PCB-associated steatohepatitis and the role of nuclear receptors.

Metabolic diseases, including fatty liver disease, hyperglycemia, and obesity, result when body systems responsible for managing allostasis (dynamic homeostasis across systems) are pressured beyond their collective compensatory reserve. Nutritional excess contributes to this state, the capacity of which is limited by genetic variation, and failure of one system will gradually lead to pathological overload in the others. Agents which act directly on the communication machinery linking these connected systems can also change the point at which allostatic load becomes allostatic overload. Environmental exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a class of persistent organic pollutant, is associated with a specific form of toxicant-associated steatohepatitis, fatty liver disease with inflammatory infiltration. PCBs are known to be ligands for the xenobiotic receptors, which, when activated, modulate the transcription of both xenobiotic and intermediary metabolic targets. We investigated the prevalence and characteristics of liver disease in a human population with high environmental PCB exposure, transcriptional changes in the liver in a mouse model of PCB/high-fat diet coexposure, and transcriptional changes attributable to xenobiotic receptors in a primary hepatocyte model

"Oh, Flip That!" An Evaluation of Flipped Learning in Initial Teacher Education

Technologies are already ‘established and stable’ in Further Education Colleges (AoC, 2014: p. 11), such as distance and blended learning packages, virtual learning environments (VLEs), e-portfolios, messaging and plagiarism detection, however, these technologies often mean there is no interaction between the users, or, when there is, it follows the more traditional didactic method. There is increasing pressure in all education sectors to broaden the use of digital technology in teaching, learning and assessment, and flipped learning has been seen to contribute to this. What makes the flipped classroom different is the use of technology in order to encourage collaborative teaching and learning. This paper will first provide a general overview of flipped learning and then evaluate its effectiveness within Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in the Lifelong Learning Sector (LLS) via a summary of a small-scale research project with in-service trainees. The conclusion emphasises that Teacher Educators require time and support in order to develop and embed e-learning effectively

Advanced technologies and computational modeling in continuous bioprocessing Heather Brooke, Pall Corporation, USA

Biotech companies have been emphasizing the implementation and utilization of process analytical technology (PAT) and chemometrics in biomanufacturing. Advanced technologies and computation modeling have contributed significantly in making this capability come to life. Although there are still gaps in the area of advanced analytics for the process, computation modeling has started to contribute towards process characterization, which will lead to real-time process control. PAT and modeling infrastructure can be utilized in integrated continuous bioprocessing to gain better process understating, reduce production cycle time, improve yield, advance efficiency by converting from a batch process into a continuous process, and reduce cost by the reduction of waste and energy consumption resulting from the real-time release of a batch with improved quality. Computational models give a tighter operating range and allow for feedback controls. An overview of PAT and computation models for biotech processes with emphasis on integrated continuous bioprocessing and production of monoclonal antibodies will be presented

The Role of Supervision in Youth Work: Perceptions of Students Preparing to be Youth Workers

Working with youth involves mentoring and guiding youth through development of their physical, emotional, intellectual, and social skills, as they become adults. One would assume a great responsibility of working with young people comes with extensive training in one particular field; however, this is not always the case (Barcelona, Hurd, & Bruggeman, 2011). The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions expressed by undergraduate students preparing for a career in youth work regarding their knowledge and competence of supervision in a park and recreation setting. It was found in the pre- and post- surveys that future youth workers believe they are confident in supervision. There was statistically significant difference in confidence levels and abilities to take a supervisory role. In addition, students indicated significant growth in their confidence and ability to properly follow risk management procedures. Furthermore, three themes emerged: first, future youth workers welcome the challenge and responsibility of supervision duties; second, risk management is important to future youth workers; and third, future youth workers want to engage in supervision responsibilities and practices. The findings of the study suggest future youth workers may not realize the gravity of their decisions to combat issues of victimization among youth participants or may not fully understand what it looks like to be negligent as it relates to supervision responsibilities

Inquiring into the Real: A Realist Phenomenological Approach

The need for postpositivist or antipositivist methods in the social sciences, including library and information science, is well documented. A promising alternative synthesizes critical realism and phenomenology. This method embraces ontological reality in all things, including human and social action. The ontology underlying the realist phenomenological approach recognizes, following Bhaskar, intransitive and transitive objects of knowledge (mind‐independent reality and individual and social perceptions of that reality). The synthesis encompasses some particular elements, including perceptions of parts and wholes, the reconciliation of presence and absence, and the essential character of intentionality. Withholding judgment (exercising a particular kind of skepticism) enables inquirers to delve into the historicity and background of action. Potential uses of the method are manifold; some specifics are examined here

