Recreational angling as a vector of freshwater invasions in Central Italy: perceptions and prevalence of illegal fish restocking

Italian freshwater ecosystems were strongly affected by biological invasions during the last few decades. Recreational angling contributed to this, through the widespread use of invasive alien species for fish restocking. To date, no research is available about the psychological and structural determinants of deliberate fish restocking in Italy. This work aims to fill this research gap, through structured questionnaires administered to a sample of recreational anglers (n = 276) in the Arno river basin (Central Italy). A predictive model for fish restocking, based on a quasi-binomial logistic regression, was fit and multi-model inference was drawn, to highlight the most significant predictors. Respondents, who expected that most anglers practiced restocking and who believed restocking could create closer fishing spots, were more prone to illegally restock fish. Our findings indicate that expectations about illegal fish restocking might exist among specialized segments of anglers. Targeted communication campaigns must be enforced as soon as possible to change them. Furthermore, fish restocking is supposed to reduce the travel costs for angling: future research about this is needed to model invasion hotspots.

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Scientific literature on invasive alien species in a megadiverse country: advances and challenges in Mexico

NeoBiota ◽

10.3897/neobiota.48.36201 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 48 ◽

pp. 113-127 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jorge E. Ramírez-Albores ◽

Ernesto I. Badano ◽

Joel Flores ◽

José Luis Flores-Flores ◽

Laura Yáñez-Espinosa

Keyword(s):

Invasive Species ◽

Biological Invasions ◽

Alien Species ◽

Invasive Alien Species ◽

Research Priorities ◽

Distribution Patterns ◽

Freshwater Ecosystems ◽

Future Research ◽

Socioeconomic Impacts ◽

Future Studies

Interest in invasive species has increased around the world over the last several decades. In Mexico, studies on invasive species date as early as 1939 and the number of publications has increased considerably in recent decades. However, to our knowledge, the analysis of information gaps and research priorities is lacking. Therefore, it is necessary to identify gaps in the knowledge of invasive species in order to define future research priorities and focus conservation efforts. We assessed the current state of knowledge of biological invasions in Mexico based on the existing literature. Our aim was to identify in which areas information is absent or insufficient and which areas should be prioritised. We identified a total of 869 references. The number of references increased over time and the topics were strongly biased towards two areas: 1) natural history and geographical distribution patterns and 2) effects on native biota and ecosystems. The remaining topics were only moderately or poorly studied. Most studies focused on vascular plants (n = 280) and fishes (n = 174). Notably, a large portion of the references (n = 215) focused on only eight invasive alien species, including their ecological and socioeconomic impacts. Only 95 references examined the effects of alien species on biodiversity; these studies were mainly carried out on islands (n = 41) or in terrestrial or freshwater ecosystems in protected natural areas (n = 165). The findings of the present review can guide future studies in filling in the existing research gaps on biological invasions. Additionally, future studies should aim to define national priorities of the impacts of biological invasions and to promote the prevention and control of alien species by considering the distinct vectors and pathways of introduction and movement.

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Mix Networks: Existing Scenarios and Future Directions on Security and Privacy

Recent Patents on Engineering ◽

10.2174/1872212114666191223125619 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 ◽

Author(s):

Khaleel Ahmad ◽

Afsar Kamal

Keyword(s):

Security And Privacy ◽

Research Progress ◽

Future Research ◽

Future Directions ◽

Practical Solution ◽

Research Gap ◽

The Web ◽

Privacy Enhancing Techniques

Background: Privacy enhancing techniques are developed in order to provide strong protection to cyberspace. These techniques aim to allow users to keep their identities hidden during the communication when they are sending email, making payments online, browsing the Web or posting to newsgroups. MixNet is the most practical solution for concealing identities of message and sender’s identities. Objective: It provides sender and receiver anonymity as well as message security. The main goal of MixNet is to overcome vulnerability and enhance the performance of communication. It can efficiently handle the messages of various length and produce desirable results with privacy. The main objective of this paper is to acquire information and concepts regarding MixNet. We also provide guidelines for future research and references. Methods : The designing of MixNet depends on what cryptosystem method is used. Symmetric and Asymmetric both are used. Other methods could be also used such as PIR, CSP and FDR model, RPC, Token-based approach or others. Result: In this paper we provide an overview of MixNet approaches and presented a survey on MixNet based techniques and different models. We also constructed the comparison tables as per our requirements for better understanding. For this purpose, we found a total of 120 articles related to the MixNet published between 1990 and 2018 from the most relevant scientific resources. However, only 86 papers were analyzed due to comprehensiveness and relevancy to this article. Conclusion: Focused on the security and privacy of communication and how it can be achieved. This survey also reveals research progress and research gap on MixNet.

