全球重要农业文化遗产：一个有助于提高农业、生态与传统社会可持续性的综合观点

20世纪90年代以来,可持续发展理念在全球取得了广泛共识并延伸到农业生产系统,根据可持续发展战略和环境议程的需要,各个国家均已构建了许多自然资源可持续管理的途径并付诸实施,支持了乡村社区的发展并提高了他们的生计水平。本文简要概括了一种自然资源可持续管理的途径及其背景和特点。这种综合管理途径,如全球重要农业文化遗产的动态保护以及与其相关的农业和生态知识系统,至今仍然对传统社会、应对全球气候变化和维持生计有着重要的影响,值得进一步重新审视。 2002年,联合国粮农组织发起的重要活动之一就是全球重要农业文化遗产（GIAHS）的保护与适应性管理,该项目旨在对全球重要的、受到威胁的传统农业文化遗产系统进行保护。全球重要农业文化遗产是指：“农村与其所处环境长期协同进化和动态适应下所形成的独特的土地利用系统和农业景观,这些系统与景观具有丰富的生物多样性,而且可以满足当地社会经济与文化发展的需要,有利于促进区域可持续发展”,是在当地资源条件、不断发展变化的知识体系与经过长期验证的丰富经验的基础上,反映了人类与文化多样性的协同发展,揭示了人与自然和谐共生的深刻关系。这些生动鲜活且不断演变进化的系统和社区,一直保持着与诸如自然、家庭、社区、历史以及对其自然环境的归属感等融为一体所具有的特性。 全球重要农业文化遗产的动态保护,是综合管理途径的一个具体实例,是一个将农业、生态与传统社会可持续性融合在一起的综合观点。这项计划正在全球范围实施,以促进对全球重要农业文化遗产的认识并保障其继续协同发展。该项目所推动的动态保护途径将：1）在国际和国家层面上,进一步推动公众对全球重要农业文化遗产内在价值的认识;2）在试点国家制定部门内部及部门间的计划和政策时,将GIAHS中的全球重要农业生物多样性的保护和适应性管理作为主要内容;3）通过采用考虑到生态与文化相互作用的新技术,促进当地社区社会政策与经济的发展;4）通过实践和经验交流,进一步推广和扩大GIAHS的保护。     

Antinuclear Antibody Profiling in Patients of a Tertiary Care Centre in Central India

The incidence of autoimmune disorders that includes the connective tissue diseases has seen a rise in India in recent times. Antinuclear antibodies, the telltale sign of systemic autoimmune response, thus can be used as a screening tool and also to support the diagnosis of systemic autoimmune disease. The present retrospective cross- sectional analysis aimed to study the antinuclear antibodies profile (patterns and specific antibody reactivity) amongst suspected cases of auto-immune disorders at a tertiary care teaching hospital. The study retrieved and reviewed reports of 644 patients sent for ANA testing by indirect immunofluorescence assay over a period of 1 year by different specialty departments. Positive samples were further processed for anti-ds-DNA antibody and antibodies to extractable nuclear antigen. Data collected was statistically analysed. ANA pattern positivity was observed in 31% of cases and a positive antibody reactivity was seen in 66% of them. Female predominance (82%) was noted in both pattern positivity and antibody reactivity. High levels of pattern positivity and antibody reactivity was found in the young adults (45.9%). Amongst the ANA patterns, the nuclear homogenous pattern was found the commonest. The common antibodies associated with this pattern were anti-dsDNA and U1 Sm/RNP antibodies. A stronger fluorescence intensity on initial screening showed a higher confirmation rate for specific antibodies on immunoassay. High occurrence of positive ANA patterns in autoimmune disorders suggests its utilization as a screening tool for them and would also play an adjuvant to the diagnosis. Early knowledge about future autoimmunity will earn better prognostic achievements through better treatment interventions.     

Functional shoulder ratios with high velocities of shoulder internal rotation are most sensitive to determine shoulder rotation torque imbalance: a cross-sectional study with elite handball players and controls

The aim of the present study was to determine which approach to calculating shoulder ratios is the most sensitive for determining shoulder torque imbalance in handball players. Twenty-six participants (handball athletes, n = 13; healthy controls, n = 13) performed isokinetic concentric and eccentric shoulder internal rotation (IR) and external rotation (ER) assessment at 60, 180 and 300°/s. We used eight approaches to calculating shoulder ratios: four concentric (i.e. concentric ER torque divided by concentric IR torque), and four functional (i.e. eccentric ER torque divided by concentric IR torque) at the velocities of 60, 180 and 300°/s for both IR and ER, and combining 60°/s of ER and 300°/s of IR. A three factorial ANOVA (factors: shoulder ratios, upper limb sides, and groups) along with Tukey’s post-hoc analysis, and effect sizes were calculated. The findings suggested the functional shoulder ratio combining 60°/s of ER and 300°/s of IR is the most sensitive to detect differences between upper limbs for handball players, and between players and controls for the dominant side. The functional shoulder ratio combining 60°/s of ER with 300°/s of IR seems to present advantages over the other approaches for identifying upper limb asymmetries and differences in shoulder torque balance related to throwing.     