Driving forces: Projections of the car city

As the threat of a global energy crisis becomes increasingly apparent, the viability of the current automobile, along with its tailored national infrastructure and the beloved car-culture, is in certain jeopardy. This thesis seeks to develop and analyze a series of possible scenarios that yield distinct architectural movements derived from the current car city as we know it today, cognizant of the past's lingering strengths and mindful of the future's dwindling resource palette. It is to be viewed as a means of by which to identify and map some of the forces at play in the future of the city by describing their connectivity, their volatility, and understanding them through grounded, measured trajectories. It is the hope that through an exercise such as this, we might be able to make more informed decisions for the future by projecting from both the past and present

Food & Fertility in Prehistoric California: A Case-study of Risk-Reducing Foraging Behavior and Population Growth from Santa Cruz Island, California

This archaeological dissertation research project integrates a rigorous chronological framework, geochemical data, and subsistence data to evaluate dynamic interrelationships between foodways, the environment, and human population growth in prehistory. Specifically, this case study elucidates temporal variation in risk-reducing foraging behaviors relative to a period of significant and intrinsic population growth ca. 1600 cal B.P. on the Northern Channel Islands of California. I integrate the energetic focus of reproductive ecology with a behavioral ecological perspective to provide a unique framework for understanding prehistoric demographic shifts within foraging populations. The outcome of this research includes the most complete integrated foodways research ever conducted along the central coast of California. The integration of a multiscalar chronological framework and multiple lines of subsistence data provides a unique methodological approach for investigating the role of seasonal subsistence stability in population regulation. Each line of evidence helps in unraveling a complex story of human occupation and foraging behavior at three archaeological sites that I excavated. A thorough and rigorous program of radiometric dating and Bayesian chronological models control the century-level resolution and site seasonality studies based on oxygen isotope analysis the provide seasonal resolution, necessary to infer diachronic shifts in mobility patterns. I also rely on and highlight the importance of analyzing and integrating both faunal and macrobotanical data in order to answer questions of resource exploitation and dietary sufficiency. Together these diverse lines of mobility and subsistence data allow me to reconstruct significant diachronic changes in foraging behavior and evaluate these changes with respect to evidence of climate-induced environmental change and prehistoric population growth. These results suggest that prehistoric human population growth did not always instigate major shifts in food acquisition, but rather was, in some cases, a product of subtle changes in the type, quantity, and quality of food resources upon which human foragers relied. Although this research specifically evaluates dietary and foraging behaviors on Santa Cruz Island, the broad theoretical perspective that macro-scale population level shifts among hunter-gatherers may be an unintended outcome of subtle shifts in foraging behavior--related to a variety of social, environmental, or economic variables--that inform dynamic biological processes is widely applicable to hunter-gatherer studies. Ultimately, this research sheds new light on how significant demographic shifts occurred throughout human history, prior to the adoption of domesticated foods

Recension : Les pédagogies de ré-imagination et de désapprentissage : Les dommages du décolonialisme au sein/contre les tenants du colonialisme au Canada

This book review is a close reading of three book-length works by key, contemporary scholars in the field of settler colonial studies: Walter Mignolo and Catherine Walsh's On Decoloniality; Adam Dahl's The Empire of the People; and Emma Battell Lowman and Adam Barker's Settler: Identity and Colonialism in 21st Century Canada. This review provides a critical account of the significance of navigating the complexities of modern settler colonial practices and frameworks within Western settler societies to better inform and navigate our own decolonizing processes. We identify settler logics, perspectives and foundational frameworks as key factors in our current educative practices. Through this, we debate the significance of unsettling our/selves to consider extensions of our identities through a decolonial lens and how we, as a society, contribute to ongoing colonial processes. The review also provides approaches to how these resources may be used to deepen our anti-colonial lens by considering these texts as an underlying basis to reflect upon current educative curricula.Ce travail est une analyse minutieuse sur les critiques des trois ouvrages écrits par des universitaires contemporains de référence dans le domaine des études décoloniales : La Décolonisation (On Decoloniality) de Walter Mignolo et Catherine Walsh; L’Empire du Peuple (The Empire of the People) de Adam Dahl; et Les Colons : Identité et colonialisme en 21ème siècle au Canada (Settler: Identity and Colonialism in 21st Century Canada) de Emma Battell Lowman et Adam Barker. Cette étude fournit un compte rendu critique de l’importance d’explorer les éléments complexes constituant les structures et les pratiques du système colonialisme moderne à l’intérieur des sociétés occidentales coloniales afin de mieux nous informer et nous diriger dans nos propres processus de décolonisation. Nous identifions les logiques, les perspectives et les cadres référentiels des colons qui sont des facteurs clés de nos pratiques éducatives actuelles. A travers cette analyse, nous discutons de l’importance de nous défaire nous-mêmes en considérant les héritages de nos identités sous un angle décolonial et comment nous, en tant que société, contribuons aux processus du système colonialisme actuel. L’analyse fournit aussi une approche sur la façon dont ces ressources peuvent être utilisées pour approfondir notre vision anticoloniale en considérant ces écrits comme un fondement sur lequel se reposent les curricula actuels