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Estimating correlations among demographic parameters is an important method in population ecology. A recent paper by Deane et al. (Ecology and Evolution 13:e9847, 2023) attempted to explore the effects of different priors for covariance matrices on inference when using mark‐recovery data. Unfortunately, Deane et al. (2023) made a mistake when parameterizing some of their models. Rather than exploring the effects of different priors, they examined the effects of the use of incorrect equations on inference. In this manuscript, we clearly describe the mistake in Deane et al. (2023). We then demonstrate the use of an alternative and appropriate method and reach different conclusions regarding the effects of priors on inference. Consistent with other recent literature, informative inverse Wishart priors can lead to flawed inference, while vague priors on covariance matrix components have little impact when sample sizes are adequate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the architectural and demographic dynamics of Jerusalem, examining public discourse to determine the presence of neo-colonial ethnic segregation and socio-spatial divisions. Furthermore, it aims to discern the underlying motivations influencing urban architecture and to identify challenges within Jerusalem's demographic and architectural frameworks. Approach of the study encompasses an extensive review of academic publications, news articles, and both qualitative and quantitative data. The study includes documentation and archival research published in both international and national journals. Significant focus is placed on studies from global and regional organizations such as UNESCO, ICOMOS, the UN, IPCC, the EU, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), UNICEF in the State of Palestine, and various urban delineation and conservation projects by TİKA across the Jerusalem (al-Quds) metropolitan region. The paper critically assesses the city's evolution into a space characterized by ethnonational divisions, heightened militarization, and increasing violence, which suggest a shift from an 'ethnocracy' to an 'urban apartheid.' Finally, this paper proposes transitioning from 'ethnocracy' to 'democracy' as a solution for achieving a truly modern and democratic Jerusalem metropolis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Aphasia is a language impairment that can lead to significant changes in all aspects of life, including information-seeking behaviour. This paper presents findings from a qualitative study exploring how acquiring aphasia impacts information seeking. The study also assesses the applicability of the information behaviour theory of transitions as a framework to explore and understand this life change in the context of information-seeking behaviour. Method. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and observation of search behaviour of 20 people diagnosed with aphasia. Analysis. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, anonymised and imported into NVivo. The data were examined using thematic analysis. Results. The study found that acquiring aphasia entails significant changes, necessitating the development of new information-seeking behaviour. The findings suggest that creating more inclusive information systems for people with aphasia is possible, with features such as support for word mobilisation and tolerance for spelling errors. Conclusions. Acquiring aphasia led to significant changes in information seeking behaviour. The information behaviour theory of transitions proved useful in identifying information seeking barriers for people with aphasia, as well as providing knowledge on how to support information-seeking behaviour for this cohort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In China, the healthcare financing structure involves multiple parties, including the government, society and individuals. Medicare Fund is an important way for the Government and society to reduce the burden of individual medical costs. However, with the aging of the population, the demand of Medicare Fund is increasing. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the sustainability of the healthcare financing structure in the context of population ageing. Objective: The purpose of this paper is to organize the characteristics of population ageing as well as healthcare financing in China. On this basis, it analyzes the impact mechanism of population ageing on healthcare financing and the sustainability of existing healthcare financing. Methods: This paper mainly adopts the method of literature research and inductive summarization. Extracting data from Health Statistics Yearbook of China and Labor and Social Security Statistics Yearbook of China. Collected about 60 pieces of relevant literature at home and abroad. Results: China has already entered a deeply ageing society. Unlike developed countries in the world, China's population ageing has distinctive feature of ageing before being rich. A healthcare financing scheme established by China, composing of the government, society, and individuals, is reasonable. However, under the pressure of population ageing, China's current healthcare financing scheme will face enormous challenges. Scholars are generally pessimistic about the sustainability of China's healthcare financing scheme. Conclusions: Population ageing will increase the expenditure and reduce the income of the Medicare Fund. This will further affect the sustainability of the healthcare financing structure. As a consequence, the state should pay particular attention to this issue and take action to ensure that the Fund continues to operate steadily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Too often, dementia research is conducted in research silos without thorough integration and the involvement of people with lived experiences, care professionals and the Third Sector. Research can also get lost in academic publications, without reaching those benefiting most from the evidence. The aim of this methods and evaluation paper was to outline the aims, components and evaluation of the public‐facing and ‐engaging Liverpool Dementia & Ageing Research Forum, to provide a blueprint for setting up similar communities of practice. Methods: The Forum was set up in 2019 with the aim to (a) connect different stakeholders in dementia and ageing and co‐produce research and to (b) inform and educate. This paper provides an account of the Forum model and evaluates the following key elements: (1) engagement; (2) experiences of the Forum and its impact (via an online evaluation survey and three reflections). All Forum members and attendees were asked to complete a brief evaluation survey about their experiences from October to November 2022. Three regular Forum attendees provided a case study about their involvement and its impact. Findings: The Forum has reached out to diverse stakeholders and the general public, generating growing interest and engagement since its initiation. Forty‐four members and attendees completed the survey. Most attendees completing the evaluation survey have so far engaged in between 5 and 20 activities (47.8%), and 91% felt the aims of the Forum have been met. Engaging in the Forum has produced various benefits for attendees, including increased research capacity and knowledge, as well as improved connectivity with other stakeholders. Eleven percent of respondents, 39% of lived experts, stated they experienced improved access to postdiagnostic care. Conclusions: This is the first reported multistakeholder Community of Practice (CoP) on dementia and ageing. We make key recommendations for setting up and running similar dementia CoP, as they provide a noninterventional format for raising awareness, capacity and access to dementia care. Patient and Public Involvement: This paper reports on the involvement and engagement of people with dementia, unpaid carers, health and social care providers and Third Sector organisations in a CoP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes the methods and approaches of using mobile positioning data to estimate and monitor urban population size. It starts with the necessity of using big data to monitor urban population size in territorial spatial planning. Then it elaborates on the difference between the definition of "population size" reflected by mobile positioning data and the common concept of urban population size, and the necessity of verifying the logic and measurement of sample expansion at four levels. Finally, taking Wuhan city as a case, this paper proposes the technical approach of monitoring the size of urban permanent population through multi-source data verification. The study finds that when it comes to monitoring urban population size, mobile positioning data have the advantage of monitoring short-period changes in population size and spatial distribution, yet special attention must be paid to the three technical links of definition, sample expansion and verification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maintaining a rural-urban balance is absolutely necessary in the context of the challenges related to food security and environmental protection as well as the perspectives of urban agglomeration. This paper highlighted the impact of the main events from the last 30 years on the rural population. This study used the vector autoregressive model (VAR) to investigate the estimates and analyse the dynamic impact of innovations on the system of variables. Key issues that influenced certain periods in the analyzed interval were highlighted, which clearly show the impact on the analyzed variables using variance decomposition. The cost of living in rural areas is increasing, so more and more inhabitants give up growing certain crops or raising certain animals, thus having to search for food to survive, leading to additional wage income to cover these costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, which is part of the research project Contemporary housing production: impacts on urban and socio-spatial reconfiguration in the Goiânia Metropolitan Region (RMG), developed with funding from the Research Support Foundation of Goiás (Fapeg), using post occupancy evaluation methodology, aims