The role of paradigm analysis in the development of policies for a resource efficient economy

Policy makers are often called upon to navigate between scientists’ urgent calls for long-term concerted action to reduce the environmental impacts due to resource use, and the public’s concerns over policies that threaten lifestyles or jobs. Against these political challenges, resource efficiency policy making is often a changeable and even chaotic process, which has fallen short of the political ambitions set by democratically elected governments. This article examines the importance of paradigms in understanding how the public collectively responds to new policy proposals, such as those developed within the project DYNAmic policy MiXes for absolute decoupling of environmental impact of EU resource use from economic growth (DYNAMIX). The resulting proposed approach provides a framework to understand how different concerns and worldviews converge within public discourse, potentially resulting in paradigm change. Thus an alternative perspective on how resource efficiency policy can be development is proposed, which envisages early policies to lay the ground for future far-reaching policies, by altering the underlying paradigm context in which the public receive and respond to policy. The article concludes by arguing that paradigm change is more likely if the policy is conceived, framed, designed, analyzed, presented, and evaluated from the worldview or paradigm pathway that it seeks to create (i.e. the destination paradigm).

Fossil associations from the middle and upper Eocene strata of the Pamplona Basin and surrounding areas (Navarre, western Pyrenees)

Fossil associations from the middle and upper Eocene (Bartonian and Priabonian) sedimentary succession of the Pamplona Basin are described. This succession was accumulated in the western part of the South Pyrenean peripheral foreland basin and extends from deep-marine turbiditic (Ezkaba Sandstone Formation) to deltaic (Pamplona Marl, Ardanatz Sandstone and Ilundain Marl formations) and marginal marine deposits (Gendulain Formation). The micropalaeontological content is high. It is dominated by foraminifera, and common ostracods and other microfossils are also present. The fossil ichnoasssemblages include at least 23 ichnogenera and 28 ichnospecies indicative of Nereites, Cruziana, Glossifungites and ?Scoyenia-Mermia ichnofacies. Body macrofossils of 78 taxa corresponding to macroforaminifera, sponges, corals, bryozoans, brachiopods, annelids, molluscs, arthropods, echinoderms and vertebrates have been identified. Both the number of ichnotaxa and of species (e. g. bryozoans, molluscs and condrichthyans) may be considerably higher. Body fossil assemblages are comparable to those from the Eocene of the Nord Pyrenean area (Basque Coast), and also to those from the Eocene of the west-central and eastern part of South Pyrenean area (Aragon and Catalonia). At the European scale, the molluscs assemblages seem endemic from the Pyrenean area, although several Tethyan (Italy and Alps) and Northern elements (Paris basin and Normandy) have been recorded. Palaeontological data of studied sedimentary units fit well with the shallowing process that throughout the middle and late Eocene occurs in the area, according to the sedimentological and stratigraphical data.

What is social innovation? The paradigm shift and its relationship with Social Work

Innovation is a fundamental part of social work. In recent years there has been a shift in the innovation paradigm, making it easier to accept this relationship. National and supranational policies aimed at promoting innovation appear to be specifically guided by this idea. To be able to affirm this hypothesis, it is necessary to review the perception that social workers have of their duties. It is also useful to examine particular cases that show how such social innovation arises.

Morphological and Phylogenetic Characterization of New Gephyrocapsa Isolates Suggests Introgressive Hybridization in the Emiliania/Gephyrocapsa Complex (Haptophyta)

The coccolithophore genus Gephyrocapsa contains a cosmopolitan assemblage of pelagic species, including the bloom-forming Gephyrocapsa oceanica, and is closely related to the emblematic coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi within the Noëlaerhabdaceae. These two species have been extensively studied and are well represented in culture collections, whereas cultures of other species of this family are lacking. We report on three new strains of Gephyrocapsa isolated into culture from samples from the Chilean coastal upwelling zone using a novel flow cytometric single-cell sorting technique. The strains were characterized by morphological analysis using scanning electron microscopy and phylogenetic analysis of 6 genes (nuclear 18S and 28S rDNA, plastidial 16S and tufA, and mitochondrial cox1 and cox3 genes). Morphometric features of the coccoliths indicate that these isolates are distinct from G. oceanica and best correspond to G. muellerae. Surprisingly, both plastidial and mitochondrial gene phylogenies placed these strains within the E. huxleyi clade and well separated from G. oceanica isolates, making Emiliania appear polyphyletic. The only nuclear sequence difference, 1 bp in the 28S rDNA region, also grouped E. huxleyi with the new Gephyrocapsa isolates and apart from G. oceanica. Specifically, the G. muellerae morphotype strains clustered with the mitochondrial β clade of E. huxleyi, which, like G. muellerae, has been associated with cold (temperate and sub-polar) waters. Among putative evolutionary scenarios that could explain these results we discuss the possibility that E. huxleyi is not a valid taxonomic unit, or, alternatively the possibility of past hybridization and introgression between each E. huxleyi clade and older Gephyrocapsa clades. In either case, the results support the transfer of Emiliania to Gephyrocapsa. These results have important implications for relating morphological species concepts to ecological and evolutionary units of diversity.

