Diversity in a simple co-crystal: racemic and kryptoracemic behaviour.

The crystal structure containing (+/-)-3-methyl-2-phenylbutyramide with salicylic acid is the first example of a kryptoracemate co-crystal. It exhibits the first temperature mediated reversible single-crystal to single-crystal transition between two kryptoracemate forms, in addition to crystallising in another, racemic, form. Theoretical calculations and structural analysis reveal that there are only small differences in both energy and packing arrangements between the three forms. These results suggest that co-crystals can be an opportunity to investigate kryptoracemate behaviour.

Genetic Diversity and Conservation of Pseudophoenix (Arecaceae) in Hispaniola

The Caribbean genus Pseudophoenix (Arecaceae) has its center of taxonomic diversity in Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Three species (P. ekmanii, P. lediniana, and P. vinifera) are restricted to this island. In this thesis I investigated the population genetic diversity and structure of Pseudophoenix using ten microsatellite loci. Results showed homozygote excess and high inbreeding coefficients in all populations across all polymorphic loci. Overall, there was high differentiation among populations. Results from the Bayesian and Neighbor Joining cluster analyses identified groups that were consistence with currently accepted species delimitation. We included the only known population of an undescribed morph from the Dominican Republic that has been suggested to represent a new species. Results from the cluster analyses suggested that this putative species is closely related to P. sargentii from Turk and Caicos. Our study provided insights pertinent to the conservation genetics and management of this genus in Hispaniola.

Revisiting the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous of the NW South Iberian Basin: new ages and sedimentary environments

The study of the Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous deposits (Higueruelas, Villar del Arzobispo and Aldea de Cortés Formations) of the South Iberian Basin (NW Valencia, Spain) reveals new stratigraphic and sedimentological data, which have significant implications on the stratigraphic framework, depositional environments and age of these units. The Higueruelas Fm was deposited in a mid-inner carbonate platform where oncolitic bars migrated by the action of storms and where oncoid production progressively decreased towards the uppermost part of the unit. The overlying Villar del Arzobispo Fm has been traditionally interpreted as an inner platform-lagoon evolving into a tidal-flat. Here it is interpreted as an inner-carbonate platform affected by storms, where oolitic shoals protected a lagoon, which had siliciclastic inputs from the continent. The Aldea de Cortés Fm has been previously interpreted as a lagoon surrounded by tidal-flats and fluvial-deltaic plains. Here it is reinterpreted as a coastal wetland where siliciclastic muddy deposits interacted with shallow fresh to marine water bodies, aeolian dunes and continental siliciclastic inputs. The contact between the Higueruelas and Villar del Arzobispo Fms, classically defined as gradual, is also interpreted here as rapid. More importantly, the contact between the Villar del Arzobispo and Aldea de Cortés Fms, previously considered as unconformable, is here interpreted as gradual. The presence of Alveosepta in the Villar del Arzobispo Fm suggests that at least part of this unit is Kimmeridgian, unlike the previously assigned Late Tithonian-Middle Berriasian age. Consequently, the underlying Higueruelas Fm, previously considered Tithonian, should not be younger than Kimmeridgian. Accordingly, sedimentation of the Aldea de Cortés Fm, previously considered Valangian-Hauterivian, probably started during the Tithonian and it may be considered part of the regressive trend of the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous cycle. This is consistent with the dinosaur faunas, typically Jurassic, described in the Villar del Arzobispo and Aldea de Cortés Fms.

Understandings of transnational families in debates on Migration and development

International migration sets in motion a range of significant transnational processes that connect countries and people. How migration interacts with development and how policies might promote and enhance such interactions have, since the turn of the millennium, gained attention on the international agenda. The recognition that transnational practices connect migrants and their families across sending and receiving societies forms part of this debate. The ways in which policy debate employs and understands transnational family ties nevertheless remain underexplored. This article sets out to discern the understandings of the family in two (often intermingled) debates concerned with transnational interactions: The largely state and policydriven discourse on the potential benefits of migration on economic development, and the largely academic transnational family literature focusing on issues of care and the micro-politics of gender and generation. Emphasizing the relation between diverse migration-development dynamics and specific family positions, we ask whether an analytical point of departure in respective transnational motherhood, fatherhood or childhood is linked to emphasizing certain outcomes. We conclude by sketching important strands of inclusions and exclusions of family matters in policy discourse and suggest ways to better integrate a transnational family perspective in global migration-development policy.

