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Seedlings that recovered from fire and frost treatments were often shorter than those that had not been exposed to any disturbance, with multiple thin branches, which may increase vulnerability to the next frost or fire event. Synthesis. #link# Fire caused more severe aboveground damage compared with a single frost event, suggesting that fire is an important driver of tree distribution in these open grassland systems. However, the impact of repeated frost events may be equally severe and needs to be investigated. Also, woody species composition may be influenced by phenomena that affect the timing and frequency of seedling exposure to damage, as mortality was found to be dependent on seedling age. Therefore, https://www.selleckchem.com/products/pf-477736.html in fire regime and climate are likely to result in changes in the composition and the structure of the woody components of these systems.We examined the host specificity of two ectosymbiotic Clausidium Kossman, 1874 copepods (Cyclopoida Clausiididae) on two co-occurrence species of host ghost shrimps. Our results revealed that both species of symbiotic copepod demonstrated extremely high host specificity. Moreover, within a single host shrimp species, each symbiont species displayed strong spatial patterns in microhabitat selection on their hosts' bodies. Clausidium persiaensis Sepahvand & Kihara, 2017, was only found on the host Callianidea typa Milne Edwards, 1837 and almost exclusively within the host shrimp gill chamber, while C. iranensis Sepahvand, Kihara, & Boxshall, 2019 was only found on the host Neocallichirus jousseaumei (Nobili, 1904) and showed extremely strong preferences for the chelae and anterior walking legs. We also found that while the number of symbionts tends to increase with the host size, the two host species differed in the degree of symbiont infestation, with large C. typa hosting approximately 7× as many symbionts as the similarly sized N. jousseaumeia. The mechanisms resulting in the observed differences in infestation levels and microhabitat preferences of clausidium copepods among their hosts, including differences in physiology, burrowing pattern, and host grooming behavior should be further investigated.Population structure across a species distribution primarily reflects historical, ecological, and evolutionary processes. However, large-scale contemporaneous changes in land use have the potential to create changes in habitat quality and thereby cause changes in gene flow, population structure, and distributions. As such, land-use changes in one portion of a species range may explain declines in other portions of their range. For example, many burrowing owl populations have declined or become extirpated near the northern edge of the species' breeding distribution during the second half of the 20th century. In the same period, large extensions of thornscrub were converted to irrigated agriculture in northwestern Mexico. These irrigated areas may now support the highest densities of burrowing owls in North America. We tested the hypothesis that burrowing owls that colonized this recently created owl habitat in northwestern Mexico originated from declining migratory populations from the northern portion of the structure even in the absence of dispersal barriers.Jointly considering the ecology (e.g., habitat use) and genetics (e.g., population genetic structure and diversity) of a species can increase understanding of current conservation status and inform future management practices. Previous analyses indicate that mountain lion (Puma concolor) populations in California are genetically structured and exhibit extreme variation in population genetic diversity. Although human development may have fragmented gene flow, we hypothesized the quantity and quality of remaining habitat available would affect the genetic viability of each population. Our results indicate that area of suitable habitat, determined via a resource selection function derived using 843,500 location fixes from 263 radio-collared mountain lions, is strongly and positively associated with population genetic diversity and viability metrics, particularly with effective population size. Our results suggested that contiguous habitat of ≥10,000 km2 may be sufficient to alleviate the negative effects of genetic drift and inbreeding, allowing mountain lion populations to maintain suitable effective population sizes. Areas occupied by five of the nine geographic-genetic mountain lion populations in California fell below this habitat threshold, and two (Santa Monica Area and Santa Ana) of those five populations lack connectivity to nearby populations. Enhancing ecological conditions by protection of greater areas of suitable habitat and facilitating positive evolutionary processes by increasing connectivity (e.g., road-crossing structures) might promote persistence of small or isolated populations. The conservation status of suitable habitat also appeared to influence genetic diversity of populations. Thus, our results demonstrate that both the area and status (i.e., protected or unprotected) of suitable habitat influence the genetic viability of mountain lion populations.Bergmann's rule is a well-established, ecogeographical principle that states that body size varies positively with latitude, reflecting the thermoregulatory benefits of larger bodies as temperatures decline. However, this principle does not seem to easily apply to migratory species that are able to avoid the extreme temperatures during winter at higher latitudes. link2 Further, little is known about the ontogeny of this relationship across life stages or how it is influenced by ongoing global climate change. To address these knowledge gaps, we assessed the contemporary relationship between latitude and body size in a long-distance migratory species, the prothonotary warbler (Protonotaria citrea) across life stages (egg to adult) on their breeding grounds. link3 We also measured historic eggs (1865-1961) to assess if the relationship between latitude and size during this life stage has changed over time. In accordance with Bergmann's rule, we found a positive relationship between latitude and body mass during all post-embryonic life stages, from early nestling stage through adulthood. We observed this same predicted pattern with historic eggs, but contemporary eggs exhibited the reverse (negative) relationship. We suggest that these results indicate a genetic component to this pattern and speculate that selection for larger body size in altricial nestlings as latitude increases may possibly drive the pattern in migratory species as even rare extreme cold weather events may cause mortality during early life stages. Furthermore, the opposite relationships observed in eggs, dependent on time period, may be related to the rapidly warming environments of higher latitudes that is associated with climate change. Although it is unclear what mechanism(s) would allow for this recent reversal in eggs (but still allow for its maintenance in later life stages). This evidence of a reversal suggests that anthropogenic climate change may be in the process of altering one of the longest-standing principles in ecology.Declining forests usually face uncertain regeneration dynamics and recovery trajectories, which are challenging to forest management. In this study, we investigated the decline pattern of Castanopsis fargesii and examined the effects on conspecific seedling regeneration. We found that 61.45% of adult individuals were in decline and the smaller DBH size classes of trees (10-40 cm) had a greater probability of decline. Most of the intermediate decline (94.52%) and nondecline individuals (95.23%) did not worsen, and the crowns of 21.91% of the intermediate decline trees were recovered during 2013-2018. Adult tree decline had a negative effect on seed production (mean mature seed density of nondecline, intermediate decline, and high decline individuals was 167.3, 63.3, and 2.1 seeds/m2, respectively), but no effect on key seed traits. The seed survival rate of declining trees was greater than that of nondeclining trees at both the seed production and seed dispersal stages. The seed to seedling transition rates in canopy gaps, decline habitats, and nondecline habitats were 7.94%, 9.47%, and 109.24%, respectively. The survival rate and height growth of newly germinated seedlings were positively correlated with the light condition, which was notably accelerated in the canopy gaps. Taken together, these results indicate that the reduction in seed production of some adult trees had a weakly negative effect on new seedling recruitment, while the improved environmental condition after the decline significantly enhanced the survival and growth of both advanced and new germinated seedlings. Looking at the overall life history, the short-term defoliation and mortality of some C. fargesii adult trees can be regarded as a natural forest disturbance that favors conspecific seedling regeneration. High-intensity management measures would be unnecessary in cases of an emerging intermediate decline in this forest.The evolutionary stability of mutualistic interactions involving multiple partners requires "sanctioning"-the ability to influence the fitness of each partner based on its respective contribution. Sanctions must be sensitive to even small differences if even slightly less-beneficial partners could gain a fitness advantage by diverting resources away from the mutualistic service toward their own reproductive fitness. Here, we test whether legume hosts sanction even mediocre N2-fixing rhizobial strains by influencing either nodule growth (which limits rhizobial cell numbers) or carbon accumulation (polyhydroxybutryate or PHB) per rhizobial cell. We also test whether sanctions depend on the availability of less-expensive nitrogen alternatives, either as nitrate or coinoculation with a more-efficient isogenic strain. We found that nitrate eliminated differences in nodule size between the mediocre and more-efficient strains, suggesting that host sanctions were compromised. However, nitrate additions also decreased PHB accumulation by the mediocre strain, which may eliminate any fitness advantages of diverting resources from N2 fixation. Coinoculation with a more-efficient strain could also compromise host sanctions if reduction in fitness from smaller nodules does not offset the potential fitness gain from greater PHB accumulation that we observed in the mediocre strain. Hence, a host's ability to sanction mediocre strains depends not only on alternative sources of nitrogen but also the relative importance of different components of rhizobial fitness.Extensive range loss for the Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) has occurred in areas of intrusion by the Blue-winged Warbler (V. cyanoptera) potentially related to their close genetic relationship. We compiled data on social pairing from nine studies for 2,679 resident Vermivora to assess evolutionary divergence. Hybridization between pure phenotypes occurred with 1.2% of resident males for sympatric populations. Pairing success rates for Golden-winged Warblers was 83% and for Blue-winged Warblers was 77%. Pairing success for the hybrid Brewster's Warbler was significantly lower from both species at 54%, showing sexual selection against hybrids. Backcross frequencies for Golden-winged Warblers at 4.9% were significantly higher than for Blue-winged Warblers at 1.7%. More frequent backcrossing by Golden-winged Warblers, which produces hybrid phenotypes, may contribute to the replacement of Golden-winged by Blue-winged Warblers. Reproductive isolation due to behavioral isolation plus sexual selection against hybrids was 0.

