Conceptual Progress Research Articles

Análise do ecoturismo como fonte de pesquisa

Objetivo. Identificar quantitativamente a produção acerca do Ecoturismo, bem como os responsáveis por esses materiais, proporcionando aos pesquisadores uma fonte acessível de informações sobre as publicações e sobre os envolvidos nos materiais relativos à temática. Método. Trata-se de uma pesquisa quantitativa e qualitativa, e utiliza como método a Bibliometria. O material coletado para este estudo foi capturado por meio da plataforma de dados do ‘Google Acadêmico’ e foi dividida em 03 etapas, sendo elas, a coleta do material, a triagem do material escolhido, e a tabulação dos dados e elaboração dos gráficos com utilização do software ‘Microsoft Excel’. Resultados. Os dados encontrados resultaram em 25 plataformas diferentes, apresentando um total de 40 artigos sobre a temática investigada. As análises dos dados remeteram à possível relação entre indivíduos responsáveis pelas plataformas com os autores dos artigos, isto revela uma possível fragilidade da integridade das avaliações e publicações de materiais científicos, mostrando que há possibilidade de um estreitamento das relações entre periódicos, autores e avaliadores, podendo provocar com isso um ciclo vicioso, ou endógeno. Conclusões. Esse trabalho demostra uma preocupação frente à propagação de ideias que eleve esse tema, mas que por outro lado possa causar a estagnação do mesmo. O Ecoturismo é um tema que está em ascensão e que aguça o interesse de novos pesquisadores. Considerando a possibilidade de endogenia, essa prática resulta no enfraquecimento e essa fragilidade pode promover a sua estagnação ao invés de seu progresso conceitual.

Measuring human wellbeing: A protocol for selecting local indicators

Improving human wellbeing is a major focus of international environmental and sustainable development policy. However, clearly defined measures of wellbeing are needed as an empirical base for the formulation and evaluation of policies. Despite conceptual progress towards agreement of universally relevant dimensions of wellbeing, consensus is still lacking on how to translate these dimensions into locally appropriate indicators to measure wellbeing in different contexts. This paper focuses on three interrelated challenges associated with this knowledge gap: (1) navigating trade-offs between complexity versus simplicity of concept; (2) integrating top-down and bottom-up perspectives; (3) ensuring a cost-effective and flexible approach suitable for different policy contexts. We contribute to filling this gap by developing a step-by-step Wellbeing Indicator Selection Protocol (WISP) for measuring wellbeing. The protocol integrates perspectives through an interdisciplinary mixed methods design that includes cross-validation between quantitative approaches of redundancy analysis and statistical modelling and qualitative approaches of focus groups and thematic analysis. In this way we promote a pragmatic approach suitable for a range of social and environmental contexts. We tested WISP in rural Tanzania, identifying 111 candidate wellbeing indicators. This list was simplified to a subset of 19 indicators that retained 91 % of measured variation among all wellbeing indicators. The simplified list was representative of both a multidimensional concept of wellbeing and the diversity of opinions sampled. We conclude that the protocol provides practical, statistically validated guidance to support the design of wellbeing assessments, maintaining coherence between universal theory and local realities.

A Note From the Editor

This PPMG issue 3(3) opens with Alasdair Roberts’ article, “Bearing the White Man’s Burden.” https://academic.oup.com/ppmg/article/doi/10.1093/ppmgov/gvz018/5587059. Roberts observes that the field of American public administration has often been criticized for neglecting how experts and practitioners perpetuated racial prejudice and discrimination. His article shows that many “pioneers of public administration” were deeply involved in America’s experiment with imperialism, and designed systems of colonial administration that were built on theories about racial superiority. If experts thought this way about persons of color abroad, Roberts asks, why would they have thought differently about them at home? Roberts calls for more research about the influence of racialism on the evolution of public administration. The events of the last few months have shown the importance of this project. The remaining articles in this issue collectively present conceptual progress in research on collaborative management and governance offering a range of perspectives and applications from transboundary crises...

Development of land use transitions research in China

With the introduction of the concept of land use transition into China, related researches have been carried out extensively in the past two decades, which enrich the knowledge of land system science. This paper describes the development of research on land use transitions in China from the perspectives of conceptual connotations, theoretical model, research methods, and research progress and prospects. With the in-depth investigation of land use transitions, the concept and connotations of land use morphology are developed and encapsulated as two kinds, i.e., dominant morphology and recessive morphology. The dominant morphology refers to the land use structure of a certain region over a certain period of time, with features such as the quantity and spatial pattern of land use types. While the recessive morphology includes the land use features in the aspects of quality, property rights, management mode, input, output and function. Accordingly, the concept of land use transition is further developed, and the theoretical model of regional land use transitions is established. Thereafter, three innovative integrated approaches to study land use transitions are put forward, i.e., multidisciplinary research framework for recessive land use transition, transect and horizontal comparison. To date, there have been 62 Ph.D. and 166 M.S. dissertations on the topic of “land use transition” in China. During 2002–2019, the National Natural Science Foundation of China has funded 48 research programs on the theme of “land use transition”. As such, the Chinese scholars have adapted the concept derived from western literature to the situations and experiences in China.

