Search

With growing awareness of, and attention to, the potential of data to inform decisions across contexts, has come an increasing recognition and need to develop data literacy strategies that support people to learn to be critical of data, given this consequential nature of data use (and abuse). To achieve a just society, inequities in both capacity for data literacy, and the applications of data in society, must be addressed. A key aim is to create learning experiences that engage learners with issues of power and inequity, including those typically marginalized by data literacy education. In this way, data literacy and social justice learning goals are intertwined, and mutually supportive, in developing data literacy in learning about, through, and for social justice. This special issue assembles five empirical studies on learning at the intersection of data literacy and social justice, and that illustrate various approaches to intertwining data science and social justice learning goals. They moreover highlight the importance of the learning sciences as a perspective for understanding how people learn in specific contexts of data justice. This essay reflects on themes raised by these contributions, and offers a framework for conceptualizing the intersections between the learning of data literacy and justice. In particular, we draw on existing distinctions between “reading” and “writing the world,” and propose a mapping of data literacy justice activities from data comprehension to participation, and from thin to thick justice.

Longitudinal data on individual growth and seasonal changes in body mass, girth, and blubber thickness are rarely available for cetaceans, making it difficult to assess their population composition and individual nutritional condition. During different time intervals from 1997 to 2020, we collected longitudinal data on length, body mass, girth,and blubber thickness from seventeen harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in human care. We compared Gompertz and von Bertalanffy growth curves to collected length data at age 0–4 years for five individuals with known dates of birth. Von Bertalanffy had the lowest AICc value and was used to predict the birth year of twelve animals which age had previously been estimated based on tooth ring analysis and ossification of flipper bones. The growth curve was accurate within 1 yr. of age estimates. Within the first year, the calves grew 66%, attaining 84% of their adult length, and reached asymptotic length at age 3–4. For adults, there were large seasonal variations in body mass, body mass index, girth, and blubber thickness, with up to 28% of variation in body mass between seasons. We predicted individual body mass within ± 2 kg using measurements of length and girth, allowing estimation of body mass index of individuals with unknown mass. Our findings enable monitoring and assessments of population composition as well as nutritional condition of individual harbour porpoises, which is crucial for assessing conservational status and guiding management.

The last extensive (pan-Arctic) review on knowledge available on the bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus) was conducted by Cameron et al. in 2010. As bearded seals are hunted off Svalbard and Greenland but no stock assessments are available, NAMMCO requested a status review, and if possible, an assessment of the species in its area. This literature review attempts to summarise the knowledge that has become available post 2010, with a focus on the Atlantic Arctic. A large amount of information has become available on the behaviour of the bearded seal, with hearing, vocalisation, haul-out behaviour and movement patterns (through satelitte tagging), and their phenology, being well studied. A database of baseline blood parameters is slowly being built but is still limited. New data on distribution has emerged from PAM studies and non-targeted surveys. Abundance estimates are missing for Svalbard, but partial estimates have become available for the North Water Polynya in 2009 and 2014. Additionally, observations of bearded seals from aerial line-transect surveys are available for several areas of Greenland but have not been analysed. More information has become available on the impact of anthropogenic stressors, such as climate change and other related environmental changes, although demographic impacts of changes are missing. Catch data exists for both Svalbard and Greenland, but for the latter the data needs to be thoroughly validated. In summary, information on stock structure as well as local and global abundance estimates, which are both important to assess the sustainability of current catches, are still missing. However other lines of evidence can inform the delineation of management areas and the results of a pan-arctic genetic study should become available shortly. There is survey data available from Greenland that could be used to generate local abundance estimates, the analysis of which should be prioritised.

Disaster governance in conflict areas is of growing academic concern, but most existing research comprises either single case studies or studies of a variety of country contexts that group all types of conflict together. Based on three case studies, this article offers a middle-ground scenario-based approach, focusing on disaster governance in authoritarian contexts experiencing low-intensity conflict. Low-intensity conflict is characterized by intense political tensions and violence that is more readily expressed in ways other than direct physical harm. Inspired by Olson’s (2000) maxim that disasters are intrinsically political, this article explores the politics of disaster response by asking what is at stake and what happened, unpacking these questions for state, civil society, and international humanitarian actors. Using data from a total of one year of qualitative fieldwork, the article analyzes disaster governance in 2016 drought-ridden Ethiopia, marked by protests and a State of Emergency; 2015 flooded Myanmar, characterized by explosive identity politics; and 2016–2019 drought-ridden Zimbabwe, with its intense socioeconomic and political turbulence. The study’s findings show how framing and power processes in disaster governance—comprising state and non-state actors—largely lean toward the state, with the consequence that political interests, rather than needs assessments, steer who and what will be protected from disaster impact.

