Flourishing Field Of Research Research Articles

Teaching the difficult heritage of Italian Fascism

AbstractIn recent years, the architectural legacy and so-called ‘difficult heritage’ of Fascist Italy has become a flourishing field of research. These topics have also begun to make their way into the undergraduate classroom. To date, however, there has been little research carried out into the methods we use to teach the history of Fascism in particular. In this short article, we outline how we have applied problem-based learning and scenario-based learning approaches to tackle this topic. After presenting three assignments, we explain the benefits associated with a PBL/SBL approach, summarised under the headings of interdisciplinarity, creativity and authenticity, before highlighting some aspects on which colleagues may wish to reflect if they are considering adopting a similar approach in their teaching.

Between Stress and Response: Function and Localization of Mechanosensitive Ca2+ Channels in Herbaceous and Perennial Plants.

Over the past three decades, how plants sense and respond to mechanical stress has become a flourishing field of research. The pivotal role of mechanosensing in organogenesis and acclimation was demonstrated in various plants, and links are emerging between gene regulatory networks and physical forces exerted on tissues. However, how plant cells convert physical signals into chemical signals remains unclear. Numerous studies have focused on the role played by mechanosensitive (MS) calcium ion channels MCA, Piezo and OSCA. To complement these data, we combined data mining and visualization approaches to compare the tissue-specific expression of these genes, taking advantage of recent single-cell RNA-sequencing data obtained in the root apex and the stem of Arabidopsis and the Populus stem. These analyses raise questions about the relationships between the localization of MS channels and the localization of stress and responses. Such tissue-specific expression studies could help to elucidate the functions of MS channels. Finally, we stress the need for a better understanding of such mechanisms in trees, which are facing mechanical challenges of much higher magnitudes and over much longer time scales than herbaceous plants, and we mention practical applications of plant responsiveness to mechanical stress in agriculture and forestry.

Constitutional reasoning: A flourishing field of research in comparative law

Constitutional reasoning has been a flourishing field of research in comparative constitutional law in the past decade. This essay reviews two books that have made a significant contribution to the ...

Best practice in research - Overcoming common challenges in phytopharmacological research.

The pharmacology, toxicology and pharmacokinetics of bioactive preparations derived from natural sources has become a flourishing field of research. However, researching complex extracts and natural products faces numerous challenges. More broadly in recent years the critique of pharmacological research, and specifically its design, the methods used and reporting has intensified. This consensus document provides a perspective on what constitutes best practice in pharmacological research on bioactive preparations derived from natural sources, providing a perspective of what the leading specialist journals in the field consider as the core characteristics of good research. The editors-in-chief of seven journals developed this best practice statement in an iterative process. A first draft of the guidelines (prepared by MH) was then discussed and amended by the other editors. Core to this contribution is a table which provides detailed advice including simple points like a use of appropriate controls and the full taxonomic validity of the material under investigation (see also below), to the relevance of the model for the question being researched (e.g., can specific in silico or in vitro models really address the species anti-inflammatory activity?). Therefore, obviously, researchers must pay detailed attention to reporting and discussing such studies. This information must be discussed critically (as much as it is possible based on the published papers) in terms of their scientific quality and validity. While these points are obvious, as editors, we are aware that they are often not properly implemented. We call for an approach which incorporates a careful design, meticulous execution and a detailed reporting of studies focusing on the pharmacology/bioactivity of bioactive preparations. Clearly testable research questions must be developed and investigated experimentally. As the founder of pharmacology Claude Bernard put it already in 1865: '…. either the experimenter's hypothesis will be disproved or it will be proved by experiment. When experiment disproves its preconceived ideas, the experimenter must discard or modify it.'

Combining different methods of data collection in public service interpreting doctoral research: examples from the Spanish context

During the past ten years, public service interpreting (PSI) has become a flourishing field of research. Different kinds of studies have explored issues such as the role of public service interpreters, accuracy and deviations in their renditions, or primary participants’ views on and expectations of PSI. In terms of research methods, it is becoming increasingly popular to combine different data collection methods in the field of PSI, especially in large research projects. The aim of this article is to describe how multiple datasets have been used in a sample of studies. It presents a review of PhD dissertations in Spain that have combined different kinds of surveys, focus groups and/or direct observation. This is followed by a description of how a multimethod approach can contribute to the advance of PSI research and how it can compensate for the limitations of certain single-method approaches to PSI. It argues that, while multimethod research may be more demanding and time-consuming from the researcher’s point of view, it is more effective in terms of providing a holistic view of the object of study.

