bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Chinese Environmental Contention
Authors: Bondes Maria , Lora-Wainwright Anna
Published: February 2020

A plethora of new actors has in recent years entered China’s environmental arena. In Western countries, the linkages and diffusion processes between such actors often drive environmental movements. Through a study of Chinese anti-incineration contention, Chinese Environmental Contention: Linking Up against Waste Incineration investigates how the different contentious actors in China’s green sphere link up, and what this means for environmental contention. It addresses questions such as: What lies behind the notable increase of environmental protests in China? And what are the potentials for the emergence of an environmental movement? The book shows that a complex network of ties has emerged in China’s environmental realm under Hu Jintao. Affected communities across the country have connected with each other and with national-level environmentalists, experts and lawyers. Such networked contention fosters both local campaigns and national-level policy advocacy. Beyond China, the detailed case studies shed light on the dynamics behind the diffusion of contention under restrictive political conditions.
Evaluation of aerosol and cloud properties in three climate models using MODIS observations and its corresponding COSP simulator, as well as their application in aerosol–cloud interactions
Authors: Saponaro Giulia , Sporre Moa K. , Neubauer David , Kokkola Harri , Kolmonen Pekka , Sogacheva Larisa , Arola Antti , de Leeuw Gerrit , Karset Inger H. H. , Laaksonen Ari , Lohmann Ulrike
Published: February 2020

Abstract. The evaluation of modelling diagnostics with appropriate observations is an important task that establishes the capabilities and reliability of models.
In this study we compare aerosol and cloud properties obtained from three different climate models (ECHAM-HAM, ECHAM-HAM-SALSA, and NorESM) with satellite observations using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. The simulator MODIS-COSP version 1.4 was implemented into the climate models to obtain MODIS-like cloud diagnostics, thus enabling model-to-model and model-to-satellite comparisons. Cloud droplet number concentrations (CDNCs) are derived identically from MODIS-COSP-simulated and MODIS-retrieved values of cloud optical depth and effective radius. For CDNC, the models capture the observed spatial distribution of higher values typically found near the coasts, downwind of the major continents, and lower values over the remote ocean and land areas. However, the COSP-simulated CDNC values are higher than those observed, whilst the direct model CDNC output is significantly lower than the MODIS-COSP diagnostics. NorESM produces large spatial biases for ice cloud properties and thick clouds over land. Despite having identical cloud modules, ECHAM-HAM and ECHAM-HAM-SALSA diverge in their representation of spatial and vertical distributions of clouds.
From the spatial distributions of aerosol optical depth (AOD) and aerosol index (AI), we find that NorESM shows large biases for AOD over bright land surfaces, while discrepancies between ECHAM-HAM and ECHAM-HAM-SALSA can be observed mainly over oceans. Overall, the AIs from the different models are in good agreement globally, with higher negative biases in the Northern Hemisphere.
We evaluate the aerosol–cloud interactions by computing the sensitivity parameter ACICDNC=dln⁡(CDNC)/dln⁡(AI) on a global scale. However, 1 year of data may be considered not enough to assess the similarity or dissimilarities of the models due to large temporal variability in cloud properties.
This study shows how simulators facilitate the evaluation of cloud properties and expose model deficiencies, which are necessary steps to further improve the parameterisation in climate models.
A channel selection method for hyperspectral atmospheric infrared sounders based on layering
Authors: Chang Shujie , Sheng Zheng , Du Huadong , Ge Wei , Zhang Wei
Published: February 2020

Abstract. This study introduces an effective channel selection method for
hyperspectral infrared sounders. The method is illustrated for the
Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) instrument. The results are as follows.
(1) Using the improved channel selection (ICS), the atmospheric retrievable
index is more stable, with the value reaching 0.54. The coverage of the weighting
functions is more evenly distributed over height with this method. (2) Statistical inversion comparison experiments show that the accuracy of the
retrieval temperature, using the improved channel selection method in this
paper, is consistent with that of 1D-Var channel selection. In the
stratosphere and mesosphere especially, from 10 to 0.02 hPa, the
accuracy of the retrieval temperature of our improved channel selection
method is improved by about 1 K. The accuracy of the
retrieval temperature of ICS is also improved at lower heights. (3) Statistical inversion
comparison experiments for four different regions illustrate latitudinal and
seasonal variations and better performance of ICS compared to the numerical weather prediction (NWP)
channel selection (NCS) and primary channel selection (PCS) methods. The ICS
method shows potential for future applications.
A new dataset of soil Carbon and Nitrogen stocks and profiles from an instrumented Greenlandic fen designed to evaluate land-surface models
Authors: Morel Xavier , Hansen Birger Ulf , Delire Christine , Ambus Per Lennart , Mastepanov Mikhail , Decharme Bertrand
Published: February 2020

