Patterns of ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.) colonization in mountain grasslands: the importance of management practices

International audienceWoody colonization of grasslands is often associated with changes in abiotic or biotic conditions or a combination of both. Widely used as fodder and litter in the past traditional agro-pastoral system, ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.) has now become a colonizing species of mountain grasslands in the French Pyrenees. Its present distribution is dependent on past human activities and it is locally controlled by propagule pressure and abiotic conditions. However, even when all favourable conditions are met, all the potentially colonizable grasslands are not invaded. We hypothesize that management practices should play a crucial role in the control of ash colonization. From empirical field surveys we have compared the botanical composition of a set of grasslands (present and former) differing in management practices and level of ash colonization. We have displayed a kind of successional gradient positively linked to both ash cover and height but not to the age of trees. We have tested the relationships between ash presence in grassland and management types i.e. cutting and/or grazing, management intensity and some grassland communities' features i.e. total and local specific richness and species heterogeneity. Mixed use (cutting and grazing) is negatively linked to ash presence in grassland whereas grazing alone positively. Mixed use and high grazing intensity are directly preventing ash seedlings establishment, when low grazing intensity is allowing ash seedlings establishment indirectly through herbaceous vegetation neglected by livestock. Our results show the existence of a limit between grasslands with and without established ashes corresponding to a threshold in the intensity of use. Under this threshold, when ash is established, the colonization process seems to become irreversible. Ash possesses the ability of compensatory growth and therefore under a high grazing intensity develops a subterranean vegetative reproduction. However the question remains at which stage of seedling development and grazing intensity these strategies could occur

Parenting Culture(s): Ideal-Parent Beliefs Across 37 Countries

What is it to be “an ideal parent”? Does the answer differ across countries and social classes? To answer these questions in a way that minimizes bias and ethnocentrism, we used open-ended questions to explore ideal-parent beliefs among 8,357 mothers and 3,517 fathers from 37 countries. Leximancer Semantic Network Analysis was utilized to first determine parenting culture zones (i.e., countries with shared ideal-parent beliefs) and then extract the predominant themes and concepts in each culture zone. The results yielded specific types of ideal-parent beliefs in five parenting culture zones: being “responsible and children/family-focused” for Asian parents, being “responsible and proper demeanor-focused” for African parents, and being “loving and responsible” for Hispanic-Italian parents. Although the most important themes and concepts were the same in the final two zones—being “loving and patient,” there were subtle differences: English-speaking, European Union, and Russian parents emphasized “being caring,” while French-speaking parents valued “listening” or being “present.” Ideal-parent beliefs also differed by education levels within culture zones, but no general pattern was discerned across culture zones. These findings suggest that the country in which parents were born cannot fully explain their differences in ideal-parent beliefs and that differences arising from social class or education level cannot be dismissed. Future research should consider how these differences affect the validity of the measurements in question and how they can be incorporated into parenting intervention research within and across cultures

Parental Burnout Around the Globe: a 42-Country Study

High levels of stress in the parenting domain can lead to parental burnout, a condition that has severe consequences for both parents and children. It is not yet clear, however, whether parental burnout varies by culture, and if so, why it might do so. In this study, we examined the prevalence of parental burnout in 42 countries (17,409 parents; 71% mothers; M_{age} = 39.20) and showed that the prevalence of parental burnout varies dramatically across countries. Analyses of cultural values revealed that individualistic cultures, in particular, displayed a noticeably higher prevalence and mean level of parental burnout. Indeed, individualism plays a larger role in parental burnout than either economic inequalities across countries, or any other individual and family characteristic examined so far, including the number and age of children and the number of hours spent with them. These results suggest that cultural values in Western countries may put parents under heightened levels of stress

