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Departure
Kinds of Departure Terms modified by Departure Selected AbstractsAre species,area relationships from entire archipelagos congruent with those of their constituent islands?GLOBAL ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2010Ana M. C. Santos ABSTRACT Aim, To establish the extent to which archipelagos follow the same species,area relationship as their constituent islands and to explore the factors that may explain departures from the relationship. Location, Thirty-eight archipelagos distributed worldwide. Methods, We used ninety-seven published datasets to create island species,area relationships (ISARs) using the Arrhenius logarithmic form of the power model. Observed and predicted species richness of an archipelago and of each of its islands were used to calculate two indices that determined whether the archipelago followed the ISAR. Archipelagic residuals (ArcRes) were calculated as the residual of the prediction provided by the ISAR using the total area of the archipelago, standardized by the total richness observed in the archipelago. We also tested whether any characteristic of the archipelago (geological origin and isolation) and/or taxon accounts for whether an archipelago fits into the ISAR or not. Finally, we explored the relationship between ArcRes and two metrics of nestedness. Results, The archipelago was close to the ISAR of its constituent islands in most of the cases analysed. Exceptions arose for archipelagos where (i) the slopes of the ISAR are low, (ii) observed species richness is higher than expected by the ISAR and/or (iii) distance to the mainland is small. The archipelago's geological origin was also important; a higher percentage of oceanic archipelagos fit into their ISAR than continental ones. ArcRes indicated that the ISAR underpredicts archipelagic richness in the least isolated archipelagos. Different types of taxon showed no differences in ArcRes. Nestedness and ArcRes appear to be related, although the form of the relationship varies between metrics. Main conclusions, Archipelagos, as a rule, follow the same ISAR as their constituent islands. Therefore, they can be used as distinct units themselves in large-scale biogeographical and macroecological studies. Departure from the ISAR can be used as a crude indicator of richness-ordered nestedness, responsive to factors such as isolation, environmental heterogeneity, number and age of islands. [source] Radical Polymers for Organic Electronic Devices: A Radical Departure from Conjugated Polymers?ADVANCED MATERIALS, Issue 22 2009Kenichi Oyaizu Abstract Radical polymers are aliphatic or nonconjugated polymers bearing organic robust radicals as pendant groups per repeating unit. A large population of the radical redox sites allows the efficient redox gradient-driven electron transport through the polymer layer by outer-sphere self-exchange reactions in electrolyte solutions. The radical polymers are emerging as a new class of electroactive materials useful for various kinds of wet-type energy storage, transport, and conversion devices. Electric-field-driven charge transport by hopping between the densely populated radical sites is also a remarkable aspect of the radical polymers in the solid state, which leads to many dry-type devices such as organic memories, diodes, and switches. [source] Conceptualizing Religion and Spirituality: Points of Commonality, Points of DepartureJOURNAL FOR THE THEORY OF SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR, Issue 1 2000Peter C. Hill Psychologists' emerging interest in spirituality and religion as well as the relevance of each phenomenon to issues of psychological importance requires an understanding of the fundamental characteristics of each construct. On the basis of both historical considerations and a limited but growing empirical literature, we caution against viewing spirituality and religiousness as incompatible and suggest that the common tendency to polarize the terms simply as individual vs. institutional or ,good, vs. ,bad, is not fruitful for future research. Also cautioning against the use of restrictive, narrow definitions or overly broad definitions that can rob either construct of its distinctive characteristics, we propose a set of criteria that recognizes the constructs' conceptual similarities and dissimilarities. Rather than trying to force new and likely unsuccessful definitions, we offer these criteria as benchmarks for judging the value of existing definitions. [source] Logistic regression approach to modelling the variability of recombination rateJOURNAL OF ANIMAL BREEDING AND GENETICS, Issue 1 2000By J. Szyda The objective of the paper is to quantify the relationship between recombination rate and factors such as ,sex of sperm', paternal halfsib family, and individual, using logistic regression modelling. The analysed data set consists of 2214 single bovine sperm cell samples. Haplotypes at each single sperm were determined at eleven marker loci forming eight intervals located on chromosomes 6, 23 and X/Y. The experimental