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Minding the gap: The importance of active facilitation in moving boundary objects from in-theory to in-use as a tool for knowledge mobilisation
Get PDFThe Health Inequalities Assessment Toolkit (HIAT) was developed to support those involved in health research to integrate a focus on health inequalities. Our study focuses on bringing together the concepts of boundary objects (BO) and brokers-as-bricoleurs to explain the implementation of the HIAT within a research capacity building programme. Exploring the extent to which (i) the HIAT operated as a BO and (ii) the ideal conditions to nurture and enhance its effectiveness during knowledge mobilisation. We employed a qualitative approach to analyse: semi-structured focus groups and telephone interviews; secondary data from an evaluation of the wider research programme within which the capacity building was situated. Data was thematically analysed incorporating the properties of a BO: meaningfulness, convergence, resonance and authenticity. Four main themes identified: (1) Generating convergence through creating a focus (2) Reconciling differences to create a common language (3) Workshop facilitators: boundary brokers-as-bricoleurs, (4) Thoughts into action. The HIAT operated as a BO, enabling individuals across the different project teams to galvanise around the issue of health inequalities, explore collaboratively and incorporate equity within service evaluations. Highlighting the importance of involving brokers with an ability to improvise and mobilise around the HIAT, using their expertise to translate and interpret across boundaries and emphasise shared goals. Reflecting on this, a modified tool with additional resources beyond socio-economic causes has been launched as a forum to consider health inequalities from diverse perspectives for use beyond UK health and social care research
Influence of upwelling on coral reef benthic communities: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Get PDFHighly competitive coral reef benthic communities are acutely sensitive tochanges in environmental parameters such as temperature and nutrient con-centrations. Physical oceanographic processes that induce upwellingtherefore act as drivers of community structure on tropical reefs. Howupwelling impacts coral communities, however, is not fully understood;upwelling may provide a natural buffer against climate impacts and couldpotentially enhance the efficacy of spatial management and reef conserva-tion efforts. This study employed a systematic review to assess existingliterature linking upwelling with reef community structure, and a meta-analysis to quantify upwelling impact on the percentage cover of coral reefbenthic groups. We show that upwelling has context-dependant effects onthe cover of hard coral and fleshy macroalgae, with effect size and directionvarying with depth, region and remoteness. Fleshy macroalgae were foundto increase by 110% on inhabited reefs yet decrease by 56% around one well-studied remote island in response to upwelling. Hard coral cover was notsignificantly impacted by upwelling on inhabited reefs but increased by150% when direct local human pressures were absent. By synthesizing exist-ing evidence, this review facilitates adaptive and nuanced reef managementwhich considers the influence of upwelling on reef assemblage
Analysing Law in Opera
Get PDFIn opera, the drama typically unfolds with transgressions against the law or social norms. Legal conflict and crime are important devices used to hold audience interest. Opera embodies a rich combination of acting and song, orchestral music, stage architecture, and a plethora of other dramaturgical devices. The emotional connotations of lawbreaking are laid bare like in no other form of art. The overwhelming effect on the audience may well balance out the pronounced artificiality of this form of art and leave a lasting message. Its content will depend on factors identified in the law and popular culture literature. Character development and legal-political message are key to what opera teaches an audience. Today, audio-visual recordings are the prevailing form of opera consumption. To do justice to the complexity of socio-legal aspects in opera, we suggest methods making use of recorded opera
Indirect effects of pine marten recovery result in benefits to native prey through suppression of an invasive species and a shared pathogen
Get PDFInvasive species pose a major threat to native species, both through direct interactions, such as competition for resources, and indirect interactions, such as when the invasive species acts as a reservoir host for a virulent pathogen. Recent research has indicated that the recovery of native predators can benefit native prey species that compete with invasive prey, in circumstances where predation is more pronounced on the naïve invasive species. We use the native red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris), invasive grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) and shared squirrelpox virus (SQPV) system in North Wales, UK, as a case study system to assess the impact of a recovering, native predator of both squirrel species, the pine marten (Martes martes), on community structure. We develop a stochastic, spatial model that represents the habitat structure, distribution, and connectivity in North Wales and models the interactions of red and grey squirrels, SQPV, and pine marten to examine the indirect effect of native predator recovery on competitively linked native-invasive prey species and a viral pathogen. Our model demonstrates the potential role of native predators in reversing the replacement of a threatened native prey through the regulation of the invasive prey species due to sustained predation, and the resultant extirpation of a viral pathogen, which otherwise catalyses the replacement of the native red squirrel by the invasive grey squirrel. Our findings have system specific applied conservation implications, but moreover demonstrate the critical role of native predators in mitigating the impacts of invasive species and, indirectly, the infectious diseases they harbour
Challenges for Human Rights Treaty Monitoring in a Devolved UK: A Case Study
Get PDFThis article is one of the first of its kind to undertake empirical research into the engagement of a devolved government in a UN human rights treaty monitoring process. There is a lack of studies on this topic, even though the UK’s devolved nations have legislative competence and responsibilities to implement many obligations arising from several international human rights treaties, such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The article provides a case study to evaluate and compare how regional governments are accommodated in the treaty body system so that future monitoring processes accurately reflect the differences in implementation of UN treaties, or lack thereof, across different regions within the State. The potential impact of ‘under-representative’ State reporting is also examined. The article highlights that State Reports and the monitoring process should ensure accurate and reliable information on implementation in each nation of the UK and, more specifically, should ensure that the State delegation is composed of a balanced number of representatives from each nation, that delegation responses to Committee questions clearly indicate whether the reply relates to law, policy and practice in the UK as a whole or solely to a specific nation, and that delegation representatives have a full understanding of the division of responsibilities between the UK Government and the devolved governments
