Algae ecologies: an exploration of poetry and marine science methods across the lab and field

Design is at the heart of Human Computer Interaction research and practice. In the research community, there has emerged an increasing interest in understanding and conceptualizing our research practice, particularly such entailing design. However, reflective discussion around the associated challenges and practicalities is yet limited. Moreover, so far there is limited discussion on the cross-disciplinary nature of our research and design practices: although cross-disciplinarity has been brought up as an ideal and a necessity, its practicalities and complexities remain yet poorly explored. This study examines a cross-disciplinary research project with a number of researcher-designers representing different disciplines acting as 'designers', while having a divergent understanding of it and of who has authority to do it. The study relies on nexus analysis as a sensitizing device and shows how various discourses, epistemologies and histories shape cross-disciplinary research and design. Critical reflection around our research practice entailing design is called for.

Given the importance of cross‐disciplinary research (CDR), facilitatingCDReffectiveness is a priority for many institutions and funding agencies. There are a number ofCDRtypes, however, and the effectiveness of facilitation efforts will require sensitivity to that diversity. This article presents a method characterizing a spectrum ofCDRdesigned to inform facilitation efforts that relies on bibliometric techniques and citation data. We illustrate its use by theToolbox Project, an ongoing effort to enhance cross‐disciplinary communication inCDRteams through structured, philosophical dialogue about research assumptions in a workshop setting.Toolbox Project workshops have been conducted with more than 85 research teams, but the project's extensibility to an objectively characterized range ofCDRcollaborations has not been examined. To guide wider application of theToolbox Project, we have developed a method that uses multivariate statistical analyses of transformed citation proportions from published manuscripts to identify candidate areas ofCDR, and then overlays information from previousToolbox participant groups on these areas to determine candidate areas for future application. The approach supplies 3 results of general interest:A way to employ small data sets and familiar statistical techniques to characterize CDR spectra as a guide to scholarship on CDR patterns and trends.A model for using bibliometric techniques to guide broadly applicable interventions similar to the Toolbox.A method for identifying the location of collaborative CDR teams on a map of scientific activity, of use to research administrators, research teams, and other efforts to enhance CDR projects.

Improving the ability to detect and quantify rare freshwater fishes in remote locations is of growing conservation concern, as the distributions of many native fishes are contracting to such locations where there are reduced anthropogenic and invasive species pressures. However, conventional sampling methods, e.g. backpack electrofishing and seines, tend to be heavy and bulky, thereby making them difficult to transport into remote areas with no road access. These conventional sampling methods also require physical handling of fishes, which may cause stress, harm, and mortality - all undesirable side effects for rare fishes. Thus, visual observation methods, such as underwater camera and snorkel surveys, and environmental DNA (eDNA), that are easily transportable and do not require physical handling of fishes, are being more frequently used in freshwater ecosystems. However, there have been few studies on the relative effectiveness of these three methods for detecting and quantifying freshwater fishes. In this study, the species-specific detection probabilities between the three methods, and abundance estimates derived from the visual observation methods were compared, and their utility for sampling rare fishes in remote locations in South Africa was evaluated. Underwater cameras and snorkel surveys detected slightly different species within a fish community. For the redfins, the detection probability using underwater cameras (0.96, SD = 0.03) was highest, followed by snorkel surveys (0.93, SD = 0.05), and eDNA (0.70, SD = 0.21). The visual observation methods were positively correlated with pool length, while eDNA was negatively correlated with turbidity. For Cape Kurper, the detection probability using underwater cameras (0.75, SD = 0.15) was highest, followed by snorkel surveys (0.68, SD = 0.16), and eDNA (0.64, SD = 0.19); all three methods were negatively affected by water turbidity. It is recommended that decisions on which sampling method to use in remote locations should depend on whether the study requires population- or community-level information, spatial scale required, and resource availability, as each method has its own strengths and weaknesses. Generally, eDNA is the most expensive method and requires specialized facilities and equipment, while underwater cameras require video analyses that are more time consuming to analyze than snorkel surveys.

The longnose darter Percina nasuta is a rare and cryptic fish that recently disappeared from much of its historic range. We developed and used an environmental DNA (eDNA) assay for longnose darter paired with visual surveys to better determine the species’ range and compare detection probability between sampling approaches in an occupancy modeling framework. We detected longnose darter eDNA further upstream in the mainstem St. Francis River than previously reported and in a tributary for the first time. Our multi-scale occupancy approach compared models where detection was constant against a model that allowed detection to vary by survey method. The constant model received the most support indicating survey method was not a strong predictor and detection was estimated at 0.70 (0.45–0.86; 95% CI) across both methods. Our study produced effective longnose darter eDNA primers and demonstrated the application of eDNA for sampling small-bodied, cryptic fish. We detected longnose darter eDNA 27 km upstream of their known range and determined that snorkel surveys are the most efficient sampling method if water clarity allows. We recommend target sample sizes to achieve various detection goals for both sample methods and our results inform future design of distributional and monitoring efforts.

