Mobilising different conversations about global justice in education: toward alternative futures in uncertain times

In this article we present four social cartographies with the intention to contribute to different conversations about global justice and education. The cartographies aim to invite curiosity, depth, reflexivity, openness, and the expansion of sensibilities as we engage with different analyses and possibilities for global change. We start with a review of HEADS UP, a social cartography that maps recurrent patterns of representation and engagement commonly found in narratives about poverty, wealth, and global change in North-South engagements and local engagements with diverse populations. We then describe the HOUSE, a social cartography that presents one way of diagnosing current crises and their multiple, overlapping dimensions. The third cartography, the TREE makes a distinction between what is offered by different layers of analyses of social problems in terms of doing, knowing, and being. The last cartography, EarthCARE is presented as a framework for global justice education, which emphasises the integration and entanglement of different dimensions of justice, including ecological, affective, relational, cognitive, and economic dimensions. The four social cartographies address different dimensions of the challenges of mobilising development and global education in socially complex and politically uncertain times

Critical exponents of a multicomponent anisotropic t-J model in one dimension

A recently presented anisotropic generalization of the multicomponent supersymmetric $t-J$ model in one dimension is investigated. This model of fermions with general spin-$S$ is solved by Bethe ansatz for the ground state and the low-lying excitations. Due to the anisotropy of the interaction the model possesses $2S$ massive modes and one single gapless excitation. The physical properties indicate the existence of Cooper-type multiplets of $2S+1$ fermions with finite binding energy. The critical behaviour is described by a $c=1$ conformal field theory with continuously varying exponents depending on the particle density. There are two distinct regimes of the phase diagram with dominating density-density and multiplet-multiplet correlations, respectively. The effective mass of the charge carriers is calculated. In comparison to the limit of isotropic interactions the mass is strongly enhanced in general.Comment: 10 pages, 3 Postscript figures appended as uuencoded compressed tar-file to appear in Z. Phys. B, preprint Cologne-94-474

Thermodynamics of the Anisotropic Spin-1/2 Heisenberg Chain and Related Quantum Chains

The free energy and correlation lengths of the spin-1/2 $XYZ$ chain are studied at finite temperature. We use the quantum transfer matrix approach and derive non-linear integral equations for all eigenvalues. Analytic results are presented for the low-temperature asymptotics, in particular for the critical $XXZ$ chain in an external magnetic field. These results are compared to predictions by conformal field theory. The integral equations are solved numerically for the non-critical $XXZ$ chain and the related spin-1 biquadratic chain at arbitrary temperature.Comment: 31 pages, LATEX, 5 PostScript figures appended, preprint cologne-93-471

Extended Follow-Up Following a Phase 2b Randomized Trial of the Candidate Malaria Vaccines FP9 ME-TRAP and MVA ME-TRAP among Children in Kenya

Background. "FFM ME-TRAP'' is sequential immunisation with two attenuated poxvirus vectors (FP9 and modified vaccinia virus Ankara) delivering the pre-erythrocytic malaria antigen ME-TRAP. Over nine months follow-up in our original study, there was no evidence that FFM ME-TRAP provided protection against malaria. The incidence of malaria was slightly higher in children who received FFM ME-TRAP, but this was not statistically significant (hazard ratio 1.5, 95% CI 1.0-2.3). Although the study was unblinded, another nine months follow-up was planned to monitor the incidence of malaria and other serious adverse events. Methods and Findings. 405 children aged 1-6 yrs were initially randomized to vaccination with either FFM ME-TRAP or control (rabies vaccine). 380 children were still available for follow-up after the first nine months. Children were seen weekly and whenever they were unwell for nine months monitoring. The axillary temperature was measured, and blood films taken when febrile. The primary analysis was time to parasitaemia >2,500/mu l. During the second nine months monitoring, 49 events met the primary endpoint (febrile malaria with parasites >2,500/mu l) in the Intention To Treat (ITT) group. 23 events occurred among the 189 children in the FFM ME-TRAP group, and 26 among the 194 children in the control group. In the full 18 months of monitoring, there were 63 events in the FFM ME-TRAP group and 60 in the control group (HR = 1.2, CI 0.84-1.73, p = 0.35). There was no evidence that the HR changed over the 18 months (test for interaction between time and vaccination p = 0.11). Conclusions. Vaccination with FFM ME-TRAP was not protective against malaria in this study. Malaria incidence during 18 months of surveillance was similar in both vaccine groups. Trial Registration. Controlled-Trials. com ISRCTN88335123

Stabilization of dense Antarctic water supply to the Atlantic Ocean overturning circulation

The lower limb of the Atlantic overturning circulation is resupplied by the sinking of dense Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) that forms via intense air–sea–ice interactions next to Antarctica, especially in the Weddell Sea. In the last three decades, AABW has warmed, freshened and declined in volume across the Atlantic Ocean and elsewhere, suggesting an ongoing major reorganization of oceanic overturning. However, the future contributions of AABW to the Atlantic overturning circulation are unclear. Here, using observations of AABW in the Scotia Sea, the most direct pathway from the Weddell Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, we show a recent cessation in the decline of the AABW supply to the Atlantic overturning circulation. The strongest decline was observed in the volume of the densest layers in the AABW throughflow from the early 1990s to 2014; since then, it has stabilized and partially recovered. We link these changes to variability in the densest classes of abyssal waters upstream. Our findings indicate that the previously observed decline in the supply of dense water to the Atlantic Ocean abyss may be stabilizing or reversing and thus call for a reassessment of Antarctic influences on overturning circulation, sea level, planetary-scale heat distribution and global climate

