7,346 research outputs found
Law as Counterspeech
A growing body of work in free speech theory is interested in the nature of counterspeech, i.e. speech that aims to counteract the effects of harmful speech. Counterspeech is usually defined in opposition to legal responses to harmful speech, which try to prevent such speech from occurring in the first place. In this paper we challenge this way of carving up the conceptual terrain. Instead, we argue that our main classificatory division, in theorising responses to harmful speech, should be between pro-discursive and anti-discursive responses. Some legal responses to harmful speech, so we argue, make a positive discursive contribution in their own right. That is, legal restrictions on harmful speech can have a function that is importantly similar to speech that aims at countering the effects of harmful speech
Subtropical-temperate forested wetlands of coastal south-eastern Australia – an analysis of vegetation data to support ecosystem risk assessment at regional, national and global scales
Forested wetlands occurring on fluvial sediments are among the most threatened
ecosystems in south-east Australia. The first quantitative diagnosis of forested wetland types in
NSW was completed in 2005. Since then, there has been a three-fold increase in survey data on
coastal floodplains, vegetation classification systems have been developed in New South Wales,
Queensland and Victoria, and methods for the assessment of ecosystem conservation risks have
been adopted by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Aims. To
ensure an evidence base that can support conservation decisions and national conservation
assessments, there is a need to review and update the classification of forested wetlands and
integrate classification schemes across jurisdictions. Methods. We evaluated the efficacy of a
multi-stage clustering strategy, applied to data from different sources with largely unknown
methodological idiosyncrasies, to retrieve ecologically meaningful clusters. We assessed the
veracity and robustness of the 2005 classification of forest wetlands as a framework for national
risk assessments over an expanded range. Key results. We derived a quantitative, cross-
jurisdictional classification of forested wetlands based on a synthesis of 5173 plot samples drawn
from three states and identified the status of our units in relation to IUCN's Global Ecosystem
Typology. Conclusions. Our analyses support the retention of the five legacy types which are
the basis for threatened ecosystem listings under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 and
Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Implications. Our
results will support revised assessments of current listings and facilitate their integration at state,
national and global scale
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Mapania multiflora, a distinctive new species of Cyperaceae (Mapanioideae) from Borneo
Mapania multiflora is described and illustrated. It is vegetatively similar to taxa with broad leaves and pseudopetioles, such as M. cuspidata. However, it is reproductively similar to sect. Thoractostachyum with a paniculate inflorescence and furrowed fruit. The DNA is similar to M. bancana in sect. Thoractostachyum, in the three sampled cpDNA regions: atpH-F, trnL-F and psbA-trnH. However, it is identical to none of these due to its unique combination of vegetative, reproductive and molecular characteristics
A Long International Monetary Fund Intervention: Portugal 1975-1979
Most of the literature on the interventions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Portugal points to the June 1978 Stand-by arrangement (SBA) between the Portuguese authorities and the IMF as being the first such intervention (Nunes, 2010, Lopes, 1982 and 1996, Pinto, 1983, Schmitt, 1981, or Mateus, 2013). However, our research has unearthed facts that challenge such interpretation. The reasons are many. First, Portugal started using IMF resources since July 1975 and following policies to control the external deficit that were concordant with IMF principles and techniques since December of the same year. Second, Portugal signed an SBA in April 1977, one year before the 1978 one. And third, Portugal did not comply with the performance criteria of the 1978 SBA, which supposedly defined the first “intervention” and, consequently, did not receive any financial assistance from the IMF for its duration: June 1978 to May 1979. Zorrinho (2018) is a recent exception to the common interpretation, suggesting that, rather than a one-year intervention in 1978-1979 and a three-year one in 1983-1985, relations between Portugal and the IMF in order to restore external balance during the period 1975-1985 corresponded to a sort of decade-long IMF intervention, involving three SBAs and various other utilisations of IMF resources on the part of Portugal. We do agree with Zorrinho (2018) that the chronology of the first intervention should be enlarged but not with his proposed chronology, as we believe that the use of IMF resources was interrupted between 1978 and 1983 and that the third SBA signed with the IMF in October 1983 should be viewed in a different framework.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Emerging stronger? Assessing the outcomes of Habitat for Humanity’s housing reconstruction programmes following the Indian Ocean tsunami
Habitat for Humanity (HFH) built, rehabilitated or repaired homes for 25,000 families
in four countries in the five years following the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. As part
of a broader organizational and learning review in 2009-2010, HFH commissioned
Arup International Development to carry out an assessment of its post-tsunami housing
reconstruction programmes in India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Indonesia. The purpose
of this assessment was to investigate the extent to which HFH’s tsunami-response
housing reconstruction programmes had contributed to the development of sustainable
communities and livelihoods. Arup International Development undertook the assessment
using the ASPIRE tool they had developed with Engineers Against Poverty. Basing their
assessment on programme documentation and key informant interviews, household
questionnaires and workshops with communities in each country, they completed one
assessment for each country and a fifth assessment covering all four countries. This
enabled comparison of both the impact of these four programmes and how the outcomes
varied as a result of varying approaches and contextual issues. / The assessment found that HFH’s programme had made a significant contribution to
the development of sustainable communities and livelihoods. The provision of high
quality core homes had reduced household vulnerability and increased the standard
of living, while HFH’s participatory process had increased community cohesion and
developed positive relationships between communities and a range of external actors.