Good practices and inclusive Art at the University: the image of the Artist/Teacher and Innovative Pedagogies

The aim of art, as transformer of the individual, has numerous sides which give the human beings a sense of enhancement and growth. It is considered by university the need for our students to take part of this process of social transformation in which they feel the need of helping the community when its members are at risk of social exclusion. Art is considered to be a means, a tool and a purpose for an artis-pedagogue to be used as a guide for the renewal. And the university is also considered as a focus of commitment by means of the development of good practices as well as adopting an open and innovative attitude to any changes aimed at living harmoniously within a more just society.

El oráculo griego en la época de la producibilidad escrita: la crisis de la autoridad mántica en "Aves" (960-996) de Aristófanes

Este artículo se propone analizar la escena del cresmólogo intruso en Aves, revalorizando la comedia aristofánica como fuente de conocimiento histórico. Este análisis se centra en la práctica oracular como una técnica de producción escrita vinculada a la autoridad religiosa. De esta manera, se exploran dos campos de estudios, como la comedia antigua y la adivinación griega, cuyo vínculo no ha sido explorado en profundidad. Para dar cuenta del momento crítico de la institución oracular durante la Guerra del Peloponeso, se reconstruyen perspectivas sobre dicho fenómeno en otras fuentes como Tucídides o Demóstenes. Esto no solo ofrece una mirada «cómica» sobre la adivinación, sino que también permite comprender la práctica oracular como técnica y, en consecuencia, qué elementos de su funcionamiento podían ser manipulados.

On the context-dependent scaling of consumer feeding rates

The stability of consumer-resource systems can depend on the form of feeding interactions (i.e. functional responses). Size-based models predict interactions - and thus stability - based on consumer-resource size ratios. However, little is known about how interaction contexts (e.g. simple or complex habitats) might alter scaling relationships. Addressing this, we experimentally measured interactions between a large size range of aquatic predators (4-6400 mg over 1347 feeding trials) and an invasive prey that transitions among habitats: from the water column (3D interactions) to simple and complex benthic substrates (2D interactions). Simple and complex substrates mediated successive reductions in capture rates - particularly around the unimodal optimum - and promoted prey population stability in model simulations. Many real consumer-resource systems transition between 2D and 3D interactions, and along complexity gradients. Thus, Context-Dependent Scaling (CDS) of feeding interactions could represent an unrecognised aspect of food webs, and quantifying the extent of CDS might enhance predictive ecology.

The making of professionals: Embedded civil society development in a transition country

