scholarly journals Introduction

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 9-10
Author(s):  
Robert Parkin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Distance ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Annual Conference ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Cultural Transformations ◽  
Folklore Studies ◽  
Historical Memories ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
The Impact

This edition of the Yearbook of Balkan and Baltic Studies focuses on discussion and ongoing research presented to an academic community of scholars in Balkan and Baltic Studies at a conference held on 9-11 June 2020 in Riga, Latvia, organized by the International Society of Balkan and Baltic Studies. This annual conference was hosted by the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the University of Latvia and was jointly supported by the Bulgarian, Lithuanian, Estonian and Latvian Academies of Sciences, the Centre of Excellence in Estonian Studies; the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with the Ethnographic Museum, the Estonian Literary Museum and the Lithuanian Institute of History. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference was held over Zoom. In spite of the physical distance that had to be maintained, however, academic discussions were vibrant and fruitful, resulting in this joint edition of the Yearbook. Scholars from various countries and academic schools presented their research on spirituality, religion, identity and culture in the Baltic and Balkan regions and analysed the dynamics of religious and national transformations. The conference also examined the impact of globalization on religious communities and spiritual processes, and touched on aspects of social and cultural transformations in the modern era and their challenges. This necessitated a focus on migration, transnationalism, secularization and the search for the new spiritual means and models. Our academic community also analysed developments regarding the place of belonging and transformations of the historical memories of religious communities in the Baltic and Balkan regions.

TEACH-POT: Provide Opportunities in Teaching

2020 ◽  
pp. 79-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Giulia Ballatore ◽  
Ettore Felisatti ◽  
Laura Montanaro ◽  
Anita Tabacco
Keyword(s):  
Academic Community ◽  
Real Effect ◽  
The Real ◽  
Main Components ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Training Opportunities ◽  
Different Levels

This paper is aimed to describe and critically analyze the so-called "TEACHPOT" experience (POT: Provide Opportunities in Teaching) performed during the last few years at Politecnico di Torino. Due to career criteria, the effort and the time lecturers spend in teaching have currently undergone a significant reduction in quantity. In order to support and meet each lecturers' expectations towards an improvement in their ability to teach, a mix of training opportunities has been provided. This consists of an extremely wide variety of experiences, tools, relationships, from which everyone can feel inspired to increase the effectiveness of their teaching and the participation of their students. The provided activities are designed around three main components: methodological training, teaching technologies, methodological experiences. A discussion on the findings is included and presented basing on the data collected through a survey. The impact of the overall experience can be evaluated on two different levels: the real effect on redesigning lessons, and the discussion on the matter within the entire academic community.

Environmental impact of nutrients from nordic fish farming

1995 ◽  
Vol 31 (10) ◽  
pp. 61-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Enell
Keyword(s):  
Major Part ◽  
Fish Farming ◽  
Fish Farms ◽  
Feed Composition ◽  
The North ◽  
Comprehensive Development ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Inland Water Bodies ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Feed Coefficient

During the last 20 years there has been an interesting development of the Nordic fish farming, with regard to the feeding and farming technology and to the increase in production quantities. During the period 1974-1994 the production increased from 15,800 to about 250,000 tonnes/year. In 1974 the major part of the production was in Denmark, and in 1994 the major part was in Norway. The nutrient impact of fish farming on surrounding sea areas is mainly a function of the feed coefficient, the feed composition and metabolic processes in the fish. The comprehensive development of the feed composition and the feeding technology has resulted in reduced load of unmetabolized nutrients from fish farms, calculated per tonne fish produced. In 1974 the mean Nordic feed coefficient was 2.08 and in 1994 the coefficient was 1.25. Feed coefficients of 1.0-1.1 are now reported for Danish and Norwegian freshwater and marine fish farms. The nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) content of the feed has decreased, in addition the quality of the nutrient substances in the feed has changed, especially for N. The N content has decreased from 7.8 to 6.8% during the period 1974-1994 and the content of P has decreased from 1.7 to 0.7% during the same period. This development of the feed coefficient and the feed composition has resulted in a present load from a typical Nordic fish farm of 55 kg N and 4.8 kg P/t fish produced. The figures for 1974 were 132 kg N and 31 kg P/t fish produced. The Nordic fish farming production in 1994 resulted in a load of about 13,750 t N and about 1,200 t P on the actual recipients. The load from the Swedish, Finnish and Danish fish farming operations, with the Baltic Sea and the Skagerrak as the recipients, is negligible in comparison with other pollution sources. The quantities of N and P from the fish farming are equal to 0.5% of the atmospheric deposition on the sea surface and 3% of the atmospheric P load. Norwegian, Icelandic and the Faroe Islands fish farming operations are using the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea as the recipients. However, the nutrient load from single fish farms in certain coastal and inland water bodies can be significant and must be considered in the impact assessment together with other sources.