09/07/2024


Which fashionable school was residence to Tom Brady, Elvis Grbac and Brian Griese during their faculty careers? In addition to producing arguably the best QB ever in Tom Brady, the Wolverines even have extra wins than another program in NCAA football historical past. Despite only being around since 1946, Houston has had a formidable history with a great winning share and several other members of the College Football Hall of Fame. https://www.miwolverinesjerseyhut.com/trey-pierce-jersey-c-104.html Narducci, Rachel E. https://www.miwolverinesjerseyhut.com/christian-boivin-jersey-c-79.html "Canis Dirus Leidy, 1858." Florida Museum of Natural History. Savoy missed a possible tying 3-pointer for Florida State with 58 seconds left. The school the place these gamers threw the ball during their school years is NC State. Taking over a program in 2007 that had been struggling for several years - partially because of NCAA sanctions associated to the “Fab Five” period - Beilein grew to become Michigan’s all-time winningest coach, setting a high commonplace for Howard to match, if not exceed. https://www.miwolverinesjerseyhut.com/anthony-arnou-jersey-c-78.html Meanwhile, Michigan’s offense, which ran 28 fewer plays than Wisconsin, was stagnant yet once more.

Cosby performed fullback for the Temple University Owls, and likewise ran track and discipline. Michigan drove the size of the field and superior to the Penn State three yard line. https://www.miwolverinesjerseyhut.com/josaiah-stewart-jersey-c-66.html Dave Allerdice contributed 17 factors on two subject objectives and 9 extra factors. The 1997 team led the nation with 47.2 points per sport behind a relentless speeding assault that featured Frost (1,232 passing yards, 1,095 speeding yards, 24 whole touchdowns), Ahman Green (1,877 rushing yards, 22 TDs) and Makovicka (685 dashing yards, nine TDs). The Wolverines are coming off a 42-3 drubbing of No. 13 Iowa in the large Ten championship recreation. But there are no guarantees on signing day. January 18, 2011, was a pink-letter day for Austin, by now a 6'6" sophomore at Canterbury High."It was the one recreation Coach Beilein got here to see me play," Austin recalled. "We beat a rival from one other city 88-82.'' With true Hatch humility, Austin didn't point out his personal successes, as an alternative leaving it to ESPN to report how that day Beilein watched Austin singlehandedly rating 30 points and seize 16 rebounds in opposition to local rival Bishop Luers High school. Great Lakes' solely points came on a safety in the first quarter after Dan Dworsky fumbled and Ponsetto recovered the ball in the long run zone.

Minnesota won the sport by a 7 to 0 score on a 5-yard touchdown run by halfback Herman Frickey in the second quarter. Michigan scored a second touchdown "just earlier than the inning was called," and led 12 to zero at the intermission. Michigan rushed for 381 yards, together with 115 yards and two touchdowns by Ed Shuttlesworth, 78 yards and a touchdown by Harry Banks, 75 yards by Dennis Franklin, and 26 yards and a touchdown by Clint Haslerig. Quarterback Rick Leach completed eight of 12 passes for 179 yards and led the scoring with two rushing touchdowns and two passing touchdowns. The workforce included future College Football Hall of Fame inductee Willie Heston, who scored 20 touchdowns for a hundred factors that season; touchdowns have been value 5 points under 1904 rules. Nebraska has been one of the vital prolific school soccer programs in historical past, as it has received nearly 900 video games and 5 claimed nationwide championships as of the beginning of the 2019 season. Sang, Orion (June 20, 2019). "Jordan Poole taken by Golden State Warriors in 1st round of NBA draft". Wywrot, Tom (December 3, 2019). "Wolverines Fall at No. 1 Louisville in Big Ten/ACC Challenge". Ablauf, Dave; Shepard, Chad (December 9, 2021). "Moody Becomes Michigan's First-Ever Lou Groza Award Winner".

Detroit Free Press. December 5, 1909. p. Fielding H. Yost for the Detroit Free Press. Detroit Free Press. October 18, 1914. p. William H. Richards (October 1927). "Dedication Ceremony Marked By Simplicity: Short Parade of Notables Formally Anoints New Castle of Athletics earlier than Players Finish Task". Baumgardner, Nick (October 5, 2017). "Michigan, Michigan State Ads ask for 'civility and respect' from followers this weekend". Joe Jackson (October 22, 1905). "HELD SCORELESS IN FIRST, MICHIGAN WENT AFTER NEBRASKA FOR A 31 TO zero CONCLUSION: Fumbles in First Half Made Sad the Faithful, Who Did not Realize That Michigan Was Just Making a Joke". Before the Alabama recreation, the Bulldogs have been averaging lower than seven factors allowed per game. The first half ended in a 7-7 tie, however in the second half, Michigan State coach Charlie Bachman substituted sophomore halfback, John Pingel, into the game. Coming into this recreation, Walker was second in the country in complete rush yards and had garnered Heisman talk.

Lytle totaled 3,085 career rushing yards after the Illinois sport, surpassing Billy Taylor's college file by thirteen yards. The varsity where those three gamers played was the University of Nebraska. The Chronicle additionally reported that curiosity in sports activities was diminishing among the scholars at Cornell University (which grew to become a football rival for Michigan within the late 1880s and 1890s), and that rugby had not been introduced there. The Michigan soccer spring sport was closed to the general public and the media, but we are getting some word about what occurred. This school has had Dan Fouts, Kellen Clemens and Norm Van Brocklin start for its group, which school are we speaking about? https://www.miwolverinesjerseyhut.com/tyler-mclaurin-jersey-c-54.html Despite the many personnel modifications, head coach Fritz Crisler in late June 1945 predicted a "flying start" for the 1945 staff. Despite having a winning report and being round for well over 100 years, the NC State Wolfpack has never received a national championship. While the team has made it to 2 nationwide championship games over the years, it has never been in a position to seize the trophy. Michigan defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, who was named the massive Ten's Defensive Lineman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year earlier this week, was crowned the Grange-Griffin Big Ten Championship Game MVP - the convention's first defensive participant to receive the honors.

