Explaining Inconsistency: Motive, Intent, and the Practice of Human Protection

What accounts for the inconsistency of human protection practice? This article explores the role of motive and intent in determining collective responses to humanitarian crises. The article outlines the purpose and roles of protection agents – with a focus here on states acting collectively – as well as motives and intent. The study finds that, while human protection norms have gained traction and this is reflected in collective practice, responses to humanitarian crises are not consistently motivated primarily by humanitarian concerns. Even where there is robust political will to respond to a crisis, intentions may differ among protection agents and can account for variability in the nature of collective responses. A comparative case study of international responses to the post-electoral crisis in Kenya, 2007-8, and NATO’s intervention in Libya, 2011, illustrates these dynamics

Making postdramatic theatre : a handbook of devising exercises

Making Postdramatic Theatre is a workshop handbook for tutors teaching postdramatic practice and for students and makers devising their own performance work. It extends the range of workshop manuals on devised theatre that are currently on the market by, uniquely, focusing specifically around exercises that can be used for making theatre that is postdramatic. It is compiled of workshop exercises contributed by a range of established UK and trans-European theatre companies and practitioners who tour their work internationally. The book includes: an accessible introduction to Postdramatic Theatre, written by Tracy Crossley; 17 edited exercises or full workshops contributed by 11 theatre practitioners; exercises grouped into chapters on Action, Text, Space and Time, framed with short introductions; boxed interventions from the editors on each exercise, with suggestions for further development and/or cross references to other complimentary exercises in the handbook; practitioner profiles and external hyperlinks to websites and video documentation; hyperlinks that direct the user to other relevant materials on Digital Theatre Plus; annotated Further Reading and Resources section

Is there a commercial case for tropical timber certification?

The authors estimate the potential commercial benefits that tropical timber producing countries could enjoy by adopting timber certification schemes. Such benefits are crucial for encouraging the supply of certified timber. Timber certification is a reality: various countries and organizations have launched initiatives for it. The initial response among producing countries was less than positive, but some have come to realize its potential benefits and have begun to adopt timber certification schemes. Tropical timber trade accounts for only a small fraction of tropical timber production, and most of that trade is concentrated among developing countries in Asia and Japan - markets where demand for certified timber is currently weak. Only a small part of the trade reaches the eco-sensitive markets of Europe and the United States, where there is demand for certified timber. Developing countries can benefit commercially from timber certification in two ways: through the"green premium"(consumers'willingness to pay a premium for certified timber"and by averting losses of market share in the tropical timber market from not having timber certified. Based on surveys, on discussions with nongovernmental organizations, on market participants and analysts, and on estimates of price elasticity, the authors develop a scenario for estimating the potential commercial benefits from adopting timber certification. Under this scenario, benefits would not exceed US$500 million a year (roughly 4 percent of all tropical-timber-related revenues earned by developing countries). Timber certification is not expected to provide significant commercial benefits to developing countries in the near future. But timber certification could provide significant rents to individual firms that develop market niche strategies. And producing countries that pursue certification may enjoy longer-term social, economic, and environmental benefits by adopting the better forest management practices required for timber certification.Environmental Economics&Policies,Silviculture,Agribusiness&Markets,Roads&Highways,Forests and Forestry,Environmental Economics&Policies,Forestry,Silviculture,Agribusiness&Markets,Roads&Highways

Fred:An Approach to Generating Real, Correct, Reusable Programs from Proofs

In this paper we describe our system for automatically extracting "correct" programs from proofs using a development of the Curry-Howard process. Although program extraction has been developed by many authors (see, for example, [HN88], [Con97] and [HKPM97]), our system has a number of novel features designed to make it very easy to use and as close as possible to ordinary mathematical terminology and practice. These features include 1. the use of Henkin's technique [Hen50] to reduce higher-order logic to many-sorted (first-order) logic; 2. the free use of new rules for induction subject to certain conditions; 3. the extensive use of previously programmed (total, recursive) functions; 4. the use of templates to make the reasoning much closer to normal mathematical proofs and 5. a conceptual distinction between the computational type theory (for representing programs) and the logical type theory (for reasoning about programs). As an example of our system we give a constructive proof of the well known theorem that every graph of even parity, which is non-trivial in the sense that it does not consist of isolated vertices, has a cycle. Given such a graph as input, the extracted program produces a cycle as promised

The potential of ground gravity measurements to validate GRACE data

New satellite missions are returning high precision, time-varying, satellite measurements of the Earth’s gravity field. The GRACE mission is now in its calibration/- validation phase and first results of the gravity field solutions are imminent. We consider here the possibility of external validation using data from the superconducting gravimeters in the European sub-array of the Global Geodynamics Project (GGP) as ‘ground truth’ for comparison with GRACE. This is a pilot study in which we use 14 months of 1-hour data from the beginning of GGP (1 July 1997) to 30 August 1998, when the Potsdam instrument was relocated to South Africa. There are 7 stations clustered in west central Europe, and one station, Metsahovi in Finland. We remove local tides, polar motion, local and global air pressure, and instrument drift and then decimate to 6-hour samples. We see large variations in the time series of 5–10<i>µ</i>gal between even some neighboring stations, but there are also common features that correlate well over the 427-day period. The 8 stations are used to interpolate a minimum curvature (gridded) surface that extends over the geographical region. This surface shows time and spatial coherency at the level of 2– 4<i>µ</i>gal over the first half of the data and 1–2<i>µ</i>gal over the latter half. The mean value of the surface clearly shows a rise in European gravity of about 3µgal over the first 150 days and a fairly constant value for the rest of the data. The accuracy of this mean is estimated at 1<i>µ</i>gal, which compares favorably with GRACE predictions for wavelengths of 500 km or less. Preliminary studies of hydrology loading over Western Europe shows the difficulty of correlating the local hydrology, which can be highly variable, with large-scale gravity variations.<br><br><b>Key words. </b>GRACE, satellite gravity, superconducting gravimeter, GGP, ground trut

