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Can we repudiate ontology altogether?
Get PDFFunding: UK Research and Innovation (Grant Number(s): 10004484)Ontological nihilists repudiate ontology altogether, maintaining that ontological structure is an unnecessary addition to our theorising. Recent defences of the view involve a sophisticated combination of highly expressive, but ontologically innocent languages, combined with a metaphysics of features—non-objectual, complete but modifiable states of affairs invoked in natural language feature-placing sentences like 'It is raining'. Nihilists argue that they are able to preserve the core of our ordinary claims without appealing to any ontology. In this paper, I argue that by repudiating ontology, the nihilist is unable to make their nihilist-friendly language intelligible in terms of a nihilist metaphysics which preserves an undemanding notion of unity exhibited by our ordinary claims. This puts significant pressure on the nihilist's claim that ontology is an unnecessary addition to our theorising.Peer reviewe
Knowledge practices in integrated care : an examination of health and social care teams using collective knowledge creation theory
Get PDFIntegrated systems of care are increasingly seen as the means to bridge gaps between organisations, services and professions, increase quality, and decrease costly duplication across the health and care landscape. Integration and integrated health and care teams, composed of locality-oriented health and social care practitioners, have become central to global health policies. Integrated teams are expected to share distinct bodies of knowledge, evidence and expertise and use this to create holistic care plans. However, little research has examined how they achieve these knowledge-related goals. This research uses organizational knowledge creation theory to examine the discursive practices within integrated teams. Observational data from case management meetings across five integrated teams highlight four key themes: 1) Instrumental questioning dominated discussions, often making participants feel criticized and leading to the imposition of questioners' opinions. 2) Interactions were typically unstructured and unreflective, hindering clear objectives and limiting knowledge sharing and creation. 3) Teams often failed to retain and apply prior learning, struggling to identify cross-case insights. 4) Teams relied heavily on internal knowledge sources, rarely seeking evidence from patients, families, or other professionals. These discursive practices undermine the policy goals of integrated care, particularly with regard to knowledge and evidence. To address this, teams need support to expand the forms of knowledge and evidence they draw upon, discuss contradictions and uncertainties, and value reflective, curiosity-driven dialogue.Peer reviewe
Controls on fjord temperature throughout Greenland in a reduced‐physics model
Get PDFFunding: All authors acknowledge support from the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Grant NE/W00531X/1. DAS further acknowledges support from NERC Independent Research Fellowship NE/T011920/1.Greenland's fjords modulate exchanges between its outlet glaciers and the open ocean. Subglacial discharge and iceberg melt redistribute heat and salt in the fjord, modifying waters at glacier fronts and impacting glacier melt. Considering observations are sparse and general circulation models are computationally expensive, we use a reduced-physics model to simulate vertical profiles of temperature and salinity for 37 fjords around Greenland. For each fjord, we conduct large model ensembles to explore the effects of subglacial discharge, iceberg melt, and fjord-shelf exchange on water properties. We show that our model successfully captures water mass changes inside fjords: iceberg melt cools the surface, while subglacial discharge plumes and fjord-shelf exchange tend to decrease and increase temperature stratification, respectively. By comparing our ensemble to observations, we highlight that despite high interannual and fjord-to-fjord variability in ocean and meltwater forcings, a reduced-physics model can elucidate how fjords modulate ice-sheet-ocean exchanges at Greenland-wide scales.Peer reviewe
A fight against all odds? The causal effects of perceived political efficacy and protest repression on motivation to engage in normative and non-normative climate protest
Get PDFDespite increasing concern about climate change and widespread demonstrations demanding urgent action, governments worldwide are failing to meet climate pledges, and many have introduced anti-protest laws that limit citizens' ability to hold them accountable. We investigate the impacts of the political efficacy of climate protests and the risks of protest repression on people's motivation to engage in both conventional, normative and radical, non-normative pro-environmental collective action. We ran two experiments (total N = 443) among residents in the UK, where recent legislative changes have severely restricted climate protests. Using fabricated news articles, we manipulated political efficacy and repression in a 2x2 between-subjects design. Our manipulations successfully shifted perceptions of political efficacy and the risks of repression. However, they did not directly affect action intentions. Rather, these factors impacted action intentions indirectly by shaping other motives. Specifically, political efficacy exerted a positive indirect effect on normative (but not non-normative) action intentions by shifting people's beliefs about the value of their contribution (Study 1) and the likelihood that taking action will strengthen the movement (Study 2). In line with a backlash effect, and suggesting that restrictions on protest could further spark resistance, repression exerted a positive indirect effect on both normative and non-normative action intentions by generating moral outrage. Exploratory moderation analyses provided further nuance to our findings. For instance, politicised identity was found to attenuate adverse effects of high political efficacy on moral obligation, as well as intensifying the association between protest repression and moral outrage. Our research provides evidence of the causal effects of efficacy and repression on protest intentions, with implications for mobilisation efforts in climate movements.Peer reviewe
