Collections and Collaborations for Writing Black Women’s Wellness: Narratives of Practical Research, Pedagogy, and Practice

Stephanie Y. Evans will discuss her online library of Black women’s memoirs from around the globe and highlight research themes of Black women’s wellness through life writing. Specifically, the curator of this database will show how creation of the digital humanities resource inspired collaborative publications about mind, body, and spirit health for Black women. Projects grounded in life writing include mental health (mind), Black women yoga instructors (spirit), and a community-based project on soup stories as cultural paths to nutrition (body). AfricanaMemoirs.net is an online resource of over 500 narratives created to encourage research grounded in Black women's life stories. This open access database enhances narrative study and broadens the scope of autobiography, memoir, and epistolary writing as a genre. Most importantly, this website inspires the next generation of authors to read and write life stories for empowerment. In the tradition of Sesheta, the Egyptian goddess known as "lady of the house of books," this library gathers together a chorus of voices from around the world and Africana women's stories are as numerous as the spots on Sesheta's leopard print dress. The main theme of these stories is what Anna Julia Cooper calls regeneration. Professor Evans teaches various topics through memoir and the collection allows students to look backward, look inward, and look forward to identify relevant historical and contemporary issues. This presentation will also discuss creative ways to engage memoir as a teaching tool for community service-learning courses that connect with high school curricula. The book Black Passports: Travel Memoirs as Tools for Youth Empowerment (SUNY 2014), provides an example of how research can enhance student learning outcomes for all levels of learning. The presentation will close with discussion of current projects including a memoir review library in the works

Modeling Small Molecule Elution From a Hydrogel using a Microfluidic Technique

Drug release from a fluid-contacting biomaterial is simulated using a microfluidic device with channels defined by solute-loaded hydrogel. In order to mimic a drug delivery device, a solution of poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEG-DA), solute, and photoinitiator is cured inside a microfluidic device with a channel through the center ofthe hydrogel. As water is pumped through the channel, solute diffuses out of the hydrogel and into the water. Channel sizes within the devices range from 300 µm to 1000 µm to simulate vessels within the body. The properties of the PEG hydrogel were characterizedby the extent of crosslinking, the swelling ratio, and the mesh size of the gel. The structure of the hydrogel was related to the UV exposure dosage and the initial water and solute content in the PEG-DA solution

Book Review: Black Body: Women, Colonialism, and Space

Review of Black Body: Women, Colonialism, and Space by Radhika Mohanra

Mental health in children: awareness raising with beginning teachers

Aim: A group of student teachers put together a short video presentation entitled 'Are the kids alright?' covering the topic of mental health issues in children. They expressed concern that currently there is a lack of support and knowledge for new and experienced teachers in this area, despite all the current agendas on children’s mental health due to over testing, for example. This chimed with my own interests in this area as I enter the world of health provision from a background of education, with my training in cognitive behaviour therapy. Content: This workshop will seek to engage with others in exploring the research in progress of an introductory session that aims to support new teachers in developing their knowledge, awareness, empathy and role within supporting mental health issues in children, within a climate of well being agendas. This is the first step in developing a professional development package on the issue. Thinking deeply about teacher education: The workshop will not only focus on the well being of pupils but the well being of teachers, particularly those early in their career. It will explore feedback from trainees and the emotional support that is needed to enhance their survival in the profession. Workshop structure: 1. Overview of research to date, in particular feedback from trainees 2. Focussed activities for participants to contribute/question research so far 3. Plenary – next steps – network for collaborative wor

Phase separation behavior in a rubber-toughened epoxy system

Four series of epoxy resins were cured in the presence of a carboxyl-terminated butadiene acrylonitrile (CTBN). The first two series consisted of 7 components, in which the epoxy, hardener, and rubber form one network and two methacrylates form a second interpenetrating, interconnected network. The variables explored are the initial composition of rubber and the ratio of the two methacrylates. The last two series consist of only 3 components, epoxy, hardener, and rubber. The only variable in each is the rubber concentration. The cure schedule for all the samples was the same. The final size of the rubber particles in each sample were measured using optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The impact strength of the seven component samples was measured using an Izod impact tester. Particles were not seen in OM for the first two series and only one rubber concentration value in the second two. SEM on etched samples confirmed the presence of particles formed by nucleation and growth in all the samples. The SEM confirmed the OM results of 8.5 and 9 μm domain sizes for the two samples that showed optically. Phase separation was seen in the 7 component series up to 16% rubber in the first and 10% in the second and rubber particles were measured at 0.75-3 μm in size. The Izod results showed an apparent increase in toughness with increasing rubber concentration and no clear dependence on particle size or size distribution, though the error was so large that the true effect of the presence of particles cannot be confirmed

