Nature

The authors of this edition propose a novel and inspiring research approach to the subject of plants, which – being a form of life that is different, yet akin to us – is a constant source of nourishment and metaphors, decoration and obsessions. The articles included in this thematic block on plants enter into lively ongoing debates on genetics, feminism, ecology and plant ontology. They are excellent examples of the fact that in Polish philosophical and cultural reflection there was an understanding very early on of the challenges that posthumanism poses to our anthropocentric intellectual habits. Foreign readers will recognize in these Polish reflections a bold willingness to ask ethical and aesthetic questions of great relevance to the modern world that go far beyond the safe, though most likely imagined, limits of what it is to be human.

This report summarizes the results of a two-year study of the economic value of New Jersey's natural capital. Natural capital consists of those components of the natural environment that provide aa long-term stream of benefits to individual people and to society as a whole; the value of natural capital is defined in this report as the present value of that benefit stream. Many of the benefits provided by natural capital come from ecological systems ("ecosystems"); an ecosystem is a dynamic complex of plant, animal, and microorganism communities and their nonliving environment, all interacting as a functional unit.

This work based action enquiry employs a case study method to explore if Forest School can put into practice the UK Early Years Foundation Stage Themes and Principles through supporting well being, learning and development of young children. Leuven involvement and well being levels were used, triangulated with observational evidence. Well being and involvement levels for all ten children were found to be significantly higher at Forest School compared to levels documented in school. Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) scores further indicated very significantly improved mental health scores for nine of the ten children between the start and finish of the project. This case study has contributed significantly to the development of further Forest School provision in the region and is being used as a case study for the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) through the Early Years National Strategies team and Narrowing the Gap

Creativity in adults is highly valued in our society. Personal creativity contributes to inventiveness, innovation, social and cultural change as well as political development and economic progression. The creator is an innovator, a problem solver, an entrepreneur, an artist. Creative people have rapid and effective responses that help them to achieve their life goals and allow them to enjoy the journey. Creativity is both a skill set and a unique and individual character structure that is developed throughout childhood and fine-tuned in adolescence and adulthood. Education has a key role to play in its development. Positive creativity inspiring experiences at every stage of the educational journey are needed. This is especially true in early childhood. Educators who rise to the creativity challenge will be well rewarded in rich teaching experiences and the joy of seeing children reach their creative potential in supportive and integrated learning communities.

This paper asks what should be demanded from urban open space in the 21st century. It explores the social and spatial implications of new lifestyles, values, attitudes to nature and sustainability, and the models for future city life and the patterns of urban open space that might accommodate these. One vital role that urban parks play is providing space for the expression of diversity, both personal and cultural; this raises issues of democratic provision for and access to public open space. It suggests, inter alia, that the role of the urban street as public space may need to be re-thought. The social and cultural values of open space include attitudes towards nature and the desire for contact with it; contemporary understandings of ecology offer new insights into ways to serve both human needs and the broader ecological framework of urban open space structures. It has been suggested that the urbanity of public open space is threatened by the increase in 'virtual' transactions, obviating the need for real, social interaction, but there is also evidence that use of new communications technology can increase and enhance use of public open space; this may include engagement in the productive aspect of our landscape. A more flexible approach to open space definition and usage is proposed, recognising 'loose-fit' landscapes which allow opportunities for the socially marginalised and the ecologically shifting within a dynamic framework of urban structures and networks.

Embodiment or embodied awareness is a way of understanding the body. The body is not simply the external body, the body is the lived body. Both the 10 th century Kashmir philosopher Abhinavagupta and the contemporary French phenomenologist Merleau Ponty have a similar view of the lived body, or better 'lived' embodiment. A person may have a most beautiful external objective body but minimally lived in. Embodiment allows us to understand and conceive of the body as a way of living, experiencing and of perceiving through the medium of our embodiment. The body is the medium of the field. A person perceives not simply through eyes and ears alone, but through the whole body. Our body is an instrument of perception. Our body is an instrument of knowingness. The embodiment of awareness is the lived embodying of primordial awareness that liberates our being in the world. The embodiment of awakened awareness pulsates in resonance with and within Being itself.

