Sexual selection predicts the rate and direction of colour divergence in a large avian radiation

Sexual selection is proposed to be a powerful driver of phenotypic evolution in animal systems. At macroevolutionary scales, sexual selection can theoretically drive both the rate and direction of phenotypic evolution, but this hypothesis remains contentious. Here, we find that differences in the rate and direction of plumage colour evolution are predicted by a proxy for sexual selection intensity (plumage dichromatism) in a large radiation of suboscine passerine birds (Tyrannida). We show that rates of plumage evolution are correlated between the sexes, but that sexual selection has a strong positive effect on male, but not female, interspecific divergence rates. Furthermore, we demonstrate that rapid male plumage divergence is biased towards carotenoid-based (red/yellow) colours widely assumed to represent honest sexual signals. Our results highlight the central role of sexual selection in driving avian colour divergence, and reveal the existence of convergent evolutionary responses of animal signalling traits under sexual selection

Differences in bleeding behavior after endoscopic band ligation: a retrospective analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Endoscopic band ligation (EBL) is generally accepted as the treatment of choice for bleeding from esophageal varices. It is also used for secondary prophylaxis of esophageal variceal hemorrhage. However, there is no data or guidelines concerning endoscopic control of ligation ulcers. We conducted a retrospective study of EBL procedures analyzing bleeding complications after EBL.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We retrospectively analyzed data from patients who underwent EBL. We analyzed several data points, including indication for the procedure, bleeding events and the time interval between EBL and bleeding.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>255 patients and 387 ligation sessions were included in the analysis. We observed an overall bleeding rate after EBL of 7.8%. Bleeding events after elective treatment (3.9%) were significantly lower than those after treatment for acute variceal hemorrhage (12.1%). The number of bleeding events from ligation ulcers and variceal rebleeding was 14 and 15, respectively. The bleeding rate from the ligation site in the group who underwent emergency ligation was 7.1% and 0.5% in the group who underwent elective ligation. Incidence of variceal rebleeding did not vary significantly. Seventy-five percent of all bleeding episodes after elective treatment occurred within four days after EBL. 20/22 of bleeding events after emergency ligation occured within 11 days after treatment. Elective EBL has a lower risk of bleeding from treatment-induced ulceration than emergency ligation.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Patients who underwent EBL for treatment of acute variceal bleeding should be kept under medical surveillance for 11 days. After elective EBL, it may be reasonable to restrict the period of surveillance to four days or even perform the procedure in an out-patient setting.</p

The role of the School Librarians as Information Literacy Specialists: a comparative study between Hong Kong, Shanghai, South Korea, Taipei, and Japan

Theme: The Educational Role of School Libraries in the M Generation主題 -- 學校圖書館在M世代的教育角色學校圖書館主任不僅是圖書館的管理人員，現今他們也擔負了教學、顧問、行政、資訊專家和資訊素養導師等角色；然而在亞洲國家，學校圖書館主任的這些角色與貢獻卻未被認定，其中尤以作為資訊素養專家的這個角色特別不受認可與重視。因此本研究的主要在分析比較學校圖書館主任作為資訊素養導師這個角色，在亞洲不同地區的情況與差異。本研究在香港、 日本、 上海、 韓國、及台北五個地區共收集了466 位學校圖書館主任的調查問卷。分析結果發現，圖書館主任在資訊素養方面擔當的範圍和參與度，台北和南韓方面的表現優於其他地區，尤其台北學校圖書館的人員編制和組織結構更傾向富裕和部門化。分析結果同時顯示學校圖書館主任進行資訊素養教育的數量，與他們和其他學科教師的協作，以及他們作為資訊顧問和對整體教學的貢獻成正比。此外學校圖書館主任提供參考服務的數量和程度以支援其他學科教師教學，是他們主要的貢獻。postprin

Efficiency enhancement and angle-dependent color change in see-through organic photovoltaics using distributed Bragg reflectors

A distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) is conducted as a bottom reflector in see-through organic photovoltaics (OPVs) with an active layer of poly(3-hexylthiophene) and phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM). The DBR consists of alternative layers of the high-and low-refractive index materials of Ta2O5 (n = 2.16) and SiO2 (n = 1.46). The DBR selectively reflects the light within a specific wavelength region (490 nm-630 nm) where the absorbance of P3HT: PCBM is maximum. The see-through OPVs fabricated on DBR exhibit efficiency enhancement by 31% compared to the device without DBR. Additionally, the angle-dependent transmittance of DBR is analysed using optical simulation and verified by experimental results. As the incident angle of light increases, peak of reflectance shifts to shorter wavelength and the bandwidth gets narrower. This unique angle-dependent optical properties of DBR allows the facile color change of see-through OPVs. (C) 2016 AIP Publishing LLC.open1110sciescopu

Social media use and impact during the holiday travel planning process

Through an empirical study among holiday travellers, residing in the Former Soviet Union Republics, this paper presents a comprehensive view of role and impact of social media on the whole holiday travel planning process: Before, during and after the trip, providing insights on usage levels, scope of use, level of influence and trust. Findings suggest that social media are predominantly used after holidays for experience sharing. It is also shown that there is a strong correlation between perceived level of influence from social media and changes made in holiday plans prior to final decisions. Moreover, it is revealed that user-generated content is perceived as more trustworthy when compared to official tourism websites, travel agents and mass media advertising

Implementing mentor mothers in family practice to support abused mothers: Study protocol

