From Prototypical Stimuli to Iconographic Stimuli: The Power of Images in the Study of Social Representations

When we are interested in the image of a social object, we are interested in what individuals have perceived about that object, the ways in which they have interpreted those perceptions, and what they think about that object. Fully agreeing with the idea that the use of iconographic stimuli can enhance the traditional methods and techniques that are used to study any social representation, in this article, two techniques will be presented. The first, the prototypical stimuli technique, was proposed in the second half of the 1980s by Galli and Nigro. The second technique, iconographic stimuli, creatively integrate images and words in a single tool, was designed more recently to study the social representation of culture by Galli, Fasanelli, and Schember. Researches here reviewed clearly shows that the image has the great power to attract to itself the very objects depicted, a power that the word often does not possess. It is images that make people reflect, help them to think about issues concerning the fundamental aspects of everyday life. The work here presented, carried out in first person by the writer, as well as by all the other authors who are concentrating their efforts in this direction, only represents a starting point of reflection. New and more articulated studies will be able to support with heuristic evidence what so far seems to be configured as a suggestive hypothesis, which in any case will require a wider and shared interdisciplinary effort.

African Swine Fever and Its Epidemiological Course in Lithuanian Wild Boar

African swine fever (ASF) has been present in Lithuania since 2014. It is mainly the wild boar population that is affected. Currently, little is known about the epidemiological course of ASF in Lithuania. In the present study, ASF surveillance data from 2016–2021 were analyzed. The numbers of samples taken from hunted wild boar and wild boar found dead per year and month were recorded and the prevalence was estimated for each study month and administrative unit. A Bayesian space–time model was used to calculate the temporal trend of the prevalence estimates. In addition, population data were analyzed on a yearly basis. Most samples were investigated in 2016 and 2017 and originated from hunted animals. Prevalence estimates of ASF virus-positive wild boar decreased from May 2019 onwards. Seroprevalence estimates showed a slight decrease at the same time, but they increased again at the end of the study period. A significant decrease in the population density was observed over time. The results of the study show that ASF is still present in the Lithuanian wild boar population. A joint interdisciplinary effort is needed to identify weaknesses in the control of ASF in Lithuania and to combat the disease more successfully.

Governing Net Zero Carbon Removals to Avoid Entrenching Inequities

Climate change embeds inequities and risks reinforcing these in policies for climate change remediation. In particular, with policies designed to achieve “net zero” carbon dioxide, offsets may be considered inequitable if seen to avoid or delay gross emission reductions; offsets to emissions through technologically mature methods of carbon dioxide removals (CDR) require natural resources at scales threatening food security; knowledge of the potential of immature CDR is largely a global north monopoly; and CDR in particular environments is ill-understood and its implications for development unexamined. The use of CDR to contribute to robust progress toward Paris climate goals requires global agreement on simultaneously reducing emissions and enhancing removals, equity in burden sharing, and an interdisciplinary effort led by individual jurisdictions and focused on the co-development of technologies and governance to create CDR portfolios matched to local needs.

Motherhood and Mother Nature: A Study of Myth and Magic through Amitav Ghosh’s and Wayétu Moore’s Selected Works

Contemporary thoughts in the fields of literature and science lead to an interdisciplinary effort to bring along the issues common to both disciplines involved. The post-colonial and post-modern era of literature see literature and society along and literary exponents stamp their responsibilities to take up the serious societal crises and bring the awareness arousing a socio-consciousness in the reading public. This paper tight spots magical realism as one of the experiential tools employed by authors, Amitav Gosh, an Indian writer and winner of the 54th Jnanpith award and Wayétu Moore, a Liberian-American author and entrepreneur, to discuss the contemporary issues such as immigration, climate change, enslavement, etc through the employment of myth and magic. Environmental Humanities is best explained with the advocacy of magic realism. Of all the important supernatural elements, (which is the formula of magic realism) presented in both of the selected novels, Gun Island (2019) and She Would Be King (2018), this paper in detail, deals with only two components that are common in both the texts. They are i) the omnipotent natural force, wind and ii) the most powerful and dangerous species, snake. Both of these components are presented as commanding aid of the two literary texts to progress towards the solution to the catastrophic environmental complications. Both novels employ characters bitten by poisonous snakes, attaining extraordinary powers and also one can witness the power of wind, as omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent natural force. This paper is comparison of collective unconsciousness of two authors and their artful works irrespective of their genders, age and geography.

