From paper, ink and dust: Thank you (two words from an archive of Elizabeth Jolley\u27s writing for students)

The installation Thank You (two words), will be an outcome of my research into the creative process through practice-led research. It will aim to communicate to the viewer something of the search and experimentation I have carried out in the studio through a material engagement with a small personal archive of writing by Elizabeth Jolley (1923-2007). Through an engagement with particular materials-paper, ink, and dust the installation will also aim to participate in a conversation of broad relevance in the visual arts, and one in which many artists, writers and thinkers have been interested since the eighteenth century: a conversation about thinking, making and seeing begun by Romantic writers and thinkers. Many recent commentators, including visual artists, have responded to the archive as a melancholy place of loss; however my research has been predicated on the notion that the archive and the past to which it gives access might make possible conversations with the thinkers, writers and artists of the past and facilitate contemporary creative work. As such, my research also participates in a conversation about the archive. This exegesis backgrounds my planned installation through a discussion which briefly describes the Jolley archive and the key ideas-the Romantic fragment, the archive, dust-that have accompanied my creative work in the studio. I demonstrate the ways in which Paul Carters\u27 concept of material thinking has been instrumental in the development of my project, through a discussion of my adoption of aspects of Elizabeth Jolley\u27s creative process and in the development of my planned installation. I also outline the way I have come to see the migration of dust as a metaphor for interactions between people and objects in the spaces of the archive and the gallery and for the conversations in which I aim to participate through the installation, Thank You (two words)

The Predictive Relationship Between School Climate and Self-Perceived Stress Levels Among Fourth- and Fifth-Grade Teachers

Educational research continues to show that teachers are leaving the field of education in large numbers for a variety of reasons. One documented reason for teacher attrition is job-related stress. This correlational, predictive study examined the relationships between the predictor variables of school climate (collaboration, decision-making, instructional innovation, school resources, and student relations) with the criterion variable of teacher stress among fourth- and fifth-grade public school teachers from across the United States. A convenience sample of 68 teachers participated in the study by completing the Revised School Level Environment Questionnaire (R-SLEQ), which measured school climate, and the Teacher Stress Inventory (TSI), which measured teacher stress. A multiple regression analysis was used to determine if a significant predictive relationship exists between school climate and teacher stress. Data analysis revealed a significant relationship between school climate and teacher stress. Of the five school climate factors studied, decision-making was found to be the only significant predictor. Implications of the research included the need for districts and school leaders to cultivate a positive school climate and provide opportunities for teachers to be involved in school-based decision-making as a means to reduce teacher stress

Online Tactics and Successes: An Examination of the Obama for America New Media Campaign

Offers lessons learned from the 2008 Obama campaign on the effective use of various new media to organize volunteers, raise funds, and get out the vote. Examines the elements of success and supporting factors and identifies best practices for nonprofits

Citizenship education in New Zealand: policy and practice

The desire to mould citizens through curricula and educational initiatives is reflected in government policy around the world. Schools can be thought of as an aggregation of the values, aspirations and ideals held by society and sites where a range of strategies are employed to attempt to shape young citizens in certain ways (Staeheli, 2011). New Zealand is no exception. From the first Education Act in 1877 through to the latest New Zealand curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007), successive governments have attempted to engender the dispositions, skills and understandings perceived as constituting responsible, ‘good’ citizens through a variety of citizenship education initiatives.&nbsp

Hypoxia Upregulates Estrogen Receptor β in Pulmonary Artery Endothelial Cells in a HIF-1α-Dependent Manner

17β-Estradiol (E2) attenuates hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension (HPH) through estrogen receptor (ER)-dependent effects, including inhibition of hypoxia-induced endothelial cell proliferation; however, the mechanisms responsible for this remain unknown. We hypothesized that the protective effects of E2 in HPH are mediated through hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α)-dependent increases in ERβ expression. Sprague-Dawley rats and ERα or ERβ knockout mice were exposed to hypobaric hypoxia for 2-3 weeks. The effects of hypoxia were also studied in primary rat or human pulmonary artery endothelial cells (PAECs). Hypoxia increased expression of ERβ, but not ERα, in lungs from HPH rats as well as in rat and human PAECs. ERβ mRNA time dependently increased in PAECs exposed to hypoxia. Normoxic HIF-1α/HIF-2α stabilization increased PAEC ERβ, whereas HIF-1α knockdown decreased ERβ abundance in hypoxic PAECs. In turn, ERβ knockdown in hypoxic PAECs increased HIF-2α expression, suggesting a hypoxia-sensitive feedback mechanism. ERβ knockdown in hypoxic PAECs also decreased expression of the HIF inhibitor prolyl hydroxylase 2 (PHD2), whereas ERβ activation increased PHD2 and decreased both HIF-1α and HIF-2α, suggesting that ERβ regulates the PHD2/HIF-1α/HIF-2α axis during hypoxia. Whereas hypoxic wild-type or ERα knockout mice treated with E2 demonstrated less pulmonary vascular remodeling and decreased HIF-1α after hypoxia compared with untreated hypoxic mice, ERβ knockout mice exhibited increased HIF-2α and an attenuated response to E2 during hypoxia. Taken together, our results demonstrate a novel and potentially therapeutically targetable mechanism whereby hypoxia, via HIF-1α, increases ERβ expression and the E2-ERβ axis targets PHD2, HIF-1α, and HIF-2α to attenuate HPH development