to understand how the municipality of Guapó stands out as a privileged location for the social production of housing in the region, as well as the impacts on the beneficiary population's way of life, urban well-being and access to opportunities. This project, which originated as an offshoot of a doctoral research (Borges, 2017), recognizes, as a research premise, the political role immanent to the projects offered by the Minha Casa Minha Vida Program (PMCMV), based on different ways of organizing housing processes, within the scope of socio-spatial inequalities alleviation. To this end, it presents as a case study the results of the research carried out with residents of Residencial Bandeiras, which stands out due to its size (640 housing units), in a small metropolitan municipality of 19,545 inhabitants, according to the 2022 Census (IBGE, 2023), located 37 km away from Goiânia (center), showing a new vector of social housing niche market towards that area of the metropolitan space. The interest in researching housing under the MCMV Program (level 1) in the RMG, within the scope of urban policy from the Applied Social Sciences and Humanities viewpoint, has both scientific and collaborative perspectives for social change and sustainable development for cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The adoption and use of health information technology (IT) continues to grow around the globe. In Switzerland, the government nor professional associations have to this day provided incentives for health IT adoption.Objective: We aim to assess the proportion of physicians who are routinely working with electronic health data and describe to what extent physicians exchange electronic health data with peers and other health care providers. Additionally, we aim to estimate the effect of physicians' attitude towards health IT on the adoption of electronic workflows.Methods: Between May and July 2013, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of 1200 practice based physicians in Switzerland. Respondents were asked to report on their technical means and where applicable their paper-based workarounds to process laboratory data, examination results, referral letters and physician's letters. Physicians' view of barriers and facilitators towards health IT use was determined by a composite score.Results: A response rate of 57.1% (n=685) was reached. The sample was considered to be representative for physicians in Swiss ambulatory care. 35.2% of the respondents documented patients' health status with the help of a longitudinal semi-structured electronic text record generated by one or more encounters in the practice. Depending on the task within a workflow, around 11-46% of the respondents stated to rely on electronic workflow practices to process laboratory and examination data and dispatch referral notes and physician's letters. The permanent use of electronic workflow processes was infrequent. Instead, respondents reported paper-based workarounds affecting specific tasks within a workflow. Physicians' attitude towards health IT was significantly associated with the adoption of electronic workflows (OR 1.04-1.31, p<0.05), but the effect sizes of factors related to the working environment (e.g., regional factors, medical specialty, type of practice) were larger.Conclusion: At present, only a few physicians in Swiss ambulatory care routinely work with electronic health data. Until more of their peers participate in electronic exchange of structured clinical information, most physicians will continue to stay in paper-based systems and workarounds. The survey found that physicians with a positive attitude towards health IT were more likely to adopt electronic workflows, but the impact is minor. It will likely be necessary to introduce financial incentives and develop national standards in order to promote the adoption by a critical mass of practicing clinicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Society's demographic development holds great importance for all social processes: economy, education, science, culture, and others. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the various factors influencing the formation of demographic trends and understand their significance. This paper considers a range of sources influencing the formation of young people's attitudes toward family values, namely: the immediate environment, mass media, media content, literature, social surveys, social advertising, and propaganda, as well as bloggers as a modern element of media communications that has a fairly large influence on the young audience. The paper analyzes Russia's policy of the demographic problem, which is associated with the currently being implemented Concept of the State Family policy in the Russian Federation until 2025 (The Concept) aimed at strengthening and protecting the family as the fundamental basis of the Russian society. The paper presents the results of mass surveys among the Rostov region youth: (1) on the key points of the Concept the sample included 450 young people aged 20-29 and (2) on the youth's preferences for various types of mass media with a sample of 634 respondents aged 16-25. It was revealed that the core foundations of the family culture are sufficiently established in the Russian Federation with the dominance of the marriage relations as free, voluntary, and equal association of men and women, which is consistent with the state policy of support and development of family values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The management of an adequate donor pool is a constant and challenging task for blood centers in order to provide blood supply. New methods are required to streamline processes and attract (new) donors on a sustained basis. We present a digitalization method without media disruption and show the impact on our donors and their behavior. Methods: We designed and created a blood donation app that is fully compliant to all regulations and conforms to donor expectations. The presented digitalization serves the donor from preparation before the donation (health questionnaire) until completion of laboratory testing (medical report). Many other features are included and continuously attract donors to engage with the blood donation topic. Results: Eighteen months after the launch of our app, there are already 45,000 users. The digital questionnaire reduced the number of deferrals by 31.9% compared to the conventional paper questionnaire. Digital adopters show a significantly shorter donation interval (193 days compared to 316 days). In-app incentives include identification card, rapid laboratory testing results (time-to-results are two business days for 95%), and collection of badges among others. Conclusion: The presented method has changed our donor pool. Besides that, medical staff benefits from the automated process that allows focusing on the donor and their admission. On the other hand, the app has become a valid tool to manage our donor pool and attract first-time and young donors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the security and safety of the polycentric functio-spatial structure of the city in the context of a pandemic. The research hypothesis is as follows: will the fear of the epidemic affect the manner of planning polycentric structures, reinforce local service concentrations and restore the commercial role of the city street? This paper presents a new outlook on urban security. Local service polycentricism is of particular significance. The problem was investigated based on original analyses of polycentricism and a definition that points to levels of understanding the notion of the centre while accounting for current theories and trends. The study discusses differences in the perception of polycentricism over time. On the example of the history of Cracow's development, the author analysed factors that affect polycentricism, such as: political decisions, suburbanisation and transport-related behaviour patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: International and national guidelines highlight the need for general practitioner involvement during and after active cancer treatment and throughout long-term follow-up care. This paper aimed to evaluate patients' acceptance of radiation oncology shared follow-up care using the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability (TFA). Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at two cancer care centres in the Illawarra Shoalhaven region of Australia. A sample of patients scheduled for a radiation oncology follow-up consultation in 2021 were sent a 32-point self-complete paper-based survey. Data were analysed using descriptive, parametric and non-parametric statistical analysis. This paper followed the Checklist for Reporting of Survey Studies (CROSS). Results: Of the 414 surveys returned (45% response rate), the acceptance for radiation oncology shared cancer follow-up care was high (80%). Patients treated with only radiotherapy were 1.7 times more likely to accept shared follow-up care than those treated with multiple modalities. Patients who preferred follow-up care for fewer than three years were 7.5 times more likely to accept shared care than those who preferred follow-up care for five years. Patients who travelled more than 20 minutes to their radiation oncologist or to the rural cancer centre were slightly more likely to accept shared care than those who travelled less than twenty minutes to the regional cancer centre. A high understanding of shared care (Intervention Coherence) and a positive feeling towards shared care (Affective Attitude) were significant predictive factors in accepting shared radiation oncology follow-up care. Conclusion: Health services need to ensure patient preferences are considered to provide patient-centred cancer follow-up care. Shared cancer follow-up care implementation should start with patients who prefer a shorter follow-up period and understand the benefits of shared care. However, patients' involvement needs to be considered alongside other clinical risk profiles and organisational factors. Future qualitative research using the TFA constructs is warranted to inform clinical practice change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizen science, defined here as the voluntary participation of the public in scientific research, has been proposed as a method of increasing diversity in science. However, it is unknown whether citizen science participants are truly more diverse than traditional (i.e., academically trained) scientists. In this paper, we conducted a meta-analysis of citizen science participant demographics (for gender, race/ethnicity, retiree participation, age, and education) across English language peer-reviewed literature in the Web of Science (WOS) database. We collected data encompassing 151,854 unique withinproject participants from 157 projects. By pairing a subset of our data confined to North America (n = 21 projects) with geographically compared census data, we found that citizen science participants are disproportionately white and educated, with high variation in gender of participants across projects. The geographically compared results also suggested that participants are primarily adults. We then used linear modeling to explore whether project attributes, including publication year, scientific focus of the project (project focus), and whether the project is online or hands-on (project access), explain variation in demographics (n = 121 projects). We found an increase in female participation over time, while biodiversity projects had higher participation from white and retired people than health projects, and online projects had more female and educated participants than hands-on projects. However, only ~7.5% of citizen science papers we reviewed reported demographic data, suggesting a need for more representative data. This research suggests that there may be room for increased participation from groups that are currently underrepresented in citizen science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background There is a challenging lack of evidence to inform best practice in the routine clinical care of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Wide inter-centre variation in the definition and documentation of clinical data items is a major barrier to improvement. In response, we have developed a consensus agreed standardised core dataset called CAPTURE-JIA (n = 62 data items and a 'data dictionary' including agreed definitions of terms) designed to support routine collection of high-quality clinical data. The feasibility and acceptability of CAPTURE-JIA in clinical practice is not yet known and was the focus of this pilot study. Methods A purposeful sample of six paediatric rheumatology centres across England was invited to collect the CAPTURE-JIA dataset using paper collection forms (n = 20 patients/centre). The dataset was analysed for missing data. Six focus groups (n = 3-10) explored clinicians' views on acceptability and feasibility. Results One hundred and twenty-one patients were recruited over three months. The completeness of the dataset was similar across centres, with minor variations. The majority of data items (eg demographics, dates, ILAR type and examination) were >80% completed. However, 14/62 data items received >40% missing data. (Table 1) Further descriptive analyses highlighted incorrect completion of paper forms. Three themes emerged from the focus groups: problematic data items (missing from >10% forms at > 1 centre), format of clinician data forms and the role of digital data collection. Suggested solutions included minor changes to data item definitions and formatting. There were no refinements to the data items. Development of a digital data collection system was identified by all as essential. Due to a lack of clear consensus, the original CAPTURE forms included a number of ways to record joint count data. This proved confusing and a unanimous decision was taken to collect joint count data on all 83 joints in a tabular format. P10 Table 1: CAPTURE JIA data items with >40% missing data Data item  % forms with data item missing (if item required)  Relevant co-morbidities?  60  Macrophage activation syndrome?  100  Has the ILAR subtype changed?  50  Morning stiffness lasting >15 minutes?  42  History of any form of uveitis?  52  Date started uveitis mediation?  50  Strength of uveitis medication?  83  Counselled prior to new DMARD / biologic?  56  Enrolled in BECS/BCRD if new DMARD / biologic?  48  Joint count (homunculus or table format)  48  Physician assessment of systemic disease activity (VAS)  75  ESR  74  CRP  92  Plasma viscosity  100  Data item  % forms with data item missing (if item required)  Relevant co-morbidities?  60  Macrophage activation syndrome?  100  Has the ILAR subtype changed?  50  Morning stiffness lasting >15 minutes?  42  History of any form of uveitis?  52  Date started uveitis mediation?  50  Strength of uveitis medication?  83  Counselled prior to new DMARD / biologic?  56  Enrolled in BECS/BCRD if new DMARD / biologic?  48  Joint count (homunculus or table format)  48  Physician assessment of systemic disease activity (VAS)  75  ESR  74  CRP  92  Plasma viscosity  100  P10 Table 1: CAPTURE JIA data items with >40% missing data Data item  % forms with data item missing (if item required)  Relevant co-morbidities?  60  Macrophage activation syndrome?  100  Has the ILAR subtype changed?  50  Morning stiffness lasting >15 minutes?  42  History of any form of uveitis?  52  Date started uveitis mediation?  50  Strength of uveitis medication?  83  Counselled prior to new DMARD / biologic?  56  Enrolled in BECS/BCRD if new DMARD / biologic?  48  Joint count (homunculus or table format)  48  Physician assessment of systemic disease activity (VAS)  75  ESR  74  CRP  92  Plasma viscosity  100  Data item  % forms with data item missing (if item required)  Relevant co-morbidities?  60  Macrophage activation syndrome?  100  Has the ILAR subtype changed?  50  Morning stiffness lasting >15 minutes?  42  History of any form of uveitis?  52  Date started uveitis mediation?  50  Strength of uveitis medication?  83  Counselled prior to new DMARD / biologic?  56  Enrolled in BECS/BCRD if new DMARD / biologic?  48  Joint count (homunculus or table format)  48  Physician assessment of systemic disease activity (VAS)  75  ESR  74  CRP  92  Plasma viscosity  100  Conclusion Paper collection of the CAPTURE-JIA data items is feasible and acceptable in the routine clinical setting, but unlikely to be sustainable in the longer term if collected in duplicate with medical notes. A digital tool in the clinical domain, ideally interlocking with local systems, would offer many advantages, including more complete and time-efficient data collection. Conflicts of Interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Afforestation and reforestation to meet 'Net Zero' emissions targets are considered a necessary policy by many countries. Their potential benefits are usually assessed through forest carbon and growth models. The implementation of vegetation demography gives scope to represent forest management and other size-dependent processes within land surface models (LSMs). In this paper, we evaluate the impact of including management within an LSM that represents demography, using both in-situ and reanalysis climate drivers at a mature, upland Sitka spruce plantation in Northumberland, UK. We compare historical simulations with fixed and variable CO2 concentrations, and with and without tree thinning implemented. Simulations are evaluated against the observed vegetation structure and carbon fluxes. Including thinning and the impact of increasing CO2 concentration ('CO2 fertilisation') gave more realistic estimates of stand-structure and physical characteristics. Historical CO2 fertilisation had a noticeable effect on the Gross Primary Productivity seasonal–diurnal cycle and contributed to approximately 7% higher stand biomass by 2018. The net effect of both processes resulted in a decrease of tree density and biomass, but an increase in tree height and leaf area index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persistent differences in wealth and power among prehispanic Pueblo societies are visible from the late AD 800s through the late 1200s, after which large portions of the northern US Southwest were depopulated. In this paper we measure these differences in wealth using Gini coefficients based on house size, and show that high Ginis (large wealth differences) are positively related to persistence in settlements and inversely related to an annual measure of the size of the unoccupied dry-farming niche. We argue that wealth inequality in this record is due first to processes inherent in village life which have internally different distributions of the most productive maize fields, exacerbated by the dynamics of systems of balanced reciprocity; and second to decreasing ability to escape village life owing to shrinking availability of unoccupied places within the maize dry-farming niche as villages get enmeshed in regional systems of tribute or taxation. We embed this analytical reconstruction in the model of an 'Abrupt imposition of Malthusian equilibrium in a natural-fertility, agrarian society' proposed by Puleston et al. (Puleston C, Tuljapurkar S, Winterhalder B. 2014 PLoS ONE9, e87541 (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0087541)), but show that the transition to Malthusian dynamics in this area is not abrupt but extends over centuries This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolutionary ecology of inequality'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The recent surge in applications to nursing in the United Kingdom together with the shift towards providing virtual interviews through the use of video platforms has provided an opportunity to review selection methodologies to meet a new set of challenges. However there remains the requirement to use selection methods which are evidence-based valid and reliable even under these new challenges. Method: This paper reports an evaluation study of applicants to nursing and midwifery and reports on how to plan and use online interviews for in excess of 3000 applicants to two schools of nursing in Northern Ireland. Data is reported from Participants, Assessors and Administrators who were asked to complete an online evaluation using Microsoft Forms. Results: A total of 1559 participants completed the questionnaire. The majority were aged 