Representation and Governance in International Organizations

What does representation mean when applied to international organizations? While many scholars working on normative questions related to global governance often make use of the concept of representation, few have addressed specifics of applying the concept to the rules and practices by which IOs operate. This article examines representation as a fundamental, albeit often neglected, norm of governance which, if perceived to be deficient or unfair, can interfere with other components of governance, as well as with performance of an organization’s core tasks by undermining legitimacy. We argue that the concept of representation has been neglected in the ongoing debates about good governance and democratic deficits within IOs. We aim to correct this by drawing on insights from normative political theory considerations of representation. The article then applies theoretical aspects of representation to the governance of the International Monetary Fund. We determine that subjecting IOs to this kind of conceptual scrutiny highlights important deficiencies in representational practices in global politics. Finally, our conclusion argues scholars of global governance need to address the normative and empirical implications of conceptualizing representation at the supranational level

Neonatal Shoulder Width Suggests a Semirotational, Oblique Birth Mechanism in \u3ci\u3eAustralopithecus afarensis\u3c/i\u3e

Birth mechanics in early hominins are often reconstructed based on cephalopelvic proportions, with little attention paid to neonatal shoulders. Here, we find that neonatal biacromial breadth can be estimated from adult clavicular length (R2 = 0.80) in primates. Using this relationship and clavicular length from adult Australopithecus afarensis, we estimate biacromial breadth in neonatal australopiths. Combined with neonatal head dimensions, we reconstruct birth in A. afarensis (A.L. 288-1 or Lucy) and find that the most likely mechanism of birth in this early hominin was a semi-rotational oblique birth in which the head engaged and passed through the inlet transversely, but then rotated so that the head and shoulders remained perpendicular and progressed through the midplane and outlet oblique to the main axis of the female pelvis. Any other mechanism of birth, including asynclitic birth, would have resulted in either the head or the shoulders orthogonal to the short anteroposterior dimension of the A.L. 288-1 pelvis, making birth untenable. There is a tight fit between the infant and all planes of the birth canal, perhaps suggesting a difficult labor in australopiths. However, the rotational birth mechanism of large-brained humans today was likely not characteristic of A. afarensis. Thus, the evolution of rotational birth, usually associated with encephalization, may have occurred in two stages: the first appeared with the origin of the australopiths with their platypelloid pelves adapted for bipedalism and their broad-shouldered neonates; the second which resulted in the modern mechanism of rotational birth may be associated with increasing brain size in the genus Homo. Anat Rec, 300:890–899, 2017

Carbon Dioxide Collection and Purification System for Mars

One of the most abundant resources available on Mars is the atmosphere. The primary constituent, carbon dioxide, can be used to produce a wide variety of consumables including propellants and breathing air. The residual gases can be used for additional pressurization tasks including supplementing the oxygen partial pressure in human habitats. A system is presented that supplies pure, high-pressure carbon dioxide and a separate stream of residual gases ready for further processing. This power-efficient method freezes the carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere using a pulse-tube cryocooler. The resulting CO2 mass is later thawed in a closed pressure vessel, resulting in a compact source of liquefied gas at the vapor pressure of the bulk fluid. Results from a demonstration system are presented along with analysis and system scaling factors for implementation at larger scales. Trace gases in the Martian atmosphere challenge the system designer for all carbon dioxide acquisitions concepts. The approximately five percent of other gases build up as local concentrations of CO2 are removed, resulting in diminished performance of the collection process. The presented system takes advantage of this fact and draws the concentrated residual gases away as a useful byproduct. The presented system represents an excelient volume and mass solution for collecting and compressing this valuable Martian resource. Recent advances in pulse-tube cryocooler technology have enabled this concept to be realized in a reliable, low power implementation

Recommendations for Transdisciplinary Professional Competencies and Ethics for Animal-Assisted Therapies and Interventions

From MDPI via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: accepted 2021-11-04, pub-electronic 2021-12-02Publication status: PublishedAAI is a transdisciplinary field that has grown exponentially in recent decades. This growth has not always been synergistic across fields, creating a need for more consistent language and standards, a call for which many professionals in the field have made. Under the umbrella of human−animal interactions (HAI) is animal-assisted interventions (AAIs), which have a more goal-directed intention with animals who have been assessed for therapeutic, educational, or vocational work. The current article offers a brief history and efficacy of HAI, describes the limitations and gaps within the field and recommends a new set of competencies and guidelines that seek to create some of the needed common language and standards for AAI work to address these limitations

There is an obstetrical dilemma: Misconceptions about the evolution of human childbirth and pelvic form