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Corporate Fraud Prevention and Detection: Revisiting the Literature

Journal of Commerce and Accounting Research ◽

10.21863/jcar/2015.4.1.006 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Deepa Mangala ◽

Pooja Kumari

Keyword(s):

Fraud Detection ◽

Primary Objective ◽

Future Research ◽

Business Organization ◽

Corporate Fraud ◽

Top Executives ◽

Red Flag ◽

Worldwide Phenomenon ◽

Research Gap ◽

Prevention Methods

Fraud has become a worldwide phenomenon and prime issue of concern. It dwells in all countries and affects all types of organizations irrespective of their size, profitability or industry. The primary objective of this paper is to provide an in-depth understanding of literature related to corporate fraud in order to understand why fraud occurs and how to combat it. Research studies published during the period commencing from the year 1984 to 2014 have been reviewed. The study aims to provide an in-depth discussion on significant red flags that may exist before fraud occurrence. It, also, provides a comprehensive view about fraud detection and prevention methods. Findings reveal that red flag is an important mechanism to prevent fraud. Application of single fraud detection technique will not curb the fraud effectively. Also, the top executives were found to be responsible for implementing anti-fraud policies and techniques within business organization. Further, the present study tries to discern the research gap in existing literature and explore the area of future research.

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Molecular Identification of New Cases of Human Dirofilariosis (Dirofilaria repens) in Italy

Pathogens ◽

10.3390/pathogens10020251 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 251

Author(s):

Simona Gabrielli ◽

Valentina Mangano ◽

Federica Furzi ◽

Alessandra Oliva ◽

Serena Vita ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Molecular Diagnosis ◽

Central Italy ◽

Research Work ◽

Pulmonary Nodules ◽

Elisa Test ◽

Future Research ◽

Worldwide Distribution ◽

Human Dirofilariosis ◽

Vector Borne ◽

Etiological Agents

(1) Dirofilariosis is a vector-borne parasitic disease mainly in domestic and wild carnivores caused by Dirofilaria (Noctiella) repens, which is endemic in many countries of the Old World, and D. immitis, which has a worldwide distribution. In recent years, an increase in the number of human cases has been reported, suggesting that dirofilariosis is an emergent zoonosis. Here, we describe further cases (N = 8), observed in Central Italy during the years 2018–2019. (2) Molecular diagnosis was performed on: (i) live worms extracted from ocular conjunctiva, cheek, and calf muscle; (ii) histological sections of surgically removed nodules from parenchymal lung, coccyx, and breast. (3) Sequence analysis (650-bp) of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene (mtDNA cox1) showed a match of 100% with the sequences of D. repens previously deposited in GenBank. ELISA test to detect IgG against filarial antigens was performed on four patients’ sera and resulted positive in two patients who showed ocular and subcutaneous dirofilariosis, respectively. Microfilariae have been never detected in the peripheral blood of the patients. (4) The occurrence of N = 8 new cases of human D. repens-infections observed in a two-year period suggests an increased circulation of the parasite in Italy. Therefore, dirofilariosis should be included in differential diagnosis in patients presenting subcutaneous and/or pulmonary nodules. Molecular diagnosis of the etiological agents is fundamental. Specific serological diagnosis needs to be improved in future research work.

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Electronic Health Record Acceptance by Physicians: A Single Hospital Experience in Daily Practice

BioMedInformatics ◽

10.3390/biomedinformatics1010002 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 6-17

Author(s):

Andrija Pavlovic ◽

Nina Rajovic ◽

Jasmina Pavlovic Stojanovic ◽

Debora Akinyombo ◽

Milica Ugljesic ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Logistic Regression ◽

Electronic Health Record ◽

Technology Acceptance ◽

Daily Practice ◽

Ease Of Use ◽

Future Research ◽

Health Record ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Electronic Health

