When is Deliberation Democratic?

“Deliberative democracy” is a compound term. In both theory and practice, it connects deliberative influence through reason giving, reciprocity, and publicity to a family of political systems that broadly enable popular control of the state and government through empowerments such as voting, petitioning, and contesting, as well as the electoral and judicial systems that enable them. These empowerments are democratic when they are distributed to, and usable by, those affected by collective decisions in ways that are both equal and equitable.While deliberative influence is best protected and incentivized by democratic political systems, not all deliberation is democratic, and not all approaches to democracy are deliberative. We should distinguish and relate these terms: we need to differentiate the practice of deliberation from the contexts of democratic enablements and empowerments in which it occurs. We can then focus on the pre-deliberative conditions that will enable or limit the extent to which deliberation is democratic. Two pre-deliberative democratic features stand out as particularly important in this context: popular participation—how individuals come to have standing and voice as participants, and agenda-setting—how concerns come to be defined as issues. We further argue that since deliberation typically occurs downstream from agenda-setting, and since popular participation both shapes and is shaped by this practice, theorists and practitioners of deliberative democracy should pay close attention to each well before deliberation begins.To make this case, we first theorize the democratic dimensions of deliberative democracy through the concepts of equity and equality. Second, we focus on agenda setting and popular participation as important, though not exclusive, pre-deliberative determinants of equality and equity during deliberation. Finally, we offer suggestions about how theorists and practitioners of deliberative democracy might think about responding to the challenges generated by the tension between equality and equity prior to democratic deliberation

Using DNA metabarcoding to investigate honey bee foraging reveals limited flower use despite high floral availability

Understanding which flowers honey bees (Apis mellifera) use for forage can help us to provide suitable plants for healthy honey bee colonies. Accordingly, honey DNA metabarcoding provides a valuable tool for investigating pollen and nectar collection. We investigated early season (April and May) floral choice by honey bees provided with a very high diversity of flowering plants within the National Botanic Garden of Wales. There was a close correspondence between the phenology of flowering and the detection of plants within the honey. Within the study area there were 437 genera of plants in flower during April and May, but only 11% of these were used. Thirty-nine plant taxa were recorded from three hives but only ten at greater than 1%. All three colonies used the same core set of native or near-native plants, typically found in hedgerows and woodlands. The major plants were supplemented with a range of horticultural species, with more variation in plant choice between the honey bee colonies. We conclude that during the spring, honey bees need access to native hedgerows and woodlands to provide major plants for foraging. Gardens provide supplementary flowers that may increase the nutritional diversity of the honey bee diet

Abundance estimates for sperm whales in the Mediterranean Sea from acoustic line-transect surveys

Open access journal. This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the International Whaling Commission via the URLs in this record.The Mediterranean sub-population of sperm whales is believed to be isolated and is classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Although there is evidence to suggest the population is declining, there is a lack of abundance data. A series of acoustic line-transect surveys to estimate abundance were conducted between 2004 and 2013. In 2004, 3,946km of acoustic effort was conducted in the southern Western Mediterranean basin, resulting in the detection of 159 sperm whales. While in 2007 and 2013, 10,276km of acoustic effort was conducted in the Eastern Mediterranean basin, resulting in the detection of 24 sperm whales. A pooled detection function gave an effective strip half-width of 9.8km. A correction for availability bias was made for each block based on published simulations using data on sperm whale acoustic behaviour: estimates of g(0) were 0.95-0.96. Estimated abundances were: Southern Western Mediterranean block 634 animals [374-1,077] (95% log-normal confidence interval), Hellenic Trench block 41 [17-100], Central Aegean Sea block 33 [5-203], Herodotus Rise block 5 [1-28] and Southern Adriatic Sea block 2 [0-12], estimates for all other blocks were zero. The density of sperm whales in the surveyed Southern Western Mediterranean block was over 17 times higher than for the surveyed Eastern Mediterranean (2.12 and 0.12 whales per 1,000km² respectively). These results, combined with an acoustic survey of the northern Ionian Sea in 2003 and aerial surveys in the northern Western Mediterranean basin in 2010-11, covered approximately 57% of the likely sperm whale habitat in the Western Mediterranean and 75% in the Eastern Mediterranean. Approximate total estimates of sperm whale abundance in the Western and Eastern Mediterranean basins based on extrapolation to the unsurveyed areas are 1,678 and 164 whales respectively. This gives an estimate for the whole Mediterranean Sea of 1,842 animals.The research presented in this paper was conducted and funded by the International Fund for Animal Welfare

Challenges to concordance: theories that explain variations in patient responses

Failing to establish a collaborative relationship between patient and health professional can be a significant obstacle to recovery. Julie Green and Rebecca Jester delve into the psychology behind patient responses and present methods to empower patients.This article was first published in the British Journal of Community Nursing, volume 24, issue 10.Published versio

Experimental techniques for the study of nuclei in the light Lanthanide region

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:D84275 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Development of passive acoustic monitoring systems for Northern right whales

Both species of northern right whale (North Atlantic, Eubalaena glacialís and North Pacific, Eubalaena japonica) are critically endangered. The overall distribution of these small, migratory populations is not well known, especially outside of summer. Passive acoustic monitoring is a tool that could provide information on locations of whales. Better distributional information will inform management efforts to reduce anthropogenic mortalities caused by both ship strikes and fisheries interactions. Recent research on passive acoustic monitoring is summarised, focusing on developments relevant to detection and classification of right whale calls. Some outstanding research requirements are outlined, including the need for the development of models to investigate the potential for risk reduction from acoustic data. Buoys capable of fully automatic whale vocalisation detection, classification and transmission to shore are currently under development.</p

Blue (Balaenoptera musculus) and fin (B. physalus) whale vocalisations measured from northern latitudes of the Atlantic Ocean

Vocalisations were recorded in the vicinity of sighted blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) and fin whales (B. physalus) in the North Atlantic between Iceland and Greenland in August 2004 from a hydrophone towed behind a research vessel and from free floating sonobuoys. The structures of recorded calls were broadly similar to those reported from other areas, but lacked the stereotypical patterning of those signals thought to represent reproductive displays. Counts of non-patterned blue whale calls indicated low vocalisation rates, with a mean of 0.62 phrases per whale per hour (0.12 A-B and 0.49 arch phrases per whale per hour). However, vocalisations were highly clustered in time, with 80% of blue whale calls ascribed to the focal animals arriving within a single 80 second period. It is not clear what behavioural, geographical or seasonal trends may influence the vocalisation rate of large baleen whales, and thus direct comparisons between areas are difficult. However, it is hoped the results presented will be of use in interpreting remote recordings of blue whales made from the North Atlantic. Hydrophones were also monitored continuously over 7,757km of trackline using an automated detection algorithm developed for North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis). However, no North Atlantic right whales were seen or heard during the study period.</p