Civic Engagement in Global Contexts: International Education, Community Partnerships, and Higher Education

This volume examines the role of writing, rhetoric, and literacy programs and approaches in the practice of civic engagement in global contexts. Writing programs have experience in civic engagement and service learning projects in their local communities, and their work is central to developing students’ literacy practices. Further, writing programs compel student writers to attend to audience needs and rhetorical exigencies as well as reflect on their own subject positions. Thus, they are particularly situated to partner with other units on college campuses engaged in global partnerships. Civic Engagement in Global Contexts provides examples and evidence of the critical self-reflection and iteration with community partners that make these projects important and valuable. Throughout its thirteen chapters, this collection provides practical pedagogical and administrative approaches for writing studies faculty engaging with global learning projects, as well as nuanced insight into how to navigate contact zones from the planning stages of projects to the hard work of self-reflection and change. Partnerships and projects across national borders compel the field of rhetoric and composition to think through the ethics of writing studies program design and teaching practices. Doing this difficult work can disrupt presumptive notions of ownership that faculty and administrators hold concerning the fields involved in these projects and can even lead to decentering rhetoric/composition and other assumptions held by US-based institutions of higher education. Civic Engagement in GlobalContexts will be useful to instructors, advisors, and project managers of students in faculty-led project learning in overseas settings, international service learning through foreign study programs, and foreign study itself and to faculty members introducing civic engagement and community-based learning projects with foreign students in overseas institutions.https://fisherpub.sjf.edu/bookshelf/1081/thumbnail.jp

Caring for preservice teachers' professional and personal growth during and after COVID

The pastoral aspects of teachers’ role are well-established, as are their relationships with students (O’Connor, 2008). The role extends beyond the cognitive aspects of learning to the affective domain and the impact this has upon student learning and wellbeing more generally. In addition, an increasing body of literature addresses the health and wellbeing of preservice teachers (see, for example, Manning et al., 2019; Philpott, 2015). The COVID-19 pandemic has made us pay more attention to, and try to more deeply understand, care for preservice teachers. The dual academic and professional nature of teacher education programs put a great deal of demand on students, many of whom are still in their early 20s. For many, there are both job stresses from placements alongside academic stresses from coursework, an extremely demanding combination. How to care for our preservice teachers as we navigate theCOVID-19 pandemic is the focus of this chapter

Meisenheimer Complex Inspired Catalyst- and Solvent-Free Synthesis of Noncyclic Poly(aryl ether sulfone)s

Identifying solvent- and catalyst-free conditions for polymerizations of engineering thermoplastics is of increasing interest due to new polymer processing technologies such as 3-D printing. We report the selective formation of linear poly­(aryl ether sulfone)­s (PESs) from the polycondensation of trimethylsilyl-protected bisphenol A (TMS-BPA) with nitro-substituted diaryl fluorides without added solvent or catalyst. DFT calculations show that nitro groups strategically placed in the <i>ortho</i>-position to the fluoride leaving group form a stable Meisenheimer complex during polyether synthesis. This strategy represents a route to linear PESs that employs anionic conditions, destabilizing propagating phenoxide chain ends preventing backbiting while simultaneously stabilizing the Meisenheimer complex intermediate. Thermodynamic over kinetic control in the polycondensation minimizes cyclic PES formation and promotes the formation of pure linear PESs

Growth of vegetative <i>C</i>. <i>difficile</i> is inhibited by post-FMT bile acids.

<p>A) Hourly OD₆₀₀ measurements for NAP1 cells in BHIS alone (circle), BHIS with pre-FMT bile acids (triangle), and BHIS with post-FMT bile acids (square). B) OD₆₀₀ at 24 h for 10 isolates. Legend: BA = bile acids; and * = p <0.01. Data represent mean ± SEM.</p

<i>C</i>. <i>difficile</i> spores germinate in response to primary bile acids.

