The Social Constructs of Natural World Heritage: An Ethnographic Investigation into the Conflicts of a Danish UNESCO Destination

This paper will investigate the conflicts that can arise during destination development following a World Heritage inscription. Previous literature mentions that conflicts arise, but focuses on a more managerial perspective, and fails to account for the characteristics of those conflicts. The aim of the paper is to account for the characteristics of the conflicts that arise, by trying to grasp how various stakeholders in the destination development process have different understandings of the destination, and how these understandings are undergoing negotiation after the destination has received the World Heritage inscription. The paper is thus focusing on Consumer Culture Theory and Cultural Geography, thereby adding a sociocultural perspective to the strongly managerial perspective on destination development. The paper is based on an ethnographic field study of the Nature World Heritage destination Stevns Klint, Denmark. After interviews with various stakeholders about the development processes that the area had undergone since being inscribed the UNESCO World Heritage label, it became clear the locals of Stevns embedded meaning into the landscape, thus the term appropriating space becomes relevant. According to this result, conflict arises in Stevns from differentiating meaning embeddings, but mainly because certain development initiatives contradict the commonly accepted identities of various areas along the cliff. Which leads us into the second conflict, which is based on the power structures that arise in commodification processes. Only those in charge of destination development get to manifest the aforementioned appropriations of space, creating politics of representation. From these results, it becomes clear that there is a need for a sociocultural perspective on destination development in order to understand why conflicts happen in recently inscribed World Heritage destinations

Die drei Stufen: Plotin, Dionysius und Meister Eckhart

In dieser Diplomarbeit werden drei verschiedene Hauptbereiche bearbeitet, die alle zusammen folgende These, ob der Neuplatonismus als der Wegbereiter der Mystik im Mittelalter gesehen werden kann, beantworten soll. Der erste Abschnitt behandelt die Theorien und Schriften von Plotin, wobei auch zugleich ein kurzer Einblick in dessen Leben und Wirken aufgezeigt wird. Er soll als der Grundpfeiler herangezogen werden, um im zweiten Abschnitt durch Dionysius aufzuzeigen inwiefern Plotin in der Weltanschauung und Theologie von Dionysius noch weiter gelebt beziehungsweise weiterentwickelt wurde. Der letzte ist auch der entscheidendste Hauptbereich, den dieser soll die Aussage bestätigen, ob die Antike die mittelalterliche Mystik und dadurch in Folge jede mystische Auslegung bis heute geprägt und entscheidend beeinflusst hat oder nicht. Zum Schluss soll diese Arbeit eine Veranschaulichung sämtlicher Überlegungen, die im Zuge der Bearbeitung dieses Stoffes entstanden sind, liefern

Filling the void - enriching the feature space of successful stopping

The ability to inhibit behavior is crucial for adaptation in a fast changing environment and is commonly studied with the stop signal task. Current EEG research mainly focuses on the N200 and P300 ERPs and corresponding activity in the theta and delta frequency range, thereby leaving us with a limited understanding of the mechanisms of response inhibition. Here, 15 functional networks were estimated from time-frequency transformed EEG recorded during processing of a visual stop signal task. Cortical sources underlying these functional networks were reconstructed, and a total of 45 features, each representing spectrally and temporally coherent activity, were extracted to train a classifier to differentiate between go and stop trials. A classification accuracy of 85.55% for go and 83.85% for stop trials was achieved. Features capturing fronto-central delta- and theta activity, parieto-occipital alpha, fronto-central as well as right frontal beta activity were highly discriminating between trial-types. However, only a single network, comprising a feature defined by oscillatory activity below 12 Hz, was associated with a generator in the opercular region of the right inferior frontal cortex and showed the expected associations with behavioral inhibition performance. This study pioneers by providing a detailed ranking of neural features regarding their information content for stop and go differentiation at the single-trial level, and may further be the first to identify a scalp EEG marker of the inhibitory control network. This analysis allows for the characterization of the temporal dynamics of response inhibition by matching electrophysiological phenomena to cortical generators and behavioral inhibition performanc

youth Digital Skills Indicator:Estonian questionnaire

The youth Digital Skills Indicator was developed as part of the ‘Youth Skills (ySKILLS)’ project and added to the ‘From Digital Skills to Tangible Outcomes’ digital skills measurement toolkit.Please read the accompanying document on the underlying rationale for these scales and on how to create and use composite scales in the following document: Helsper, E.J., Schneider, L., van Deursen, A.J.A.M., van Laar, E. (2021). The youth Digital Skills Indicator: Report on the conceptualisation and development of the ySKILLS digital skills measure. KU Leuven, Leuven: ySKILLS. Available at: https://yskills.eu

