Gender and ethical trade: A mapping of the issues in African horticulture

Codes of conduct covering employment conditions of Southern producers exporting to European markets mushroomed throughout the 1990s. A recent article (Blowfield 2000) cited over 200 codes related to worker welface specifically, and over twenty codes applied to agriculture in developing countries.1 Codes have become very prevalent in the UK food retail sector, and most of the large supermarkets are now implementing codes along their supply chains to cover their own brand name products and fresh produce. But codes of conduct are also evolving at multiple levels both internally and externally to supply chains as various actors such as importers, exporters and local trade associations have adopted their own codes. Externally, independent standards have been established through organisations such as Social Accountability 8000 in the US and the Ethical Trading Initiative in the UK. As a result, suppliers of horticultural products are faced with a plethora of codes, some of which are similar, but amongst which there can be considerable variability

Teaching Courage: Service Learning at Pathway School

Troubled children are rarely afforded the opportunity to view themselves as valuable and worthy. Because they are often in the role of care-recipients, they are not challenged to be, nor do they see themselves as capable of being, caregivers. Although many child and youth programs seek to provide these opportunities, a systematic and effective program for doing so has been lacking

Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Disturbance Within and Between Forest Regions of the U.S.

Forest disturbances play a critical role in shaping forest structure and influencing the ecosystem services that forests provide. However, the rates, patterns and consequences of disturbance remain largely uncertain. How do disturbance rates vary within and between regions and how vulnerable are forests to changes in disturbance? This research takes a tiered approach to quantifying the spatial and temporal patterns and impacts of disturbance within and between diverse forested landscapes of the contiguous U.S. First an intraregional characterization of the patterns and process of disturbance, as captured by over a quarter century of Landsat imagery was performed over the highly forested northeastern state, New Hampshire U.S. Next an inter- regional comparison of disturbance rates, trends and size distributions were conducted across three regions representing diverse forested landscapes in the U.S. with different dominant disturbance regimes. Finally, a framework was developed to assess the vulnerability of forested ecosystems to disturbance and how vulnerability may change in the future. Results showed that disturbance is not homogenous but varies both spatially and temporally within and between regions. Further ecosystem vulnerability to disturbance varies strongly across the U.S., with western forests generally exhibiting greater sensitivity and vulnerability to disturbance under current climates. Under a potential climate scenario, the majority of U.S. forest area was estimated to increase in resiliency to disturbance, which may buffer some of the impact of intensified forest disturbance. The challenge and opportunities going forward is to continue to quantify and integrate the complex rates, patterns and processes of disturbance into ecosystem models and field study designs that link impact assessment of changes to ecosystem function and services

Neurospora proteome 2000

The filamentous fungus, Neurospora crassa, has an eminent history as a central organism in the elucidation of the tenets of classical and biochemical genetics. Of particular significance are the experiments of George Beadle and Edward Tatum in the 1940s with N. crassa that led to the one gene-one enzyme hypothesis (Beadle and Tatum 1941 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 27:499 506). In six decades, over 1,000 genes have been mapped and characterized (Perkins, Radford and Sachs 2000 The Neurospora Compendium: Chromosomal Loci. Academic Press; Perkins 2000 Fungal Genet. Newsl., this volume), but that leaves perhaps 10,000 or more genes not yet identified by classical genetics. High-throughput, automated partial sequencing of cDNA libraries to generate expressed sequence tags (ESTs) allows for the rapid identification and characterization of preferentially expressed genes in different tissues, as well as the discovery of novel genes (Adams et al. 1991 Science252:1651-1656; Okubo et al. 1992 Nature Genet. 1:173-179)

Integrating the experiences and identities of Irish mature student primary teachers.

In the contemporary context of lifelong learning, studies of the experiences of female mature students in colleges of education, particularly in Ireland, are limited. This qualitative study of six female full-time mature student teachers in Ireland is rooted in a multifaceted theoretical framework, which incorporates symbolic interactionism, critical realism and critical theory. It is based on a framework for analysing teacher education which incorporates three levels - the micro (the level of individual aspirations, interactions and micro political struggles), the meso (including the departmental and institutional contexts within which teacher education takes place) and the macro (broadly the national, European and international context within which teacher education and schooling occurs). Three themes emerge from the data which the author portrays as three stages of development in the life of the student teacher: (a) presentation of self, (b) self in transition, and (c) redemption of self. Significantly, at various periods in their college life these women struggled with their own identities, adopted the persona of a student, experienced the difficulties of juggling responsibilities and divergent roles, and faced the challenges of identity in transition as their initial identity of primary teacher emerged. This study has highlighted the instrumental reasons for mature student teachers undertaking the Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degree. Each woman voluntarily adopted an identity as a mature student in the long term interests of becoming a primary school teacher. In the process, their own identity was compromised in order to satisfy the requirements of the B.Ed. programme. The challenges which these women faced demonstrate the contradictions between policies and practices at micro, meso and macro levels in teacher education from the perspective of the mature student. My study concludes with a set of recommendations which aim to improve the experience of mature female student teachers in Ireland and mature students generally

