Gendered representations in Hawai‘i’s anti-GMO activism

The aim of this article is to analyse some of the representations of intersectional gender that materialise in activism against genetically modified organisms (GMOs). It uses the case of Hawai‘i as a key node in global transgenic seed production and hotspot for food, land and farming controversies. Based on ethnographic work conducted since 2012, the article suggests some of the ways that gender is represented within movements against GMOs by analysing activist media representations. The article shows how gender, understood intersectionally, informs possibilities for movement-identification, exploring how themes of motherhood, warrior masculinities and sexualised femininities are represented within these movements. The article suggests that some activist representations of gender invoke what could be considered as normative framings of gender similar to those seen in other environmental, food and anti-GMO movements. It is suggested that these gendered representations may influence and limit how different subjects engage with Hawai'i anti-GMO movements. At the same time, contextual, intersectional readings demonstrate the complex histories behind what appear to be gender normative activist representations. Taken together, this emphasis on relative norms of femininities and masculinities may provide anti-GMO organising with familiar social frames that counterbalance otherwise threatening campaigns against (agri)business in the settler state. Understood within these histories, the work that gender does within anti-GMO organising may offer generative examples for thinking through the relationships between gendered representations and situated, indigenous-centred, food and land-based resistances

School and Community Programs Impact on Financial Literacy

The importance of being able to measure financial literacy among high school students has been increasing. With the lack of adequate assessments, it is hard to measure the effectiveness of enacted legislation within the United States on financial literacy education. This study focuses on school districts in Pennsylvania due to poor performances of adequately preparing students with personal financial guidance. By looking at afterschool and community programs, these variables may increase the chances of a student having higher financial knowledge. From creating a new model and analyzing the data, the results are inconclusive whether afterschool and community programs have an impact on increasing higher financial literacy with the current data collected

Evaluation of denitrification and decomposition from three biogeochemical models using laboratory measurements of N-2, N2O and CO2

Biogeochemical models are essential for the prediction and management of nitrogen (N) cycling in agroecosystems, but the accuracy of the denitrification and decomposition sub-modules is critical. Current models were developed before suitable soil N-2 flux data were available, which may have led to inaccuracies in how denitrification was described. New measurement techniques, using gas chromatography and isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS), have enabled the collection of more robust N-2, N2O and CO2 data. We incubated two arable soils - a silt-loam and a sand soil - for 34 and 58 d, respectively, with small field-relevant changes made to control factors during this period. For the silt-loam soil, seven treatments varying in moisture, bulk density and NO3- contents were included, with temperature changing during the incubation. The sandy soil was incubated with and without incorporation of litter (ryegrass), with temperature, water content and NO3- content changing during the incubation. The denitrification and decomposition sub-modules of DeNi, Coup and DNDC were tested using the data. No systematic calibration of the model parameters was conducted since our intention was to evaluate the general model structure or "default" model runs. Measured fluxes generally responded as expected to control factors. We assessed the direction of modeled responses to control factors using three categories: no response, a response in the same direction as measurements or a response in the opposite direction to measurements. DNDC responses were 14 %, 52% and 34 %, respectively. Coup responses were 47 %, 19% and 34 %, respectively. DeNi responses were 0 %, 67% and 33 %, respectively. The magnitudes of the modeled fluxes were underestimated by Coup and DNDC and overestimated by DeNi for the sandy soil, while there was no general trend for the silt-loam soil. None of the models was able to determine litter-induced decomposition correctly. To conclude, the currently used sub-modules are not able to consistently simulate the denitrification and decomposition processes. For better model evaluation and development, we need to design better experiments, take more frequent measurements, use new or updated measurement techniques, address model complexity, add missing processes to the models, calibrate denitrifier microbial dynamics, and evaluate the anaerobic soil volume concept

Promoting Nanotechnology among Middle School Students: Development and Implementation of Lesson Plans

Abstract Hands-on experience on nanotechnology was offered to the seventh grade students at West Fargo STEM Middle School using grade appropriate teaching modules developed in collaboration with subject teachers from West Fargo Public Schools. The content of the modules complemented course contents in science and mathematics in the seventh grade class. Eighty six students from the school participated in this year long program. Pre-and post-surveys were conducted and additional information on students' perspective on various issues were collected to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. The results indicate that hands-on activities help in stimulating students' interest in technologies. The authors believe that these programs can be emulated by others in promoting engineering education and research. The pre-and post-survey data also indicate that the students do not have enough information to decide their career paths and there is a need for additional outreach activities on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and careers among the students

‘Material girls’: lingering in the presence of the material sublime

By exploring selected, recent works produced by amongst others Zanele Muholi, Nandipha Mntambo, Tracey Rose and Leora Farber it is the aim of this essay to trace a possible resurgence of the real through the depiction of the corporeal in their work. The artists have been selected because their work provide a fecundity of ‘corporeal realness’ or corpo(real)ity. The exploration is further layered by inquiring how the resurgence of the real corresponds to the aesthetic category of the material sublime. The material sublime dates from the nineteenth century as has been regarded as a sub-theory within the broader classical sublime. It is argued that the material sublime together with contemporary feminist theorists e.g. Bonnie Mann, Karen Barad, Elizabeth Wilson and Vicky Kirby, provide a useful lens for re-thinking the engagement between matter and discourse. It is in particular through the resilient flesh represented in Muholi’s, Mntambo’s and Farber’s work, that they and their subjects are turned into what can be playfully termed ‘Material Girls’.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rcrc20gv201