Symmetry is believed to be a hallmark of appealing faces. However, this does not imply that the most aesthetically pleasing proportions are necessary those that arise from the simple division of the face into thirds or fifths. Based on the etymology of the word symmetry, as well as on specific examples and theories of beauty, we conclude that φ-value, a ratio also known as the golden ratio or the divine proportion, can also characterize symmetrical forms. Therefore, we propose the utilization of this ratio in facial aesthetics.

This is my doctoral dissertation, written in 2005. My book, Becoming Gold (2018), is an updated and expanded work that is based on this earlier research. The two works are not equivalent, so if you're using this for academic research purposes, you'll want to engage with my book instead of the dissertation.

Anthropocentrism, which includes assumptions like 'man has the right to dominion over the earth', 'humans are superior to animals', reality is divided into a de-spiriting animate/inanimate binary, etc., can clearly be attributed to the supremacist ontology of A.D. Worldview(s). As ) took care to note, power is not just exerted by what is said but by what is therefore not said, by what is necessarily rendered as untrue by a given regime of truth. What truth exists beyond the chains of Anthropocentrism?

Prof. Hassan Fathy was a noted Egyptian architect who pioneered appropriate technologies for buildings in Egypt. He worked to reestablish the use of traditional building methods and materials. He primarily applied a working knowledge of ancient architectural and town design techniques within the contemporary economic situation of rural Egypt. At times, he trained local inhabitants to make their own materials and build their own buildings. Climatic conditions, public health considerations, and ancient craft skills shaped his design vocabulary. Based on requirements of hot arid regions, Prof. Fathy incorporated elaborate passive environmental control techniques that met physical, cultural and economical challenges.

Throughout history, the Druids have always been seen as sorcerers who had a strong bond with nature. Ancestral knowledge holders within Celtic society, directed all religious activity as the highest authority linked to the gods, practiced human sacrifices and festivals organized as Imbolc, Beltaine, Lugnasad or Samain, etc.. all aspects of which are discussed in this article.

"Brower explores the way philosophers were inspired by entomological social systems and communication to reflect on human psyche, social behavior, community organization, communication, and inter-individual relationships. His essay rehearses the swarms of insects embedded in contemporary philosophy and literary theory, not only showing how many of the major concepts (or philosophemes) in continental philosophy – sexuality, politics, thinking, time, interdependence, and language – draw lessons from the world of insects, but also illustrating again how the insect world spurred human reflection."

Significant changes in physical and biological systems are occurring on all continents and in most oceans, with a concentration of available data in Europe and North America. Most of these changes are in the direction expected with warming temperature. Here we show that these changes in natural systems since at least 1970 are occurring in regions of observed temperature increases, and that these temperature increases at continental scales cannot be explained by natural climate variations alone. Given the conclusions from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report that most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-twentieth century is very likely to be due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations, and furthermore that it is likely that there has been significant anthropogenic warming over the past 50 years averaged over each continent except Antarctica, we conclude that anthropogenic climate change is having a significant impact on physical and biological systems globally and in some continents.

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers 99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of 1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The nearcomplete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead.

In order to activate ecological awareness fully, we must drop the concept Nature, which I capi- talize in order to emphasize how it is not “natural,” but rather an artificial construct. Nature is nowhere given to me in my phenomenal experience. I see rabbits, I see thunderstorms, I hear the mewing of cats. But I fail to see or otherwise sense Nature. Perhaps then Nature is the totality of a certain set of things. I go about constructing this set: birds, fish, mammals ... Yet by defini- tion the set always excludes something. Let us add nonliving forms such as iron deposits and chalkhills, which are made of lifeforms - as are most of the top levels of Earth’s crust. This set excludes what lies below the crust and, say, the electromagnetic shield around Earth that protects it from solar rays, and so enables life to evolve. So let us now include nonlife in our set. I must then include the Sun, without which the chemical soup could not have developed into strands of complex proteins. And there is no way to stop the inclusion arbitrarily at the Solar System, since comets containing organic chemicals and the sheer fact that stars are made of all kinds of other materials prevents the set from being closed. Yet once Nature covers absolutely everything, it also includes spoons, computer software and traffic cones.

