Since the mid-1980s, Botswana has relied on community based natural resources management (CBNRM) to incentivize communities to choose environmentally beneficial behaviour to advance conservation efforts. This approach has had some success, although it has not been as successful as had been hoped. Nevertheless, it is well acknowledged that CBNRM can play an important role in advancing conservation efforts. The state is therefore working to revamp the CBNRM framework so that it consistently yields beneficial results for communities and conservation. This article relies on regulatory theory and experience with CBNRM in Botswana to identify what it would take to establish an effective CBNRM regulatory framework there. It establishes that Botswana has failed to secure effective CBNRM consistently, due to the lack of a dedicated CBNRM law and inadequately resourced institutions. It recommends the promulgation of a CBNRM law with a community-centred and / or rights-based approach, and the establishment of an adequately resourced institution, charged with regulating CBNRM in Botswana.

We introduce and study a class of betweenness algebras—Boolean algebras with binary operators, closely related to ternary frames with a betweenness relation. From various axioms for betweenness, we chose those that are most common, which makes our work applicable to a wide range of betweenness structures studied in the literature. On the algebraic side, we work with two operators of possibility and of sufficiency.

Must we always pursue economic growth? Kogelmann answers yes. Not only should poor countries pursue growth, but rich countries should as well. Kogelmann aims to provide a wealth-insensitive argument – one demonstrating all countries should pursue growth regardless of their wealth. His central argument – the no halting growth (NHG) argument – says no country experiencing growth should stop it, because doing so requires undermining the conditions causing it and those conditions are independently morally desirable, so they should not be undermined. For countries not growing, he may argue that they have an obligation to implement the conditions that cause growth because they are independently morally desirable. Call this the implementation argument. I contend that neither argument is wealth-insensitive as each fails to establish an obligation to pursue growth. I attempt to diagnose how this could be and propose that it is a product of attempting to answer three questions about growth simultaneously.

Resorbable materials – or materials which diffuse into their surroundings – present a promising means of actuating mechanical systems. In current practice, such as in the realm of in vivo surgical devices, resorbable materials are intended to perform a temporary function and completely dissolve when that function is completed (e.g., resorbable sutures). In this paper, resorbable materials are proposed for use in a different way: as a means for actuation. We propose an approach and physical prototypes to demonstrate that resorbable materials, combined with stored energy, can be used to actuate mechanical systems under several loading conditions and in various applications. Rotary and linear actuation methods, as well as gradual and delayed instantaneous actuations, are demonstrated. Using the principles illustrated here, resorbable materials offer unique, customizable ways to actuate a variety of mechanisms in a wide range of domains.

We focus on a neglected aspect of scientific theory choice: how the selection of theories affects epistemic values. Building on Kuhn, we provide a general characterization of the feedback-loop dynamic between theories and values in theory choice as analogous to the relationship between organisms and the environment in niche construction. We argue that understanding theory choice as niche construction can explain how certain values acquire more weight and a specific application over time, and how resistance to scientific change can, therefore, arise. We illustrate our picture by looking at the Mendelian–biometrician controversy.

Stephen Houlgate's long-awaited two volumes on Hegel's Logic of Being offer a thorough presentation and a detailed reconstruction of the Doctrine of Being, which constitutes the first part of the first division of Hegel's Science of Logic (appeared in 1812 in the first edition; revised in the second edition of 1832 published after Hegel's death). The first volume takes on the logic of Quality and the transition to Quantity while the second volume addresses the logic of Quantity and Measure leading up to the transition to Essence. Along with the Doctrine of Essence, the Doctrine of Being occupies the first main division of Hegel's Logic or Objective Logic, which is followed by the Subjective Logic, or Doctrine of the Concept, as its second main division. Within Hegel's philosophical system, the Logic is followed by the Philosophy of Nature and the Philosophy of Spirit, the three main parts of the Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences (appeared in the three editions of 1817, 1827, 1830). Chronologically, but also systematically (at least in a qualified way),1 the Logic is preceded by the 1807 Phenomenology of Spirit. This brief sketch may help us locate the object of Houlgate's volumes within Hegel's philosophy as a whole.

What is the nature of deception? What does it take for an organism to deceive another one? In this article we address these questions by appealing to the concept of mimicry. More precisely, we argue that a fruitful perspective regards deception as an instance of mimicry rather than the reverse. Conceiving of deception as an instance of mimicry has a number of interesting consequences: It draws connections between different areas of research, vindicates a functional approach to deception by providing a satisfactory answer to some recent objections, and suggests some worries for game-theoretic approaches to deception.

The speed of stock price reaction to news exhibits substantial time variation. Higher risk-bearing capacity of financial intermediaries, lower passive ownership of stocks, and more informative news increase price responses to contemporaneous news; surprisingly, these interaction variables also increase price responses to lagged news (underreaction). A simple model with limited attention and three investor types (institutional, noninstitutional, and passive) predicts the observed variation in news responses. A long–short trading strategy based on news sentiment earns high returns, which increase when conditioning on the interaction variables. The interactions we document are robust to the choice of news source.

