Atividade biológica do óleo essencial de Piper hispidum e Piper hispidinervum.

Piper hispidum e Piper hispidinervum são duas espécies arbustivas pertencentes à família Piperaceae. Essas são plantas aromáticas, e há, na literatura, relatos da atividade antimicrobiana dos seus óleos essenciais (OEs). Sendo assim, o objetivo deste trabalho foi determinar a composição química dos OEs de ambas as espécies, bem como avaliar suas atividades biológicas.

Avaliação do óleo essencial de Piper marginatum sobre Moniliophthora perniciosa, causador da vassoura-de-bruxa no cupuaçuzeiro.

O cupuaçu (Theobroma grandiflorum) é um dos frutos com potencial econômico na região Amazônica, e um dos principais problemas que vêm diminuindo a produção no Amazonas é a vassoura-de-bruxa, causada por Moniliophythora perniciosa, reduzindo em até 60% a produção. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o efeito do óleo essencial de Piper marginatum na inibição do crescimento micelial e na germinação de esporos do fungo in vitro.

Qualidade fisiológica de sementes de Piper marginatum Jacq. em função da época de colheita.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a qualidade fisiológica e germinação de sementes de Piper marginatum Jacq. em função da época de colheita.

Superação de dormência de sementes de Piper marginatum Jacq.

Piper marginatum é uma espécie medicinal, com importância na produção de óleo essencial. Essa espécie possui baixo percentual germinativo, fator pelo qual ocorre a necessidade de técnicas que promovam a quebra de dormência das sementes. O objetivo foi avaliar o uso do ácido giberélico (GA3) e diferentes temperaturas sobre a germinação de sementes.

Enraizamento de estacas de seis espécies nativas de mata de galeria: Bauhinia rufa (Bong.) Steud., Calophyllum brasiliense Camb., Copaifera langsdorffii Desf., Inga laurina (Sw.) Willd., Piper arboreum Aubl. e Tibouchina stenocarpa (DC.) Cogn.

