Outsider Art and the autistic creator

Outsider Art (art brut) is defined as a mode of original artistic expression which thrives on its independence, shunning the public sphere and the art market. Such art can be highly idiosyncratic and secretive, and reflects the individual creator''s attempt to construct a coherent, albeit strange, private world. Certain practitioners of what may be termed autistic art are examined in the light of this definition; their work is considered as evidence not of a medical condition but of an expressive intentionality entirely worthy of the interest of those drawn to the aesthetic experience.     

Exploring the global decline of music education

This article seeks to explain the disjuncture between the decline of music education in schools and the importance music has in popular youth culture and in creativity within the new knowledge economy. The data discussed in this article have been derived from analyses of major documents on curriculum reform as well as e-mail responses from music educators around the world. This analysis reveals that these music educators agree with the perception of a demise in music education around the world, as well as the significance of the disjuncture alluded to. The four major reasons found for the decline in music education are: (1) the model of curriculum supported in educational reforms; (2) an emphasis on standardized evaluation; (3) less resources available; and (4) a wrong approach on music advocacy.     

Continuity and Creativity in Iroquois Beadwork

This review essay of Across Borders: Beadwork in Iroquois Life focuses on the display of beadwork as a cultural practice that has evolved significantly throughout its history while remaining central to Iroquois identity. The exhibition draws on historical documentation, objects, and imagery that depict the varied uses of beadwork as ritual objects, sources of income, markers of identity, and as works of art. The content and narrative for the display was developed through a broad collaboration between curators, scholars, artists, and members of two Iroquois communities. The changing and continued importance of beadwork is reflected in the adaptation of materials and styles for different forms of production and use. Across Borders places Iroquois beadwork in a broad context while concentrating on specific forms and meanings that are attached to beadwork, whether created in community gatherings or by individual artists.     

"It Was Fine, if You Wanted to Leave": Educational Ambivalence in a Nova Scotian Coastal Community 1963–1998

This article reports on a study of schooling in southwest Nova Scotia. Using Bourdieu's concepts of cultural capital and habitus, I analyze rural men's relationships involving identity, work, place, and schooling to explain continuing high male dropout rates and local traditions of ambivalence and resistance to schooling. I conclude that the tension between formal schooling and place is endemic in many rural communities and that qualitative migration analysis can reveal the complexity of relationships between learning and leaving.     

Do borderline nuclear changes in gynaecological cytlogy constitute a reliable reporting category?

Fourteen laboratories participated in a national slide exchange study to investigate whether borderline nuclear changes (BNC) constitute a reliable reporting category. Slides were submitted by participating laboratories, having achieved a 100% intralaboratory consensus at the primary screener, checker, and medical levels. Sets of seven slides were examined in laboratories for 1 week, and exchanges were undertaken over a 6-month period. Each laboratory was requested to submit three consensus opinions on each slide at the primary screener, checker, and medical levels.
Response patterns for submitted slides achieving a reporting category consensus at the 50 and 80% consensus levels indicated that negative, BNC, and mild dyskaryosis are distinct and comparable categories. Similarly, the two subcategories of BNC with or without human papillomavirus (HPV) are nearly as distinct as the overall BNC category.
The percentage of submitted slides achieving consensus at consensus levels between 50 and 80% produced variable findings with regard to the practical success of the main reporting categories. The negative category was reasonably successful, whereas mild dyskaryosis was consistently poor. Borderline nuclear changes were successful at the 50% consensus level but showed a rapid decline by the 65% consensus level. The reason(s) for this remains speculative but indicates a possible potential of BNC to work successfully with additional training and education.
Reporting practices were not consistent among the laboratories and differences were identified between medical and nonmedical staff. A high use of the BNC category was noted in slides that failed to achieve consensus. A national study assessing all grades of abnormalities would appear essential.     

