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Parliamentary research services:mapping the territory
No full textThere is growing interest in the relationship between parliaments and research. Researchers are increasingly viewing parliaments as key sites for studying the use of evidence and achieving research impact. Meanwhile, parliamentary practitioners are beginning to call for improved evidence regarding science advice systems and processes. There is, however, a relative lack of information on how parliaments engage with research. There is even less information on how research services within parliaments operate. This article addresses these issues by reporting on the first stages of a project mapping and describing global parliamentary research services. Drawing on publicly available data gleaned from a rigorous mapping exercise alongside documentary and survey data, it makes two key contributions to this emerging field. First, in the absence of clear criteria for explaining or understanding the role and function of PRS, the article introduces a typology to categorize and compare these services. Second, recognizing that information on PRS is fragmented and difficult to obtain, especially for those working within these services, the article presents a global map of PRS. The map does not claim to provide a definitive picture of PRS but is a resource for facilitating further analysis of what PRS are and do, enabling PRS to connect with and learn from each other
Unpacking conceptual idolatry
No full textAlthough many contemporary theologians and philosophers of religion distinguish between ‘idolatry’ in a general sense and ‘conceptual idolatry’ as a distinct error, close attention to theorists of idolatry shows that ‘conceptual idolatry’ should not be considered distinct from idolatry proper. After discussing the relation between concepts and idolatry in key thinkers from the phenomenological and grammatical traditions, this article discusses analytic attempts to understand idolatry, showing how each falls short.Ultimately, attention to the category of ‘conceptual idolatry’ shows the deficiencies present in contemporary framings of idolatry simpliciter. This article concludes with a proposal for a new framework by which to understand the dispute about idolatry: turning away from the question of whether we are worshipping the right God, towards the question of how God might (and might not) become apt to human thought and speech
Foundational uncertainties in terminal Ediacaran chronostratigraphy revealed by high-precision zircon U-Pb geochronology of the Nama Group, Namibia
No full textThe Nama Group of southern Namibia and northwestern South Africa hosts the best-dated mixed carbonate-siliciclastic foreland basin succession of the terminal Ediacaran [ca. 551 million years (Ma) ago to <538 Ma] and is key for resolving the chronology of early metazoan evolution. Numerous silicified volcanic tuff interbeds are present, but differing interpretations regarding the fidelity of their ages lead to different regional stratigraphic correlations, especially for the Urusis Formation of the Schwarzrand Subgroup. An expanded record of the Urusis Formation is found in the Swartpunt area of southern Namibia, which has yielded an important metazoan biota. But the succession in this area is preserved as a series of thrusts at the leading edge of the Gariep orogenic belt and zircon U-Pb data show systematic age repetition. We use regional stratigraphic and structural mapping, integrated with carbonate carbon isotope (δ13Ccarb) chemostratigraphy and high-precision radioisotope U-Pb zircon geochronology from outcrop and recently acquired drill core to develop a temporally calibrated basin-wide depositional model. This integrated dataset either reflects complex zircon reworking, inheritance, or potential analytical biases (Scenario 1) or the presence of a Gariep-related cryptic décollement within the Spitskop Member that has resulted in stratigraphic repetition (Scenario 2). We investigate the evidence for and against both scenarios and consider their implications for stratigraphic and δ13Ccarb correlations between the Swartpunt area and coeval exposures along the Orange River border with South Africa.Given that these issues are in an area that hosts numerous silicified ash beds and extensive exposure, an inability to confidently discount either scenario highlights a level of compounding uncertainty in zircon U-Pb geochronology that must be considered when attempting to build global chronostratigraphic frameworks. Scenario 1 implies that some of the weighted mean ages and Bayesian eruption ages from the Swartpunt area may be >1 Myr older than the depositional age of their respective ash beds when assuming existing stratigraphic correlations. If this scenario is preferred, then a cautious approach would be to consider all weighted mean zircon U-Pb ages from ash beds to reflect maximum depositional ages. Both scenarios support deposition of the Huns Member >540 Ma in the Swartpunt area if the oldest weighted mean age reported here represents a near-depositional age, which has significant implications for the temporal calibration of important terminal Ediacaran ichnofossil assemblages and future cyclostratigraphic studies.Stratigraphic correlations common to both scenarios allow us to temporally calibrate a basin evolution model for the Nama Group. Temporal trends in initial hafnium isotope (εHf) compositions of zircon grains from ash beds throughout the succession may support progressive crustal thickening associated with underplating of the Damara orogenic belt along the northern periphery of the Kalahari craton from ca. 547 Ma to ca. 538 Ma. The compilation of new and published zircon U-Pb ages may also imply that the locus of carbonate platform development migrated from north to south (present co-ordinates), tracking the migration of foredeep subsidence
Discipline-based social identity and organizational identity as predictors of approaches to learning and evaluation of teaching
No full textThe present research aimed to tease apart the meaning of the “student” identity in higher education by distinguishing the concepts and affordances of discipline-based social identity and organizational identity. Across three studies we examine discipline-based and organizational social identities’ relations to educational outcomes and evaluations of the student experience. Our first study (n = 203) examines the relationships between identity, engagement, and satisfaction with the course and university. The results suggest that discipline identity predicts students’ commitment to their study and their degree satisfaction. Students’ organizational identity predicted their university and degree satisfaction. In Study 2A (n = 240), we examined organizational and discipline identity in relation to deep and surface learning, as well as performance undermining behaviours (procrastination and self-handicapping). We found that organizational identity failed to explain variance in deep learning beyond the variance explained by discipline identity. Moreover, discipline, but not organizational identity, indirectly reduced performance undermining behaviour. In Study 2B (n = 109), not only we replicated Study 2A, but also used a cross-lagged longitudinal design to see which identity was causally more potent. Discipline identity in one semester predicts both changes in discipline and organizational identity in the following semester. In contrast, organizational identity predicts organizational identity in the following semester but fails to predict change in discipline identity. Taken together, our studies suggest that there is benefit in understanding both discipline-based and organizational social identities in terms of understanding students’ educational outcomes and experience