Tecnicas de propagacao por meio de enraizamento de estacas tem sido amplamente empregadas na fruticultura, floricultura e silvicultura. No entanto, no Brasil, poucos estudos tem sido feitos com especies nativas. Neste estudo foi testado o enraizamento de estacas caulinares de seis especies nativas de Mata de Galeria do bioma Cerrado: Copaifera langsdorffii Desf. (copaiba), Tibouchina stenocarpa (DC.) Cogn. (quaresmeira), Piper arboreum Aubl. (pimenta-de-macaco), Inga laurina (Sw.) Willd. (inga), Calophyllum brasiliense Camb. (landim) e Bauhinia rufa (Bong.) Steud. (unha-de-vaca). Foi estudada a influencia de diferentes concentracoes de acido indolbutirico, AIB (0, 1000, 2000 e 4000 ppm), em talco, e tratamento com agua sob gotejamento no enraizamento de estacas basais e/ou apicais, conforme a especie, em duas epocas do ano, final das chuvas (marco-maio/98) e inicio da seca (junho/98). Com P. arboreum tambem foi feito um tratamento onde as estacas foram enraizadas usando agua como substrato. Os resultados mostraram que as especies apresentaram diferentes habilidades para formar raizes adventicias em estacas. As estacas de C. langsdorffii e T. stenocarpa nao formaram raizes em qualquer das epocas realizadas, enquanto P. arboreum e I. laurina formaram raizes nas estacas apicais coletadas nas duas epocas (chuvosa e seca). Porem, as estacas basais de P. arboreum formaram menos raizes do que as apicais e as estacas basais de I. laurina nao enraizaram. Ja em C. brasiliense observaram-se altas taxas de sobrevivencia das estacas coletadas nas duas epocas (final das chuvas e inicio da seca), mas nao houve enraizamento. Por ultimo, as estacas de B. rufa enraizaram somente nas coletas realizadas na estacao chuvosa. Os tratamentos auxinicos (AIB) nao tiveram efeitos sobre a percentagem final de enraizamento das estacas de P. arboreum (apicais e basais), de I. laurina (apicais) e de B. rufa, bem como sobre a porcentagem final de sobrevivencia das estacas de C. brasiliense. Entre as especies estudadas, as estacas apicais de P. arboreum apresentaram os percentuais de enraizamento mais elevados: de 63% a 83% no periodo chuvoso e de 63% a 90% no periodo seco. Nas estacas basais o enraizamento foi menor, variando de 7% a 20%, no periodo chuvoso, e de 0 a 13%, no periodo seco. A epoca de coleta afetou a sobrevivencia e o peso seco das estacas apicais de P. arboreum, mas nao o numero de estacas enraizadas. Ja nas estacas basais, onde a capacidade de enraizamento foi menor, a epoca de coleta afetou o enraizamento das estacas, mas nao a sobrevivencia. Nas estacas basais houve uma grande mortalidade das estacas nas duas epocas estudadas (chuva e seca). Em geral, os melhores resultados de enraizamento ocorreram na epoca seca para as estacas apicais e na epoca chuvosa para as estacas basais. A utilizacao de agua de torneira como substrato proporcionou resultados satisfatorios no enraizamento das estacas basais de P. arboreum tanto em copos (200 ml) com agua colocados na casa de vegetacao (87%) quanto no tanque com agua corrente (77%). Em I. laurina a epoca de coleta influenciou a sobrevivencia das estacas apicais. As estacas coletadas na estacao chuvosa apresentaram melhores resultados sobrevivencia do que aquelas coletadas na estacao seca. Nas coletas feitas no final da epoca chuvosa obteve-se uma media de 15% de enraizamento e uma variacao de 3 a 23% de estacas enraizadas conforme os tratamentos. Na seca a media foi de 7% e a variacao foi de 0 a 13%. No periodo seco as medidas de peso seco das raizes foram mais inferiores do que na epoca chuvosa. A maioria das estacas vivas de I. laurina que nao enraizaram formaram calos, sugerindo que um periodo maior de observacao pode levar a maiores percentuais de enraizamento. Em C. brasiliense a epoca de coleta influenciou a sobrevivencia das estacas, de forma que no periodo chuvoso a porcentagem media de sobrevivencia (81%) foi maior do que na epoca seca (71%). Bauhinia rufa teve uma baixa capacidade de enraizamento por meio de estacas coletadas nas duas epocas do ano: apenas 3% das estacas enraizaram quando tratadas com 1000 e 4000 ppm de AIB; nos outros tratamentos nao ocorreu enraizamento. Pelos resultados, sugere-se que P. arboreum e uma especie de facil enraizamento por meio de estacas apicais, nas duas datas estudadas (no final das chuvas e inicio da seca), mas o uso de estacas basais nestas datas e inviavel. Sugere-se tambem que, devido aos baixos percentuais de enraizamento, nas duas epocas (chuva e seca), I. laurina e B. rufa sao especies de dificil enraizamento por meio de estacas apicais e basais com folhas. Ja C. Brasiliense, C. langsdorffii e T. stenocarpa nao enraizaram e podem ser consideradas especies de dificil enraizamento, nestas duas epocas estudadas (chuvosa e seca).

Enraizamento, aclimatização e produção de mudas de pimenteira-do-reino (Piper nigrum L.) via micropropagação.

A pimenteira-do-reino (Piper nigrum L.) é uma planta trepadeira originária da Índia. Tem grande valor econômico, pois é uma especiaria utilizada mundialmente em grandes escalas. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a percentagem de enraizamento, aclimatização e produção de mudas de pimenteira-do-reino. Para o enraizamento in vitro de pimenteira-do-reino, gemas apicais e nodais (explante) foram inoculadas em meio MS (MURASHIGE; SKOOG, 1962) suplementado com 0,05 mg L-1 de ANA. Para a aclimatização, as plantas de pimenteira-do-reino proveniente do cultivo in vitro foram transferidas para substrato vermiculita em bandeja de polipropileno com 24 células, com duas plantas por células. Após 30 dias, houve a transferência do material para substrato (terra+esterco+calcário). A taxa de sobrevivência dessas plantas na fase de aclimatização foi de 97%, relevante desempenho da estratégia adotada. Considerando que esta fase é uma das mais críticas da formação de mudas micropropagadas. Na formação de mudas a taxa de sobrevivência das plantas foi de 100%. A micropropagação é uma alternativa para obter mudas de pimenteira-do-reino com qualidade fitossanitária, sendo que o meio de enraizamento dos brotos é eficiente e promove alta taxa de sobrevivência na aclimatização em substrato vermiculita e todas as plantas desenvolvem para a formação de mudas.

Ácido naftaleno acético na rizogênese in vitro de pimenteira-do-reino (Piper nigrum L.).

