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Pretty Privilege vs. Ingroup Bias in Decision Making
Get PDFIn-group and attractiveness bias are well-established concepts in social psychology. This study examines the concurrent influence of these concepts on the decision-making process using the Minimal Group Paradigm. Confederates, individuals who appear to be participants, were used to simulate out-group members. Participants (n = 119, aged 20–30 years) answered a series of mathematics questions, followed by a response, agreeing or disagreeing with the participant’s answer, from a confederate. Participants were then asked to rate the attractiveness of the confederates. Results indicated that in-group bias significantly outweighed attractiveness bias. Participants changed answers more frequently when their group disagreed, regardless of the confederate's attractiveness. Results highlighted the robust effects of group membership on decision-making. Additional research is required to explore confounds within decision-making, such as individual differences and familiarity bias
Genomic diversity and tracing of Paenibacillus larvae in Australia: implications for American foulbrood outbreak surveillance in low-diversity populations.
Get PDFPaenibacillus larvae is the causative agent of American foulbrood (AFB) in honeybees (Apis mellifera) and a devastating pathogen for honey and pollination industries worldwide. Despite this threat, a genomic survey of P. larvae has not been attempted within Australia. To examine the diversity of Australian populations, we sequenced 368 P. larvae genomes sourced primarily from south-eastern Australia. Multilocus sequencing typing analysis identified only 4 sequence types across all 368 samples, with 2 sequence types (ST18 and ST5) representing 96% of all isolates. In comparison to European-sourced P. larvae, sequences revealed much less genetic diversity in Australian isolates. However, Australian genotypes were very similar to those found in New Zealand populations. All Australian isolates were identified as enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC) type I. To determine the feasibility of a genomic tracing system in a low-diversity genetic background, we investigated core-genome SNP (cgSNP) genotyping of isolates from a single beekeeper and from isolates across multiple apiaries and sample sites. We identified highly related cgSNP clusters, one with known epidemiological links, but another highly related cluster spanned several decades. Results strongly suggest that cgSNP analysis does have the discriminatory power to assist in the trace-forward and trace-back of AFB outbreaks, but importantly, the inclusion of background sequences and careful consideration of multiple analysis methods are required to avoid erroneous conclusions
Embracing the Broad Vision of Nursing's Renewed Definitions-Recognizing the Unseen and Steering the Future.
No full textA global synthesis of naturalised and invasive plants in aquatic habitats
Get PDFGlobal databases have contributed to our understanding of alien, naturalised and invasive plant species distributions. Still, the role of species invasions in habitats, specifically in aquatic habitats, remains underexplored at the global scale. Accordingly, a comprehensive global synthesis of the status of plant invasions in aquatic habitats has been missing. Here, we focus on macroecological patterns of naturalised non-invasive and invasive plants in aquatic habitats using the recently built SynHab database. Amongst all the plant records compiled in SynHab, 592 are assigned to aquatic habitats, of which 183 are unique plant taxa (further termed ‘species’) belonging to 49 families. Of the total number of records, 462 refer to taxa with naturalised non-invasive occurrences and 130 to invasive occurrences. The species pool analysed here refers to 78 regions distributed across all botanical continents as defined by the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions. The number of naturalised non-invasive aquatic species is similar across different continents and biomes, but Tropical Asia had more and the Mediterranean zonobiome had fewer invasive species than expected. Tropical Asia, Temperate Asia and Africa have the highest proportions of naturalised species that have become invasive, while across continents, invasive proportions were highest for tropical and subtropical zonobiomes. New Zealand, Italy and California contained disproportionately more naturalised species than expected, given the area covered by aquatic habitat in those regions, whereas South Sudan, Papua New Guinea and Kyrgyzstan had disproportionately fewer species. In pairwise dissimilarity comparisons, all continents had distinct species compositions (from 0.73 to 0.92 of the Jaccard dissimilarity index) and so did zonobiomes (0.69 to 1.00). The high proportion of invasive species in Tropical Asia in comparison with terrestrial invasions in this region, indicates a greater susceptibility of warmer regions to aquatic plant invasions. This may be exacerbated by further naturalisations in the future, as data from temperate regions suggest a larger pool of available species
Design and implementation of data quality controls in the EQ-DAPHNIE study: insights from the pilot phase and 15-country analysis.
