243 research outputs found
Action research and democracy
This contribution explores the relationship between research and learning democracy. Action research is seen as being compatible with the orientation of educational and social work research towards social justice and democracy. Nevertheless, the history of action research is characterized by a tension between democracy and social engineering. In the social-engineering approach, action research is conceptualized as a process of innovation aimed at a specific Bildungsideal. In a democratic approach action research is seen as research based on cooperation between research and practice. However, the notion of democratic action research as opposed to social engineering action research needs to be theorized. So called democratic action research involving the implementation by the researcher of democracy as a model and as a preset goal, reduces cooperation and participation into instruments to reach this goal, and becomes a type of social engineering in itself. We argue that the relationship between action research and democracy is in the acknowledgment of the political dimension of participation: âa democratic relationship in which both sides exercise power and shared control over decision-making as well as interpretationâ. This implies an open research design and methodology able to understand democracy as a learning process and an ongoing experiment
Pentamycin biosynthesis in Philippine Streptomyces sp. S816 : cytochrome P450-catalyzed installation of the C-14 hydroxyl group
Pentamycin is a polyene antibiotic, registered in Switzerland for the treatment of vaginal candidiasis, trichomoniasis, and mixed infections. Chemical instability has hindered its widespread application and development as a drug. Here, we report the identification of Streptomyces sp. S816, isolated from Philippine mangrove soil, as a pentamycin producer. Genome sequence analysis identified the putative pentamycin biosynthetic gene cluster, which shows a high degree of similarity to the gene cluster responsible for filipin III biosynthesis. The ptnJ gene, which is absent from the filipin III biosynthetic gene cluster, was shown to encode a cytochrome P450 capable of converting filipin III to pentamycin. This confirms that the cluster directs pentamycin biosynthesis, paving the way for biosynthetic engineering approaches to the production of pentamycin analogues. Several other Streptomyces genomes were found to contain ptnJ orthologues clustered with genes encoding polyketide synthases that appear to have similar architectures to those responsible for the assembly of filipin III and pentamycin, suggesting pentamycin production may be common in Streptomyces species
Effects of dietary nitrate supplementation on symptoms of acute mountain sickness and basic physiological responses in a group of male adolescents during ascent to Mount Everest Base Camp
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary nitrate supplementation, in the form of beetroot juice, on acute mountain sickness (AMS) symptoms and physiological responses, in a group of young males trekking to Mount Everest Base Camp (EBC). Forty healthy male students (mean age (SD): 16 (1) yrs) trekked to EBC over 11 days. Following an overnight fast, each morning participants completed the Lake Louise AMS questionnaire and underwent a series of physiological tests: resting blood pressure as well as resting and exercising heart rate, respiratory rate, and peripheral oxygen saturation. The exercise test consisted of a standardised 2-minute stepping protocol and measurements were taken in the last 10 seconds. Participants in the intervention arm of the study consumed 140 ml of concentrated beetroot juice daily, containing approximately 10 mmoles of nitrate, while those in the control arm consumed 140 ml of concentrated blackcurrant cordial with negligible nitrate content. Drinks were taken for the first seven days at high altitude (days 2 to 8), in two equal doses; one with breakfast, and one with the evening meal. Mixed modelling revealed no significant between-groups difference in the incidence of AMS (Odds Rationitrate vs. control: 1.16 (95% CI: 0.59; 2.29)). Physiological changes occurring during ascent to high altitude generally were not significantly different between the two groups (Model Coef (95% CI) â average difference nitrate vs. control: systolic blood pressure, 0.16 (-4.47; 4.79); peripheral oxygen saturation, 0.28 (-0.85; 1.41); heart rate, -0.48 (-8.47; 7.50) (Model Coef (95% CI) â relative difference nitrate vs. control: ventilatory rate, 0.95 (0.82; 1.08)). Modelling revealed that diastolic blood pressure was 3.37 mmHg (0.24; 6.49) higher for participants in the beetroot juice, however this difference was no larger than that found at baseline and no interaction effect was observed. Supplementation with dietary nitrate did not significantly change symptoms of AMS or alter key physiological variables, in a group of adolescent males during a high altitude trekking expedition. There was no evidence of harm from dietary nitrate supplementation in this context. Given the wide confidence intervals in all models, a larger sample size would be required to exclude a false negative result. Our data suggest that prolonged oral nitrate supplementation is safe and feasible at altitude but has little physiological or clinical effect