O enraizamento in vitro é uma etapa importante no processo de micropropagação, por permitir a formação de plantas completas para posterior aclimatização às condições ex-vitro. Objetivou-se no trabalho verificar o efeito do ácido naftalenoacético (ANA) no enraizamento in vitro de dois híbridos de pimenteira-do reino, um proveniente do cruzamento entre Bento x Guajarina e o segundo do cruzamento entre Bragantina x Arborium. Foram usados os ápices caulinares e segmentos nodais com gemas laterais como explantes, inoculados em condições assépticas em frascos contendo 40 ml de meio básico de cultura de Murashige e Skoog (MS), sacarose a 3%, vitamina 0,2, phytagel a 0,2% e pH ajustado para 5,8 com dose de 0,05 mg L-1 ANA e o testemunha com ½ MS + 0 ANA para os dois genótipos. Ambos cultivados por seis semanas sob condições de fotoperíodo de 16 h.luz.dia-1, com intensidade luminosa de 3.000 lux e temperatura de 25 ± 3oC. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi inteiramente casualizado, com 2 tratamentos e 5 repetições, sendo um frasco com cinco brotos por repetição. Os parâmetros avaliados foram: A percentagem de explante enraizados e o comprimento da raiz (mm) comprimento do broto (mm), número de raízes. Os dados foram submetidos à análise da variância. Pode-se concluir com os resultados que não há diferença significativa no desenvolvimento entre os dois híbridos a partir de brotos em meio 1/2 MS com 0,05 mg L-1 de ANA.

Mercaptoetanol no controle da oxidação de meristema de pimenteira-do-reino (Piper nigrum L.) em cultivo in vitro.

A pimenteira-do-reino (Piper nigrum L.) é uma planta trepadeira originária da Índia, considerada a mais importante especiaria comercializada mundialmente e usada em larga escala como condimento, além das indústrias de carnes e conservas. Os maiores produtores mundiais da pimenta-do-reino são Índia, Vietnã, Indonésia, Malásia e Brasil, sendo que dos estados brasileiros produtores, o Pará é responsável por cerca de 80% da produção do país. Com o objetivo de avaliar o efeito do ?-Mercaptoetanol no controle da oxidação em meristema de pimenteira-do-reino no estabelecimemto de cultura para o processo de micropropagação, segmentos de ramos contendo gemas apicais e laterais foram submetidos à assepsia e para a retirada dos meristemas ficaramimesos na solução de ?-Mercaptoetanol nas concentrações 5 mM , 10 mM e 15mM. Os meristemas inoculados nas concentrações de 5 e 10 mM apresentaram no final de 30 dias alto grau de oxidação, enquanto os meristemas inoculados na concentração de 15 mM, baixa oxidação. O antioxidante ?-mercaptoetanol na concentração de 15mM é eficiente para controlar a oxidação do meristema para o estabelecimento de cultura in vitro no processo de micropropagação.

Efeito da temperatura no desenvovimento in vitro de pimenteira-do-reino (Piper nigrum L.).

A pimenteira-do-reino (Piper nigrum L.) é uma importante especiaria usada em diversas industriais e é um dos principais produtos agrícolas da pauta de exportações do estado do Pará. A propagação vegetativa, método comercial de produção de mudas de pimenteira-do-reino, se realizada a partir de plantas matrizes infectadas com vírus, promove à degenerescência da planta e prejuízos na produtividade. A temperatura elevada é uma alternativa para a limpeza clonal via micropropagação. O objetivo desse estudo foi verificar a termotolerância dos brotos cultivadas in vitro visando a limpeza clonal. Os explantes (gemas apicais e laterais) foram cultivados in vitro em experimentos preliminares de termotolerância. As temperaturas usadas foram: 32 ºC, 33 ºC, 34 ºC, 36 ºC e 38 ºC, com fotoperíodo de 16 h. luz. Foram avaliados: taxa de oxidação e desenvolvimento de novas folhas. Explantes de pimenteira-do-reino permaneceram incubadas em câmaras do tipo BOD com ajuste de temperatura por 30 dias em cada temperatura. À temperatura de 38 ºC ocorreu elevada taxa de oxidação dos explantes e sem desenvolvimento de brotos enquanto à temperatura de 32 ºC, os explantes diferenciaram in vitro com novas brotações e folhas, sem oxidação. A temperatura dos explantes in vitro influencia diretamente da taxa de sobrevivência e desenvolvimento de pimenteira-do-reino micropropagadas, sendo sugerida a temperatura de 32 ºC para auxiliar a limpeza clonal no processo de micropropagação.

