Yoga as an adjunct to trauma-focused counselling for survivors of sexual violence:a qualitative study

Although evidence exists for the therapeutic effectiveness of yoga for people with a range of mental health difficulties, further research is necessary to determine its contribution to recovery from sexual violence. This study used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to explore the experience of a group-based Forrest yoga programme for woman recovering from experiences of sexual violence. The main themes to emerge were: the importance of being in a group; yoga as a means of facilitating personal learning and change; yoga as an on-going resource for living. These findings indicate that women recovering from rape and sexual abuse may experience yoga as a potentially valuable adjunct to counselling

Jobs, Workers and Changes in Earnings Dispersion

The 'fractal' nature of the rise in earnings dispersion is one of its key features and remains a puzzle. In this paper, we offer a new perspective on the causes of changes in earnings dispersion, focusing on the role of labour reallocation. Once we drop the assumption that all firms pay a given worker the same, the allocation of workers to firms matters for the dispersion of earnings. This perspective highlights two new factors that can affect the dispersion of earnings: rates of job and worker reallocation, and the nature of the process allocating workers to jobs. We set out a framework capturing this idea and quantify the impact of reallocation on earnings dispersion, using a dataset that comprises almost the universe of workers and the universe of employers in Maryland. We show that these factors have potentially large effects in general on earnings dispersion. In the case of Maryland over the period 1985-1994, the changing allocation of workers to jobs played a significant role in explaining movements in the dispersion of earnings.Earnings inequality, labour reallocation, matched worker and firm panels

A sustainable journey to school: global issues, local places, children's lives

This research is located in the fields of the geographies of childhood, social and environmental policy and urban transport studies. It adds to geographical thinking about children’s choices in their everyday mobilities. My thesis makes an original contribution by filling in large gaps in knowledge about the journey to school experiences of the children, commenting on household circumstances, public space policy, social exclusion and children’s participation in decision making (Hillman, 2006; Jarvis, 2005; McDonald, 2008; Pain, 2006). Children’s choices in their everyday lives are found to be influenced by a complex mix of factors including gender, age, household structure, residential location, health, social culture, urban design and school culture. The research is timely in light of current high profile public and political debates about childhood health, access to public space, social exclusion, sustainable transport policy and children’s rights (Barker, 2003; CABE, 2008; Lolichen, 2007; SEU, 2003; Unicef, 2007). Despite heightened interest in these issues, little is known about the individual experiences of children’s journeys to school at a fine-grained level. My thesis therefore brings together a number of isolated debates and investigates the opportunities and constraints shaping children’s everyday choices; provides policy-relevant insights into the ways in which they reconcile their everyday mobility behaviour within overlapping spheres of impact; provides a theoretical framework within which to understand the sustainable mobility choices available to children in contemporary British society with relation to their journeys to school; and highlights how children view sustainable policy and practices and the relevance and application to their individual circumstances. The research employed a participatory action research approach whereby the children and young people themselves helped specify the range of qualitative methods (interviews, discussion groups, photography, videos, art, drama, statistics and poetry). This dynamic process revealed the fluid and ambiguous nature of children’s journeys to school. It showed that high levels of understanding exist amongst children and young people concerning health and environmental issues associated with the journey to school, yet circumstances located within the key spaces that children occupy (the home, public space and school) limit individual choice, leading to less healthy behavioural patterns of unsustainable travel. Despite ongoing strategies employed at national and local levels to encourage sustainable travel, modal shift has proved negligible. Possible reasons advanced in this thesis are a lack of understanding on behalf of policy makers of the complexities inherent within the spheres of influence that impact on children’s decision making capabilities, policies and strategies proving to be ambiguous or ineffectively communicated and unsuitable for localised situations and the lack of active, meaningful child participation within the decision-making processes. This research therefore provides a critique of some of the more positive assumptions underpinning current concepts regarding children’s participation within policy debate and argues for more micro- research on individual children’s lives. This research highlights the importance of the social aspects of sustainable policy. This relatively neglected dimension of sustainable environmental policy suggests the possibility of an alternate model of sustainable travel with respect to the journey to school, which accounts for the web of interconnecting influencing structures involved in the formation of children’s everyday lives, and which also considers the importance of children’s agency. Providing a physical structure for sustainable travel is insufficient and a progressive, holistic model encompassing the social and cultural dimensions of sustainability is required. Interventions at the school level to encourage more sustainable journeys to school need to be matched by changes in the social and cultural contexts found within the home in particular, as well as within public space, so benefits can be enhanced and healthier choices, with regards to everyday travel behaviour, can be made

