Where do participatory approaches meet social learning systems in the context of environmental decision making?

About the book: Changes in market organisation, climatic conditions and societal demands on food quality, animal welfare and environmental quality have created new conditions for farming families as well as for researchers and policy makers. New social, technical and economic solutions are needed for farming and rural areas. This book presents new perspectives for farms, farm products and rural areas, many of which were collectively developed by coalitions of farmers, farmer representatives, researchers, civilians and/or policy makers. Contributions are made from those involved in crop and animal production worldwide offering sections on natural resources management, development of sustainable rural systems, future perspectives for farming families, knowledge systems in transition and learning processes in multi-stakeholder processes. This unique collection of contributions, presenting insights from biophysical as well as social sciences, shows where practice meets analysis and reflection and offers new perspectives for rural areas throughout the world

Learning about learning as systemic practice in the context of environmental decision-making

This paper has been written as the author is beginning a new phase of researching learning, investigating what supports people in their environmental decision making. This process of inquiry has arisen partly as a result of the development and teaching of the UK Open University’s Masters ’ level course Environmental decision making – a systems approach. The implications of approaching an inquiry with a view of ‘learning as systemic practice ’ is considered, drawing on insights into practice, skilled behaviour and learning systems from Lave, Wenger, Schon, Varela, Ison and Russell, among others. The relevance of various action research approaches for learning about learning as systemic practice is discussed. The paper finishes by identifying and exploring three focuses, that seem both challenging and important to the author to take account of as the research progresses. They are the needs for (i) systemic praxis (ii) an awareness of distinctions made by those who participate in the process of inquiry and (iii) using an approach with an epistemological dimension

Living with the big picture: a systems approach to citizenship of a complex planet

About the book: Global citizenship is a dynamic topic within the modern world. Emerging from the new language and ideas that are being developed to try to encompass and define the ways in which globalisation is changing the world in which we live, global citizenship combines two factors - the idea of global responsibility (for the environment, aiding the poor, human rights, peace, etc.) and the development of institutional structures through which this responsibility can be exercised. The aim of the Reader is to introduce students to the changing ways in which politics, culture, environment and economics are being thought about and how individuals relate to the fast-moving global, political, cultural, economic and environmental agendas. The international team of authors includes social scientists, philosophers, natural scientists and systems theorists. They bring a breadth of coverage to the core theme of the individual in a global world, showing the wide variety of ways in which Global Citizenship is conceived and approached by different disciplines

Selecting Optimal Combinations of Transcription Factors to Promote Axon Regeneration: Why Mechanisms Matter

Recovery from injuries to the central nervous system, including spinal cord injury, is constrained in part by the intrinsically low ability of many CNS neurons to mount an effective regenerative growth response. To improve outcomes, it is essential to understand and ultimately reverse these neuron-intrinsic constraints. Genetic manipulation of key transcription factors (TFs), which act to orchestrate production of multiple regeneration-associated genes, has emerged as a promising strategy. It is likely that no single TF will be sufficient to fully restore neuron-intrinsic growth potential, and that multiple, functionally interacting factors will be needed. An extensive literature, mostly from non-neural cell types, has identified potential mechanisms by which TFs can functionally synergize. Here we examine four potential mechanisms of TF/TF interaction; physical interaction, transcriptional cross-regulation, signaling-based cross regulation, and co-occupancy of regulatory DNA. For each mechanism, we consider how existing knowledge can be used to guide the discovery and effective use of TF combinations in the context of regenerative neuroscience. This mechanistic insight into TF interactions is needed to accelerate the design of effective TF-based interventions to relieve neuron-intrinsic constraints to regeneration and to foster recovery from CNS injury