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The United Arab Emirates have long been in contact with English. Its economy requires high rates of migration, resulting in large numbers of migrants who impact the local linguistic ecology. English acts as lingua franca and occurs in several forms, as labour is recruited from nations having experienced British or American influences. Arabic is used at home by Emiratis and Arab expatriates. However, it faces pressure from English both in education and at home, where shifts towards English occur. This study focusses on the interaction and competition between English and Arabic among university students. Qualitative results from a mixed methods survey suggest that while Arabic gets high solidarity ratings for "cultural identity," English rates higher for "individual identity." Status measures tend to align in both languages. Gender and citizenship had little effect, unlike self-assessed proficiency in both languages. Overall, English and Arabic are competitive in some areas, but also complementary.

Understanding historic patterns of land use and land cover change across large temporal and spatial scales is critical for developing effective biodiversity conservation management and policy. We quantify the extent and fragmentation of suitable habitat across the continental range of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) based on present-day occurrence data and land-use variables between 850 and 2015 A.D. We found that following centuries of relative stability, over 64% (3.36 million km2) of suitable elephant habitat across Asia was lost since the year 1700, coincident with colonial-era land-use practices in South Asia and subsequent agricultural intensification in Southeast Asia. Average patch size dropped 83% from approximately 99,000-16,000 km2 and the area occupied by the largest patch decreased 83% from ~ 4 million km2 (45% of area) to 54,000 km2 (~ 7.5% of area). Whereas 100% of the area within 100 km of the current elephant range could have been considered suitable habitat in the year 1700, over half was unsuitable by 2015, driving potential conflict with people. These losses reflect long-term decline of non-forested ecosystems, exceeding estimates of deforestation within this century. Societies must consider ecological histories in addition to proximate threats to develop more just and sustainable land-use and conservation strategies.

Habitat loss and fragmentation due to accelerated agriculture expansion is a major threat to existing wildlife populations across Asia. The human-wildlife interface mosaic across Asia is varied in terms of juxtaposition and structure, which can strongly influence biodiversity value and impacts on wildlife species. Here we analyzed habitat selection behavior of Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) across three study sites with different agriculture use patterns in Myanmar, a country recognized as a global biodiversity hotspot, including but not limited to, commercial palm oil and sugarcane plantations, and subsistence agriculture. These different agriculture use landscape capture landscape mosaic structure found across Asia. Given elephants exhibit heterogeneous spatial behavior, we fitted individual step selection and resource selection models to gain insight into the diversity of strategies employed at the local (step) and home range (third-order) scale. We used variance partitioning analysis to quantify the explanatory contribution of individual and study sites across both scales. We found that the variation in the resource selection behavior was mainly due to individual differences, and the configuration of agriculture present in an individual’s range was the most influential to its selection behavior. Enhancing understanding of how the level of fragmentation on the landscape relates to agricultural use can serve to help focus conservation efforts. Continued accelerated agriculture expansion is increasing the rate of contact between elephants and humans and, thereby escalating negative human-elephant interactions, often resulting in human and elephant deaths. Gaining a deeper understanding of habitat selection behavior by elephants across the changing landscapes of Asia can help inform management decisions and conservation actions.

In the wake of the global pandemic and amidst rapidly advancing technologies, the domains of tourism, travel, and trade have undergone significant changes. This article overviews some of the most noteworthy research and findings in these interconnected areas since 2020. We provide an evaluation of the post-pandemic evolution of these sectors by examining key trends, challenges, and opportunities that have emerged since the Covid-19 pandemic. Our discussion encompasses five key themes on how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the changing landscape in tourism, travel, and trade. Against this backdrop, we introduce the articles included in this special issue.

Abstract Understanding historic patterns of land use and land cover change across large temporal and spatial scales is critical for developing effective biodiversity conservation management and policy. We quantify the extent and fragmentation of suitable habitat across the continental range of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) based on present-day occurrence data and land-use variables between 850 and 2015 A.D. We found that following centuries of relative stability, over 64% (3.36 million km2) of suitable elephant habitat across Asia was lost since the year 1700, coincident with colonial-era land-use practices in South Asia and subsequent agricultural intensification in Southeast Asia. Average patch size dropped 83% from approximately 99,000–16,000 km2 and the area occupied by the largest patch decreased 83% from ~ 4 million km2 (45% of area) to 54,000 km2 (~ 7.5% of area). Whereas 100% of the area within 100 km of the current elephant range could have been considered suitable habitat in the year 1700, over half was unsuitable by 2015, driving potential conflict with people. These losses reflect long-term decline of non-forested ecosystems, exceeding estimates of deforestation within this century. Societies must consider ecological histories in addition to proximate threats to develop more just and sustainable land-use and conservation strategies.

This paper examines several aspects of vulnerability, vulnerance, and resilience in pastoral care, with a focus on women in the Roman Catholic Church. It critiques gendered ideologies and the intersection of gender-based violence and systemic risks in pastoral care settings. Through doctrinal analysis and lived experiences, it argues pastoral care settings with their systemic vulnerances and asymmetries enable abuse, often by clerics. The concept of “vulnerance” sheds light on power dynamics, emphasizing the importance of trauma-sensitive pastoral care with high professional standards to foster resilience among victims.