Abstract Little academic research has examined the challenges humanitarian actors face or the strategies they develop in the increasingly numerous authoritarian and low-intensity conflict settings. Based on 4 months of qualitative fieldwork in Myanmar in 2017–2018, this article explores how civil society organisations, international non-governmental organisations, international organisations, and donor agencies tried to provide relief to marginalised minorities in the ethnic States of Chin and Rakhine following Cyclone Komen in 2015. The study findings detail how civil society actors mobilised parallel minority and Christian networks and lobbied international actors to support disaster victims of Chin ethnicity. In Rakhine State, it was overwhelmingly international humanitarians who were able and willing to support Muslims, including the Rohingya. This increased tensions among community groups and between Myanmar and the international community. Particularly in the context of rising identity politics, humanitarian governance encompasses the governance of perceptions. Trade-offs between long-term acceptance and following humanitarian principles in aid allocation are largely unavoidable and must be carefully considered.

The monodontids--narwhals, Monodon monoceros, and belugas, Delphinapterus leucas--are found in much of the Arctic and in some subarctic areas. They are hunted by indigenous subsistence users. In the past, some populations were substantially reduced by commercial hunting and culling; more recently, some populations have declined due to uncontrolled subsistence hunting and environmental degradation. Monodontids are impacted increasingly by human activities in the Arctic including ship and boat traffic, industrial development, icebreaking, seismic surveys, competition with fisheries, and alteration of habitat due to climate change. Since comprehensive reviews in the 1990's, substantial new information has become available on both species and on changes to their habitat as a result of human activities and climate change. Thus NAMMCO and partners undertook an updated review in 2017. The review recognized 21 extant beluga stocks, 1 extirpated beluga stock, and 12 stocks of narwhals. The available information on each stock regarding population size, depletion level, current and past removals, and trends in abundance was reviewed to determine status. Concern was expressed where the lack of information prevented reliable assessment, removals were thought to be unsustainable, or the population was deemed at risk of declining even without direct removals by hunting. Beluga stocks of greatest concern are the small stocks in Ungava Bay (possibly extirpated), Cook Inlet (ca 300), St. Lawrence Estuary (ca 900), and Cumberland Sound (ca 1,100), and the stocks with uncertainty in Eastern Hudson Bay and the Barents-Kara-Laptev Seas. Narwhal stocks of greatest concern are those in Melville Bay and East Greenland., Introduction The family Monodontidae is comprised of the narwhal, Monodon monoceros, and the beluga or white whale, Delphinapterus leucas (Rice, 1998). These two species are found in much of the [...]

Our research group has been developing a series of biological drugs produced by coculture techniques with M2-polarized macrophages with different primary tissue cells and/or mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC), generally from fat, to produce anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic effects, avoiding the overexpression of pro-inflammatory cytokines by the innate immune system at a given time. One of these products is the drug PRS CK STORM, a medium conditioned by allogenic M2-polarized macrophages, from coculture, with those macrophages M2 with MSC from fat, whose composition, in vitro safety, and efficacy we studied. In the present work, we publish the results obtained in terms of safety (pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics) and efficacy of the intravenous application of this biological drug in a murine model of cytokine storm associated with severe infectious processes, including those associated with COVID-19. The results demonstrate the safety and high efficacy of PRS CK STORM as an intravenous drug to prevent and treat the cytokine storm associated with infectious processes, including COVID-19.

The North Atlantic Sightings Surveys (NASS), covering a large but variable portion of the Central and Eastern North Atlantic, were conducted in 1987, 1989, 1995, 2001, 2007 and 2015. Sightings of killer whales (Orcinus orca), a non-target species, were relatively rare in the Central Atlantic (Icelandic and Faroese) portions of the survey area. In cases where sighting numbers were insufficient, we pooled sightings over several surveys to derive a distance detection function and used this to estimate abundance using standard Distance Sampling methodology. Uncorrected estimates were produced for all surveys, and estimates corrected for perception bias were produced for the 2001 and 2015 surveys. Killer whales were sighted in all areas but were most common in the eastern part of the survey area. Uncorrected abundance in the NASS core area ranged from a low of 4,736 (95% CI: 1,842–12,176) in 1995 to a maximum of 15,142 (95% CI: 6,003–38,190) in 2001. The low precision of the estimates makes the detection of temporal trends unlikely. In 2007 an extension survey revealed relatively high numbers of killer whales to the east of the survey area, in conformity with Norwegian survey estimates in this area. The NASS and other surveys conducted over the period indicate that killer whales number in the low tens of thousands in the Central and Eastern North Atlantic.

Harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in the Baltic Sea are under increasing pressure from anthropogenic activities, which affect the overall health of populations. Individuals’ haematologic and biochemistry parameters are known to be linked to a population’s health status and are therefore useful tools for cross-population comparisons and to assess health patterns of a population through time. However, it is often difficult to acquire data representing the full range of values and assess the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Here, we present the range of haematology and blood chemistry values obtained from 46 wild (n = 54 blood samples) individuals incidentally caught in pound-nets and five porpoises in long-term human care (n = 449 blood samples) from an outdoor semi-open facility in Denmark. Although it was not possible to formally test the differences between samples from free-ranging and captive individuals, lymphocyte values were lower for free-ranging animals whereas eosinophils and white blood cell values were higher in captive individuals. Aspartate aminotransferase and alanin aminotransferase values were also lower for captive individuals compared to free-ranging ones. Age group did not influence any of the blood parameters tested for free-ranging individuals. Sodium values were higher for males compared to females. Values were higher and lower in the fall for platelets and lactic acid dehydrogenase, respectively, compared to the other seasons. Based on samples yielded by individuals in long-term human care, haemoglobin, mean cell volume, white blood cells, absolute lymphocyte count, and alkaline phosphatase values were all influenced by health status based on clinical examination. These are therefore candidate parameters to assess health status of wild porpoises. Our results underline that it is essential to obtain ranges of reference values for all haematologic and biochemistry markers in order to assess health status of free-ranging individuals. Individuals in human care provide the opportunity to observe biological and ecological determinates (e.g. age, season) of long-term biomarker response patterns and to assess the suite of biomarkers best suited to predict individual health status.

The Trans-North Atlantic Sightings Survey (T-NASS) carried out in June-July 2007 was the fifth in a series of large-scale cetacean surveys conducted previously in 1987, 1989, 1995 and 2001. The core survey area covered an area of about 1.8 million nm² spanning from the Eastern Barents Sea at 34°E to the east coast of Canada, and between 52°N and 78°N in the east and south to 42°N in the west. We present design-based abundance estimates from the Faroese and Icelandic vessel survey components of T-NASS, as well as results from ancillary vessels which covered adjoining areas. The 4 dedicated survey vessels used a Buckland-Turnock (B-T) mode with a tracker platform searching an area ahead of the primary platform and tracking sightings to provide data for bias correction. Both uncorrected estimates, using the combined non-duplicate sightings from both platforms, and mark-recapture estimates, correcting estimates from the primary platform for bias due to perception and availability, are presented for those species with a sufficient number of sightings. Corrected estimates for the core survey area are as follows: fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus): 30,777 (CV=0.19); humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae): 18,105 (CV=0.43); sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus): 12,268 (CV=0.33); long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas): 87,417 (CV=0.38); white-beaked dolphins (Lagenorhynchus albirostris): 91,277 (CV=0.53); and white-sided dolphins (L. acutus): 81,008 (CV=0.54). Uncorrected estimates only were possible for common minke whales (B. acutorstrata): 12,427 (CV=0.27); and sei whales (B. borealis): 5,159 (CV=0.47). Sighting rates from the ancillary vessels, which used a single platform, were lower than those from the dedicated vessels in areas where they overlapped. No evidence of responsive movement by any species was detected, but there was some indication that distance measurements by the primary platform may have been negatively biased. The significance of this for the abundance estimates is discussed. The relative merits of B-T over other survey modes are discussed and recommendations for future surveys are provided.

Intercellular communication between monocytes/macrophages and cells involved in tissue regeneration, such as mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) and primary tissue cells, is essential for tissue regeneration and recovery of homeostasis. Typically, in the final phase of the inflammation-resolving process, this intercellular communication drives an anti-inflammatory immunomodulatory response. To obtain a safe and effective treatment to counteract the cytokine storm associated with a disproportionate immune response to severe infections, including that associated with COVID-19, by means of naturally balanced immunomodulation, our group has standardized the production under GMP-like conditions of a secretome by coculture of macrophages and MSCs. To characterize this proteome, we determined the expression of molecules related to cellular immune response and tissue regeneration, as well as its possible toxicity and anti-inflammatory potency. The results show a specific molecular pattern of interaction between the two cell types studied, with an anti-inflammatory and regenerative profile. In addition, the secretome is not toxic by itself on human PBMC or on THP-1 monocytes and prevents lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced growth effects on those cell types. Finally, PRS CK STORM prevents LPS-induced TNF-A and IL-1Β secretion from PBMC and from THP-1 cells at the same level as hydrocortisone, demonstrating its anti-inflammatory potency.

