Cereal variety and population selection

This research review notes that cereal variety breeding in the last 50 years has been based on pedigree line bred varieties as part of the development of a production system dependent on oil-based inputs. The characteristics desirable for an organic system are frequently at odds with those designed for non-organic systems. Despite this, varietal choice for organic farmers remains largely from the pool of varieties developed for non-organic production. The challenges to address are on what basis can farmers and advisers select varieties, and how to develop varieties suitable for organic production. Plant characteristics are discussed and main desirable features outlined under the headings of: • Nutrient use efficiency • Disease resistance • Weed competitive ability • Quality Breeding selection parameters are then considered. The wide variation that occurs in organic systems and the aim to improve the consistency of performance (yield stability) means that the adaptability of a single variety is not sufficient to buffer these variables. The place for variety mixes is considered, and then the case for composite cross populations. The development of these alternative approaches is hindered by market acceptability and for composite populations by the legislative framework. The conclusions note there are many and different combinations of characteristics that may be of advantage. The suitability of a variety can be affected by the management of the whole organic system, not just one crop in isolation. The situation is complex and selection of genotypes is best undertaken under organic management. Low input line breeding programmes have achieved some success, but the review argues that better environmental adaptation is achieved by genotype diversity, either as variety mixes or as composite populations. For the future there is potential in the (relatively) short term for line breeding under organic conditions. For the longer term there is opportunity in mixtures, and especially of populations. For these to be successfully developed there is a need to address cultural attitudes, inertia in the market and production infrastructure and legislative framework

Basner and Mopeli-Paulus's 'The world and the cattle': in the written historiography of the 1950 Witzieshoek Reserve Rebellion, riot, revolt, unrest, disturbance, tragedy, trouble, turbulence, terrible story, incident, battle, calamity, clash, climax, lamentable occurrence, outbreak of passions, startling explosion, stain on our reputation, friction, fight, affray, unhappy affair

Paper presented at the Wits History Workshop: Democracy, Popular Precedents, Practice and Culture, 13-15 July, 1994

Understanding young people's experiences of a managed move

School exclusion often leads pupils towards a path of social exclusion, with educational disengagement resulting in negative long-term consequences. Managed moves were introduced as an alternative to permanent exclusion, whereby a school can transfer a pupil to another school with the agreement of everyone involved, aiming to encourage increased collaboration between the school, parents and pupil. This thesis explored the experiences of five Key Stage 4 pupils undergoing the managed move process. Interviews occurred as the move unfolded, taking place at multiple time points along their journeys. Within the researched local authority (LA), pupils attended the pupil referral unit (PRU) as part of their managed move process. Five staff members involved in the move process were also interviewed to provide additional contextual information. Findings outlined six overlapping phases involved in pupils managed move journeys including: school life before the move, heading towards the move, transition into the PRU, period of re-establishment, the decision to reintegrate and working towards a different future. Main features of pupils’ managed moves were also identified, namely: adults conceptualisations of behaviour, variation or inconsistency of operationalisation, the need for enabling environments, respectful relationships with adults and by-products of change. Conclusions focus on the individual nature of pupils’ move outcomes, with consideration given to their past, present and future experiences. Within the research the collaborative nature of managed moves was not found to be sufficiently embedded in the process, highlighting the need for a greater understanding of the premise of a managed move. The findings hold significant implications for understanding how pupils experience the managed move process, resulting in implications for EPs, schools, LAs and policy makers in considering how a managed move may be better operationalised to be used as the positive initiative it was once set up to be

Graphic Design, Symposium Printed Program Contest, Hannah Jones

Art and Design students participated in a graphic design project contest. The winning design was used for the 2020 JSU Student Symposium printed program.https://digitalcommons.jsu.edu/ce_jsustudentsymp_2020/1048/thumbnail.jp

The Wedding

Hannah Jones is a senior English major at Louisiana Tech University with a minor in philosophy. Ever since her childhood she has had a love for literature and creative writing, especially working out the puzzle of expressing herself through the infinite arrangement of words and punctuation

Lost in Translation: Retelling the Tale of Joan of Arc

Ever since Joan of Arc was burned at the stake on May 30, 1431,, historians have studied her lengthy trial interrogations for a glimpse of who Joan the person was. They\u27ve offered society both pious and saucy descriptions, portrayed her as a religious mystic, rebellious girl... unnatural transvestite, an Amazon, a schizophrenic, a patriot and, depending upon who you read, a common or uncommon woman of the Middle Ages. Lacking a definitive conclusion, historians, musicians, popular literary figures, modern filmmakers, and other larger social groups have gone on to portray her in their own ways: canonizing her as a saint, promoting her to the rank of France\u27s national heroine, and characterizing her in literature. With primary documents offering no clues as to Joan\u27s physical appearance-aside from her shortly cropped hair-inspired artists\u27 paintbrushes have since flown in all directions. In an attempt to organize the diverse collection of portrayals, much revered Jehannic scholar, Regine Pernoud, argued in the 1998 English iranslation of her book, Joan of Arc: Her Story, that most of the images of Joan fit into three major traditions: Joan the shepherdess to whom the saints appear, Joan the female soldier carrying armor, the sword, and the standard; and finally, Joan the saint at the stake in Rouen. However, a close examination of Joan in film, literature, art, and music reaching back as far as 1429 offers what I would argue is a fourth tradition that Pernoud either overlooked or neglected. This fourth category defines foan with terms and imagery familiar to contemporary audiences-the then-existing society each work was created and presented within-most often concerning issues of morality, courage, and honor, so as to mold Joan into an updated role model. This fourth tradition can be further subdivided into three distinct approaches which generations have used when updating Joan: attributing characteristics appealing by contemporary standards to her, transporting her to a contemporary setting, and translating her within the context of contemporary circumstances