Developing a supportive culture for teaching and learning : a university, faculty and school perspective

In the early 1990's the University of Salford was typical of most pre-1992 Universities in that whilst students provided much of it's income, little attention was paid to pedagogy. As Warren Piper (1994) observed, University teachers were professional in their subject areas but generally did not seek to acquire a pedagogy of HE. This was the case in Alsford. Courses were efficiently run but only a minority of staff were engaged in actively considering learning and teaching issues. Instead staff time was spent on research and commercial activity.----- In the mid-1990's the teaching environment began to change significantly. As well as Dearing, the advent of QAA and teaching quality reviews, Salford was already experiencing changes in the characteristics of its student body. Wideing access was on our agenda before it was so predominant nationally. With increasing numbers and heterogeneity of students as well as these external factors, new challenges were facing the University and teaching domain.----- This paper describes how a culture which values teaching, learning and pedagogic inquiry is being created in the university. It then focuses on parts of this process specific to the Faculty of Business and Informatics, namely the Faculty's Learning and Teaching Research Network and the establishment of the Centre for Construction Education in the School of Construction and Property Management.----- The Faculty of Business and Informatics' Learning and Teaching Research Network aims to raise the profile, quality and volume of pedagogic research across the five schools in the faculty. The initiative is targeted at all academics regardless of previous research experience. We hope to grow and nurture research potential where it exists and to acknowledge and use the existing expertise of subject-based researchers in collaborative ventures. We work on the principle that people are deliged to share what they know but need appreciation and feedback for doing so. A further ain is to surface and celebrate the significant amount of tacit knowledge in the area of pedagogy evidenced by the strength of student and employer feedback in many areas of the faculty's teaching.----- The Faculty embraces generic and core management expertise but also includes applied management disciplines in information systems and construction and property management where internationally leading research activities and networked centres of excellence have been established. Drawing from this experience, and within the context of the Faculty network, a Centre for Construction Education is being established with key international external partners to develop a sustainable business model of an enterprising pedagogic centre that can undertake useful research to underpin teaching in the Faculty whilst offering sustainable business services to allow it to benefit from pump-priming grant funding.----- Internal and external networking are important elements in our plans and ongoing work. Key to this are our links with the LTSN subject centres (BEST and CEBE) and the LTSN generic centre. The paper discusses networking as a concept and gives examples of practices which have proved useful in this context.----- The academic influences on our approach are also examined. Dixon’s (2000) work examining how a range of companies succeed through internal knowledge sharing has provided a range of transferable practices. We also examine the notion of dialogue in this context, defined by Ballantyne (1999) as ‘The interactive human process of reasoning together which comes into being through interactions based on spontaneity or need and is enabled by trust’ Social constructionist principles of Practical Authorship (Shotter, 1993, Pavlica, Holman and Thorpe, 1998)) have also proved useful in developing our perspective on learning and knowledge creation within our community of practice.

A qualitative study of the experience of oral cancer among Taiwanese men

The incidence and mortality of oral cancer in Taiwanese men have increased over the past decade, primarily associated with a surge in the popularity of betel quid chewing. The aim of this study was to examine the experience of six Taiwanese men with oral cancer, who were aged between 40 and 60 years, using a qualitative approach. The three major themes emerging from the data include: (i) understanding the cancer diagnosis; (ii) the challenges of cancer treatment; and (iii) adapting to difference. Increasing nurses' understanding of the experiential aspects of oral cancer in this population is required if nurses are to develop successful health promotion programmes and nursing interventions to meet these patients' needs.

Kava and St. John's wort : current evidence for use in mood and anxiety disorders

Background: Mood and anxiety disorders pose significant health burdens on the community. Kava and St John’s wort (SJW) are the most commonly used herbal medicines in the treatment of anxiety and depressive disorders, respectively. Objectives: To conduct a comprehensive review of kava and SJW, to review any evidence of efficacy, mode of action, pharmacokinetics, safety and use in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Bipolar Disorder (BP), Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Social Phobia (SP), Panic Disorder (PD), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Methods: A systematic review was conducted using the electronic databases MEDLINE, CINAHL, and The Cochrane Library during late 2008. The search criteria involved mood and anxiety disorder search terms in combination with kava, Piper methysticum, kavalactones, St John’s wort, Hypericum perforatum, hypericin and hyperforin. Additional search criteria for safety, pharmacodynamics , and pharmacokinetics was employed. A subsequent forward search was conducted of the papers using Web of Science cited reference search. Results: Current evidence supports the use of SJW in treating mild-moderate depression, and for kava in treatment of generalized anxiety. In respect to the other disorders, only weak preliminary evidence exists for use of SJW in SAD. Currently there is no published human trial on use of kava in affective disorders, or in OCD, PTSD, PD or SP. These disorders constitute potential applications that warrant exploration. Conclusions: Current evidence for herbal medicines in the treatment of depression and anxiety only supports the use of Hypericum perforatum for depression, and Piper methysticum for generalized anxiety.

