bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Full Bulk‐Structure Reconstruction into Amorphorized Cobalt–Iron Oxyhydroxide Nanosheet Electrocatalysts for Greatly Improved Electrocatalytic Activity
Authors: Han Xiaotong , Yu Chang , Niu Yingying , Wang Zhao , Kang Yingbo , Ren Yongwen , Wang Hui , Park Ho Seok , Qiu Jieshan
Published: September 2020

The electrochemical oxidation is considered as an innovative chemical strategy to induce the structure reconstruction for the enhanced electrocatalytic performances. However, the structure reconstruction is limited to the shallow surface, not achieving full utilization of inner active components. Herein, the full bulk‐structure reconstruction into highly active amorphorized cobalt–iron oxyhydroxide nanosheets through the electrochemical oxidation of the cobalt–iron phosphide precatalyst is reported. As confirmed by ex situ X‐ray diffraction and photoelectron, Raman, and electron energy‐loss spectroscopies, the phosphorus species leached from the phosphide provide etching effect, promoting the oxidation of residual cobalt‐iron species for in‐depth bulk amorphorization. The unique core‐shell structure of amorphorized cobalt–iron oxyhydroxide nanosheets encapsulated by the carbon shell (denoted as Co0.8Fe0.2OOH @ C) is constructed to offer highly exposed abundant active sites and fast charge transfer capability. The excellence of the full structure reconstructed Co0.8Fe0.2OOH@C electrocatalysts is confirmed demonstrating greatly improved activity (low overpotentials of 254 and 292 mV at 10 and 100 mA cm−2) and long‐term durability (negligible activity decay for continuous operation of 15 days at 100 mA cm−2) for oxygen evolution reaction applications.
A quasi‐experimental study comparing learning gains associated with serious educational gameplay and hands‐on science in elementary classrooms
Authors: Hodges Georgia W. , Flanagan Kayla , Lee Juyeon , Cohen Allan , Krishnan Sandhya , Ward Cynthia
Published: September 2020

Serious educational gameplay continues to gain traction in K‐12 educational settings, as access to novel technologies increases. Increased access to computers and other devices has shifted the landscape of the classroom, increasing students' screen‐time, as technology infused lessons replace other learning experiences. Amid this context, our research team created a serious educational game (SEG) designed for elementary science learners. Previous studies have linked serious gameplay to learning gains and changes in attitudes, yet the rigor of the studies often underwhelms, as the studies lack an adequate sample size, detailed student data, or quality comparison groups. These limitations are compounded in the study of science learning in elementary schools, due to structural difficulties and student variability that impede the implementation of this type of experimentation. This research attends to this knowledge gap, as our team conducted two quasi‐experimental studies to explore the learning gains associated with Virtual Vet, a SEG designed to address the fundamental science concepts associated with the human body systems and the subsequent effect of diabetes and obesity related illnesses on the given body systems. In Study 1, students (n = 232) were randomly assigned to play Virtual Vet or participate in guided inquiry lessons that addressed the same objectives. Our study found that students in the game condition outperformed the non‐game condition. Based on this finding, we designed Study 2 to compare learning outcomes associated with two conditions: students play only Virtual Vet or students play Virtual Vet and they participate in the guided inquiry activities, which doubled the instructional time for this group. Students (n = 166) were assigned to one of the conditions and we found no significant increase in learning gains for the students who participated in both activities. These results indicate that well‐designed SEGs powerfully facilitate and support science learning in elementary settings.
A novel comprehensive framework for analyzing and assessing water quality and failure consequences based on Bayesian networks
Authors: Zerouali Bilal , Zerouali Bilel
Published: September 2020

The study of the effects of mixing potable water with wastewater is a complex and difficult research area. This difficulty is because water and sewage networks are subject to various physical, environmental, and operational factors. The main objective of the study was to propose a new comprehensive framework for analyzing and assessing water quality based on Bayesian networks. An intervention plan was proposed to reduce the consequences of water quality and networks failure. The proposed framework was applied to water distribution network of Mdaourouch city (Souk Ahras, Algeria) to demonstrate its effectiveness. The results indicated that the water contamination rate has reached 33.9 %, which caused severe consequences. The effectiveness of the proposed plan has been verified theoretically using simulations, and the results have proven to be very satisfactory. The proposed model is a decision support tool, which is expected to assist decision‐makers and engineers in reviewing their plans and making the right decision.

Practitioner Points

This paper proposes a novel comprehensive framework for analyzing and assessing water quality and failure consequences based on Bayesian networks.

This paper revisits the failure consequences.

An intervention plan is proposed to reduce failure consequences.

Results demonstrate that the proposed plan leads to fewer consequences probabilities.

