The Delphi technique in ecology and biological conservation: Applications and guidelines

SummaryMany areas of science, including conservation and environmental management, regularly require engaging stakeholders or experts to produce consensus or technical inputs. The Delphi technique is an iterative and anonymous participatory method used for gathering and evaluating such expert‐based knowledge.We outline the methodology of the Delphi technique and provide a taxonomy of its main variants. In addition, we refine the technique by providing suggestions to address common limitations (e.g. time consumption, attrition rate) in order to make the method more suitable for application in ecology and conservation.A comprehensive search for studies that have applied the Delphi technique in conservation and environmental management resulted in 36 papers. The Delphi technique has been applied to a range of issues, including developing decision support systems and predicting ecological impacts of climate change.The papers reviewed suggest that the Delphi technique is an efficient, inclusive, systematic and structured approach that can be used to address complex issues. A major strength compared to other group‐based techniques is the reduced influence of social pressures among respondents.The Delphi technique is relatively little used and seems undervalued. Given its wide range of possible applications, it could be applied more widely in evaluating evidence and providing expert judgments.The authors would like to thank Pinaki Bhattacharya, Maria Voigt, Francisco Benitez-Capistros and the three anonymous reviewers for their significant contributions in improving the earlier manuscript. WJS is funded by Arcadia. NM and JH were funded by the Belgian National Science Foundation (FNRS), MIS ID 1765914 project. NM was also funded by the Fondation Weiner Anspach (FWA) postdoctoral fellowship.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.1238

Миф о "Братьях Карамазовых". Какой Достоевский нужен современной России?

В статье на основе текста романа «Братья Карамазовы» опровергается позиция И. Евлампиева, который видит в Ф.М. Достоевском по преимуществу гностического мыслителя, а также эксплицируются теоретические предпосылки тенденциозного подхода к творчеству русского писателя. Акцентируется внимание на связи романов Достоевского с православной традицией, а также значимости этой позиции для становления русского самосознания и истории России.У статті на основі тексту роману «Брати Карамазови» спростовується позиція І. Євлампієва, який вбачає у Ф.М. Достоєвському переважно гностичного мислителя, а також експлікуються теоретичні передумови тенденційного підходу до творчості російського письменника. Робиться акцент на зв’язку романів Достоєвського з православною традицією, а також на значимості цієї позиції для становлення російської самосвідомості та історії Росії.In the article the position of I. Evlampiev, who considers F.M. Dostoyevskiy, for the most part, as a gnostic thinker, is being disproved on the basis of the text of the novel “The Karamazov brothers”. Also, theoretical preconditions of tendentious understanding of the creative work of the Russian writer are being explicated. Besides, the relationship between Dostoyevskiy’s novels and orthodox tradition and the importance of this position for establishing Russian self-consciousness and the history of Russia are being indicated

Use of three-dimensional computed tomography overlay for real-time cryoballoon ablation in atrial fibrillation reduces radiation dose and contrast dye

AIMS: Cryoballoon pulmonary vein (PV) isolation in patients with atrial fibrillation has proven to be effective in short-term and long-term follow-up. To visualise the PV anatomy, pre-ablation contrast pulmonary venography is commonly performed. Three-dimensional (3D) computed tomography (CT) overlay is a new technique creating a live 3D image of the left atrium by integrating a previously obtained CT scan during fluoroscopy. To evaluate the benefits of 3D CT overlay during cryoballoon ablation, we studied the use of 3D CT overlay versus contrast pulmonary venography in a randomised fashion in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation undergoing cryoballoon PV isolation. METHODS AND RESULTS: Between October 2012 and June 2013, 30 patients accepted for PV isolation were randomised to cryoballoon PV isolation using either 3D CT overlay or contrast pulmonary venography. All patients underwent a pre-procedural cardiac CT for evaluation of the anatomy of the left atrium (LA) and the PVs. In the 3D CT overlay group, a 3D reconstruction of the LA and PVs was made. An overlay of the CT reconstruction was then projected over live fluoroscopy. Patients in the contrast pulmonary venography group received significantly more contrast agent (77.1 ± 21.2 cc vs 40.1 ± 17.6 cc, p < 0.001) and radiation (43.0 ± 21.9 Gy.cm2 vs 28.41 ± 11.7 Gy.cm2, p = 0.04) than subjects in the 3D CT overlay group. There was no difference in total procedure time, fluoroscopy time and the amount of cryoapplications between the two groups. CONCLUSION: The use of 3D CT overlay decreases radiation and contrast dye exposure and can assist in guiding cryoballoon-based PV isolation

Design requirements of upper extremity supports for daily use in Duchenne muscular dystrophy with severe muscle weakness

BackgroundPeople with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) cope with progressive muscular weakness and consequential upper extremity function loss. They benefit from arm supports, or arm exoskeletons, to assist arm function. Especially for severe muscle weakness (DMD &gt;= Brooke Scale 4), the design of such arm support is challenging. This study aims to structurally develop functional and technical design requirements of arm supports for people with DMD Brooke Scale 4.MethodsAn overview of clinical characteristics and a classification of clinically meaningful activities were derived from data from the Dutch Dystrophinopathy Database and available literature. Based on these, functional and technical design requirements of arm supports were developed and matched to the achievable needs of the user.ResultsFirst, the clinical characteristics of the target population, such as strength, range of motion, and functional ability, are given. Next, clinically relevant activities of daily living are translated to functional requirements categorised in a 'must,' 'should,' and 'could' category. Last, the technical requirements to realise these functional goals are presented.ConclusionsThe recommendations following from the functional user needs, technical requirements, and safety considerations can be used to make the development of assistive arm supports for people with DMD Brooke Scale 4 more user-centred

