‘Never forget’: fictionalising the Holocaust survivor with dementia

This article asks what the reasons are for the frequent linking of the image of the Holocaust with that of dementia in contemporary discursive and representational practice. In doing so, it analyses some of the numerous 21st-century examples of fiction, drama and film in which the figure of a Holocaust survivor living with dementia takes centre stage. It explores the contradictory cultural effects that arise from making such a connection, in contexts that include expressions of fear at the spectacle of dementia, as well as comparisons between the person living with that condition and the inmate of a concentration camp. Detailed consideration of novels by Jillian Cantor and Harriet Scott Chessman as well as a play by Michel Wallenstein and a film by Josh Appignanesi suggests that the fictions of this kind can appear to provide solace for the impending loss of the eyewitness generation, yet also offer potential for a model for caregiving practice to those living with dementia in broader terms

Evaluation of the Delta Waterfowl Foundation\u27s Adopt-A-Pothole Project

The establishment of dense nesting cover (DNC) for breeding waterfowl is a common management practice on large blocks of former agricultural land. The Delta Waterfowl Foundation\u27s Adopt-A-Pothole (AAP) program establishes DNC adjacent to small wetland complexes to increase waterfowl use and productivity. I evaluated waterfowl use and nesting success on AAP lease sites in southwestern Manitoba in 993- 94 and compared the relative amount and success of overwater and upland nesting by mallards using these sites. Diving duck breeding pair densities were higher on treatment sites in both 1993 and 1994 (P= 0.02 and 0.02, respectively). Dabbling duck breeding pair densities did not differ between sites. Upland nesting success did not differ between control and treatment sites in 1993 (P = 0.16) and was higher on control sites in 1994 (P= 0.02). Overwater nesting success did not differ between treatment and control sites in 1993 or 1994 (P = 0.66 and 0.08, respectively). Brood use was difficult to quantify because of high water levels in both years. Overwater nests comprised 31% (n = 58) of the total mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) nests found in 1993-94. Mallard overwater and upland nest success was not different (P = 0.39). Mallards nested in shallower water than ruddy ducks (Oxyura jamaicensis), canvasback (Aythya valisineria), and redhead (A. americana) (P \u3c 0.0005). Mallards nested closer to shore than redheads (P = 0.02). Ruddy duck and canvasback daily survival rates were highest, followed by redhead and mallard (P = 0.06 to 0.18). Overwater nests located in \u3c 30 cm of water were predated more often than expected (P \u3c 0.0025). Deeper water may provide greater security from predators for overwater nesting ducks than shallower water. The importance of overwater nesting by mallards probably varies regionally and annually. Wetlands, primarily seasonal and semi-permanent, appear to provide attractive mallard nesting habitat. The establishment of DNC adjacent to small wetland complexes located in agriculturally dominated landscapes may provide relatively secure and attractive waterfowl nesting habitat. However, other factors, including the presence and abundance of potential nest predators, may influence the effectiveness of this practice

To Act and Learn: A Bakhtinian Exploration of Action Learning

This paper considers the work of the Russian social philosopher and cultural theorist, Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin as a source of understanding for those involved in action learning. Drawing upon data gathered over two years during the evaluation of 20 action learning sets in the north of England, we will seek to work with the ideas of Bakhtin to consider their value for those involved in action learning. We consider key Bakhtin features such as Making Meaning, Participative Thinking, Theoreticism and Presence, Others and Outsideness, Voices and Carnival to highlight how Bakhtin's can enhance our understanding of the nature of action and learning

Eliciting a predatory response in the eastern corn snake (Pantherophis guttatus) using live and inanimate sensory stimuli: implications for managing invasive populations

North America's Eastern corn snake (Pantherophis guttatus) has been introduced to several islands throughout the Caribbean and Australasia where it poses a significant threat to native wildlife. Invasive snake control programs often involve trapping with live bait, a practice that, as well as being costly and labour intensive, raises welfare and ethical concerns. This study assessed corn snake response to live and inanimate sensory stimuli in an attempt to inform possible future trapping of the species and the development of alternative trap lures. We exposed nine individuals to sensory cues in the form of odour, visual, vibration and combined stimuli and measured the response (rate of tongue-flick [RTF]). RTF was significantly higher in odour and combined cues treatments, and there was no significant difference in RTF between live and inanimate cues during odour treatments. Our findings suggest chemical cues are of primary importance in initiating predation and that an inanimate odour stimulus, absent of simultaneous visual and vibratory cues, is a potential low-cost alternative trap lure for the control of invasive corn snake populations