design comprises six paternal halfsib families. Six logistic regression models are fitted to the data from each interval. Departure from commonly assumed homogenous recombination is detected for one marker interval on chromosome 23 , influence of individual and ,sex of sperm' by family interaction, and for both intervals mapped to sex chromosomes , influence of ,sex of sperm' and paternal halfsib family. [source] Origin of a late Eocene to pre-Miocene buried crater and breccia lens at Fohn-1, North Bonaparte Basin, Timor Sea: A probable extraterrestrial connectionMETEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE, Issue 2 2000John d. Gorter The crater displays the classic elements of impact structures, including a central uplift, ring syncline, and upraised rims. The presence in the breccia of redeposited Campanian and Maastrichtian microfossils suggests rebound of strata from levels deeper than 1250 m below the pre-Miocene unconformity. Morphometric modelling suggests an original crater at least 1400 m deep, which is consistent with the excavation of Cretaceous strata. Stratigraphic and palaeontological evidence suggests that the impact occurred between 36 and 24.6 Ma. The breccia contains a pseudotachylite component enriched in the inert Pt group elements (PGE) (Ir, Ru) by factors of 5,12 above the values of common sediments. The more mobile PGE (Os, Pt, Pd) show a wide scatter and terrestrial-type values. Opposite geochemical/stratigraphic trends pertain to different PGE species,the relatively inert Ir-Ru group shows an overall concentration at the base of the section, whereas the more mobile Os shows peaks at median levels of the section,suggesting upward diagenetic leaching. The near-chondritic PGE patterns at the base of the breccia pile are accompanied by near-chondritic Ni/Cr, Co/Cr, Ni/Ir, Ni/Pt, and Cu/Pd ratios. Departure from these values related to alteration at higher levels in the breccia pile is accompanied with high S levels (,1%). [source] PLANNING THROUGH RESIDENTIAL CLUBS: HOMEOWNERS' ASSOCIATIONSECONOMIC AFFAIRS, Issue 4 2005Evan McKenzie Private homeowners' associations now govern over 18% of the American population, enforcing contractual land-use restrictions and providing what would otherwise be municipal services. The rapid spread of these associations in new housing construction is explained by rising land costs, constraints on the ability of local governments to raise property taxes, and consumer preferences. Because these associations resemble club economies in significant respects, they provide an opportunity to test whether these private associations can provide services more efficiently than municipalities. Departures from the assumptions of the club economy model are noted, including the lack of options for consumer choice that undermine the consent-based rationale. [source] Departures from Everyday Resistance and Flexible Strategies of Domination: The Making and Unmaking of a Poor Peasant Mobilization in BangladeshJOURNAL OF AGRARIAN CHANGE, Issue 2 2007SHAPAN ADNAN James Scott's influential work has popularized the notion that everyday resistance among the peasantry takes covert and backstage forms, termed ,weapons of the weak'. This paper, however, provides a case study involving transformation of covert resistance and outward compliance of the poor into open dissent and confrontation with power-holders, though falling well short of the limiting conditions of rebellion or revolution. Such instances serve to dispel the notion that poor and weak groups adopt only covert forms of resistance in their everyday existence. The paper takes up the questions of why, and under what circumstances, such transformation of covert resistance into overt forms can come about. These issues are explored using evidence from a poor peasant mobilization in rural Bangladesh during the parliamentary election of 1986. The analysis shows that there were sequential shifts in the respective strategies of domination and resistance of the rich and the poor, which shaped each other interactively over a dynamic trajectory. Such adaptive and variable responses require an approach that can accommodate flexibility and substitution in the strategies adopted by the weak and the powerful. These also call for further exploration and analysis of the middle ground between everyday and exceptional forms of resistance. [source] Microsatellite DNA markers for population-genetic studies of blue mackerel (Scomber australasicus) and cross-specific amplification in S. japonicusMOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES, Issue 3 2009C. Y. TANG Abstract Blue mackerel (Scomber australasicus) is targeted by large-scale purse-seiners in the western North Pacific, and its stock structure is still contentious. Herein, we described 10 polymorphic microsatellite loci for blue mackerel. The number of alleles among 32 individuals surveyed ranged from five to 27 (average of 16.2 alleles per locus). Departures from Hardy,Weinberg expectation were observed at two loci. Cross-specific amplification in the congener, S. japonicus, was