The genome sequence of the little grey, Eudonia lacustrata (Panzer, 1804)

We present a genome assembly from an individual male Eudonia lacustrata (the Little Grey; Arthropoda; Insecta; Lepidoptera; Crambidae). The genome sequence is 699.5 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 30 chromosomal pseudomolecules, including the Z sex chromosome. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled and is 15.29 kilobases in length. Gene annotation of this assembly on Ensembl identified 21,652 protein coding genes

Emotional reactivity and perseveration: Independent dimensions of trait positive and negative affectivity and differential associations with psychological distress

Background: Theoretically, two types of emotional responding could underlie individual differences in trait affect: 1) a disposition reflecting increased probability of experiencing positive or negative emotions (emotional reactivity), and 2) a disposition to experience prolonged emotional reactions once elicited (emotional perseveration). We developed a measure of these dimensions and investigated whether emotional reactivity and perseveration 1) account for unique variance in trait affect, and 2) are differentially associated with symptoms of psychological distress. Method: In Study 1, participants (T1: n = 90; T2: n = 51) completed the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) and the Emotional Reactivity and Perseveration Scale (ERPS, adapted from the PANAS). In study 2, participants (n = 228) completed the PANAS, ERPS, and Depression Anxiety Stress Scales. Results: Study 1 established the basic psychometric properties of the ERPS and demonstrated that emotional reactivity and perseveration accounted for unique variance in trait positive and negative effect. Study 2 confirmed these findings and established that emotional reactivity and perseveration are differentially associated with depression, anxiety, and stress scores. Conclusion: Emotional reactivity and perseveration represent independent dimensions of trait affect. Considering these dimension in future research could further the understanding of both normal emotional responding and emotional vulnerability

The hidden harm of home-based care: Pulmonary tuberculosis symptoms among children providing home medical care to HIV/AIDS-affected adults in South Africa

Millions of children in sub-Saharan Africa undertake personal and medical care for family members who are unwell with AIDS. To date, no research has investigated whether such care provision places children at heightened risk for pulmonary tuberculosis. This study aimed to address this gap by identifying risk factors for paediatric pulmonary tuberculosis symptomatology. In 2009–2011, 6002 children aged 10–17 years were surveyed using door-to-door household sampling of census enumeration areas. These were randomly sampled from six urban and rural sites with over 30% HIV prevalence, within South Africa's three highest tuberculosis-burden provinces. Validated scales and clinical tuberculosis symptom checklists were modelled in multivariate logistic regressions, controlling for socio-demographic co-factors.Findings showed that, among children, severe pulmonary tuberculosis symptomatology was predicted by primary caregiver HIV/AIDS-illness [odds ratio (OR): 1.63, confidence interval (CI): 1.23–2.15, p<0.001], and AIDS-orphanhood (OR: 1.44, CI: 1.04–2.00, p<0.029). Three-fold increases in severe tuberculosis symptoms were predicted by the child's exposure to body fluids through providing personal or medical care to an ill adult (OR: 3.12, CI: 1.96–4.95, p<0.001). Symptoms were also predicted by socio-economic factors of food insecurity (OR: 1.52, CI: 1.15–2.02, p<0.003) and household overcrowding (OR: 1.35, CI: 1.06–1.72, p<0.017). Percentage probability of severe tuberculosis symptoms rose from 1.4% amongst least-exposed children, to 18.1% amongst those exposed to all above-stated risk factors, independent of biological relationship of primary caregiver-child and other socio-demographics. Amongst symptomatic children, 75% had never been tested for tuberculosis. These findings identify the risk of tuberculosis among children providing home medical care to their unwell caregivers, and suggest that there are gaps in the health system to screen and detect these cases of paediatric tuberculosis. There is a need for effective interventions to reduce childhood risk, as well as further support for community-based contact-tracing, tuberculosis screening and anti-tuberculosis treatment for children caring for ill adults in contexts with a high burden of HIV and tuberculosis

Oil and gas infrastructure decommissioning in marine protected areas: System complexity, analysis and challenges

