Feminist solidarity building as embodied agonism: An ethnographic account of a protest movement

Feminist solidarity, after early and idealistic conceptions of an all‐encompassing sisterhood, has become preoccupied with understanding and theorising differences between women. This study develops an account of solidarity as embodied agonism, where difference and contest are experienced and negotiated through the body. Difference and contest are reframed within feminist solidarity projects as resources for, rather than inhibitors to, generating collective agency. This is done through an ethnography of a protest movement in Montenegro, which drew together diverse groups of women, and bring our data into conversation with theories of agonistic democratic practice and embodied performativity. Embodied agonistic solidarity is theorised as a participative and inclusive endeavour driven by conflictual encounters, constituted through the bodies, language and visual imagery of assembling and articulating subjects. Our account of solidarity is presented as constituted through three dimensions, each of which represents a different emphasis on sensory experience: exposing, which is to make one's body open to the hardship of others, enabling alliances between unlikely allies to emerge; citing, which is to draw on others’ symbolic resources and to publicly affirm them; inhabiting, which is to embody the deprivations of others, enabling alliances to grow and persist

Student attitudes to games-based skills development: learning from video games in higher education

Qualitative interview data is presented in support of previously-published quantitative evidence that suggests commercial video games may be used to develop useful skills and competencies in undergraduate students. The purpose of the work described here was to document the attitudes of those students involved in the quantitative study and to explore how the game-based intervention was perceived. To this end, student attitudes to the use of specified games to develop communication skill, resourcefulness and adaptability are examined. A broadly positive perception of the games' efficacy for skills development is revealed, and the aspects of game play that students believe contribute to skills development are discussed. These aspects include the need to communicate with team mates in order to succeed, and the fluid, unpredictable nature of in-game challenges. It is suggested that while the games played an important role in skills development, interaction between students, facilitated by game play, was also a significant factor

Modellazione numerica dell'evoluzione dell'artesianismo nel sistema acquifero del sahara settentrionale // Numerical modeling to estimate the artesianism evolution in north-western sahara aquifer system

Nel presente lavoro vengono presentati i risultati ottenuti tramite l’applicazione di un modello numerico di circolazione idrica sotterranea al bacino artesiano del Sistema Acquifero del Sahara Settentrionale al fine ottenere delle realistiche simulazioni relative al trend di abbassamento piezometrico e relativa diminuzione dei fenomeni di artesianismo locale. L’esperienza effettuata negli ultimi anni nell’ambito di un progetto di cooperazione intergovernativa ha permesso di utilizzare un recente modello numerico regionale, elaborato dall’Osservatorio Sahara Sud, come base per la costruzione di un nuovo modello locale centrato sulla regione dei Chotts tunisini tramite il quale implementare differenti scenari plausibili di sfruttamento della risorsa idrica sotterranea. Il modello numerico locale si sviluppa su un’area di circa 30000 Km2, comprendente parte del territorio algerino accanto al confine con la Tunisia e l’intera regione del Chott el Djerid nel sud della Tunisia. L’attualizzazione del modello regionale servito come base per la modellazione locale ha richiesto l’utilizzo dei dati raccolti durati un’apposita campagna di misure svolta nel 2007 e incentrata sul monitoraggio piezometrico di alcuni pozzi artesiani e sull’esecuzione di numerose prove di portata. Le ipotesi fatte sulle possibili evoluzioni dei prelievi nell’area esaminata ha permesso di definire 16 diversi scenari di sfruttamento da implementare nel modello locale. Il risultato delle simulazioni ha mostrato previsioni di trend di abbassamento piezometrico variabili tra gli 0,8 e gli 1,2 m/a, con relative scomparsa dei fenomeni locali di artesianismo prevista tra il 2015 e il 2035

Effects of intracerebroventricularly administered octreotide on gonadotrophic cells in female rats