successful, except for one locus, revealed to be diagnostic for these congeners. These microsatellite loci will be useful tools to address queries in population genetic structure, fishery management unit and taxonomic species status in the genus Scomber. [source] Nearest-neighbor tree species combinations in tropical forest: the role of chance, and some consequences of high diversityOIKOS, Issue 3 2007Milton Lieberman In three permanent inventory plots comprising 12.4 ha of undisturbed forest at La Selva, Costa Rica, all stems ,10 cm dbh were mapped and identified to species. There were 1628, 1478 and 1954 trees in the plots, representing 168, 166 and 171 species respectively. We determined the species of each nearest-neighbor pair of trees, and asked whether the occurrence of species pairs conforms to a simple random mixing model. If trees are randomly mixed in terms of species, the expected frequency of any nearest neighbor species combination is a function of the relative abundance of the two species. Departures from random mixing could arise from species interactions, differential responses to habitat, or both. The number of possible ij species combinations increases approximately as the square of the number of species. For the 168 species in plot 1, for example, there are 14 196 possible combinations. We compared the expected frequency of each species combination in the three plots (42,736 combinations in all) with observed frequencies. Over 98% of the combinations had observed frequencies of zero and expected frequencies close to zero. A consequence of high diversity is low density of most individual species, and exceedingly low frequencies of the vast majority of species combinations. For each of the 805 combinations with observed frequencies >0, we used simulation to generate a distribution of expected frequencies. We used a t-test to compare the observed frequency with the mean of the simulated distribution for each combination. Only 40 combinations (0.09% of the possible species combinations in the plots) departed from expected frequencies; 39 combinations were more common, and one less common than expected. The overwhelming majority of nearest neighbor species combinations occur at frequencies predictable from their individual abundances. [source] Growth patterns in adverse environmentsAMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 5 2007Noël Cameron The triple-logistic pattern of human growth in linear dimensions is probably one of the most recognizable models within human biology. The fact that postnatal somatic growth occurs in three phases (infancy, childhood, adolescence) creates opportunities for the individual expression of this genetically directed, but environmentally modified, phenomenon. The impact of the environment works to alter the duration and intensity of critical stages within the total process resulting in individual patterns that can differ radically from the general pattern. However, the constancy of the general pattern is so fixed that its presence in children is taken as a reflection of good health. Departures from that pattern are recognized as reflecting ill health. While the cessation of growth in response to an acute attack is uniformly dramatic, the gradual response to chronic adverse stimuli is less easily predicted and interpreted. For example, in chronic scenarios the loss of centile position that precedes the eventual establishment of normal increments can be viewed as either a poor or a good growth response, as either maladaptive or adaptive, as either poor health or good health. This article reviews such growth patterns in urban South African children exploring the relationship between environment and growth outcome. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2007. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Departures, Arrivals and a VacancyANTIPODE, Issue 1 2008Noel Castree No abstract is available for this article. [source] Reworking the NAFTA: Departures from Traditional FrameworksCANADIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 4 2001Garth J. Holloway This paper reviews the treatment of intellectual property rights in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and considers the welfare-theoretic bases for innovation transfer between member and nonmember states. Specifically, we consider the effects of new technology development from within the union and question whether it is efficient (in a welfare sense) to transfer that new technology to nonmember states. When the new technology contains stochastic components, the important issue of information exchange arises and we consider this question in a simple oligopoly model with Bayesian updating. In this context, it is natural to ask the optimal price at which such information should be transferred. Some simple, natural conjugate examples are used to motivate the key parameters upon which the answer is dependent. L'article que void analyse comment I' Accord de libre-échange nord-américain (ALENA) traite la protection de la propriété intellectuelle et s,attarde sur les principes théoriques du bien-Aêtre