The impact of honey bees on montane ecosystems within Tongariro National Park : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Ecology at Massey University

A study of the effects of honey bees on montane ecosystems was conducted during the summers of 1993/1994 and 1994/1995 at Tongariro National Park. Three possible effects of the introduced honey bee were examined. The primary aims of the study were to identity areas with and without honey bees and to identify differences in the pollination success of a weed species, heather (Calluna vugaris) and a native species, the New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax) under different pollinator regimes, and to examine differences in the composition of native pollinator communities in these different bee areas. The impact of honey bees on the reproductive success of heather, an important weed species in Tongariro National Park was examined over two flowering seasons. Insect visitation rates on heather flowers were low at each of the four study sites. Bagging plants to exclude insect flower visitors had little effect on female fitness. The potential of other pollen vectors, wind and thrips, as pollinators of heather was also examined. Both were determined to have a negative effect on several measures of female success, including pollen deposition, pollen tube formation, and pollination levels. However it appears that none of the pollen vectors (honey bees, wind or thrips) significantly effect the overall fitness of heather in terms of the viable seed produced. The second part of the study examined the impact of honey bees on the pollination systems of a native plant species. Flax is thought to be predominantly bird pollinated, however, the floral resources are also utilised by a variety of native and introduced insect species. At some sites birds were either not present or rarely used the flowers. Seed set in flax was highest in heavily bird pollinated sites. The results also suggest, however, that flax has a flexible pollinating system that enables it to maintain a range of fruit and seed set levels under the different pollintor regimes. The abundance and diversity of insect flower visitors on manuka and Hebe stricta, two common subalpine shrubs, was highly variable between sites, and between observation periods. Some of this variation may be ascribed to differences in the weather or to altitude. However, I have shown that the abundance and diversity of diptera appears to be strongly influenced by levels of honey bee activity. This indicates that honey bees do play a role in determining the structure of pollinator communities and may be displacing a significant component of the native pollinating fauna

Exercises to develop the ability to classify words and to outline paragraphs grade IV.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Crisis intervention for people with severe mental illnesses

Background A particularly difficult challenge for community treatment of people with serious mental illnesses is the delivery of an acceptable level of care during the acute phases of severe mental illness. Crisis-intervention models of care were developed as a possible solution. Objectives To review the effects of crisis-intervention models for anyone with serious mental illness experiencing an acute episode compared to the standard care they would normally receive. If possible, to compare the effects of mobile crisis teams visiting patients' homes with crisis units based in home-like residential houses. Search methods We searched the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group’s Study-Based Register of Trials. There is no language, time, document type, or publication status limitations for inclusion of records in the register. This search was undertaken in 1998 and then updated 2003, 2006, 2010 and September 29, 2014. Selection criteria We included all randomised controlled trials of crisis-intervention models versus standard care for people with severe mental illnesses that met our inclusion criteria. Data collection and analysis We independently extracted data from these trials and we estimated risk ratios (RR) or mean differences (MD), with 95% confidence intervals (CI). We assessed risk of bias for included studies and used GRADE to create a 'Summary of findings' table. Main results The update search September 2014 found no further new studies for inclusion, the number of studies included in this review remains eight with a total of 1144 participants. Our main outcomes of interest are hospital use, global state, mental state, quality of life, participant satisfaction and family burden. With the exception of mental state, it was not possible to pool data for these outcomes. Crisis intervention may reduce repeat admissions to hospital (excluding index admissions) at six months (1 RCT, n = 369, RR 0.75 CI 0.50 to 1.13, high quality evidence), but does appear to reduce family burden (at six months: 1 RCT, n = 120, RR 0.34 CI 0.20 to 0.59, low quality evidence), improve mental state (Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) three months: 2 RCTs, n = 248, MD -4.03 CI -8.18 to 0.12, low quality evidence), and improve global state (Global Assessment Scale (GAS) 20 months; 1 RCT, n = 142, MD 5.70, -0.26 to 11.66, moderate quality evidence). Participants in the crisis-intervention group were more satisfied with their care 20 months after crisis (Client Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ-8): 1 RCT, n = 137, MD 5.40 CI 3.91 to 6.89, moderate quality evidence). However, quality of life scores at six months were similar between treatment groups (Manchester Short Assessment of quality of life (MANSA); 1 RCT, n = 226, MD -1.50 CI -5.15 to 2.15, low quality evidence). Favourable results for crisis intervention were also found for leaving the study early and family satisfaction. No differences in death rates were found. Some studies suggested crisis intervention to be more cost-effective than hospital care but all numerical data were either skewed or unusable. We identified no data on staff satisfaction, carer input, complications with medication or number of relapses. Authors' conclusions Care based on crisis-intervention principles, with or without an ongoing homecare package, appears to be a viable and acceptable way of treating people with serious mental illnesses. However only eight small studies with unclear blinding, reporting and attrition bias could be included and evidence for the main outcomes of interest is low to moderate quality. If this approach is to be widely implemented it would seem that more evaluative studies are still neede

