1,927 research outputs found
Conservation science: Reflections and future perspectives
The ICCROM Forum 2013 on Conservation Science resulted in a series of recommendations for improving the
relevance and impact of science within cultural heritage conservation. These recommendations are outlined
in this paper. Central to the Forum recommendations is the responsibility of conservation science to provide
benefit through research and innovation. This relies on shared strategic vision and good governance, to
identify priority needs and align efforts accordingly. To enhance the effectiveness of conservation science
research, it is imperative to adopt an approach based on needs assessment, collaboration, and sharing.
However, to establish whether desired goals are being met, systematic assessment of what is delivered
and how it is used is required. Evaluation tools provide a structured way to identify needs and to measure
results, offering a basis for learning and improvement. A new initiative is outlined, launched by ICCROM in
follow-up to the Forum, to develop a common framework for needs and outcome assessment for heritage
conservation science. To achieve this will require participation and support at multiple levels, and
collaboration is called for to continue and sustain this effort
Ecohydraulic modelling of anabranching rivers
In this paper we provide the first quantitative evidence of the spatial complexity of habitat diversity across the flow regime for locally anabranching channels, and their potential increased biodiversity value in comparison to managed single-thread rivers. Ecohydraulic modelling is used to provide evidence for the potential ecological value of anabranching channels. Hydraulic habitat (biotopes) of an anabranched reach of the River Wear at Wolsingham, UK is compared with an adjacent artificially straightened single-thread reach downstream. 2D hydraulic modelling was undertaken across the flow regime. Simulated depth and velocity data were used to calculate Froude number (Fr) index; known to be closely associated with biotope type, allowing biotope maps to be produced for each flow simulation using published Fr limits. The gross morphology of the anabranched reach appears to be controlling flow hydraulics, creating a complex and diverse biotope distribution at low and intermediate flows. This contrasts markedly with the near uniform biotope pattern modelled for the heavily modified single-thread reach. As discharge increases the pattern of biotopes altered to reflect a generally higher energy system, interestingly, however, a number of low energy biotopes were activated through the anabranched reach as new sub-channels became inundated and this process is creating valuable refugia for macroinvertebrates and fish, during times of flood. In contrast, these low energy areas were not seen in the straightened single thread reach. Model results suggest that anabranched channels have a vital role to play in regulating flood energy on river systems and in creating and maintaining hydraulic habitat diversity
Displays and claims of understanding in conversation by people with aphasia
Background: There is scope for additional research into the specific linguistic and sequential structures used in speech and language therapist (SLT)-led therapeutic conversations with people with aphasia (PWA). Whilst there is some evidence that SLTs use different conversational strategies than the partners of PWA, research to date has focussed mainly on measuring the effects of conversation-based therapiesānot on analysing therapeutic conversations taking place between SLTs and PWA.
Aims: This paper presents an analysis of the use of oh-prefacing by some PWA during therapeutic supported conversations with SLTs.
Methods & Procedures: Normally occurring therapeutic conversations between SLTs and PWA after stroke were qualitatively analysed using Conversation Analysis. Interactions with five PWA were video-recorded, involving three different specialist stroke SLTs.
Outcomes & Results: The analysis revealed a difference in the way some PWA use turns that display understanding (e.g., oh right) versus those that continue the conversation, merely claiming understanding (e.g., right). This use of oh-prefacing is similar to that described in the literature on typical conversations. In our data, SLTs are shown to treat oh-prefaced turns differently from non-oh-prefaced turns, by pursuing the topic in the latter, and progressing on to a new topic in the former.
Conclusions: At least some PWA use oh-prefacing in the same way as non-language-impaired adults to display understanding of information versus merely claiming to understand. The SLTs in our data are shown to treat non-oh-prefaced turns as mere claims of understanding by providing the PWA with additional information, using supported conversation techniques, and pursuing additional same-topic talk, whereas oh-prefaced turns are treated as displays of understanding by being confirmed, and leading to changes of topic. This study is a first step in providing SLTs with a clearer understanding of the ways in which they are assessing the understanding of PWA, which may in turn help them better support non-therapy staff
Long-term flood controls on semi-arid river form: evidence from the Sabie and Olifants rivers, eastern South Africa
Rivers in the Kruger National Park, eastern South Africa, are characterised by bedrock-influenced āmacrochannelsā containing variable alluvial thicknesses and riparian vegetation assemblages. Evidence from the Sabie and Olifants rivers suggests that flows up to moderate floods (<3500 m3 s-1) tend to result in net alluviation, with sediments gradually covering the underlying bedrock. More extreme floods strip alluvium and erode bedrock, effectively exerting the primary control over long-term river morphologic development. On the Olifants River, post-flood aerial LIDAR imagery reveals that the 2012 extreme flood (~14000 m3 s-1) resulted in extensive stripping of stored alluvial sediment, exposing and eroding the underlying weathered bedrock. On the Sabie River, preliminary optically stimulated luminescence ages for remnant alluvium are all less than 1000 years, highlighting typical timescales of sediment storage. Together, these results suggest that while periods of general alluviation occur on these systems, long-term river development results from extreme flood-generated bedrock erosion
