Sensitivity and Tolerance of Riparian Arthropod Communities to Altered Water Resources along a Drying River

Rivers around the world are drying with increasing frequency, but little is known about effects on terrestrial animal communities. Previous research along the San Pedro River in southeastern AZ, USA, suggests that changes in the availability of water resources associated with river drying lead to changes in predator abundance, community composition, diversity, and abundance of particular taxa of arthropods, but these observations have not yet been tested manipulatively

Aspects of Thule Culture Adaptations in Southern Baffin Island

An archaeological sequence of Neo-Eskimo occupations, based upon excavations of eight Thule winter houses near Lake Harbour, Baffin Island, is outlined, beginning around A.D. 1100 and extending into the present century. Relationships between past climatic events, local environmental characteristics, and the organization of Neo-Eskimo subsistence-settlement systems are traced throughout this period of time, based on analysis of artifactual, faunal, and midden deposit data. A rescheduling of procurement systems, coupled with a shift in the emphasis of fall/winter settlement options, is seen in response to climatic/ecological changes, commencing after A.D. 1250, which affected the accessibility of bowhead whales, ringed seal, and caribou. It is suggested that flexibility in the organization of domestic units and demographic arrangements was an important cultural mechanism permitting Thule and recent Inuit populations to respond effectively to changes in their biophysical environments

REFLECTING ON THE PANDEMIC STATUS OF CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA

The phenomenon of corruption over years has been the bane of Nigeria and remains an unresolved social problem. Its upsurge is highly disturbing and has caused great damage to Nigerian society. Corruption, to a large extent, constitutes a detrimental force that hinders the practice of true democracy. This paper identifies a problem the pandemic status of corruption in Nigeria and considers it a major causal factor for the ravaging poverty and misery of a large segment of the citizens. The paper discusses the issue of corruption and suggests means of combating it. It however concludes with emphases on the need for genuine and practical implementation of the suggested measures as against the used-to-be imaginary ideal combating campaigns

River drying lowers the diversity and alters the composition of an assemblage of desert riparian arthropods

Summary 1. Many studies have shown negative effects of river drying on in‐stream animals. However, the influence of river drying on riparian animals remains poorly studied. We examined ground‐dwelling riparian arthropod assemblages along a drying section of the semi‐arid San Pedro River in southeastern Arizona, U.S.A. 2. We found strong differences in assemblage composition, taxon diversity and the abundance of key taxa between dry and flowing sites, with higher diversity and abundance of most taxa at flowing sites. 3. Changes in assemblage composition, taxon diversity and abundance of representative taxa were associated with a combined measure of water availability that included distance to water and type of water. Other environmental variables showed a weaker association with changes in these arthropod assemblages. 4. Thus, we found evidence that desert riparian arthropods are sensitive to river drying and to reduction in water resources. Increases in drying along this river may reduce the diversity and the abundance of many groups of ground‐dwelling arthropods, leading to marked shifts in community composition

Water availability directly determines per capita consumption at two trophic levels

Community ecology has long focused on energy and nutrients as currencies of species interactions. Evidence from physiological ecology and recent studies suggest that in terrestrial systems, water may influence animal behavior and global patterns of species richness. Despite these observations, water has received little attention as a currency directly influencing animal species interactions. Here, we show that the per capita interaction strength between predatory wolf spiders and their primary prey, field crickets, is strong (0.266) when predators and prey are maintained in ambient dry conditions, but is near zero (0.001) when water is provided ad libitum. Moreover, crickets consume 31-fold more moist leaf material in ambient dry conditions, switching from old litter to moist green leaves when free water is scarce. Under dry conditions, animals may make foraging decisions based first on water needs, not energy or nutrients, suggesting strong and predictable effects of alterations in aridity on species interactions

Animal water balance drives top-down effects in a riparian forest-implications for terrestrial trophic cascades

