Comparison of some traits of economic importance in tilapias (Orechromis niloticus and Sarotherodon galilaeus) with particular reference to their culture in Ghana

This study was conducted to determine which of the two major tilapia species in freshwater capture fisheries in Ghana, Oreochromis niloticus or Sarotherodon galilaeus, is more suitable for breed improvement and pond culture. It compares traits of economic importance, including seed output, specific growth rate, survival and sex ratios following androgen sex reversal. The results of the study showed that the aquaculture potential of S. galilaeus compares favorably with that of O. niloticus. However, S. galilaeus may be preferred because the males and females have an equal growth rate, which allows for manual sorting to raise both sexes in monosex culture, an inexpensive appropriate technology that an ordinary smallscale fish farmer can apply.

Cultivation of the brown alga Sargassum horneri: sexual reproduction and seedling production in tank culture under reduced solar irradiance in ambient temperature

As a large conspicuous intertidal brown alga, individuals of Sargassum horneri can reach a length of more than 7 m with a fresh weight of 3 kg along the coasts of the Eastern China Sea. The biomass of this alga as a vital component in coastal water ecology has been well documented. In recent years, a steady disappearance of the algal biomass along the once densely populated coastal areas of the Eastern China Sea has drawn attention in China. Efforts have been made to reconstruct the subtidal algal flora or even to grow the alga by use of long-lines. As part of the efforts to establish an efficient technique for producing seedlings of S. horneri, in this investigation a series of culture experiments were carried out in indoor raceway and rectangular tanks under reduced solar irradiance at ambient temperature in 2007-2008. The investigation demonstrated that: (1) sexual reproduction of S. horneri could be accelerated in elevated temperature and light climates, at least 3 months earlier than in the wild; (2) eggs of S. horneri had the potential to be fertilized up to 48 h, much longer than that of known related species; (3) suspension and fixed culture methods were both effective in growing the seedlings to the long-line cultivation stage; and (4) the life cycle of S. horneri in culture could be shortened to 4.5 months, thus establishing this alga as an appropriate model for investigating sexual reproduction in dieocious species of this genus.

Edmund Burke and the heritage of oral culture

The dissertation proposes that one of the more fruitful ways of interpreting Burke's work is to evaluate him as an oral performer rather than a literary practitioner and it argues that in his voice can be heard the modulations of the genres and conventions of oral composition of eighteenth-century Gaelic Ireland. The first chapter situates Burke in the milieu of the Gaelic landed class of eighteenth-century Ireland. The next chapter examines how the rich oral culture of the Munster Gaelic gentry, where Burke spent his childhood days, was to provide a lasting influence on the form and content of Burke's work. His speeches on the British constitution are read in the context of the historical and literary culture of the Jacobites, specifically the speculum principis, Párliament na mBán. The third chapter surveys the tradition of Anglo-Irish theoretical writings on oratory and discusses how Burke is aligned with this school. The focus is on how Burke's thought and practice, his 'idioms', might be understood as being mediated through the criterion of orality rather than literature. The remaining chapters discuss Burke's politics and performance in the light of Gaelic cultural practices such as the rituals of the courts of poetry, the Warrant Poems or Barántas; the performance of funeral laments and elegies, Caoineadh, the laments for the fallen nobility, Marbhna na daoine uaisle, the satires and the political vision allegories of Munster, Aislingí na Mumhan; to show how they provide us with a remarkable context for discussing Burke's poetical-political performance. In hearing Burke's voice through the body of Gaelic culture our understanding of Burke's position in the wider world of the eighteenth century (and hence his meaning) is profoundly affected.