Training in zoo biology,captive breeding,and conservation

Different types of training in zoo biology, captive breeding, and conservation are discussed and the availability of a variety of programs documented. Emphasis is given to the need for more training in general, and especially for less-developed countries where zoos have much potential yet to be realized. The aims, structure, content, and impact of the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust's International Training Program are examined.     

Reactions of zoo visitors to free-ranging monkeys

This study assessed the potential of two types of primate exhibit both for enhancing zoo visitors' interest, knowledge, and enjoyment and for promoting conservation education. Visitors' reactions to a free-ranging group of cotton-top tamarins were compared with their responses to caged tamarins in three ways: 1) timing how long visitors spent at each exhibit, 2) recording the comments made by visitors about the exhibits, and 3) asking visitors to respond to questionnaires about the two exhibits. The results showed that the free-ranging group of tamarins provoked wider comment from members of the public than caged groups and that visitors were willing to spend much more time looking for and watching monkeys in trees than monkeys in cages. Visitors felt that improvements in the animals' welfare were obtained from allowing them to live free in the trees, thought that they could learn more from such groups than from caged animals, and enjoyed seeing the free-ranging tamarins more than the monkeys in cages. These results suggest that developing more naturalistic zoo exhibits can have considerable benefits not only for the animals involved, but also for public education in conservation issues. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Archéologie de l’art rupestre au Mato Grosso (Brésil) : la Chapada dos Guimarães

As part of the research program “Archaeology of rock art in Mato Grosso: the Chapada dos Guimarães National Park (Cuiabá, Brazil)” placed under the coordination of Patrick Paillet and Veronica Wesolowski, an integrated and interdisciplinary approach to the territory still largely unpublished rock art of the Chapada dos Guimarães, has been undertaken since 2020 by combining strictly archaeological research (surveys, excavations and prospecting-inventories), rock art studies (analysis and graphic, photographic and photogrammetric recording of representations) and geological analyzes and, to define and characterize the structure of its ornamented landscapes. Our program is an extension of other projects carried out from 1983 to 2013 under the direction of Agueda Vilhena-Vialou, Denis Vialou and Levy Figuti in the region of the Cidade de Pedra near Rondonópolis and at Santa Elina in the Serra das Araras (Jangada). The region of the Chapada dos Guimarães National Park (PNCG) was the subject of exploration and partial studies between 2017 and 2019 under the direction of Caroline Bachelet within the framework of the program “Prehistory and Paleoenvironments in the Pantanal region (Mato Grosso, Brazil)”. The pursuit of archaeological research in the PNCG contributes to better defining the chronology and the dynamics of occupations at local and regional scales, to characterizing chrono-culturally the settlements and their variability in the region, extending from the Rio Vermelho in the south to the Rio Cuiabá in the north, and to understand the processes of settlement and/or mobility of past populations along the firm lands and especially the hydrographic systems that border the floodplains of the Pantanal and which constitute the main routes of population movement.     

制药工程“微生物学实验”课程的项目化教学探索与实践

为了培养学生的自主学习能力和实践创新能力,按照工程教育专业认证要求基于成果导向教育(outcome based education, OBE)理念设计课程教学,将制药工程微生物学实验课实验教学项目设置成入门、进阶和自主3种项目等级。实验项目内容由浅入深、逐级递进、层层相关,教学过程以学生为中心,并结合线上教学手段和竞赛机制的支持。实践结果表明,经过项目化教学改革,在教师教学和学生学习成效两个方面均得到明显提升,学生在论文撰写能力、动手能力等方面也有了明显的进步,值得后续进一步总结和推广。     

Operation Crayweed: Ecological and sociocultural aspects of restoring Sydney’s underwater forests

Operation Crayweed focuses on the restoration of underwater forests that disappeared from the coastline of Sydney, Australia’s largest city, 40 years previously. We show how a combination of science, hands‐on restoration, community engagement and art has helped the project to reach its goals as well as raise awareness about the importance of underwater kelp forests that are experiencing global decline.