Despite the clear importance of water balance to the evolution of terrestrial life, much remains unknown about the effects of animal water balance on food webs. Based on recent research suggesting animal water imbalance can increase trophic interaction strengths in cages, we hypothesized that water availability could drive top-down effects in open environments, influencing the occurrence of trophic cascades. We manipulated large spider abundance and water availability in 20 × 20 m open-air plots in a streamside forest in Arizona, USA, and measured changes in cricket and small spider abundance and leaf damage. As expected, large spiders reduced both cricket abundance and herbivory under ambient, dry conditions, but not where free water was added. When water was added (free or within moist leaves), cricket abundance was unaffected by large spiders, but spiders still altered herbivory, suggesting behavioural effects. Moreover, we found threshold-type increases in herbivory at moderately low soil moisture (between 5.5% and 7% by volume), suggesting the possibility that water balance may commonly influence top-down effects. Overall, our results point towards animal water balance as an important driver of direct and indirect species interactions and food web dynamics in terrestrial ecosystems

Methods for Evaluating Respondent Attrition in Web-Based Surveys

Background: Electronic surveys are convenient, cost effective, and increasingly popular tools for collecting information. While the online platform allows researchers to recruit and enroll more participants, there is an increased risk of participant dropout in Web-based research. Often, these dropout trends are simply reported, adjusted for, or ignored altogether. Objective: To propose a conceptual framework that analyzes respondent attrition and demonstrates the utility of these methods with existing survey data. Methods: First, we suggest visualization of attrition trends using bar charts and survival curves. Next, we propose a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) to detect or confirm significant attrition points. Finally, we suggest applications of existing statistical methods to investigate the effect of internal survey characteristics and patient characteristics on dropout. In order to apply this framework, we conducted a case study; a seventeen-item Informed Decision-Making (IDM) module addressing how and why patients make decisions about cancer screening. Results: Using the framework, we were able to find significant attrition points at Questions 4, 6, 7, and 9, and were also able to identify participant responses and characteristics associated with dropout at these points and overall. Conclusions: When these methods were applied to survey data, significant attrition trends were revealed, both visually and empirically, that can inspire researchers to investigate the factors associated with survey dropout, address whether survey completion is associated with health outcomes, and compare attrition patterns between groups. The framework can be used to extract information beyond simple responses, can be useful during survey development, and can help determine the external validity of survey results

Food Insecurity and it’s Predictors Among Vulnerable Children

Background: To determine the prevalence of food insecurity and some socio demographic predictors of food insecurity among Vulnerable Children (VC) in Jos, North- central Nigeria. Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study involving 202 VC selected using multi-stage sampling technique across two orphanages and three communities located in sub-urban areas in Jos East, Jos North and Jos South Local Government Area was carried out. A VC was defined as a child who has loss mother, father or both or children who reside with chronically ill parents or reside in institution during the study. Only VC greater than five years but less than 18 years were enrolled. Food security was measured using four questions that were adapted from existing questionnaires. Food insecurity was defined and graded has mild, moderate or high if there was an affirmative response to any one, two or three of four questions. Data generated were analyzed using EPI Info version 3.65 software. The independent variables orphan status, age, gender, place of residence, child level of education, child work, were compared with the dependent variables of food insecurity using bivariate and multivariate analysis. In all statistical test p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Of the 202 VC analyzed 38.6 %(78) were girls and 61.4 %(124) were boys with a mean age of 12.7+ 2.6 years. One hundred and two (50.5%) were IVC while 100(49.5%) were HVC. The VC were mostly orphans (83.2% [168]) while 16.8 %(34) were non orphans. All children were enrolled into school, 137 were in primary school, while the rest were in secondary school. Majority of the HVC were cared for by their mother (24.8% 50[VC]), father (1.9% [4]), uncles (8.4% [17]), aunts (10% [5.0]), grandparents (5.4% [11]), and non relatives (8% [4.0]). The overall prevalence of food insecurity was 48.5%. Of the 98 Food insecure VC 65% were HVC compared to 35% observed among IVC(p <0.05); 69.6 % were children older than 12 years compared to 30.4% obsereved in VC who were <12 years. The odds of food insecurity was 2.1 times in older VC aged 13-18 years (CI=1.1-3.9). VC attending Secondary School were 1.9 time likely to be food insecure compared to those in primary school (CI=1.1-3.5). Similarly, HVC were 3.6 times more likely to be food insecure compared to IVC. (CI=1.9-6.9). VC who worked to earn money had a 2.8times odd to be food insecure (CI=1.2-6.24). Paternal orphans were 2.4 times more likely to be food insecure (CI= 1.0-6.5) compared to other group of VC. Being a maternal orphan, a double orphan or non orphan VC does not predict food insecurity. Sexual experience was also not a predictor of food insecurity. Conclusion: The implication of hunger, in an adolescent child who considered himself/herself overworked is enormous on child physical, emotional and social development. This might lead to more children living their homes to seek shelter in orphanages were the food security status even though not perfect is better than the household. This can be prevented if Household VC are actively identified and their families supported with programs that can make them food secure