A large proportion of endangered species lack good-quality data for assessing population trends. Obtaining these data is especially challenging in remote arid ecosystems, in part because these desert environments have historically attracted less scientific attention and funding than more mesic areas. The Sahara-Sahel biome in northern Africa is home to over 1000 species of terrestrial vertebrates, of which 79 have been classified as threatened or near-threatened by the IUCN Red List. This includes the Nubian bustard (Neotis nuba), a species with deficient ecological information and unknown population trends. In this study we used non-systematic data collected over a 10-year period (2008–2017) across the Termit and Tin-Toumma National Nature Reserve in Niger to i) study the temporal trend in the proportion of areas occupied, ii) map occurrence, and iii) assess how vegetation productivity, elevation, and surface roughness affect species occupancy. We implemented a single-species, multi-year site-occupancy model with an intrinsic conditional autoregressive structure to account for detection probability and the spatial autocorrelation nature of the non-systematic patrolling dataset. Our results showed that birds were imperfectly detected, and detection probability increased for longer transects. Occupancy probability was higher in higher elevated areas and in smoother terrain. Contrary to expected, occupancy probability decreased with increasing vegetation productivity. However, all parameters presented high uncertainty. We found a small positive trend in the proportion of areas occupied by Nubian bustards across the study area and mapped the spatial distribution after accounting for the spatial autocorrelation. Our study provides a better understanding of the population status of Nubian bustards across the ecosystem and will serve as a guide to target and improve surveys for future conservation efforts. Systematic data collection is always advisable for monitoring biodiversity. However, our analysis demonstrates that combining advanced modeling with observations from non-systematic patrolling activities in protected areas can be used for assessing population trends of other endangered and data-deficient species across remote areas.

Abstract Elephants were once widely distributed across the Indonesian island of Sumatra but now exist in small, isolated populations. Using the best data available on elephant occurrence, we aimed to (a) predict potential habitat suitability for elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) across the island of Sumatra and (b) model landscape connectivity among the extant elephant populations. We used direct sightings and indirect observations of elephant signs, as well as six remotely sensed proxies of surface ruggedness, vegetation productivity and structure, and human land use and disturbance, to model habitat suitability in a Google Earth Engine (GEE) environment. We validated the habitat suitability prediction using 10‐fold spatial block cross validation and by calculating the area under the precision‐recall curve (AUC‐PR), sensitivity, and specificity for each model iteration. We also used a geolocation dataset collected from global positioning system (GPS) collars fitted on elephants as an independent validation dataset. Models showed good predictive performance with a mean AUC‐PR of 0.73, sensitivity of 0.76, and specificity of 0.68. Greater than 83% of the independent GPS collar geolocations were located in predicted suitable habitat. We found human modification, surface ruggedness, and normalized difference vegetation index to be the most important variables for predicting suitable elephant habitat. Thirty‐two percent, or 135,646 km2, of Sumatra's land area was predicted to be suitable habitat, with 43 patches of suitable habitat located across Sumatra. Areas with high connectivity were concentrated in the Riau and North Sumatra provinces. Though our analysis highlights the need to improve the quality of data collected on Sumatran elephants, more suitable habitat remains on Sumatra than is used by known populations. Targeted habitat conservation, especially of the suitable habitat in and around the Lamno, Balai Raja, Tesso Tenggara, Tesso Utara, Bukit Tigapuluh, Seblat, Padang Sugihan, and Bukit Barisan Selatan ranges, may improve the long‐term viability of this critically endangered species.

Accurately quantifying species' area requirements is a prerequisite for effective area-based conservation. This typically involves collecting tracking data on species of interest and then conducting home-range analyses. Problematically, autocorrelation in tracking data can result in space needs being severely underestimated. Based on the previous work, we hypothesized the magnitude of underestimation varies with body mass, a relationship that could have serious conservation implications. To evaluate this hypothesis for terrestrial mammals, we estimated home-range areas with global positioning system (GPS) locations from 757 individuals across 61 globally distributed mammalian species with body masses ranging from 0.4 to 4000 kg. We then applied block cross-validation to quantify bias in empirical home-range estimates. Area requirements of mammals 1, meaning the scaling of the relationship changed substantially at the upper end of the mass spectrum.

EMT-induced protein changes in small extracellular vesicles are detectable in NSCLC patients and have prognostic significance.

Abstract Reintroduced animals—especially those raised in captivity—are faced with the unique challenge of navigating a wholly unfamiliar environment, and often make erratic or extensive movements after release. Naïveté to the reintroduction landscape can be costly, e.g., through increased energy expenditure, greater exposure to predation, and reduced opportunities to forage. Integration with an extant population may provide opportunities for social information transfer. However, in the absence of interactions with residents, it is unclear how individual and social learning may affect an animal’s ability to track resources in an unfamiliar landscape. We use integrated step selection functions (iSSFs) to address these knowledge gaps, by evaluating the extent to which environmental factors, individual experience (time since release), and social information-sharing (group size) influence movement decisions by scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah) reintroduced into their native range for the first time in ca. 30 years. We found that both experience and social factors influenced the habitat selection and movement behavior of reintroduced oryx. Of four candidate iSSFs, the model that included environmental, experience, and group size variables performed best in both dry and wet periods. Statistically significant interaction terms between environmental variables and experience were generally larger than similar terms for group size, indicating that experience may affect habitat selection by reintroduced oryx more strongly than social factors. These findings may inform the management of recovering wildlife populations, update widely-held expectations about how released ungulates acclimate to novel landscapes, and demonstrate the utility of long-term monitoring of reintroduced populations.

