PASSING BY: THE LEGACY OF ROBERT MENZIES IN THE LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA A study of John Gorton, Malcolm Fraser and John Howard

This thesis considers the legacy of Robert Menzies in the Liberal Party of Australia, as articulated by Liberal party prime ministers, John Gorton, Malcolm Fraser and John Howard. It challenges the prevailing assumption in Australian historiography that Liberals have suffered from collective amnesia and have therefore not been successful in writing their own history, particularly in regards to their founder, Robert Menzies. It demonstrates that circumstances were key in shaping the way in which each prime minister thought and spoke about Menzies. It discusses how new nationalism hindered Gorton’s efforts; how liberalism inspired Fraser’s efforts; and how Howard’s belief in the importance of history drove his articulation of Menzies’ legacy

Sustainable Flowers, Fall 2019

The Sustainable Flowers Initiative, led by Professor Suzanne Langlois of Arts & Sciences, aimed to shift the supply chain of floral arrangements on campus from depending upon resource-intensive, chemical-heavy international suppliers. Students developed a strategy for working collaboratively with campus event organizers, local floral suppliers, and WU Grounds & Maintenance to make floral arrangements more sustainable

Platform urbanism, smartphone applications and valuing data in a smart city

Recent scholarship on smart cities and platform urbanism has explored the very wide range of data harvested from urban environments by digital devices of many kinds, analysing how not only efficiencies but also profits are sought through the extraction, circulation, transformation, commodification, integration, and re‐use of data. Much of that data is generated by smartphone applications. This paper looks at the design of a group of eight smartphone apps by a range of different actors in Milton Keynes, a small UK city with a large number of smart city initiatives. The apps are understood as a co‐constitutive interface between data circulations and embodied users. The paper focuses specifically on the data that the apps generated and shared and on how the app designers anticipated that the data would create different kinds of value for embodied app users. While some data circulations were understood as ways of generating financial value, the paper argues that a number of other forms of value were assumed in the app design. The paper identifies two of these, which it terms normative values and interactive values. It examines how the data mobilised by the smart city apps enacts particular versions of these values, and how those values co‐constitute specific kinds of bodies, agencies, and geographies in digitally mediated cities

Examining mechanisms underlying the selective vulnerability of motor units in a mouse model of Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is a childhood form of motor neuron disease that causes a progressive paralysis that, in its most severe form, results in death before two years of age. There is currently no cure or treatment for SMA. SMA is caused by a reduction in levels of Survival Motor Neuron (SMN) protein, which results in the degeneration of lower motor neurons. This degeneration is first observed at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ), where pre-synaptic nerve terminals belonging to the motor neuron become dysfunctional and degenerate during the early stages of disease. Several previous studies have shown that the some populations of motor neurons appear to have a resistance to SMA pathology, while other neighbouring populations are vulnerable. In this study, we attempted to elucidate the cause of this vulnerability spectrum. Initially, we characterised the relative vulnerability of ten different motor unit pools in an established mouse model of severe SMA and attempted to correlate these vulnerabilities with quantified aspects of motor unit morphology. From this study, no significant correlation could be found with any aspect of motor unit morphology examined, suggesting that morphological parameters of motor neurons do no influence their relative susceptibility. We then attempted to identify changes in basal gene expression between protected and vulnerable pools of motor units using microarray analysis. Motor unit pools were labelled using a retrograde tracer injected into muscles that had previously been identified as having highly vulnerable or resistant motor units. Labelled motor neuron cell bodies were then isolated from the spinal cord using laser capture micro-dissection and RNA was extracted for microarray analysis. From this study, we identified several molecular pathways and individual genes whose expression levels compared the gene expression profiles of vulnerable and resistant motor units. Thus, molecular differences between motor neuron pools likely underlie their relative vulnerability to degeneration in SMA. Lastly, we attempted to identify a novel peptide that could be used to label synapses, including neuromuscular junctions, in vivo. This would allow us to non-invasively visualise degenerating NMJs and other synapses in human patients without the need for a biopsy. Such a tool would be extremely valuable in assessing the effectiveness of drug trials, both in human patients and animal models, and may also contribute to earlier diagnosis of motor neuron disorders. To identify a potentially suitable peptide, we used a phage display library and panned for peptides that specifically bound to the outer surface of synapses using synaptosome preparations. From this panning we successfully enriched two peptides, the sequences of which were used to manufacture fluorescently tagged peptides

Moving language: the language geographies of refugees and asylum-seekers in Glasgow

