Modelling impact of dredging and dumping in ebb-flood channel systems

For a channel-shoal system in a funnel-shaped basin the impact of dredging and dumping is investigated using a complex process-based model. First, the residual flow and sediment transport circulations are analysed for the channel-shoal pattern, which has emerged after a long-term model simulation. Results are compared to the Western Scheldt estuary, which forms the inspiration for this study. Subsequently, different dredge and dump scenarios are modelled, according to a conceptual model, in which ebb-and flood-channels and enclosed shoals form morphodynamic units (cells) with their own sediment circulation. Model results show that dumping sediment in a channel further reduces the channel depth and induces erosion in the opposite channel, which enhances tilting of the cross-section of the cell and eventually can lead to the degeneration of a multiple channel system into a single channel. The impact of different dredging and dumping cases agrees with results from a stability analysis. This means that this type of model applied to a realistic geometry can potentially be used for better prediction of the impact of human interventions.     

A further contribution to the modelling of multi-waveform generators

A method has been presented in recent papers for deriving precisely stabilized waveform generators by relating them to second-order conservative oscillators. The present paper suggests a method for considerably generalizing the previous class ofgenerator models. This should enable the development of a larger variety of waveform generators with ease and flexibility. The new method is analyzed and is shown to possess implications to theoretical biology and other fields.     

Droits Linguistiques Et Droits A l'Education Dans Les Societes Plurilingues

Résumé L'auteur passe en revue plusieurs documents et instruments internationaux (Nations Unies, Unesco) pour examiner la place qu'ils accordent aux droits linguistiques et au rôle des langues dans l'éducation ou les activités culturelles. Il souligne le lien entre la démocratisation de l'éducation, le maintien de l'identité culturelle et l'emploi de la langue maternelle ainsi que certains facteurs qui assurent l'exercise des droits linguistiques et la réalisation de l'égalité de droit dans le domaine de l'éducation. L'auteur cherche à recenser les facteurs de la réussite d'une politique linguistique, ainsi que les principes fondamentaux qui devraient présider à son adoption, selon les documents ou instruments adoptés à l'échelle internationale. Ces principes insistent sur le rôle fondamental de la langue maternelle, sur la nécessité de considérer la planification linguistique en tant que partie intégrante de la planification sociale et économique d'un pays.

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The author surveys a number of documents and international institutions (United Nations, Unesco) to ascertain how they rate the importance of language rights and the role of languages in education and cultural activities. He emphasizes the close connection between the democratization of education, the maintaining of a cultural identity and the use of the mother tongue, and also certain factors which ensure the use of linguistic rights and the achievement of equal rights in the sphere of education. On the basis of information gained from documents and international institutions the author attempts to enumerate the factors which make for the success of a language policy as well as the fundamental principles which should govern its implementation. These principles include the fundamental importance of the mother tongue and the need to consider linguistic planning as an integral part of social and economic planning at the national level.

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Zusammenfassung Der Verfasser untersucht mehrere Schriften und bestimmte internationale Einrichtungen (UN, Unesco), um festzustellen, welche Bedeutung den sprachlichen Rechten und der Rolle der Sprachen im Bildungswesen und im kulturellen Leben beigemessen wird. Er unterstreicht die enge Beziehung zwischen der Demokratisierung des Bildungswesens, der Aufrechterhaltung einer eigenständigen Kultur und dem Gebrauch der Muttersprache; ausserdem betont er gewisse Faktoren, die die Ausübung sprachlicher Rechte und die Verwirklichung der Gleichberechtigung im Bereich der Bildung gewährleisten. Ausgehend von dem Material, das er in Dokumenten und bei internationalen Einrichtungen vorgefunden hat, untersucht der Verfasser im einzelnen die für eine erfolgreiche Sprachpolitik wichtigen Faktoren ebenso wie die bei der Durchführung einer solchen Politik vorrangigen Grundprinzipien. Betont werden in diesen Grundprinzipien die wesentliche Rolle der Muttersprache und die Notwendigkeit, die sprachliche Planung als wesentlichen Bestandteil der sozialen und ökonomischen Planung eines Staates anzusehen.