Introduction: Potential benefits of implementing an electronic health record (EHR) to increase the efficiency of health services and improve the quality of health care are often obstructed by the unwillingness of the users themselves to accept and use the available systems. Aim: The aim of this study was to identify factors that influence the acceptance of the use of an EHR by physicians in the daily practice of hospital health care. Material and Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted among physicians in the General Hospital Pancevo, Serbia. An anonymous questionnaire, developed according to the technology acceptance model (TAM), was used for the assessment of EHR acceptance. The response rate was 91%. Internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. A logistic regression analysis was used to identify the factors influencing the acceptance of the use of EHR. Results: The study population included 156 physicians. The mean age was 46.4 ± 10.4 years, 58.8% participants were female. Half of the respondents (50.1%) supported the use of EHR in comparison to paper patient records. In multivariate logistic regression modeling of social and technical factors, ease of use, usefulness, and attitudes towards use of EHR as determinants of the EHR acceptance, the following predictors were identified: use of a computer outside of the office for reading daily newspapers (p = 0.005), EHR providing a greater amount of valuable information (p = 0.007), improvement in the productivity by EHR use (p < 0.001), and a statement that using EHR is a good idea (p = 0.014). Overall the percentage of correct classifications in the model was 83.9%. Conclusion: In this research, determinants of the EHR acceptance were assessed in accordance with the TAM, providing an overall good model fit. Future research should attempt to add other constructs to the TAM in order to fully identify all determinants of physician acceptance of EHR in the complex environment of different health systems.

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Children With Intellectual Disability and Victimization: A Logistic Regression Analysis

Child Maltreatment ◽

10.1177/1077559521994177 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 107755952199417

Author(s):

Katherine R. Brendli ◽

Michael D. Broda ◽

Ruth Brown

Keyword(s):

Logistic Regression ◽

Regression Analysis ◽

Intellectual Disability ◽

Logistic Regression Analysis ◽

District Of Columbia ◽

The Other ◽

Future Research ◽

Common Assumption ◽

Research And Practice ◽

Demographic Correlates

It is a common assumption that children with disabilities are more likely to experience victimization than their peers without disabilities. However, there is a paucity of robust research supporting this assumption in the current literature. In response to this need, we conducted a logistic regression analysis using a national dataset of responses from 26,572 parents/caregivers to children with and without disabilities across all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia. The purpose of our study was to acquire a greater understanding of the odds of victimization among children with and without intellectual disability (ID), while controlling for several child and parent/adult demographic correlates. Most notably, our study revealed that children with ID have 2.84 times greater odds of experiencing victimization than children without disabilities, after adjusting for the other predictors in the model. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

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Collaborative writing in L2 classrooms: A research agenda

Language Teaching ◽

10.1017/s0261444821000318 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-19

Author(s):

Mimi Li ◽

Meixiu Zhang

Keyword(s):

Language Learning ◽

Research Agenda ◽

Collaborative Writing ◽

Recent Decade ◽

Future Research ◽

Assessment Practice ◽

Theoretical Frameworks ◽

Research Themes ◽

Research Gap ◽

Practice Development

Abstract Research on second language (L2) collaborative writing (CW) has proliferated over the recent decade and will continue to bloom due to the changing landscape of writing and learning in the digital age. This article provides a research agenda on CW in L2 classrooms. We illustrate six research themes for future research inquiry by pointing out the research gap, following a brief review of theoretical frameworks and existing empirical efforts on CW. We then expound on six specific research tasks that we deem to be pressing for this domain to progress, including more attention to multimodal CW, expanded frameworks for analyzing peer interaction and writing products, deployment of underused research techniques and improved research practice, development of CW assessment practice, as well as the inquiry of practitioners’ input on CW. We hope to provide guidance for future research endeavors by identifying avenues of investigations on CW and meanwhile contribute to the trajectory of vibrant research on L2 writing and language learning.

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SOCIAL ENTERPRISE AS A MECHANISM OF YOUTH EMPOWERMENT

The Hong Kong Journal of Social Work ◽

10.1142/s0219246217000080 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 51 (01n02) ◽

pp. 115-144 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

YANTO CHANDRA ◽

SHANG LIANG

Keyword(s):

Social Enterprises ◽

Power Sharing ◽

Future Research ◽

Youth Empowerment ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Meaningful Participation ◽

Entrepreneurial Skills ◽

New Concepts ◽

Social Value Creation ◽

Research Gap

Empowerment is one of the most important social value creation activities performed by social enterprises (SEs). Despite the burgeoning research on SEs, there is limited research on the meaning and aspects of empowerment from the SE perspective, or the so-called SE-as-Empowerment research. In light of this research gap, we employed the Gioia’s methodology and data triangulation to analyze a renowned Hong Kong’s SE that focuses on youth empowerment. This study contributes to the SE-as-Empowerment literature by revealing five types of empowerment — building social awareness, meaningful participation, social connections, building entrepreneurial skills, and power sharing between youths and adults — which can be broadly categorized into social-capacity empowerment and entrepreneurial-capacity empowerment. This study makes novel contributions to the SE-as-Empowerment literature by proposing new concepts including multi-directional (internally and externally oriented) aspect of empowerment, the pluralistic notion of agency, and power sharing between youths and adults as important elements of youth empowerment in SE. Finally, we discuss the implications of this study for the SE practitioners, educators, and policy makers and propose avenues for future research.

