Rediscovering community: Interethnic relationships and community gardening

Community service work, volunteerism and mentoring have recently become popular topics of research as effective methods in improving self-esteem and civic responsibility. In the current study we explored the relationship between participation in a community service gardening program and ethnocentrism. We hypothesised that an inverse correlation would emerge where students who participated in a community service-gardening program would increase their perceptions of the importance of community service work and decrease their scores in ethnocentrism. Results of the paired samples t-test strongly support the hypothesis that community service gardening work significantly reduces reports of ethnocentrism: t(10) = -2.52, (p < .03) for community college students. The ramifications of the study and ramifications for future research are offered

Changing perceptions in the justification of the use of the “N” word through community service work experiences: Offensive comments or terms of endearment?

The current study explored how students (N = 181) enrolled in different levels of higher education perceive the appropriateness in the use of the “N” word today. We hypothesized that ethnic minority students who were actively involved in a community service project designed to improve a community college would be more likely to reject the use of the “N” word than those students who were not involved in a community service project. Results indicate significant differences exist among educational levels and the perception of the justification of the use of the “N” word, t (83) = 4.49, p \u3c .0001. Participants enrolled in higher education (graduate level) and community service activities were more likely to reject the use of the “N” word

Contribution of Remote Sensing on Crop Models: A Review

Crop growth models simulate the relationship between plants and the environment to predict the expected yield for applications such as crop management and agronomic decision making, as well as to study the potential impacts of climate change on food security. A major limitation of crop growth models is the lack of spatial information on the actual conditions of each field or region. Remote sensing can provide the missing spatial information required by crop models for improved yield prediction. This paper reviews the most recent information about remote sensing data and their contribution to crop growth models. It reviews the main types, applications, limitations and advantages of remote sensing data and crop models. It examines the main methods by which remote sensing data and crop growth models can be combined. As the spatial resolution of most remote sensing data varies from sub-meter to 1 km, the issue of selecting the appropriate scale is examined in conjunction with their temporal resolution. The expected future trends are discussed, considering the new and planned remote sensing platforms, emergent applications of crop models and their expected improvement to incorporate automatically the increasingly available remotely sensed products

The CD95 Receptor: Apoptosis Revisited

CD95 is the quintessential death receptor and, when it is bound by ligand, cells undergo apoptosis. Recent evidence suggests, however, that CD95 mediates not only apoptosis but also diverse nonapoptotic functions depending on the tissue and the conditions

Impact of Spatial Soil and Climate Input Data Aggregation on Regional Yield Simulations

This work was financially supported by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) through the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE), (2851ERA01J). FT and RPR were supported by FACCE MACSUR (3200009600) through the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MMM). EC, HE and EL were supported by The Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (220-2007-1218) and by the strategic funding ‘Soil-Water-Landscape’ from the faculty of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) and thank professor P-E Jansson (Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm) for support. JC, HR and DW thank the INRA ACCAF metaprogramm for funding and Eric Casellas from UR MIAT INRA for support. CB was funded by the Helmholtz project “REKLIM—Regional Climate Change”. CK was funded by the HGF Alliance “Remote Sensing and Earth System Dynamics” (EDA). FH was funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) under the Grant FOR1695. FE and SS acknowledge support by the German Science Foundation (project EW 119/5-1). HH, GZ, SS, TG and FE thank Andreas Enders and Gunther Krauss (INRES, University of Bonn) for support. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Effects of climate input data aggregation on modelling regional crop yields

