bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
When to choose dynamic vs. static social network analysis
Authors: Farine Damien R. 
Published: October 2017

Abstract

There is increasing interest in using dynamic social networks in the study of animal sociality and its consequences. However, there is a general lack of guidance on the when and how such an approach will be valuable.

The aim of this paper is to provide a guide on when to choose dynamic vs. static social network analysis, and how to choose the appropriate temporal scale for the dynamic network.

I first discuss the motivations for using dynamic animal social networks. I then provide guidance on how to choose between dynamic networks and the “standard” approach of using static networks. I discuss this in the context of the temporal scale of changes observed, of their predictability and of the data availability.

Dynamic networks are important in a number of scenarios. First, if the network data are being compared to independent processes, such as the spread of information or disease or environmental changes, then dynamic networks will provide more accurate estimates of spreading rates. Second, if the network has predictable patterns of change, for example diel cycles or seasonal changes, then dynamic networks should be used to capture the impact of these changes. Third, dynamic networks are important for studies of spread through networks when the relationship between edge weight and transmission probability is nonlinear. Finally, dynamic social networks are also useful in situations where interactions among individuals are dense, such as in studies of captive groups.

The use of static vs. dynamic network requires careful consideration, both from a research question perspective and from a data perspective, and this paper provides a guide on how to evaluate the relative importance of these.
Using host species traits to understand the consequences of resource provisioning for host–parasite interactions
Authors: Becker Daniel J. , Streicker Daniel G. , Altizer Sonia 
Published: October 2017

Abstract

Supplemental food provided to wildlife by human activities can be more abundant and predictable than natural resources, and subsequent changes in wildlife ecology can have profound impacts on host–parasite interactions. Identifying traits of species associated with increases or decreases in infection outcomes with resource provisioning could improve assessments of wildlife most prone to disease risks in changing environments.

We conducted a phylogenetic meta‐analysis of 342 host–parasite interactions across 56 wildlife species and three broad taxonomic groups of parasites to identify host‐level traits that influence whether provisioning is associated with increases or decreases in infection.

We predicted dietary generalists that capitalize on novel food would show greater infection in provisioned habitats owing to population growth and food‐borne exposure to contaminants and parasite infectious stages. Similarly, species with fast life histories could experience stronger demographic and immunological benefits from provisioning that affect parasite transmission. We also predicted that wide‐ranging and migratory behaviours could increase infection risks with provisioning if concentrated and non‐seasonal foods promote dense aggregations that increase exposure to parasites.

We found that provisioning increased infection with bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoa (i.e. microparasites) most for wide‐ranging, dietary generalist host species. Effect sizes for ectoparasites were also highest for host species with large home ranges but were instead lowest for dietary generalists. In contrast, the type of provisioning was a stronger correlate of infection outcomes for helminths than host species traits.

Our analysis highlights host traits related to movement and feeding behaviour as important determinants of whether species experience greater infection with supplemental feeding. These results could help prioritize monitoring wildlife with particular trait profiles in anthropogenic habitats to reduce infectious disease risks in provisioned populations.
Migratory animals feel the cost of getting sick: A meta‐analysis across species
Authors: Risely Alice , Klaassen Marcel , Hoye Bethany J. 
Published: October 2017

Abstract

Migratory animals are widely assumed to play an important role in the long‐distance dispersal of parasites, and are frequently implicated in the global spread of zoonotic pathogens such as avian influenzas in birds and Ebola viruses in bats. However, infection imposes physiological and behavioural constraints on hosts that may act to curtail parasite dispersal via changes to migratory timing (“migratory separation”) and survival (“migratory culling”).

There remains little consensus regarding the frequency and extent to which migratory separation and migratory culling may operate, despite a growing recognition of the importance of these mechanisms in regulating transmission dynamics in migratory animals.

We quantitatively reviewed 85 observations extracted from 41 studies to examine how both infection status and infection intensity are related to changes in body stores, refuelling rates, movement capacity, phenology and survival in migratory hosts across taxa.

Overall, host infection status was weakly associated with reduced body stores, delayed migration and lower survival, and more strongly associated with reduced movement. Infection intensity was not associated with changes to host body stores, but was associated with moderate negative effects on movement, phenology and survival.