Advances in Functionalized Materials Research

In the last years, due to the rapid progress of technology, new materials at nanometric scale with special properties have become a flourishing field of research in materials science. The unique physicochemical properties of materials induced by various parameters such as mean size, shape, purity, crystallographic structure, and surface can generate effective solutions to challenging environmental and biomed-ical problems. As a result of this approach a large number of techniques were developed that enable obtaining novel materials at nanometric scale with specific and reproducible properties and parameters. Below will be highlighted studies on promising properties on the applicability of new materials that could lead to innovative applications in the medical field. Therefore, this special issue is focused on expected advances in the area of functionalized materials at nanometric scale. Due to multidisciplinarity of this topic, this special issue is comprised of a wide range of original research articles as well as review papers on the design and synthesis of functionalized nanomaterials, their structural, morphological, and biological characterization, and their potential uses in medical and environmental applications

PROVINCIALIZING AMERICA: NEW AND NOT SO NEW INTELLECTUAL HISTORIES OF WEIMAR GERMANY

Together the two volumes under review contain over forty essays on the intellectual history of Weimar Germany and its legacy today. The wide interdisciplinary field of authors, historians, philosophers, theologians, and literary, legal, and religious scholars, as well as social and political scientists, testifies to the continuing fascination of this era of thought in Anglo-American academia. With the exceptions of Mitchell G. Ash, Michael Krois, and Klaus Tanner, the authors teach at American, British or Canadian universities and represent major tendencies of the anglophone engagement with Weimar's intellectual history. Despite the fact that intellectual history of the Weimar Republic has been a flourishing field of research in Germany over the last decades, the volumes contain no contributions by German historians. This observation is by no means negligible in an age of transnational academic exchange, as may be exemplified by the recentOxford Handbook of Modern German History, which contains contributions by German, American, and British experts in their fields.

Unravelling Crime Series Patterns amongst Serial Sex Offenders: Duration, Frequency, and Environmental Consistency

AbstractCrime linkage and the investigation of behavioural consistency amongst serial offenders has been a flourishing field of research over the past decade or so, especially with respect to serial sex offenders. The emerging research in this field has often portrayed serial sex offenders as a single, distinct, and homogeneous group. Such an assumption, however, has never been empirically examined. Using a criminal career approach and a sample of 72 serial sex offenders who have committed a total of 361 sexual assaults on stranger victims, the current study aims to examine and describe subgroups of crime series patterns amongst serial sex offenders in terms of duration and frequency of offending. The level of environmental consistency display (i.e. offender's choice of crime location and characteristics of the crime site selected) across subgroups of crime series patterns is also examined. Study findings suggest the presence and heterogeneity of crime series patterns amongst serial sex offenders, advocating for the consideration of subgroups of crime series patterns when studying serial sex offenders. Moreover, the offenders' level of environmental consistency varies across the different crime series patterns identified, allowing for the identification of subgroups of offenders showing a higher or lower level of environmental consistency. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Theory of stable allocations

The Swedish Royal Academy awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Economics to Lloyd Shapley and Alvin Roth, for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design. These two American researchers worked independently from each other, combining basic theory and empirical investigations. Through their experiments and practical design they generated a flourishing field of research and improved the performance of many markets. Shapley provided the fundamental theoretical contribution to this field of research, whereas Roth, a professor at the Harvard University in Boston, developed and upgraded these theoretical investigations by applying them to the American market of medical doctors. Namely, their research helps explain the market processes at work, for instance, when doctors are assigned to hospitals, students to schools and human organs for transplant to recipients.

Business history and economic globalisation

Recent reviewers of the current state and future direction of business history have complained that, despite the growth of business history as a distinct academic discipline in recent decades, the field has tended to become side-lined in a number of debates which traditionally have been of major concern to business and economic historians. The paper discusses this issue by focusing on one of the major fields of research among economic historians and social scientists in recent years, namely the history of economic globalisation, and specifically the spectacular growth in international trade characterising the process. The history of economic globalisation and the causes of international trade growth has been a flourishing field of research in recent years, but business historians have not managed to make their mark on the major debates. The article argues that one way of altering this situation would be to reinvigorate the old established link between business history and maritime history. Two case studies show how maritime firms played essential roles in putting in place vital organisational, technological and institutional preconditions for international trade growth. On this basis it is argued that business historians of maritime firms are uniquely placed to understand the inner workings of the economic globalisation process and provide explanatory content to the macro-oriented analysis dominating the existing literature.

Preface: Phys. Status Solidi C 7/3‐4

Preface: Phys. Status Solidi C 7/3‐4