The relationship between religiosity of Kazakh women and attitudes toward political, economic, and social factors in modern day Kazakhstan

How does religiosity of a Kazakh woman impact her attitudes toward the political, economic, and social climate of modern day Kazakhstan? There is no reason to presume that Kazakh women have the same opinions as Muslim women from the Islamic countries of the Middle East and Northern Africa if we hold that culture influences social, and therefore religious, life. I argue that Islam in Kazakhstan includes distinct rituals and cultural aspects surrounding religious practice that shape the attitudes of Kazakh women, differentiating them from Muslim women in other Islamic countries. This results from a combination of Islamic rituals and beliefs from Tengrianism, the religion of the Kazakh nomads. I found a weak relationship between religiosity and most political, economic, and social attitudes of Kazakh women. These findings prove that it is vital to treat each Muslim country as a specific case, rather than to generalize the nature of countries with common ethnic groups or religious majorities. As the global prevalence of radical Islamic groups increases, cultivating an understanding of Islam in areas of the world such as Central Asia is vital to comprehending the non-radical realizations of Islam as a belief system

Learning to Teach at Heterogeneous and Diverse Chemistry Classes : Methods for University Chemistry Teacher Training Courses

Circumstances in school change and teachers constantly face different obstacles. One of these includes dealing with heterogeneity and diversity in chemistry classes. Future chemistry teachers need to be aware of the differences in their classrooms. They must be prepared to diagnose and handle differences in order to obtain the best possible learning outcomes for their students. The present paper presents a cooperative project, which develops and evaluates teacher training modules at the University of Bremen (Germany) and the University of Helsinki (Finland). The seminars are based on a 3-step model which will be described as well. This model focuses on the initial sensitization of student teachers for heterogeneous chemistry classes (first step) and qualifying future teachers to diagnose (second step) and deal with heterogeneity and diversity in chemistry classroom (third step). Examples taken from the courses at both universities will be presented and preliminary evaluation results are given and discussed. First successes of the three steps of qualifying student teachers are recognizable in both countries. The courses in both countries show a short section from the teachers training program for the Bachelor and Master degree. All students attend different school in an internship after or during the courses.Peer reviewe

FATTY ACID COMPOSITION OF LAMB MEAT FROM ITALIAN AND GERMAN LOCAL BREEDS

The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the quality characteristics, chemical composition and lipid profile of lamb meat from Italian (Biellese and Sambucana) and German (Texel-Merino-Blackhead-Charollais [TMBC]) breeds reared in extensive and semi-extensive production systems. Meat samples from 89 animals were analysed. The meat of the lambs from semi-intensively reared Biellese, and extensively reared Sambucana and TMBC breeds produced lean meat, with slightly higher intramuscular fat content in TMBC. The latter also produced meat of darker colour (P<0.05) and higher protein content (P<0.05). The meat of Sambucana lambs presented the lowest total cholesterol content (P<0.05). The fatty acid profile of the meat showed a clear advantage of both extensively reared breeds, which had substantially lower proportion of saturated (SFA) but higher of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), particularly n-3 (P<0.05). The beneficial effect of the extensive rearing conditions was associated with lower n-6/n3 ratio, and atherogenic (AI) and thrombogenic (TI) indices, thereby suggesting that production system can be used successfully to modify the fatty acid profile to achieve a positive effect for the human health

Fatty acid composition of lamb meat from Italian and German local breeds

The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the quality characteristics, chemical composition and lipid profile of lamb meat from Italian (Biellese and Sambucana) and German (Texel-Merino-Blackhead-Charollais [TMBC]) breeds reared in extensive and semi-extensive production systems. Meat samples from 89 animals were analysed. The meat of the lambs from semi-intensively reared Biellese, and extensively reared Sambucana and TMBC breeds produced lean meat, with slightly higher intramuscular fat content in TMBC. The latter also produced meat of darker colour (P lt 0.05) and higher protein content (P lt 0.05). The meat of Sambucana lambs presented the lowest total cholesterol content (P lt 0.05). The fatty acid profile of the meat showed a clear advantage of both extensively reared breeds, which had substantially lower proportion of saturated but higher of polyunsaturated fatty acids, particularly n-3 (P lt 0.05). The beneficial effect of the extensive rearing conditions was associated with lower n-6/n3 ratio, and atherogenic and thrombogenic indices, thereby suggesting that production system can be used successfully to modify the fatty acid profile to achieve a positive effect for the human health.The authors are grateful to EU ERA-NET programme and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for funding the project “EcoLamb–Holistic Production to Reduce the Ecological Footprint of Meat (SusAn/0002/2016). CIMO authors are grateful to FCT and FEDER under Programme PT2020 for financial support to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020). Dr. Gonzales-Barron acknowledges the national funding by FCT, P.I., through the Institutional Scientific Employment Programme contract. Jos´e M. Lorenzo is member of the HealthyMeat network, funded by CYTED (ref. 119RT0568).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

