Effects of publication bias on conservation planning

Conservation planning needs reliable information on spatial patterns of biodiversity. However, existing data sets are skewed: some habitats, taxa, and locations are under-represented. Here, we map geographic publication density at the sub-national scale of individual 'provinces'. We query the Web of Science catalogues SCI and SSCI for biodiversity-related publications including country and province names (for the period 1993-2016). We combine these data with other provincial-scale factors hypothesised to affect research (i.e. economic development, human presence, infrastructure and remoteness). We show that sites that appear to be understudied, compared with the biodiversity expected from their bioclimatic conditions, are likely to have been inaccessible to researchers for a diversity of reasons amongst which current or recent armed conflicts are notable. Finally, we create a priority list of provinces where geographic publication bias is of most concern, and discuss how our provincial-scale model can assist in adjusting for publication biases in conservation planning.Comment: 10 pages; 3 figures; 1 table;R code on https://github.com/raffael-hickisch; data at https://zenodo.org/record/998889; interactive at http://bit.ly/publication_density_ma

Bryophytes of Uganda : 2., new and interesting records

51 hepatics and 46 mosses are reported new to Uganda, including one moss new to Africa, one hepatic and two mosses new to mainland Africa, and 2 hepatics that are otherwise known only from their type collection

Evidence on the Validity of Management Education

The authors feel that more attention should be given to the empirical validation of management education. In order to determine what effect a college degree and the academic major have on promotability, 3,202 marketing personnel of a major petroleum corporation were analyzed. What effect does a college education have on executive success? Does the major area of study make any difference? Does any kind of management education or development yield tangible returns to an employing organization? In other words, have management formal education and development been empirically validated? Many organizations are seriously beginning to ask these questions. The current body of management knowledge has not given a satisfactory answer

QUANTIFYING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ACTIVE MITIGATION ON TRANSPORTATION CORRIDORS

ABSTRACT: Numerous efforts have been made to quantify avalanche risk in transportation corridors (Schaerer 198

Application of photogrammetry to generate quantitative geobody data in ephemeral fluvial systems

Outcrop studies are often used as analogues to subsurface sedimentary reservoirs, with photogrammetry representing a useful technique to obtain quantitative geometrical data of sedimentary architectures. Digital photogrammetry techniques were used to study fluvial sediments of the Lower Jurassic Kayenta Formation of the western USA, and model-extracted statistics for channel and sheetflood elements, relevant to reservoir modelling, were compared to 1D and 2D datasets from the same outcrops. Results suggest that the 1D/2D data significantly underestimated element dimensions and ranges in ephemeral-fluvial systems. Consequently, this study demonstrates the value of photogrammetric techniques for obtaining statistically relevant and more accurate reservoir modelling input data from outcrop

Community-based arts research for people with learning disabilities: challenging misconceptions about learning disabilities

This article presents some of the community-based artwork of a group of men with learning disabilities, who aimed to challenge some of the misconceptions associated with learning disabilities. People with learning disabilities regularly face many forms of direct and indirect stigma. The consequences of such negative perceptions may affect individuals’ social relationships and ensure that barriers are strengthened which prevent their full inclusion. The men in this project used a series of visual and creative methods to challenge some of these misconceptions by telling stories through art, demonstrating skill through photography, using poetry to talk about sexual identity and improvising drama and filmmaking to challenge stigma, and through sculpture expressed their voices. Thus, by doing so, they were able to challenge some of the stigma associated with learning disabilities, indicating that community-based arts research is a valuable way in which to promote the voices of people with learning disabilities