Identifying Opportunities for Workflow Automation in Health Care: Lessons Learned from Other Industries

Background Workflow automation, which involves identifying sequences of tasks that can be streamlined by using technology and modern computing, offers opportunities to address the United States health care system's challenges with quality, safety, and efficiency. Other industries have successfully implemented workflow automation to address these concerns, and lessons learned from those experiences may inform its application in health care. Objective Our aim was to identify and synthesize (1) current approaches in workflow automation across industries, (2) opportunities for applying workflow automation in health care, and (3) considerations for designing and implementing workflow automation that may be relevant to health care. Methods We conducted a targeted review of peer-reviewed and gray literature on automation approaches. We identified relevant databases and terms to conduct the searches across sources and reviewed abstracts to identify 123 relevant articles across 11 disciplines. Results Workflow automation is used across industries such as finance, manufacturing, and travel to increase efficiency, productivity, and quality. We found automation ranged from low to full automation, and this variation was associated with task and technology characteristics. The level of automation is linked to how well a task is defined, whether a task is repetitive, the degree of human intervention and decision-making required, and the sophistication of available technology. We found that identifying automation goals and assessing whether those goals were reached was critical, and ongoing monitoring and improvement would help to ensure successful automation. Conclusion Use of workflow automation in other industries can inform automating health care workflows by considering the critical role of people, process, and technology in design, testing, implementation, use, and ongoing monitoring of automated workflows. Insights gained from other industries will inform an interdisciplinary effort by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to outline priorities for advancing health care workflow automation.

REJEITOS E REJEITADOS DA COMPANHIA NACIONAL DE ÁLCALIS: APONTAMENTOS PARA UM ESTUDO INTERDISCIPLINAR

O texto resulta de um esforço interdisciplinar destinado a criar uma linha de pesquisa em torno da implantação, funcionamento e falência da Cia. Nacional de Álcalis. A partir da chave rejeito/rejeitados pretende-se compreender fenômenos que se articularam a ponto de terem provocado transformações em todos os setores da vida de uma pequena localidade – Arraial do Cabo. Um passivo jurídico, político, econômico, social, identitário, hídrico, botânico, em suma, ambiental, resultante de uma política de Estado e que se oferece como lócus privilegiado a pesquisadores de diferentes áreas. A proposta aqui esboçada, tendo por base um grupo de docentes que atuam na localidade, apresenta as possibilidades de momento e um corpus em construção. Do estreitamento entre áreas que costumam dialogar pouco – como a geografia, a química, a ecologia, a psicologia social, entre outras – pode-se antever ganhos em forma de propostas de novas pesquisas e ações de extensão, cujos maiores beneficiários são os alunos do IFRJ e da própria comunidade cabista em geral.Palavras-chave: estudos interdisciplinares, Álcalis, pesquisa e extensão no IFRJ. COMPANY OF ÁLCALIS IN ARRAIAL DO CABO - BRAZIL: NOTES FOR AN INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDY Abstract: The text is the result of an interdisciplinary effort aimed at creating a line of research around the implantation, operation and bankruptcy of Cia. Nacional de Álcalis. It is intended to understand phenomena that have articulated themselves to the point of causing changes in all sectors of life in a small town - Arraial do Cabo. A legal, political, economic, social, identity, water, pedological, botanical liability, in short, environmental, resulting from a State policy and which offers itself as a privileged locus for researchers from different areas. The proposal outlined here, based on a group of teachers working in the locality, presents the possibilities of the moment and a corpus under construction. From the narrowing between areas that tend to have little dialogue - such as geography, chemistry, ecology, social psychology, among others - one can foresee gains in the form of proposals for new research and extension actions, whose main beneficiaries are students from the IFRJ and the Cabista community in general.Keywords: interdisciplinary studies, Álcalis, research and extension in the IFRJ. COMPANHIA NACIONAL DE ÁLCALIS, ARRAIAL DO CABO - BRAZIL: NOTAS PARA UN ESTUDIO INTERDISCIPLINARIO Resumen: El texto es fruto de un esfuerzo interdisciplinario encaminado a crear una línea de investigación en torno a la implantación, funcionamiento y quiebra de la Cia. Nacional de Álcalis. Se pretende comprender fenómenos que se han articulado hasta el punto de provocar transformaciones en todos los sectores de la vida en una pequeña localidad - Arraial do Cabo. Una responsabilidad jurídica, política, económica, social, identitaria, hídrica, pedológica, botánica, en definitiva, ambiental, fruto de una política de Estado y que se ofrece como un locus privilegiado para investigadores de diferentes áreas. La propuesta aquí esbozada, a partir de un grupo de docentes que laboran en la localidad, presenta las posibilidades del momento y un corpus en construcción. A partir del estrechamiento entre áreas que suelen tener poco diálogo -como geografía, química, ecología, psicología social, entre otras- se pueden vislumbrar ganancias en forma de propuestas de nuevas acciones de investigación y extensión, cuyos principales beneficiarios son los estudiantes de la IFRJ y la comunidad Cabista en general.Palabras clave: estudios interdisciplinarios, Álcalis, investigación y extensión en la IFRJ.