The ways in which new public management ideas impact upon the administrative culture of 'street-level' bureaucrats and professionals working within Irish social policy

The conventional meaning of culture is ‘widely shared and strongly held values’ of a particular group or society (Bradley and Parker, 2006: 89). Culture is not a rigid concept; it can be influenced or altered by new ideas or forces. This research examines the ways in which one set of ideas in particular, that is, those associated with New Public Management, have impacted upon the administrative culture of 'street-level' bureaucrats and professionals within Irish social policy. Lipsky (1980: 3) defined 'street-level' bureaucrats as ‘public service workers who interact directly with citizens in the course of their jobs, and who have substantial discretion in the execution of their work’. Utilising the Competing Values Framework (CVF) in the analysis of eighty three semi-structured interviews with 'street-level' bureaucrats and professionals, an evaluation is made as to the impact of NPM ideas on both visible and invisible aspects of administrative culture. Overall, the influence of NPM is confined to superficial aspects of administrative culture such as; increased flexibility in working hours and to some degree job contracts; increased time commitment; and a customer service focus. However, the extent of these changes varies depending on policy sector and occupational group. Aspects of consensual and hierarchical cultures remain firmly in place. These coincide with features of developmental and market cultures. Contrary to the view that members of hierarchical and consensual culture would pose resistance to change, this research clearly illustrates that a very large appetite for change exists in the attitudes of 'street-level' bureaucrats and professionals within Irish social policy, with many of them suggesting changes that correspond to NPM ideas. This study demonstrates the relevance of employing the CVF model as it is clear that administrative culture is very much a dynamic system of competing and co-existing cultures.

AUSTRALIA’S STRATEGIC CULTURE: An investigation of the concept of strategic culture and its application to the Australian case

The notion that each state in the international system approaches matters of war and peace somewhat differently because they each possess a unique strategic culture is not a new or obscure one – but it nevertheless remains controversial. While some scholars dismiss the utility or practicality of examining states’ cultures when seeking to explain or predict those states’ patterns of strategic decision-making, even amongst those who accept that we should pay attention to cultural differences between states when carrying out strategic analysis there remains a frustratingly eclectic range of offerings from scholars regarding how best to do so. In short, significant uncertainty remains regarding both whether strategic culture should be used as an analytical tool and, if it is so utilized, how one should go about doing so. This thesis therefore explores the concept of strategic culture in great detail, both theoretical and empirical. The opening three chapters examine why the more traditional rationalist/materialistic theories should not exclusively dominate strategic analysis, then the various existing strategic cultural offerings are considered and critiqued and, finally, a new conceptual model for strategic cultural analysis is proposed which draws from the hitherto largely neglected psychological and sociological literature. Both of these fields, it is submitted in Chapter 3, have spent more time and effort developing ways of understanding and analyzing culture than the field of IR has to date, and therefore the models and methods debated and developed in these fields should, it is argued, be ‘imported’ into IR to drive further strategic cultural research. The thesis then moves in the following six chapters to consider Australia’s strategic culture. The purpose of this part of the thesis is two-fold: first, it illustrates how the model offered in Chapter 3 works and, by implication, suggests how scholars may go about applying it to other cases. Second, and perhaps more importantly, the latter six chapters explore the twists and turns of Australia’s substantive strategic decision-making over the course of the last century or more, thereby explaining how Australia’s strategic history can be understood from a cultural perspective.

Devotional Culture in Late Medieval England and Europe: Diverse Imaginations of Christ’s Life

Christ’s life, as related through the Gospel narratives and early Apocrypha, was subject to a riot of literary-devotional adaptation in the medieval period. This collection provides a series of groundbreaking studies centring on the devotional and cultural significance of Christianity’s pivotal story during the Middle Ages.

The collection represents an important milestone in terms of mapping the meditative modes of piety that characterize a number of Christological traditions, including the Meditationes vitae Christi and the numerous versions it spawned in both Latin and the vernacular. A number of chapters in the volume track how and why meditative piety grew in popularity to become a mode of spiritual activity advised not only to recluses and cenobites as in the writings of Aelred of Rievaulx, but also reached out to diverse lay audiences through the pastoral regimens prescribed by devotional authors such as the Carthusian prior Nicholas Love in England and the Parisian theologian and chancellor of the University of Paris, Jean Gerson.