Anthropogenic disturbances are key factors affecting the distribution and ranging behaviour of wild elephants. Such disturbances exaggerate threats to the survival and population decline of wild elephants, and they have negative consequences for the livelihood of local people. We aimed to identify which factors influence the spatial movement, distribution, and suitable habitats of wild Asian elephants, to examine the relationship between elephant habitat use and human–elephant conflict (HEC) incidents, and to explore whether HEC is caused by habitats preferred by elephants or by human predictors. We used presence-only data from 25 GPS-collared elephants from the southern Rakhine State, Ayeyawady, and Yangon-Bago Regions of Myanmar. Maxent modelling was applied to identify suitable habitats for wild elephants and Manly’s selection ratio was calculated to find the most utilised habitats by elephants. The generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) were fitted to explore the most liable factors for HEC. The study identified 11,524 km2 of suitable habitat for wild elephants in southwest Myanmar. Results indicated that elevation, distance to water sources, and mean annual precipitation contribute most to the distribution and suitability of wild elephant habitats. Disturbed and degraded forests were highly utilised by elephants. Elephants in less suitable habitats exhibited more aggressive behaviour leading to intense HEC. This suggests that human encroachment into elephant habitats has intensified HEC. We recommend that areas, where larger croplands exist at the lower altitudes near degraded forests and/or water bodies, should be prioritized to monitor and minimize HEC. Elephant habitats in forested areas should be restored and replenished, with water holes and suitable plants provided for the most severely degraded habitats.

This paper documents the linguistic landscape of Saint Catherine Street, a major thoroughfare in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The street is taken as a microcosm of the sociolinguistic variation observable at the various levels of analysis, ranging from the neighbourhood, the city, the province, Canada as a whole, and the globally similar environment of the downtown shopping street. By way of a systematic sampling of signs in the street's linguistic landscape, the interactions between federal policies of bilingualism, provincial laws strengthening the visibility of French, and local linguistic realities is considered, as is the impact of the global connectedness of both the 'grassroots' and the commercial world on the linguistic landscape in this street. While the presence of French and English is largely instrumental in function, many instances of other languages are found to be motivated by more symbolic functions, driven, in no small part, by the globally encoded indexical meanings of the languages in question.

Abstract Context Asian elephant numbers are declining across much of their range driven largely by serious threats from land use change resulting in habitat loss and fragmentation. Myanmar, holding critical range for the species, is undergoing major developments due to recent sociopolitical changes. To effectively manage and conserve the remaining populations of endangered elephants in the country, it is crucial to understand their ranging behavior. Objectives Our objectives were to (1) estimate the sizes of dry, wet, and annual ranges of wild elephants in Myanmar; and quantify the relationship between dry season (the period when human-elephant interactions are the most likely to occur) range size and configurations of agriculture and natural vegetation within the range, and (2) evaluate how percentage of agriculture within dry core range (50% AKDE range) of elephants relates to their daily distance traveled. Methods We used autocorrelated kernel density estimator (AKDE) based on a continuous-time movement modeling (ctmm) framework to estimate dry season (26 ranges from 22 different individuals), wet season (12 ranges from 10 different individuals), and annual range sizes (8 individuals), and reported the 95%, 50% AKDE, and 95% Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP) range sizes. We assessed how landscape characteristics influenced range size based on a broad array of 48 landscape metrics characterizing aspects of vegetation, water, and human features and their juxtaposition in the study areas. To identify the most relevant landscape metrics and simplify our candidate set of informative metrics, we relied on exploratory factor analysis and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. Based on this analysis we adopted a final set of metrics into our regression analysis. In a multiple regression framework, we developed candidate models to explain the variation in AKDE dry season range sizes based on the previously identified, salient metrics of landscape composition. Results Elephant dry season ranges were highly variable averaging 792.0 km2 and 184.2 km2 for the 95% and 50% AKDE home ranges, respectively. We found both the shape and spatial configuration of agriculture and natural vegetation patches within an individual elephant’s range play a significant role in determining the size of its range. We also found that elephants are moving more (larger energy expenditure) in ranges with higher percentages of agricultural area. Conclusion Our results provide baseline information on elephant spatial requirements and the factors affecting them in Myanmar. This information is important for advancing future land use planning that takes into account space-use requirements for elephants. Failing to do so may further endanger already declining elephant populations in Myanmar and across the species’ range.

