The Landscape of Węgajty Theatre

The alternative culture in Poland formed between the late 1970s and the second half of the 1990s. In this period many artists were moving from cities into the countryside in order to find space for independent and experimental art. Among these new settlers were Erdmute and Wacław Sobaszek, who made their home in a small rural settlement of Węgajty in the 1980s. The Sobaszeks converted an abandoned farm into a stage and soon their undertaking became one of the most prominent alternative theatres in Poland. This article explores intersections of the Sobaszeks's art and rural landscape through the lens of humanistic geography, anthropology and philosophy. The purpose of the article is to reveal a deep attachment of the artists to local, rural space and to examine how it shapes their performances and community building. In the article, the Węgajty Theatre is recognized as ‘landscape theatre’, a term which attempts to emphasize a bond between the theatre and the natural environment.

Metabolite profiling and antioxidant capacity of lettuce Lactuca sativa var. longifolia grown in aquaponic system irrigated with shrimp effluents

This paper focuses on the quality of lettuce var. longifolia grown with shrimp effluents from well water (WW), diluted seawater (DSW) and a hydroponic solution (HS). Results evidenced that WW and DSW effluents slightly decreased weight, foliage, and yield (5-9%) in plants compared to HS control. Furthermore, WW-lettuce showed a higher level of total phenolic compounds (~71%), flavonoids (~90%), and antioxidant capacity (0.7-3-folds) than HS-plants, mainly in the soluble fraction. WW-lettuce also showed a higher content of total soluble solids (~16%) and, a lower saturation of color, which correlated significantly (p <0.05) with chlorophyll a. WW-lettuce exhibited the highest concentrations of p-hydroxybenzoic, p-coumaric and ferulic acids, as well as quercetin 3-O-glucoside and quercetin 3-O-ramnoside. Whereas DSW-lettuce showed the highest levels of caffeic acid, isorhamnetin 3-O-glucoside, kaempferol 3-O-glucoside, kaempferol and quercetin. HS-lettuce showed a higher proline content than the lettuces from the other treatments. These results indicate that aquaponic lettuce culture with shrimp effluent from WW could be used as an alternative culture system to reduce land area requirements, decrease or eliminate the discharge and impact of shrimp effluents, and simultaneously improve the functional properties of lettuce.

ONLINE COLLABORATIVE WRITTEN ACTIVITIES IN L2 FOR THE TEACHING OF LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

This study investigates the potential affordances of new technologies and the opportunities offered by wikis in facilitating L2 collaborative writing in university settings for the teaching of culture. Participants were 92 undergraduate students of Italian as foreign language in the department of Italian Language and Literature of the university of Athens. They attended and participated in a laboratory course of alternative culture environments and online activities in foreign language. A task-based wiki environment managed to involve the students in a variety of online activities culturally meaningful and authentic educational activities. An initial and a final questionnaire were selected and analysed by ANOVA and POST HOC TEST (Tukey) confirming that online collaborative wikis tools are able to promote teamwork, can increase knowledge of culture and foreign language and can create positive conditions for cultivating creativity and collaborative, written expression. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0750/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Low sensitivity of conventional fungal agars in fungemia by Rhodotorula mucilaginosa: description of two cases

Background Although most bloodstream yeast infections are caused by Candida spp., infections by rare or less common species have increased in recent years. Diagnosis of infections caused by these species is difficult due to the lack of specific symptoms and adequate diagnostic tools. Cases presentation We describe two cases of fungemia by Rhodotorula mucilaginosa within a few months of each other, in a secondary Spanish hospital. In both cases, diagnosis was challenging. Blood subcultures in conventional fungal media were persistently negatives and the use of non-conventional fungal media was essential for isolating the yeasts and achieving a correct diagnosis. 1–3 beta-d-glucan detection and a panfungal PCR assay were helpful techniques to confirm the diagnosis Conclusion It is highly important to establish an early diagnosis for fungemia. The process is challenging because often non-specific symptoms are presents. When yeasts grow in blood cultures other genera than Candida spp. could be the cause of infection. Patient risk factors should be assessed to incorporate alternative culture media and the available rapid diagnostic test, in order to provide an early recognition of the pathogen.