Bearing Razors and Swords: Paracomedy in Euripides’ Orestes

In this article, I trace a nuanced interchange between Euripides’ Helen, Aristophanes’ Thesmophoriazusae, and Euripides’ Orestes that contains a previously overlooked example of Aristophanic paratragedy and Euripides’ paracomic response. I argue that the escape plot from Helen, in which Menelaus and Helen flee with “sword-bearing” men (ξιφηφόρος), was co-opted in Thesmophoriazusae, when Aristophanes staged Euripides escaping with a man described as “being a razor-bearer” (ξυροφορέω). Furthermore, I suggest that Euripides re-appropriates this parody by escalating the quantity of sword-bearing men in Orestes, suggesting a dynamic poetic rivalry between Aristophanes and Euripides. Additionally, I delineate a methodology for evaluating instances of paracomedy

Attitudes, beliefs, and changing trends of cannabis usage among college students

Cannabis, specifically, marijuana has a complicated history in the United States where it started off as an ingredient in medicines, went to become highly taboo and illegal, and now is slowly becoming legalized medically and recreationally in the United States. There are legal barriers in preventing research on marijuana making it difficult for all its benefits and detriments to be known and proven. Marijuana is most used among college students and people within the age range of 18-25 making them a priority population. Students (n 74) on Eastern Michigan University\u27s (EMU) campus were randomly selected to participate in taking a 22-question descriptive survey to gather information on their knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of marijuana and its use. Without the ability to conduct research on marijuana, there are many challenges that will arise affecting people\u27s health and safety, especially with its growing legalization in the U.S

The Change Is in Me. The Transformation of Adults to the Role of the Montessori Guide. Qualitative - biographical Research Study

The article presents the results of the qualitative – biographical research study conducted among a group of two Montessori training courses participants. The main aim of the research was to address the question on how the informants thematize and articulate their meanings attributed to the process of change. The research question was formulated as follows: how do the trainee Montessori 6 – 12 guides thematize their process of transformation? The article outlines the notion of educational change in the context of tacit knowledge and personal theories and then focuses on description of the research procedure that included twenty-five in-depth, individual interviews that were later analysed following Kvale’s idea of seven steps. The results show that the educational change is initiated as an overthought decision and may be characterised by two major categories: radical transformation and biographical correction. In the conclusion, the author observes that the educational reforms (in the perspective of the gathered narratives) cannot be imposed and suggests favourable conditions that may enhance changes: giving teachers freedom to decide, create their authorship didactic solutions, democratisation of this sector of public service and supporting teachers’ sense of dignity.

Metafory w badaniach edukacyjnych – propozycja metodologiczna

The aim of the article is to present a methodological approach of implementing metaphor analysis in educational research. Having characterised some examples of pedagogical empirical projects, including the research conducted by the author of the article, three levels of the metaphors’ epistemological conceptualisation are described. The first of which is the dimension of fairly individualistic nature called the cognitive dimension that outlines the fact that cognitive processes are very much metaphorical in nature, as well as strengthens the difference between the cognition of literal and metaphorical phrases. The second level of metaphor analysis is connected with intersubjectivity of metaphors which are collectively shared and distributed within a given culture. They are not, however, simply something that characterise a given group of people but predefine the relations and, as a consequence, influence the acts and behaviours of social actors. Critical metaphor analysis, being the third described perspective, shows that metaphors can be treated by the researchers as a form of tacit knowledge redistributed and mediated culturally and therefore might be explored in the search for hidden mechanisms of social positioning and disclosing power relations in given structures.Celem artykułu jest prezentacja propozycji metodologicznego wykorzystywania metafor w badaniach edukacyjnych. Opisawszy przykładowe zastosowania analiz w pedagogicznych projektach empirycznych z wykorzystaniem analizy metafor, włączając w to także badania własne, autor wyróżnia trzy poziomy ich epistemologicznego konceptualizowania. Pierwszy z wymiarów tj. perspektywa jednostkowa, kognitywna ujawnia, iż procesy myślowe człowieka mają ściśle metaforyczny charakter, a także to, że mechanizmy kognitywne, w których metafory pojawiają się, mają swoją specyfikę odróżniając się od wyrażeń literalnych.   Wymiar drugi związany jest z intersubiektywnością metafor, które mają kolektywny charakter, to znaczy, w określonej kulturze mamy do czynienia z repertuarem pewnej liczby metafor, które są nie tylko pewną charakterystyczną cechą języka wykorzystywanego przez określoną całość społeczną, ale także predefiniują relacje międzyludzkie, a co za tym idzie także i wpływają na zachowania określonych aktorów społecznych. Krytyczna analiza metafor, stanowiąca ostatnią z trzech perspektyw ukazuje, iż metafora jako rodzaj wiedzy milczącej zapośredniczonej kulturowo, może być eksplorowana przez radykalnie zorientowaną metodologię pedagogiki demaskując mechanizmy społecznego pozycjonowania i odsłaniając relacje władzy w określonych strukturach