Get PDFOBJECTIVE: The EQ-DAPHNIE (EuroQol Data for Assessment of Population Health Needs and Instrument Evaluation) project is a large, multi-country survey initiative designed to generate population norms and enable comparative research using self-reported health measures. This paper describes the quality control processes and summarizes data quality metrics from the United Kingdom (UK) pilot and full implementation across 15 countries. METHODS: Representative samples were recruited via Dynata, an online survey panel provider, using quota sampling by age, sex, income, community setting, and language (where applicable). The UK pilot (n = 3012) informed survey refinements ahead of full rollout (n = 68,411). Quality metrics included completion rates, bot detection, speeding, missing data, outliers, and quota achievement. RESULTS: Across countries, response rates ranged from 80.1 to 100%, with completion rates varying widely (22.9% in Brazil to 60.8% in Japan; average 42.4%). Bot exclusions averaged 3.0%, peaking in China (11.7%). Speeding was low (0.3% average), and duplicate records were rare. Completion times ranged from 18.3 (France) to 31.4 min (New Zealand). Missing data varied substantially (0.0-48.7%), with Japan and Spain showing the least. Quota fulfillment ranged from 68.7 to 98.6%. Consistency checks showed strong agreement for repeated items-marital status (92.8-98.9%) and age (92.3-98.7%). CONCLUSIONS: The quality control measures implemented throughout the EQ-DAPHNIE project effectively addressed common issues such as bot responses, speeding, and missing data, resulting in generally high-quality and representative datasets. However, variability across countries underscores the need to account for quality indicators when using the data for norm-setting or cross-country comparisons
Dyslipidemia in asthma: Treatable trait, or just a common comorbidity?
Get PDFAsthma is a diverse disease that can be categorized into various phenotypes and endotypes, including obesity-re-lated asthma and allergic asthma. "Treatable traits (TTs)" represent a new approach to managing asthma. Asthma accompanied by dyslipidemia would be a distinct asthma phenotype that is becoming increasingly common. Therefore, dyslipidemia can potentially serve as a target for the management of asthma. Nevertheless, it remains highly under-researched compared to other observable traits. Gaining knowledge about the clinical and inflammatory characteristics, underlying mechanisms, and potential therapeutic medications for asthma with dyslipidemia is crucial for its effective management. This review aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of asthma with dyslipidemia, consolidating existing knowledge and ongoing research
DCSCY: DRL-Based Cross-Shard Smart Contract Yanking in a Blockchain Sharding Framework
Get PDFBlockchain sharding has emerged as a promising solution to address scalability and performance challenges in distributed ledger systems. In the sharded blockchain, yanking can reduce the communication overhead of smart contracts between shards. However, the existing smart contract yanking methods are inefficient, increasing the latency and reducing the throughput. In this paper, we propose a novel DRL-Based Cross-Shard Smart Contract Yanking (DCSCY) framework which intelligently balances three critical factors: the number of smart contracts processed, node waiting time, and yanking costs. The proposed framework dynamically optimizes the relocation trajectory of smart contracts across shards. This reduces the communication overhead and enables adaptive, function-level migrations to enhance the execution efficiency. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach reduces the cross-shard transaction latency and enhances smart contract utilization. Compared to random-based and order-based methods, the DCSCY approach achieves a performance improvement of more than 95%
Optimizing Spot Instance Reliability and Security Using Cloud-Native Data and Tools
No full textThis paper presents "Cloudlab," a comprehensive, cloud-native laboratory designed to support network security research and training. Built on Google Cloud and adhering to GitOps methodologies, Cloudlab facilitates the creation, testing, and deployment of secure, containerized workloads using Kubernetes and serverless architectures. The lab integrates tools like Palo Alto Networks firewalls, Bridgecrew for "Security as Code," and automated GitHub workflows to establish a robust Continuous Integration/Continuous Machine Learning pipeline. By providing an adaptive and scalable environment, Cloudlab supports advanced security concepts such as role-based access control, Policy as Code, and container security. This initiative enables data scientists and engineers to explore cutting-edge practices in a dynamic cloud-native ecosystem, fostering innovation and improving operational resilience in modern IT infrastructures
Erased Voices and Unspoken Heritage Language, Identity and Belonging in the Lives of Cultural In-Betweeners
No full textThis book offers fresh perspectives on why some second-generation migrants embrace, reject, or negotiate their heritage languages
Optimizing cover cropping application for sustainable crop production
Get PDFCover cropping is a key strategy in sustainable agriculture but faces adoption barriers due to perceived yield risks and uncertain environmental benefits. Through a global meta-analysis of 3160 observations from 271 studies, we assessed the impacts of cover crops on soil organic carbon (SOC), crop yield, and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. Results showed that legume and non-legume cover crops increased SOC by 5.9 and 4.0%, respectively. Legume cover crops enhanced yield by 16.0% but raised N2O emissions by 36.2%, which can be mitigated by integrating practices like no-tillage, deficit irrigation, and diversified crop rotations. The greatest benefits in SOC and yield from legume cover crops were observed in farming systems with low nitrogen fertilizer, low crop diversity (especially cereal-dominated systems), and low initial SOC, under humid and warm climates. Incorporating legume cover crops brings co-benefits for both SOC and yield but the trade-offs in N2O emissions should be deliberated
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