Detecting environmental impacts on metapopulations of mound spring invertebrates - Assessing an incidence function model

We use a stochastic patch occupancy model of invertebrates in the Mound Springs ecosystem of South Australia to assess the ability of incidence function models to detect environmental impacts on metapopulations. We assume that the probability of colonisation decreases with increasing isolation and the probability of extinction is constant across spring vents. We run the models to quasi-equilibrium, and then impose an impact by increasing the local extinction probability. We sample the output at various times pre- and postimpact, and examine the probability of detecting a significant change in population parameters. The incidence function model approach turns out to have little power to detect environmental impacts on metapopulations with small numbers of patches. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Portrait de] Mlle Jeanne Brulé [secrétaire générale de la FSFSF, Fédération des sociétés féminines sportives de France] : [photographie de presse] / [Agence Rol]

Référence bibliographique : Rol, 58301

Vamos a hacer teatro : método de iniciación al teatro para la Educación Primaria. Nivel I.

Vamos a hacer teatro está compuesto por dos volúmenes, en este primero, nivel I, de menor dificultad, se hallan dos partes claramente diferenciadas: nuestro cuerpo; y el mimo o la expresión corporal. Es la primera parte motivadora y de iniciación, de conocimiento y control de nuestro cuerpo y desarrollo de nuestras capacidades, de preparación para el futuro actor o actriz en que a lo largo de la obra se ha de transformar nuestro hijo o alumno. En la parte segunda, más íntimamente ligada al quehacer teatral, el niño aprenderá a expresar sus sentimientos, emociones y vivencias a través del gesto, sin hacer el más mínimo uso del lenguaje oral. Este apartado finaliza con varias obritas de argumentos familiares y fáciles de realizar por nuestros incipientes intérpretes. El segundo volumen, nivel II y tercera parte de esta obra, está dedicada a la palabra o el teatro hablado. Vamos a hacer teatro está dirigido fundamentalmente a los chicos de Educación Primaria, de ahí la predominancia visual de su contenido y la multitud de ejemplos; pero también es un libro para padres y educadores, los cuales pueden aprovechar sus infinitas sugerencias ayudando y colaborando con el niño en la realización de las actividades y montaje de los espectáculos, facilitándole así su labor y ampliándola con sus aportaciones.

The mentalizing network orchestrates the impact of parochial altruism on social norm enforcement.

Parochial altruism - a preference for altruistic behavior towards ingroup members and mistrust or hostility towards outgroup members--is a pervasive feature in human society and strongly shapes the enforcement of social norms. Since the uniqueness of human society critically depends on the enforcement of norms, the understanding of the neural circuitry of the impact of parochial altruism on social norm enforcement is key, but unexplored. To fill this gap, we measured brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while subjects had the opportunity to punish ingroup members and outgroup members for violating social norms. Findings revealed that subjects' strong punishment of defecting outgroup members is associated with increased activity in a functionally connected network involved in sanction-related decisions (right orbitofrontal gyrus, right lateral prefrontal cortex, right dorsal caudatus). Moreover, the stronger the connectivity in this network, the more outgroup members are punished. In contrast, the much weaker punishment of ingroup members who committed the very same norm violation is associated with increased activity and connectivity in the mentalizing-network (dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, bilateral temporo-parietal junction), as if subjects tried to understand or justify ingroup members' behavior. Finally, connectivity analyses between the two networks suggest that the mentalizing-network modulates punishment by affecting the activity in the right orbitofrontal gyrus and right lateral prefrontal cortex, notably in the same areas showing enhanced activity and connectivity whenever third-parties strongly punished defecting outgroup members.

Ukraine and Russia: a hindered rapprochement. OSW Commentary No. 44, 2010-12-15

The policy of rapprochement with Russia that President Victor Yanukovych and his entourage had been actively promoting in the first months of his presidency has slowed down notably. One of the reasons for this lowered pace is that current talks between Russia and Ukraine concern the spheres in which Kyiv is not ready to make concessions to Russia. Despite numerous top-level meetings, recent months have failed to bring a breakthrough in energy issues of key importance. First of all, no compromise was reached in gas issues where the divergence of interests is particularly large and where Ukraine has adopted a tough stance to negotiate the best conditions possible. Even though some agreements were signed during the October session of the inter-governmental committee presided over by the prime ministers (the agreement on linking the two states’ aircraft production and on the joint construction of a nuclear fuel production plant), these resulted from prior agreements. Economic negotiations will continue in the coming months but the observed deadlock is not likely to be broken any time soon. The results of these talks are likely to reflect the interests of both Russia and Ukraine, as well as the competition among Ukrainian business groups, some of which opt for closer cooperation with their Eastern neighbour. Ukraine’s consent to send oil to Belarus along the Odessa-Brody pipeline shows that the government in Kyiv is ready to engage in projects they consider profitable, even those that run counter to Russian interests. Ukraine’s adoption of this stance may trigger irritation in Moscow and lead to a cooling in bilateral relations.