résultant du transfert de I' innovation entre etats membres et non membres. Plus précisément, I'auteur examine les consequences de I'élaboration d'une nouvelle technologie au sein de I'union économique et s'interroge sur I'efficacité (sous I'angle du bien-être social) du transfert de cette technologie aux états non membres. L'importante question du partage de l'information surgit dès que la nouvelle technologie inclut des elements stochastiques. L'auteur étudie cette question en prenant pour modèle un simple oligopole actualisé par la méthode bayesienne. Dans un tel contexte, il est naturel de réclamer le prix optimal auquel il devrait y avoir partage de I' information. Quelques exemples simples, à conjugué naturel, servent à faire ressortir les principaux paramètres sur lesquels repose la réponse è la question examinée. [source] Functional magnetic resonance imaging of the human brain and spinal cord by means of signal enhancement by extravascular protonsCONCEPTS IN MAGNETIC RESONANCE, Issue 1 2003P.W. Stroman Abstract A review of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signal changes in spin,echo image data is presented. Spin,echo fMRI data from the human brain and spinal cord show a consistent departure from that expected with blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) contrast. Studies to investigate this finding demonstrate fMRI signal changes of 2.5% in the spinal cord and 0.7% in the brain at 1.5 T, which is extrapolated to an echo time of zero. Consistent evidence of a non-BOLD contrast mechanism arising from a proton-density change at sites of neuronal activation is demonstrated. A mathematical model and physiological explanation for signal enhancement by extravascular protons is also presented. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Concepts Magn Reson 16A: 28,34, 2003 [source] Principles of risk assessment for determining the safety of chemicals: Recent assessment of residual solvents in drugs and di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalateCONGENITAL ANOMALIES, Issue 2 2004Ryuichi Hasegawa ABSTRACT Risk assessment of chemicals is essential for the estimation of chemical safety, and animal toxicity data are typically used in the evaluation process, which consists of hazard identification, dose,response assessment, exposure assessment, and risk characterization. Hazard identification entails the collection of all available toxicity data and assessment of toxicity endpoints based on findings for repeated dose toxicity, carcinogenicity or genotoxicity and species-specificity. Once a review is compiled, the allowable lifetime exposure level of a chemical is estimated from a dose,response assessment based on several measures. For non-carcinogens and non-genotoxic carcinogens, the no-observed-adverse-effect-level (NOAEL) is divided by uncertainty factors (e.g. with environmental pollutants) or safety factors (e.g. with food additives) to derive a tolerable daily intake (TDI) or acceptable daily intake (ADI), respectively. These factors include interspecies and individual differences, duration of exposure, quality of data, and nature of toxicity such as carcinogenicity or neurotoxicity. For genotoxic carcinogens, low dose extrapolation is accomplished with mathematical modeling (e.g. linearized multistage model) from the point of departure to obtain exposure levels that will be associated with an excess lifetime cancer risk of a certain level. Data for levels of chemicals in food, water and air, are routinely used for exposure assessment. Finally, risk characterization is performed to ensure that the established ,safe' level of exposure exceeds the estimated level of actual exposure. These principles have led to the evaluation of several existing chemicals. To establish a guideline for residual solvents in medicine, the permitted daily exposure (PDE), equivalent to TDI, of N,N-dimethylformamide was derived on the basis of developmental toxicity (malformation) and of N-methylpyrrolidone on the basis of the developmental neurotoxicity. A TDI for di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate was derived from assessment of testicular toxicity. [source] Collaborative Processes and Knowledge Creation in Communities-of-PracticeCREATIVITY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2002Karin Breu This paper challenges the view of employees' reluctance to share what they know, thus, attributing the ,stickiness' of knowledge to motivational factors. The study investigated informal mechanisms for knowledge sharing, taking a community-of-practice (CoP) perspective as a point of departure. A large-sized organisation in the utilities sector provided the context of the research. Existing CoP theory is advanced by surfacing the motivations for participation in CoPs, by eliciting the contributions informal, self-organising communities achieve in a commercial context and by documenting the process by which informal community activities become absorbed into the formal organisation. [source] Anthropology and the New Technologies of CommunicationCULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 