The paper addresses the development of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in transition settings. Caught in the balance of knowledge exchange and translation of ideas from abroad, organisations in turbulent setting legitimise their existence by learning through professional networks. By association, organisational actors gain acknowledgement by their sector by traversing the corridors of influence provided by international partnerships. What they learn is how to conduct themselves as agents of change in society, and how to deliver on stated missions and goals, therefore, legitimising their presence in a budding civil society at home. The paper presents a knowledge production and learning practices framework which indicates a presence of dual identity of NGOs - their “embeddedness” locally and internationally. Selected framework dimensions and qualitative case study themes are discussed with respect to the level of independence of organisational actors in the East from their partners in the West in a post-socialist context. A professional global civil society as organisations are increasingly managed in similar, professional ways (Anheier & Themudo 2002). Here knowledge “handling” and knowledge “translation” take place through partnership exchanges fostering capable and/or competitive change-inducing institutions (Czarniawska & Sevon 2005; Hwang & Suarez 2005). How professional identity presents itself in the third sector, as well as the sector’s claim to expertise, need further attention, adding to ongoing discussions on professions in institutional theory (Hwang & Powell 2005; Scott 2008; Noordegraaf 2011). A conceptual framework on the dynamic involved for the construction professional fields follows: • Multiple case analysis provides a taxonomy for understanding what is happening in knowledge transition, adaptation, and organisational learning capacity for NGOs with respect to their role in a networked civil society. With the model we can observe the types of knowledge produced and learning employed by organisations. • There are elements of professionalisation in third sector work organisational activity with respect to its accreditation, sources and routines of learning, knowledge claims, interaction with the statutory sector, recognition in cross-sector partnerships etc. • It signals that there is a dual embeddedness in the development of the sector at the core to the shaping the sector’s professional status. This is instrumental in the NGOs’ goal to gain influence as institutions, as they are only one part of a cross-sector mission to address complex societal problems The case study material highlights nuances of knowledge production and learning practices in partnerships, with dual embeddedness a main feature of the findings. This provides some clues to how professionalisation as expert-making takes shape in organisations: • Depending on the type of organisations’ purpose, over its course of development there is an increase in participation in multiple networks, as opposed to reliance on a single strategic partner for knowledge artefacts and practices; • Some types of organisations are better connected within international and national networks than others and there seem to be preferences for each depending on the area of work; • The level of interpretation or adaptation of the knowledge artefacts is related to an organisation’s embeddedness locally, in turn giving it more influence within the network of key institutions; An overreaching theme across taxonomy categories (Table 1)is “professionalisation” or developing organisational “expertise”, embodied at the individual, organisational, and sector levels. Questions relevant to the exercise of power arise: Is competence in managing a dual embeddedness signals the development of a dual identity in professionalisation? Is professionalisation in this sense a sign of organisations maturing into more capable partners to the arguably more experienced (Western) institutions, shifting the power balance? Or is becoming more professional a sign of domestication to the agenda of certain powerful stakeholders, who define the boundaries of the profession? Which dominant dynamics can be observed in a broadly-defined transition country civil society, where individual participation in the form of activism may be overtaking the traditional forms of organised development work, especially with the spread of social media?

Catalysing the Irish Energy Transition: Capacities and Challenges

The transition to a “low carbon, climate resilient and environmentally sustainable economy by the end of the 
year 2050” has been conceptualised as the “national transition objective” in the Irish Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill, passed in late 2015. This has raised a myriad of questions over how this can be operationalised and resourced and whether it can maintain political momentum. This paper assesses the utility of framings informed by the transitions (MLP) and technological innovation systems perspectives in contributing to transformative societal processes, by examining their application in an Irish case study on policy and technology. Through a qualitative exploration of the broader societal and policy context of the energy sector and a more detailed examination of the innovation systems of selected niche technologies (bioenergy and electric vehicles), the Irish case study sought to identify potential catalysts for a sustainability transition in the energy sector in Ireland: where these exist, how these are being built or enabled, and barriers to change. Following a discussion on the theoretical approaches used, a description will be given of how these were applied in the conducting of the research on transition in Ireland case study and the key findings which emerged. A critical reflection will then be made on the utility of these perspectives (as applied) to contribute to broader processes of societal transformation in Ireland.

Mapping Ireland’s Energy Pathways: Characterizing and Catalyzing Transition

In 2015 Ireland has arguably begun to make its first bold steps in confronting the challenges of energy transition, with the objective of a “low carbon, climate resilient and environmentally sustainable economy by the end of the
year 2050” expressed in the 2015 Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill and the 2015 Energy Bill acknowledging that energy transformation relied on a new breed of ‘energy citizens’. These represent the first formal articulation of Ireland’s ambition to engage in a radical, long-term and far-reaching transition process, and raises a myriad of questions over how this can be operationalised, resourced and whether it can maintain political momentum. A range of perspectives on these issues is provided in the growing body of literature on transition theories (Rotmans et al 2001, Markard et al 2012) and the inter-disciplinary EPA-funded CC Transitions project, based at Queen’s University Belfast, represents an attempt to translate this into the context of Ireland’s institutions and technological profile. By relating this to international research on sustainability transitions, which conceptualises transitions as multi-level, multi-phase and multi-actor processes, this paper will explore the opportunities of alternative pathways that could take Ireland towards a more progressing, inclusive and effective low carbon future. Drawing on a number of case studies it will highlight some of the capacities for transition required in Irish society: where these exist, how they are being built or enabled, and the barriers to wider social change.

