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Searching for food in a concrete jungle: feeding ecology of a Psittacine assemblage (Aves, Psittacidae) in a major Amazonian city
Get PDFThe efficient use of food resources is a precondition for wild species´ survival in urban environments. The feeding ecology of animals in tropical cities, however, remains poorly investigated. Here we study the feeding ecology of parrots in Manaus, a major Amazonian city, and compare the results with a parrot assemblage living in undisturbed habitats. We recorded 203 feeding bouts from eight parrot species, which consumed parts of 51 plant species. Parrot diets were dominated by native palm species (Arecaceae). Exotic plants, however, constituted an important portion of the diet of some parrots. Levin's indices, a measure of food niche width, varied from 0.40 to 0.83, indicating an overall tendency to generalist diets. Diet overlap between species was small, indicating broad resource partitioning between members of the assemblage. The diversity of plants consumed in the natural environment was greater than in the urban environment (71 species vs. 52). However, the diversity of plants consumed was similar for parrot species recorded both in natural and urban environments, indicating that occupation of the city does not imply an impoverishment in parrot diets. Creation of municipal protected areas and increasing the city afforestation would provide complementary strategies for Manaus parrot conservation
Pay transparency and unequal pay for equal work: devising an effective regulatory framework
No full textDespite being guaranteed by UK law since 1975, the right to equal pay continues to be inhibited, in part by a pervasive culture of pay secrecy. In this thesis, it is argued that strengthening compliance with equal pay law can only be achieved by imposing duties on employers to ensure their pay systems are not discriminatory, and by easing the burden of information gathering on employees who want to discover whether they are receiving discriminatory pay. To achieve this, this thesis proposes the introduction of a regulatory framework of mandatory pay transparency measures in the UK, that shifts much of the burden onto employers to prevent pay discrimination from occurring.
Drawing together economic, reflexive regulatory, and social accounting theories of information disclosure and regulatory compliance, an original theoretical framework is developed, against which the strengths and weaknesses of pay transparency can be measured. Using this theoretical framework, three case studies are conducted to analyse the design and efficacy of existing pay transparency measures, namely equal pay auditing, gender pay gap reporting and equal pay certification. Findings from these case studies are then used to inform the proposed introduction of a mandatory equal pay certification system for most UK employers across the public, private and voluntary sectors, and a right for employees to request colleagues’ pay information from their employers. It is argued that this framework of pay transparency measures can address the lack of understanding of both employers and employees of the existence and extent of unequal pay, prompt employers to take proactive steps to eliminate potentially discriminatory pay practices, and give victims of unequal pay the information they need to enforce their legal rights
L&T Chat Show S3E4: Alan Wheeler on evaluating learning gain through Lego Serious Play
No full textThis podcast is Alan Wheeler being interviewed by Roger saunders of the L&T Chat Show, on his work investigating Learning Gain via Lego (R) Serious Play (R) at Middlesex University
Rocking Carol
No full textA short Christmas carol for divided SATB choir a cappella. Text from Wither's Rocking Hymn (traditional)
Bidirectional Mendelian randomization and multiphenotype GWAS show causality and shared pathophysiology between depression and type 2 diabetes
Get PDFOBJECTIVE
Depression is a common comorbidity of type 2 diabetes. We assessed the causal relationships and shared genetics between them.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
We applied two-sample, bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) to assess causality between type 2 diabetes and depression. We investigated potential mediation using two-step MR. To identify shared genetics, we performed 1) genome-wide association studies (GWAS) separately and 2) multiphenotype GWAS (MP-GWAS) of type 2 diabetes (19,344 case subjects, 463,641 control subjects) and depression using major depressive disorder (MDD) (5,262 case subjects, 86,275 control subjects) and self-reported depressive symptoms (n = 153,079) in the UK Biobank. We analyzed expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) data from public databases to identify target genes in relevant tissues.
RESULTS
MR demonstrated a significant causal effect of depression on type 2 diabetes (odds ratio 1.26 [95% CI 1.11–1.44], P = 5.46 × 10−4) but not in the reverse direction. Mediation analysis indicated that 36.5% (12.4–57.6%, P = 0.0499) of the effect from depression on type 2 diabetes was mediated by BMI. GWAS of type 2 diabetes and depressive symptoms did not identify shared loci. MP-GWAS identified seven shared loci mapped to TCF7L2, CDKAL1, IGF2BP2, SPRY2, CCND2-AS1, IRS1, CDKN2B-AS1. MDD has not brought any significant association in either GWAS or MP-GWAS. Most MP-GWAS loci had an eQTL, including single nucleotide polymorphisms implicating the cell cycle gene CCND2 in pancreatic islets and brain and the insulin signaling gene IRS1 in adipose tissue, suggesting a multitissue and pleiotropic underlying mechanism.