The proposed method can give the probability of failure of water and sewer network.
Costs and Precision of Fecal DNA Mark–Recapture versus Traditional Mark–Resight
Authors: Pfeiler Stephen S. , Conner Mary M. , Mckeever Jane S. , Stephenson Thomas R. , German David W. , Crowhurst Rachel S. , Prentice Paige R. , Epps Clinton W.
Published: September 2020

Wildlife managers often need to estimate population abundance to make well‐informed decisions. However, obtaining such estimates can be difficult and costly, particularly for species with small populations, wide distributions, and spatial clustering of individuals. For this reason, DNA surveys and capture–recapture modeling has become increasingly common where direct observation is consistently difficult or counts are small or variable. We compared the precision, as indicated by the coefficient of variation (CV), and cost‐effectiveness of 2 methods to estimate abundance of desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni) populations: traditional ground‐based mark–resight and fecal DNA capture–recapture. In the Marble Mountains in the Mojave Desert of southeastern California, USA, we conducted annual ground‐based mark–resight surveys and collected fecal samples at water sources concurrently during the dry seasons (Jun–Jul) of 2016 and 2017. Fecal DNA samples were genotyped to identify unique individuals. The Lincoln–Peterson bias‐corrected estimator and Huggins closed‐capture recapture models were used to estimate abundance for the ground‐based mark resight and fecal DNA capture–recapture, respectively. We compared costs between the 2 methods for our study and used simulations to estimate costs for a variety of possible sampling scenarios for our study system based on field‐based estimates. Population abundance estimates from fecal DNA capture–recapture achieved much greater precision (CV = 5–7%) than estimates derived from ground‐based mark–resight (CV = 21–56%). Our simulations indicated that for a population of 100, 2 sampling occasions, and resight probability of 0.20, the lowest CV obtained by mark–resight was approximately 12%. We predict the cost of abundance estimates for this level of precision (CV = 12%) from fecal DNA capture–recapture would be 28% of the cost of ground‐based mark–resight (i.e., a 72% cost reduction). We conclude that fecal DNA capture–recapture is a highly cost‐effective alternative for estimating abundance of relatively small populations (≤300) of desert bighorn sheep. More broadly, integrating simulated study designs with cost analyses provides a tool to identify the most effective method for estimating abundance over a wide variety of sampling scenarios. © 2020 The Wildlife Society.
A functional approach to the numerical conformal bootstrap
Authors: Paulos Miguel F. , Zan Bernardo
Published: September 2020

Abstract

We apply recently constructed functional bases to the numerical conformal bootstrap for 1D CFTs. We argue and show that numerical results in this basis converge much faster than the traditional derivative basis. In particular, truncations of the crossing equation with even a handful of components can lead to extremely accurate results, in opposition to hundreds of components in the usual approach. We explain how this is a consequence of the functional basis correctly capturing the asymptotics of bound-saturating extremal solutions to crossing. We discuss how these methods can and should be implemented in higher dimensional applications.
Platelets in aging and cancer—“double-edged sword”
Authors: Faria Alessandra V. S. , Andrade Sheila S. , Peppelenbosch Maikel P. , Ferreira-Halder Carmen V. , Fuhler Gwenny M.
Published: September 2020

Platelets control hemostasis and play a key role in inflammation and immunity. However, platelet function may change during aging, and a role for these versatile cells in many age-related pathological processes is emerging. In addition to a well-known role in cardiovascular disease, platelet activity is now thought to contribute to cancer cell metastasis and tumor-associated venous thromboembolism (VTE) development. Worldwide, the great majority of all patients with cardiovascular disease and some with cancer receive anti-platelet therapy to reduce the risk of thrombosis. However, not only do thrombotic diseases remain a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, cancer, especially metastasis, is still the second cause of death worldwide. Understanding how platelets change during aging and how they may contribute to aging-related diseases such as cancer may contribute to steps taken along the road towards a “healthy aging” strategy. Here, we review the changes that occur in platelets during aging, and investigate how these versatile blood components contribute to cancer progression.
The behaviour of thermoplastic and thermoset carbon fibre composites subjected to low-velocity and high-velocity impact
Authors: Liu Haibao , Liu Jun , Ding Yuzhe , Zheng Jie , Kong Xiangshao , Zhou Jin , Harper Lee , Blackman Bamber R. K. , Kinloch Anthony J. , Dear John P.
Published: September 2020

The present paper describes the results from experimental and theoretical modelling studies on the behaviour of continuous carbon fibre/polymer matrix composites subjected to a relatively low-velocity or high-velocity impact, using a rigid, metallic impactor. Drop-weight and gas-gun tests are employed to conduct the low-velocity and high-velocity impact experiments, respectively. The carbon fibre composites are based upon a thermoplastic poly(ether–ether ketone) matrix (termed CF/PEEK) or a thermoset toughened epoxy matrix (termed CF/Epoxy), which has the same fibre architecture of a cross-ply [03/903]2slay-up. The studies clearly reveal that the CF/PEEK composites exhibit the better impact performance. Also, at the same impact energy of 10.5 ± 0.3 J, the relatively high-velocity test at 54.4 ± 1.0 m s−1leads to more damage in both types of composite than observed from the low-velocity test where the impactor struck the composites at 2.56 m s−1. The computationally efficient, two-dimensional, elastic, finite element model that has been developed is generally successful in capturing the essential details of the impact test and the impact damage in the composites, and has been used to predict the loading response of the composites under impact loading.
Characterizing spatiotemporal trends in extreme precipitation in Southeast Texas
Authors: Fagnant Carlynn , Gori Avantika , Sebastian Antonia , Bedient Philip B. , Ensor Katherine B.
Published: September 2020