Abstract. Arctic and boreal peatlands play a major role in the global carbon (C) cycle. They are particularly efficient at sequestering carbon due to their high-water content which makes primary productivity exceed decomposition rates. Though, their future in a climate-change context is quite uncertain in terms of carbon emissions and carbon sequestration. Nuuk-fen site is a well-instrumented greenlandic site of particular interest for testing and validating land-surface models with monitoring of soil physical variables and greenhouse gas fluxes (CH4 and CO2). But knowledge of soil carbon stocks and profiles is missing. This is a crucial shortcoming for a complete evaluation of models, as soil carbon is one of the primary drivers of CH4 and CO2 soil emissions. To tackle this issue, we measured for the first time soil carbon and nitrogen density, profiles and stocks in the Nuuk peatland, at the exact location of fluxes monitoring. Measurements were made along two transects. Measurements horizontal resolution is 5 meter, vertical resolution ranges from 5 to 10 cm. Mean soil carbon density is 50.2 kgC.m−3. These new data are in the range of those encountered in other arctic peatlands. This new dataset can contribute to further develop joint modelisation of greenhouse gas emissions and soil carbon in land-surface models. The dataset is open-access and available at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.909899 (Morel et al., 2019b).
ORCHIDEE MICT-LEAK (r5459), a global model for the production, transport, and transformation of dissolved organic carbon from Arctic permafrost regions – Part 2: Model evaluation over the Lena River basin
Authors: Bowring Simon P. K. , Lauerwald Ronny , Guenet Bertrand , Zhu Dan , Guimberteau Matthieu , Regnier Pierre , Tootchi Ardalan , Ducharne Agnès , Ciais Philippe
Published: February 2020

Abstract. In this second part of a two-part study, we performed a simulation of the
carbon and water budget of the Lena catchment with the land surface model
ORCHIDEE MICT-LEAK, enabled to simulate dissolved organic carbon (DOC)
production in soils and its transport and fate in high-latitude inland
waters. The model results are evaluated for their ability to reproduce the
fluxes of DOC and carbon dioxide (CO2) along the soil–inland-water
continuum and the exchange of CO2 with the atmosphere, including the
evasion outgassing of CO2 from inland waters. We present simulation
results over the years 1901–2007 and show that the model is able to broadly
reproduce observed state variables and their emergent properties across a
range of interacting physical and biogeochemical processes. These include (1) net primary production (NPP), respiration and riverine hydrologic amplitude,
seasonality, and inter-annual variation; (2) DOC concentrations, bulk annual
flow, and their volumetric attribution at the sub-catchment level; (3) high
headwater versus downstream CO2 evasion, an emergent phenomenon
consistent with observations over a spectrum of high-latitude observational
studies. These quantities obey emergent relationships with environmental
variables like air temperature and topographic slope that have been
described in the literature. This gives us confidence in reporting the
following additional findings: of the ∼34 Tg C yr−1 left
over as input to soil matter after NPP is diminished by heterotrophic
respiration, 7 Tg C yr−1 is leached and transported into the aquatic
system. Of this, over half (3.6 Tg C yr−1) is evaded from the inland
water surface back into the atmosphere and the remainder (3.4 Tg C yr−1)
flushed out into the Arctic Ocean, mirroring empirically derived studies.
These riverine DOC exports represent ∼1.5 % of NPP. DOC
exported from the floodplains is dominantly sourced from recent more
“labile” terrestrial production in contrast to DOC leached from the rest of
the watershed with runoff and drainage, which is mostly sourced from
recalcitrant soil and litter. All else equal, both historical climate change
(a spring–summer warming of 1.8 ∘C over the catchment) and rising
atmospheric CO2 (+85.6 ppm) are diagnosed from factorial simulations
to contribute similar significant increases in DOC transport via primary
production, although this similarity may not hold in the future.
ANALYSIS OF AQI CHANGE CHARACTERISTICS AND CORRELATION WITH PM2.5 AND PM10 IN BEIJING-TIANJIN-HEBEI REGION
Authors: Wang A. N. , Jing J. L. , Luo F. L. , Liang L. S.
Published: February 2020

Abstract. The paper analyzed the variation characteristics of AQI and its correlation with PM2.5 and PM10 of in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region from July 2015 to July 2018 based on hours of pollutants in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, using AQI calculation method and statistical correlation evaluation method. Results showed that:(1) The air quality compliance rate in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region was 67%, the average AQI was 97.6577, and the air quality was good. The distribution frequency of primary pollutants was PM2.5, followed by PM10, which accounts for 78.9% of the distribution frequency of the six major pollutants, indicated that PM2.5 and PM10 had a greater impact on the air quality of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei. (2) The correlation between AQI and PM2.5 and PM10 was significantly positively correlated. R2 was 0.8225 and 0.7749, respectively, P < 0.01, indicated that both showed a greater impact on air quality. (3) AQI and PM2.5 and PM10 showed a gradual decrease trend at 9h–16h, ie 9h highest and 16h lowest. The AQI fluctuated between 94.2816 and 103.3562, indicated that the air quality at 9h–16h was good or slightly polluted. (4) The spatial distribution of AQI, PM2.5 and PM10 was characterized by low northwest and high southeast, and the southeastern part was gradually decreasing from 9h–16h. AQI was negatively correlated with elevation. The higher the elevation, the better the air quality, and the worse the air quality.
THE PRECISION OF GOOGLE EARTH MAP ANALYSIS WITH THE COORDINATES OF IGS STATIONS
Authors: Wang X. W. , Wang F.
Published: February 2020

