Broadening the Scope of Ethnic Identity: A Social Sustainability Solution for Pan African Communities through Ethnically Relevant Educational Programming

This conceptual study explores ethnic identity development theory in order to argue that ethnic identity development education is a means of developing broad senses of community in the African Diaspora that expand beyond a tribal, local, familial level. This study suggests that the broadening of community understanding would contribute to establishing social sustainability on regional, national and international levels within the Pan African community. Establishing such social sustainability would have direct effects on the areas of economic and environmental sustainability. One of the goals of this project is to offer suggestions for ethnically relevant education that can develop social sustainability in several places throughout the Diaspora, such as in Nigeria where ethnic conflicts are a contemporary concern.

An inverse method to obtain porosity, fibre diameter and density of fibrous sound absorbing materials

Characterization of sound absorbing materials is essential to predict its acoustic behaviour. The most commonly used models to do so consider the flow resistivity, porosity, and average fibre diameter as parameters to determine the acoustic impedance and sound absorbing coefficient. Besides direct experimental techniques, numerical approaches appear to be an alternative to estimate the material’s parameters. In this work an inverse numerical method to obtain some parameters of a fibrous material is presented. Using measurements of the normal incidence sound absorption coefficient and then using the model proposed by Voronina, subsequent application of basic minimization techniques allows one to obtain the porosity, average fibre diameter and density of a sound absorbing material. The numerical results agree fairly well with the experimental data.

Procedure for calculating the chloride diffusion coefficient and surface concentration from a profile having a maximum beyond the concrete surface

Chlorides induce local corrosion in the steel reinforcements when reaching the bar surface. The measurement of the rate of ingress of these ions, is made by mathematically fitting the so called “error function equation” into the chloride concentration profile, obtaining so the diffusion coefficient and the chloride concentration at the concrete surface. However, the chloride profiles do not always follow Fick’s law by having the maximum concentration at the concrete surface, but often the profile shows a maximum concentration more in the interior, which indicates a different composition and performance of the most external concrete layer with respect to the internal zones. The paper presents a procedure prepared during the time of the RILEM TC 178-TMC: “Testing and modeling chloride penetration in concrete”, which suggests neglecting the external layer where the chloride concentration increases and using the maximum as an “apparent” surface concentration, called C max and to fit the error function equation into the decreasing concentration profile towards the interior. The prediction of evolution should be made also from the maximum.

An R script to plot the conditioned Gini (or skewness) coefficient in the bivariate case

In the cs.index.zip file we provide an R script which let us plot the conditioned Gini (or skewness) coefficient used in the working paper entitled "On conditional skewness with applications in environmental data" submitted to Environmental and Ecological Statistics. On the other hand, the ReadMe.pdf explains how to use the cs.index.R script.

Making it easy to do the right thing in healthcare: Advancing improvement science education through accredited pan European higher education modules

Background: Numerous international policy drivers espouse the need to improve healthcare. The application of Improvement Science has the potential to restore the balance of healthcare and transform it to a more person-centred and quality improvement focussed system. However there is currently no accredited Improvement Science education offered routinely to healthcare students. This means that there are a huge number of healthcare professionals who do not have the conceptual or experiential skills to apply Improvement Science in everyday practise. Methods: This article describes how seven European Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) worked together to develop four evidence informed accredited inter-professional Improvement Science modules for under and postgraduate healthcare students. It outlines the way in which a Policy Delphi, a narrative literature review, a review of the competency and capability requirements for healthcare professionals to practise Improvement Science, and a mapping of current Improvement Science education informed the content of the modules. Results: A contemporary consensus definition of Healthcare Improvement Science was developed. The four Improvement Science modules that have been designed are outlined. A framework to evaluate the impact modules have in practise has been developed and piloted. Conclusion: The authors argue that there is a clear need to advance healthcare Improvement Science education through incorporating evidence based accredited modules into healthcare professional education. They suggest that if Improvement Science education, that incorporates work based learning, becomes a staple part of the curricula in inter-professional education then it has real promise to improve the delivery, quality and design of healthcare.

