Abstract
Current challenges to the traditionally privileged position of law in both refugee policy and refugee studies invite scholars to consider carefully the approach we take to our craft. This ...article argues that refugee law scholarship is surrounded by thin walls, as researchers broker the ‘dual imperative’ to simultaneously advance knowledge and protection in a field heavily influenced by policy interests and networks of practitioners that actively take part in, and promote, scholarly production. These close links between the field and the policy world continue to shape research agendas, methodologies, and scholarly positions. This article draws from Bourdieusian field theory and legal sociology to offer a prism through which to look at the forces that influence refugee law research and to consider their implications for scholarship. It is argued that greater sensitivity to the underlying dynamics of our profession is essential, not only to ensure more inclusivity in the community of scholars and expand the current canon of refugee law, but ultimately to sustain claims to policy relevance.
The EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) was established to provide evidence-based policy advice to EU institutions and Member States. By blending social science research with traditional normative ...work, it aims to influence human rights policy processes through new ways of framing empirical realities. The contributors to this volume critically examine the experience of the Agency in its first decade, exploring FRA’s historical, political and legal foundations and its evolving record across major strands of EU fundamental rights. Central themes arising from these chapters include consideration of how the Agency manages the tension between a mandate to advise and the more traditional approach of human rights bodies to ‘monitor’, and how its research impacts the delicate equilibrium between these two contesting roles. FRA’s experience as the first ‘embedded’ human rights agency in transnational governance is also highlighted, suggesting a role for alternative and less oppositional orientations for human rights research. While authors observe the benefits of the technocratic approach to human rights research that is a hallmark of FRA’s evidence-based policy advice, they also note its constraints. FRA’s policy work requires a continued awareness of political realities in Brussels, Member States, and civil society. Consequently, the complex process of determining the Agency’s research agenda reflects the strategic priorities of key actors. This is an important factor in the Agency’s role in the EU human rights landscape. This pioneering position of the Agency should invite reflection on new forms of institutionalized human rights research for the future.
Although an understanding of mating systems is thought to be an important component of long-term population management, these life history characteristics are poorly known in sharks. Here, we employ ...polymorphic microsatellite markers to test for the occurrence and prevalence of multiple paternity in a population of the brown smoothhound shark,
Mustelus henlei
. We analyzed litters from 14 females sampled from the Pacific coast of Baja California Sur. The minimum number of sires ranged from one to three with an average of 2.3 sires per litter. Regression analyses did not indicate a relationship between female body size and number of sires, or female body size and size of the litter. A review of the existing literature on genetic mating systems in sharks suggests that polyandry may be common and that reproductive behavior may have evolved from conflicting selection pressures between the sexes.
The World Health Organization defines long COVID as "the continuation or development of new symptoms 3 months after the initial SARS-CoV-2 infection, with these symptoms lasting for at least 2 months ...with no other explanation." Estimations of approximately 50 million individuals suffer from long COVID, reporting low health-related quality of life. Patients develop ongoing persistent symptoms that continue for more than 12 weeks that are not explained by another alternative diagnosis. To date, no current therapeutics are effective in treating the underlying pathophysiology of long COVID.
A comprehensive literature search using PubMed and Google Scholar was conducted and all available articles from November 2021 to January 2024 containing keywords long covid and hyperbaric oxygen were reviewed. These published studies, including case series and randomized trials, demonstrate that utilizing Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBO) provided significant improvement in patients with long COVID.
A large cohort of patients suffer from long COVID or post-COVID-19 syndrome after recovery from their acute infection with no effective treatment options. HBO is a safe treatment and may provide benefit for this population and should continue to be researched for adjunctive treatment of long COVID.
Previous work on the harpacticoid copepod
Tigriopus californicus has focused on the extensive population differentiation in three mtDNA protein coding genes (
COXI, COXII, Cytb). In order to get a ...more complete understanding of mtDNA evolution in this species, we sequenced three complete mitochondrial genomes (one from each of three California populations) and compared them to two published mtDNA genomes from an Asian congener,
Tigriopus japonicus. Several features of the mtDNA genome appear to be conserved within the genus: 1) the unique order of the protein coding genes,
rRNA genes and most of the
tRNA genes, 2) the genome is compact, varying between 14.3 and 14.6 kb, and 3) all genes are encoded on the same strand of the mtDNA. Within
T. californicus, extremely high levels of nucleotide divergence (>
20%) are observed across much of the mitochondrial genome. Inferred amino acid sequences of the proteins encoded in the mtDNAs also show high levels of divergence; at the extreme, the three
ND3 variants in
T. californicus showed >
25% amino acid substitutions, compared with <
3% amino acid divergence at the previously studied
COXI locus. Unusual secondary structures make functional assignments of some tRNAs difficult. The only apparent
tRNA
trp
in these genomes completely overlaps the 5′ end of the
16S rRNA in all three
T. californicus mtDNAs. Although not previously noted, this feature is also conserved in
T. japonicus mtDNAs; whether this sequence is processed into a functional tRNA has not been determined. The putative control region contains a duplicated segment of different length (from 88 to 155 bp) in each of the
T. californicus sequences. In each case, the duplicated segments are not tandem repeats; despite their different lengths, the distance between the start of the first and the start of the second repeat is conserved (520 bp). The functional significance, if any, of this repeat structure remains unknown.
