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Macro-moth (Lepidoptera) Diversity of a Newly Shaped Ecological Corridor and the Surrounding Forest Area in the Western Italian Alps
Get PDFIn addition to the compilation of biodiversity inventories, checklists, especially if combined with abundance data, are important tools to understand species distribution, habitat use, and community composition over time. Their importance is even higher when ecological indicator taxa are considered, as in the case of moths. In this work, we investigated macro-moth diversity in a forest area (30 ha) in the Western Italian Alps, recently subjected to intense management activities. Indeed, an ecological corridor, which includes 10 clearings, has been shaped thanks to forest compensation related to the construction site of the Turin–Lyon High-Speed Railway. Here, we identified 17 patches (9 clearings and 8 forests), and we conducted moth surveys using UV–LED light traps. A total of 15,614 individuals belonging to 442 species were collected in 2020 and 2021. Two and fifteen species are new records for Piedmont and for Susa Valley, respectively. In addition to the faunistic interest of the data, this study—using a standardized method—provides geo-referenced occurrences, species-richness, and abundance values useful to compile a baseline dataset for future comparisons. Indeed, the replicable and easy shareable method allows us to make comparisons with other research and thus assess the impact of environmental changes
Glacial lake outburst floods threaten millions globally
Get PDFGlacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) represent a major hazard and can result in significant loss of life. Globally, since 1990, the number and size of glacial lakes has grown rapidly along with downstream population, while socio-economic vulnerability has decreased. Nevertheless, contemporary exposure and vulnerability to GLOFs at the global scale has never been quantified. Here we show that 15 million people globally are exposed to impacts from potential GLOFs. Populations in High Mountains Asia (HMA) are the most exposed and on average live closest to glacial lakes with ~1 million people living within 10 km of a glacial lake. More than half of the globally exposed population are found in just four countries: India, Pakistan, Peru, and China. While HMA has the highest potential for GLOF impacts, we highlight the Andes as a region of concern, with similar potential for GLOF impacts to HMA but comparatively few published research studies
The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation editors’ series: Advancing quantitative research in entrepreneurship
Get PDFThe differential effects of potential and realized absorptive capacity on imitation and innovation strategies, and its impact on sustained competitive advantage
Get PDFDrawing on the knowledge-based view of the firm and the theory of resources and capabilities, this study attempts to (i) investigate the differential antecedent roles of knowledge-based capabilities such as potential and realized absorptive capacity on imitation and innovation strategies, and (ii) to assess how such interactions lead firms to achieve a sustained competitive advantage. Using quantitative data from 211 managers in middle and top managerial roles, we conducted structural equation modeling via partial least squares. This paper contends that imitation and innovation strategies might be complementary while yielding competitive advantages, and that the degree to which organizations absorb external knowledge has an impact on this connection. Contrary to previous research, this novel focus treats innovation and imitation strategies as distinct, but not opposing, notions. The results of this study fill a knowledge gap in the field of innovation management and provide empirical evidence for the interplay between absorptive capacity and the two complementary business strategies—innovation and imitation—which aids organizations in maintaining their competitive advantages
Whose Heritage? Challenging Race and Identity in Stuart Hall’s Post-nation Britain
Get PDFThis edited collection challenges and re-imagines what is ‘heritage’ in Britain as a globalised, vernacular, cosmopolitan ‘post-nation’. It takes its inspiration from the foundational work of public intellectual Stuart Hall (1932-2014). Hall was instrumental in calling out embedded elitist conceptions of ‘The Heritage’ of Britain. The book’s authors challenge us to reconsider what is valued about Britain’s past, its culture and its citizens. Populist discourses around the world, including Brexit and ‘culture war’ declarations in the UK, demonstrate how heritage and ideas of the past are mobilised in racist politics. The multidisciplinary chapters of this book offer critical inspections of these politics, and dig deeply into the problems of theory, policy and practice in today’s academia, society and heritage sector. The volume challenges the lack of action since Hall rebuked ‘The Heritage’ twenty years ago. The authors featured here are predominantly Black Britons, academics and practitioners engaged in culture and heritage, spurred by the killing of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement to contest racist practices and structures that support them. The primary audience will be academics, but it will also attract culture sector practitioners and heritage institutions. However, the book is particularly aimed at scholars and community members who identify as Black, who are centrally concerned with questions of identity and race in British society. Its Open Access status will facilitate access to the book by all groups in society
A cross-cultural investigation of the conceptualisation of frailty in northern Tanzania
Get PDFFrailty prevalence is higher in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared with high-income countries when measured by biomedical frailty models, the most widely used being the frailty phenotype. Frailty in older people is becoming of global public health interest as a means of promoting health in old age in LMICs. As yet, little work has been done to establish to what extent the concept of frailty, as conceived according to 'western' biomedicine, has cross-cultural resonance for a low-income rural African setting. This study aimed to investigate the meaning of frailty contextually, using the biomedical concept of the frailty phenotype as a framework. Qualitative interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of older adults, their care-givers and community representatives in rural northern Tanzania. Thirty interview transcripts were transcribed, translated from Kiswahili to English and thematically analysed. Results reveal that despite superficial similarities in the understanding of frailty, to a great extent the physical changes highlighted by the frailty phenotype were naturalised, except when these were felt to be due to a scarcity of resources. Frailty was conceptualised as less of a physical problem of the individual, but rather, as a social problem of the community, suggesting that the frailty construct may be usefully applied cross-culturally when taking a social equity focus to the health of older people in LMICs
