75 research outputs found
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Where constructionism and critical realism converge: interrogating the domain of epistemological relativism
The paper interrogates the status, nature and significance of epistemological relativism as a key element of constructionism and critical realism. It finds that epistemological relativism is espoused by authorities in critical realism and marginalized or displaced in the field of management and organization studies, resulting in forms of analysis that are empirically, but not fully critically, realist. This evaluation prompts reflection on the question of whether, how and with what implications epistemological relativism might be recast at the heart of critical realist studies of management and organization
Rethinking Radical Democracy
Over the course of three decades, vocabularies of radical democracy have pressed their stamp on democratic thought. Trading on the intuition that there is more to democracy than elections, they have generated critical insights into the important role that practices of pluralisation and critique play in bettering institutional politics. As a result, few would today deny the radical democratic contribution to democratic thought. What many might question, however, is its continuing traction. The paper probes this question, focusing on the nuanced place of democracy in contemporary radical work. It grapples with the difficulties that this poses for radical democrats and it suggests that a way of overcoming these difficulties – that threaten to undermine the coherence of radical democracy – is to rethink and reconstruct the distinctiveness of its vocabulary. The paper attempts such a reconstruction. It develops the idea of the promissory rule of the many and it discusses the ways it rejuvenates broader democratic thought
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Oxidative discolouration in whole-head and cut lettuce: biochemical and environmental influences on a complex phenotype and potential breeding strategies to improve shelf-life
Lettuce discolouration is a key post-harvest trait. The major enzyme controlling oxidative discolouration
has long been considered to be polyphenol oxidase (PPO) however, levels of PPO and subsequent development of discolouration symptoms have not always correlated. The predominance of a latent state of the enzyme in plant tissues combined with substrate activation and contemporaneous suicide inactivation
mechanisms are considered as potential explanations for
this phenomenon. Leaf tissue physical properties have
been associated with subsequent discolouration and
these may be influenced by variation in nutrient
availability, especially excess nitrogen and head maturity at harvest. Mild calcium and irrigation stress has
also been associated with a reduction in subsequent
discolouration, although excess irrigation has been
linked to increased discolouration potentially through
leaf physical properties. These environmental factors,
including high temperature and UV light intensities,
often have impacts on levels of phenolic compounds
linking the environmental responses to the biochemistry
of the PPO pathway. Breeding strategies targeting the
PALand PPOpathway biochemistry and environmental
response genes are discussed as a more cost-effective
method of mitigating oxidative discolouration then
either modified atmosphere packaging or post-harvest
treatments, although current understanding of the
biochemistry means that such programs are likely to
be limited in nature and it is likely that they will need to be deployed alongside other methods for the foreseeable future
Rhetorical-Performative Analysis of the Urban Symbolic Landscape : Populism in Action
This chapter introduces a rhetorical-performative analysis as a tool for exploring urban symbolic landscape and populism and hence deals with relationality and materiality from the postfoundational perspective. It connects the articulation theory of cultural theorists Stuart Hall or political theorists Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe and spatial analysis of cultural geographer Doreen Massey to the study of populism. The case of Hungary shows how political frontiers have been articulated in the public space, contestable interpretations of the past are deliberately used and key symbolic urban landscapes transformed radically to articulate a political ‘us’—and ‘them.’ In the 2010s, in the Hungarian capital Budapest, the top-down process transforming urban space faced bottom-up movements which reproduce the populist logic of articulation.Peer reviewe
Passiflora incarnata attenuation of neuropathic allodynia and vulvodynia apropos GABA-ergic and opioidergic antinociceptive and behavioural mechanisms
Background: Passiflora incarnata is widely used as an anxiolytic and sedative due to its putative GABAergic
properties. Passiflora incarnata L. methanolic extract (PI-ME) was evaluated in an animal model of streptozotocininduced
diabetic neuropathic allodynia and vulvodynia in rats along with antinociceptive, anxiolytic and sedative
activities in mice in order to examine possible underlying mechanisms.
Methods: PI-ME was tested preliminary for qualitative phytochemical analysis and then quantitatively by proximate
and GC-MS analysis. The antinociceptive property was evaluated using the abdominal constriction assay and hot
plate test. The anxiolytic activity was performed in a stair case model and sedative activity in an open field test. The
antagonistic activities were evaluated using naloxone and/or pentylenetetrazole (PTZ). PI-ME was evaluated for
prospective anti-allodynic and anti-vulvodynic properties in a rat model of streptozotocin induced neuropathic pain
using the static and dynamic testing paradigms of mechanical allodynia and vulvodynia.
Results: GC-MS analysis revealed that PI-ME contained predominant quantities of oleamide (9-octadecenamide),
palmitic acid (hexadecanoic acid) and 3-hydroxy-dodecanoic acid, among other active constituents. In the
abdominal constriction assay and hot plate test, PI-ME produced dose dependant, naloxone and pentylenetetrazole
reversible antinociception suggesting an involvement of opioidergic and GABAergic mechanisms. In the stair case
test, PI-ME at 200 mg/kg increased the number of steps climbed while at 600 mg/kg a significant decrease was
observed. The rearing incidence was diminished by PI-ME at all tested doses and in the open field test, PI-ME
decreased locomotor activity to an extent that was analagous to diazepam. The effects of PI-ME were antagonized
by PTZ in both the staircase and open field tests implicating GABAergic mechanisms in its anxiolytic and sedative
activities. In the streptozotocin-induced neuropathic nociceptive model, PI-ME (200 and 300 mg/kg) exhibited static
and dynamic anti-allodynic effects exemplified by an increase in paw withdrawal threshold and paw withdrawal
latency. PI-ME relieved only the dynamic component of vulvodynia by increasing flinching response latency.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that Passiflora incarnata might be useful for treating neuropathic pain. The
antinociceptive and behavioural findings inferring that its activity may stem from underlying opioidergic and
GABAergic mechanisms though a potential oleamide-sourced cannabimimetic involvement is also discussed
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