Monthly Archives: April 2018

Science in the Learning Gardens: a Study of Students’ Motivation, Achievement, and Science Identity in Low-Income Middle Schools

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Dr Dilafruz Williams

Motivation and achievement are important factors in the development of children and influence how they self-identify and which careers they end up choosing later in life. Yet often neither curriculum nor pedagogy are able to sufficiently address students’ cultural and motivational needs. A program in Portland tries to change that and battle the under-representation in science of students from racial and ethnic minorities by engaging children from low-income middle schools in outdoor, after-school science activities.

Is plastic waste the next global environmental crisis?

Plastic carrier bags and other garbage pollution in ocean

Frederic Gallo

To celebrate Earth Day we invited Frederic Gallo, lead author of a recent study published in Environmental Sciences Europe to talk about his research on one of the most pertinent environmental issues today: marine plastic pollution. Frederic discusses the disastrous consequences of microplastics on marine life, sets out measures to prevent these, and highlights the work his colleagues are performing around the world in the fight against plastic pollution.

Discovering temporal regularities in retail customers’ shopping behavior

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Riccardo Guidotti & Anna Monreale

Why do we buy certain items when we buy them? A new study published in EPJ Data Science analyzes personal retail data to extract a temporal purchasing profile, which is able to summarize whether and when a customer makes a purchase. Its results show that certain patterns and types of shoppers are detectable, which can be used both by customers to enable personalized services, and by the retail market chain for providing offers and discounts tailored to the individual shoppers personal temporal profile.

Why I published an open access book

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Christina Emery

In two weeks, Springer Nature is participating in Academic Book Week: a global awareness event that aims to champion and showcase the evolution of academic books. Authors Prof. Owen Davies (History, University of Hertfordshire) and Dr. Roseli Pellens (Macroecology, Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité, Paris), who are both participating in a panel discussion on 23 April, share their experiences of publishing an open access book.

Volga Neuroscience Meeting 2018

Stephen Coombes

The Volga Neuroscience Meeting 2018 isorganized by the Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod.It will take place on board of a comfortable river cruiser traveling from a vibrant city of Nizhny Novgorod to Samara and back between July 22 and 27, 2018. The meeting will include four parallel sections: developmental neuroscience, cellular neuroscience, neuro-interface &… Read more »

The economics of secession

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Thierry Madiès

Brexit, the Scottish referendum and the Catalan referendum have all raised questions over the motivations behind secession and the processes of achieving it. To explore these questions from an economic perspective, an article published today in the Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics reviews the legal, theoretical, and empirical aspects of secessions. Here the lead author of the study, Thierry Madiès, tells us more.