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Agustâin Fernâandez : the metamorphosis of experience
\"At the time of his death in 2006, Agustin Fernandez ranked among Cuba's most outstanding artists. Defying simple categorization, today his work is most recognizable for its ambiguous and precariously balanced forms, erotic overtones, surreal juxtapositions, and metallic palette. In 1980 Brian de Palma's film \"Dressed to Kill\" famously included one of the artist's paintings, launching him into the public arena. This is the first comprehensive study of Fernandez's work, which has been exhibited and collected in major museums and private collections throughout Europe, the United States, and Latin America.\" --Publisher description.
Book
Observing many researchers using the same data and hypothesis reveals a hidden universe of uncertainty
This study explores how researchers’ analytical choices affect the reliability of scientific findings. Most discussions of reliability problems in science focus on systematic biases. We broaden the lens to emphasize the idiosyncrasy of conscious and unconscious decisions that researchers make during data analysis. We coordinated 161 researchers in 73 research teams and observed their research decisions as they used the same data to independently test the same prominent social science hypothesis: that greater immigration reduces support for social policies among the public. In this typical case of social science research, research teams reported both widely diverging numerical findings and substantive conclusions despite identical start conditions. Researchers’ expertise, prior beliefs, and expectations barely predict the wide variation in research outcomes. More than 95% of the total variance in numerical results remains unexplained even after qualitative coding of all identifiable decisions in each team’s workflow. This reveals a universe of uncertainty that remains hidden when considering a single study in isolation. The idiosyncratic nature of how researchers’ results and conclusions varied is a previously underappreciated explanation for why many scientific hypotheses remain contested. These results call for greater epistemic humility and clarity in reporting scientific findings.
Journal Article
Phenological sensitivity to climate across taxa and trophic levels
Differences in phenological responses to climate change among species can desynchronise ecological interactions and thereby threaten ecosystem function. To assess these threats, we must quantify the relative impact of climate change on species at different trophic levels. Here, we apply a Climate Sensitivity Profile approach to 10,003 terrestrial and aquatic phenological data sets, spatially matched to temperature and precipitation data, to quantify variation in climate sensitivity. The direction, magnitude and timing of climate sensitivity varied markedly among organisms within taxonomic and trophic groups. Despite this variability, we detected systematic variation in the direction and magnitude of phenological climate sensitivity. Secondary consumers showed consistently lower climate sensitivity than other groups. We used mid-century climate change projections to estimate that the timing of phenological events could change more for primary consumers than for species in other trophic levels (6.2 versus 2.5–2.9 days earlier on average), with substantial taxonomic variation (1.1–14.8 days earlier on average).
An ambitious study has used more than 10,000 datasets to examine how the phenological characteristics—such as the timing of reproduction—of various taxa alter in response to climate change, and suggests that differing levels of climate sensitivity could lead to the desynchronization of seasonal events over time.
The shifting biological seasons
Variations in the phenological responses of different species to climate change have fuelled concerns that key species interactions may desynchronize over time, with consequences for ecosystem functioning. Stephen Thackeray
et al
. examine the climate sensitivity of 812 terrestrial and aquatic taxa across the United Kingdom, using more than 10,000 phenological data sets spanning 1960 to 2012, together with temperature and precipitation data. There was a systematic difference in the magnitude and direction of phenological climate sensitivity across trophic levels, despite marked heterogeneity among organisms sharing taxonomic affinities and trophic position. In particular, secondary consumers showed lower levels of climate sensitivity than primary producers and consumers. The authors suggest that the differential sensitivity of phenology to climate across trophic levels could result in the desynchronization of seasonal events in the future.