Morphological and Phylogenetic Characterization of New Gephyrocapsa Isolates Suggests Introgressive Hybridization in the Emiliania/Gephyrocapsa Complex (Haptophyta)

The coccolithophore genus Gephyrocapsa contains a cosmopolitan assemblage of pelagic species, including the bloom-forming Gephyrocapsa oceanica, and is closely related to the emblematic coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi within the Noëlaerhabdaceae. These two species have been extensively studied and are well represented in culture collections, whereas cultures of other species of this family are lacking. We report on three new strains of Gephyrocapsa isolated into culture from samples from the Chilean coastal upwelling zone using a novel flow cytometric single-cell sorting technique. The strains were characterized by morphological analysis using scanning electron microscopy and phylogenetic analysis of 6 genes (nuclear 18S and 28S rDNA, plastidial 16S and tufA, and mitochondrial cox1 and cox3 genes). Morphometric features of the coccoliths indicate that these isolates are distinct from G. oceanica and best correspond to G. muellerae. Surprisingly, both plastidial and mitochondrial gene phylogenies placed these strains within the E. huxleyi clade and well separated from G. oceanica isolates, making Emiliania appear polyphyletic. The only nuclear sequence difference, 1 bp in the 28S rDNA region, also grouped E. huxleyi with the new Gephyrocapsa isolates and apart from G. oceanica. Specifically, the G. muellerae morphotype strains clustered with the mitochondrial β clade of E. huxleyi, which, like G. muellerae, has been associated with cold (temperate and sub-polar) waters. Among putative evolutionary scenarios that could explain these results we discuss the possibility that E. huxleyi is not a valid taxonomic unit, or, alternatively the possibility of past hybridization and introgression between each E. huxleyi clade and older Gephyrocapsa clades. In either case, the results support the transfer of Emiliania to Gephyrocapsa. These results have important implications for relating morphological species concepts to ecological and evolutionary units of diversity.

From "ecological tourism" to "ecotourism": lexical analysis of an emerging tourism

From ecological tourism to ecotourism: lexical analysis of an emerging tourism. This article deals with the lexicon created in connection with a recent form of tourism: the ecological tourism or ecotourism. The rise of this type of tourism encourages the creation of new concepts and products that are named with new words and expressions with different procedures of formation. From the name itself ecotourism, then expressed as the acronym ecotourism, we analyze the formation of other related words, as well as their formal variation and use. For this, we have worked with a specific corpus of electronic tourist texts and different digital sources and databases.

Garden Cities: A flawed model for Ecological Urbanism?

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the Garden City model has been a predominant theory emerging from Ecological Urbanism. In his book Howard observed the disastrous effects of rapid urbanization and as a response, proposed the Garden City. Although Howard’s proposal was first published in the late 1800’s, the clear imbalance that Howard aimed to address is still prevalent in the UK today. Each year, the UK wastes nearly 15 million tons of food, despite this an estimated 500,000 people in the UK go without sufficient access to food. While the urban population is rapidly increasing and cities are becoming hubs of economic activity, producing wealth and improving education and access to markets, it is within these cities that the imbalance is most evident, with a significant proportion of the world’s population with unmet needs living in urban areas. Despite Howard’s model being a response to 17th century London, many still consider the Garden City model to be an effective solution for the 21st century. In his book, Howard details the metrics required for the design of a Garden City. This paper will discuss how, by using this methodology and comparing it with more recent studies by Cornell University and Matthew Wheeland (Pure Energies); it is possible to test the validity of Howard’s proposal to establish whether the Garden City model is a viable solution to the increasing pressures of urbanization.
This paper outlines how the analysis of Howard’s proposal has shown the model to be flawed, incapable of producing enough food to sustain the proposed 32,000 population, with a capacity to produce only 23% of the food required to meet the current average UK consumption rate. Beyond the limited productive capacity of Howard’s model, the design itself does little to increase local resilience or the ecological base. This paper will also discuss how a greater understanding of the
Land-share requirements enables the design of a new urban model, building on the foundations initially laid out by Howard and combining a number of other theories to produce a more resilient and efficient model of ecological urbanism.