09/07/2024


"Enunciation" entails the opposition between "Enunciation" and "Utterance" Domains. The first links, as co-enunciators, the signer/speaker and his/her addressee, establishing them by the very "act of enunciation" as 1st and 2nd person. The second is internal to the discourse produced. Grounding on corpora of narratives in several SLs (some with no historical link), we illustrate this crucial role of eye-gaze and the diversity of functions it fulfills. Our analyses, carried out in this perspective, attest to the multiple structural similarities between SLs, particularly with regard to transfer structures. This result strongly supports the typological hypothesis underlying our approach, namely, that these structures are common to all SLs. We thus show that an enunciative analysis, based on the key role of eye-gaze in these visual languages that are SLs, is able to give the simplest account of their own linguistic economy and, in particular, of deixis-anaphora in these languages.Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) participate at lower rates in their community, and their caregivers experience higher levels of stress, in comparison to families of typically developing (TD) children. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/pi3k-hdac-inhibitor-i.html The social model of disability positions the environment as the central issue when children with disabilities are unable to participate, yet little is known about the relationship between poor community support, reduced community participation in children with ASD, and caregiver stress. This study examined caregiver perceptions of community supportiveness for the community participation of 48 children with ASD (aged 5-12 years), alongside caregiver-reported child ASD symptom severity, adaptive functioning, and caregiver stress. Community supportiveness predicted child involvement, but not attendance, when child characteristics were held constant. Caregiver perceptions of low community supportiveness significantly predicted caregiver feelings of isolation. The importance of modifying community programs to better support inclusion of children with ASD is discussed.Emergencies that occur during natural disasters, such as avalanches, earthquakes, and floods, tend to be sudden, unexpected, and ephemeral and recruit defensive responses, similar to the ones recruited when faced with dangerous animals. Defensive behaviors are triggered by activity in survival circuits that detects imminent threats and fear is the conscious emotion of that follows immediately. But this particular threat (COVID-19) is useable and mysterious, triggering anxieties much more than fear. We conducted a literature search on May 1, 2020 in Google Scholar, PsychInfo, and PubMed with search terms related to COVID-19 fears and found 28 relevant articles. We categorized the papers into six groups based on the content and implications fear of the unknown, social isolation, hypochondriasis, disgust, information-driven fears, and compliance. Considering the nature of fear and anxiety, combined with the characteristics of the present COVID-19 situation, we contemplate that physicians and other health care workers of several specialties, as well as police officers, fire-fighters, and rescue personnel, and first responders might be more able to deal with COVID-19 if they have (a) some tolerance of the unknown, (b) low illness anxiety disorder, (c) tolerance to social isolation; (d) low levels of disgust sensitivity; (e) be granted financial support, (f) have priority if needed medical assistance (g) use caution relatively to the COVID-19 media coverage and (h) be trained to have high levels of efficacy. Possibilities for preventive and therapeutic interventions that can help both health care personnel and the general population are also discussed.This study adopts the social learning theory to explain how and when ethical leadership can predict knowledge sharing in the context of Chinese higher education. We collected two-wave data from 302 postgraduate students from 38 scientific research teams in Chinese universities. link2 The results of this study show that ethical leadership has a direct and positive effect on knowledge sharing, and prosocial motivation fully mediates this relationship. Moreover, the boundary conditions for such effects have affirmed the positive effects of dutifulness and the adverse effects of achievement-striving on the relationship between prosocial motivation and knowledge sharing. The indirect effects of ethical leadership on knowledge sharing are stronger when dutifulness is high and achievement-striving is low. Several theoretical and practical implications are provided by this study. It suggests that the role of prosocial motivation, in tandem with the two facets of conscientiousness, deserves to be highlighted when studying knowledge sharing behavior in correlation with ethical leadership.The core of labor education is to shape labor values. For China, a socialist country, the purpose of labor education is to establish labor values based on the Sinicization of Marxism. Thus, according to the theoretical analysis of labor values and the interpretation of government policies of Chinese scholars, the present study constructed a scale on labor values from five dimensions honest labor value, equality status of labor value, cherishing labor value, loving labor value, and distribution value according to work. By using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, this scale was able to achieve high reliability and validity, as well as high external correlation validity. Notably, this was the first study to develop a scale on labor values from the perspective of empirical research, promoting an empirical trend in labor value research.The current research investigated the role that a person's race, gender, and emotional expressions play in workplace evaluations of their competence and status. Previous research demonstrates that women who express anger in the workplace are penalized, whereas men are not, and may even be rewarded. Workplace sanctions against angry women are often attributed to a backlash resulting from the violation of gender stereotypes. However, gender stereotypes may differ by race. The present study addressed this question using a between-subjects experimental design where participants (N = 630) read a vignette describing a new employee, which varied with respect to the employee's race (White, Black, Asian, and Latino/a/x), gender (male and female), and a prior emotional response (anger and sadness). Participants then evaluated the employee's competence and status. Findings revealed that men and women were both viewed as more competent when expressing anger relative to sadness, and this pattern did not differ across employee race. However, despite anger being associated with greater competence, women who violated stereotypes (i.e., expressed anger) were accorded lower status than stereotype-inconsistent (sad) men. Furthermore, exploratory analyses revealed that this pattern was consistent regardless of target and participant race. The current study replicates and extends previous research by employing an intersectional perspective and using a large, ethnically diverse sample to explore the interaction between gender and emotional expression on workplace evaluations across races.Social entrepreneurs are generally believed to have started their venture to improve societal needs and create social value. Yet, in order to achieve continuity of their organization, they need to generate economic value as well. These seemingly opposite objectives of social and economic value creation can cause tensions in social enterprises. This study aims to derive in-depth insights into personal dispositions and motivations of social entrepreneurs, with a specific focus on empathy. The study assesses differences in motivations of social entrepreneurs and how moral empathy helps them to cope with tensions that arise from trying to achieve both commercial and social goals. link3 Analysis of semi-structured interviews with 33 social entrepreneurs in Belgium explores the tension between social and economic objectives as a paradox social entrepreneurs have to deal with. First, empathy is an important motivator, but not for all entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs who are driven by empathy often indicate that experiencing a critical life event has led to certain business choices. The life event does not always directly lead to increased empathy but often changes an entrepreneur's career or life path. Second, while social entrepreneurs are supposed to stress social impact, some respondents firmly state that financial impact is more important to their organization. The results show that social entrepreneurs display other motivations that are typical for "traditional" (commercial) entrepreneurs as well, such as self-realization and the sense of doing meaningful work. Empathy seems to play an important role in successfully dealing with the paradox and tensions between social and economic value creation, and more specifically to prevent mission drift.The COVID-19 quarantine has affected more than 860 million children and adolescents worldwide, but to date, no study has been developed within Western countries to examine the psychological impact on their lives. The present study aims to examine for the first time the emotional impact of the quarantine on children and adolescents from Italy and Spain, two of the countries most affected by COVID-19. Participants were 1,143 parents of Italian and Spanish children aged 3 to 18 years who completed a survey providing information about how the quarantine affects their children and themselves, compared to before the home confinement. Results show that 85.7% of the parents perceived changes in their children's emotional state and behaviors during the quarantine. The most frequent symptoms were difficulty concentrating (76.6%), boredom (52%), irritability (39%), restlessness (38.8%), nervousness (38%), feelings of loneliness (31.3%), uneasiness (30.4%), and worries (30.1%). Spanish parents reported more symptoms than Italians. As expected, children of both countries used monitors more frequently, spent less time doing physical activity, and slept more hours during the quarantine. Furthermore, when family coexistence during quarantine became more difficult, the situation was more serious, and the level of stress was higher, parents tended to report more emotional problems in their children. The quarantine impacts considerably on Italian and Spanish youth, reinforcing the need to detect children with problems as early as possible to improve their psychological well-being.The worldwide outbreak of COVID-19, the ensuing pandemic, and the related containment measures pose considerable challenges to psychological resilience and well-being. Researchers are now forced to look for resources to cope with negative experiences linked to this health emergency. According to the salutogenic approach proposed by Antonovsky, the sense of coherence (SOC) is a major source of resilience. Thus, this study aimed at assessing the role of SOC in moderating the link between illness experiences (in terms of knowing persons diagnosed with COVID-19 and fear of contracting COVID-19) and psychological well-being. 2,784 participants, taken from a large sample of the Italian population (65.4% females) and aged between 18 and 85 years, filled in an anonymous online survey during the 3rd week of the lockdown. Findings supported the moderating role of SOC in shaping the link between illness experiences and psychological well-being. Specifically, participants who knew at least one person diagnosed with COVID-19 showed lower levels of psychological well-being at low levels of SOC.

Videos

09/06/2024

In this episode of Direct Impact, Rick Sanchez, alongside veteran war correspondent Ghadi Francis, takes a closer look at the rising tensions in the South China Sea, where clashes between Chinese and Philippine coast guards are sparking international concern. Rick delves into the broader geopolitical implications of this maritime dispute, unpacking the region’s strategic and economic importance. The episode also explores US Attorney General Merrick Garland’s recent warnings about foreign election interference and contrasts them with the significant influence of lobbyists in American politics. To round out the discussion, Rick is joined by independent journalist Sarah Bils to analyze the fallout from a challenging week for both Israel and Ukraine.

