scholarly journals Biosecurity and post-arrival pathways in New Zealand: relating alien organism detections to tourism indicators

NeoBiota ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 71 ◽  
pp. 51-69
Author(s):  
Andrew P. Robinson ◽  
Mark R. McNeill

Between-country tourism is established as a facilitator of the spread of invasive alien species; however, little attention has been paid to the question of whether tourism contributes to the arrival and subsequent dispersal of exotic organisms within national borders. To assess the strength of evidence that tourism is a driver for the accidental introducing and dispersal of exotic organisms, we sourced three national databases covering the years 2011 to 2017, namely international and domestic hotel guest nights and national population counts, along with records of exotic organism detections collected by the Ministry for Primary Industries, New Zealand’s government agency that oversees biosecurity. We fitted statistical models to assess the strength of the relationship between monthly exotic organism interception rate, guest nights and population, the latter as a baseline. The analysis showed that levels of incursion detection were significantly related to tourism records reflecting the travel of both international and domestic tourists, even when population was taken into account. There was also a significant positive statistical correlation between the levels of detection of exotic organisms and human population. The core take-home message is that a key indicator of within-country human population movement, namely the number of nights duration spent in specific accommodation, is statistically significantly correlated to the contemporaneous detection of exotic pests. We were unable to distinguish between the effects of international as opposed to domestic tourists. We conclude that this study provides evidence of impact of within-country movement upon the internal spread of exotic species, although important caveats need to be considered.

Author(s):  
Hsien-Hui Tang ◽  
Yuying Y. Lee ◽  
Wenzhi Chen

AbstractReflective actions in collaborative design can potentially improve design performance and results. This paper quantitatively reexamines the relationships between reflective activities and design performance during the collaborative design process in terms of reflection in action. Twenty sets of protocol data were encoded by a modified version of Valkenburg and Dorst's coding scheme. Using statistical testing, the relationship between the design performance and the number of activities plus the transitions was examined. A significant statistical correlation was found between the percentage of mature framing (setting up of a desired goal with sufficient follow-ups) and the overall performance. These quantitative results verify the qualitative findings of the previous study.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 230949901986122
Author(s):  
Ali Sahin ◽  
Mehmet Emin Simsek ◽  
Safa Gursoy ◽  
Mustafa Akkaya ◽  
Cetin Isik ◽  
...  

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of total hip arthroplasty (THA) on sagittal pelvic parameters and to evaluate the effect of sagittal pelvic parameters on acetabular cup orientation. Methods: The study included 86 patients who underwent THA for a diagnosis of unilateral coxarthrosis between 2011 and 2015. Measurements were taken of the preoperative and postoperative acetabular cup inclination (ACI), anteversion, and sagittal pelvic parameters. The effect of THA on sagittal pelvic parameters and the effects of the sagittal pelvic parameters on acetabular cup orientation were investigated. Results: The sagittal pelvic tilt values calculated were mean 9.7° ± 6.3° (2°; 23°) preoperatively and 11.0° ± 6.1° (2°; 25°) postoperatively. The increase in postoperative pelvic incidence (PI) values was determined to be statistically significant ( p < 0.05). The preoperative PI values had no significant effect on ACI, but in cases with high preoperative PI values, a tendency to high anteversion values was determined. The mean inclination values were found to be 40.2° ± 11.0° in the low PI group, 41.7° ± 7.4° in the normal PI group, and 44.1° ± 8.3° in the high PI group. As no increase in inclination values was observed with an increase in PI values, no statistical correlation was determined ( p = 0.343). Average of anteversion values in the low PI group was 9.2° ± 13.7°, in the normal PI group 19.3° ± 10.5°, and in the high PI group 21.1° ± 12.5°. The difference between the groups was statistically significant ( p = 0.001). Conclusion: Evaluating the results of this study, it can be concluded that varying PI values do affect the acetabular cup anterversion in THA. So, preoperative assessment of PI values is important in preventing postoperative acetabular cup malposition.


2010 ◽  
Vol 97-101 ◽  
pp. 591-596
Author(s):  
Wen Bin Sheng ◽  
Chun Ming Zhang ◽  
Wan Li Gu

A modified criterion γ’ (=Tx/(1.5Tg+Tl) of glass-forming ability (GFA) for metallic glasses is suggested on the basis of present criterion γ (=Tx/(Tg+Tl) that correlates well with some systems including metallic glasses, some glassy oxides and some cryo-protective aqueous solutions. Results show that the modified criterion γ’ shows stronger correlation with the critical cooling rate Rc for metallic glasses than the criterion γ, which is demonstrated by a value increase in the statistical correlation parameter R2 from 0.9022 to 0.9037. Furthermore, a modified equation is given to reflect the relationship between γ’ and Rc.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolin Vegvari ◽  
James E. Truscott ◽  
Klodeta Kura ◽  
Roy M. Anderson

