EFFECTS OF SEX, ENVIRONMENT, AND CONDITION ON THE MUSKING BEHAVIOR OF SYMPATRIC GARTERSNAKES (THAMNOPHIS SPP.)

Despite an abundance of studies documenting antipredator and defensive behaviors of gartersnakes (genus Thamnophis), few have quantitatively examined musking, a widely utilized antipredator tactic. In this study we quantify musking behaviors in the Terrestrial Gartersnake (Thamnophis elegans) and the Plains Gartersnake (T. radix) when hand-captured at four sites in and near Denver, Colorado, USA. Overall, Plains Gartersnakes musked significantly more often than Terrestrial Gartersnakes. Female Terrestrial Gartersnakes musked more frequently than males, a pattern not evident in the Plains Gartersnake. Additionally, we observed a positive correlation in body condition and musking propensity in Terrestrial Gartersnakes, suggesting resource-dependent behavior in this species. Musking behavior was consistent across variations in predation pressure, environmental conditions, and snake body size, all factors shown to influence other gartersnake defensive behaviors. These results corroborate other research which demonstrates that snake antipredator behaviors are determined by complex interactions of abiotic and biotic factors

Communicating the Value of Ergonomics to Management – Part 2: Ergonomics ROI Case Study Applications

More than ever, human factors engineers and ergonomists need to justify our practice’s value to management. How can we effectively communicate with management? How should we present a Return on Investment (ROI) that leadership will find useful that addresses company profits, cost savings, productivity, first time quality, and turnover? What else does management care about other than ROI? This second panel in a two panel series will specifically highlight case studies in which presenters give examples of situations in which ROI for ergonomics was investigated from a business value. The session will start with four case study lectures followed by a panel discussion led by the moderators. The audience will be encouraged to participate with their own questions and comments

The "Waji shoran-sho" of Keichu and its position in historical kana usage studies.

This thesis is concerned with examination and interpretation from the orthographical viewpoint of the system of historical kana usage (rekishiteld, kana-zukai) proposed by the 17th century scholar-priest Keichu, and its relationship to previous and subsequent kana usage and kana usage theory. In the introductory chapter, the meanings and scope of the terra kana-zukai are considered, as also the question of how kana-zukai first arose. Chapter Two consists of a description of kana usage before Keichu, in order to put the historical kana usage of Keichu into perspective. In Chapter Three a brief introduction to Keichu and his works is given, together with a consideration of the significance of his kana usage studies within his work as a whole. Chapter Four sets out assumptions concerning the sound-system of the language of Keichu as a preliminary to examination of his kana usage writings. Chapter Five looks at the beginnings and development of Keichu's kana usage theory before Waji shoran-sho, his main work on Kana usage. Chapter Six consists of an introduction to, and translated excerpts from, Waji shoran-sho. In Chapter Seven, the kana usage and kana usage theory of Keichu is considered from the viewpoint of the layout of Waji shoran-sho. Chapter Eight sets out the principles of Keichu's kana usage theory Chapter Nine examines the actual kana spellings set out in Waji shoran-sho. Chapters Ten and Eleven consider two specialized aspects of Keichu's kana usage theory. Chapter Twelve looks briefly at kana usage and kana usage theory after Waji shoran-sho down to the present day. In the Conclusion, the findings of the study are set out. The various appendices deal with relevant topics which it was not possible to fit conveniently into the main body of the thesis

Honey bee foraging distance depends on month and forage type

To investigate the distances at which honey bee foragers collect nectar and pollen, we analysed 5,484 decoded waggle dances made to natural forage sites to determine monthly foraging distance for each forage type. Firstly, we found significantly fewer overall dances made for pollen (16.8 %) than for non-pollen, presumably nectar (83.2 %; P < 2.2 × 10−23). When we analysed distance against month and forage type, there was a significant interaction between the two factors, which demonstrates that in some months, one forage type is collected at farther distances, but this would reverse in other months. Overall, these data suggest that distance, as a proxy for forage availability, is not significantly and consistently driven by need for one type of forage over the other

