Facilitating engagement with the challenges facing families in which there may be members with special needs : positing a model for theatrical intervention

Includes bibliographical references.The purpose of the study is to investigate the manner in which performance can facilitate communication amongst family members in dealing with the challenges facing families in which there is a member with ‘special needs’. Special needs range from problems of mental or emotional anguish, care, disability or chronic illnesses. My interest in this study is on how these special needs impact on the functioning of the family and family dynamics. Theatrical representation and audience participation is at the heart of exploring the empowering role of applied theatre to engage family members in expressing their difficulties and discussing their issues together

The financed inked individual subsidy programme for housing: the Walmer link example

The study of the Walmer Links Finance Linked Individual Subsidy (FLISP) is the response to the housing backlogs that have been experienced by the Port Elizabeth area. The ownership programme is the first of its kind in the area and has been met with scepticism, revolt and acceptance as the neighbouring township of Walmer and the nearby suburbs had mixed feelings about the project. The overall feeling and experience of the new FLISP owners far exceeds the scepticism around the project. The project also brought racial integration and improved the quality of life for the poor. It also seems as though the success of the project will be the determinant factor of whether it can rolled out to other provinces as an approach to development and poverty alleviation

A Resilient and Effective Task Scheduling Approach for Industrial Human-Robot Collaboration

Effective task scheduling in human-robot collaboration (HRC) scenarios is one of the great challenges of collaborative robotics. The shared workspace inside an industrial setting brings a lot of uncertainties that cannot be foreseen. A prior offline task scheduling strategy is ineffective in dealing with these uncertainties. In this paper, a novel online framework to achieve a resilient and reliable task schedule is presented. The framework can deal with deviations that occur during operation, different operator skills, error by the human or robot, and substitution of actors, while maintaining an efficient schedule by promoting parallel human-robot work. First, the collaborative job and the possible deviations are represented by AND/OR graphs. Subsequently, the proposed architecture chooses the most suitable path to improve the collaboration. If some failures occur, the AND/OR graph is adapted locally, allowing the collaboration to be completed. The framework is validated in an industrial assembly scenario with a Franka Emika Panda collaborative robot

Analisis program inovasi pembangunan dan pemberdayaan kewilayahan (PIPPK) di kecamatan cinambo kelurahan babakan penghulu kota bandung

Pembangunan pada hakekatnya merupakan suatu proses yang bersifat integratif, baik dalam tataran perencanaan, pelaksanaan maupun pengendalian yang dilakukan secara berkesinambungan dalam rangka mewujudkan kesejahteraan masyarakat. Mengingat ruang lingkupnya yang sangat luas, kegiatan pembangunan tidak semata-mata menjadi tanggung jawab pemerintah daerah, melainkan harus dilakukan dan didukung oleh seluruh komponen masyarakat. Adapun pemberdayaan adalah upaya dan proses yang dilakukan supaya masyarakat memiliki keleluasaan dalam menentukan pilihan-pilihan dalam hidupnya yang lebih khas dan lokal, masyarakat dapat berpartisipasi dalam berbagai kegiatan pembangunan desa. Kecamatan Cinambo, Kelurahan Babakan Penghulu merupakan salah satu instansi pemerintahan yang menjalankan pembangunan dan juga pemberdayaan terhadap masyarakatnya melalui Program Inovasi Pembangunan dan Pemberdayaan Kewilayahan (PIPPK) program ini ditujukan untuk mencapai tujuan dan sasaran yang telah ditetapkan bersama melalui suatu media pertanggungjawaban. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui dan menggambarkan kondisi nyata mengenai Program Inovasi Pembangunan dan Pemberdayaan Kewilayahan (PIPPK) serta faktor penghambat dan pendukung. Metode penelitian yang digunakan peneliti yaitu penelitian kualitatif dengan pendekatan deskriptif, yakni untuk memberikan gambaran secara jelas mengenai masalah-masalah yang diteliti di Kecamatan Cinambo, Kelurahan Babakan Penghulu. Untuk memperoleh data, peneliti melakukan wawancara, dan studi dokumentasi/pustaka. Hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa PIPPK (Program Inovasi Pembangunan dan Pemberdayaan Kewilayahan) yang dilakukan Kecamatan Cinambo Kelurahan Babakan Penghulu Kota Bandung sudah dapat dikatakan baik karena dengan adanya program ini pembangunan dan masyarakatnya menjadi semakin berdaya meskipun masih terdapat berbagai hambatan dalam setiap realisasinya dan juga masih diperlukan adanya evaluasi. Selanjutnya, berdasarkan hasil analisis dari wawancara yang menjadi kekuatan dalam Program Inovasi Pembangunan dan Pemberdayaan Kewilayahan (PIPPK) yaitu kesesuaian peraturan pemerintah dalam pelaksanaan program tersebut, terdapat kelemahan yaitu belum tercapainya setiap target yang akan dilakukan, kurangnya transparansi dalam penggunaan anggaran, keterbatasan SDM dalam pengelolaan dana PIPPK, kurangnya keterlibatan masyarakat dalam pelaksanaan program PIPPK dan kurangnya koordinasi antara aparat kewilayahan dengan SKPD. Kedua faktor pendukung adanya bantuan dana sebesar 100 juta yang diberikan oleh pemerintah untuk masing-masing LKK yang ada di Kelurahan. Ketiga, faktor penghambat pejabat birokrasi takut sehingga mengakibatkan terhambat atau tertundanya pencairan dana dalam pelaksanaan program tersebut

