One Narrow Thread of Green : The Vision of May Theilgaard Watts, the Creation of the Illinois Prairie Path, and a Community\u27s Crusade for Open Space in Chicago\u27s Suburbs

Women\u27s environmental activism prior to the early 1960s in America focused on women\u27s roles as municipal housekeepers or emphasized wilderness conservation. I offer in this dissertation the story of the Illinois Prairie Path, the country\u27s first rails-to-trails conversion to apply for National Recreation Trail status, and the innovative women who fought for nature preservation in a suburban setting rather than in a wilderness area. Led by renowned writer and naturalist, May Theilgaard Watts, these women built support for the public footpath project by fostering an ecological awareness throughout their region. I place them in the tradition of Chicago female reformers as a bridge between women of the Progressive Era and members of the modern environmental movement. My aim in this research is to show the ways in which May Theilgaard Watts and the Illinois Prairie Path founders cultivated a new post-wilderness era model of environmental thinking through their emphasis on the restoration of a suburban open space. These women scientists and naturalists worked for democratic equality through ecological restoration and access to nature. Through an interdisciplinary focus on ecocriticism, the politics of place, and the history of the suburban landscape, specifically in Chicago\u27s metropolis, I examine how these women redefined space by linking communities across a region. By analyzing the documents, letters, speeches, and photos generated by founding leaders of The Illinois Prairie Path not-for-profit corporation, I demonstrate that this community of women challenged the hierarchies of the day. Their vision for conservation and connecting people to nature continues to serve as a model for the future of the Illinois Prairie Path and other rails-to- trails conversions

The Effects of Nutrition Package Claims, Nutrition Facts Panels, and Motivation to Process Nutrition Information on Consumer Product Evaluations

In a laboratory experiment using a between-subjects design, the authors examine the effects on nutrition and product evaluations of nutrition claims made (e.g., 99% fat free; low in calories ) on a product package, product nutrition value levels, and enduring motivation to process nutrition information. Enduring motivation is shown to moderate the effects of product nutrition value on consumer evaluations. Also, nutrition claims interact with product nutrition value in affecting consumer perceptions of manufacturer credibility. Given the availability of nutrient levels in the Nutrition Facts panel on the back of the mock package, nutrition claims on the front of the package generally did not affect positively consumers\u27 overall product and purchase intention evaluations. The authors discuss some implications of these findings, suggestions for further research, and study limitations

Situationsanalyse süddeutscher Erwerbsziegenhalter

Dairy goat keeping is a growing business in Germany since the 1980ies. So far, there is little knowledge on the structure of these goat farms and their husbandry and breed-ing management. Aim of this study was to get an overview on dairy goat husbandry and breeding in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. For this, a structured questionnaire was developed to investigate operational characteristics and basic data on dairy goat husbandry and breeding. The addresses of commercial dairy goat farms where ob-tained from goat breeders associations. The feedback from goat farmers was very high (94%). Most dairy goat farms are organic farms and belong to specific certifying organisations. Most farms (87%) farm less than 50 ha of agricultural land and keep between 60 and 100 goats. The German Fawn is the predominant breed (80%) in female goats. There is a large variation in numbers of male goats per farm and also in their breed. The marketing of surplus kids is mainly directly to the consumer and below 12 weeks of age. Finally, commercial dairy goat farming in south Germany secures an income to small family farms. So far, there is no consistent breeding strat-egy. Also, the marketing strategies still need improvement. Therefore, development of breeding and marketing organisation as well as performance based breeding pro-grammes will be of major importance for further improvement in dairy goat keeping

The appropriateness of the treatment setting for the inpatient post-acute treatment of alcohol dependence disorders in Switzerland

