The significance of organic carbon and nutrient export from peatland-dominated landscapes subject to disturbance, a stoichiometric perspective

The terrestrial-aquatic interface is a crucial environment in which to consider the fate of exported terrestrial carbon in the aquatic system. Here the fate of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) may be controlled by nutrient availability. However, peat-dominated headwater catchments are normally of low nutrient status and thus there is little data on how DOC and nutrient export co-varies. We present nutrient and DOC data for two UK catchments dominated by peat headwaters. One, Whitelee, is undergoing development for Europe's largest windfarm. Glen Dye by comparison is relatively undisturbed. At both sites there are significant linear relationships between DOC and soluble reactive phosphorus and nitrate concentrations in the drainage waters. However, inter-catchment differences exist. Changes in the pattern of nutrient and carbon export at Whitelee reveal that landscape disturbance associated with windfarm development impacts the receiving waters, and that nutrient export does not increase in a stoichiometric manner that will promote increase in microbial biomass but rather supports aquatic respiration. In turn greater CO2 efflux may prevail. Hence disturbance of terrestrial carbon stores may impact the both the aquatic and gaseous carbon cycle. We suggest estimates of aquatic carbon export should inform the decision-making process prior to development in ecosystems and catchments with high terrestrial carbon storage

Sexually transmitted infection testing and self-reported diagnoses among a community sample of men who have sex with men, in Scotland

Introduction To examine sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing and self-reported diagnoses among men who have sex with men (MSM), in Scotland. Methods Cross-sectional survey of seven Glasgow gay bars in July 2010 (n=822, 62% response rate); 693 are included in the analyses. Results 81.8% reported ever having had an STI test; 37.4% had tested in the previous 6 months; 13.2% reported having an STI in the previous 12 months. The adjusted odds of having ever tested were significantly higher for men who had 6+ sexual partners in the previous 12 months (adjusted OR=2.66), a maximum sexual health knowledge score (2.23), and had talked to an outreach worker/participated in counselling (1.96), and lower for men reporting any high-risk unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) in the previous 12 months (0.51). Adjusted odds of recent testing were higher for men who had 6+ sexual partners (2.10), talked to an outreach worker/participated in counselling (1.66), maximum sexual health knowledge (1.59), and higher condom use knowledge (1.04), and lower for men aged ≥25 years (0.46). Adjusted odds of having had an STI in the previous 12 months were higher for men who had 6+ sexual partners (3.96) and any high-risk UAI in the previous 12 months (2.24) and lower for men aged ≥25 years (0.57). Conclusions STI testing rates were relatively high, yet still below the minimum recommended for MSM at high risk. Consideration should be given to initiating recall systems for men who test positive for STIs, and to developing behavioural interventions which seek to address STI transmission

Has testing been normalized? An analysis of changes in barriers to HIV testing among men who have sex with men between 2000 and 2010 in Scotland, UK

Objectives: This paper examines changes in barriers to HIV testing amongst gay men. We compared data collected in 2000 and 2010 to assess changes in HIV testing behaviours, in community-level perceptions of barriers to HIV testing, and in the relative contributions of barrier measures. Methods: Cross-sectional surveys were conducted within the commercial gay scene in Glasgow with good response rates (78% and 62%) using a form of time and location sampling. Results: Major changes in HIV testing behaviours were observed between 2000 and 2010 (30.6% increase in testing within previous year). At the community level, the perceived benefits of testing [t (1284) = –8.46; P <0.001] and the norm for HIV testing [t (1236) = –11.62; P < 0.001] increased; however, other perceived barriers did not change (fear of a positive result, clinic-related barriers and attitudes to sex with HIV-positive men). Multinomial logistic regression showed that fear of a positive test result remained a key barrier to HIV testing; however, a significant fear × year of survey interaction indicated that fear played a lesser role in differentiating those who had never been tested from those who had been tested in 2010 than it had in 2000. Conclusions: These findings suggest the partial normalization of HIV testing. While some barriers have reduced, other key barriers remain important. Interventions should be designed and evaluated that attend to both the biomedical and the psychosocial aspects of HIV testing (e.g. the meaning of positive test results, the sexual exclusion of positive men, and HIV-related stigma)

Oscillatory subglacial drainage in the absence of surface melt

The presence of strong diurnal cycling in basal water pressure records obtained during the melt season is well established for many glaciers. The behaviour of the drainage system outside the melt season is less well understood. Here we present borehole observations from a surge-type valley glacier in the St Elias Mountains, Yukon Territory, Canada. Our data indicate the onset of strongly correlated multi-day oscillations in water pressure in multiple boreholes straddling a main drainage axis, starting several weeks after the disappearance of a dominant diurnal mode in August 2011 and persisting until at least January 2012, when multiple data loggers suffered power failure. Jökulhlaups provide a template for understanding spontaneous water pressure oscillations not driven by external supply variability. Using a subglacial drainage model, we show that water pressure oscillations can also be driven on a much smaller scale by the interaction between conduit growth and distributed water storage in smaller water pockets, basal crevasses and moulins, and that oscillations can be triggered when water supply drops below a critical value. We suggest this in combination with a steady background supply of water from ground water or englacial drainage as a possible explanation for the observed wintertime pressure oscillations