Attenuation of N-glycosylation causes polarity and adhesion defects in the C. elegans embryo

The C. elegans early embryo is highly polarized, requiring sequestration of cytoplasmic polarity factors at the plasma membrane. This compartmentalization aids asymmetric distribution of lipids and proteins, which is partially responsible for the fates of the daughter cells. Since most plasma membrane proteins are glycosylated, we determined the effect of N-glycosylation attenuation on cell polarity. While polarity establishment was not perturbed, the AB/P1 size ratio was more variable in embryos with reduced N-glycosylation than in the mock-treated ones. In addition, among other deficiencies, we observed spindle orientation defects in two-cell embryos. Moreover, cell-cell adhesion was specifically lost at the two-cell stage when N-glycosylation was reduced. This loss-of-adhesion phenotype was rescued by interfering with polarity establishment, indicating that polarity establishment enforces plasma membrane compartmentalization. Consistently, the decreased plasma membrane levels of the adhesion proteins E-cadherin and MAGI-1 in ribo-1(RNAi) embryos were restored in the absence of functional PAR-2. Our data suggest a general role for N-glycosylation in plasma membrane compartmentalization and cell polarity

Why Trouble SEL? The Need for Cultural Relevance in SEL

With regards to efforts to imagine more equitable spaces of learning for all students, we are compelled to ask: How can SEL programs address the needs of marginalized, minoritized, and/or historically under-resourced students without deeply considering the cultured context of social interaction and school learning? Although evidence shows SEL programs yield benefits in multiple domains, most programs are based on monolithic approaches that often do not consider dynamics of power and oppression in the context of schooling. In this paper, we discuss the crucial role of culture in SEL frameworks. We propose adopting an interdisciplinary lens to integrate culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) and culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) into SEL programs to promote student well-being and academic achievement across contexts

Indigenous Intangible Cultural Heritage: Towards an Indigenous Approach to Canadian Heritage Management and Planning

Canada’s ‘official’ heritage is overwhelmingly comprised of designated buildings, monuments, landscapes, and streetscapes that reflect notable architectural styles or historic character, celebrated places, and key agents in Canada’s historical narrative. Heritage management and planning regimes in Canada, and western societies, utilize a well-established material, or tangible, understanding of heritage recognition. Indigenous forms of heritage, which are often manifested as non-material, or intangible cultural heritage (ICH), do not readily fit within western paradigms of heritage. As a result, Indigenous ICH does not receive the same attention or support as western material heritage and remains underrepresented within the current heritage management system. This exploratory thesis seeks to examine and place the Canadian heritage management and planning regime as a colonial legacy. A review of the literature suggests that although the academic body of Indigenous planning theory and critical research is growing, there is a notable gap in understanding how heritage planning can be effectively decolonized. Further, the literature indicates that Western and Indigenous perspectives of ‘heritage’ differ significantly, however little research has been conducted to address how heritage planning systems can be re-imagined to include Indigenous ICH and worldviews. Utilizing a qualitative research methodology, twenty-four Indigenous and non-Indigenous heritage practitioners and planners from across Canada were interviewed. Additionally, provincial and federal heritage legislation and supporting policy documents were analysed in order to ascertain how Indigenous heritage is currently recognized within Canada’s material-focused heritage planning regime. The findings that emerged from this thesis research suggest: 1) Heritage planning and management in Canada continues to be overwhelmingly material focused and displays a lack of understanding of ICH; 2) The diffusion of responsibilities between federal, provincial, and municipal governments on Indigenous and heritage related issues poses challenges of governance, legislation, policy, and programming; 3) The influences of colonialism have left a legacy of distrust between Indigenous communities and settler society, leading to reluctance by some Indigenous communities to share traditional knowledge and heritage with non-community members; 4) Many Indigenous communities and governments face pressing social concerns; as a result, heritage and cultural programming is often a lower priority for some communities; 5) Increased understanding of Indigenous intangible cultural heritage in Canadian historical narratives can potentially support the process of reconciliation, increase cultural knowledge, capacity, and resiliency in Indigenous communities, and encourage a stronger Indigenous cultural presence and understanding in Canadian society. Emergent recommendations include: 1) Increase knowledge and awareness of Indigenous history and worldviews in Canadian planning schools; 2) Amend heritage legislation and policy to include Indigenous ICH; 3) Support avenues for Indigenous-led community-based cultural heritage programming; and 4) Encourage further research in Indigenous ICH and heritage planning field. This research is significant because it provides an exploratory look into how Indigenous ICH is currently considered in Canadian heritage planning and provides practical and theoretical recommendations for further studies into the benefits of recognizing ICH in an Indigenous post-colonial context, to arguably support a paradigm shift in what we, as Canadians, value as ‘heritage’