Through exploring these texts from a variety of perspectives — theoretical, codicological, theological — and through tracing their complex lines of dissemination in ideological and material terms, this collection promises to be invaluable to students and scholars of medieval religious and literary culture.

Isolation and culture of mouse intestinal cells.

Complex cell signal transduction mechanisms regulate intestinal epithelial shape, polarity, motility, organelles, cell membrane components as well as physical and mechanical properties to influence alimentary digestion, absorption, secretion, detoxification and fluid balance. Interactions between the epithelial cells and adjacent mesenchyme are central to intestinal homeostasis although the key regulatory molecules of specific differentiation steps remain unclear. Isolation and primary culture of heterotypic murine intestinal cells provides a model system for elucidation of essential molecular cross-talk between epithelium and mesenchyme that may provide several biological and practical advantages over transformed cell lines. An in vitro primary culture system for neonatal rat or mouse intestinal cells has been established that forms monolayers, expresses intestine-specific epithelial features including intestinal brush borders and appropriate hydrolase enzymes. Our studies confirm the promise of this method which may advance our understanding of heterotypic cellular interactions implicated in intestinal function and may provide important insights into the pathobiology of disease.

Culture and the Irish Border:Spaces for Conflict Transformation

The Irish border has been described as a ‘natural’ cultural divide between the island's two dominant indigenous ethno-national communities. However, an examination of key resources of ethno-national group culture - religion, sport and language - provides evidence to challenge this representation. Moreover, in the post-1994 period of conflict transformation, evidence is also presented to support the proposition that the Irish border region has developed into a cultural space in which Irish nationalist and Ulster unionist ethno-national communities can explore cultural differences and commonalities through cross-border, cross-community contact and communication in small group encounters. This space underpins the reconfiguration of the border from barrier to political bridge between North and South. European Union (EU) Peace programmes for Ireland, beginning in 1995, provided the support for a cross-border approach to escaping the cage of ethno-national conflict in Northern Ireland. However, post-2004 EU enlargement signalled the beginning of the end for EU Peace funding and severe economic recession has undermined the expectation of British-Irish intergovernmental intervention to support cross-border partnerships and their work. Therefore, the outlook for the sustainability of this cross-border cultural space is gloomy with potentially deleterious consequences for the continued reconfiguration of the border from barrier to bridge.

Organizational culture predicts job satisfaction and perceived clinical effectiveness in pediatric primary care practices

Background: In recent years, there has been a growing understanding that organizational culture is related to an organization's performance. However, fewstudies have examined organizational culture in medical group practices. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of organizational culture on provider job satisfaction and perceived clinical effectiveness in primary care pediatric practices. Research Design: This cross-sectional study included 36 primary care pediatric practices located in Connecticut. Participants: There were 374 participants in this study, which included 127 clinicians and 247 nonclinicians. Measures: Office managers completed a questionnaire that recorded staff and practice characteristics; all participants completed the Organizational Culture Scale, a questionnaire that assessed the practice on four cultural domains (i.e., group, developmental, rational, and hierarchical), and the Primary Care Organizational Questionnaire that evaluated perceived effectiveness and job satisfaction. Results: Hierarchical linear models using a restricted maximum likelihood estimation method were used to evaluate whether the practice culture types predicted job satisfaction and perceived effectiveness. Group culture was positively associated with both satisfaction and perceived effectiveness. In contrast, hierarchical and rational culture were negatively associated with both job satisfaction and perceived effectiveness. These relationships were true for clinicians, nonclinicians, and the practice as a whole. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that practice culture is associated with job satisfaction and perceived clinical effectiveness and that a group culture was associated with high job satisfaction and perceived effectiveness. Copyright © 2010 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Studies on The Ecology And Production of Algae in Prawn Culture Systems

Existing method of culture were largely based on empirical knowledge. Lacking a scientific basis as such methods did, they were often wasteful and suffered severe limitation. Modern methods of fish and prawn culture based on scientific research, have revolutioned the industry in recent years and not only extended its scope to cover the whole country but led to increased fish and prawn production. An understanding of the biological capability of the water in the perennial and seasonal culture ponds, and the nature and extent of the influence of the abiotic factors on the production of organisms in the primary level of food chain would contribute to effectively implement management measures in the stocking strategies and in the evaluation of economics of production of prawns. It is against this background that the present topic of investigation "Studies on the ecology and production of algae in prawn culture systems” was selected.