RCRC Issue Briefs: Why Children Should Be the #1 Disaster Priority

The Resilient Children/Resilient Communities Initiative (RCRC) Issue Briefs, in this document, are designed to be used by the RCRC communities and all other communities who are seeking to elevate children’s disaster resilience to the attention of local, state, and federal legislators or other decision-makers. These reports can also be used by legislators and decision–makers at all levels of government as informative briefs to better understand the issues faced by communities in disasters within the context of COVID-19 and other disasters. Readers are encouraged to explore topics and voices that most resonate with their own community. To access an online and interactive version of RCRC Issue Briefs, please visit https://rcrctoolbox.org/rcrc-issue-briefs

Quality attributes of lamb meat from European breeds: Effects of intrinsic properties and storage

The sustainability of the European sheep farming sector can be ensured through the high and consistent quality of products, although the concept of meat quality, being multifaceted, is challenging to keep up by farmers and producers. The objectives of this study were (i) to evaluate quality attributes (CIE L*, a*, b*, lipid oxidation, cooking loss and Warner-Bratzler texture test) of lamb meat during cold storage originating from eight European breeds raised under their normal production systems (n = 292 lambs); and (ii) to elucidate the influence of storage and intrinsic properties (cold carcass weight [CCW], ultimate pH [pH24], water activity [aw], and proximate composition) on the aforementioned quality attributes measured on the 3rd, 9th and 15th day post slaughter. All meat quality properties displayed a high variability due to the breed × production systems, although, as a whole, L*, a*, b*, TBARs and cooking loss increased during storage (P lt 0.001), whereas the tenderisation process was of non-linear decay nature (P = 0.001). While production system – taken across breeds – was not found to affect meat cooking losses, it heavily influenced CCW, producing intensive systems heavier (P lt 0.001) carcasses (21.4 kg) than those raised in semi-extensive (14.9 kg) and extensive systems (13.8 kg). On the 15th day of storage, TBARs from intensive systems was significantly (P lt 0.001) higher than those of extensively raised lambs (0.839 mg MDA/kg vs. 0.299 mg MDA/kg, respectively). Although the extensive and semi-extensive systems initially produced less tender meat (P lt 0.05) than intensive systems, on the 15th day of storage, meat from extensive (23.4 N/cm2) and semi-extensive systems (24.4 N/cm2) presented as good tenderness quality (P lt 0.10) as that of the intensive systems (22.1 N/cm2). Within breed × production systems, higher CCW or intramuscular fat was associated to darker meat (P lt 0.001 and P = 0.014), higher redness (P lt 0.001 for both), greater lipid oxidation (P = 0.016 and P lt 0.001), and lower slope (P = 0.014 and P = 0.004) and force (P = 0.027 and P = 0.001). The only intrinsic property that heavily affected most of the quality attributes was ash content, since meat of higher ash content presented higher luminosity (P = 0.008), and lower redness (P lt 0.001), yellowness (P lt 0.001), TBARS (P lt 0.001), cooking loss (P = 0.002) and tenderness (P lt 0.001). The elucidation of the impact of intrinsic properties on the lamb meat quality attributes during storage can help breeders and producers modify current flock management, feeding strategies and pre-slaughter and slaughter practices towards quality improvement or meeting particular consumers’ demands.The authors are grateful to EU ERA-NET programme and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for funding the project “EcoLamb–Holistic Production to Reduce the Ecological Footprint of Meat (SusAn/0002/2016). CIMO authors are grateful to FCT and FEDER under Programme PT2020 for financial support to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020). Dr. Gonzales-Barron acknowledges the national funding by FCT, P.I., through the Institutional Scientific Employment Programme contract. José M. Lorenzo is member of the HealthyMeat network, funded by CYTED (ref. 119RT0568).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Informes Temáticos RCRC: Porqué los Niños Deben Ser la Prioridad #1 en Desastres

Los Informes Temáticos RCRC, en este documento, están diseñados para ser utilizados por las comunidades de la iniciativa RCRC y todas las otras comunidades que buscan elevar la resiliencia de los niños ante desastres a la atención de legisladores locales, estatales y federales u otros responsables de la toma de decisiones. Estos informes también pueden ser utilizados por legisladores y responsables de la toma de decisiones en todos los niveles de gobierno como documentos informativos para comprender mejor los problemas que enfrentan las comunidades en desastres en el contexto de COVID-19 y otros desastres. Se anima a los lectores a explorar los temas y mensajes que más resuenan con su propia comunidad. Para acceder a una versión online e interactiva de los Informes Temáticos RCRC, visite https://rcrctoolbox.org/rcrc-issue-briefs-es/