Privatizing Montessori. The capitalisation of knowledge and the inability to renew meanings

The main aim of the article is an analysis of the privatization of pedagogical knowledge using an example of one of the alternative pedagogies (Montessori Method). We claim that nowadays, pedagogical knowledge is treated as economic capital, and therefore subject to modifications characteristic for neoliberal culture. In our analysis we implement qualitative focus interviews conducted with various members of the Montessori community (teachers, owners and administrators of schools) who have gained access to a rare commodity – that is, knowledge regarding the teaching methodology of this particular pedagogical approach. The results of this empirical research point to mechanisms characteristic for making pedagogical knowledge classified and “gilded”, mechanisms that limit it to the closed space of a particular discourse society. We conclude that this ‘inbred’ form of knowledge transfer can lead to an inability to renew meanings and, as a consequence, to the replacement of critical and in depth pedagogical considerations with a form of dogma that may be culturally inadequate and reproduced as a technical procedure, which is far from what Montessori herself wrote about the method

Response of Broiler Chickens in the Starter and Finisher Phases to 3 Sources of Microbial Phytase

A broiler chicken study was conducted for 42 D to evaluate their responses to 3 commercially available microbial phytases. Growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and bone mineralization at days 21 and 42 posthatching were used as parameters of evaluation. The study was a randomized complete block design with 12 treatments, 8 replicate pens, and 25 birds per pen. Treatments included a positive control (PC), a negative control (NC) with crude protein (CP), nonphytate phosphorus (P), and calcium (Ca) reduced by 18, 1.5, and 1.8 g/kg, respectively; the NC + 4 levels of phytase A (250, 500, 750, 1,000 FTU/kg), 3 levels of phytase B (250, 500, 750 FTU/kg), and 3 levels of phytase C (500, 750, 1,000 FTU/kg). Broilers fed the NC diet had reduced (P \u3c 0.05) performance and digestibility measures at days 21 and 42 relative to the PC. All phytase enzymes improved (P \u3c 0.05) BW, gain, feed efficiency, and tibia ash weight and percent. Inclusion of phytase at the highest levels improved (P \u3c 0.05) tibia ash weight by an average of 18.5 and 22% at days 21 and 42, respectively, over the NC. Phytase A linearly improved (P \u3c 0.05) the apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of DM, Ca, P, copper, and sodium at day 21, and the AID of energy, nitrogen, and all amino acid (AA) digestibility at day 42 posthatching. Phytase B linearly (P \u3c 0.05) improved BW gain and feed efficiency of birds at day 21 and quadratically improved (P \u3c 0.05) the AID of nitrogen and all AA in birds at day 42. Supplementation of birds fed the NC with phytase C linearly improved (P \u3c 0.05) the BW gain, feed intake, feed efficiency, and AID of DM, energy, nitrogen, all AA, and all minerals except manganese at day 42. In conclusion, all 3 phytase products improved the growth performance, nutrient and mineral digestibility, and bone mineralization of birds fed diets deficient in nitrogen, Ca, and P similar to or more than birds fed diet adequate in P and CP