Towards a collaborative, global infrastructure for biodiversity assessment

Biodiversity data are rapidly becoming available over the Internet in common formats that promote sharing and exchange. Currently, these data are somewhat problematic, primarily with regard to geographic and taxonomic accuracy, for use in ecological research, natural resources management and conservation decision-making. However, web-based georeferencing tools that utilize best practices and gazetteer databases can be employed to improve geographic data. Taxonomic data quality can be improved through web-enabled valid taxon names databases and services, as well as more efficient mechanisms to return systematic research results and taxonomic misidentification rates back to the biodiversity community. Both of these are under construction. A separate but related challenge will be developing web-based visualization and analysis tools for tracking biodiversity change. Our aim was to discuss how such tools, combined with data of enhanced quality, will help transform today's portals to raw biodiversity data into nexuses of collaborative creation and sharing of biodiversity knowledge

Parental childhood growth and offspring birthweight : Pooled analyses from four birth cohorts in low and middle income countries

Funding Information Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Grant Number: OPP1020058 Wellcome Trust 089257/Z/09/Z Contract grant sponsor: the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at National Institutes of Health. Grant Number: HHSN 268200900028C to the Center of Excellence – INCAP/ Guatemala; and Grand Challenges Canada (Grant number: 0072‐03 to the Grantee, The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania)Peer reviewedPublisher PD

On the Role of Higher Twist in Polarized Deep Inelastic Scattering

The higher twist corrections $h^N(x)/Q^2$ to the spin dependent proton and neutron structure functions $g_1^N(x, Q^2)$ are extracted in a model independent way from experimental data on $g_1^N$ and found to be non-negligible. It is shown that the NLO QCD polarized parton densities determined from the data on g1, including higher twist effects, are in good agreement with those found earlier from our analysis of the data on g1/F1 and A1 where higher twist effects are negligible. On the contrary, the LO QCD polarized parton densities obtained from the data on g1, including higher twist, differ significantly from our previous results.Comment: 18 pages, latex, 6 figures, final version which will be published in Phys. Rev. D, fig. 5 is changed, misprints in Table 2 are remove

Which Kubo formula gives the exact conductance of a mesoscopic disordered system?

In both research and textbook literature one often finds two ``different'' Kubo formulas for the zero-temperature conductance of a non-interacting Fermi system. They contain a trace of the product of velocity operators and single-particle (retarded and advanced) Green operators: $\text{Tr} (\hat{v}_x \hat{G}^r \hat{v}_x \hat{G}^a)$ or $\text{Tr} (\hat{v}_x \text{Im} \hat{G} \hat{v}_x \text{Im} \hat{G})$. The study investigates the relationship between these expressions, as well as the requirements of current conservation, through exact evaluation of such quantum-mechanical traces for a nanoscale (containing 1000 atoms) mesoscopic disordered conductor. The traces are computed in the semiclassical regime (where disorder is weak) and, more importantly, in the nonperturbative transport regime (including the region around localization-delocalization transition) where concept of mean free path ceases to exist. Since quantum interference effects for such strong disorder are not amenable to diagrammatic or nonlinear $\sigma$-model techniques, the evolution of different Green function terms with disorder strength provides novel insight into the development of an Anderson localized phase.Comment: 7 pages, 5 embedded EPS figures, final published version (note: PRB article has different title due to editorial censorship

Differential influences of early growth and social factors on young children's cognitive performance in four low-and-middle-income birth cohorts (Brazil, Guatemala, Philippines, and South Africa)

Background: Studies relating childhood cognitive development to poor linear growth seldom take adequate account of social conditions related to both, leading to a focus on nutrition interventions. We aimed to assess the roles of both biological and social conditions in determining early childhood cognition, mediated by birthweight and early linear growth. Methods: After exploratory structural equation modelling to identify determining factors, we tested direct and indirect paths to cognitive performance through birthweight and child height-for-age at 2 years, assessed between 4 and 8.5 years of age among 2448 children in four birth cohort studies in low-and-middle-income countries (Brazil, Guatemala, Philippines and South Africa). Determinants were compared across the cohorts. Findings: Three factors yielded excellent fit, comprising birth endowment (primarily maternal age and birth order), household resources (crowding, dependency) and parental capacity (parental education). We estimated their strength together with maternal height in determining cognitive performance. Percentage shares of total effects of the four determinants show a marked transition from mainly biological determinants of birth weight (birth endowment 34%) and maternal height (30%) compared to household resources (25%) and parental capacity (11%), through largely economic determinants of height at 2 years (household resources (60%) to cognitive performance being predominantly determined by parental capacity (64%) followed by household resources (29%). The largely biological factor, birth endowment (maternal age and birth order) contributed only 7% to childhood cognitive performance and maternal height was insignificant. In summary, the combined share of social total effects (household resources and parental capacity) rises from 36∙2% on birth weight, to 78∙2% on height for age at 24 m, and 93∙4% on cognitive functioning. Interpretation: Across four low- and middle-income contexts, cognition in childhood is influenced more by the parental capacity of families and their economic resources than by birth weight and early linear growth. Improving children's cognitive functioning requires multi-sectoral interventions to improve parental education and enhance their economic wellbeing, interventions that are known to improve also early childhood growth

The adolescent HIV executive function and drumming (AHEAD) study, a feasibility trial of a group drumming intervention amongst adolescents with HIV