In conclusion, we found evidence for negative effects of infection on host phenology and survival, but the effects were relatively small. This may have implications for the extent to which migratory separation and migratory culling act to limit parasite dispersal in migratory systems. We propose a number of recommendations for future research that will further advance our understanding of how migratory separation and migratory culling may shape host–parasite dynamics along migratory routes globally.
Sociodemographic factors modulate the spatial response of brown bears to vacancies created by hunting
Authors: Frank Shane C. , Leclerc Martin , Pelletier Fanie , Rosell Frank , Swenson Jon. E. , Bischof Richard , Kindberg Jonas , Eiken Hans Geir , Hagen Snorre B. , Zedrosser Andreas 
Published: October 2017

Abstract

There is a growing recognition of the importance of indirect effects from hunting on wildlife populations, e.g. social and behavioural changes due to harvest, which occur after the initial offtake. Nonetheless, little is known about how the removal of members of a population influences the spatial configuration of the survivors.

We studied how surviving brown bears (Ursus arctos) used former home ranges that had belonged to casualties of the annual bear hunting season in southcentral Sweden (2007–2015). We used resource selection functions to explore the effects of the casualty's and survivor's sex, age and their pairwise genetic relatedness, population density and hunting intensity on survivors' spatial responses to vacated home ranges.

We tested the competitive release hypothesis, whereby survivors that increase their use of a killed bear's home range are presumed to have been released from intraspecific competition. We found strong support for this hypothesis, as survivors of the same sex as the casualty consistently increased their use of its vacant home range. Patterns were less pronounced or absent when the survivor and casualty were of opposite sex.

Genetic relatedness between the survivor and the casualty emerged as the most important factor explaining increased use of vacated male home ranges by males, with a stronger response from survivors of lower relatedness. Relatedness was also important for females, but it did not influence use following removal; female survivors used home ranges of higher related female casualties more, both before and after death. Spatial responses by survivors were further influenced by bear age, population density and hunting intensity.

We have shown that survivors exhibit a spatial response to vacated home ranges caused by hunting casualties, even in nonterritorial species such as the brown bear. This spatial reorganization can have unintended consequences for population dynamics and interfere with management goals. Altogether, our results underscore the need to better understand the short‐ and long‐term indirect effects of hunting on animal social structure and their resulting distribution in space.
Applying a biocomplexity approach to modelling farmer decision‐making and land use impacts on wildlife
Authors: Malawska Anna , Topping Christopher John 
Published: October 2017

Abstract

The biocomplexity approach refers to a fully integrated social‐ecological systems (SES) simulation that represents bidirectional feedbacks between social and ecological components. This method is essential to accurately assess impacts of economy and policy on SES such as agroecosystems, where feedbacks between the drivers and impacts of cropping changes need to be simulated. Here we exemplify the biocomplexity approach using energy maize, which is becoming an important source of bioenergy in Europe, and thus, might cause a significant change in land use with knock on‐effects for wildlife.

The integrated simulation tool consisted of a farmer decision‐making agent‐based model fully coupled to the Animal Landscape and Man Simulatin System (ALMaSS), an agent‐based simulation system for predicting impacts of land use on a range of Danish wildlife species: the brown hare (Lepus europaeus), the grey partridge (Perdix perdix), the skylark (Alauda arvensis), a carabid beetle (Bembidion lampros), a linyphiid spider (Erigone atra) and the field vole (Microtus agrestis). This was used to assess the impacts of increasing demand on energy maize on the six animal species. Two types of experimental scenarios were evaluated, with and without feedback between the social and ecological system. The assessment of species responses was based on changes in population size, abundance and occupancy.

The response to the cultivation of energy maize was negative for three vertebrate species (skylark, hare and field vole) and positive for partridge and the two invertebrate species. The feedback scenarios showed that the incorporation of information from ecological system to the farmer decision‐making affected both a trend in area cultivated with energy maize as well as the animal responses.

Synthesis and applications. Fully coupling agent‐based decision‐making and environmental simulation allows a detailed representation and integration of both social and ecological components of agricultural systems at proper spatial and temporal scales as well as of dynamic feedbacks between the two systems. By employing easy to interpret measures of changes in abundance and spatial occupancy of animal species, the simulation results could inform and simplify decision‐making on expected impacts of economy and policy regulations on wildlife.
The ineluctable constraints of thermodynamics in the aetiology of obesity
Authors: Loiselle Denis S , Barclay Christopher J 
Published: October 2017

SummaryWe exploit the detail‐independence feature of thermodynamics to examine issues related to the development of obesity. We adopt a ‘global’ approach consistent with focus on the first law of thermodynamics – namely that the metabolic energy provided by dietary foodstuffs has only three possible fates: the performance of work (be it microscopic or macroscopic), the generation of heat, or storage – primarily in the form of adipose tissue. Quantification of the energy expended, in the form of fat metabolised, during selected endurance events, reveals the inherent limitation of over‐reliance on exercise as a primary agent of weight loss. This result prompts examination of various (non‐exercise based) possibilities of increasing the rate of heat loss. Since these, too, give little cause for optimism, we are obliged to conclude that obesity can be prevented, or weight loss achieved, only if exercise is supplemented by reduction of food intake.
Adult report of childhood exposure to parental alienation at different developmental time periods
Authors: Verrocchio Maria Christina , Baker Amy J. L. , Marchetti Daniela 
Published: October 2017