Strain-Tunable Spin Moment in Ni-Doped Graphene

Graphene, due to its exceptional properties, is a promising material for nanotechnology applications. In this context, the ability to tune the properties of graphene-based materials and devices with the incorporation of defects and impurities can be of extraordinary importance. Here we investigate the effect of uniaxial tensile strain on the electronic and magnetic properties of graphene doped with substitutional Ni impurities (Ni_sub). We have found that, although Ni_sub defects are non-magnetic in the relaxed layer, uniaxial strain induces a spin moment in the system. The spin moment increases with the applied strain up to values of 0.3-0.4 \mu_B per Ni_sub, until a critical strain of ~6.5% is reached. At this point, a sharp transition to a high-spin state (~1.9 \mu_B) is observed. This magnetoelastic effect could be utilized to design strain-tunable spin devices based on Ni-doped graphene.

Étude d’évaluabilité et évaluation des processus et des effets d’un programme de prévention de l’usage de substances psychoactives lors de la transition primaire-secondaire

La mise en œuvre d’activités de prévention de la consommation de substances psychoactives (SPA) (tabac, alcool et cannabis) en milieu scolaire est une stratégie couramment utilisée pour rejoindre un grand nombre de jeunes. Ces activités s’inspirent, soit de programmes existant, soit d’innovations dictées par le contexte d’implantation ou l’existence de données de recherche. Dans un cas comme dans l’autre, l’évaluation de ces programmes représente la meilleure voie pour mesurer leur efficacité et/ou connaître comment ceux-ci sont implantés. C’est cet impératif qui a motivé une commission scolaire du Québec a recommandé l’évaluation de l’Intervention en Réseau (IR), un programme développé en vue de retarder l’âge d’initiation et de réduire la consommation problématique de SPA chez les élèves. Ce programme adopte une approche novatrice avec pour principal animateur un intervenant pivot (IP) qui assure le suivi des élèves de la 5e année du primaire jusqu’en 3e secondaire. Inspiré des modèles en prévention de la santé et de l’Approche École en santé (AES), le rôle de l’IP ici se démarque de ceux-ci. Certes, il est l’interface entre les différents acteurs impliqués et les élèves mais dans le cadre du programme IR, l’IP est intégré dans les écoles primaires et secondaires qu’il dessert. C’est cet intervenant qui assure la mobilisation des autres acteurs pour la mise en œuvre des activités. Cette thèse vise à rendre compte de ce processus d’évaluation ainsi que des résultats obtenus. L’approche d’évaluation en est une de type participatif et collaboratif avec des données quantitatives et qualitatives recueillies par le biais de questionnaires, d’entrevues, de groupes de discussion, d’un journal de bord et de notes de réunions. Les données ont été analysées dans le cadre de trois articles dont le premier concerne l’étude d’évaluabilité (ÉÉ) du programme. Les participants de cette ÉÉ sont des acteurs-clés du programme (N=13) rencontrés en entrevues. Une analyse documentaire (rapports et journal de bord) a également été effectuée. Cette ÉÉ a permis de clarifier les intentions des initiateurs du programme et les objectifs poursuivis par ces derniers. Elle a également permis de rendre la théorie du programme plus explicite et de développer le modèle logique, deux éléments qui ont facilité les opérations d’évaluation qui ont suivi. Le deuxième article porte sur l’évaluation des processus en utilisant la théorie de l’acteur-réseau (TAR) à travers ses quatre moments du processus de traduction des innovations (la problématisation, l’intéressement, l’enrôlement et la mobilisation des alliés), l’analyse des controverses et du rôle des acteurs humains et non-humains. Après l’analyse des données obtenues par entrevues auprès de 19 informateurs-clés, les résultats montrent que les phases d’implantation du programme passent effectivement par les quatre moments de la TAR, que la gestion des controverses par la négociation et le soutien était nécessaire pour la mobilisation de certains acteurs humains. Cette évaluation des processus a également permis de mettre en évidence le rôle des acteurs non-humains dans le processus d’implantation du programme. Le dernier article concerne une évaluation combinée des effets (volet quantitatif) et des processus (volet qualitatif) du programme. Pour le volet quantitatif, un devis quasi-expérimental a été adopté et les données ont été colligées de façon longitudinale par questionnaires auprès de 901 élèves de 5e et 6e année du primaire et leurs enseignants de 2010 à 2014. L’analyse des données ont montré que le programme n’a pas eu d’effets sur l’accessibilité et les risques perçus, l’usage problématique d’alcool et la polyconsommation (alcool et cannabis) chez les participants. Par contre, les résultats suggèrent que le programme pourrait favoriser la réduction du niveau de consommation et retarder l’âge d’initiation à l’alcool et au cannabis. Ils suggèrent également un effet potentiellement positif du programme sur l’intoxication à l’alcool chez les élèves. Quant au volet qualitatif, il a été réalisé à l’aide d’entrevues avec les intervenants (N=17), de groupes de discussion avec des élèves du secondaire (N=10) et d’une analyse documentaire. Les résultats montrent que le programme bénéficie d’un préjugé favorable de la part des différents acteurs ayant participé à l’évaluation et est bien acceptée par ces derniers. Cependant, le roulement fréquent de personnel et le grand nombre d’écoles à suivre peuvent constituer des obstacles à la bonne marche du programme. En revanche, le leadership et le soutien des directions d’écoles, la collaboration des enseignants, les qualités de l’IP et la flexibilité de la mise en œuvre sont identifiés comme des éléments ayant contribué au succès du programme. Les résultats et leur implication pour les programmes et l’évaluation sont discutés. Enfin, un plan de transfert des connaissances issues de la recherche évaluative est proposé.