Os usos do salão de beleza : para além do consumo de estética ou sobre possibilidades de invenção de si

Na contemporaneidade, o tema consumo tem despertado interesse de estudiosos de várias áreas. Assim, vem sendo abordado a partir de diversas perspectivas, sejam elas à luz do processo de produção ou marcadas pelo social. Este trabalho, a partir dos estudos de Certeau (2008; 2009; 1995; 1982; 2011), busca compreender o consumo como “uso” criativo, ao apostar na potência que têm as práticas ordinárias dos sujeitos praticantes do cotidiano. O caráter artístico das práticas daria ao consumo uma dimensão inventiva, inapreensível e política. Dessa forma, a pesquisa se concentra nos consumos/ usos que são feitos de um salão de beleza em um bairro de classe média alta na cidade de Vitória – ES. A ideia é negociar sentidos mais amplos para a noção de consumo estético do que aqueles estereotipados que relacionam o consumo de beleza ao supérfluo e fútil. A produção dos dados sinaliza para uma diversa gama de “usos” possíveis do salão de beleza. Esses usos potencializam diferentes modos de existência, baseados no cuidado de si a partir do cuidado com o corpo e com a saúde; nas relações éticas pautadas pela dimensão estética, e nas possibilidades de assumir estéticas “menores” com linhas de escape, e dessa forma, produzirem diferentes sentido para a noção de consumo.In the contemporaneous context, the act of consuming has been a subject of great interest by researchers from different areas. It has been approached from diversified perspectives, based on production process or social argument. This research, originated from Certeau‟s (2008, 2009, 1995, 1982, 2011) studies, is an attempt to understand the act of consuming as a creative “use”, taking into consideration the power of ordinary practices proper of people who perform everyday events. The practices artistic nature would confer to the act of consuming an inventive and political dimension. This way, this research concentrates on consumptions/uses that are performed at a beauty parlour in a high medium social class neighborhood in Vitória – ES. The objective is to negotiate wider senses, related to the notion of esthetics consumption, than those stereotyped ideas which associate beauty consumption to superfluous and frivolous actions. The inform data production indicates a diverse range of possible “uses” of the beauty parlour, which strengthens different ways of existence, based on taking care of oneself, including body and health issues; on the ethical relationships guided by esthetics dimension and possibilities of assuming “minor” esthetics with vanishing lines, allowing to produce different meanings associated to consumption

The efficacy of three double-microencapsulation methods for preservation of probiotic bacteria

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are used as a probiotic alternative to antibiotics in livestock production. Microencapsulation technology is widely used for probiotic preservation. A variety of microencapsulation protocols have been proposed and compared based on chemicals and mechanical procedures. This study aimed to develop a double-encapsulated coating from alginate (1.5%) and chitosan (0.5%) by extrusion, emulsion, and spray drying methods using the LAB strains Lactobacillus plantarum strains 31F, 25F, 22F, Pediococcus pentosaceus 77F, and P. acidilactici 72N, and to monitor the basic probiotic properties of the encapsulated prototypes. The final products from each microencapsulation protocol were analysed for their appearance, probiotic properties and viable cell count. Using the spray drying method, particles smaller than 15 μm in diameter with a regular spherical shape were obtained, whereas the other methods produced larger (1.4–52 mm) and irregularly shaped microcapsules. After storage for 6 months at room temperature, the LAB viability of the spray-dried particles was the highest among the three methods. In all the LAB strains examined, the encapsulated LAB retained their probiotic properties in relation to acid-bile tolerance and antibacterial activity. This study highlights the efficacy of double-coating microencapsulation for preserving LAB properties and survival rate, and demonstrates its potential for probiotic application in livestock farms

Her2 signaling and breast cancer stem cells: The bridge behind her2-positive breast cancer aggressiveness and therapy refractoriness

HER2 overexpression/amplification occurs in 15–20% of breast cancers (BCs) and identifies a highly aggressive BC subtype. Recent clinical progress has increased the cure rates of limited-stage HER2-positive BC and significantly prolonged overall survival in patients with advanced disease; however, drug resistance and tumor recurrence remain major concerns. Therefore, there is an urgent need to increase knowledge regarding HER2 biology and implement available treatments. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) represent a subset of malignant cells capable of unlimited self-renewal and differentiation and are mainly considered to contribute to tumor onset, aggressiveness, metastasis, and treatment resistance. Seminal studies have highlighted the key role of altered HER2 signaling in the maintenance/enrichment of breast CSCs (BCSCs) and elucidated its bidirectional communication with stemness-related pathways, such as the Notch and Wingless/β-catenin cascades. d16HER2, a splice variant of full-length HER2 mRNA, has been identified as one of the most oncogenic HER2 isoform significantly implicated in tumorigenesis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)/stemness and the response to targeted therapy. In addition, expression of a heterogeneous collection of HER2 truncated carboxy-terminal fragments (CTFs), collectively known as p95HER2, identifies a peculiar subgroup of HER2-positive BC with poor prognosis, with the p95HER2 variants being able to regulate CSC features. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the current evidence regarding HER2-/d16HER2-/p95HER2-positive BCSCs in the context of the signaling pathways governing their properties and describes the future prospects for targeting these components to achieve long-lasting tumor control