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between exposure to Parental Alienation (PA) at different developmental time periods and psychological maltreatment. Three hundred and sixty‐one adults in Chieti, Italy completed an anonymous and confidential paper and pencil survey regarding their childhood exposure to twenty PA behaviours across three developmental time periods as well as a measure of psychological maltreatment by each parent. Results revealed that exposure to PA at each time period was significantly associated with psychological maltreatment. Moreover, the number of time periods of exposure to PA (from 0 to 3) was associated with psychological maltreatment. This was true for PA by mothers and PA by fathers. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.Practitioner points

Mental health professionals can use the results of this study to guide their intervention efforts
Co‐parenting educators can incorporate these results into their routine efforts to help parents be aware of PA and its effects
Targeted parents can use these findings to make the case for timely legal and mental health interventions
Unconscious choice: the dissociation of creative animus among writers and psychotherapists
Authors: Clark Alison 
Published: October 2017

AbstractThe paper argues that writers and psychotherapists are drawn to their work through the desire to remedy an unconscious sense of lack brought about by early relational trauma. Often, because of its origins in psychic pain, the connection between these individuals' beginnings and their profession remains largely dissociated. The theme is developed with reference to the idea of the wounded healer taken up by Jung. It is proposed that the original wound is also the crack that lets the light in: a dissociated tough spirit that can be channelled into discriminating countertransference and strong writing. This paper is implicitly arguing against an objective or neutral analytic stance, and for the therapeutic and creative value of acquaintance with negative affect.
‘Clemency on the way to the gallows’: death, dreams and dissociation
Authors: Kimmel Kenneth 
Published: October 2017

AbstractThe survivor of a decade of childhood sexual trauma and violence, perpetrated by a monstrous father, produced a series of dreams in the final year of a ten‐year analysis. They illuminated the ‘death drive’ beneath a lifelong preoccupation with dying and fantasies of submission to death, perpetuated by the promise of hoped‐for freedom from pain and release from a life of suffering. The initial dream involved the collapse of a team of white horses drawing him in a pillory cart to his own hanging for a crime he did not commit. It signified the collapse of a fragile psychological system based on his role as the ‘sacrificial lamb,’ protecting a (not so) innocent mother. The raw truth was now unconcealed: primal, violent, and terrifying dreams and affects emerged where he was now the murderous aggressor. His dreams would become primary agents for an instinctive, life‐giving authenticity to emerge, offering him clemency from the shattering repetitions of persecution and dissociation.
Treatment of developmental stress disorder: mind, body and brain – analysis and pharmacology coupled
Authors: McFadden Joseph 
Published: October 2017

AbstractThe schism between psychiatry, psychology and analysis, while long present, has widened even more in the past half‐century with the advances in psychopharmacology. With the advances in electronic brain imaging, particularly in developmental and post‐traumatic stress disorders, there has emerged both an understanding of brain changes resulting from severe, chronic stress and an ability to target brain chemistry in ways that can relieve clinical symptomatology. The use of alpha‐1 adrenergic brain receptor antagonists decreases many of the manifestations of PTSD. Additionally, this paper discusses the ways in which dreaming, thinking and the analytic process are facilitated with this concomitant treatment and hypervigilence and hyper‐arousal states are signficiantly decreased.
Assembling attachments to homes under bushfire risk
Authors: Ratnam Charishma , Drozdzewski Danielle 
Published: October 2017

AbstractThis research, conducted in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia, explores attachment to the home in the context of bushfire risk. The paper builds on existing research that has focused both on the home and on emplaced and mobile methods therein and seeks to understand the range of human and non‐human attachments. We situate our examination of attachment in the context of a bushfire‐prone suburban area to consider whether attachments to home may be influenced by an external risk. We use a mix of verbal, visual, and sensory methods (walking and image‐led interviews) to examine both verbal and sensorial articulations in place and in the home. We report on a stepwise analysis of place attachments, home, and bushfire risk. First and while interviewing, we moved with the participants inside and outside of their homes to understand how attachment to those sites was constructed and maintained. Second, we considered those encounters as assemblages of attachments to place. Finally, we studied those assemblages of home‐bound attachments in the context of the risk of bushfire in proximate suburbs.
Working holiday makers in Australia: food security, climate change, and the backpacker tax
Authors: Iaquinto Benjamin Lucca 
Published: October 2017

