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Scientific Understanding (scientific + understanding)
Selected AbstractsWildfire Policy and Public Lands: Integrating Scientific Understanding with Social Concerns across LandscapesCONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 4 2004MICHAEL P. DOMBECK administración de bosques; fuego no controlado; política; Servicio Forestal Estados Unidos; tierras públicas Abstract:,Efforts to suppress wildfires have become increasingly problematic in recent years as costs have risen, threats to firefighter safety have escalated, and detrimental impacts to ecosystems have multiplied. Wildfires that escape initial suppression often expand into large, high-intensity summer blazes. Lost is the legacy of smaller fires that likely burned outside extreme weather and fuel conditions and resulted in less severe impacts. Despite the recognized need for modifications to existing policies and practices, resource agencies have been slow to respond. The spread of exotic species, climate change, and increasing human development in wildlands further complicates the issue. New policies are needed that integrate social and ecological needs across administrative boundaries and broad landscapes. These policies should promote a continuum of treatments with active management and reduction of fuel hazard in wildland-urban interface zones and reintroduction of fire in wildlands. Management goals should focus on restoration of the long-term ecological health of the land. Projects that reduce fuel loads but compromise the integrity of soil, water supplies, or watersheds will do more harm than good in the long run. Despite significant ecological concerns, learning to live with fire remains primarily a social issue that will require greater political leadership, agency innovation, public involvement, and community responsibility. Resumen:,En años recientes, los esfuerzos para suprimir los fuegos no controlados se han vuelto cada vez más problemáticos por el incremento de costos, el aumento de las amenazas a la seguridad de bomberos y se la multiplicio, de los impactos perjudiciales a los ecosistemas. Los incendios que escapan la supresión inicial a menudo se expanden a grandes conflagraciones estivales de alta intensidad. Se ha perdido el legado de fuegos menores que probablemente se llevaban a cabo en condiciones climáticas y de combustible extremas que tenían impactos menos severos. A pesar del reconocimiento de la necesidad de modificaciones a las políticas y prácticas actuales, las agencias han respondido lentamente. La expansión de especies exóticas, el cambio climático y el incremento del desarrollo humano en áreas silvestres complican el problema aún más. Se requieren políticas nuevas que integren necesidades sociales y ecológicas más allá de límites administrativos y en paisajes amplios. Estas políticas deben promover un continuo de tratamientos con gestión activa y reducción de riesgo de combustión en la interfase área silvestre-urbana y la reintroducción de fuego en áreas silvestres. Las metas de la gestión deben enfocar en la restauración de la salud ecológica a largo plazo. Los proyectos que reducen la carga de combustible pero que comprometen la integridad del suelo, las reservas de agua o cuencas hidrológicas no serán de mucha utilidad en el largo plazo. A pesar de preocupaciones ecológicas significativas, aprender a vivir con fuego seguirá siendo un aspecto social que requerirá de mayor liderazgo político, innovación de agencias, participación del público y responsabilidad comunitaria. [source] Assessing environmental risks of transgenic plantsECOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 2 2006D. A. Andow Abstract By the end of the 1980s, a broad consensus had developed that there were potential environmental risks of transgenic plants requiring assessment and that this assessment must be done on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the transgene, recipient organism, intended environment of release, and the frequency and scale of the intended introduction. Since 1990, there have been gradual but substantial changes in the environmental risk assessment process. In this review, we focus on changes in the assessment of risks associated with non-target species and biodiversity, gene flow, and the evolution of resistance. Non-target risk assessment now focuses on risks of transgenic plants to the intended local environment of release. Measurements of gene flow indicate that it occurs at higher rates than believed in the early 1990s, mathematical theory is beginning to clarify expectations of risks associated with gene flow, and management methods are being developed to reduce gene flow and possibly mitigate its effects. Insect pest resistance risks are now managed using a high-dose/refuge or a refuge-only strategy, and the present research focuses on monitoring for resistance and encouraging compliance to requirements. We synthesize previous models for tiering risk assessment and propose a general model for tiering. Future transgenic crops are likely to pose greater challenges for risk assessment, and meeting these challenges will be crucial in developing a scientifically coherent risk assessment framework. Scientific understanding of the factors affecting environmental risk is still nascent, and environmental scientists need to help improve environmental risk assessment. [source] Parallel processing of remotely sensed hyperspectral imagery: full-pixel versus mixed-pixel classificationCONCURRENCY AND COMPUTATION: PRACTICE & EXPERIENCE, Issue 13 2008Antonio J. Plaza Abstract The rapid development of space and computer technologies allows for the possibility to store huge amounts of remotely sensed image data, collected using airborne and satellite instruments. In particular, NASA is continuously gathering high-dimensional image data with Earth observing hyperspectral sensors such as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's airborne