Powering and puzzling : climate change adaptation policies in Bangladesh and India

South Asia is a region uniquely vulnerable to climate-related impacts. Climate change adaptation in India and Bangladesh evolves using powering and puzzling approaches by policy actors. We seek to answer the question: how do powering and puzzling approaches influence the climate change adaptation policy design and implementation processes in Bangladesh and India? We adopted two strategies to collect and analyze data: semi-structured interviews and discourse analysis. We found that adaptation policymaking is largely top-down, amenable to techno-managerial solutions, and not inclusive of marginalized actors. In Bangladesh, power interplays among ministerial agencies impair the policy implementation process and undermine the success of puzzling. Local-scale agencies do not have enough authority or power to influence the overall implementation processes occurring at higher scales of governance. The powering of different actors in Bangladesh is visible through a duality of mandates and a lack of integration of climate adaptation strategies in different government ministries. The powering aspect of India’s various adaptation policies is the lack of collective puzzling around the question of differentiated vulnerability by axes of social difference. Paradoxically, India has a puzzling approach of hiding behind the poor in international negotiations. Moving forward, both countries should strive to have more inclusive and equitable adaptation policymaking processes that enable the participation of marginalized populations and represent their anxieties and aspirations. Identifying policy-relevant insights from South Asia using the powering and puzzling approaches can foster adaptation policy processes that facilitate empowerment, the missing piece of the adaptation policymaking puzzle.</p

Silicon-based quantum optics and quantum computing

In this thesis is presented a brief review of quantum computing, the DiVincenzo criteria, and the possibility of using a solid state system for building a quantum computing architecture. Donor electron systems in silicon are discussed, before chalcogen, \deep", double donors are suggested as a good candidate for fulfilment of the criteria; the optically driven Stoneham proposal, where the spin-spin interaction between two donor electron spin qbits is mediated by the optically controlled, excited, state of a third donor electron, forms the basis of this [1]. Coherence lifetimes are established as a vital requirement of a quantum bit, but radiative lifetimes must also be long. If the spin-spin interaction between qbits is decreased, or turned off, by the de-excitation of the mediating donor electron then the coherence of the qbit is rendered irrelevant; de-excitation will ruin quantum computations that depend upon an interaction that only happens when the mediating electron is in an excited state. Effective mass theory is used to estimate excited state donor, 2P, wavefunctions for selenium doped silicon, and recent Mott semiconductor to metal transition doping data [2] is used to scale the spatial extent of the 1S(A1) ground state wavefunction. Using these wavefunctions, the expected radiative lifetimes are then calculated, via Fermi's golden rule, to be between 9 ns and 17 ns for the 2P0 state, and 12 ns to 20 ns for the 2P_1 state. Fourier Transform InfraRed (FTIR) absorbance spectroscopy is used to determine the optical transitions for selenium donors in silicon, this has allowed agreement between literature, measured, and effective mass theory energy values for the particular samples measured. FTIR time resolved spectroscopy has then been used to measure the radiative emission spectrum of selenium doped silicon samples at 10-300K, following a 1220 nm laser pulse. Fitting to the exponentially decaying emission data, selenium radiative lifetimes as long as 80 ns are found; for the 2P0 to 1S(A1) transition in an atomic selenium donor complex at 10K. A factor of between 4 and 8 agreement is found between calculated and measured radiative lifetimes. This offers the possibility of nanosecond scale donor electron coherence times for chalcogen dopants in silicon

Review Symposium Jean Baudrillard and radical education theory. Turning right to go left, by Kip Kline and Kristopher Holland, Brill, 2020, pp. 72, £29 (paperback), ISBN 978-90-04-44535-2

*Heretical thinking in educational research: Baudrillard’s radical edge. *Can we use Jean Baudrillard’s theories to challenge knowledge, education, theory and practice? *Wake up, dead soul

A Framework for Studying Synaptic Plasticity with Neural Spike Train Data

Learning and memory in the brain are implemented by complex, time-varying changes in neural circuitry. The computational rules according to which synaptic weights change over time are the subject of much research, and are not precisely understood. Until recently, limitations in experimental methods have made it challenging to test hypotheses about synaptic plasticity on a large scale. However, as such data become available and these barriers are lifted, it becomes necessary to develop analysis techniques to validate plasticity models. Here, we present a highly extensible framework for modeling arbitrary synaptic plasticity rules on spike train data in populations of interconnected neurons. We treat synaptic weights as a (potentially nonlinear) dynamical system embedded in a fully-Bayesian generalized linear model (GLM). In addition, we provide an algorithm for inferring synaptic weight trajectories alongside the parameters of the GLM and of the learning rules. Using this method, we perform model comparison of two proposed variants of the well-known spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) rule, where nonlinear effects play a substantial role. On synthetic data generated from the biophysical simulator NEURON, we show that we can recover the weight trajectories, the pattern of connectivity, and the underlying learning rules.Engineering and Applied Science

Trabecular bone structural variation throughout the human lower limb.

