Writes of Spring 2014: Fostering Creativity in Theatre, Education, and Leadership

Creativity is valued in many fields. In theatre, creativity celebrates the imaginative power of a theatrical experience. In theatre for young audiences (TYA), creativity is extended from the stage to the classroom, where theatre empowers learning through creative and imaginative teaching. Teaching artists and theatre makers in the field of theatre for young audiences utilize creativity as a means of connecting artistic and educational value. Through professional development and qualitative research, this project demonstrates the importance of creativity and its role in the classroom and on stage. This study examines my role as Project Coordinator in Orlando Repertory Theatre\u27s (The REP) Writes of Spring 2014 and the developments I add to enhance the educational and artistic value and project. Specifically, I survey the findings of selected students\u27 submissions in a creative writing contest by developing and facilitating an arts integration professional development workshop for their teachers. By evaluating these findings I gain insight into the positive effect of enhancing creativity in public school classrooms. To project the value of creativity further, I apply a theoretical framework to my research. Specifically, I apply creative pedagogy, constructivism, and collective creativity to develop a fully-supported educational and artistic project. This project allows students to find writing inspiration through theatre, guides teachers to find clarity in new practices through creativity, and encourages artists to celebrate creativity in developing and producing new works

The American Injustice System: The Inherent Conflict of Interest in Police-Prosecutor Relationships & How Immunity Lets Them \u27Get Away with Murder\u27

There is an inherent conflict of interest in the American justice system arising out of the intimate police-prosecutor relationship that has evolved in the United States over the last forty years. While police and prosecutors formerly operated as independent units, a concerted effort to join forces has resulted in close working relationships. These relationships have increasingly led law enforcement to employ perjury and unethical tactics to obtain unjust convictions against criminal defendants. In addition, they have allowed law enforcement to commit atrocious acts without fear of punishment. And, because police and prosecutors enjoy immunity under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for almost any conduct, victims and their families are often left without recourse in either a criminal or civil forum—even when law enforcement officials commit criminal, malicious, or bad faith acts against them. But there is hope yet. This Comment proposes a larger degree of separation between officers and prosecutors. It also proposes that law enforcement officials be held accountable for purposefully failing to report each other’s misconduct and criminal acts. Finally, it suggests that immunity doctrines should be limited to exclude malicious and bad faith acts. These modifications will result in a more trustworthy and predictable criminal justice system—one that stifles the insidious behavior that leads to unjust criminal convictions, and provides § 1983 plaintiffs a better chance at recovery when law enforcement officials violate their rights. Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable . . . Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals

The Experience of Caregiving for Persons with Advanced Heart Failure: An Integrative Review

ABSTRACT Introduction: It is estimated that the number of people in the advanced stages of heart failure will rise in the future. To meet the high demands of this population, family caregivers will be required to play a large role. Without adequate support, caregivers of persons with advanced HF often have difficulty managing their caregiving role. Access to palliative care services have been shown to reduce caregiver burden; however, referral to these programs is limited. The unique needs of caregivers of persons with advanced HF are not effectively being met and reports of physical and mental health challenges are common. Objective: The purpose of this review was to outline the state of the literature related to the experience of family caregiving for persons with advanced heart failure and identify gaps that require further research investigation. Methodology: The method used for this integrative review was based on Whitmore and Knafl’s approach to systematically combining quantitative and qualitative literature. A search of CINAHL, Medline, EMBASE and PubMed identified 23 articles that met inclusion criteria. Articles were assessed for quality categorizing each article as either Strong, Moderate or Weak. Data was analyzed using the constant comparison method and coded in NVivo11 (QSR International). Thematic analysis was used to develop themes. Results: The state of the literature related to caregivers of persons with advanced HF can be divided into six key areas which include: a) undertaking a journey in a state of flux, b) gaining strength, c) forgetting oneself along the way, d) seeking out sources of support, e) preparing for end of life, and f) finding closure. Significance: There is an incomplete understanding of the experience of caregiving for persons with advanced heart failure. Specific research gaps included the male perspective, study of participants other than a spouse, Canadian context, positive aspects of caregiving, and caregiver experience during bereavement period. Conclusion: It is recommended that future research attempt to reduce current gaps in the literature in order to gain a broader understanding of the experience of caregiving for persons with advanced heart failure. This enhanced understanding can then be used as a basis for development of targeted interventions that meet the care needs of this population

Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Dissolved Organic Carbon, Chlorophyll, Nutrients, and Trace Metals in Maritime Antarctic Snow and Snowmelt

