From Microevolutionary Processes to Macroevolutionary Patterns: Investigating Diversification at Multiple Scales in Southeast Asian Lizards

A comprehensive understanding of the evolutionary processes responsible for generating biodiversity is best obtained using integrative approaches at multiple scales. In doing so, these investigations can provide complex insights into how fine-scale microevolutionary processes operating at the population level, translate into the large-scale macroevolutionary biodiversity patterns we see in evolutionary radiations. Due to the complex geography, historical climatic fluctuations, and remarkably high concentrations of land vertebrate biodiversity, Southeast Asia is an ideal place to investigate these processes. Lizards of the genus Eutropis represent one of the more recognizable radiations of lizards in Southeast Asia, due to their high abundances, broad geographic distribution, and generalized external morphology. However, their evolutionary history has remained enigmatic due to their highly conserved morphology and a lack of dense population sampling of individuals and species across their range. In this dissertation, I first utilize a variety of approaches to delimit species in Philippine Eutropis and find that species diversity is vastly underestimated by current taxonomy, while more generally assessing how best to determine species limits in radiations where morphology is highly conserved. I then use a molecular phylogenetic framework to investigate biogeographic patterns and the timing of diversification within the genus across Southeast Asia. Lastly, I take a landscape genomic approach to determine the relative contributions of distance, and various geographic and environmental variables to population genetic differentiation and morphological diversity patterns in the common sun skink. This research contributes substantially to our understanding of species diversity in evolutionary radiations, as well as how historical and contemporary evolutionary processes shape the evolution of morphological and genetic diversity

A Mixed-Method Investigation into Therapeutic Yoga as an Adjunctive Treatment for People Recovering from Substance Use Disorders

© 2020, The Author(s). Mind Body Connect (MBC) is a charity which uses therapeutic yoga as a vehicle of change for marginalized populations. Alongside MBC, Sheffield Hallam University’s SHU Strength researchers carried out this study aiming to: (1) Gauge the impact of therapeutic yoga classes upon the mood state of people with a Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and (2) Explore the perceived benefits of therapeutic yoga class participation. An adapted shortened Profile of Mood States (POMS) was completed before and after each yoga class. A comparison of means with paired sample T-Test and Cohen’s D was then carried out. Participants who attended 6+ classes were interviewed. Findings were then converged. Before and after measurements of anger, sadness, tiredness, worry, confusion, energy and relaxation were taken, Classes were held at SHU for service users from a Phoenix Future’s (PF) rehabilitation centre. A single yoga class significantly relaxed participants and reduced negative mood states. Interview data covered a range of perceived benefits including the use of yogic down-regulation techniques as daily coping strategies. The MBC yoga programme appears beneficial as an adjunctive therapy for PF residents. Future SHU Strength research shall focus on the mid-long-term exercise habits of the recovery community and the impact of the MBC yoga programme upon the early recovery period of detoxification

Method and apparatus for the guided ablative therapy of fast ventricular arrhythmia

Method and apparatus for guiding ablative therapy of abnormal biological electrical excitation. The excitation from the previous excitatory wave is significant at the beginning of the next excitation. In particular, it is designed for treatment of fast cardiac arrhythmias. Electrical signals are acquired from recording electrodes, and an inverse dipole method is used to identify the site of origin of an arrhythmia. The location of the tip of an ablation catheter is similarly localized from signals acquired from the recording electrodes while electrical pacing energy is delivered to the tip of the catheter close to or in contact with the cardiac tissue. The catheter tip is then guided to the site of origin of the arrhythmia, and ablative radio frequency energy is delivered to its tip to ablate the site

Social research for a multiethnic population: do the research ethics and standards guidelines of UK Learned Societies address this challenge?

There is increasing recognition in the UK that social science research should generate an evidence base that reflects the ethnic diversity of the population and informs positive developments in public policy and programmes for all. However, describing and understanding ethnic diversity, and associated disadvantage, is far from straightforward. In practice, the ethical and scientific arguments around whether and how to incorporate ethnicity into policy-relevant social research are complex and contentious. In particular, untheorised or insensitive inclusion of data on ethnic 'groups' can have negative consequences. The present investigation begins to explore the extent to which social scientists have access to advice and guidance in this area of research. Specifically, the paper examines how ethnic diversity is explicitly or implicitly considered within the research ethics and scientific standard guidance provided by UK social science Learned Societies to their members. The review found little in the way of explicit attention to ethnic diversity in the guidance documents, but nevertheless identified a number of pertinent themes. The paper compiles and extrapolates these themes to present a tentative set of principles for social scientists to debate and further develop

PRO: confronting resistance to rule-based medicine is essential to improving outcomes

The past 20 years have seen two great changes in the practice of medicine: the widespread adoption of evidence-based medicine, and the increasing challenge of managing complex multimorbid patients. Both these developments have resulted in clinical rules and protocols becoming ever more abundant and increasingly critical to delivering safe and effective patient care. These evidence-based clinical rules perform at least as well as expert opinion, and the increasing volume and quality of available clinical data suggests their performance could continue to improve. This article considers why clinicians deviate from effective rules, highlighting key issues such as the persisting culture of heroism, institutional inertia, deference to authority and personal heuristics. We argue that better rules can be created, and that clinical improvements will follow if there is a ‘common knowledge’ of these rules. Furthermore, we argue that there is a ceiling to the effectiveness of any rule, even one as simple as ensuring hand hygiene, unless individuals are held accountable for transgressions

Accelerator Design for the CHESS-U Upgrade

During the summer and fall of 2018 the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) is undergoing an upgrade to increase high-energy flux for x-ray users. The upgrade requires replacing one-sixth of the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR), inverting the polarity of half of the CHESS beam lines, and switching to single-beam on-axis operation. The new sextant is comprised of six double-bend achromats (DBAs) with combined-function dipole-quadrupoles. Although the DBA design is widely utilized and well understood, the constraints for the CESR modifications make the CHESS-U lattice unique. This paper describes the design objectives, constraints, and implementation for the CESR accelerator upgrade for CHESS-U

Popular critiques of consultancy and a politics of management learning?

In this short article, I argue that popular business discourse on the role of management consultancy in the promotion and translation of management ideas is often critical, informed by more or less implicit ethical and political concerns with employee security, equity, openness and the transparency and legitimacy of responsibility. These concerns are, in part, ‘sayable’ because their object is seen as a scapegoat for management. Nevertheless, combined with the popular form of their expression, they can support and legitimize critical studies of management learning, a discipline which otherwise has become overly concerned with processual and situational phenomena at the expense of broader political dynamics and of the content and consequences of management and management knowledg