Celebrating Uncertainty in Qualitative Research

Edited by Maggi Savin-Baden and Claire Howell Major, New Approaches to Qualitative Research: Wisdom and Uncertainty offers a relevant contribution to the field of qualitative inquiry by highlighting new, emerging approaches to qualitative research. The central guiding concepts of the book are wisdom and uncertainty and the volume is structured accordingly in three parts reflecting on wisdom that underlies uncertainties in stance, approach, and space. The topics addressed range from locating values and truths in qualitative research to questions about responsible ethics, from discussing the benefits of narrative theory and ethnodrama to a qualitative approach to questioning culture through the corporeal and exploring the politics of space. Although the vast majority of contributors come from educational or health research, the explorative approaches tackled here and ethical dilemmas related to a qualitative approach exceed disciplinary borders. This also justifies the editorial claim that the volume is intended for a specialist audience in a broad range of subject areas.&nbsp

Invented religions: this fiction is so good it should be true!

Utilizing contemporary scholarhip on secularization, individualism, and consumer capitalism, Invented Religions: Imagination, Fiction and Faith by Carole Cusack analyses six new religions created from 1957 to 2005: Discordianism, The Church of All Worlds, The Church of the SubGenius, Jediism, Matrixism, and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. In many ways, it is an original and enjoyable work that sheds light on the richly imagined worlds of six invented religions that most people know little about. This interdiciplinary book introduces the concept of 'invented religions', questions religious legitimacy, and discusses religious creativity, its relations to humour and story-telling. Despite being culturally viable and popular, scholars investigating religious phenomena have long dismissed these groups as jokes, since they don't fit the well-established typologies. Cusack's empirical exploration of creative bricolage seeks to broaden the understanding of religion and argues for the right of invented religions to be taken seriously as significant (counter)cultural innovators formulating influential narratives about the nature of realit

Von „Aktionsforschung“ bis „Zielkonflikte“: Schlüsselbegriffe der Reallaborforschung

„Reallabor“ und „Reallaborforschung“ sind junge und demgemäß noch wenig scharf umrissene Konzepte. Obwohl sie in einigen wissenschaftlichen Communities gerade Karriere machen, hat sich noch kein allgemein geteiltes, inhaltliches Verständnis herausgebildet. Die Sammlung von Schlüsselbegriffen soll einen schnellen Einstieg und ersten Gesamteindruck geben, was Reallabore auszeichnet, und die Bezüge zur umgebenden Wissenschaftslandschaft und Praxis aufzeigen. Die Autorinnen und Autoren explizieren hiermit ihr Begriffsverständnis und stellen dieses zur Diskussion mit dem Ziel, zu einem geteilten Begriffsverständnis in der Reallaborforschung beizutragen.[1]“Real world laboratories” and “real world lab research” are new concepts, and therefore not yet clearly defined. Even though they are much regarded newcomers in certain scientific communities, no common understanding of their characteristics has emerged. This compilation of key terms offers a brief overview regarding real world laboratories and their position between science and practice. With this paper, the authors explicate their understanding of these key terms to invite for discussion, hopefully contributing to a consensus on the characteristics or real world laboratories

Von \u27Aktionsforschung\u27 bis \u27Zielkonflikte\u27 : Schlüsselbegriffe der Reallaborfoschung

„Reallabor“ und „Reallaborforschung“ sind junge und demgemäß noch wenig scharf umrissene Konzepte. Obwohl sie in einigen wissenschaftlichen Communities gerade Karriere machen, hat sich noch kein allgemein geteiltes, inhaltliches Verständnis herausgebildet. Die Sammlung von Schlüsselbegriffen soll einen schnellen Einstieg und ersten Gesamteindruck geben, was Reallabore auszeichnet, und die Bezüge zur umgebenden Wissenschaftslandschaft und Praxis aufzeigen. Die Autorinnen und Autoren explizieren hiermit ihr Begriffsverständnis und stellen dieses zur Diskussion mit dem Ziel, zu einem geteilten Begriffsverständnis in der Reallaborforschung beizutragen

