Central European History in the Age of COVID-19

As COVID-19 began to spread across the globe in early 2020, few could have envisaged that it would so profoundly affect our personal and professional lives. In-class teaching soon had to be either replaced with online teaching or could only be carried out with great risk to staff and students. Working from home and a constant stream of video conferences became the norm instead of informal chats on departmental corridors. As if all of this were not bad enough, positions for junior academics, already scarce in the wake of the general financial crisis and the rise of the neoliberal university, were cut. Travel funding was slashed by many universities, and most countries closed their borders. Libraries were closed or could only be accessed with considerable difficulty. Archives were shut or, if they reopened, operated long waiting lists. In situ research, essential for historians of central Europe, became difficult, if not impossible.

Another elderly lady to be knocked down: Heritage discourse and the protest to save the Missions to Seamen building, 1986

<p>Through a specific historical case study, Another Elderly Lady to be Knocked Down applies discourse theory and the Authorised Heritage Discourse (AHD) to the context of urban built heritage in Aotearoa New Zealand. Previously, only limited work had been done in this area. By examining an underexplored event this dissertation fills two gaps in present literature: the history of the event itself and identification of the heritage discourses in the country at the time. Examination of these discourses in context also allows conclusions about the use of the AHD in similar studies to be critically examined. In 1986 the Missions to Seamen building in Wellington, New Zealand, was threatened with demolition by its government owners. In a remarkable display of popular sentiment, individuals, organisations, the Wellington City Council (WCC) and the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (NZHPT) worked together to oppose this unpopular decision. This protest was a seminal event in the history of heritage in New Zealand. This study relies upon documentary sources, especially the archival records of the Historic Places Trust and the State Services Commission, who owned the building, to provide the history of this watershed moment in New Zealand’s preservation movement. The prevalent attitudes of different groups in Wellington are examined through the letters of protest they wrote at the time. When analysed in context, these discourses reveal the ways in which heritage was articulated and constructed. The course of this dissertation has revealed the difficulty of identifying an AHD in this context. The level of collaboration between ‘official’ and ‘unofficial’ heritage perspectives, and the extent to which they shaped each other’s language, creates considerable difficulty in distinguishing between discreet discourses. To better explore the ways that heritage meaning is constructed and articulated, heritage must be recognised as a complex dynamic process.</p>

Another elderly lady to be knocked down: Heritage discourse and the protest to save the Missions to Seamen building, 1986

<p>Through a specific historical case study, Another Elderly Lady to be Knocked Down applies discourse theory and the Authorised Heritage Discourse (AHD) to the context of urban built heritage in Aotearoa New Zealand. Previously, only limited work had been done in this area. By examining an underexplored event this dissertation fills two gaps in present literature: the history of the event itself and identification of the heritage discourses in the country at the time. Examination of these discourses in context also allows conclusions about the use of the AHD in similar studies to be critically examined. In 1986 the Missions to Seamen building in Wellington, New Zealand, was threatened with demolition by its government owners. In a remarkable display of popular sentiment, individuals, organisations, the Wellington City Council (WCC) and the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (NZHPT) worked together to oppose this unpopular decision. This protest was a seminal event in the history of heritage in New Zealand. This study relies upon documentary sources, especially the archival records of the Historic Places Trust and the State Services Commission, who owned the building, to provide the history of this watershed moment in New Zealand’s preservation movement. The prevalent attitudes of different groups in Wellington are examined through the letters of protest they wrote at the time. When analysed in context, these discourses reveal the ways in which heritage was articulated and constructed. The course of this dissertation has revealed the difficulty of identifying an AHD in this context. The level of collaboration between ‘official’ and ‘unofficial’ heritage perspectives, and the extent to which they shaped each other’s language, creates considerable difficulty in distinguishing between discreet discourses. To better explore the ways that heritage meaning is constructed and articulated, heritage must be recognised as a complex dynamic process.</p>

Feature Matching Does Not Equal Convergence: Acquisition of L2 French Accusative Pronouns by L1 Spanish Speakers

Our study aims to determine whether formal similarity between two languages (operationalized via the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis) allows adult L2 learners of French (Spanish native speakers; NSs) to straightforwardly acquire third-person singular accusative clitics in their L2. Additionally, we examined the role of surface similarity, since French and Spanish overlap and diverge in several ways. In terms of formal similarity, third-person accusative clitic pronouns in Spanish are almost perfect analogues of their French counterparts. In terms of surface similarity, however, while the feminine accusative pronouns are identical (“la” [la]), the masculine ones differ in Spanish (“lo” [lo]) and French (“le” [lǝ]). Participants included French NSs (n = 26) and Spanish-speaking L2 French learners (n = 36). Results from an offline forced-choice picture selection task and an online self-paced reading task did not support the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis because learners showed considerable difficulty with the interpretation and processing of these pronouns, revealing that, unlike French NSs, their interpretations and processing are guided by the feature [±Human] and, to a lesser degree, by gender, which might be due to the surface-level similarity between feminine accusative clitic pronouns in both languages.

