The conservation of biodiversity critically depends on the value that humans attach to it. Apart from an ecological and economic value, an aesthetic value has often been assigned to biodiversity. ...However, it is not known whether lay people appreciate the diversity of species and not just certain individual species or nature as a whole. We studied in a series of experiments and field studies people’s perception and appreciation of species diversity. We presented meadow-like arrays of different species richness and evenness but random species composition to lay people and asked them to estimate plant species richness and rank the arrays by attractiveness. The experiments were complemented by two larger-scale field studies using natural meadows. Both in the experiments and the field studies the mean perception of species richness by people increased with true species richness, but was slightly overestimated at low and increasingly underestimated at high diversity levels. Lay people’s aesthetic appreciation of both the experimental grassland arrays and the natural meadows increased with true species richness. Communities consisting of the same number of species were perceived to be more species-rich and were appreciated more when their evenness was high. Our results demonstrate that plant diversity in itself is attractive to humans. The current reduction of the diversity of grasslands due to intensification of management may thus reduce the attractiveness of regions where grasslands are a dominant feature of the landscape. This could have negative consequences for tourism and may add an economic argument for the conservation of biodiversity in grasslands.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Despite broad scientific interest in harnessing the power of Earth's microbiomes, knowledge gaps hinder their efficient use for addressing urgent societal and environmental challenges. We argue that ...structuring research and technology developments around a design-build-test-learn (DBTL) cycle will advance microbiome engineering and spur new discoveries of the basic scientific principles governing microbiome function. In this Review, we present key elements of an iterative DBTL cycle for microbiome engineering, focusing on generalizable approaches, including top-down and bottom-up design processes, synthetic and self-assembled construction methods, and emerging tools to analyse microbiome function. These approaches can be used to harness microbiomes for broad applications related to medicine, agriculture, energy and the environment. We also discuss key challenges and opportunities of each approach and synthesize them into best practice guidelines for engineering microbiomes. We anticipate that adoption of a DBTL framework will rapidly advance microbiome-based biotechnologies aimed at improving human and animal health, agriculture and enabling the bioeconomy.
•Paternal unemployment has an adverse effect on the likelihood of entering tertiary education.•Maternal unemployment has no effect on transition outcomes.•The longer the duration of paternal ...unemployment, the more negative the effect.•Family income does not mediate the effect of paternal unemployment.•Subjective expectations of success and family stress levels partially explain the effect of paternal unemployment.
This paper studies the intergenerational effects of parental unemployment on students’ post-secondary transitions. Besides estimating the average treatment effect of parental unemployment on transition outcomes, we identify the economic, psychological or other intra-familial mechanisms that might explain any adverse impact of parental unemployment. Using longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and propensity score matching estimators we find that paternal unemployment has an adverse impact on the likelihood of entering tertiary education, whereas maternal unemployment does not. We also find that the magnitude of the effect depends on the duration of unemployment. Even though we are unable to fully account for the underlying mechanisms, our mediation analysis suggests that the effect of paternal unemployment is not due to the loss of income, but relates to the negative consequences of unemployment for intra-familial well-being and students’ declining optimism about their academic prospects.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Insects such as flies or bees, with their miniature brains, are able to control highly aerobatic flight maneuvres and to solve spatial vision tasks, such as avoiding collisions with obstacles, ...landing on objects, or even localizing a previously learnt inconspicuous goal on the basis of environmental cues. With regard to solving such spatial tasks, these insects still outperform man-made autonomous flying systems. To accomplish their extraordinary performance, flies and bees have been shown by their characteristic behavioral actions to actively shape the dynamics of the image flow on their eyes ("optic flow"). The neural processing of information about the spatial layout of the environment is greatly facilitated by segregating the rotational from the translational optic flow component through a saccadic flight and gaze strategy. This active vision strategy thus enables the nervous system to solve apparently complex spatial vision tasks in a particularly efficient and parsimonious way. The key idea of this review is that biological agents, such as flies or bees, acquire at least part of their strength as autonomous systems through active interactions with their environment and not by simply processing passively gained information about the world. These agent-environment interactions lead to adaptive behavior in surroundings of a wide range of complexity. Animals with even tiny brains, such as insects, are capable of performing extraordinarily well in their behavioral contexts by making optimal use of the closed action-perception loop. Model simulations and robotic implementations show that the smart biological mechanisms of motion computation and visually-guided flight control might be helpful to find technical solutions, for example, when designing micro air vehicles carrying a miniaturized, low-weight on-board processor.
Plessner not only formulates a theory of positionality here but also a principle of how to construct this theory with respect to empirical research, a principle he calls the "deduction of the ...categories of life". This is described in the literature as "reflexive deduction". With reference to Plessner's methodology of theory construction I unfold a new understanding of his theory of the shared world. At present, there are two understandings of the shared world. The traditional understanding of the shared world is primarily concerned with relativizing particular individual selves, whose boundedness to their own standpoint is devalued by the we-form. I call this SWU-1. SWU-1 is not developed in accordance with the principle of reflexive deduction. The second understanding of the shared world, on the other hand, is developed, in accordance with that principle, as a reflexive turning upon the factual state of existing in relationships of touch. This leads to a different understanding of the shared world, which I call SWU-2, or the social undecidedness relation. Such an understanding of the shared world forces us to also reconsider our understanding of the inner and outer worlds.
