Does shade improve light interception efficiency? A comparison among seedlings from shade-tolerant and -intolerant temperate deciduous tree species

• Here, we tested two hypotheses: shading increases light interception efficiency (LIE) of broadleaved tree seedlings, and shade-tolerant species exhibit larger LIEs than do shade-intolerant ones. The impact of seedling size was taken into account to detect potential size-independent effects on LIE. LIE was defined as the ratio of mean light intercepted by leaves to light intercepted by a horizontal surface of equal area. • Seedlings from five species differing in shade tolerance (Acer saccharum, Betula alleghaniensis, A. pseudoplatanus, B. pendula, Fagus sylvatica) were grown under neutral shading nets providing 36, 16 and 4% of external irradiance. Seedlings (1- and 2-year-old) were three-dimensionally digitized, allowing calculation of LIE. • Shading induced dramatic reduction in total leaf area, which was lowest in shade-tolerant species in all irradiance regimes. Irradiance reduced LIE through increasing leaf overlap with increasing leaf area. There was very little evidence of significant size-independent plasticity of LIE. • No relationship was found between the known shade tolerance of species and LIE at equivalent size and irradiance

Designing a fashion driving forces website as an educational resource

Electronic educational resources support search activities and manipulate information effectively in learning environments, thus enhancing education. This paper discusses the development of an electronic timeline database that classifies design and fashion details; technological developments; socio-economical influences; availability and popularity within fashion trends; marketing and distribution; and influential people including designers, in a manner that facilitates ease of cross referencing events at the same point in time for a rich analysis of fashion. The study focuses on the driving forces of fashion during the 1920s as a starting point for a much larger database. The data is presented in the form of a website allowing students to better understand fashion trends with macro-environmental and marketing strategies. The electronic resource is a useful tool for fashion, textile and marketing students as an educational interface providing design, production and marketing data for fashion-related products particularly useful for the analysis of fashion trends

Challenges in physician supply planning: the case of Belgium

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Planning human resources for health (HRH) is a complex process for policy-makers and, as a result, many countries worldwide swing from surplus to shortage. In-depth case studies can help appraising the challenges encountered and the solutions implemented. This paper has two objectives: to identify the key challenges in HRH planning in Belgium and to formulate recommendations for an effective HRH planning, on the basis of the Belgian case study and lessons drawn from an international benchmarking.</p> <p>Case description</p> <p>In Belgium, a numerus clausus set up in 1997 and effective in 2004, aims to limit the total number of physicians working in the curative sector. The assumption of a positive relationship between physician densities and health care utilization was a major argument in favor of medical supply restrictions. This new regulation did not improve recurrent challenges such as specialty imbalances, with uncovered needs particularly among general practitioners, and geographical maldistribution. New difficulties also emerged. In particular, limiting national training of HRH turned out to be ineffective within the open European workforce market. The lack of integration of policies affecting HRH was noteworthy. We described in the paper what strategies were developed to address those challenges in Belgium and in neighboring countries.</p> <p>Discussion and evaluation</p> <p>Planning the medical workforce involves determining the numbers, mix, and distribution of health providers that will be required at some identified future point in time. To succeed in their task, health policy planners have to take a broader perspective on the healthcare system. Focusing on numbers is too restrictive and adopting innovative policies learned from benchmarking without integration and coordination is unfruitful. Evolving towards a strategic planning is essential to control the effects of the complex factors impacting on human resources. This evolution requires an effective monitoring of all key factors affecting supply and demand, a dynamic approach, and a system-level perspective, considering all healthcare professionals, and integrating manpower planning with workforce development.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>To engage in an evidence-based action, policy-makers need a global manpower picture, from their own country and abroad, as well as reliable and comparable manpower databases allowing proper analysis and planning of the workforce.</p

Influence of personality and fatalistic belief on taxi driver behaviour

The religious perception among individuals in sub-Saharan Africa that the ‘Big Five’ personality dimensions and fatalism are predictors of drivers’ behaviours and road accidents has received little scientific investigations. This paucity of research in the roles of psychological factors such as personality and fatalistic beliefs in shaping positive driver behaviour and attitudes has thus provided motivation for the conduct of this quantitative study. We collected data from 203 conveniently sampled taxi drivers in Gauteng province of South Africa by means of a structured questionnaire. Our analysis, using Structural Equation Modelling, found significant positive relationships between agreeableness and positive driver behaviour, conscientiousness and positive driver behaviour, fatalism and extraversion, as well as fatalism and positive driver behaviour. The results highlighted the dimensions of being methodical, organised, and risk aversive on the road, on the one hand, and being social, cooperative, and good-natured, on the other hand. Findings of the study further indicated that fatalistic beliefs are prevalent and indeed characteristic of individuals who are sociable, gregarious, and assertive. These individuals tend to uphold their religious and spiritual beliefs in the linkages between road accidents and destiny. Insights provided by this study could assist the Department of Transport and related Road Safety Authorities in designing road safety campaigns that addresses the erroneous beliefs by drivers that road accidents are pre-destined, and not as a result of individual’s driving behaviour.DHE

