A Story to Tell

Rose recounts her experience on September 11 while being the teacher of an eleventh grade class. This essay demonstrates a teacher\u27s need to be a leader and caregiver in the face of disaster, and subsequently allow for reflection and processing of emotions. Initially, her job stifled her own emotional response to the attack, but she was eventually able to use curriculum and creativity in the classroom to help herself and her students engage and reflect on their experiences

Packaging and sustainability : a study of a liquid paperboard pack

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.The liquid paperboard (LPB) supply chain converts coated paperboard into single-use beveragecartons. The packaging industry claims to have engaged extensively with matters of sustainabilityand that it has taken many steps to improve resource efficiency associated with this type of packaging. Yet, the 2011 recycling rate of used beverage cartons (UBCs) in South Africa was 0.9%,implying that significant volumes are going to landfill disposal. UBCs are a source of high quality fullybleached furnish (paper fibres), which are routinely recovered and recycled in many other countries,and this practice has been shown by multiple life cycle assessments (LCAs) to reduce environmentalimpacts. The sustainability awareness of different actors in the LPB supply chain was assessed as the first objective, including both South African and international actors in the comparison. Similarities in sustainability reporting were determined by a content analysis of the annual reports supported by two analyses principled on multi-criteria analysis (MCA). The purposively chosen actors in the LPB supply chain were grouped into three namely, manufacturers, organisations and ‘retailers and brand owners’. An analysis using the three focal issues of the Nampak 2010 sustainability report, namely carbon footprint, recycling and training, as search terms shows variation in focus amongst manufacturers to be as wide as that in the two other groups though Stora Enso (an international manufacturer) is noted as having the having the most similar focus. PACSA is the organisation that has the most similar focus to the three Nampak-identified criteria. The four-criteria principled MCA with LCA as the fourth criterion indicates that Stora Enso has the most similar focus to that of Nampak; PACSA is the organisation that has the most similar focus to the four criteria and also had the most focus similar focus to Nampak for the single criterion of ‘recycling’. It is concluded that sustainability awareness in the LPB supply chain is more nuanced in the international companies (based on the date of first responding, word counts in the reports and use of LCA) but is similar between the three company groups in the supply chain. An LCA is presented in order to investigate whether policy recommendations for further reducing the environmental impacts pf LPB use in South Africa

Effective engagement of conservation scientists with decision-makers

This chapter offers advice on how the conservation science community can effectively engage with decision-makers. The rationales for why we, as scientists, need to do this have been widely discussed in the literature. Often, the reasons offered are normative, pragmatic, or instrumental (de Vente, 2016); in other words, there is a belief that engaging with decision-makers leads to better informed, more acceptable decisions. Indeed, better engagement may lead to the greater uptake of evidence for conservation decisions, something which some scholars argue is a priority for effective management (e.g. Gardner et al., 2018; Sutherland and Wordley, 2017)

Electromyographic Analysis of Hip and Knee Exercises: a Continuum from Early Rehabilitation to Enhancing Performance

Introduction: Muscles around the hip and knee regions work in unison within the kinetic chain to produce functional movements. After a musculoskeletal injury, a progressive programme of rehabilitation exercises should be completed in order to return the athlete to full function. Aims: The primary aim was to identify a progressive continuum of lower limb exercises. A secondary aim was to analyse the muscle ratios between the vastus medialis oblique and vastus lateralis, along with the hamstrings to quadriceps ratio and the gluteus maximus to biceps femoris ratio. Objectives: Electromyography (EMG) was used to monitor the activity of the hip and knee muscles during twenty rehabilitation exercises. The normalised data was used to identify a continuum of exercises, based on the extent to which each muscle was activated. The muscle ratios were also calculated, allowing the identification of a scale of exercises to preferentially activate certain muscles. Subjects: Eighteen physically active volunteers participated in the study (males: n = 9, females: n = 9, mean ± standard deviation, age: 20 ± 1.3 years; height: 168.1 ± 9.7 cm; mass: 64.1 ± 9.8 kg). Method: Surface EMG was used to measure the muscle activity of the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, biceps femoris, rectus femoris, vastus medialis oblique and vastus lateralis during exercises which ranged between a straight leg raise and a weighted squat. The exercises were performed in a randomised order and three trials were performed of each. The muscle activity was normalised to a maximal voluntary isometric contraction specific for each muscle. The muscle ratios were calculated using specific equations. Results: The counter movement jump and single-leg vertical jump frequently resulted in the production of the greatest EMG activity for each of the muscles, whilst the mini squat produced minimal muscle activity across all of the muscles. The bridging exercises activated the quadriceps to the least extent, resulting in these exercises producing the greatest hamstrings to quadriceps ratio. For the vasti ratio, the single-leg squat to 60° of knee flexion produced the greatest results. The step up exercise produced the highest gluteus maximus to biceps femoris ratio. Conclusions: The continuum of exercises was identified for the activity of each muscle in order to aid clinicians by providing a guide from non weight bearing exercises through to functional jumps. This will ensure exercises are performed at the correct stage of rehabilitation to continually bring about muscular adaptations

Improving the Supply Process in an Interventional Procedures Unit

In the combined cardiac catheterization and interventional radiology unit of an urban Midwestern hospital, having supplies when and where they are needed is necessary for efficiently and safely completing a wide variety of procedures. Due to the complexity of the supply chain process in this setting, baseline data collection revealed many missing supplies, overnight shipments, and expired items. In this project, the MSN student sought to determine whether a Clinical Nurse Leader driven Lean Six Sigma based approach to supply chain interventions in the interventional procedures setting would improve outcomes and lead to financial savings by decreasing waste and variation. The DMAIC model was used as a framework for the project and a three phase Kaizen improvement project was developed with the final stage being implementation of a two-bin (kanban) supply storage and ordering system. This paper will provide an introduction to the clinical microsytem, a literature review of evidence regarding the proposed intervention, a description of the DMAIC framework, an outline of the clinical protocol, and a final evaluation of its implementation. While installation of the two-bin system is currently awaiting funding approval, analysis of changes made in preparation thus far include a decrease in the number of items missing each morning, a decrease in number of overnight shipments, and a decrease in expired items. Significant financial savings have also been achieved, which will be discussed. Moving forward, Lean Six Sigma is a promising approach to attaining further sustainable improvements in the supply process. The Clinical Nurse Leader is in an optimal position to combine knowledge of healthcare processes and team management skills to continue implementation of the proposed intervention

Dna Double Strand Breaks Suppress Expression Of The Rag Recombinase: Mechanisms And Consequences

Developing B and T lymphocytes must rearrange the genomic sequence of antigen receptor genes by V(D)J recombination. The lymphocyte-specific endonuclease RAG, composed of Rag1 and Rag2, initiates this process by cleaving specific sites within antigen receptor loci. RAG expression must be carefully regulated to ensure that V(D)J recombination occurs only under appropriate circumstances. The Bassing laboratory has previously demonstrated that Igκ locus cleavage by RAG in pre-B cells initiates a feedback-inhibition signal suppressing RAG expression. Here, we show that DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) induced by a variety of genotoxic agents have a similar effect in suppressing mRNA expression of Rag1 and Rag2. This effect can be observed in pro-B cells, pre-B cells, and DN thymocytes, but is not found in DP thymocytes. Using primary pre-B cells as a model system, we show that DSBs activate ATM and Nemo to rapidly suppress transcription of Rag1 and Rag2. In pre-B cells, loss of Rag1 and Rag2 mRNA expression leads to loss of Rag1 protein, but Rag2 protein is more stable and persists in the absence of Rag2 mRNA. Suppression of Rag1 expression by DSBs is associated with suppressed RAG-mediated cleavage of the Igκ locus or an artificial recombination substrate in Abelson-transformed pre-B cells. However, simply over-expressing Rag1 does not allow cells to complete V(D)J recombination in the presence of DSBs, suggesting that other factors may also play a role in suppressing V(D)J recombination. Parallel studies indicate that that RAG-induced DSBs created during V(D)J recombination activate this suppressive signal to enforce allelic exclusion of IgH, TCRβ, and Igκ antigen receptor proteins. We discuss the importance of Rag1 and Rag2 suppression in the context of allelic exclusion and propose a role in maintaining genomic stability of developing B and T lymphocytes

Retelling narratives of eco-memory: settler colonialism and carceral occupation of the Jordan River

In this thesis, I retell and reclaim stories that have been shared and passed down within my family and family history in relation to our homeland, Palestine, and more specifically to the Jordan River. I argue that the construction of the dam in the 1960s on the Jordan River, by a zionist state, is an extension of both the settler colonial state and the treatment of the land/rivers as inherently linked with the treatment of Indigenous people. The carceral spaces and geographies settler states create are part of both the destruction of the land and the genocide Indigenous people experience. The Jordan River is a sacred site that was once a natural border and has now become a militarized border. As the colonization of the River takes place, the stories, and memories shift. The river becomes an important examination of settler colonialism and the expansion of a Zionist state and occupation of Palestine. Migration between Jordan and Palestine was a part of Indigenous Palestinians and Jordanians daily experiences prior to existences of modern states. However, with the rise of Zionism, the river becomes central to controlling the landscape and erasing the memory of both migration and the river itself leading to both ecological disasters and the Nakba (catastrophe) of the Palestine people. As a displaced Palestinian the refusal to let go of the memory of river and the liberation of our homeland becomes central to the question of Palestine and return

