Biodiversity Informatics
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Functional diversity rather than species diversity can be accurately assessed by remote sensing in sandy grassland
No full textThe prediction of grasslands plant diversity using satellite images has been intensively studied. However, the accuracy of functional diversity (FD) is still unknown. Therefore, high spatial resolution Worldview-3 (WV-3) multiple spectral data were used to predict species and FD at the pixel scale (1.2 × 1.2 m) over central Hunshandak Sandland, Inner Mongolia, north China. Data acquired from 120 field plots (6 × 6 m) were used to train and validate several statistical learning methods with a primary objective of linking the satellite spectral and texture indices to the plant diversity indices. Among the several diversity indices tested, functional trait diversity, in particularly Functional Attribute Diversity (FAD1), Modified Functional Attribute Diversity (MFAD) were best predicted (coefficient of determination approximately 0.29 and 0.14, respectively, n=48) using texture indices. However, species diversity (richness, H, E, or D) and other FDs haven’t not been well predicted by WV-3 data. WV data did not significantly improve the prediction accuracy for plant diversity in sandy grassland. Further, high plot-level vegetation coverage can improve the performance of spectral indices for predicting H, E, D and FD. These results highlighted the assessing variability across field conditions and demonstrated the capacity of high spatial-spectral satellite images to monitor plant functional diversity in sandy grasslands
Familiarizing Lynching: Intimacy, Kinship, and Anti-Blackness in American Photography
No full textThis article examines the relationship between two sets of images from the nineteenth century: family portraits and lynching photographs. The latter have often been studied through the lens of spectacle with limited attention given to the less spectacular images that also comprise the visual culture of anti-Black violence in the United States. Drawing from other nineteenth-century photographs, such as portraits of enslavers’ families and white families associated with lynchings, the following study locates lynching photography’s origins in the intimate and the familial. This article strays from a focus on the spectacle of Black death and suffering in photographic representations of anti-Black violence and instead considers how the more banal, mundane representations of kinship shaped communal belonging and exclusion in the decades preceding and following emancipation. Placing lynching photographs within the broader milieu of nineteenth-century vernacular photography reveals how the hypervisibility of Black death and suffering came to be central to American understandings of familiality and kinship
“Songs and Laughter Were Heard”: Frontline Songs and Poems in the Folklore of The Great Patriotic War
Get PDFDuring the Great Patriotic War, performances of music and songs were an important part of soldiers’ lives in the Red Army. This study examines how these songs functioned in unofficial aspects of the lives of frontline soldiers. There was a “cult of folklore” in the Soviet Union in the 1930s and 1940s, which meant that the depiction of folklore in film and literature was an official policy. However, the fact that such performances featured in officially sanctioned artistic works raises the question of how much was propaganda and how much reflected actual practices. To answer this question, I looked at all the references to the performances of songs in over seventy Russian-language diaries and volumes of letters written by members of the Soviet military. I did not use journalism to avoid propaganda, nor memoirs to avoid the problem of the transformation of memories over the years; instead, I used sources written during the war itself that reflected the everyday lives of soldiers
Assessing the state-of-knowledge of bees and their pollination services in Colombia
Get PDFUnderstanding the state of knowledge of pollinators and their interactions with plants is critical for planning and developing effective conservation strategies. Despite the many challenges in studying bee diversity and pollination services in Colombia, this contribution represents a preliminary effort to quantitatively assess existing information gaps. This is particularly important in regions of high biodiversity that have historically been understudied and are now facing significant environmental pressures from human activities. Based on a review of the literature, we present the first quantitative assessment of bee biodiversity, bee-plant interactions, and pollination services in Colombia. We analyzed 88 publications and extracted data across the following categories: i) bee diversity, ii) bee-plant interactions, and iii) assessment of pollination services. For each bee and plant species documented, we recorded taxonomic and geographic information, resulting in a total of 8,099 records. Most records report information on bee diversity (58%), followed by bee-plant interactions (29%), and assessments of pollination services (13%). Most records correspond to corbiculate bees (Apidae) from modified ecosystems in the Andean region, particularly at lower elevations. Studies evaluating pollination services are limited and tend to rely on qualitative methods. The implications of these results, taxonomically and geographically skewed towards common taxa and Colombia’s most populated areas, are discussed in the context of ongoing efforts to conserve pollinator populations in the country