The Future of Conservation survey, launched in March 2017, has proposed a framework to help with interpreting the array of ethical stances underpinning the motivations for biological conservation. In this article we highlight what is missing in this debate to date. Our overall aim is to explore what an acceptance of ecocentric ethics would mean for how conservation is practised and how its policies are developed. We start by discussing the shortcomings of the survey and present a more convincing and accurate categorization of the conservation debate. Conceiving the future of conservation as nothing less than an attempt to preserve abundant life on earth, we illustrate the strategic and ethical advantage of ecocentric over anthropocentric approaches to conservation. After examining key areas of the current debate we endorse and defend the Nature Needs Half and bio-proportionality proposals. These proposals show how the acceptance of an ecocentric framework would aid both practices and policies aimed at promoting successful conservation. We conclude that these proposals bring a radically different and more effective approach to conservation than anthropocentric approaches, even though the latter purport to be pragmatic.

We are currently facing myriad socio-ecological crises, from global climate change to resource depletion to the loss of dozens of species every day. Despite a longstanding and impassioned environmental movement, these problems persist and are worsening. The extent and degree of human-induced change on the planet is significant enough to have placed us in a new geological age: the Anthropocene. Three perspectives are engaged as a way to understand this new era and address our fractured human-nature relationship: (1) political ecology, (2) the ecological humanities, and (3) the informal economy. An exploration of intersecting themes leads to the start of a new theoretical contribution, which manifests at the convergence of theories: a "whole-of-community" approach. This whole-of-community approach is one that is concerned with both inter-human and interspecies relationships to move us towards communities that are place-based, integrated, participatory, and grounded in eco-social justice and equity. Pollinating bees are used as an illustrative example of how to achieve this vision. Bees can be both a bridge and gateway. As a bridge, they can provide a way of (re)connecting human and nonhuman nature and as a gateway, they can guide humans to a deeper understanding and connection with urban natures. Reconciling humans with the rest of the biotic community through place-based initiatives is possible by fundamentally and radically expanding our current framing of the concept of community.

Here we report that increased pup licking and grooming (LG) and arched-back nursing (ABN) by rat mothers altered the offspring epigenome at a glucocorticoid receptor (GR) gene promoter in the hippocampus. Offspring of mothers that showed high levels of LG and ABN were found to have differences in DNA methylation, as compared to offspring of 'low-LG-ABN' mothers. These differences emerged over the first week of life, were reversed with cross-fostering, persisted into adulthood and were associated with altered histone acetylation and transcription factor (NGFI-A) binding to the GR promoter. Central infusion of a histone deacetylase inhibitor removed the group differences in histone acetylation, DNA methylation, NGFI-A binding, GR expression and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) responses to stress, suggesting a causal relation among epigenomic state, GR expression and the maternal effect on stress responses in the offspring. Thus we show that an epigenomic state of a gene can be established through behavioral programming, and it is potentially reversible.

The recent shift towards the interdisciplinary study of the human-environment relationship is largely driven by environmental justice debates. This article will distinguish four types of environmental justice and link them to questions of neoliberalism and altruism. First, environmental justice seeks to redress inequitable distribution of environmental burdens to vulnerable groups and economically disadvantaged populations. Second, environmental justice highlights the developed and developing countries’ unequal exposure to environmental risks and benefits.
Third, temporal environmental justice refers to the issues associated with intergenerational justice or concern for future generations of humans. In all three cases, environmental justice entails equitable distribution of burdens and benefits to different nations or social groups. By contrast, ecological justice involves biospheric egalitarianism or justice between species. This article will focus on ecological justice since the rights of non-human species lags behind social justice debates and discuss the implications of including biospheric egalitarianism in environmental justice debates.