‘We are the European family’ : unsettling the role of family in belonging, race, nation and the European project

In the Brexit referendum debates and their aftermath, one popular call to solidarity within the EU came from artist Wolfgang Tillmans, who released a series of posters with slogans intended to rally voters to support remaining in the EU. This article takes one of those slogans – ‘It’s a question of where you feel you belong. We are the European family’ – as a starting point to examine the openings and closures made available through calls to (trans)national solidarity on the basis of family. Drawing on critical autobiography, historical anthropology and analysis of trends in bordering and race politics, the article points to multi-layered and colonially inflected histories of ‘family’ in relation to national and continental belonging. Beginning with the sense of uncertainty over belonging and connection stirred up by Brexit, the essay acknowledges the comfort found by some in the seeming security of family. However, the article then engages with alternative realities of ‘The European Family’ – families separated by border controls, racialised as defective or oppressed by heteronormative patriarchy – and unsettles the problematic of ‘European’ in ‘The European Family’. The paper identifies how empirical and metaphorical family relate to (trans)national belonging and citizenship. Bringing Tillmans’ posters into conversation with some of Gillian Wearing’s work on family and place, the conclusion offers some possibilities for thinking family/nation while retaining ambiguity, resistance and potential and resisting the closure of normative ideas, in favour of a more empirically grounded engagement with how ‘real families’ relate to and through nation

Modulation of sleep and activity in Drosophila: a systems biology approach. Genetics, pharmacology and high-throughput analysis of behaviour

Drosophila melanogaster is a widely used model organism which for the past 20 years has been employed in a variety of contexts to understand aspects of sleep, activity and more complex forms of behaviour. A challenge within the field of behaviour is how to accurately classify and quantify behaviours that arise from an organism when these behaviours are observed in different contexts. Technological advances have increased the availability of quantitative tools which can be used to examine activity and sleep behaviour. With the use of these tools, we can now answer new questions about the underlying mechanisms of behaviour in different conditions. In the thesis herein, I have examined activity and sleep behaviour in two different contexts, utilising some of these new technological tools, including a novel activity monitoring device and statistical classification techniques. In the first part of this thesis, I use this activity monitoring system to elucidate some of the mechanisms involved in homeostatic sleep behaviour. Specifically, I examine the effect of two different sleep deprivation methods on mated and virgin Drosophila females to examine their responses in terms of homeostatic sleep regulation. Using the same methodology and protocol, I then extend this work to exam- ine the role of the neuropeptide, Corazonin, and its receptor, the Corazonin receptor, in these contexts. In the second part of this thesis, I use the same activity monitor- ing system to record the behavioural responses of flies exposed to different insecticide compounds. I then use both a statistical classification technique and behavioural anal- ysis to attempt to classify these compounds based on their mode of action (MoA) and symptomology. Finally, I apply this methodology to answer other biological questions of interest, classifying both rebound sleep and flies with varying genotypes.Open Acces

An exploration of the awareness of hygienic swimming behaviours and an evaluation of a public health intervention, to reduce the transmission of cryptosporidium

Background: Educating swimming pool users about hygienic swimming behaviours, such as not swimming whilst suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting, is key to reducing the transmission of cryptosporidium, which is an infectious disease. There is limited literature focusing on hygienic swimming behaviours. Aim: To explore awareness of hygienic swimming behaviours and to develop and evaluate a public health intervention to reduce the transmission of cryptosporidium. Methods: A study was conducted using a exploratory sequential design, involving semi-structured interviews with 28 stakeholders (e.g. swimmers, pool operators). These findings informed the development of a questionnaire completed by 407 swimmers/parents of swimmers. These studies explored awareness and ways to raise awareness of hygienic swimming behaviours. The findings informed the development of a poster to raise awareness of such behaviours, and a small-scale evaluation was conducted with 153 respondents. Findings and discussion: Many factors were identified which influenced hygienic swimming behaviours, including current awareness, cultural factors and the design of swimming facilities. Respondents identified a variety of methods for raising awareness, of hygienic swimming behaviours with a poster in the changing rooms being the most preferred method. Positive feedback was provided about the poster, which was perceived as being easy to read and informative. Of note, respondents also reported that the poster had encouraged them to consider their own hygienic swimming behaviours. Implications and recommendations: A resource has been created as part of this study, and it is hoped that it will be used by swimming facilities across Wales, and potentially further, to encourage people to swim, and to do so hygienically. The poster developed has raised awareness of hygienic swimming behaviours and received positive feedback in terms of evaluation from swimmers/parents of swimmers and endorsement from Public Health Wales. Permission to include the Public Health Wales logo on the poster demonstrates the value and importance of the message, especially as currently there is no legal requirements for swimming pools to display such information