3 2006Brian Keith Axel This article is a set of reflections on how a modern linguistic ideology of communication produces a fundamental misrecognition of the formation of the modern liberal subject as a naturally communicating subject. I explore the complex features of this misrecognition as a legacy of Cold War procedures of knowledge production about communication and technology to suggest that ethnographies of new technologies of communication unwittingly proliferate presumptions about the ontological integrity of the human prior to communication and prior to the advent of technologies of communication. This dilemma offers an alternative point of departure for the study of new technologies of communication in pursuit of a renewed, critical investigation into the circulation of modern cultural forms of intelligibility. [source] Uncanny Exposures: A Study of the Wartime Photojournalism of Lee MillerCURRICULUM INQUIRY, Issue 4 2009PAULA M. SALVIO ABSTRACT Taking the World War II photojournalism of Lee Miller as my point of departure, this article has several purposes. First, it introduces the wartime photojournalism of Lee Miller to education. I situate Miller's use of surrealist photography within emerging curricular discourses that take as axiomatic the significance of the unconscious in education and thus the challenge of representing histories that are simultaneously present, but cannot be perceived or integrated into conventional historical narratives. Second, I provide a textual analysis of Lee Miller's wartime oeuvre with specific attention paid to how this work alters education's "field of vision" of trauma. While this analysis makes no claims to exhaust education's possibilities for framing the war photography of Lee Miller, it will show how Miller's use of surrealist rhetoric and framing devices offered her the expressive power to represent traumatic experiences that resist being integrated into larger social and cultural contexts. By thinking through Miller's war photography, this article contributes to the scholarship in education that is dedicated to establishing a psychoanalytic history of learning and teaching that is capacious enough to address the "difficult knowledge" we too often cast beyond the pale of the curriculum and to expanding the rhetorical tactics possible for representing such difficult knowledge. [source] Strategic Decisions of New Technology Adoption under Asymmetric Information: A Game-Theoretic Model*DECISION SCIENCES, Issue 4 2003Kevin Zhu ABSTRACT In this paper we explore strategic decision making in new technology adoption by using economic analysis. We show how asymmetric information affects firms' decisions to adopt the technology. We do so in a two-stage game-theoretic model where the first-stage investment results in the acquisition of a new technology that, in the second stage, may give the firm a competitive advantage in the product market. We compare two information structures under which two competing firms have asymmetric information about the future performance (i.e., postadoption costs) of the new technology. We find that equilibrium strategies under asymmetric information are quite different from those under symmetric information. Information asymmetry leads to different incentives and strategic behaviors in the technology adoption game. In contrast to conventional wisdom, our model shows that market uncertainty may actually induce firms to act more aggressively under certain conditions. We also show that having better information is not always a good thing. These results illustrate a key departure from established decision theory. [source] ,Who is the Developed Woman?': Women as a Category of Development Discourse, Kumaon, IndiaDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 1 2004Rebecca M. Klenk This article analyses gendered discourses of development in rural North India, and addresses the usefulness of recent scholarship on development as ,discourse' for understanding connections between development and subjectivity. This scholarship is an excellent point of departure for exploring the contradictions inherent in the institutionalization of economic development and the global reach of its discourses, but it has focused primarily upon development as discourse at official sites of deployment, while paying less attention to how specific discourses and processes of development are appropriated by those constituted as beneficiaries of development. The under-theorization of this aspect has meant that the range of processes through which development projects may encourage new subject positions are poorly understood. By investigating what some women in rural Kumaon have made of their own development, this article contributes to emerging scholarship on development and subjectivity with an ethnographic analysis of the polysemic enthusiasm for development expressed by some of its ,beneficiaries'. [source] The New Cosmopolitan Monolingualism: On Linguistic Citizenship in Twenty-First Century GermanyDIE UNTERRICHTSPRAXIS/TEACHING GERMAN, Issue 2 2009David Gramling