Abstract. This paper identifies the location of global IGS reference station on Google Earth map, and raises a method of identifying the location and analysis the precise position accuracy. The Google Earth map supports WGS-84 geodetic coordinates. Acquire the WGS-84 Precise Geodetic Coordinates of the Global IGS reference station on IGS Website. The IGS reference station is labeled on the Google Earth map exactly in KML markup language. Using Google Earth ruler tool, calculated the map distance, ground distance and azimuth angle of the Google Earth map position and the labeled position from the precision IGS reference station. Identifying the deviations between the exactly point location of IGS station and the recognized location of Google Earth. About 1,054 IGS stations which covering all over the world are using as samples for data statistics. With a series of statics graph, analysis the accuracy and recognition rate. It shows that the recognition rate is 71.8% and the average accuracy is about 4.38 meters. The accuracy from 2m to 4m occupied 18.76%; the accuracy from 4m to 6m occupied 41.0%; the accuracy from 6m to 8m occupied 6.34%; the accuracy from 8m to 10m occupied 3.70% etc. The accuracy in China region is about 1.5–2 meters and it’s reach up to 1 meter in the cities of the United States, Europe and Japan etc. So that Google Earth map could be used for high-precision positioning services, such as, field reconnaissance, survey network design and the description of station etc.
A method to predict the uncompleted climate transition
process
Authors: Yan Pengcheng , Feng Guolin , Hou Wei
Published: February 2020

Abstract. Climate change could be expressed as a climate system transiting from the initial state to a new state in a short time. By considering the short period as a continued process, which is called transition process, more details of climate change would be described according to analysis the time sequence self. We had proposed a method to quantify the transition process of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) time sequence and global sea surface temperature system. And the quantitative relationships among the parameters characterizing the abrupt changes is revealed during the transition process. In this paper, we develop this method to predict the end moment (state) if the transition process has not been completed. Application of prediction method to the PDO sequences indicates that the PDO index increased from a stable stage before 2011 and gradually evolved to a transition process, and it was likely to end in 2015, which is consistent with observations.
Ground ice, organic carbon and soluble cations in tundra permafrost and active-layer soils near a Laurentide ice divide in the Slave Geological Province, N.W.T., Canada
Authors: Subedi Rupesh , Kokelj Steven V. , Gruber Stephan
Published: February 2020

Abstract. The central Slave Geological Province is situated near a divide of the Laurentide Ice Sheet and it differs from the western Canadian Arctic, where thaw-induced landscape changes in Laurentide ice-marginal environments are already abundant. Although much of the terrain in the central Slave Geological Province is mapped as predominantly bedrock and ice-poor, glacial deposits of varying thickness occupy significant portions of the landscape, creating a mosaic of conditions. Some evidence of ice-rich ground, a key determinant of thaw-induced landscape change, exists. Carbon and soluble cation content in permafrost are largely unknown in the area. Twenty-four boreholes with depths up to ten metres were drilled in tundra north of Lac de Gras to address these regional gaps in knowledge and to better inform projections and generalizations at coarser scale. Excess-ice contents of 20–60 %, likely remnant Laurentide basal ice, are common in till and thaw subsidence of metres to more than ten metres is possible. Beneath organic terrain and in fluvially-reworked sediment, aggradational ice is found. The abundant ground-ice poses long-term challenges for engineering, and it makes the area susceptible to thaw-induced landscape change and mobilization of sediment, solutes and carbon several metres deep. The characteristics of landscape changes, however, are expected to differ from ice-marginal landscapes of western Arctic Canada, for example, based on subsurface properties. Average soil organic-carbon storage is approximately 8 and 14 kg C m−2 for the depth ranges 0–1 m and 0–3 m. The concentration of total soluble cations in mineral soils is much lower than at other previously studied locations in the western Canadian Arctic. Permafrost in the study area contains much more ground ice than expected, and slightly less organic carbon and fewer soluble cations than well studied areas in the western Canadian Arctic. As these differences are strongly related to geology and glacial history, this study may inform investigations in other parts of the Slave Geological Province and its data can support scenario simulations of future trajectories of permafrost thaw at continental and circumpolar scales.
A new method using medians to calibrate single-parameter spatial interaction models
Authors: Merlin Louis A
Published: February 2020

