Rowing Against the Tide: Getting Landowners to Manage Habitat for Their Favorite Wildlife Species, Bobwhites

A primary cause of the decline of northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) is that landowners often lack adequate motivation for the arduous task of creating and managing habitat. We gained insight into some of these motivations through survey questionnaires and focus groups in Missouri, and report findings from 3 studies containing 3,057 survey responses during 2004–2007. One of the surveys targeted Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands (‘CRP survey’), another lands with potential for bobwhite restoration (‘bobwhite survey’), and the third focused on grassland bird restoration. Landowners in each survey identified bobwhites as the most popular (.80% of respondents chose ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ ‘important’ to have bobwhites ‘on my land’) natural resource among a list that included deer, turkeys, prairie-chickens, native plants, grassland birds, rabbits, hawks/owls, etc. Bobwhites were highly valued by landowners, but other answers in these surveys revealed many obstacles to habitat management including economics, time, knowledge, skill, and equipment. For example, only 39% of respondents in the bobwhite survey were interested in joining a habitat restoration cooperative, and ,50% of respondents in all surveys were willing to adopt quail-friendly habitat management (prescribed fire, disking, herbicides, moderate grazing, native vegetation, presence of weeds, etc.). Bobwhite restoration programs, because of the gap between landowners’ fondness for quail, but being less willing to take action, must include a comprehensive approach, ranging from local community involvement by agency biologists and non-government organizations to resource-use policy in Washington, D.C

A social mechanism facilitates ant colony emigrations overdifferent distances

Behavioural responses enable animals to react rapidly to fluctuating environments. In eusocial organisms, such changes are often enacted at the group level, but may be organised in a decentralised fashion by the actions of individuals. However, the contributions of different group members are rarely homogeneous, and there is evidence to suggest that certain ‘keystone’ individuals are important in shaping collective responses. Accordingly, investigations of the dynamics and structuring of behavioural changes at both the group and individual level are crucial for evaluating the relative influence of different individuals. Here, we examined the composition of tandem running behaviour during colony emigrations in the ant species Temnothorax albipennis. Tandem running is modulated in response to emigration distance, with more runs being conducted when a more distant nest site must be reached. We show that certain individuals are highly active in the tandem running process, attempting significantly more work in thetask. Contrary to expectations, however, such individuals are in fact no more successful at conducting tandem runs than their less active nest mates. Instead, it seems that when more tandem runs are required, colonies rely on greater recruitment of workers into the process. The implications of our study are that in some cases, even when apparently ‘key’ individuals exist within a group, their relative contribution to task performance may be far from decisive

Love, rights and solidarity: studying children's participation using Honneth's theory of recognition

Recent attempts to theorize children’s participation have drawn on a wide range of ideas, concepts and models from political and social theory. The aim of this article is to explore the specific usefulness of Honneth’s theory of a ‘struggle for recognition’ in thinking about this area of practice. The article identifies what is distinctive about Honneth’s theory of recognition, and how it differs from other theories of recognition. It then considers the relevance of Honneth’s conceptual framework to the social position of children, including those who may be involved in a variety of ‘participatory’ activities. It looks at how useful Honneth’s ideas are in direct engagement with young people’s praxis, drawing on ethnographic research with members of a children and young people’s forum. The article concludes by reflecting on the implications of this theoretical approach and the further questions which it opens up for theories of participation and of adult–child relations more generally

IP-10/CXCL10 induction in human pancreatic cancer stroma influences lymphocytes recruitment and correlates with poor survival

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is characterized by an abundant desmoplastic reaction driven by pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) that contributes to tumor progression. Here we sought to characterize the interactions between pancreatic cancer cells (PCCs) and PSCs that affect the inflammatory and immune response in pancreatic tumors. Conditioned media from mono- and cocultures of PSCs and PCCs were assayed for expression of cytokines and growth factors. IP-10/CXCL10 was the most highly induced chemokine in coculture of PSCs and PCCs. Its expression was induced in the PSCs by PCCs. IP-10 was elevated in human PDAC specimens, and positively correlated with high stroma content. Furthermore, gene expression of IP-10 and its receptor CXCR3 were significantly associated with the intratumoral presence of regulatory T cells (Tregs). In an independent cohort of 48 patients with resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, high IP-10 expression levels correlated with decreased median overall survival. Finally, IP-10 stimulated the ex vivo recruitment of CXCR3+ effector T cells as well as CXCR3+ Tregs derived from patients with PDAC. Our findings suggest that, in pancreatic cancer, CXCR3+ Tregs can be recruited by IP-10 expressed by PSCs in the tumor stroma, leading to immunosuppressive and tumor-promoting effects

