Government statistics illustrate that by 2050 there will be a shortage of meat and milk due to globalpopulationgrowth and the increaseddemand from the Far East. Ensuring food security in terms of availability and nutritionalsafety is, therefore, important for our future existence. Central to achieving milk and meat security are ruminants. Ruminants have a four chambered stomach composed of the reticulum, rumen, abomasum and omasum with microbial fermentation of forage occurring in the rumen. Rumen microbial fermentation is largely responsible for animal production, ruminant product quality and much of greenhouse gas emissions. Indeed, when forage reaches the rumen, the rumen microbes degrade the plant cell wall and subsequently metabolise plant cell content, including plant amino acids and proteins which they convert into proteins that they can utilise. In order to ensure availability of milk and meat of the best possible quality (with the least greenhouse gas emissions) for the future, we must increase our understanding of the plant-microbe interactome using the principles of systems biology and 'omic' technology.
Ensuring future availability of ruminant products of the highest quality
Principle and propaganda: the Franco regime and the Rhos Choir
This article examines a Welsh choir’s visit to Franco’s Spain at the invitation of the Francoist organisation Educación y Descans (Education and Leisure). At first the invitation sparked a debate in the local press on the principles of travelling to a country that was at the time shunned by the international community. The choir itself came from an area which had provided volunteers for the international brigades, but which was also co-incidentally involved with the establishment of an international music festival in the name of peace and understanding. The article examines the account of the choir’s journey to Spain, and discusses how the image of the Franco regime is portrayed in that account. The article also analyses to what extent the choir’s visit was used as propaganda by Franco as his foreign policy shifted with the advent of the Cold War.
Welsh language provision for young children: landmarks and challenges in the development of nursery education ...
The development of Welsh medium early years education has been a story of singular success over the last century. With the establishment of the National Assembly in 2000, Wales further forged its own vision for its young children. One of its first priorities, for example, was the Foundation Phase with its radical approach. This paper offers an overview of the historic development of nursery education in Wales, before and post devolution. Welsh language and Wales policies are set in the context of wider influences, both research and pedagogic, on early childhood care and education, for example the evidence on good practice from the EPPE (The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education Project) study. Focus will be on Welsh language provision, highlighting the role and contribution of Mudiad Meithrin. The paper will consider issues, research and theoretic, relating to early bilingualism. It concludes with a critical analysis of the challenges facing the field of early childhood services in Welsh in light of current political and policy developments. For the purposes of this paper, addysg feithrin (nursery education) is defined as the care and education provision for children 3–5+ years, and the term blynyddoedd cynnar (early years) is used for the same group.
Renewable community energy: A review of the current situation and future possibilities of this unique sector
The renewable energy sector is growing as states aim to curtail their carbon emissions and establish a more sustainable strategy to generate energy. Despite this, there are arguments that large-scale renewable energy developments do not contribute towards community sustainability and local economies. According to recent research, community energy projects – renewable energy projects that are part or fully owned by a geographically distinct community – are seen as a means of generating energy in a way that is more sympathetic, equitable and sustainable. This article reviews the current literature that debates the benefits and obstacles facing the community energy sector.
Searching for subjectivity in Tahar Ben Jelloun's L'Homme rompu
After a brief summary of the recent theoretical context of masculinity studies and the notion of identity, this article will analyze the construction of masculinity in a novel by one of Morocco’s most notable authors, Tahar Ben Jelloun’s L'Homme rompu. It will refer to this theoretical context in order to highlight the full weight of discursive pressures that are exerted on the individual. It will offer an in-depth analysis of masculinity and identity in the novel and, with reference to its unofficial sister-novel, Simone de Beauvoir’s La Femme rompue, will question to what extent the existentialist concepts of individual choice and subjectivity are still valid in the current theoretical climate.
‘A new world where justice dwells’: Morgan John Rhys’ (1760–1804) vision
In this article it is argued how Morgan John Rhys’ (1760–1804) belief in the Second Coming and Millennium influenced his participation in the campaign to abolish slavery, the French Revolution and America. It is shown how Millenarianism was a force that shaped Morgan John Rhys’ worldview and influenced his social action and campaigns. Also, it is shown how William Williams, Pantycelyn (1717–91), preceded Morgan John Rhys in this context. My argument, with comparative reference to Williams and Rhys, is that Evangelicalism and the Enlightenment were not intellectual enemies, and that Millenarianism was one of the most important driving forces in the lives of these two men, who were integral to the life of eighteenth century Wales.
Efrydiau Athronyddol (Philosophical Studies): a heritage that should be treasured
This article describes the origins and some of the history of the Welsh-language philosophy journal Efrydiau Athronyddol, which was published from 1938 to 2006. The majority of the papers published in the journal were presented at the annual conference of the Welsh-speaking Philosophy section of the Guild of Graduates (Adran Athroniaeth Urdd y Graddedigion), an annual conference which continues today but which was established in the early 1930s. The article describes the nature and content of the first issue, and provides a summary of some of the main themes of articles published. It shows how the character of the journal underwent a significant change in 1949 as a result of a deliberate policy on the part of those most closely involved with the running of the journal and indeed in the Philosophy section of the Guild. The journal subsequently changed from being a purely philosophical one to a more interdisciplinary publication which dealt with a much wider range of topics, many of which had a distinct focus on Welsh intellectual life. The second half of the article focuses on one of the most influential papers ever published in the Efrydiau, namely ‘The idea of a nation’ by Professor J. R. Jones. Published the year before Saunders Lewis’s radio broadcast ‘Tynged yr Iaith’, its main claims are described and subjected to critical analysis. This paper exemplifies what was best about the journal: it is philosophical, but also interdisciplinary – drawing on poetry and history – and makes powerful political claims which led to Jones being described by Professor D. Z. Phillips as the philosophical inspiration for the Welsh Language Society, in addition to an acknowledged influence on the thinking of Saunders Lewis.