Core Values: Intellectual Freedom and Privacy in Public Libraries

With the passing of the USA Patriot Act in 2001 following the events of 9/11, libraries on the national scale have had to staunchly defend issues of privacy and confidentially more-so than ever before. Evidence of this lies not only in statements within the ALA’s Resolution on the USA PATRIOT Act and Libraries but also in other core documents which guide policy development in public libraries (ALA 2005). Intellectual Freedom and privacy are two of the major issues addressed and protected by the American Library Association through the Office of Intellectual Freedom and the Library Bill of Rights (ALA 1996)

Lois Lenski, A Friend to Children: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of a Children\u27s Book Author

In her lifetime, Lois Lenski wrote, illustrated, and otherwise contributed to more than one hundred books for children and preteens. This study focuses on Lenski’s regional books for preteens, novels that Lenski claimed were written from real life. Using interpretive narrative analysis, this study evaluates two of Lenski’s regional novels: Strawberry Girl (1945), the 1946 Newbery award-winner and second installment in the American Regional series, and High-Rise Secret (1966), the eleventh installment in the Roundabout America series, focusing specifically on Lenski’s creative process. The analysis of Lenski’s works was contextualized using literature focusing on the concepts of character representation, authority, power, and agency. As such, this study also addresses children’s books as cultural artifacts alongside issues of socialization and identity creation. Historically, the focus of the period in which Lenski was writing her regional novels is on the creation of a national unity and identity following such events as World War II. However, this national identity is inherently biased in favor of the ethnically White considering its development prior to the period of social change inspired by the Civil Rights movement. While the study found that there was little to no difference between character and environment representation when comparing the real-life situations and the novels, the narrative structure, content construction, and predominance of ethnically White characters demonstrate that both the books and their author were products of their time

I Was One of the First to See Daylight: Black Women at Predominantly White Colleges and Universities in Florida since 1959

Kitty Oliver, a celebrated journalist, nonfiction writer, and oral historian, entered the University of Florida in 1965. She was one of only 35 African American students of 18,000 enrolled and one of only 5 black freshmen to integrate campus housing. Her story, told in Multicolored Memories of a Black Southern Girl (2001), is intriguing for its portrayal of the first-wave of black students who integrated the predominantly white institutions in the Florida State University System. Oliver, from Jacksonville, traced her mother\u27s roots to the South Carolina Gullah people. She was an only child and the first in her family to attend college. Her choice to attend University of Florida (UF) instead of the more popular Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) provides a fascinating entry into better understanding state education in the past

A 'good faith' interpretation of the right to manifest religion? The diverging approaches of the European Court of Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Committee

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and UN Human Rights Committee have reached contradictory decisions in cases concerning the right to manifest religion. This discrepancy calls into question the universality of the right and is problematic from the perspective of legal certainty. Consequently, this article explores the extent to which the diverging decisions of these two bodies are compatible with a good faith interpretation of the right to manifest religion. A good faith interpretation of the right is identified by utilising the travaux préparatoires and subsequent interpretations. It is argued that by failing to scrutinise the necessity of restrictions and the role of secularism, the ECtHR has undermined this good faith interpretation and, in so doing, is not fulfilling its role as ‘the conscience of Europe’

Organoids, organs-on-chips and other systems, and microbiota

The human gut microbiome is considered an organ in its entirety and has been the subject of extensive research due to its role in physiology, metabolism, digestion, and immune regulation. Disequilibria of the normal microbiome have been associated with the development of several gastrointestinal diseases, but the exact underlying interactions are not well understood. Conventional in vivo and in vitro modelling systems fail to faithfully recapitulate the complexity of the human host–gut microbiome, emphasising the requirement for novel systems that provide a platform to study human host–gut microbiome interactions with a more holistic representation of the human in vivo microenvironment. In this review, we outline the progression and applications of new and old modelling systems with particular focus on their ability to model and to study host–microbiome cross-talk