Coaching in the shadows: critically examining the unintended (non)influence of pedagogical practice
Get PDFBackground: Influence is at the very core of physical education and sport pedagogy. Indeed, a large and growing body of work has focused on the (inter)actions of sport pedagogues which are deemed to be influential in terms of shaping the thoughts, feelings and actions of others. In comparison, little attention has been paid to the practices of sport pedagogues that are noninfluential or unintentionally influential. That is, when pedagogues or learners choose not to do something, how they are not influenced/influential, or when practice (unintentionally) influences those who were (or were not) the original target. Paying greater attention to these issues holds strong potential to develop more critical and ethical understandings of influence that can inform the education and development of sport pedagogues.Aims: The aims of this study are two-fold. Firstly, we seek to break new ground by providing novel insights into how, when, why, for whom, and under which circumstances pedagogical (inter)action is not influential, and where (inter)actions have had an unintended influence. Secondly, and relatedly, we seek to advance and illustrate methodological perspectives capable of critically understanding this topic.Data collection: Data were generated using a bricolage of methods (i.e., participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and stimulated recall interviews) as part of a critical realist ethnography with one representative-level junior cricket squad in the UK. Data were subject to emic and etic readings in response to the aims of the study. In total, 182 hours of observational data and 46 hours of interview data were generated and analysed using the Critical Incident Technique (CIT). Here, the primary sense making devices were provided by Jones and Wallace’s (2005) theorising of orchestration, Elder-Vass’ (2010) causal power of social structures, and Mason’s (2002) concept of noticing.Analysis and discussion: A small number of richly detailed and critical coaching (inter)actions are presented to illustrate the emergent meaning-making of different tacticians and targets of (non)influence. Specifically, the analysis introduces incidents that are illustrative of three novel types of (non)influence. The examples all highlight pathos between the coaches’ original intentions for (and reading of) influence, and the actual influence of practice for the athlete(s). Specifically, the discussion provides accounts of a) noninfluence on targeted individuals, b) unintended influence on non-targeted individuals, and c) unintended influence on targeted individuals. Conclusion: Overall, this paper contributes to a growing body of critical pedagogical research, positioning the work of influence less obtrusively. It provides a novel methodological, theoretical, and empirical contribution which practitioners, educators, researchers, and other stakeholders can engage with to critically consider how, when, why, for whom, and under which circumstances (inter)actions are (likely to be) influential or not. Further work could examine what pedagogues and learners decide to do and not do, as well as what they notice and do not notice as a basis to develop more critical and ethical practices
Leaderlessness in Social Movements: Advancing Space, Symbols, and Spectacle as Modes of “Leadership”
Get PDFThe emergence of the Occupy movements along with other social movements in 2011 elevated the idea of radically decentralized “leaderless” social movement organizations. We argue that looking at such an alternative, horizontalist form of organizing presents an opportunity to reframe how we understand leadership. This paper illustrates how the coordination of the Occupy London movement was accomplished horizontally in the absence of formal organization, leadership, or authority structures. Using an ethnographic approach, we show how this movement generated a “multimodal” repertoire of protest that included (1) the politically effective occupation of urban space; (2) the ability to deploy symbols as compelling forms of aesthetic questioning; and (3) the creation of politically charged spectacles that allowed the movement to appropriate the news agendas of established broadcast media. The findings of this paper challenge the language of leadership and contribute to understandings of feminist forms of leadership and leaderless organizing by explaining one way that “leadership” occurs in horizontal organizational structures such as social movements. Namely we demonstrate how the modes of space, symbols, and spectacles effectively replace the role of “leader” in the absence of formal organizational structures
Ordering of minimal energies in unicyclic signed graphs
Get PDFLet S = (G, σ) be a signed graph of order n and size m and let t1, t2, . . . , tn be the eigenvalues of S. The energy of S is defined as E(S) = Pnj=1|tj|. A connected signed graph is said to be unicyclic if its order and size are same. In this paper, we characterize, up to switching, theunicyclic signed graphs with first 11 minimal energies for all n ≥ 12. For 3 ≤ n ≤ 7, we provide complete ordering of unicyclic signed graphs with respect to energy. For n = 8, 9, 10 and 11, we determine unicyclic signed graphs with first 13 minimal energies respectively
Developing habit-based health behaviour change interventions: twenty-one questions to guide future research
Get PDFHabitual behaviours are triggered automatically, with little conscious forethought. Theory suggests that making healthy behaviours habitual, and breaking the habits that underpin many ingrained unhealthy behaviours, promotes long-term behaviour change. This has prompted interest in incorporating habit formation and disruption strategies into behaviour change interventions. Yet, notable research gaps limit understanding of how to harness habit to change real-world behaviours. Discussions among health psychology researchers and practitioners, at the 2019 European Health Psychology Society 'Synergy Expert Meeting', generated pertinent questions to guide further research into habit and health behaviour. In line with the four topics discussed at the meeting, 21 questions were identified, concerning: how habit manifests in health behaviour (3 questions); how to form healthy habits (5 questions); how to break unhealthy habits (4 questions); and how to develop and evaluate habit-based behaviour change interventions (9 questions). While our questions transcend research contexts, accumulating knowledge across studies of specific health behaviours, settings, and populations will build a broader understanding of habit change principles and how they may be embedded into interventions. We encourage researchers and practitioners to prioritise these questions, to further theory and evidence around how to create long-lasting health behaviour change