Risk - An Opportunity or Threat for Entrepreneurial Farmers in the Global Food Market?

uncertainty, farm management, opportunities, threats, Agribusiness, Q12,

Examining the Role of the Catholic Environment in Students’ Search for Meaning

Emerging research illustrates that undergraduate students are searching for meaning in their lives, yet postsecondary institutions generally do little to support them in exploring such issues (Astin et al., 2005b). We speculated that religiously affiliated institutions might offer guidance on supporting students’ spiritual development, and thus examined students in the context of Catholic postsecondary environments, focusing on whether the students’ religious affiliations and perceptions of their institution as supporting their spiritual development affected their search for meaning. Further, we examined the aspects of the environment that strengthened students’ perceptions of their college environment as closely aligned with the Catholic mission, and thus supportive of their spiritual development. We discuss implications for secular and religious institutions

Interview with Louise Dooley

An interview with Louise Hyde Dooley regarding her experiences in a one-room school house.https://scholars.fhsu.edu/ors/1103/thumbnail.jp

‘C’était moi mais ce n’était pas moi’: portrayal of the disabled body in Catherine Breillat’s Abus de faiblesse (2013)

Writer/director Catherine Breillat’s most recent film, Abus de faiblesse (2013), explores an important moment of bodily transition: the change from able to disabled body. This semi-autobiographic film follows the story of film director Maud (Breillat’s alter ego), who forms a destructive relationship with a conman, Vilko, after she suffers a disabling stroke. This film shows consistency with Breillat’s previous work in its exploration of the constructed nature of the female body onscreen. In the past the filmmaker has portrayed moments of trauma and transition (such as childbirth, loss of virginity or rape) to subvert processes of objectification. The article argues that Abus de faiblesse challenges and subverts representation of the post-menopausal and disabled body onscreen. The film interrogates binary oppositions such as able/disabled and independence/dependency to challenge representations of the disabled body as ‘other’. With reference to scholarly work on disability and the ageing female body, the article suggests that Maud’s sadomasochistic relationship with Vilko is driven by a quest to retain her subjectivity after her stroke. The article demonstrates that the film dissects the feared and the unknown territory of the ageing female body

In fateful moments: the appeal of parent testimonials when selling private tutoring

Australia’s private tutoring market is expanding in a context where parents’ trust in school personnel as educational experts is vulnerable. Simultaneously, a parentocratic logic is nudging parents to infuse the resources at their disposal into their pedagogic work in order to achieve the educational outcomes that they wish for their children. However, little is known about the specific strategies that private tutoring suppliers are using to attract prospective parents. This paper reports on a study of 160 parent testimonials published on the websites of 16 private tutoring suppliers in Australia. Drawing on Giddens’ concept of ‘fateful moments’ and Bauman’s work on the persuasion of the peer example, together with tools of critical discourse analysis, we argue that parent testimonials use emotional appeals to construct private tutoring as a resolution to parents’ fateful moments. In addition, we speculate that this emotional footing resonates with the pedagogic preferences of the dominant Australian middle classes

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for residual depressive symptoms

Objectives. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is a new group-based intervention for prevention of relapse in recurrent depression which has not been scientifically evaluated regarding its clinical effectiveness for ameliorating residual depressive symptoms following a depressive episode. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of MBCT in reducing residual depressive symptoms in psychiatric outpatients with recurrent depression, and to particularly explore the effects of mindfulness techniques on rumination. Design. The design of this study was a mixed model complex design. Design 1 consisted of a consecutive series of patients. They were assigned to either MBCT or TAU. The independent variables were time and group allocation, and dependent variables were Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Rumination Scale. In Design 2, the TAU group proceeded to complete an MBCT group, and the BDI and Rumination Scale results of the two groups were collapsed. Method. Nineteen patients with residual depressive symptoms following a depressive episode, and who were attending outpatient clinic, were assigned to either MBCT or treatment as usual (TAU), with the TAU group then proceeding to complete an MBCT group. Depressive and ruminative symptoms were assessed before, during, and after treatment, and at one-month follow-up. Results. A significant reduction in depressive symptoms was found at the end of MBCT, with a further reduction at one-month follow-up. A trend towards a reduction in rumination scores was also observed. Conclusions. Group MBCT has a marked effect on residual depressive symptoms, which may be mediated through the mindfulness-based cognitive approach toward

Heritage Quay: What Will You Discover? Transforming the Archives of the University of Huddersfield, Yorkshire, UK

The Heritage Quay project is changing how archive services at the University of Huddersfield are delivered. This article examines how the Staff/Space/Collections dependency model and Customer Service Excellence framework have been used, and what lessons can be drawn for other archives

NRASQ61K melanoma tumor formation is reduced by p38-MAPK14 activation in zebrafish models and NRAS-mutated human melanoma cells.

Oncogenic BRAF and NRAS mutations drive human melanoma initiation. We used transgenic zebrafish to model NRAS mutant melanoma and the rapid tumor onset allowed us to study candidate tumor suppressors. We identified P38α-MAPK14 as a potential tumor suppressor in The Cancer Genome Atlas melanoma cohort of NRAS mutant melanomas, and overexpression significantly increased the time to tumor onset in transgenic zebrafish with NRAS-driven melanoma. Pharmacological activation of P38α-MAPK14 using anisomycin reduced in vitro viability of melanoma cultures, which we confirmed by stable overexpression of p38α. We observed that the viability of MEK-inhibitor resistant melanoma cells could be reduced by combined treatment of anisomycin and MEK-inhibition. Our study demonstrates that activating the p38α-MAPK14 pathway in the presence of oncogenic NRAS abrogates melanoma in vitro and in vivo.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 432 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 641458. The 433 work carried out at the University of Edinburgh was partly funded by EEP, MRC HGU Programme 434 (MC_UU_00007/9), European Research Council (ZF-MEL-CHEMBIO-648489), and L'Oreal-Melanoma 435 Research Alliance (401181)

NRASQ61K melanoma tumor formation is reduced by p38-MAPK14 activation in zebrafish models and NRAS-mutated human melanoma cells.

Oncogenic BRAF and NRAS mutations drive human melanoma initiation. We used transgenic zebrafish to model NRAS mutant melanoma and the rapid tumor onset allowed us to study candidate tumor suppressors. We identified P38α-MAPK14 as a potential tumor suppressor in The Cancer Genome Atlas melanoma cohort of NRAS mutant melanomas, and overexpression significantly increased the time to tumor onset in transgenic zebrafish with NRAS-driven melanoma. Pharmacological activation of P38α-MAPK14 using anisomycin reduced in vitro viability of melanoma cultures, which we confirmed by stable overexpression of p38α. We observed that the viability of MEK-inhibitor resistant melanoma cells could be reduced by combined treatment of anisomycin and MEK-inhibition. Our study demonstrates that activating the p38α-MAPK14 pathway in the presence of oncogenic NRAS abrogates melanoma in vitro and in vivo.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 432 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 641458. The 433 work carried out at the University of Edinburgh was partly funded by EEP, MRC HGU Programme 434 (MC_UU_00007/9), European Research Council (ZF-MEL-CHEMBIO-648489), and L'Oreal-Melanoma 435 Research Alliance (401181)