Journal Article
CIO Reporting Structure, Strategic Positioning, and Firm Performance
Almost 30 years after the introduction of the CIO position, the ideal CIO reporting structure (whether the CIO should report to the CEO or the CFO) is yet to be identified. There is an intuitive assumption among some proponents of IT that the CIO should always report to the CEO to promote the importance of IT and the CIO's clout in the firm, while some adversaries of IT call for a CIO—CFO reporting structure to keep a tab on IT spending. However, we challenge these two ad hoc prescriptions by arguing that neither CIO reporting structure is necessarily optimal, and that the CIO reporting structure should not be used to gauge the strategic role of IT in the firm. First, extending the strategy—structure paradigm, we propose that a firm's strategic positioning (differentiation or cost leadership) should be a primary determinant of its CIO reporting structure. We hypothesize that differentiators are more likely to have their CIO report to the CEO in order to pursue IT initiatives that help the firm's differentiation strategy. We also hypothesize that cost leaders are more likely to have their CIO report to the CFO to lead IT initiatives to facilitate the firm's cost leadership strategy. Second, extending the alignment—fit view, we propose that firms that align their CIO reporting structure with their strategic positioning (specifically, differentiation with a CIO—CEO reporting structure and cost leadership with a CIO—CFO reporting structure) will have superior future performance. Longitudinal data from two periods (1990–1993 and 2006) support the proposed hypotheses, validating the relationship between a firm's strategic positioning and its CIO reporting structure, and also the positive impact of their alignment on firm performance. These results challenge the ad hoc prescriptions about the CIO reporting structure, demonstrating that a CIO—CEO reporting structure is only superior for differentiators and a CIO—CFO reporting structure is superior only for cost leaders. The CIO reporting structure must, therefore, be designed to align with the firm's strategic positioning, independent of whether IT plays a key strategic role in the firm.
Journal Article
A Prophetic Peace
Challenging deeply held convictions about Judaism, Zionism, war, and peace, Alick Isaacs's combat experience in the second Lebanon war provoked him to search for a way of reconciling the belligerence of religion with its messages of peace. In his insightful readings of the texts of Biblical prophecy and rabbinic law, Isaacs draws on the writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Jacques Derrida, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Martin Buber, among others, to propose an ambitious vision of religiously inspired peace. Rejecting the notion of Jewish theology as partial to war and vengeance, this eloquent and moving work points to the ways in which Judaism can be a path to peace. A Prophetic Peace describes an educational project called Talking Peace whose aim is to bring individuals of different views together to share varying understandings of peace.
eBook
Against reform
\"In Against Reform, John Pepall offers a stringent critique of proposed reforms to Canada's political institutions. Examining electoral reform, an elected or provincially appointed Senate and reduced terms for Senators, fixed election dates, recall, initiative, and parliamentary reform, including 'free votes' and parliamentary confirmation of appointments, Pepall contends that these reforms are ill-conceived and would be harmful.
Book
Predation risk is a function of alternative prey availability rather than predator abundance in a tropical savanna woodland ecosystem
Typically, factors influencing predation risk are viewed only from the perspective of predators or prey populations but few studies have examined predation risk in the context of a food web. We tested two competing hypotheses regarding predation: (1) predation risk is dependent on predator density; and (2) predation risk is dependent on the availability of alternative prey sources. We use an empirical, multi-level, tropical food web (birds–lizards–invertebrates) and a mensurative experiment (seasonal fluctuations in abundance and artificial lizards to estimate predation risk) to test these hypotheses. Birds were responsible for the majority of attacks on artificial lizards and were more abundant in the wet season. Artificial lizards were attacked more frequently in the dry than the wet season despite a greater abundance of birds in the wet season. Lizard and invertebrate (alternative prey) abundances showed opposing trends; lizards were more abundant in the dry while invertebrates were more abundant in the wet season. Predatory birds attacked fewer lizards when invertebrate prey abundance was highest, and switched to lizard prey when invertebrate abundance reduced, and lizard abundance was greatest. Our study suggests predation risk is not predator density-dependent, but rather dependent on the abundance of invertebrate prey, supporting the alternative prey hypothesis.
Journal Article