Psychology and poverty reduction: a global special Issue

A “global special issue” on poverty brought together 9 international psychology journals during 2010 through 2013. The purpose was to highlight psychology’s contribution toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These goals are rooted in the “capabilities approach” and highlight the importance of fostering environments that support 3 core domains: health, basic education, and income. Here, we analyze what the global special issue contributed. As a whole the global special issue provided an account of “how” psychology engages with poverty and poverty reduction. First, the global special issue, more than other research on poverty, was focused on lower- and middle-income settings. Second, while the content of the articles could be coded into 3 specific domains (health/well-being, education/development, and society/work), the vast majority of the articles straddled more than 1 category. Third, the contents of the global special issue could be organized in terms of the type of contribution: that is, practicality, theory, description, and advocacy. We highlight the importance of addressing wider situational and sociopolitical structures that constrain capability and potential, without losing sight of the person. Psychology might (a) concentrate resources on finding out what actually works to enable poverty reduction; and (b) apply what we know to ensure that research on poverty reduction is more informative and compelling to community stakeholders, organizations, and policymakers. Such an “implementation science” could advance poverty reduction and human development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved

Diseased muscles that lack dystrophin or laminin-α2 have altered compositions and proliferation of mononuclear cell populations

BACKGROUND: Multiple types of mononucleate cells reside among the multinucleate myofibers in skeletal muscles and these mononucleate cells function in muscle maintenance and repair. How neuromuscular disease might affect different types of muscle mononucleate cells had not been determined. In this study, therefore, we examined how two neuromuscular diseases, dystrophin-deficiency and laminin-α2-deficiency, altered the proliferation and composition of different subsets of muscle-derived mononucleate cells. METHODS: We used fluorescence-activated cell sorting combined with bromodeoxyuridine labeling to examine proliferation rates and compositions of mononuclear cells in diseased and healthy mouse skeletal muscle. We prepared mononucleate cells from muscles of mdx (dystrophin-deficient) or Lama2(-/- )(laminin-α2-deficient) mice and compared them to cells from healthy control muscles. We enumerated subsets of resident muscle cells based on Sca-1 and CD45 expression patterns and determined the proliferation of each cell subset in vivo by BrdU incorporation. RESULTS: We found that the proliferation and composition of the mononucleate cells in dystrophin-deficient and laminin-α2-deficient diseased muscles are different than in healthy muscle. The mdx and Lama2(-/- )muscles showed similar significant increases in CD45(+ )cells compared to healthy muscle. Changes in proliferation, however, differed between the two diseases with proliferation increased in mdx and decreased in Lama2(-/- )muscles compared to healthy muscles. In particular, the most abundant Sca-1(-)/CD45(- )subset, which contains muscle precursor cells, had increased proliferation in mdx muscle but decreased proliferation in Lama2(-/- )muscles. CONCLUSION: The similar increases in CD45(+ )cells, but opposite changes in proliferation of muscle precursor cells, may underlie aspects of the distinct pathologies in the two diseases

The impact of ageing reveals distinct roles for human dentate gyrus and CA3 in pattern separation and object recognition memory

© 2017 The Author(s). Both recognition of familiar objects and pattern separation, a process that orthogonalises overlapping events, are critical for effective memory. Evidence is emerging that human pattern separation requires dentate gyrus. Dentate gyrus is intimately connected to CA3 where, in animals, an autoassociative network enables recall of complete memories to underpin object/event recognition. Despite huge motivation to treat age-related human memory disorders, interaction between human CA3 and dentate subfields is difficult to investigate due to small size and proximity. We tested the hypothesis that human dentate gyrus is critical for pattern separation, whereas, CA3 underpins identical object recognition. Using 3 T MR hippocampal subfield volumetry combined with a behavioural pattern separation task, we demonstrate that dentate gyrus volume predicts accuracy and response time during behavioural pattern separation whereas CA3 predicts performance in object recognition memory. Critically, human dentate gyrus volume decreases with age whereas CA3 volume is age-independent. Further, decreased dentate gyrus volume, and no other subfield volume, mediates adverse effects of aging on memory. Thus, we demonstrate distinct roles for CA3 and dentate gyrus in human memory and uncover the variegated effects of human ageing across hippocampal regions. Accurate pinpointing of focal memory-related deficits will allow future targeted treatment for memory loss