Rainfall extreme value analysis provides information that has been crucial in characterizing risk, designing successful infrastructure systems, and ultimately protecting people and property from the threat of rainfall-induced flooding. However, in the Houston region recent events (such as the unprecedented rainfall wrought by Hurricane Harvey) have highlighted the inability of existing analyses to accurately characterize current climate conditions. Specifically, there has been little research investigating how spatial patterns of extreme precipitation have shifted through time in the Texas Gulf Coast region, which has led to mis-characterization of existing intensity–duration–frequency curves. This study investigates spatiotemporal trends in extreme precipitation in southeast Texas using a statistical approach for peaks-over-threshold modeling that employs a generalized Pareto distribution. Precipitation data from over 600 rain gauges across the region are analyzed in 40-year time windows to evaluate shifts in distribution parameters and extreme rainfall levels through time. Spatial analysis of these trends focuses on highlighting regions with increasing, stationary, and decreasing extreme rainfall through time. Results demonstrate heterogeneity in spatiotemporal trends across the entire study region, but significant increases in extreme rainfall over the Houston urban area. Spatial analysis of these trends focuses on how extreme rainfall has changed within different watersheds. Return level estimates of extreme rainfall values are also compared to the current standards for Harris County. Results from this study identify areas that have experienced significant shifts in extreme rainfall, and can help inform where design standards may be inaccurate or outdated.
Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: Ready for Clinical Practice and Guidelines?
Authors: Kjellström Barbro , Lindholm Anthony , Ostenfeld Ellen
Published: September 2020

Purpose of Review

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a progressive disease with high mortality. A greater understanding of the physiology and function of the cardiovascular system in PAH will help improve survival. This review covers the latest advances within cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) regarding diagnosis, evaluation of treatment, and prognostication of patients with PAH.

Recent Findings

New CMR measures that have been proven relevant in PAH include measures of ventricular and atrial volumes and function, tissue characterization, pulmonary artery velocities, and arterio-ventricular coupling.

CMR markers carry prognostic information relevant for clinical care such as treatment response and thereby can affect survival. Future research should investigate if CMR, as a non-invasive method, can improve existing measures or even provide new and better measures in the diagnosis, evaluation of treatment, and determination of prognosis of PAH.
San Antonio 2019: interesting topics for daily clinical practice in breast cancer
Authors: Galid Arik
Published: September 2020

The San Antonio Breast Cancer Summit is one of the most important meetings worldwide for physicians who treat breast cancer. As traveling there is always somewhat of an adventure due to the distance and the time of the year (winter) and access is not easy for all physicians, the goal of this article is to provide an overview of the presentations dealing with hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer, capecitabine, prevention, and hormone replacement therapy. Data and results should positively influence daily practice.
Double VEGF/HGF Gene Therapy in Critical Limb Ischemia Complicated by Diabetes Mellitus
Authors: Barć Piotr , Antkiewicz Maciej , Śliwa Barbara , Frączkowska Katarzyna , Guziński Maciej , Dawiskiba Tomasz , Małodobra-Mazur Małgorzata , Witkiewicz Wojciech , Kupczyńska Diana , Strzelec Bartłomiej , Janczak Dariusz , Skóra Jan Paweł
Published: September 2020

Critical leg ischemia (CLI) complicated by diabetes mellitus (DM), which is a very common and dangerous disease, represents the ultimate stage of peripheral arterial disease. Patients are treated with antiplatelet drugs, statins and limb revascularization, but a significant number of patients are not candidate for revascularization. Literature shows that in such cases, gene therapy could be a perfect therapeutic option. The aim of our study was to evaluate efficacy of double vascular endothelial growth factor/hepatocyte growth factor (VEGF/HGF) gene therapy in patients with CLI complicated by DM. We observed that 90 days after administration, serum level of VEGF and ankle-brachial index increased significantly (p < 0.001) and rest pain decreased significantly compared with the control group (p < 0.002). Moreover considerable improvement in vascularization was observed in computed tomography angiography (P = 0.04). Based on the results of this study, we suggest that the therapy with pIRES/VEGF165/HGF bicistronic plasmid administration is a safe and effective method of treatment of patients with both CLI and DM.
Can a Cultural Variant Dedicated to Arab-Muslim Tourists Save the Tunisian Tourism Sector?
Authors: Abdmouleh Rim , Kalai Maha
Published: September 2020