The Effect of Online Delivery on Graduate Enrollment

Online education continues to grow. As noted in the lates

Perceptions of Fidelity and Adaptation in Evidence-Informed Interventions by Women of Color Sexuality Health Educators

Sexuality health educators (SHEs) adapt interventions to the participants’ needs in the dissemination and implementation of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) programming. However, there is a lack of understanding of how, why and when SHEs make such adaptations. Success or failure of the transfer of prevention technology to practitioners occurs by determining community capacities and preparedness to adopt/adapt high-impact interventions to effectively manage implementation. Experts argue for evidence-informed interventions (EII), as opposed to evidence-based interventions (EBI), as the best way to incorporate research in applied settings. EBIs are solely guided by recommendations from current evidence, whereas EIIs recognize and incorporate the practitioner’s judgment and professional expertise in the context of program implementation. This exploratory study used qualitative methods, purposive sampling and an inductive approach. Semi-structured focus groups explored perceptions of adaptation and fidelity with women of color (WOC) SHEs currently implementing CSE behavioral interventions with young women of color (YWOC). Five focus groups were facilitated in total (one face-to-face, four virtually, via Google Hangouts); n=24, with an average of five participants per focus group. Focus groups were audio and video (online only) recorded, transcribed, and analyzed. The research team coded transcripts using Dedoose Qualitative Research Software, and conducted analysis using Grounded Theory methodology. Three dominant themes and sixteen related sub-themes were identified using a number of analytic approaches, including: simultaneous coding, values coding, calculating frequency, comparing and contrasting emerging themes, language comparison and language analysis (i.e. metaphors, analogies, similes), research team memos, and noting participants’ non-verbal cues. The dominant themes identified include: Professional Expertise, Socio-Cultural Understanding, and Situational Awareness. Key sub-themes included Curriculum Adaptation; Training; Approach; Interaction with Agency and Funding Staff; Pop Culture and Social Media; Themes Addressing Race, Culture, Colorism, and Related Biases; Trauma; Race/Ethnicity; Geographic Location; Community; and Group. An in-depth examination of the themes, sub-themes, related trends and similarities is discussed, along with implications for future research, policy and practice. Study findings demonstrate true intersectionality in the approach, methodology, and scope WOC SHEs use to implement and adapt CSE curricula. Furthermore, current monitoring and evaluation practices that prioritize high fidelity should be re-assessed and updated to reflect the lessons learned during implementation practice

Rethinking Algorithmic Bias Through Phenomenology and Pragmatism

In 2017, Amazon discontinued an attempt at developing a hiring algorithm which would enable the company to streamline its hiring processes due to apparent gender discrimination. Specifically, the algorithm, trained on over a decade’s worth of resumes submitted to Amazon, learned to penalize applications that contained references to women, that indicated graduation from all women’s colleges, or otherwise indicated that an applicant was not male. Amazon’s algorithm took up the history of Amazon’s applicant pool and integrated it into its present “problematic situation,” for the purposes of future action. Consequently, Amazon declared the project a failure: even after attempting to edit the algorithm to ensure neutrality to terms like “women,” Amazon executives were not convinced that the algorithm would not engage in biased sorting of applicants. While the incident was held up as yet another way in which bias derailed an application of machine learning, this paper contends that the “failure,” viewed phenomenologically and pragmatically, could be articulated as a success. Specifically, this paper contends that if we view the algorithm’s bias as making present that which is habitual, or that which fades into the social background, these failures could be valuable tools for evaluating current social and cultural practices. Thus, this paper contends that, rather than treating biased algorithms as “failures,” it may be more productive to view algorithmic bias as demonstrative of a social or cultural organization that gives rise to bias. These biased algorithms, therefore, function as modes of diagnosing the ways in which inequalities are institutionalized and replicated within organizations. They are, for John Dewey, forms of technology, insofar as technology refers to the methods of inquiry into problematic situations, which serve to make clear the organization of our society. This paper argues that we should take seriously the results of biased algorithms, not as the projected completion of action, but as processes of inquiry that indicate the ways in which our society is organized to replicate inequality

The Affective Politics of Twitter

Given the increasing encroachment of Twitter into offline experience, it has become necessary to look beyond the formation of identity in online spaces to the ways in which identities surface through the formation of affective communities organized through the use of technocultural assemblages, or the platforms, algorithms, and digital networks through which affect circulates in an online space. This essay focuses on the microblogging website Twitter as one such technocultural assemblage whose hashtag functionality allows for the circulation of affect among bodies which “surface” within the affective communities organized on Twitter through their alignment with and orientation by hashtags which serve as “orientation devices” to direct some bodies towards some affective communities and not others. Thus, this paper contends that “Asian Twitter,” “Black Twitter,” “Academic Twitter,” and other such “twitter territories” can only be identified through the ways in which they circulate affect through the technocultural assemblage that is twitter, and are thus identifiable by an affect that circulates through the territories and sticks to the members of those territories. This affective politics of twitter can provide an inroad into understanding the formation of online communities as an affective construction mediated through the technocultural assemblages of the platform of Twitter