A New Role for Management of the Social Sciences in an Age of Complexity

A particular scientific world view has become dominant, influential and successful in modern sciences today. Science and technology have transformed the way we view ourselves, our societies and our place in the cosmos. However, just as science and technology seem to be at the peak of their power, unexpected problems are disrupting the sciences from within. This reflects a deeper and more serious problem regarding scientific inquiry. Science is being held back by old assumptions that have become dogmas, the biggest of which is that science already knows all the answers, and only the details need to be worked out. A transformational paradigm shift is required from a mechanistic world view to an organic world view to better address the challenges of the new millenium.

A roadmap to Sierra Leone English: a sociohistorical and ecological perstective

Programa de doctorado: Traducción, comunicación y cultura

Ecological effects of flow and temperature regimes on fish communities in temperate rivers

Les organismes aquatiques sont adaptés à une grande variabilité hydrique et thermique des rivières. Malgré ceci, la régulation des eaux suscite des changements aux débits qui peuvent provoquer des impacts négatifs sur la biodiversité et les processus écologiques en rivière. Celle-ci peut aussi causer des modifications au niveau des régimes thermiques et des caractéristiques de l’habitat du poisson. Des données environnementales et biologiques décrivant l’habitat du poisson existent, mais elles sont incomplètes pour plusieurs rivières au Canada et de faible qualité, limitant les relations quantitatives débit-température-poissons à un petit nombre de rivières ou à une région étudiée. La recherche menée dans le cadre de mon doctorat concerne les impacts de la génération d'hydroélectricité sur les rivières; soit les changements aux régimes hydriques et thermiques reliés à la régulation des eaux sur la variation des communautés ichtyologiques qui habitent les rivières régulées et naturelles au Canada. Suite à une comparaison d’échantillonnage de pêche, une méthode constante pour obtenir des bons estimés de poisson (richesse, densité et biomasse des espèces) a été établie pour évaluer la structure de la communauté de poissons pour l’ensemble des rivières ciblées par l’étude. Afin de mieux comprendre ces changements environnementaux, les principales composantes décrivant ces régimes ont été identifiées et l’altération des régimes hydriques pour certaines rivières régulées a été quantifiée. Ces résultats ont servi à établir la relation significative entre le degré de changement biotique et le degré de changement hydrique pour illustrer les différences entre les régimes de régulation. Pour faire un complément aux indices biotiques déjà calculés pour l’ensemble des communautés de poissons (diversité, densité et biomasse des espèces par rivière), les différences au niveau des guildes de poissons ont été quantifiées pour expliquer les divers effets écologiques dus aux changements de régimes hydriques et thermiques provenant de la gestion des barrages. Ces derniers résultats servent à prédire pour quels traits écologiques ou groupes d’espèces de poissons les composantes hydriques et thermiques sont importantes. De plus, ces derniers résultats ont servi à mettre en valeur les variables décrivant les régimes thermiques qui ne sont pas toujours inclues dans les études hydro-écologiques. L’ensemble des résultats de cette thèse ont des retombées importantes sur la gestion des rivières en évaluant, de façon cohérente, l’impact de la régulation des rivières sur les communautés de poissons et en développant des outils de prévision pour la restauration des écosystèmes riverains.

A method for assessing ecological values to reconcile multiple land use needs

We present a new method for ecologically sustainable land use planning within multiple land use schemes. Our aims were (1) to develop a method that can be used to locate important areas based on their ecological values; (2) to evaluate the quality, quantity, availability, and usability of existing ecological data sets; and (3) to demonstrate the use of the method in Eastern Finland, where there are requirements for the simultaneous development of nature conservation, tourism, and recreation. We compiled all available ecological data sets from the study area, complemented the missing data using habitat suitability modeling, calculated the total ecological score (TES) for each 1 ha grid cell in the study area, and finally, demonstrated the use of TES in assessing the success of nature conservation in covering ecologically valuable areas and locating ecologically sustainable areas for tourism and recreational infrastructure. The method operated quite well at the level required for regional and local scale planning. The quality, quantity, availability, and usability of existing data sets were generally high, and they could be further complemented by modeling. There are still constraints that limit the use of the method in practical land use planning. However, as increasing data become available and open access, and modeling tools improve, the usability and applicability of the method will increase.

U.S. wildfire governance as social-ecological problem

There are fundamental spatial and temporal disconnects between the specific policies that have been crafted to address our wildfire challenges. The biophysical changes in fuels, wildfire behavior, and climate have created a new set of conditions for which our wildfire governance system is poorly suited to address. To address these challenges, a reorientation of goals is needed to focus on creating an anticipatory wildfire governance system focused on social and ecological resilience. Key characteristics of this system could include the following: (1) not taking historical patterns as givens; (2) identifying future social and ecological thresholds of concern; (3) embracing diversity/heterogeneity as principles in ecological and social responses; and (4) incorporating learning among different scales of actors to create a scaffolded learning system.