Unanimously recognised as a growing sector in today’s world, cultural tourism continues to attract the attention of researchers seeking to exhume the mechanisms and dynamics that govern it. In terms of political and strategic choices, Tunisia is currently giving this sector an increasingly remarkable interest. It is in this perspective that we tried to carry out a survey that would highlight the opinions of Arab-Muslim visitors about cultural tourism in Tunisia. To this end, we relied on the principal component analysis and the probit models that we considered the most appropriate to deal with our problem. Using individual data from a sample of 300 Arab-Muslim tourists who visited Tunisia during the summer vacation of 2014, we tried to interpret the results that seemed very suggestive. Our analysis of the different results led us to deduce that it is difficult for the Tunisian destination to motivate the Arab-Muslim visitors by focusing on the cultural tourism (in its current state) and that it is not the best way to attract this category of tourists. In the light of the obtained results, we have proposed some solutions that could promote this destination and fructify this type of alternative tourism.
Is the concept of “peanut-free schools” useful in the routine management of peanut-allergic children at risk of anaphylaxis?
Authors: Reese Imke , Ahrens Birgit , Ballmer-Weber Barbara , Beyer Kirsten , Blümchen Katharina , Doelle-Birke Sabine , Heratizadeh Annice , Kleine-Tebbe Jörg , Lange Lars , Lau Susanne , Lepp Ute , Mahler Vera , Schäfer Christiane , Schnadt Sabine , Szepfalusi Zsolt , Wassmann-Otto Anja , Werfel Thomas , Worm Margitta
Published: September 2020

Background

Parents of school-age children with food allergies and potential anaphylactic reactions want their children to have an unburdened and risk-free everyday school life. Thus, particularly in the case of peanut allergy, demands for peanut-free schools are put forward.

Results and discussion

The position paper of the food allergy working group of the German Society for Allergology and Clinical Immunology (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Allergologie und klinische Immunologie) highlights why the concept of peanut-free schools does not protect peanut allergic children, but rather bears potential disadvantages and risks for all those involved. The focus on peanut as a potential trigger of anaphylactic reactions ignores other relevant triggers.

Conclusion

In order to address the fears and concerns of patients, parents, and school staff, it is mandatory to develop various coping strategies. These should enable and ensure the safety and participation of food-allergic pupils in classes and other school activities. Therefore, it is important to implement adequate measures for allergen avoidance and emergency treatment for students with confirmed food allergies.
Tools for Strategy
Authors: Hakala Henri , Vuorinen Tero
Published: September 2020

This Element discusses the concept and applications of strategy tools. Strategy tools are frameworks, techniques, and methods that help individuals and organizations to create their strategies. After a brief overview of different ideas on strategy and strategic thinking, we move on to define and discuss what strategy tools are and elaborate on the promise and perils of using them to implement strategic management. We review the most commonly used, classic tools and techniques, but also less well-known tools of the strategy trade, as proposed by scholars writing in the leading strategy journals. We conclude by offering suggestions on how to improve strategic design and the effectiveness of the resultant strategy through the selective use of the most appropriate tools. Overall, this Element provides a quick overview of the tools that are available to those tasked with creating organizational strategies and making strategic decisions.
The Letters of Ernest Hemingway
Authors: Hemingway Ernest
Published: September 2020

The Letters of Ernest Hemingway, Volume 4, spanning April 1929 through 1931, featuring many previously unpublished letters, records the establishment of Ernest Hemingway as an author of international renown following the publication of A Farewell to Arms. Breaking new artistic ground in 1930, Hemingway embarks upon his first and greatest non-fiction work, his treatise on bullfighting, Death in the Afternoon. Hemingway, now a professional writer, demonstrates a growing awareness of the literary marketplace, successfully negotiating with publishers and agents and responding to fan mail. In private we see Hemingway's generosity as he provides for his family, offers support to friends and colleagues, orchestrates fishing and hunting expeditions, and sees the birth of his third son. Despite suffering injuries to his writing arm in a car accident in November 1930, Hemingway writes and dictates an avalanche of letters that record in colorful and eloquent prose the eventful life and achievements of an enormous personality.
The Diagonality Problem of EU Rule of Law and Human Rights: Proposal for an Incorporation à l’européenne
Authors: Nagy Csongor István
Published: September 2020

