How fast is fast? Eco‐evolutionary dynamics and rates of change in populations and phenotypes

It is increasingly recognized that evolution may occur in ecological time. It is not clear, however, how fast evolution – or phenotypic change more generally – may be in comparison with the associated ecology, or whether systems with fast ecological dynamics generally have relatively fast rates of phenotypic change. We developed a new dataset on standardized rates of change in population size and phenotypic traits for a wide range of species and taxonomic groups. We show that rates of change in phenotypes are generally no more than 2/3, and on average about 1/4, the concurrent rates of change in population size. There was no relationship between rates of population change and rates of phenotypic change across systems. We also found that the variance of both phenotypic and ecological rates increased with the mean across studies following a power law with an exponent of two, while temporal variation in phenotypic rates was lower than in ecological rates. Our results are consistent with the view that ecology and evolution may occur at similar time scales, but clarify that only rarely do populations change as fast in traits as they do in abundance.     

How do 28 European Union Member States perform in agricultural greenhouse gas emissions? It depends on what we look at: Application of the multi-criteria analysis

European Union (EU) Member States have agreed to limit their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from sectors not covered by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, including emissions from agricultural sector. The aggregated GHG emission rate (i.e. t CO₂ eq. from agricultural sector per country) is commonly used to measure the overall size of agriculture’s influence on climate. And indeed, since 2005, EU has managed to decrease its aggregated GHG emissions by 3.1%. However, the question is—does that mean that EU’s agriculture has become less emission intensive? This paper answers the question by providing a different perspective for the assessment and comparison of the agricultural GHG emissions in 28 EU Member States. It is done by applying three different approaches, including creation of derived indicators and application of multi-criteria analysis (TOPSIS), which is a novel approach for comparison of agricultural GHG emission mitigation performance. The results show that each EU Member State performs very differently in emission intensities. Even more, the emission intensity results show an alarming tendency of increase in most of the EU Member States, which indicates that the measured changes in aggregate agricultural GHG emission rates are misleading. Therefore, the paper suggests reconsidering the policy targets for GHG emission limits.     

Magico‐spiritual power,female sexuality and ritual sex in Muslim Java: Unveiling the kesekten of magical women

This article argues that in practice, concepts of magico‐spiritual power (Javanese: kesekten; Indonesian: kesaktian) are linked with sexuality, particularly female sexuality, in some segments of contemporary Central and East Javanese Muslim society. Few scholars have turned attention to the interconnectedness of these seemingly contradictory topics. Feminist studies tend to focus on the ways in which women locate themselves within and critique Sharia‐based discursive and social orders, without considering the roles that magico‐spiritual power and associated practices play in these Islamic systems or in Islam in a more general sense. Similarly, male scholarship that considers the cultural relevance of Islam and magic rarely refers to gendered and sexual dimensions as praxis from a feminist perspective. By drawing on examples of ‘magical women’ including the Javanese spirit queen of the southern ocean Gusti Kanjeng Ratu Kidul, the historical Hindu figure Ken Dedes, and contemporary ritual sex practices at a Muslim saint's grave, we show how women, female spiritual beings and female sexuality, and sexuality in general, can be considered sources of magico‐spiritual power in Muslim Java. Our arguments conclude that in Javanese Islam, transgression of Sharia sexual norms can be both a sign and a source of magico‐spiritual power.     

Boost the Performance of Triboelectric Nanogenerators through Circuit Oscillation

Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) which harvests ubiquitous ambient mechanical energy is a promising power source that can meet the distributed energy demand in the internet of things, wearable electronics, etc. However, the available output of TENG is severely limited by the saturated polarized charge density, small intrinsic capacitance, and large matching impedance. Herein, an effective power management strategy is proposed that flips the free charges on the conductive layer through a controlled LC oscillating circuit composed of the diode, switch, inductor, and the intrinsic capacitor of TENG. In this way, the equivalent charge density reaches a level higher than the saturated polarized charge density. The simulation and experiments show that the limit of energy output can be exceeded under arbitrary load resistance, especially for the low‐impedance common electronics. It is believed that such a general, low‐cost, and highly effective strategy can further broaden the applications of TENG devices across the fields and probably be a new performance evaluation standard for TENG.     

Reimagining policy: Power,problems, and public stories

The authors of various practitioner and scholarly documents suggest markedly contrasting understandings about the nature of “policy.” These divergent conceptions raise the question: What is at stake by understanding the nature of policy in one way as opposed to another? The purpose of this philosophical inquiry is to interrogate the nature of “policy” as it relates to music education and to question the values that do and might underlie and propagate through contrasting understandings of “policy.” Subsequently, I examine two aspects of policy, problem identification and meaning-making, that have gone largely unexplored in the arts education literature.

Using Foucault's writings, I argue that power-laden policy texts often have the greatest impact, not when they are mandated, but when they go misrecognized as common sense. I also advocate for the consistent use of the terms “policy texts” and “policy actions,” including as an alternative to the imbalanced designations of “soft policies” and “hard policies.” Drawing on Dewey arts educators might form “publics” around problems having consequences that they deem far-reaching, recurrent, and irreparable. Individual and collective political narratives, including what Ganz explains as “stories of self,” “stories of us,” and “stories of now,” can foster the meaningful connections necessary for forming “publics” who address pressing problems in arts education.     

