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When I met Yorgos for the first time I was spending some time as a tourist in a small village in Southern Crete, Greece, which I later called Pousos. This was after several returns as a traveling anthropologist and after the place had become my primary field site for studying the transnational and turbulent social and cultural relations created by both tourism and migration in the Greek-Mediterranean border zones of the European Union (EU) (Römhild, 2002, 2008, 2009, 2010). At that time, in the late 1990s, Yorgos was running a tavern right across the small town square and opposite the small complex of restored stone houses in which my family and I had rented an apartment for our stay. He shared the work with Amie, his girlfriend, who served the meals and chatted with the guests while Yorgos would spend much time in the kitchen.

This study was commissioned in 1999 by the South Dublin County Council Parks Department in order to survey and compile a comprehensive inventory of the flora and fauna and provide a detailed map of the wildlife habitats in selected parks. The ecological assets of each park were described and specific management recommendations to enhance biodiversity were provided, such as set aside areas of wildflower or hay meadows and the planting of native woodland species. Rare species and areas of conservation interest were highlighted and mapped. The information has been used by the local authority for management direction and educational purposes. The surveys also provide a baseline data‐set which will allow monitoring of future change; this is particularly important for the most recently developed parklands and for the municipal golf course which has signed up to the European Committed to Green programme.

Crops are increasingly affected by drought; hence, the current study explored the potential role of three desert endophytic fungi, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus terreus and Talaromyces variabilis, in conferring drought tolerance in tomato plants.

Preserved endophytic fungi from a Rhazya stricta desert plant were adopted to obtain the required fungal treatment; tomatoes received fungal treatments directly in plastic trays and subsequently in pots. Drought was applied using 15% of PEG-6000 at two stages: flowering and fruiting. The following parameters were measured: pollen sterility, growth characteristics, morphological analysis and biochemical analysis, including proline, gibberellic acid (GA3) and chlorophyll measurements; thus, the data were analyzed statistically using SPSS software.

All applied endophytes significantly promoted pollen viability and tomato yield under stressed and nonstressed conditions. Interestingly, these endophytes significantly enhanced the number of trichomes under drought stress and promoted tomato fruit quality. The colonized tomato plants accumulated a high proline level under drought stress but lower than un-inoculated stressed plants. Also, a significant rise in growth characteristics was observed by A. fumigatus and A. terreus under normal conditions. Moreover, both raised GA3 levels under drought-stressed and nonstressed conditions. Also these two endophytes enhanced chlorophyll and carotenoid contents under drought stress. Fruit characteristics were enhanced by nonstressed T. variabilis and stressed A. fumigatus.

The present endophytic fungi provide impressive benefits to their host in normal and drought-stressed conditions. Consequently, they represent valuable sources as sustainable and environmentally friendly alternatives to mitigate drought stress.

This paper aims to examine how Malta seeks to reposition itself as a “cultural heritage” tourist destination. After pursuing an expansion in its tourist industry in the 1970s, by the 1990s a sense of crisis prevails, due to the realization that irreversible environmental degradation is damaging the islands with regard to both the cultural heritage and ecological environment. This case study of Malta focuses on the conditions that prompt a policy of environmental intervention. The paper shows how a policy of change results from three main factors: pressures brought from various stakeholders, the availability of funding, and a sense that failure to act will have serious detrimental consequences.

The paper gives an account of recent historical background to explain the case of Malta's tourism. Governmental policy documents, press articles, promotional tourist literature, interviews with experts, and relevant stakeholders in the cultural and educational sphere form the basis for the authors' interpretation.

Governmental policy of investment in the environment is subject to resistance to change due to inertia, the costs of intervention and opposition from entrenched business interests. The role of opinion leaders, pressure groups and of volunteer‐run environmental NGOs is critical in exerting pressure on the government to adopt a policy of intervention to safeguard the environment and heritage as well as providing expertise and constituting agencies to whom the government can entrust the implementation of environmental projects.

The case of Malta as a small nation state offers indications that are not easily transferable but which shows the role of different stakeholders in the implementation of a policy of change.

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and other Health Information Technologies (HITs) pose significant challenges for clinicians, administrators and managers in the field of primary care. While there is an abundance of literature on the challenges of HIT systems in primary care, there are also practices where HITs are well-integrated and useful for care delivery. This study aims to (1) understand how exemplary primary care practices conceptualized data and HIT system use in their care delivery and (2) describe components that support and promote data and HIT system use in care delivery.

This paper is a sub-analysis of a larger qualitative data set on exemplary primary care in which data was collected using in-depth interviews, observations, field notes and primary source documents from week-long site visits at each organization. Using a combination of qualitative analysis methods including elements of thematic analysis, discourse analysis, and qualitative comparison analysis, we examined HIT-related data across six exemplary primary care organizations.

Three key components were identified that underlie engagement with data and HIT systems: data audience identification, defined data purpose and structures for participation in both data design and maintenance.

Within the context of primary care, these findings have implications for effective integration of HIT systems into primary care delivery.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the patterns of social management of knowledge in a knowledge‐community, reflecting on multiple social processes at work.

This is a social epistemological critique of management of knowledge.

First, knowledge communities are essentially multiple interactive social structures ranging from localization in space to emergent cross‐boundary social spaces operating at micro, meso and macro‐social levels. Second, patterns of knowledge management in different contexts such as organizations, groups, communities and virtual communities are predominantly social in nature and new knowledge emerges through social interactions.

The paper underscores the significance of a social‐epistemological view of knowledge communities and management of knowledge.

It could be argued that the sign of ‘maturity’ of an academic paradigm is when it moves to some kind of integration with existing theories or re-engages with elements which may initially have been perceived as ‘dangerous’ or antithetical to the original demarcation of the area. As with the re-integration of feminism and reproduction, and disability and embodiment, so perhaps also for the social study of childhood and family research. The necessary political emphasis on the agency and voice of the child in the emerging social study of childhood research may well have been overstating the case (Seymour & McNamee, 2012) and ignoring significant structural and generational impediments in children’s relationships and interactions particularly in domestic spaces. To redress this, as occurred with feminist and disability studies, a contemporary standpoint is required which merges an emancipatory agentic approach to the subject of study with conceptual developments from the previously separated substantive area. This chapter will outline the development of the return of children ‘back into the families’ which has occurred in the last decade. It will show how approaches using family practices, personal lives, family display and generagency can be combined with privileging children’s perspectives and voices at home.