Teaching Rules or Teaching Creativity: a Paradigm Shift

Structure is everything in a screenplay we are told. If indeed there are any rules to screenwriting then this would be carved in tablets of stone. Within pedagogical frameworks we are diligent in our instruction of the three acts, advocating it as a paradigm. We pass on tools for the analysis of character that are gleaned from psychology. But I have seen students struggle with this toolbox. They feel constrained by concrete techniques. So often seeing principles as rules, structure as restriction. The stifling of free-form ideas is further compounded by the plethora of books that claim the path to glory lies only in structural devices. Some even purport to have a formula, a simple prescriptive model that will bestow almost certain success. Yet this is an industry that abhors formula, that hungers for the fresh and the new. Without bravado, imagination and experimentation with character and form, the best structured screenplay in the world is merely a typing exercise. As educators we have a duty to retain a balance between letting a student’s mind dance and keeping them to the tempo. This study will compare a variety of diverse structures, from Hegel to Alcoholics Anonymous, Kubler Ross to Jung. It will analyse recent journal articles, on both new techniques in teaching creativity and new approaches to the instruction of screenwriting, to suggest a model of how best to inform the application of structure to HE students and keep creativity uppermost. A structure of emotional truth. An equal appreciation of both the tools of our craft and an imaginative exploration of character and world that can unlock our originality and our artistry.

Medicinal Water? The occurrence and fate of pharmaceuticals in aquatic environments A short communication

Although very little is known about the transport, fate and toxic effects of medical compounds in aquatic environments, the presence of these compounds in potable water sources can no longer be overlooked. We can argue that trace concentrations of drugs in the water is relatively a minor problem, however, the current and future demands on global potable freshwater supplies will probably lead to greater incidents of indirect and direct water-reuse situations at the local, regional, and cross-border levels. It is important to remark that the solution of this emerging ecological issue does not rely on new and better wastewater treatment technologies, but a new paradigm of responsibility and the understanding of the relations between anthropogenic actions and their ecological effects as well. The objective of this brief communication is to present the state of the art of research conducted in the last decade in Europe and United States concerning the presence of pharmaceuticals products in aquatic environments.

Ecological and evolutionary effects of dispersal on freshwater zooplankton

A recent focus on contemporary evolution and the connections between communities has sought to more closely integrate the fields of ecology and evolutionary biology. Studies of coevolutionary dynamics, life history evolution, and rapid local adaptation demonstrate that ecological circumstances can dictate evolutionary trajectories. Thus, variation in species identity, trait distributions, and genetic composition may be maintained among ecologically divergent habitats. New theories and hypotheses (e.g., metacommunity theory and the Monopolization hypothesis) have been developed to understand better the processes occurring in spatially structured environments and how the movement of individuals among habitats contributes to ecology and evolution at broader scales. As few empirical studies of these theories exist, this work seeks to further test these concepts. Spatial and temporal dispersal are the mechanisms that connect habitats to one another. Both processes allow organisms to leave conditions that are suboptimal or unfavorable, and enable colonization and invasion, species range expansion, and gene flow among populations. Freshwater zooplankton are aquatic crustaceans that typically develop resting stages as part of their life cycle. Their dormant propagules allow organisms to disperse both temporally and among habitats. Additionally, because a number of species are cyclically parthenogenetic, they make excellent model organisms for studying evolutionary questions in a controlled environment. Here, I use freshwater zooplankton communities as model systems to explore the mechanisms and consequences of dispersal and to test these nascent theories on the influence of spatial structure in natural systems. In Chapter one, I use field experiments and mathematical models to determine the range of adult zooplankton dispersal over land and what vectors are moving zooplankton. Chapter two focuses on prolonged dormancy of one aquatic zooplankter, Daphnia pulex. Using statistical models with field and mesocosm experiments, I show that variation in Daphnia dormant egg hatching is substantial among populations in nature, and some of that variation can be attributed to genetic differences among the populations. Chapters three and four explore the consequences of dispersal at multiple levels of biological organization. Chapter three seeks to understand the population level consequences of dispersal over evolutionary time on current patterns of population genetic differentiation. Nearby populations of D. pulex often exhibit high population genetic differentiation characteristic of very low dispersal. I explore two alternative hypotheses that seek to explain this pattern. Finally, chapter four is a case study of how dispersal has influenced patterns of variation at the community, trait and genetic levels of biodiversity in a lake metacommunity.