Prospects and challenges of a Pan-European post-trade infrastructure. ECMI Policy Brief No. 20, 8 November 2012

After more than a decade of indecision, the EU is finally now set to implement a consistent regulatory architecture for clearing and settlement. Following the agreement on a European market infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), the European Commission has proposed harmonised rules for centralised settlement depositaries (CSDs), while the European Central Bank is moving forward with its plans for a central eurozone settlement engine. This paper analyses three components of the new post-trade infrastructure measures: 1) the regulatory framework for and supervision of central counterparties under the new EMIR legislation, 2) the authorisation requirements of trade repositories and 3) the draft CSD Regulation and the progress with the ECB’s Target 2 Securities project. It then discusses the impact of the new rules, and argues that, analogous to the unexpected impact of MiFID on trading infrastructures, a similar EMIR revolution may be on its way.

A Pan-European District for the European Elections? The Rise and Fall of the Duff Proposal for the Electoral Reform of the European Parliament. Bruges Political Research Papers 44/2015.

The aim of the present article is to understand the dynamics underlying the birth, the development and the eventual failure of the Duff proposal of 2009-2012, an ambitious attempt to change the provisions governing the elections for the European Parliament. In particular, the way agenda-setting on electoral reform is shaped in the European Union will be analysed, trying to understand if the current stalemate on the issue can be explained in light of factors specific to the EU. The report presented by liberal MEP Andrew Duff at the beginning of the seventh legislature called on Member States to gather a Convention, in order to introduce fundamental improvements in the way Members of the European Parliament are elected. Among the envisaged changes, the creation of a pan-European constituency to elect twenty-five Members on transnational lists represented the most controversial issue. After having analysed its main elements, the path of the Duff report from the committee of Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) to the plenary will be analysed. It will be concluded that a sharp contrast exists between the way electoral issues are raised in the AFCO committee and the way the Parliament as a whole deals with them. Moreover, diverging interests between national delegations inside groups seem to play a decisive role in hampering electoral reform. While further research is needed to corroborate the present findings, the analysis of the Duff proposal appears to shed light on the different barriers that ensure electoral reform is taken off the agenda of the Union, and on the relative weight each of them carries.

Un dios que se transforma en héroe : Una aproximación genética a los textos de Peter Pan

Desde la perspectiva de la genética textual, en este trabajo observamos las representacionesdel personaje de Peter Pan en los textos de J. M. Barrie dedicados a este con respecto a sussemejanzas con el dios griego Pan, para ver de qué manera dialogan con los diferentes sentidosque el dios fue connotando a través de siglos. Analizamos la fotonovela The Boys Castawaysof Black Lake Island (1901); The Little White Bird (1902), novela en la que aparece en seiscapítulos; las "Fairy Notes" (1903) en borrador y el libreto inédito llamado Anon: a play de la obra teatral Peter Pan or The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up (estrenada en 1904); la novela Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906), que consiste en esos seis capítulos de The LittleWhite Bird; la novela Peter and Wendy (1911), adaptación de la obra de teatro; un guion cinematográfico,Scenario for a Proposed Film of Peter Pan (c. 1918), que no se filmó; y ellibreto de la obra, finalmente publicado, con bastantes cambios, en 1928

Un dios que se transforma en héroe : Una aproximación genética a los textos de Peter Pan

Desde la perspectiva de la genética textual, en este trabajo observamos las representacionesdel personaje de Peter Pan en los textos de J. M. Barrie dedicados a este con respecto a sussemejanzas con el dios griego Pan, para ver de qué manera dialogan con los diferentes sentidosque el dios fue connotando a través de siglos. Analizamos la fotonovela The Boys Castawaysof Black Lake Island (1901); The Little White Bird (1902), novela en la que aparece en seiscapítulos; las "Fairy Notes" (1903) en borrador y el libreto inédito llamado Anon: a play de la obra teatral Peter Pan or The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up (estrenada en 1904); la novela Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906), que consiste en esos seis capítulos de The LittleWhite Bird; la novela Peter and Wendy (1911), adaptación de la obra de teatro; un guion cinematográfico,Scenario for a Proposed Film of Peter Pan (c. 1918), que no se filmó; y ellibreto de la obra, finalmente publicado, con bastantes cambios, en 1928