I present a method for calibrating the impedance parameter of a gravity spatial interaction model using only the median travel time as a measure of observed traveler behavior. Complete information about the spatial structure of origins, destinations, and travel times between origins and destinations is also required. Using Monte Carlo simulation techniques on stylized cities, I attempt to recover true (a priori known) impedance values with this method for a range of impedance values for both negative exponential and power impedance functions. The results are compared with estimates obtained by other fast methods. The proposed method proves to provide a fairly accurate estimate of the impedance parameter, with a mean percent error typically below 20% and often below 10% for common impedance values. The proposed method is an improvement over existing calibration methods in several respects. First, it allows for the estimation of the impedance parameter directly without lengthy iterative calculations. Second, because it only requires median travel times, it can be calibrated with smaller samples (n~200), allowing the construction of gravity models for specific modes and/or travel purposes. And third, the method does not require expensive travel demand software and so can be implemented more widely in practice.
The Effect of Chinese Traditional Culture on Employee Green Behavior: Literature Review
Authors: Zhang Chunyu , Fang Chih-Cheng
Published: February 2020

China is the most populous country in the world. With the total GDP ranking second in the world, environmental protection issues are imminent. The employee green behavior can protect the environment and save resources. It is an important factor in the organization’s sustainable development, and Chinese traditional culture has always influenced people’s code of conduct. Based on the theory of planned behavior, this study explores the process of Chinese traditional culture influence on employee green behavior through perceived value, Guanxi and psychological contract, and establishes a research model. It is expected to provide references and recommendations for follow-up researchers and business management.
Flea cases observed in dogs during the fall and flea preventative buying habits of clients at a midsized veterinary hospital in Pennsylvania
Authors: Simon Shelby , Yorty Jodi L.
Published: February 2020

abstract

In Pennsylvania, the peak flea season occurs from May to August, but dogs can be affected by fleas, Ctenocephalides canis/felis, all year. Using a flea preventative all year is crucial because fleas spread diseases such as typhus. This study investigated whether there was a peak in flea cases in dogs at a midsized veterinary hospital in the fall and explored whether clients listen to recommendations to use preventative all year. The peak for flea cases during the fall was in October. There was a statistical difference in number of flea cases between dogs of different sizes (p = 0.003; 0.9% of all large dogs seen had fleas and 2% of all small dogs had fleas). Surveys determined clients’ buying habits and use of preventatives. Almost all clients recalled a veterinarian’s recommendation to use prevention all year, but only 64% complied. Fleas are present in Pennsylvania after August and clients need further education about the use of preventatives all year.
Utility-scale wind energy development challenges in Pennsylvania, 2018
Authors: Rohrs Allison
Published: February 2020

abstract

The Pennsylvania Utility Commission (PUC) requires that 18% of electricity supplied in Pennsylvania come from an alternative resource by the year 2021. At present, the PUC reports that 14.2% of electricity comes from such sources and that the state is on track to meet its targets by 2021. Wind energy plays a significant role in attaining these standards. In the 2017 Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Annual Report, wind power contributed to 46.9% of the Tier 1 credits retired in 2017. Although wind plays an important role, future development of utility-scale wind projects in Pennsylvania has significantly declined. In the last five years, only one new wind farm has come on line, and the oldest wind farm in Pennsylvania has been decommissioned. This research provides information regarding the challenges and issues related to the dearth of new utility-scale wind farms in Pennsylvania. This paper reviews the challenges and issues unique to the Commonwealth relating to community opposition, anti-wind ordinances, nonauthorizaton of public land use for wind projects, lack of supportive policy, and environmental issues related to birds and bats.
Status of wind in Pennsylvania: Social and environmental impacts of wind
Authors: Barton Michael , Levri Edward
Published: February 2020

abstract

With the push for renewable energy at the turn of the century, windmills have become a commonplace part of the landscape in Pennsylvania. Due to their size and footprint, the turbines have both social and environmental costs. To reduce or negate many of the potentially adverse impacts of wind farm development and operation, a number of significant studies are conducted in both the pre- and postconstruction phases of the development process. These studies will be discussed and reviewed. Many of the preconstruction studies are requirements for wind farm development to be permitted. Impacts on both wildlife and the landscape can be significantly reduced or eliminated with careful project design, from proper wind farm siting and habitat avoidance measures, and through proper erosion control design. With proper development techniques and implementation practices, this “impact reduction” extends through the conclusion of the projects’ construction phase and into the generation phase. Proper implementation of curtailment procedures on a wind-farm-by-wind-farm or site-by-site basis significantly reduces bird and bat impacts through the projects’ active generation phase.
A burping bowl in every cupboard: Tupperware and the lessons of American energy decadence
Authors: Black Brian
Published: February 2020

abstract

Energy exchanges have helped to define each phase of human life. Some are overt and noticeable; however, modern life is also layered with concealed exchanges that allow us to overlook our reliance on fossil fuels. In both their origin and consumption, objects such as Tupperware represent the ethic that define the era known as the Anthropocene. Environmental historians must play a vital role in recording this era by deconstructing items such as plastics to reveal the culture that has created, required, and consumed them. Properly telling the story of this human era can begin with a mundane object such as the Tupperware burping bowl.
Thinking Through Sound: Martin Heidegger and Wallace Stevens
Authors: Kerr Joshua
Published: February 2020

