Between the devil and the deep blue sea: Nationality, power and symbolic trade-offs among evangelical Protestants in contemporary Northern Ireland

National identity is symbolically complex configuration, with shifts of emphasis and reprioritisations of content negotiated in contexts of power. This paper shows how they occur in one post-conflict situation - Northern Ireland - among some of the most extreme of national actors - evangelical Protestants. In-depth interviews reveal quite radical shifts in the content of their British identity and in their understanding of and relation to the Irish state, with implications for their future politics. The implications for understanding ethno-religious nationalism, nationality shifts and the future of Northern Ireland are drawn out.

Identification and Development of Enzymes Associated With the Sperm Inner Acrosomal Membrane and Their Function during Fertilization

In order for mammalian fertilization to transpire, spermatozoa must transit through the female reproductive tract and penetrate the outer investments of the oocyte: the cumulus oophorus and the zona pellucida. In order to penetrate the oocyte, spermatozoa must undergo the acrosome reaction. The acrosome reaction results in the exposure of the inner acrosomal membrane (IAM) and proteins that coat it to the extracellular environment. After the acrosome reaction, the IAM becomes the leading edge of spermatozoa undergoing progressive movement. Thus the enzymes which effect lysis of the oocyte investments ought to be located on the IAM. An objective of this study was to identify and characterize enzymatic activity detected on the IAM and provide evidence that they play a role in fertilization. This study also describes procedures for fractionating spermatozoa and isolating the IAM and proteins on its intra- and extra-vesicular surfaces, and describes their development during male gametogenesis. Since the IAM is exposed to the extracellular environment and oviductal milieu after the acrosome reaction, this study also sought to characterize interactions and relationships between factors in the oviductal environment and the enzymes identified on the IAM. The data presented provide evidence that MMP2 and acrosin are co-localized on the IAM, originate from the Golgi apparatus in gametogenesis, and suggest they cooperate in their function. Their localization and results of in vitro fertilization suggests they have a function in zona pellucida penetration. The data also provide evidence that plasminogen, originating from the oviductal epithelium and/or cumulus-oocyte complex, is present in the immediate environment of sperm-egg initial contact and penetration. Additionally, plasminogen interacts with MMP2 and enhances its enzymatic action on the IAM. The data also provide evidence that MMP2 has an important function in penetration of the cumulus oophorus. Holistically, this thesis provides evidence that enzymes on the IAM, originating from the Golgi apparatus in development, have an important function in penetration of the outer investments of the oocyte, and are aided in penetration by plasminogen in the female reproductive tract.

Co-evaluation as a strategy to improve working group dynamics: an experience in Sport Sciences

The aim of this study was to analyze if the perceptions of students before and after carrying out the work, that is, their perception of different aspects of the functioning of the group, the working skills acquired as well as those they think that need to be improved, varied depending on whether the contribution of the different members of the group was being co-evaluated or not. 144 students of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences participated in this study. In order to analyze the students' perception of group work the adapted questionnaire by Bourne et al. (2001) was used. Results showed that groups which implemented co-evaluation assessed more negatively the experience in general than those which did not. However, co-evaluation groups perceived their competence to work as a team had improved to a greater extent than the groups without co-evaluation, evaluating more positively both the performance and the result of work and increasing their knowledge of the other team members. Using a co-evaluation system seems to generate both a better assessment of the running of the team and the result of its work.

Inscribir el declive en el tiempo. Detroit: Auge y crisis de la ciudad industrial

A comienzos del siglo XX, Detroit era una ciudad dinámica en pleno desarrollo. Pronto se convirtió en la cuarta ciudad de Estados Unidos, la capital de la naciente industria automovilística. El crecimiento se prolongó hasta finales de los años 50, cuando, a pesar del auge económico de Estados Unidos y de su área metropolitana, Detroit comenzó a mostrar los primeros signos de estancamiento. La crisis se ha prolongado hasta hoy, cuando Detroit constituye el paradigma de la ciudad industrial en declive. Estas dos imágenes contrapuestas, el auge y la crisis, no parecen explicar por sí mismas las causas de la intensidad y persistencia del declive de Detroit. Analizar las interacciones entre crecimiento económico, políticas públicas locales y desarrollo urbano a lo largo del tiempo permitirá subrayar las continuidades y comprender en qué medida el declive de Detroit ancla sus raíces en el modelo planteado durante la etapa de auge.