Marine and coastal environments provide extensive and essential ecosystem services upon which much of humanity relies, yet the incorporation of human dimensions into marine and coastal policy and management has historically been lacking. As efforts to address the substantial and diverse challenges facing marine and coastal environments continue, recent years have seen a growing call for greater consideration of people, how they interact with the marine environment, and the resultant implications for developing effective policy and management. Indeed, in recent times recognition of the importance of marine social science research, data, evidence and expertise has undergone an upward trajectory. Despite this growing level of awareness of the value of social science to the wider marine and coastal management agenda, effective and meaningful inclusion of marine social science into research and practice has remained a challenge. Here we approach this global challenge as an opportunity to bring the community together to set a forward-looking international research agenda, recognising the role of multiple approaches and diverse methods understanding the relationship between society and the sea, galvanising the research and practice community across marine social sciences and beyond. Furthermore, by bringing together this increasingly active community, we can identify mechanisms of change and pathways to enable inclusion of marine social sciences within global ocean policy. This paper draws on the views of researchers and practitioners from across the marine social science disciplines, brought together through an expert workshop held at the MARE 2019 conference (June 2019) and representing a range of geographical regions and perspectives. Through the workshop, delegates identified a number of priorities for the ongoing development of the marine social science community, including the need to improve capacity for marine social science research globally, the importance of nurturing an inclusive and equitable marine social science research community and the role of networks to continue to raise the profile of marine social science data and evidence for global ocean policy and management. Additionally, the discussions provided valuable insight into existing knowledge gaps and potential research priorities for the future. Finally, the paper presents a future vision and recommendations for an international and interdisciplinary marine social science agenda, calling for collaborative and strategic thinking on marine social sciences from across the marine science and policy interface. Critically, we show how social science needs to be embedded in all aspects of marine and coastal management in order to create truly sustainable solutions to the pervasive environmental challenges we face.

Using design theory to foster innovative cross-disciplinary research: Lessons learned from a research network focused on antimicrobial use and animal microbes’ resistance to antimicrobials

Radical Research and the Scientific Method: Tracking a New Trajectory through Four Recent Poetry Collections Kathryn Nuernberger (bio) Toward Antarctica, Elizabeth Bradfield. Boreal Books, 2019, 160 pp., $19.95, paper. Mitochondrial Night, Ed Bok Lee. Coffee House Press, 2019, 88 pp., $16.95, paper. Wilder, Claire Wahmanholm. Milkweed Editions, 2019, 96 pp., $16.00, paper. Tsunami vs. the Fukushima 50, Lee Ann Roripaugh. Milkweed Editions, 2019, 120 pp., $16.00, paper. When Muriel Rukeyser’s 1938 classic The Book of the Dead was reissued in 2018, edited and with a new introduction by Catherine Venable Moore, it became clear that a major, though underdiscussed, Modernist innovation was docupoetics. While many readers struggle to understand how certain racist, anti-Semitic, and fascist writers could be considered so essential for so long, contemporary poets are finding influence in less canonized poets of the twentieth century whose docupoetic aesthetics are proving to be powerfully resonant for the present historical moment. The docupoetic tradition is typically defined as a poetic mode rooted in documentary techniques. A docupoetic poem draws upon fieldwork, interviews, oral histories, or archival research. Much of this work has also focused on questions of social justice, since complex geopolitical [End Page 177] questions benefit from meandering, collaged, often book-length forms that can hold multiple perspectives, a range of historical contexts, and rhetorical modes that move between the personal and political. In “From Reznikoff to Public Enemy,” his essay on docupoetics for the Poetry Foundation, Philip Metres identifies Muriel Rukeyser’s The Book of the Dead as a cornerstone. Her work inquiring into the Hawks Nest Tunnel mining disaster draws on a range of research materials, including affidavits and personal letters, and on the deep knowledge of geology and human physiology necessary to understand the mining industry’s health and environmental impacts. In “Absalom,” one of the poems that established both a tone and formal approach for a range of docupoetic works that have followed, Rukeyser chronicles the testimony of a mother who had watched three sons die of various health complications from working in the mines: And two or three doctors said the same thing.The youngest boy did not get to go down there with me,he lay and said, “Mother, when I die,“I want you to have them open me up and“see if that dust killed me.“Try to get compensation,“you will not have any way of making your living“when we are gone,“and the rest are going too.” I have gained mastery over my heartI have gained mastery over my two handsI have gained mastery over the watersI have gained mastery over the river. The case of my son was the first of the line of lawsuits. Rukeyser, followed by writers such as Charles Reznikoff, Allen Ginsberg, and Ernesto Cardenal, established an aesthetic tradition that we have seen flourish in subsequent generations of poets, many of whom are now innovating from such roots. Though Rukeyser wrote about the human-ecological tragedies of resource extraction, the conventional terminology used by many literary critics suggests that the docupoetic mode is somehow distinct from poems whose research centers around [End Page 178] environmental justice. Poems with environmentalist themes are typically referred to as ecopoetics, which is characterized as a form of “nature writing.” However, poets have been engaging with scientific materials as part of docupoetics projects for as long as we can trace back the methodology, and younger docupoets are happily and productively blurring these lines. ________ Toward Antarctica Elizabeth Bradfield. Boreal Books, 2019, 160 pp., $19.95, paper Elizabeth Bradfield’s new collection, Toward Antarctica, is a perfect example of how the docupoetic tradition of collaging rhetorical registers and cross-disciplinary research with a bit of lyric glue is being applied to scientific subjects. This book is based on the author’s work as a naturalist on an ecotourism expedition ship in Antarctica. The speaker’s experience of travel and exploration is complicated by visiting an ecosystem where the effects of human-caused climate change can be seen clearly and with intense urgency. In “Straits of Magellan” she describes a stunning whale sighting: rostrum pillowing silk water beforebroken in arch, dive...