A study of the power associated with testing factor mean differences under violations of factorial invariance

We examine the power associated with the test of factor mean differences when the assumption of factorial invariance is violated. Utilizing the Wald test for obtaining power, issues of model size, sample size, and total versus partial noninvariance are considered along with variation of actual factor mean differences. Results of a population study show that power is profoundly affected by true factor mean differences but is relatively unaffected by the degree of factor loading noninvariance. Inequality of sample size has a profound effect on power probabilities with power decreasing as sample sizes become increasingly disparate. Sample size variations operate such that power is uniformly lower when the group with the smaller generalized variance is associated with the smaller sample size. An increase in the number of variables yields uniformly larger power probabilities. No substantial differences are found between total and partial noninvariance. Results are related to work in the area of robustness of Hotelling's T ² statistic and discussed in terms of asymptotic covariability of factor means and factor loadings. Implications for practice are considered.     

The Implications of the Cognitive Sciences for the Relation Between Religion and Science Education: The Case of Evolutionary Theory

This paper discusses the relationship between religion and science education in the light of the cognitive sciences. We challenge the popular view that science and religion are compatible, a view that suggests that learning and understanding evolutionary theory has no effect on students?? religious beliefs and vice versa. We develop a cognitive perspective on how students manage to reconcile evolutionary theory with their religious beliefs. We underwrite the claim developed by cognitive scientists and anthropologists that religion is natural because it taps into people??s intuitive understanding of the natural world which is constrained by essentialist, teleological and intentional biases. After contrasting the naturalness of religion with the unnaturalness of science, we discuss the difficulties cognitive and developmental scientists have identified in learning and accepting evolutionary theory. We indicate how religious beliefs impede students?? understanding and acceptance of evolutionary theory. We explore a number of options available to students for reconciling an informed understanding of evolutionary theory with their religious beliefs. To conclude, we discuss the implications of our account for science and biology teachers.     

The road to collaborative and integrated education: Success and struggle in a university classroom

Abstract

Although much of the contemporary discourse on collaborative teaching is positive, there is a dearth of information about and research on the practical issues of undertaking such an endeavor at the university level. The authors of this article team taught a course that combined three educational methods classes (Instruction in Elementary Language Arts, Instruction in Elementary Reading, and Instruction in Elementary Social Studies). This undertaking evoked positive experiences for the instructors and students but also evinced areas that caused conflict and concern, including conflicts regarding student assessment, amount of time required, and lack of administrative support. As we continue to incorporate and refine collaborative teaching at the university level, economics, recognition, and status issues also need to be examined.     

Reading This Bridge Called My Back for pedagogies of coalition,remediation, and a razor’s edge

In this article, I examine the engagement of pre-service teachers with US feminist of color theory. Centering coalition relations, re-mediation, and dialogic narrative, I argue that the field of women of color thought is pedagogical in thinking through the intersectional and multidimensional problems of teaching and schooling, particularly when working with under-resourced schools and displaced and dispossessed students and their families. A framework based on the intellectual labor of US women of color, where the pedagogies of coalition, re-mediation, and dialogic narratives create powerful epistemological interventions that support pre-service teachers as they think about the complex problems of schools in this era of the defunding and the dismantlement of public education. It is a US women of color pedagogy that engages teachers in developing alternative accounts of their relationship to the world, how these new accounts are unavoidably theoretical and provide a starting point for new thinking about pedagogy, power, and praxis.     

Well-Posedness of Singularly Pertubed Nash Games

This paper discusses linear-quadratic infinite-time nonzero-sum closed-loop Nash games for systems with fast and slow modes. It is shown via example that the usual order reduction processes utilizing control ideas of singular perturbation analysis leads to an ill-posed reduced order problem. A modification of the performance indices is presented which leads to a well-posed problem, when the usual order reduction method is used. Finally, a hierarchical reduction procedure is proposed which leads to well-posed fast and slow game problems even when the performance indices are not modified.     

Boyer in the Middle: Second Generation Challenges to Emerging Scholarship

This article reports on an examination of the distinctive second-generation challenges and opportunities faced by an early institutional adopter of the Boyer model of scholarship. Following the first cohort of faculty to be reviewed for tenure and promotion based on these criteria, we report the results of a survey designed to determine the perceptions of faculty and administrators of the degree to which emerging forms of scholarship had been integrated into the university culture including factors such as institutional identity, support structures, and faculty participation. This case study sheds light on the process of adaptation at this single institution and provides glimpses of how cultural change might occur across higher education.     

The seductive details effect in technology‐delivered instruction

Seductive details are highly interesting information tangential to course objectives. The inclusion of seductive details generally harms performance on recall tests, but few studies have used multimedia training or investigated effects on performance on recognition tests or transfer tasks. We conducted two studies using computer‐based training, instructing college students to use either Excel or Word mail merge. Contrary to most prior results, we found no negative effect for seductive details on recognition tests, and we found a facilitative effect on transfer performance. We discuss implications for theories of learning and transfer, and practical implications for instructional design and delivery.