Algebraic attacks on clock-controlled stream ciphers

Stream ciphers are encryption algorithms used for ensuring the privacy of digital telecommunications. They have been widely used for encrypting military communications, satellite communications, pay TV encryption and for voice encryption of both fixed lined and wireless networks. The current multi year European project eSTREAM, which aims to select stream ciphers suitable for widespread adoptation, reflects the importance of this area of research. Stream ciphers consist of a keystream generator and an output function. Keystream generators produce a sequence that appears to be random, which is combined with the plaintext message using the output function. Most commonly, the output function is binary addition modulo two. Cryptanalysis of these ciphers focuses largely on analysis of the keystream generators and of relationships between the generator and the keystream it produces. Linear feedback shift registers are widely used components in building keystream generators, as the sequences they produce are well understood. Many types of attack have been proposed for breaking various LFSR based stream ciphers. A recent attack type is known as an algebraic attack. Algebraic attacks transform the problem of recovering the key into a problem of solving multivariate system of equations, which eventually recover the internal state bits or the key bits. This type of attack has been shown to be effective on a number of regularly clocked LFSR based stream ciphers. In this thesis, algebraic attacks are extended to a number of well known stream ciphers where at least one LFSR in the system is irregularly clocked. Applying algebriac attacks to these ciphers has only been discussed previously in the open literature for LILI-128. In this thesis, algebraic attacks are first applied to keystream generators using stop-and go clocking. Four ciphers belonging to this group are investigated: the Beth-Piper stop-and-go generator, the alternating step generator, the Gollmann cascade generator and the eSTREAM candidate: the Pomaranch cipher. It is shown that algebraic attacks are very effective on the first three of these ciphers. Although no effective algebraic attack was found for Pomaranch, the algebraic analysis lead to some interesting findings including weaknesses that may be exploited in future attacks. Algebraic attacks are then applied to keystream generators using (p; q) clocking. Two well known examples of such ciphers, the step1/step2 generator and the self decimated generator are investigated. Algebraic attacks are shown to be very powerful attack in recovering the internal state of these generators. A more complex clocking mechanism than either stop-and-go or the (p; q) clocking keystream generators is known as mutual clock control. In mutual clock control generators, the LFSRs control the clocking of each other. Four well known stream ciphers belonging to this group are investigated with respect to algebraic attacks: the Bilateral-stop-and-go generator, A5/1 stream cipher, Alpha 1 stream cipher, and the more recent eSTREAM proposal, the MICKEY stream ciphers. Some theoretical results with regards to the complexity of algebraic attacks on these ciphers are presented. The algebraic analysis of these ciphers showed that generally, it is hard to generate the system of equations required for an algebraic attack on these ciphers. As the algebraic attack could not be applied directly on these ciphers, a different approach was used, namely guessing some bits of the internal state, in order to reduce the degree of the equations. Finally, an algebraic attack on Alpha 1 that requires only 128 bits of keystream to recover the 128 internal state bits is presented. An essential process associated with stream cipher proposals is key initialization. Many recently proposed stream ciphers use an algorithm to initialize the large internal state with a smaller key and possibly publicly known initialization vectors. The effect of key initialization on the performance of algebraic attacks is also investigated in this thesis. The relationships between the two have not been investigated before in the open literature. The investigation is conducted on Trivium and Grain-128, two eSTREAM ciphers. It is shown that the key initialization process has an effect on the success of algebraic attacks, unlike other conventional attacks. In particular, the key initialization process allows an attacker to firstly generate a small number of equations of low degree and then perform an algebraic attack using multiple keystreams. The effect of the number of iterations performed during key initialization is investigated. It is shown that both the number of iterations and the maximum number of initialization vectors to be used with one key should be carefully chosen. Some experimental results on Trivium and Grain-128 are then presented. Finally, the security with respect to algebraic attacks of the well known LILI family of stream ciphers, including the unbroken LILI-II, is investigated. These are irregularly clock- controlled nonlinear filtered generators. While the structure is defined for the LILI family, a particular paramater choice defines a specific instance. Two well known such instances are LILI-128 and LILI-II. The security of these and other instances is investigated to identify which instances are vulnerable to algebraic attacks. The feasibility of recovering the key bits using algebraic attacks is then investigated for both LILI- 128 and LILI-II. Algebraic attacks which recover the internal state with less effort than exhaustive key search are possible for LILI-128 but not for LILI-II. Given the internal state at some point in time, the feasibility of recovering the key bits is also investigated, showing that the parameters used in the key initialization process, if poorly chosen, can lead to a key recovery using algebraic attacks.