CONCLUSIONS
Our results highlight the importance to prevent type 2 diabetes at the onset of depressive symptoms and the need to maintain a healthy weight in the context of its effect on depression and type 2 diabetes comorbidity
Transforming strategies in the digital era: the role of social media in customer value analysis and crisis management for tourism firms
Get PDFSocial media is gaining popularity nowadays and is increasingly being used by many small and large organisations. Organisations are adopting new social platforms and technologies to achieve their key and effective management strategies. However, there are still opportunities to explore the role of new technologies in developing useful strategies. In current research, the utilisation of technological tools especially social media was examined to improve the customer value analysis in the organisations. Besides, the research of social media use for crisis management is also increasing and the relevant strategies are still being-investigated. To overcome this gap, this research aims to evaluate the impact of the use of social media on customer value analysis and crisis management. To attain this, a detailed questionnaire was adapted from several different studies. Data were collected from a diverse targeted sample of tourism-related firms from all over Malaysia, including hotels, resorts, travel agencies and transportation companies. The model was tested using Smart PLS software and the results were generalised. Overall, this research will add a noteworthy contribution to the literature by highlighting the significance of social media and recognising its urgency during crisis for businesses. It will also help in answering questions regarding the role of social media usage towards customer value analysis and crisis management of organisations in the Malaysian tourism sector. Moreover, the practitioners will use the findings to make strategies for crisis management and build customer value chain
Explanation of student attendance AI prediction with the Isabelle Infrastructure Framework
Get PDFRight from the beginning, attendance has played an important role in the education systems, not only in student success but in the overall interest of the matter. Although all schools try to accentuate good attendance, still some schools find it hard to achieve the required level (96% in UK) of average attendance. The most productive way of increasing the pupils′ attendance rate is to predict when it is going to go down, understand the reasons—why it happened—and act on the affecting factors so as to prevent it. Artificial intelligence (AI) is an automated machine learning solution for different types of problems. Several machine learning (ML) models like logistic regression, decision trees, etc. are easy to understand; however, complicated (Neural Network, BART etc.) ML models are not transparent but are black-boxes for humans. It is not always evident how machine intelligence arrived at a decision. However, not always, but in critical applications it is important that humans can understand the reasons for such decisions. In this paper, we present a methodology on the application example of pupil attendance for constructing explanations for AI classification algorithms. The methodology includes building a model of the application in the Isabelle Insider and Infrastructure framework (IIIf) and an algorithm (PCR) that helps us to obtain a detailed logical rule to specify the performance of the black-box algorithm, hence allowing us to explain it. The explanation is provided within the logical model of the IIIf, thus is suitable for human audiences. It has been shown that the RR-cycle of IIIf can be adapted to provide a method for iteratively extracting an explanation by interleaving attack tree analysis with precondition refinement, which finally yields a general rule that describes the decision taken by a black-box algorithm produced by Artificial intelligence
Exploring the contributions of Barnet’s Golden Kilometre intervention to primary school pupils’ physical literacy development
Get PDFThis thesis forms part of a funded research project with Public Health Barnet exploring the impact a primary school run/walk intervention has on developing pupils’ physical literacy (PL). The Barnet’s Golden Kilometre intervention was developed as a feasible, low-cost initiative, involving primary school children walking, jogging or running one km every day whilst at school. It has been demonstrated that PL is more important than purely physical elements regarding the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle. Identifying initiatives that are likely to encourage progression in the domains of PL (affective, cognitive and physical) from a young age is deemed important to encourage regular physical activity (PA) participation throughout life. The initial study of this thesis determined that no current literature examining school-based run/walk programmes has considered all three domains of PL. Outcomes relating to the physical domain were most commonly explored, and no studies explored the cognitive domain. Based on these initial findings, the thesis examined the PL and PA related effects of participating in Barnet's Golden kilometre over one academic year were. The combined findings revealed that mixed responses were reported following one academic year of participation, and that the intervention may not be universally suitable due to factors such as variation in age, ability and initial PL. However, when implementation is successful, improvements in perceived and actual physical competence (physical domain), improved thoughts and feeling towards exercise (affective domain), improvements in knowledge and understanding of healthy eating and exercise (cognitive domain), as well as health related outcomes (BMI, BF% and waist circumferences) can be observed. In order to encourage positive PL experiences and the benefits reported herein, it is recommended that future research considers the youth promotion model within the Boroughs policy promotion and to help schools understand the valuable role they play in intervention implementation and adaption