Bologna emeritus?

Die Expertise von Andrea C. Blättler und Franz-Dominik Imhof beschreibt, analysiert und erklärt die Entwicklung des Bologna-Prozesses sowie den daraus entstehenden europäischen Hochschulraum. Dazu werden Themen, Akteur:innen, Strukturen und Mechanismen beschrieben und kritische Stimmen aus Bildungspolitik und Wissenschaft zur Sprache gebracht. Mittels Policy-Analyse und Gesellschaftstheorie wird erklärt, warum der komplexe Prozess trotz geringer Verrechtlichung große Auswirkungen auf die Hochschullandschaft hatte. Autorin und Autor analysieren den Status quo nach der Minister:innenkonferenz in Paris 2018 sowie mögliche Zukunftsszenarien und zeigen auf, wie Akteur:innen an Hochschulen die Weiterentwicklung des europäischen Hochschulraumes bis 2030 beeinflussen können

Bologna emeritus? 20 Jahre hochschulpolitische Integration Europas - Analyse und Kritik

Die Expertise beschreibt, analysiert und erklärt die Entwicklung des Bologna-Prozesses sowie den daraus entstehenden europäischen Hochschulraum. Dazu werden Themen, Akteur:innen, Strukturen und Mechanismen beschrieben und kritische Stimmen aus Bildungspolitik und Wissenschaft zur Sprache gebracht. Mittels Policy-Analyse und Gesellschaftstheorie wird erklärt, warum der komplexe Prozess trotz geringer Verrechtlichung große Auswirkungen auf die Hochschullandschaft hatte. Autorin und Autor analysieren den Status quo nach der Minister:innenkonferenz in Paris 2018 sowie mögliche Zukunftsszenarien und zeigen auf, wie Akteur:innen an Hochschulen die Weiterentwicklung des europäischen Hochschulraumes bis 2030 beeinflussen können

Bologna emeritus?

Die Expertise von Andrea C. Blättler und Franz-Dominik Imhof beschreibt, analysiert und erklärt die Entwicklung des Bologna-Prozesses sowie den daraus entstehenden europäischen Hochschulraum. Dazu werden Themen, Akteur:innen, Strukturen und Mechanismen beschrieben und kritische Stimmen aus Bildungspolitik und Wissenschaft zur Sprache gebracht. Mittels Policy-Analyse und Gesellschaftstheorie wird erklärt, warum der komplexe Prozess trotz geringer Verrechtlichung große Auswirkungen auf die Hochschullandschaft hatte. Autorin und Autor analysieren den Status quo nach der Minister:innenkonferenz in Paris 2018 sowie mögliche Zukunftsszenarien und zeigen auf, wie Akteur:innen an Hochschulen die Weiterentwicklung des europäischen Hochschulraumes bis 2030 beeinflussen können

Acceptance, Satisfaction, and Preference With Telemedicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2021-2022: Survey Among Patients With Chronic Pain.

