Newcomers and Old-Timers: Educational Philosophies-in-Action of Parent Volunteers in a Community of Learners School

Contrasting educational philosophies-in-action were used by 45 parent volunteers working with children in a school organized as a community of learners. Newcomers were more likely to employ a one-sided philosophy-in-action (with either adult-directed or child-directed organization), whereas parents with several years of experience were more likely to use a collaborative philosophy-in-action, consistent with the philosophy of a community of learners. A pedagogical implication is that adults need opportunities to learn new educational philosophies as they work with children.     

Species Richness, Community Specialization and Soil-Vegetation Relationships of Managed Grasslands in a Geologically Heterogeneous Landscape

The increasing importance of the conservation value of managed grasslands has led to many studies exploring edaphic determinants of grassland biodiversity. Most studies, however, come either from very large areas, where biogeographical factors such as dispersal limitation may play a role, or from small, but ecologically rather uniform, regions. In addition, few studies further distinguish between plant specialists and generalists in the interpretation of the observed patterns. Here we studied species richness in semi-natural, managed grasslands in the Strá?ovské vrchy Mountains in the West Carpathians, Slovakia, where there is a matrix of different bedrocks (crystalline, sandstone, claystone, limestone) on a steep altitudinal gradient. In 89 vegetation plots we sampled the species composition of vascular plants and bryophytes and measured soil chemistry, slope angle, heat index, altitude and soil depth. We further applied Ellenberg indicator values and classified species into community specialists or generalists based on the analysis of a large phytosociological database. Using cluster analysis, we delimited five vegetation types that clearly differed in response to soil characteristics. Species richness varied between 19 and 64 species per 16?m². The main compositional gradient correlated with measured soil pH and calcium, but species richness was not significantly correlated with these factors. Soil available phosphorus was not associated with species composition as has been found elsewhere, but it did correlate negatively with species richness and the richness of specialists. Overall, species richness was largely driven by the number of specialists in the plot and particular vegetation types differed conspicuously in their number. We further found significant effects of iron, potassium and sodium on species richness, species composition and the representation of specialists and generalists. Our results provide new insights into the determinants of diversity in managed grasslands as well as to the theoretical species pool concept, explaining species richness variation along a pH gradient.     

The Consequences of Being a Gift

The issues of dislocated identity are epitomised in Mary's story. Brought from Papua New Guinea to Australia at a very young age as a ‘gift’, she grew up in a series of foster homes in Adelaide, South Australia. Now, as a teenager, Mary constitutes her identity through her body, emphasising her distinctive physical features, through idealised memories and through representations—photographs, cultural icons and people who ‘look like me’. The self she creates in this way sits uneasily along side another self; the Western adolescent self in trouble with the law, the self who struggles to be ‘one of the boys’ on the streets, one who ‘runs amuck’. This paper explores the process of ‘self-making’, the ‘serious play’ that Mary has employed to constitute her identity through her juggling of and reappropriation of cultural symbols. As a participant in a wider ethnographic study into Australian youth and representation, Mary portrayed the complexities of her growing up between worlds, embedded in neither and desperate to belong to her past.     

乌鲁木齐南部山区森林生态系统树生地衣群落结构

为了探明乌鲁木齐南部山区树生地衣种类及其群落结构特征,应用多元分析中的主成分分析及聚类分析方法,对分布在乌鲁木齐南部山区森林生态系统中的树生地衣植物群落进行数量分类,并对其群落结构的物种多样性、相似性和均匀度等群落参数进行了比较系统的研究。结果表明,分布在乌鲁木齐南部山区的树生地衣共有39种,隶属于5目13科26属。根据多元分析结果,将该地区的树生地衣划分为3种类型：（1）小茶渍（Lecanorahageni（Ach．）Ach．）＋蜈蚣衣（肋归ciastellaris（L．）Nyl．）＋柳茶渍（￡-。saligna（Schrad．）Zahlbr．）群落;（2）斑面蜈蚣衣（Physciaaipolia（Humb．）Furm．）＋对开蜈蚣衣（Ph．dimidiata（Arn．）Nyl．）＋喇叭石蕊（Cladoniapyxidata（L．）Hoffm．）群落：（3）拟石黄衣（Xanthoria fallax（Hepp）Arnold．）＋丽石黄衣（xelegans（Link．）Th．Fr．）群落。群落3的多样性指数最大,为1．509,其次为群落2,其多样性指数为1．109,群落1的多样性指数最低,为1．088。同时,研究发现海拔高度和树种是影响乌鲁木齐南部山区森林生态系统树生地衣结构的两个重要因素。     

The Long-Run Socio-Economic Consequences of a Large Disaster: The 1995 Earthquake in Kobe

We quantify the ‘permanent’ socio-economic impacts of the Great Hanshin-Awaji (Kobe) earthquake in 1995 by employing a large-scale panel dataset of 1,719 cities, towns, and wards from Japan over three decades. In order to estimate the counterfactual—i.e., the Kobe economy without the earthquake—we use the synthetic control method. Three important empirical patterns emerge: First, the population size and especially the average income level in Kobe have been lower than the counterfactual level without the earthquake for over fifteen years, indicating a permanent negative effect of the earthquake. Such a negative impact can be found especially in the central areas which are closer to the epicenter. Second, the surrounding areas experienced some positive permanent impacts in spite of short-run negative effects of the earthquake. Much of this is associated with movement of people to East Kobe, and consequent movement of jobs to the metropolitan center of Osaka, that is located immediately to the East of Kobe. Third, the furthest areas in the vicinity of Kobe seem to have been insulated from the large direct and indirect impacts of the earthquake.     