Many offshore oil and gas production facilities are nearing the end of their operational life, with decommissioning now becoming a global challenge. The compatibility of decommissioning operations to marine protected areas (MPAs) creates further challenges. The recently-developed DAPSI(W)R(M) problem structuring framework (covering Drivers, Activities, Pressures, State changes, Impacts (on Welfare) and Responses (as Measures)) was applied here to interrogate the complexity of decommissioning oil and gas infrastructure within MPAs, with outputs feeding into the development of a novel database tool for Screening Potential Impacts of Decommissioning Activities (SPIDA). In meeting the current requirements of the marine regulatory regime, SPIDA provides a more streamlined, evidence-based process which can be applied by industry, statutory nature conservation bodies and regulators for identifying and evaluating evidence that supports the implications of decommissioning alternatives on the condition of MPAs. SPIDA has been developed to be adapted for other activities and sectors, including offshore renewables

Embedding divergent thinking into project team decision making

This research investigated how project team decision making can be improved by applying Divergent Thinking before Convergent Thinking occurs. The Project Mind-Shift Model that was developed offers an opportunity for project team members to engage in constructive conversations about project outcomes and the way forward. The research output helps to improve team dynamics, motivation and engagement by involving the team and utilising their intellect

The genome sequence of the elm groundling moth, Carpatolechia fugitivella (Zeller, 1839)

We present a genome assembly from an individual male Carpatolechia fugitivella (the Elm Groundling; Arthropoda; Insecta; Lepidoptera; Gelechiidae). The genome sequence is 493.1 megabases in span. Most of the assembly is scaffolded into 30 chromosomal pseudomolecules, including the Z sex chromosome. The mitochondrial genome has also been assembled and is 15.26 kilobases in length. Gene annotation of this assembly on Ensembl identified 12,721 protein coding genes

Correlates of externalising and internalising problems in children with dyslexia: An analysis of data from clinical casefiles

© 2019 The Australian Psychological Society Objective: Adopting a socio-ecological perspective, we used data extracted from clinical casefiles to investigate factors associated with externalising and internalising problems in a large, representative sample of children with a diagnosis of dyslexia. Method: This study is a secondary analysis of data collected by the Dyslexia-SPELD Foundation in Western Australia. Casefiles for school-aged children who had received a dyslexia diagnosis in 2014 and 2015 were identified (n = 1,235), and a subset of casefiles were randomly selected for data extraction (n = 454). Of the sample, 58% (n = 262) were male, 42% (n = 192) were female. Ages ranged between 6 and 17 years (M = 12.32, SD = 3.07). Casefiles include results from assessments of literacy-related achievement, as well as parent-reported information on behavioural and socio-emotional development. Results: After controlling for child age, gender, and reading ability, it was found that low self-esteem, difficulties in emotion regulation, and social skills difficulties were all associated with externalising problems. Additionally, low self-esteem, difficulties in emotion regulation, and bullying victimisation were all associated with internalising problems. Peer relationship difficulties were indirectly associated with both externalising and internalising problems through associations with low self-esteem and difficulties in emotion regulation. Conclusion: Self-esteem, bullying victimisation, emotion regulation, social skills, and peer problems are salient correlates of externalising and internalising problems in children with a diagnosis of dyslexia. Implications for intervention are discussed, both universal school-based mental health promotion programs, as well as more targeted programs for children with dyslexia

The Relationship Between Oral Language Ability, Non-Verbal Ability, Socio-Economic Status and Academic Attainment with Reading Comprehension: A Longitudinal Study in Mainstream Secondary School-Age Students