Compared to other primates, modern humans face high rates of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality during childbirth. Since the early 20th century, this “difficulty” of human parturition has prompted numerous evolutionary explanations, typically assuming antagonistic selective forces acting on maternal and fetal traits, which has been termed the “obstetrical dilemma.” Recently, there has been a growing tendency among some anthropologists to question the difficulty of human childbirth and its evolutionary origin in an antagonistic selective regime. Partly, this stems from the motivation to combat increasing pathologization and overmedicalization of childbirth in industrialized countries. Some authors have argued that there is no obstetrical dilemma at all, and that the difficulty of childbirth mainly results from modern lifestyles and inappropriate and patriarchal obstetric practices. The failure of some studies to identify biomechanical and metabolic constraints on pelvic dimensions is sometimes interpreted as empirical support for discarding an obstetrical dilemma. Here we explain why these points are important but do not invalidate evolutionary explanations of human childbirth. We present robust empirical evidence and solid evolutionary theory supporting an obstetrical dilemma, yet one that is much more complex than originally conceived in the 20th century. We argue that evolutionary research does not hinder appropriate midwifery and obstetric care, nor does it promote negative views of female bodies. Understanding the evolutionary entanglement of biological and sociocultural factors underlying human childbirth can help us to understand individual variation in the risk factors of obstructed labor, and thus can contribute to more individualized maternal care

The evolution of human birth and transhumanist proposals of enhancement

Some transhumanists argue that we must engage with theories and facts about our evolutionary past in order to promote future enhancements of the human body. At the same time, they call our attention to the flawed character of evolution and argue that there is a mismatch between adaptation to ancestral environments and contemporary life. One important trait of our evolutionary past which should not be ignored, and yet may hinder the continued perfection of humankind, is the peculiarly human way of bearing and raising children. The suffering associated with childbirth and a long childhood have demanded trade-offs that have enhanced our species, leading to cooperation, creativity, intelligence and resilience. Behaviors such as mother–infant engagement, empathy, storytelling, and ritual have also helped to create what we value most in human beings. Therefore, the moral, cognitive, and emotional enhancements proposed by these transhumanists may be impaired by their partial appropriation of evolution, insofar as the bittersweet experience of parenthood is left aside

A horizon scan of priorities for coastal marine microbiome research

Research into the microbiomes of natural environments is changing the way ecologists and evolutionary biologists view the importance of microbes in ecosystem function. This is particularly relevant in ocean environments, where microbes constitute the majority of biomass and control most of the major biogeochemical cycles, including those that regulate the Earth's climate. Coastal marine environments provide goods and services that are imperative to human survival and well-being (e.g. fisheries, water purification), and emerging evidence indicates that these ecosystem services often depend on complex relationships between communities of microorganisms (the ‘microbiome’) and their hosts or environment – termed the ‘holobiont’. Understanding of coastal ecosystem function must therefore be framed under the holobiont concept, whereby macroorganisms and their associated microbiomes are considered as a synergistic ecological unit. Here we evaluated the current state of knowledge on coastal marine microbiome research and identified key questions within this growing research area. Although the list of questions is broad and ambitious, progress in the field is increasing exponentially, and the emergence of large, international collaborative networks and well-executed manipulative experiments are rapidly advancing the field of coastal marine microbiome research

Sediment anoxia limits microbial-driven seagrass carbon remineralization under warming conditions

Seagrass ecosystems are significant carbon sinks, and their resident microbial communities ultimately determine the quantity and quality of carbon sequestered. However, environmental perturbations have been predicted to affect microbial-driven seagrass decomposition and subsequent carbon sequestration. Utilizing techniques including 16S-rDNA sequencing, solid-state NMR and microsensor profiling, we tested the hypothesis that elevated seawater temperatures and eutrophication enhance the microbial decomposition of seagrass leaf detritus and rhizome/root tissues. Nutrient additions had a negligible effect on seagrass decomposition, indicating an absence of nutrient limitation. Elevated temperatures caused a 19% higher biomass loss for aerobically decaying leaf detritus, coinciding with changes in bacterial community structure and enhanced lignocellulose degradation. Although, community shifts and lignocellulose degradation were also observed for rhizome/root decomposition, anaerobic decay was unaffected by temperature. These observations suggest that oxygen availability constrains the stimulatory effects of temperature increases on bacterial carbon remineralization, possibly through differential temperature effects on bacterial functional groups, including putative aerobic heterotrophs (e.g. Erythrobacteraceae, Hyphomicrobiaceae) and sulfate-reducers (e.g. Desulfobacteraceae). Consequently, under elevated seawater temperatures, carbon accumulation rates may diminish due to higher remineralization rates at the sediment surface. Nonetheless, the anoxic conditions ubiquitous to seagrass sediments can provide a degree of carbon protection under warming seawater temperatures

Operationalizing marketable blue carbon

The global carbon sequestration and avoided emissions potentially achieved via blue carbon is high (∼3% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions); however, it is limited by multidisciplinary and interacting uncertainties spanning the social, governance, financial, and technological dimensions. We compiled a transdisciplinary team of experts to elucidate these challenges and identify a way forward. Key actions to enhance blue carbon as a natural climate solution include improving policy and legal arrangements to ensure equitable sharing of benefits; improving stewardship by incorporating indigenous knowledge and values; clarifying property rights; improving financial approaches and accounting tools to incorporate co-benefits; developing technological solutions for measuring blue carbon sequestration at low cost; and resolving knowledge gaps regarding blue carbon cycles. Implementing these actions and operationalizing blue carbon will achieve measurable changes to atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, provide multiple co-benefits, and address national obligations associated with international agreements