Trabecular bone is responsive to mechanical loading, and thus may be a useful tool for interpreting past behaviour from fossil morphology. However, the ability to meaningfully interpret variation in archaeological and hominin trabecular morphology depends on the extent to which trabecular bone properties are integrated throughout the postcranium or are locally variable in response to joint specific loading. We investigate both of these factors by comparing trabecular bone throughout the lower limb between a group of highly mobile foragers and two groups of sedentary agriculturalists. Trabecular bone structure is quantified in four volumes of interest placed within the proximal and distal joints of the femur and tibia. We determine how trabecular structures correspond to inferred behavioural differences between populations and whether the patterns are consistent throughout the limb. A significant correlation was found between inferred mobility level and trabecular bone structure in all volumes of interest along the lower limb. The greater terrestrial mobility of foragers is associated with higher bone volume fraction, and thicker and fewer trabeculae (lower connectivity density). In all populations, bone volume fraction decreases while anisotropy increases proximodistally throughout the lower limb. This observation mirrors reductions in cortical bone mass resulting from proximodistal limb tapering. The reduction in strength associated with reduced bone volume fraction may be compensated for by the increased anisotropy in the distal tibia. A similar pattern of trabecular structure is found throughout the lower limb in all populations, upon which a signal of terrestrial mobility appears to be superimposed. These results support the validity of using lower limb trabecular bone microstructure to reconstruct terrestrial mobility levels from the archaeological and fossil records. The results further indicate that care should be taken to appreciate variation resulting from differences in habitual activity when inferring behaviour from the trabecular structure of hominin fossils through comparisons with modern humans.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013) / ERC Grant Agreement n.617627 (to JTS), the Arts and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Training Programme, AH/14/Archaeology/3 (to JPPS), and National Science Foundation Grant BCS-0617097 (to TMR).This is the author accepted manuscript. It is currently under an indefinite embargo pending publication by Elsevier

Human-like hip joint loading in Australopithecus africanus and Paranthropus robustus.

Adaptations indicative of habitual bipedalism are present in the earliest recognized hominins. However, debate persists about various aspects of bipedal locomotor behavior in fossil hominins, including the nature of gait kinematics, locomotor variability across different species, and the degree to which various australopith species engaged in arboreal behaviors. In this study, we analyze variation in trabecular bone structure of the femoral head using a sample of modern humans, extant non-human hominoids, baboons, and fossil hominins attributed to Australopithecus africanus, Paranthropus robustus, and the genus Homo. We use μCT data to characterize the fabric anisotropy, material orientation, and bone volume fraction of trabecular bone to reconstruct hip joint loading conditions in these fossil hominins. Femoral head trabecular bone fabric structure in australopiths is more similar to that of modern humans and Pleistocene Homo than extant apes, indicating that these australopith individuals walked with human-like hip kinematics, including a more limited range of habitual hip joint postures (e.g., a more extended hip) during bipedalism. Our results also indicate that australopiths have robust femoral head trabecular bone, suggesting overall increased loading of the musculoskeletal system comparable to that imposed by extant apes. These results provide new evidence of human-like bipedal locomotion in Pliocene hominins, even while other aspects of their musculoskeletal systems retain ape-like characteristics

Growth and development of trabecular structure in the calcaneus of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) reflects locomotor behavior, life history, and neuromuscular development.

Bone structure dynamically adapts to its mechanical environment throughout ontogeny by altering the structure of trabecular bone, the three-dimensional mesh-like structure found underneath joint surfaces. Trabecular structure, then, can provide a record of variation in loading directions and magnitude; and in ontogenetic samples, it can potentially be used to track developmental shifts in limb posture. We aim to broaden the analysis of trabecular bone ontogeny by incorporating interactions between ontogenetic variation in locomotor repertoire, neuromuscular maturation, and life history. We examine the associations between these variables and age-related variation in trabecular structure in the calcaneus of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata). We used high-resolution micro-computed tomography scanning to image the calcaneus in a cross-sectional sample of 34 juvenile M. fuscata aged between 0 and 7 years old at the Primate Research Institute, Japan. We calculated whole bone averages of standard trabecular properties and generated whole-bone morphometric maps of bone volume fraction and Young's modulus. Trabecular structure becomes increasingly heterogeneous in older individuals. Bone volume fraction (BV/total volume [TV]) decreases during the first month of life and increases afterward, coinciding with the onset of independent locomotion in M. fuscata. At birth, primary Young's modulus is oriented orthogonal to the ossification center, but after locomotor onset bone structure becomes stiffest in the direction of joint surfaces and muscle attachments. Age-related variation in bone volume fraction is best predicted by an interaction between the estimated percentage of adult brain size, body mass, and locomotor onset. To explain our findings, we propose a model where interactions between age-related increases in body weight and maturation of the neuromuscular system alter the loading environment of the calcaneus, to which the internal trabecular structure dynamically adapts. This model cannot be directly tested based on our cross-sectional data. However, confirmation of the model by longitudinal experiments and in multiple species would show that trabecular structure can be used both to infer behavior from fossil morphology and serve as a valuable proxy for neuromuscular maturation and life history events like locomotor onset and the achievement of an adult-like gait. This approach could significantly expand our knowledge of the biology and behavior of fossil species