Individual-based models of cultural evolution. A step-by-step guide using R.

The field of cultural evolution has emerged in the last few decades as a thriving, interdisciplinary effort to understand cultural change and cultural diversity within an evolutionary framework and using evolutionary tools, concepts and methods. Given its roots in evolutionary biology, much of cultural evolution is grounded in, or inspired by, formal models. Yet many researchers interested in cultural evolution come from backgrounds that lack training in formal models, such as psychology, anthropology or archaeology.The aim of this book is to partly address this gap by showing readers how to create individual-based models (IBMs, also known as agent-based models, or ABMs) of cultural evolution. We provide example code written in the programming language R, which has been widely adopted in the scientific community. We will go from very simple models of the basic processes of cultural evolution, such as biased transmission and cultural mutation, to more advanced topics such as the evolution of social learning, demographic effects, and social network analysis. Where possible we recreate existing models in the literature, so that readers can better understand those existing models, and perhaps even extend them to address questions of their own interest.

Editorial

The publication timeline of the issues of volume 10 of Transfers has been informed by its own history and our now shared global history. Issue 10.1 commemorated the journal’s 10th anniversary and sought to take stock of the past, point to future avenues, and react to the immediate present. Issue 10.2/3 is a double issue that moves the journal further into a new era. It both reaffirm our commitment to interdisciplinarity, diversity, and cutting-edge theorization and remains faithful to our engagement to question accepted histories, especially in the case of infrastructures, these seemingly perennial elements of our lived environment. Editing this journal remains a collaborative and interdisciplinary effort. As such, this double issue presents a collection of research articles on aeromobility, human-elephant relations, LGBT refugees in Germany, and mobility justice in Australia, followed by a special section on railways in Europe and Asia. In both parts of this issue, the articles weave together acts of authoring and reading mobility, by challenging our understanding of our field’s accepted terms and concepts, developing their semantic richness, and asking of us to fully reflect on their meaning today.

Editorial

The publication timeline of the issues of volume 10 of Transfers has been informed by its own history and our now shared global history. Issue 10.1 commemorated the journal's 10th anniversary and sought to take stock of the past, point to future avenues, and react to the immediate present. Issue 10.2/3 is a double issue that moves the journal further into a new era. It both reaffirms our commitment to interdisciplinarity, diversity, and cutting-edge theorization and remains faithful to our engagement to question accepted histories, especially in the case of infrastructures, these seemingly perennial elements of our lived environment. Editing this journal remains a collaborative and interdisciplinary effort. As such, this double issue presents a collection of research articles on aeromobility, human-elephant relations, LGBT refugees in Germany, and mobility justice in Australia, followed by a special section on railways in Europe and Asia. In both parts of this issue, the articles weave together acts of authoring and reading mobility, by challenging our understanding of our field's accepted terms and concepts, developing their semantic richness, and asking of us to fully reflect on their meaning today.