Despite scientific interest in the investigation of biogeochemical changes in meltwaters of the Antarctic Peninsula, we still lack an understanding of the seasonal dynamics and release of dissolved and particulate carbon, nutrients, as well as trace metals from Antarctic snowpacks. Harsh conditions, lack of appreciation of the heterogeneity of the environment, as well as logistical constraints during fieldwork mean there is great demand for more detailed and comprehensive research. Therefore, a unique, comprehensive study of snowpack biogeochemistry was performed in the Ryder Bay area of the Antarctic Peninsula during the entire 2016/2017 melt season. Two-hundred snowpack and snowmelt samples were collected throughout the campaign, to quantify for the first time, seasonal dynamics and export of dissolved carbon, in-vivo chlorophyll, nutrient, and trace metals from Antarctic snowpack in various locations. Our study uncovered the importance of environmental heterogeneity with respect to the export of solutes and carbon. A distinctive split in the temporal dynamics of solute export was found, suggesting that some solutes are rapidly delivered to coastal environments early in the summer whilst others are delivered more gradually throughout it. Coastal, low elevation snowpacks were identified as “power plants” of microbial activity, playing an important role in the regulation of land-ocean fluxes of labile carbon and bio-limiting macro- and micro-nutrients. We also found that multiannual snow residing deep below the surface can further contribute to biogeochemical enrichment of coastal ecosystems. Additionally, inland snowpack have been identified as a store for nutrients, dissolved organic carbon and chlorophyll. Lastly, we show that a number of factors (environmental characteristics, geochemical heterogeneity, and internal biogeochemical processes in snow) make simple snowpack surveys insufficient for the prediction of biogeochemical fluxes carried by snowmelt runoff into the marine environment. A return to significant fieldwork-based research in Antarctica is therefore necessary to advance our knowledge of the complex biogeochemical processes occurring there. This study provides crucial data and process insights for more accurate predictions of how changing climate will influence the Antarctic carbon cycle and the globally important Southern Ocean ecosystem

Groundwater springs formed during glacial retreat are a large source of methane in the high Arctic

Permafrost and glaciers in the high Arctic form an impermeable ‘cryospheric cap’ that traps a large reservoir of subsurface methane, preventing it from reaching the atmosphere. Cryospheric vulnerability to climate warming is making releases of this methane possible. On Svalbard, where air temperatures are rising more than two times faster than the average for the Arctic, glaciers are retreating and leaving behind exposed forefields that enable rapid methane escape. Here we document how methane-rich groundwater springs have formed in recently revealed forefields of 78 land-terminating glaciers across central Svalbard, bringing deep-seated methane gas to the surface. Waters collected from these springs during February–May of 2021 and 2022 are supersaturated with methane up to 600,000 times greater than atmospheric equilibration. Spatial sampling reveals a geological dependency on the extent of methane supersaturation, with isotopic evidence of a thermogenic source. We estimate annual methane emissions from proglacial groundwaters to be up to 2.31 kt across the Svalbard archipelago. Further investigations into marine-terminating glaciers indicate future methane emission sources as these glaciers transition into fully land-based systems. Our findings reveal that climate-driven glacial retreat facilitates widespread release of methane, a positive feedback loop that is probably prevalent across other regions of the rapidly warming Arcti

Application of the LymphGen classification tool to 928 clinically and genetically-characterised cases of diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL).

We recently published results of targeted sequencing applied to 928 unselected cases of DLBCL registered in the Haematological Malignancy Research Network (HMRN) registry (1). Clustering allowed us to resolve five genomic subtypes. These subtypes shared considerable overlap with those proposed in two independent genomic studies(2, 3), suggesting the potential to use genetics to stratify patients by both risk and biology. In the original studies, clustering techniques were applied to sample cohorts to reveal molecular substructure, but left open the challenge of how to classify an individual patient. This was addressed by the LymphGen classification tool (4). LymphGen assigns an individual case to one of six molecular subtypes. The tool accommodates data from exome or targeted sequencing, either with or without copy number variant (CNV) data. Separate gene expression data allows classification of a seventh, MYC-driven subtype defined by a double hit (DHL) or molecular high-grade (MHG) gene expression signature(5-7).HR was funded by a studentship from the Medical Research Council. DH was supported by a Clinician Scientist Fellowship from the Medical Research Council (MR/M008584/1). The Hodson laboratory receives core funding from Wellcome and MRC to the Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute and core funding from the CRUK Cambridge Cancer Centre. HMRN is supported by BCUK 15037 and CRUK 18362