PhD Work Research Articles

Impact assessment of a large panel of organic and inorganic micropollutants released by wastewater treatment plants at the scale of France

Micropollutants emitted by Human activities represent a potential threat to our health and aquatic environment. Thousands of active substances are used and go to WWTP through wastewaters. During water treatment, incomplete elimination occurs. Effluents released to the environment still contain part of the micropollutants present in the influents. Here, we studied the potential impacts on Human health and aquatic environment of the release of 261 organic micropollutants and 25 inorganic micropollutants at the scale of France. Data were gathered from national surveys, reports, papers and PhD works. The USEtox ® model was used to assess potential impacts. The impacts on Human health were estimated for 94 organic and 15 inorganic micropollutants and on aquatic environment for 88 organic and 19 inorganic micropollutants highlighting lack of concentration and toxicological data in literature. Some Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and pesticides as well as As and Zn showed highest potential impacts on Human health. Some pesticides, PCB 101, βE2, Al, Fe and Cu showed highest potential impacts on aquatic environment.

Influencia de la mística de san Juan de la Cruz en la obra de Wojtyła/Juan Pablo II

Se busca poner de relieve la influencia que ha tenido el gran místico español San Juan de la Cruz en la obra de Karol Wojtyła-Juan Pablo II. Cómo conoció al místico español a través de Tyranowski y su influencia en la elaboración de su tesis doctoral. La autoridad y el influjo de este autor va forjando su “estilo de pensar”, que ha ido madurando y proyectándose a nuevos horizontes. El núcleo esencial de su propia visión filosófica y teológica se encuentra ya en su tesis doctoral dedicada a la teología de la fe en los escritos de san Juan de la Cruz; ahí están ya contenidos los filones esenciales del pensamiento de Wojtyła. El encuentro con este místico le llevó a una transformación de su obra poética y su influjo se transparenta en su estilo literario. Una poesía cuyo protagonista es el hombre y su intimidad. Encontró en san Juan la unidad de filosofía, descripción fenomenológica y poesía. El encuentro con sus obras resultó decisivo en su elección por lo poético como primer modo de expresar su pensamiento. Así podemos decir que el núcleo de su visión teológica y mística puede encontrarse en la primera etapa de su vida y forma parte de lo más esencial de su pensamiento y de la heredad que nos dejó. La lectura de las poesías de san Juan de la Cruz, ha contribuido a la cristalización de su estilo poético y lo ha llevado a una transformación interior de su obra poética.

Challenges of Faith-Based NGO Intervention in Community Development: a Case Study in Bangladesh

The intervention of faith-based non-governmental organizations in the development area is no more an ignored topic due to their comprehensive coverage in humanitarian assistance, rise of global identity politics, and the changing ideological view of development donors and policymakers. However, such engagements are prone to criticisms. This paper aims to report the qualitative findings highlighting the strengths and challenges of faith-based non-governmental organizations in community development, based on a broader convergent parallel mixed-method study of the first author’s PhD work. The study was conducted in the north-western region of Bangladesh, where Islamic Relief Worldwide, a faith-based international non-governmental organization implemented the Action for Peoples’ Rights and Livelihood (APRIL) project for community development. Using a qualitative approach, this study gathered data from in-depth interviews of 11 participants, five focus groups, and 10 key informants. Results showed that faith-based non-governmental organizations made significant contributions in providing services to the ultra-poor without discrimination, offering flexible “pressure-free” loans, and developing a sense of community ownership. Within this spectrum, this study found a number of challenges in the community development efforts. These include (a) continuation of the provision of interest-free loans, (b) sustaining community-based organizations, (c) labeling of proselytization, and (d) deficient implementation mechanisms. Although this paper focuses on a faith-based non-governmental organization in Bangladesh, the findings have global implications, especially addressing the knowledge gap in the existing literature.

The 50th anniversary of reverse transcriptase-and its ironic legacy in the time of coronavirus.

The 50th anniversary of reverse transcriptase-and its ironic legacy in the time of coronavirus.