Over the past five years the UK has seen an increased number of refugees and asylum-seekers arriving on its shores as a result of ongoing conflicts happening around the world. Refugees and asylum-seekers make up only a very small percentage of the country’s population, yet immigration concerns regularly make headlines and are a ‘hot topic’ for politicians seeking public support. Glasgow became home for a large number of refugees and asylum-seekers after it signed up to the ‘dispersal’ scheme nearly twenty years ago, and as a result the make-up of communities in the city is everchanging. It has increased multiculturalism and is a decidedly multilingual city. This thesis brings together work in language geographies and migration studies to explore the everyday language geographies of refugees and asylum-seekers in Glasgow. The central aim is to reveal the situated dynamics of ‘talk’; what languages are used, in what combinations, and with what kinds of ‘props’ as people seek to ‘get-by’, make friends and express themselves, all the while considering the implications of the spaces involved. Through the voices of refugees, asylum-seekers and associated professionals, this thesis explores different spaces of multilingualism and the associated emotional geographies of these spaces. Language is conceptualised in this thesis as an object in itself, engendering feelings of belonging (or not), and recognises that language is fluid and mobile, mutually constituted with the space in which it happens. The thesis explores four different sites of language use - journeys to the UK, the body, the classroom, and the community - to investigate the complex geographies of refugees and asylum-seekers as they seek to acquire English and settle in the city of Glasgow. Of importance is the part that language plays in positioning refugees and asylum-seekers in society, often relating to insider-outsider type dichotomies, but also thinking about how these divides may be overcome. Finally, the refugee and asylum-seeker body is conceptualised as the mobile linguistic stranger, simultaneously near and far, and the thesis uncovers how this figure comes to be and the implications of such a conceptualisation

Aspect traumatogène de l’exclusion sociale, une analyse enthnopsychanalytique

International audienceThis research explores the phenomenon of social exclusion into a complementarist approach using interviews with six people as a starting point. Thanks to a qualitative method based on the grounded theory, we carried out a comparative analysis of our material. The analysis helped to show the traumatogenic dimension of social exclusion. We used the concept of liminality from the cultural anthropologist Victor Turner, in order to describe the destabilizing aspect of this experience, but also its potential to provoque profound change. The traumatogenic dimension appears in each story, butsometimes it provoques a real “initiatory transformation”. In other cases it may lead to defensive psychic arrangements which are constructed on the basis of a splitting between the “sacred" and the “profane” and even really become traumatic.Cette recherche explore le phénomène d’exclusion sociale dans une approche complémentariste en partant d’entretiens effectués avec six personnes. Grâce à une méthode qualitative basée sur la grounded theory, nous avons réalisé une analyse comparative de différentes parties de notre matériel. Nous avons mis en évidence la dimension traumatogène de l’exclusion sociale. La notion de liminalité de l’anthropologue Victor Turner nous a permis de décrire le potentiel déstabilisant de cette expérience, tout autant que sa capacité de «métamorphose » : si la dimension traumatogène est présente dans chacun des récits, la situation d’exclusion sociale peut, dans certains cas, prendre la forme d’une véritable « transformation initiatique ». Pour d’autres, elle peut aussi amener à des aménagements défensifs construits sur un clivage entre le « sacré » et le « profane », ou encore devenir véritablement traumatique

Placing the human in mammalian synthetic biology

Synthetic biology (SB) is the application of engineering approaches to construct novel biological entities and redesign existing ones. With aspirations to heal, heat and feed us, SB has captured the imaginations of scientists, social scientists, policy makers and industry alike. Mammalian synthetic biology (MSB) especially is framed as potentially transformative of human healthcare and medicine. Correspondingly, humans have become a key reference point for both technical and social enquiry. Recent decades have produced an abundance of social scientific research into SB. However, studies that focus on the human as a direct topic of investigation tend to focus on ethical enquiry ‘downstream’ of real-time research activities, or co-production of SB research with its wider social institutions (such as governance structures of human germline editing). Any research that focuses on the specific research activities themselves (such as experimental work or automation practices) only entangle the human indirectly. There exists no targeted empirical investigation into how, when or where the human appears in real-time SB research activities; the forms such appearances take; their patterns of presence and absence; or the work they perform. This thesis addresses this gap specifically in relation to MSB research. I adopt an ethnographic approach to exploring four MSB projects ‘in-the-making’ that engage with biomedical topics and a range of human and non-human experimental systems. I follow these through a diverse set of research activities including laboratory work, organising project resources, reporting results, and engaging with different communities. I generate data using participant observation, documentary sources, and semi-structured interviews. I then deploy theory from Science and Technology Studies, Human Geography, and elements of Critical Discourse Analysis to interrogate how the human appears. I demonstrate there are multiple ways the human can appear in real-time research practices. These range from biological materials being considered ‘human’, to imaginations of human health and future human consumers. However, I also argue that whether these human appearances do materialise is contingent on the other materialities with which they are entangled, the practices through which they are performed, and the function they can accomplish (such as negotiating value or accommodating non-specialist audiences). I also argue that human appearances are deeply rooted in notions of place. Where, when, and how they emerge is tightly coupled with notions of ‘belonging’ in some places and not others. This generates a set of associations between the human appearances, project materialities, and specific places of MSB research. Some places emerge as strongholds of human enactment (such as places of organisation), others emerge as strongholds of human estrangement (such as places of experimentation). Through demonstrating these contingencies and complexities, I disintegrate any notion of a stable, singular way the human appears as part of real-time MSB research activity. Finally, I conclude by advocating that the role of place be acknowledged and accommodated when engaging with human appearances in the context of MSB real-time research. Specifically, I suggest rethinking interaction in STS research to foster a more integrated and place-centric approach moving forward