In the early years of the twenty-first century, being German has become a matter of linguistic competence and performance. An acute shift in citizenship statutes at the end of the 1990s brought about a peripatetic departure from Germany's "right of blood" (ius sanguinis) toward a French-inspired "right of territory" (ius soli). Yet in the nine years since the policy's implementation, a paradigm quite removed from territorial citizenship has taken hold,one that I will outline as a ius linguarum, or "right of languages." This article analyzes the civic discourse on German language use as it has evolved from the late 1990s in immigration statutes, press discourse, school reform initiatives, and national service awards. Together, these developments serve as interlocking case studies in the emergence of a new cosmopolitan monolingualism,amid the fluctuating conditions of European integration and economic globalization. The article concludes with some speculations on the impact of a ius linguarum for teachers of literature and language in the German Studies context. [source] Parental care in the whitefly Aleyrodes singularisECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 5 2001Moshe Guershon Summary 1. Patches of Aleyrodes singularis nymphs are characterised by a distinctive phenotype composed of the nymphs' exuviae, which are piled on the nymph, and by a covering layer of wax secreted by the adults; these characteristics have been found to confer defensive properties against natural enemies. 2. In contrast to the behaviour typical for ovipositing females of other aleyrodids, A. singularis females tend to remain near the patch of their progeny throughout their development. These mothers were therefore tested to show whether they exhibited active defensive behaviour towards natural enemies, beyond their contribution to passive defence achieved through the secretion of wax on the immatures. 3. The behaviour of whitefly adults differed significantly when performed in the presence of conspecific adults from their behaviour in the presence of natural enemies (either a parasitoid or a predator). The differences were expressed in the mean time devoted to some behavioural events, the frequency at which events were performed, and the number of transitions between pairs of events. 4. Most of the recorded behavioural differences were associated with departure of the natural enemies, facilitating immature survival. 5. This is the first report of active behavioural changes that convey defence of immature offspring for the family Aleyrodidae. Conditions characterising these findings and their relationship with those in which parental care is expected are discussed. [source] Informed dispersal, heterogeneity in animal dispersal syndromes and the dynamics of spatially structured populationsECOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 3 2009Jean Clobert Abstract There is accumulating evidence that individuals leave their natal area and select a breeding habitat non-randomly by relying upon information about their natal and future breeding environments. This variation in dispersal is not only based on external information (condition dependence) but also depends upon the internal state of individuals (phenotype dependence). As a consequence, not all dispersers are of the same quality or search for the same habitats. In addition, the individual's state is characterized by morphological, physiological or behavioural attributes that might themselves serve as a cue altering the habitat choice of conspecifics. These combined effects of internal and external information have the potential to generate complex movement patterns and could influence population dynamics and colonization processes. Here, we highlight three particular processes that link condition-dependent dispersal, phenotype-dependent dispersal and habitat choice strategies: (1) the relationship between the cause of departure and the dispersers' phenotype; (2) the relationship between the cause of departure and the settlement behaviour and (3) the concept of informed dispersal, where individuals gather and transfer information before and during their movements through the landscape. We review the empirical evidence for these processes with a special emphasis on vertebrate and arthropod model systems, and present case studies that have quantified the impacts of these processes on spatially structured population dynamics. We also discuss recent literature providing strong evidence that individual variation in dispersal has an important impact on both reinforcement and colonization success and therefore must be taken into account when predicting ecological responses to global warming and habitat fragmentation. [source] What it Means to be a Stranger to OneselfEDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY, Issue 5 2009Olli-Pekka Moisio Abstract In adult education there is always a problem of prefabricated and in many respect fixed opinions and views of the world. In this sense, I will argue, that the starting point of radical education should be in the destruction of these