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many health care providers to make changes in their treatment, with telemedicine being expanded on a large scale. An earlier study investigated the acceptance of telephone calls but did not record satisfaction with treatment or patients' preferences. This warranted a follow-up study to investigate acceptance, satisfaction, and preferences regarding telemedicine, comprising of phone consultations, among health care recipients. OBJECTIVE The primary aim was to assess the acceptance and satisfaction of telemedicine during the subsequent months of 2021-2022, after the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland. Furthermore, we aimed to assess patients' preferences and whether these differed in patients who had already experienced telemedicine in the past, as well as correlations between acceptance and satisfaction, pain intensity, general condition, perception of telemedicine, and catastrophizing. Finally, we aimed to investigate whether more governmental restrictions were correlated with higher acceptance. METHODS An anonymous cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted between January 27, 2021, and February 4, 2022, enrolling patients undergoing outpatient pain therapy in a tertiary university clinic. We conducted a descriptive analysis of acceptance and satisfaction with telemedicine and investigated patients' preferences. Further, we conducted a descriptive and correlational analysis of the COVID-19 stringency index. Spearman correlation analysis and a chi-square test for categorical data were used with Cramer V statistic to assess effect sizes. RESULTS Our survey was completed by 60 patients. Telemedicine acceptance and satisfaction were high, with an average score of 7.6 (SD 3.3; on an 11-point Numeric Rating Scale from 0=not at all to 10=completely), and 8.8 (SD 1.8), respectively. Respondents generally preferred on-site consultations to telemedicine (n=35, 58% vs n=24, 40%). A subgroup analysis revealed that respondents who already had received phone consultation, showed a higher preference for telemedicine (n/N=21/42, 50% vs n/N=3/18, 17%; χ22 [N=60]=7.5, P=.02, Cramer V=0.354), as well as those who had been treated for more than 3 months (n/N=17/31, 55% vs n/N=7/29, 24%; χ22 [N=60]=6.5, P=.04, Cramer V=0.329). Acceptance of telemedicine showed a moderate positive correlation with satisfaction (rs{58}=0.41, P<.05), but there were no correlations between the COVID-19 stringency index and the other variables. CONCLUSIONS Despite high acceptance of and satisfaction with telemedicine, patients preferred on-site consultations. Preference for telemedicine was markedly higher in patients who had already received phone consultations or had been treated for longer than 3 months. This highlights the need to convey knowledge of eHealth services to patients and the value of building meaningful relationships with patients at the beginning of treatment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the modality of patient care should be discussed individually

Constraints on ocean carbonate chemistry and p_(CO_2) in the Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic

One of the great problems in the history of Earth’s climate is how to reconcile evidence for liquid water and habitable climates on early Earth with the Faint Young Sun predicted from stellar evolution models. Possible solutions include a wide range of atmospheric and oceanic chemistries, with large uncertainties in boundary conditions for the evolution and diversification of life and the role of the global carbon cycle in maintaining habitable climates. Increased atmospheric CO_2 is a common component of many solutions, but its connection to the carbon chemistry of the ocean remains unknown. Here we present calcium isotope data spanning the period from 2.7 to 1.9 billion years ago from evaporitic sedimentary carbonates that can test this relationship. These data, from the Tumbiana Formation, the Campbellrand Platform and the Pethei Group, exhibit limited variability. Such limited variability occurs in marine environments with a high ratio of calcium to carbonate alkalinity. We are therefore able to rule out soda ocean conditions during this period of Earth history. We further interpret this and existing data to provide empirical constraints for carbonate chemistry of the ancient oceans and for the role of CO_2 in compensating for the Faint Young Sun

Constraints on ocean carbonate chemistry and p_(CO_2) in the Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic

One of the great problems in the history of Earth’s climate is how to reconcile evidence for liquid water and habitable climates on early Earth with the Faint Young Sun predicted from stellar evolution models. Possible solutions include a wide range of atmospheric and oceanic chemistries, with large uncertainties in boundary conditions for the evolution and diversification of life and the role of the global carbon cycle in maintaining habitable climates. Increased atmospheric CO_2 is a common component of many solutions, but its connection to the carbon chemistry of the ocean remains unknown. Here we present calcium isotope data spanning the period from 2.7 to 1.9 billion years ago from evaporitic sedimentary carbonates that can test this relationship. These data, from the Tumbiana Formation, the Campbellrand Platform and the Pethei Group, exhibit limited variability. Such limited variability occurs in marine environments with a high ratio of calcium to carbonate alkalinity. We are therefore able to rule out soda ocean conditions during this period of Earth history. We further interpret this and existing data to provide empirical constraints for carbonate chemistry of the ancient oceans and for the role of CO_2 in compensating for the Faint Young Sun

Do experts see it in slow motion? Altered timing of action simulation uncovers domain-specific perceptual processing in expert athletes