Crop models can be sensitive to climate input data aggregation and this response may differ among models. This should be considered when applying field-scale models for assessment of climate change impacts on larger spatial scales or when coupling models across scales. In order to evaluate these effects systematically, an ensemble of ten crop models was run with climate input data on different spatial aggregations ranging from 1, 10, 25, 50 and 100 km horizontal resolution for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Models were minimally calibrated to typical sowing and harvest dates, and crop yields observed in the region, subsequently simulating potential, water-limited and nitrogen-limited production of winter wheat and silage maize for 1982-2011. Outputs were analysed for 19 variables (yield, evapotranspiration, soil organic carbon, etc.). In this study the sensitivity of the individual models and the model ensemble in response to input data aggregation is assessed for crop yield. Results show that the mean yield of the region calculated from climate time series of 1 km horizontal resolution changes only little when using climate input data of higher aggregation levels for most models. However, yield frequency distributions change with aggregation, resembling observed data better with increasing resolution. With few exceptions, these results apply to the two crops and three production situations (potential, water-, nitrogen-limited) and across models including the model ensemble, regardless of differences among models in simulated yield levels and spatial yield patterns. Results of this study improve the confidence of using crop models at varying scales

Assumption without representation: the unacknowledged abstraction from communities and social goods

We have not clearly acknowledged the abstraction from unpriceable “social goods” (derived from communities) which, different from private and public goods, simply disappear if it is attempted to market them. Separability from markets and economics has not been argued, much less established. Acknowledging communities would reinforce rather than undermine them, and thus facilitate the production of social goods. But it would also help economics by facilitating our understanding of – and response to – financial crises as well as environmental destruction and many social problems, and by reducing the alienation from economics often felt by students and the public

L’influence des normes corporelles sur les relations intimes des femmes âgées hétérosexuelles et lesbiennes : au-delà de l’objectification

Les critères de beauté âgistes et sexistes qui règnent dans les sociétés occidentales peuvent influer négativement sur les femmes âgées, mais leurs effets sur la vie intime restent inexplorés. À partir d’entrevues individuelles avec 25 femmes âgées de 64 à 82 ans, hétérosexuelles et lesbiennes, les auteures explorent l’emprise des normes corporelles dans la sphère intime et sexuelle. Alors que les recherches féministes analysent souvent la pression exercée sur les femmes relativement à leur apparence en termes d’objectification, les auteures privilégient l’approche théorique de la philosophe Ann J. Cahill, qui place au coeur de son modèle la notion de dérivatisation. Elles mettent ainsi en lumière que les effets des normes de beauté peuvent se trouver amplifiés dans les contextes où les partenaires cherchent à réduire les femmes âgées à leurs propres standards, mais minimisés dans les relations intimes reposant sur une acceptation de leur subjectivité corporelle ou sur des expériences incarnées sensorielles et sexuelles.Western societies ageism and sexist beauty norms may negatively impact older women, but the effects on their intimate life are still unexplored. Based on 25 individual interviews with older heterosexual women and lesbian aged between 64 and 82, the authors explore the hold of bodily norms on their intimate and sexual life. While feminist approaches often analyze beauty pressure as an objectification of women, the authors instead mobilize philosopher Ann J. Cahill theoretical approach in which derivatization is central. They highlight that the effect of beauty norms may be amplified in context where partners seek to subject older women to their own beauty standards, but minimize in intimate relationships based on an acceptation of older women bodily subjectivity or on sensorial and sexual embodied experiences.Los cánones de belleza que discriminan por edad y sexo en las sociedades occidentales pueden influir negativamente en las mujeres adultas mayores, pero sus efectos en la vida íntima permanecen inexplorados. Basándose en entrevistas individuales con 25 mujeres de entre 64 y 82 años, tanto heterosexuales como lesbianas, las autoras exploran la influencia de los estándares corporales en la esfera íntima y sexual. Si bien las investigaciones feministas suelen analizar la presión ejercida sobre las mujeres en relación con su apariencia en términos de objetivación, las autoras se inclinan por el enfoque teórico de la filósofa Ann J. Cahill, quien sitúa la noción de derivatization (derivatización) en el centro de su modelo. Por lo tanto, destacan que los efectos de las normas de belleza pueden verse amplificados en contextos donde las parejas tratan de reducir a las mujeres adultas mayores a sus propios estándares, pero minimizados en relaciones íntimas basadas en la aceptación de su subjetividad corporal o en experiencias sensoriales y sexuales encarnadas