walls of belief that people build around themselves in order to feel safe. In this connection I will talk about ,gentle shattering of identities' as a problem and a method of radical education. When we as adult educators are trying to gently shatter these solidified identities and pre-packed ways of being and acting in the world, we are moving in the field of questions that Sigmund Freud tackled with the concepts of ,de-personalization' and ,de-realization'. These concepts raise the question about the possibility of at the same time believing that something is and at the same time having a fundamentally sceptical attitude towards this given. In my article I will ask, can we integrate the idea of learning in general with the idea of strangeness to oneself as a legitimate and sensible experiential point of departure for radical learning? [source] Biopolitical Utopianism in Educational TheoryEDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY, Issue 7 2007Tyson Lewis Abstract In this paper I shift the center of utopian debates away from questions of ideology towards the question of power. As a new point of departure, I analyze Foucault's notion of biopower as well as Hardt and Negri's theory of biopolitics. Arguing for a new hermeneutic of biopolitics in education, I then apply this lens to evaluate the educational philosophy of John Dewey. In conclusion, the paper suggests that while Hardt and Negri are missing an educational theory, John Dewey is missing a concept of democracy adequate to the biopolitical struggles of the multitude. Thus, I call for a synthesis of Dewey and Hardt and Negri in order to generate a biopedagogical practice beyond both traditional models of education as well as current standardization. [source] THE GOVERNMENTALIZATION OF LEARNING AND THE ASSEMBLAGE OF A LEARNING APPARATUSEDUCATIONAL THEORY, Issue 4 2008Maarten Simons Doubting whether these concepts and related historical-analytical perspectives are still useful, the authors suggest the concept "learning apparatus" as a point of departure for an analysis of the "grammar of learning." They draw on Michel Foucault's analysis of governmentality to describe how learning has become a matter of both government and self-government. In describing the governmentalization of learning and the current assemblage of a "learning apparatus," Simons and Masschelein indicate how the concept of learning has become disconnected from education and teaching and has instead come to refer to a kind of capital, to something for which the learner is personally responsible, to something that can and should be managed, and to something that must be employable. Finally, the authors elaborate how these discourses combine to play a crucial role in contemporary advanced liberalism that seeks to promote entrepreneurship. [source] Microbial diversity , insights from population geneticsENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 1 2008Ted H. M. Mes Summary Although many environmental microbial populations are large and genetically diverse, both the level of diversity and the extent to which it is ecologically relevant remain enigmatic. Because the effective (or long-term) population size, Ne, is one of the parameters that determines population genetic diversity, tests and simulations that assume selectively neutral mutations may help to identify the processes that have shaped microbial diversity. Using ecologically important genes, tests of selective neutrality suggest that adaptive as well as non-adaptive types of selection act and that departure from neutrality may be widespread or restricted to small groups of genotypes. Population genetic simulations using population sizes between 103 and 107 suggest extremely high levels of microbial diversity in environments that sustain large populations. However, census and effective population sizes may differ considerably, and because we know nothing of the evolutionary history of environmental microbial populations, we also have no idea what Ne of environmental populations is. On the one hand, this reflects our ignorance of the microbial world. On the other hand, the tests and simulations illustrate interactions between microbial diversity and microbial population genetics that should inform our thinking in microbial ecology. Because of the different views on microbial diversity across these disciplines, such interactions are crucial if we are to understand the role of genes in microbial communities. [source] How well can animals navigate?ENVIRONMETRICS, Issue 4 2006Estimating the circle of confusion from tracking data Abstract State-space models have recently been shown to effectively model animal movement. In this paper we illustrate how such models can be used to improve our knowledge of animal navigation ability, something which is poorly understood. This work is of great interest when modeling the behavior of animals that are migrating, often over tremendously large distances. We use the term circle of confusion, first proposed by Kendall (1974), to describe the general inability of an animal to know its location precisely. Our modeling strategy enables us to statistically describe the circle of confusion associated with any animal movements where departure and destination points are known. For illustration, we use ARGOS satellite telemetry of leatherback turtles migrating over a distance of approximately 4000,km in the Atlantic Ocean. Robust features of the model enable one to deal with outlying observations, highly characteristic of these types of data. Although specifically designed for data obtained using satellite telemetry, our approach is generalizable to other common kinds of movement data such as archival tag data. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Ds -optimal designs for studying combinations of chemicals using multiple fixed-ratio ray experimentsENVIRONMETRICS, Issue 2 2005Michelle Casey Abstract Detecting and characterizing interactions among chemicals is an important environmental issue. Traditional factorial designs become infeasible as the number of compounds under study increases. Ray designs, which reduce the amount of experimental effort, can be considered when interest is restricted to relevant mixing ratios. Simultaneous tests for departure from additivity across multiple fixed-ratio rays in the presence and absence of single chemical data have been developed. Tests for characterizing interactions among subsets of chemicals at relevant mixing ratios have also been developed. Of primary importance are precise estimates for the parameters associated with these hypotheses. Since the hypotheses of interest are stated in terms of subsets of parameters, we have developed a methodology for finding Ds -optimal designs, which are associated with the minimum generalized variance of subsets of the parameter vector, along fixed-ratio rays. We illustrate these methods by characterizing the interactions of five organophosphorus pesticides (full-ray) as well as a subset of pesticides (reduced-ray) on a measure of motor activity. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Oceanic influence on the precipitation of the south-east of VenezuelaENVIRONMETRICS, Issue 3 2002Lelys Guenni Abstract The Caroní catchment located in the south-east of Venezuela accounts for 70 per cent of the total hydropower energy of the country. On a year to year basis, it has been shown that low frequency large scale ocean-atmosphere phenomena are highly coupled to the hydroclimatology of the region, El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) being a major forcing mechanism of climatic and hydrological anomalies. Regional differences in amplitude and timing are due to complex orographic interactions, land surface-atmosphere feedback mechanisms and the evolution of dominant synoptic meteorological conditions. A detailed analysis of the relationship between rainfall and several large scale ocean-atmospheric variables was carried out to determine the potential use of large scale climatic information as predictors of the rainfall anomalies over the region. The problem was tackled in two ways: (a) first a seasonal dynamic rainfall model was fitted to monthly rainfall for different locations. In this case rainfall is assumed as a normal variate w which has been transformed to account for its departure from normality and truncated to account for the positive probability mass of zero values, which corresponds to negative values of the normal variable. The time series of the model parameters and the macroclimatic variables are inspected for their potential relationship with local rainfall via the stochastic model. (b) Second, dynamic linear regression models between the macroclimatic variables as predictors and the rainfall anomalies as predictant were fitted to evaluate and quantify the significance of these dependencies. Consistent patterns are observed with the Tropical Atlantic and Pacific ocean temperature anomalies, in which a significant negative relationship has been present since 1976, indicating an overall decrease (increase) in rainfall when the Pacific and the Tropical Atlantic are warmer (colder) than normal. In all cases the results suggest that the relationships between rainfall anomalies and the macroclimatic variables are not constant with time. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Optimal Portfolio Allocation under Higher MomentsEUROPEAN FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2006Eric Jondeau C22; C51; G12 Abstract We evaluate how departure from normality may affect the allocation of assets. A Taylor series expansion of the expected utility allows to focus on certain moments and to compute the optimal portfolio allocation numerically. A decisive advantage of this approach is that it remains operational even for a large number of assets. While the mean-variance criterion provides a good approximation of the expected utility maximisation under moderate non-normality, it may be ineffective under large departure from normality. In such cases, the three-moment or four-moment optimisation strategies may provide a good approximation of the expected utility. 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