Accurate encoding of the spatio-temporal properties of others' actions is essential for the successful implementation of daily activities and, even more, for successful sportive performance, given its role in movement coordination and action anticipation. Here we investigated whether athletes are provided with special perceptual processing of spatio-temporal properties of familiar sportive actions. Basketball and volleyball players and novices were presented with short video-clips of free basketball throws that were partially occluded ahead of realization and were asked to judge whether a subsequently presented pose was either taken from the same throw depicted in the occluded video (action identification task) or temporally congruent with the expected course of the action during the occlusion period (explicit timing task). Results showed that basketball players outperformed the other groups in detecting action compatibility when the pose depicted earlier or synchronous, but not later phases of the movement as compared to the natural course of the action during occlusion. No difference was obtained for explicit estimations of timing compatibility. This leads us to argue that the timing of simulated actions in the experts might be slower than that of perceived actions ("slow-motion" bias), allowing for more detailed representation of ongoing actions and refined prediction abilities

Mineralogy, early marine diagenesis, and the chemistry of shallow-water carbonate sediments

Shallow-water carbonate sediments constitute the bulk of sedimentary carbonates in the geologic record and are widely used archives of Earth’s chemical and climatic history. One of the main limitations in interpreting the geochemistry of ancient carbonate sediments is the potential for post-depositional diagenetic alteration. In this study, we use paired measurements of calcium (44Ca/40Ca or δ44Ca) and magnesium (26Mg/24Mg or δ26Mg) isotope ratios in sedimentary carbonates and associated pore-fluids as a tool to understand the mineralogical and diagenetic history of Neogene shallow-water carbonate sediments from the Bahamas and southwest Australia. We find that the Ca and Mg isotopic composition of bulk carbonate sediments at these sites exhibits systematic stratigraphic variability that is related to both mineralogy and early marine diagenesis. The observed variability in bulk sediment Ca isotopes is best explained by changes in the extent and style of early marine diagenesis from one where the composition of the diagenetic carbonate mineral is determined by the chemistry of the fluid (fluid-buffered) to one where the composition of the diagenetic carbonate mineral is determined by the chemistry of the precursor sediment (sediment-buffered). Our results indicate that this process, together with variations in carbonate mineralogy (aragonite, calcite, and dolomite), plays a fundamental and underappreciated role in determining the regional and global stratigraphic expressions of geochemical tracers (δ13C, δ18O, major, minor, and trace elements) in shallow-water carbonate sediments in the geologic record. Our results also provide evidence that a large shallow-water carbonate sink that is enriched in 44Ca can explain the mismatch between the δ44/40Ca value of rivers and deep-sea carbonate sediments and call into question the hypothesis that the δ44/40Ca value of seawater depends on the mineralogy of primary carbonate precipitations (e.g. ‘aragonite seas’ and ‘calcite seas’). Finally, our results for sedimentary dolomites suggest that paired measurements of Ca and Mg isotopes may provide a unique geochemical fingerprint of mass transfer during dolomitization to better understand the paleo-environmental information preserved in these enigmatic but widespread carbonate minerals

The abrupt onset of the modern South Asian Monsoon winds

The South Asian Monson (SAM) is one of the most intense climatic elements yet its initiation and variations are not well established. Dating the deposits of SAM wind-driven currents in IODP cores from the Maldives yields an age of 12. 9 Ma indicating an abrupt SAM onset, over a short period of 300 kyrs. This coincided with the Indian Ocean Oxygen Minimum Zone expansion as revealed by geochemical tracers and the onset of upwelling reflected by the sediment's content of particulate organic matter. A weaker 'proto-monsoon' existed between 12.9 and 25 Ma, as mirrored by the sedimentary signature of dust influx. Abrupt SAM initiation favors a strong influence of climate in addition to the tectonic control, and we propose that the post Miocene Climate Optimum cooling, together with increased continentalization and establishment of the bipolar ocean circulation, i.e. the beginning of the modern world, shifted the monsoon over a threshold towards the modern system

Corrigendum to “Carbonate delta drift: A new sediment drift type” [Mar. Geol. 401 (2018) 98–111]

The authors regret the mistake in the drawing of the delta drift architecture in figure 11. The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused. [Figure presented