Using Empirical Research to Design Government Citizen Participation Processes: A Case Study of Citizens\u27 Roles in Environmental Compliance and Enforcement

The issue of what role(s) citizens should play in governance is one of many outstanding, oft-debated questions about the appropriate structure and operation of our institutions of governance. Some commentators have argued strongly for increasing citizens\u27 opportunities to participate in government decision-making processes and to shape government outcomes. Others have taken considerably more skeptical positions about empowering citizens. The skeptics are concerned that citizen engagement will cause delays and otherwise lead to inefficient decision-making, empower the already empowered and thereby do little to enhance legitimacy or more broadly-based decision-making, and elevate the voice of squeaky wheels, thus undermining the role expertise should, and otherwise would, play in agency decision-making

Using Empirical Research to Design Government Citizen Participation Processes: A Case Study of Citizens' Roles in Environmental Compliance and Enforcement

This is the published version

Corporate Bankruptcy Panel--The Fraudulent Conveyance Origins of Chapter 11: An Essay on the Unwritten Law of Corporate Reorganizations

The second panel was the Corporate Panel, led by Professor Douglas Baird from the University of Chicago Law School. We were fortunate enough to have the impressive Sarah R. Borders act as the moderator of this panel. The discussion, however, did not require much moderating; the panelists were familiar with one another and the discussion was entertaining. The panel was divided into two schools of thought: those who felt like the Code solely governed the practice of corporate bankruptcy, and those who felt like there was a set of unwritten rules created over the last 150 years that pulled the strings

Queen-produced volatiles change dynamically during reproductive swarming and are associated with changes in honey bee (Apis mellifera) worker behavior

International audienceAbstractDuring colony fission, honey bee workers are exquisitely sensitive to the presence of their queen in airborne swarms and bivouacs and will abandon swarming if she is absent. However, it is not known whether swarming queens produce a chemical bouquet that is distinct from non-swarming queens, containing either unique chemicals or altered proportions of chemicals. We found that queens emitted higher quantities and greater numbers of unique volatiles at liftoff than they did prior to swarming or in clustered bivouacs, and swarming workers tended to be attracted to these liftoff volatile blends. Pentadecane and heptadecane were collected most frequently and emitted in significantly higher quantities by queens at liftoff; these compounds have been described as pheromone components in other social insects, but not yet in honey bees. Our results suggest that volatile emission by queens is more dynamic than previously thought and that changes in their chemical signals may play a role in regulating the behavior of swarming workers

Emerging Themes from the ESA Symposium Entitled “Pollinator Nutrition: Lessons from Bees at Individual to Landscape Levels”

Pollinator populations are declining (Biesmeijer et al., 2006; Brodschneider et al., 2018; Cameron et al., 2011; Goulson, Lye, & Darvill, 2008; Kulhanek et al., 2017; National Research Council, 2007; Oldroyd, 2007), and both anecdotal and experimental evidence suggest that limited access to high quality forage might play a role (Carvell, Meek, Pywell, Goulson, & Nowakowski, 2007; Deepa et al., 2017; Goulson, Nicholls, Botias, & Rotheray, 2015; Potts et al., 2003, 2010; Vanbergen & The Insect Pollinators Initiative, 2013; Vaudo, Tooker, Grozinger, & Patch, 2015; Woodard, 2017). Multiple researchers are earnestly addressing this topic in a diverse array of insect-pollinator systems. As research continues to be published, increased communication among scientists studying the topic of nutrition is essential for improving pollinator health

Climate change litigation: a review of research on courts and litigants in climate government

