Joining the dots through Scottish crofting education

The ‘Crofting Connections’ (Ceanglaichean Croitearachd) project is described in this article as an exemplar of the prescribed ‘Scottish approach’ to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Drawing upon the evaluation of this project an argument is made for increased attention to such initiatives that seek to (re)connect children with issues of community, heritage, land and place. In doing so, we also call for a reconceptualization of crofting in academic discourse and in the curriculum. While crofting is a specifically Scottish phenomenon, this may be of interest to readers in other nations with similar small scale agricultural traditions

Agriculture and poverty in the Kentucky mountains: Beech Creek and Clay County, 1850-1910

The poverty of Appalachia is not the product of modernization. Nor is it a unique phenomenon. An examination of the history of farming in Beech Creek, Kentucky, reveals that this community, which was prosperous in 1860, owed its fall into poverty to a number of factors that had impoverished other regions: the high rate of population growth among the families living in the area, the division and re-division of the limited land to accommodate the new generations of families, the need to use woodland for agriculture before reforestation succeeded in restoring the old soil to its original productivity, and slow economic growth resulting from the emphasis on subsistence rather than commercial agriculture. The same pattern had occurred in New England in the eighteenth century. What was unique in Appalachia was that subsistence farming lasted so long, owing to growing isolation from the rest of the country as the area was bypassed in the construction of modern means of transportation.

Siberian Goats and North American Deer: A Contextual Approach to the Translation of Russian Common Names for Alaskan Mammals

The word iaman was used by 19-century Russian speakers in Sitka, Alaska, to refer to locally procured artiodactyls. The term originally meant "domesticated goat" in eastern Siberia and has usually been translated as "wild sheep" or "wild goat" in the American context. Physical evidence in the form of deer bones recovered during archeological excavations dating to the Russian period in Sitka suggested a reexamination of the context in which the word iaman was used by the Russians. Russian, English, Latin and German historical and scientific literature describing the animal were examined for the context in which the word was used. These contexts and 19th-century Russian dictionary definitions equating wild goats with small deer substantiate the hypothesis that the word iaman referred to the Sitka black-tailed deer by Russian speakers living in Sitka.Key words: Alaskan mammals, Alaskan archeology, historical archeology, ethnohistory, Russian translation, southeast Alaska, faunal analysis, Russian AmericaMots clés: mammifères alaskiens, archéologie alaskienne, archéologie historique, ethnohistoire, traduction russe, Alaska du sud-est, analyse faunique, Amérique russ

Hearsay Evidence: Inculpatory Declarations against Penal Interest and Federal Rule of Evidence 804(b)(3)

United States v. Sarmiento-Perez, 633 F.2d 1092 (5th Cir. 1981). Hearsay statements have traditionally been regarded as inadmissible evidence because of their unreliability. Exceptions have developed, however, which allow particular hearsay declarations to be admitted in evidence provided they possess sufficient guarantees of trustworthiness. Declarations against interest are one such exception. This exception, which originated in the early 1800’s, formerly encompassed statements against pecuniary or proprietary interest, but not statements against penal interest. A lack of sound reasoning for this materialistic restriction provided the motivation for a painfully slow trend toward sanctioning the use of extrajudicial statements against penal interest in American courts. Promulgation of the Federal Rules of Evidence in 1975 enhanced this movement. Rule 804(b)(3) codifies the against-interest exception including within its definition those hearsay declarations which are adverse to the declarant’s penal interest. Although it enlarges the scope of the against-interest exception, Rule 804(b)(3) fails to provide courts with any guidance when they are confronted with a particularly troublesome type of declaration against interest: the inculpatory statement against the penal interest of the declarant. This ambiguity created a vacuum which, until the decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in United States v. Sarmiento-Perez, the federal courts had failed to adequately address. This note will focus upon the holding and implications of the Sarmiento-Perez decision. Toward that goal, special attention will be given to the attempt by the Sarmiento-Perez court to balance the seemingly irreconcilable conflict between the confrontation clause of the sixth amendment and the admission of inculpatory hearsay declarations

Examining prejudice reduction through solidarity and togetherness experiences among Gezi Park activists in Turkey

Prejudice reduction research has focused on reducing negative regard as a means to improve relations between various groups (e.g., religious, ethnic, political). Though positive regard between groups may be created, these forms of contact and common identification do not alter policy orientations of advantaged groups toward disadvantaged ones. Rather than intergroup contact, it is suggested that a collective action model of prejudice reduction (Dixon, J., Levine, M., Reicher, S., & Durrheim, K. (2012). Beyond prejudice: Are negative evaluations the problem and is getting us to like one another more the solution? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 35, 411-425) would create ties between disadvantaged groups to work toward beneficial policy change. We seek to show that the Gezi Park protests in Taksim, İstanbul functioned as an intergroup phenomenon, requiring the cooperation of a number of disadvantaged groups (e.g., feminists, Kurds) working together to improve the status of all present. In a series of interviews with 34 activists from the Gezi Park protests, participants were to reflect on their individual and group-based experiences during their time in the Gezi Park protests. Data indicate that although a few groups remained distant or disconnected during the protests, a common ground was achieved such that some participants were able to overcome past prejudices. Data also indicate that through group perceptions and individuals’ descriptions of events, groups who had previously not been able to cooperate were able to work and stick together at Gezi. Results also imply, in line with Dixon et al. (2012), that if disadvantaged groups work together, they might change the position of their groups and improve each group’s disadvantaged position via collective action

Caleosin/Peroxygenases:multifunctional proteins in plants

BACKGROUND: Caleosin/peroxygenases (CLO/PXGs) are a family of multifunctional proteins that are ubiquitous in land plants and also found in some fungi and green algae. CLO/PXGs were initially described as a class of plant lipid-associated proteins with some similarities to the oleosins that stabilize lipid droplets (LDs) in storage tissues such as seeds. However, we now know that CLO/PXGs have more complex structure, distribution and functions than oleosins. Structurally, CLO/PXGs share conserved domains that confer specific biochemical features with diverse localizations and functions.SCOPE: This review surveys the structural properties of CLO/PXGs and their biochemical roles. In addition to their highly conserved structures, CLO/PXGs have peroxygenase activities and are involved in several aspects of oxylipin metabolism in plants. The enzymatic activities and the spatiotemporal expression of CLO/PXGs are described and linked with their wider involvement in plant physiology. Plant CLO/PXGs have many roles in both biotic and abiotic stress responses in plants and in their responses to environmental toxins. Finally, some intriguing developments in the biotechnological uses of CLO/PXGs are addressed.CONCLUSIONS: It is now two decades since caleosin/peroxygenases (CLO/PXGs) were first recognized as a new class of lipid-associated proteins, and only 15 years since their additional enzymatic functions as a novel class of peroxygenases was discovered. There are many interesting research questions that remain to be addressed in future physiological studies of plant CLO/PXGs and also their recently discovered roles in the sequestration and possibly detoxification of a wide variety of lipidic xenobiotics that can challenge plant welfare.</p