We used functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) and a split ratio paradigm used to investigate the role and nature of prior knowledge in conceptual change in science. Sixteen participants, eight physicists and eight non-physicists were presented with two types of videos, Newtonian (two balls of unequal mass falling at the same rate) and Impetus (two balls of unequal mass, the larger one falling faster), to vary their exposure to plausible and implausible information. Whereas no increased neural activation was found in physicists, non-physicists showed recruitment in the frontopolar areas and DLPFC. Studies implicating these regions in integration and working memory support the notion that prior knowledge held by novices is flexible and context-dependent.

This article aims to discuss China’s possible future climate change policy after the 2011 Durban Conference. Before engaging in a discussion on China’s future policy, a brief review of China’s climate change policy before the Durban Conference, as well as the logic behind the making of China’s stance will firstly be investigated. Furthermore, this article also makes inquiries into the implications of the Durban outcomes, and then discusses China’s position during the transitional period of 2012-2020. Additionally, the article analyses China’s climate change stance in future climate negotiations in a post-2020 era and the key domestic measures that China will take to cut its carbon emissions after 2020. In conclusion, the article reveals that China’s real significance for global climate action in future is not coming through an international regime, but through the global importance of its domestic measures.

The problem of climate change is the major challenge to the world community. However, the full world community still fails to find an adequate solution to this problem. In such a situation, the mutual efforts of plurilateral institutions, such as the G8+5, MEM (now MEF), APEC and APP are major drivers of the successful solution to the problem of climate change. This study examines these informal plurilateral institutions’ role, their effectiveness in policy creation and implementation, and their potential impact on global or regional climate governance to show that the APP and MEF have been effective in inducing climate action by their members. This paper applies an analytic framework of the six dimensions of global government developed by John J. Kirton. The development of environmental initiatives of six Asia-Pacific countries(the U.S., Canada, Japan, China, Korea and Russia) have been accompanied by the introduction of energy efficient technologies policies such as building and clean coal policies.

Climate change debates have typically centred around the environmental and economic effects of rising greenhouse gas emissions. The focus, however, has recently begun to shift towards acknowledging the human impacts of global climate change, especially in vulnerable regions and communities. This thesis considers whether human rights law can compensate for the inability of traditional, state-centred, environmental law and international law to address the human impacts of climate change. By using the situation of the Canadian Inuit as a case study, this thesis focuses on 'greening' existing human rights to address the environmental damage in the Canadian Arctic as a result of climate change. This study concludes that, although international human rights regimes provide potential forums for groups such as the Canadian Inuit, substantive environmental human rights are necessary in international law in order to best address the complex intersection of environmental degradation, such as climate change, and human rights.

We used functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) and a split ratio paradigm used to investigate the role and nature of prior knowledge in conceptual change in science. Sixteen participants, eight physicists and eight non-physicists were presented with two types of videos, Newtonian (two balls of unequal mass falling at the same rate) and Impetus (two balls of unequal mass, the larger one falling faster), to vary their exposure to plausible and implausible information. Whereas no increased neural activation was found in physicists, non-physicists showed recruitment in the frontopolar areas and DLPFC. Studies implicating these regions in integration and working memory support the notion that prior knowledge held by novices is flexible and context-dependent.

This article aims to discuss China’s possible future climate change policy after the 2011 Durban Conference. Before engaging in a discussion on China’s future policy, a brief review of China’s climate change policy before the Durban Conference, as well as the logic behind the making of China’s stance will firstly be investigated. Furthermore, this article also makes inquiries into the implications of the Durban outcomes, and then discusses China’s position during the transitional period of 2012-2020. Additionally, the article analyses China’s climate change stance in future climate negotiations in a post-2020 era and the key domestic measures that China will take to cut its carbon emissions after 2020. In conclusion, the article reveals that China’s real significance for global climate action in future is not coming through an international regime, but through the global importance of its domestic measures.

Linguistic research on adverbs has taken many forms: typological, morphological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic. However, little work has been conducted on adverbs using the tools of quantitative sociolinguistics, and most of that work has focused solely on morphological variation of the -ly suffix. This work addresses the lacuna by examining two adverb phenomena using quantitative variationist methodology. Data come from two large, socially stratified, sociolinguistic corpora of vernacular English. The two corpora contain data collected in Ontario, Canada and in Northern England, and are comprised of the speech of over 150 speakers across all age groups. In the first case study, I examine a claim in usage guides (e.g., Swan 2001) that North American English widely permits pre-auxiliary adverbs in canonical, declarative sentences, while British English prohibits them unless accompanied by contrastive stress. As I show, the varietal differences in speech are not only minimal and unrelated to stress, but instead are highly circumscribed. In addition, I demonstrate that the positioning of adverbs observed here must involve post-syntactic processes. The second case study examines variability in the discourse adverb "actually" and several related adverbials (e.g., "really" and "in fact") and examines the path of grammaticalization (Traugott & Dasher 2002) in the two communities. I demonstrate that Canadians, regardless of sex or education level, prefer the more grammaticalized forms of "actually"; in the UK, the more grammaticalized use is less common, though some young men are leading a shift to the more grammaticalized pattern.