Taxonomic and palaeobiological assessment of the South African mosasaurids

South African mosasaur remains consist of a frontal with articulating portions of the parietal and postorbitofrontals (SAM-PK-5265); two dentary fragments (SAM-PK-5265) assigned to ‘Tylosaurus capensis' by Broom in 1912 (SAM-PK-5265); an undescribed muzzle unit and associated isolated teeth (CGP/1/2265) from Pondoland and a more recently discovered isolated partial vertebra from St Lucia. Some research has been done on the material, but there is still uncertainty concerning their relationships and taxonomy. This research aims to provide a taxonomic assessment of all the SA mosasaurid material to better understand their phylogenetic relationships and to place them in the context of mosasaurs from other parts of Africa and globally. In addition, isotopic analyses, micro-computed tomography (micro-CT), mineralised tissue histology and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) are applied to the SA mosasaur remains to decipher various aspects of their palaeobiology. This study identifies three mosasaur taxa from SA: Mosasaurus sp., cf. M. hoffmannii., cf. Taniwhasaurus, and cf. Prognathodon. The isolated vertebra is assigned to Mosasaurus sp., cf. M. hoffmannii. The frontal and dentary fragments (SAM-PK-5265) originally described as Tylosaurus appears to be a mix of two taxa: One of the dentary fragments possesses replacement teeth with enamel ornamentation that resembles, Ta. mikasaensis, but is tentatively assigned to cf. Taniwhasaurus based on tooth recurvature. The other dentary fragment and a frontal with articulated elements are suggested to belong to the same individual as the muzzle unit for which the suggested assignment is cf. Prognathodon. Strontium analysis of tooth enamel dated the cf. Prognathodon material to the end of the Maastrichtian (87Sr/86Sr = 0.707817; age = 66.85Ma). The cf. Taniwhasaurus dentary fragment is likely Santonian-aged, as originally indicated in 1901. SEM of enamel from cf. Prognathodon reveals a complex array of prismless enamel types and pervasive aggregations of fossilised bacteria in the underlying dentine. The δ18OPO4 derived body temperature estimate (Tb) of the cf. Prognathodon (Tb = 33.21°C) compares well with previously reported Tb for mosasaurs and may indicate that the mosasaur was capable of maintaining a Tb higher than that of the surrounding seawater

Structural Basis of Flagellar Filament Asymmetry and Supercoil Templating by Leptospira Sheath Factors

The spirochete family of bacteria, including pathogens such as Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme disease), Treponema pallidum (syphilis), and Leptospira interrogans (leptospirosis), generates a unique, corkscrew-like form of motility that is crucial for pathogenicity. This motility is driven by flagella that are periplasmic rather than extracellular in nature and are composed of a FlaB core and a FlaA sheath. Purified Leptospira flagellar filaments form tight coils and contain the coiling proteins FcpA and FcpB, in addition to two FlaA isoforms. Loss of either the FlaA or Fcp proteins results in straighter flagella and bacteria that are non-motile and non-pathogenic. I have used cryo-electron microscopy to solve the structure of three Leptospira flagellar mutants to near-atomic resolution. First, I resolved the structure of an fcpB- mutant, allowing for identification of the FcpB density in the sheath region of the asymmetric wild-type structure. I also developed a method to quantify the curvature of purified flagellar filaments, allowing us to investigate how the flagellar forms are affected by various mutations. Next, I determined the structure of a fcpA- mutant, and found that the FlaA sheath components strictly localize to the inner curvature. We also discovered a previously uncharacterized flagellar sheath protein, which we have named FlaAP (FlaA-associated protein). We found that these sheath proteins interact with the core through interactions with glycans, and that the FlaB core appears to have ten ‘L’ protofilaments and one ‘R’ protofilament, with the ‘R’ protofilament directly underlying the sheath proteins and disrupting the helical symmetry of the core. Third, I solved the structure of an flaA2- mutant. In doing so, I found that whereas the Fcp coiling factors bind solely to the outer curvature of the wild-type filament, forming an extensive helical lattice, this Fcp lattice extends symmetrically around the entire FlaB core when the FlaA sheath factors are missing. These three mutant flagellar structures provide crucial insight into the role of the flagellar sheath factors and highlight the importance of the supercoiled wild-type form for motility and virulence. This work has implications for other spirochetes as well as other flagellated bacteria, where structural work has mainly been focused on flagellar filaments rendered straight by specific mutations, instead of the naturally occurring supercoiled forms as we have described here