Didymo and Its Polysaccharide Stalks: Beneficial to the Environment or Not?

Didymosphenia geminata diatoms, or Didymo, was first found to be an invasive species that could have negative impacts on the environment due to the aggressive growth of its polysaccharide-based stalks. The stalks’ adhesive properties have prompted park officials to alert the general public to limit further spread and contamination of this algae to other bodies of water. Although the negative effects of Didymo have been studied in the past, recent studies have demonstrated a potential positive side to this alga. One of the potential benefits includes the structural component of the polysaccharide stalks. The origin of the polysaccharides within stalks remains unknown; however, they can be useful in a waste management and agricultural setting. The primary purpose of this study was to describe both the harmful and beneficial nature of Didymo. Important outcomes include findings related to its application in various fields such as medicine and technology. These polysaccharides can be isolated and studied closely to produce efficient solar power cells and batteries. Though they may be harmful while uncontained in nature, they appear to be very useful in the technological and medical advancement of our society.

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Water resource developments in Ethiopia: potential benefits and negative impacts on the environment, vector-borne diseases, and food security

Environmental Reviews ◽

10.1139/er-2013-0076 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 22 (4) ◽

pp. 364-371 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

D. Yewhalaw ◽

S. Hamels ◽

Y. Getachew ◽

P.R. Torgerson ◽

M. Anagnostou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soil Erosion ◽

Flood Control ◽

Large Scale ◽

Electricity Production ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Vector Borne Diseases ◽

Erosion Rates ◽

Socioeconomic Changes ◽

Potential Benefits ◽

Negative Impacts

To satisfy the growing demand for electricity, Ethiopia plans to increase its electricity production five-fold between 2010 and 2015, mainly through the construction of dams. A literature review shows that while dams can boost power and agricultural production, promote economic development, and facilitate flood control, they can also lead to environmental, ecological, and socioeconomic changes. Several case studies show that dams may alter the composition and density of vectors and intermediate host species, increase the incidence of malaria schistosomiasis and possibly lymphatic filariasis, and lead to eutrophication of reservoirs, soil erosion, and earthquakes. There is evidence that dams and commercial irrigation schemes can increase soil and water degradation, vulnerability to drought, and food insecurity in riverine and lacustrine areas downstream of dams. It appears that dams in Ethiopia are also vulnerable to high soil erosion rates and earthquakes. Consequently, the current and proposed large-scale dam construction program in Ethiopia requires in-depth research to improve our understanding of the unintended negative effects of projects and to guide the location, design, and implementation of appropriate preventive and remedial programs.

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Simple Binary Prediction of Daily Storm-Level Geomagnetic Activity with Solar Winds and Potential Relevance for Cerebral Function

International Letters of Chemistry Physics and Astronomy ◽

10.18052/www.scipress.com/ilcpa.36.107 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 36 ◽

pp. 107-113

Author(s):

Joseph M. Caswell ◽

Nicolas Rouleau

Keyword(s):

Geomagnetic Activity ◽

Potential Space ◽

Storm Events ◽

Negative Effects ◽

The Past ◽

Solar Winds ◽

Theoretical Perspectives ◽

Potential Benefits ◽

Planetary Magnetic Field ◽

Geomagnetic Perturbations

A number of previous studies have examined various statistical methods for the prediction of geomagnetic activity, particularly based on predictor input of solar wind variables. However, investigation of the potential for a simple binary prediction system based on either “quiet” or storm-level activity of the planetary magnetic field has been severely lacking. The goals of the current analyses were to identify potential space weather models for the accurate prediction of geomagnetic storm events. Furthermore, while the deleterious or negative effects of increases in geomagnetic activity on a range of terrestrial systems have been focused on in the past, theoretical perspectives on the potential benefits of significantly increased geomagnetic perturbations are considered

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$ \ell_{1} $-norm based safe semi-supervised learning

Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering ◽

10.3934/mbe.2021383 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (6) ◽

pp. 7727-7742

Author(s):

Haitao Gan ◽

◽

Zhi Yang ◽

Ji Wang ◽

Bing Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Machine Learning ◽

Supervised Learning ◽

Learning Performance ◽

Iterative Approach ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Experimental Performance ◽