We study hermitian operators and isometries on spaces of vector-valued Lipschitz maps with the sum norm. There are two main theorems in this paper. Firstly, we prove that every hermitian operator on $\operatorname {Lip}(X,E)$, where E is a complex Banach space, is a generalized composition operator. Secondly, we give a complete description of unital surjective complex linear isometries on $\operatorname {Lip}(X,\mathcal {A})$, where $\mathcal {A}$ is a unital factor $C^{*}$-algebra. These results improve previous results stated by the author.

We show that for any $\varepsilon \gt 0$ and $\Delta \in \mathbb{N}$, there exists $\alpha \gt 0$ such that for sufficiently large $n$, every $n$-vertex graph $G$ satisfying that $\delta (G)\geq \varepsilon n$ and $e(X, Y)\gt 0$ for every pair of disjoint vertex sets $X, Y\subseteq V(G)$ of size $\alpha n$ contains all spanning trees with maximum degree at most $\Delta$. This strengthens a result of Böttcher, Han, Kohayakawa, Montgomery, Parczyk, and Person.

We introduce and study the model-theoretic notions of absolute connectedness and type-absolute connectedness for groups. We prove that groups of rational points of split semisimple linear groups (that is, Chevalley groups) over arbitrary infinite fields are absolutely connected and characterize connected Lie groups which are type-absolutely connected. We prove that the class of type-absolutely connected group is exactly the class of discretely topologized groups with the trivial Bohr compactification, that is, the class of minimally almost periodic groups.

We introduce a new method of constructing Birkhoff sections for pseudo-Anosov flows, which uses the connection between pseudo-Anosov flows and veering triangulations. This method allows for explicit constructions, as well as control over the Birkhoff section in terms of its Euler characteristic and the complexity of the boundary orbits. In particular, we show that any transitive pseudo-Anosov flow has a Birkhoff section with two boundary components.

Gypsophily, i.e. the relationship between plants and gypsum soils, has been extensively studied only in arid and semi-arid regions, in contrast to tropical areas, where gypsum outcrops act as refugia for xerothermophilic species and endemic flora. We focused on gypsophile flora in Campeche, Mexico on the Zoh-Laguna Plateau. Using a combination of remote sensing, literature review, and herbarium databases, we identified 14 potential gypsum outcrops and compiled a list of vascular plant species with the potential to grow in gypsum soils in Campeche (151 total species: three probable gypsophiles and endemic to YP, 148 gypsovags). Nine of the 14 potential gypsum outcrops remain unexplored botanically, and 18 species in the final checklist were not previously reported to have an affinity for gypsum soils. This study is the first to confirm the presence of gypsum and report its concentration in the evaluated soils; gypsum content in the soils reached 51%, much higher than the commonly accepted 25%. Our results on gypsum soils and associated vegetation confirm the need for more extensive gypsophily studies in tropical zones.

We study systems of two-tangle equations

$$ \begin{align*}\begin{cases} N(X+T_1)=L_1,\\ N(X+T_2)=L_2, \end{cases}\end{align*} $$

We show that every system of framed tangle equations has at most one-framed rational solution. Furthermore, we show that the Jones unknot conjecture implies that if a system of tangle equations has a rational solution, then that solution is unique among all two-tangles. This result potentially opens a door to a purely topological disproof of the Jones unknot conjecture.

We introduce the notion of the Kauffman bracket ratio $\{T\}_q\in \mathbb Q(q)$ of any two-tangle T and we conjecture that for $q=1$ it is the slope of meridionally incompressible surfaces in $D^3-T$. We prove that conjecture for algebraic T. We also prove that for rational T, the brackets $\{T\}_q$ coincide with the q-rationals of Morier-Genoud and Ovsienko.

Additionally, we relate systems of tangle equations to the cosmetic surgery conjecture and the nugatory crossing conjecture.

Integrating cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) into primary care for patients with long-terms conditions (LTCs) is a priority for the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom (UK). To inform delivery of cognitive behavioural interventions for this clinical population, the aim of this study was to evaluate the major treatment goal themes of patients with LTCs. A single group mixed-methods design was used to analys treatment goals and their association with patient characteristics. A total of n=222 patients (86 males; 132 females) who participated in a service development evaluation of the Accessible Depression and Anxiety Psychological Therapies for Individuals with Long-Term Conditions in Scotland (UK) were selected for inclusion if they reported at least one treatment goal at assessment. Data were drawn from routine outcome measures that recorded information in relation to client demographics, physical conditions, mental health, functioning and treatment goals. Participants freely reported up to three goals as part of assessment. Thematic analysis identified four major goal themes ranked in the following order of frequency: functioning, emotional health, condition management, and self-appraisal. Wanting to improve functioning was positively associated with age and depression, and negatively associated with anxiety. No other patient characteristics were associated with any of the major themes. Patients with LTCs referred to CBT in primary care can have wide-ranging goals that only partially correspond with their mental health status. Practitioners and service providers need to flexibly deliver CBT to enhance the individual relevance of therapy which is tailored to patient’s goals.