Collection Development of Legal Information Resources in the Supreme Court of India

AbstractThis paper by Dr. Mohd Muzzammil concerns the legal information resources at the Supreme Court of India Judges’ Library (SCJL). The article is based on a survey conducted by the researcher as part of his PhD work. He describes the Court and the library collections that support the work of the SCJL, and notes that print legal information resources are used more than electronic resources. The study also realised that a significant percentage of the library budget is expended on subscriptions for journals.

Organic electrochromic molecules: synthesis, properties, applications and impact

Abstract Organic electronics are at the forefront of modern research, with goals of creating more efficient and environmentally benign devices. Organic molecules can achieve this as they typically result in materials that are solution-processable and less toxic than their transition-metal counterparts. Electrochromic molecules have unique color changing properties upon passing an electrical current making them highly sought after for colored displays, dimming mirrors, and smart windows. Part of my PhD work was devoted to developing a new class of electrochromic molecules, the phosphoryl-bridged viologens, with more favorable redox properties and new color changing modes. In order to understand the necessity and potential of new electrochromes, it is important to assess the history of the field and its future. In addition to designing new molecules for electrochromic devices, it is equally important to design a multifunctional species with a bright, competitive future across various organic electronic applications.

Surdez, educação e trabalho

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo mostrar um panorama do estado da arte das produções acadêmicas, cuja temática relaciona a formação educacional dos surdos e sua atuação no mercado de trabalho, com a finalidade é obter um aprofundamento no processo investigativo da pesquisa de campo, que faz parte de uma pesquisa de Doutoramento, intitulada O surdo, a educação e o trabalho: uma análise dessa tríade no mercado de trabalho em Aracaju/Se. Para a realização da coleta de dados foi consultado o Banco de Teses e Dissertações da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES). O período da busca foi demarcado, inicialmente, pelo último ano em que estavam disponíveis as informações no Banco de Teses, ou seja, 2018, e retrocedendo-se cinco anos, temos como corte inicial o ano de 2014. No entanto, tendo identificado apenas uma produção relacionada a esta temática, foi realizada outra busca, de forma geral, sem delimitar período, com o intuito de obter um número maior de trabalhos publicados. Para a organização dos dados coletados e a fim de analisar o corpus encontrado, foram definidas duas categorias de análise: (i) tipos de pesquisa, e (ii) abordagem teórica. A sistematização dos dados foi feita a partir de quadros por considerar-se que os dados neles apresentados consolidam uma análise quantitativa e descritiva. A pesquisa em questão nos permite conhecer a não evolução das produções que relacionam surdez, educação e trabalho, pois a caracterização das produções aponta temas silenciados, evidenciando a necessidade de novas investigações na área.

A person before a PhD: understanding and combatting an academic identity crisis.

Robert Seaborne’s overcommitment to his PhD work led to a loss of identity. He explains three things that helped him to rediscover himself after graduate studies. Robert Seaborne’s overcommitment to his PhD work led to a loss of identity. He explains three things that helped him to rediscover himself after graduate studies.

The Electrolyte Frontier: A Manifesto

Chibueze is currently an assistant professor at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago where his research group focuses on tackling the challenges (some of which are detailed here) related to electrolytes for energy storage and electrocatalysis. He obtained his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), did his postdoctoral work at Stanford University, and was a visiting fellow at the University of Cambridge (UK). His PhD and postdoctoral work focused on understanding electrolyte instability and designing new electrolytes for lithium-air and lithium-metal batteries.

Climate change impacts and fungal decay in vulnerable historic structures at Svalbard

This paper emphasises on degradation of wood in cultural heritage structures at Svalbard. Nowhere else does global heating occur faster. Negative impacts of climate change will increase the strain on wooden structures and can daily be observed at Svalbard. The severe changes affect the degradation rate of wooden constructions, including cultural heritage. Certain microclimates, also in Polar areas, are favourable to fungal growth and decay. The probable enhancing effects climate change have on fungal degradation in wooden structures are however alarming. The paper displays findings of measurements from four different case study projects at Svalbard between 2009 and 2019. The results have been analysed separately, compiled and discussed in context, and towards relevant literature. We claim that impacts of climate change may not be generalized in order to predict effects in building materials. Further, that with extended knowledge on how climate change affects natural development of fungal decay, negative impacts may be reduced. Lessons learned from high Arctic areas might add longevity and sustainability to wooden cultural heritage constructions, also in different areas and environments. The paper is part of two of the authors' PhD work at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

My Best Friend, Self-Doubt

Dr. Tristan Clemons completed his PhD in materials chemistry while simultaneously representing Australia as a goalkeeper on the men's field hockey team. Despite these achievements, he often suffered from crippling self-doubt. Tristan talks about the importance of mentors in overcoming his imposter syndrome.