The Grids Python Tool for Querying Spatiotemporal Multidimensional Water Data

Scientific datasets from global-scale earth science models and remote sensing instruments are becoming available at greater spatial and temporal resolutions with shorter lag times. Water data are frequently stored as multidimensional arrays, also called gridded or raster data, and span two or three spatial dimensions, the time dimension, and other dimensions which vary by the specific dataset. Water engineers and scientists need these data as inputs for models and generate data in these formats as results. A myriad of file formats and organizational conventions exist for storing these array datasets. The variety does not make the data unusable but does add considerable difficulty in using them because the structure can vary. These storage formats are largely incompatible with common geographic information system (GIS) software. This introduces additional complexity in extracting values, analyzing results, and otherwise working with multidimensional data since they are often spatial data. We present a Python package which provides a central interface for efficient access to multidimensional water data regardless of the file format. This research builds on and unifies existing file formats and software rather than suggesting entirely new alternatives. We present a summary of the code design and validate the results using common water-related datasets and software.

Comparison of the Treatment Effectiveness between Labial and Lingual Fixed Mechanotherapy and Patients’ Response toward Lingual Fixed Mechanotherapy: A Prospective Clinical Study

Objective: The present study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment outcome using American Board of Orthodontics (ABO) scoring and total treatment time between labial and lingual appliance and also to assess patients’ perception of the lingual appliance system. Materials and Methods: Twenty patients requiring first premolar extraction were selected; 10 patients were treated with a lingual and 10 with a labial appliance. The treatment duration and ABO scores were recorded from the posttreatment dental casts and orthopantomogram (OPG). A questionnaire was used to evaluate the perception of patients on lingual treatment using a visual analogue scale (VAS). Results: The total ABO scores of the 2 groups were not statistically significant. The lingual- and labial-appliance treatments were completed in 19.30 ± 7.50 and 22.40 ± 6.35 months, respectively. The VAS showed that lingual-appliance patients experienced a moderate amount of pain and discomfort to the tongue and soft tissues. Patients did not have considerable difficulty with speech and in maintaining oral hygiene. Conclusion: Lingual appliance cases finished with a comparable quality of orthodontic treatment precision well within the normal treatment time frame. These patients had moderate difficulties with speech, tongue irritation, and pain. They did not have difficulty in maintaining their oral hygiene and were satisfied with their smile and treatment outcome.

The role of body water in the etiology of chronic non-communicable diseases (literature review)

Non-communicable diseases have become the leading cause of death worldwide, the origin of which remains unclear. At the same time, in the methodology of hygienic diagnostics and socio-hygienic monitoring, the search for good indicators testifying to the influence of environmental factors on human health is of considerable difficulty. 85-90% of management errors are recognized due to the unreasonable choice of these indicators. The continued growth of non-infectious morbidity in the Russian population indicates the inefficiency of the existing system of socio-hygienic (epidemiological) monitoring and, in general, the state of hygiene as human health science. To obtain reliable monitoring data, it is necessary to introduce a systematic homeostatic indicator that reflects changes in human health, regardless of the nature and origin of external factors, including vital and social factors. In this regard, the goals of this review were to analyze the systemic homeostatic action of the body’s associated water phase and the mechanisms of its electronic exchange interaction with the environment in a relationship that reflects the root causes of metabolic disorders in cellular structures and the subsequent occurrence of chronic non-infectious human diseases. According to quantum notions, an organism is a macroscopic quantum system, each organ and each cell of which is in electronic interaction with each other and with similar structures in the environment. It is precise because of non local connections that health and diseases are significantly dependent on the electrophysical state of the environment. A systemic indicator that reflects the effectiveness of electronic metabolic processes and human health is the proportion of the associated water phase in the body and the associated intensity of electromagnetic emission in the low-frequency and high-frequency spectral regions. In pathological conditions of organs (disease), adaptation is disrupted, which from a physical perspective is regarded as a “gap” in quantum correlation with external sources of electrons. During this process, a sharp decrease in the proportion of the associated water phase occurs, accompanied by the release of excess heat and metabolic shifts. Electron-deficient environmental conditions require the early introduction of measures to counteract dangerous trends in the nation health and the social and hygienic monitoring methodological aspects revision, which can have a significant impact on the “water factor,” through which realized one of the main ways of electron-deficient states the body compensation is implemented.