A chromosome 21-specific cosmid cocktail for the detection of chromosome 21 aberrations in interphase nuclei

Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) with a 21q11-specific probe (CB21c1) consisting of three non-overlapping cosmids has been applied to interphase amniocytes of pregnancies at increased risk for fetal aneuploidy (N = 78) and to interphase lymphocytes, cultured and uncultured, of patients referred for Down syndrome (N = 19 and 28, respectively). In the uncultured amniocytes, six chromosome aberrations were detected: three cases of trisomy 21, a triploidy, a de novo 46,XX,t(21q21q), and a mosaic 46,XY/47,XY,+dic(21)(q11)/48,XY,+dic(21)(q11), +del(21)(q11). In 15 cultured and 20 uncultured blood samples, FISH correctly diagnosed trisomy 21 (full or mosaic) at the interphase level, which was confirmed in all cases by subsequent karyotyping. Because of specific and strong signals in interphase nuclei, CB21c1 appears to be a useful tool for the rapid detection of chromosome 21 abnormalities

Information-based social coordination between players of different skill in doubles pong

International audienceWe studied how teams of two players of different skill level intercepted approaching balls in the doubles-pong task. In this task, the two players moved their on-screen paddles along a shared interception axis, so that the approaching ball was intercepted by one of the paddles and that the paddles did not collide. Earlier work revealed the presence of a fuzzy division of interception space, with a boundary between interception domains located in the space between the two initial paddle positions. In the present study, using the performance of the players in their individual training sessions, we formed teams of players of varying skill level. We considered two accounts of how this boundary should be understood. In a first account, the players have shared knowledge of this boundary. Based on the side of the boundary at which the approaching ball will cross the interception axis, the players would decide whose paddle is to make the interception. Under this account, we expected that a better-skilled player would take responsibility for a larger interception domain, leading to a boundary closer to the lesser-skilled player. However, our analyses did not reveal any systematic effect of skill difference on the location (or degree of fuzziness) of the boundary: location of boundaries and overlap of interception domains varied over teams but were not systematically related to skill differences between team members. We did find effects of ball speed and approach angle. In a second account, the boundary emerges from (information-driven) player-player-ball interactions. An action-based model consistent with this account was able to capture all the patterns in boundary positions and overlaps that we observed. We conclude that the interception patterns that players demonstrate in the doubles-pong task are best understood as emerging from the unfolding of the dynamics of the system of the two players and the ball, coupled through information

Improved Horizontal Directional Hearing in Bone Conduction Device Users with Acquired Unilateral Conductive Hearing Loss

We examined horizontal directional hearing in patients with acquired severe unilateral conductive hearing loss (UCHL). All patients (n = 12) had been fitted with a bone conduction device (BCD) to restore bilateral hearing. The patients were tested in the unaided (monaural) and aided (binaural) hearing condition. Five listeners without hearing loss were tested as a control group while listening with a monaural plug and earmuff, or with both ears (binaural). We randomly varied stimulus presentation levels to assess whether listeners relied on the acoustic head-shadow effect (HSE) for horizontal (azimuth) localization. Moreover, to prevent sound localization on the basis of monaural spectral shape cues from head and pinna, subjects were exposed to narrow band (1/3 octave) noises. We demonstrate that the BCD significantly improved sound localization in 8/12 of the UCHL patients. Interestingly, under monaural hearing (BCD off), we observed fairly good unaided azimuth localization performance in 4/12 of the patients. Our multiple regression analysis shows that all patients relied on the ambiguous HSE for localization. In contrast, acutely plugged control listeners did not employ the HSE. Our data confirm and further extend results of recent studies on the use of sound localization cues in chronic and acute monaural listening

Linear ensemble-coding in midbrain superior colliculus specifies the saccade kinematics

Recently, we proposed an ensemble-coding scheme of the midbrain superior colliculus (SC) in which, during a saccade, each spike emitted by each recruited SC neuron contributes a fixed minivector to the gaze-control motor output. The size and direction of this ‘spike vector’ depend exclusively on a cell’s location within the SC motor map (Goossens and Van Opstal, in J Neurophysiol 95: 2326–2341, 2006). According to this simple scheme, the planned saccade trajectory results from instantaneous linear summation of all spike vectors across the motor map. In our simulations with this model, the brainstem saccade generator was simplified by a linear feedback system, rendering the total model (which has only three free parameters) essentially linear. Interestingly, when this scheme was applied to actually recorded spike trains from 139 saccade-related SC neurons, measured during thousands of eye movements to single visual targets, straight saccades resulted with the correct velocity profiles and nonlinear kinematic relations (‘main sequence properties– and ‘component stretching’) Hence, we concluded that the kinematic nonlinearity of saccades resides in the spatial-temporal distribution of SC activity, rather than in the brainstem burst generator. The latter is generally assumed in models of the saccadic system. Here we analyze how this behaviour might emerge from this simple scheme. In addition, we will show new experimental evidence in support of the proposed mechanism