“Fireman on the Devil’s Train”: Image of the Soviet Leaders in American Popular Music during the Cold War
Get PDFThe aim of this article is to determine the place and role of American popular music in the process of formation and evolution of the images of Soviet leaders in the context of the Cold War based on the constructivist approach. Popular culture reflects ideas and views deeply rooted in the public consciousness, and at the same time creates such ideas and stereotypes through the formation of spontaneous images and their consolidation in popular culture. In this regard, the analysis of the repertoire of images replicated by American popular music of various genres allows us to contribute to the historiography of the Cold War from the point of view of studying it as an image confrontation between the two powers. In addition, identifying the evolution of ideas about Soviet leaders in American popular culture makes it possible to expand our understanding of the socio-cultural context of the development of Soviet-American relations. This article examines the lyrics of songs by popular US performers as a source for understanding the set of values through the prism of which the authors gave characteristics, assessed the personalities and activities of their characters, thereby actually acting as actors in the ideological confrontation between the two systems. The evolution of the images of Soviet leaders in American popular music from the second half of the 1940s to the 1960s clearly demonstrates how their perception changed radically three times in a relatively short period of time. Due to the tradition of personifying countries through the images of their rulers, this change reflected the transformation of ideas about the possibility of interaction with the Soviet Union as a potential international partner. The transition from the allied relations of the Second World War to the confrontation in the conditions of the Cold War was accompanied by the demonization of the image of I.V. Stalin. A short-term “thaw” in the domestic and foreign policies of the Soviet Union gave rise to hopes for the possibility of cooperation between the two countries in ensuring peace and security. These hopes and the associated humanized image of N.S. Khrushchev were replicated both by the American mass media and the work of musicians working in various genres of popular music. However, in the context of the aggravation of Soviet-American relations during the Cuban Missile Crisis, which put the countries on the brink of a nuclear conflict, hopes were replaced by new disappointment. This disappointment was compounded by high expectations from the new Soviet leadership, which resulted in a return to the radical rhetoric of the Cold War
Bridging the Gap from Classroom to Clerkship to Career: Informal Surgical Mentorship for Pre-Clerkship Medical Students
Get PDFIntroduction. Mentorship is important in medical education, yet its specific impact on pre-clerkship medical students interested in surgery remains underexplored. We hypothesized that a formal but unstructured surgical mentorship program would increase students’ interest in surgery and improve their self-perceived readiness for the third-year surgical clerkship.
Methods. In this before–after study, pre-clerkship students at The University of Kansas School of Medicine were paired with volunteer surgical faculty mentors. An initial one-on-one meeting was required, while the frequency and structure of subsequent meetings were left to the participants. Surveys assessing student confidence and perceptions of the program were administered via Research Electronic Data Capture® (REDCap®) before the program and again six months later. Changes were analyzed using the Wilcoxon rank sum test for independent groups (p <0.05).
Results. Of the 47 students enrolled, 31 (66.0%) completed the pre-program survey, and 24 (51.1%) of these completed the post-program survey. After six months, students reported significantly greater confidence in their preparation and knowledge for the third-year surgical clerkship, surgical skills, and understanding of surgical career pathways. More students also identified potential residency letter writers. However, 87.5% of respondents reported inconsistent mentor-mentee meetings.
Conclusions. A formal yet unstructured surgical mentorship program significantly improved pre-clerkship students’ confidence in pursuing a surgical career and preparing for the surgical clerkship. Despite inconsistent meeting frequency, the program enabled meaningful mentorship without requiring rigid scheduling or extensive time commitments from participants