Smoking, drinking and body weight after re-employment: does unemployment experience and compensation make a difference?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The impact of unemployment on behaviours such as smoking, drinking and body weight has been extensively researched. However, little is known about the possible protective effects of social assistance programs on these behavioural changes. This study examines the impact of unemployment periods on smoking, drinking and body weight changes among re-employed individuals and investigates whether the receipt of unemployment benefits influences these behaviours.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This study used panel data provided by the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Logistic regression models were used to analyze whether a period of unemployment in 2000 resulted in an increase in smoking and drinking or fluctuations in body weight among 2001 re-employed individuals in comparison with 1999 baseline levels. A total of 3,451 respondents who had been initially healthy and who had been continuously employed between 1998 and 1999 were included in the analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Compared to stably employed respondents, those who had experienced periods of unemployment in 2000 and did not receive unemployment benefits were more likely than continuously employed individuals to report an increase in alcohol consumption (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.0–3.1) and a decrease in body weight (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.1–2.8) when they were already re-employed in 2001.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our findings suggest that the receipt of unemployment benefits confers a protective effect on health behavioural changes following periods of unemployment. These findings underscore the need to monitor the impact of unemployment assistance programs on health, particularly in light of the rapidly changing structure of employment and unemployment benefits.</p

Homeostatic regulation of the endoneurial microenvironment during development, aging and in response to trauma, disease and toxic insult

The endoneurial microenvironment, delimited by the endothelium of endoneurial vessels and a multi-layered ensheathing perineurium, is a specialized milieu intérieur within which axons, associated Schwann cells and other resident cells of peripheral nerves function. The endothelium and perineurium restricts as well as regulates exchange of material between the endoneurial microenvironment and the surrounding extracellular space and thus is more appropriately described as a blood–nerve interface (BNI) rather than a blood–nerve barrier (BNB). Input to and output from the endoneurial microenvironment occurs via blood–nerve exchange and convective endoneurial fluid flow driven by a proximo-distal hydrostatic pressure gradient. The independent regulation of the endothelial and perineurial components of the BNI during development, aging and in response to trauma is consistent with homeostatic regulation of the endoneurial microenvironment. Pathophysiological alterations of the endoneurium in experimental allergic neuritis (EAN), and diabetic and lead neuropathy are considered to be perturbations of endoneurial homeostasis. The interactions of Schwann cells, axons, macrophages, and mast cells via cell–cell and cell–matrix signaling regulate the permeability of this interface. A greater knowledge of the dynamic nature of tight junctions and the factors that induce and/or modulate these key elements of the BNI will increase our understanding of peripheral nerve disorders as well as stimulate the development of therapeutic strategies to treat these disorders

Luminous efficiency based on FRIPON meteors and limitations of ablation models

Context. In meteor physics, the luminous efficiency τ is used to convert the meteor's magnitude to the corresponding meteoroid's mass. However, a lack of sufficiently accurate verification methods or adequate laboratory tests mean that discussions around this parameter are a subject of controversy. Aims: In this work, we aim to use meteor data obtained by the Fireball Recovery and InterPlanetary Observation to calculate the luminous efficiencies of the recorded meteors. We also show the limitations of the methods presented herein. Methods: Deceleration-based formulas were used to calculate the masses of the pre-atmospheric meteoroids. These can in turn be compared to the meteor brightnesses to assess the luminous efficiencies of the recorded objects. Fragmentation of the meteoroids is not considered within this model. Good measurements of the meteor deceleration are required. Results: We find τ-values, as well as the shape change coefficients, of 294 meteors and fireballs with determined masses in the range of 10^−6 / -100 kg. The derived τ-values have a median of τ_median = 2.17%. Most of them are of the order of 0.1-10%. We present how our values are obtained, compare them with data reported in the literature, and discuss several methods. A dependence of τ on the pre-atmospheric velocity of the meteor, ve, is noticeable with a relation of τ = 0.0023⋅ve^2.3. Furthermore, a dependence of τ on the initial meteoroid mass, Me, is found with negative linear behaviour in log-log space: τ = 0.48⋅Me/−0.47. Conclusions: The higher luminous efficiency of fast meteors could be explained by the higher amount of energy released. Fast meteoroids produce additional emission lines that radiate more efficiently in specific wavelengths due to the appearance of the so-called second component of higher temperature. Furthermore, the negative dependence of τ on Me implies that the radiation of smaller meteoroids is more efficient. The results of this study also show the limitations of the ablation-based model for the determination of the luminous efficiency