#Metoosocialworkeducation: Exposure to Interpersonal Violence Among Social Work Students

ABSTRACT BSW and MSW social work students are effected by interpersonal violence on campus, yet little is known about their experiences during schooling. This study explored rates of victimization and associated effects since institutional enrollment among a sample of 734 MSW, PhD and BSW social work students across a university system. Over 14% of participants reported sexual violence, 17% reported stalking, and 30% reported sexual harassment. Over 8% reported physical intimate partner violence (IPV) and 19.4% reported psychological IPV. Social work students did not significantly differ from non–social work students in rates of violence, though they reported a significantly greater fear of victimization than other students. Findings illustrate the need for trauma-informed classrooms and awareness of Title IX polices among social work educators.

Cell scientist to watch – Elif Nur Firat-Karalar

ABSTRACT Elif Nur Firat-Karalar studied molecular biology and genetics at Bilkent University, Turkey. She then moved to the USA for her PhD work at the University of California, Berkeley, where she investigated the mechanisms of actin nucleation under the supervision of Matthew Welch. During her postdoctoral work in the laboratory of Tim Stearns at Stanford University, she used proteomics approaches and identified the centriole proteome and proximity interactome that revealed novel regulatory pathways for centriole biogenesis. In 2014, Elif became an Assistant Professor at Koç University in İstanbul, Turkey. Research in her lab focuses on studying the structure and function of the mammalian centrosome/cilium complex, with a particular focus on centriolar satellites. Elif is the recipient of an ERC Starting Grant, EMBO installation grant and Royal Society Newton Advanced Fellowship.

Evaluation of capacity-building strategies for mental health system strengthening in low- and middle-income countries for service users and caregivers, policymakers and planners, and researchers.

Strengthening of mental health systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) requires the involvement of appropriately skilled and committed individuals from a range of stakeholder groups. Currently, few evidence-based capacity-building activities and materials are available to enable and sustain comprehensive improvements. Within the Emerald project, the goal of this study was to evaluate capacity-building activities for three target groups: (a) service users with mental health conditions and their caregivers; (b) policymakers and planners; and (c) mental health researchers. We developed and tailored three short courses (between 1 and 5 days long). We then implemented and evaluated these short courses on 24 different occasions. We assessed satisfaction among 527 course participants as well as pre-post changes in knowledge in six LMICs (Ethiopia, India, Nepal, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda). Changes in research capacity of partner Emerald institutions was also assessed through monitoring of academic outputs of participating researchers and students and via anonymous surveys. Short courses were associated with high levels of satisfaction and led to improvements in knowledge across target groups. In relation to institutional capacity building, all partner institutions reported improvements in research capacity for most aspects of mental health system strengthening and global mental health, and many of these positive changes were attributed to the Emerald programme. In terms of outputs, eight PhD students submitted a total of 10 papers relating to their PhD work (range 0-4) and were involved in 14 grant applications, of which 43% (n = 6) were successful. The Emerald project has shown that building capacity of key stakeholders in mental health system strengthening is possible. However, the starting point and appropriate strategies for this may vary across different countries, depending on the local context, needs and resources. S.E.L. received consulting fees from Lundbeck.

Legitimizing Boundary Crossing for the Average Scientist: Two Cases Acknowledging How Arts Practice Informs Science

To normalize ArtScience, examples need to be shared of its average practitioners within the sciences, in addition to its historical exemplars. Described here are two cases of arts practice informing scientific research as experienced by early-stage researchers in postdoctoral or PhD work. Each case involves different arts approaches and yields different effects on the science; both inform ideas for how to better support and institutionalize ArtScience work.

