Do Educational Biographies Have a Place in Extension?

Educational biographies and narratives have been the focus of increasing attention in adult education arenas (Rossiter, 2002). As this adult education method continues to grow in popularity, the question should be asked if educational biographies have a place in Extension. There is evidence that the exercise of completing educational biographies assists adults in their learning. Extension educators can apply the process from two perspectives: 1) Personally writing an educational biography and reflecting on their learning experiences and 2) Encourage program participants to complete the process themselves

Spicing up 4-H Teen Public Speaking with Multiple Intelligence Approaches

Spicing up 4-H teen public speaking can be accomplished through multiple intelligences (MI) approaches. Innovative introductions, visual imagery, and metaphor used with an MI lens strengthened Speak-Up programs for 4-H Ambassadors. The metaphor of chili peppers enabled youth to focus on five major speech components: the aroma (title), hot spice (opening), hot sauce (central idea), meat and potatoes (body), and then adding more hot sauce (conclusion). The pepper theme was built into the entire program (growing, cooking, cleaning, decorating, cultural aspects, history, etc.). MI enabled teens to make new friends, gain confidence, learn leadership, and overcome fears in public presentations

“Voulez-vous que je vous raconte la Socotra d’autrefois?”

En janvier 2011, alors que le monde suivait avec attention les ardentes révoltes contre de nombreux régimes arabes, à Socotra, la plus grande et la plus peuplée des îles de l’archipel du même nom au Yémen, tant les bergers que les citadins exprimaient leur inquiétude de voir leur île gagner un peu d’ « indépendance » politique. À l’annonce que l’archipel allait bientôt être gouverné par une Autorité environnementale – ce qui constituait une condition de sa reconnaissance par l’UNESCO comme site du patrimoine mondial, en 2008 – les habitants de Socotra étaient aux prises avec le sens de cette nouvelle forme de souveraineté « locale », mais néanmoins gérée de façon supra-nationale. Pendant les quinze dernières années, l’archipel de Socotra au Yémen a attiré un volume disproportionné de financements étatiques et d’aide internationale affectés à des programmes de conservation et développement. Ces puissants projets n’ont pas eu pour seul effet de transformer la « place de Socotra dans le monde » – la faisant passer du statut d’obscure petite île de l’Océan Indien, saisonnièrement inaccessible, à celui de site du patrimoine de l’humanité « mondialement » reconnu – ils ont aussi cherché à transformer, en utilisant zonage et pédagogie, chaque centimètre carré de son territoire. Cet essai analyse les réactions des habitants de Socotra confrontés à la transformation de leur île en enclave environnementale et politique, en examinant les inquiétudes des habitants de Socotra à l’égard de la structure de gouvernance qui leur est proposée – structure que beaucoup perçoivent comme une énième forme de régime migrateur, imposé par des forces étrangères. Il analyse aussi la nostalgie exprimée par les habitants de Socotra pour une forme schmittienne de souveraineté – un gouvernant, incarné et indivisible – à l’opposé de la souveraineté « partagée » qui entrave en pratique leur accès au pouvoir politique et leur indépendance culturelle. Une telle « nostalgie souveraine » est l’expression du rejet par les habitants de Socotra de cette forme de plus en plus globale de souveraineté « partagée » qui dilue la responsabilité de l’État et obscurcit son accès aux populations, tout en maximisant la participation internationale à leurs affaires et en accélérant leur enfermement par l’État souverain

“Shall I Tell You What Soqotra Once Was?”

In January 2011, during the same week that the fervent revolts against multiple Arab regimes captured global attention, in Soqotra, the largest and most populated island of Yemen’s Soqotra Archipelago, pastoralists and town-dwellers alike were anxious about their island gaining a measure of political “independence.” Having recently heard that the archipelago was soon to be governed by an environmental Authority  – a condition of its having been recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 2008  – Soqotrans were grappling with the meaning of this new form of “local” but nevertheless supranationally-mediated sovereignty. For the past fifteen years, Yemen’s Soqotra Archipelago has attracted a disproportionate amount of state funding and international aid earmarked for conservation-and-development programming. Not only have these ascendant projects transformed Soqotra’s place-in-the-world  – from a relatively obscure and seasonably inaccessible Indian Ocean island to a “globally” significant World Heritage site  – but also they have sought to transform, through zoning and pedagogy, every inch of its territory as well. This essay examines Socotran responses to their island’s environmental and political enclavization by focusing on (1) Soqotran anxieties with regard to the proposed new governance structure, which many viewed as just the latest form of several visitant regimes imposed upon them by outside forces, and (2) Soqotrans’ expressed nostalgia for a Schmittian form of sovereignty  – one ruler, personified and indivisible – as opposed to this “shared” sovereignty that, in practice, attenuates their own political access and cultural independence. It argues that such « sovereign nostalgia » is  rejection by Soqotrans of the increasingly globalized form of « shared » sovereignty that dilutes the state’s accountability and obscures people’s access to it, while maximizing international involvement in their affairs and accelerating their encompassment by the (ever still) sovereign state

The relationship of peritubular capillary density with glomerular volume and kidney function in living kidney donors

Background: Peritubular capillary rarefaction plays an important role in the progression of chronic kidney disease. Little is known about the relation between peritubular capillary density, glomerular volume and filtration rate in the healthy kidney. Methods: In this single-center study, we included 69 living kidney donors who donated between 2005 and 2008 and had representative renal biopsies available. In all donors, glomerular filtration rate was measured using 125I-Iothalamate before donation and at five years after donation. Before donation, the increase in glomerular filtration rate after dopamine stimulation was measured. Glomerular volume and peritubular capillary density were determined in biopsies taken at the time of transplantation. Pearson’s correlation coefficient and linear regression were used to assess relations between parameters.Results: Mean donor age was 52 ± 11 years and mean measured glomerular filtration rate was 119 ± 22 mL/min before donation and 82 ± 15 mL/min at five years after donation. While peritubular capillary density (measured by either number of peritubular capillaries/50,000 μm2 or number of peritubular capillaries/tubule) was not associated with measured glomerular filtration rate before or after donation, number of peritubular capillaries/tubule was associated with the increase in measured glomerular filtration rate after dopamine stimulation (St.β = 0.33, p = 0.004), and correlated positively with glomerular volume (R = 0.24, p = 0.047). Glomerular volume was associated with unstimulated measured glomerular filtration rate before donation (St.β = 0.31, p = 0.01) and at five years (St.β = 0.30, p = 0.01) after donation, independent of age.Conclusions: In summary, peritubular capillary density was not related to unstimulated kidney function before or after kidney donation, in contrast to glomerular volume. However, number of peritubular capillaries/tubule correlated with the increase in glomerular filtration rate after dopamine stimulation in healthy kidneys, and with glomerular volume. These findings suggest that peritubular capillary density and glomerular volume differentially affect kidney function in healthy living kidney donors. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]</p