The Past ◽

Comparable Performance ◽

Novel Method ◽

Negative Impacts

<abstract><p>In the past few years, Safe Semi-Supervised Learning (S3L) has received considerable attentions in machine learning field. Different researchers have proposed many S3L methods for safe exploitation of risky unlabeled samples which result in performance degradation of Semi-Supervised Learning (SSL). Nevertheless, there exist some shortcomings: (1) Risk degrees of the unlabeled samples are in advance defined by analyzing prediction differences between Supervised Learning (SL) and SSL; (2) Negative impacts of labeled samples on learning performance are not investigated. Therefore, it is essential to design a novel method to adaptively estimate importance and risk of both unlabeled and labeled samples. For this purpose, we present $ \ell_{1} $-norm based S3L which can simultaneously reach the safe exploitation of the labeled and unlabeled samples in this paper. In order to solve the proposed ptimization problem, we utilize an effective iterative approach. In each iteration, one can adaptively estimate the weights of both labeled and unlabeled samples. The weights can reflect the importance or risk of the labeled and unlabeled samples. Hence, the negative effects of the labeled and unlabeled samples are expected to be reduced. Experimental performance on different datasets verifies that the proposed S3L method can obtain comparable performance with the existing SL, SSL and S3L methods and achieve the expected goal.</p></abstract>

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Understanding How Smallholders Integrated into Pericoupled and Telecoupled Systems

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12041596 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 1596 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Yue Dou ◽

Ramon da Silva ◽

Paul McCord ◽

Julie Zaehringer ◽

Hongbo Yang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Natural Resources ◽

Large Scale ◽

Well Being ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Area Of Interest ◽

Social Ecological ◽

Potential Benefits ◽

Negative Impacts ◽

Agricultural Investments ◽

Smallholder Systems

Increasing connections and influences from near to far have changed social structures, access to natural resources, and essential livelihoods of smallholders (i.e., those with incomes generated primarily from natural resources on small rural properties). However, the potential benefits and negative impacts from these connections to smallholders’ livelihoods and social-ecological effects remain understudied. In this paper, we applied the frameworks of pericoupling and telecoupling (human-nature interactions between adjacent and distant systems, respectively) to systematically investigate how the flows linking smallholder systems to other systems affect their livelihoods, and causing varying economic, social, and environmental effects from case to case. We synthesized 12 cases of smallholder systems around the world that are linked to adjacent and distant systems through flows of goods, people, resources, and/or information. In each case, we summarized smallholders’ agency, i.e., capability on the formation or operation of these flows, and the changes on livelihoods on the economic, social, and environment effects. Results suggest that strong smallholder agency is associated more with positive than negative effects. Smallholders with medium to high agency have greater overall well-being within the area of interest. Smallholders integrated in pericoupled systems often have strong agency. Being spillover systems in an intercoupled system (e.g., large-scale agricultural investments) can often cause negative outcomes unless smallholders have additional pericoupling flows. Our findings suggest one potential approach to ending poverty and increasing well-being for smallholders is creating and increasing pericoupling flows to empower smallholders for desired livelihood and social-ecological outcomes.

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THE INFLUENCE OF ANIME ON THE EXISTENCE OF INDONESIAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

10.31219/osf.io/evkx7 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Anindra Candrika ◽

Moses Glorino Rumambo Pandin ◽

Vitor Ilham ◽

Ahza Naufal

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Method ◽

Visual Media ◽

Japanese Language ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Face To Face ◽

The Past ◽

Data Collection Process ◽

Language And Literature ◽

Oral Form ◽

Negative Impacts

The form of literary works is increasingly varied over time. In the past, one can only share their thoughts in oral form, but now, they can express their idea, thoughts, and work through visual media. One example is anime. Anime is becoming more popular among Indonesian, especially students. This article focused on anime’s influence on students’ motivation to study the Japanese language and its effects on the Indonesian language and literature existence. Questions that arise from this topic are how anime influences students’ motivation to study the Japanese language and literature, its relevance on the Indonesian language and literature existence, the effect of watching anime, and how to deal with the negative effects that might occur. This research uses an interactive qualitative method with surveys and interviews to collect the data. The data obtained were analyzed descriptively and presented in tables. The results of the research indicate that anime is indeed influencing students’ interest to study the Japanese language and literature which can affect the Indonesian language and literature existence, there are negative effects of watching anime, and efforts need to be done to prevent and overcome these negative impacts. Due to the pandemic, the data collection process was carried out online via Google Forms and WhatsApp. Therefore, the data obtained is not as good as the data collected face-to-face.