在矿山废弃地上发展可再生能源的潜力——以辽宁省为例

在国内外碳减排压力和我国能源结构调整需求下,我国可再生能源的开发压力较大.矿山具有丰富的废弃土地,发展可再生能源的潜力巨大,在矿山废弃地上开发可再生能源对我国的能源战略具有重要意义.本研究以辽宁省矿山废弃地为例,提出矿山废弃地的生物质能与太阳能发展预案,估算辽宁省矿山废弃地的可再生能源发展潜力.结果表明:辽宁省1227.6 km2的矿山废弃地面积发展可再生能源的潜力较大,不同预案的潜力差异显著.预案1以光伏发电最大化为目标模式,总计可发电量为79.4 TWh,折标煤量32.1 Mt,碳减排量为79.1Mt CO2.预案2以生物质能源利用最大化为目标模式,光伏与生物质能总的发电量可达到31.2~33.1 TWh,折标煤量12.7~13.4 Mt,碳减排量为31.1~33.0 Mt CO2.预案3以矿山能源综合利用最大化为目标并兼顾生态修复的发展模式,光伏与生物质能总的发电量可达到62.3~63.7 TWh,折标煤量25.1~25.7 Mt,碳减排量为62.1~63.5 Mt CO2.3种预案的发电量在31.2~79.4 TWh,占辽宁省2016年总电力消费量的15.3%~38.9%,折标煤量12.7~32.1 Mt,碳减排量为31.1~79.1 Mt CO2.本研究对在矿山废弃地上发展可再生能源潜力及其替代化石能源能力的评估,对于碳减排、能源结构的调整以及矿山废弃地的生态修复具有重要的研究意义.     

我国男子橄榄球运动员有氧能力的评定和比赛时能耗的初探*

目的:探究我国男子橄榄球运动员的有氧能力和比赛时的能量消耗,为精准化训练和比赛时营养策略的制定提供理论依据。方法:以18名男子橄榄球运动员(健将级)为研究对象,分别进行最大摄氧量(VO₂max),乳酸阈(LT)和conconi场地测试来评定其有氧能力,并比较前、后锋之间的供能差异,用wGT3X加速度计结合团队心率探究比赛时的能量消耗,所得数据进行独立样本t检验。结果:本次检测的橄榄球运动员相对最大摄氧量较差为(42.05±3.69) ml/min·kg^-1,前峰队员相对最大摄氧量为(38.83±3.52) ml/min·kg^-1、后锋队员相对最大摄氧量为(47.31±3.17)ml/min·kg^-1,二者之间的差异有统计学意义(P＜0.05);血乳酸阈测定在7 min时出现血乳酸拐点,后锋的血乳酸阈值要高于前锋运动员;conconi场地测试与实验室VO₂max有较高的相关性(r=0.772)。比赛中平均能量消耗上半场约为(276.94±18.08) kcals,下半场约为(225.58±22.86) kcals,下半场的能耗小于上半场(P＜0.05)。结论:英式7人制橄榄球运动员有氧能力较弱,且前、后锋队员存在差异。     

Optimizing interstitial photodynamic therapy with custom cylindrical diffusers

Interstitial photodynamic therapy (iPDT) has shown promise recently as a minimally invasive cancer treatment, partially due to the development of non‐toxic photosensitizers in the absence of activation light. However, a major challenge in iPDT is the pre‐treatment planning process that specifies the number of diffusers needed, along with their positions and allocated powers, to confine the light distribution to the target volume as much as possible. In this work, a new power allocation algorithm for cylindrical light diffusers including those that can produce customized longitudinal (tailored) emission profiles is introduced. The proposed formulation is convex to guarantee the minimum over‐dose possible on the surrounding organs‐at‐risk. The impact of varying the diffuser lengths and penetration angles on the quality of the plan is evaluated. The results of this study are demonstrated for different photosensitizers activated at different wavelengths and simulated on virtual tumors modeling virtual glioblastoma multiforme cases. Results show that manufacturable cylindrical diffusers with tailored emission profiles can significantly outperform those with conventional flat profiles with an average damage reduction on white matter of 15% to 55% and on gray matter of 23% to 58%.      

The mechanical power requirements of avian flight

A major goal of flight research has been to establish the relationship between the mechanical power requirements of flight and flight speed. This relationship is central to our understanding of the ecology and evolution of bird flight behaviour. Current approaches to determining flight power have relied on a variety of indirect measurements and led to a controversy over the shape of the power-speed relationship and a lack of quantitative agreement between the different techniques. We have used a new approach to determine flight power at a range of speeds based on the performance of the pectoralis muscles. As such, our measurements provide a unique dataset for comparison with other methods. Here we show that in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) and zebra finches (Taenopygia guttata) power is modulated with flight speed, resulting in U-shaped power-speed relationship. Our measured muscle powers agreed well with a range of powers predicted using an aerodynamic model. Assessing the accuracy of mechanical power calculated using such models is essential as they are the basis for determining flight efficiency when compared to measurements of flight metabolic rate and for predicting minimum power and maximum range speeds, key determinants of optimal flight behaviour in the field.