Cultural Tourism: Authenticity, Engagement, and the Everyday

As renown, one main aim of everyday aesthetics is to widen the scope of traditional Western aesthetics beyond the realms of fine arts and nature, so as to uncover the aesthetic potential of the varied phenomena that constitute people's daily life. Tourism and traveling, however, have so far received comparatively little theoretical treatment in the everyday aesthetics literature. This paper attempts to make up for this lack by presenting tourism as a proper object of aesthetic research. Unearthing the aesthetic motivations that animate so-called cultural tourism, it shows that, while searching for 'authenticity' in the visited destination tourists remain trapped in their own, detached, 'tourist gaze'. In order to reconcile this contradiction, we appeal to the theoretical tools provided by everyday aesthetics. After discussing and discarding approaches based on defamiliarization and distancing, we exploit strategies that rely on the adoption of an engaged aesthetic attitude. We conclude by suggesting that the engagement paradigm turns the tourist gaze into a mindful and embodied relation to the visited environment or cultural habit, thereby offering the visitor a chance to appreciate the place's quotidian life while at the same time ensuring aesthetic fulfillment

Journeys in meaning : Psychological adjustment to trauma in resettled syrian refugees

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Doctor in Philosophy, specialty in Clinical Psychology, to ISPA – Instituto Universitário, in 2022, with the supervision of Isabel Maria Pereira Leal, Crystal L. Park and Monica J. Indart. The present work was sponsored by a doctoral grant from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (ref.: SFRH/BD/129602/2017).The ability to make meaning of extreme events is a key determinant of psychological adjustment to trauma. Guided by Park’s (2010) integrated meaning-making model, the principal aim of this dissertation was to investigate the meaning-making experiences of resettled Syrian refugees and the impact of those experiences on posttraumatic adjustment. To this end, we conducted a mixed-methods cross-sectional study, with two phases of data collection and two independent samples. A total of 44 Syrian war-exposed adults living in urban communities across continental Portugal participated in Phase 1 Focus Groups (n = 2; 5 participants) and Phase 2 individual interviews (n = 39). Empirical results are described in Chapters 3 to 7. Key results identified: (1) exposure to significant meaning-shattering events pre-, during, and post-flight; (2) the centrality of pre-war global meanings related to identity, justice, control, God, expectations of normality, intact family and country, and peace to appraise the war and forced displacement; (3) situational appraisals as both intra- and interpersonal processes subject to revisiting with new trauma, new information, time, and context; (4) cognitive-specific, as well as immediate and gradual meaning violations; (5) determinants of search for meaning including cumulative stressors, availability of cognitive resources, stage of displacement, social support, coping strategies, and developmental age; (6) negative, positive, ambivalent, and unresolved meanings-made of trauma; and (7) psychological adjustment to refugee trauma as a continuum of responses, from distress to perceptions of growth. Findings suggest that meaning-making of refugee trauma entails a set of concurrent, dynamic, cognitive-specific trajectories that are informed by place and sociopolitical context, and thus prone to be repeatedly revisited. Findings further challenge the concept of successful psychological adjustment to trauma as an end-state. This work highlights the need to promote adaptive meaning-making as an integrated experience that prioritizes repairing the meanings most severely challenged by war, including sense of justice, belonging, control, as well as the possibility of a peaceful and safe future.O processo de atribuição de sentido a acontecimentos extremos é um determinante-chave do ajustamento psicológico ao trauma. Tendo por base o modelo teórico integrado de atribuição de sentido (Park, 2010), este trabalho teve como principal objetivo investigar os processos de atribuição de sentido em refugiados sírios reinstalados, bem como o impacto desses processos no ajustamento pós-traumático. Para tal, foi realizado um estudo transversal, de métodos mistos, com duas fases de recolha de dados e duas amostras independentes. Um total de 44 sobreviventes de guerra sírios, adultos, reinstalados em diferentes cidades portuguesas, participaram em Grupos Focais (Fase 1; n = 2, 5 participantes) e em entrevistas individuais (Fase 2; n = 39). Os Capítulos 3 a 7 descrevem os resultados empíricos. Os principais resultados identificaram: (1) exposição a números significativos de acontecimentos potencialmente traumáticos antes, durante e após a fuga; (2) centralidade de sentidos globais (i.e., global meanings) relativos a identidade, justiça, controlo, Deus, expectativas de normalidade, família e país intactos, e paz, na avaliação das experiências de guerra e migração forçada; (3) avaliações situacionais (i.e., situational meanings) enquanto processos tanto intrínsecos como extrínsecos, reavaliados com exposição a novos traumas, a nova informação, com o tempo e contexto; (4) violações de sentido (i.e., meaning violations) tanto imediatas como progressivas e que afetam cognições específicas; (5) determinantes de procura de sentido, incluindo stressores cumulativos, disponibilidade de recursos cognitivos, período migratório, suporte social, estratégias de evitamento e idade; (6) sentidos atribuídos ao trauma (i.e., meanings-made) negativos, positivos, ambivalentes e incompletos; e (7) ajustamento psicológico ao trauma associado à experiência de refúgio como um continuum de respostas, que vão do distress a perceções de crescimento psicológico. Os resultados sugerem que a atribuição de sentido ao trauma associado à experiência de refúgio inclui um conjunto de trajetórias paralelas, dinâmicas e relativas a cognições específicas, que são informadas pelo contexto sociopolítico e lugar e, como tal, propensas a serem repetidamente reavaliadas. Por outro lado, os resultados desafiam conceitos de ajustamento psicológico positivo enquanto processo com um fim definido. Este estudo destaca a necessidade de promover processos adaptativos de atribuição de sentido enquanto experiência integrada, que priorize a reparação das estruturas cognitivas mais severamente danificadas pelo trauma, incluindo sentido de justiça, pertença, controlo, bem como a expectativa de um futuro em paz e segurança