Impact of Organic and Conventional Production on the Potato Tuber Quality

Lõputöö bakalaureusekraadi taotlemiseks põllumajandussaaduste tootmise ja turustamise erialalKäesoleva bakalaureusetöö eesmärgiks oli uurida, kuidas mõjutavad kartuli kvaliteeti sama külvikorra piires erinevad lämmastikväetise normid tavaviljeluses ning vahekultuurid ja sõnnik maheviljeluses. Katsealuseks kartulisordiks valiti „Reet“ . Katselapp asus Eesti Maaülikooli põllumajandus- ja keskkonnainstituudi Eerika põllul. Kokku oli 6 katsevarianti. Tavaviljeluse variandid (järgisid külvikorda, tehti taimekaitsetöid): N0P0K0 – väetamata variant (kontroll), N50P25K95, N100P25K95 ja N150P25K95. Maheviljeluse variandid (järgisid külvikorda, sügis-talvisel perioodil kattekultuurid): Mahe (KK) ja Mahe (KK+S) – orgaanilise väetisega 40 t/ha (kevadel). Andmed koguti aastal 2011. Uurimustöö raames uuriti ühtlasi ka kuidas mahe- ja tavatootmine mõjutavad kartuli mugulate N, P ja K sisaldust; nitraatide sisaldust; toortumenemist; keetmisjärgset tumenemist; tärklisesisaldust; märgmädaniku, kuivmädaniku ja hariliku kärna esinemist. Kokkuvõttes selgus, et mida suurem on lämmastikväetiste kogus tavaviljeluses, seda suurem on kartulisaak, mugulad, tärklisesisaldus, üldine N ja K-sisaldus. Lisaks seda vastuvõtlikum on kartul harilikule kärnale. Kuid seevastu väiksem on mugulate P-sisaldus, kuiv- ja märgmädanikku nakatumine ning mugulad tumenevad keetmisjärgselt vähem. Maheviljeluse eeliseks on see, et mugulad ei sisalda nitraate, kuid seevastu on saagikus oluliselt väiksem võrreldes tavaviljelusega.The aim of this bachelor's thesis was to study how the quality of potatoes within the same crop rotation is affected by different norms of nitrogen fertilizer in conventional cultivation and also in organic production, where "Reet" was chosen as the potato variety to be tested. The test plot was located in the field of Eerika, Institute of Agriculture and Environment, Estonian University of Life Sciences. There were a total of 6 test variants. Conventional cultivation variants (following crop protection work carried out in rotation): N0P0K0 - unfertilized variant (control), N50P25K95, N100P25K95 and N150P25K95. Organic cultivation variants (follow the crop rotation, cover crops in autumn-winter period): Organic (KK) and Organic (KK + S) - with organic fertilizer 40 t / ha (spring). Data was collected in year 2011. The study also examined how organic and conventional production affect the N, P and K content of potato tubers; nitrate content; raw material loss; darkening after cooking; starch content; the presence of wet rot; the presence of dry rot; occurrence of scabies. In conclusion, it was found that the higher the amount of nitrogen fertilizers in conventional cultivation, the higher the potato yield, tubers, starch content, total N and K content. In addition, potatoes are more susceptible to scab. However, the P content of the tubers is lower, the infection with dry and wet rot is lower, as is the darkening of the tubers after cooking. The advantage of organic farming is that the tubers do not contain pesticide residues and nitrates, but on the other hand the yield is significantly lower compared to conventional cultivation

On Some Aspects of the Lilleoru Community

This paper explores the raison d’être of the only proper Estonian ecovillage, Lilleoru. Exceptional in the Estonian context, this relatively small and young community is a member of three established international networks uniting similar communities. Based on fieldwork and ethnographic interviews, the present article describes some focal aspects of the community and investigates how Lilleoru functions as a community. After a brief overview of the formation of the community, the following questions are touched upon: what is its significance for its members, how are they differentiated from other similar groups, what creates coherence among its members, how is the community managed, what are the everyday practices and how does it fit into the global context. As a result of the study it might be said that although from the outside Lilleoru is mainly seen as an ecovillage, from inside being an awareness training centre is central. The ecological lifestyle is regarded as a side result of a conscious lifestyle

Transferring Sustainability Solutions across Contexts through City–University Partnerships

The urgency of climate change and other sustainability challenges makes transferring and scaling solutions between cities a necessity. However, solutions are deeply contextual. To accelerate solution efforts, there is a need to understand how context shapes the development of solutions. Universities are well positioned to work with cities on transferring solutions from and to other cities. This paper analyses five case studies of city–university partnerships in three countries on transferring solutions. Our analysis suggests that understanding the interest, the action on sustainability, and the individual and collective sustainability competences on the part of the city administration and the university can help facilitate the transfer of sustainability solutions across contexts. We conclude that the nature of the city–university partnership is essential to solution transfer and that new and existing networks can be used to accelerate progress on the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Cobalt-Containing Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Materials Derived from Saccharides as Efficient Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

The development of non-precious metal electrocatalysts towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is crucial for the commercialisation of polymer electrolyte fuel cells. In this work, cobalt-containing nitrogen-doped porous carbon materials were prepared by a pyrolysis of mixtures of saccharides, cobalt nitrate and dicyandiamide, which acts as a precursor for reactive carbon nitride template and a nitrogen source. The rotating disk electrode (RDE) experiments in 0.1 M KOH solution showed that the glucose-derived material with optimised cobalt content had excellent ORR activity, which was comparable to that of 20 wt% Pt/C catalyst. In addition, the catalyst exhibited high tolerance to methanol, good stability in short-time potential cycling test and low peroxide yield. The materials derived from xylan, xylose and cyclodextrin displayed similar activities, indicating that various saccharides can be used as inexpensive and sustainable precursors to synthesise active catalyst materials for anion exchange membrane fuel cells