Digital skills among youth: a dataset from a three-wave longitudinal survey in six European countries

This dataset provides longitudinal survey data from a European project, ySKILLS, which was focused on the role of digital skills in youths’ development. It contains data from 10,821 participants from Grades 6-10 (in Wave 1) in Estonia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Portugal. The data was collected between Spring 2021 and Spring 2023, the participants were recruited through schools, where the data collection also took place, except for online data collections due to restrictions caused by COVID-19. The dataset is novel in its multidimensional approach to the construct of digital literacy. It provides insight into the development of digital skills in youth and the role of digital skills and internet usage in youths’ positive and negative online experiences and wellbeing. It also contains data that allows for the analysis of the role of digital skills in class networks. The data are beneficial for researchers interested in the examination of youths’ online skills, internet usage, online experiences, and wellbeing from a longitudinal perspective

Impact of comorbid psychiatric disorders on the outcome of substance abusers: a six year prospective follow-up in two Norwegian counties

BACKGROUND: Most help-seeking substance abusers have comorbid psychiatric disorders. The importance of such disorders for the long-term course of substance abuse is, however, still unclear. The aim of this paper is to describe six-year outcomes regarding death and relapse among alcoholics and poly-substance abusers and to analyse the predictive value of lifetime psychiatric disorders on relapse. METHODS: A consecutive sample of substance-dependent patients who received treatment in two counties in Norway (n = 287) was followed up after approximately six years. Information on socio-demographics, Axis I (CIDI) and II disorders (MCMI-II) and mental distress (HSCL-25) was gathered at baseline. At follow-up, detailed information regarding socio-demographics, use of substances (AUDIT and DUDIT) and mental distress (HSCL-25) was recorded (response rate: 63%). RESULTS: At six-year follow-up, 11% had died, most often male alcoholics (18%). Among the surviving patients, 70% had drug or alcohol related problems the year prior to follow-up. These patients were, classified as "relapsers". There were no significant differences in the relapse rate between women and men and among poly-substance abusers and alcoholics. The relapsers had an earlier onset of a substance use disorder, and more frequently major depression and agoraphobia. Multivariate analysis indicated that both psychiatric disorders (major depression) and substance use factors (early onset of a substance use disorder) were independent predictors of relapse. CONCLUSION: For reducing the risk of long-term relapse, assessment and treatment of major depression (and agoraphobia) are important. In addition, we are in need of a comprehensive treatment and rehabilitation program that also focuses on the addictive behaviour

A united statement of the global chiropractic research community against the pseudoscientific claim that chiropractic care boosts immunity.

BACKGROUND: In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the International Chiropractors Association (ICA) posted reports claiming that chiropractic care can impact the immune system. These claims clash with recommendations from the World Health Organization and World Federation of Chiropractic. We discuss the scientific validity of the claims made in these ICA reports. MAIN BODY: We reviewed the two reports posted by the ICA on their website on March 20 and March 28, 2020. We explored the method used to develop the claim that chiropractic adjustments impact the immune system and discuss the scientific merit of that claim. We provide a response to the ICA reports and explain why this claim lacks scientific credibility and is dangerous to the public. More than 150 researchers from 11 countries reviewed and endorsed our response. CONCLUSION: In their reports, the ICA provided no valid clinical scientific evidence that chiropractic care can impact the immune system. We call on regulatory authorities and professional leaders to take robust political and regulatory action against those claiming that chiropractic adjustments have a clinical impact on the immune system

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection