In search of optimal stocking regimes in semi-arid grazing lands : one size does not fit all

We discuss the search for optimal stocking regimes in semi-arid grazing lands. We argue that ‘one size does not fit all’ and that different stocking regimes are appropriate under different conditions. This paper is an attempt to move beyond polarization of the current debate towards a more integrative and flexible approach to grazing management. We propose five different conditions as major influences on grazing regimes: environmental variability and predictability; degradation and thresholds; property right regimes; discount rates; and market stability and prices. We suggest a lack of connection between the micro-economics literature and natural science and social-anthropological literature. It is timely to achieve greater integration around some key questions and hypotheses, and recognize that policy prescriptions at national or even regional levels are likely to have limited value due to context specificity

LSST: from Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products

(Abridged) We describe here the most ambitious survey currently planned in the optical, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). A vast array of science will be enabled by a single wide-deep-fast sky survey, and LSST will have unique survey capability in the faint time domain. The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. LSST will be a wide-field ground-based system sited at Cerro Pach\'{o}n in northern Chile. The telescope will have an 8.4 m (6.5 m effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg$^2$ field of view, and a 3.2 Gigapixel camera. The standard observing sequence will consist of pairs of 15-second exposures in a given field, with two such visits in each pointing in a given night. With these repeats, the LSST system is capable of imaging about 10,000 square degrees of sky in a single filter in three nights. The typical 5$\sigma$ point-source depth in a single visit in $r$ will be $\sim 24.5$ (AB). The project is in the construction phase and will begin regular survey operations by 2022. The survey area will be contained within 30,000 deg$^2$ with $\delta<+34.5^\circ$, and will be imaged multiple times in six bands, $ugrizy$, covering the wavelength range 320--1050 nm. About 90\% of the observing time will be devoted to a deep-wide-fast survey mode which will uniformly observe a 18,000 deg$^2$ region about 800 times (summed over all six bands) during the anticipated 10 years of operations, and yield a coadded map to $r\sim27.5$. The remaining 10\% of the observing time will be allocated to projects such as a Very Deep and Fast time domain survey. The goal is to make LSST data products, including a relational database of about 32 trillion observations of 40 billion objects, available to the public and scientists around the world.Comment: 57 pages, 32 color figures, version with high-resolution figures available from https://www.lsst.org/overvie

The longitudinal development of social and executive functions in late adolescence and early adulthood

Our earlier work suggests that executive functions and social cognition show protracted development into late adolescence and early adulthood (Taylor, Barker, Heavey and McHale, 2013). However, it remains unknown whether these functions develop linearly or non-linearly corresponding to dynamic changes to white matter density at these age ranges. Executive functions are particularly in demand during the transition to independence and autonomy associated with this age range (Ahmed and Miller, 2011). Previous research examining executive function (Romine and Reynolds, 2005) and social cognition (Dumontheil, Apperly and Blakemore, 2010) in late adolescence has utilised a cross sectional design. The current study employed a longitudinal design with 58 participants aged 17, 18 and 19 years completing social cognition and executive function tasks, Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (Wechsler, 1999), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson, Clark and Tellegen, 1988) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (Zigmond and Snaith, 1983) at Time 1 with follow up testing 12 to 16 months later. Inhibition, rule detection, strategy generation and planning executive functions and emotion recognition with dynamic stimuli showed longitudinal development between time points. Self-report empathy and emotion recognition functions using visual static and auditory stimuli were stable by age 17 whereas concept formation declined between time points. The protracted development of some functions may reflect continued brain maturation into late adolescence and early adulthood including synaptic pruning (Sowell, Thompson, Tessner and Toga, 2001) and changes to functional connectivity (Stevens, Kiehl, Pearlson and Calhouln, 2007) and/or environmental change. Clinical implications, such as assessing the effectiveness of rehabilitation following Head Injury, are discussed

Man and the Last Great Wilderness: Human Impact on the Deep Sea

The deep sea, the largest ecosystem on Earth and one of the least studied, harbours high biodiversity and provides a wealth of resources. Although humans have used the oceans for millennia, technological developments now allow exploitation of fisheries resources, hydrocarbons and minerals below 2000 m depth. The remoteness of the deep seafloor has promoted the disposal of residues and litter. Ocean acidification and climate change now bring a new dimension of global effects. Thus the challenges facing the deep sea are large and accelerating, providing a new imperative for the science community, industry and national and international organizations to work together to develop successful exploitation management and conservation of the deep-sea ecosystem. This paper provides scientific expert judgement and a semi-quantitative analysis of past, present and future impacts of human-related activities on global deep-sea habitats within three categories: disposal, exploitation and climate change. The analysis is the result of a Census of Marine Life – SYNDEEP workshop (September 2008). A detailed review of known impacts and their effects is provided. The analysis shows how, in recent decades, the most significant anthropogenic activities that affect the deep sea have evolved from mainly disposal (past) to exploitation (present). We predict that from now and into the future, increases in atmospheric CO2 and facets and consequences of climate change will have the most impact on deep-sea habitats and their fauna. Synergies between different anthropogenic pressures and associated effects are discussed, indicating that most synergies are related to increased atmospheric CO2 and climate change effects. We identify deep-sea ecosystems we believe are at higher risk from human impacts in the near future: benthic communities on sedimentary upper slopes, cold-water corals, canyon benthic communities and seamount pelagic and benthic communities. We finalise this review with a short discussion on protection and management methods

Differential predictors for alcohol use in adolescents as a function of familial risk

Abstract: Traditional models of future alcohol use in adolescents have used variable-centered approaches, predicting alcohol use from a set of variables across entire samples or populations. Following the proposition that predictive factors may vary in adolescents as a function of family history, we used a two-pronged approach by first defining clusters of familial risk, followed by prediction analyses within each cluster. Thus, for the first time in adolescents, we tested whether adolescents with a family history of drug abuse exhibit a set of predictors different from adolescents without a family history. We apply this approach to a genetic risk score and individual differences in personality, cognition, behavior (risk-taking and discounting) substance use behavior at age 14, life events, and functional brain imaging, to predict scores on the alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT) at age 14 and 16 in a sample of adolescents (N = 1659 at baseline, N = 1327 at follow-up) from the IMAGEN cohort, a longitudinal community-based cohort of adolescents. In the absence of familial risk (n = 616), individual differences in baseline drinking, personality measures (extraversion, negative thinking), discounting behaviors, life events, and ventral striatal activation during reward anticipation were significantly associated with future AUDIT scores, while the overall model explained 22% of the variance in future AUDIT. In the presence of familial risk (n = 711), drinking behavior at age 14, personality measures (extraversion, impulsivity), behavioral risk-taking, and life events were significantly associated with future AUDIT scores, explaining 20.1% of the overall variance. Results suggest that individual differences in personality, cognition, life events, brain function, and drinking behavior contribute differentially to the prediction of future alcohol misuse. This approach may inform more individualized preventive interventions

Differential predictors for alcohol use in adolescents as a function of familial risk

Abstract: Traditional models of future alcohol use in adolescents have used variable-centered approaches, predicting alcohol use from a set of variables across entire samples or populations. Following the proposition that predictive factors may vary in adolescents as a function of family history, we used a two-pronged approach by first defining clusters of familial risk, followed by prediction analyses within each cluster. Thus, for the first time in adolescents, we tested whether adolescents with a family history of drug abuse exhibit a set of predictors different from adolescents without a family history. We apply this approach to a genetic risk score and individual differences in personality, cognition, behavior (risk-taking and discounting) substance use behavior at age 14, life events, and functional brain imaging, to predict scores on the alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT) at age 14 and 16 in a sample of adolescents (N = 1659 at baseline, N = 1327 at follow-up) from the IMAGEN cohort, a longitudinal community-based cohort of adolescents. In the absence of familial risk (n = 616), individual differences in baseline drinking, personality measures (extraversion, negative thinking), discounting behaviors, life events, and ventral striatal activation during reward anticipation were significantly associated with future AUDIT scores, while the overall model explained 22% of the variance in future AUDIT. In the presence of familial risk (n = 711), drinking behavior at age 14, personality measures (extraversion, impulsivity), behavioral risk-taking, and life events were significantly associated with future AUDIT scores, explaining 20.1% of the overall variance. Results suggest that individual differences in personality, cognition, life events, brain function, and drinking behavior contribute differentially to the prediction of future alcohol misuse. This approach may inform more individualized preventive interventions

Reine Kontaktsache?