A case series analysis of dental extractions’ outcome in cats with chronic gingivostomatitis carrying retroviral disease

Research Areas: Agriculture ; Veterinary Sciences ; ZoologyThis study aims to evaluate and compare the clinical outcome after dental extractions of cats with FCGS infected with feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and feline leukaemia virus (FeLV). A retrospective case series included cats with diagnosis of FCGS, availability of detailed clinical records, full-mouth dental radiographs, and retroviral disease test results. Effectiveness of surgical treatment (EOT) was registered. Three groups were defined: control, FIV and FeLV. In this study, 111 cats were included: 60 controls, 29 FIV- and 22 FeLV-positive cats. When compared with control cases, FeLV-positive cats had significantly less proliferative stomatitis lesions, and they tended to have more lingual ulcers. Concurrently, FeLV-positive cats had significantly less tooth resorptive lesions. No other significant differences in FCGS clinical signs were found between groups. FeLV-positive cats had a significantly worse outcome after dental extractions compared to the other groups. In fact, FeLV-positive cats had 7.5 times more chances of having no improvement after dental extractions. This study concludes that the response to dental extractions in FeLV-positive cats is significantly worse, when comparing to cats that do not carry retroviral disease. Therefore, it is important to acknowledge the effect of FeLV status on the prognosis of these cats.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

CEDAW and Rural Development: Empowering Women with Law from the Top down, Activism from the Bottom Up