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Our Sinking Ship!

Journal of Student Science and Technology ◽

10.13034/jsst.v8i3.98 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Emilie Knighton

Keyword(s):

Invasive Species ◽

Great Lake ◽

Past Century ◽

Nous Pouvons ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Nous Sommes ◽

The Past ◽

Large Ship

Over the past century, we have become our own worst enemy, by letting water seep in unnoticed into our ship. Our ship is what we call Canada, and the water seeping in are the invasive species, which is defined as “an organism (plant, animal, fungus, or bacterium) that is not native [to the area] and has negative effects on [the] economy, [the] environment, or [the area’s] health”.3 In the past, ships were saved by closing their holes and removing any water that seeped inside. This provided a permanent solution which prevented endless removal of water that seeped inside the ships. This analogy can be applied to invasive species in Canada. We need to stop existing invasive species from entering, (plug the present holes) and prevent new invasive species from entering, (prevent new holes from occurring) in our ship before we start finding a solution for the species present in our home (the water that has already seeped in). To understand how to repair the ship holes, we need to first identify the invasive species in Canada, the damage they are causing, their reproduction, and how we can eliminate future invasions. With such a large ship, the hull must be viewed in parts, where one areas of great concern is the Great Lake regions.Nous sommes à bord d’un navire qui coule! Au fil de notre siècle, nous sommes devenus nos pires ennemis en permettant l’eau de rentrer inaperçue. Notre navire est ce que nous appelons notre maison, notre pays, et l’eau qui rentre sont les espèces invasives. Dans le passé, les bateaux étaient sauvés et bouchant les trous et en enlevant l’eau. Le bouchon assurait qu’une solution permanente était en place au lieu d’enlever l’eau inutilement, car elle rentrait en permanence dans les trous. La même analogie peut être appliquée à des espèces invasives. Nous devons empêcher des espèces invasives d’entrer dans notre pays (boucher les trous) et éviter que des nouvelles entrent (prévenir que d’autres trous se forment) dans notre navire avant de trouver une solution pour l’espèce qui rentre dans notre maison (l’eau qui est déjà rentrée). Afin de comprendre comment réparer les trous, nous devons comprendre ce que sont des espèces invasives, les dommages qu’elles causent, comment elles entrent et comment elles se propagent, et comment nous pouvons prévenir leur entrée. Avec un tel navire, nous devons regarder les parties du bateau séparément. Une des régions inquiétantes est la région des Grands Lacs.

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High predatory efficiency and abundance drive expected ecological impacts of a marine invasive fish

Marine Ecology Progress Series ◽

10.3354/meps13251 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 637 ◽

pp. 195-208 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

EM DeRoy ◽

R Scott ◽

NE Hussey ◽

HJ MacIsaac

Keyword(s):

Invasive Species ◽

Native Species ◽

Ecological Impact ◽

Marine Species ◽

Ecological Impacts ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Marine Predator ◽

Eastern Gulf Of Mexico ◽

Red Grouper ◽

Per Capita

The ecological impacts of invasive species are highly variable and mediated by many factors, including both habitat and population abundance. Lionfish Pterois volitans are an invasive marine species which have high reported detrimental effects on prey populations, but whose effects relative to native predators are currently unknown for the recently colonized eastern Gulf of Mexico. We used functional response (FR) methodology to assess the ecological impact of lionfish relative to 2 functionally similar native species (red grouper Epinephelus morio and graysby grouper Cephalopholis cruentata) foraging in a heterogeneous environment. We then combined the per capita impact of each species with their field abundance to obtain a Relative Impact Potential (RIP). RIP assesses the broader ecological impact of invasive relative to native predators, the magnitude of which predicts community-level negative effects of invasive species. Lionfish FR and overall consumption rate was intermediate to that of red grouper (higher) and graysby grouper (lower). However, lionfish had the highest capture efficiency of all species, which was invariant of habitat. Much higher field abundance of lionfish resulted in high RIPs relative to both grouper species, demonstrating that the ecological impact of lionfish in this region will be driven mainly by high abundance and high predator efficiency rather than per capita effect. Our comparative study is the first empirical assessment of lionfish per capita impact and RIP in this region and is one of few such studies to quantify the FR of a marine predator.