Contains fulltext : 97988.pdf (postprint version ) (Open Access)ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Intimate partner violence is highly prevalent and mostly affects women with negative consequences for their physical and mental health. Children often witness the violence which has negative consequences for their well-being too. Care offered by family physicians is often rejected because abused women experience a too high threshold. Mentor mother support, a low threshold intervention for abused mothers in family practice, proved to be feasible and effective in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The primary aim of this study is to investigate which factors facilitate or hinder the implementation of mentor mother support in family practice. Besides we evaluate the effect of mentor mother support in a different region. METHODS/DESIGN: An observational study with pre- and posttests will be performed. Mothers with home living children or pregnant women who are victims of intimate partner violence will be offered mentor mother support by the participating family physicians. The implementation process evaluation consists of focus groups, interviews and questionnaires. In the effect evaluation intimate partner violence, the general health of the abused mother, the mother-child relationship, social support, and acceptance of professional help will be measured twice (t = 0 and t = 6 months) by questionnaires, reporting forms, medical records and interviews with the abused mothers. Qualitative coding will be used to analyze the data from the reporting forms, medical records, focus groups, interviews, and questionnaires. Quantitative data will be analyzed with descriptive statistics, chi square test and t-test matched pairs. DISCUSSION: While other intervention studies only evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of the intervention, our primary aim is to evaluate the implementation process and thereby investigate which factors facilitate or hinder implementation of mentor mother support in family practice.6 p

Cosmology of the selfaccelerating third order Galileon

In this paper we start from the original formulation of the galileon model with the original choice for couplings to gravity. Within this framework we find that there is still a subset of possible Lagrangians that give selfaccelerating solutions with stable spherically symmetric solutions. This is a certain constrained subset of the third order galileon which has not been explored before. We develop and explore the background cosmological evolution of this model drawing intuition from other even more restricted galileon models. The numerical results confirm the presence of selfacceleration, but also reveals a possible instability with respect to galileon perturbations.Comment: 30 pages, 24 figure

The Hide-and-Seek of Grain Boundaries from Moire Pattern Fringe of Two-Dimensional Graphene

Grain boundaries (GBs) commonly exist in crystalline materials and affect various properties of materials. The facile identification of GBs is one of the significant requirements for systematical study of polycrystalline materials including recently emerging two-dimensional materials. Previous observations of GBs have been performed by various tools including high resolution transmission electron microscopy. However, a method to easily identify GBs, especially in the case of low-angle GBs, has not yet been well established. In this paper, we choose graphene bilayers with a GB as a model system and investigate the effects of interlayer rotations to the identification of GBs. We provide a critical condition between adjacent moire fringe spacings, which determines the possibility of GB recognition. In addition, for monolayer graphene with a grain boundary, we demonstrate that low-angle GBs can be distinguished easily by inducing moire patterns deliberately with an artificial reference overlayopen0

Perceived dental treatment need among older Tanzanian adults – a cross-sectional study

Need perceptions for dental care play a key role as to whether people in general will seek dental care. The aim was to assess the prevalence of perceived need of problem based dental care, dental check-ups and any type of dental care. Guided by the conceptual model of Wilson and Cleary, the relationship of perceived need for dental care with socio-demographic characteristics, clinically defined dental problems and self-reported oral health outcomes was investigated. Partial prosthetic treatment need was estimated using a socio-dental approach. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Pwani region and in Dar es Salaam in 2004/2005. Information from interviews and clinical examination became available for 511 urban and 520 rural adults (mean age 62.9 yr). 51.7% (95% CI 46.2, 57.0) urban and 62.5 % (95% CI 53.1, 70.9) rural inhabitants confirmed need for dental check-up, 42.9% (95% CI 36.9, 48.9) urban and 52.7% (95% CI 44.5, 60.6) rural subjects confirmed need for problem oriented care and 38.4% (95% CI 32.4, 44.6) urban versus 49.6% (95% CI 41.8, 57.4) rural residents reported need for any type of dental care. Binary and ordinal multiple logistic regression analyses revealed that adults who reported bad oral health and broken teeth were more likely to perceive need for dental care across the three outcome measures than their counterparts. Socio-demographic factors and clinically defined problems had less impact. Based on a normative and an integrated socio-dental approach respectively 39.5% and 4.7% were in need for partial dentures. About half of the participants confirmed need for problem oriented care, dental check-ups and any type of dental care. Need perceptions were influenced by perceived oral health, clinically assessed oral problems and socio-demographic characteristics. Need estimates for partial denture was higher when based on clinical examination alone compared to an integrative socio-dental approach

Phase transitions in biological membranes

Native membranes of biological cells display melting transitions of their lipids at a temperature of 10-20 degrees below body temperature. Such transitions can be observed in various bacterial cells, in nerves, in cancer cells, but also in lung surfactant. It seems as if the presence of transitions slightly below physiological temperature is a generic property of most cells. They are important because they influence many physical properties of the membranes. At the transition temperature, membranes display a larger permeability that is accompanied by ion-channel-like phenomena even in the complete absence of proteins. Membranes are softer, which implies that phenomena such as endocytosis and exocytosis are facilitated. Mechanical signal propagation phenomena related to nerve pulses are strongly enhanced. The position of transitions can be affected by changes in temperature, pressure, pH and salt concentration or by the presence of anesthetics. Thus, even at physiological temperature, these transitions are of relevance. There position and thereby the physical properties of the membrane can be controlled by changes in the intensive thermodynamic variables. Here, we review some of the experimental findings and the thermodynamics that describes the control of the membrane function.Comment: 23 pages, 15 figure