scholarly journals Digital proximity tracing on empirical contact networks for pandemic control

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Cencetti ◽  
G. Santin ◽  
A. Longa ◽  
E. Pigani ◽  
A. Barrat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Physical Distance ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Reproductive Number ◽  
Modeling Framework ◽  
Infectious Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Contact Patterns ◽  
Contact Data ◽  
The Impact

AbstractDigital contact tracing is a relevant tool to control infectious disease outbreaks, including the COVID-19 epidemic. Early work evaluating digital contact tracing omitted important features and heterogeneities of real-world contact patterns influencing contagion dynamics. We fill this gap with a modeling framework informed by empirical high-resolution contact data to analyze the impact of digital contact tracing in the COVID-19 pandemic. We investigate how well contact tracing apps, coupled with the quarantine of identified contacts, can mitigate the spread in real environments. We find that restrictive policies are more effective in containing the epidemic but come at the cost of unnecessary large-scale quarantines. Policy evaluation through their efficiency and cost results in optimized solutions which only consider contacts longer than 15–20 minutes and closer than 2–3 meters to be at risk. Our results show that isolation and tracing can help control re-emerging outbreaks when some conditions are met: (i) a reduction of the reproductive number through masks and physical distance; (ii) a low-delay isolation of infected individuals; (iii) a high compliance. Finally, we observe the inefficacy of a less privacy-preserving tracing involving second order contacts. Our results may inform digital contact tracing efforts currently being implemented across several countries worldwide.

scholarly journals From COVID-19 adversity comes opportunity: teaching an online integrative medicine course

2021 ◽  
pp. bmjspcare-2020-002713
Author(s):  
Eran Ben-Arye ◽  
Yael Keshet ◽  
Ariel Schiff ◽  
Catherine Zollman ◽  
Emanuela Portalupi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Integrative Medicine ◽  
Student Attitudes ◽  
Professional Growth ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Item Questionnaire ◽  
Raising Awareness ◽  
Elective Course ◽  
Potential Risks ◽  
The Impact

BackgroundWe examine the impact of a 5-day online elective course in integrative medicine (IM) taking place during the COVID-19 pandemic, attended by 18 medical students from two faculties of medicine in Israel.MethodsThe course curriculum addressed effectiveness and safety of IM practices highlighting supportive and palliative care, demonstrated the work of integrative physicians (IPs) in designing patient-tailored treatments and taught practical skills in communication regarding IM. Group discussions were conducted via Zoom with 32 physicians, healthcare practitioners and IM practitioners working in integrative academic, community and hospital-based settings, in Israel, Italy, UK and Germany. An 18-item questionnaire examined student attitudes and perceived acquisition of skills for implementing what was learned in clinical practice. Student narratives were analysed using ATLAS.Ti software for systematic coding, identifying barriers and advantages of the online learning methodology.ResultsStudents reported a better understanding of the benefits of IM for specific outcomes (p=0.012) and of potential risks associated with these therapies (p=0.048). They also perceived the acquisition of skills related to the IM-focused history (p=0.006), learnt to identify effectiveness and safety of IM treatments (p=0.001), and internalised the referral to IPs for consultation (p=0.001). Student narratives included reflections on the tools provided during the course for assessing effectiveness and safety, enhancing communication with patients, enriching their patient-centred perspective, raising awareness of available therapeutic options, and personal and professional growth.ConclusionsOnline clinical electives in IM are feasible and can significantly increase students’ awareness and modify attitudes towards acquirement of patient-centred perspectives.

