Florida Sand Skink and Blue-tailed Mole Skink: Expanding Geographic Coverage of Genetic Analysis for Conservation

The Lake Wales Ridge is important scrub habitat that has been increasingly altered since the post-Columbian settlement in Florida. This loss of habitat has caused extreme anthropogenic fragmentation within the Lake Wales Ridge resulting in isolation among extant scrub patches. To expand the geographic scope of previous studies and answer questions concerning population connectivity, we characterized genetic diversity and differentiation using cytochrome-b and microsatellite genetic markers for two endemic skink species: the Florida Sand Skink (Plestiodon reynoldsi) and Blue-tailed Mole Skink (Plestiodon egregius lividus). Both species display historical isolation between central and southern Lake Wales Ridge regions with recent indication of isolation among geographically proximate sample locations. Results also indicate both focal species have low vagility based on genetic differentiation estimates. The Florida Sand Skink and Blue-tailed Mole Skink also shared similar patterns of genetic diversity within sample locations suggesting isolation by anthropogenic fragmentation is the largest threat facing both species

PERCEIVED STRESS, CAFFEINE CONSUMPTION, AND GPA OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT A LARGE PUBLIC UNIVERSITY

Evidence suggests that college students may increase caffeine consumption to cope with the stress and demands of college. The relationships between perceived stress, caffeine consumption, and GPA were examined in students at a large public university. Students were surveyed to determine perceived stress (Cohen’s Perceived Stress Questionnaire), beliefs about caffeine, caffeine consumption, workload in and outside of the classroom, and GPA. Surveys were administered at the beginning of the semester and again at midterm. Based on Cohen’s 40-point scale, average stress scores increased from 15.95 ± 6.34 at the beginning of the semester to 18.89 ± 6.94 at midterms. Additionally, 88% of students reported having consumed caffeine in the past week at the beginning of the semester; by midterms, this was 90%. Caffeine consumption increased from an average of 167.90 ± 159.08 mg/day to 197.59 ± 167.16 mg/day. Overall, there were not significant correlations between average perceived stress scores and average daily caffeine consumption, or by consumers, gender, or class. As well, there was not a significant association between average daily caffeine consumption and cumulative GPA. However, significant positive associations were found for the consumer group and within the senior consumer group

The Engagement and Achievement of White Working-Class Students in an Inner London Borough

The underachievement of White British pupils eligible for Free School Meals is a persistent local and national issue. Using data collected in three comprehensive schools, this research explores the factors that affect the engagement and achievement of this group in an inner London borough I call Burrington. It took a case study approach, involving a range of qualitative research tools: individual and focus group interviews with students, teachers and parents; student observation; and teachers’ notes. The research engages with Bourdieu’s (1977) ideas of social reproduction and uses concepts such as capital, habitus and field. It builds on the work of others (Ball, 2008; Reay, 2017; Warin, 2010) to explore how performance pressure and funding cuts have led schools to privilege academic attainment and side-line the social and emotional aspects of learning, even whilst official ethos claims to value diversity and well-being. My findings suggest that a narrow academic ethos pathologises working class culture and marginalises students who are not intelligible as learners, and some working-class families. I suggest that learner identity is affected by what happens in the classroom, the impact of students’ social identities, and the interaction between home and institutional habitus, and that many white working-class students have what I term ‘fragile’ learner identities. The current educational climate undermines teachers’ abilities to implement socially just pedagogies, exacerbates conflict between students’ learner and social identities and delegitimates working-class aspirations, prompting disengagement. To explore why the attainment of white British students is more adversely affected by poverty than that of other ethnicities, I take an intersectional approach to argue that class and race intersect with a particular socio-historical position which results in missed opportunities and suffering. I also suggest that other groups may face similar difficulties, such that my findings have the potential to be applied more widely

