We evaluate the contribution of small-scale floristic diversity to regional vegetation patterns, if current vegetation classification methods adequately account for small-scale floristic diversity ...and the potential role of diversity metrics in contributing to improved classification and mapping of plant community patterns. Upland swamps in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, Australia, were used as a case study for this evaluation. Eight hundred and eleven survey plots using two contrasting survey designs were used to generate diversity metrics (α; β; ϒ; ζ; multivariate dispersion) and these were intersected with spatial mapping across 69 swamps. A novel classification informed by small-scale floristic diversity was also implemented. Diversity patterns at the regional scale were significantly affected by survey design (both β and ζ overestimated by a survey design using large plots, but α, ϒ and multivariate dispersion not significantly different among plot designs). Secondly, the novel classification revealed that the majority of assemblages present were previously unreported. Thirdly, floristic assemblages previously mapped only in discrete parts of the region were found to be widespread. A poor correlation exists between current standard classification approaches and a classification informed by small-scale floristic diversity. Thus, recommended and implemented standards for survey and classification in many jurisdictions globally are inadequate for revealing diversity patterns and mapping communities with complex small-scale diversity patterns. Communities of this type are widespread globally. Our study demonstrates that the intersection of advanced diversity metrics and spatial mapping, using small-scale survey data, provides critical insights into regional vegetation patterns that may otherwise remain obscure.
Bad World Johnson, Dominic D.P.; Tierney, Dominic
International security,
02/2019, Letnik:
43, Številka:
3
Journal Article
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A major puzzle in international relations is why states privilege negative over positive information. States tend to inflate threats, exhibit loss aversion, and learn more from failures than from ...successes. Rationalist accounts fail to explain this phenomenon, because systematically overweighting bad over good may in fact undermine state interests. New research in psychology, however, offers an explanation. The “negativity bias” has emerged as a fundamental principle of the human mind, in which people’s response to positive and negative information is asymmetric. Negative factors have greater effects than positive factors across a wide range of psychological phenomena, including cognition, motivation, emotion, information processing, decisionmaking, learning, and memory. Put simply, bad is stronger than good. Scholars have long pointed to the role of positive biases, such as overconfidence, in causing war, but negative biases are actually more pervasive and may represent a core explanation for patterns of conflict. Positive and negative dispositions apply in different contexts. People privilege negative information about the external environment and other actors, but positive information about themselves. The coexistence of biases can increase the potential for conflict. Decisionmakers simultaneously exaggerate the severity of threats and exhibit overconfidence about their capacity to deal with them. Overall, the negativity bias is a potent force in human judgment and decisionmaking, with important implications for international relations theory and practice.
Global Positioning System (GPS) technology is commonly utilized in team sports, including rugby union. It has been used to describe the average running demands of rugby union. This has afforded an ...enhanced understanding of the physical fitness requirements for players. However, research in team sports has suggested that training players relative to average demands may underprepare them for certain scenarios within the game. To date, no research has investigated the running demands of attacking 22 entries in rugby union. Additionally, no research has been undertaken to determine whether differences exist in the running intensity of successful and unsuccessful attacking 22 entries in rugby union. The first aim of this study was to describe the running intensity of attacking 22 entries. The second aim of this study was to investigate whether differences exist in the running intensity of successful and unsuccessful attacking 22 entries. Running intensity was measured using meters per minute (m min−1) for (a) total distance, (b) running distance, (c) high‐speed running distance, and (d) very high‐speed running distance. This study provides normative data for the running intensity of attacking 22 entries in rugby union. Forwards achieved greater high‐speed running intensity in successful (3.6 m min−1) compared to unsuccessful (1.8 m min−1) attacking 22 entries. Forwards should try and achieve greater high‐speed running intensity in attacking 22 entries to increase the likelihood of successful outcomes during this period of gameplay.
A major paradox in international relations is the widespread fear and anxiety that underlies the security dilemma in times of peace and the prevalence of overconfidence or "false optimism" on the eve ...of war. A new theory of the causes of war— the Rubicon theory of war— can account for this paradox and explain important historical puzzles. The "Rubicon model of action phases," which was developed in experimental psychology, describes a significant shift in people's susceptibility to psychological biases before and after making a decision. Prior to making decisions, people tend to maintain a "deliberative" mind-set, weighing the costs, benefits, and risks of different options in a relatively impartial manner. By contrast, after making a decision, people tend to switch into an "implementai" mind-set that triggers a set of powerful psychological biases, including closed-mindedness, biased information processing, cognitive dissonance, self-serving evaluations, the illusion of control, and optimism. Together, these biases lead to significant overconfidence. The Rubicon theory of war applies this model to the realm of international conflict, where implementai mind-sets can narrow the range of bargaining options, promote overambitious war plans, and elevate the probability of war.
There are currently no disease-targeted treatments for cognitive or behavioral symptoms in patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD).
To determine the effect of tolcapone, a ...specific inhibitor of Catechol-O-Methyltransferase (COMT), in patients with bvFTD.
In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over study at two study sites, we examined the effect of tolcapone on 28 adult outpatients with bvFTD. The primary outcome was reaction time on the N-back cognitive test. As an imaging outcome, we examined differences in the resting blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signal intensity between subjects on placebo versus tolcapone performing the N-back test. Secondary outcomes included measures of cognitive performance and behavioral disturbance using the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS), Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Questionnaire (NPI-Q), and Clinical Global Impressions scale (CGI).
