Integrating landscapes that have experienced rural depopulation and ecological homogenization into tropical conservation planning

If current trends of declining fertility rates and increasing abandonment of rural land as a result of urbanization continue, this will signal a globally significant transformation with important consequences for policy makers interested in conservation planning. This transformation is presently evident in a number of countries and projections suggest it may occur in the future in many developing countries. We use rates of population growth and urbanization to project population trends in rural areas for 25 example countries. Our projections indicate a general decline in population density that has either occurred already (e.g., Mexico) or may occur in the future if current trends continue (e.g., Uganda). Using both temperate and tropical examples we present evidence that this process will lead to ecological homogenization as a dominant habitat (e.g., forest replaces a mosaic of human-maintained landscapes), resulting in declines in biodiversity at the local scale. Building on this information, we consider research programs that need to be conducted so that policy makers are prepared to effectively manage depopulated rural areas

Humanism in the Age of COVID-19: Renewing Focus on Communication and Compassion

The global COVID-19 pandemic has become one of the largest clinical and operational challenges faced by emergency medicine, and our EDs continue to see increased volumes of infected patients, many of whom are not only ill, but acutely aware and fearful of their circumstances and potential mortality. Given this, there may be no more important time to focus on staff-patient communication and expression of compassion.However, many of the techniques usually employed by emergency clinicians to provide comfort to patients and their families are made more challenging or impossible by the current circumstances. Geriatric ED patients, who are at increased risk of severe disease, are particularly vulnerable to the effects of isolation.Despite many challenges, emergency clinicians have at their disposal a myriad of tools that can still be used to express compassion and empathy to their patients. Placing emphasis on using these techniques to maximize humanism in the care of COVID-19 patients during this crisis has the potential to bring improvements to ED patient care well after this pandemic has passed

Obstetric consequences of subfertility : a retrospective cohort study

Funding No funding was received for this study. Acknowledgements We would like to acknowledge the help and expertise provided by Fiona Chaloner who performed the data linkage and extraction from the databases. We also thank the medical statistics team, University of Aberdeen, and in particular Dr Lorna Aucott, for their advice on the analysis of the data. We would also like to thank Margery Heath for proofreading and formatting the paper.Peer reviewedPostprintPostprin

Measurement Impact of Core Self-Evaluation on Job Outcomes and The Role of Organizational Socialization

This paper is the result of research on employee behavior in public organizations. The research intends to measure the extent to which the achievement of outcomes (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job performance) is influenced by core self-evaluation. In this case, the researcher considers the involvement of the organization in conducting organizational socialization as important to encourage the achievement of better outcomes. Therefore, in this study organizational socialization as a moderating variable. The study involved 203 recent Aceh Besar District Government recruits. Primary data was obtained by distributing online questionnaires to respondents via Google forms. Moderation Regression Analysis (MRA) and Multiple Regression (MR) were both subsequently employed in the conducting of this analysis. The results show that the CSE of new entrants has a positive impact on each work outcome. However, while OS supports the relationship, its role is not proven to engender greater job satisfaction

Molecular and Genetic Aspects of Odontogenic Lesions

In this article we outline the molecular findings of select odontogenic tumors. In each section, we briefly review selected the clinicoradiographic, histologic, immunologic features, focusing on the molecular findings and their applications in practice. The understanding of molecular pathobiology at various other organ sites has developed quite rapidly in recent years, however much remains unknown about the genetic profile of odontogenic tumors. Improved understanding of mutations in odontogenic tumors may clarify classification schema and elucidate targets for novel therapies. Molecular testing will no doubt improve our understanding of odontogenic tumor pathogenesis and will likely be, someday, an important component of routine clinical practice and its role will only increase in the coming years

Swapping in lattice-based cell migration models

Cell migration is frequently modelled using on-lattice agent-based models (ABMs) that employ the excluded volume interaction. However, cells are also capable of exhibiting more complex cell-cell interactions, such as adhesion, repulsion, pulling, pushing and swapping. Although the first four of these have already been incorporated into mathematical models for cell migration, swapping has not been well studied in this context. In this paper, we develop an ABM for cell movement in which an active agent can `swap' its position with another agent in its neighbourhood with a given swapping probability. We consider a two-species system for which we derive the corresponding macroscopic model and compare it with the average behaviour of the ABM. We see good agreement between the ABM and the macroscopic density. We also analyse the movement of agents at an individual level in the single-species as well as two-species scenarios to quantify the effects of swapping on an agent's motility.<br/

Swapping in lattice-based cell migration models

Cell migration is frequently modelled using on-lattice agent-based models (ABMs) that employ the excluded volume interaction. However, cells are also capable of exhibiting more complex cell-cell interactions, such as adhesion, repulsion, pulling, pushing and swapping. Although the first four of these have already been incorporated into mathematical models for cell migration, swapping is an interaction that has not been well studied in this context. In this paper, we develop an ABM to describe cell movement where an active agent can `swap' its position with another agent in its neighbourhood with a given swapping probability. We consider single-species and two-species systems. In both cases, we derive the corresponding macroscopic model and compare it with the average behaviour of the ABM. We see good agreement between the ABM and the macroscopic density. We also derive an expression for the cell-level diffusion coefficient in terms of the swapping probability and cell density. We conclude by showing applications of swapping by using the ABM to represent cell movement with proliferation and cell-cell adhesion.Comment: 32 pages, 12 figures, articl

Kelvin mode of a vortex in a nonuniform Bose-Einstein condensate

In a uniform fluid, a quantized vortex line with circulation h/M can support long-wavelength helical traveling waves proportional to e^{i(kz-\omega_k t)} with the well-known Kelvin dispersion relation \omega_k \approx (\hbar k^2/2M) \ln(1/|k|\xi), where \xi is the vortex-core radius. This result is extended to include the effect of a nonuniform harmonic trap potential, using a quantum generalization of the Biot-Savart law that determines the local velocity V of each element of the vortex line. The normal-mode eigenfunctions form an orthogonal Sturm-Liouville set. Although the line's curvature dominates the dynamics, the transverse and axial trapping potential also affect the normal modes of a straight vortex on the symmetry axis of an axisymmetric Thomas-Fermi condensate. The leading effect of the nonuniform condensate density is to increase the amplitude along the axis away from the trap center. Near the ends, however, a boundary layer forms to satisfy the natural Sturm-Liouville boundary conditions. For a given applied frequency, the next-order correction renormalizes the local wavenumber k(z) upward near the trap center, and k(z) then increases still more toward the ends.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figur

What predicts wellbeing amidst crisis? A study of promotive and protective psychological factors among Malaysians during the COVID-19 pandemic

Resilience promotes psychological growth and buffers against the effects of negative events, but the factors that promote optimal wellbeing beyond resilience remain poorly understood. The current study addresses this gap through a positive psychology perspective by examining how (i) promotive factors – optimism and hope, and (ii) protective factors – nostalgia and spirituality promote wellbeing. We hypothesized that both factors will be positively related to wellbeing above and beyond that predicted by resilience. A representative sample of six hundred and twenty-six (n = 626; M age = 32.66, SD = 10.11, 43.45% female) Malaysians responded to an online survey at the end of the country’s second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (June-September 2020). We conducted a series of regression analyses, controlling for resilience, socio-economic status, age, and perceptions towards government crisis management efforts. Results indicate that optimism and hope positively predicted wellbeing above and beyond that predicted by resilience. Results also showed that the only significant protective factor contributing to wellbeing is spirituality. Nostalgia did not significantly predict wellbeing beyond resilience. The findings are of theoretical relevance for wellbeing and resilience research, and practically beneficial in informing mental health interventions