Reflections on a Collection: Revisiting the UWM Icons Fifty Years Later

The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Art Collection is home to a sizable donation of Byzantine and post-medieval icons and liturgical objects. Central to this thesis exhibition catalogue are the thirty-two Greek and Russian icons from this collection and their history with collector Charles Bolles Bolles-Rogers. Reflections on a Collection: Revisiting the UWM Icons Collection Fifty Years Later contextualizes the history of icon collecting in the United States and examines the collecting history of these icons. By first focusing on icon collecting and scholarship in Greece and Russia towards the end of the nineteenth and into the twentieth centuries, this catalogue traces the growth of interest in Byzantine and post-medieval Greek and Russian liturgical objects in the West, particularly the United States. Icons and liturgical objects became increasingly desirable for large institutions and museums along with private collectors in the twentieth century. Bolles-Rogers was one such collector. This catalogue sheds new light on the history and acquisition of the Rogers Family Collection of icons and liturgical objects to the UWM Art Collection and shows that the Rogers Family Collection is not only a collection of icons but also a collection that reflects the time period in the art world in which it was assembled

The Sodium Channel B4-Subunits are Dysregulated in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Drug-Resistant Patients

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common type of partial epilepsy referred for surgery due to antiepileptic drug (AED) resistance. A common molecular target for many of these drugs is the voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC). The VGSC consists of four domains of pore-forming α-subunits and two auxiliary β-subunits, several of which have been well studied in epileptic conditions. However, despite the β4-subunits’ role having been reported in some neurological conditions, there is little research investigating its potential significance in epilepsy. Therefore, the purpose of this work was to assess the role of SCN4β in epilepsy by using a combination of molecular and bioinformatics approaches. We first demonstrated that there was a reduction in the relative expression of SCN4B in the drug-resistant TLE patients compared to non-epileptic control specimens, both at the mRNA and protein levels. By analyzing a co-expression network in the neighborhood of SCN4B we then discovered a linkage between the expression of this gene and K+ channels activated by Ca2+, or K+ two-pore domain channels. Our approach also inferred several potential effector functions linked to variation in the expression of SCN4B. These observations support the hypothesis that SCN4B is a key factor in AED-resistant TLE, which could help direct both the drug selection of TLE treatments and the development of future AED

Making and breaking families: a short essay on loss, hope and staying connected

The focus in this paper is on a specific time point in an adoption matching process. Empirical data from interviews, observations and group analytic processes are juxtaposed to hone in on emotional labor of the social work role. The author discusses the use of a ‘many minds’ research method to demonstrate how analytic practices can be enriched by collaborative thinking and group processes. This paper pays tribute to Claire Winnicott’s work by foregrounding the complexity and generative potential of the social work relationship

What happens in the making of an adoptive family? Rethinking matching in adoptions from care

This study examines the confluence of practices that are generated when the state brings strangers together to make a brand new family. Concerns about matching, the process in which an adoptive family is made, are driving significant changes in the organisation of adoption services yet 'research evidence is lacking- not just sparse, but virtually absent' (Quinton, 2012, p.1). This study addresses these gaps and offers original empirical and conceptual contributions to the knowledge base. My approach draws on sociological and anthropological perspectives through which family life is understood as constructed through day-to-day activities, action, imagination and emotional interactions. This study focuses on the ‘doing’ of family and the ‘doing’ of social work to illuminate and analyse everyday practices. The research design is original in the field and builds on innovative methodologies at the interface of pedagogy, practice and research. Through a psychoanalytically informed multi- modal ethnographic study I observed a single matching process in ‘real time’ over 9 months. This methodology afforded direct access to dyadic, familial, professional and organizational relationships in homes, offices, forums, in documents and in email correspondence. Group analytic practices were used to help access subjective and sociocultural dimensions. The data generated from these groups (which included adults adopted from care, adoptive parents, researchers, social workers and policy advisors) allowed the juxtaposition of contemporary matching practices with intergenerational perspectives. Collaborative processes brought a multiplicity of minds to the study helping maintain a recursive and critically reflective approach. This unique data-set provides an opportunity to consider matching through multiple lenses and as a lens through which to consider multiple practices. This thesis makes four analytical claims. Firstly, I suggest that during a matching process intense emotional forces, multiple paradoxes and uncertainty converge, creating a ‘liminal hotspot’ (Greco and Stenner, 2017, p.147). For those directly involved, (including children, carers, prospective parents and professionals) navigating this space requires spatialized and temporalized strategies. In this study social work practices were found to function as necessary rites of passage, tools and processes which could also mitigate polarizing forces. Secondly, I suggest that matching is a site where work and non-work practices become entangled. In the midst of these entanglements those involved have to navigate ‘distinct cultures of child rearing’ (Thomson et al., 2011, p.4). In this context the role of the foster carer emerges as extraordinarily complex. Thirdly, this thesis claims that current powerful social projections and transformative processes are played out and become visible within matching practices. Matching practices are considered to be an epistemic lens into a matrix of tensions relating to care and authority. Finally, this research suggests that reductions in welfare spending, increasing pressures on services and a policy pre-occupation with timeliness are undermining essential deliberative processes. This study found that this is a high risk situation; creating unnecessary vulnerability across a workforce, across multiple families and ultimately in the lives of children