Online support system for students in higher education: Proof-of-concept study

Background: Providing support to the increasing numbers of students facing mental health difficulties in higher education (HE) can be difficult due to stigma or lack of resources. Alternative and/or complementary sources of support are needed, such as online interventions that are recognised for their therapeutic value and cost-effectiveness. Objectives: We aim to provide evidence supporting the conceptual and practical value of a newly developed online multimedia intervention system for HE students who face mild to moderate symptoms of anxiety and depression and study-skills difficulties. Methods: Students from five universities were invited to participate in a cross-sectional proof-of-concept study. Students were invited through the universities' internal communication channels. Following demonstration of each part of the system, students completed a survey with quantitative and qualitative questions. Results: Response was largely positive. Positive responses on the features of the questionnaire ranged between 65% and 86%; on the features of the workshops ranged between 57% and 91%; on 'My place' ranged between 65% and 79%; on the animated videos ranged between 79% and 92%; and on the overall system ranged between 78% and 89%. Participants indicated areas for improvement and ways in which such improvement could be accomplished; these then guided the development of the system. Conclusions: The results confirm the need for such a system. It can complement student support services (SSS) by dealing with cases with mild to moderate difficulties, hence allowing SSS to prioritise and effectively address more severe cases. Potentially this method can provide a meaningful alternative to SSS; this is worth investigating further

Stanley Kubrick's quest for the heroic: turning wartime lies into Aryan papers

This article asks why Stanley Kubrick's longstanding wish to direct the film version of Louis Begley's 1991 novel Wartime Lies never came to fruition. In Begley's novel, the protagonist Maciek recounts the experience of living in hiding under a false identity in Nazi-occupied Poland. Kubrick drafted a series of quite different plotlines and conclusions for the film version, to be called Aryan Papers, in which Maciek's aunt Tania takes a highly dramatic role in their destiny. The more Kubrick changed Aryan Papers, in response to the pressure of Hollywood expectations and the cultural valorization of active Holocaust resistance, the less it resembled the very work he had chosen to adapt. This impasse shows why the director could not ultimately bring Aryan Papers to the screen

Digital technology and governance in transition: The case of the British Library

Comment on the organizational consequences of the new information and communications technologies (ICTs) is pervaded by a powerful imagery of disaggregation and a tendency for ?virtual? forms of production to be seen as synonymous with the ?end? of bureaucracy. This paper questions the underlying assumptions of the ?virtual organization?, highlighting the historically enduring, diversified character of the bureaucratic form. The paper then presents case study findings on the web-based access to information resources now being provided by the British Library (BL). The case study evidence produces two main findings. First, radically decentralised virtual forms of service delivery are heavily dependent on new forms of capacity-building and information aggregation. Second, digital technology is embedded in an inherently contested and contradictory context of institutional change. Current developments in the management and control of digital rights are consistent with the commodification of the public sphere. However, the evidence also suggests that scholarly access to information resources is being significantly influenced by the ?information society? objectives of the BL and other institutional players within the network of UK research libraries

Holocaust testimony or ‘Soviet Epic’: Svetlana Alexievich’s polyphonic texts

This article examines the wartime fate of the Jews in Belarus as it is represented in Svetlana Alexievich's ‘documentary fiction’. It asks whether the Jewish experience, as reported by survivors, rescuers and bystanders, is presented as part of a broad Soviet history, or, as western readers might expect, as a central part of the Holocaust. The article considers whether this question can be addressed in literary terms by analysing Alexievich’s use of a wide range of social utterances in the composition of her works, to determine whether such polyphony gives expression to Jewish voices or erases their distinctivenes

Rachel Seiffert’s A Boy in Winter (2017) and the Literary Construction of Ukraine

This article analyses the literary representation of Nazi-occupied Ukraine in Rachel Seiffert’s 2017 novel A Boy in Winter. It does so by exploring the novel’s documentary and fictional influences, from which its concern with the genocide of the Jews and the German colonization of the East is crafted. The alterations and omissions from the historical accounts and the novel’s use of modernist literary techniques combine in a way that resembles the methods of other examples of Holocaust fiction, but in this case to create a distinctive allegorical mode. The article concludes by arguing that ultimately the most significant influence on A Boy in Winter is a novel from almost a century earlier, Joseph Roth’s The Radetzky March (1932)