<p>A) (Left Panel) Relative OD₆₀₀ of NAP1 spores exposed to 0.5 mM (square) or 2 mM (triangle) TA versus BHIS alone (circle). (Right Panel) Relative OD₆₀₀ of spores from 10 isolates after 20 min exposure to 0.5 or 2 mM TA vs. BHIS alone. B) (Left Panel) Relative OD₆₀₀ of NAP1 spores exposed to 0.5 mM (square), 1 mM (diamond), or 2 mM (triangle) CA versus BHIS alone (circle). (Right Panel) Relative OD₆₀₀ of spores from 10 isolates after 20 min exposure to 0.5, 1, or 2 mM CA vs. BHIS alone. C) (Left) Relative OD₆₀₀ of NAP1 spores exposed to 0.25 mM (dashed line), 0.5 mM (square), 1 mM (diamond), or 2 mM (triangle) CDCA versus BHIS alone (circle). (Right Panel) Relative OD₆₀₀ of spores from 10 isolates after 20 min exposure to 0.25, 0.5, 1, or 2 mM CDCA vs. BHIS alone. OD₆₀₀(t)/OD₆₀₀(t₀) = OD₆₀₀ normalized to initial OD₆₀₀ (relative OD₆₀₀). Legends: *** = p < 0.001, ** = p < 0.01; * = p < 0.05, n.s. = non-significant. BHIS = BHI with yeast extract and L-cysteine; TA = taurocholate; CA = cholate; and CDCA = chenodeoxycholic acid. Data represent mean ± SEM.</p

Changes in Colonic Bile Acid Composition following Fecal Microbiota Transplantation Are Sufficient to Control <i>Clostridium difficile</i> Germination and Growth

<div><p>Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is a highly effective therapy for recurrent <i>Clostridium difficile</i> infection (R-CDI), but its mechanisms remain poorly understood. Emerging evidence suggests that gut bile acids have significant influence on the physiology of <i>C</i>. <i>difficile</i>, and therefore on patient susceptibility to recurrent infection. We analyzed spore germination of 10 clinical <i>C</i>. <i>difficile</i> isolates exposed to combinations of bile acids present in patient feces before and after FMT. Bile acids at concentrations found in patients’ feces prior to FMT induced germination of <i>C</i>. <i>difficile</i>, although with variable potency across different strains. However, bile acids at concentrations found in patients after FMT did not induce germination and inhibited vegetative growth of all <i>C</i>. <i>difficile</i> strains. Sequencing of the newly identified germinant receptor in <i>C</i>. <i>difficile</i>, CspC, revealed a possible correspondence of variation in germination responses across isolates with mutations in this receptor. This may be related to interstrain variability in spore germination and vegetative growth in response to bile acids seen in this and other studies. These results support the idea that intra-colonic bile acids play a key mechanistic role in the success of FMT, and suggests that novel therapeutic alternatives for treatment of R-CDI may be developed by targeted manipulation of bile acid composition in the colon.</p></div

<i>C</i>. <i>difficile</i> spores do not germinate in response to secondary bile acids.

<p>A) (Left Panel) Relative OD₆₀₀ of NAP1 spores exposed to 0.5 mM (square), 1 mM (diamond), or 2 mM (triangle) DCA versus BHIS alone (circle). (Right Panel) Relative OD₆₀₀ of spores from 10 isolates after 20 min exposure to 0.5, 1, or 2 mM DCA vs. BHIS alone. B) (Left Panel) Relative OD₆₀₀ of NAP1 spores exposed to 0.5 mM (square), 1 mM (diamond), or 2 mM (triangle) LCA versus BHIS alone (circle). (Right Panel) Relative OD₆₀₀ of spores from 10 isolates after 20 min exposure to 0.5, 1, or 2 mM LCA vs. BHIS alone. OD₆₀₀(t)/OD₆₀₀(t₀) = OD₆₀₀ normalized to initial OD₆₀₀ (relative OD₆₀₀). Legend: n.s. = non-significant. BHIS = BHI with yeast extract and L-cysteine; DCA = deoxycholate; and LCA = lithocholic acid. Data represent mean ± SEM.</p