17–20. The findings provide evidence to support the validity and reliability of the online interview process. Importantly the paper reports on the design and implementation of a fully remote online interview process that involved a collaboration with two schools of nursing without compromising the rigour of the admissions process. The paper provides practical, quantitative, and qualitative reasons for concluding that the online remote selection process generated reliable data to support its use in the selection of candidates to nursing and midwifery. Conclusion: There are significant challenges in moving to online interviews and the paper discusses the challenges and reflects on some of the broader issues associated with selection to nursing and midwifery. The aim of the paper is to provide a platform for discussion amongst other nursing schools who might be considering major changes to their admissions processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Interspecific interactions among tropical mesocarnivorous species and other mammalian trophic guilds have been poorly studied, despite their important implications in the survival, structure, demography, and distribution of these species. Objective: To analyze if sympatric mesocarnivores coexist or compete in the axis of the temporal and spatial niche. Methods: From January 2015 to December 2016 we recorded mammals with 26 stations of camera traps (in pairs, facing each other) along roads and animal trails, at Reserva de la Biosfera El Cielo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. We calculated temporal and spatial overlaps with the Czekanowski and Pianka indices. Results: We obtained 239 margay, 118 ocelot and 22 yaguarundi records. Margay and ocelot were nocturnal (75 % of their records) and had a high temporal overlap (0.85); whereas yaguarundi was fully diurnal, suggesting it may be able to coexist with the other two species. The three species used similar habitats: yaguarundi had 0.81 spatial overlap with margay and 0.72 with ocelot; spatial overlap between margay and ocelot was intermediate (0.53). Conclusions: There is no interspecific competition among these tropical mesocarnivores, probably due to antagonistic interactions leading to use of different parts of the temporal and spatial axes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Māori fertility transition—which saw a shift from high to low birth rates between 1966 to 1976—was one of the most rapid fertility declines observed anywhere in the world. Since then, Māori fertility has hovered around replacement level (2.1 births per woman), somewhat above that of Pākehā (European) New Zealanders. More striking are differences in timing with Māori women bearing their children younger and over a longer duration. This paper sits within a broader research project that asks: What are the important influences that have sustained contemporary Māori fertility patterns? Drawing on Mana Wahine (Māori women's discourses) and whakawhiti kōrero (interviews) with wāhine Māori (Māori women) this paper highlights whakapapa (genealogy) as an important concept in broadening and deepening our understandings of fertility, and situating individual fertility and reproduction within a broader set of relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While medical studies generally provide health feedback to participants, in observational studies this is not always the case due to logistical and financial difficulties, or concerns about changing observed behaviours. However, evidence suggests that lack of feedback may deter participants from providing biological samples. This paper investigates the effect of offering feedback of blood results on participation in biomeasure sample collection. Methods: Participants aged 16 and over from a longitudinal study – the Understanding Society Innovation Panel—were randomised to three arms – nurse interviewer, interviewer, web survey – and invited to participate in biomeasures data collection. Within each arm they were randomised to receive feedback of their blood results or not. For those interviewed by a nurse both venous and dried blood samples (DBS) were taken in the interview. For the other two arms, they were asked if they would be willing to take a sample, and if they agreed a DBS kit was left or sent to them so the participant could take their own sample and return it. Blood samples were analysed and, if in the feedback arms, participants were sent their total cholesterol and HbA1c results. Response rates for feedback and non-feedback groups were compared: overall; in each arm of the study; by socio-demographic and health characteristics; and by previous study participation. Logistic regression models of providing a blood sample by feedback group and data collection approach controlling for confounders were calculated. Results: Overall 2162 (80.3% of individuals in responding households) took part in the survey; of those 1053 (48.7%) consented to provide a blood sample. Being offered feedback had little effect on overall participation but did increase consent to provide a blood sample (unadjusted OR 1.38; CI: 1.16–1.64). Controlling for participant characteristics, the effect of feedback was highest among web participants (1.55; 1.11–2.17), followed by interview participants (1.35; 0.99 –1.84) and then nurse interview participants (1.30; 0.89–1.92). Conclusions: Offering feedback of blood results increased willingness to give samples, especially for those taking part in a web survey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) analysis pioneered by Maynard Smith and Price took off in part because it often does not require explicit assumptions about the genetics and demography of a population in contrast to population genetic models. Though this simplicity is useful, it obscures the degree to which ESS analysis applies to populations with more realistic genetics and demography: for example, how does ESS analysis handle complexities such as kin selection, group selection and variable environments when phenotypes are affected by multiple genes? In this paper, I review the history of the ESS concept and show how early uncertainty about the method lead to important mathematical theory linking ESS analysis to general population genetic models. I use this theory to emphasize the link between ESS analysis and the concept of invasion fitness. I give examples of how invasion fitness can measure kin selection, group selection and the evolution of linked modifier genes in response to variable environments. The ESSs in these examples depend crucially on demographic and genetic parameters, which highlights how ESS analysis will continue to be an important tool in understanding evolutionary patterns as new models address the increasing abundance of genetic and long-term demographic data in natural populations. This article is part of the theme issue 'Half a century of evolutionary games: a synthesis of theory, application and future directions'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demographic discourses in the media or public inform lay people and may impact population planning and policies. Understanding the situation and characteristics of public demographic discourses in Iran helps the government and policy makers to identify experts' advice to use in effective policymaking and to discern public perceptions and understanding of population policies and promote changes in fertility behavior. The aim of this paper is to examine public demographic discourses which are produced and reproduced in the Iranian media to affect fertility policy and decision making after the announcement of General Population Policies by the Supreme Leader in 2014. This paper uses the critical discourse analysis for analyzing demographic discourses in websites of two influential Iranian newspapers, i.e., Keyhan and Iran, and demographers' ideas and opinions available online during 21 March 2010 and 21 May 2016. The critical discourse analysis illustrates that the main discourse for public demography is "Conceptual". Analyzing texts indicates that demographers have tried to reduce the gap between science - policy by disseminating simple and understandable demographic discussions in the media. They argue that demographic issues are specialized topics and require scientific and rigorous research. Therefore, the first step for policymaking and planning is the recognition and understanding of population situation. Public demography intends to facilitate the formulation of an evidence-based policymaking to achieve General Population Policy objectives. Policymakers are recommended to provide favorable social and economic contexts supporting family formation and childbearing towards sustainable population growth outlined in the General Population Policies. Public demography has a vital role in providing a deeper understanding of future population trends and policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rural area is of particular importance from a socio-economic point of view, whose economic activities are closely linked to the specific nature of the area. Rural localities are at different stages of development, depending on their specific characteristics. The aim of this paper is to identify the demographic effects of the poor economic development of rural localities, with particular emphasis on those in the South-Muntenia development region, which is known for its predominantly agricultural economic activities. In order to carry out the work, the main demographic indicators were qualitatively and quantitatively analysed and the main location and dispersion indicators were determined. The social outlook is not at all positive, both at national level and especially in rural areas. The population tends to decrease, influenced by the existing lifestyle, to which various factors contribute, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, but also the military conflicts in the area, which generate concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After offering an overview of some of the main themes of Popper’s political thought, the paper argues that his account faces two problems relating to institutions. The first is that while Popper stresses the ‘rational unity of mankind’, and the potential