Parenting Culture(s): Ideal-Parent Beliefs Across 37 Countries

What is it to be “an ideal parent”? Does the answer differ across countries and social classes? To answer these questions in a way that minimizes bias and ethnocentrism, we used open-ended questions to explore ideal-parent beliefs among 8,357 mothers and 3,517 fathers from 37 countries. Leximancer Semantic Network Analysis was utilized to first determine parenting culture zones (i.e., countries with shared ideal-parent beliefs) and then extract the predominant themes and concepts in each culture zone. The results yielded specific types of ideal-parent beliefs in five parenting culture zones: being “responsible and children/family-focused” for Asian parents, being “responsible and proper demeanor-focused” for African parents, and being “loving and responsible” for Hispanic-Italian parents. Although the most important themes and concepts were the same in the final two zones—being “loving and patient,” there were subtle differences: English-speaking, European Union, and Russian parents emphasized “being caring,” while French-speaking parents valued “listening” or being “present.” Ideal-parent beliefs also differed by education levels within culture zones, but no general pattern was discerned across culture zones. These findings suggest that the country in which parents were born cannot fully explain their differences in ideal-parent beliefs and that differences arising from social class or education level cannot be dismissed. Future research should consider how these differences affect the validity of the measurements in question and how they can be incorporated into parenting intervention research within and across cultures

Prediksi Kenaikan atau Penurunan Indeks Pasar Keuangan Indonesia dengan Menggunakan Bayesian Network

Investasi saham pada pasar keuangan dilakukan untuk meningkatkan aset pada masa depan. Dalam melakukan investasi harus mempertimbangkan hasil yang akan didapatkan atau biasa disebut return. Setiap investor akan berusaha mendapatkan return semaksimal mungkin dari investasi yang dilakukannya. Oleh karena itu, perlu dilakukan prediksi perubahan kenaikan atau penurunan pada pasar saham. Beberapa metode untuk membuat prediksi adalah Bayesian Network dan Algoritma Naive Bayes. Pada Tugas Akhir ini, dilakukan pemodelan jaringan sektor-sektor pasar keuangan Indonesia dengan menggunakan Bayesian Network, lalu melakukan prediksi berdasarkan kenaikan atau penurunan harga penutupan dari tiap sektor. Metode yang digunakan adalah menggunakan Algoritma Naive Bayes Diskrit dan Kontinu. Setelah itu, menentukan metode yang terbaik untuk perhitungan prediksi dengan melihat tingkat akurasi dari setiap metode dengan confusion matrix. Sektor pasar keuangan yang digunakan yaitu nilai tukar USD/IDR, IHSG, dan Obligasi. Perhitungan dilakukan berdasarkan ketergantungan antara nilai tukar USD/IDR terhadap IHSG, dan nilai tukar USD/IDR terhadap Obligasi. Metode Naive Bayes Diskrit menunjukan hasil yang lebih akurat dengan akurasi sebesar 84% untuk IHSG dan 76% untuk Obligasi. Sedangkan perhitungan dengan metode Naive Bayes Kontinu memiliki akurasi sebesar 52% untuk IHSG dan 48% untuk Obligasi. Sektor nilai tukar USD/IDR lebih mempengaruhi IHSG, karena tingkat akurasi yang diperoleh IHSG lebih tinggi dibandingkan dengan Obligasi

Developing Graduate Employability: The CareerEDGE Model and the Importance of Emotional Intelligence

This chapter discusses a model of graduate employability development, the CareerEDGE model (Dacre Pool and Sewell 2007) which includes Emotional Intelligence (EI) as a key component. Although previous models and theories of employability (e.g. Fugate et al. 2004; Knight and Yorke 2004) have alluded to adaptive emotional functioning as an aspect of employability, CareerEDGE was the first to give EI such prominence. There is scope for EI to have a direct impact on graduate employability but also an indirect impact via other aspects of employability development

The transaction costs in biotechnology

This paper aims to relate the principles of Ronald Coase Theorem with negative impacts of biotechnology, taking cases of specific research groups and medium-sized companies in biotechnology. We consider an application of economic theory on transaction costs (TTC) provides a good foundation for understanding the underlying problems of this sector, even more, when analyzing the political economy of biotechnology since the transaction costs can best viewed their limitations and the limited scope of government policy. In biotechnology it is possible to get a policy that combines both equity and efficiency, that is, a wider range of policy applications to improve the living standards of people in Colombia