Sustainability of locally driven centres for those affected by dementia: a protocol for the get real with meeting centres realist evaluation

INTRODUCTION: Improving support for people with early to moderate dementia to live at home in their communities is a global public health goal. Community adult social care is not robust in many parts of the UK, however, with the pandemic increasing pressure on services for this population. Community-led interventions can play a key role in supporting people postdiagnosis, helping delay decline, but many interventions struggle to sustain beyond 1-2 years. Meeting Centres (MCs) are one such intervention, which many UK community groups find attractive and achievable. However, it is not understood how these communities can ensure they are putting in place strategies that will help them sustain in the longer term, beyond start-up phase. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This realist evaluation aims to understand the factors affecting sustainability of MCs in rural areas and learn lessons from MCs that have sustained beyond 3 years. Data will be collected using mixed methods: interviews and group discussions with stakeholders involved at every level in three case study locations in England and Wales, analysed with Soft Systems modelling; a Discrete Choice Experiment exploring what people across the UK value and are willing to pay for MCs, analysed with regression modelling. All data will be synthesised using a Realist logic of analysis to build a theoretical model of how, why, for whom, in what contexts and to what extent MCs can be successfully implemented for the long term. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: As participants may lack capacity for informed consent, favourable ethical opinion was received from a Health Research Authority research ethics committee. Resulting recommendations will be of interest to stakeholders including those commissioning, planning, running, supporting or attending MCs, as well as policy-makers and healthcare professionals. Knowledge will be shared with emerging MCs to help accelerate scale up of this intervention

Everyday pedagogies: New perspectives on youth participation, social learning and citizenship

This chapter focuses on learning from action research projects conducted with young people as part of the PARTISPACE research to explore the implications of young people’s changing forms of participation for innovating pedagogies of participation and citizenship. It aims to offer a new perspective on everyday pedagogies of youth participation understood as processes of situated social learning in action, as young people reflexively engage with and make sense of everyday contexts. The chapter describes by reviewing some critiques of citizenship education, introducing the ideas of Youth Participatory Action Research, and explaining how these were adopted in PARTISPACE. It also focuses on particular aspects of young people’s participation in the projects: the ways in which young people develop agency and capacity through experience; the significance of experimentation, creativity and emergence; reflexive learning and negotiation of boundaries; and relational practices of participatory social learning

Global Trends of Benthic Bacterial Diversity and Community Composition Along Organic Enrichment Gradients of Salmon Farms

The analysis of benthic bacterial community structure has emerged as a powerful alternative to traditional microscopy-based taxonomic approaches to monitor aquaculture disturbance in coastal environments. However, local bacterial diversity and community composition vary with season, biogeographic region, hydrology, sediment texture, and aquafarm-specific parameters. Therefore, without an understanding of the inherent variation contained within community complexes, bacterial diversity surveys conducted at individual farms, countries, or specific seasons may not be able to infer global universal pictures of bacterial community diversity and composition at different degrees of aquaculture disturbance. We have analyzed environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcodes (V3–V4 region of the hypervariable SSU rRNA gene) of 138 samples of different farms located in different major salmon-producing countries. For these samples, we identified universal bacterial core taxa that indicate high, moderate, and low aquaculture impact, regardless of sampling season, sampled country, seafloor substrate type, or local farming and environmental conditions. We also discuss bacterial taxon groups that are specific for individual local conditions. We then link the metabolic properties of the identified bacterial taxon groups to benthic processes, which provides a better understanding of universal benthic ecosystem function(ing) of coastal aquaculture sites. Our results may further guide the continuing development of a practical and generic bacterial eDNA-based environmental monitoring approach.publishedVersio

The Impact of the Extent of Lymphadenectomy on Oncologic Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Radical Cystectomy for Bladder Cancer : A Systematic Review

Copyright © 2014 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Peer reviewedPostprin