The EU’s limited powers do not enable its institutions to effectively intervene in cases where Member State actions threaten fundamental values. The recent controversies emerging from some Member States’ human rights and rule of law backsliding turned this question to one of the core issues of the European project, calling for effective fundamental rights protection in the EU without suppressing national constitutional identities. Though EU law’s approach, at least at first glance, might appear to be idiosyncratic, it is far from unprecedented and, as far as multilevel constitutionalism is concerned, EU law may draw on the experiences of various regimes where centralized human rights protection and national or state constitutional identities coexist. This Article analyzes the current European approach as to the application of the federal bill of rights to states from a comparative perspective and explores the constitutional and jurisprudential patterns addressing the question of inquiry in a multilevel constitutional architecture. The Article analyzes the subject from a doctrinal, ontological, textual-conceptual, and institutional perspective with the aim of contributing to the current European debate with a new comparative perspective and fostering EU constitutional development with structural patterns. It submits that the currently prevailing paradigm of “scope” should be replaced or complemented with the paradigm of “core standards” and proposes a doctrine of European incorporation, arguing that the diagonally applicable rule of law and human rights requirements should be incorporated via Article 2 TEU to make them judicially applicable.
A Revised Democratic Critique of EU (Citizenship) Law: From Relative Homogeneity to Political Judgment
Authors: Neuvonen Päivi Johanna
Published: September 2020

The mainstream democratic critique of EU law rejects the argument that standard EU citizenship rights have a democracy-enhancing effect within the EU Member States. This Article shows how the democratic critique can benefit from a critique of critique that is missing in the discussion on the democratic effects of EU law. From this perspective, the Article makes an original contribution to critical EU legal studies at three levels. First, the critique of essentialist binary oppositions revisits what is political in the interests protected under EU citizenship rights. Second, the Article demonstrates how an Arendtian theory of political judgment counteracts the mainstream democratic critique in assessing the effects of EU citizenship law on democratic politics. Finally, reopening the question of what the conditions for democracy are translates into a methodological argument that rejectionist critique must yield to a more developed critical methodology in EU legal studies.
The Conceptualization of Constitutional Supremacy: Global Discourse and Legal Tradition
Authors: Romeo Graziella
Published: September 2020

This Article argues that a) constitutional supremacy is affected by the legal tradition, which implies that it is a concept largely shaped by the legal context in which it is elaborated, and b) the common law version of constitutional supremacy determines a sort of cultural resistance to constitutional imperialism. In making its argument, this Article begins with the doctrine of sources of law with a view to unpack its operational logic within the common law and, therefore, to understand how the supremacy of constitutions is conceptualized. It then examines the embryonic conceptualization of constitutional supremacy in the British legal culture by addressing the “constitutional statutes.” It goes on to analyse how constitutional supremacy is safeguarded in jurisdictions that are affected by the British tradition and equipped with written constitutions, to show how constitutions concretely established themselves as supreme laws without neglecting the relevance of traditions pre-dating the constitutional texts. It then shows how the common law finds its way to be applied alongside or even instead of the constitution. Eventually, this Article offers some conclusions as to the implications of such a conceptualization of constitutional supremacy for comparative and global constitutional studies.
A Long Time Coming
Authors: Grimm Dieter
Published: September 2020

The commentary, especially from abroad, on the Federal Constitutional Court’s judgment concerning the bond-buying programme undertaken by the European Central Bank (ECB) conveys the impression that something unimaginable has occurred. The German court has refused to follow the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), thereby setting “a bomb under the EU legal order.”1 Yet there is nothing new about the risk of conflict between the two courts. It came about when the Court of Justice of the European Union implicitly presumed, in 1963,2 and explicitly declared, in 1964,3 that European law takes precedence over domestic law, even over domestic constitutional law. This view was by no means without alternative, given that the Treaties of Rome do not address the precedence of Community law. The Member States involved in the dispute denied having agreed to any such precedence in the Treaties. Even the CJEU’s Advocate General was unable to find any basis in the Treaties for the precedence of European law.4 The CJEU derived the precedence of European law from the purpose of the European Economic Community.5 It argued that there could be no common market if each Member State applied and interpreted European law however it saw fit.
Gauging “Ultra-Vires”: The Good Parts
Authors: Schneider Karsten
Published: September 2020

The Federal Constitutional Court’s ultra-vires case law—especially its most recent iterations—has more than its fair share of bad parts. It went from non-existence to global prominence in an alarmingly short period of time. Fortunately, the doctrine contains some extraordinarily good parts. Within the case law, there are three beautiful, elegant, and highly expressive elements that are buried under a massive tower of good intentions and hard luck: First, the principle of distinction between the two concepts of responsibility and accountability, second, the ban on transferring blanket empowerments, and third, the idea of a “program of integration”
as a good medium for expressing vague ideas. In combination, these elements constitute a constitutional mechanism that does not play hell with European law, but truly complements any union based on multi-level cooperation. Focusing on the good parts—and avoiding some bad parts—might help prospective ultra-vires reviews to steer clear of wreaking havoc. The subset of good parts can serve to shift the constitutional case law towards reliability, readability, robustness, foreseeability, and, if nothing else, explicability.
The European Economic Constitution after the PSPP Judgment: Towards Integrative Liberalism?
Authors: Goldmann Matthias
Published: September 2020