Bistable auto-aggregation phenotype in Lactiplantibacillus plantarum emerges after cultivation in in vitro colonic microbiota

Background Auto-aggregation is a desired property for probiotic strains because it is suggested to promote colonization of the human intestine, to prevent pathogen infections and to modulate the colonic mucosa. We recently reported the generation of adapted mutants of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum NZ3400, a derivative of the model strain WCFS1, for colonization under adult colonic conditions of PolyFermS continuous intestinal fermentation models. Here we describe and characterize the emerge of an auto-aggregating phenotype in L. plantarum NZ3400 derivatives recovered from the modelled gut microbiota. Results L. plantarum isolates were recovered from reactor effluent of four different adult microbiota and from spontaneously formed reactor biofilms. Auto-aggregation was observed in L. plantarum recovered from all microbiota and at higher percentage when recovered from biofilm than from effluent. Further, auto-aggregation percentage increased over time of cultivation in the microbiota. Starvation of the gut microbiota by interrupting the inflow of nutritive medium enhanced auto-aggregation, suggesting a link to nutrient availability. Auto-aggregation was lost under standard cultivation conditions for lactobacilli in MRS medium. However, it was reestablished during growth on sucrose and maltose and in a medium that simulates the abiotic gut environment. Remarkably, none of these conditions resulted in an auto-aggregation phenotype in the wild type strain NZ3400 nor other non-aggregating L. plantarum, indicating that auto-aggregation depends on the strain history. Whole genome sequencing analysis did not reveal any mutation responsible for the auto-aggregation phenotype. Transcriptome analysis showed highly significant upregulation of LP_RS05225 (msa) at 4.1–4.4 log2-fold-change and LP_RS05230 (marR) at 4.5–5.4 log2-fold-change in all auto-aggregating strains compared to non-aggregating. These co-expressed genes encode a mannose-specific adhesin protein and transcriptional regulator, respectively. Mapping of the RNA-sequence reads to the promoter region of the msa-marR operon reveled a DNA inversion in this region that is predominant in auto-aggregating but not in non-aggregating strains. This strongly suggests a role of this inversion in the auto-aggregation phenotype. Conclusions L. plantarum NZ3400 adapts to the in vitro colonic environment by developing an auto-aggregation phenotype. Similar aggregation phenotypes may promote gut colonization and efficacy of other probiotics and should be further investigated by using validated continuous models of gut fermentation such as PolyFermS

Identification of Valerate as Carrying Capacity Modulator by Analyzing Lactiplantibacillus plantarum Colonization of Colonic Microbiota in vitro

Humans ingest many microorganisms, which may colonize and interact with the resident gut microbiota. However, extensive knowledge about host-independent microbe-microbe interactions is lacking. Here, we investigated such colonization process using a derivative of the model probiotic Lactiplantibacillus plantarum WCFS1 into continuously cultivated gut microbiota in the intestinal PolyFermS fermentation model inoculated with five independently immobilized human adult fecal microbiota. L. plantarum successfully colonized and organized itself spatially in the planktonic, that is, the reactor effluent, and sessile, that is, reactor biofilm, fractions of distinct human adult microbiota. The microbiota carrying capacity for L. plantarum was independent of L. plantarum introduction dose and second supplementation. Adult microbiota (n = 3) dominated by Prevotella and Ruminoccocus exhibited a higher carrying capacity than microbiota (n = 2) dominated by Bacteroides with 10$^{5}$ and 10$^{3}$ CFU/ml of L. plantarum, respectively. Cultivation of human adult microbiota over 3 months resulted in decreased carrying capacity and correlated positively with richness and evenness, suggesting enhanced resistance toward colonizers. Our analyses ultimately allowed us to identify the fermentation metabolite valerate as a modulator to increase the carrying capacity in a microbiota-independent manner. In conclusion, by uncoupling microbe-microbe interactions from host factors, we showed that L. plantarum colonizes the in vitro colonic community in a microbiota-dependent manner. We were further able to demonstrate that L. plantarum colonization levels were not susceptible to the introduction parameters dose and repeated administration but to microbiota features. Such knowledge is relevant in gaining a deeper ecological understanding of colonizer-microbiota interactions and developing robust probiotic strategies