visible,infrared imaging spectrometer (AVIRIS), which measures reflected radiation in hundreds of narrow spectral bands at different wavelength channels for the same area on the surface of the Earth. The development of fast techniques for transforming massive amounts of hyperspectral data into scientific understanding is critical for space-based Earth science and planetary exploration. Despite the growing interest in hyperspectral imaging research, only a few efforts have been devoted to the design of parallel implementations in the literature, and detailed comparisons of standardized parallel hyperspectral algorithms are currently unavailable. This paper compares several existing and new parallel processing techniques for pure and mixed-pixel classification in hyperspectral imagery. The distinction of pure versus mixed-pixel analysis is linked to the considered application domain, and results from the very rich spectral information available from hyperspectral instruments. In some cases, such information allows image analysts to overcome the constraints imposed by limited spatial resolution. In most cases, however, the spectral bands collected by hyperspectral instruments have high statistical correlation, and efficient parallel techniques are required to reduce the dimensionality of the data while retaining the spectral information that allows for the separation of the classes. In order to address this issue, this paper also develops a new parallel feature extraction algorithm that integrates the spatial and spectral information. The proposed technique is evaluated (from the viewpoint of both classification accuracy and parallel performance) and compared with other parallel techniques for dimensionality reduction and classification in the context of three representative application case studies: urban characterization, land-cover classification in agriculture, and mapping of geological features, using AVIRIS data sets with detailed ground-truth. Parallel performance is assessed using Thunderhead, a massively parallel Beowulf cluster at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The detailed cross-validation of parallel algorithms conducted in this work may specifically help image analysts in selection of parallel algorithms for specific applications. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] On the Very Idea of a Science Forming FacultyDIALECTICA, Issue 2 2002John Collins It has been speculated, by Chomsky and others, that our capacity for scientific understanding is not only enabled but also limited by a biologically endowed science forming faculty (SFF). I look at two sorts of consideration for the SFF thesis and find both wanting. Firstly, it has been claimed that a problem-mystery distinction militates for the SFF thesis. I suggest that the distinction can be coherently drawn for cases, but that the purported,evidence'for even a fairly lose general demarcation of problems and mysteries is not best explained by a SFF. Secondly, I consider in detail a range of cognitive considerations for the SFF thesis and contend that it is at best moot whether science can be so construed as to make it feasible that it is a faculty competence. [source] Ecological research in the office of research and development at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: An overview of new directions,,ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY & CHEMISTRY, Issue 4 2000Rick A. Linthurst Abstract In virtually every major environmental act, Congress has required that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) ensure not only that the air be safe to breathe, the water safe to drink, and the food supply free of contamination, but also that the environment be protected. In response, the U.S. EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD) has established research to improve ecosystem risk assessment and management, identifying it as one of the highest priority research areas for investment over the next 10 years. The research is intended to provide environmental managers with new tools and flexible guidance that reflect a holistic environmental management perspective of science and that can be applied both to common and unique problems. In keeping with its responsibility to provide the U.S. EPA with science that supports a dynamic changing regulatory agenda, the ORD has set the goal of its Ecological Research Program to "provide the scientific understanding required to measure, model, maintain and/or restore, at multiple scales, the integrity and sustainability of ecosystems now, and in the future." In the context of this program, ecological integrity is defined in relative terms as the maintenance of ecosystem structure and function characteristic of a reference condition deemed appropriate for its use by society, and sustainability is defined as the ability of an ecosystem to maintain relative ecological integrity into the future. Therefore, the research program will emphasize relative risk and consider the impact of multiple stressors, at multiple scales and at multiple levels of biological organization. The program will also shift from chemical to biological and physical stressors to a far greater extent than in the past. The purpose of this paper is to provide an introduction to the U.S. EPA's changing ecological research program. [source] Trouble on the reef: the imperative for managing vulnerable and valuable fisheriesFISH AND FISHERIES, Issue 3 2005Yvonne Sadovy Abstract Reef fishes are significant socially, nutritionally and economically, yet biologically they are vulnerable to both over-exploitation and degradation of their habitat. Their importance in the tropics for living conditions, human health, food security and economic development is enormous, with millions of people and hundreds of thousands of communities directly dependent, and many more indirectly so. Reef fish fisheries are also critical safety valves in times of economic or social hardship or