Natural Windbreaks Sustain Bird Diversity in a Tea- Dominated Landscape

Windbreaks often form networks of forest habitats that improve connectivity and thus conserve biodiversity, but little is known of such effects in the tropics. We determined bird species richness and community composition in windbreaks composed of remnant native vegetation amongst tea plantations (natural windbreaks), and compared it with the surrounding primary forests. Fifty-one, ten-minute point counts were conducted in each habitat type over three days. Despite the limited sampling period, our bird inventories in both natural windbreaks and primary forests were nearly complete, as indicated by bootstrap true richness estimator. Bird species richness and abundance between primary forests and windbreaks were similar, however a difference in bird community composition was observed. Abundances of important functional groups such as frugivores and insectivores did not vary between habitat types but nectarivores were more abundant in windbreaks, potentially as a result of the use of windbreaks as traveling routes, foraging and nesting sites. This preliminary study suggests that natural windbreaks may be important habitats for the persistence of bird species in a production landscape. However, a better understanding of the required physical and compositional characteristics for windbreaks to sustain bird communities is needed for effective conservation management

Digital Ethics Canvas: A Guide For Ethical Risk Assessment And Mitigation In The Digital Domain

Ethical concerns in the digital domain are growing with the extremely fast evolution of technology and the increasing scale at which software is deployed, potentially affecting our societies globally. It is crucial that engineers evaluate more systematically the impacts their solutions can have on individuals, groups, societies and the environment. Ethical risk analysis is one of the approaches that can help reduce “ethical debt”, the unpaid cost generated by ethically problematic technical solutions. However, previous research has identified that novices struggle with the identification of risks and their mitigation. Our contribution is a visual tool, the Digital Ethics Canvas, specifically designed to help engineers scan digital solutions for a range of ethical risks with six “lenses”: beneficence, non-maleficence, privacy, fairness, sustainability and empowerment. In this paper, we present the literature background behind the design of this tool. We also report on preliminary evaluations of the canvas with novices (N=26) and experts (N=16) showing that the tool is perceived as practical and useful, with positive utility judgements from participants

Efficient and Scalable Internet Mapping : Record Route Revisited

Abstract The IPv4 Record Route option was designed to accurately map the topology between any two nodes on the Internet. The IP protocol design allows only a maximum of nine IP addresses to be accommodated in the record route header field. As nine hops are insufficient to map the current extent of the Internet, the record route technique was replaced by Traceroute and Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) based techniques. These current techniques consume more bandwidth and host resources compared to record route. This paper revives the record route option by proposing various packet-marking schemes to be deployed on routers. The proposed technique also ensures a minimum of computational overhead for both routers and end hosts. It is faster, scalable and consumes lesser bandwidth compared to the Traceroute and BGP techniques

Lysis-deficient phages as novel therapeutic agents for controlling bacterial infection

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Interest in phage therapy has grown over the past decade due to the rapid emergence of antibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens. However, the use of bacteriophages for therapeutic purposes has raised concerns over the potential for immune response, rapid toxin release by the lytic action of phages, and difficulty in dose determination in clinical situations. A phage that kills the target cell but is incapable of host cell lysis would alleviate these concerns without compromising efficacy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We developed a recombinant lysis-deficient <it>Staphylococcus aureus </it>phage P954, in which the endolysin gene was rendered nonfunctional by insertional inactivation. P954, a temperate phage, was lysogenized in <it>S. aureus </it>strain RN4220. The native endolysin gene on the prophage was replaced with an endolysin gene disrupted by the chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (<it>cat</it>) gene through homologous recombination using a plasmid construct. Lysogens carrying the recombinant phage were detected by growth in presence of chloramphenicol. Induction of the recombinant prophage did not result in host cell lysis, and the phage progeny were released by cell lysis with glass beads. The recombinant phage retained the endolysin-deficient genotype and formed plaques only when endolysin was supplemented. The host range of the recombinant phage was the same as that of the parent phage. To test the <it>in vivo </it>efficacy of the recombinant endolysin-deficient phage, immunocompromised mice were challenged with pathogenic <it>S. aureus </it>at a dose that results in 80% mortality (LD₈₀). Treatment with the endolysin-deficient phage rescued mice from the fatal <it>S. aureus </it>infection.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A recombinant endolysin-deficient staphylococcal phage has been developed that is lethal to methicillin-resistant <it>S. aureus </it>without causing bacterial cell lysis. The phage was able to multiply in lytic mode utilizing a heterologous endolysin expressed from a plasmid in the propagation host. The recombinant phage effectively rescued mice from fatal <it>S. aureus </it>infection. To our knowledge this is the first report of a lysis-deficient staphylococcal phage.</p

Requirements and Recommendations for IoT/IIoT Models to automate Security Assurance through Threat Modelling, Security Analysis and Penetration Testing

The factories of the future require efficient interconnection of their physical machines into the cyber space to cope with the emerging need of an increased uptime of machines, higher performance rates, an improved level of productivity and a collective collaboration along the supply chain. With the rapid growth of the Internet of Things (IoT), and its application in industrial areas, the so called Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)/Industry 4.0 emerged. However, further to the rapid growth of IoT/IIoT systems, cyber attacks are an emerging threat and simple manual security testing can often not cope with the scale of large IoT/IIoT networks. In this paper, we suggest to extract metadata from commonly used diagrams and models in a typical software development process, to automate the process of threat modelling, security analysis and penetration testing, without detailed prior security knowledge. In that context, we present requirements and recommendations for metadata in IoT/IIoT models that are needed as necessary input parameters of security assurance tools.Comment: 8 pages, Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security (ARES 2019) (ARES '19), August 26-29, 2019, Canterbury, United Kingdo

Pathways to care in first-episode psychosis in low-resource settings: Implications for policy and practice.

