Analysis of English language employment support provision in London for JSA and ESA WRAG customers

The Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion (Inclusion) was commissioned by the Greater London Authority to examine pre-employment English language provision in London and how it can be improved to help support Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), and Employment and Support Allowance work related activity group (ESA WRAG) customers into work

Beyond the Ivory Tower: Supporting the Graduate Nonacademic Career Search through Library Partnerships

For a variety of reasons, some graduate students ultimately determine that they would like to pursue a career outside of the ivory tower. At the same time, these scholars may be uncertain about how to translate their expertise into a nonacademic position. At Cornell University, a partnership between the Management Library and the Careers Beyond Academia office has allowed librarians to utilize their unique expertise to assist graduate students throughout their job search. At the Management Library, business librarians have historically worked with the Career Management Center of the Johnson Graduate School of Management to assist MBA and graduate business students as they prepare for their careers. Positive career outcomes are an important metric for any institution, and librarians support this goal by assisting students throughout all stages of their job search, from locating companies of interest to preparing for interviews and even salary negotiations. Through a partnership with Careers Beyond Academia, librarians have adapted their career research support to assist a broader graduate audience through workshops and one-on-one research consultations. At these workshops, business librarians introduce business research concepts and demonstrate relevant research strategies. At the earliest stages of their career search, graduate students learn to use library resources to begin creating lists of organizations to target as potential employers. At later workshops, students find out how resources like industry reports and company 10-Ks can help them to prepare for an interview and generate questions of their own. In the future, librarians hope to offer workshops specifically geared towards international students who wish to secure positions and remain in the United States. In this presentation, I’ll discuss the history of the library’s partnership with the Careers Beyond Academia office and explain how I’ve adapted our approach to career research to be more accessible to a wider audience. I’ll also share lessons learned and possible opportunities for further development of the partnership

Announcement of Retraction

The editorial board announced this article has been retracted on June 17, 2021. If you have any further question, please contact us at: [email protected]

OPTIMIZATION OF METHODS FOR CROSS-SPECIES INFECTION OF CELL CULTURES WITH WOLBACHIA

The common intracellular endosymbiont genus of bacteria called Wolbachia is of interest due to the promise it shows for playing a role in disease control. Wolbachia have a number of widely variable effects on its many species of host insects. In combination with these roles, Wolbachia largely affects reproduction and development of its host species. It can lead to feminization and cytoplasmic incompatibility (Werren et al. 2008). Furthermore, this species is vertically transmitted which means that it passes from mother to offspring (Caragata et al., 2016). In combination with its effects on reproduction, which can allow Wolbachia to propagate through a species following its introduction, the role that Wolbachia play on immunity to pathogens are what has caused it to be considered as a possible biological tool to minimize disease transmission to human populations. The current study sought to improve lab techniques as they can be used to study Wolbachia through infection of cell cultures. In this study, cell lines of fruit flies, or Drosophila melanogaster, were cultivated and infected with Wolbachia isolated from bed bugs (Cimex lectularius). Microscopy was used to look for indications of desired Wolbachia infection. Results of this study include determination of optimal centrifuge settings and dye technique for this process as well as the necessity of filter use. Finally, the study concluded that juvenile/nymph bed bugs were most useful for Wolbachia extraction

The Bioscience-Industrial Complex, Radical Materialist Aesthetics, and Interspecies Political Ecologies: The Unforeseen Posthuman Future in Mary Shelley\u27s Frankenstein and Margaret Atwood\u27s MaddAddam Trilogy

This project traces how Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy, science fiction novels from the Romantic and contemporary literary periods respectively, contest the problematic relationships between subjecthood, science, ecological health, and patriarchal, capitalist societies by crafting radical materialist alternatives to such a system and its dualistic and destructive interpersonal/interspecies relations. Through the theoretical framework of ecofeminism that recognizes the conceptual linkages between women and nature in Western systems of thought, as well as psychoanalytical feminist critiques of the masculinization of scientific epistemology, this project examines the developmental and ontological overlaps between literary “masculine” and “scientific” subjects socialized under Western patriarchal capitalism and their exploitatively destructive responses to things associated with the “feminine” (i.e. the sensual body, nonhuman animals, people of color, ecological systems, spirituality). The second half of this thesis investigates how the environmental group of Atwood’s trilogy practices a kind of radical materialist philosophy that resembles Deleuze and Guattari’s notion of “becoming-animal” and Jane Bennett’s apprehension of the enchanted materialism of the world of things to elucidate the inadequacy of dualist, patriarchal culture’s models for lived experience. The God’s Gardeners’ belief system advocates practicing a curious “attentiveness,” or sensual receptiveness, to nature in which an energetic, agential wilderness of nonhuman intentionality might be perceived and thereby enable a more interconnected across-species co-existence. The intercommunications between the transgenic animals, humanoid Crakers, and bizarre cult-like humans are a source of hope in that they suggest that our human-nature relation must henceforth be more carefully considerate of more-than-human interests than it has been, more biocentric in its scope as opposed to narrowly homocentric. This newfound sense of continuity helps one begin to think of nature as composed of living, breathing others with unique interests, which then propels one to engage in dialogic ethical responses to and interactions with nonhumans over the more unfortunate and historically popular dialectic between so-called free humans and mechanistic nonhuman natures. The combination of Atwood’s vision of interspecies alliances, Deleuze and Guattari’s politics of becoming, and Bennett’s enchanted stance toward nature provide a viable model of resistance to the continued destruction of the planet