AHEAD feasibility trial assessed the feasibility and acceptability of an 8-session group drummingprogramme aiming to improve executive function, depression and anxiety symptoms, andperceived social support in adolescents living with HIV in a rural low-income South Africansetting. Sixty-eight 12- to 19-year-old adolescents participated. They were individuallyrandomised. The intervention arm (n= 34) received weekly hour-long group drumming sessions.Controls (n= 34) received no intervention. Feasibility and acceptability were assessed usingrates of: enrolment; retention; attendance; logistical problems; adolescent-reportedacceptability. Secondary measures included:five Oxford Cognitive Screen-Executive Function(OCS-EF) tasks; two Rapid Assessment of Cognitive and Emotional Regulation (RACER) tasks; theSelf-Reporting Questionnaire-20 (SRQ-20) measuring depression and anxiety symptoms; theMultidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). All feasibility criteria were withingreen progression limits. Enrolment, retention, and acceptability were high. There was a positive effect on adolescent depressed mood with a signal for a working memory effect. There were no significant effects on executive function or socio-emotional scales. Qualitative findings suggested socio-emotional benefits including group belonging; decreased internalised stigma; improved mood; and decreased anxiety. Group drumming is a feasible and acceptable intervention among adolescents living with HIV in rural South Africa. A full-scale trial is recommendedAfrica-Oxford Initiative (AfiOx-32), the Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research (SEMPRE) Gerry Farrell scholarship, the Murray Speight grant, the Rhodes Trust, and the Medical Research Council United Kingdom.https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/caic20Musi

Breast feeding in Australia: A comparative study of Aboriginal and non Aboriginal women

The superiority of breast feeding over bottle feeding is universally acknowledged, and its crucial contribution to infant health is accepted by health authorities. Australia in recognition of the importance of breast feeding to infant health, aims to increase the prevalence of breast feeding. Breast feeding provides benefits for all children, however the health advantage that is gained by breast feeding in comparison to artificial feeding is more apparent among disadvantaged groups. Aboriginal Australians are identified as one such disadvantaged group. This study compares the available literature regarding the prevalence of breast feeding in Aboriginal and non Aboriginal women. It is apparent that breast feeding prevalence differs, between population groups within Australia. Aboriginal children are less likely to have been breast fed than non Aboriginal children. The comparison, indicates that there are deficiencies in the research regarding breast feeding prevalence in both population groups. Many factors affect a woman's decision to breast feed, and the duration of her breast feeding. These factors include, socioeconomic status, age, marital status, educational attainment, occupation and smoking status. These factors are clearly associated with breast feeding in non Aboriginal women. For Aboriginal women, the factors influencing breast feeding are more complex. It is recommended therefore, that it is essential for future research to examine the attitudinal and socialdeterminants of infant feeding practices in Aboriginal women. This is necessary, if educational or interventional strategies are to be effective for this population

Patterns of Growth in Childhood in Relation to Adult Schooling Attainment and Intelligence Quotient in 6 Birth Cohorts in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Evidence from the Consortium of Health-Oriented Research in Transitioning Societies (COHORTS)

BACKGROUND: Growth faltering has been associated with poor intellectual performance. The relative strengths of associations between growth in early and in later childhood remain underexplored. OBJECTIVES: We examined the association between growth in childhood and adult human capital in 5 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). METHODS: We analyzed data from 9503 participants in 6 prospective birth cohorts from 5 LMICs (Brazil, Guatemala, India, the Philippines, and South Africa). We used linear and quasi-Poisson regression models to assess the associations between measures of height and relative weight at 4 age intervals [birth, age ∼2 y, midchildhood (MC), adulthood] and 2 dimensions of adult human capital [schooling attainment and Intelligence Quotient (IQ)]. RESULTS: Meta-analysis of site- and sex-specific estimates showed statistically significant associations between size at birth and height at ∼2 y and the 2 outcomes (P < 0.001). Weight and length at birth and linear growth from birth to ∼2 y of age (1 z-score difference) were positively associated with schooling attainment (β: 0.13; 95% CI: 0.08, 0.19, β: 0.17; 95% CI: 0.07, 0.32, and β: 0.25, 95% CI: 0.10, 0.40, respectively) and adult IQ (β: 0.74, 95% CI: 0.35, 1.14, β: 0.73, 95% CI: 0.35, 1.10, and β: 1.52, 95% CI: 0.96, 2.08, respectively). Linear growth from age 2 y to MC and from MC to adulthood was not associated with higher school attainment or IQ. Change in relative weight in early childhood, MC, and adulthood was not associated with either outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Linear growth in the first 1000 d is a predictor of schooling attainment and IQ in adulthood in LMICs. Linear growth in later periods was not associated with either of these outcomes. Changes in relative weight across the life course were not associated with schooling and IQ in adulthood

Stein's method on Wiener chaos

We combine Malliavin calculus with Stein's method, in order to derive explicit bounds in the Gaussian and Gamma approximations of random variables in a fixed Wiener chaos of a general Gaussian process. We also prove results concerning random variables admitting a possibly infinite Wiener chaotic decomposition. Our approach generalizes, refines and unifies the central and non-central limit theorems for multiple Wiener-It\^o integrals recently proved (in several papers, from 2005 to 2007) by Nourdin, Nualart, Ortiz-Latorre, Peccati and Tudor. We apply our techniques to prove Berry-Ess\'een bounds in the Breuer-Major CLT for subordinated functionals of fractional Brownian motion. By using the well-known Mehler's formula for Ornstein-Uhlenbeck semigroups, we also recover a technical result recently proved by Chatterjee, concerning the Gaussian approximation of functionals of finite-dimensional Gaussian vectors.Comment: 39 pages; Two sections added; To appear in PTR