Against limits: A post-structural theorizing of resistance in leisure

In its recognition of oppositional behavior as informed and political, resistance offers us a way to explore the interconnections between leisure and politics in meaningful ways. However, for the concept to have utility for theorizing theses interconnections, it needs to be located within broader theorizations of power. Drawing on the work of Foucault, this chapter offers a post-structural theorizing of power and resistance. In contrast to modernist binary conceptualizations of power and resistance, Foucault conceptualized power as circulating through a culture or a system and exercised at innumerable points and times. To Foucault, resistance was power exercised in the attempt to destabilize the limits of the present order. The chapter applies Foucault’s perspective of resistance as “against limits” to leisure, and argues that we can think of leisure as resistance when it expands the possibilities for what we can do and who we might imagine ourselves to be

Risk, nostalgia, and the production of the ideal childhood in online commentary on children’s outdoor play

We use Foucauldian discourse analysis to examine comments posted online in response to news articles that reported on one Canadian neighbourhood’s ‘ban’ on children’s outdoor play. Our analysis showed that reader comments, both for and against the ban on street play, accessed discourses of risk that produced an idealized childhood based on close parental supervision. Additionally, nostalgic discourse, the feeling that unfettered, wholesome outdoor play has been lost and cannot be reclaimed, also made claims about who the ideal childhood is for. While marginalized children continue to experience disadvantage that inherently exposes them to risks daily, White, middle class children already have access to safer streets, both parent presence or unquestioned but appropriate parental absence, and play in the streets can be part of their everyday lives. We consider how the idealized childhoods produced by discourses of risk and nostalgia influence the materiality of children’s outdoor play, including how children’s time is organized and who gets to organize it, how play is experienced and who gets to experience it; in ideal ways, in ideal spaces, and for the ideal child

Attaching DNA to Nanoceria: Regulating Oxidase Activity and Fluorescence Quenching

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Applied Materials and Interfaces copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by publisher. To access the final edited and published work see Pautler, R., Kelly, E. Y., Huang, P.-J. J., Cao, J., Liu, B., & Liu, J. (2013). Attaching DNA to Nanoceria: Regulating Oxidase Activity and Fluorescence Quenching. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 5(15), 6820–6825. https://doi.org/10.1021/am4018863Cerium oxide nanoparticles (nanoceria) have recently emerged as a nanozyme with oxidase activity. In this work, we present a few important interfacial properties of nanoceria. First, the surface charge of nanoceria can be controlled not only by adjusting pH but also by adsorption of simple inorganic anions. Adsorption of phosphate and citrate gives negatively charged surface over a broad pH range. Second, nanoceria adsorbs DNA via the DNA phosphate backbone in a sequence-independent manner; DNA adsorption inhibits its oxidase activity. Other anionic polymers display much weaker inhibition effects. Adsorption of simple inorganic phosphate does not have the inhibition effect. Third, nanoceria is a quencher for many fluorophores. These discoveries provide an important understanding for further use of nanoceria in biosensor development, materials science, and nanotechnology.University of Waterloo || Canadian Foundation for Innovation || Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council || Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation |

A randomised controlled feasibility trial for an educational school-based mental health intervention: study protocol

Background: With the burden of mental illness estimated to be costing the English economy alone around £22.5 billion a year [1], coupled with growing evidence that many mental disorders have their origins in adolescence, there is increasing pressure for schools to address the emotional well-being of their students, alongside the stigma and discrimination of mental illness. A number of prior educational interventions have been developed and evaluated for this purpose, but inconsistency of findings, reporting standards, and methodologies have led the majority of reviewers to conclude that the evidence for the efficacy of these programmes remains inconclusive. Methods/Design: A cluster randomised controlled trial design has been employed to enable a feasibility study of 'SchoolSpace', an intervention in 7 UK secondary schools addressing stigma of mental illness, mental health literacy, and promotion of mental health. A central aspect of the intervention involves students in the experimental condition interacting with a young person with lived experience of mental illness, a stigma reducing technique designed to facilitate students' engagement in the project. The primary outcome is the level of stigma related to mental illness. Secondary outcomes include mental health literacy, resilience to mental illness, and emotional well-being. Outcomes will be measured pre and post intervention, as well as at 6 month follow-up. Discussion: The proposed intervention presents the potential for increased engagement due to its combination of education and contact with a young person with lived experience of mental illness. Contact as a technique to reduce discrimination has been evaluated previously in research with adults, but has been employed in only a minority of research trials investigating the impact on youth. Prior to this study, the effect of contact on mental health literacy, resilience, and emotional well-being has not been evaluated to the authors' knowledge. If efficacious the intervention could provide a reliable and cost-effective method to reduce stigma in young people, whilst increasing mental health literacy, and emotional well-being. Trial registration: ISRCTN: ISRCTN0740602