Establishing Experimental Conditions to Produce Lignin-Degrading Enzymes on Wheat Bran by Trametes versicolor CM13 Using Solid State Fermentation
Get PDFValorisation of wheat bran can be achieved by solid state fermentation (SSF), through application of this material as a growth substrate for a natural white rot fungal isolate, Trametes versicolor CM13, to produce lignin-degrading enzymes. One of the main challenges in optimising and upscaling (SSF) processes is the accurate adjustment and maintenance of moisture conditions. This factor was assessed in the scale up of microcosms and was evaluated over 28 days, under two slightly different moisture contents, reflecting minor differences in experimental conditions during set up and operation of the SSF process. In addition, the microcosms were processed differently from the initial trial using homogenisation of whole microcosms to create a homogeneous mixture prior to sampling. This appeared to result in less variation among the collected samples from the microcosms. Variation of measured parameters as a percentage of actual values measured ranged from 1.33% to 144% in the unmixed microcosms and from 0.77% to 36.0% in the pre-mixed microcosms. Decomposition in the more saturated microcosms progressed more quickly as hemicellulose content decreased and reached a steady state after 14 days, whereas hemicellulose content continued to decrease until 21 days in the less saturated microcosms. Lignin-degrading enzyme activities were not significantly different between either sets of experiments except for laccase on day 7. Laccase and manganese peroxidase activities were highest on day 21 and were similar in both sets of experiments. Enzyme activities on day 21 in the microcosms at moisture content of 42.9% and at 54.6% for laccase activities were 750 ± 30.5 and 820 ± 30.8 units, and for manganese peroxidase, activities were 23.3 ± 6.45 and 21.4 ± 21.4 units, respectively. These results revealed different decomposition rates during the early stage of solid-state fermentation as a function of the initial moisture content, whereas final enzyme activities and fibre content during the later stage were similar in microcosms having different moisture contents at the start
Machine learning in marine ecology an overview of techniques and applications
Get PDFMachine learning covers a large set of algorithms that can be trained to identify patterns in data. Thanks to the increase in the amount of data and computing power available, it has become pervasive across scientific disciplines. We first highlight why machine learning is needed in marine ecology. Then we provide a quick primer on machine learning techniques and vocabulary. We built a database of ∼1000 publications that implement such techniques to analyse marine ecology data. For various data types (images, optical spectra, acoustics, omics, geolocations, biogeochemical profiles, and satellite imagery), we present a historical perspective on applications that proved influential, can serve as templates for new work, or represent the diversity of approaches. Then, we illustrate how machine learning can be used to better understand ecological systems, by combining various sources of marine data. Through this coverage of the literature, we demonstrate an increase in the proportion of marine ecology studies that use machine learning, the pervasiveness of images as a data source, the dominance of machine learning for classification-type problems, and a shift towards deep learning for all data types. This overview is meant to guide researchers who wish to apply machine learning methods to their marine datasets.<br/
The Bangor Gambling Task: Computerized replication and reappraisal of an emotion-based decision task
Get PDFEmotion-based decision making (EBDM) is the capacity to make decisions based on prior emotional consequences of actions. Several neuropsychological tasks, using different gambling paradigms and with different levels of complexity, have been designed to assess EBDM. The Bangor Gambling Task (BGT) was created as a brief and simple card gambling-task to assess EBDM. BGT contains a single-card deck and requires participants to decide whether to gamble or not, which can result in wins or losses. Unknown to the participant, the winning probabilities decrease throughout the task (from 0.75 in the first block to 0.25 in the fifth block), requiring participants to reduce their gambling probability to avoid long-term losses. A few studies have offered evidence regarding the BGT convergent validity. However, there are no computerized versions of BGT available, thus slowing the process of gathering information to explore the EBDM mechanisms behind the task, its validity, and clinical usefulness. In this article, we present a computerized version of the BGT using the Matlab environment and make all our code available. We explore BGT’s replicability and analyze its probabilistic structure, providing trial-level and block-level analyses. Eighty-one participants performed the computerized version, which followed the same structure as the original version. It took participants 8.5 ± 3.3 minutes to complete the task, which is faster than the paper version. Replicating previous studies, participants diminished their gambling probability throughout the task, learning to inhibit the initially rewarded gambling behavior. This change in gambling probability could be considered a proxy for EBDM. Our analyses suggest that the last blocks are especially sensitive to capturing deficits in EBDM, and we propose some modifications to BGT’s original version to enhance the initial exploratory and learning phase. Our results show that the BGT constitutes a quick and simple task to evaluate EBDM capacitie
Laterality indices consensus initiative (LICI): A Delphi expert survey report on recommendations to record, assess, and report asymmetry in human behavioural and brain research
Get PDFLaterality indices (LIs) are used to quantify the left-right asymmetry of a wide range of brain and behavioural variables and to provide a single measure that is statistically convenient and seemingly easy to interpret. However, there is substantial variability in how structural and functional asymmetries are recorded, calculated, and reported, suggesting little agreement on the conditions required for its valid assessment. The present study aimed for consensus on general aspects in this context of laterality research, and more specifically within a particular method or technique (i.e., dichotic listening, visual half-field technique, performance asymmetries, preference bias reports, electrophysiological recording, functional task-related MRI, structural MRI, and functional transcranial Doppler sonography). Experts in laterality research were recruited by snowball sampling and invited to participate in a three-round online Delphi survey to evaluate consensus and stimulate discussion. In Round 0, 106 experts generated 453 statements on what they considered good practice in their field of expertise. A team of moderators organized the statements into a 295-statement survey that the experts then were asked, in Round 1, to independently assess for perceived importance and their level of support, and further reduced the survey to 241 statements that were presented again to the experts in Round 2. Based on the Round 2 input, we present a set of critically reviewed key recommendations to record, assess, and report laterality research for various methods