An explorative qualitative analysis of participants' experience of using kava versus placebo in an RCT. (Clinical report)

Many randomised controlled trials (RCT) have been conducted using Piper methysticum (kava), however no qualitative research exploring the experience of taking kava during a clinical trial has previously been reported. ---------- Patients and methods: A qualitative research component (in the form of semi structured and open ended written questions) was incorporated into an RCT to explore the experiences of those participating in a clinical trial of kava. The written questions were provided to participants at weeks 2 and 3 (after randomisation, after each controlled phase). The researcher and participants were blinded as to whether they were taking kava or placebo. Two open ended questions were posed to elucidate their experiences from taking either kava or placebo. Thematic analysis was undertaken and researcher triangulation employed to ensure analytical rigour. Key themes after the kava phases were a reduction in anxiety and stress, and calming or relaxing mental effects. Other themes related to improvement in sleep and in somatic anxiety symptoms. ---------- Results: Kava use did not cause any serious adverse reactions although a few respondents reported nausea or other gastrointestinal side effects. This represents the first documented qualitative investigation of the experience of taking kava during a clinical trial. The primary themes involved anxiolytic and calming effects, with only a minor theme reflecting side effects. Our exploratory qualitative data was consistent with the significant quantitative results revealed in the study and provides additional support to suggest the trial results did not exclude any important positive or negative effects (at least as experienced by the trial participants).

Keeping House : a novel and novel companion

The creative work of this study is a novel-length work of literary fiction called Keeping House (published as Grace's Table, by University of Queensland Press, April 2014). Grace has not had twelve people at her table for a long time. Hers isn't the kind of family who share regular Sunday meals. As Grace prepares the feast, she reflects on her life, her marriage and her friendships. When the three generations of her family come together, simmering tensions from the past threaten to boil over. The one thing that no one can talk about is the one thing that no one can forget. Grace's Table is a moving and often funny novel using food as a language to explore the power of memory and the family rituals that define us. The exegetical component of this study does not adhere to traditional research pedagogies. Instead, it follows the model of what the literature describes as fictocriticism. It is the intention that the exegesis be read as a hybrid genre; one that combines creative practice and theory and blurs the boundaries between philosophy and fiction. In offering itself as an alternative to the exegetical canon it provides a model for the multiplicity of knowledge production suited to the discipline of practice-led research. The exegesis mirrors structural elements of the creative work by inviting twelve guests into the domestic space of the novel to share a meal. The guests, chosen for their diverse thinking, enable examination of the various agents of power involved in the delivery of food. Their ideas cross genders, ages and time periods; their motivations and opinions often collide. Some are more concerned with the spatial politics of where food is consumed, others with its actual preparation and consumption. Each, however, provides a series of creative reflective conversations throughout the meal which help to answer the research question: How can disempowered women take authority within their domestic space? Michel de Certeau must defend his "operational tactics" or "art of the weak" 1 as a means by which women can subvert the colonisation of their domestic space against Michel Foucault's ideas about the functions of a "disciplinary apparatus". 2 Erving Goffman argues that the success of de Certeau's "tactics" depends upon his theories of "performance" and "masquerade" 3; a claim de Certeau refutes. Doreen Massey and the author combine forces in arguing for space, time and politics to be seen as interconnected, non-static and often contested. The author calls for identity, or sense of self, to be considered a further dimension which impacts on the function of spatial models. Yu-Fi Tuan speaks of the intimacy of kitchens; Gaston Bachelard the power of daydreams; and Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin gives the reader a taste of the nourishing arts. Roland Barthes forces the author to reconsider her function as a writer and her understanding of the reader's relationship with a text. Fictional characters from two texts have a place at the table – Marian from The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood 4 and Lilian from Lilian's Story by Kate Grenville. 5 Each explores how they successfully subverted expectations of their gender. The author interprets and applies elements of the conversations to support Grace's tactics in the novel as well as those related to her own creative research practice. Grace serves her guests, reflecting on what is said and how it relates to her story. Over coffee, the two come together to examine what each has learned.