09/04/2024

Could Brazil’s ban against X come to the U.S. next?

With powerful people here in America praising the ban — and the possibility of sanctions against Musk’s other company Starlink — it’s time to seriously address this question…

07/29/2024

An incredible scene in Venezuela as protesters have seemingly taken over, after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's re-election is announced.

So far, the US has condemned this election accusing the president of electoral manipulation and opening the door for sanctions.

People

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09/06/2024

In this episode of Direct Impact, Rick Sanchez, alongside veteran war correspondent Ghadi Francis, takes a closer look at the rising tensions in the South China Sea, where clashes between Chinese and Philippine coast guards are sparking international concern. Rick delves into the broader geopolitical implications of this maritime dispute, unpacking the region’s strategic and economic importance. The episode also explores US Attorney General Merrick Garland’s recent warnings about foreign election interference and contrasts them with the significant influence of lobbyists in American politics. To round out the discussion, Rick is joined by independent journalist Sarah Bils to analyze the fallout from a challenging week for both Israel and Ukraine.

09/04/2024

Could Brazil’s ban against X come to the U.S. next?

With powerful people here in America praising the ban — and the possibility of sanctions against Musk’s other company Starlink — it’s time to seriously address this question…

07/29/2024

An incredible scene in Venezuela as protesters have seemingly taken over, after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's re-election is announced.

So far, the US has condemned this election accusing the president of electoral manipulation and opening the door for sanctions.

On this episode of The Cost of Everything, we take a closer look at the wine industry, the emerging wine markets, and the true costs for producers compared to the price tag at the wine store. Host Christy Ai spoke with wine award winner Carmen Stevens from Carmen Stevens Wines about the procedures for producing excellent quality wine, especially in South Africa, how politics and sanctions play a role in the import and export of wine, and how countries like China, which traditionally have not consumed wine, have become big wine importers.

06/20/2023

On this episode of The M.O., host Manila Chan delves into the devastating earthquakes that ravaged Turkiye and Syria on February 6th and the selective humanity shown by Western nations toward the Syrian people. Manila sits down veteran war correspondent and Middle East analyst Elijah Magnier to understand the impact the Western-imposed sanctions are having on the Syrian people.

Posts

3 hrs ago


Seedlings that recovered from fire and frost treatments were often shorter than those that had not been exposed to any disturbance, with multiple thin branches, which may increase vulnerability to the next frost or fire event. Synthesis. #link# Fire caused more severe aboveground damage compared with a single frost event, suggesting that fire is an important driver of tree distribution in these open grassland systems. However, the impact of repeated frost events may be equally severe and needs to be investigated. Also, woody species composition may be influenced by phenomena that affect the timing and frequency of seedling exposure to damage, as mortality was found to be dependent on seedling age. Therefore, https://www.selleckchem.com/products/pf-477736.html in fire regime and climate are likely to result in changes in the composition and the structure of the woody components of these systems.We examined the host specificity of two ectosymbiotic Clausidium Kossman, 1874 copepods (Cyclopoida Clausiididae) on two co-occurrence species of host ghost shrimps. Our results revealed that both species of symbiotic copepod demonstrated extremely high host specificity. Moreover, within a single host shrimp species, each symbiont species displayed strong spatial patterns in microhabitat selection on their hosts' bodies. Clausidium persiaensis Sepahvand & Kihara, 2017, was only found on the host Callianidea typa Milne Edwards, 1837 and almost exclusively within the host shrimp gill chamber, while C. iranensis Sepahvand, Kihara, & Boxshall, 2019 was only found on the host Neocallichirus jousseaumei (Nobili, 1904) and showed extremely strong preferences for the chelae and anterior walking legs. We also found that while the number of symbionts tends to increase with the host size, the two host species differed in the degree of symbiont infestation, with large C. typa hosting approximately 7× as many symbionts as the similarly sized N. jousseaumeia. The mechanisms resulting in the observed differences in infestation levels and microhabitat preferences of clausidium copepods among their hosts, including differences in physiology, burrowing pattern, and host grooming behavior should be further investigated.Population structure across a species distribution primarily reflects historical, ecological, and evolutionary processes. However, large-scale contemporaneous changes in land use have the potential to create changes in habitat quality and thereby cause changes in gene flow, population structure, and distributions. As such, land-use changes in one portion of a species range may explain declines in other portions of their range. For example, many burrowing owl populations have declined or become extirpated near the northern edge of the species' breeding distribution during the second half of the 20th century. In the same period, large extensions of thornscrub were converted to irrigated agriculture in northwestern Mexico. These irrigated areas may now support the highest densities of burrowing owls in North America. We tested the hypothesis that burrowing owls that colonized this recently created owl habitat in northwestern Mexico originated from declining migratory populations from the northern portion of the structure even in the absence of dispersal barriers.Jointly considering the ecology (e.g., habitat use) and genetics (e.g., population genetic structure and diversity) of a species can increase understanding of current conservation status and inform future management practices. Previous analyses indicate that mountain lion (Puma concolor) populations in California are genetically structured and exhibit extreme variation in population genetic diversity. Although human development may have fragmented gene flow, we hypothesized the quantity and quality of remaining habitat available would affect the genetic viability of each population. Our results indicate that area of suitable habitat, determined via a resource selection function derived using 843,500 location fixes from 263 radio-collared mountain lions, is strongly and positively associated with population genetic diversity and viability metrics, particularly with effective population size. Our results suggested that contiguous habitat of ≥10,000 km2 may be sufficient to alleviate the negative effects of genetic drift and inbreeding, allowing mountain lion populations to maintain suitable effective population sizes. Areas occupied by five of the nine geographic-genetic mountain lion populations in California fell below this habitat threshold, and two (Santa Monica Area and Santa Ana) of those five populations lack connectivity to nearby populations. Enhancing ecological conditions by protection of greater areas of suitable habitat and facilitating positive evolutionary processes by increasing connectivity (e.g., road-crossing structures) might promote persistence of small or isolated populations. The conservation status of suitable habitat also appeared to influence genetic diversity of populations. Thus, our results demonstrate that both the area and status (i.e., protected or unprotected) of suitable habitat influence the genetic viability of mountain lion populations.Bergmann's rule is a well-established, ecogeographical principle that states that body size varies positively with latitude, reflecting the thermoregulatory benefits of larger bodies as temperatures decline. However, this principle does not seem to easily apply to migratory species that are able to avoid the extreme temperatures during winter at higher latitudes. link2 Further, little is known about the ontogeny of this relationship across life stages or how it is influenced by ongoing global climate change. To address these knowledge gaps, we assessed the contemporary relationship between latitude and body size in a long-distance migratory species, the prothonotary warbler (Protonotaria citrea) across life stages (egg to adult) on their breeding grounds. link3 We also measured historic eggs (1865-1961) to assess if the relationship between latitude and size during this life stage has changed over time. In accordance with Bergmann's rule, we found a positive relationship between latitude and body mass during all post-embryonic life stages, from early nestling stage through adulthood. We observed this same predicted pattern with historic eggs, but contemporary eggs exhibited the reverse (negative) relationship. We suggest that these results indicate a genetic component to this pattern and speculate that selection for larger body size in altricial nestlings as latitude increases may possibly drive the pattern in migratory species as even rare extreme cold weather events may cause mortality during early life stages. Furthermore, the opposite relationships observed in eggs, dependent on time period, may be related to the rapidly warming environments of higher latitudes that is associated with climate change. Although it is unclear what mechanism(s) would allow for this recent reversal in eggs (but still allow for its maintenance in later life stages). This evidence of a reversal suggests that anthropogenic climate change may be in the process of altering one of the longest-standing principles in ecology.Declining forests usually face uncertain regeneration dynamics and recovery trajectories, which are challenging to forest management. In this study, we investigated the decline pattern of Castanopsis fargesii and examined the effects on conspecific seedling regeneration. We found that 61.45% of adult individuals were in decline and the smaller DBH size classes of trees (10-40 cm) had a greater probability of decline. Most of the intermediate decline (94.52%) and nondecline individuals (95.23%) did not worsen, and the crowns of 21.91% of the intermediate decline trees were recovered during 2013-2018. Adult tree decline had a negative effect on seed production (mean mature seed density of nondecline, intermediate decline, and high decline individuals was 167.3, 63.3, and 2.1 seeds/m2, respectively), but no effect on key seed traits. The seed survival rate of declining trees was greater than that of nondeclining trees at both the seed production and seed dispersal stages. The seed to seedling transition rates in canopy gaps, decline habitats, and nondecline habitats were 7.94%, 9.47%, and 109.24%, respectively. The survival rate and height growth of newly germinated seedlings were positively correlated with the light condition, which was notably accelerated in the canopy gaps. Taken together, these results indicate that the reduction in seed production of some adult trees had a weakly negative effect on new seedling recruitment, while the improved environmental condition after the decline significantly enhanced the survival and growth of both advanced and new germinated seedlings. Looking at the overall life history, the short-term defoliation and mortality of some C. fargesii adult trees can be regarded as a natural forest disturbance that favors conspecific seedling regeneration. High-intensity management measures would be unnecessary in cases of an emerging intermediate decline in this forest.The evolutionary stability of mutualistic interactions involving multiple partners requires "sanctioning"-the ability to influence the fitness of each partner based on its respective contribution. Sanctions must be sensitive to even small differences if even slightly less-beneficial partners could gain a fitness advantage by diverting resources away from the mutualistic service toward their own reproductive fitness. Here, we test whether legume hosts sanction even mediocre N2-fixing rhizobial strains by influencing either nodule growth (which limits rhizobial cell numbers) or carbon accumulation (polyhydroxybutryate or PHB) per rhizobial cell. We also test whether sanctions depend on the availability of less-expensive nitrogen alternatives, either as nitrate or coinoculation with a more-efficient isogenic strain. We found that nitrate eliminated differences in nodule size between the mediocre and more-efficient strains, suggesting that host sanctions were compromised. However, nitrate additions also decreased PHB accumulation by the mediocre strain, which may eliminate any fitness advantages of diverting resources from N2 fixation. Coinoculation with a more-efficient strain could also compromise host sanctions if reduction in fitness from smaller nodules does not offset the potential fitness gain from greater PHB accumulation that we observed in the mediocre strain. Hence, a host's ability to sanction mediocre strains depends not only on alternative sources of nitrogen but also the relative importance of different components of rhizobial fitness.Extensive range loss for the Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) has occurred in areas of intrusion by the Blue-winged Warbler (V. cyanoptera) potentially related to their close genetic relationship. We compiled data on social pairing from nine studies for 2,679 resident Vermivora to assess evolutionary divergence. Hybridization between pure phenotypes occurred with 1.2% of resident males for sympatric populations. Pairing success rates for Golden-winged Warblers was 83% and for Blue-winged Warblers was 77%. Pairing success for the hybrid Brewster's Warbler was significantly lower from both species at 54%, showing sexual selection against hybrids. Backcross frequencies for Golden-winged Warblers at 4.9% were significantly higher than for Blue-winged Warblers at 1.7%. More frequent backcrossing by Golden-winged Warblers, which produces hybrid phenotypes, may contribute to the replacement of Golden-winged by Blue-winged Warblers. Reproductive isolation due to behavioral isolation plus sexual selection against hybrids was 0.