There were also areas for improvement such as: the incorporation of hazard assessment,
settlement planning and infrastructure at settlement level; greater community
participation in decision-making regarding settlement planning, house design and
the choice of appropriate construction techniques and technologies; greater focus on
livelihood support and diversification both during construction and after completion of
the housing programme; and complementing HFH’s experience in housing construction
with the specialist expertise of other actors to maximize the impact of its work
Molecular Aspects of Breast Cancer Metastasis to the Brain
Our knowledge of the biology underlying the development of brain metastases (BM) from breast cancer has improved over the last decade due to large clinical epidemiological studies, animal models of metastasis, and the use of high-resolution gene expression profiling technologies. However, there are still major gaps in our understanding of the mechanisms utilized by breast cancer cells to colonize the brain microenvironment, thus our arsenal of therapies remains relatively nonspecific, and the prognosis for breast cancer patients with BM remains poor. Additional insights into these mechanisms are necessary to facilitate the development of new preventive and curative therapeutic regimens to block this fatal disease. This paper aims to provide a general overview for the readers of what has been achieved in this field of research and its translation into clinical practice to date and to highlight exciting new areas of research that promise to inform the development of new targeted therapies for BM
Stratifying quotient stacks and moduli stacks
Recent results in geometric invariant theory (GIT) for non-reductive linear
algebraic group actions allow us to stratify quotient stacks of the form [X/H],
where X is a projective scheme and H is a linear algebraic group with
internally graded unipotent radical acting linearly on X, in such a way that
each stratum [S/H] has a geometric quotient S/H. This leads to stratifications
of moduli stacks (for example, sheaves over a projective scheme) such that each
stratum has a coarse moduli space.Comment: 25 pages, submitted to the Proceedings of the Abel Symposium 201
An ALMA survey of Sub-millimeter Galaxies in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South: Physical properties derived from ultraviolet-to-radio modelling
[abridged] The ALESS survey has followed-up a sample of 122 sub-millimeter
sources in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South at 870um with ALMA, allowing
to pinpoint the positions of sub-millimeter galaxies (SMGs) to 0.3'' and to
find their precise counterparts at different wavelengths. This enabled the
first compilation of the multi-wavelength spectral energy distributions (SEDs)
of a statistically reliable survey of SMGs. In this paper, we present a new
calibration of the MAGPHYS modelling code that is optimized to fit these
UV-to-radio SEDs of z>1 star-forming galaxies using an energy balance technique
to connect the emission from stellar populations, dust attenuation and dust
emission in a physically consistent way. We derive statistically and physically
robust estimates of the photometric redshifts and physical parameters for the
ALESS SMGs. We find that they have a median stellar mass
, SFR/yr, overall
V-band dust attenuation mag, dust mass
M_\rm{dust}=(5.6\pm1.0)\times10^8 M_\odot, and average dust temperature
Tdust~40 K. The average intrinsic SED of the ALESS SMGs resembles that of local
ULIRGs in the IR range, but the stellar emission of our average SMG is brighter
and bluer, indicating lower dust attenuation, possibly because they are more
extended. We explore how the average SEDs vary with different parameters, and
we provide a new set of SMG templates. To put the ALESS SMGs into context, we
compare their stellar masses and SFRs with those of less actively star-forming
galaxies at the same redshifts. At z~2, about half of the SMGs lie above the
star-forming main sequence, while half are at the high-mass end of the
sequence. At higher redshifts (z~3.5), the SMGs tend to have higher SFR and
Mstar, but the fraction of SMGs that lie significantly above the main sequence
decreases to less than a third.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journal. The new MAGPHYS model libraries used in this paper
will appear in www.iap.fr/magphys. The SMG SED templates shown in Section 6.1
are available at
http://astronomy.swinburne.edu.au/~ecunha/ecunha/SED_Templates.htm
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Using non-nutritive sucking to support feeding development for premature infants: A commentary on approaches and current practice
Non-nutritive sucking is often used with premature infants by either using a pacifier or an expressed breast nipple to support the introduction and development of early oral feeding. The pattern of non-nutritive sucking is distinct in that it involves two sucks per second in contrast to nutritive sucking which is one suck per second. Although some literature has identified that non-nutritive sucking has some benefit for the premature infant’s feeding development, it is not entirely clear why such an approach is helpful as neurologically, activation of non-nutritive and nutritive skills are different. A summary is presented of the main approaches that use non-nutritive sucking with reference to the literature. This paper also considers other factors and beneficial approaches to managing the introduction of infant feeding. These are: the infant’s toleration of enteral feeds pre oral trials, overall development and gestational age when introducing oral experiences, developing swallowing skills before sucking, physiological stability, health status, as well as the development and interpretation of infant oral readiness signs and early communication
Access to health services for the control of cancer of the uterine cervix in promary care
Objective: To analyze the control of cancer of the cervix from the focus of access to health services. Method: A crosssectional study using consultation documentary and household survey with analysis of calculation of frequencies of selected variables. Results: The results of the last cytological examination showed higher frequency of squamous metaplasia immature; intraepithelial lesion of low grade (LSIL); Intraepithelial Lesion high grade (HSIL) and atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US), predominantly in women In the age group 25 to 64, brown, married/marital harmony and housewives, with clinical complaints of vaginal discharge, bleeding and the occurrence of stds (including HPV). Conclusion: There is no longitudinal follow-up of women in the geographical area of enrollment 47 of USF Nova Natal II from the collection of cytological examination until the discharge by cure
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