disturbance, and are more efficient, less wasteful and support far more livelihoods per tonne produced than industrial scale fisheries. Yet, relative to other fisheries globally, those associated with coral reefs are under-managed, under-funded, under-monitored, and as a consequence, poorly understood or little regarded by national governments. Even among non-governmental organizations, which are increasingly active in tropical marine issues, there is typically little focus on reef-associated resources, the interest being more on biodiversity per se or protection of coral reef habitat. This essay explores the background and history to this situation, examines fishery trends over the last 30 years, and charts a possible way forward given the current realities of funding, capacity, development patterns and scientific understanding of coral reef ecosystems. The luxury live reef food-fish trade is used throughout as a case study because it exemplifies many of the problems and challenges of attaining sustainable use of coral reef-associated resources. The thesis developed is that sustaining reef fish fisheries and conserving biodiversity can be complementary, rather than contradictory, in terms of yield from reef systems. I identify changes in perspectives needed to move forward, suggest that we must be cautious of ,fashionable' solutions or apparent ,quick fixes', and argue that fundamental decisions must be made concerning the short and long-term values of coral reef-associated resources, particularly fish, for food and cash and regarding alternative sources of protein. Not to address the problems will inevitably lead to growing poverty, hardship and social unrest in many areas. [source] Food process engineering and dairy technology at the Technical University of MunichINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DAIRY TECHNOLOGY, Issue 4 2003Ulrich Kulozik The Chair for Food Process Engineering and Dairy Technology at the Technical University of Munich in Freising-Weihenstephan has been installed since 1992 in a new building hosting modern and well-equipped laboratories and pilot-plant facilities. Its objectives in terms of research are to participate in the development of the scientific understanding of complex food systems and their constitutive components, and the way they interact with the process during manufacturing. The aim is to allow the production of food products with desired properties, improved quality and optimal safety, while ensuring an efficient use of raw materials and of the energy required for industrial production. The methodology used involves the fractionation of complex systems and the systematic study of their constitutive components taken in isolation as well as in various combinations. Milk, as a naturally complex raw material, receives particular attention, but research activities increasingly extend to other functional food substrates such as eggs. The research activities are organized into three working groups that reflect the core competencies developed at the chair throughout the years: Bio-Processes and Aseptic Processing, Formation of Structures in Food Systems, and Protein Technology. Its key position within the ,Centre of Life and Food Science' of the Technical University of Munich fosters interdisciplinary interactions with many specialized scientists, and therefore provides a broad perspective regarding the comprehension of the complex implications of modern food and pharmaceutical product manufacturing. [source] Human Security and ConstructivismINTERNATIONAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES, Issue 3 2001Edward Newman This article explores the concept of "human security" as an academic and fledgling policy movement that seeks to place the individual,or people collectively,as the referent of security. It does this against a background of evolving transnational norms relating to security and governance, and the development of scientific understanding that challenges orthodox conceptions of security. It suggests that human security is not a coherent or objective school of thought. Rather, there are different, and sometimes competing, conceptions of human security that may reflect different sociological/cultural and geostrategic orientations. The article argues that the emergence of the concept of human security,as a broad, multifaceted, and evolving conception of security,rreflects the impact of values and norms on international relations. It also embraces a range of alliances, actors, and agendas that have taken us beyond the traditional scope of international politics and diplomacy. As a demonstration of change in international relations, of evolving identities and interests, this is best explained with reference to "social constructivist" thought, in contradistinction with the structural realist mainstream of international relations. In a constructivist vein, the article suggests that empirical research is already building a case in support of human security thinking that is, slowly, being acknowledged by decision-makers, against the logic of realist determinism. [source] Social Representations Theory: A Progressive Research Programme for Social PsychologyJOURNAL FOR THE THEORY OF SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR, Issue 4 2008MARTIN W. BAUER ABSTRACT The study "Psychoanalysis,its image and its public" intimates that common sense is increasingly informed by science. But common sense asserts its autonomy and, in turn, may affect the trajectory of science. This is a process that leads to many differentiations,in common sense, in scientific innovation and in political and regulatory structures. Bauer and Gaskell's toblerone model of triangles of mediation provided a distillation of their reading of "La Psychanalyse." Here it was argued that representations are multi-modal phenomena necessitating the use of multiple methodologies (comparative and longitudinal; qualitative and quantitative). In this paper we briefly summarise these arguments and elaborate ways in which social representation theory can be considered a progressive research programme. "Progressive" because as the theory has developed it has extended the range and depth of its conceptual basis; it provides a new synthesis for the social scientific understanding of the phenomena of common sense and of representation; it acts as an antidote to the reductionism of public opinion and, finally, it is a stimulus to depart from disciplinary silos. However, there remain unresolved issues: how to segment the relevant social milieus and how to close the feedback loop from common sense to science? [source] Living with uncertainty: concept advancementJOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 6 2007Janice Penrod Abstract Aim., This paper reports a study to demonstrate how the scientific understanding of the concept of uncertainty was advanced through a phenomenological study of living with uncertainty. Background., Techniques for concept analysis have evolved to subsume strategies for advancing a concept towards greater clarity and utility for research and practice. Recently, it has been argued that a clear delineation of techniques for concept analysis as separate and distinct from techniques of concept advancement is warranted. This article applies such delineated processes to demonstrate the advancement of the concept of uncertainty. Method., Concept analysis was used to establish an integrated understanding of the state of the science. Gaps in understanding were carefully analysed, resulting in the research question guiding the next phase of concept advancement: what is the nature of the lived experience of uncertainty? A phenomenological investigation of the experience of uncertainty among family caregivers was conducted. Then, using methods of template comparison, the conceptual attributes identified through the phenomenological study were compared and contrasted with the theoretical definition derived through concept analysis. Finally, a new conceptual definition of higher order abstraction, with greater pragmatic utility, was derived. Findings., Uncertainty is rooted in the individual's perception of outcomes or meaning of a situation. Such perceptions challenge one's sense of confidence and/or control to yield varied types and modes of uncertainty. Uncertainty is present oriented. Both cognitive and precognitive ways of knowing are influential in ascribing meaning, anticipating outcomes and adapting strategies. Conclusions., One's sense of confidence and sense of control are primary essences that determine the nature of the experience of uncertainty. The experience of living with uncertainty is dynamic, with fluctuations in the types and modes of uncertainty in response to precognitive and cognitive ways of knowing. Probabilistic paradigms preclude existential and situational modes of uncertainty for which probabilities cannot be appreciated. [source] Principles of Proper Validation: use and abuse of re-sampling for validationJOURNAL OF CHEMOMETRICS, Issue 3-4 2010Kim H. Esbensen Abstract Validation in chemometrics is presented using the exemplar context of multivariate calibration/prediction. A phenomenological analysis of common validation practices in data analysis and chemometrics leads to formulation of a set of generic Principles of Proper Validation (PPV), which is based on a set of characterizing distinctions: (i) Validation cannot be understood by focusing on the methods of validation only; validation must be based on full knowledge of the underlying definitions, objectives, methods, effects and consequences,which are all outlined and discussed here. (ii) Analysis of proper validation objectives implies that there is one valid paradigm only: test set validation. (iii) Contrary to much contemporary chemometric practices (and validation myths), cross-validation is shown to be unjustified in the form of monolithic application of a one-for-all procedure (segmented cross-validation) on all data sets. Within its own design and scope, cross-validation is in reality a sub-optimal simulation of test set validation, crippled by a critical sampling variance omission, as it manifestly is based on one data set only (training data set). Other re-sampling validation methods are shown to suffer from the same deficiencies. The PPV are universal and can be applied to all situations in which the assessment of performance is desired: prediction-, classification-, time series forecasting-, modeling validation. The key element of PPV is the Theory of Sampling (TOS), which allow insight into all variance generating factors, especially the so-called incorrect sampling errors, which, if not properly eliminated, are responsible for a fatal inconstant sampling bias, for which no statistical correction is possible. In the light of TOS it is shown how a second data set (test set, validation set) is critically necessary for the inclusion of the sampling errors incurred in all ,future' situations in which the validated model must perform. Logically, therefore, all one data set re-sampling approaches for validation, especially cross-validation and leverage-corrected validation, should be terminated, or at the very least used only with full scientific understanding and disclosure of their detrimental variance omissions and consequences. Regarding PLS-regression, an emphatic call is made for stringent commitment to test set validation based on graphical inspection of pertinent t,u plots for optimal understanding of the X,Y interrelationships and for validation guidance. QSAR/QSAP forms a partial exemption from the present test set imperative with no generalization potential. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Building a learning progression for celestial motion: Elementary levels from an earth-based perspectiveJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 7 2010Julia D. Plummer Abstract Prior research has demonstrated that neither children nor adults hold a scientific understanding of the big ideas of astronomy, as described in standards documents for science education [National Research Council [1996]. National science education standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; American Association for the Advancement of Science 1993. Benchmarks for science literacy. New York: Oxford University Press]. This manuscript focuses on ideas in astronomy that are at the foundation of elementary students' understanding of the discipline: the apparent motion of the sun, moon, and stars as seen from an earth-based perspective. Lack of understanding of these concepts may hinder students' progress towards more advanced understanding in the domain. We have analyzed the logic of the domain and synthesized prior research assessing children's knowledge to develop a set of learning trajectories that describe how students' initial ideas about apparent celestial motion as they enter school can be built upon, through successively more sophisticated levels of understanding, to reach a level that aligns with the scientific view. Analysis of an instructional intervention with elementary students in the planetarium was used to test our initial construction of the learning trajectories. This manuscript presents a first look at the use of a learning progression framework in analyzing the structure of astronomy education. We discuss how this work may eventually lead towards the development and empirical testing of a full learning progression on the big idea: how children learn to describe and explain apparent patterns of celestial motion. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47:768,787, 2010 [source] The use of a computer simulation to promote scientific conceptions of moon phasesJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 3 2008Randy L. Bell Abstract This study described the conceptual understandings of 50 early childhood (Pre-K-3) preservice teachers about standards-based lunar concepts before and after inquiry-based instruction utilizing educational technology. The instructional intervention integrated the planetarium software Starry Night BackyardÔ with instruction on moon phases from Physics by Inquiry by McDermott (1996). Data sources included drawings, interviews, and a lunar shapes card sort. Videotapes of participants' interviews were used along with the drawings and card sorting responses during data analysis. The various data were analyzed via a constant comparative method in order to produce profiles of each participant's pre- and postinstruction conceptual understandings of moon phases. Results indicated that before instruction none of the participants understood the cause of moon phases, and none were able to draw both scientific moon shapes and sequences. After the instruction with technology integration, most participants (82%) held a scientific understanding of the cause of moon phases and were able to draw scientific shapes and sequences (80%). The results of this study demonstrate that a well-designed computer simulation used within a conceptual change model of instruction can be very effective in promoting scientific understandings. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 346,372, 2008 [source] Conceptual and Design Essentials for Evaluating Mechanisms of ChangeALCOHOLISM, Issue 2007Matthew K. Nock Background:, Considerable progress has been made toward the development of evidence-based treatments for a wide range of psychological disorders; however, little is known about the mechanisms through which these treatments actually lead to clinical change. Although the use of traditional randomized controlled treatment designs and tests of statistical mediation have significantly advanced understanding of psychological treatments, they are insufficient to test mechanisms of change. Method:, This article outlines the conceptual and methodological requirements for evaluating mechanisms of change, highlights the importance of such a focus, and offers specific recommendations for research aimed at elucidating change mechanisms. Results and Conclusions:, Conceptualizing and conducting studies that test mechanisms of change requires substantial modifications to traditional research designs, but doing so will significantly enhance scientific understanding as well as the efficiency and effectiveness of clinical interventions. [source] Young children learning about living things: A case study of conceptual change from ontological and social perspectivesJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 5 2004Grady VenvilleArticle first published online: 16 APR 200 Although research from a developmental/psychological perspective indicates that many children do not have a scientific understanding of living things, even by the age of 10 years, little research has been conducted about how students learn this science topic in the classroom. This exploratory research used a case-study design and qualitative data-collection methods to investigate the process of conceptual change from ontological and social perspectives when Year 1 (5- and 6-year-old) students were learning about living things. Most students were found to think about living things with either stable, nonscientific or stable, scientific framework theories. Transitional phases of understanding also were identified. Patterns of conceptual change observed over the 5-week period of instruction included theory change and belief revision as well as reversals in beliefs. The predominant pattern of learning, however, was the assimilation of facts and information into the students' preferred framework theory. The social milieu of the classroom context exposed students' scientific and nonscientific beliefs that influenced other individuals in a piecemeal fashion. Children with nonscientific theories of living things were identified as being least able to benefit from socially constructed, scientific knowledge; hence, recommendations are made for teaching that focuses on conceptual change strategies rather than knowledge enrichment. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 449,480, 2004 [source] Preservice elementary teachers' conceptions of moon phases before and after instructionJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 7 2002Kathy Cabe Trundle This study focused on the conceptual understandings held by 78 preservice elementary teachers about moon phases, before and after instruction. Participants in the physics groups received instruction on moon phases in an inquiry-based physics course; participants in the methods group received no instruction on moon phases. The instructive effect of two different types of preinstruction interviews also was compared. The instruction on moon phases used in the study is from Physics by Inquiry by Lillian McDermott. In the study, the method of inquiry followed a qualitative design, involving classroom observations, document analysis, and structured interviews. Inductive data analysis identified patterns and themes in the participants' conceptual understanding. Results indicate that without the instruction, most preservice teachers were likely to hold alternative conceptions on the cause of moon phases. Participants who had the instruction were much more likely to hold a scientific understanding after instruction. The instruction appears to be more effective in promoting a scientific understanding of moon phases than instruction previously reported in the literature. It also appears that using a three-dimensional model or making two-dimensional drawings during the preinstruction interviews does not have instructive value. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 633,658, 2002 [source] The natural landscape metaphor in information visualization: The role of commonsense geomorphologyJOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Issue 2 2010Sara Irina Fabrikant The landscape metaphor was one of the first methods used by the information visualization community to reorganize and depict document archives that are not inherently spatial. The motivation for the use of the landscape metaphor is that everyone intuitively understands landscapes. We critically examine the information visualization designer's ontologies for implementing spatialized landscapes with ontologies of the geographic domain held by lay people. In the second half of the article, we report on a qualitative study where we empirically assessed whether the landscape metaphor has explanatory power for users trying to make sense of spatialized views, and if so, in what ways. Specifically, we are interested in uncovering how lay people interpret hills and valleys in an information landscape, and whether their interpretation is congruent with the current scientific understanding of geomorphologic processes. Our empirical results suggest that neither developers' nor lay users' understanding of terrain visualizations is based on universal understanding of the true process that has shaped a natural landscape into hills and valleys, mountains, and canyons. Our findings also suggest that the information landscape metaphor for sense making of a document collection is not self-evident to lay users, as claimed by information landscape designers. While a deep understanding of geomorphology will probably not be required to successfully use an information landscape, we do suggest that a coherent theory on how people use space will be necessary to produce cognitively useful information visualizations. [source] Nitrogen concentrations in soil solution and surface run-off on irrigated vineyards in AustraliaAUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF GRAPE AND WINE RESEARCH, Issue 2 2009K. BARLOW Abstract Background and Aims:, Water and nutrients exported from vineyards through surface and subsurface pathways have the potential to adversely affect water quality downstream. This project aimed to improve the scientific understanding of the pathways and quantity of Nitrogen (N) leaking from Australian vineyards. Methods and Results:, Seasonal water balance and N in soil solution was monitored in one Rutherglen Shiraz and six Riverina Chardonnay vineyards. Surface run-off was monitored in one vineyard in each wine region. Six vineyards were planted 2 years prior and one Riverina vineyard 10 years prior to study commencement. Two vineyards, one drip and one flood irrigated, were selected on each of the three main soil groups of the Riverina, the Rutherglen vineyard was drip irrigated. The annual risk of leaching extended up to 205 days, the average N (nitrate + nitrite) concentrations in soil solution (1 m) ranged from 0.64 to 82 mg N/L and surface run-off from 0.0 to 0.3 kg N/ha. Conclusions:, The soil N concentration combined with the number of days in which drainage was likely, highlights the potential risk for N export by subsurface pathways, while surface run-off was insignificant. Higher soil N concentrations and fertiliser application increased the risk of N exported beyond the rootzone. Significance of the Study:, N fertiliser inputs could be reduced without affecting vine performance, since several vineyards monitored were above the recommended petiole N concentrations at flowering. This would decrease production costs and reduce the risk of N leaching out of the soil profile to water tables or waterways. [source] Oral 1, ,Colour coded': skin pigment and young people in the West MidlandsBRITISH JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY, Issue 6 2007C. Moss Skin colour affects the lives of young people culturally, socially, emotionally and medically. This project was conceived by a young black film-maker from Handsworth to explore how young people feel about their particular skin pigmentation. Together with the TV company Resource Base and the Dermatology Department at Birmingham Children's Hospital he applied successfully to the Wellcome Trust for a Pulse award which provides funding for arts projects which engage young people with biomedical science. The aims were to engage young people from the Black community in the West Midlands in raising awareness of the determinants of skin colour, and to develop scientific understanding and also film-making and marketing skills of those participating. The film crew and professionals met with young people from ethnic minorities in homes, community centres, schools and on the streets. About 30 took part in developing the music video, another 40 in workshops leading to the drama production, 20 in filmed discussions of their perceptions of skin colour, and six in filming and post-production work. Material was checked for scientific accuracy by the dermatology team. The resulting DVD features a short drama about skin-lightening treatment, and a rap, both written, performed and filmed by the group. Other features include a discussion about skin colour, and question-and-answer sessions with members of the dermatology team. The DVD, which was launched at The Birmingham Artsfest on 9th September 2006, will be marketed to schools throughout the U.K. This work was funded by the Wellcome Trust. [source] Reasoning across ontologically distinct levels: Students' understandings of molecular geneticsJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 7 2007Ravit Golan Duncan Abstract In this article we apply a novel analytical framework to explore students' difficulties in understanding molecular genetics,a domain that is particularly challenging to learn. Our analytical framework posits that reasoning in molecular genetics entails mapping across ontologically distinct levels,an information level containing the genetic information, and a physical level containing hierarchically organized biophysical entities such as proteins, cells, tissues, etc. This mapping requires an understanding of what the genetic information specifies, and how the physical entities in the system mediate the effects of this information. We therefore examined, through interview and written assessments, 10th grade students' understandings of molecular genetics phenomena to uncover the conceptual obstacles involved in reasoning across these ontologically distinct levels. We found that students' described the genetic instructions as containing information about both the structure and function of biological entities across multiple organization levels; a view that is far less constrained than the scientific understandings of the genetic information. In addition, students were often unaware of the different functions of proteins, their relationship to genes, and the role proteins have in mediating the effects of the genetic information. Students' ideas about genes and proteins hindered their ability to reason across the ontologically distinct levels of genetic phenomena, and to provide causal mechanistic explanations of how the genetic information brings about effects of a physical nature. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 938,959, 2007 [source] Good or bad rangeland?LAND DEGRADATION AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2004Hybrid knowledge, local understandings of vegetation dynamics in the Kalahari, science Abstract Using data from field studies in the Kalahari rangelands of Southern Africa, the relationships between ,scientific' and ,land user' interpretations of land degradation and change in nonequilibrium savanna ecosystems are explored. Scientific and land-user views are often regarded as distinct, and even opposed, knowledges. We contest that a more constructive view can be taken through the concept of hybrid knowledge, whereby value is attached to both approaches and through which a more useful and meaningful assessment of environmental change, and its implications for development and natural resource use, can be made. We find that in both the southwestern and northwestern Kalahari, pastoralists have a complex understanding of the patchiness of ecosystem variability, and that they utilise elements of this patchiness of change, notably dimensions of bush encroachment and grass species change that have commonly been regarded as degradation in scientific understandings, within livestock management strategies, especially at times of environmental stress. We urge caution in the application of the term degradation, and a more widespread recognition of the multifaceted dimensions, including benefits, of change within the scientifically recognized variability of nonequilibrium rangelands. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Bodyscapes, Biology, and HeteronormativityAMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Issue 4 2009Pamela L. Geller ABSTRACT The term bodyscape encourages thinking about representation of bodies at multiple scales,from different bodies as they move through space to the microlandscape of individual bodily differences. A hegemonic bodyscape's representations tend to idealize and essentialize bodies' differences to reinforce normative ideas about a society's socioeconomic organization. But, a dominant bodyscape is never absolute. Bodyscapes that depart from or subvert hegemonic representations may simultaneously exist. In Western society, the biomedical bodyscape predominates in scientific understandings of bodily difference. Its representation of sex differences conveys heteronormative notions about gender and sexuality. Because the biomedical bodyscape frames studies of ancient bodies, investigators need recognize how their considerations of labor divisions, familial organization, and reproduction may situate modern (hetero)sexist representations deep within antiquity. To innovate analyses of socioeconomic relations, queer theory allows scholars to interrogate human nature. Doing so produces alternative bodyscapes that represent the diversity of past peoples' social and sexual lives. [Keywords: bodyscape, heteronormativity, queer theory, bioarchaeology, paleoanthropology] [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||