Heart rate biologging has been successfully used to study wildlife responses to natural and human-caused stressors (e.g., hunting, landscape of fear). Although rarely deployed to inform conservation, heart rate biologging may be particularly valuable for assessing success in wildlife reintroductions. We conducted a case study for testing and validating the use of subcutaneous heart rate monitors in eight captive scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah), a once-extinct species that is currently being restored to the wild. We evaluated biologger safety and accuracy while collecting long-term baseline data and assessing factors explaining variation in heart rate. None of the biologgers were rejected after implantation, with successful data capture for 16–21 months. Heart rate detection accuracy was high (83%–99%) for six of the individuals with left lateral placement of the biologgers. We excluded data from two individuals with a right lateral placement because accuracies were below 60%. Average heart rate for the six scimitar-horned oryx was 60.3 ± 12.7 bpm, and varied by about 12 bpm between individuals, with a minimum of 31 bpm and a maximum of 188 bpm across individuals. Scimitar-horned oryx displayed distinct circadian rhythms in heart rate and activity. Heart rate and activity were low early in the morning and peaked near dusk. Circadian rhythm in heart rate and activity were relatively unchanged across season, but hourly averages for heart rate and activity were higher in spring and summer, respectively. Variation in hourly heart rate averages was best explained by a combination of activity, hour, astronomical season, ambient temperature, and an interaction term for hour and season. Increases in activity appeared to result in the largest changes in heart rate. We concluded that biologgers are safe and accurate and can be deployed in free-ranging and reintroduced scimitar-horned oryx. In addition to current monitoring practices of reintroduced scimitar-horned oryx, the resulting biologging data could significantly aid in 1) evaluating care and management action prior to release, 2) characterizing different animal personalities and how these might affect reintroduction outcomes for individual animals, and 3) identifying stressors after release to determine their timing, duration, and impact on released animals. Heart rate monitoring in released scimitar-horned oryx may also aid in advancing our knowledge about how desert ungulates adapt to extreme environmental variation in their habitats (e.g., heat, drought).

The formation of an atheroma begins when lipoproteins become trapped in the intima. Entrapped lipoproteins become oxidized and activate the innate immune system. This immunity represents the primary association between lipids and inflammation. When the trapping continues, the link between lipids and inflammation becomes chronic and detrimental, resulting in atherosclerosis. When entrapment ceases, the association between lipids and inflammation is temporary and healthy, and the atherogenic process halts. Therefore, the link between lipids and inflammation depends upon lipoprotein retention in the intima. The entrapment is due to electrostatic forces uniting apolipoprotein B to polysaccharide chains on intimal proteoglycans. The genetic transformation of contractile smooth muscle cells in the media into migratory secretory smooth muscle cells produces the intimal proteoglycans. The protein, platelet-derived growth factor produced by activated platelets, is the primary stimulus for this genetic change. Oxidative stress is the main stimulus to activate platelets. Therefore, minimizing oxidative stress would significantly reduce the retention of lipoproteins. Less entrapment decreases the association between lipids and inflammation. More importantly, it would halt atherogenesis. This review will analyze oxidative stress as the critical link between lipids, inflammation, and the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Through this perspective, we will discuss stopping oxidative stress to disrupt a harmful association between lipids and inflammation. Numerous therapeutic options will be discussed to mitigate oxidative stress. This paper will add a new meaning to the Morse code distress signal SOS-stopping oxidative stress.

Few studies to date have considered the agency of readers in reinterpreting the cultural, historical, political, and social background of the linguistic landscape (LL; visible language in public space) and the ways in which individual and collective identities are discursively conceptualised through the LL. In this article, we present results from a study involving participants from three self-described sociolinguistic identities (Francophone, Anglophone, and Bilingual), reading signs found in the LL of Montreal. Using photographic prompts, we questioned participants about the probable location of signs, their languages, and the languages’ placement on monolingual (French or English) and bilingual (French–English) signs emanating from both governmental and private entities. Further discussions about their emotive responses to the signs presented and the possible responses of “others” reveal the relative degrees of importance attached to these linguistic elements in constructing, negotiating, and communicating various and (more) fluid sociolinguistic identities.

Myanmar spans important bioregions and acts as both a source and a conduit for wildmeat and illegal wildlife trade across Asia. Interplays between internal demand for wildmeat and external demands for wildlife products from neighbouring China and Thailand shape the illegal wildlife market in Myanmar. While some information on trade, market locations, and key border crossings exists, this is frequently limited to target species and this information has not been synthesized. We review the available literature on the illegal wildlife trade in Myanmar. We find that a small number of wildlife markets along Myanmar’s Eastern border are well studied (24% of all studies focus on just 2 markets) but domestic trade and consumption is less well known and links between internal markets and border markets are unclear. For example, we found 31 market surveys carried out at three major markets on the Chinese and Thai border and 37 market surveys across the rest of the country combined. Interview surveys were more evenly distributed but still biased towards border regions. We recommend the establishment of a national wildlife crime database to improve data sharing, providing an integrated national-level perspective on the illegal wildlife trade within Myanmar and across its borders. While data sharing is crucial, without the capability and will to enforce legislation, the illegal wildlife trade in Myanmar represents a major threat to the biodiversity of the region the continued survival of several endangered species.

Abstract Radiomics, artificial intelligence, and deep learning figure amongst recent buzzwords in current medical imaging research and technological development. Analysis of medical big data in assessment and follow-up of personalised treatments has also become a major research topic in the area of precision medicine. In this review, current research trends in radiomics are analysed, from handcrafted radiomics feature extraction and statistical analysis to deep learning. Radiomics algorithms now include genomics and immunomics data to improve patient stratification and prediction of treatment response. Several applications have already shown conclusive results demonstrating the potential of including other “omics” data to existing imaging features. We also discuss further challenges of data harmonisation and management infrastructure to shed a light on the much-needed integration of radiomics and all other “omics” into clinical workflows. In particular, we point to the emerging paradigm shift in the implementation of big data infrastructures to facilitate databanks growth, data extraction and the development of expert software tools. Secured access, sharing, and integration of all health data, called “holomics”, will accelerate the revolution of personalised medicine and oncology as well as expand the role of imaging specialists.