Climate, food and humans predict communities of mammals in the United States
Get PDFFunding: Thanks for funding from the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, NC State University, Michigan State and University of Montana Boone and Crockett Club, University of North Dakota Department of Biology, St. Lawrence University Biology Department, Nature Up North, Thelma Doelger Trust for Animals, Noble Research Institute, NSF grants (2206783, 1914928, 1754656, 1564954), USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture McIntire-Stennis projects (WVA00818, ME0-41913), USFWS (Grant F20AC11116) and the United States Department of Energy (DE-EM0005228). This research was supported in part by the USDA Forest Service.Aim: The assembly of species into communities and ecoregions is the result of interacting factors that affect plant and animal distribution and abundance at biogeographic scales. Here, we empirically derive ecoregions for mammals to test whether human disturbance has become more important than climate and habitat resources in structuring communities. Location : Conterminous United States. Time Period : 2010–2021. Major Taxa Studied : Twenty-five species of mammals. Methods : We analysed data from 25 mammal species recorded by camera traps at 6645 locations across the conterminous United States in a joint modelling framework to estimate relative abundance of each species. We then used a clustering analysis to describe 8 broad and 16 narrow mammal communities. Results : Climate was the most important predictor of mammal abundance overall, while human population density and agriculture were less important, with mixed effects across species. Seed production by forests also predicted mammal abundance, especially hard-mast tree species. The mammal community maps are similar to those of plants, with an east–west split driven by different dominant species of deer and squirrels. Communities vary along gradients of temperature in the east and precipitation in the west. Most fine-scale mammal community boundaries aligned with established plant ecoregions and were distinguished by the presence of regional specialists or shifts in relative abundance of widespread species. Maps of potential ecosystem services provided by these communities suggest high herbivory in the Rocky Mountains and eastern forests, high invertebrate predation in the subtropical south and greater predation pressure on large vertebrates in the west. Main Conclusions : Our results highlight the importance of climate to modern mammals and suggest that climate change will have strong impacts on these communities. Our new empirical approach to recognizing ecoregions has potential to be applied to expanded communities of mammals or other taxa.Peer reviewe
Protected areas have a mixed impact on waterbirds, but management helps
Get PDFThis data collection effort is funded by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan, Environment Canada, AEWA Secretariat, EU LIFE+ NGO Operational Grant, MAVA Foundation, Swiss Federal Office for Environment and Nature, French Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, UK Department of Food and Rural Affairs, Norwegian Nature Directorate, Dutch Ministry of Economics, Agriculture and Innovation, DOB Ecology and Wetlands International members. H.S.W. was funded by a Cambridge–Australia Poynton Scholarship, Cambridge Department of Zoology J. S. Gardiner Studentship and Cambridge Philosophical Society Grant. H.S.W. and B.I.S. are funded by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. W.J.S. was funded by Arcadia, The David and Claudia Harding Foundation and MAVA. J.P.G.J. was supported by a visiting fellowship to Fitzwilliam College Cambridge. This work was performed using resources provided by the Cambridge Service for Data Driven Discovery (CSD3) operated by the University of Cambridge Research Computing Service ( www.csd3.cam.ac.uk ), provided by Dell EMC and Intel using Tier-2 funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (capital grant EP/P020259/1), and DiRAC funding from the Science and Technology Facilities Council ( www.dirac.ac.uk ).International policy is focused on increasing the proportion of the Earth’s surface that is protected for nature1,2. Although studies show that protected areas prevent habitat loss3–6, there is a lack of evidence for their effect on species’ populations: existing studies are at local scale or use simple designs that lack appropriate controls7–13. Here we explore how 1,506 protected areas have affected the trajectories of 27,055 waterbird populations across the globe using a robust before–after control–intervention study design, which compares protected and unprotected populations in the years before and after protection. We show that the simpler study designs typically used to assess protected area effectiveness (before–after or control–intervention) incorrectly estimate effects for 37–50% of populations—for instance misclassifying positively impacted populations as negatively impacted, and vice versa. Using our robust study design, we find that protected areas have a mixed impact on waterbirds, with a strong signal that areas managed for waterbirds or their habitat are more likely to benefit populations, and a weak signal that larger areas are more beneficial than smaller ones. Calls to conserve 30% of the Earth’s surface by 2030 are gathering pace14, but we show that protection alone does not guarantee good biodiversity outcomes. As countries gather to agree the new Global Biodiversity Framework, targets must focus on creating and supporting well-managed protected and conserved areas that measurably benefit populations.Peer reviewe
2′,7′-Dimethyl-3H-spiro[isobenzofuran-1,9′-xanthen]-3-one
Get PDFA synthetic route to 2′,7′-dimethyl-3H-spiro[isobenzofuran-1,9′-xanthen]-3-one has been described using methanesulfonic acid in place of reagents described in protocols from the early 20th century. A full NMR assignment has been made and X-ray crystallography has been used to characterise the title compound for the first time.Peer reviewe
What are the perceived roles of felt emotions, displayed emotions, and emotion regulation in the experiences of women leaders in U.K. Higher Education with regard to their reported leadership behaviours and their perceived leadership effectiveness?