AbstractThis commentary considers an often overlooked contribution to food security in Australia—the labour of working holiday makers. Their ability to act as a flexible and mobile temporary workforce is essential to the maintenance of the Australian agricultural industry. Previously, no tax was payable on income below $18,200, but a 2015 proposal to increase their tax rate sparked a vigorous political debate and so revealed their importance to the agricultural industry. A decline in backpacker numbers would cause agriculture to shrink to cope with smaller workforces. But the effects of climate change are expected to further shrink agricultural areas as extreme events and hotter temperatures impact crops, livestock, and the productivity of agricultural workers. Issues that appear manageable when viewed in isolation, such as increases in the tax rate on working holiday makers, become more problematic when viewed in conjunction with other impacts affecting agriculture. Thus, the ‘backpacker tax’ risks making food security harder to maintain at a time when Australia's agricultural system is already vulnerable to climate change.
Review of appendicectomies over a decade in a tertiary hospital in New Zealand
Authors: de Burlet Kirsten J. , Crane Grant , Cullinane Ruth , Larsen Peter D. , Dennett Elizabeth R. 
Published: October 2017

BackgroundAcute appendicectomy is the most common emergency operation for patients with abdominal pain. In the last decade, computed tomography (CT) scans have increasingly been used to aid in the diagnosis in order to reduce the negative appendicectomy rate. The aim of this study was to evaluate our institution's negative appendicectomy rate and the use of pre‐operative imaging.MethodsA retrospective review was undertaken for all adult patients (>16 years), who underwent an appendicectomy on emergency basis in the years 2004, 2009 and 2014. Cases were identified from the hospital electronic theatre record system. Data were also obtained from the patients records and laboratory reports.ResultsA total of 874 patients were included, 227 in 2004, 308 in 2009 and 339 in 2014. The negative appendicectomy rate was 29.1% in 2004, 20.1% in 2009 and 19.5% in 2014 (P = 0.014). Negative appendicectomies were more common in women (P = <0.001), patients between the ages of 16–30 years (P = <0.001) and were associated with low inflammatory markers (median white cell count of 10.2, C‐reactive protein of 8, P = <0.001). The use of CT scan prior to operation increased between 2009 and 2014 (34 (11.0%) versus 64 (18.9%), P = <0.001).ConclusionThough the number of appendicectomies being performed in our institution has increased over the last decade, the negative appendicectomy rate remains fairly static and the increased use of CT scans did not further decrease the proportion of negative appendicectomies between 2009 and 2014.
Beta‐blockers in hospitalised patients with cirrhosis and ascites: mortality and factors determining discontinuation and reinitiation
Authors: Bhutta A. Q. , Garcia‐Tsao G. , Reddy K. R. , Tandon P. , Wong F. , O'Leary J. G. , Acharya C. , Banerjee D. , Abraldes J. G. , Jones T. M. , Shaw J. , Deng Y. , Ciarleglio M. , Bajaj J. S. 
Published: October 2017

SummaryBackgroundIt has been suggested that beta‐blockers may increase mortality in patients with cirrhosis and refractory ascites but the effect of beta‐blockers discontinuation or reinitiation has not been examined.AimsTo compare, in hospitalised patients with cirrhosis and ascites, the effect of BB on survival and to examine the effect/predictors of beta‐blockers discontinuation and reinitiation.MethodsSub‐analysis of NACSELD (North American consortium for the study of end‐stage liver disease, database containing prospective data on hospitalised patients with cirrhosis) data from 7 centres enrolling >100 patients with ascites. Data on BB discontinuation and reinitiation were collected by chart review.ResultsSeven hundred and sixteen patients, 307 (43%) on beta‐blockers at admission and 366 (51%) with refractory ascites, were followed to death or hospital discharge. Beta‐blocker use was associated with a lower white blood cell count at admission. Beta‐blocker use in hospitalised patients with ascites was not associated with a higher mortality, even in those with refractory ascites. No significant changes in mean arterial pressure (MAP) were observed between groups. Discontinuation of beta‐blockers (49%) was driven by low MAP, infection and acute kidney injury at time of discontinuation but was not associated with a higher mortality. Beta‐blocker reinitiation occurred in 40% prior to discharge and was mainly driven by an increase in MAP.ConclusionsBeta‐blocker use is safe in patients with cirrhosis and ascites (including those with refractory ascites) provided beta‐blockers are discontinued in the presence of a low MAP and reinitiated once MAP reincreases. A potentially beneficial anti‐inflammatory effect of beta‐blockers is suggested.