The ability to move is essential for animals to find mates, escape predation, and meet energy and water demands. This is especially important across grazing systems where vegetation productivity can vary drastically between seasons or years. With grasslands undergoing significant changes due to climate change and anthropogenic development, there is an urgent need to determine the relative impacts of these pressures on the movement capacity of native herbivores. To measure these impacts, we fitted 36 white-bearded wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) with GPS collars across three study areas in southern Kenya (Amboseli Basin, Athi-Kaputiei Plains, and Mara) to test the relationship between movement (e.g., directional persistence, speed, home range crossing time) and gradients of vegetation productivity (i.e., NDVI) and anthropogenic disturbance. As expected, wildebeest moved the most (21.0 km day–1; CI: 18.7–23.3) across areas where movement was facilitated by low human footprint and necessitated by low vegetation productivity (Amboseli Basin). However, in areas with moderate vegetation productivity (Athi-Kaputiei Plains), wildebeest moved the least (13.3 km day–1; CI: 11.0–15.5). This deviation from expectations was largely explained by impediments to movement associated with a large human footprint. Notably, the movements of wildebeest in this area were also less directed than the other study populations, suggesting that anthropogenic disturbance (i.e., roads, fences, and the expansion of settlements) impacts the ability of wildebeest to move and access available resources. In areas with high vegetation productivity and moderate human footprint (Mara), we observed intermediate levels of daily movement (14.2 km day–1; CI: 12.3–16.1). Wildebeest across each of the study systems used grassland habitats outside of protected areas extensively, highlighting the importance of unprotected landscapes for conserving mobile species. These results provide unique insights into the interactive effects of climate and anthropogenic development on the movements of a dominant herbivore in East Africa and present a cautionary tale for the development of grazing ecosystems elsewhere.

The COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a severe blow to the tourism business in Switzerland. Although it is a minor position in the Swiss export balance, it is nevertheless of considerable importance for those regions of the country that attract domestic and foreign visitors. As a consequence of the lockdown measures, combined with close borders and travel bans, tourism collapsed and only briefly and partly recovered in summer. Its future is uncertain and depends on people’s (future guests’) attitudes and decisions as much as on the economy, political measures and, of course, the progress of the pandemic. Will there be an ‘after’ COVID-19?.

Despite containing the largest extent of unfragmented landscape in the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) range, Myanmar has high levels of human–elephant conflict. The Bago Yoma mountain region of central Myanmar has previously been identified as an elephant conflict hotspot, characterized by high levels of crop-raiding and illegal killing of elephants for the ivory and skin trades. We used non-invasive fecal sampling to evaluate the population structure and demography of wild and captive elephants in the Bago Yoma using microsatellite loci and mitochondrial DNA in combination with crop-raiding status, age, and sex. We were able to collect 252 samples from wild elephants –119 directly following conflict events– and 25 from captive elephants from which we identified 127 unique wild and 21 captive individuals. The population was biased toward subadults, which could be an important contributor to the high rates of conflict, as these individuals may lack the experience to avoid dangerous behaviors. Conflict elephants were primarily male, although both sexes and all ages engaged in crop-raiding, including females with juveniles. We found that elephants that commit solo raids were all male, while larger raiding parties often included both related and unrelated individuals of both sexes. Repeat offenders were common. These wild elephants contained high levels of genetic diversity, differentiated from local captive populations, and valuable for the species’ conservation. Overall, the elephants of Bago Yoma, Myanmar have been heavily affected by conflict, and managers could utilize the knowledge presented to aid in the preservation of this population.

Cognition presents evolutionary research with one of its greatest challenges. Cognitive evolution has been explained at the proximate level by shifts in absolute and relative brain volume and at the ultimate level by differences in social and dietary complexity. However, no study has integrated the experimental and phylogenetic approach at the scale required to rigorously test these explanations. Instead, previous research has largely relied on various measures of brain size as proxies for cognitive abilities. We experimentally evaluated these major evolutionary explanations by quantitatively comparing the cognitive performance of 567 individuals representing 36 species on two problem-solving tasks measuring self-control. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that absolute brain volume best predicted performance across species and accounted for considerably more variance than brain volume controlling for body mass. This result corroborates recent advances in evolutionary neurobiology and illustrates the cognitive consequences of cortical reorganization through increases in brain volume. Within primates, dietary breadth but not social group size was a strong predictor of species differences in self-control. Our results implicate robust evolutionary relationships between dietary breadth, absolute brain volume, and self-control. These findings provide a significant first step toward quantifying the primate cognitive phenome and explaining the process of cognitive evolution.