Tuberculosis infection prevention and control: Why we need a whole systems approach

Karina Kielmann - ORCID 0000-0001-5519-1658 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5519-1658Aaron S. Karat - ORCID 0000-0001-9643-664X https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9643-664XGimenne Zwama - ORCID 0000-0001-9458-522X https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9458-522XInfection prevention and control (IPC) measures to reduce transmission of drug-resistant and drug-sensitive tuberculosis (TB) in health facilities are well described but poorly implemented. The implementation of TB IPC has been assessed primarily through quantitative and structured approaches that treat administrative, environmental, and personal protective measures as discrete entities. We present an on-going project entitled Umoya omuhle (“good air”), conducted in two provinces of South Africa, that adopts an interdisciplinary, ‘whole systems’ approach to problem analysis and intervention development for reducing nosocomial transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) through improved IPC. We suggest that TB IPC represents a complex intervention that is delivered within a dynamic context shaped by policy guidelines, health facility space, infrastructure, organisation of care, and management culture. Methods drawn from epidemiology, anthropology, and health policy and systems research enable rich contextual analysis of how nosocomial Mtb transmission occurs, as well as opportunities to address the problem holistically. A ‘whole systems’ approach can identify leverage points within the health facility infrastructure and organisation of care that can inform the design of interventions to reduce the risk of nosocomial Mtb transmission.Translating from isiZulu as ‘good air’, Umoya omuhle is a 3.5-year project developing health systems interventions to improve IPC for DR-TB within health facilities in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces of South Africa. It is funded through the UK Economic and Social Research Council (Grant# ES/P008011/1), one of seven research councils underpinning the Antimicrobial Resistance Cross Council Initiative.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40249-020-00667-69pubpu

Menstrual health intervention and school attendance in Uganda (MENISCUS-2): a pilot intervention study.

OBJECTIVES: Achieving good menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) is a public health challenge and there is little evidence to inform interventions. The aim of this study was to pilot test an intervention to improve MHH and school attendance in Uganda, in preparation for a future cluster-randomised trial. DESIGN: Longitudinal study with pre-post evaluation of a pilot intervention. SETTING: Two secondary schools in Entebbe, Uganda. PARTICIPANTS: Of the 473 eligible students in secondary 2 (S2) at baseline, 450 (95.1%; 232 girls and 218 boys) consented/assented. 369 students (188 girls; 81.0%; and 181 boys; 83.0%) participated in the endline survey. INTERVENTION: The intervention comprised training teachers to improve delivery of government guidelines for puberty education, training in use of a menstrual kit and pain management, a drama skit, provision of analgesics and improvements to school water and sanitation hygiene facilities. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Feasibility and acceptability of delivering the intervention. Baseline and endline quantitative surveys were conducted, with qualitative interviews conducted at endline. School attendance was assessed using self-completed daily diaries among a nested cohort of 100 female students. RESULTS: There were high levels of uptake of the individual and behavioural intervention components (puberty education, drama skit, menstrual hygiene management (MHM) kit and pain management). The proportion of girls reporting anxiety about next period decreased from 58.6% to 34.4%, and reported use of effective pain management increased from 76.4% to 91.4%. Most girls (81.4%) reported improved school toilet facilities, which improved their comfort managing menstruation. The diary data and qualitative data indicated a potential intervention impact on improving menstrual-related school absenteeism. CONCLUSIONS: The pilot study showed that the multicomponent MHM intervention was acceptable and feasible to deliver, and potentially effective in improving menstruation knowledge and management. A cluster-randomised trial is needed to evaluate rigorously the intervention effects on MHM and school attendance. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04064736; Pre-results