Local food security and principle of organic farming (from farm to fork) in context of food culture in Indonesia: Minangkabau's case study

The basic idea behind improving local food security consists of two paths; first, accessibility (price, stock) and second, availability (quantity and biodiversity); both are perquisites to the provision of nutrients and a continuous food supply with locally available resources. The objectives of this thesis are to investigate if indigenous knowledge still plays an important role in traditional farming in the Minangkabau`s culture, thus supporting local food security. If the indigenous knowledge still plays a role in food culture in the Minangkabau`s culture which is linked to the matrilineal role and leads to a sound nutrition. Further, it should be tested if marantau influences traditional farming and food culture in Minangkabau`s, and if the local government plays a role in changing of traditional farming systems and food culture. Furthermore this thesis wants to prove if education and gender are playing a role in changing traditional farming system and food culture, and if the mass media affects traditional farming systems and food culture for the Minangkabau. The study was completed at four locations in West Sumatera; Nagari Ulakan (NU) (coastal area), Nagari Aia Batumbuak (NAB) (hilly area), Nagari Padang Laweh Malalo (NPLM) (lake area), Nagari Pandai Sikek (NPS) (hilly area). The rainfall ranged from 1400- 4800 mm annually with fertile soils. Data was collected by using PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal) to investigate indigenous knowledge (IK) and its interactions, which is also combining with in depth-interview, life history, a survey using semi-structured-questionnaire, pictures, mapping, and expert interview. The data was collected from June - September 2009 and June 2010. The materials are; map of area, list of names, questionnaires, voices recorder, note book, and digital camera. The sampling method was snowball sampling which resulted in the qualitative and quantitative data taken. For qualitative data, ethnography and life history was used. For quantitative, a statistical survey with a semi-structured questionnaire was used. 50 respondents per each site participated voluntarily. Data was analyzed by performing MAXQDA 10, and F4 audio analysis software (created and developed by Philip-University Marburg). The data is clustered based on causality. The results show that; the role of IK on TFS (traditional farming system) shown on NPLM which has higher food crop biodiversity in comparison to the other three places even though it has relatively similar temperature and rainfall. This high food crop biodiversity is due to the awareness of local people who realized that they lived in unfavourable climate and topography; therefore they are more prepared for any changes that may occur. Carbohydrate intake is 100 % through rice even though they are growing different staple crops. Whereas most of the people said in the interviews that not eating rice is like not really eating for them. In addition to that, mothers still play an important role in kitchen activities. But when the agriculture income is low, mothers have to decide whether to change the meals or to feel insecure about their food supply. Marantau yields positive impact through the remittances it provides to invest on the farm. On the other hand, it results in fewer workers for agriculture, and therefore a negative impact on the transfer of IK. The investigation showed that the local government has a PTS (Padi Tanam Sabatang) programme which still does not guarantee that the farmers are getting sufficient revenue from their land. The low agricultural income leads to situation of potential food insecurity. It is evident that education is equal among men and women, but in some cases women tend to leave school earlier because of arranged marriages or the distances of school from their homes. Men predominantly work in agriculture and fishing, while women work in the kitchen. In NAB, even though women work on farmland they earn less then men. Weaving (NPS) and kitchen activity is recognized as women’s work, which also supports the household income. Mass media is not yielding any changes in TFS and food culture in these days. The traditional farming system has changed because of intensive agricultural extension which has introduced new methods of agriculture for the last three decades (since the 1980’s). There is no evidence that they want to change any of their food habits because of the mass media despite the lapau activity which allows them to get more food choices, instead preparing traditional meal at home. The recommendations of this thesis are: 1) The empowerment of farmers. It is regarding the self sufficient supply of manure, cooperative seed, and sustainable farm management. Farmers should know – where are they in their state of knowledge – so they can use their local wisdom and still collaborate with new sources of knowledge. Farmers should learn the prognosis of supply and demand next prior to harvest. There is a need for farm management guidelines; that can be adopted from both their local wisdom and modern knowledge. 2) Increase of non-agricultural income Increasing the non-agricultural income is strongly recommended. The remittances can be invested on non-agricultural jobs. 3) The empowerment of the mother. The mother plays an important role in farm to fork activities; the mother can be an initiator and promoter of cultivating spices in the backyard. Improvement of nutritional knowledge through information and informal public education can be done through arisan ibu-ibu and lapau activity. The challenges to apply these recommendations are: 1) The gap between institutions and organizations of local governments. There is more than one institution involved in food security policy. 2) Training and facilities for field extension agriculture (FEA) is needed because the rapid change of interaction between local government and farmer’s dependent on this agency.