Moduli of finite flat torsors over nodal curves
No full textWe show that log flat torsors over a family ∕ of nodal curves under a finite flat commutative group scheme ∕ are classified by maps from the Cartier dual of to the log Jacobian of . We deduce that fppf torsors on the smooth fiberss of ∕ can be extended to global log flat torsors under some regularity hypotheses
Multi-scale habitat modelling reveals contractions of harbour porpoise distribution within the northeast Atlantic
No full textIn the northeast Atlantic, large-scale changes in marine ecosystems are resulting in an ecological regime shift characterised by the degradation and loss of habitats, alterations to the food web, and ultimately, the redistribution and loss of species. Given the complexity and scale of these environmental changes, there is a critical need to reliably detect and monitor changes in species’ distribution. Here, we used a multi-year and multi-season dataset to model harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) summer and winter distribution in the Irish Atlantic, using a multi-scale modelling approach to identify the best spatio-temporal scales of oceanographic variables. Porpoise sightings data were collected during dedicated line-transect aerial surveys from 2015 to 2017 and 2021–2023. Binary generalised additive models were used to assess the relationships between porpoise presence and oceanographic variables at different spatial (5, 20 and 40 km) and temporal (daily, monthly, and average across survey period) scales. Porpoises were present in coastal waters around Ireland across years and seasons. Rising sea surface temperature was negatively associated with porpoise presence, and models predicted a decline in occurrence probability for the summer and winter seasons after 2016, alongside a contraction in distribution to the Irish Sea, which remained a key habitat throughout the study. As their range contracts, porpoises are likely to be exposed to increased human-induced stressors, highlighting the need for targeted conservation measures. This study demonstrates the value of distribution datasets covering multiple years and different seasons for assessing the responses of large vertebrate species to environmental change
Provenance visualization as an entry point to the history and curation of information collections
No full textProvenance—the origin and production methods of an artifact or piece of information—is an essential part across allfields of knowledge production. Its disclosure ensures authenticity, reproducibility, and transparency. While digital tools can automate provenance tracking and disclosure, the amount and complexity of provenance information presents a challenge, particularly within the context of cultural collections, where physically-born artifacts are transformed into digital space. This process introduces a number of methodological and curatorial decisions that, in turn, can have a grave influence on how the—once physical—collection is represented and how it will be interpreted. In previous work, we have started to address this issue by introducing provenance-driven visualization as an approach to provenance disclosure that (1) traces and categorizes both the physical and digital provenance of information collections (e.g., transcriptions, modifications of content and structure, ex/inclusion of information items) and (2) utilizes visualization to disclose and make provenance explorable in interactive ways. While this approach has shown potential, there are challenges to designing provenance-driven visualizations which can be perceived as complex and abstract and, ultimately, a distraction from the information collections’ content. How can visualization design navigate tensions between making visible provenance information and underlying curatorial decisions in a holistic and compact way, while enabling easy entry points to and promoting the critical interpretation of the collection’s content? In this paper, we present a novel design approach to provenance-driven visualization that combines abstract visualization, textual descriptions, and representations of artifactual form with storytelling techniques to introduce provenance information. Our findings from a qualitative study demonstrate the success of this approach in (1) providing a visual entry point into the collection’s provenance, (2) promoting an in-depth understanding of the transitions and underlying curatorial decisions thecollection has gone through, all the while (3) positively influencing the collections’ content exploration and its critical interpretation. Our work contributes new perspectives on how visualization can be applied to add transparency and to raise awareness of the constructed and situated nature of data, in particular, in the context of cultural collections, but also beyond
Pulses of ocean acidification at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary
No full textMass extinctions have repeatedly perturbed the history of life, but their causes are often elusive. Ocean acidification has been implicated during Triassic–Jurassic environmental perturbations, but this interval lacks direct reconstructions of ocean pH. Here, we present boron isotope data from well-preserved fossil oysters, which provide evidence for acidification of ≥ 0.29 pH units coincident with a 2 ‰ negative carbon isotope excursion (the “main” CIE) following the end–Triassic extinction. These results suggest a prolonged interval of CO2-driven environmental perturbation that may have delayed ecosystem recovery. Earth system modelling with cGENIE paired with our pH constraints demonstrates this was driven by predominantly mantle-derived carbon. Ocean acidification therefore appears to be associated with three of the five largest extinction events in Earth history, highlighting the catastrophic ecological impact of major perturbations to the carbon cycle in Earth’s past, and possibly Earth’s anthropogenically perturbed future
Tides of change: Youth, museums and heritage in the climate emergency
No full textThis paper explores how youth engagement with heritage in small islandcommunities can advance climate justice through participatory museology.Drawing on the Shared Island Stories project connecting Barbados andScotland’s Outer Hebrides, it demonstrates how transnational exchangesand intergenerational knowledge-sharing empower young people asclimate changemakers. Through critical pedagogy, co-curation andcommunity-led practices, museums become active sites of resilience,challenging colonial legacies and fostering sustainable futures. The paperhighlights the transformative potential of youth-led initiatives in reshapingmuseum roles — from custodians of history to catalysts for environmentaland social justice in climate-vulnerable regions