This dissertation aims to identify the opportunities and constraints for the implementation of biophilic design patterns and assess its need/importance in UK landscape architecture.

This dissertation has utilized various sources, including peer reviewed academic journal articles, recent publications, online
sources and personal communications with leading experts in the field of biophilic design, including William Browning, Catie Ryan, Timothy Beatley, Gayle Souter-Brown, Stephen Kellert, Val Kirby and Nick Grayson.

The methodology of this dissertation has included a literature review, professional work experience with Terrapin Bright Green (a company specialising in biophilic design in the built environment), interviews with professional UK landscape architects and biophilic design experts, two online surveys of UK based landscape architects and an educational workshop on biophilic design for UK based landscape architects.

The main findings of this dissertation have been: a knowledge deficit exists among UK landscape architects on biophilic design; no direct references to biophilic design exist in either local or national planning policy and; clients do not envision biophilic design as being important or necessary in their developments.

It is the recommendation of this dissertation to: incorporate biophilic design into landscape architecture university curricula; establish biophilic design CPD events; produce individual guidance documents for each project type on biophilic design; incentivise developers to incorporate biophilic design in their projects to increase acceptance and awareness; incorporate biophilic design into local and national planning policy and; found a national, multi disciplinary professional body for biophilic design in the UK, to oversee and help implement these recommendations.

For know the controversial history of the Druids in the Celtic world, will investigate the sources of its origin, through stories of classic texts and medieval legends of Gaul, Britain and Ireland. His role in Celtic society surpassed the religious sphere, covering war, politics, medicine and the law. Almost unknown is the participation of women in this institution.

Godfrey Reggio’s non-verbal film Koyaanisqatsi is a pioneer both of the emergent environmental film genre, and of certain tropes of visual narrative that have come to dominate popular culture. This essay argues that the film articulates a critique of the inability of “anti-natural man” to distinguish between the “natural” and the “artificial.” My close reading of the film has four broad claims or theses: 1) In contrast to descriptions of Koyaanisqatsi as a “non-narrative film,” I argue that it has a non-logocentric narrative structure, which is laid out through an analysis of patterns of repetition of visual tropes; 2) Koyaanisqatsi revisions the human-nature relationship; its critique of modernity-as-machine makes gestures towards, or prefigures, ecocriticism; 3) The film has a quasi-religious discourse meant to unveil the “narrative potential” of nature, and the human-nature relationship (hence Reggio’s claims about a “better narrative” which “can go directly into…the soul of the viewer”); 4) The avant-garde techniques pioneered by Koyaanisqatsi are a cornerstone of environmental film, and an important moment in the “visual turn,” which challenges traditional notions of reading and literacy.

Introduction. Debate continues on whether or not male homosexuality (MH) is a result of biological or cultural factors. The debate persists despite the fact that these two sides have different abilities to create a scientific environment to support their cause. Biological theorists produced evidence, however, that these are not always robust. On the other hand, social theorists, without direct evidence confirming their positions, criticize, with good argument, methods and results of the other side. The aim of this Controversy is to understand the reasons of both perspectives. Methods. Two scientists (R.B. and A.C.C.) with expertise in the area of biology of MH were asked to contribute their opinions. The nurture position is discussed by a third expert in sexology (J.B.). Main Outcome Measure. Expert opinion supported by the critical review of the currently available literature. Result. The role of the Controversy's editor (E.A.J.) is to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of both sides. The two experts of the biological issue answer with their data to the questions: "Is male homosexuality partly explainable by immunology?" and "How is male homosexuality a Darwinian paradox?", respectively. Genetic and immunological factors, birth order, and fertility of relatives are largely discussed. Finally, the expert sustaining the idea that culture and experiences are important determining factors in sexual orientation used a psychosocial and holistic perspective to explain his position. Conclusions. The JSM's readers should recognize that there are several biological factors in MH. However, these findings do not seem to be able to explain all cases of homosexuality. Some others may be due to particular environmental factors. The issue is complicated and multifactorial, suggesting that further research should be undertaken to produce the final answer to the question raised in this Controversy section. Jannini EA, Blanchard R, Camperio-Ciani A, and Bancroft J. Male homosexuality: Nature or culture? J Sex Med 2010;7:3245-3253.