This study aimed to explore the relationships between oral language ability, non-verbal ability, socio-economic status and academic attainment with reading comprehension in adolescents in a mainstream secondary school, and to understand the influence of oral language on reading comprehension. Four hundred and forty-three students, aged 11-14 years in three cohorts (C7, C8 and C9) participated in the two-year study. Thirty-eight percent of the students lived in significant deprivation. Data was collected in the first year of the study for each cohort and the following year for the C7 and C8 cohorts (C7+1 and C8+1). Retrospective data was collected on C8 and C9 cohorts (C8-1 and C9-1, C9-2). Data was collected from three sources for all cohorts: Statutory Assessment Tasks at the end of primary education (Year Six); data routinely collected in the secondary school (including assessments of reading comprehension (New Group Reading Test) and non-verbal ability (Cognitive Abilities Test)) and academic outcomes for a single cohort in the General Certificate of Secondary Education for English, Mathematics and Science (C9 in Year Eleven); thirdly, standardised language (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals Recalling Sentences and Understanding Spoken Paragraphs) and word reading tests (Test of Word Reading Efficiency) specifically collected for the study. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses were used. The mixed study design allowed the exploration of changes in the oral ability, non-verbal ability, academic attainment and reading comprehension for these students as they moved through key academic stages in their education. Cross sectional analysis showed that students in each cohort performed at the lower end of the age range for Recalling Sentences and below average on Understanding Spoken Paragraphs suggesting that most students experienced difficulties with listening comprehension. Reading comprehension and academic data showed that students in each cohort performed within their ability range, although word reading indicated a declining performance. Longitudinal analysis showed that verbal reasoning made an increasing contribution to reading comprehension as children got older, and improvements in reading comprehension were supported by improvements in listening comprehension. Deprivation negatively influenced verbal reasoning and was associated with poorer reading outcomes over time. In support of reciprocal models of reading (Nation, 2019; Tunmer and Hoover, 2019), fewer opportunities to practise reading skills and fewer opportunities to read new, challenging texts may be further depriving students’ chances to develop word recognition and language skills. The current findings that oral language ability is an important factor in students’ reading and literacy success suggest that oral language needs to be supported by a whole-school language approach. Teaching implications include the importance of collaborative working practice between Speech and Language professionals and teachers in order to share skills and knowledge

Child-focused state cash transfers and adolescent risk of HIV infection in South Africa: A propensity-score-matched case-control study

Background: Effective and scalable HIV prevention for adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa is needed. Cash transfers can reduce HIV incidence through reducing risk behaviours. However, questions remain about their effectiveness within national poverty-alleviation programmes, and their effects on different behaviours in boys and girls.Methods: In this case-control study, we interviewed South African adolescents (aged 10–18 years) between 2009 and 2012. We randomly selected census areas in two urban and two rural districts in two provinces in South Africa, including all homes with a resident adolescent. We assessed household receipt of state-provided child-focused cash transfers, incidence in the past year and prevalence of transactional sex, age-disparate sex, unprotected sex, multiple partners, and sex while drunk or after taking drugs. We used logistic regression after propensity score matching to assess the effect of cash transfers on these risky sexual behaviours.We interviewed 3515 participants (one per household) at baseline, and interviewed 3401 at follow-up. For adolescent girls (n=1926), receipt of a cash transfer was associated with reduced incidence of transactional sex (odds ratio [OR] 0.49, 95% CI 0.26–0.93; p=0•028), and age-disparate sex (OR 0.29, 95% CI 0.13–0.67; p=0.004), with similar associations for prevalence (for transactional sex, OR 0.47, 95% CI 0.26–0.86; p=0.015; for age-disparate sex, OR 0.37, 95% CI 0.18–0.77; p=0.003). No significant effects were shown for other risk behaviours. For boys (n=1475), no consistent effects were shown for any of the behaviours.Interpretation: National, child-focused cash transfers to alleviate poverty for households in sub-Saharan Africa can substantially reduce unsafe partner selection by adolescent girls. Child-focused cash transfers are of potential importance for effective combination strategies for prevention of HIV

Watching plants grow:A position paper on computer vision and Arabidopsis thaliana

The authors present a comprehensive overview of image processing and analysis work done to support research into the model flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Beside the plant's importance in biological research, using image analysis to obtain experimental measurements of it is an interesting vision problem in its own right, involving the segmentation and analysis of sequences of images of objects whose shape varies between individual specimens and also changes over time. While useful measurements can be obtained by segmenting a whole plant from the background, they suggest that the increased range and precision of measurements made available by leaf‐level segmentation makes this a problem well worth solving. A variety of approaches have been tried by biologists as well as computer vision researchers. This is an interdisciplinary area and the computer vision community has an important contribution to make. They suggest that there is a need for publicly available datasets with ground truth annotations to enable the evaluation of new approaches and to support the building of training data for modern data‐driven computer vision approaches, which are those most likely to result in the kind of fully automated systems that will be of use to biologists