We address the control of a hybrid energy storage system composed of a lead battery and hydrogen storage. Powered by photovoltaic panels, it feeds a partially islanded building. We aim to minimize building carbon emissions over a long-term period while ensuring that 35% of the building consumption is powered using energy produced on site. To achieve this long-term goal, we propose to learn a control policy as a function of the building and of the storage state using a Deep Reinforcement Learning approach. We reformulate the problem to reduce the action space dimension to one. This highly improves the proposed approach performance. Given the reformulation, we propose a new algorithm, DDPGαrep, using a Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG) to learn the policy. Once learned, the storage control is performed using this policy. Simulations show that the higher the hydrogen storage efficiency, the more effective the learning.

North Atlantic Sightings Surveys (NASS) and associated surveys, covering a large but variable portion of the North Atlantic, were conducted in 1987, 1989, 1995, 2001, 2007 and 2015. Previous estimates of long-finned pilot whale (Globicephala melas) abundance, derived using conventional distance sampling (CDS), are not directly comparable to one another because of differing survey coverage, field methods and, in the case of the 1989 NASS, different survey timing. CDS was used to develop indices of relative abundance to determine if pilot whale abundance has changed over the 28-year period from 1987 to 2015. The varying spatial coverage of the surveys is accommodated by delineating common regions that were covered by: i) all 6 surveys, and ii) the 3 largest surveys (1989, 1995, and 2007). These “Index Regions” were divided into East and West subregions, and post-stratification was used to obtain abundance estimates for these index areas only. Estimates are provided using the sightings from the combined platforms for surveys that used double platforms or the primary platform only. Total abundance in the Index Regions, uncorrected for perception or availability biases, ranged from 54,264 (CV=0.48) in 2001 to 253,109 (CV=0.43) in 2015. There was no significant trend in the numbers of individuals or groups in either the 6 or 3 Survey Index Regions, and no consistent trend over the period. Power analyses indicate that negative annual growth rates of -3% to -5% would have been detectible over the entire period. The Index Regions comprise only a portion of the summer range of the species and changes in annual distribution clearly affect the results. Operational changes to the surveys, particularly in defining pilot whale groups, may also have introduced biases. Recommendations for future monitoring of the long-finned pilot whale population are provided.

Achieving a sustainable global food chain is becoming particularly acute as modern Western diets are adopted in a growing number of countries and cultures around the world. Understanding the consequences that this shift has on health and sustainability is important. This exploratory study is the first to apply the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to analyze the sustainability implication of ongoing dietary shifts in Greenland, where locally hunted seal meat is increasingly being replaced by imported livestock products, primarily pig and poultry produced in Denmark. This dietary shift, indirectly driven by international trade bans such as the EU seal product ban, has sustainability implications. To inform and support more comprehensive analyses and policy discussions, this paper explores the sustainability of these parallel Greenlandic food supply chains. A quantitative comparison of the greenhouse gas emissions of Greenlandic hunted seal and Danish pig and poultry is complemented by a qualitative discussion of nutrition, cultural food preferences, animal welfare, and the use of land, pesticides and antibiotics. Although the variability in the life cycle inventory data collected from Greenlandic hunters was considerable, greenhouse gas emissions of seal meat were consistently lower than those of imported livestock products. Emissions of the latter are dominated by biogenic emissions from feed production and manure management, while these are absent for seal meat, whose emissions instead are dominated by fossil fuel use. The implications of these results for sustainable national food policies in a modern global context as well as important areas for additional research are discussed.

The impact of the stray inductances originated from interconnects in power electronics becomes crucial with the next generation of SiC devices. This paper shows that the existing layout of a railway inverter, operating with Si IGBTs already exhibits a dynamic current imbalance between paralleled modules. This will not allow using this geometry with SiC MOSFETs. A complete investigation of the electromagnetic origin of this issue has been performed. A generic circuit model has been proposed to establish a cabling rule to design a Gate Distribution Printed Circuit Board (PCB) in such a way that it compensates the power dissymmetry. An optimization strategy has been used to obtain a new geometry of this PCB, which has been validated with a time domain simulation.

Orthoptera are infected by about 60 species of gregarines assigned to the genus Gregarina Dufour, 1828. Among these species, Gregarina garnhami Canning, 1956 from Schistocerca gregaria (Forsskål, 1775) was considered by Lipa et al. in 1996 to be synonymous with Gregarina acridiorum (Léger 1893), a parasite of several orthopteran species including Locusta migratoria (Linné, 1758). Here, a morphological study and molecular analyses of the SSU rDNA marker demonstrate that specimens of S. gregaria and specimens of L. migratoria are infected by two distinct Gregarina species, G. garnhami and G. acridiorum, respectively. Validation of the species confirms that molecular analyses provide useful taxonomical information. Phenotypic plasticity was clearly observed in the case of G. garnhami: the morphology of its trophozoites, gamonts and syzygies varied according to the geographical location of S. gregaria and the subspecies infected.