Conceptions of Power and Role of Religion in Community Organising

Community organising, an approach aiming at building local leadership and empowering local communities, has become increasingly popular in the last few decades because of the crisis of more traditional practises of civil society building and political action. In this paper, the authors first describe the main tenets of this approach, formalised between the 1930s and the 1940s in Chicago by Saul Alinsky, and its history and evolution to the present day. The following paragraphs describe the role played by religious values and religious communities, often representing key institutions in rundown social and urban contexts, in this approach. In the last paragraph, the authors finally discuss the conception of power implied in the version of community organising proposed by the Industrial Areas Foundation (an organisation created by Alinsky) and its affiliates, and the role of religion in it. With this work, the authors argue that the relational and bottom-up idea of power proposed by the IAF and its affiliates, although often focused on the development of a local power base able to place political pressure on the authorities from below and even economic boycott campaigns, has increasingly also relied on soft power after Alinsky’s death, especially because of the development of the ‘relational’ side of community organising, a process where the involvement of religious congregations (with the weight of their moral authority) has played a major role

Hippocampal neuroplasticity induced by early-life stress: functional and molecular aspects.

Whereas genetic factors contribute crucially to brain function, early-life events, including stress, exert long-lasting influence on neuronal function. Here, we focus on the hippocampus as the target of these early-life events because of its crucial role in learning and memory. Using a novel immature-rodent model, we describe the deleterious consequences of chronic early-life 'psychological' stress on hippocampus-dependent cognitive tasks. We review the cellular mechanisms involved and discuss the roles of stress-mediating molecules, including corticotropin releasing hormone, in the process by which stress impacts the structure and function of hippocampal neurons

Role of the hyporheic zone in increasing the resilience of mountain streams facing intermittency

We investigated the impact of intermittence in previously-perennial Alpine stream reaches, targeting the role of the hyporheic zone in increasing the resilience of these aquatic systems. We selected a perennial and an intermittent site in a reach of the Po River (North-Western Italy). We installed piezometers reaching ??1 m (permanent and intermittent site), and ??3 m (intermittent site) and monitored three supraseasonal droughts over a period of three years. We classified the hyporheic fauna into three categories of increasing affinity to life in the hyporheic (stygoxene, stygophile, stygobite), and used communities composition, abundance, beta-diversity and functional groups: (1) to compare assemblages at the same depth but with different hydrological characteristics, as well as assemblages from two depths at the intermittent site, and (2) to assess how the connection with surface water and the direction of the vertical aquifer flow determined the faunistic assemblages. Different taxonomic groups responded differently to intermittence, the hyporheic zone acted as a refuge increasing the resilience of the system, but resilience decreased with increasing degree of affinity to hyporheic life. Disentangling the effects of intermittence on the different faunistic component in the hyporheic zone can help guiding effective protection and restoration measures of river systems with temporary reaches

Role of the hyporheic zone in increasing the resilience of mountain streams facing intermittency

5openInternationalItalian coauthor/editorWe investigated the impact of intermittence in previously-perennial Alpine stream reaches, targeting the role of the hyporheic zone in increasing the resilience of these aquatic systems. We selected a perennial and an intermittent site in a reach of the Po River (North-Western Italy). We installed piezometers reaching −1 m (permanent and intermittent site), and −3 m (intermittent site) and monitored three supraseasonal droughts over a period of three years. We classified the hyporheic fauna into three categories of increasing affinity to life in the hyporheic (stygoxene, stygophile, stygobite), and used communities composition, abundance, beta-diversity and functional groups: (1) to compare assemblages at the same depth but with different hydrological characteristics, as well as assemblages from two depths at the intermittent site, and (2) to assess how the connection with surface water and the direction of the vertical aquifer flow determined the faunistic assemblages. Different taxonomic groups responded differently to intermittence, the hyporheic zone acted as a refuge increasing the resilience of the system, but resilience decreased with increasing degree of affinity to hyporheic life. Disentangling the effects of intermittence on the different faunistic component in the hyporheic zone can help guiding effective protection and restoration measures of river systems with temporary reaches.openBruno, M.C.; Doretto, A.; Boano, F.; Ridolfi, L.; Fenoglio, S.Bruno, M.C.; Doretto, A.; Boano, F.; Ridolfi, L.; Fenoglio, S