09/07/2024


Which fashionable school was residence to Tom Brady, Elvis Grbac and Brian Griese during their faculty careers? In addition to producing arguably the best QB ever in Tom Brady, the Wolverines even have extra wins than another program in NCAA football historical past. Despite only being around since 1946, Houston has had a formidable history with a great winning share and several other members of the College Football Hall of Fame. https://www.miwolverinesjerseyhut.com/trey-pierce-jersey-c-104.html Narducci, Rachel E. https://www.miwolverinesjerseyhut.com/christian-boivin-jersey-c-79.html "Canis Dirus Leidy, 1858." Florida Museum of Natural History. Savoy missed a possible tying 3-pointer for Florida State with 58 seconds left. The school the place these gamers threw the ball during their school years is NC State. Taking over a program in 2007 that had been struggling for several years - partially because of NCAA sanctions associated to the “Fab Five” period - Beilein grew to become Michigan’s all-time winningest coach, setting a high commonplace for Howard to match, if not exceed. https://www.miwolverinesjerseyhut.com/anthony-arnou-jersey-c-78.html Meanwhile, Michigan’s offense, which ran 28 fewer plays than Wisconsin, was stagnant yet once more.

Cosby performed fullback for the Temple University Owls, and likewise ran track and discipline. Michigan drove the size of the field and superior to the Penn State three yard line. https://www.miwolverinesjerseyhut.com/josaiah-stewart-jersey-c-66.html Dave Allerdice contributed 17 factors on two subject objectives and 9 extra factors. The 1997 team led the nation with 47.2 points per sport behind a relentless speeding assault that featured Frost (1,232 passing yards, 1,095 speeding yards, 24 whole touchdowns), Ahman Green (1,877 rushing yards, 22 TDs) and Makovicka (685 dashing yards, nine TDs). The Wolverines are coming off a 42-3 drubbing of No. 13 Iowa in the large Ten championship recreation. But there are no guarantees on signing day. January 18, 2011, was a pink-letter day for Austin, by now a 6'6" sophomore at Canterbury High."It was the one recreation Coach Beilein got here to see me play," Austin recalled. "We beat a rival from one other city 88-82.'' With true Hatch humility, Austin didn't point out his personal successes, as an alternative leaving it to ESPN to report how that day Beilein watched Austin singlehandedly rating 30 points and seize 16 rebounds in opposition to local rival Bishop Luers High school. Great Lakes' solely points came on a safety in the first quarter after Dan Dworsky fumbled and Ponsetto recovered the ball in the long run zone.

Minnesota won the sport by a 7 to 0 score on a 5-yard touchdown run by halfback Herman Frickey in the second quarter. Michigan scored a second touchdown "just earlier than the inning was called," and led 12 to zero at the intermission. Michigan rushed for 381 yards, together with 115 yards and two touchdowns by Ed Shuttlesworth, 78 yards and a touchdown by Harry Banks, 75 yards by Dennis Franklin, and 26 yards and a touchdown by Clint Haslerig. Quarterback Rick Leach completed eight of 12 passes for 179 yards and led the scoring with two rushing touchdowns and two passing touchdowns. The workforce included future College Football Hall of Fame inductee Willie Heston, who scored 20 touchdowns for a hundred factors that season; touchdowns have been value 5 points under 1904 rules. Nebraska has been one of the vital prolific school soccer programs in historical past, as it has received nearly 900 video games and 5 claimed nationwide championships as of the beginning of the 2019 season. Sang, Orion (June 20, 2019). "Jordan Poole taken by Golden State Warriors in 1st round of NBA draft". Wywrot, Tom (December 3, 2019). "Wolverines Fall at No. 1 Louisville in Big Ten/ACC Challenge". Ablauf, Dave; Shepard, Chad (December 9, 2021). "Moody Becomes Michigan's First-Ever Lou Groza Award Winner".

Detroit Free Press. December 5, 1909. p. Fielding H. Yost for the Detroit Free Press. Detroit Free Press. October 18, 1914. p. William H. Richards (October 1927). "Dedication Ceremony Marked By Simplicity: Short Parade of Notables Formally Anoints New Castle of Athletics earlier than Players Finish Task". Baumgardner, Nick (October 5, 2017). "Michigan, Michigan State Ads ask for 'civility and respect' from followers this weekend". Joe Jackson (October 22, 1905). "HELD SCORELESS IN FIRST, MICHIGAN WENT AFTER NEBRASKA FOR A 31 TO zero CONCLUSION: Fumbles in First Half Made Sad the Faithful, Who Did not Realize That Michigan Was Just Making a Joke". Before the Alabama recreation, the Bulldogs have been averaging lower than seven factors allowed per game. The first half ended in a 7-7 tie, however in the second half, Michigan State coach Charlie Bachman substituted sophomore halfback, John Pingel, into the game. Coming into this recreation, Walker was second in the country in complete rush yards and had garnered Heisman talk.