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Predictors of suicidal thoughts and behavior in children: results from penalized logistic regression analyses in the ABCD study

10.1101/2021.02.15.21251736 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Laura S. van Velzen ◽

Yara J. Toenders ◽

Aina Avila-Parcet ◽

Richard Dinga ◽

Jill A. Rabinowitz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Logistic Regression ◽

Mental Health Treatment ◽

Future Research ◽

Control Group ◽

Operating Characteristics ◽

Genetic Characteristics ◽

Healthy Control ◽

History Of ◽

Social Environmental ◽

Penalized Logistic Regression

AbstractDespite numerous efforts to predict suicide risk in children, the ability to reliably identify youth that will engage in suicide thoughts or behaviors (STB) has remained remarkably unsuccessful. To further knowledge in this area, we apply a novel machine learning approach and examine whether children with STB could be differentiated from children without STB based on a combination of sociodemographic, physical health, social environmental, clinical psychiatric, cognitive, biological and genetic characteristics. The study sample included 5,885 unrelated children (50% female, 67% white) between 9 and 11 years old from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Both parents and youth reported on children’s STB and based on these reports, we divided children into three subgroups: 1. children with current or past STB, 2. children with psychiatric disorder but no STB (clinical controls) and 3. healthy control children. We performed binomial penalized logistic regression analysis to distinguish between groups. The analyses were performed separately for child-reported STB and parent-reported STB. Results showed that we were able to distinguish the STB group from healthy controls and clinical controls (area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUROC) range: 0.79-0.81 and 0.70-0.78 respectively). However, we could not distinguish children with suicidal ideation from those who attempted suicide (AUROC range 0.49-0.59). Factors that differentiated the STB group from the clinical control group included family conflict, prodromal psychosis symptoms, impulsivity, depression severity and a history of mental health treatment. Future research is needed to determine if these variables prospectively predict subsequent suicidal behavior.

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Aquatic insects are dramatically underrepresented in genomic research

10.1101/2020.08.20.259754 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Scott Hotaling ◽

Joanna L. Kelley ◽

Paul B. Frandsen

Keyword(s):

Aquatic Insects ◽

Small Body ◽

Aquatic Insect ◽

Freshwater Ecosystems ◽

Future Research ◽

Insect Genome ◽

Terrestrial Insect ◽

Body Sizes ◽

Terrestrial Insects ◽

Insight Into

AbstractAquatic insects comprise 10% of all insect diversity, can be found on every continent except Antarctica, and are key components of freshwater ecosystems. Yet aquatic insect genome biology lags dramatically behind that of terrestrial insects. If genomic effort was spread evenly, one aquatic insect genome would be sequenced for every ∼9 terrestrial insect genomes. Instead, ∼24 terrestrial insect genomes have been sequenced for every aquatic insect genome. This discrepancy is even more dramatic if the quality of genomic resources is considered; for instance, while no aquatic insect genome has been assembled to the chromosome level, 29 terrestrial insect genomes spanning four orders have. We argue that a lack of aquatic insect genomes is not due to any underlying difficulty (e.g., small body sizes or unusually large genomes) yet it is severely hampering aquatic insect research at both fundamental and applied scales. By expanding the availability of aquatic insect genomes, we will gain key insight into insect diversification and empower future research for a globally important taxonomic group.Simple SummaryAquatic insects comprise 10% of all insect diversity, can be found on every continent except Antarctica, and are key components of freshwater ecosystems. Yet aquatic insect genome biology lags dramatically behind that of terrestrial insects. If genomic effort was spread evenly, one aquatic insect genome would be sequenced for every ∼9 terrestrial insect genomes. Instead, ∼24 terrestrial insect genomes have been sequenced for every aquatic insect genome. We argue that the limited availability of aquatic insect genomes is not due to practical limitations—e.g., small body sizes or overly complex genomes—but instead reflects a lack of research interest. We call for targeted efforts to expand the availability of aquatic insect genomic resources to gain key molecular insight into insect diversification and empower future research.

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