How is it that things come to sound in language? What demands does the sound of language make on the disposition of thinking? This article motivates and addresses these questions by turning to two thinkers who insist upon the sonorous character of language: a philosopher, Martin Heidegger, and a poet, Wallace Stevens. Rather than subordinate poet to philosopher or philosopher to poet, I attempt to read the two together in tension. Heidegger's resistance to anthropocentric conceptions of language reveal in Stevens the otherwise understated importance of attunement and disposition. Similarly, Stevens's insistence upon the sound of words reveals a significant and neglected aspect of Heidegger's famous etymological analyses. Together, these two authors draw poetry and philosophy closer together by revealing that thought, as language, always involves a poetic, sonorous element and that the poetic sound of language is already an incipient thinking. On the basis of a careful reading of Heidegger's “Language” lecture and Stevens's poem, “Of Mere Being,” I argue that words can be fruitfully understood as the “acoustic gestures” of things and that philosophy, at its best, is able to cultivate a disposition attentive to these gestures.
The Triple Transformation: The Emergence of Philosophy in Deleuze and Guattari
Authors: Schönher Mathias
Published: February 2020

In this article, I introduce the concept of the triple transformation, which ensues from my examination of What is Philosophy? by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. The concept applies to the philosopher's intuitive method, it defines more precisely his or her activity that consists of creating concepts in order to bring forth new events. This activity cannot be carried out by merely turning the thought of opinion, which shapes our ordinary lived experience, to philosophical concepts. The exercise and experience of the creative thinking of philosophy implies a liberation from the constraints of opinion, by way of a triple transformation. I address the triple transformation from two different perspectives: first, in connection with the emergence of philosophy in ancient Greece with regard to Plato as a member of the democratic city-state of Athens; second, with regard to an individual subject in its own right, to its brain or mind.
Aristotle's Mathematicals in Metaphysics M.3 and N.6
Authors: Younan Andrew
Published: February 2020

Aristotle ends Metaphysics books M–N with an account of how one can get the impression that Platonic Form-numbers can be causes. Though these passages are all admittedly polemic against the Platonic understanding, there is an undercurrent wherein Aristotle seems to want to explain in his own terms the evidence the Platonist might perceive as supporting his view, and give any possible credit where credit is due. Indeed, underlying this explanation of how the Platonist may have formed his impression, we discover Aristotle's own understanding of what we today might call the mathematical structure of nature. Mathematicals are, to Aristotle, abstractions of order, symmetry, and definiteness, which are in turn aspects of the formal cause of goodness and beauty. This is a lens through which an Aristotelian could view modern mathematical physics as an important aspect of natural philosophy, and which is foundational for an Aristotelian philosophy of mathematics.
Disobedient: Activist Choirs, Radical Amateurism, and the Politics of the Past after Yugoslavia
Authors: Hofman Ana
Published: February 2020

From 2000 on, the emergence of activist choirs has greatly influenced practices of political activism in the territory of the former Yugoslavia. In this article, I analyze how activists, singers, and listeners repurpose antifascist music legacy in order to experiment with new forms of political engagement. I propose the concept of radical amateurism, a political community that fuels the politicization of a field of leisure, which enables people to form new audiosocial alliances at local, regional, and global scales. Locating my theoretical framework within the field of affective politics of sound, I show that political potentiality, when related to music and sound, is inscribed in the complex relationship between imagined and real, exception and everydayness, emerging and routinized, and impossible and possible. In conclusion, I scrutinize contingencies of affective politics and discuss the ways affective encounters enable a new framework for practicing political engagement in a moment of apathy and neoliberal exhaustion.
PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF YOUTH (HYPER)ACTIVITY IN THE VIRTU-AL WORLD - RESEARCH STUDY
Authors: Andrzejewski Adam
Published: February 2020

This article presents the theoretical and empirical study of youth activity in the virtual world. Theoretical issues of media pedagogy regarding youth participation in cyberspace were presented. A qualitative study was conducted using a case study method of young people showing excessive activity in the virtual world. A qualitative analysis of research results was carried out, which was presented in the methodological part of the article.
TALES (GAWĘDA) AND STORYTELLING AS A MEANS OF CARE AND UPBRINGING IN EARLY SCHOOL
Authors: Czarkowski Jakub Jerzy
Published: February 2020