for any of us to furnish criticisms of public policy, it is not clear what institutional means currently exist for this to enable this to take place. Second, Popper has stressed the conjectural character of even our best theories. However, at any point, some theories will have fared better in the face of criticism than others, and they may give us important information about constraints on our actions. At the same time, as ordinary citizens we may not be in a good position to understand the theories in question, let alone appraise the state of the specialised discussion of them. There is, it is suggested, a case for thinking of ways to institutionally entrench such fallible theories, especially in the current setting in which social media play an important role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This book collects contributions from seven doctoral candidates at Birzeit University, focusing on different aspects of Palestine, particularly that part occupied in 1967. Palestine as history, geography, demography, and culture presents many challenges and numerous research issues that require originality, ingenuity, and imagination in thinking, methodology, theory, and narrative. The authors demonstrate originality and imagination in methodology, theory, and narrative while taking up key themes of resistance, identity, and literature. Although the papers do not ignore the general features of the Palestinian question, this review stresses the need to guard against reducing Palestine to a portion of its geography, and its population to a part of its own original citizens. The book represents a small but important step in meeting this challenge - of particular significance to Palestinian universities and social scientists - of producing knowledge that informs and concerns all the components of the Palestinian people in their diverse socio-economic, political, and cultural environments and combating setter colonialism and apartheid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we share the experience of collecting and organizing pre-modern Korean historical materials into a searchable digital archive. The Ajou Interdisciplinary Research Group (AIRG) has continuously collected historical data of pre-modern Korea for the past 10 years to assist the study of family history, historical demographics, and social mobility. This paper describes the rich data sources for historical studies of Korea, such as household registers, genealogies, and state examination registers, and we summarize contributions to the study of historical demography and related fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzed rural areas in Romania from a territorial, demographic, economic, social and environment point of view in the year 2020 compared to 2011 in order to point out in what measure the gaps between rural and urban areas and EU rural areas have been reduced. The data from National Institute of Statistics and Eurostat were used in this comparison where fixed indices, structural indices, regression equations, determination coefficient helped to create an image on the changes. Rural areas keeps 89.6% of Romania's territory and 46.4% of its population, while at the EU level, the rural population accounts for only 29.1%. Rural population is aging, as 46% of people is aged of 50 and over. Depopulation caused by the negative natural movement and migration led to the decline in rural population. Rural poverty and social exclusion is higher, the EU average rate being 26%, while in Bulgaria, Malta and Romania is higher than 50%. Infrastructure regarding rural roads, water supply, sewerage and waste collection continue to be a big problem. Education level is lower, in 2020, only 17% graduates were from the rural areas, while in the EU 22% of the people aged 25-64 and 28.4% of the ones aged 30-34 have tertiary education. Rural digitalization is relatively weak as only 49% rural residents have digital skills compared to 62% in the cities. Of Romania's occupied population, 20% is in the rural areas and women accounts for 50%. About 83% of occupied population in agriculture are self employed. Salaried men in agriculture represent 3.5%, while women 1.1%, reflecting gender discrimination in total salaried population. Labor productivity in agriculture is small, just 20% of the national level. Per 1,000 AWU, labor productivity in Romania is the smallest in the EU. The rural average monthly income represents 64% of the income level in the urban areas and its growth rate is smaller. Agriculturists have the smallest income. Climate change diminished agricultural output and gross value added in Romania, and also the contribution to the EU. GDP/capita in rural Romania accounts for Euro 13,000, representing 65% of the EU average reflecting the gap in economic development and living standard. National Strategic Plan 2021-2027, whose implementation will involve the local authorities, is expected to transform rural areas in a resilient and diversified eco-system supplying agro-food products for ensuring food safety, in a consolidated economic and social sector using new knowledge, innovation and digitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the article is an attempt at a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the "incidental" material that is present in the pages of parish registers. This source is characterized by interdisciplinarity, but is most often used by genealogists and historical demographers. Polish historiography generally lacks a synthetic approach to this issue, especially in a broader territorial and chronological perspective. The paper uses the philological method, with elements of a geographic information system used for spatial data visualization. The source basis of the article is the record resource from the area of the former Lublin district. Over 600 archival units from 60 parishes were analyzed, including the two oldest parishes in Lublin. The oldest book begins with baptism records from 1582. The end point of the research was 1810. Based on an analysis of the content of the records, which went beyond the standard form of registering the vital statistics of the population, they were grouped. In total, nearly 100 entries were registered, classified as "casual" material. The highlighted content was assigned to six groups: spiritual life, economic life and parish administration; epidemics; war and politics; natural disasters and famine; extraordinary events; literary work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzes the population growth in Tijuana during the 1920s when the town had the highest growth rates in its history. We draw a demographic, territorial, and migratory profile using censuses and ecclesiastical sources, although both have limitations: the censuses, due to the changes in the municipal organization and the ecclesiastical because they do not cover the entire decade. However, both allow us to observe that this phenomenon was the result of migratory processes, explained by the border condition and Prohibition established in the United States. The census sources show that the phenomenon was not widespread along the border and that a workingage male population predominated in Tijuana's service sector. The parish records show that the main places of origin of the migration to Tijuana were the entities of the Mexican Northwest and West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers and practitioners recognise the importance of context when implementing healthcare interventions, but the influence of wider environment is rarely mapped. This paper identifies the country and policy-related factors potentially explaining the country differences in outcomes of an intervention focused on improving detection and management of heavy alcohol use in primary care in Colombia, Mexico and Peru. Qualitative data obtained through interviews, logbooks and document analysis are used to explain quantitative data on number of alcohol screenings and screening providers in each of the countries. Existing alcohol screening standards in Mexico, and policy prioritisation of primary care and consideration of alcohol as a public health issue in Colombia and Mexico positively contributed to the outcome, while the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact. In Peru, the context was unsupportive due to a combination of: political instability amongst regional health authorities; lack of focus on strengthening primary care due to the expansion of community mental health centres; alcohol considered as an addiction rather than a public health issue; and the impact of COVID-19 on healthcare. We found that wider environment-related factors interacted with the intervention implemented and can help explain country differences in outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contiguous grasslands of the Sandhills region in Nebraska, USA, provide habitat for two sympatric, grassland-obligate species of grouse, the greater prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus) and the plains sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus jamesi). Collectively referred to as prairie grouse, these birds are monitored and managed jointly by wildlife practitioners who face the novel challenge of conserving historically allopatric species in shared range. We reconstructed region-wide and route-specific prairie grouse population trends in the Sandhills, using a 63-year timeseries of breeding ground counts aggregated from old reports and paper archives. Our objective was to repurpose historical data collected for harvest management to address questions pertinent to the conservation of prairie grouse, species whose populations have declined precipitously throughout their respective ranges. Because we cannot change the sampling protocol of historical data to answer new questions, we applied 3 different methods of data analysis—traditional regional mean counts used to adjust harvest regulations, spatially implicit, site-specific counts, and spatially explicit trends. Prairie-chicken populations have increased since the 1950s, whereas sharp-tailed grouse populations have remained stable or slightly declined. However, each species exhibited unique shifts in abundance and distribution over time, and regional indices masked important