Audit of appropriate consideration of anti-craving medication following alcohol detoxification in a north east addictions service

AimsNICE guidelines recommend that all patients who undergo a successful alcohol detoxification programme should be considered for treatment with acamprosate or oral naltrexone. This audit studied the proportion of patients considered for acamprosate or naltrexone treatment in a North-East Addictions Service. Primary aimTo explore whether naltrexone/acamprosate had been considered for each patient completing alcohol detoxification.Secondary aims what proportion of those offered agreed to be prescribed acamprosate/naltrexonewhether these patients were being adequately followed up in terms of prescriptionBackgroundThere is a significant evidence base for both naltrexone and acamprosate in the maintenance of abstinence in patients with alcohol addiction. NICE recommends the consideration of both medications for patients following successful alcohol detoxification from alcohol. The addictions service at Plummer Court in Newcastle upon Tyne has a comprehensive pathway for alcohol detoxification patients, which involves multiple reviews by keyworkers and medics. The attendance at these appointments is often poor, and it is often unclear whether these patients have been offered anti-craving medication.MethodA list of patients referred for inpatient or outpatient alcohol detoxification between June to August 2018 (n = 23) was curated. The progress notes were reviewed for any evidence that there had been clinical consideration of acamprosate/naltrexone. If evidence was found that the discussion had taken place, the notes were further scrutinised to assess if the client had accepted a prescription. The clinical documentation was further reviewed to see if follow-up for anti-craving medication was in place.ResultThere was evidence that anti-craving medication had been considered in 47% of patients during the treatment processIn all but one case, acamprosate was offered rather than naltrexoneIn cases where medication was offered, it was accepted in all but one caseAnti-craving medication was universally well toleratedThere was considerable difficulty with assessing who was following up the prescription. On scrutiny of the notes, several GPs had contacted addictions services stating that they would not prescribe acamprosate because of local policy prohibiting its prescription from Primary Care (this policy is in fact no longer current)ConclusionPractice changed to offer patients monthly follow-up with addictions services for six monthsTemplate letter sent out to GPs with discharge from addictions requesting acamprosate prescription, outlining current policy and offering support if GPs not comfortableAudit presented to medical team. Treatment pathway amended to specify medical team's role in offering anti-craving medication at initial appointmentRe-audit in six months

Environmental problems and Geographic education. A case study: Learning about the climate and landscape in Ontinyent (Spain)

Cultural perceptions of the environment bring us back to elements and factors guided by “natural” cause-effect principles. It seems that academic education has had little effect on the manner and results of learning about changes in the local landscape, especially as regards rational explanations. There is considerable difficulty relating academic concepts about the climate to transformations in the environmental landscape. Teaching tasks are mediatized due to the use of rigorous and precise concepts which facilitate functional and satisfactory learning. This is the objective of the research this article aims to undertake, for which we have chosen the case of Ontinyent (Spain). This research will include two parts: the first aims to identify problems in geographical education of the climate, and the second applies to didactic suggestions for improvement. Methodologically, this study involves qualitative, non-experimental, research-oriented toward change, which purports to understand the educational reality. Our sample included a total of 431 students. Moreover, a semi-structured interview, conducted with teachers in schools and universities in Ontinyent, was organized. Fourteen teachers were interviewed, including two who participated as research professors in the action-research method. The study revealed that students’ conceptual and stereotypical errors, in the different educational stages, vary according to the type (climate, weather, climate change, landscape) and stage (Primary, Secondary, University). They are persistent and continuous, given that they are repeated and appear anchored in the ideas and knowledge development of students regarding the problems and the study of the climate throughout their education.

“Red-Green” or “Brown-Green” Dichromats? The Accuracy of Dichromat Basic Color Terms Metacognition Supports Denomination Change

Two experiments compared “Red-Green” (R-G) dichromats’ empirical and metacognized capacities to discriminate basic color categories (BCCs) and to use the corresponding basic color terms (BCTs). A first experiment used a 102-related-colors set for a pointing task to identify all the stimuli that could be named with each BCT by each R-G dichromat type (8 protanopes and 9 deuteranopes). In a second experiment, a group of R-G dichromats (15 protanopes and 16 deuteranopes) estimated their difficulty discriminating BCCs-BCTs in a verbal task. The strong coincidences between the results derived from the pointing and the verbal tasks indicated that R-G dichromats have very accurate metacognition about their capacities (they only had considerable difficulty discriminating 13 out of the total of 55 possible BCT pairs) and limitations (Brown-Green and Blue-Purple pairs were rated especially difficult to differentiate) in the use of BCTs. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) solutions derived from both tasks were very similar: BCTs in R-G dichromats were properly represented in 2D MDS solutions that clearly show one chromatic dimension and one achromatic dimension. Important concordances were found between protanopes and deuteranopes. None of these dichromats showed substantial difficulty discriminating the Red-Green pair. So, to name them “R-G” dichromats is misleading considering their empirical capacities and their metacognition. Further reasons to propose the use of the alternative denomination “Brown-Green” dichromats are also discussed. We found some relevant differences between the “Brown-Green” dichromats’ empirical and self-reported difficulties using BCTs. Their metacognition can be considered a “caricature” of their practical difficulties. This caricature omits some difficulties including their problems differentiating “white” and “black” from other BCTs, while they overestimate their limitations in differentiating the most difficult pairs (Brown-Green and Blue-Purple). Individual differences scaling (INDSCAL) analyses indicated that the metacognition regarding the use of BCTs in “Brown-Green” dichromats, especially deuteranopes, is driven slightly more by the chromatic dimension and driven slightly less by the achromatic dimension, than their practical use of BCTs. We discuss the relevance of our results in the framework of the debate between the linguistic relativity hypothesis (LRH) and the universal evolution (UE) theories.