Developing countries such as India face a major mental health care gap. Delayed or inadequate care can have a profound impact on treatment outcomes. We compared pathways to care in first episode psychosis (FEP) between North and South India to inform solutions to bridge the treatment gap. Cross-sectional observation study of 'untreated' FEP patients (n = 177) visiting a psychiatry department in two sites in India (AIIMS, New Delhi and SCARF, Chennai). We compared duration of untreated psychosis (DUP), first service encounters, illness attributions and socio-demographic factors between patients from North and South India. Correlates of DUP were explored using logistic regression analysis (DUP ≥ 6 months) and generalised linear models (DUP in weeks). Patients in North India had experienced longer DUP than patients in South India (β = 17.68, p < 0.05). The most common first encounter in North India was with a faith healer (45.7%), however, this contact was not significantly associated with longer DUP. Visiting a faith healer was the second most common first contact in South India (23.6%) and was significantly associated with longer DUP (Odds Ratio: 6.84; 95% Confidence Interval: 1.77, 26.49). Being in paid employment was significantly associated with shorter DUP across both sites. Implementing early intervention strategies in a diverse country like India requires careful attention to local population demographics; one size may not fit all. A collaborative relationship between faith healers and mental health professionals could help with educational initiatives and to provide more accessible care. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Early Life Child Micronutrient Status, Maternal Reasoning, and a Nurturing Household Environment have Persistent Influences on Child Cognitive Development at Age 5 years : Results from MAL-ED

Funding Information: The Etiology, Risk Factors and Interactions of Enteric Infections and Malnutrition and the Consequences for Child Health and Development Project (MAL-ED) is carried out as a collaborative project supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Foundation for the NIH, and the National Institutes of Health/Fogarty International Center. This work was also supported by the Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health (D43-TW009359 to ETR). Author disclosures: BJJM, SAR, LEC, LLP, JCS, BK, RR, RS, ES, LB, ZR, AM, RS, BN, SH, MR, RO, ETR, and LEM-K, no conflicts of interest. Supplemental Tables 1–5 and Supplemental Figures 1–3 are available from the “Supplementary data” link in the online posting of the article and from the same link in the online table of contents at https://academic.oup.com/jn/. Address correspondence to LEM-K (e-mail: [email protected]). Abbreviations used: HOME, Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment inventory; MAL-ED, The Etiology, Risk Factors, and Interactions of Enteric Infections and Malnutrition and the Consequences for Child Health and Development Project; TfR, transferrin receptor; WPPSI, Wechsler Preschool Primary Scales of Intelligence.Peer reviewe

Early life child micronutrient status, maternal reasoning, and a nurturing household environment have persistent influences on child cognitive development at age 5 years: Results from MAL-ED

Background: Child cognitive development is influenced by early-life insults and protective factors. To what extent these factors have a long-term legacy on child development and hence fulfillment of cognitive potential is unknown. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the relation between early-life factors (birth to 2 y) and cognitive development at 5 y. Methods: Observational follow-up visits were made of children at 5 y, previously enrolled in the community-based MAL-ED longitudinal cohort. The burden of enteropathogens, prevalence of illness, complementary diet intake, micronutrient status, and household and maternal factors from birth to 2 y were extensively measured and their relation with the Wechsler Preschool Primary Scales of Intelligence at 5 y was examined through use of linear regression. Results: Cognitive T-scores from 813 of 1198 (68%) children were examined and 5 variables had significant associations in multivariable models: mean child plasma transferrin receptor concentration (β: −1.81, 95% CI: −2.75, −0.86), number of years of maternal education (β: 0.27, 95% CI: 0.08, 0.45), maternal cognitive reasoning score (β: 0.09, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.15), household assets score (β: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.24, 1.04), and HOME child cleanliness factor (β: 0.60, 95% CI: 0.05, 1.15). In multivariable models, the mean rate of enteropathogen detections, burden of illness, and complementary food intakes between birth and 2 y were not significantly related to 5-y cognition. Conclusions: A nurturing home context in terms of a healthy/clean environment and household wealth, provision of adequate micronutrients, maternal education, and cognitive reasoning have a strong and persistent influence on child cognitive development. Efforts addressing aspects of poverty around micronutrient status, nurturing caregiving, and enabling home environments are likely to have lasting positive impacts on child cognitive development.publishedVersio