Who the hell was that? Stories, bodies and actions in the world

This article explores a two-way relationship between stories and the experiential actions of bodies in the world. Through an autoethnographic approach, the article presents a series of interlinked story fragments in an effort to show and evoke a feel for the ways in which stories, bodies, and actions influence and shape each other over time. It offers some reflections on the experiences the stories portray from the perspective of a social constructionist conception of narrative theory and suggest that while stories exert a powerful influence on the actions of our bodies, our bodies intrude on or ‘talk back’ to this process because bodies have an existence beyond stories

Age-related differences in foot mobility in individuals with patellofemoral pain

Background Age-related changes in midfoot mobility have the potential to influence success with foot orthoses intervention in people with patellofemoral pain (PFP). The aim of this study was to determine whether older people with PFP demonstrate less foot mobility than younger adults with PFP. Methods One hundred ninety four participants (113 (58%) women, age 32 ± 7 years, BMI 25 ± 4.9 kg/m2) with PFP (≥ 6 weeks duration) were included, with foot mobility quantified using reliable and valid methods. K-means cluster analysis classified participants into three homogenous groups based on age. After cluster formation, univariate analyses of co-variance (covariates: sex, weight) were used to compare midfoot height mobility, midfoot width mobility, and foot mobility magnitude between age groups (significance level 0.05). Results Cluster analysis revealed three distinct age groups: 18–29 years (n = 70); 30–39 years (n = 101); and 40–50 years (n = 23). There was a significant main effect for age for midfoot height mobility (p  0.05). Conclusion Individuals with PFP aged 40–50 years have less foot mobility than younger adults with PFP. These findings may have implications for evaluation and treatment of older individuals with PFP

A questionnaire to identify patellofemoral pain in the community: an exploration of measurement properties

Background Community-based studies of patellofemoral pain (PFP) need a questionnaire tool that discriminates between those with and those without the condition. To overcome these issues, we have designed a self-report questionnaire which aims to identify people with PFP in the community. Methods Study designs: comparative study and cross-sectional study. Study population: comparative study: PFP patients, soft-tissue injury patients and adults without knee problems. Cross-sectional study: adults attending a science festival. Intervention: comparative study participants completed the questionnaire at baseline and two weeks later. Cross-sectional study participants completed the questionnaire once. The optimal scoring system and threshold was explored using receiver operating characteristic curves, test-retest reliability using Cohen’s kappa and measurement error using Bland-Altman plots and standard error of measurement. Known-group validity was explored by comparing PFP prevalence between genders and age groups. Results Eighty-four participants were recruited to the comparative study. The receiver operating characteristic curves suggested limiting the questionnaire to the clinical features and knee pain map sections (AUC 0.97 95 % CI 0.94 to 1.00). This combination had high sensitivity and specificity (over 90 %). Measurement error was less than the mean difference between the groups. Test–retest reliability estimates suggest good agreement (N = 51, k = 0.74, 95 % CI 0.52–0.91). The cross-sectional study (N = 110) showed expected differences between genders and age groups but these were not statistically significant. Conclusion A shortened version of the questionnaire, based on clinical features and a knee pain map, has good measurement properties. Further work is needed to validate the questionnaire in community samples

Vitamin D toxicity of dietary origin in cats fed a natural complementary kitten food

Case series summary This case series describes two young sibling cats and an additional unrelated cat, from two separate households, that developed hypercalcaemia associated with hypervitaminosis D. Excessive vitamin D concentrations were identified in a natural complementary tinned kitten food that was fed to all three cats as part of their diet. In one of the cases, there was clinical evidence of soft tissue mineralisation. The hypercalcaemia and soft tissue mineralisation resolved following withdrawal of the affected food and medical management of the hypercalcaemia. Relevance and novel information This case series demonstrates the importance of obtaining a thorough dietary history in patients presenting with hypercalcaemia and the measurement of vitamin D metabolites when investigating such cases. Complementary foods may have the potential to induce nutritional toxicity even when fed with complete, nutritionally balanced diets

Cognitive and sensorimotor function in participants being treated for trigeminal neuralgia pain

Background Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is an orofacial condition defined by reoccurring, spontaneous, short-lived but excruciating stabbing pain. Pharmacological interventions constitute the first-line treatment for TN, with antiepileptic drugs commonly prescribed. People treated for TN pain with antiepileptic drugs describe cognitive and motor difficulties affecting activities of daily living, and report poorer quality of life. We undertook the first comprehensive objective evaluation of sensorimotor and cognitive performance in participants being treated for TN pain with antiepileptic drugs relative to age-matched controls. Methods Participants (43 TN, 41 control) completed a battery of sensorimotor (steering, aiming and tracking) and cognitive (working memory, processing speed, inhibition) tasks. Results The TN group performed significantly worse than controls on the sensorimotor tracking and aiming tasks and across all cognitive measures. Conclusions The data explain why patients treated with antiepileptic drugs report impairment when conducting activities of daily living (given the need for cognitive and motor capability within most of these). The study is an important first step in: (i) ensuring there is adequate information on the impact of pharmacological treatment; (ii) identifying measures to determine optimal medication dosage and track change over time; (iii) creating an evidence base that could allow scientific justification of alternative pain treatment options for TN (e.g. the costs/benefits of surgery)