Forging a New York City Practice Rooted in a Social Agenda

Need architects adhere to a social agenda, or any agenda at all? Driven by an ideal of achieving harmony of material and form, architects seek to improve the built environment. How can an architect’s ambitions of reaching “the ideal,” and an impulse to inject theoretical architectural ideas into projects, collide with practical realities of creating progressive educational centers, or housing the homeless and other underserved groups

Reducing the health risks of severe winter weather among older people in the United Kingdom: an evidence-based intervention

Excess winter morbidity and mortality among older people remain significant public health issues in those European countries which experience relatively mild winter temperatures, particularly the United Kingdom (UK), Ireland, Portugal and Spain. In the UK, episodes of severe winter weather, when ambient temperatures fall below 5x C, are associated with peaks in general practitioner consultations,hospital admissions, and cardiovascular deaths among those aged over 65. While research indicates that such health risks could be substantially reduced by the adoption of appropriate behavioural strategies, accessible and credible advice on how older people can reduce risk during ‘cold snaps’ is lacking. This paper describes a programme of research that aimed: (a) to translate the relevant scientific literature into practical advice for older people in order to reduce health risk during episodes of severe winter weather ; and (b) to integrate this advice with a severe winter weather ‘Early Warning System’ developed by the UK Met Office. An advice booklet was generated through a sequential process of systematic review, consensus development, and focus group discussions with older people. In a subsequent field trial, a combination of the Met Office ‘Early Warning System’ and the advice booklet produced behavioural change among older people consistent with risk reduction. The results also show that long-held convictions about ‘healthy environments ’ and anxieties about fuel costs are barriers to risk reduction

A mixture of experts model for rank data with applications in election studies

A voting bloc is defined to be a group of voters who have similar voting preferences. The cleavage of the Irish electorate into voting blocs is of interest. Irish elections employ a ``single transferable vote'' electoral system; under this system voters rank some or all of the electoral candidates in order of preference. These rank votes provide a rich source of preference information from which inferences about the composition of the electorate may be drawn. Additionally, the influence of social factors or covariates on the electorate composition is of interest. A mixture of experts model is a mixture model in which the model parameters are functions of covariates. A mixture of experts model for rank data is developed to provide a model-based method to cluster Irish voters into voting blocs, to examine the influence of social factors on this clustering and to examine the characteristic preferences of the voting blocs. The Benter model for rank data is employed as the family of component densities within the mixture of experts model; generalized linear model theory is employed to model the influence of covariates on the mixing proportions. Model fitting is achieved via a hybrid of the EM and MM algorithms. An example of the methodology is illustrated by examining an Irish presidential election. The existence of voting blocs in the electorate is established and it is determined that age and government satisfaction levels are important factors in influencing voting in this election.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/08-AOAS178 the Annals of Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org