This article argues that the PSPP judgment effectively buries the era of financial liberalism, which has dominated the European economic constitution for decades. It raises the curtain on a new political paradigm, which I call “integrative liberalism”. Whereas the financial crisis put financial liberalism under strain, the development since then has been contradictory, torn between state intervention and market liberalism, focused above all on buying time rather than finding a new constitutional equilibrium. Now, together with the measures adopted in response to COVID-19, the PSPP judgment paves the way for profound change. Integrative liberalism is characterized by an overall shift from the market to the state, mitigating the post-crisis insistence on austerity and conditionality. Contrary to the embedded liberalism of the post-war era, integrative liberalism operates in a corrective and reactive mode with a focus on goals and principles, lacking the emphasis on long-term planning. Like every political paradigm, integrative liberalism ushers in a new understanding of the law. It puts the emphasis on context instead of discipline, and it elevates the proportionality principle. If integrative liberalism is to succeed, however, the democratic legitimacy of the Eurosystem and its independence require serious reconsideration.
Parent and Teacher Attitudes Towards Inclusive Education in Nauru
Authors: Page Angela , Berman Jeanette , Serow Penelope
Published: September 2020

It is recognised that the attitudes of parents and teachers are important in supporting inclusive education in developing countries. This study involved the application of quantitative research through the administration of a survey to determine the attitudes of parents and teachers in the Republic of Nauru. The results have provided preliminary data regarding attitudes related to the emergence of inclusive education in Nauru. Parents were more positive concerning issues that relate directly to the educational benefits of their children over more general benefits of inclusion in education. At this stage, teachers report higher levels of positive attitude than parents. A more fine-grained level of analysis revealed that there is a wide range of attitudes to aspects of education for students with disabilities, and areas of expertise needed to support inclusive education. This research has provided an understanding of current parental and teacher attitudes and levels of existing teacher expertise towards inclusion that is able to inform future policy development in Nauru.
MARINE RESERVOIR AGE CORRECTION FOR THE ANDAMAN BASIN
Authors: Raj Harsh , Bhushan Ravi , Muruganantham M , Nambiar Romi , Dabhi Ankur J
Published: September 2020

Marine reservoir age is an important component for correction in radiocarbon (14C) dating of marine and coastal samples. 14C concentration in pre-bomb marine samples of known age are used to derive marine reservoir age of a region. Annually banded coral from Landfall island in the northern Andaman has been analyzed for its 14C concentration during the pre-bomb period 1948–1951. 14C age and reservoir effect (∆R) are reported for these pre-bomb coral samples from the northern Andaman region. The mean 14C age of 331 ± 61 yr BP was obtained for the period 1948–1951 with an average reservoir age correction of –138 ± 61 yr. This reservoir age correction is lowest reported from the northern Indian Ocean. ∆R value of the northern Andaman and the Bay of Bengal appears lower than that of southern Andaman. The ∆R values obtained using mollusk shells and coral from the Andaman region shows large variability. The lower reservoir age correction for the Landfall Island situated in the northern part of the Andaman archipelago, could result due to freshwater flux and reduced upwelling in the region.
Electoral Accountability and Particularistic Legislation: Evidence from an Electoral Reform in Mexico
Authors: MOTOLINIA LUCIA
Published: September 2020

Being able to hold politicians accountable is the hallmark of democracy, and central to this is the notion that politicians can run for reelection. Most research on reelection incentives compare politicians who are term-limited with those who are not. These studies concentrate mostly on relatively senior politicians in candidate-centered electoral systems. This article leverages a quasi-natural experiment posed by the staggered implementation of the 2014 Mexican Electoral Reform, which lifted an eighty-year-old ban on reelection. The author conducts a difference-in-differences analysis of the hypothesis that reelection encourages legislators to focus more on policies with the highest “electoral yield”—namely, particularistic legislation. Applying a correlated topic model to a new collection of transcripts from 6,890 legislative sessions in 20 Mexican states between 2012 and 2018, this article presents compelling evidence that it does, that the effect is synchronized with the electoral cycle, and that it is larger when the legislators’ political horizons are longer.
J. R. SEELEY AND JAPAN'S PACIFIC EXPANSION
Authors: DUSINBERRE MARTIN
Published: September 2020

In the late nineteenth century, as Japanese scholars, traders, and labourers began to cross the Pacific Ocean in ever greater numbers, Tokyo-based intellectuals started to think about the significance of the ocean for the upcoming century. One prominent articulation of this ‘Pacific age’ was the result of an intellectual dialogue between a young Japanese student, Inagaki Manjirō (1861–1908), and his Cambridge professor, John Robert Seeley (1834–95). Traditionally framed as a relationship of ‘influence’ from teacher to pupil, and thus from West to East, the emergence of the ‘Pacific age’ was in fact the result of a sophisticated modulation of ideas from Seeley'sThe expansion of England(1883) into the rapidly changing politics of early 1890s Japan. This article traces that modulation in Inagaki's published works between 1890, when he graduated from Cambridge, and 1895, when Japan defeated China in the First Sino-Japanese War. It argues that Seeley's analyses, in Inagaki's hands, gave a significant impetus to existing expansionist visions in Japan, and thus constitute one example of late nineteenth-century history being written in the discursive space between Europe and East Asia.
DEVELOPMENTALISM IN LATE QING CHINA, 1874–1911
Authors: CHAPPELL JONATHAN
Published: September 2020

