Academic Ableism in Higher Education

In this piece, we argue that universities and by extension all educational establishments need to address inequitable systems and pedagogic practices to ensure they promote inclusive opportunities, where achievement and success are available to all students and staff. Part of this process includes reflecting to ensure we do not replicate cultural and societal norms concerning disability. ‘Disability is one of the most frequently forgotten forms of social, political and cultural oppression’ (Christensen, 1996, p. 63) Disability is a socially constructed term; it denotes a difference whereby specific groups are given unequal values. Sensoy & DiAngelo (2017) refer to this as a social stratifying strategy that societies adopt as norms; this creates oppression due to the way we organise specific groups of people. Our society is designed for/by, built for/by, and controlled for/by non-disabled individuals: this excludes disabled people (Swain et al. 2003). Consequently, people with disabilities have been unfairly and unjustly treated in our societies for centuries and there continues to be a lack of clarity on what is unjust (Rizvi & Christensen 1996)

A Myelin Proteolipid Protein-LacZ Fusion Protein Is Developmentally Regulated and Targeted to the Myelin Membrane in Transgenic Mice

Transgenic mice were generated with a fusion gene carrying a portion of the murine myelin proteolipid protein (PLP) gene, including the first intron, fused to the E. coli LacZ gene. Three transgenic lines were derived and all lines expressed the transgene in central nervous system white matter as measured by a histochemical assay for the detection of β-galactosidase activity. PLP-LacZ transgene expression was regulated in both a spatial and temporal manner, consistent with endogenous PLP expression. Moreover, the transgene was expressed specifically in oligodendrocytes from primary mixed glial cultures prepared from transgenic mouse brains and appeared to be developmentally regulated in vitro as well. Transgene expression occurred in embryos, presumably in pre- or nonmyelinating cells, rather extensively throughout the peripheral nervous system and within very discrete regions of the central nervous system. Surprisingly, beta-galactosidase activity was localized predominantly in the myelin in these transgenic animals, suggesting that the NH_2-terminal 13 amino acids of PLP, which were present in the PLP-LacZ gene product, were sufficient to target the protein to the myelin membrane. Thus, the first half of the PLP gene contains sequences sufficient to direct both spatial and temporal gene regulation and to encode amino acids important in targeting the protein to the myelin membrane

A new ghost cell/level set method for moving boundary problems:application to tumor growth

In this paper, we present a ghost cell/level set method for the evolution of interfaces whose normal velocity depend upon the solutions of linear and nonlinear quasi-steady reaction-diffusion equations with curvature-dependent boundary conditions. Our technique includes a ghost cell method that accurately discretizes normal derivative jump boundary conditions without smearing jumps in the tangential derivative; a new iterative method for solving linear and nonlinear quasi-steady reaction-diffusion equations; an adaptive discretization to compute the curvature and normal vectors; and a new discrete approximation to the Heaviside function. We present numerical examples that demonstrate better than 1.5-order convergence for problems where traditional ghost cell methods either fail to converge or attain at best sub-linear accuracy. We apply our techniques to a model of tumor growth in complex, heterogeneous tissues that consists of a nonlinear nutrient equation and a pressure equation with geometry-dependent jump boundary conditions. We simulate the growth of glioblastoma (an aggressive brain tumor) into a large, 1 cm square of brain tissue that includes heterogeneous nutrient delivery and varied biomechanical characteristics (white matter, gray matter, cerebrospinal fluid, and bone), and we observe growth morphologies that are highly dependent upon the variations of the tissue characteristics—an effect observed in real tumor growth

Effectiveness of McKenzie therapy on low back pain among school teachers in selected schools at Kanyakumari District

BACKGROUND: Lower back pain (LBP) is one of the most common work-related health problems in economically developed countries and the most prevailing musculoskeletal condition that causes disability in the developing nations. School teachers are susceptible to low back pain due to the nature of their daily work routine which is physically demanding and include common activities. The aim of the study is to assess the effectiveness of McKenzie therapy on low back pain among school teachers in selected schools at Kanya kumara District. OBJECTIVES: 1. To assess the level of low back pain among school teachers in both experimental and control group. 2. To evaluate the effectiveness of McKenzie therapy on level of low back pain among school teachers in experimental group. 3. To find out the association between the post test level of low back pain among school teachers with their selected demographic variables and clinical variables. MATEIRAL AND METHOD: The research design adopted for this study is quasi experimental pre- test and post- test control group design. The purposive sampling technique was used to select the samples. The conceptual frame selected for the study is Ernestine Widenbach’s clinical theory. The tool used for data collection procedure was Oswestry low back pain questionnaire. After the pre test assessment of low back pain, the school teachers those who had moderate and severe level of low back pain were given Mckenzie therapy for 20 minutes twice a day for 5 days. RESULT: The study revealed that in pre test most of school teachers, 53.3% in the experimental had severe low back back pain and 46.7% had moderate low back pain and in control group 46.7% had severe low back pain and other 53.3 % had moderate low back pain. After Mckenzie therapy it was decreased that 56.7% had moderate low back pain and 43.3 %had mild low back pain in experimental group and 46.7% had severe low back pain 53.3% had moderate low back pain control group. There was a significant reduction in mean post test low back pain (MD = 10.6) t = 15.04 p < 0.001) of the experimental group. The mean post test score in the experimental group was 18.5 lesser than the control group 27.7 (M D= 8.26, t = 3.26, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The Mckenzie therapy has found to be cost effective, non invasive, non pharmacological management used to reduce Mckenzie therapy on low back pain among school teachers

