Some Aspects of Leadership in Independent Schools in Alberta

Interest in independent schools has been growing in Canada, partly as a result of some parental dissatisfaction with public schools. The Canadian province of Alberta has legislation in place that permits development of independent schools while simultaneously imposing controls on their operations. A recent study used interviews, observations, and documents to examine the perceptions of principals in eight accredited, funded, independent schools in Alberta about the major factors that affected their leadership role. They especially identified philosophical congruence enhanced by respect and trust, as well as personal relationships, school culture, symbolism, and support from staff of the government's regional offices.Au Canada, on manifeste de plus en plus d'intérêt dans les écoles indépendantes; il s'agit d'un phénomène qui est en partie dû à la l'insatisfaction que certains parents ressentent vis-à-vis des écoles publiques. Dans la province de l'Alberta (Canada), la législation actuelle permet l'établissement d'écoles indépendantes tout en imposant certains contrôles quant à leur fonctionnement. Les auteurs ont voulu identifier les perceptions de huit directeurs d'écoles indépendantes, reconnues et financées en Alberta quant aux principaux facteurs qui influaient sur leur rôle de leadership. Pour ce faire, ils ont eu recours aux entrevues, aux observations et à l'étude de documents. Les directeurs ont surtout évoqué la conformité philosophique assurée par le respect et la confiance, ainsi que les relations personnelles, la culture scolaire, le symbolisme et l'appui de la part du personnel des bureaux régionaux du gouvernement

Some Aspects of Leadership in Independent Schools in Alberta

Interest in independent schools has been growing in Canada, partly as a result of some parental dissatisfaction with public schools. The Canadian province of Alberta has legislation in place that permits development of independent schools while simultaneously imposing controls on their operations. A recent study used interviews, observations, and documents to examine the perceptions of principals in eight accredited, funded, independent schools in Alberta about the major factors that affected their leadership role. They especially identified philosophical congruence enhanced by respect and trust, as well as personal relationships, school culture, symbolism, and support from staff of the government's regional offices.Au Canada, on manifeste de plus en plus d'intérêt dans les écoles indépendantes; il s'agit d'un phénomène qui est en partie dû à la l'insatisfaction que certains parents ressentent vis-à-vis des écoles publiques. Dans la province de l'Alberta (Canada), la législation actuelle permet l'établissement d'écoles indépendantes tout en imposant certains contrôles quant à leur fonctionnement. Les auteurs ont voulu identifier les perceptions de huit directeurs d'écoles indépendantes, reconnues et financées en Alberta quant aux principaux facteurs qui influaient sur leur rôle de leadership. Pour ce faire, ils ont eu recours aux entrevues, aux observations et à l'étude de documents. Les directeurs ont surtout évoqué la conformité philosophique assurée par le respect et la confiance, ainsi que les relations personnelles, la culture scolaire, le symbolisme et l'appui de la part du personnel des bureaux régionaux du gouvernement

(Certified) Humane Violence? Animal Production, the Ambivalence of Humanizing the Inhumane, and What International Humanitarian Law Has to Do with It

The chapter draws a comparison with the self-certifying of production methods as ‘humane’ or animal-friendly in the labelling of animal products—that is, according to companies’ own self-imposed codes of conduct. It likens the idea of humanizing animal slaughter, factory farms, and other forms of production to the notion of humanizing warfare. Like international humanitarian law (IHL), animal welfare law is marked by the tension inherent in its attempt to humanize innately inhumane practices. Given these parallels, the analysis of animal welfare law might benefit from existing insights into the potential and limits of IHL. Both areas of law endorse a principle of ‘humanity’ while arguably facilitating and legitimizing the use of violence, and might thereby ultimately perpetuate the suffering of living beings. The implicit justification of violence percolating from the IHL-like animal ‘protection’ laws could only be outweighed by complementing this body of law with a ius contra bellum for animals

MMP Activity Detection in Zymograms

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) belong to a distinguished class of zinc-depending endopeptidases. Zymography is a semi-quantitative tool for determining the activity of different MMP isoenzymes in a variety of biological samples. In substrate gel zymography, protein samples of different origin (tissue, cell lysates, plasma/serum, perfusates, other liquids) are separated in sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) polyacrylamide gels containing co-polymerized substrate (gelatin, casein, elastin, etc.), and after incubation enabling substrate cleavage by MMPs, MMP activities are detected after the gel staining as transparent bands against a dark-blue background. In situ zymography is a histological modification of substrate zymography in frozen sections, allowing detection of the localization of the MMP activities within the tissue. Here we describe detailed experimental protocols of all abovementioned techniques and provide examples of several sample measurements