Qué Peter Pan conocemos y cómo : Recorridos de un fenómeno intermedial desde su origen

En estas páginas haremos un rastreo de los orígenes, los cambios y las mutaciones del personaje y su historia hasta el modo en que lo conocimos y lo adoptamos como universal y nuestro a través de numerosos y diversos medios, como el cine, la televisión, el comic, el merchandising (por qué no), y los libros, por supuesto; pero también veremos que este niño que no quiere crecer ya nació volátil, inaprehensible, en la mente de J. M. Barrie, quien lo imaginó literario, teatral, cinematográfico, visual. ¿Quién es Peter Pan? ¿Qué imagen, idea, frase, se nos aparece apenas oímos ese nombre? ¿Será el pequeño bebé desnudo que habita los jardines de Kensington, los recorre montado en una cabra y actúa como orquesta de las hadas con la música de su flauta; o ese que se lleva a los hermanitos Darling a Nunca Jamás? ¿O será ese otro que viste de verde, como si fuera un Robin Hood niño, que todos, sin excepción, hemos visto alguna vez en la película de Disney, y/o en remeras, tazas, álbumes de figuritas, cuadernos, y un largo etcétera?

Heat flow and heat conductivity coefficient measured in bottom sediments collected in Cruise 13 of R/V Akademik Sergey Vavilov in the Pechora Sea

In Cruise 13 of R/V Akademik Sergey Vavilov in the Pechora Sea, six heat flow varied from 50 to 75 mW/m**2. Deep heat flow in the Pechora Sea was calculated equal to 45 mW/m**2, which is confirmed by results of geological and geophysical studies and corresponds to Middle Baikal age of the basement. A model of structure of the lithosphere in the Pechora Sea is suggested. Total thickness of the lithosphere in the basin (190 km) determined from geothermal data agrees well with that in transition zones from the continent to the ocean. According to estimates of deep heat flow in the region obtained, thickness of the mantle (160 km), of the basaltic (15 km), and of the granitic (15 km) layers of the lithosphere were also evaluated. Temperature values at boundaries of the sedimentary layers were calculated over a geological and geophysical profile crossing the Pechora Sea basin. Temperatures obtained agree with the temperature interval of hydrocarbon generation and correspond to Permian-Triassic sedimentary sequences, which are the most productive ones in the Pechora Sea region from the point of view of oil and gas potential.

Homogeneous Spatial Units (HSU) - a Pan-European geographical basis for environmental and socio-economic modelling

The spatial data set delineates areas with similar environmental properties regarding soil, terrain morphology, climate and affiliation to the same administrative unit (NUTS3 or comparable units in size) at a minimum pixel size of 1km2. The scope of developing this data set is to provide a link between spatial environmental information (e.g. soil properties) and statistical data (e.g. crop distribution) available at administrative level. Impact assessment of agricultural management on emissions of pollutants or radiative active gases, or analysis regarding the influence of agricultural management on the supply of ecosystem services, require the proper spatial coincidence of the driving factors. The HSU data set provides e.g. the link between the agro-economic model CAPRI and biophysical assessment of environmental impacts (updating previously spatial units, Leip et al. 2008), for the analysis of policy scenarios. Recently, a statistical model to disaggregate crop information available from regional statistics to the HSU has been developed (Lamboni et al. 2016). The HSU data set consists of the spatial layers provided in vector and raster format as well as attribute tables with information on the properties of the HSU. All input data for the delineation the HSU is publicly available. For some parameters the attribute tables provide the link between the HSU data set and e.g. the soil map(s) rather than the data itself. The HSU data set is closely linked the USCIE data set.