This article explores the changing historical referents that Qing officials used in arguing for the extension of direct governance to the empire's frontier regions from the 1870s to the 1900s. In the 1870s, Shen Baozhen and Zuo Zongtang made the case for a change of governance on Taiwan and in Xinjiang respectively by reference to past Chinese frontier management. However, in the first decade of the twentieth century Cen Chunxuan and Yao Xiguang both referred to the European past, and specifically the history of European colonialism, to argue for reform of frontier policy in Mongolia. I argue that this shift was a result of both the empire's altered political circumstances and a growing belief in the inevitability of an evolutionary fate which awaited nomadic peoples, who were destined to be colonized. Yet this was not a case of Chinese thinkers simply adopting European ideas and perspectives wholesale. The adoption of European historical referents was entangled with Han Chinese perceptions of Mongolian populations which had been carefully cultivated by the Manchu Qing state.
Compositional turnover in ecto- and endoparasite assemblages of an African bat,Miniopterus natalensis(Chiroptera, Miniopteridae): effects of hierarchical scale and host sex
Authors: Krasnov Boris R. , Junker Kerstin , Wood Simon , Ueckermann Edward A. , Venter Gert J. , van der Mescht Luther , Heyne Heloise , Jacobs David S.
Published: September 2020

We studied the compositional turnover in infracommunities and component communities of ecto- and endoparasites infesting a bat,Miniopterus natalensis(Chiroptera, Miniopteridae), across seven sampling sites using the zeta diversity metric (measuring similarity between multiple communities) and calculating zeta decline and retention rate (both scales) and zeta decay (component communities). We asked whether the patterns of zeta diversity differ between (a) infracommunities and component communities; (b) ecto- and endoparasites and (c) subsets of communities infecting male and female bats. The pattern of compositional turnover differed between infracommunities and component communities in endoparasites only. The shape of zeta decline for infracommunities indicated that there were approximately equal probabilities of ecto- and endoparasitic species to occur on/in any bat individual within a site. The shape of zeta decline for component communities suggested the stochasticity of ectoparasite turnover, whereas the turnover of endoparasites was driven by niche-based processes. Compositional turnover in component communities of ectoparasites was more spatially dependent than that of endoparasites. Spatial independence of compositional turnover in endoparasites was due to subcommunities harboured by female bats. We conclude that the patterns of compositional turnover in infracommunities were similar in ecto- and endoparasites, whereas the patterns of turnover in component communities differed between these groups.
WIKI-PIANO: EXAMINING THE CROWD-SOURCED COMPOSITION OF A CONTINUOUSLY CHANGING INTERNET-BASED SCORE
Authors: Kanga Zubin
Published: September 2020

Alexander Schubert's WIKI-PIANO.NET is an internet-based score, commissioned by the author and performed by him on an international tour from 2018 to 2020. The website score contains modules of notation, text, images, video and sound that can be edited by any member of the public, similar to a Wikipedia page. This article explores the huge volume and variety of content added to the score over the first 20 months after the premiere, and the extreme compositional approaches and unusual patterns of internet behaviour displayed. Examining these contributions offers insights into the online culture of new music, including its approaches to humour, its creative competitiveness, its mastery of memes, and its sophisticated subversions of the relationship between composer, performer and audience.
DECENTRING AND DISMANTLING: A CRITICAL AND RADICAL APPROACH TO DIVERSITY IN TERTIARY MUSIC EDUCATION
Authors: Ward Joanna
Published: September 2020

This article is a response, informed by my own recent experience of tertiary education in the UK, as well as my work as a composer, performer, researcher and activist, to the collection of articles published in TEMPO 292 addressing issues of diversity in music-making and tertiary music education in Australia. Though interventions have been successful in achieving better gender representation across musical contexts in Australian higher education institutions, I bring into question the long-term legitimacy of such empirical or revisionist approaches. Drawing on a range of feminist, poststructural, queer, and decolonial thought, I explore how conventional approaches to tertiary music education – both in terms of pedagogical methods, as well as assumed or prioritised content – enforce hegemonic and exclusionary value systems, hierarchies, ontologies and epistemologies. I also problematise some of the ways in which neoliberal and capitalist frameworks have become embedded within tertiary music education and advocate a process of destabilising and decentring assumed parameters, outlining how a critical, political and radical approach to music education might look.
Latitudinal shift in the timing of flowering of tree species across tropical Africa: insights from field observations and herbarium collections
Authors: Ouédraogo Dakis-Yaoba , Hardy Olivier J. , Doucet Jean-Louis , Janssens Steven B. , Wieringa Jan J. , Stoffelen Piet , Angoboy Ilondea Bhely , Baya Fidèle , Beeckman Hans , Daïnou Kasso , Dubiez Emilien , Gourlet-Fleury Sylvie , Fayolle Adeline
Published: September 2020