Aufgrund der Flüchtlingswelle im Jahr 2015 gewannen die Thematiken Flüchtlinge und Integration an Aufmerksamkeit. Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war es, die Wahrnehmung der Menschen in Österreich zum Thema Flüchtling transparent darzustellen und dadurch mögliche Aspekte für eine erfolgreiche Integration von Flüchtlingen in Österreich zu ermitteln. Dies wurde anhand sozialer Repräsentationen untersucht, sie umfassen sozial geformte Einstellungen, Gedanken, Vorurteile und Meinungen (Moscovici, 1961). Die Kontakthypothese besagt, dass positive interkulturelle Einstellungen durch vermehrten Kontakt mit Außengruppen (Allports, 1954) und indirekte Beziehungen erzielt werden (Paolini et al., 2004). Da der Bereich der Flüchtlingshilfe seit der Flüchtlingswelle an Aufschwung gewonnen hat und Freiwilligenarbeit die Bedürfnisse der Selbstbestimmungstheorie befriedigt (Ryan & Deci, 2000), sollten die sozialen Repräsentationen anhand dieser verschiedenen Aspekte untersucht werden. Für diese Studie wurden in Summe 475 TeilnehmerInnen befragt, die eine österreichische Staatsbürgerschaft, oder einen Wohnsitz in Österreich hatten. Um ihre Sichtweisen vergleichen zu können, wurden sie in folgenden Gruppen gegenübergestellt: Personen mit viel direktem (persönlichem) oder keinem Flüchtlingskontakt, Menschen mit direktem oder indirektem Flüchtlingskontakt, sowie Personen, die ehrenamtlich oder festangestellt in der Flüchtlingshilfe tätig waren. Die sozialen Repräsentationen dieser Gruppen wurden über freie Assoziationen erhoben, denn diese erfassen automatisierte Antworten (Kulich, El-Sehity & Kirchler, 2005). Daraus gewonnene Informationen wurden einerseits quantitativ, mittels Mann-Whitney-U-Tests erforscht, andererseits erfolgte die qualitative Auswertung anhand lexikografischer Analysen. Die Annahme, dass vermehrter Kontakt mit Außengruppen eine positive interkulturelle Einstellung fördert (Allport 1954), konnte in der vorliegenden Untersuchung bestätigt werden. Des Weiteren wurde verifiziert, dass es Unterschiede zwischen Personen mit direktem und indirektem Flüchtlingskontakt gibt. Jedoch hatten ehrenamtliche FlüchtlingshelferInnen nicht mehr positive Nennungen zum Begriff Flüchtling, als Personen in einem fixen Arbeitsverhältnis desselben Bereiches. Daher wurde diese Hypothese verworfen. Die lexikografischen Analysen ließen viele Unterschiede erkennen, jedoch zeigten sich in allen Gruppen dieselben Kernbegriffe Krieg, Armut und Hilfe.Due to the wave of refugees in 2015 the topics of refugees and integration have gained attention. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to represent how refugees are perceived in Austria in order to identify possible factors for a successful integration of refugees in Austria. This was done by means of social representations, as they contain common and socially formed attitudes, thoughts, prejudices and opinions (Moscovici, 1961). The contact hypothesis states that positive intercultural attitudes derive from increased out-group contacts (Allports, 1954), as well as indirect relationships with out-group members (Paolini et al., 2004). During the high number of refugees entering the country, the area of refugee relief boomed and because voluntary work is satisfying the needs of the self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000), those different aspects were taken into account while investigating social representations. The examined sample held 475 participants who either had an Austrian citizenship or a residence in Austria. In order to compare their perceptions, the participants were divided into partial samples. Consequently, the following groups were contrasted: people with direct (personal) or no refugee contact at all, participants with direct or indirect refugee contact, as well as participants who were voluntarily or salaried working in refugee relief. The social representations of those groups were measured through free association tasks, since they capture habitual, unconscious and automatic answers (Kulich, El-Sehity & Kirchler, 2005). On one hand, the attained data was explored quantitatively, through Mann- Whitney-U tests, on the other, qualitative assessments were carried out via lexicographic analysis. The assumption which states that increased out-group contacts foster positive intercultural attitudes (Allport 1954), was confirmed in this research. Furthermore, the hypothesis which stated that people who had indirect and direct refugee contact showed various distinctions was verified. The supposition that participants who worked voluntarily in refugee relief had more positive associations regarding refugees than salaried workers in this field, had to be rejected. Results of the lexicographic analysis revealed many differences, however all groups had the same core elements, persisting of the associations war, poverty and help

A critique of scientific politics in Plato\u27s “Statesman”

Plato is performing a dialectical thought process in juxtaposing Socrates and the Eleatic Stranger in the Statesman, as well as in other dialogues related by dramatic sequence to the trial of Socrates, which include the Theaetetus, Sophist, Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and Phaedo. In so doing Plato exhibits a fundamental philosophical tension between Socratic political philosophy—a dialectical political philosophy—on the one hand, and an Eleatic political philosophy—a technical, scientific political philosophy or political science—on the other. Plato provides two aspects of his own thought in order to provide an internal critique of his ideas, to reveal their complexity, and to encourage scrutiny and reexamination of them. The goal in providing a dialectic between two very different methods of political philosophy is not to show the ultimate similarity between them, or to demonstrate that Plato changed his mind about the way philosophy ought to be practiced and politics ought to be understood. Nor is the dialectical approach intended to portray the inherent complementarity of the different methods. In the Statesman Plato presents an alternative approach to the study of politics—with Socrates present—ultimately to dramatize the advantages of the Socratic approach by way of contrast. For Plato, the Stranger calls attention to a number of difficulties and potential excesses in Socrates\u27 way of philosophizing. Yet it is only through a thorough recognition of Socrates\u27 limitations and potential excesses that his legacy can be perpetuated in proper fashion. Only by observing—and participating in—Plato\u27s elaborate thought experiment can we perpetuate a dialectical political philosophy that is most conducive to human affairs and balances objective and perspectival concerns. Plato\u27s dialogic writings attempt to capture as much as possible the complex character of Socrates in a way that invites further investigation and interpretation. The dialectical approach to philosophy balances theoretical and practical concerns without lapsing into relativism or dogmatism. The conception of inquiry as an ongoing pursuit is central to Platonic political philosophy, and is perhaps Plato\u27s most striking and important inheritance from Socrates, his teacher