Lytle totaled 3,085 career rushing yards after the Illinois sport, surpassing Billy Taylor's college file by thirteen yards. The varsity where those three gamers played was the University of Nebraska. The Chronicle additionally reported that curiosity in sports activities was diminishing among the scholars at Cornell University (which grew to become a football rival for Michigan within the late 1880s and 1890s), and that rugby had not been introduced there. The Michigan soccer spring sport was closed to the general public and the media, but we are getting some word about what occurred. This school has had Dan Fouts, Kellen Clemens and Norm Van Brocklin start for its group, which school are we speaking about? https://www.miwolverinesjerseyhut.com/tyler-mclaurin-jersey-c-54.html Despite the many personnel modifications, head coach Fritz Crisler in late June 1945 predicted a "flying start" for the 1945 staff. Despite having a winning report and being round for well over 100 years, the NC State Wolfpack has never received a national championship. While the team has made it to 2 nationwide championship games over the years, it has never been in a position to seize the trophy. Michigan defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, who was named the massive Ten's Defensive Lineman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year earlier this week, was crowned the Grange-Griffin Big Ten Championship Game MVP - the convention's first defensive participant to receive the honors.

09/07/2024


"Enunciation" entails the opposition between "Enunciation" and "Utterance" Domains. The first links, as co-enunciators, the signer/speaker and his/her addressee, establishing them by the very "act of enunciation" as 1st and 2nd person. The second is internal to the discourse produced. Grounding on corpora of narratives in several SLs (some with no historical link), we illustrate this crucial role of eye-gaze and the diversity of functions it fulfills. Our analyses, carried out in this perspective, attest to the multiple structural similarities between SLs, particularly with regard to transfer structures. This result strongly supports the typological hypothesis underlying our approach, namely, that these structures are common to all SLs. We thus show that an enunciative analysis, based on the key role of eye-gaze in these visual languages that are SLs, is able to give the simplest account of their own linguistic economy and, in particular, of deixis-anaphora in these languages.Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) participate at lower rates in their community, and their caregivers experience higher levels of stress, in comparison to families of typically developing (TD) children. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/pi3k-hdac-inhibitor-i.html The social model of disability positions the environment as the central issue when children with disabilities are unable to participate, yet little is known about the relationship between poor community support, reduced community participation in children with ASD, and caregiver stress. This study examined caregiver perceptions of community supportiveness for the community participation of 48 children with ASD (aged 5-12 years), alongside caregiver-reported child ASD symptom severity, adaptive functioning, and caregiver stress. Community supportiveness predicted child involvement, but not attendance, when child characteristics were held constant. Caregiver perceptions of low community supportiveness significantly predicted caregiver feelings of isolation. The importance of modifying community programs to better support inclusion of children with ASD is discussed.Emergencies that occur during natural disasters, such as avalanches, earthquakes, and floods, tend to be sudden, unexpected, and ephemeral and recruit defensive responses, similar to the ones recruited when faced with dangerous animals. Defensive behaviors are triggered by activity in survival circuits that detects imminent threats and fear is the conscious emotion of that follows immediately. But this particular threat (COVID-19) is useable and mysterious, triggering anxieties much more than fear. We conducted a literature search on May 1, 2020 in Google Scholar, PsychInfo, and PubMed with search terms related to COVID-19 fears and found 28 relevant articles. We categorized the papers into six groups based on the content and implications fear of the unknown, social isolation, hypochondriasis, disgust, information-driven fears, and compliance. Considering the nature of fear and anxiety, combined with the characteristics of the present COVID-19 situation, we contemplate that physicians and other health care workers of several specialties, as well as police officers, fire-fighters, and rescue personnel, and first responders might be more able to deal with COVID-19 if they have (a) some tolerance of the unknown, (b) low illness anxiety disorder, (c) tolerance to social isolation; (d) low levels of disgust sensitivity; (e) be granted financial support, (f) have priority if needed medical assistance (g) use caution relatively to the COVID-19 media coverage and (h) be trained to have high levels of efficacy. Possibilities for preventive and therapeutic interventions that can help both health care personnel and the general population are also discussed.This study adopts the social learning theory to explain how and when ethical leadership can predict knowledge sharing in the context of Chinese higher education. We collected two-wave data from 302 postgraduate students from 38 scientific research teams in Chinese universities. link2 The results of this study show that ethical leadership has a direct and positive effect on knowledge sharing, and prosocial motivation fully mediates this relationship. Moreover, the boundary conditions for such effects have affirmed the positive effects of dutifulness and the adverse effects of achievement-striving on the relationship between prosocial motivation and knowledge sharing. The indirect effects of ethical leadership on knowledge sharing are stronger when dutifulness is high and achievement-striving is low. Several theoretical and practical implications are provided by this study. It suggests that the role of prosocial motivation, in tandem with the two facets of conscientiousness, deserves to be highlighted when studying knowledge sharing behavior in correlation with ethical leadership.The core of labor education is to shape labor values. For China, a socialist country, the purpose of labor education is to establish labor values based on the Sinicization of Marxism. Thus, according to the theoretical analysis of labor values and the interpretation of government policies of Chinese scholars, the present study constructed a scale on labor values from five dimensions honest labor value, equality status of labor value, cherishing labor value, loving labor value, and distribution value according to work. By using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, this scale was able to achieve high reliability and validity, as well as high external correlation validity. Notably, this was the first study to develop a scale on labor values from the perspective of empirical research, promoting an empirical trend in labor value research.The current research investigated the role that a person's race, gender, and emotional expressions play in workplace evaluations of their competence and status. Previous research demonstrates that women who express anger in the workplace are penalized, whereas men are not, and may even be rewarded. Workplace sanctions against angry women are often attributed to a backlash resulting from the violation of gender stereotypes. However, gender stereotypes may differ by race. The present study addressed this question using a between-subjects experimental design where participants (N = 630) read a vignette describing a new employee, which varied with respect to the employee's race (White, Black, Asian, and Latino/a/x), gender (male and female), and a prior emotional response (anger and sadness). Participants then evaluated the employee's competence and status. Findings revealed that men and women were both viewed as more competent when expressing anger relative to sadness, and this pattern did not differ across employee race. However, despite anger being associated with greater competence, women who violated stereotypes (i.e., expressed anger) were accorded lower status than stereotype-inconsistent (sad) men. Furthermore, exploratory analyses revealed that this pattern was consistent regardless of target and participant race. The current study replicates and extends previous research by employing an intersectional perspective and using a large, ethnically diverse sample to explore the interaction between gender and emotional expression on workplace evaluations across races.Social entrepreneurs are generally believed to have started their venture to improve societal needs and create social value. Yet, in order to achieve continuity of their organization, they need to generate economic value as well. These seemingly opposite objectives of social and economic value creation can cause tensions in social enterprises. This study aims to derive in-depth insights into personal dispositions and motivations of social entrepreneurs, with a specific focus on empathy. The study assesses differences in motivations of social entrepreneurs and how moral empathy helps them to cope with tensions that arise from trying to achieve both commercial and social goals. link3 Analysis of semi-structured interviews with 33 social entrepreneurs in Belgium explores the tension between social and economic objectives as a paradox social entrepreneurs have to deal with. First, empathy is an important motivator, but not for all entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs who are driven by empathy often indicate that experiencing a critical life event has led to certain business choices. The life event does not always directly lead to increased empathy but often changes an entrepreneur's career or life path. Second, while social entrepreneurs are supposed to stress social impact, some respondents firmly state that financial impact is more important to their organization. The results show that social entrepreneurs display other motivations that are typical for "traditional" (commercial) entrepreneurs as well, such as self-realization and the sense of doing meaningful work. Empathy seems to play an important role in successfully dealing with the paradox and tensions between social and economic value creation, and more specifically to prevent mission drift.The COVID-19 quarantine has affected more than 860 million children and adolescents worldwide, but to date, no study has been developed within Western countries to examine the psychological impact on their lives. The present study aims to examine for the first time the emotional impact of the quarantine on children and adolescents from Italy and Spain, two of the countries most affected by COVID-19. Participants were 1,143 parents of Italian and Spanish children aged 3 to 18 years who completed a survey providing information about how the quarantine affects their children and themselves, compared to before the home confinement. Results show that 85.7% of the parents perceived changes in their children's emotional state and behaviors during the quarantine. The most frequent symptoms were difficulty concentrating (76.6%), boredom (52%), irritability (39%), restlessness (38.8%), nervousness (38%), feelings of loneliness (31.3%), uneasiness (30.4%), and worries (30.1%). Spanish parents reported more symptoms than Italians. As expected, children of both countries used monitors more frequently, spent less time doing physical activity, and slept more hours during the quarantine. Furthermore, when family coexistence during quarantine became more difficult, the situation was more serious, and the level of stress was higher, parents tended to report more emotional problems in their children. The quarantine impacts considerably on Italian and Spanish youth, reinforcing the need to detect children with problems as early as possible to improve their psychological well-being.The worldwide outbreak of COVID-19, the ensuing pandemic, and the related containment measures pose considerable challenges to psychological resilience and well-being. Researchers are now forced to look for resources to cope with negative experiences linked to this health emergency. According to the salutogenic approach proposed by Antonovsky, the sense of coherence (SOC) is a major source of resilience. Thus, this study aimed at assessing the role of SOC in moderating the link between illness experiences (in terms of knowing persons diagnosed with COVID-19 and fear of contracting COVID-19) and psychological well-being. 2,784 participants, taken from a large sample of the Italian population (65.4% females) and aged between 18 and 85 years, filled in an anonymous online survey during the 3rd week of the lockdown. Findings supported the moderating role of SOC in shaping the link between illness experiences and psychological well-being. Specifically, participants who knew at least one person diagnosed with COVID-19 showed lower levels of psychological well-being at low levels of SOC.