Halloween, Organization, and the Ethics of Uncanny Celebration
This article examines the relationship between organizational ethics, the uncanny, and the annual celebration of Halloween. We begin by exploring the traditional and contemporary organizational function of Halloween as âtension-management ritualâ (Etzioni, Sociol Theory 18(1):44â59, 2000) through which collective fears, anxieties, and fantasies are played out and given material expression. Combining the uncanny with the folkloric concept of ostension, we then examine an incident in which UK supermarket retailers made national news headlines for selling offensive Halloween costumes depicting âescaped mental patientsâ. Rather than treating this incident as a problem of moral hygieneâin which products are removed, apologies made, and lessons learnedâwe consider the value of Halloween as a unique and disruptive ethical encounter with the uncanny Other. Looking beyond its commercial appeal and controversy, we reflect on the creative, generous, and disruptive potential of Halloween as both tension-management ritual and unique organizational space of hospitality through which to receive and embrace alterity and so discover the homely within the unheimlich
Uncanny Objects and the Fear of the Familiar:Hiding from Akan Witches in New York City
This article examines the cosmology and secret practices of West African traditional priests in New York City in preventing the spread of witchcraft, an evil invisible spirit transmitted between female members of the Akan matrilineage. Explored is an uncanny dynamic as everyday habitus becomes increasingly strange in the world of a young Ghanaian woman in the Bronx, who has become petrified of insinuations of witchcraft from close family members. In trying to hide the young woman from infection by her fellow witches, Akan priests attempt to âcaptureâ her habits and everyday routines, calling upon the iconic magic of New York City in order to âmisplaceâ familiarity within the anonymity of Manhattan. In this process, the transmission of the witchâs spirit to the intended victim is disturbed as the victimâs life and things are moved. Nowhere to be found, the witch shifts her attention to other victims
Education, digitization and literacy training. A historical and cross-cultural perspective.
In this article, I deal with the transition from traditional âschoolâ forms of instruction to educational processes that are fully mediated by digital technologies. Against the background of the idea the very institution âschoolâ is closely linked to the invention of the alphabetic writing system and to the need of initiating new generations into a literate culture, I focus on the issue of literacy training. I argue that with the digitization of education, a fundamental transition takes place regarding what it means to be literate, but also what it means to educate and to be educated. I do so by developing a âtechno-somaticâ approach, which means that I look at the use of concrete instructional technologies, and the bodily disciplines that are involved. I set out a double comparison in which I contrast existing, âtraditionalâ ways of learning how to read/write with the way in which literacy training looked like before the nineteenth century, on the one hand, and with the initiation into literacy in the Chinese/Japanese language, on the other hand. I argue that these comparisons shed light on the differences between traditional and digital literacy. More precisely, I show that in each case, a different relation toward what it means to produce script is involved. As such, both forms of literacy go together with different spaces of experience and senses of being-able, and therefore with altogether different ideas of what education is all about
Democratic experimentation in early childhood education
Qualifications of the early years workforce are a salient predictors of quality and therefore of childrenâs outcomes. International reports advise that a majority of staff is trained at Bachelorâs levels and rank countries according to this criterion. There is fewer consensus on what this professionalism should be. In a majority of countries, large numbers of professionals are untrained, unqualified and sometimes invisible in the official reports. Many of these unqualified âassistantsâ take up crucial âcareâ tasks, while the teacherâs tasks are defined as âeducationâ. The separation between care and education occurs in split systems as well as in systems where education and care are supposed to be integrated. In addition, the growing diversity of families challenges our preconceived ideas about âthe good lifeâ for children. These observations urge us to rethink professionalism in terms of reflexivity and the capacity of co-constructing pedagogy with parents and children. A case study in Ghent shows how low qualified professionals develop research capacities. The analysis of their experience suggests that âlearningâ may be less a quality of the individual than a quality of the systemic relationships that are build in the teams as well as in the interaction between teams and their social contexts
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