Tolcapone was well tolerated and no patients dropped out. The most frequent treatment-related adverse event during tolcapone treatment was elevated liver enzymes (21%). There were no significant differences between tolcapone treatment and placebo in the primary or imaging outcomes. However, there were significant differences between RBANS total scores (p < 0.01), NPI-Q total scores (p = 0.04), and CGI total scores (p = 0.035) between treatment conditions which were driven by differences between baseline and tolcapone conditions. Further, there was a trend toward significance between tolcapone and placebo on the CGI (p = 0.078).
Further study of COMT inhibition and related approaches with longer duration of treatment and larger sample sizes in frontotemporal lobar degeneration-spectrum disorders may be warranted.
To determine whether alcohol use leads to prolonged clinical recovery or increased severity of concussion symptoms in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) athletes.
Prospective ...observational study.
Clinical institutions.
Athletes from the NCAA Concussion Assessment Research and Education consortium who sustained a concussion from 2014 to 2021.
Athletes were divided into 2 groups, those reporting alcohol use postinjury and those reporting no alcohol use postinjury.
Symptom recovery was evaluated as time (in days) from injury to clearance to return to unrestricted play (days until URTP). Severity of concussion symptoms was assessed using the Standardized Sport Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT3) symptom severity, headache severity, difficulty concentrating, and difficulty remembering scores. These scores were taken a median of 6.6 interquartile range (IQR) = 4.0-10 and 6 (IQR = 4.0-9.0) days after injury for those who did and did not consume alcohol postinjury respectively and compared with baseline SCAT3 scores.
Four hundred eighty four athletes from the data set had complete data for exposure and outcome. The adjusted mean number of days until URTP for athletes reporting alcohol use postinjury 23.3; 95% confidence interval (CI), 20.0-27.2; days was incidence rate ratio (IRR) 1.32 (95% CI, 1.12-1.55; P < 0.001) times higher than for athletes who reported no alcohol use postinjury 17.7 (95% CI, 16.1-19.3) days. Postinjury alcohol was not associated with severity of concussion symptoms ( P 's < 0.05).
Self-reported postinjury alcohol use is associated with prolonged recovery but not severity of concussion symptoms in collegiate athletes. This may inform future clinical recommendations regarding alcohol consumption after concussion.
Vegetation maps are critical biodiversity planning instruments, but the classification of vegetation for mapping can be strongly biased by survey design. Standardization of survey design across ...different vegetation types is therefore increasingly recommended for vegetation mapping programs. However, some vegetation types have complex small‐scale vegetation patterns that are important in characterizing these vegetation types, and standard designs will often not capture these patterns. The objective of this paper was to investigate the magnitude of potential map bias that results from survey design standardization and recommend approaches to deal with this bias. We surveyed upland swamps of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area Australia using two contrasting survey designs, including the standard 400 m2 single quadrat design recommended and used by authorities. We then derived a classification for these swamps and tested the effect of survey design on this classification, species richness and the type of species detected (obligate or facultative swamp species). Species richness and species type were not significantly different among survey techniques. However, more than 40% of swamps clustered differently among survey designs. Thus, one of the 10 derived communities (which is floristically consistent with a previously mapped endangered community) was indistinct, and some individual swamps misclassified using the standard survey design. An effect of landscape position on swamp floristic patterns and a significant trend for high similarity scores among swamps surveyed with multiple small quadrats compared to the standard survey design was also determined. Australian upland swamps are classified at the global scale as shrub‐dominated wetlands, and complex floristic patterns have been recorded in shrub‐dominated wetlands in both northern and southern hemispheres. We therefore advocate either multiple survey designs or different survey standards for upland swamp communities and other vegetation types that have complex floristic patterns at small scales.
This randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was designed to evaluate the ability of the orally administered matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor, marimastat, to prolong survival in patients ...with non-resectable gastric and gastro-oesophageal adenocarcinoma. Three hundred and sixty-nine patients with histological proof of adenocarcinoma, who had received no more than a single regimen of 5-fluorouracil-based chemotherapy, were randomised to receive either marimastat (10 mg b.d.) or placebo. Patients were treated for as long as was tolerable. The primary endpoint was overall survival with secondary endpoints of time to disease progression and quality of life. At the point of protocol-defined study completion (85% mortality in the placebo arm) there was a modest difference in survival in the intention-to-treat population in favour of marimastat (P=0.07 log-rank test, hazard ratio=1.23 (95% confidence interval 0.98-1.55)). This survival benefit was maintained over a further 2 years of follow-up (P=0.024, hazard ratio=1.27 (1.03-1.57)). The median survival was 138 days for placebo and 160 days for marimastat, with 2-year survival of 3% and 9% respectively. A significant survival benefit was identified at study completion in the pre-defined sub-group of 123 patients who had received prior chemotherapy (P=0.045, hazard ratio=1.53 (1.00-2.34)). This benefit increased with 2 years additional follow-up (P=0.006, hazard ratio=1.68 (1.16-2.44)), with 2-year survival of 5% and 18% respectively. Progression-free survival was also significantly longer for patients receiving marimastat compared to placebo (P=0.009, hazard ratio=1.32 (1.07-1.63)). Marimastat treatment was associated with the development of musculoskeletal pain and inflammation. Events of anaemia, abdominal pain, jaundice and weight loss were more common in the placebo arm. This is one of the first demonstrations of a therapeutic benefit for a matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor in cancer patients. The greatest benefit was observed in patients who had previously received chemotherapy. A further randomised study of marimastat in these patients is warranted.
Failing to Win Johnson, Dominic D. P; Tierney, Dominic
06/2009
eBook
How do people decide which country came out ahead in a war or a crisis? In Failing to Win, Dominic Johnson and Dominic Tierney dissect the psychological factors that predispose leaders, media, and ...the public to perceive outcomes as victories or defeats--often creating wide gaps between perceptions and reality.
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