For more than 12 years, the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Graduate Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) Program embedded graduate students in school classrooms to serve as content contributors and role models. Marine or environmental science was represented among the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) projects nationwide. The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) conducted a GK-12 project with a distinctly marine science focus from 2009–2015. Through partnerships with local secondary schools, VIMS matched graduate students (Fellows) with mentoring Partner Teachers. The project sought to build the graduate students’ communication and teaching skills, while enriching teachers’ familiarity with current ocean science research and practices. The GK-12 model proved to be very successful at VIMS, as it was elsewhere. Positive outcomes included greater graduate student skill and confidence in communication, enriched teacher understanding of marine science content and research practices, and improved student performance and perceptions of science. The partnership also generated a collection of marine science lesson plans. While effective, the GK-12 immersive design was costly and many institutions are now seeking alternative means to facilitate graduate student contributions to STEM classrooms. VIMS is testing two models. One model is a continuation of GK-12 on a smaller scale. The other model challenges graduate students to develop a lesson plan based on their research, but has project teachers conduct classroom testing. The following chapter provides an overview of these programs and offers an example of project structure, timing, outcomes, and lessons learned that can serve in planning similar endeavors.

Access Denied: The Continuing Challenge to Environmental Sciences in the Trump Era

We address the problem of the estimation of the population mean and the distribution function using nonparametric regression. These methods are being used in a wide range of settings and areas of research. In particular, they are a good alternative to other classical methods in the survey sampling context, since they work under the assumption that the underlying regression function is smooth. Some relevant nonparametric regression methods in survey sampling are presented. Data on breast cancer prevalence derived from 40 European countries are used to study the application of the nonparametric estimators to the estimation of cancer prevalence. Result derived from an empirical study show that nonparametric estimators have a good empirical performance in this study on cancer prevalence.

In order to inform decision making and policy, research to address sustainability challenges requires cross-disciplinary approaches that are co-created with a wide and inclusive diversity of disciplines and stakeholders. As the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development approaches, it is therefore timely to take stock of the global range of cross-disciplinary questions to inform the development of policies to restore and sustain ocean health. We synthesized questions from major science and policy horizon scanning exercises, identifying 89 questions with relevance for ocean policy and governance. We then scanned the broad ocean science literature to examine issues potentially missed in the horizon scans and supplemented the horizon scan outcome with 11 additional questions. This resulted in an unprioritized list of 100 general questions that would require a cross-disciplinary approach to inform policy. The questions fell into broad categories including: coastal and marine environmental change, managing ocean activities, governance for sustainable oceans, ocean value, and technological and socio-economic innovation. Each question can be customized by ecosystem, region, scale, and socio-political context, and is intended to inspire discussions of salient cross-disciplinary research directions to direct scientific research that will inform policies. Governance and management responses to these questions will best be informed by drawing upon a diversity of natural and social sciences, local and traditional knowledge, and engagement of different sectors and stakeholders.