The fictive pass asymmetry: Condemnation of harm, but not purity, is mitigated by fictional contexts

Is there a double standard when it comes to the moral acceptability of fiction that encourages the imagination of acts that violate moral norms of harm and moral norms of purity? Observations of ethics, legal proceedings, and public reactions to different types of media seems to suggest so. Over six experiments this phenomenon, coined the fictive pass asymmetry, will be tested. The fictive pass asymmetry hypothesis proposes that fictional contexts including imagination, film, and virtual environments, will mitigate the condemnation of harm code violations more so than purity code violations. In other words, fictional representations of harm are given a "fictive pass" in moral condemnation, but the fictional representation of purity code violations that involve an abnormal use of one's body are denied a pass, and thus evaluated more similarly across real and fictional contexts. Chapters 1 through 3 introduce the fictive pass asymmetry and review the literature that provide its theoretical framework. Chapter 4 presents three experiments that establish initial evidence in support of the fictive pass asymmetry effects. Experiment 1 presented participants (N = 431) with vignettes that described agents committing either sexual acts or violent acts that were described as occurring in real life, being performed in a video game, or watched in a film. Experiments 2 and 3 (N = 360 and N = 321, respectively) systematically improved methodology by expanding upon the fictive contexts and creating manipulations based more strictly on the moral psychology literature. Chapter 5 presents experiment 4 (N = 312) and experiment 5 (N = 352) which deepened the understanding of the fictive pass asymmetry effects by using mediation analyses to demonstrate how the perceived wrongness of fictional purity code violations can be explained by the extent to which they signal poor moral character. Lastly, chapter 6 contains a final experiment (N = 484) and a series of meta-analyses. The final experiment considers fictive pass asymmetry effects in relation to an opposing theoretical framework, validates a number of manipulations, and tests the presumption of desire as an alternate explanation of fictive pass asymmetry effects. Finally, the meta-analyses aggregate the data of these experiments to highlight the robustness of the fictive pass asymmetry effects. Chapter 7, the concluding chapter, reviews the experiments and discusses the results in regards to theories of anger and disgust, moral theories of act and character, as well as the fictive pass asymmetry's implications in media use and regulation

Effect of salt concentrations on the growth of heat-stressed and unstressed Escherichia coli

The effect sodium chloride (NaCl) and potassium chloride (KCl) concentration on the growth of Escherichia coli cells cultivated at 37 and 44°C was studied in an effort to understand the importance of the salts and glucose in medium to the growth of E. coli. A turbidimetric method was used to measure the growth of E. coli after a 24 hours incubation period. The turbidimetric method used gave a high correlation (R2 = 0.9606) with the traditional surface colony count method. Four sets of salt concentrations, 0, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5% (w/v), were employed throughout this study. Absence of NaCl in the medium was found to slightly decrease the growth of E. coli at 37°C. E. coli grew optimally at 0.5% (w/v) NaCl concentration. Addition of 0.5% KCl was found to have less beneficial effect on the growth of E. coli at 37°C compared to cells grown in medium with 0.5% NaCl. Increase in the concentrations of both salts above 0.5% decreased growth at 37°C. The extent to which growth was suppressed was directly proportional to the concentration of salts. At zero concentration of both salts, growth of E. coli was very low at 44°C. Increase in the concentrations of both NaCl and KCl from 0.5% to 1.5% resulted in growth enhancement. Glucose affected significantly the growth of E. coli at 37°C. Addition of 140 mM (w/ v) of glucose to the medium increased the growth of E. coli at 37°C to a greater extent than was obtained by salt addition. However, the addition of the same concentration of glucose was found to have only a very slight effect on growth at 44°C