Effects of intracerbroventricularly (ICV) administered octreotide on gonadotrophic cells (FSH and LH) of adult Wistar female rats were examined by immunocytochemical and morphometric methods. The animals received ICV three 1.0 mg doses of octreotide dissolved in 10 mL saline every second day. The controls were treated with equivalent volume of physiological saline by the same schedule. FSH- and LH-producing cells were examined using peroxidase-antiperoxidase immunocytochemical procedure. Morphometric and stereologic examinations were performed to evaluate changes in the number, volume and volume densities of gonadotrophic cells. In females treated with octreotide, the gonadotrophic cells were smaller and often pycnotic, while the number of FSH- and LH-immunopositive cells per unit area (mm2) was significantly reduced. Octreotide also induced a significant reduction of the FSH- and LH-immunoreactive cells volume, as well as of their volume densities. On the basis of these results it can be concluded that octeotride, centrally administered to adult female rats provokes changes in immunocytochemical and morphometric features of both types of gonadotrophic cells.Ispitivani su efekti oktreotida davanog intracerebroventrikularno (ICV) odraslim ženkama pacova na gonadotropne ćelije (FSH i LH). Životinje su tretirane sa ukupno tri doze od 1 mg oktreotida rastvorenog u 10 mL fiziološkog rastvora svakog drugog dana. Kontrole su na isti način primile odgovarajuću zapreminu fiziološ kog rastvora. FSH i LH ćelije su ispitivane imunocitohemijskim postupkom peroksidaza-antiperoksidaza. Da bi se ustanovile promene u broju, zapremini i zapreminskoj gustini gonadotropnih ćelija primenjen je morfometrijski kao i stereološki pristup. Kod ženki tretiranih oktreotidom, gonadotropne ćelije su bile manje i često piknotič ne. Broj imunopozitivnih FSH i LH ćelija po jedinici površine (mm2) je bio statistički značajno smanjen. Oktreotid je, takodje, izazvao značajno smanjenje zapremine FSH i LH imunoreaktivnih ćelija, kao i njihove zapreminske gustine. Na osnovu ovih rezultata, može se zaključiti da je oktreotid, dat ICV odraslim ženkama pacova doveo do promena imunocitohemijskih i morfometrijskih osobina oba ispitivana tipa gonadotropnih ćelija

Estimated arterial stiffness and cardiovascular risk in chronic kidney disease – a study protocol

Introduction The prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the general population is 9.1%. Cur- rent guidelines recommend a cut-off GFR value of 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 for diagnosis of CKD, without considering the physiological decline of GFR with aging, or the association with cardiovascular (CV), cerebrovascular or renal outcomes. There is also an increase in arterial stiffness with aging, which is es- timated by pulse wave velocity (PWV). Aim The aim of this study is to show how the ePWV predicts CV incidents independently of SCORE chart and traditional risk factors. Materials and Methods This prospective observational study will include 2058 subjects from the Endemic nephropathy in Croatia – epidemiology, diagnosis and etiopathogenesis scientific research project. Conclusion This will be the first study that could show how the estimated arterial stiffness, independently of CKD contributes to overall CV, cerebrovascular and renal risk. We could also, based on the results, propose an age-independent definition of CKD based on the association with CV disease and mortality

Mit in kreolizacija kultur ter uprizoritvene umetnosti v Sredozemlju

Theatre today speaks for a new type of cultural manifoldness, for a broad range of new differences that are developing. Creolisation is the intermingling of two or several formerly discrete traditions or cultures; it is an interweaving of similar and different threads of various colours, deriving from myths shared throughout the Mediterranean basin. Within such an understanding of culture theatre needs to speak out not only against domination but also needs to highlight the importance of marginality, otherness, and local contexts. It should not be hemmed in by literary-minded applications.As Benjamin Lee writes, “we have reached a time when no values from any single cultural perspective can provide frameworks adequate to understanding the changes affecting all of us”, which entails the decolonisation of cultural practices. We must think globally and act locally, be aware of universal myths, while remaining aware of the local circumstances and myths that surround us. In other words, a fruitful dialectical relation can ensue. In Slovenia, scholars often complain that, aside from specialists, nobody is “internationally” interested in local myths or national topics. This is not true: what is necessary is to find an appropriate way to present local or national topics within an international and global setting.Gledališče danes priča o novi vrsti kulturne mnogovrstnosti, o širokem spektrunovonastajajočih razlik. Vzporedno pa poteka proces kreolizacije, ki postaja vedno bolj značilen za sodobno kulturo in uprizarjanje ter ga lahko definiramo kot prepletanje dveh ali več prej diskretnih kulturnih tradicij – kot nekakšno prepletanje podobnih, a vendar različnih koloritov, izhajajočih iz mitov, skupnih celotnemu sredozemskemu bazenu. Znotraj takšnega razumevanja kulture mora gledališče spregovoriti ne samo proti dominaciji, ampak tudi o pomenu marginalnosti, drugačnosti in lokalnih kontekstov.Kot zapiše Benjamin Lee, »živimo v času, ko nobena od vrednot kateregakoli posameznega kulturnega vidika ne more zagotoviti ustreznega okvirja za razumevanje sprememb, ki vplivajo na vse nas«, vključno z dekolonizacijo kulturnih praks. Razmišljati moramo globalno, delovati pa lokalno, zavedati se moramo univerzalnih mitov, hkrati pa tudi lokalnih razmer in mitov, ki nas obkrožajo. V Sloveniji se strokovnjaki pogosto pritožujejo, da se razen specialistov nihče »mednarodno« ne zanima za lokalne mite in nacionalne teme. Ta teza preprosto ne zdrži: vsekakor pa je treba najti ustrezen način za predstavitev lokalnih in nacionalnih tem znotraj mednarodnega in globalnega konteksta