Wait, but why? Challenging the intuitive force of substance dualism

In responding to Joshua Farris’ The Soul of Theological Anthropology, I suggest several reasons for questioning the theological need for substance dualism in any form. Specifically, I argue that it is not at the level of analytic argumentation that the mind or soul is best understood, and that the sciences do indeed challenge substance dualism (despite philosophical arguments to the contrary). In making this argument, I examine the roles of intuition and theological pre-commitments in one’s determination of the correct understanding of the mind or soul. I suggest that dualism is not only theolog-ically unnecessary, but also an intuition that we have reason to question

Lone parent obligations: destinations of lone parents after Income Support eligibility ends (Research report no 710)

"As part of the Lone Parent Obligations (LPO) changes, from November 2008 lone parents with a youngest child aged 12 or over were no longer entitled to receive Income Support (IS) solely on the grounds of being a lone parent. Since then, the age of the youngest child has reduced to ten and over from October 2009 and seven and over from October 2010. Lone parents who are no longer eligible for IS have been able to move to other benefits as appropriate, including Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA). The JSA regime has been amended to include flexibilities for parents, for example, in the hours of work they are required to seek. The aim of this evaluation is to explore whether and how lone parent employment interventions provide an effective incentive to look for paid employment, alongside an effective package of support for workless lone parents, to enable them to find, enter and sustain paid employment." - Page 1

Synthesis, Characterization, and Toxicity Studies of Dirhodium and Diiridium Metal-Metal Bonded Compounds

The anticancer properties of dirhodium tetraacetate were discovered in the 1970's, and subsequently motivated the research of several dirhodium paddlewheel derivatives. The promising results of this research led the Dunbar group to investigate the biological properties of dirhodium partial paddlewheel compounds. Previous work in our group has focused on dirhodium carboxylate derivatives with a series of diimine ligands, namely 1,10-phenanthroline (phen), dipyrido[3,2-f:2',3'-h]quinoxaline (dpq), dipyrido[3,2a:2',3'c] phenazine (dppz), and benzo[i]dipyrido[3,2-a:2',3'-c]phenazine) (dppn). Current research has expanded this diimine series by substituting the carobxylate bridging group with p-methoxyphenylphosphine (PMP). This new series of compounds was characterized by several techniques, including: X-Ray crystallography, 1H NMR spectroscopy, and electronic absorption spectroscopy. The cytotoxicity of these compounds towards HeLa cells was investigated in presence and absence of light in an effort to investigate the ability to use these compounds as photodynamic therapy (PDT) agents. Cytotoxicity measurements were carried out using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5 diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. It was found that in the dark [Rh2(PMP)2(dppz)2][BF4]2 (the dppz derivative of the dirhodium PMP compound) had no cytotoxicity towards HeLa cells, but experienced a 7 fold increase in cytotoxicity upon irradiation (with lambdai_rr equal to 350 nm). This dramatic increase in cytotoxicity upon irradiation makes this compound a potential PDT agent. Diiridium (II,II) compounds were prepared in a dual attempt to determine how the properties of the dirhodium core effect the biological activities of these compounds, as well as investigate the biological activity of a set of compounds that has yet to be explored. The compound [Ir2(DTolF)2(CH3CN)6][BF4]2 was chosen because it has a well understood dirhodium analogue, and it is a known compound. However, it was discovered that there was a potential silver contamination in the final product, stemming from the silver trifluoroacetate oxidant used during synthesis. Consequently, a new method of preparing this compound was required. The new synthetic pathway for the diiridium compound [Ir2(DTolF)2(CH3CN)6][BF4]2 was devised, and the cytotoxicity and photocytotoxicity studies were performed for the first time (to our knowledge) on a diiridium (II,II) compound. Despite the stability of the compound, it was determined to be highly toxic, both in the dark and upon irradiation