09/07/2024


Search Engine Optimisation Agency

Search engine optimisation is the process of getting your site to appear on the top page of a search engine results page (SERP) for relevant keywords that drive conversions and traffic.

SEO is a complex and ever-changing process that requires understanding and skill to achieve success. There are plenty of SEO companies that have the experience and know-how to make your business succeed.

On-Page Optimization

On-Page SEO is among the most essential elements of any search engine optimization strategy. It involves optimizing the content on your website so that it is visible on the search results pages (SERPs).

Google is always improving its algorithms and gaining insight into what users are looking for. This implies that optimization of your web pages should continue to be a constant process. You should also review and examine your content to ensure that it is accurate as well as current and relevant.

Getting your page to rank high in the SERPs isn't easy however it's not impossible. Several on-page factors can help you get there, such as optimizing your headlines HTML tags, images and mobile-friendly content.

Certain on-page optimizations are quite simple while others can be more complex. The primary goal of on-page SEO is to make your site easier for search engines to read and index, so that it can be found by people searching for something your website offers.

The most commonly used SEO on-page factors are meta titles meta descriptions, meta titles and internal links. These all play a role in determining the place your website is placed in search results and can be used to increase the CTR (Click-Through Rate) of your website pages.



Other on-page SEO aspects involve technical issues, for example, how well your website's performance to different devices and browsers. This includes optimizing the load time of your website and optimizing them to get the best results.

This could mean using images instead of JavaScript applications as well as optimizing server response speeds and using caching. If your site's pages take too long to load, it can adversely affect your ranking in the SERPs , and result in less visitors.

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SEO on the web can be complicated and constantly changing. It is crucial to consult with an expert to ensure you get the most from your SEO marketing campaigns. A reputable agency will provide technical and strategic support throughout the entire process, from planning to execution, and reporting.

Link Building

Link building is an essential element of any search engine optimization strategy. It requires technical knowledge and analytical skills as well as human creativity.

Google and other search engines consider links to be important because they are used to determine which pages rank for specific search terms. The more backlinks of high quality you have on a page, the better it will be found in search results.

A reputable link building company will help you get numerous high-quality links on reputable websites in your field. This will increase your domain authority and rank on the web. This will lead to increased traffic and sales for your business.

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The primary objective of link building is to create high-quality, natural referral traffic. This kind of traffic could be sourced from a variety of sources such as high DA and PR websites. It's an ideal way to establish your authority and make the most benefit from your SEO efforts.

Referral traffic refers to web visits that you receive from other websites without looking for your site via Google. This type of traffic from referrals can assist Google to see that your content is valuable, particularly when they are of high DA or DR.

Some black hat SEOs tried to manipulate the generation of these links to boost their rankings in the past. This practice often led to sanctions from Google and other major search engines.

It is crucial to produce high-quality content that is relevant and beneficial for your specific niche. This will encourage other site owners to link to your site and promote your content.

Once you have created quality content, it is possible to begin to contact the top-quality websites in your industry for potential link building opportunities. This may take a bit longer than traditional methods of building links however it can be extremely effective in boosting your visibility and authority.

Link development is a vital component of any SEO strategy as it can aid in ensuring your website is ranked highly for competitive keywords and generate quality organic traffic. It also allows you to gain a reputation in your industry and establish yourself as an expert in your area of expertise.

Content Creation

It is essential to provide high-quality content that search engine robots and users will find useful to rank highly in search engines. This includes blog posts or articles, as well as product pages.

Writing good content requires an enormous amount of effort time, expertise, and time. This is the reason why many companies are turning to SEO agencies for help.

The first step in a content optimization strategy is keyword research. This helps you find relevant keywords for your content that are both popular and high-traffic.

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Analytics

Analytics is a fast-growing and lucrative business area for companies of all sizes. It allows IT and business professionals to exploit huge mounds of external and internal data. The tools used for this include relational databases, data warehouses and machine learning (ML) algorithms web-based search solutions, and visualization of data.

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Historically when comparing statistics and analysing data to gain insights for business was a tedious, time-consuming process that relied on spreadsheets. Today, modern technology allows us to convert that information into visual presentations that can help you get the most value from your data.

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If you're looking to optimize your search engine requirements, there's no substitute for a dependable and knowledgeable partner. Trustworthy agencies can help you optimize your website so that it ranks for keywords and content. They'll also be able to provide you with the best SEO tools and resources, and they'll have the knowledge to help you discover those hidden gems in your field that will generate clicks and sales.

09/07/2024


Functional foods like soy have unique effects on health status. Although various dietary modifications have been recommended to ameliorate features of metabolic syndrome (MetS), no meta-analysis has summarized the effect of soy consumption in patients with MetS. PubMed, ISI Web of Science, and Scopus were searched for relevant articles until Jun 2020, resulting in six relevant publications that were included in our meta-analysis. Combining a total of 9 comparisons suggested a significant decrease in serum levels of triglyceride (WMD -0.29; 95 % CI -0.49, -0.09 mg/dL), total cholesterol (WMD -1.46; 95 % CI -1.70, -1.22 mg/dL), LDL-C (WMD -0.73; 95 % CI -0.93, -0.52 mg/dL) and no change in serum HDL-c levels. Combining a total of 7 effect sizes examining soy effects on glycemic parameters indicated that subjects who consumed soy products had lower levels of fasting blood sugar (WMD -0.90; 95 % CI -1.12, -0.68 mg/dL), insulin (WMD -1.06; 95 % CI -1.29, -0.84 pmol/ L) and HOMA-IR (WMD -1.08; 95 % CI -1.31, -0.85) compared with those in the control group. Soy consumption could not significantly change anthropometric measures and blood pressure. Consuming soy products in patients with MetS effectively improved lipid profile and glycemic parameters independent of affecting anthropometric measures.Vinpocetine (Vin), a synthetic-derivative of Vincamine, monoterpenoid indole alkaloid, has been reported to have various medicinal benefits. The purpose of our study was to investigate the pivotal role of "nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor-2" (Nrf2)-mediated antioxidant protection of Vin against H2O2 and paracetamol (APAP)-induced liver toxicity. For this purpose, a normal human hepatic cell line (L02 cells) was incubated with cytotoxic concentrations of H2O2 or APAP in the presence or absence of Vin. To evaluate the responses, MTS Cell Viability assay, immunoblotting, biochemical assays, and molecular docking approach were used. Viability analysis showed that treatment of L02 cells with Vin prevented the cytotoxicity induced by H2O2 and APAP. It was evidenced by the fact that Vin dumped H2O2- and APAP-cytotoxicity and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. The immunoblotting analysis shows that Vin increased Nrf2 expression along with the expression of target protein, heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), and increased intracellular glutathione (GSH) level. Interestingly, we found that Vin could protect the protein expression-level of Nrf2, which indicated the prospective interaction between Vin and Keap1 protein. Additionally, molecular docking-study revealed that Vin competed with Nrf2 for Keap1-binding site, with hydrogen and stearic interactions. Collectively, Vin effectively protects against H2O2 and APAP-induced cytotoxicity via executing Nrf2-mediated restoration of antioxidative/oxidative balance. Meanwhile, Vin interrupts protein-protein interaction between Nrf2 and Keap1, which might also contribute to decrease Nrf2 degradation and stabilize protein expression. Thus, Vin-based adjuvant therapy may represent a smart drug regimen to mitigate drug-induced oxidative stress and liver injuries.Memantine is used to prevent glutamate-mediated excitotoxicity and neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease. As glutamine is one of the major source of anabolism in fast growing cancer cells, we aimed to interfere with the cancer cell metabolism in A549 lung cancer cells by using memantine. The effects of memantine on cell cycle progression and cell death in A549 cells were assessed by MTT assay and PI staining. Cells were treated with 0.25 mM memantine for 48 hours and then cell metabolism (AMPKA1, AMPKA2, HIF1A, B-catenin, PKM), apoptosis (p53, p21, Bax, Bcl-XL, NOXA, PUMA) and autophagy related (LC3B-I, LC3B-II, SQSTM1) mRNA and protein expressions were investigated by RT-qPCR and western blotting. Memantine decreased cell viability significantly in a concentration-dependent manner by inducing G0/G1 cell cycle arrest. Our results suggest that memantine activates AMPK1/2 significantly (p=0.039 and p=0.0105) that led cells through apoptosis and autophagy by decreasing cancer cell metabolism regulators like HIF1A, B-catenin and PKM as the consequence of this energetic shift. Memantine represents a useful tool to target metabolism in cancer cells. Therefore, it might be used a new repurposed drug in cancer treatment.As the EU officials and their Chinese counterparts emphasised the end of 2020 as the date for a successful conclusion of the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI, the Agreement), the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were sceptical. However, after discussions, with Lithuania appearing to be the most visible opponent of CAI among the Baltic nations, all three eventually upheld the proposal. Understanding that the ratification of CAI is unlikely after the mutual exchange of sanctions between the EU and PRC in March, 2021, the report nevertheless examines the roots of the Baltic position as a case study of inter-EU bargains, inspects what factors contributed to the Baltic position on the issue of CAI, presents the national pro- and counter-arguments to CAI along the domains of geo-politics, values, and economy, and brings up the dilemmas that remain unsolved.This paper aims to explore various possibilities in the evolving global gas market by constructing game-theoretical models involving the major players Russia and Qatar exporting gas to the Asia-Pacific and Europe, respectively. We explore a series of hypothetical scenarios based on competitive and collusive settings for the Asia-Pacific LNG market and based on Qatar's export route to the European gas market. The scenarios that are examined are (1) Russia as the follower and Qatar as the leader in a Stackelberg game; (2) Russia and Qatar as Cournot competitors; (3) collaboration between Russia and Qatar as bilateral monopolies; (4) Qatar exporting gas to European borders; (5) Qatar exporting gas to the last transit country; and (6) Qatar transporting gas to the Turkish border under a multi-pricing scheme. Demand is estimated under each scenario to simulate the respective export volumes, prices and quantities, and profit in each scenario. By exploring these market interactions, we find that it is essential for Russia to strike a deal with Qatar in the Asian market and accelerate their gas production in order to compete as an LNG market leader. Russia is likely to benefit more if it can link with Qatar to act as a monopoly on their segmental demand curve. On the other hand, Qatar's profit is expected to be higher under the scenario when Qatar sells all the gas to the last transit country as the sole demand point instead of passing through transit countries.The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has deeply influenced the lifestyle of the general public and the healthcare system of the society. As a promising approach to address the emerging challenges caused by the epidemic of infectious diseases like COVID-19, Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) deployed in hospitals, clinics, and healthcare centers can save the diagnosis time and improve the efficiency of medical resources though privacy and security concerns of IoMT stall the wide adoption. In order to tackle the privacy, security, and interoperability issues of IoMT, we propose a framework of blockchain-enabled IoMT by introducing blockchain to incumbent IoMT systems. In this paper, we review the benefits of this architecture and illustrate the opportunities brought by blockchain-enabled IoMT. We also provide use cases of blockchain-enabled IoMT on fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic, including the prevention of infectious diseases, location sharing and contact tracing, and the supply chain of injectable medicines. We also outline future work in this area.The prediction of the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is vital in taking preventive and control measures to reduce human health damage. The Grey Modelling (1,1) is a popular approach used to construct a predictive model with a small-sized dataset. In this study, a hybrid model based on grey prediction and rolling mechanism optimized by particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO) was applied to create short-term estimates of the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases for three countries, Germany, Turkey, and the USA. A rolling mechanism that updates data in equal dimensions was applied to improve the forecasting accuracy of the models. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/folinic-acid.html The PSO algorithm was used to optimize the Grey Modelling parameters (1,1) to provide more robust and efficient solutions with minimum errors. To compare the accuracy of the predictive models, a nonlinear autoregressive neural network (NARNN) was also developed. According to the analysis results, Grey Rolling Modelling (1,1) optimized by PSO algorithm performs better than the classical Grey Modelling (1,1), Grey Rolling Modelling (1,1), and NARNN models for predicting the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. The present study can provide an important basis for countries to allocate health resources and formulate epidemic prevention policies effectively.
Quantification of hepatic virtual iron content (VIC) by using Multidetector Dual Energy Computed Tomography (DECT) has been recently investigated since this technique could offer a good compromise between accuracy and non-invasiveness for liver iron content quantification. The aim of our study is to investigate differences in VIC at different DECT time points (namely baseline and arterial, venous and tardive phases), identifying the most reliable and also exploring the underlying temporal trend of these values.

Eleven patients who underwent DECT examination and were characterized by low liver fat content were included in this retrospective study. By using the Syngo.via Frontier-DE IronVNC tool, regions of interest (ROI) were placed on the VIC images at 3 hepatic levels, both in left and right liver lobes, at each DECT time point. Friedman's test followed by Bonferroni-adjusted Wilcoxon signed-rank test for post-hoc analysis was performed to assess differences between DECT timepoints. Page's L test was performed to test the temporal trend of VIC across the 4 examined timepoints.

For both liver lobes, Friedman's test followed by Bonferroni-adjusted Wilcoxon signed-rank test revealed that VIC values differed significantly when extracted from ROIs placed at the 4 different timepoints. The Page's L test for multiple comparison revealed a significant growing trend for VIC, from baseline acquisition to the fourth and last time point post-contrast agent injection.

The extraction of hepatic VIC in healthy subjects was found to be significantly influenced by the DECT time point chosen for the extrapolation of the VIC values.
The extraction of hepatic VIC in healthy subjects was found to be significantly influenced by the DECT time point chosen for the extrapolation of the VIC values.Sea-level rise will have unknown effects on the structure and function of valuable tidal freshwater floodplains. One reason for this knowledge gap is our poor constraint on the physical controls on complex floodplain inundation and circulation processes. Here, a high-resolution light detection and ranging (lidar) digital elevation model (DEM) is applied to fine-scale numerical simulations of flow and tracer exchange in a 0.43 km2 river floodplain in Southeast Florida, USA. The sequence of inundation and associated circulation patterns is assessed at 1-hour intervals of the rising and falling tide in the context of floodplain geomorphic structure. The depth averaged velocity vectors show concomitant flow divergence and convergence over small spatial scales, and this complexity arises from the submergence and emergence of subtle floodplain topography over the tidal cycle. Tracer exchange and associated residence times highlight the controls of floodplain topography on water storage at the end of the ebb cycle, or during low river stages.