•Natural window views were associated with less perceived stress and more attention.•Natural views were not associated with performance in a concentration test.•Children’s nature experiences were ...associated with less perceived stress in school.•Children’s nature experiences were associated with perceived well-being in school.
There is increasing evidence for the restorative and stress-reducing benefits of natural window views and indoor vegetation. However, few studies have investigated associations between the naturalness of window and interior classroom views and students’ well-being and performance in primary schools. The present cross-sectional study investigated associations between the naturalness of window and interior classroom views and primary students’ subjective well-being and actual performance in a standardized attention and concentration test. Well-being was assessed with a written survey, covering students’ satisfaction and comfort in school, ability to concentrate and learn in class, satisfaction with achievements, perceived stress, and social belonging. Attention and concentration were measured with the d2-revision test. Social density, wall color, and degree of classroom decoration were controlled for. Students (n = 785; 8–11 years old; all 4th graders) reported less stress and were more focused on a task in classrooms with more natural window views, i.e., in rooms where more natural elements could be seen outside. Natural interior views, and thus the number of plants in a classroom, were not significantly associated with the tested variables. Children’s nature connectedness (measured as their time spent in nature and on plant care) was positively associated with feelings of comfort and learning satisfaction in school. Time spent in nature was also associated with less perceived stress and fatigue, and with more attentive behavior during lessons. Performance in the d2-revision test was not associated with the naturalness of classroom views, but was lower for children who perceived stress in school.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Abstract
Research with many nutrients for growing swine has historically focused on the effects of supplementation levels on feed intake, growth, and feed conversion ratio. Following the ...establishment of nutrient requirement estimates for the maximization of, principally, growth rate, there certainly have been studies that have evaluated altered nutrient supplementation effects on a variety of metabolic responses related to health. However, often the value of increased nutrients for health improvement in a typical production setting is not fully realized because of the difference in the conditions that exist between a typical production setting and a university research setting coupled with a use of only a subset of animals in a university setting and the fact that the subset of animals that are used may not include the most health-susceptible portion of the population. Thus, research in many university settings will not capture the true effect of health challenges or of added supplementation on mortality and morbidity. Further, when decisions about nutrient supplementation levels are made on the farm, the decisions must consider the cost of the nutrient relative to the potential improvement in performance; this exercise determines the return on investment (ROI). Consequently, in situations where the effects of a nutrient on health are inadequately quantified or infrequently observed, the ROI for increased nutrient supplementation is underestimated. Examples from vitamin supplementation demonstrate the difference between the ROI when it is calculated only from growth performance compared to a calculation that includes both growth performance and mortality. The examples argue for a more robust ROI calculator that includes mortality. Additionally, the lack of knowledge of nutrient supplementation effects on the entire pig population, with specific knowledge of the most health-susceptible segment, argues for scaling up of promising results observed in a university setting to a commercial setting.
Bugs and the People Who Love Them, Or Not Lindemann, George
Transactions of the American Entomological Society (1890),
4/2020, Volume:
146, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Preclinical studies have demonstrated synergy between PARP and PI3K/AKT pathway inhibitors in
and
(
-deficient and
-proficient tumors. We conducted an investigator-initiated phase I trial utilizing a ...prospective intrapatient dose- escalation design to assess two schedules of capivasertib (AKT inhibitor) with olaparib (PARP inhibitor) in 64 patients with advanced solid tumors. Dose expansions enrolled germline
-mutant tumors, or
wild-type cancers harboring somatic DNA damage response (DDR) or PI3K-AKT pathway alterations. The combination was well tolerated. Recommended phase II doses for the two schedules were: olaparib 300 mg twice a day with either capivasertib 400 mg twice a day 4 days on, 3 days off, or capivasertib 640 mg twice a day 2 days on, 5 days off. Pharmacokinetics were dose proportional. Pharmacodynamic studies confirmed phosphorylated (p) GSK3β suppression, increased pERK, and decreased BRCA1 expression. Twenty-five (44.6%) of 56 evaluable patients achieved clinical benefit (RECIST complete response/partial response or stable disease ≥ 4 months), including patients with tumors harboring germline
mutations and
wild-type cancers with or without DDR and PI3K-AKT pathway alterations. SIGNIFICANCE: In the first trial to combine PARP and AKT inhibitors, a prospective intrapatient dose- escalation design demonstrated safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic activity and assessed predictive biomarkers of response/resistance. Antitumor activity was observed in patients harboring tumors with germline
mutations and
wild-type cancers with or without somatic DDR and/or PI3K-AKT pathway alterations.
.
An account of an experience with contracting an illness that may well have been Covid‐19 gives rise to reflections on doubt and on the art of dying well. The upshot: our mortality remains a ...fundamentally disorienting condition of our existence. If there's any wisdom to be had concerning our deaths, it likely lies in the direction of accepting their deranging character, rather than in searching for the philosophical insight that will reconcile us to our fate.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, INZLJ, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NMLJ, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ, ZRSKP
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