The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today\u27s Students

A Review of The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today\u27s Students/em by Allan Bloo

‘What they say peters down’: How non-profit leaders assess the trustworthiness of government - elite discourse and distrust in post-conflict Northern Ireland

© The Author(s) 2020. This article uses Northern Ireland as a research context to explore how elite discourse (from political and media actors/institutions) influences how Non-Profit Leaders (NPLs) assess the trustworthiness of government. We provide emergent themes which should aid theory development and practice in the area of political public relations by showing: (1) the value NPLs place on ‘soft’ trust qualities in trust assessments of government, namely benevolence; (2) the importance NPLs place on communicative acts which model trust (e.g. dialogue, compromise, mediation); and (3) the destructive role of divisive political elite discourse within a defective political system, amplified via the media, in NPLs’ distrust of government. The study thereby emphasises the crucial and constitutive role trust perceptions play in (in)effective political public relations, arguing that ‘trust’ must be defined by the perceiver and critically unpacked if public relations research is to fully appreciate its function. We propose that the nature of Northern Ireland’s post-conflict divided society, and political discourse in specific, makes certain trust antecedents most desirable to cross-community stakeholders. The findings contribute to further refining the concept of trust in public relations and they may also be instructive for other contexts

A Global Perspective on Public Relations Professionalism: Mapping the Structure of Public Relations Associations’ International Networks

Associations play a powerful role in socializing practitioners. The presence of public relations associations across the world is one more step toward professionalization for the entire profession. This study examines the structure of global public relations professionalization manifested through the networks among international and national public relations professional associations. The findings of a cross-national, multilevel network analysis suggest that despite the overall dominance of international public relations associations, at the regional level, local centers have also emerged. In addition, European public relations associations have developed more relationships with other national, regional, and international associations than American-based professional associations.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

‘Reconciliation isn’t Sexy’: Perceptions of News Media in Post-Conflict Northern Ireland

© 2020, © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. News media play a key role in post-conflict contexts in helping to explain the peace process and report on current events. This research explores the perceptions of cross-community leaders about the role of journalism in reconciliation in present day Northern Ireland. The findings suggest that community activists perceive the media to be sustaining the legacy of the conflict and constraining debates about the way forward in Northern Ireland. We propose that they essentially advocate for a conflict sensitive model of journalism (Howard, 2004, Conflict sensitive journalism: A handbook by Ross Howard. IMPACS: International Media Support. https://www.mediasupport.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/ims-csj-handbook-2004.pdf.), underpinned by a communitarian ethical framework (Christians, 1997, “Social ethics and mass media practice.” In Communication ethics in an age of diversity, edited by J. M. Makau, and R. C. Arnett, 187–205. Urbana Champaign: University of Illinois Press.) which would better reflect the changed interests and needs of a post-conflict community

Common worlding pedagogies: Opening up to learning with worlds

Common worlding is a collective pedagogical approach. It is also a deliberate move to open up education to worlds beyond narrow human preoccupations and concerns and beyond its standard framing as an exclusively social practice. In this article, we identify some of the guiding principles that underpin this approach and explain how they work out in practice. We do so by offering a selection of illustrative vignettes drawn from the Walking with Wildlife in Wild Weather Times early childhood research project in Canberra, Australia, and from the Witnessing the Ruins of Progress early childhood research collaboratory in Ontario, Canada

The Australian workplace barometer: report on psychosocial safety climate and worker health in Australia

The Australian Workplace Barometer project aims to provide science driven evidence of Australian work conditions and their relationships to workplace health and productivity, through a national monitoring and surveillance system. This report was commissioned by Safe Work Australia to provide a summary of the results from data obtained from six Australian states and territories: New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. The data provides evidence relating to psychosocial risk factors in the working Australian population as well as an analysis of relationships between risk factors and employee health and motivational outcomes

Novel norovirus recombinants detected in South Africa

BACKGROUND: Noroviruses (NoV) are the leading cause of viral gastroenteritis worldwide. Recombination frequently occurs within and between NoV genotypes and recombinants have been implicated in sporadic cases, outbreaks and pandemics of NoV. There is a lack of data on NoV recombinants in Africa and therefore their presence and diversity was investigated in South Africa (SA). RESULTS: Between 2010 and 2013, eleven types of NoV recombinants were identified in SA. Amplification of the polymerase/capsid region spanning the ORF1/2 junction and phylogenetic analysis confirmed each of the recombinant types. SimPlot and maximum x(2) analysis indicated that all recombinants had a breakpoint in the region of the ORF1/2 junction (P < 0.05). The majority (9/11) were intergenotype recombinants, but two intragenotype GII.4 recombinants were characterised. Three combinations represent novel recombinants namely GII.P not assigned (NA)/GII.3, GII.P4 New Orleans 2009/GII.4 NA and GII.P16/GII.17. Several widely reported recombinants were identified and included GII.P21/GII.2, GII.P21/GII.3, GII.Pe/GII.4 Sydney 2012, and GII.Pg/GII.12. Other recombinants that were identified were GII.Pg/GII.1, GII.Pe/GII.4 Osaka 2007, GII.P4 New Orleans 2009/GII.4 Sydney 2012, GII.P7/GII.6. To date these recombinant types all have a reportedly restricted geographic distribution. This is the first report of the GII.P4 New Orleans 2009/GII.4 Sydney 2012 recombinant in Africa. CONCLUSIONS: Over the past four years, remarkably diverse NoV recombinants have been circulating in SA. Pandemic strains such as the GII.Pe/GII.4 Sydney 2012 recombinant co-circulated with novel and emerging recombinant strains. Combined polymerase- and capsid-based NoV genotyping is essential to determine the true diversity and global prevalence of these viruses

Water- and foodborne viruses : current developments : water and food are still major sources of enteric viruses

Despite the major advances made in preventive health care and food technology, water and foodborne transmission of human enteric viruses is a well-recognised widespread public health problem. Factors such as changing lifestyles and demographics, faster and more frequent travel, decreasing water supplies and the globalisation of the food industry have contributed to the increase in water- and foodborne infections. Water and food contaminated with viruses may conform to acceptable bacterial standards and look, taste and smell normal.http://www.cmej.org.za/index.php/cme