Moving forward with isoprostanes, neuroprostanes and phytoprostanes: where are we now?

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are essential components in eukaryotic cell membrane. They take part in the regulation of cell signalling pathways and act as precursors in inflammatory metabolism. Beside these, PUFAs auto-oxidize through free radical initiated mechanism and release key products that have various physiological functions. These products surfaced in the early nineties and were classified as prostaglandin isomers or isoprostanes, neuroprostanes and phytoprostanes. Although these molecules are considered robust biomarkers of oxidative damage in diseases, they also contain biological activities in humans. Conceptual progress in the last 3 years has added more understanding about the importance of these molecules in different fields. In this chapter, a brief overview of the past 30 years and the recent scope of these molecules, including their biological activities, biosynthetic pathways and analytical approaches are discussed.

Retooling methods for approaching discourse–materiality relations: a new materialist framework of multimodal sensitivity

PurposeWhile recent theoretical discussions around discourse–material relationality have facilitated important conceptual and analytical advancements within the broader field of CMS, less progress has been made methodologically with regard to innovating empirical methods and data modes. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to contribute to strengthening the methodological focus in the literature when grappling with the relationality of discourse–materiality and co-constitution. This includes a method-retooling framework inspired by new materialism.Design/methodology/approachIn this article, the authors engage at the methodological level by developing a method-retooling framework that combines insights from organizational discourse studies and new materialist thinking. This framework enables a retooling of existing methods to become sensitive to multimodality and offers two concrete examples that were developed during fieldwork for a multi-sited and multi-method case study in 2018.FindingsBased on the framework for retooling methods for multimodality, two illustrations are offered. These include retooling interviews by employing multimodal vignettes and retooling observations by using multimodal mappings. They are unfolded and discussed regarding their appropriation of discourse–material relationality.Originality/valueThis paper includes original research and method developments – adding a critical focus on the methodological aspects and potential advancements that are necessary in the wake of the ongoing debates around discourse–materiality across CMS and specifically within studies of organizational discourse and CCO. By suggesting a framework, the authors stimulate methodological explorations and contribute to furthering method developments that are equal to the rich conceptual progress made within the field.

Connecting concepts in the brain by mapping cortical representations of semantic relations

In the brain, the semantic system is thought to store concepts. However, little is known about how it connects different concepts and infers semantic relations. To address this question, we collected hours of functional magnetic resonance imaging data from human subjects listening to natural stories. We developed a predictive model of the voxel-wise response and further applied it to thousands of new words. Our results suggest that both semantic categories and relations are represented by spatially overlapping cortical patterns, instead of anatomically segregated regions. Semantic relations that reflect conceptual progression from concreteness to abstractness are represented by cortical patterns of activation in the default mode network and deactivation in the frontoparietal attention network. We conclude that the human brain uses distributed networks to encode not only concepts but also relationships between concepts. In particular, the default mode network plays a central role in semantic processing for abstraction of concepts.

Superconducting Qubits: Current State of Play

Superconducting qubits are leading candidates in the race to build a quantum computer capable of realizing computations beyond the reach of modern supercomputers. The superconducting qubit modality has been used to demonstrate prototype algorithms in the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) technology era, in which non-error-corrected qubits are used to implement quantum simulations and quantum algorithms. With the recent demonstrations of multiple high-fidelity, two-qubit gates as well as operations on logical qubits in extensible superconducting qubit systems, this modality also holds promise for the longer-term goal of building larger-scale error-corrected quantum computers. In this brief review, we discuss several of the recent experimental advances in qubit hardware, gate implementations, readout capabilities, early NISQ algorithm implementations, and quantum error correction using superconducting qubits. Although continued work on many aspects of this technology is certainly necessary, the pace of both conceptual and technical progress in recent years has been impressive, and here we hope to convey the excitement stemming from this progress.

On growth and force: mechanical forces in development

The EMBO/EMBL Symposium 'Mechanical Forces in Development' was held in Heidelberg, Germany, on 3-6 July 2019. This interdisciplinary symposium brought together an impressive and diverse line-up of speakers seeking to address the origin and role of mechanical forces in development. Emphasising the importance of integrative approaches and theoretical simulations to obtain comprehensive mechanistic insights into complex morphogenetic processes, the meeting provided an ideal platform to discuss the concepts and methods of developmental mechanobiology in an era of fast technical and conceptual progress. Here, we summarise the concepts and findings discussed during the meeting, as well as the agenda it sets for the future of developmental mechanobiology.

Functional Landscape of Common Variants Associated with Susceptibility to Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

To date, genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified 39 genomic loci associated with risk of epithelial ovarian cancer at genome-wide significance level (p ≤ 5 × 10−8) and 13 additional loci using less strict thresholds. Follow-up functional dissection of these loci to uncover the underlining mechanisms driving cancer susceptibility has been challenging. In a manner similar to how post-linkage studies led the characterization of then poorly understood cellular pathways, functional analysis of GWAS loci is revealing new mechanisms of ovarian cancer. Here, we review recent methodological and conceptual progress relevant to the understanding of how common genetic variation influences the risk of epithelial ovarian cancer.

Learning Needs Assessment at Work (LNA): Past, Present and Future

The aim of this study was to describe and discuss the scientific production on Learning Needs Assessment at work (LNA) in the last five decades (1970 – 2019) through a bibliometric study. Bibliometric and longitudinal reviews on LNA are virtually nonexistent. Therefore, little is known about how LNA knowledge was in the past, is in the present and can be in the future. A survey of scientific articles was conducted in eight globally indexed databases between 2007 and 2019. Only blind review peer journals were utilized. After the application of sample selection criteria, 282 articles were considered valid for analysis. The three quantitative analysis dimensions were demographical, methodological and theoretical, and they were measured by twenty categorical and descriptive variables. In sum, results show that there is a substantial increment in the number of papers on LNA published in the last decade around the world, especially in Africa. Methodologically, it can be said that the studies have made important advances, mainly when it comes to learning needs processes and measures improvements, but there is still an extensive research agenda. On the other hand, it seems that the LNA still have made little conceptual progress since the 1960s. The predominant use of the term “training needs” to refer to skills gaps at work needs to be discussed and reviewed. In the near future, studies need to further investigate innovative theories and methods on LNA, as the application of multilevel modeling, alignment of needs and context/organizational strategy, the use of learning taxonomies, among others.

Animal models for preclinical Parkinson's research: An update and critical appraisal.

Animal models of Parkinson's disease (PD) are essential to investigate pathogenic pathways at the whole-organism level. Moreover, they are necessary for a preclinical investigation of potential new therapies. Different pathological features of PD can be induced in a variety of invertebrate and vertebrate species using toxins, drugs, or genetic perturbations. Each model has a particular utility and range of applicability. Invertebrate PD models are particularly useful for high throughput-screening applications, whereas mammalian models are needed to explore complex motor and non-motor features of the human disease. Here, we provide a comprehensive review and critical appraisal of the most commonly used mammalian models of PD, which are produced in rats and mice. A substantial loss of nigrostriatal dopamine neurons is necessary for the animal to exhibit a hypokinetic motor phenotype responsive to dopaminergic agents, thus resembling clinical PD. This level of dopaminergic neurodegeneration can be induced using specific neurotoxins, environmental toxicants, or proteasome inhibitors. Alternatively, nigrostriatal dopamine degeneration can be induced via overexpression of α-synuclein using viral vectors or transgenic techniques. In addition, protein aggregation pathology can be triggered by inoculating preformed fibrils of α-synuclein in the substantia nigra or the striatum. Thanks to the conceptual and technical progress made in the past few years a vast repertoire of well-characterized animal models are currently available to address different aspects of PD in the laboratory.

ESTILOS ARQUITETÔNICOS EM ESPAÇOS CEMITERIAIS: CONTRIBUIÇÃO AOS ESTUDOS DE ARQUEOLOGIA FUNERÁRIA

Cemeteries are socially constructed spaces, understood as museum spaces and have examples of art and architecture that show the changes that occur in societies. The tumular architecture, object and research source of funeral archaeology, takes into account its conceptual and typological progression over time. This article examines architectural styles in seven cemeteries of three cities abroad and two Brazilian cities. Père Lachaise in Paris, Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles and La Recoleta cemetery in Buenos Aires were analyzed. In Rio de Janeiro, the cemetery São João Batista and in Recife three cemeteries: the Lord Bom Jesus of Redemption - cemetery of Santo Amaro, the cemetery of the English and the Bom Jesus of Arraial, the Cemetery of Casa Amarela. The approach is related to cemiterial studies with the interface of funeral archaeology and tumular architecture. Forty jazigos were analyzed, including some architectural styles. This work raised the characteristics of these deposits, defining the styles employed, showing the relationship between styles and purchasing power with the use of materials and techniques corresponding to the socioeconomic status of the owners of the deposits.

The Speciesism Debate: Intuition, Method, and Empirical Advances.

Simple SummaryAn influential idea in animal ethics is that moral favouritism towards members of one’s own species is a prejudice. This prejudice has been labelled ‘speciesism’, in analogy with racism and sexism. But not all ethicists subscribe to the view that speciesism is a prejudice. In fact, the tenability of speciesism is a topic of ongoing ethical debate. A recent exchange between Peter Singer and Shelly Kagan might leave the impression that this debate has essentially reached a stalemate, since the disputing parties rely on irreconcilable moral intuitions. In the present article, I argue that this impression is misleading. I highlight both philosophical and empirical research avenues that can help to move the speciesism debate forward, emphasizing that not all ethical intuitions about speciesism should be given equal weight. The article is part of the special issue ‘Animal Ethics: Questioning the Orthodoxy’.This article identifies empirical, conceptual and normative avenues to advance the speciesism debate. First, I highlight the application of Evolutionary Debunking Arguments (EDAs) as one such avenue: especially where (anti-)speciesist positions heavily rely on appeals to moral intuition, and EDAs have potential to move the debate forward. Second, an avenue for conceptual progress is the delineation of speciesism from other views in its vicinity, specifically from the view that biological differences between species are sometimes morally relevant (‘species-relativism’). Third, if we adopt Singer’s definition of speciesism, then a limitation of the current debate is that it is not obvious whether the core ethical principle that underlies anti-speciesist positions—the Principle of Equal Consideration of Interests—is widely applicable. Arguably, the interests of animals are often too dissimilar to establish what equal consideration amounts to. I underscore the need for integrating philosophical and empirical research, to come to terms with the extent to which the interests of members of different species are alike, and with the question of whether any dissimilarities might be morally relevant.

Learning progressions: framing and designing coherent sequences for STEM education

The coupled influences of scholarship in the fields of Psychology, Philosophy, and Pedagogy beginning in the 1950s, set in motion the emergence of new images, methodological perspectives, theories, and design principles about learners and learning. Advances in cognitive and sociocultural psychology, shifting images of the nature of science, recognition of the importance of disciplinary discourse practices in learning, the scaffolding of learning by tools and technologies, along with the adoption of ‘assessment for learning’ instructional strategies are among the factors that have led researchers and practitioners to advance positions that learning ought to be coordinated and sequenced along conceptual trajectories, developmental corridors, and learning progressions (LP). Following opening Introduction and LP Research Framework sections that provide an overview of the runup to LP research and development, I then turn to future research discussions and implications targeting five LP domains: Using Knowledge with Scientific Practices; Instructional Pathways – Early Childhood Learning; Teaching Experiments – Science and Mathematics; Upper/Lower Anchors for Measuring Progress; and Concepts & Practices. The Conclusion section points to overarching challenges for researchers, planners, and teachers in STEM education. There is much to learn for all!

Endless forms of sexual selection.

In recent years, the field of sexual selection has exploded, with advances in theoretical and empirical research complementing each other in exciting ways. This perspective piece is the product of a “stock-taking” workshop on sexual selection and sexual conflict. Our aim is to identify and deliberate on outstanding questions and to stimulate discussion rather than provide a comprehensive overview of the entire field. These questions are organized into four thematic sections we deem essential to the field. First we focus on the evolution of mate choice and mating systems. Variation in mate quality can generate both competition and choice in the opposite sex, with implications for the evolution of mating systems. Limitations on mate choice may dictate the importance of direct vs. indirect benefits in mating decisions and consequently, mating systems, especially with regard to polyandry. Second, we focus on how sender and receiver mechanisms shape signal design. Mediation of honest signal content likely depends on integration of temporally variable social and physiological costs that are challenging to measure. We view the neuroethology of sensory and cognitive receiver biases as the main key to signal form and the ‘aesthetic sense’ proposed by Darwin. Since a receiver bias is sufficient to both initiate and drive ornament or armament exaggeration, without a genetically correlated or even coevolving receiver, this may be the appropriate ‘null model’ of sexual selection. Thirdly, we focus on the genetic architecture of sexually selected traits. Despite advances in modern molecular techniques, the number and identity of genes underlying performance, display and secondary sexual traits remains largely unknown. In-depth investigations into the genetic basis of sexual dimorphism in the context of long-term field studies will reveal constraints and trajectories of sexually selected trait evolution. Finally, we focus on sexual selection and conflict as drivers of speciation. Population divergence and speciation are often influenced by an interplay between sexual and natural selection. The extent to which sexual selection promotes or counteracts population divergence may vary depending on the genetic architecture of traits as well as the covariance between mating competition and local adaptation. Additionally, post-copulatory processes, such as selection against heterospecific sperm, may influence the importance of sexual selection in speciation. We propose that efforts to resolve these four themes can catalyze conceptual progress in the field of sexual selection, and we offer potential avenues of research to advance this progress.