David Gauntlett's inaugural lecture, 'Participation culture, creativity, and social change', from 12 November 2008: the key themes in ten minutes

David Gauntlett's inaugural lecture from November 2008, in which he points to a shift from a 'sit down and be told' culture to a more creative 'making and doing' culture, which may offer one of the necessary keys to tackling climate change and environmental problems.

Blue leaf: Una alternativa diferente de alimentación saludable

Blue Leaf es un proyecto de emprendimiento que consiste en la elaboración y venta directa de bebidas naturales a base de frutas a través de un food truck en la ciudad de Bogotá. Tras revisar algunas tendencias actuales como la cultura Fitness y el Juicing, y tras identificar un problema sobre los hábitos de alimentación desordenados que llevan muchas personas, nace Blue Leaf como una alternativa de alimentación saludable, natural, práctica y diferente. El negocio contará inicialmente con un portafolio de 12 bebidas divididas en tres categorías. Primero, las bebidas alimenticias cuentan con altos contenidos nutricionales y sirven como fuente de alimento práctico y saludable; segundo, las bebidas funcionales, están diseñadas para ofrecer beneficios específicos de salud como desintoxicar, ayudar a bajar de peso o fortalecer las defensas; por último, las bebidas fuente de energía, cuentan con altos niveles de vitaminas y minerales que le permiten a los consumidores recargar energías rápidamente y continuar con sus actividades diarias. Adicionalmente, Blue Leaf ofrecerá la oportunidad a los consumidores de hacer su propia bebida, dándoles la posibilidad de elegir de entre más de 50 ingredientes entre bases, frutas, verduras, hierbas, semillas, adiciones y endulzantes. El proyecto es liderado por Paola Higuera Rodríguez y David Santiago Soto, ambos estudiantes de la Escuela de Administración de la Universidad del Rosario

Gene transfection of HEK cells on supermacroporous polyacrylamide monoliths: a comparison of transient and stable recombinant protein expression in perfusion culture

Transient and continuous recombinant protein expression by HEK cells was evaluated in a perfused monolithic bioreactor. Highly porous synthetic cryogel scaffolds (10ml bed volume) were characterised by scanning electron microscopy and tested as cell substrates. Efficient seeding was achieved (94% inoculum retained, with 91-95% viability). Metabolite monitoring indicated continuous cell growth, and endpoint cell density was estimated by genomic DNA quantification to be 5.2x108, 1.1x109 and 3.5x1010 at day 10, 14 and 18. Culture of stably transfected cells allowed continuous production of the Drosophila cytokine Spätzle by the bioreactor at the same rate as in monolayer culture (total 1.2 mg at d18) and this protein was active. In transient transfection experiments more protein was produced per cell compared with monolayer culture. Confocal microscopy confirmed homogenous GFP expression after transient transfection within the bioreactor. Monolithic bioreactors are thus shown to be a flexible and powerful tool for manufacturing recombinant proteins.