Gawęda - the story has been an important element of cultural education since the earliest times. Children like to listen to fairy tales. It is a great way for them to learn important and impossible to show matters, e.g. values.
The study presented on different groups of preschool children (six-year-olds) shows that storytelling - listening is still an attractive way to upbringing. It is also worth conducting similar studies in older age groups, including adolescents and young adults.
The presented research and considerations also lead to the conclusion that to some extent we are all children and we need such stories. Storytelling serves listeners, but it can also be used by storytellers because good storytelling requires reflection and also serves the development of a tutor storyteller.
GLOBAL EDUCATION AS A NEW CONCEPT OF THE LEARNING PROCESS
Authors: Gejdoš Miroslav
Published: February 2020

This study aims to explore a theoretical basis of global education. The author notes that it is sensible to motivate and equip pupils and students with the knowledge, skills, abilities needed to create a positive global attitude. A key condition is to create a system-wide view of the world.
THE WRITER AS THE CONSCIENCE OF HIS SOCIETY: A STUDY OF FESTUS IYAYI’S HEROES
Authors: Haruna Abdullahi
Published: February 2020

This article discusses the role of the creative writer as the conscience of his society using Festus Iyayi as an exam-ple. The study focuses on the themes and narrative technique of Iyayi's Heroes to present the author as a literary artist who exposes the corruption and other forms of social evil perpetrated against the common man and the soci-ety generally. Studies show that Iyayi’s Heroes is one of the literary works written on the Nigerian civil war fought between 1967 and 1970. Iyayi’s novel, however, is said to be different from other literary works on the war on account of its neutral perspective on the crisis. This is what informs the choice of the novel for this study. In the novel, Iyayi projects himself as the conscience of society highlighting the deceit, corruption, class-consciousness, insensitivity and avarice to which the common man and the society are subjected by the ruling class using the façade of fighting a civil war. The outcome of this study establishes Iyayi as a conscientious patriot who uses the genre of the novel to highlight the wrongs of Nigerian society with a prescription for social reform.
Traslados: del estudio al aula, de Barcelona a Venecia
Authors: Prats Güerre Eva
Published: February 2020

En el aula, como sucede en nuestro estudio, cada proyecto hace aparecer y desarrollar unos intereses que los ayudan a avanzar y que van más allá que la solución específica, más allá de las circunstancias concretas, de la urgencia del encargo. Esto permite desarrollar unos temas a larga distancia, donde cada proyecto fija una reflexión que tendrá un eco en el próximo. En el aula hemos querido trasladar esas reflexiones, aproximarlas a los estudiantes con un ejercicio donde poder compartir y contrastar otras maneras posibles de interpretarlas y actuar.

In the classroom, as in our study, each project makes appear and develop interests that help it move forward and go beyond the specific solution, beyond the specific circumstances, of the urgency of the assignment. This allows developing long-distance topics, where each project sets a reflection that will have an echo in the next. In the classroom we wanted to transfer these reflections and bring them closer to the students with an exercise where they can share and contrast other possible ways of interpreting and acting.The re-use of buildings, their adaptation to host new programs is one of the issues that concern and fascinate us at the same time, and we have brought it to the ETSAB classrooms and other schools where we have been teaching during these last years. We thought it was a good time to show it in this gigantic showcase that is the Venice Architecture Biennale, where each participant, in addition to responding to the Biennale commissioners manifesto, has their own reflection topics to share in an international debate field.
Construcción de una narración en el espacio
Authors: Vidal Jorge
Published: February 2020

Aprovecho este espacio de la revista Palimpsesto para celebrar y agradecer los años como profesor al lado de Carlos Ferrater y Alberto Peñin. Estuvimos juntos en los cursos de proyectos III-IV de la Escuela Superior de Arquitectura de Barcelona  desde el año 2008 hasta el 2018. También fui profesor del Master de proyectos XXI que ellos dirigían entre los años 2008 y 2010.  En total  fueron 10 años juntos impartiendo docencia que marcaron mi trayectoria.

During these years I have focused my work on the construction of narratives in space. A search based on the understanding of what is around us. What shapes us both as people and in relation to a certain place. They are trips that go from the softest part of architecture, dreams or intuitions, to the toughest and most real, the built. A journey from the abstract to the concrete that during its process undergoes the necessary transformations to create its body, its essence, what things are. There are people who talk about the soul of things, about their will to be, maybe they are right. I try to find it at the end of the process. All this is about stories that end up talking about sites, cultures and techniques.
The Silicon Dawn y la resignificación de la artesanía hoy
Authors: Rahola Matutes Estela
Published: February 2020

Las artesanías no solo brindan atención a la preservación de la cultura heredada e histórica, sino que también atienden hacia una relación responsable y más sostenible con nuestra cultura material, algo que también está directamente relacionado con nuestra cultura ontológica natural. Situar el foco en este aspecto nos puede hacer sujetos éticos.

