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Who should be included in collaborative governance and how they should be included is an important topic, though the dynamics of inclusion are not yet well understood. We propose a conceptual model to shape the empirical analysis of what contributes to inclusion in collaborative processes. We propose that incentives, mutual interdependence and trust are important preconditions of inclusion, but that active inclusion management also matters a great deal. We also hypothesize that inclusion is strategic, with ‘selective activation’ of participants depending on functional and pragmatic choices. Drawing on cases from the Collaborative Governance Case Databank, we used a mixed method approach to analyse our model. We found support for the model, and particularly for the central importance of active inclusion management.

Studying collaborative governance has become abooming business. However, the empirical literature still struggles to produce robust generalizations and cumulative knowledge that link contextual, situational and institutional design factors to processes and outcomes. We still have not mustered the broad and deep evidence base that will really help us sort fact from fiction and identify more and less productive approaches to collaboration. The current empirical evidence in the study of collaborative governance consists chiefly of small-N case studies or large-N surveys. The challenge is to move from case-based, mid-range theory building to more largeN-driven systematic theory-testing, while also retaining the rich contextual and process insights that only small-N studies tend to yield. This article, and the articles in the accompanying special issue, introduces an attempt to provide this middle ground– the Collaborative Governance Case Database. The database has been developed to serve as afree common pool resource for researchers to systematically collect and compare high-quality collaborative governance case studies. This article is an introduction to the database, exploring its design, opportunities and limitations. This article is also an invitation; inviting all researchers to freely use the cases in the database for their own research interest and to help strengthening the database by adding new cases there are eager to share with colleagues.

Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is a complex neurological disorder with multiple clinical manifestations including headaches, seizures, and altered mental status. It is associated with many conditions including malignancy and medications including chemotherapy and immunotherapy. We report the case of a 56-year old female with a history of advanced triple negative breast cancer treated with atezolizumab (a PD-L1 inhibitor), paclitaxel and ipatasertib (investigational AKT inhibitor), who developed hypertension, confusion, and imaging findings consistent with PRES.

Amidst the general mood of skepticism about the problem-solving capacity of governments in the face of ‘wicked problems’, it is easy to overlook that at times governments do manage to design and implement public policies and programs quite successfully. In this paper, we build on an emerging area of ‘positive evaluation’ research into public policy successes (Bovens et al 2001; McConnell 2010; Nielsen et al 2015). Using the conceptual tools emanating from this research and drawing on a corpus of 33 such cases (Compton and ‘t Hart 2019; Luetjens et al, 2019), we draw inferences about the contexts, strategies, and practices that are conducive to policy success. We find compelling evidence that process inclusivity is a pivotal factor, but certainly not the only one, on the path to policy success. Variation in the degree of innovation and the pace of change also emerge as interdependent and important factors.

Describes aspects of the current status of biology teaching at the pre-college level, from an analysis of data collected from three NSF surveys, the NAEP, current textbooks, and other sources. Discusses previous and prospective viewpoints regarding goals of biology education, its curriculum, teachers, laboratory, and contemporary status. (CS) Aspect of National Assessment (NAEP) dealt with in this document: Results (Interpretation).

The ability of animals to gather information about their social and physical environment is essential for their ecological function. Odour cues are an important component of this information gathering across taxa. Recent laboratory studies have revealed the importance of flexible chemical cues in facilitating social recognition of fishes. These cues are known to be mediated by recent habitat experience and fishes are attracted to individuals that smell like themselves. However, to be relevant to wild populations, where animals may move and forage freely, these cues would have to be temporally flexible and allow spatial resolution. Here, we present data from a study of social recognition in wild populations of three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus). Focal fish preferentially associated with conspecifics from the same habitat as themselves. These preferences were changed and updated following translocation of the focal fish to a different site. Further investigation revealed that association preferences changed after 3h of exposure to different habitat cues. In addition to temporal flexibility, the cues also allowed a high degree of spatial resolution: fish taken from sites 200m apart produced cues that were sufficiently different to enable the focal fish to discriminate and associate with fish captured near their own home site. The adaptive benefits of this social recognition mechanism remain unclear, though they may allow fish to orient within their social environment and gain current local information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Familiarity is thought to stabilize dominance hierarchies and reduce aggressive interactions within groups of socially living animals. Though familiarity has been widely studied in shoaling fish, few studies have investigated changes in prey competition as a function of time spent together within groups of initially unfamiliar individuals. In this study, we created shoals of three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) and monitored changes in foraging rates and related competitive behaviors within shoals over a 4-week period in experimental series where prey was spatially and temporally concentrated or dispersed. Prey share was unequal under both prey distribution modes, and disparity in prey share was not seen to change as trials progressed. Interestingly, the contest rate for prey items fell over time when individuals were competing for dispersed prey but not when prey were concentrated. We found no evidence that fish showed association preferences for either group members that had consumed a greater or lesser proportion of prey during trials. Though the intensity of competition may be reduced by increased group stability in nature, this is likely to be strongly dependent on the way prey resources are distributed through space and time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social animals can observe others' behavior and in the process acquire information of varying quality about a given resource. Theoretical models predict that blind copying of others' behavior is more likely when individuals are only able to observe the decisions (here “social cues”) of others rather than the cues (here “public information”) on which such decisions are based. We investigated information use by nine-spined sticklebacks (Pungitius pungitius) in a two-patch foraging context. Social cues were provided by the number of demonstrator fish present at each patch (two versus six), which either conflicted with the demonstrators' observed feeding rate at each patch (public information) or was the only information available. Consistent with predictions, observers preferred the patch previously associated with six demonstrators when social cues were the only available source of information but preferred the patch previously associated with two demonstrators (“rich” patch) when also provided with public information. On the bases of these experiments, we argue that it is because these fish preferentially base decisions on public information rather than social cues that they can potentially avoid engaging in erroneous informational cascades. Thus, the availability of public information can help social animals make adaptive decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents studies concerning science in the secondary school. It further presents several studies and evaluation of the curriculum. With the possible exception of programs for testing and evaluation of the new curricular projects, research in secondary science continued to be fragmentary in concept and limited in duration. Researchers also conducted reviews of the methods and organization for teaching science in secondary school. These are: discovery versus verification, instruction by films, and grade placement of courses. Based on studies, there was no direct research on formation of scientific concepts or on ways in which a student learns science. Until a learning theory or methodological rationale emerges, the results of the studies of instructional methods will continue to be contradictory and fragmented.