Model transfer and conceptual progress: tales from chemistry and biology

The dissemination of models across disciplinary lines has become a phenomenon of interest to philosophers of science. To account for this phenomenon, philosophers have invented two units of analysis. The first identifies to the thing that transfers, model templates. The second identifies the thing to which transferable templates apply, landing zones. There exists a dynamic between the thing that is transferred and the thing to which transferrable templates apply. The use of a transferable template in a new domain requires reconception of domain-specific phenomena. This paper examines two cases of model transfer, the use of the ideal gas law in biology by R.A. Fisher and the use of the virial theorem in chemistry by Richard Bader. These two stories of model transfer in biology and chemistry indicate a dimension to conceptual progress related to this dynamic. Using discourse on model transfer affords philosophers a novel approach for depicting the invention of, for instance, chemical concepts and resulting disputes.

Entropy? Exercices de Style.

Since its inception, the concept of entropy has been known under a variety of guises and been used in an increasing number of contexts, achieving an almost rock star-like status in both the sciences and popular culture. The three most prominent “styles” which entropy has been (re)told in and which have determined its popularity are the thermodynamic, statistical and information-theoretic one, owing much to the work of Clausius, Boltzmann and Gibbs, and Shannon, respectively. In the relentless hunt for the core of the concept that spurred this development, connections with irreversibility and emergence of time, nature of probability and information emerged adding to its elusiveness as much as stimulating its proliferation and cross-contextual adoption. In this historical review, we retrace, through primary and secondary sources, the three main perspectives from which entropy has been regarded, emphasising the motivations behind each new version, their ramifications and the bridges that have been constructed to justify them. From this analysis of the foundations a number of characteristic traits of the concept emerge that underline its exceptionality as an engine of conceptual progress.

Adapting a Core-Idea Centered Undergraduate General Chemistry Curriculum for Use in High School

Connecting the behavior of invisible (to the naked eye) particles governed by the principles of quantum mechanics to the world we can see and touch requires a host of inferences, almost none of which can be extrapolated from experience. Molecular-level sensemaking thus relies upon intellectual resources that must be developed in large part by formal learning environments. Over a decade of research at the college-level indicates that centering instruction around scaffolded progressions of core ideas can help students cultivate, organize, and use their disciplinary knowledge to explain and model a range of phenomena. Informed by this literature, we have adapted a core-idea centered, evidence-based undergraduate general chemistry curriculum for use in high school. Our adaptation process, which was a collaborative effort between researchers and classroom teachers, is described in detail with emphasis on alignment between the Next Generation Science Standards and our materials. Efforts reported here represent a first-in-class model for high school curriculum development wherein conceptual progressions developed and validated at the college level form the basis for high school coursework.

The Impact of Core-Idea Centered Instruction on High School Students’ Understanding of Structure–Property Relationships

Widespread adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) has created a need to carefully consider how chemistry curricula should support students in understanding the world in terms of atomic/molecular behavior. We argue that Standards-aligned coursework should be “core-ideas centered” due to evidence that curricula embedded in scaffolded progressions of core ideas can help students develop, organize, and use their knowledge to make molecular-level sense of phenomena. Our team of teachers and researchers has previously proposed a model for developing an integrated, core idea focused introductory chemistry curriculum by adapting the conceptual progressions underpinning the evidence-based undergraduate chemistry course Chemistry, Life, the Universe, and Everything (or CLUE). Here, we examine the efficacy this NGSS-aligned chemistry course (called High School CLUE or HS-CLUE) in helping students connect atomic/molecular structure to observable properties. This study made use of a cross-sectional approach to compare the responses of three student cohorts, each instructed according to a different curriculum, on a three-part structure–properties assessment. There is a positive association between enrollment in HS-CLUE and (1) viewing Lewis structures as models, (2) representing hydrogen bonds as “between” molecules, and (3) constructing scientifically accurate, molecular-level explanations for the difference in boiling point between two substances. These associations were primary drivers for the significant relationship between learning environment enrollment and student responses in the majority of instances examined. Our findings provide preliminary evidence that structuring high school chemistry instruction around validated progressions of core ideas supports students in relating atomic/molecular structure to properties.