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

And gladly teche Celebrating teaching at Macquarie

This paper outlines the development of a Work Integrated Learning (WIL) program for introduction into courses run by the Division of Environmental and Life Sciences (ELS) at Macquarie University. It explores the conceptual learning framework that underpins the approach, and supports such a learning environment. It reviews best practise models from across the world to initiate the development of a program with real stakeholder ownership and a structured curriculum framework that defines the expected learning outcomes for all students. The elements common to successful WIL programs are noted. Potential strategies addressing learning and managerial issues associated with WIL placements detail the way forward for the Division of ELS and possibly the wider university

Keynote: Components of the Outdoor Trip: What Really Happens

This paper has two goals. First is an exploration of the components and outcomes of an outdoor education trip upon participants. Second, is the utilization of a research team to examine these, outcomes and compare these im­pacts with past experiences and previous re­search. Thus, this paper is really a collection of several papers. The paper is structured in the following way; Jim Sibthorp, North Carolina State University and Erin Sharpe, Indiana Uni­versity, present findings from two studies con­ducted on a group of outdoor education students participating in the Conservation and Outdoor Recreation Education (C.O.R.E.) program offered at Indiana University during the spring semester of 1999. The C.O.R.E. program is a semester-long experiential-based program that is focused on the development of outdoor leader­ship skills. Following the presentations on the findings of these studies, Dr. Joel Meier, Indiana Univer­sity, Dr. Leo McAvoy, University of Minnesota, and Dr. Ken Gilbertson, University of Minne­sota-Duluth utilize their extensive past experi­ences to react to these findings. More specifi­cally, in what ways were the findings from Sib­thorp and Sharpe congruent with these experts\u27 past experiences and in what ways were they divergent? Building on these reactions, Nina Roberts, Colorado State University and Shayne Galloway, Indiana University develop a long ­term research agenda for continuing work in understanding the components and potential out­comes of an outdoor education trip. Following these remarks, Dr. Alan Ewert, Indiana Univer­sity provides concluding comments regarding the future of research ·in outdoor education using the research team concept

PD-L1 has distinct functions in hematopoietic and nonhematopoietic cells in regulating T cell responses during chronic infection in mice

The inhibitory receptor programmed death 1 (PD-1) is upregulated on antigen-specific CD8+ T cells during persistent viral infections. Interaction with PD-1 ligand 1 (PD-L1) contributes to functional exhaustion of responding T cells and may limit immunopathology during infection. PD-L1 is expressed on both hematopoietic and nonhematopoietic cells in tissues. However, the exact roles of PD-L1 on hematopoietic versus nonhematopoietic cells in modulating immune responses are unclear. Here we used bone marrow chimeric mice to examine the effects of PD-L1 deficiency in hematopoietic or nonhematopoietic cells during lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus clone 13 (LCMV CL-13) infection. We found that PD-L1 expression on hematopoietic cells inhibited CD8+ T cell numbers and function after LCMV CL-13 infection. In contrast, PD-L1 expression on nonhematopoietic cells limited viral clearance and immunopathology in infected tissues. Together, these data demonstrate that there are distinct roles for PD-L1 on hematopoietic and nonhematopoietic cells in regulating CD8+ T cell responses and viral clearance during chronic viral infection