     

‘It’s a hard line to walk’: black non-binary trans* collegians’ perspectives on passing,realness, and trans*-normativity

Being labeled as ‘abnormal, or deviant, or not being one of the rest of us’ has real effects for one’s life chances. Trans* people are one such group who have continually been codified as abnormal, abject, weird, deceptive, and social pariahs. The purpose of the following study was to explore how the concepts of passing, realness, and trans*-normativity influence the experiences of two black non-binary trans* collegians. Using queer and intersectional theoretical approaches to analysis, findings from this study highlight the various ways black non-binary trans* collegians view these concepts as both limiting and emancipatory.     

The effect of manipulating maternal behavior during an interaction on three- and six-month-olds' affect and attention

3 studies were designed to examine the "still-face" paradigm, in which mothers stared at their 3- or 6-month-olds for a brief, still-face period interposed between 2 periods of normal face-to-face interaction. 6-month-olds decreased smiling and gazing at their mothers and grimaced more during the still-face period relative to the other periods; no period effects occurred in a no-change control group (Studies 1 and 2). Similar results were obtained when mothers and their infants observed and interacted with each other over closed-circuit color television monitors (Study 3). Moreover, the same relative decline in the infants' visual attention and positive affect during the still-face period occurred to a change in mothers' facial display (a televised, prerecorded, still face vs. a televised, live, interacting face) regardless of the presence or absence of their interactive voices (sound on the infants' monitor turned on or off). 3-month-olds exhibited a significant still-face effect, but only when maternal touch was a part of the manipulation (Study 1 vs. 2); therefore, the televised procedure was not conducted. The still-face effect is a robust phenomenon, produced with either "live" or "televised" procedures, both of which offer promising techniques for examining models of socioemotional perception/understanding of infants.     

Write Now! Using reflective writing beyond the humanities and social sciences

Writing is an important teaching and learning tool that fosters active and critical thinking. There are multiple pressures for disciplines outside the humanities and social sciences to integrate writing in their courses. The shift from teaching solely discipline-specific skills to including writing in a meaningful way can be a daunting process. An instructor and education reference librarian at a public, four-year research university infused an urban planning course with reflective writing exercises. The collaboration proved effective in increasing students’ perceived writing abilities and active thinking via increased immediacy, frequency of writing and active learning.     

One Common Future,Two Education Systems: The Case of Syrian Children of Istanbul

The unexpected and vast Syrian refugee crisis with an ever-growing number of young Syrians appears to be one of the greatest challenges for the Turkish education system. While low enrollment rates are alarming, the dual system that emerged in the urban settings creates a main challenge to a comprehensive and supportive education system and unfortunately does not offer a good starting point for the future inclusion of Syrian refugees in society. This article’s main argument is that a culture of togetherness and a common future can only be assured by a comprehensive education system that ensures equal opportunity, diversity, and plurality.     

Differential development of 24-h retention capacities for two components of T-maze escape learning by infant mice

At 9 or 11 days of age, separate groups of Swiss-Webster mice received 12, 24, or 40 training trials to the goal opposite their first-trial choice in a shock-escape T-maze task. All groups were retested to the same goal for 25 trials 24 h following training, while maturation controls without prior exposure were trained to the goal opposite their first choice. All groups demonstrated increased escape proficiency during original training on two separate escape components: reaching the choice point and making the correct turn at the choice point. During retention testing, all groups at both ages exhibited better escape performance in terms of reaching the choice point than their maturation controls. However, when escape was measured in terms of choice, none of the groups trained at 9 days of age differed significantly from maturation controls when retested at 10 days of age. In contrast, retention of correct choice point turn varied directly with number of original training trials for mice trained at 11 days of age.