Abstract Background Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections affect predominantly socio-economically disadvantaged populations in sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia and the Americas. Previous mathematical modelling studies have evaluated optimal intervention strategies to break STH transmission in clusters of villages. These studies assumed that villages are closed independent units with no movement of people in or out of communities. Here we examine how human population movement, for example, of seasonal migrant labourers, affect the outcome of mass drug administration (MDA) programmes. Results We used a stochastic individual-based metapopulation model to analyse the impact of human population movement at varying rates on STH elimination efforts. Specifically, we looked at seasonal clumped movement events of infected individuals into a village. We showed that even if on average 75% of the entire resident population within a village are treated, an annual rate of 2–3% of the population arriving from an untreated source village can reduce the probability of STH elimination to less than 50% in high-prevalence settings. If a village is infection-free, an annual movement rate of 2–3% from an infected source village imposes a risk of re-introduction of STH of 75% or higher, unless the prevalence in the source village is less than 20%. Even a single arrival of 2–3% of the population can impose a risk of re-introducing STH of 50% or greater depending on the prevalence in the source village. The risk of re-introduction also depends on both the age group of moving individuals and STH species, since the pattern of cross-sectional age-prevalence and age-intensity profiles of infection in the human host are species-specific. Conclusions Planning for STH elimination programmes should account for human mobility patterns in defined regions. We recommend that individuals arriving from areas with ongoing STH transmission should receive preventive chemotherapy for STHs. This can most easily be implemented if migration is seasonal and overlaps with treatment rounds, e.g. seasonal migrant labour. Moreover, transmission hotspots in or near treatment clusters should be eliminated, for example, by implementing appropriate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) measures and targeting treatment to individuals living in hotspots.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sayambhu Saita ◽  
Wirichada Pan-ngum ◽  
Suparat Phuanukoonnon ◽  
Patchara Sriwichai ◽  
Tassanee Silawan ◽  
...  

1985 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard C. Fluck

An examination of the relationship between human needs (above and beyond the basic physiological needs and concomitant consumption of resources) has re-emphasized the importance of control of human population in order to meet several other, also important, human needs. Development of human resources to their fullest potential requires utilization of additional resources beyond those necessary for the provision of basic physiological needs.A preliminary model of resource requirements to meet human needs suggests that resource requirements for meeting the human needs for safety are considerable, those for meeting the cognitive and esteem needs are moderate, while those for meeting belongingness and love, aesthetic, and self-actualization, needs are minimal. Both industrialized and non-industrialized societies can adequately meet basic human needs, but industrialized societies may the better meet some of the higher human needs.


2010 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 2485-2500 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Shi ◽  
You-Qing Luo ◽  
Fan Zhou ◽  
Ping He

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serena Delbue ◽  
Manola Comar ◽  
Pasquale Ferrante

The polyomaviruses are small DNA viruses that can establish latency in the human host. The name polyomavirus is derived from the Greek rootspoly-, which means “many,” and -oma, which means “tumours.” These viruses were originally isolated in mouse (mPyV) and in monkey (SV40). In 1971, the first human polyomaviruses BK and JC were isolated and subsequently demonstrated to be ubiquitous in the human population. To date, at least nine members of thePolyomaviridaefamily have been identified, some of them playing an etiological role in malignancies in immunosuppressed patients. Here, we describe the biology of human polyomaviruses, their nonmalignant and malignant potentials ability, and their relationship with the host immune response.


2006 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 701-709 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. Johnson ◽  
Li Dajue ◽  
Vicki Bradley

The relationship between several autumn growth traits and winter survival was determinedin 11 diverse safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) accessions grown at Central Ferry and Pullman, WA, USA. The safflower was sown in September 2002 and 2003 and plant population counts were taken 6-8 wk after emergence, and after the last frost in the spring to calculate winter survival. Growth factors including plant habit and height were also measured in the autumn. The Pullman plots in 2003–2004 were lost during an usually cold and windy November, but otherwise survival ranged from 90% for BJ-27, an introduction from China, to zero for the cultivar Saffire. Winter survival was negatively correlated with more upright plant habit (r = -041**, n = 97) and plant height (r = -0.29**, n = 97). However, some accessions with low plant habit (prostrate growth) and low height values had relatively poor survival. The results show that BJ-27 has sufficient winter survival to achieve over-winter safflower production for many areas. Autumn plant habit and height can predict the potential for winter survival, but physiological factors related to cold acclimation appeared to determine if that potential is realized. Key words: Carthamus tinctorius, safflower, winter hardiness, cold tolerance


Author(s):  
Manijeh ShahriaryKalantary ◽  
Khadijeh Nasiriani

Introduction: Positive attitude towards research can increase the students’ interest in research. Research self-efficacy is an effective factor on attitude towards research. It seems that higher research self-efficacy can influence students’ interest in research. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the relationship between attitude to research and research self-efficacy in MSc students of medical sciences. Methods: In this descriptive study, 176 graduate students in medical sciences were selected through stratified random sampling. The data collection tool was the questionnaires of attitude toward research and research self-efficacy. Data analysis was conducted using parametric statistical tests by SPSS version 15.  Results: Most samples were female (80.1%) and studied nursing (10.8%), while a minority of them was studying parasitology and physiology (1.1%). A significant statistical correlation was observed between the mean scores of attitude towards research and research self-efficacy of students. Moreover, a significant correlation was found between the mean scores of attitude towards research and the students' age and gender. Conclusions: Based on the results, existence of a positive relationship between attitude and research self-efficacy suggests that creation of a positive attitude towards research creates higher research self-efficacy beliefs in students and provides a basis for more student research.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document