Impacts of selected Ecological Focus Area options in European farmed landscapes on climate regulation and pollination services: a systematic map protocol

Background: This systematic map protocol responds to an urgent policy need to evaluate key environmental benefits of new compulsory greening measures in the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), with the aim of building a policy better linked to environmental performance. The systematic map will focus on Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs), in which larger arable farmers must dedicate 5% of their arable land to ecologically beneficial habitats, landscape features and land uses. The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre has used a software tool called the ‘EFA calculator’ to inform the European Commission about environmental benefits of EFA implementation. However, there are gaps in the EFA calculator’s coverage of ecosystem services, especially ‘global climate regulation’, and an opportunity to use systematic mapping methods to enhance its capture of evidence, in advance of forthcoming CAP reforms. We describe a method for assembling a database of relevant, peer-reviewed research conducted in all agricultural landscapes in Europe and neighbouring countries with similar biogeography, addressing the primary question: what are the impacts of selected EFA features in agricultural land on two policy-relevant ecosystem service outcomes—global climate regulation and pollination? The method is streamlined to allow results in good time for the current, time-limited opportunity to influence reforms of the CAP greening measures at European and Member State level. Methods: We will search four bibliographic databases in English, using a predefined and tested search string that focuses on a subset of EFA options and ecosystem service outcomes. The options and outcomes are selected as those with particular policy relevance and traction. Only articles in English will be included. We will screen search results at title, abstract and full text levels, recording the number of studies deemed non-relevant (with reasons at full text). A systematic map database that displays the meta-data (i.e. descriptive summary information about settings and methods) of relevant studies will be produced following full text assessment. The systematic map database will be published as a MS-Excel database. The nature and extent of the evidence base will be discussed, and the applicability of methods to convert the available evidence into EFA calculator scores will be assessed

Human Pathogen Shown to Cause Disease in the Threatened Eklhorn Coral Acropora palmata

Coral reefs are in severe decline. Infections by the human pathogen Serratia marcescens have contributed to precipitous losses in the common Caribbean elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata, culminating in its listing under the United States Endangered Species Act. During a 2003 outbreak of this coral disease, called acroporid serratiosis (APS), a unique strain of the pathogen, Serratia marcescens strain PDR60, was identified from diseased A. palmata, human wastewater, the non-host coral Siderastrea siderea and the corallivorous snail Coralliophila abbreviata. In order to examine humans as a source and other marine invertebrates as vectors and/or reservoirs of the APS pathogen, challenge experiments were conducted with A. palmata maintained in closed aquaria to determine infectivity of strain PDR60 from reef and wastewater sources. Strain PDR60 from wastewater and diseased A. palmata caused disease signs in elkhorn coral in as little as four and five days, respectively, demonstrating that wastewater is a definitive source of APS and identifying human strain PDR60 as a coral pathogen through fulfillment of Koch's postulates. A. palmata inoculated with strain PDR60 from C. abbreviata showed limited virulence, with one of three inoculated fragments developing APS signs within 13 days. Strain PDR60 from non-host coral S. siderea showed a delayed pathogenic effect, with disease signs developing within an average of 20 days. These results suggest that C. abbreviata and non-host corals may function as reservoirs or vectors of the APS pathogen. Our results provide the first example of a marine “reverse zoonosis” involving the transmission of a human pathogen (S. marcescens) to a marine invertebrate (A. palmata). These findings underscore the interaction between public health practices and environmental health indices such as coral reef survival

Exchanging knowledge to improve organic arable farming: an evaluation of knowledge exchange tools with farmer groups across Europe

Organic farming is knowledge intensive. To support farmers in improving yields and organic agriculture systems, there is a need to improve how knowledge is shared. There is an established culture of sharing ideas, successes and failures in farming. The internet and information technologies open up new opportunities for knowledge exchange involving farmers, researchers, advisors and other practitioners. The OK-Net Arable brought together practitioners from regional Farmer Innovation Groups across Europe in a multi-actor project to explore how online knowledge exchange could be improved. Feedback from the groups was obtained for 35 ‘tools’, defined as end-user materials, such as technical guides, videos and websites informing about practices in organic agriculture. The groups also selected one practice to test on farms, sharing their experiences with others through workshops, exchange visits and through videos

The evolution of galaxies from primeval irregulars to present-day ellipticals

The current understanding of galaxy formation is that it proceeds in a 'bottom up' way, with the formation of small clumps of gas and stars that merge hierarchically until giant galaxies are built up. The baryonic gas loses the thermal energy by radiative cooling and falls towards the centres of the new galaxies, while supernovae (SNe) blow gas out. Any realistic model therefore requires a proper treatment of these processes, but hitherto this has been far from satisfactory. Here we report an ultra-high-resolution simulation that follows evolution from the earliest stages of galaxy formation through the period of dynamical relaxation. The bubble structures of gas revealed in our simulation ($< 3\times10^8$ years) resemble closely the high-redshift Lyman $\alpha$ emitters (LAEs). After $10^9$ years these bodies are dominated by stellar continuum radiation and look like the Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) known as the high-redshift star-forming galaxies at which point the abundance of elements heavier than helium ("metallicity") appears to be solar. After $1.3\times10^{10}$ years, these galaxies resemble present-day ellipticals.Comment: 27 pages and 4 figures, Supplementary Information included, movie available on http://www.isc.senshu-u.ac.jp/~thj0613/natur