Growth Coalitions and Rural Development Police in the EU and the US

A recent issue of EuroChoices (7:1) was devoted to a discussion of comparative US-EU rural development policies. This article discusses the concept of growth coalitions, well developed in urban literature but less so in rural literature. Some light is shed on the different positions of rural and environmental issues in EU and US policies. The agricultural lobby is the dominant actor in agricultural growth coalitions because it perceives land in terms of its exchange value. Environmental and rural development actors perceive land in terms of its use value and its contributions to quality of life: they form a rural development coalition, seeing the need to balance growth with quality of life, but they have less political power than the agricultural growth coalition. In the European context, rural and environmental agendas are linked to a multi-functional agricultural agenda allowing common ground between these two coalitions and greater visibility in the policy arena. In the US, rural interests and environmental groups are more often in opposition to agriculture. This reduces their political visibility and clout. The challenge is how to link the power of the agricultural growth coalitions with rural development coalitions to achieve a broader balance of concerns and a more effective rural development policy.

Vis-á-Vis-á-Vis. The Three-dimensional and artistic view of a problem

ANPO (A Non-predefined Outcome) is an an art-making methodology that employs structuralist theory of language (Saussure, Lacan, Foucault) combined with Hegel’s dialectic and the theory of creation of space by Lefebvre to generate spaces of dialogue and conversation between community members and different stakeholders. These theories of language are used to find artistic ways of representing a topic that community members have previously chosen. The topic is approached in a way that allows a visual, aural, performative and gustative form. To achieve this, the methodology is split in four main steps: step 1 ‘This is not a chair’, Step 2 ‘The topic’, Step 3 ‘ Vis-á-vis-á-vis’ and step 4. ‘Dialectical representation’ where the defined topic is used to generate artistic representations.The step 1 is a warm up exercise informed by the Rene Magritte painting ‘This is not a Pipe’. This exercise aims to help the participants to see an object as something else than an object but as a consequence of social implications. Step 2, participants choose a random topic and vote for it. The artist/facilitator does not predetermine the topic, participants are the one who propose it and choose it. Step 3, will be analysed in this publication and finally step 4, the broken down topic is taken to be represented and analysed in different ways. 

Development of selective media for the isolation of yeasts and filamentous fungi from the sputum of adult patients with cystic fibrosis (CF)

Yeasts and filamentous fungi are beginning to emerge as significant microbial pathogens in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), particularly in relation to allergic-type responses, as seen in patients with allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA), Aspergillus bronchitis and in invasive fungal disease in lung transplant patients. Four fungal media were compared in this study, including Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (SDA) and Medium B, with and without the addition of selective antibiotics, where antibiotic-supplemented media were designated with (+). These media were compared for their ability to suppress contaminating, mainly Gram-ve pathogens, in CF sputa (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Burkholderia cepacia complex [BCC] organisms) and to enhance the growth of fungi present in CF sputum. Medium B consisted of glucose (16.7 g/l), agar (20 g/l), yeast extract (30 g/l) and peptone (6.8 g/l) at pH 6.3 and both SDA(+) and Medium B+ were supplemented with cotrimethoxazole, 128 mg/l; chloramphenicol, 50 mg/l; ceftazidime, 32 mg/l; colistin, 24 mg/l). Employment of SDA(+) or Medium B+ allowed an increase in specificity in the detection of yeasts and moulds, by 42.8% and 39.3%, respectively, over SDA when used solely. SDA(+) had a greater ability than Medium B+ to suppress bacterial growth from predominantly Gram-ve co-colonisers. This is a significant benefit when attempting to detect and isolate fungi from the sputum of CF patients, as it largely suppressed any bacterial growth, with the exception of the BCC organisms, thus allowing for an increased opportunity to detect target fungal organisms in sputum and represented a significant improvement over the commercial medium (SDA), which is currently used. Overall, both novel selective media were superior in their ability to suppress bacteria in comparison with the commercially available SDA medium, which is routinely employed in most clinical microbiology diagnostic laboratories presently. Alternatively, Medium B+ had a great ability to grow fungi than SDA(+) and when employed together, the specificity of combined use was 82%, with a sensitivity for yeasts, filamentous fungi, and combined overall fungi of 96.0%, 92.3% and 96.0%, respectively. Overall, when employing one fungal selective medium for the routine detection of yeasts and filamentous fungi in the sputum of CF patients, we would recommend employment of Medium B+. However, we would recommend the combined employment of SDA(+) and Medium B+, in order to synergistically isolate and detect the greatest number of fungi present in CF sputa. (C) 2008 European Cystic Fibrosis Society. Published by Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.