Elements of construction: Minecraft and the periodic table

Minecraft is a popular computer game that allows the construction of almost limitless creations, and is used in learning contexts around the world. The widespread appeal and familiarity of the game makes it ideal for engaging children and young people with topics that might not otherwise interest them. With this in mind, the Science Hunters project, with support from a Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Outreach Fund grant, developed five Minecraft-based informal learning and engagement sessions about the periodic table, carbon, helium, uranium and gold, as part of the 2019 International Year of the Periodic Table (IYPT)

Functional Characterization of Colon-Cancer-Associated Variants in ADAM17 Affecting the Catalytic Domain

Although extensively investigated, cancer is still one of the most devastating and lethal diseases in the modern world. Among different types, colorectal cancer (CRC) is most prevalent and mortal, making it an important subject of research. The metalloprotease ADAM17 has been implicated in the development of CRC due to its involvement in signaling pathways related to inflammation and cell proliferation. ADAM17 is capable of releasing membrane-bound proteins from the cell surface in a process called shedding. A deficiency of ADAM17 activity has been previously shown to have protective effects against CRC in mice, while an upregulation of ADAM17 activity is suspected to facilitate tumor development. In this study, we characterize ADAM17 variants found in tissue samples of cancer patients in overexpression studies. We here focus on point mutations identified within the catalytic domain of ADAM17 and could show a functional dysregulation of the CRC-associated variants. Since the catalytic domain of ADAM17 is the only region structurally determined by crystallography, we study the effect of each point mutation not only to learn more about the role of ADAM17 in cancer, but also to investigate the structure-function relationships of the metalloprotease

Activity-Based Anorexia Reduces Body Weight without Inducing a Separate Food Intake Microstructure or Activity Phenotype in Female Rats—Mediation via an Activation of Distinct Brain Nuclei

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is accompanied by severe somatic and psychosocial complications. However, the underlying pathogenesis is poorly understood, treatment is challenging and often hampered by high relapse. Therefore, more basic research is needed to better understand the disease. Since hyperactivity often plays a role in AN, we characterized an animal model to mimic AN using restricted feeding and hyperactivity. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into four groups: no activity/ad libitum feeding (ad libitum, AL, n=9), activity/ad libitum feeding (activity, AC, n=9), no activity/restricted feeding (RF, n=12) and activity/restricted feeding (activity-based anorexia, ABA, n=11). During the first week all rats were fed ad libitum, ABA and AC had access to a running wheel for 24h/d. From week two ABA and RF only had access to food from 9:00-10:30 am. Body weight was assessed daily, activity and food intake monitored electronically, brain activation assessed using Fos immunohistochemistry at the end of the experiment. While during the first week no body weight differences were observed (p>0.05), after food restriction RF rats showed a body weight decrease: -13% vs. day eight (p0.05). Similarly, the daily physical activity was not different between AC and ABA (p>0.05). The investigation of Fos expression in the brain showed neuronal activation in several brain nuclei such as the supraoptic nucleus, arcuate nucleus, locus coeruleus and nucleus of the solitary tract of ABA compared to AL rats. In conclusion, ABA combining physical activity and restricted feeding likely represents a suited animal model for AN to study pathophysiological alterations and pharmacological treatment options. Nonetheless, cautious interpretation of the data is necessary since rats do not voluntarily reduce their body weight as observed in human AN