Temporal and spatial patterns in flowering phenology were assessed for eight tropical African tree species. Specifically, the frequency and seasonality of flowering at seven sites in central Africa were determined using field data, graphical analysis and circular statistics. Additionally, spatial variation in the timing of flowering across species range was investigated using herbarium data, analysing the relative influence of latitude, longitude and timing of the dry season with a Bayesian circular generalized linear model. Annual flowering was found for 20 out of the 25 populations studied. For 21 populations located at the north of the climatic hinge flowering was occurring during the dry season. The analysis of herbarium collections revealed a significant shift in the timing of flowering with latitude forE. suaveolens, and with the timing of the dry season forM. excelsa(and to a lesser extentL. alata), with the coexistence of two flowering peaks near the equator where the distribution of monthly rainfall is bimodal. For the other species, none of latitude, longitude or timing of the dry season had an effect on the timing of flowering. Our study highlights the need to identify the drivers of the flowering phenology of economically important African tree species.
Impact of informal timber harvesting on habitat structure and bird assemblages in a coastal forest of the Eastern Cape, South Africa
Authors: LEAVER JESSICA , CARSTENS JOHANN C. , CHERRY MICHAEL I.
Published: September 2020

African forests are under increasing pressure to supply local, regional, and international demand for timber. Much of this trade is unregulated, such that there is increasing concern regarding the ecological sustainability of this resource use. However, there is a lack of studies investigating the ecological impact of informal timber harvesting in African forests. While forest species have adapted to natural canopy gap dynamics, harvesting may alter natural disturbance regimes, with adverse effects on biodiversity. Information regarding harvest gaps, and concomitant impacts on habitat and biodiversity is thus essential to inform sustainable management. This study compared the frequency and nature of harvest gaps and natural gaps in a coastal forest in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, where informal selective timber harvesting occurs. Habitat condition and bird species richness and composition were compared across intact forest, natural gaps, and harvest gaps. Harvest-created gaps increased the number of canopy gaps by 30%, but were comparable with natural gaps in size. Habitat conditions in harvest gaps represented an intermediate state between intact forest and natural gaps, thereby increasing forest-scale habitat heterogeneity. While bird species richness was not affected, species composition differed across intact forest, harvest gaps and natural gaps, driven by changes in habitat condition, and mediated by species’ feeding and nesting traits. Specifically, insectivores, cavity- and ground-nesting species, and hawking and arboreal probing species were negatively affected by the habitat gradient from intact sites to canopy gap conditions, while nectarivores, omnivores and ball/cup nesting species were positively affected. Thus, while the single-tree selective harvesting method used by informal harvesters largely emulated natural canopy disturbances, the harvest-mediated increase in the frequency of canopy gaps may reduce the abundance of certain bird species sensitive to canopy gap conditions and reduce forest-scale beta-diversity.
GPS tracking reveals highly consistent use of restricted foraging areas by European Storm-petrelsHydrobates pelagicusbreeding at the largest UK colony: implications for conservation management
Authors: BOLTON MARK
Published: September 2020

Seabirds face a diverse array of threats and are considered to comprise one of the most threatened avian groups globally. Development of appropriate conservation action requires a knowledge of the marine distribution of seabirds, furnished either by tracking the movements of individuals, or from at-sea surveys. Obtaining information on the distribution of the smallest seabird species, the storm-petrels Hydrobatidae, is challenging, but the recent development of <1 g GPS tracking tags now enables high-precision tracking and this study reports the first multi-year high-precision tracking of European Storm-petrelsHydrobates pelagicusfrom their largest UK breeding colony. A total of 42 successful tag deployments were made over four breeding seasons during incubation, brooding and post-brood phases, and there was no evidence of adverse impacts on adult body mass or nest survival rates. Foraging trips lasted between one and three days and ranged up to 397 km from the colony (median = 159 km). Foraging range and total distance covered were positively correlated with trip duration but did not differ across breeding stages. Storm-petrels did not feed to the west of the colony at the edge of the continental shelf where high concentrations have been reported in previous decades from boat surveys, but rather, foraging was restricted to shallow waters south of the colony, consistent across individuals, breeding stages and years. Two areas were identified that exceed the threshold criteria for marine Important Bird Area status and should be considered for statutory protection. The home range estimated across all three breeding stages overlapped with 206 active hydrocarbon wells and 14 operating platforms which represent potential threats as sources of surface pollution or through attraction of birds to gas flares. Improved understanding of the foraging distribution of storm-petrels from this protected colony greatly assists the identification of potential threats and informs appropriate marine spatial planning.