Virtual Reality for Preservation: Production of Virtual Reality Heritage Spaces in the Classrooom

The Bethel AME Church was the oldest African American church in Indianapolis. In November 2016, the congregation moved out of downtown, and the building that had housed the congregation since 1869 was sold. It is now being redeveloped into a hotel. Through the Virtual Bethel project, faculty and students in the Media Arts and Science (MAS) program at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) created a 3D virtual space of the physical sanctuary to preserve the cultural heritage of Bethel. During its creation, Virtual Bethel served as a curricular and co-curricular experience for the undergraduate students in the 3D graphics and animation specialization within class N441 3D Team Production, which was co-taught by Albert William and Zebulun Wood. Virtual Bethel, finished in 2018, was the first historical and cultural preservation project that used VR within our class, program, school, and Indiana University (IU) campus. Users can interact with various types of primary sources (e.g., photographs, video, audio, text) to learn about the underrepresented history of African Americans associated with the church. Virtual Bethel was created in a series of classes within the MAS Program in the School of Informatics and Computing (SoIC), IUPUI. Methods of teaching a team of students to preserve historic spaces using VR are discussed, as are our philosophies toward productions when working with varying stakeholders’ priorities related to data preservation, asset preservation, and cultural preservation

Learning through virtual reality: Virtual Bethel case study

Focusing on the challenges of teaching virtual reality creation and preservation, our paper will present a case study involving the virtual recreation of the Bethel AME Church sanctuary. We were particularly interested in students’ skills, the technology, and costs associated with teaching and learning virtual reality, and how these factors influence overall student learning experiences. Two courses are explored: 3D Production and Digital Preservation. We have learned that teaching and learning in this space is technology and skill intensive. By assessing the skills and technology needed as well as the costs and student experiences, we are better able to communicate the needs of these projects to potential funders and collaborators. We’ve determined that without external funding, we are currently at capacity and will need funding for additional collaborative projects. The level of technical ability of the students influenced their level of satisfaction as well as their capacity to learn

Interplay between perturbative and non-perturbative effects with the ARES method

We present a new semi-numerical method to compute leading hadronisation corrections to two-jet event shapes in $e^+e^-$ annihilation. The formalism we present utilises the dispersive approach, where the magnitude of power corrections is controlled by suitable moments of an effective strong coupling, but it can be adapted to other methods. We focus on observables where the interplay between perturbative and non-perturbative effects is crucial in determining the power corrections. A naive treatment of power corrections for some of these observables gives rise to an unphysical behaviour in the corresponding distributions for moderate observable values, thus considerably limiting the available range to fit the non-perturbative moments. We present a universal treatment to handle such observables, based on a suitable subtraction procedure, and compare our results to the analytic result in the case of total broadening. Finally, for the first time we present predictions for the thrust major, which cannot be handled with analytic methods.Comment: The revised version contains an additional figure and provides further clarification

Understanding the Stigma and Feasibility of Opening a Safe Injection Facility in Baltimore City: A Qualitative Case Study

Supervised injection facilities (SIFs) are medically supervised facilities designed to provide a hygienic environment in which drug users can consume illicit drugs intravenously. SIFs can be cost saving, help to reduce transmission of disease, and decrease drug overdoses. There are no SIFs in the United States. In this study we used a multiple case study design to understand the stigma surrounding the use of a SIF and the feasibility of implementing the drug prevention strategy in Baltimore City by comparing experiences with opening a SIF in Sydney, Australia. We interviewed one healthcare worker at the Sydney SIF and ten community stakeholders in Baltimore City. Interviewees were asked about community stigma of SIFs, drug use, and feasibility of opening a SIF in Baltimore City. Six overarching themes were established including lack of trust, lack of public education, fear of police, concern about efficacy of harm reduction programs, drug user stigma, and concerns about implementation. Findings suggest that stigma surrounding drug use and drug users is the most important aspect in shaping the participant\u27s varied perceptions of SIFs. Participants believed that for any change to occur, there must be multi-tiered collaboration at the level of government, healthcare, community, and law enforcement