OBJECTIVE: The global coronavirus pandemic has placed an unprecedented and enormous burden on health systems worldwide. In addition to a shortage of resources, nurses were also confronted with high levels of sick leave and an increasing exodus from the profession. Automating documentation obligations is an effective way of reducing the burden on the workplace. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study was conducted at a tertiary university hospital. The time required for the manual documentation of administered medication and dose changes of syringe and infusion pumps was recorded using the patient data management system (PDMS) representing all intensive and intermediate care wards (n = 6). Subsequently, all medication administration - grouped into five classes - was evaluated from January 1st, 2019, until December 31st, 2022. RESULTS: A total of 1,373,340 drug applications were studied, treating 32,499 patients. Data were obtained from ICUs (68%) and IMC wards (32%). This corresponds to an overall time of 2,901 ± 233 hours per year. Based on publicly known national rates for intensive care nurses, an annual financial expenditure of approximately 83,300 € (~ USD 89,300) per year was estimated. CONCLUSIONS: A non-negligible part of the daily working time in the medical sector is spent on documentation duties. This aggravates the high workload, which has increased in recent years. Automated documentation systems can lead to considerable relief and the possibility of focusing primarily on the patient and on other core competencies and activities. This is even more important, as available staff will be a key resource in patient care for the foreseeable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy sources (RES) can provide valuable flexibility potential for multiple markets and grid services in the future. In this paper, the focus lies on the development of algorithms for an optimal dispatch and bidding of a RES-based virtual power plant (VPP) by considering current short-term and balancing market conditions in Austria, as well as a proposed redispatch market. Specifically, different pricing and bidding strategies for a redispatch market are compared and their feasibility is analyzed. The attractiveness of different pricing models and remuneration mechanisms for redispatch, as well as the influence of the redispatch call probability on the bidding behavior of the VPP, is investigated. The simulation of the bidding behavior is carried out using linear optimization techniques. The paper describes the algorithms as well as the assumptions for market rules in redispatch, balancing and short-term electricity markets. The results show that the probability to be activated for redispatch and thus the required incentives depend highly on the location of the plant. Pre-curtailment of the plant to offer positive redispatch is not recommended as the prices would need to be set at up to 200–300% of the day-ahead price.

Human-wildlife conflict has direct and indirect consequences for human communities. Understanding how both types of conflict affect communities is crucial to developing comprehensive and sustainable mitigation strategies. We conducted an interview survey of 381 participants in two rural areas in Myanmar where communities were exposed to human-elephant conflict (HEC). In addition to documenting and quantifying the types of direct and indirect impacts experienced by participants, we evaluated how HEC influences people's attitudes towards elephant conservation. We found that 99% of participants suffered from some type of indirect impact from HEC, including fear for personal and family safety from elephants and fear that elephants will destroy their home. Despite experiencing moderate levels of indirect impacts from HEC at the community level, participants expressed attitudes consistent with supporting future elephant conservation programs.

Migrating from a binary approach to risk assessment to a ternary model of disease identification allows for individualized, optimal disease management. Redefining the disease/inflammatory approach has been proven to identify, stabilize, and regress atherosclerosis while adding understanding to the progression of vascular disease. Our previously published results show the beneficial effect of comprehensive, evidence-based management on subclinical atherosclerosis and vulnerable plaque. We argue that this approach does not mitigate the value of utilizing standard risk factor identification, but rather augments it for the benefit of the individual patient.

Background: The NLRP3 inflammasome has been recognized as one of the key components of innate immunity. Gain-of-function mutations in the exon 3 of NLRP3 gene have been implicated in inflammatory diseases suggesting the presence of functionally important sites in this region. Q703K (c.2107C>A, p.Gln703Lys, also known in the literature as Q705K) is a common variant of NLRP3, that has been considered to be both clinically unremarkable or disease-causing with a reduced penetrance.Objectives: We aimed to investigate the potential genetic impact of the NLRP3 variant Q703K in patients with recurrent fever presenting with two autoinflammatory diseases: PFAPA (periodic fever, aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis and cervical adenitis) and CAPS (cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome), as well as with undefined autoinflammatory disease (uAID).Methods: This is an international multicentric observational retrospective study characterizing the clinical phenotype of patients presenting with recurrent fever suspected to be of auto-inflammatory origin and where the Q703K NLRP3 variant was found. Monocytes of parents of 6 Q703K+ PFAPA patients were studied and levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines produced by monocytes of Q703K+ and Q703K- parents have been compared by ELISA.Results: We report 42 patients with the Q703K NLRP3 genetic variant: 21 were PFAPA patients, 6 had a CAPS phenotype, and 15 had an uAID. The phenotypes of PFAPA, CAPS and uAID were quite similar between Q703K positive and negative patients with the exception of increased prevalence of pharyngitis in the Q703K positive CAPS population compared to the negative one. The in vitro production of IL-1β was not significantly different between Q703K+ and Q703K- monocytes from asymptomatic parents.Conclusion: The evidence we report in our study shows an increased prevalence of NLRP3 Q703K in patients with autoinflammatory diseases, suggesting an association between the Q703K variant and the risk of PFAPA, CAPS and uAID syndromes. However, we did not show a functional effect of this mutation on the inflammasome basal activity.

