Habitat suitability and threat analysis of Greater One-horned Rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis Linnaeus, 1758 (Mammalia: Perissodactyla: Rhinocerotidae) in Rautahat District, Nepal

The Greater One-horned Rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis has been listed as a Vulnerable species on IUCN Red List, Appendix I of CITES, and a protected animal under the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 2029 B.S., 1973. In Nepal, it was found only in Chitwan, Bardia, Shuklaphanta and Parsa national parks, but it has recently been also reported from the forests of Rautahat. The main objectives of the study were to assess habitat suitability and threats for rhinoceros in Rautahat at an elevation range of approximately 300-1,000 m. Remote sensing data and geospatial modeling techniques were used to assess habitat suitability of rhinoceros. Vegetation assessment was carried out for tree, shrubs, and herbs of plot size 10m × 10m, 5m × 5m, 1m × 1m respectively for habitat suitability. Threat analysis was carried out using purposive sampling among local people and their perceptions were collected on the movement of rhinoceros and threats. The integration of nine explanatory variables showed that about 0.06%, 29.18%, 20.45%, and 50.31% of the study area was found to be most suitable, suitable, moderately suitable and unsuitable habitat respectively for rhinoceros. Out of 30 respondents, 37%, 23%, 20%, and 20% identified the main threat to rhinoceros to be unmanaged habitat, poaching, human-wildlife conflict and environmental factors, respectively. This study recommends parts of the Rautahat District to be extended as the habitat of rhinoceros and starting of immediate conservation initiatives in the area. © Rimal et al. 2018.Peer reviewe

Developing a scalable training model in global mental health: pilot study of a video-assisted training Program for Generalist Clinicians in Rural Nepal.

BackgroundIn low- and middle-income countries, mental health training often includes sending few generalist clinicians to specialist-led programs for several weeks. Our objective is to develop and test a video-assisted training model addressing the shortcomings of traditional programs that affect scalability: failing to train all clinicians, disrupting clinical services, and depending on specialists.MethodsWe implemented the program -video lectures and on-site skills training- for all clinicians at a rural Nepali hospital. We used Wilcoxon signed-rank tests to evaluate pre- and post-test change in knowledge (diagnostic criteria, differential diagnosis, and appropriate treatment). We used a series of 'Yes' or 'No' questions to assess attitudes about mental illness, and utilized exact McNemar's test to analyze the proportions of participants who held a specific belief before and after the training. We assessed acceptability and feasibility through key informant interviews and structured feedback.ResultsFor each topic except depression, there was a statistically significant increase (Δ) in median scores on knowledge questionnaires: Acute Stress Reaction (Δ = 20, p = 0.03), Depression (Δ = 11, p = 0.12), Grief (Δ = 40, p < 0.01), Psychosis (Δ = 22, p = 0.01), and post-traumatic stress disorder (Δ = 20, p = 0.01). The training received high ratings; key informants shared examples and views about the training's positive impact and complementary nature of the program's components.ConclusionVideo lectures and on-site skills training can address the limitations of a conventional training model while being acceptable, feasible, and impactful toward improving knowledge and attitudes of the participants

Provider imposed restrictions to clients\u27 access to family planning in urban Uttar Pradesh, India: A mixed methods study

Background Medical barriers refer to unnecessary policies or procedures imposed by health care providers that are not necessarily medically advised; these restrictions impede clients\u27 access to family planning (FP). This mixed methods study investigates provider imposed barriers to provision of FP using recent quantitative and qualitative data from urban Uttar Pradesh, India. Methods Baseline quantitative data were collected in six cities in Uttar Pradesh, India from service delivery points (SDP), using facility audits, exit interviews, and provider surveys; for this study, the focus is on the provider surveys. More than 250 providers were surveyed in each city. Providers were asked about the FP methods they provide, and if they restrict clients\u27 access to each method based on age, parity, partner consent, or marital status. For the qualitative research, we conducted one-on-one interviews with 21 service providers in four of the six cities in Uttar Pradesh. Each interview lasted approximately 45 minutes. Results The quantitative findings show that providers restrict clients\u27 access to spacing and long-acting and permanent methods of FP based on age, parity, partner consent and marital status. Qualitative findings reinforce that providers, at times, make judgments about their clients\u27 education, FP needs and ability to understand FP options thereby imposing unnecessary barriers to FP methods. Conclusions Provider restrictions on FP methods are common in these urban Uttar Pradesh sites. This means that women who are young, unmarried, have few or no children, do not have the support of their partner, or are less educated may not be able to access or use FP or their preferred method. These findings highlight the need for in-service training for staff, with a focus on reviewing current guidelines and eligibility criteria for provision of methods

Alcohol brand use of youth-appealing advertising and consumption by youth and adults