scholarly journals Silencing and Oblivion of Psychological Trauma, Its Unconscious Aspects, and Their Impact on the Inflation of Vajrayāna. An Analysis of Cross-Group Dynamics and Recent Developments in Buddhist Groups Based on Qualitative Data

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders
Keyword(s):  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Psychological Trauma ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
Teacher Student ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Student Relationship ◽  
The Impact

The commercialization of Buddhist philosophy has led to decontextualization and indoctrinating issues across groups, as well as abuse and trauma in that context. Methodologically, from an interdisciplinary approach, based on the current situation in international Buddhist groups and citations of victims from the ongoing research, the psychological mechanisms of rationalizing and silencing trauma were analyzed. The results show how supposedly Buddhist terminology and concepts are used to rationalize and justify economic, psychological and physical abuse. This is discussed against the background of psychological mechanisms of silencing trauma and the impact of ignoring the unconscious in that particular context. Inadequate consideration regarding the teacher–student relationship, combined with an unreflective use of Tibetan honorary titles and distorted conceptualizations of methods, such as the constant merging prescribed in so-called 'guru yoga', resulted in giving up self-responsibility and enhanced dependency. These new concepts, commercialized as 'karma purification' and 'pure view', have served to rationalize and conceal abuse, as well as to isolate the victims. Therefore, we are facing societal challenges, in terms of providing health and economic care to the victims and implementing preventive measures. This use of language also impacts on scientific discourse and Vajrayāna itself, and will affect many future generations.

Indigenous and Deaf People and the Implications of Ongoing Practices of Colonization: A Comparison of Australia and Canada

2021 ◽  
pp. 016059762110015
Author(s):  
Tracey A. Bone ◽  
Erin Wilkinson ◽  
Danielle Ferndale ◽  
Rodney Adams
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Deaf Education ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Intergenerational Trauma ◽  
Mental Wellbeing ◽  
Deaf People ◽  
Deaf Community ◽  
Transgenerational Trauma ◽  
Minority Communities ◽  
The Impact

In the growing field of colonial and anti-colonial research, many parallels have been drawn between Westernized countries including Australia and Canada. In both of these countries, there is considerable academic, community and governmental recognition of historic, and continuing, colonizing of Indigenous peoples and the subsequent impacts on Indigenous cultures. Terms such as transgenerational trauma and intergenerational trauma give language to the ongoing impact of colonization on communities, which in turn serves to legitimize the need for mental wellbeing supports and associated funding. However, there are other minority communities that are similarly oppressed and colonized but do not experience the same legitimization. One such community is the Deaf community. Deaf people continue to experience systemic oppression and colonization within our hearing centric society. Building on the work of Batterbury, Ladd and Gulliver (2007), we extend discussions on the parallels between Indigenous and Deaf communities of Australia and Canada, drawing on the established and commonly discussed link between the impact of racism and colonization on (mental) health. We connect these discussions to modern instances of colonization including the aspect of deaf education to illustrate a “living” mechanism through which colonization continues to impact mental wellbeing in the broader Deaf community.

scholarly journals Insulation Characteristics of Sisal Fibre/Epoxy Composites

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Shalwan ◽  
M. Alajmi ◽  
A. Alajmi
Keyword(s):  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Fibre Volume Fraction ◽  
Thermal Characteristics ◽  
Fibre Volume ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Natural Fibres ◽  
Epoxy Composites ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Sisal Fibre ◽  
The Impact