Faced with a material culture that promotes consumerism as a way of obtaining satisfaction, I wonder if craftwork can also be applied to modern forms of work and, in general, to the ways of ‘doing’ things in our commitment to material culture. From my point of view, if we get involved with our work in a deeper sense, we could also have a greater empathy with the way others work, perhaps moving from a society of “consumers” to a society of “producers”, as interested and concerned about the skills and working conditions of those who produce things for us, as we expect them to be with ours. This argument focuses on a sustainable material culture and an economic system characterized by a less passive consumerism and a more active production, making, adapting, repairing, sharing where there is much more potential for novelty and pleasure.
Ocasiones
Authors: Obiol Cordon Cecilia
Published: February 2020

"Whatever space and time mean, place and occasion mean more". Aldo Van Eyck

Life and architecture share that condition intrinsically linked to the occasions presented to them, which are nothing other than “opportunities to understand and establish active relationships with the world”. My father always says that he found a lot of queue at the Faculty of Medicine, where he planned to enroll, and decided to go to Architecture. The essentially random condition of that first great occasion seems promising and, at the same time, it transmits a certain lightness to me, so necessary for the lucky ones whose opportunities have allowed us to exercise architecture, in any of the many ways in which it can occur.
Supporting Teachers to Use Formative Assessment for Adaptive Decision Making
Authors: Lamberg Teruni , Gillette-Koyen Linda , Moss Diana
Published: February 2020

Formative assessment helps teachers make effective instructional decisions to support students to learn mathematics. Yet, many teachers struggle to effectively use formative assessment to support student learning. Therefore, teacher educators must find ways to support teachers to use formative assessment to inform instruction. This case study documents shifts in teachers’ views and reported use of formative assessment that took place as they engaged in professional development (PD). The PD design considered the formative assessment cycle (Otero, 2006; Popham, 2008) and embedded it within a pedagogical framework (Lamberg, 2013, in press) that took into account the process of mathematics planning and teaching while supporting teachers to learn math content. Teachers restructured their definition of student understanding, which influenced how they interpreted student work and made instructional decisions. Teachers’ pre-PD instructional decisions focused on looking for right and wrong answers to determine mastery and focused on pacing decisions. Their post-PD decisions focused on student thinking and adapting teaching to support student thinking and learning. Implications for PD to support teachers to use formative assessment and research are discussed.
Diverge Then Converge: A Strategy for Deepening Understanding Through Analyzing and Reconciling Contrasting Patterns of Reasoning
Authors: Grant Theresa J. , Levin Mariana
Published: February 2020

One of the challenges of teaching content courses for prospective elementary teachers (PTs) is engaging PTs in deepening their conceptual understanding of mathematics they feel they already know (Thanheiser, Philipp, Fasteen, Strand, & Mills, 2013). We introduce the Diverge then Converge strategy for orchestrating mathematical discussions that we claim (1) engenders sustained engagement with a central conceptual issue and (2) supports a deeper understanding of the issue by engaging PTs in considering both correct and incorrect reasoning. We describe a recent implementation of the strategy and present an analysis of students’ written responses that are coordinated with the phases of the discussion. We close by considering conditions under which the strategy appears particularly relevant, factors that appear to influence its effectiveness, and questions for future research.
REGULATION OF ASSESSMENT OF THE RISK MANAGEMENT SYSTEM BY EXTERNAL AUDIT IN THE CONTEXT OF FOSTERING MORE EFFICIENT RISK MANAGEMENT - A REVIEW OF THE BANKING SECTOR OF BIH
Authors: Vujičić - Stefanović Dragana
Published: February 2020

In this study, regulatory requirements are elaborated regarding external audit in the assessment of the risk management system and the impact of the regulation of risk management system using independent external audit is investigated in the context of encouraging effective risk management in the banking sector of Bosnia and Hercegovina. The research was conducted through a questionnaire, which included a representative sample consisting of all the banks in BiH, within which employees at control functions are included (risk management, internal audit and internal control), along with members of bank boards (Supervisory board, Audit Committee, Bank Management), and relevant external auditors conducting audits in the banks  in BiH, as well as professional academic public. The results of the research show a high degree of correlation of the regulation of risk management system by independent auditors and risk management efficiency, but also identify additional mechanisms which encourage more efficient risk management in banks and, consequently, reveal new research areas.
Structural basis of transcription inhibition by the DNA mimic protein Ocr of bacteriophage T7
Authors: Ye Fuzhou , Kotta-Loizou Ioly , Jovanovic Milija , Liu Xiaojiao , Dryden David TF , Buck Martin , Zhang Xiaodong
Published: February 2020

Bacteriophage T7 infects Escherichia coli and evades the host restriction/modification system. The Ocr protein of T7 was shown to exist as a dimer mimicking DNA and to bind to host restriction enzymes, thus preventing the degradation of the viral genome by the host. Here we report that Ocr can also inhibit host transcription by directly binding to bacterial RNA polymerase (RNAP) and competing with the recruitment of RNAP by sigma factors. Using cryo electron microscopy, we determined the structures of Ocr bound to RNAP. The structures show that an Ocr dimer binds to RNAP in the cleft, where key regions of sigma bind and where DNA resides during transcription synthesis, thus providing a structural basis for the transcription inhibition. Our results reveal the versatility of Ocr in interfering with host systems and suggest possible strategies that could be exploited in adopting DNA mimicry as a basis for forming novel antibiotics.
Prognostic analysis of very early onset pancreatic cancer: a population-based analysis
Authors: Dai Dongjun , Wang Yanmei , Hu Xinyang , Jin Hongchuan , Wang Xian
Published: February 2020

Background

We aimed to use competing risk model to assess whether very early onset pancreatic cancer (VEOPC ) (<45 years) had a worse prognosis than older pancreatic cancer (PC) patients, and to build a competing risk nomogram for predicting the risk of death of VEOPC.