Linguistic research on adverbs has taken many forms: typological, morphological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic. However, little work has been conducted on adverbs using the tools of quantitative sociolinguistics, and most of that work has focused solely on morphological variation of the -ly suffix. This work addresses the lacuna by examining two adverb phenomena using quantitative variationist methodology. Data come from two large, socially stratified, sociolinguistic corpora of vernacular English. The two corpora contain data collected in Ontario, Canada and in Northern England, and are comprised of the speech of over 150 speakers across all age groups. In the first case study, I examine a claim in usage guides (e.g., Swan 2001) that North American English widely permits pre-auxiliary adverbs in canonical, declarative sentences, while British English prohibits them unless accompanied by contrastive stress. As I show, the varietal differences in speech are not only minimal and unrelated to stress, but instead are highly circumscribed. In addition, I demonstrate that the positioning of adverbs observed here must involve post-syntactic processes. The second case study examines variability in the discourse adverb "actually" and several related adverbials (e.g., "really" and "in fact") and examines the path of grammaticalization (Traugott & Dasher 2002) in the two communities. I demonstrate that Canadians, regardless of sex or education level, prefer the more grammaticalized forms of "actually"; in the UK, the more grammaticalized use is less common, though some young men are leading a shift to the more grammaticalized pattern.

Dans ce travail, nous avons exploré les déterminants pouvant expliquer les divergences entre le taux de change observé et son équilibre de long terme. Pour ce faire, nous avons concentré nos efforts sur les déterminants de long terme qui peuvent influencer le taux de change réel, celui-ci ayant un impact direct sur la parité des pouvoirs d'achat (PPA). Nous allons vérifier les impacts qu'ont les mouvements des prix relatifs des biens non échangeables sur les taux de change réels et nominaux. De plus, nous allons vérifier si la productivité relative des biens non échangeables et les dépenses du gouvernement ont un impact sur les prix relatifs pendant une longue période. Finalement, nous allons vérifier l'impact qu'ont les différentiels de productivité des biens non échangeables entre les pays domestiques et étrangers sur le taux de change réel. Aussi, une attention particulière a été portée à la constitution d'une base de données qui se veut la plus représentative des concepts reliés à la théorie. Les résultats obtenus sont partagés. En effet, certains sont conformes à la théorie alors que d'autres sont contradictoires.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka huruvida fysisk aktivitet kan påverka en individs frukostval. Vidare undersöktes på vilket sätt frukostvalet i så fall hade påverkats samt om denna förändring var beroende av ålder och kön. Studien var av empirisk, deskriptiv design. Semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med totalt 98 deltagare, 50 kvinnor och 48 män (16-75 år). Enligt resultatet var den kombinerade träningsformen (konditionsträning och styrketräning) den dominerande bland båda könen. Renodlad styrketräning var vanligare bland männen då ingen av kvinnorna uppgav denna som utpräglad träningsform. Kvinnorna utövade istället konditionsträning i större utsträckning än männen. Resultatet visade även att det skilde sig ytterst lite mellan de deltagare som menade att frukostvalet hade påverkats av träning och de som inte upplevt någon förändring. Bland kvinnorna svarade ett fåtal fler att frukosten hade påverkats medan männens svar var jämnt fördelade mellan påverkad och icke påverkad. Åldersmässigt visade resultatet en tydlig skillnad där majoriteten av dem som svarat att frukostvalet förändrats, återfanns i de två yngsta åldersgrupperna, hos båda könen. I den äldsta åldersgruppen var det ingen deltagare som angav att träningen påverkat frukostvalet. Vanliga orsaker till förändring av frukostvalet visade sig vara ökad hunger, en vilja att tillföra kroppen energi för att orka prestera på träningen, att kunna få bästa möjliga resultat av träningen samt för att skapa en hälsosam livsstil. / The purpose of this study was to investigate if regular physical activity can affect a person’s nutritional habits, which in this study focused on breakfast. The study also examined in what way the breakfast habits had been changed and if the change was dependent on sex and age. The study was of empirical, descriptive design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of 98 participants, 50 women and 48 men (16-75 years old). According to the results, the combined fitness regime (cardio-vascular exercise and resistance training) was dominant among both sexes. Pure resistance training was more common among men while women practiced cardio-vascular exercise more frequently. Further, the result showed very little difference between the participants who said that breakfast habits had changed due to exercise and those who did not experience any change at all. A few more women answered that breakfast habits had been affected compared to the men where the answers were equally divided between being affected and not. The majority of those who reported altered breakfast habits were found in the two youngest groups, among both sexes. In the oldest group no one reported that exercise had affected their breakfast habits. Common causes for change of breakfast habits proved to be increased appetite, to provide the body with enough energy to perform, to get the best result from training and to create a healthy lifestyle.