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is one of the most widely ratified human rights treaties in history, yet many view it as a failure in terms of what it has achieved for women. In spite of the lack of a meaningful enforcement mechanism and various other shortcomings, however, CEDAW has inspired feminist activism around the world and helped raise women\u27s legal consciousness. While CEDAW itself is widely viewed as a product of feminist activism in the international arena, this essay explores the Convention\u27s role as a source of-and tool for-grassroots feminist activism. Our focus is on such activism in rural areas of both developed and developing countries, places where law is often functionally absent. CEDAW recognizes rural women as a particularly disadvantaged group in need of additional rights. Article 14 addresses rural women exclusively and specifically, stipulating that they-like their urban counterparts-should enjoy a panoply of rights: education, health care, and an array of civil and political rights. Moreover, Article 14 enumerates for rural women rights related to participation in agriculture and development more generally. It also includes the right for rural women to organize self-help groups and cooperatives for purposes of obtaining equal access to economic opportunities through employment or self-employment, a right not mentioned elsewhere in relation to all women. Finally, Article 14 enumerates for rural women a wider range of socioeconomic rights than CEDAW elsewhere recognizes for all women. These include rights to various types of infrastructure, including water, sanitation, electricity, transport, and housing. This essay first considers how Article 14 is consistent with contemporary feminism\u27s greater focus on socioeconomic rights as a reflection of women\u27s material concerns and lack of economic power. It considers these rights against a rural backdrop, where socioeconomic deprivations tend to be greater and where Member States face spatial and other distinct challenges to economic development, as well as to the provision of basic services such as healthcare and education. We examine Member States\u27 responses to their Article 14 commitments to empowering rural women, with particular attention to how Member States have encouraged and facilitated self-organization by women, as required by Article 14(2)(e). Member States\u27 periodic reports to the U.N. Division for the Advancement of Women indicate that governments seek to achieve rural women\u27s empowerment through the women\u27s grassroots activism, including via local self-help groups (SHGs) and cooperatives as envisioned by 14(2)(e). Indeed, some evidence suggests that Member States benefit directly from rural women\u27s self-organizing when women\u27s SHGs and cooperatives go beyond facilitating women\u27s economic empowerment to become vehicles for delivering health, education, and other services in rural areas. These women\u27s organizations thus do a range of work under the ambit of rural empowerment. The essay next considers local women\u27s organizations in four Member States, two developed nations and two developing ones. We analyze how these organizations draw on and benefit from CEDAW\u27s Article 14(2)(e) mandate (however weak a mandate it is, practically speaking) to encourage women\u27s collective mobilization. Thus, the essay sketches a portrait of the potential and actual symbiosis between top-down lawmaking and bottom-up activism to empower women. In short, we focus not on CEDAW\u27s role as an enforceable human rights treaty, but rather on its function as an expressive document that has fostered and facilitated applied feminism

Diel pattern of circadian clock and storage protein gene expression in leaves and during seed filling in cowpea (Vigna unguiculata)

Background Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is an important source of protein supply for animal and human nutrition. The major storage globulins VICILIN and LEGUMIN (LEG) are synthesized from several genes including LEGA, LEGB, LEGJ and CVC (CONVICILIN). The current hypothesis is that the plant circadian core clock genes are conserved in a wide array of species and that primary metabolism is to a large extent controlled by the plant circadian clock. Our aim was to investigate a possible link between gene expression of storage proteins and the circadian clock. Results We identified cowpea orthologues of the core clock genes VunLHY, VunTOC1, VunGI and VunELF3, the protein storage genes VunLEG, VunLEGJ, and VunCVC as well as nine candidate reference genes used in RT-PCR. ELONGATION FACTOR 1-A (ELF1A) resulted the most suitable reference gene. The clock genes VunELF3, VunGI, VunTOC1 and VunLHY showed a rhythmic expression profile in leaves with a typical evening/night and morning/midday phased expression. The diel patterns were not completely robust and only VungGI and VungELF3 retained a rhythmic pattern under free running conditions of darkness. Under field conditions, rhythmicity and phasing apparently faded during early pod and seed development and was regained in ripening pods for VunTOC1 and VunLHY. Mature seeds showed a rhythmic expression of VunGI resembling leaf tissue under controlled growth chamber conditions. Comparing time windows during developmental stages we found that VunCVC and VunLEG were significantly down regulated during the night in mature pods as compared to intermediate ripe pods, while changes in seeds were non-significant due to high variance. The rhythmic expression under field conditions was lost under growth chamber conditions. Conclusions The core clock gene network is conserved in cowpea leaves showing a robust diel expression pattern except VunELF3 under growth chamber conditions. There appears to be a clock transcriptional reprogramming in pods and seeds compared to leaves. Storage protein deposition may be circadian regulated under field conditions but the strong environmental signals are not met under artificial growth conditions. Diel expression pattern in field conditions may result in better usage of energy for protein storage.This work was supported by the 7th Research Framework Programme of the European Union “Eurolegume (Enhancing of Legumes Growing in Europe through Sustainable Cropping for Protein Supply for Food and Feed)” FP7– 613781. The funding body had no role in the experimental design, analysis or results shown in the manuscript