Aristotle's definition of nature as a cause and principle of motion has been widely accepted by subsequent philosophers throughout the centuries despite the fact that it does not clearly state what kind of cause nature is or whether nature is involved in the production of motion as an active or a passive principle. John Philoponus availed himself of Aristotle's indefiniteness and developed nature into an active principle, which permeates and governs all objects within the natural world. His definition was equally successful as an emendation of Aristotle's original definition. Nature taken as an active principle was conceived as something similar to soul and was embedded into a larger framework of Neoplatonic cosmology until it was met with disapproval by Avicenna, who intended to dispel the idea of aligning soul with nature in order to provide his own novel definition of nature as part of a universal classification of natural powers.

Pendidikan merupakan suatu kegiatan yang bersifat umum bagi setiap manusia dimuka bumi ini. Pendidikan tidak terlepas dari segala kegiatan manusia. Dalam kondisi apapun manusia tidak dapat menolak efek dari penerapan pendidikan. Proses belajar mengajar tentu menjadi kegiatan yang inti dalam keseluruhan proses pendidikan di sekolah. Namun dalam kenyataan tidak semua siswa dapat mencapai hasil yang diharapkan. (Syamsudin 1981) menyebutkan bahwa ada beberapa siswa yang prestasi belajarnya di bawah ukuran rata-rata atau norma yang ditetapkan, bila dibandingkan dengan prestasi hasil belajar yang diperoleh temanteman dalam kelompoknya. Berdasakan data TIMSS 2003 menunjukkan bahwa prestasi siswa Indonesia (Rata-rata: 411, berdasarkan Skala Matematika TIMSS-Benchmark Internasional yang ditetapkan) agak jauh di bawah Malaysia (Rata-rata: 508) dan Singapura (Rata-rata: 605). Skala Matematika TIMSS -Benchmark Internasional menunjukkan bahwa siswa Indonesia berada pada skala rendah (peringkat bawah). Padahal kita tahu bahwa Matematika merupakan salah satu mata pelajaran yang diajarkan di sekolah-sekolah dengan presentase jam pelajaran yang paling banyak dibanding dengan mata pelajaran yang lainya. Ironisnya, matematika termasuk pelajaran yang tidak disukai banyak siswa. Bagi mereka pelajaran matematika cenderung dipandang sebagai mata pelajaran yang "kurang diminati" dan "kalau bisa dihindari".

Ce volume comporte trois chapitres : le premier décrit les linéaments d'une doctrine archaïque de la « phusis » visant toujours à connaître la « nature » de chaque chose, cet ensemble de caractéristiques qui fonde sa puissance, sa capacité d'agir ; le second décrit une représentation archaïque de l'Univers au moyen du schème de la croissance végétale, reconnu dans l'usage du verbe « phuô » et la poursuit jusqu'à la grande synthèse de la cosmologie archaïque, telle qu'elle s'énonce dans la deuxième partie du poème de Parménide : l'Univers est comme une grande plante qui croît et distribue l'ensemble des « natures » des choses. Le schème de la croissance et celui de la distribution des natures convergent ainsi pour esquisser la première représentation globale d'un tout cosmique organisé. La troisième partie est consacrée au débat qui, dans le deuxième Ve siècle, autour de « l'enquête sur la nature », chez les sophistes et les médecins, accompagne l'apparition d'un tout de plus en plus homogène, mais néanmoins susceptible de plusieurs visages : ainsi celui de l'homogénéité du mode de production de toutes choses ou celui de la distribution des natures de toutes choses. La Nature commence à paraître, oscillant entre une logique génétique et une logique distributive : c'est ainsi que s'accomplit une histoire qui fait progressivement du terme distribué à toutes choses pour décrire leurs puissances respectives le nom du tout organisé où chacune trouve sa place.