David Wingate.

David Wingate.

Meet the First Authors.

Meet the First Authors.

Vulnerability to HIV infection among the Borana pastoral community of Southern Ethiopia: a persisting challenge.

BackgroundVulnerability to HIV infection is a major concern in an effort to control further infections. What drives vulnerability among pastoral settings of Ethiopia is not well documented.ObjectivesThis study aims to identify drivers of vulnerability to HIV infection among the Borana pastoral community of Ethiopia.MethodsData were collected during 2008–2009 as part of a PhD work and subsequently in 2014 and 2016, during a follow-up visit to Borana. Data on perceived threats of HIV, facilitators of vulnerability, coping mechanisms and perceived consequences were collected by trained research assistants using topic guides developed for this purpose. In-depth and key informant interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with selected married men and women, opinion leaders, and HIV focal persons of public sectors and Non Governmental Organizations in Teltele, Arero, Yabelo and Moyale were carried out. Sample transcripts were checked for consistency and completeness before data collection was completed. Two qualitative researchers read transcripts and suggested themes and subthemes in reference to the objective of the study. Transcripts were imported to MAXQDA software. Thematic analysis was applied to reduce data into defined themes. Findings were interpreted following the objective of the study.FindingsThe results show that HIV is a major threat in Borana with individual and community level consequences. Concurrent extramarital sexual practices, men’s role in the selling of livestock and consequent encounters with “other” women facilitate vulnerability to HIV. Lack of information about HIV, availability and use of condoms, and failure to use local resources for HIV prevention were key limitations to coping with the problem. After nearly 40 years of HIV intervention in Ethiopia, coping mechanisms are not exploited in Borana.ConclusionVulnerability to HIV among the Borana pastoral community is facilitated by multiple factors that work in tandem, thus calling for interventions that address the different factors at the same time.

Ablating the fixed lineage conjecture: Commentary on Kimble 1981

In 1981 Judith Kimble published what became a classic paper in developmental biology (Kimble, 1981). The history of nematode cell lineage dating back to Boveri and zur Strassen in the 19th century indicated that nematodes had a fixed cell lineage. This invariance was confirmed in a modern study by Sulston and Horvitz (1977). Kimble's PhD work confirmed this except for two cases of indeterminate development (Kimble and Hirsh, 1979). As a postdoc, Kimble followed up using a laser microbeam system developed by John White (Sulston and White, 1980a, Sulston and White, 1980b) to selectively remove cells. With this system, if you can see the cell with Nomarski DIC optics, you can kill it. This paper laid the groundwork for analysis of the AC-VU decision, hence for the genetic analysis of LIN-12/Notch signaling (Greenwald, 2012), and for vulval induction, hence for the genetic analysis of the EGFR-RAS pathway (Sternberg, 2006).

Mothers of Unseen Children: The Invisible Child

Losing a child is a very traumatic experience and one that creates different nuances in the lives of those left behind. Survivors or tormented is a matter of perspective. Loss of a child many times reside in the realm of silence. Words or silence or a combination of the two seems to connect the ‘Mother’ to the ‘Absent child’ (for the world) with the ever ‘Present child’ (in the world of the ‘Mother’) who carry ‘The Invisible Child,’ along with them every day. The current paper will focus on the identity of a ‘Mother’ who has lost a child to sudden/unexpected death, their grieving process and the representation of loss in their lives through an exploration of the world of mothers through two interviews undertaken as a part of PhD work in the Indian context. Exploration of Tutter and Wurmser’s understanding of grief, Lifton’s concept of ‘Death Guilt’ and ‘Psychic Numbing,’ and Parkes and Prigerson’s theory of ‘Dual Process of grieving’ will assist in understand the lives of mothers engulfed in dealing with their personal losses and continuing to live with/without their children. This exploration includes my personal journey along with these mothers. This paper is an attempt to explore this new world. Mothers were approached directly for participation in the PhD work, context provided and consent was taken to participate and share their life stories of loss of their child/children who provided their accounts largely as a combination of the English and Hindi language.