GPS collars have revolutionized the field of animal ecology, providing detailed information on animal movement and the habitats necessary for species survival. GPS collars also have the potential to cause adverse effects ranging from mild irritation to severe tissue damage, reduced fitness, and death. The impact of GPS collars on the behavior, stress, or activity, however, have rarely been tested on study species prior to release. The objective of our study was to provide a comprehensive assessment of the short-term effects of GPS collars fitted on scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah), an extinct-in-the-wild antelope once widely distributed across Sahelian grasslands in North Africa. We conducted behavioral observations, assessed fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGM), and evaluated high-resolution data from tri-axial accelerometers. Using a series of datasets and methodologies, we illustrate clear but short-term effects to animals fitted with GPS collars from two separate manufacturers (Advanced Telemetry Systems-G2110E; Vectronic Aerospace-Vertex Plus). Behavioral observations highlighted a significant increase in the amount of headshaking from pre-treatment levels, returning below baseline levels during the post-treatment period (>3 days post-collaring). Similarly, FGM concentrations increased after GPS collars were fitted on animals but returned to pre-collaring levels within 5 days of collaring. Lastly, tri-axial accelerometers, collecting data at eight positions per second, indicated a > 480 percent increase in the amount of hourly headshaking immediately after collaring. This post-collaring increase in headshaking was estimated to decline in magnitude within 4 hours after GPS collar fitting. These effects constitute a handling and/or habituation response (model dependent), with animals showing short-term responses in activity, behavior, and stress that dissipated within several hours to several days of being fitted with GPS collars. Importantly, none of our analyses indicated any long-term effects that would have more pressing animal welfare concerns.

Allergic asthma is the most common phenotype of the pathology, having an early-onset in childhood and producing a Th2-driven airways remodeling process that leads to symptoms and pathophysiological changes. The avoidance of aeroallergen exposure in early life has been shown to prevent asthma, but without repeated success and with the underlying preventive mechanisms at the beginning of asthma far to be fully recognized. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate if neonatal LPS-induced boost in epithelial host defenses contribute to prevent OVA-induced asthma in adult mice. To this, we focused on the response of bronchiolar club cells (CC), which are highly specialized in maintaining the epithelial homeostasis in the lung. In these cells, neonatal LPS administration increased the expression of TLR4 and TNFα, as well as the immunodulatory/antiallergic proteins: club cell secretory protein (CCSP) and surfactant protein D (SP-D). LPS also prevented mucous metaplasia of club cells and reduced the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-dependent mucin overproduction, with mice displaying normal breathing patterns after OVA challenge. Furthermore, the overexpression of the epithelial Th2-related molecule TSLP was blunted, and normal TSLP and IL-4 levels were found in the bronchoalveolar lavage. A lower eosinophilia was detected in LPS-pretreated mice, along with an increase in phagocytes and regulatory cells (CD4+CD25+FOXP3+ and CD4+IL-10+), together with higher levels of IL-12 and TNFα. In conclusion, our study demonstrates stable asthma-preventive epithelial effects promoted by neonatal LPS stimulation, leading to the presence of regulatory cells in the lung. These anti-allergic dynamic mechanisms would be overlaid in the epithelium, favored by an adequate epidemiological environment, during the development of asthma.

Human activities are changing landscape structure and function globally, affecting wildlife space use, and ultimately increasing human-wildlife conflicts and zoonotic disease spread. Capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) are linked to conflicts in human-modified landscapes (e.g. crop damage, vehicle collision), as well as the spread and amplification of Brazilian spotted fever (BSF), the most human-lethal tick-borne disease in the world. Even though it is essential to understand the link between capybaras, ticks and BSF, many knowledge gaps still exist regarding the effects of human disturbance in capybara space use. Here, we analyzed diurnal and nocturnal habitat selection strategies of capybaras across natural and human-modified landscapes using resource selection functions (RSF). Selection for forested habitats was higher across human-modified landscapes, mainly during day- periods, when compared to natural landscapes. Across natural landscapes, capybaras avoided forests during both day- and night periods. Water was consistently selected across both landscapes, during day- and nighttime. Distance to water was also the most important variable in predicting capybara habitat selection across natural landscapes. Capybaras showed slightly higher preferences for areas near grasses/shrubs across natural landscapes, and distance to grasses/shrubs was the most important variable in predicting capybara habitat selection across human-modified landscapes. Our results demonstrate human-driven variation in habitat selection strategies by capybaras. This behavioral adjustment across human-modified landscapes may be related to increases in A. sculptum density, ultimately affecting BSF.

Disproving assumptions to the contrary, this article clearly shows how and why adults can become victims of abuse in church contexts. It does this by focusing on the pastoral care context and the interdependent potential risk factors lying within. As previous studies suggest, this context is especially susceptible to perpetrating abuse. Approximately three-quarters of all cases of abuse occur or begin in the context of pastoral care or spiritual counseling. Often, theories of pastoral care do not address this danger and tend to idealize the practice of pastoral care. In contrast, it is necessary to recognize a specific power to victimize due to the theological and structural power differential in pastoral relationships. Therefore, this article proposes a complex understanding of “vulnerability” and “vulnerance” that accounts for the victimization potential inherent in all pastoral care settings and advocates a theory of pastoral care that is not only concerned with the individual but also incorporates reflections on structural and systemic power dynamics.