aspects of population change. Our findings indicate that legacy data have the capacity to tell new stories apart from the questions they were collected to answer. By integrating concepts from landscape ecology—a discipline that emerged decades after the collection of our count data began—we demonstrate the potential of historical data to address questions of modern-day conservation concern, using prairie grouse as a case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical demography is generally concerned with the changing economic, social and normative contexts of human behaviour and health outcomes. To most historical demographers, the "genetic" component of behaviour and health is either unknown or assumed to be constant. However, several studies point at the shift over time in the relative importance of environment and genes: in periods and social groups with strong normative or economic constraints on behaviour, the "genetic potential" is often not realized. Therefore, to some extent, the waning of environmental constraints on heritability plays a role in changes in demographic outcomes over time. Determining the relative importance of heritability versus shared environment in historical populations for which only genealogies are available poses a challenge. Kin may live in different periods, and in different cultural and social settings. This explorative paper analyses the association between heights of conscripted relatives, as well as their life span. I estimate how the associations are affected by respectively genetic relatedness, shared historical period and shared social and geographical environment. Furthermore, I make a distinction between kin related via the mother versus kin related via the father. All kinds of kin are involved in the analysis: (half, full and twin) brothers, fathers, grandfathers, uncles and cousins. The data consist of about 3,000 men culled from Texel island genealogies, which also include descendants of families who had left the island. Life span has a weak, but still discernible, genetic element. The heritability of height is much stronger, especially at age 19/20. The correlations of mother's kin with her son's heights are stronger than those of her husband's kin. The analysis does not yield a consistent effect of a protective environment on kin correlations in either height or life span. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces and comments on a presentation made by Antoine Laville, in 2001, in the framework of a scientific meeting about Alain Wisner's works. His presentation was entitled: "To which human being has work to be adapted? A question which remains relevant for ergonomists". The present article aims to enlighten three elements: sociodemographic context at the period when the paper was published, with an increase of diversity factors inside active population; institutional structuration of research on these issues in France, namely the setting up of the scientific network Creapt, offering new possibilities for lasting partnership between companies and research organisms; and several scientific, epistemological and ethical concerns which Laville had developed for a long time, and which he chose to elicit at that moment, with the prospect of integrating analysis of diversity into ergonomics, as an alternative to selection policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Open defecation (OD) remains an important public health challenge in Haiti. The practice poses a significantly high risk of disease transmission. Considering these negative health consequences, this paper aims to identify socio-economic and demographic factors that influence OD practice among households in Haiti.Methods: The study used secondary data from 13,405 households from the Haiti Demographic and Health Survey 2016-2017. Descriptive statistics and bivariate analysis were used to find the preliminary results. Further, multivariate analysis was performed to confirm the findings.Results: Around one quarter (25.3%) of Haitian households still defecate in the open, almost 10% in urban areas, and nearly 36% in rural areas. Multivariate analysis revealed that the age and sex of the household head, household size, number of children aged 1-14 years old in the household, education level, wealth index, access to mass media, place of residence, and region were significant predictors of OD practice among households in Haiti.Conclusion: To accelerate the elimination of OD by 2030 and therefore achieve sustainable open defecation-free status, the government of Haiti and its partners should consider wealth disparities among regions and mobilize mass media and community-based networks to raise awareness and promote education about sane sanitation practices. Furthermore, because the possibilities to build toilets differ between rural and urban areas, specific interventions must be spearheaded for each of these regions. The public program can subsidize individual toilets in rural areas with room to collect dry excreta for the preparation of fertilizers, while in urban areas collective toilets can be built in slums. Interventions should also prioritize households headed by women and young people, two underpriviledged socioeconomic groups in Haiti. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. A non-invasive way of assessing post-transplant renal graft function has been needed. This study aimed to assess the micro-structural and micro-functional status of graft kidneys by using intravoxel incoherent motion- (IVIM-) diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) to investigate delayed graft function (DGF) immediately after transplantation. Method. A prospective study was conducted on 37 patients, 14 with early graft function (EGF) and 23 with DGF (9 with complication, 14 without) who underwent IVIM-DWI, most often within 1-7 days after kidney transplantation. A total of 37 cases were collected and all the participants have been well-informed and signed their consents. In addition, the study conducted in this paper was approved by the Ethics Committee of Clinical Research, Taichung Veterans General Hospital (IRB number: CE14065). Using biexponential analysis of slow diffusion coefficient ( D slow ), fast diffusion coefficient ( D fast ), and perfusion fraction was performed. The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) was calculated by use of a monoexponential model. All parameters were measured from three different regions-of-interest (ROI), covering the entire renal parenchyma, cortex, and medulla. Results. D slow , perfusion fraction, and ADC were significantly higher in patients with EGF than DGF (all p values values <0.001). Especially, ADC measured from ROI covering the entire kidney parenchyma had the best cut-off value (1.93μm2/msec) with the highest area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC 0.943) in differentiating EGF from DGF. For analysis of pair-wise differences, only the perfusion fraction values, measured from the ROI covering the renal cortex, were significantly higher in 14 DGF patients with no complications than in the 9 DGF patients with complications, with the best cut-off value of 12.3% and the AUC of 0.844. Conclusion. Noninvasive IVIM-DWI reliably differentiates DGF from EGF after kidney transplantation, and it may aid in identifying posttransplant complications and indications for renal biopsy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the United Nations forecasts, by 2050 the number of Russian citizens will decline to 132.7 million, mainly due to a decrease in the number of rural residents. Negative demographic trends are also noted in the Penza region, where over the past 25 years the population has decreased by 235 thousand people. In this context, the goal of the paper was the identification of socio-economic problems in rural areas based on a comprehensive analysis of the demographic situation, production potential, social structure and other factors, taking into account their potential change in conditions of turbulence in the external environment. The article analyzes the size of the rural population, its distribution by major age groups, household sizes. Indicators of life expectancy, natural movement and migration of the population of the Penza region and the Volga Federal District are reflected. Taking into account the actual socio-economic problems of the rural population and trends in the rural demography, the state should develop a new strategy for increasing birth rate, for decreasing mortality, assuring jobs and a corresponding living standard and life quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies whether demographic similarities between middle and top managers with different tasks (strategy formation and strategy implementation) impacts organizational performance. By drawing on relational demography theory, we investigate the effect of similarity in gender, organizational tenure, and in both these demographics on the overall costs of Dutch municipalities. The main findings of this paper show that the similarity effects are interrelated: when middle and top managers diverge on only one demographic, performance is increased. Also, when leaders are similar on both demographics, performance is impaired. We conclude by discussing the implications for the literature on middle management, relational demography, and strategy formation and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems (HDSS) have been developed in several low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in Africa and Asia. This paper reviews their history, state of the art and future potential and highlights substantial areas of contribution by the late Professor Peter Byass. Historically, HDSS appeared in the second half of the twentieth century, responding to a dearth of accurate population data in poorly resourced settings to contextualise the study of interventions to improve health and well-being. The progress of the development of this network is described starting with Pholela, and progressing through Gwembe, Balabgarh, Niakhar, Matlab, Navrongo, Agincourt, Farafenni, and Butajira, and the emergence of the INDEPTH Network in the early 1990’s The paper describes the HDSS methodology, data, strengths, and limitations. The strengths are