Seed Dispersal And Recruitment Limitation Across Spatial Scales In Temperate Forest Fragments

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116983/1/ecy2004852507.pd

The NASA Electric Propulsion Program

Nearly all space missions require on-board propulsion systems and these systems typically have a major impact on spacecraft mass and cost. Electric propulsion systems offer major performance advantages over conventional chemical systems for many mission functions and the NASA Office of Space Access and Technology (OSAT) supports an extensive effort to develop the technology for high-performance, on-board electric propulsion system options to enhance and enable near- and far-term US space missions. This program includes research and development efforts on electrothermal, electrostatic, and electromagnetic propulsion system technologies to cover a wide range of potential applications. To maximize expectations of technology transfer, the program emphasizes strong interaction with the user community through a variety of cooperative and contracted approaches. This paper provides an overview of the OSAT electric propulsion program with an emphasis on recent progress and future directions

Phosphorus Efficiency Of Bornean Rain Forest Productivity: Evidence Against The Unimodal Efficiency Hypothesis

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/117012/1/ecy20058661548.pd

Effects of Small Rodent and Large Mammal Exclusion on Seedling Recruitment in Costa Rica 1

We examined whether the experimental exclusion of large mammalian and small rodent seed predators had differing effects on seedling recruitment under natural seed rain conditions. In both primary and late-successional secondary forested areas, exclosure experiments using natural seed densities were designed to assess seedling recruitment. To assess the differences in seedling recruitment, we monitored three exclosure treatments (1.2 m radius/1.5 m height) in two forest types (primary vs. late-successional secondary forest): (1) fenced exclosures that excluded large mammals; (2) fenced exclosures that excluded both large and small mammals; and (3) open controls. Within each exclosure treatment, we marked and identified all seedlings at the beginning of the experiment (February 2001), followed the marked seedlings' fate for a year, and then marked and identified all new seedlings after a year. Two preliminary findings were generated from these data: for some tree species, small rodents and large mammals have differential effects on seedling recruitment, and the effect of excluding mammals did not differ with habitat type (primary vs. late-successional secondary forest). These preliminary results highlight the need to examine further how the effects of small rodent and large mammal exclusion may affect species-specific seed predation and seedling recruitment in a variety of habitat/land use types ( e.g. , primary forest, late-successional forest, and early-successional forest).Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74037/1/j.1744-7429.2006.00117.x.pd

VARIATION OF FOREST STRUCTURE AND BIOMASS ALLOCATION AMONG DEGRADATION LEVEL OF WEST KALIMANTAN PEATLAND FOREST

Tropical peatland forests in Indonesia are facing a lot of pressure, resulting increased deforestation and degradation ofintact forests. Both natural and anthropogenic cause of changes – concentrated in Sumatra and Kalimantan, Indonesia –has been reported as 3.4% y-1 from 1990 – 2010. Currently, only ~ 41% to 44% of the original peatland forests ofKalimantan left. As a result of both changes, degraded peatlands have altered their balance on their natural conditions androles, since degradation of forest cover is often a complex process with their own of ecological recovery. A study hasbeen executed to explore the effect of forest degradation on forest structure and their biomass allocation in coastalpeatland forest of Kubu Raya, West Kalimantan. Forty eight of a 50 x 50 m sized plots with variety of degradation levelwere assessed for their tree structure, density, stand biomass, and basal area and compared. Results show that forestdegradation shifted tree diameter 10-20 cm dominance on their biomass stocks to larger trees (>20 cm) and smaller one(5-10 cm). Forest structure seems in a good and normal shape from small tree to large one. It is indicated that highdegraded forest demonstrate a decline its biomass allocation, tree density per hectare, basal area on each level of foreststructures.Key words : basal area, peatland forest, stand biomass, tree structure, tree density

The Increasing Diversity and Complexity of Family Structures for Adolescents

The structure of adolescents’ families, and thus parental forms, in the United States, have become more heterogeneous and fluid over the past several decades. These changes are due to increases in never‐married, single parents, divorce, cohabitation, same‐sex parenting, multipartnered fertility, and co‐residence with grandparents. We document current diversity and complexity in adolescents’ families as important context for rethinking future parenting theory and research. We also discuss how understandings of adolescents’ families are somewhat limited by current methods used to measure characteristics of families. We recommend social network and profile‐based methods as alternatives to capturing key dimensions of family structure and processes. Understanding the diversity of households and families in which adolescents are raised can improve theory and research on parenting

EFFECTS OF DRAINAGE DITCHES ON WATER TABLE LEVEL, SOIL CONDITIONS AND TREE GROWTH OF DEGRADED PEATLAND FORESTS IN WEST KALIMANTAN