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The Impact of War on Population Health

MacEwan University Student eJournal ◽

10.31542/j.muse.173 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Turkan Ahmet

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Status ◽

Health Care Services ◽

Negative Effects ◽

The Past ◽

Care Services ◽

Physical Environments ◽

The Social ◽

Personal Experiences ◽

The Impact

The past few decades of ongoing war in Iraq has had a dramatic impact on the health of Iraq’s population. Wars are known to have negative effects on the social and physical environments of individuals, as well as limit their access to the available health care services. This paper explores the personal experiences of my family members, who were exposed to war, as well as includes information that has been reviewed form many academic sources. The data aided in providing recommendations and developing strategies, on both local and international levels, to improve the health status of the populations exposed to war.

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Sexual harassment and psychological complaints: student- and class-level associations

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckaa166.944 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽

Author(s):

S Brolin Låftman ◽

Y Bjereld ◽

B Modin ◽

P Löfstedt

Keyword(s):

School Climate ◽

Sexual Harassment ◽

Linear Regression Analysis ◽

Well Being ◽

Negative Effects ◽

School Class ◽

School Aged Children ◽

The Past ◽

Class Level ◽

Using Data

Abstract Background Students who are subjected to sexual harassment at school report lower psychological well-being than those who are not exposed. Yet, it is possible that the occurrence of sexual harassment in the school class is stressful also for those who are not directly targeted, with potential negative effects on well-being for all students. The aim was to examine whether sexual harassment at the student- and at the class-level was associated with students' psychological complaints. Methods Data from the Swedish Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) of 2017/18 was used, with information from students aged 11, 13 and 15 years (n = 3,720 distributed across 209 classes). Psychological complaints were constructed as a summative index of four items capturing how often the student had felt low, felt irritable or bad tempered, felt nervous, or had difficulties to fall asleep, during the past six months (Cronbach's alpha=0.78). Sexual harassment at the student-level was measured by one item concerning bullying at school: “Other students have exposed me to sexual jokes”. Students who reported that this had happened at least “2 or 3 times a month” were classified as exposed to sexual harassment at school. Sexual harassment at the class-level was defined as the school class proportion of students exposed to sexual harassment, reported in per cent. Two-level linear regression analysis was applied. Results Students who had been exposed to sexual harassment had higher levels of psychological complaints (b = 2.74, p < 0.001). The proportion of students in the school class who had been exposed to sexual harassment was also associated with higher levels of psychological complaints, even when adjusting for sexual harassment at the student-level, gender and grade (b = 0.03, p = 0.015). Conclusions Sexual harassment is harmful for those who are exposed, but may also affect other students negatively. Thus, a school climate free from sexual harassment will profit all students. Key messages Using data collected among students aged 11, 13 and 15 years, this study showed that sexual harassment at the student- and class-level was associated with higher levels of psychological complaints. Sexual harassment is harmful for those who are exposed, but may also affect other students negatively. Thus, a school climate free from sexual harassment will profit all students.

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Social validity of a contextual behavioral science-based intervention for retirement education

Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica ◽

10.1186/s41155-019-0137-0 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 32 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Leonardo Martins Barbosa ◽

Sheila Giardini Murta

Keyword(s):

Behavioral Science ◽

Social Validity ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Acceptance And Commitment ◽

Dynamic Methods ◽

The Social ◽

Group 3 ◽

Group 2 ◽

Negative Impacts ◽

Contextual Behavioral Science

AbstractThe literature shows that retirement can bring both positive and negative effects. However, there are few tested interventions for preparing workers for this transition and avoiding or minimizing its negative impacts. This paper presents a study with multiple groups that examined the social validity of an intervention for retirement education grounded in contextual behavioral science and acceptance and commitment therapy. Twenty-seven workers aged 29 to 65 divided into three intervention groups participated (group 1, N = 15; group 2, N = 9; group 3, N = 3). According to the participants’ evaluations, the intervention provided socially valid goals, socially acceptable procedures, and socially important effects. However, some improvements are still needed, such as the use of more dynamic methods, better formatted printed material, and increased fidelity between the content’s implementation and the prescribed activities. The positive results indicate that contextual behavioral science may bolster the development of interventions whose components possess evidence for their social validity. The further evaluation of the intervention via a clinical trial study will offer more robust evidence for its effectiveness. It is hoped that by increasing the availability of theory-based interventions in this area, the present study will promote valid strategies to facilitate better adjustment to retirement.

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