particularly their temporal coverage, detail, dense linkage, and the fact that they exist in chronically under-documented populations in LMICs where HDSS sites operate. The main limitations are generalisability to a national population and a potential Hawthorne effect, whereby the project itself may have changed characteristics of the population. The future will include advances in HDSS data harmonisation, accessibility, and protection. Key applications of the data are to validate and assess bias in other datasets. A strong collaboration between a national HDSS network and the national statistics office is modelled in South Africa and Sierra Leone, and it is possible that other low- to middle-income countries will see the benefit and take this approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces the evolution, framework, objectives, and design of the new data infrastructure "FReDA -- The German Family Demography Panel Study", which has been funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) since 2020. FReDA is rooted in the Generation and Gender Survey (GGS) and the German Family Panel (pairfam). FReDA was initiated to facilitate research on family and demography by providing a comprehensive panel study allowing for international comparisons as well as dyadic analyses through a multiactor design. The survey covers major fields of family research, such as fertility behaviour, reproductive health, work-family conflict, dyadic division of work, gender roles, intimate relations, separation and divorce, parenting and intergenerational relations, social inequalities, family attitudes, and well-being. FReDA interviews are conducted in a self-administered web-based (CAWI) or paper-based (PAPI) manner. The infrastructure consists of two different samples. First, the new FReDA-GGS survey started in early 2021, with a wave 1 study population of individuals aged 18 to 49 years and their partners. Second, the FReDA-pairfam survey will continue the 14-wave pairfam sample from 2022 onwards. The questionnaires of both samples will be harmonised as FReDA evolves. Data accessibility, organisation, and future perspectives of the data infrastructure are described and discussed in the paper's conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates the contribution of Vjekoslav Klaić to the knowledge of the geography of Bosnia. The research was based on Klaić's work Bosna. Podatci o zemljopisu i poviesti Bosne i Hercegovine. Prvi dio: zemljopis (Bosnia. Information on the Geography and History of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Part One: Geography) published in 1878. At first, the paper establishes the differences and similarities between Klaić's work and the work Zemljopis i poviestnica Bosne (Geography and History of Bosnia), which was written and published in 1851 by a Franciscan, writer and politician Ivan Franjo (Frano) Jukić. That was done because Klaić heavily relied on that Jukić's work. At the same time, the paper also presents Klaić's work. In particular, it gives the demographic and ethnographic picture of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Furthermore, it shows the topography of Bosnia and Herzegovina according to the areas determined by Klaić: Bosnia, Turkey, Croatia, Herzegovina, and Old Serbia. This paper testifies to Klaić's knowledge of the geography of Bosnia and Herzegovina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Stigmatized behaviours are often underreported, especially in pregnancy, making them challenging to address. The Alcohol and Child Development Study (ACDS) seeks to inform prevention of foetal alcohol harm, linking self-report as well as a maternal blood alcohol biomarker with child developmental outcomes. Samples were requested using passive, generic consent. The success of this approach at minimizing bias is presented comparing characteristics of women who provided samples to those who did not.Methods: All pregnant women in the study city were sent a Patient Information Sheet (PIS) with their first NHS obstetric appointment letter. The PIS informed them that the NHS would like to take an extra blood sample for research purposes, unless they opted out. Neither the women nor the midwives were informed that the samples might be tested for an alcohol biomarker. This paper examines the extent to which women who provided the extra sample were representative of women where no sample was provided, in terms of routinely collected information: age; body mass index; area-based deprivation; previous pregnancies, abortions and caesarians; smoking status and carbon monoxide level; self-reported alcohol use, gestation and birth weight of their baby. Chi-square and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare groups.Results: 3436 (85%) of the 4049 pregnant women who attended their appointment provided the extra sample. Women who did not were significantly younger (p < 0.001), more materially deprived (p < 0.001), and less likely to be considered for intervention based on self-reported alcohol use (p < 0.001). There were no significant differences between the two groups on other routine data.Conclusions: The use of passive consent without disclosure of the specific research focus resulted in a high level of sample provision. There was no evidence that study blinding was breached, and women who provided a sample were more likely to report alcohol consumption. Passive consent to draw additional blood for research purposes at routine antenatal venipuncture reduced sampling bias compared to asking women to give blood for an alcohol study. This methodology may be useful for other stigmatised behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Equal-tailed confidence intervals that maintain nominal coverage (0.95 or greater probability that a 95% confidence interval covers the true value) are useful in interval-based statistical reliability standards, because they remain conservative. For age-adjusted death rates, while the Fay–Feuer gamma method remains the gold standard, modifications have been proposed to streamline implementation and/or obtain more efficient intervals (shorter intervals that retain nominal coverage). Methods: This paper evaluates three such modifications for use in interval-based statistical reliability standards, the Anderson–Rosenberg, Tiwari, and Fay–Kim intervals, when data are sparse and sample size-based standards alone are overly coarse. Initial simulations were anchored around small populations (P = 2400 or 1200), the median crude all-cause US mortality rate in 2010–2019 (833.8 per 100,000), and the corresponding age-specific probabilities of death. To allow for greater variation in the age-adjustment weights and age-specific probabilities, a second set of simulations draws those at random, while holding the mean number of deaths at 20 or 10. Finally, county-level mortality data by race/ethnicity from four causes are selected to capture even greater variation: all causes, external causes, congenital malformations, and Alzheimer disease. Results: The three modifications had comparable performance when the number of deaths was large relative to the denominator and the age distribution was as in the standard population. However, for sparse county-level data by race/ethnicity for rarer causes of death, and for which the age distribution differed sharply from the standard population, coverage probability in all but the Fay–Feuer method sometimes fell below 0.95. More efficient intervals than the Fay–Feuer interval were identified under specific circumstances. When the coefficient of variation of the age-adjustment weights was below 0.5, the Anderson–Rosenberg and Tiwari intervals appeared to be more efficient, whereas when it was above 0.5, the Fay–Kim interval appeared to be more efficient. Conclusions: As national and international agencies reassess prevailing data presentation standards to release age-adjusted estimates for smaller areas or population subgroups than previously presented, the Fay–Feuer interval can be used to develop interval-based statistical reliability standards with appropriate thresholds that are generally applicable. For data that meet certain statistical conditions, more efficient intervals could be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1976, the NGO "Qualité Village Wallonie" has worked to safeguard local rural heritage. Yet, over the years, the staff working at the NGO have noticed important changes in rural communities, including other perspectives on the local heritage. This may be linked with rapid changes in demography or changes of interests with globalization. This paper documents the apparent loss of sense of local heritage among inhabitants of the Belgian countryside and, in doing so, reflects on the sense of local places in an era of globalization. Based on interviews with the staff of the NGO and on an e-survey, the research presents a number of explanations for the findings. The results show a shift of attention away from religious and farming heritage toward places that make the village unique. The notion of heritage is evolving from something of the past that requires protection to things, sometimes intangible, that could be useful for the present and future generations. People claim that local heritage matters for the bonding and well-being of rural people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Statistics show that by 2050 there will be a doubling of the population of the globe, as the earth's surface undergoes numerous transformations that risk reducing the surface of living areas more and more (recent fire in Australia, melting glaciers, desertification, etc.). Under these conditions, the need to find intelligent solutions that contribute to solving the problems related to less and less available resources, to the needs of environmental protection, to ensuring comfort in urban agglomerations, to ensuring safety in these environments is becoming stronger, which requires ensuring an integrated management that responds to the modern demands of humanity, as well as solving these problems. This paper aims to analyze the relationship between demography and the development of smart cities. In this sense, the methodology consisted in the analysis of the specialized literature, as well as of the statistical data presented in different databases, which were the basis for the formulation of opinions and conclusions on how to modernize the cities that could thus become intelligent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The three European countries included in the northwest littoral of the Mediterranean region – Italy, France and Spain – reported their first cases of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus early in 2020. The subsequent epidemic strongly impacted these countries, challenging the healthcare systems efficiency, and the capacity and transparency of their public statistics structures. Because public statistics were not fully adapted to such a new health situation, the available official data could not wholly describe the epidemic correctly. This paper developed an indicator derived from the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 aiming to describe the time and spatial dynamics of the epidemic. Although the analysis was not applied to France due to the lack of data available, the comparative analysis among Spain and Italy highlighted some similarities and certain divergences, partially attributable to the features of each country‘s national demographic patterns and the peculiarities of applied health protocols. Finally, mortality during the first wave of the epidemic has been analysed for the three countries, demonstrating higher mortality index in Spain, although the reported number of SARS-CoV-2 declared deaths does not explain a portion of this mortality excess. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the northern slope of the Ventania System (province of Buenos Aires), flooding and waterlogging events occur with high frequency, configuring risk situations. Determining hydric excess events towards vulnerability is a complex task, given the large number of variables involved and their respective associated indicators. In this context, the aim of this paper is to evaluate and represent the spatial distribution of social vulnerability in Coronel Suárez's distric at the census radio scale. Census official data were used, grouped into three categories: demography, quality of life and working conditions. A multivariate classification analysis of spatial units was performed using the standardized averages method. The 53.33 % of the district's population presents medium and high vulnerability, registered in both urban and rural areas, which will be affected by the occurrence of floods and waterlogging due to deficient socio-economic and demographic conditions. The cartographic representation of vulnerability is an instrument of great relevance for the actors involved in the processes of flood and waterlogging risk management of the different administrative levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving our understanding of the socio-environmental and genetic bases of disease and health outcomes among individuals, families, and populations over time requires extensive longitudinal data on multiple attributes for entire communities, states or nations. This requirement can be difficult to achieve. In this paper we describe a successful example of a database that meets these needs. The Utah Population Database (UPDB) is a unique and powerful database rarely found in the world that has been addressing these data requirements for over 40 years. The UPDB at the University of Utah is one of the world's richest sources of in-depth information that supports research on genetics, epidemiology, demography, history, and public health. Genetic researchers have used UPDB to identify and study individuals and families that have higher than normal incidence of diseases or other traits, to analyze patterns of genetic inheritance, and to identify specific genetic mutations. Demographers and other social scientists are increasingly using the UPDB to study issues such as trends in fertility transitions and shifts in mortality patterns for both infants and adults. A central component of the UPDB is an extensive set of Utah family histories, in which family members are linked to demographic and medical information. The UPDB includes medical information about cancer, causes of death, and medical details associated with births. It also includes diagnostic records from statewide insurance claims data and healthcare facilities (hospital discharge, ambulatory surgery, emergency department encounters). UPDB is also linked to Medicare claims data, a federal health insurance program generally for persons age 65 or older. The UPDB provides access to information on more than 11 million individuals and supports nearly 400 research projects. We describe in detail the data components of the UPDB, how it can be accessed, issues related to its development, record linkage, governance and privacy protections, as well as plans for future developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The estimation of abundance and distribution and factors governing patterns in these parameters is central to the field of ecology. The continued development of hierarchical models that best utilize available information to inform these processes is a key goal of quantitative ecologists. However, much remains to be learned about simultaneously modeling true abundance, presence, and trajectories of ecological communities.Simultaneous modeling of the population dynamics of multiple species provides an interesting mechanism to examine patterns in community processes and, as we emphasize herein, to improve species‐specific estimates by leveraging detection information among species. Here, we demonstrate a simple but effective approach to share information about observation parameters among species in hierarchical community abundance and occupancy models, where we use shared random effects among species to account for spatiotemporal heterogeneity in detection probability.We demonstrate the efficacy of our modeling approach using simulated abundance data, where we recover well our simulated parameters using N‐mixture models. Our approach substantially increases precision in estimates of abundance compared with models that do not share detection information among species. We then expand this model and apply it to repeated detection/non‐detection data collected on six species of tits (Paridae) breeding at 119 1 km2 sampling sites across a P. montanus hybrid zone in northern Switzerland (2004–2020). We find strong impacts of forest cover and elevation on population persistence and colonization in all species. We also demonstrate evidence for interspecific competition on population persistence and colonization probabilities, where the presence of marsh tits reduces population persistence and colonization probability of sympatric willow tits, potentially decreasing gene flow among willow tit subspecies.While conceptually simple, our results have important implications for the future modeling of population abundance, colonization, persistence, and trajectories in community frameworks. We suggest potential extensions of our modeling in this paper and discuss how leveraging data from multiple species can improve model performance and sharpen ecological inference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Habitat fragmentation remains a major focus of research by ecologists decades after being put forward as a threat to the integrity of ecosystems. While studies have documented myriad biotic changes in fragmented landscapes, including the local extinction of species from fragments, the demographic mechanisms underlying these extinctions are rarely known. However, many of them—especially in lowland tropical forests—are thought to be driven by one of two mechanisms: (1) reduced recruitment in fragments resulting from changes in the diversity or abundance of pollinators and seed dispersers or (2) increased rates of individual mortality in fragments due to dramatically altered abiotic conditions, especially near fragment edges. Unfortunately, there have been few tests of these potential mechanisms due to the paucity of long‐term and comprehensive demographic data collected in both forest fragments and continuous forest sites. Here we report 11 years (1998–2009) of demographic data from populations of the Amazonian understory herb Heliconia acuminata (LC Rich.) found at Brazil's Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP). The data set comprises >66,000 plant × year records of 8586 plants, including 3464 seedlings established after the first census. Seven populations were in experimentally isolated fragments (one in each of four 1‐ha fragments and one in each of three 10‐ha fragments), with the remaining six populations in continuous forest. Each population was in a 50 × 100 m permanent plot, with the distance between plots ranging from 500 m to 60 km. The plants in each plot were censused annually, at which time we recorded, identified, marked, and measured new seedlings, identified any previously marked plants that died, and recorded the size of surviving individuals. Each plot was also surveyed four to five times during the flowering season to identify reproductive plants and record the number of inflorescences each produced. These data have been used to investigate topics ranging from the way fragmentation‐related reductions in germination influence population dynamics to statistical methods for analyzing reproductive rates. This breadth of prior use reflects the value of these data to future researchers. In addition to analyses of plant responses to habitat fragmentation, these data can be used to address fundamental questions in plant demography and the evolutionary ecology of tropical plants and to develop and test demographic models and tools. Though we welcome opportunities to collaborate with interested users, there are no restrictions on the use of this data set. However, we do request that those using the data for teaching or research purposes inform us of how they are doing so and cite this paper and the data archive when appropriate. Any publication using the data must also include a BDFFP Technical Series Number in the Acknowledgments. Authors can request this series number upon the acceptance of their article by contacting the BDFFP's Scientific Coordinator or E. M. Bruna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]