Development of a novel PCR assay for the identification of the black yeast, Exophiala (Wangiella) dermatitidis from adult patients with cystic fibrosis (CF)

Cystic fibrosis (CF) patients may suffer increased morbidity and mortality through colonisation, allergy and invasive infection from fungi. The black yeast, Exophiala dermatitidis (synonym Wangiella dermatitidis) has been found with increasing frequency in sputum specimens of CF patients, with reported isolation rates ranging from 1.1 to 15.7%. At present, no diagnostic PCR exists to aid with the clinical laboratory detection and identification of this organism. A novel species-specific PCR-based assay was developed for the detection of E. dermatitidis, based on employment of rDNA operons and interspacer (ITS) regions between these rDNA operons. Two novel primers, (designated ExdF & ExdR) were designed in silico with the aid of computer-aided alignment software and with the alignment of multiple species of Exophiala, as well as with other commonly described yeasts and filamentous fungi within CF sputum, including Candida. Aspergillus and Scedosporium. An amplicon of approximately 455 by was generated, spanning the partial ITS I region - the complete 5.8S rDNA region - partial ITS2 region, employing ExdF (forward primer [16-mer], 5'-CCG CCT ATT CAG GTC C-3' and ExdR (reverse primer [16-mer], 5'-TCT CTC CCA CTC CCG C-3', was employed and optimised on extracted genomic DNA from a well characterised culture of E. dermatitidis, as well as with high quality genomic DNA template from a further 16 unrelated fungi, including Candida albicans, C. dubliniensis, C. parapsilosis, C. glabrata, Scedosporium apiospermum, Penicillium sp., Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus versicolor, Pichia guilliermondii, Rhodotorula sp., Trichosporon sp., Aureobasidium pullulans, Fusarium sp., Mucor hiemalis, Bionectria ochroleuca, Gibberella pulicaris. Results demonstrated that only DNA from E. dermatitidis gave an amplification product of the expected sire, whilst none of the other fungi were amplifiable. Subsequent employment of this primer pair detected this yeast from mycological cultures from 2/50 (4%) adult CF patients. These two patients were the only patients who were previously shown to have a cultural history of E. dermatitidis from their sputum. E. dermatitidis is a slow-growing fungus, which usually takes up to two weeks to culture in the microbiology laboratory and therefore is slow to detect conventionally, with the risk of bacterial overgrowth from common co-habiting pan- and multiresistant bacterial pathogens from sputum. namely Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Burkholderia cepacia complex organisms, hence this species-specific PCR assay may help detect this organism from CF sputum more specifically and rapidly. Overall, employment of this novel assay nay help in the understanding of the occurrence. aetiology and epidemiology of E. dermatitidis, as an emerging fungal agent in patients with CF. (C) 2008 European Cystic Fibrosis Society. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Age and palaeoenvironmental significance of an inter-tidal peat bed at Ballywoolen, Bann estuary, Co. Londonderry.

A recently exposed inter-tidal peat bed at Ballywoolen, Bann estuary, Co. Londonderry, has yielded new information about mid-Holocene coastal environmental change in the northeast of Ireland. Pollen analytical data and wood detritus demonstrate that peat accumulation occurred in a terrestrial environment that was free from marine influence. Radiocarbon dates suggest that the peat accumulated rapidly during a period of low relative sea level subsequent to the maximum of Holocene relative sea-level rise along the north coast of Northern Ireland. The absence of marine/brackish indicator taxa at the site suggests that the tidal range was somewhat less than that at present and/or that the channel of the river was located some distance east of its present alignment. The dates indicate that the low stand lasted for at least ~0.2 ka and possibly for ~1.1 ka. Stable, woodland-dominated landscapes are indicated at both this site and neighbouring ones around ~6.4-5.3 cal ka BP. There is no evidence for large-scale aeolian sand movement or human impact on the landscape during the period of peat accumulation.

Validation of the CDC Biofilm Reactor as a Dynamic Model for Assessment of Encrustation Formation on Urological Device Materials

Contemporary medical science is reliant upon the rational selection and utilization of devices, and therefore, an increasing need has developed for in vitro systems aimed at replicating the conditions to which urological devices will be subjected to during their use in vivo. We report the development and validation of a novel continuous flow encrustation model based on the commercially available CDC biofilm reactor. Proteus mirabilis-induced encrustation formation on test biomaterial sections under varying experimental parameters was analyzed by X-ray diffraction, infrared- and Raman spectroscopy and by scanning electron microscopy. The model system produced encrusted deposits similar to those observed in archived clinical samples. Results obtained for the system are highly reproducible with encrustation being rapidly deposited on test biomaterial sections. This model will have utility in the rapid screening of encrustation behavior of biomaterials for use in urological applications. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals. Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater 93B: 128-140, 2010

Sex, drugs and STDs: Preliminary findings from the Belfast Youth Development Study

Young people's participation in sexual risk behaviours is commonly linked with participation in a range of other risky behaviours, and in particular with substance use behaviours. This cross-sectional analysis of the sixth sweep of the Belfast Youth Development Study aimed to examine associations between substance use and sexual activity and related risks among 17-19-year olds in Northern Ireland. Being sexual activity and participating in sexual risk behaviours was associated with the use of a range of licit and illicit substances particularly alcohol and ecstasy. Additionally, females were more likely to have been tested for a sexually transmitted disease (STD). The findings add to the existing research body suggesting that substance misuse and sexual risk behaviours tend to co-occur in adolescence and highlight a need to develop appropriate interventions and initiatives for school aged young people.