Methods

We selected pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients as our cohort from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. The impact of cancer specific death was estimated by competing risk analysis. Multivariate Fine-Gray regression for proportional hazards modeling of the subdistribution hazard (SH) model based nomogram was constructed, which was internally validated by discrimination and calibration with 1,000 bootstraps.

Results

Our cohort included 1,386 VEOPC patients and 53,940 older patients. We observed that in unresectablePDAC patients, VEOPC had better cancer specific survival (CSS) than each older group (45–59 years, 60–69 years, 70–79 years and >79 years). There was no significant prognostic difference between VEOPC and each older group in resectablePDAC. Our competing nomogram showed well discrimination and calibration by internal validation.

Conclusion

For unresectable PDAC patients, VEOPC had better CSS than older patients. Our competing risk nomogram might be an easy-to-use tool for the specific death prediction of VEOPC patients with PDAC.
Coupled influence of precipitation regimes and seedling emergence time on the reproductive strategy in Chloris virgata
Authors: Wang Ying , Chen Jiawei , Huang Yige , Mu Zhongsheng , Wang Changfu
Published: February 2020

Precipitation regime and seedling emergence time both influence plant growth and reproduction. However, little attention has been given to the effects of these combined factors on the reproductive strategy of Chloris virgata, which is a vital species in Songnen grassland. Here, we simulated the changes in the precipitation regime and seedling emergence time to evaluate tiller traits and seed production. The results showed that tiller number behaved similarly among three precipitation regimes when sowed on 15 May (T1), while it increased significantly with precipitation regimes when sowed on 15 June (T2) and 15 July (T3). Tiller number decreased significantly with the seedling emergence time under the same water supply treatment. The proportional allocation of reproductive tiller number to total tiller number was significantly higher at T3 than at T1 and T2. Seed number remained similar under different precipitation regimes at T2 and T3, whereas it was significantly lower under low precipitation than under other water levels at T1. Seed number reached the maximum values at T2 under the same level of precipitation treatment. Seed size was significantly lower under low precipitation compared to other water supply treatments and the lowest values in seed size, about 0.5 mg, occurred at T2 under all the precipitation regimes. The lowest values in spike number were under low precipitation at all seedling emergence times. Seed yield exhibited similar trends with seed size under different precipitation regimes, while the greatest gains in these values were at T1 under all the precipitation regimes. Our findings showed that simulated precipitation regimes and seedling emergence time affected the reproductive strategy of C. virgata. Typical and high precipitation, as well as early seedling emergence, will improve the seed yield and seed quality in this species.
Comparison of lipid accumulation product and body mass index as indicators of diabetes diagnosis among 215,651 Chinese adults
Authors: Tian Tian , Pei Hualian , Chen Zhen , Hailili Gulisiya , Wang Shuxia , Sun Yong , Yao Hua , Jianghong Dai
Published: February 2020

Purpose

We aimed to assess if lipid accumulation product (LAP) could outperform body mass index (BMI) as a marker for diabetes diagnosis.

Methods

We analyzed the results of a national physical examination project in Urumqi, China. This project was conducted in 442 community clinics in Urumqi from October 2016 to February 2017.

Results

LAP was highly correlated with diabetes. The subjects with higher amounts of LAP had a higher risk of diabetes, and the prevalence of diabetes in the fourth quartile of LAP was dramatically higher than in the first quartile (5.72% vs. 21.76%). The adjusted odds ratios (AOR) associated with diabetes in the fourth quartile of LAP was significantly higher than the AOR associated with diabetes in the first quartile, and when BMI ≥ 28 kg/m2 was compared with BMI < 28 kg/m2 (3.24 (3.11, 3.37) vs. 1.65 (1.60, 1.70)). The LAP’s area under the curve (AUC) was significantly higher than the BMI’s AUC when based on diabetes (0.655 vs. 0.604). In the normal BMI group, 34% of participants had a LAP value higher than the cutoff point found during ROC analysis. In this subgroup, we observed a significantly higher prevalence of diabetes that was similar to that of the subgroup with a BMI ≥ 28 kg/m2, and both of their LAP values were higher than the cutoff point.

Conclusion

When use as a tool for diabetes diagnosis, LAP performed better than BMI, implying that LAP could be a preferable anthropometry assessment.