Role of the hyporheic zone in increasing the resilience of mountain streams facing intermittency

We investigated the impact of intermittence in previously-perennial Alpine stream reaches, targeting the role of the hyporheic zone in increasing the resilience of these aquatic systems. We selected a perennial and an intermittent site in a reach of the Po River (North-Western Italy). We installed piezometers reaching -1 m (permanent and intermittent site), and -3 m (intermittent site) and monitored three supraseasonal droughts over a period of three years. We classified the hyporheic fauna into three categories of increasing affinity to life in the hyporheic (stygoxene, stygophile, stygobite), and used communities composition, abundance, beta-diversity and functional groups: (1) to compare assemblages at the same depth but with different hydrological characteristics, as well as assemblages from two depths at the intermittent site, and (2) to assess how the connection with surface water and the direction of the vertical aquifer flow determined the faunistic assemblages. Different taxonomic groups responded differently to intermittence, the hyporheic zone acted as a refuge increasing the resilience of the system, but resilience decreased with increasing degree of affinity to hyporheic life. Disentangling the effects of intermittence on the different faunistic component in the hyporheic zone can help guiding effective protection and restoration measures of river systems with temporary reaches

Region-specific onset of handling-induced changes in corticotropin-releasing factor and glucocorticoid receptor expression.

Early-life experience including maternal care profoundly influences hormonal stress responses during adulthood. Daily handling on postnatal day (P) 2-9, eliciting augmented maternal care upon returning pups to their cage, permanently modifies the expression of the stress neuromodulators corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) and glucocorticoid receptor (GR). We have previously demonstrated reduced hypothalamic CRF expression already at the end of the handling period, followed by enhanced hippocampal GR mRNA levels (by P45). However, the initial site(s) and time of onset of these enduring changes have remained unclear. Therefore, we used semiquantitative in situ hybridization to delineate the spatiotemporal evolution of CRF and GR expression throughout stress-regulatory brain regions in handled (compared with undisturbed) pups. Enhanced CRF mRNA expression was apparent in the amygdaloid central nucleus (ACe) of handled pups already by P6. By P9, the augmented CRF mRNA levels persisted in ACe, accompanied by increased peptide expression in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and reduced expression in the paraventricular nucleus. The earliest change in GR consisted of reduced expression in the ACe of handled pups on P9, a time point when hippocampal GR expression was not yet affected. Thus, altered gene expression in ACe, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis as well as paraventricular nucleus may contribute to the molecular cascade by which handling (and increased maternal care) influences the stress response long term

The impacts of increasing current velocity on the drift of Simulium monticola (Diptera: Simuliidae): a laboratory approach

Current velocity and associated physical forces are among the most important factors shaping lotic benthic communities. The recent increase in the frequency and intensity of flow alterations, especially related to hydroelectric use or irrigation, represents a key element of riverine environment deterioration. Numerous studies have investigated the effect of current velocity increases on macrobenthic fauna, underlining that, in most cases, these increases enhance the drift, i.e. the abandonment of the substrate by macroinvertebrates. The purpose of this study is to examine the drift propensity of Simulium monticola (Diptera: Simuliidae) under different water velocities. Simuliidae are one of the most characteristic components of fast-flowing environments in rivers. Experiments were conducted in an artificial stream in the laboratories of Politecnico di Torino, analysing the drift of organisms at different current velocities. The observed variability of drift appears to be related to velocity increases: interestingly, we evidenced an inverse relationship between velocity and drift propensity, with low amounts of drifting organisms at higher velocities. This tendency was not related to the size of Simuliidae larvae: when comparing the size of drifting organisms with velocity, no significant correlations were detected. We hypothesized that the tendency to drift was mainly behavioural rather than catastrophic, and related to the preference for high water velocities. Our findings support the hypothesis that increases in water velocity can cause complex changes in the drift of the macrobenthic community, increasing the propensity for some species to leave the substrate and decreasing it for other