133,448 research outputs found
Within-pair Copulations: Are Female Tree Swallows Feathering Their Own Nests?
No full textA variety of hypotheses has been proposed to explain why socially monogamous birds copulate repeatedly with their mates when only a single copulation is necessary to fertilize an entire clutch (Birkhead and Møller 1992, Petrie 1992, Hunter et al. 1993). Petrie (1992) hypothesized that a female should copulate frequently with her mate so as to reduce her mate’s involvement in extrapair copulations. By reducing her mate’s involvement in extrapair copulations, a female may: (1) avoid the transmission of parasites and sexually transmitted diseases (Hamilton 1990); (2) may avoid sperm depletion by her mate; and (3) may monopolize her mate’s paternal care (Petrie 1992)
Evaluation of a workplace suicide prevention program in the Australian manufacturing industry: protocol for a cluster-randomised trial of MATES in manufacturing
No full textMales are at higher risk of death by suicide than females in Australia, and among men, blue-collar males are at higher risk compared to other working males. In response, MATES in Construction developed a workplace suicide prevention program for the construction sector in 2007 that has been widely implemented in Australia. In the current project, this program is being adapted and trialled in the manufacturing sector. The common aims of MATES programs are to improve suicide prevention literacy, help-seeking intentions, and helping behaviours. The program will be evaluated using a cluster randomised-controlled trial design with waitlist controls across up to 12 manufacturing worksites in Australia. We hypothesise that after 8 months of the MATES in Manufacturing program, there will be significantly greater improvements in help-seeking intentions (primary outcome) compared to waitlist controls. The project is led by Deakin University in collaboration with the University of Melbourne, and in partnership with MATES in Construction and a joint labour-management Steering Group. Trial registration: The trial was registered retrospectively with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry on 25 January 2022 (ACTRN12622000122752). Protocol version: 2.0, November 2022. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12888-022-04464-3
School mates
No full textGift of Dr. Mary Jane Esplen.Piano vocal [instrumentation]Mem'ry strays, to other days [first line]School mates we, [first line of chorus]B flat [key]Valse moderato [tempo]Popular song [form/genre]Children playing on wheeled cart by house [illustration]Etherington [graphic artist]D. S. Andrus & Co., Pianos, Sheet Music and Small Musical Instruments (Established 1860.) 21 W. Third St., Williamsport, PA. [dealer stamp]Publisher's advertisement on inside front and back cover [note
MeSH term explosion and author rank improve expert recommendations
No full textInformation overload is an often-cited phenomenon that reduces the productivity, efficiency and efficacy of scientists. One challenge for scientists is to find appropriate collaborators in their research. The literature describes various solutions to the problem of expertise location, but most current approaches do not appear to be very suitable for expert recommendations in biomedical research. In this study, we present the development and initial evaluation of a vector space model-based algorithm to calculate researcher similarity using four inputs: 1) MeSH terms of publications; 2) MeSH terms and author rank; 3) exploded MeSH terms; and 4) exploded MeSH terms and author rank. We developed and evaluated the algorithm using a data set of 17,525 authors and their 22,542 papers. On average, our algorithms correctly predicted 2.5 of the top 5/10 coauthors of individual scientists. Exploded MeSH and author rank outperformed all other algorithms in accuracy, followed closely by MeSH and author rank. Our results show that the accuracy of MeSH term-based matching can be enhanced with other metadata such as author rank
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
'Me and My Mates': Development and Evaluation of an Emotional and Social Competence Programme for Pre-Primary Children
No full textA well-accepted finding from past research is that children from low socio-economic status (SES) suburbs have a higher proportion of emotional and social competence problems that later manifest into psychopathology and social maladjustment than children from high SES suburbs. This thesis reports the development, trial and evaluation of a classroom-based emotional and social competence programme, 'Me and My Mates' for pre-primary-aged Western Australian children from low SES suburbs. It was hypothesised that children who participated in Me and My Mates would show significantly greater increases in emotional and social competence, as well as lower rates of emotional and behavioural problems, than children who did not participate.
A primary concern in developing the Me and My Mates programme was to identify crucial emotional and social competencies that constituted accepted emotional and social competence in pre-primary children. The identified competencies were: understanding emotions in self, emotional expressivity, emotional knowledge, emotional regulation, attribution of intent, empathy, sympathy, increased prosocial behaviour and minimal aggressive behaviour.
A pilot trial was undertaken and changes were made to the programme in light of the results. A second trial consisted of an experimental evaluation of the modified version. Four schools consented to participate in both trials, with one government and one private school in each of the experimental and control conditions. In Trial One, 110 child assessments, teacher questionnaires and parent questionnaires were completed at pre-intervention, post-intervention and three-month follow-up. In Trial Two, 68 child assessments were completed at pre-intervention, post-intervention and three-month follow-up.
Results from the child assessments in both trials indicated that emotional knowledge, sympathy, empathy and prosocial behaviour were significantly higher in children who participated in the programme at post-intervention and three-month follow-up compared to children in the control group, whereas hostile attribution of intent and aggression were significantly lower. Teacher and parent findings were also supportive of increases in children‘s emotional and social competence and partially supportive of lower rates of emotional and behavioural problems in children.
When assessed at three-month follow-up, 80% of the children in Trial One and 91% of the children in Trial Two used the emotional regulation techniques taught in the programme. Effect sizes were generally moderate to high, and were larger in Trial Two for most competencies.
The findings were similar to those described in previously published reports of programme evaluations in pre-primary children, supporting findings that classroom-based programmes can enhance and sustain emotional and social competence in five-year-old children. Extending on previous findings, empirical support was also provided for the enhancement of competencies that have previously not been measured including important social functions such as sympathy, empathy and lower hostile attribution of intent.
The goal of future research will be to investigate whether longer term positive outcomes for children who completed the Me and My Mates programme continue in their primary school years
"Closing the R&D Gap, Evaluating the Sources of R&D Spending"
No full textBoth spending and tax policies have been implemented in the United States with the goal of stimulating private sector research and development (R&D). Karier questions whether current R&D policy, especially the research and experimentation tax credit, can contribute to closing the gap between nondefense expenditures on R&D in the United States and such expenditures in other countries, such as Japan and Germany. He also explores possible changes to our current R&D policy to make it more effective.
1960s-1970s Bonnie Christensen and Basketball Team mates
No full textBlack and white photograph of Bonnie Christensen and team mates from the 4th ward after winning the Stake Basketball championship (late 60s early 70s
Male scorpionflies assess the amount of rival sperm transferred by females' previous mates
No full textEngqvist L. Male scorpionflies assess the amount of rival sperm transferred by females' previous mates. Evolution. 2007;61(6):1489-1494.Theory predicts that when sperm compete numerically, selection will favor males who vary the number of sperm they transfer with the immediate level of sperm competition. In this study, I measured male mating investment in response to both female mating status (virgin vs. mated) and the number of foreign sperm stored by females in a previous mating in the scorpionfly Panorpa cognata. Female sperm storage was manipulated by interrupting copulations at different time points. Female mating status did not significantly influence male mating investment, but resource-limited males invested strategically in relation to the amount of sperm stored by females in a previous mating. I found continuously decreasing male investment in response to increasing amounts of competing sperm. These results demonstrate an unprecedented male ability to assess the number of sperm stored by females. As a result, males are capable of an extraordinarily fine-tuned reaction to the intensity of sperm competition
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