Currently, tropical peatland forests are under considerable pressure because of increasing deforestation and degradation of forests. In Kalimantan, degradation and deforestation of peatland forests are driven primarily by industrial logging,  expansion of agricultural activities through primarily conversion of forests to agricultural land and oil palm plantations. By the establishment of intensive drainage, it can induce wildfires in peatland. Unmanaged drainage ditches will alter water table levels within the site adjacent to the drainage including to surrounding peatland forest. Water table assessments were conducted before and after peatland drainage on 2007/2009 and 2012/2015 in Kubu Raya, West Kalimantan. This paper studies the effect of drainage ditches into the peatland water table. Results show the establishment of drainage ditches on this peatland landscape lowered the water table by more than 3 times from ~11.7 cm (SE = 1.5, n = 5) to ~37.3 cm (SE = 2.1 cm, n = 26). The effect on the water table was in drier months of  July-August.  Lowering the water table level altered worst the soil micro climate, peat temperature and peat water content. The results indicate the land use changes in peatland with the establishment of drainage affects peatland water table currently. In the area of less than 500 m from the drainage, the water level tends to lower toward the drainage feature. Therefore, recovery of peatland forests should be initiated by managing the landscape hydrology (i.e. water table) to restore the ecosystem and to protect the remaining peat swamp forest

JACK trial protocol: a phase III multicentre cluster randomised controlled trial of a school-based relationship and sexuality education intervention focusing on young male perspectives.

INTRODUCTION: Teenage pregnancy remains a worldwide health concern which is an outcome of, and contributor to, health inequalities. The need for gender-aware interventions with a focus on males in addressing teenage pregnancy has been highlighted as a global health need by WHO and identified in systematic reviews of (relationship and sexuality education (RSE)). This study aims to test the effectiveness of an interactive film-based RSE intervention, which draws explicit attention to the role of males in preventing an unintended pregnancy by reducing unprotected heterosexual teenage sex among males and females under age 16 years. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A phase III cluster randomised trial with embedded process and economic evaluations. If I Were Jack encompasses a culturally sensitive interactive film, classroom materials, a teacher-trainer session and parent animations and will be delivered to replace some of the usual RSE for the target age group in schools in the intervention group. Schools in the control group will not receive the intervention and will continue with usual RSE. Participants will not be blinded to allocation. Schools are the unit of randomisation stratified per country and socioeconomic status. We aim to recruit 66 UK schools (24 in Northern Ireland; 14 in each of England, Scotland and Wales), including approximately 7900 pupils. A questionnaire will be administered at baseline and at 12-14 months postintervention. The primary outcome is reported unprotected sex, a surrogate measure associated with unintended teenage pregnancy. Secondary outcomes include knowledge, attitudes, skills and intentions relating to avoiding teenage pregnancy in addition to frequency of engagement in sexual intercourse, contraception use and diagnosis of sexually transmitted infections. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval was obtained from Queen's University Belfast. Results will be published in peer-reviewed journals and disseminated to stakeholders. Funding is from the National Institute for Health Research. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN99459996

A comparative evaluation of the effect of internet-based CME delivery format on satisfaction, knowledge and confidence

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Internet-based instruction in continuing medical education (CME) has been associated with favorable outcomes. However, more direct comparative studies of different Internet-based interventions, instructional methods, presentation formats, and approaches to implementation are needed. The purpose of this study was to conduct a comparative evaluation of two Internet-based CME delivery formats and the effect on satisfaction, knowledge and confidence outcomes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Evaluative outcomes of two differing formats of an Internet-based CME course with identical subject matter were compared. A Scheduled Group Learning format involved case-based asynchronous discussions with peers and a facilitator over a scheduled 3-week delivery period. An eCME On Demand format did not include facilitated discussion and was not based on a schedule; participants could start and finish at any time. A retrospective, pre-post evaluation study design comparing identical satisfaction, knowledge and confidence outcome measures was conducted.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Participants in the Scheduled Group Learning format reported significantly higher mean satisfaction ratings in some areas, performed significantly higher on a post-knowledge assessment and reported significantly higher post-confidence scores than participants in the eCME On Demand format that was not scheduled and did not include facilitated discussion activity.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The findings support the instructional benefits of a scheduled delivery format and facilitated asynchronous discussion in Internet-based CME.</p

An evaluation of the spread and scale of PatientToc™ from primary care to community pharmacy practice for the collection of patient-reported outcomes: A study protocol

Background Medication non-adherence is a problem of critical importance, affecting approximately 50% of all persons taking at least one regularly scheduled prescription medication and costing the United States more than $100 billion annually. Traditional data sources for identifying and resolving medication non-adherence in community pharmacies include prescription fill histories. However, medication possession does not necessarily mean patients are taking their medications as prescribed. Patient-reported outcomes (PROs), measuring adherence challenges pertaining to both remembering and intention to take medication, offer a rich data source for pharmacists and prescribers to use to resolve medication non-adherence. PatientToc™ is a PROs collection software developed to facilitate collection of PROs data from low-literacy and non-English speaking patients in Los Angeles. Objectives This study will evaluate the spread and scale of PatientToc™ from primary care to community pharmacies for the collection and use of PROs data pertaining to medication adherence. Methods The following implementation and evaluation steps will be conducted: 1) a pre-implementation developmental formative evaluation to determine community pharmacy workflow and current practices for identifying and resolving medication non-adherence, potential barriers and facilitators to PatientToc™ implementation, and to create a draft implementation toolkit, 2) two plan-do-study-act cycles to refine an implementation toolkit for spreading and scaling implementation of PatientToc™ in community pharmacies, and 3) a comprehensive, theory-driven evaluation of the quality of care, implementation, and patient health outcomes of spreading and scaling PatientToc™ to community pharmacies. Expected impact This research will inform long-term collection and use of PROs data pertaining to medication adherence in community pharmacies