A Multi-Objective Optimization for Supply Chain Network Using the Bees Algorithm

A supply chain is a complex network which involves the products, services and information flows between suppliers and customers. A typical supply chain is composed of different levels, hence, there is a need to optimize the supply chain by finding the optimum configuration of the network in order to get a good compromise between the multi-objectives such as cost minimization and lead-time minimization. There are several multi-objective optimization methods which have been applied to find the optimum solutions set based on the Pareto front line. In this study, a swarm-based optimization method, namely, the bees algorithm is proposed in dealing with the multi-objective supply chain model to find the optimum configuration of a given supply chain problem which minimizes the total cost and the total lead-time. The supply chain problem utilized in this study is taken from literature and several experiments have been conducted in order to show the performance of the proposed model; in addition, the results have been compared to those achieved by the ant colony optimization method. The results show that the proposed bees algorithm is able to achieve better Pareto solutions for the supply chain problem

Menstrual health intervention and school attendance in Uganda (MENISCUS-2): a pilot intervention study.

OBJECTIVES: Achieving good menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) is a public health challenge and there is little evidence to inform interventions. The aim of this study was to pilot test an intervention to improve MHH and school attendance in Uganda, in preparation for a future cluster-randomised trial. DESIGN: Longitudinal study with pre-post evaluation of a pilot intervention. SETTING: Two secondary schools in Entebbe, Uganda. PARTICIPANTS: Of the 473 eligible students in secondary 2 (S2) at baseline, 450 (95.1%; 232 girls and 218 boys) consented/assented. 369 students (188 girls; 81.0%; and 181 boys; 83.0%) participated in the endline survey. INTERVENTION: The intervention comprised training teachers to improve delivery of government guidelines for puberty education, training in use of a menstrual kit and pain management, a drama skit, provision of analgesics and improvements to school water and sanitation hygiene facilities. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Feasibility and acceptability of delivering the intervention. Baseline and endline quantitative surveys were conducted, with qualitative interviews conducted at endline. School attendance was assessed using self-completed daily diaries among a nested cohort of 100 female students. RESULTS: There were high levels of uptake of the individual and behavioural intervention components (puberty education, drama skit, menstrual hygiene management (MHM) kit and pain management). The proportion of girls reporting anxiety about next period decreased from 58.6% to 34.4%, and reported use of effective pain management increased from 76.4% to 91.4%. Most girls (81.4%) reported improved school toilet facilities, which improved their comfort managing menstruation. The diary data and qualitative data indicated a potential intervention impact on improving menstrual-related school absenteeism. CONCLUSIONS: The pilot study showed that the multicomponent MHM intervention was acceptable and feasible to deliver, and potentially effective in improving menstruation knowledge and management. A cluster-randomised trial is needed to evaluate rigorously the intervention effects on MHM and school attendance. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04064736; Pre-results

Calcitonin Receptor Neurons in the Mouse Nucleus Tractus Solitarius Control Energy Balance via the Non-aversive Suppression of Feeding.

To understand hindbrain pathways involved in the control of food intake, we examined roles for calcitonin receptor (CALCR)-containing neurons in the NTS. Ablation of NTS Calcr abrogated the long-term suppression of food intake, but not aversive responses, by CALCR agonists. Similarly, activating CalcrNTS neurons decreased food intake and body weight but (unlike neighboring CckNTS cells) failed to promote aversion, revealing that CalcrNTS neurons mediate a non-aversive suppression of food intake. While both CalcrNTS and CckNTS neurons decreased feeding via projections to the PBN, CckNTS cells activated aversive CGRPPBN cells while CalcrNTS cells activated distinct non-CGRP PBN cells. Hence, CalcrNTS cells suppress feeding via non-aversive, non-CGRP PBN targets. Additionally, silencing CalcrNTS cells blunted food intake suppression by gut peptides and nutrients, increasing food intake and promoting obesity. Hence, CalcrNTS neurons define a hindbrain system that participates in physiological energy balance and suppresses food intake without activating aversive systems