Promoting Geographical Imagination through Integrating a Studio Habits of Mind (SHoM) Framework into Pre-Service Primary Teacher Education

Geographical topics are cross-curricular in nature. Cross curricular teaching in primary schools needs to be supported by interdisciplinary explorations during teacher education programs. This article outlines an interdisciplinary collaboration between three lecturers from Geography, Sociology and Visual Arts. Adapting the Studio Habits of Mind framework (Hetland et al., 2013), this interdisciplinary framework offers an innovative, engaging and creative model of collaboration for lecturers and students in disparate disciplines. The framework is informed by enquiry, constructivism, geographical imagination, and problembased learning and encourages students to adopt flexible, intuitive, and creative strategies to become interdisciplinary innovators, equipped to shape the future of our world

A provisional UniGene clone set based on ESTs from Neurospora crassa

We have constructed a list of N. crassa cDNA clones for which partial sequences exist, toward the goal of maximizing the number of genes represented while avoiding redundancy. This effort employed GenBank sequences from the combined N. crassa EST projects at the University of New Mexico, the University of Oklahoma and Dartmouth College (27,557 ESTs; Nelson et al. 1997 Fungal Genet. Biol.21:348-363; Zhu et al. 2001 Genetics 157: 1057-1065). The current list, subject to ongoing revision, includes 2842 clones and is available at the web site of the Neurospora Genome Project (NGP) at the University of New Mexico (http://www.unm.edu/~ngp/), along with details of its construction. Each cDNA clone in the list represents a unique gene. We have also assembled a UniGene set of cDNA clones for that portion of the UniGene set that is represented in libraries constructed by the NGP at UNM. This UniGene library is comprised of 1786 clones distributed in 20 96-well dishes, and it is available through the Fungal Genetics Stock Center

Ethical trade in African horticulture : gender, rights and participation

Codes of conduct covering employment conditions of southern producers have gained popularity over the past decade. In African horticulture employers now face a plethora of codes coming from supermarkets, importers, exporters and trade associations. Women constitute the majority of workers in African export horticulture. However, men are often in permanent employment, whereas women tend to work in temporary and insecure jobs. This report provides an in-depth assessment of gender and ethical trade in South African fruit, Kenyan flowers and Zambian flowers and vegetables. It examines the gendered needs and rights of workers, as articulated by workers themselves, and how these could best be addressed by codes of conduct. The research paid particular attention to vulnerable groups such as women and seasonal, casual and migrant workers, who typically face a different set of constraints and opportunities in employment. This paper discusses the nature of employment and working conditions found in the subsectors, and the varying perspectives of workers and employers toward these conditions. It summarises key gender issues in employment and outlines how they relate to codes. It explores the benefits of “participatory social auditing” for assessing workplace issues, especially gender issues. It describes the value of a local multi-stakeholder approach to code implementation and the extent to which stakeholders in South Africa, Kenya and Zambia have embraced the process thus far. Finally it identifies policy recommendations for best practice in code implementation

Secondary prevention and cognitive function after stroke: a study protocol for a 5-year follow-up of the ASPIRE-S cohort

Introduction Cognitive impairment is common following stroke and can increase disability and levels of dependency of patients, potentially leading to greater burden on carers and the healthcare system. Effective cardiovascular risk factor control through secondary preventive medications may reduce the risk of cognitive decline. However, adherence to medications is often poor and can be adversely affected by cognitive deficits. Suboptimal medication adherence negatively impacts secondary prevention targets, increasing the risk of recurrent stroke and further cognitive decline. The aim of this study is to profile cognitive function and secondary prevention, including adherence to secondary preventive medications and healthcare usage, 5 years post-stroke. The prospective associations between cognition, cardiovascular risk factors, adherence to secondary preventive medications, and rates of recurrent stroke or other cardiovascular events will also be explored. Methods and analysis This is a 5-year follow-up of a prospective study of the Action on Secondary Prevention Interventions and Rehabilitation in Stroke (ASPIRE-S) cohort of patients with stroke. This cohort will have a detailed assessment of cognitive function, adherence to secondary preventive medications and cardiovascular risk factor control. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval for this study was granted by the Research Ethics Committees at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin and Connolly Hospital, Dublin, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Findings will be disseminated through presentations and peer-reviewed publications