Determining the Dependence Structure of Multivariate Extremes

In multivariate extreme value analysis, the nature of the extremal dependence between variables should be considered when selecting appropriate statistical models. Interest often lies with determining which subsets of variables can take their largest values simultaneously, while the others are of smaller order. Our approach to this problem exploits hidden regular variation properties on a collection of non-standard cones and provides a new set of indices that reveal aspects of the extremal dependence structure not available through existing measures of dependence. We derive theoretical properties of these indices, demonstrate their value through a series of examples, and develop methods of inference that also estimate the proportion of extremal mass associated with each cone. We apply the methods to UK river flows, estimating the probabilities of different subsets of sites being large simultaneously

Infrared Factorisation for Parton Showers Beyond One Emission

Weiche und kollineare Annäherungen sind die grundlegenden Konzepte, woraus Partonschauer- simulationen gebaut werden. Infrarotsingularitäten müssen sorgfältig behandelt werden, um Querschnitte von nächst-führender Ordnung zu berechnen. Aktuelle Partonschauersimula- tionen implementieren die Iteration einer Emission, aber um sie mit Querschnitten höherer Ordnung zu vergleichen, ist ein Rahmen für zwei oder mehr Emissionen erforderlich. Die Ar- beit in dieser Dissertation konzentriert sich auf die Entwicklung eines solchen Rahmens zur Faktorisierung weicher und kollinearer Emissionen aus Mehrteilchenamplituden für zwei oder mehr Emissionen. Der erste Teil der Arbeit besteht darin, die kinematische Abbildung für den Einemissionsfall zu untersuchen und diese zu modifizieren, um einen globalen Rückstoß über eine Lorentztransformation einzuführen. Dann werden die Konzepte auf einen verall- gemeinerten Fall erweitert und ein Partitionierungsformalismus entwickelt, um verschiedene kollineare Sektoren zu trennen. Dadurch kann auch die Abbildung für mehrere Emissionen entwickelt und die entsprechende Faktorisierung des Phasenraums festgelegt werden. Als nächstes wird ein Beispiel für die neue Abbildung gemacht, angewendet auf den Fall mit zwei Emissionen, und wichtige Gegenprüfungen werden durchgeführt. Schließlich wird die Abbildung für den Einemissionsfall in den Herwig 7-Dipolschauer implementiert und mit der vorhandenen Abbildung und anderen Varianten verglichen. Dies zeigt das Potenzial für eine Verbesserung der Kinematik des Partonschauers

Conditional Modelling of Spatio-Temporal Extremes for Red Sea Surface Temperatures

Recent extreme value theory literature has seen significant emphasis on the modelling of spatial extremes, with comparatively little consideration of spatio-temporal extensions. This neglects an important feature of extreme events: their evolution over time. Many existing models for the spatial case are limited by the number of locations they can handle; this impedes extension to space-time settings, where models for higher dimensions are required. Moreover, the spatio-temporal models that do exist are restrictive in terms of the range of extremal dependence types they can capture. Recently, conditional approaches for studying multivariate and spatial extremes have been proposed, which enjoy benefits in terms of computational efficiency and an ability to capture both asymptotic dependence and asymptotic independence. We extend this class of models to a spatio-temporal setting, conditioning on the occurrence of an extreme value at a single space-time location. We adopt a composite likelihood approach for inference, which combines information from full likelihoods across multiple space-time conditioning locations. We apply our model to Red Sea surface temperatures, show that it fits well using a range of diagnostic plots, and demonstrate how it can be used to assess the risk of coral bleaching attributed to high water temperatures over consecutive days

A spatio-temporal model for Red Sea surface temperature anomalies

This paper details the approach of team Lancaster to the 2019 EVA data challenge, dealing with spatio-temporal modelling of Red Sea surface temperature anomalies. We model the marginal distributions and dependence features separately; for the former, we use a combination of Gaussian and generalised Pareto distributions, while the dependence is captured using a localised Gaussian process approach. We also propose a space-time moving estimate of the cumulative distribution function that takes into account spatial variation and temporal trend in the anomalies, to be used in those regions with limited available data. The team's predictions are compared to results obtained via an empirical benchmark. Our approach performs well in terms of the threshold-weighted continuous ranked probability score criterion, chosen by the challenge organiser