Using natural fibres in civil engineering is the aim of many industrial and academics sectors to overcome the impact of synthetic fibres on environments. One of the potential applications of natural fibres composites is to be implemented in insulation components. Thermal behaviour of polymer composites based on natural fibres is recent ongoing research. In this article, thermal characteristics of sisal fibre reinforced epoxy composites are evaluated for treated and untreated fibres considering different volume fractions of 0–30%. The results revealed that the increase in the fibre volume fraction increased the insulation performance of the composites for both treated and untreated fibres. More than 200% insulation rate was achieved at the volume fraction of 20% of treated sisal fibres. Untreated fibres showed about 400% insulation rate; however, it is not recommended to use untreated fibres from mechanical point of view. The results indicated that there is potential of using the developed composites for insulation purposes.

How do social skills enable nascent entrepreneurs to enact perseverance strategies in the face of challenges? A comparative case study of success and failure

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 517-541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wadid Lamine ◽  
Sarfraz Mian ◽  
Alain Fayolle
Keyword(s):  
Social Skills ◽  
New Technology ◽  
New Ventures ◽  
Nascent Entrepreneurs ◽  
Entrepreneurial Process ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Start Up ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – This paper seeks to advance ongoing research in entrepreneurial perseverance. While the concept of perseverance is not new, few researchers paid attention to behavioural persistence in the entrepreneurial context. The purpose of this paper is to explore the emergence of new technology based firms (NTBF) by focusing on the role of nascent entrepreneurs’ social skills in the meeting the changes of entrepreneurial perseverance. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper the authors study the start-up phase of entrepreneurial process. The authors opted for a longitudinal case study approach in order to enhance the knowledge on entrepreneurs’ social skills and perseverance. For triangulation purpose the data were gathered using four different information sources. The use of Nvivo8 as the data analysis tool helped to impose a discipline and structure which facilitated the extraction of core insights. Findings – This paper contributes to the understanding of the entrepreneurial perseverance in the context of new venture creation. Particularly, reading the entrepreneurial process through the lens of the perseverance strategies model (Van Gelderen, 2012) provided a way to identify and then to assess the impact of the social skills on the overall entrepreneurial perseverance and their combined impact on the performance of NTBF creation process. In doing so, the authors identify the impact of entrepreneurs’ social skills to deal with a series of entrepreneurial problems such as scarcity of resources, uncertainty and ambiguity and consequently their impact on the likelihood of survival for new ventures. The issues that arose mostly reflected the inherent complexity of technology transfer processes, the university and entrepreneurs’ diverging cultures, and the very characteristics of the start-up phase of NTBFs. The findings reveal how social skills impact the entrepreneurial paths and probable outcomes. Research limitations/implications – This paper contributes to the understanding of the entrepreneurial perseverance in the context of NTBF creation. The findings reveal how social skills and perseverance impact the entrepreneurial paths and probable outcomes. Practical implications – The paper has implications for entrepreneurial support mechanisms such as technology business incubators in helping them to improve the efficacy and efficiency of their assistance to entrepreneurs through the development of their skill-sets and perseverance and providing enabling networking. In addition, the research has implications for entrepreneurship education and training. Indeed, there is an urgent need to design and implement courses and programs aiming at developing soft skills in entrepreneurship. Originality/value – In exploring networking and issues of perseverance for nascent entrepreneurs operating in new technology-based sectors, which the authors consider as an under searched area in entrepreneurial literature.