This chapter discusses the challenges facing cross-disciplinary researchers and argues that recognizing them early in the research process increases the likelihood of a cross-disciplinary research team’s success. Based on work by the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative (TDI), the chapter urges cross-disciplinary practitioners to carefully define their research problems, questions, goals, and end products, and to enlist collaborators from other disciplines at the beginning of their process. Doing so will help researchers shed light on potential obstacles early in their process, which can improve efficiency by avoiding wasted time. Early interventions can help teams identify and negotiate difficulties, which promotes successful and effective integration. Disciplinary assumptions, differences in communication styles, variations in scale and/or scope of partner contributions, failure to holistically integrate, and an inability or unwillingness to share control of a project are just a few challenges teams may need to address. The chapter presents questions teams should ask before embarking on a cross-disciplinary research project and then offers reasons why researchers should consider engaging in cross-disciplinary activities, even given the hurdles they may face.

In this essay, I begin with the contemporary British novelist, Iain Sinclair, and the contemporary London-based visual artist, Sarah Jacobs, responding to and rewriting Conrad's works. The main focus of the essay, however, is recent works by three poets who, in different ways, address the task of rewriting Con-rad. Appropriation in relation to literary production has a long history. More recently, with Conceptual Writing (in the work of Kenneth Goldsmith, Robert Fitterman and Vanessa Place) appropriation has become an integral (but also controversial) poetic practice. This essay focuses on Rod Mengham's video poems based on Heart of Darkness and "Amy Foster"; Yedda Morrison's treated text version of Heart of Darkness, creating a new work by the process of erasure; and Peter Jaeger's The Shadow Line with its reframing and reconfiguring of Conrad's text. The essay concludes with a brief account of a recent collection of poems by various hands, all of which treat, revise, and respond to works by Conrad. Conrad's insistence on le mot juste, his attention to concrete detail, and his fine ear for the cadences of English prose have created texts that have proved attractive to (and productive resources for) contemporary poets.

The idea that a collation of junk or waste could generate new representations, filiations and forms of meaning has become a significant feature of a number of poetic practices of the 20th century, which work with or from pre-existing materials. The recent years saw the proliferation in North American poetry of a new generation of “uncreative writers” (Kenneth Goldsmith, Vanessa Place, …) generating new poetic objects through plagiarism, collage/montage and flarf. The advent of digital technology introduces crucial consequences for the way one produces, perceives and processes language. Focusing on issues of poetic theory, this chapter will show how earlier references of French poetry (Dada, OuLiPo, Situationism) can be identified in their work but also how this new paradigm serves French contemporary poets to generate avatars of poet’s prose that bypass the traditional definitions of poetry. It will question the filiation or rupture of this kind of poetry with the modernist tradition, the social and political meaning of these appropriations and the status of their work in regard to prose. More generally, it will shed light on the complex dynamics of textual circulation, reception and canonization of uncreative works in contemporary poetics.

Corporate reforms have taken place in Australian and Chinese higher education systems to increase efficiency and productivity, and to accommodate the emergence of global markets by exposing universities to market competition. The competing demands of teaching and research arguably have emerged as an important issue for both Australian and Chinese higher education. This study provides insights into the two primary functions of higher education, namely teaching and research. Expectancy Theory is used to investigate Chinese and Australian university academics’ valence for teaching and cross-disciplinary research, with reference to the key individual cultural values at the individual level, allocentrism and idiocentrism. A two-stage cluster sampling method was employed to select Chinese and Australian university academics. The Chinese sample comprised 213 universities academics from Beijing and Hangzhou, and the Australian sample consisted of 112 academics drawn from universities in Australia. Exploratory factor analysis was applied to identify factors in the Chinese and Australian data. The common factors identified for the Chinese and Australian samples were then compared, and posited hypotheses tested. There was no statistically significant difference between the Chinese and Australian participants’ valence for teaching. However, the Australian academics reported significantly higher valence for cross-disciplinary research than the Chinese academics. In general, the Australian academics scored significantly higher on idiocentric factors and lower on allocentric factors than their Chinese counterparts. Findings suggest that it may be helpful to categorise academic activities according to individual and group orientations and matching academic activities with academics’ cultural orientations may improve their motivation. In order to promote cross-disciplinary research, an environment of in-group cooperation may need to be fostered before any real progress can take place, especially when academics with allocentric orientations are involved.