Mapping activities, networks and needs of GE-practitioners

The successful implementation of Gender Equality Plans (GEPs)1 in research organisations remains a difficult challenge. Problems typically stem from a lack of practitioners’ respective "know how" but are also related to scattered efforts at inter - and intra-organisational levels. The Horizon 2020 project ACT2 aims at overcoming these struggles in implementing GEPs by promoting institutional change through the advancement of Communities of Practice (CoPs). For this purpose, ACT in a first step carried out a Community Survey to map actors - practitioners and experts - who are engaged in the advancement of gender equality (GE) objectives at Research Performing (RPOs) and Research Funding Organisations (RFOs) across Europe. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of key results on GE implementation activities based on survey responses, as well as the experienced struggles and needs for improvement.Furthermore, first results of the conducted Social Network Analysis (SNA) are presented, showing some of the most central and well-connected regions but also gaps in the existing network of cooperation regarding GE

The rational search for selective anticancer derivatives of the peptide Trichogin GA IV: a multi-technique biophysical approach

Peptaibols are peculiar peptides produced by fungi as weapons against other microorganisms. Previous studies showed that peptaibols are promising peptide-based drugs because they act against cell membranes rather than a specific target, thus lowering the possibility of the onset of multi-drug resistance, and they possess non-coded alpha-amino acid residues that confer proteolytic resistance. Trichogin GA IV (TG) is a short peptaibol displaying antimicrobial and cytotoxic activity. In the present work, we studied thirteen TG analogues, adopting a multidisciplinary approach. We showed that the cytotoxicity is tuneable by single amino-acids substitutions. Many analogues maintain the same level of non-selective cytotoxicity of TG and three analogues are completely non-toxic. Two promising lead compounds, characterized by the introduction of a positively charged unnatural amino-acid in the hydrophobic face of the helix, selectively kill T67 cancer cells without affecting healthy cells. To explain the determinants of the cytotoxicity, we investigated the structural parameters of the peptides, their cell-binding properties, cell localization, and dynamics in the membrane, as well as the cell membrane composition. We show that, while cytotoxicity is governed by the fine balance between the amphipathicity and hydrophobicity, the selectivity depends also on the expression of negatively charged phospholipids on the cell surface

Specific Grb2-mediated interactions regulate clathrin-dependent endocytosis of the cMet-tyrosine kinase

Lysosomal degradation of the receptor-tyrosine kinase cMet requires receptor ubiquitination by the E3 ubiquitin ligase Cbl followed by clathrin-dependent internalization. A role for Cbl as an adaptor for cMet internalization has been previously reported. However, the requirement for Cbl ubiquitin ligase activity in this process and its mode of recruitment to cMet has yet to be determined. Cbl can directly bind cMet at phosphotyrosine 1003 or indirectly via Grb2 to phosphotyrosine 1356 in the multisubstrate binding domain of cMet. The direct binding of Cbl with cMet is critical for receptor degradation and not receptor internalization. Here we show a strict requirement for Grb2 and the ubiquitin ligase activity of Cbl for cMet endocytosis. Receptor internalization was impaired by small interfering RNA depletion of Grb2, overexpression of dominant negative Grb2 mutants, and point mutations in the cMet multisubstrate docking site that inhibits the direct association of Grb2 with cMet. The requirement for Grb2 was specific and did not involve the multiadaptor Gab1. cMet internalization was impaired in cells expressing an ubiquitin ligase-deficient Cbl mutant or conjugation-deficient ubiquitin but was unaffected in cells expressing a Cbl mutant that is unable to bind cMet directly. Expression of a Cbl-Grb2 chimera rescued impaired cMet endocytosis in cells depleted of endogenous Grb2. These results indicate that the ubiquitin ligase activity of Cbl is critical for clathrin-dependent cMet internalization and suggest a role for Grb2 as an intermediary linking Cbl ubiquitin ligase activity to this process