Behavioural responses of voles to simulated risk of predation by a native and an alien mustelid: an odour manipulation experiment

2010 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Fey ◽  
Peter B. Banks ◽  
Hannu Ylönen ◽  
Erkki Korpimäki
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Predation Risk ◽  
Myodes Glareolus ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Behavioural Responses ◽  
Alien Predator ◽  
Risk Of Predation ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
The Impact

Context. Potential mammalian prey commonly use the odours of their co-evolved predators to manage their risks of predation. But when the risk comes from an unknown source of predation, odours might not be perceived as dangerous, and anti-predator responses may fail, except possibly if the alien predator is of the same archetype as a native predator. Aims. In the present study we examined anti-predator behavioural responses of voles from the outer archipelagos of the Baltic Sea, south-western Finland, where they have had no resident mammalian predators in recent history. Methods. We investigated responses of field voles (Microtus agrestis) to odours of native least weasels (Mustela nivalis) and a recently invading alien predator, the American mink (Mustela vison), in laboratory. We also studied the short-term responses of free-ranging field voles and bank voles (Myodes glareolus) to simulated predation risk by alien mink on small islands in the outer archipelago of the Baltic Sea. Key results. In the laboratory, voles avoided odour cues of native weasel but not of alien mink. It is possible that the response to mink is a context dependent learned response which could not be induced in the laboratory, whereas the response to weasel is innate. In the field, however, voles reduced activity during their normal peak-activity times at night as a response to simulated alien-mink predation risk. No other shifts in space use or activity in safer microhabitats or denser vegetation were apparent. Conclusions. Voles appeared to recognise alien minks as predators from their odours in the wild. However, reduction in activity is likely to be only a short-term immediate response to mink presence, which is augmented by longer-term strategies of habitat shift. Because alien mink still strongly suppresses vole dynamics despite these anti-predator responses, we suggest that behavioural naiveté may be the primary factor in the impact of an alien predator on native prey. Implications. Prey naiveté has long been considered as the root cause of the devastating impacts of alien predators, whereby native prey simply fail to recognise and respond to the novel predation risk. Our results reveal a more complex form of naiveté whereby native prey appeared to recognise alien predators as a threat but their response is ultimately inadequate. Thus, recognition alone is unlikely to afford protection for native prey from alien-predator impacts. Thus, management strategies that, for example, train prey in recognition of novel threats must induce effective responses if they are expected to succeed.

scholarly journals The mutational landscape of human olfactory G protein-coupled receptors

BMC Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramón Cierco Jimenez ◽  
Nil Casajuana-Martin ◽  
Adrián García-Recio ◽  
Lidia Alcántara ◽  
Leonardo Pardo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
G Protein ◽  
Olfactory Receptors ◽  
Activation Mechanism ◽  
Gene Repertoire ◽  
Structural Level ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Natural Variants ◽  
The Impact ◽  
G Protein Coupled

Abstract Background Olfactory receptors (ORs) constitute a large family of sensory proteins that enable us to recognize a wide range of chemical volatiles in the environment. By contrast to the extensive information about human olfactory thresholds for thousands of odorants, studies of the genetic influence on olfaction are limited to a few examples. To annotate on a broad scale the impact of mutations at the structural level, here we analyzed a compendium of 119,069 natural variants in human ORs collected from the public domain. Results OR mutations were categorized depending on their genomic and protein contexts, as well as their frequency of occurrence in several human populations. Functional interpretation of the natural changes was estimated from the increasing knowledge of the structure and function of the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) family, to which ORs belong. Our analysis reveals an extraordinary diversity of natural variations in the olfactory gene repertoire between individuals and populations, with a significant number of changes occurring at the structurally conserved regions. A particular attention is paid to mutations in positions linked to the conserved GPCR activation mechanism that could imply phenotypic variation in the olfactory perception. An interactive web application (hORMdb, Human Olfactory Receptor Mutation Database) was developed for the management and visualization of this mutational dataset. Conclusion We performed topological annotations and population analysis of natural variants of human olfactory receptors and provide an interactive application to explore human OR mutation data. We envisage that the utility of this information will increase as the amount of available pharmacological data for these receptors grow. This effort, together with ongoing research in the study of genetic changes in other sensory receptors could shape an emerging sensegenomics field of knowledge, which should be considered by food and cosmetic consumer product manufacturers for the benefit of the general population.

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