Recent Advances in Cytogenetic Technology for Antenatal Genetic Testing
The examination of human chromosomes has been a part of the physicianās laboratory armamentarium since the correct diploid number of human chromosomes was established and a method was developed for the in vitro growth of peripheral blood leukocytes to yield metaphase chromosomes. The discovery that on ultraviolet microscopy (UV), metaphase chromosomes stained with fluorochrome dyes displayed a characteristic pattern of bright and dull bands unique for a given pair of homologous chromosomes, was a major technological breakthrough in human cytogenetics; for the first time, every chromosome in the karyotype could be unequivocally identified. Although the short storage life of fluorochrome-stained chromosomes and the costs of UV microscopy have limited the usability of fluorescence banding, the introduction of one discriminating procedure quickly led to the development of an array of similar banding techniques for conventional microscopy that yield comparable information. Some of these technical procedures depend on enzyme and/or heat denaturation of the chromosomes, resulting in the characteristic banding patterns seen by the trypsin-Giemsa method, the 5M urea method, and the acid-saline-Giemsa technique. A typical human karyotype prepared from metaphase chromosomes treated with trypsin, stained with Giemsa, and photographed with brightfield photomicrographic techniques is shown in Figure 1. Careful examination of this karyotype reveals that each chromosome in the homologous pair has an array of dark and light bands identical with those of its homolog and that each homologous pair, autosomes number 1 to number 22, has a characteristic, easily identifiable banding pattern
Paraphrases and summaries: A means of clarification or a vehicle for articulating a preferred version of student accounts?
The use of group discussions as a means to facilitate learning from experiences is well documented in adventure education literature. Priest and Naismith (1993) assert that the use of the circular discussion method, where the leader poses questions to the participants, is the most common form of facilitation in adventure education. This paper draws on transcripts of facilitation sessions to argue that the widely advocated practice of leader summaries or paraphrases of student responses in these sessions functions as a potential mechanism to control and sponsor particular knowledge(s). Using transcripts from recorded facilitation sessions the analysis focuses on how the leader paraphrases the studentsā responses and how these paraphrases or āformulationsā function to modify or exclude particular aspects of the studentsā responses. I assert that paraphrasing is not simply a neutral activity that merely functions to clarify a student response, it is a subtle means by which the leader of the session can, often inadvertently or unknowingly, alter the studentās reply with the consequence of favouring particular knowledge(s). Revealing the subtle work that leader paraphrases perform is of importance for educators who claim to provide genuine opportunities for students to learn from their experience
Culture or communicative conflict? : The analysis of equivocation in broadcast Japanese political interviews
The focus of this article is on equivocation in Japanese televised interviews, broadcast over a 14-month period in 2012-2013 (before and after the general election of December 16, 2012). An analysis was conducted of responses to questions by three different groups (national politicians, local politicians, and nonpoliticians). Results showed a striking level of equivocation by both national and local politicians, who together equivocated significantly more than nonpoliticians. Furthermore, national level Diet members equivocated significantly more than local politicians, and both coalition groupings when in power were significantly more likely to equivocate than when in opposition. The results were interpreted in terms of the situational theory of communicative conflict and also in terms of cultural norms characteristic of Japanese politics and society. The failure to consider the role of such norms, it is proposed, represents an important omission in the original theory of equivocation
Topographic, Hydraulic, and Vegetative Controls on Bar and Island Development in Mixed BedrockāAlluvial, Multichanneled, Dryland Rivers
We investigate processes of bedrockācore bar and island development in a bedrockāinfluenced anastomosed reach of the Sabie River, Kruger National Park (KNP), eastern South Africa. For sites subject to alluvial stripping during an extreme flood event (~4470ā5630 m3 sā1) in 2012, preā and postāflood aerial photographs and LiDAR data, 2D morphodynamic simulations, and field observations reveal that the thickest surviving alluvial deposits tend to be located over bedrock topographic lows. At a simulated peak discharge (~4500 m3 sā1), most sediment (sand, fine gravel) is mobile but localized deposition on bedrock topographic highs is possible. At lower simulated discharges (<1000 m3 sā1), topographic highs are not submerged, and deposition occurs in lower elevation areas, particularly in areas disconnected from the main channels during falling stage. Field observations suggest that in addition to discharge, rainwash between floods may redistribute sediments from bedrock topographic highs to lower elevation areas, and also highlight the critical role of vegetation colonization in bar stability, and in trapping of additional sediment and organics. These findings challenge the assumptions of preferential deposition on topographic highs that underpin previous analyses of KNP river dynamics, and are synthesized in a new conceptual model that demonstrates how initial bedrock topographic lows become topographic highs (bedrock coreābars and islands) in the latter stages of sediment accumulation. The model provides particular insight into the development of mixed bedrockāalluvial anastomosing along the KNP rivers, but similar processes of bar/island development likely occur along numerous other bedrockāinfluenced rivers across dryland southern Africa and farther afield
The impacts on the mental health of residents of 16 favelas observed during the coronavirus pandemic in Brazil
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