leurs propres besoins développementaux est à leur restaurer, il est certain qu'il y a lieu de s'écarter des discours de tendance experte ou reprivatisationnelle et d'adopter un biais politique susceptible de remettre en parallèle la recherche sur le développement et des programmes pour les femmes au sein desquels les femmes mêmes peuvent interpréter leurs propres besoins. Cette introduction est suivie d'une étude de cas basée sur une organisation de développement féminine en Inde du nord. Cette étude explore le processus d'évolution organisationnelle entre l'approche welfariste vers un type de développement dans lequel l'organisation s'est alignée sans équivoque avec les besoins exprimées politiquement par ces femmes. Les aspects concernés ont compris l'alimentation en eau des villages ainsi que des campagnes menées au niveau de divers états et concernant les questions telles que le déboisement, l'alcool, et la violence. Il a aussi été question des changements qui sont intervenus pour ces femmes au niveau individuel, leur propre développement en tant qu'activistes, dans le contexte d'un mouvement féminin à spectre politique plus élargi et en voie d'implantation dans les villages de la localité. Resumen El desarrollo y la mujer: Programa de bienestar social o habilitaciön política? Este artículo encara los tópicos del poder y la participación política de la mujer en relación a los programas de desarrollo. Haciendo uso de trabajos comparativos dentro de sociedades capitalistas occidentales, se sugiere que el pronunciamiento de necesidades en el desarrollo puede verse tomando tres direcciones principales: una forma oposicional, un pronunciamiento de reprivatización, y un pronunciamiento experto. Si la mujer es autorizada a jugar un papel decisivo en la determinación de sus propias necesidades de desarrollo, entonces es claramente esencial apartarse de los pronunciamientos expertos y de reprivatización, y adoptar una visión politizada que alinee los programas y la investigación de desarrollo para la mujer con las propias interpretaciones de la mujer respecto de sus necesidades. Sigue a esta introducción el estudio de un caso de una organización para el desarrollo de la mujer en el norte de la India. Se explora el proceso de cambio de un enfoque del tipo ‘bienestar social’ a otro en el cual la organización se ha alineado claramente con las necesidades políticamente expresadas de las mujeres. Estas incluían provisión de agua, así como campaña generales sobre tópicos como deforestación, alcohol y violencia. Tambien observaba los cambios personales para algunas mujeres, y su crecimiento como activistas, dentro del contexto de un movimiento político femenino amplio, que se va estableciendo dentro de la comunidades de la provincia

Participatory Data Analysis: A New Method for Investigating Human Energy Practices

This paper presents a novel data-driven method to investigate the interdependence between technology design and human energy practices. The method – called Participatory Data – makes use of fine-grained energy data collected via smart meters and smart plugs, and behaviour visualisation during home visits to spark self-reflection among householders

Using a prompt sheet to improve the reference interview in a health telephone helpline service

Objective‐ The study examined whether a prompt sheet improved the reference interview process for health information advisers working at NHS Direct, a 24‐hour telephone helpline that provides confidential health care advice for the public in England.Methods ‐ A randomised control trial was conducted at eight NHS Direct sites across England in 2003‐04. Newly recruited health information advisers (n=30), full and part‐time,were randomly allocated to a control group (n=15) or intervention group (n=15), and 26 completed the study. Existing health information advisers were involved in the planning and design of the intervention. The prompt sheet included prompts for demographic information, reason for call, condition/treatment plan, existing knowledge of caller, special needs of the caller, handling a call empathetically, and conclusion. Testing of reference interview expertise was done at the end of basic training, and two months later, using the same questions. The ten test questions were based on common questions received by NHS Direct. A relevance framework for possible responses was drawn up for each question for scoring test responses, with more relevant responses scoring higher than less relevant responses.Results‐ The average score of prompt (experimental) and non‐prompt (control) participants increased on the second test, for each of the 10 questions. The prompt group improved significantly more overall than the control group. There was variation within the groups. Sixteen health information advisers showed a net increase in their score over all ten questions (10 experimental group, six control group). The post‐test score for an individualon a particular question did sometimes decrease from the pre‐test score, but all 26 improved on at least one question. Previous call handler experience did not appear to influence the extent of improvement, but length and type of experience in the post may have an influence.Conclusion ‐ The trial demonstrated the benefit of a simple and inexpensive prompt sheet for some, though not all, newly recruited health information advisers to improve their reference interview technique

Energy Demand Shifting in Residential Households: The Interdependence between Social Practices and Technology Design

Emerging energy technologies, such as smart meters and solar photovoltaic systems (solar PV), are changing our relationship to energy. There is increasing evidence that households with solar PV on their roof tend naturally to shift their energy consumption in time to match their local generation, but what do people actually do to achieve this and how ICT can support them to optimize their consumption? In this paper we present a year-long user study to understand social practices around laundry routines and local energy generation. We highlight four challenges for the next generation of home energy management systems

Understanding and Supporting Emerging Domestic Energy Practices

The current transformation of the domestic energy landscape, including local generation, new consumption and storage, requires rethinking our research approach. This paper reports experiences from two case studies with their implications for future HCI research in the home

Insurance Law

This Article describes and analyzes major developments in insurance law that occurred in Texas between December 1 and November 30 of 2022