Branding Hotels

[Excerpt] The hotel business has become a business of brands. Price Waterhouse Coopers estimates that there are over 300 hotel brands today with no one brand dominating the market. Every major brand management issue (brand extensions, global brand expansion, re-branding, un-branding, co-branding, brand portfolio development, brand acquisitions, new brand development, etc.) is being explored. An understanding of the competitive context and intra-and inter-brand dynamics will help owners, operators, asset managers, suppliers and litigators, as well as new entrants into the business make better and more informed brand management decisions.

Dynamique des ambiances lumineuses - approche basée sur la photométrie vidéo d’espaces de transition

Les variations de la lumière naturelle lors du passage d’un espace à un autre caractérisent de manière complexe, mais importante le design d’un bâtiment. Cette adaptation visuelle s’inscrit dans un processus spatiotemporel et influe sur le confort et le bien-être de ses occupants. La littérature fait état du peu de connaissances de la relation lumière espace-temps. Cette recherche propose donc d’étudier cette relation spatio-temporelle existant entre la lumière et l’espace, afin de qualifier un parcours architectural au moyen d’une expérimentation in situ et de segments filmiques. La recherche combine l’utilisation d’un luminance-mètre, d’une caméra vidéo et d’une méthode d’analyse d’images numériques afin de permettre l’évaluation des qualités spatio-temporelles de la lumière. Le parcours architectural est analysé selon la diversité et l’intensité des ambiances lumineuses en fonction du temps permettant de décrire les perceptions visuelles d’espaces transitions. Cette méthode dynamique offre un potentiel d’analyse et de création aux concepteurs désireux d’enrichir le design de séquences spatiales en favorisant la diversité lumineuse dans l’expérience architecturale. Mots clefs: adaptation visuelle, analyse d’images, ambiance lumineuse, contraste, éclairage naturel, espaces transitions, lumière perception visuelle, vidéo, spatio-temporel.