The s Process: Nuclear Physics, Stellar Models, Observations

Nucleosynthesis in the s process takes place in the He burning layers of low mass AGB stars and during the He and C burning phases of massive stars. The s process contributes about half of the element abundances between Cu and Bi in solar system material. Depending on stellar mass and metallicity the resulting s-abundance patterns exhibit characteristic features, which provide comprehensive information for our understanding of the stellar life cycle and for the chemical evolution of galaxies. The rapidly growing body of detailed abundance observations, in particular for AGB and post-AGB stars, for objects in binary systems, and for the very faint metal-poor population represents exciting challenges and constraints for stellar model calculations. Based on updated and improved nuclear physics data for the s-process reaction network, current models are aiming at ab initio solution for the stellar physics related to convection and mixing processes. Progress in the intimately related areas of observations, nuclear and atomic physics, and stellar modeling is reviewed and the corresponding interplay is illustrated by the general abundance patterns of the elements beyond iron and by the effect of sensitive branching points along the s-process path. The strong variations of the s-process efficiency with metallicity bear also interesting consequences for Galactic chemical evolution.Comment: 53 pages, 20 figures, 3 tables; Reviews of Modern Physics, accepte

In Situ Contaminated Sediments Project – Work Package 1A Report

Project aims Defra is seeking to understand the magnitude of risks (e.g. to aquatic ecology and human health) or impacts (e.g. on the way that water bodies are managed) posed by contaminated sediment in England, as part of its work towards meeting its environmental objectives. In the context of this project, in-situ contaminated sediment is defined as: Chemically contaminated sediment within the water column, bed, banks and floodplain of a surface water body that has been transported alongside the normal sediment load and deposited by fluvial or coastal processes. This project considers the risk posed by non-agricultural diffuse pollution sources in England that result in the contamination of in-situ sediments (for example, contamination from toxic metals, hydrocarbons and surfactants). The scope encompasses both freshwater and marine sediments in England and extends to one nautical mile off-shore (the seaward limit of coastal waters under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) in England). Previous national strategies, including the 2007 Defra UK Strategy for Managing Contaminated Marine Sediments (CDMS), focussed on characterising the risks associated with contaminated sediments in the marine environment. However, while extensive research has been carried out in many locations (including as part of WFD implementation studies) and for particular sources of contamination (e.g. historical metal mining; Environment Agency, 2008) there has not been a comprehensive overview of sediment contamination on a national scale. This project seeks to build on the existing evidence base, drawing together information on the freshwater environment to complement that already gathered for marine waters. This project’s overall aim is to provide a sound evidence base on the contamination of in-situ sediments, which can underpin the development of tools and methods that will help Defra, the Environment Agency and other bodies engaged in regulation and protection of water quality

The social geography of unmarried cohabitation in the USA, 2007-2011

US studies of marriage and cohabitation have mainly highlighted the social and racial differentials as they were observed in cross-sections, and have as a result essentially focused on the "pattern of disadvantage". The evolution of such social differentials over time and space reveals that this pattern of disadvantage has clearly persisted, but that it is far from covering the whole story. Historically, there has been a major contribution to the rise of cohabitation by white college students, and later on young white adults with higher education continued to start unions via cohabitation to ever increasing degrees. Only, they seem to move into marriage to a greater extent later on in life than other population segments. Also, the religious affiliation matters greatly: Mormons and evangelical Christians have resisted the current trends. Furthermore this effect is not only operating at the individual but at the contextual level as well. Conversely, even after controls for competing socio-economic explanations, residence in areas (either counties or PUMA-areas) with a Democratic voting pattern is related to higher cohabitation probabilities. And, finally, different legal contexts at the level of States also significantly contributed to the emergence of strong spatial contrasts. Hence, there is a concurrence of several factors shaping the present differentiations, and the rise of secular and liberal attitudes, i.e. the "ethics revolution", is equally a part of the explanation