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In Switzerland, a total of 1'000 patients a year are treated for alcohol-dependence in specialized institutions. Though the current literature suggests favoring outpatient treatment, whether outpatient or inpatient treatment is more efficient cannot be answered generally. For Germany, "AWMF"-treatment guidelines were formulated in order to treat patients with substance use disorders in the appropriate treatment settings. The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that the majority of patients treated in the largest specialized institution for alcohol abuse treatment in Switzerland were treated in the appropriate setting.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>All completed treatments conducted in the Forel-Hospital – the largest clinic of its kind in Switzerland – between the 1st of January 2004 and the 20th of December 2006 were included in the investigation (n = 915). Patient and treatment characteristics were gathered using the information from the PSYREC and act-info questionnaire. The AWMF criteria were operationalized on the basis of the questionnaire.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Applying the AWMF criteria resulted in the emergence of three groups: 73.7% of the study sample could clearly be assigned to the inpatient treatment group, and for 7.5% there was evidence supporting the allocation to an outpatient treatment setting. In 18.8% of the cases, however, the AWMF criteria did not allow an assignment to either of the treatment settings. Of the total sample, 18.5% of all patients apparently did not profit from the inpatient treatment setting, whereas for the vast majority (81.5%), a therapeutic progress was documented. In those patients who, according to the AWMF guidelines, did not need an inpatient setting, a larger proportion improved than in the group of the patients who needed an inpatient treatment in a specialized hospital. Furthermore, the logistic regression analyses revealed that the less severe the clinical state of a patient upon admittance, the higher the odds of improvement during the hospital stay.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results serve as evidence that for at least three out of four patients treated in the investigated specialized institution, an inpatient treatment was appropriate. The principal reason for the necessity of an inpatient treatment setting was that this hospital population showed severe psychiatric, somatic or social irregularities. Only a very limited number of patients hospitalized in a specialized institution for the treatment of alcohol-related disorders can be treated in an outpatient setting.</p

Exceptional circumstances:Changes in teachers’ work characteristics and well-being during COVID-19 lockdown

The COVID-19 pandemic extensively changed the work life of many employees. Teachers seemed particularly challenged, confronted with sudden remote teaching due to school closures. Drawing on the job demands–resources (JD-R) model, we investigated (a) changes in seven work characteristics (job demands: emotional demands, interpersonal conflict, workload; job resources: autonomy, social support, feedback, task variety) and three job-related well-being indicators (fatigue, psychosomatic complaints, job satisfaction), (b) how changes in work characteristics correlated with well-being, and (c) the impact of two individual difference factors (caretaking responsibilities, career stage). Data were collected in two waves (just prior to and a few months into the COVID-19 pandemic) across Germany from 207 teachers with an average work experience of 6 years (range: 1–36 years). Using latent change score (LCS) modeling, we found significant, small-to-medium-sized decreases over time for both job demands and resources as well as fatigue, with variability in the magnitude of changes. Decreases in job demands correlated with decreases in fatigue and psychosomatic complaints, whereas decreases in job resources correlated with decreases in job satisfaction. Teachers with caretaking responsibilities and more experienced teachers were more vulnerable to the crisis as they experienced a smaller or no decrease in job demands in concert with diminished job resources. These findings reveal the double-edged consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for teachers’ work life

Ground vegetation monitoring in Swiss forests: comparison of survey methods and implications for trend assessments

At Swiss long-term forest ecosystem research sites, ground vegetation was assessed during the period 1994-2003/2008 following two approaches: (1) visual assessment of the cover of species occurring in sixteen 1m2 quadrats, distributed over a 43 × 43m area, and (2) phytosociological relevés in concentric circular plots of 30, 200, and 500m2. We first compared the two approaches with respect to diversity assessment. The number of species recorded in the 16 quadrats was in general higher than in the 30m2 plot and it represented 42% to 108% of the number of species recorded in the 500m2 plot. In a second step, we tested whether any temporal trends were apparent. In a few cases, a decrease or increase in Landolt's mean indicator values for light, nitrogen availability, soil pH, soil moisture, or temperature was found to be significant. However, these changes were usually restricted to one approach or one area. The only clear trend was detected in an unmanaged former coppice beech stand, for which all survey approaches indicated canopy closure. At another site, vegetation reacted to the local opening of the canopy following windthrow. In a third step, we compared the leaf area index (LAI), measured with an LAI-2000 instrument (Licor, Inc.) over each quadrat, with the indicator value of the vegetation for light (L). Within a site, there was no clear relationship between LAI and L values per quadrat. In contrast, across all sites, the relationship between LAI and L, averaged per site for all available years, was highly significan

CEGEP English curriculum in context

Également disponible en version papierTitre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 13 janv. 2010)Bibliogr. à la fin des v.Vol. 1. The development of CEGEP English curriculum -- v. 2. CEGEP English curriculum in contex