The genus Leuresthes displays reproductive behavior unique among marine fish in which mature adults synchronously emerge completely out of the water to spawn on beach land. A limited number of sandy ...beaches, which are suitable for these spawning events, are present in discontinuous locations along the geographic range of the species, potentially limiting gene flow and the degree of genetic homogeneity between intraspecific populations. Here, we tested for molecular genetic differentiation between 363 individuals, representing 3 populations of California grunion, Leuresthes tenuis, by employing 2 mitochondrial and 4 nuclear DNA markers. We include temporally diverse sampling to evaluate contemporary and temporal divergence, and we also analyze 28 individuals from one population of Gulf grunion (restricted to the Gulf of California), Leuresthes sardina, at the same markers to evaluate the molecular evidence for their separate species distinction. We find no significant differences between temporal samples, but small significant differences among all populations of L. tenuis, and unequivocal support for the separate species distinction of L. sardina. Genetic data suggest that the Monterey Bay population of L. tenuis near the species' most northern range likely represents a relatively recent colonization event from populations along the species' more traditional range south of Point Conception, California. We conclude that both the topographic features of the California and Baja California coastlines and the grunions' unique reproductive behavior have influenced the genetic structure of the populations.
Although individuals in many fish species move to shallow waters to spawn, the California grunion (Leuresthes tenuis) is almost unique in its constitutive display of synchronous full-emergence beach ...spawning. During a spawning event, fish ride large waves onshore to spawn on beach land, where their eggs incubate terrestrially. Here, we employ molecular markers to ascertain how this unusual reproductive behavior impacts genetic parentage. We developed and utilized four highly polymorphic microsatellite markers to assess maternal and paternal contributions in a total of 682 progeny from 17 nests of a natural population of L. tenuis. Alleles deduced to be of paternal origin in progeny were used to determine the minimum number of sires per nest and to estimate the true number of sires per nest via Bayesian analysis. We document the following: (a) no instances of multiple maternity for progeny within a nest; (b) a high frequency of nests (88%) with multiple paternity; and (c) an appreciable fraction of nests (18%) in which the estimated number of genetic sires (as many as nine) proved to be greater than the observed number of male attendants, thus implicating occasional extra-group fertilization events. From these and other observations, we also conclude that spawning behavior in grunions may involve site choice but not explicit mate choice. In addition to providing the first analysis of molecular parentage in a beach-spawning fish, we compare our findings to those reported previously for a beach-spawning arthropod, and we discuss the forces that may be maintaining this peculiar reproductive behavior.
It has been predicted that despite previous reductions, greenhouse gas emissions in Ireland will continue to increase above current levels for the next 20 years. The benefit of mobilising community ...level action in addressing climate change action has already been seen in many European countries. While Irish governmental policy envisions as necessary greater community involvement in energy projects and other efforts to reduce carbon emissions, little progress has been encouraging or supporting such action. Using the Q-method, this study examined and identified where commonalities exist in Irish communities that have successfully implemented sustainable development goals, in terms of their motivation, attitudes, perceived barriers and opportunities for continued action. Results indicate that participants’ main motivations are derived from a sense of responsibility to future generations and the need to live more balanced lifestyles. Results further suggest that short-term central government strategy, poor support, bureaucracy, and a lack of collaboration are seen as key limitations in developing and achieving effective community level sustainability action. This study contributes in understanding how climate change policy can be aligned to the preferred future vision of communities in bringing about effective change in transitioning to a low-carbon society.
•Role of voluntary community action in low-carbon transition is discussed.•Motivational factors of communities is analysed and discussed.•The effect of short-term political cycles on transformation efforts is discussed.•The necessity for top-down, bottom-up partnership and responses to climate change efforts is discussed.
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