Optimal distribution and utilization of donated human breast milk: a novel approach

Background: The nutritional content of donated expressed breast milk (DEBM) is variable. Using DEBM to provide for the energy requirements of neonates is challenging. Objective: The authors hypothesized that a system of DEBM energy content categorization and distribution would improve energy intake from DEBM. Methods: We compared infants’ actual cumulative energy intake with projected energy intake, had they been fed using our proposed system. Eighty-five milk samples were ranked by energy content. The bottom, middle, and top tertiles were classified as red, amber, and green energy content categories, respectively. Data on 378 feeding days from 20 babies who received this milk were analyzed. Total daily intake of DEBM was calculated in mL/kg/day and similarly ranked. Infants received red energy content milk, with DEBM intake in the bottom daily volume intake tertile; amber energy content milk, with intake in the middle daily volume intake tertile; and green energy content milk when intake reached the top daily volume intake tertile. Results: Actual median cumulative energy intake from DEBM was 1612 (range, 15-11 182) kcal. Using DEBM with the minimum energy content from the 3 DEBM energy content categories, median projected cumulative intake was 1670 (range 13-11 077) kcal, which was not statistically significant (P = .418). Statistical significance was achieved using DEBM with the median and maximum energy content from each energy content category, giving median projected cumulative intakes of 1859 kcal (P = .0006) and 2280 kcal (P = .0001), respectively. Conclusion: Cumulative energy intake from DEBM can be improved by categorizing and distributing milk according to energy content

Understanding the Role of Citizen Generated Data in the Context of Public Health – A Case Study on Breastfeeding and FeedFinder

Ph. D. Thesis.Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended by the World Health Organisation until an infant is 6 months old. Yet, despite this, the UK has the lowest rates of breastfeeding seen across the world with only 1% of mothers exclusively breastfeeding at 6 months. While promoting breastfeeding is considered a public health priority in the UK, budget cuts and subsequent reduction in local authority services have made it difficult to provide consistent support for women choosing to breastfeed. As such, ‘Breastfeeding Welcome’ campaigns that aim to provide localised support for women and organisations have either disappeared or are poorly resourced. Against this background, FeedFinder has been developed to provide a platform for women to find, rate and review places in real-time based on how breastfeeding friendly they are. The application has been used by over 14000 women, mapping over 5000 venues with reviews from across the UK, with some reviews now seen for venues in Asia, America and Australia. FeedFinder is a civic technology, that is, where citizens have the potential to contribute to the shaping of communities, environments and potential local service delivery mediated through technology. The main aim of this research was to understand how FeedFinder and the data it provides might be used to leverage community support for women choosing to breastfeed in public. Three strands of research contribute to the process of achieving the overall aim; (1) understanding FeedFinder, its users and the data it provides, (2) investigating if FeedFinder is a useful tool to professionals and voluntary groups who promote and support breastfeeding and (3) design and evaluation of a new geoanalytics website for support of breastfeeding which includes a community breastfeeding policy to offer practical guidance to public-facing organisations seeking to improve provision and support for breastfeeding women. The research followed a mixed methods and action research approach, being driven by the needs and values of the multiple stakeholders involved; parents, public health improvement practitioners, infant feeding coordinators, breastfeeding peer support workers and local public-facing organisations. Following the completion of strand 2 of the research, it was clear that FeedFinder was useful for parents but the process to access the data for breastfeeding support or local public-facing organisations to use was not efficient. This led to the iterative design and development of the FeedFinder website, community breastfeeding policy, poster and video followed by an evaluation with stakeholders (strand 3). The newly developed FeedFinder website and community breastfeeding policy have shown promising potential to provide a tool for local communities to do more to support breastfeeding. The expert evaluation revealed that breastfeeding support services welcome the website in practice, though some concerns persisted on trust and legitimacy of data therein. This thesis describes the way in which citizen-generated data can be utilised in public health provision while outlining the key limitations and concluding with recommendations for sectors with potential to impact on improving the breastfeeding rates across the UK and so meeting recommendations for optimum infant feeding.EPSR