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The role of latitude in mobilism debates.

ABSTRACT: In the early 1920s, the continental displacement theory of Wegener, latitude studies of Koppen and Wegener, and Argand's ideas on mountain building led to the first mobilistic paleogeography. In the 1930s and 1940s, many factors caused its general abandonment. Mobilism was revived in the 1950s and 1960s by measurements of long-term displacement of crustal blocks relative to each other (tectonic displacement) and to Earth's geographic pole (latitudinal displacement). Also, short-term or current displacements can now be measured. I briefly outline the categories of tectonic and current displacement and focus on latitudinal displacement. Integration of tectonic and latitudinal displacement in the early 1970s completed the new mobilistic paleogeography, in which the transformation of rock magnetization directions into paleopoles and latitudes and the finite rotation of spherical plates about pivot points play complementary roles; this new synthesis now provides a quantitative basis for studying long-term evolution of Earth's surface features and climate, the changing environments in which life evolves.

SUBMITTER: Irving E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC548542 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The role of latitude in mobilism debates.

Irving Edward E

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20050131 6

In the early 1920s, the continental displacement theory of Wegener, latitude studies of Koppen and Wegener, and Argand's ideas on mountain building led to the first mobilistic paleogeography. In the 1930s and 1940s, many factors caused its general abandonment. Mobilism was revived in the 1950s and 1960s by measurements of long-term displacement of crustal blocks relative to each other (tectonic displacement) and to Earth's geographic pole (latitudinal displacement). Also, short-term or current d ...[more]

PMID: 15684058

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Project description:BackgroundThe notion of 'fact-free politics' is debated in Europe and the United States of America and has particular relevance for the use of evidence to underpin health and healthcare policies. To better understand how evidence on health and healthcare is used in the national policy-making process in the Netherlands, we explore how different statistics are used in various policy debates on health and healthcare in the Dutch government and parliament.MethodsWe chose eight ongoing policy debates as case studies representing the subject categories of morbidity, lifestyle, healthcare expenditure and healthcare outcomes, including (1) breast cancer screening rates, prevalence and incidence, (2) dementia prevalence and incidence, (3) prevalence of alcohol use by pregnant women, (4) mobility and school sports participation in children, (5) costs of smoking, (6) Dutch national healthcare expenditure, (7) hospital mortality rates, and (8) bedsore prevalence. Using selected keywords for each policy debate case, we performed a document search to identify documentation of the debates (2014-2016) on the websites of the Dutch government and parliament. We retrieved 163 documents and examined the policy debate cases through a content analyses approach.ResultsSources of the statistics used in policy debates were primarily government funded. We identified two distinct functions, i.e. rhetorical and managerial use of statistics. The function of the debate is rhetorical when the specific statistic is used for agenda-setting or to convince the reader of the importance of a topic. The function of the debate is managerial when statistics determine planning, monitoring or evaluation of policy. When evaluating a specific policy, applied statistics were mostly the result of routine or standardised data collection. When policy-makers use statistics for a managerial function, the policy debate mirrors terms derived from scientific debates.ConclusionWhile statistics used for rhetorical functions do not seem to invite critical reflection, when the function of the debate is managerial, i.e. to plan, monitor or evaluate healthcare, their construction does receive attention. Considering the current role of statistics in rhetorical and managerial debates, there is a need to be cautious of too much leniency towards the technocratic process in exchange for the democratic debate.

Dataset Information

The role of latitude in mobilism debates.

Publications

The role of latitude in mobilism debates.

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