The Brazilian Atlantic Forest is a global biodiversity hotspot and has been extensively mapped using satellite remote sensing. However, past mapping focused on overall forest cover without consideration of keystone plant resources such as Araucaria angustifolia. A. angustifolia is a critically endangered coniferous tree that is essential for supporting overall biodiversity in the Atlantic Forest. A. angustifolia’s distribution has declined dramatically because of overexploitation and land-use changes. Accurate detection and rapid assessments of the distribution and abundance of this species are urgently needed. We compared two approaches for mapping Araucaria angustifolia across two scales (stand vs. individual tree) at three study sites in Brazil. The first approach used Worldview-2 images and Random Forest in Google Earth Engine to detect A. angustifolia at the stand level, with an accuracy of >90% across all three study sites. The second approach relied on object identification using UAV-LiDAR and successfully mapped individual trees (producer’s/user’s accuracy = 94%/64%) at one study site. Both approaches can be employed in tandem to map remaining stands and to determine the exact location of A. angustifolia trees. Each approach has its own strengths and weaknesses, and we discuss their adoptability by managers to inform conservation of A. angustifolia.

Armed conflict and geopolitics are a driving force of Land Use and Land Cover Change (LULCC), but with considerable variation in deforestation trends between broader and finer scales of analysis. Remotely-sensed annual deforestation rates from 1989 to 2018 are presented at the national and (sub-) regional scales for Kachin State in the north of Myanmar and in Kayin State and Tanintharyi Region in the southeast. We pair our multiscaled remote sensing analysis with our multisited political ecology approach where we conducted field-based interviews in study sites between 2018 and 2020. Our integrated analysis identified three common periods of deforestation spikes at the national and state/region level, but with some notable disparities between regions as well as across and within townships and village tracts. We found the rate and geography of deforestation were most influenced by the territorial jurisdictions of armed authorities, national political economic reforms and timber regulations, and proximity to national borders and their respective geopolitical relations. The absence or presence of ceasefires in the north and southeast did not solely explain deforestation patterns. Rather than consider ceasefire or war as a singular explanatory variable effecting forest cover change, we demonstrate the need to analyze armed conflict as a dynamic multisited and diffuse phenomenon, which is simultaneously integrated into broader political economy and geopolitical forces.

The evolution of the electrical power sector due to the advances in digitalization, decarbonization and decentralization has led to the increase in challenges within the current distribution network. Therefore, there is an increased need to analyze the impact of the smart grid and its implemented solutions in order to address these challenges at the earliest stage, i.e., during the pilot phase and before large-scale deployment and mass adoption. Therefore, this paper presents the scalability and replicability analysis conducted within the European project InteGrid. Within the project, innovative solutions are proposed and tested in real demonstration sites (Portugal, Slovenia, and Sweden) to enable the DSO as a market facilitator and to assess the impact of the scalability and replicability of these solutions when integrated into the network. The analysis presents a total of three clusters where the impact of several integrated smart tools is analyzed alongside future large scale scenarios. These large scale scenarios envision significant penetration of distributed energy resources, increased network dimensions, large pools of flexibility, and prosumers. The replicability is analyzed through different types of networks, locations (country-wise), or time (daily). In addition, a simple replication path based on a step by step approach is proposed as a guideline to replicate the smart functions associated with each of the clusters.

Loli Uribe Echevarría,1 Carolina Leimgruber,2 Jorge García González,1 Alberto Nevado,1 Ruth Álvarez,3 Luciana N García,2 Amado A Quintar,2 Cristina A Maldonado2 1Pneumonology Service, Sanatorio Allende (Nueva Córdoba), Córdoba, Argentina; 2Electronic Microscopy Center, Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud (INICSA-CONICET), Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina; 3Smoking Cessation Cente, Nuevo Hospital San Roque of Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina Abstract: In spite of the numerous studies on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the cellular and molecular basis of the disease’s development remain unclear. Neutrophils and eosinophils are known to be key players in COPD. Recently, neutrophil extracellular trap cell death (NETosis), a mechanism due to decondensation and extrusion of chromatin to form extracellular traps, has been demonstrated in COPD. However, there is limited knowledge about eosinophil extracellular trap cell death (EETosis) and its role in the pathogenesis of COPD. The aim of this study was to evaluate EETosis in stable COPD. Induced sputum obtained from healthy smokers and low exacerbation risk COPD A or B group patients or high exacerbation risk COPD C or D group patients were included. Samples were examined using electron microscopy and immunofluorescence. Healthy smokers (n=10) and COPD A (n=19) group exhibited neutrophilic or paucigranulocytic phenotypes, with NETosis being absent in these patients. In contrast, COPD B (n=29), with eosinophilic or mixed phenotypes, showed EETosis and incipient NETosis. COPD C (n=18) and COPD D groups (n=13) were differentiated from low exacerbation rate-COPD group by the abundant cellular debris, with COPD C group having an eosinophilic pattern and numerous cells undergoing EETosis. A hallmark of this group was the abundant released membranes that often appeared phagocytosed by neutrophils, which coincidentally exhibited early NETosis changes. The COPD D group included patients with a neutrophilic or mixed pattern, with abundant neutrophil extracellular trap-derived material. This study is the first to demonstrate EETosis at different stages of stable COPD. The results suggest a role for eosinophils in COPD pathophysiology, especially at the beginning and during the persistence of the disease, regardless of whether the patient quit smoking, with EETosis debris probably triggering uncontrolled NETosis. The main target of these findings should be young smokers with the potential to develop COPD. Keywords: COPD, eosinophils, neutrophils, NETosis, EETosis, induced sputum