No full textThis research is grounded in the intersection of literature related to leadership and organisational goals, emotions and leadership, and women-in-leadership. By examining the role of emotions in women’s leadership experiences in U.K. Higher Education, this research is contributing to key areas of interest, notably leadership behaviours and leadership performance. The Gioia Methodology was used to develop findings from the qualitative data contained in 57 semi-structured interviews conducted online with women leaders in U.K. Higher Education. This research has added to theory at the within-person level of analysis, especially with respect to the impact of women leaders’ experiences of felt emotions and emotional labour, through developing understandings of the concepts of emotional absorption and their dynamics with interpersonal emotion regulation. The toll of emotional absorption was reported to impact women leaders’ motivation to lead, women leaders’ performance, women leaders’ relationships with followers, and women leaders’ health. As a result, the role of setting time-limits on leadership roles, enforcing emotional boundaries, and having a strong support network were all raised as key emotional regulation strategies to maintain leadership effectiveness and mitigate the impacts of women leaders’ emotional labour in the context of U.K. Higher Education. In examining women leaders’ experiences of navigating their emotional displays, factors related to the choices of women leaders’ emotional displays despite socio-cultural pressures to conform to existing leadership norms in U.K. Higher Education are also identified and developed as contributions to the literature. Notably, these factors are the role of unemotional presentation of women leaders’ negative emotions, women leaders’ choices to display positive emotions despite transgressing existing norms, disrupting masculine leadership emotion stereotypes through authenticity, and women leaders’ seniority and institutional power in U.K. Higher Education as a buffer against fear of backlash. Further implications and insights are discussed in the context of leadership research and practice for women-in-leadership in U.K. Higher Education
In situ generation by cyclization of an organic structure directing agent for the synthesis of high silica zeolite ERS-7
Get PDFFunding: The authors thank the EPSRC (Designed Synthesis of Zeolites (EP/S016201/1 (PAW, MML), EP/S016147/1, PAC)) and Orbital Materials (PAW, RGC) for funding. They acknowledge the SEM-EDS and Raman spectroscopy equipment funding (EPSRC Capital for Great Technologies Grant: EP/L017008/1; EPSRC Light Element Analysis Facility Grant: EP/T019298/1; EPSRC Strategic Equipment Resource Grant: EP/R023751/1) and EPSRC Core Equipment Grant (EP/V034138/1).Zeolites with high framework Si/Al ratios are of interest for industrial applications due to their hydrothermal stability. They are usually synthesized in the presence of pre-prepared organic structure directing agents (OSDAs). The high silica ERS-7 zeolite (topology type ESV ) can be crystallized using N,N-dimethylpyrrolidinium (dmpyrr) that is formed in situ via cyclization of N,N,N’,N’-tetramethyl-1,4-diaminobutane (tmdab) when a cationic polymer is also present. The in situ generation of dmpyrr is demonstrated by solid-state 13C NMR spectroscopy and supported by both chemical analyses and comparative syntheses using pre-prepared dmpyrr. The cationic polymer inhibits the crystallization of mordenite, which is otherwise observed to be the favored product. The ERS-7 prepared via in situ dmpyrr synthesis (Si/Al = 14) is characterized by PXRD and solid-state NMR spectroscopy. The CO2 adsorption seen for the H- and Na-forms indicates interactions with accessible Na+ cations. The synthetic studies indicate the potential for in situ generation of OSDAs to reduce the need for extended OSDA syntheses.Peer reviewe
Scottish constitutionalism in Aotearoa New Zealand : a tale of two treaties
Get PDFFunding: Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund (VUW1812).Following a comparative overview of the histories of the Treaty of Waitangi (1840) and the Anglo-Scottish Union (1707) in the law and constitution of New Zealand and the United Kingdom respectively, this paper explores the role of a Scot, James Busby (1802–1871), in the framing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Drawing on recent scholarship on the meaning of the neglected English text of the Treaty of Waitangi, the paper then considers how Busby’s understanding of the Anglo-Scottish Union informed his interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi. The paper suggests that Scottish interpretations of the Union’s fundamental status in the constitution of Britain influenced some historical interpretations of the Treaty of Waitangi’s foundational place in the law and constitution of New Zealand. The paper ends by arguing for the importance of appreciating the plurality of the metropolitan British state when unearthing New Zealand’s constitutional history.Peer reviewe
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