Studies of climate change litigation have proliferated over the past two decades, as lawsuits across the world increasingly bring policy debates about climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as climate change‐related loss and damage to the attention of courts. We systematically identify 130 articles on climate change litigation published in English in the law and social sciences between 2000 and 2018 to identify research trajectories. In addition to a budding interdisciplinarity in scholarly interest in climate change litigation we also document a growing understanding of the full spectrum of actors involved and implicated in climate lawsuits and the range of motivations and/or strategic imperatives underpinning their engagement with the law. Situating this within the broader academic literature on the topic we then highlight a number of cutting edge trends and opportunities for future research. Four emerging themes are explored in detail: the relationship between litigation and governance; how time and scale feature in climate litigation; the role of science; and what has been coined the “human rights turn” in climate change litigation. We highlight the limits of existing work and the need for future research—not limited to legal scholarship—to evaluate the impact of both regulatory and anti‐regulatory climate‐related lawsuits, and to explore a wider set of jurisdictions, actors and themes. Addressing these issues and questions will help to develop a deeper understanding of the conditions under which litigation will strengthen or undermine climate governance. This article is categorized under: Policy and Governance > Multilevel and Transnational Climate Change Governanc

Learning to collaborate: Can young children develop better communication strategies through collaboration with a more popular peer

Unpopular children are known to have poor communication skills and experience difficulty in collaborative situations. This study investigated whether pairing unpopular, 5 to 6 year-old, children with a more popular peer would promote more effective collaboration. The study also investigated differences in popular and unpopular children's verbal and non-verbal communication. Thirty-six girls and 36 boys were placed in one of 12 popular, 12 unpopular or 12 mixed pairs. There were no mixed gender pairs. Children were filmed playing a collaborative game. Collaboration in popular pairs was more successful and less disputational than in unpopular pairs. Boys in unpopular pairs broke the rules of the game more often, argued more and did not monitoring their partners' facial expressions effectively. With popular partners they argued less, were more likely to elaborate disagreements, looked at their partner for longer, smiled more and were more likely to offer him a small toy. Unpopular girls' interactions were not markedly disruptive but they clearly benefited from being paired with a child with good communication skills. Popular girls modified their behaviour to take into account an unpopular partner's need for support. These findings suggest that pairing popular and unpopular children may be a useful classroom organisation strategy

A randomised controlled trial of a computerised intervention for children with social communication difficulties to support peer collaboration

An intervention aiming to support children with social communication difficulties was tested using a randomised controlled design. Children aged 5–6 years old (n = 32) were tested and selected for participation on the basis of their scores on the Test of Pragmatic Skills (TPS) and were then randomly assigned to the intervention arm or to the delayed intervention control group. Following previous research which suggested that computer technology may be particularly useful for this group of children, the intervention included a collaborative computer game which the children played with an adult. Subsequently, children's performance as they played the game with a classmate was observed. Micro-analytic observational methods were used to analyse the audio-recorded interaction of the children as they played. Pre- and post-intervention measures comprised the Test of Pragmatic Skills, children's performance on the computer game and verbal communication measures that the children used during the game. This evaluation of the intervention shows promise. At post-test, the children who had received the intervention, by comparison to the control group who had not, showed significant gains in their scores on the Test of Pragmatic Skills (p = .009, effect size r = −.42), a significant improvement in their performance on the computer game (p = .03, r = −.32) and significantly greater use of high-quality questioning during collaboration (p < .001, r = −.60). Furthermore, the children who received the intervention made significantly more positive statements about the game and about their partners (p = .02, r = −.34) suggesting that the intervention increased their confidence and enjoyment

A Coordinated Effort to Manage Soybean Rust in North America: A Success Story in Soybean Disease Monitoring

Existing crop monitoring programs determine the incidence and distribution of plant diseases and pathogens and assess the damage caused within a crop production region. These programs have traditionally used observed or predicted disease and pathogen data and environmental information to prescribe management practices that minimize crop loss (3,69). Monitoring programs are especially important for crops with broad geographic distribution or for diseases that can cause rapid and great economic losses. Successful monitoring programs have been developed for several plant diseases, including downy mildew of cucurbits, Fusarium head blight of wheat, potato late blight, and rusts of cereal crops (13,36,51,80)