Moving from Complaints to Action: Oppositional Consciousness and Collective Action in a Political Community

This article analyzes the process of youth political activism and development by drawing on ethnographic research on Asian and Pacific Islander youth activists. Young people revealed that collective action begins with a critical analysis of their lived experiences with inequalities. Their actions also involved oppositional consciousness that was nurtured in social justice-oriented community organizations. Tracking youth's successful efforts for school reform, I show how oppositional consciousness is realized and what activism looks like in practice.  [youth activism, oppositional consciousness, social–educational change, Asian and Pacific Islanders]     

The Neuropsychology of Starvation: Set-Shifting and Central Coherence in a Fasted Nonclinical Sample

Objectives

Recent research suggests certain neuropsychological deficits occur in anorexia nervosa (AN). The role of starvation in these deficits remains unclear. Studies of individuals without AN can elucidate our understanding of the effect of short-term starvation on neuropsychological performance.

Methods

Using a within-subjects repeated measures design, 60 healthy female participants were tested once after fasting for 18 hours, and once when satiated. Measures included two tasks to measure central coherence and a set-shifting task.

Results

Fasting exacerbated set-shifting difficulties on a rule-change task. Fasting was associated with stronger local and impaired global processing, indicating weaker central coherence.

Conclusions

Models of AN that propose a central role for set-shifting difficulties or weak central coherence should also consider the impact of short-term fasting on these processes.     

Community Resilience in Southern Appalachia: A Theoretical Framework and Three Case Studies

A fundamental assumption in nearly all research on social adaptation to environmental change is that there is a concomitant and inverse relationship between human communities’ dependence upon particular natural resources affected by environmental change and those communities or societies’ resilience to disturbances. However, recent theoretical and empirical developments suggest resilience is a dynamic social process determined, in part, by the ability of communities to act collectively and solve common problems. The interactional approach to community is utilized to develop a framework whereby various patterns of social interaction define the process of social resilience. Data come from multiple mixed methods case studies of forest dependent communities within Southern Appalachia. The findings reveal varied processes of social resilience can occur in communities with similar levels of resource dependence; a community’s composition of internal social ties and their cross-scale linkages to external agencies and organizations define these processes.     

The Role of Exchange in Productive Specialization

Nomadic pastoralists are specialists in complex systems of land use. Their own productive strategies are dependent in large part upon the conversion rates of their products to imported items from other sectors of a larger economy. Changes in these conversion rates are likely to arise for a number of reasons; pastoralists respond to such changes in various ways, depending upon their past histories and current conditions. The case of the Yörük, specialized pastoralists of southeastern Turkey, is used to illustrate this process of changing productive strategies. Generalizations are sought concerning the ways in which large systems of land use become more or less specialized through time, in terms of the consequences of shifting exchange conditions for the productive strategies of component households. [economic anthropology, pastoralism, complex society, interpopulation exchange]     

Ethnic communities in Israel: The genetic blood markers of the Moroccan Jews

One hundred and ninety-six Moroccan Jews now settled in Israel were typed for 7 blood groups, 12 red cell enzymes and 2 plasma protein systems. Their blood group picture is in agreement with results previously obtained on different samples of Moroccan Jews: rather high B in ABO, somewhat elevated frequencies of cDE and cDe in Rh and K in Kell. Differences in various blood markers exist between them and other North African Jewish communities. This fact, together with data on disease distribution and HLA frequencies, supports our assumption that Jews in the North African diaspora lived as small secluded isolates even within the same geographical zones. Comparisons with meager data on the neighboring non-Jewish populations do not disclose any resemblance to either Arab or Berber inhabitants of Morocco.     

Failure to Respond to Food Resource Decline Has Catastrophic Consequences for Koalas in a High-Density Population in Southern Australia

Understanding the ability of koalas to respond to changes in their environment is critical for conservation of the species and their habitat. We monitored the behavioural response of koalas to declining food resources in manna gum (Eucalyptus viminalis) woodland at Cape Otway, Victoria, Australia, from September 2011 to November 2013. Over this period, koala population density increased from 10.1 to 18.4 koalas.ha^-1. As a result of the high browsing pressure of this population, manna gum canopy condition declined with 71.4% manna gum being completely or highly defoliated in September 2013. Despite declining food resources, radio collared koalas (N = 30) exhibited high fidelity to small ranges (0.4–1.2 ha). When trees became severely defoliated in September 2013, koalas moved relatively short distances from their former ranges (mean predicted change in range centroid = 144 m) and remained in areas of 0.9 to 1.0 ha. This was despite the high connectivity of most manna gum woodland, and close proximity of the study site (< 3 km) to the contiguous mixed forest of the Great Otway National Park. Limited movement had catastrophic consequences for koalas with 71% (15/21) of radio collared koalas dying from starvation or being euthanased due to their poor condition between September and November 2013.