Background: Youth exposure to alcohol marketing has been shown to be an important contributor to the problem of underage drinking in the U.S. More work is needed on identifying and minimizing content with particular appeal to youth. Design and Methods: We tested the association between the youth-appeal of marketing content of televised alcohol advertisements and the brand-specific alcohol consumption of both underage youth and adults. We used existing data from three sources: a brand-specific alcohol consumption survey among underage youth (N=1032), a brand-specific alcohol consumption survey among adults (N ~13,000), and an analysis of content appealing to youth (CAY) in a sample of televised alcohol advertisements (n=96) aired during the youth survey. The association between CAY scores for the 96 alcohol ads and youth (age 13-20) versus adult (age 21+) consumption of those ads’ brands was tested through bivariate and multivariate models. Results: Brand CAY scores were (a) positively associated with brand-specific youth consumption after controlling for adult brand consumption; (b) positively associated with a ratio of youth-toadult brand-specific consumption; and (c) not associated with adult brand consumption. Conclusions: Alcohol brands with youth-appealing advertising are consumed more often by youth than adults, indicating that these ads may be more persuasive to relatively younger audiences, and that youth are not simply mirroring adult consumption patterns in their choice of brands. Future research should consider the content of alcohol advertising when testing marketing effects on youth drinking, and surveillance efforts might focus on brands popular among youth

Interaction of in-plane Drude carrier with c-axis phonon in PdCoO2\rm PdCoO_2

We performed polarized reflection and transmission measurements on the layered conducting oxide $\rm PdCoO_2$ thin films. For the ab-plane, an optical peak near $\Omega$ $\approx$ 750 cm$^{-1}$ drives the scattering rate $\gamma^{*}(\omega)$ and effective mass $m^{*}(\omega)$ of the Drude carrier to increase and decrease respectively for $\omega$ $\geqq$ $\Omega$. For the c-axis, a longitudinal optical phonon (LO) is present at $\Omega$ as evidenced by a peak in the loss function Im[$-1/\varepsilon_{c}(\omega)$]. Further polarized measurements in different light propagation (q) and electric field (E) configurations indicate that the Peak at $\Omega$ results from an electron-phonon coupling of the ab-plane carrier with the c-LO phonon, which leads to the frequency-dependent $\gamma^{*}(\omega)$ and $m^{*}(\omega)$. This unusual interaction was previously reported in high-temperature superconductors (HTSC) between a non-Drude, mid-infrared band and a c-LO. On the contrary, it is the Drude carrier that couples in $\rm PdCoO_2$. The coupling between the ab-plane Drude carrier and c-LO suggests that the c-LO phonon may play a significant role in the characteristic ab-plane electronic properties of $\rm PdCoO_2$ including the ultra-high dc-conductivity, phonon-drag, and hydrodynamic electron transport.Comment: 4 figure

Interaction of in-plane Drude carrier with c -axis phonon in PdCoO2

Funding: E.C. was supported by the NRF-2021R1A2C1009073 of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education. D.S. was partially supported by MOLIT as an Innovative Talent Education Program for Smart City. The work at Rutgers University is supported by the National Science Foundation’s DMR2004125 and the Army Research Office’s W911NF2010108. S.B.C. was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grants funded by the Korean government (MSIT)(NRF-2023R1A2C1006144, NRF-2020R1A2C1007554, and NRF-2018R1A6A1A06024977). Research in Dresden benefits from the environment provided by the DFG Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat (EXC 2147, project ID 390858490). The work at HYU was supported by the NRF grant funded by the Korean government (MSIT) (2022R1F1A1072865), the BrainLink program funded by MSIT (2022H1D3A3A01077468), and the Quantum Simulator Development Project for Materials Innovation through the NRF funded by MSIT (2023M3K5A1094813).We performed polarized reflection and transmission measurements on the layered conducting oxide PdCoO2 thin films. For the ab-plane, an optical peak near Ω ≈ 750 cm−1 drives the scattering rate 1/τ(ω) and effective mass m*(ω) of the Drude carrier to increase and decrease respectively for ω ≧ Ω. For the c-axis, a longitudinal optical phonon (LO) is present at Ω as evidenced by a peak in the loss function Im[−1/εc(ω)]. Further polarized measurements in different light propagation (q) and electric field (E) configurations indicate that the Peak at Ω results from an electron-phonon coupling of the ab-plane carrier with the c-LO phonon, which leads to the frequency-dependent 1/τ(ω) and m*(ω). This unusual interaction was previously reported in high-temperature superconductors (HTSC) between a non-Drude, mid-infrared (IR) band and a c-LO. On the contrary, it is the Drude carrier that couples in PdCoO2. The coupling between the ab-plane Drude carrier and c-LO suggests that the c-LO phonon may play a significant role in the characteristic ab-plane electronic properties of PdCoO2, including the ultra-high dc-conductivity, phonon-drag, and hydrodynamic electron transport.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

A comparison of forward and backward pp pair knockout in 3He(e,e'pp)n

Measuring nucleon-nucleon Short Range Correlations (SRC) has been a goal of the nuclear physics community for many years. They are an important part of the nuclear wavefunction, accounting for almost all of the high-momentum strength. They are closely related to the EMC effect. While their overall probability has been measured, measuring their momentum distributions is more difficult. In order to determine the best configuration for studying SRC momentum distributions, we measured the $^3$He$(e,e'pp)n$ reaction, looking at events with high momentum protons ($p_p > 0.35$ GeV/c) and a low momentum neutron ($p_n< 0.2$ GeV/c). We examined two angular configurations: either both protons emitted forward or one proton emitted forward and one backward (with respect to the momentum transfer, $\vec q$). The measured relative momentum distribution of the events with one forward and one backward proton was much closer to the calculated initial-state $pp$ relative momentum distribution, indicating that this is the preferred configuration for measuring SRC.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Phys Rev C. Version 2 incorporates minor corrections in response to referee comment