Studies on the host-pathogen interactions for Rhizoctonia solani AG2-1 causing damping-off disease of Brassica napus (Oilseed Rape)

Rhizoctonia solani is a necrotrophic soil-borne plant pathogen species complex, of which anastomosis group (AG) 2-1 causes devastating disease on oilseed rape (OSR, Brassica napus). It is frequently isolated from arable crop fields where it affects establishment and yield via pre- and post-emergence damping off, hypocotyl and root rot. Genetic resistance to R. solani AG2-1 has not been observed and long-lived sclerotia, plus a broad host range allow the pathogen to survive in the soil for many years. Here, the interactions between Rhizoctonia solani AG2-1, its crop host OSR and the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana were explored. Variation in responses to R. solani were observed between commercial OSR varieties and gene expression data showed that susceptibility was associated with auxin and abscisic acid signalling, and the MYC2 branch of jasmonate signalling, while reactive oxygen species, ethylene signalling and the ERF/PDF branch of jasmonate signalling were associated with increased tolerance. This was supported by inoculation of A. thaliana defence mutants and microscopy using Jas9:VENUS and IAA2pro:GUS lines. Further investigations into the role of auxins in R. solani AG2-1 – A. thaliana interactions showed that R. solani was able to differentially affect the root architecture of WT and aux1 transport mutants. Experiments showing the effects of 2,4-D, PAA and NAA demonstrated that PAA was able to restore gravitropism in aux1. R. solani produced both IAA and PAA when grown in broth culture and growth stimulation was observed when R. solani was grown in broth with low concentrations of exogenous PAA. Analysis of gene expression markers (GEMS) from a previous genome wide association study (GWAS) provided further evidence for the involvement of auxins, jasmonates and ethylene in the defence responses of OSR to R. solani AG2-1. Corresponding A. thaliana candidate gene mutants were inoculated with R. solani AG2-1 under experimental conditions to identify potential susceptibility genes. Two of these were taken further and B. rapa TILLING line resources were developed. This thesis increases understanding of the defence pathways involved in resistance and susceptibility to R. solani AG2-1, examines the influence that R. solani has on the root architecture of auxin mutants, and provides candidate gene TILLING line resources for future work

Studies on the host-pathogen interactions for Rhizoctonia solani AG2-1 causing damping-off disease of Brassica napus (Oilseed Rape)

Rhizoctonia solani is a necrotrophic soil-borne plant pathogen species complex, of which anastomosis group (AG) 2-1 causes devastating disease on oilseed rape (OSR, Brassica napus). It is frequently isolated from arable crop fields where it affects establishment and yield via pre- and post-emergence damping off, hypocotyl and root rot. Genetic resistance to R. solani AG2-1 has not been observed and long-lived sclerotia, plus a broad host range allow the pathogen to survive in the soil for many years. Here, the interactions between Rhizoctonia solani AG2-1, its crop host OSR and the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana were explored. Variation in responses to R. solani were observed between commercial OSR varieties and gene expression data showed that susceptibility was associated with auxin and abscisic acid signalling, and the MYC2 branch of jasmonate signalling, while reactive oxygen species, ethylene signalling and the ERF/PDF branch of jasmonate signalling were associated with increased tolerance. This was supported by inoculation of A. thaliana defence mutants and microscopy using Jas9:VENUS and IAA2pro:GUS lines. Further investigations into the role of auxins in R. solani AG2-1 – A. thaliana interactions showed that R. solani was able to differentially affect the root architecture of WT and aux1 transport mutants. Experiments showing the effects of 2,4-D, PAA and NAA demonstrated that PAA was able to restore gravitropism in aux1. R. solani produced both IAA and PAA when grown in broth culture and growth stimulation was observed when R. solani was grown in broth with low concentrations of exogenous PAA. Analysis of gene expression markers (GEMS) from a previous genome wide association study (GWAS) provided further evidence for the involvement of auxins, jasmonates and ethylene in the defence responses of OSR to R. solani AG2-1. Corresponding A. thaliana candidate gene mutants were inoculated with R. solani AG2-1 under experimental conditions to identify potential susceptibility genes. Two of these were taken further and B. rapa TILLING line resources were developed. This thesis increases understanding of the defence pathways involved in resistance and susceptibility to R. solani AG2-1, examines the influence that R. solani has on the root architecture of auxin mutants, and provides candidate gene TILLING line resources for future work

Coram’s permanence improvement project: children’s social care innovation programme evaluation report 24

Research on improvements to the adoption services of 2 local authorities, including the development of a new diagnostic tool for special guardianship orders and the creation of a ‘permanence improvement’ academy. The project was intended to support children who could not safely live at home, particularly those with the most complex needs, where adoption was the long-term plan