Thermal boldness: Volunteer exploration of extreme temperatures in Drosophila melanogaster

A dominant perception is that small and motile ectothermic animals must use behavior to avoid exposure to critical or sub-critical temperatures impairing physiological performance. Concomitantly, volunteer exploration of extreme environments by some individuals may promote physiological adjustments and enhance ecological opportunity. Here we introduce to the literature a Thermal Decision System (TDS) which is fully modular, thermally stable, versatile, and adaptable to study navigation through thermal landscapes in insects and other small motile animals. We used a specific setting of the TDS to investigate volunteer navigation through critical cold and hot temperatures in Drosophila melanogaster. We demonstrate that a thermally bold behavior (volunteer crossings through a Critical Temperature Zone, CTZ) characterized a fraction of flies in a sample, and that such a fraction was higher in an outbred population relative to isofemale lines. As set, the TDS generated a thermal gradient within the cold and hot CTZs, and the exploration of this gradient by flies did not relate simply with a tendency to be thermally bold. Mild fasting affected thermal exploration and boldness in complex manners, but thermal boldness was evident in both fasted and fed flies. Also, thermal boldness was not associated with individual critical temperatures. Finally, some flies showed consistent thermal boldness, as flies that performed an extreme thermal cross were more likely to perform a second cross compared with untested flies. We hypothesize that a simple 'avoidance principle' is not the only behavioral drive for D. melanogaster facing extreme temperatures over space, and that this pattern may characterize other small motile ectothermic animals with analogous natural history. The physiological correlates, genetic architecture, and interspecific variation of thermal boldness deserve further consideration.

Mental Health, Diabetes and Endocrinology

Mental Health, Diabetes and Endocrinology examines the main areas of clinical overlap between endocrinology and mental health to address key clinical conundrums. Drawing on the most recent developments from literature and clinical practice, this book gives specific attention to the main areas where clinical conundrums and treatment challenges arise across endocrinology, psychiatry, psychology and primary care. Common challenges in this area include depression which can impact on the person's ability to self-care and to adhere to treatment with consequences for their morbidity and mortality; 'diabulaemia' associated with high mortality rates; obesity and associated mental disorders; cognitive impairment and mental capacity; anti-psychotic medications and their endocrine sequelae; and specific setting-related considerations. Mental Health, Diabetes and Endocrinology is a useful resource for the overlapping conditions across these specialities, and provides clinically-focussed evidence-based resources for all health care professionals who encounter these issues.

Every Book You Take: Evaluating Compliance Behavior in an Information Commons

There has been a heated debate related to the effects of business background on ethical behavior. According to some authors, students majoring in business courses - such as accounting, economics, and management - would be more likely to free ride or defect from coalitions in collective action situations, given the emphasis of such courses on individualistic values. Other authors have challenged that view, presenting empirical evidence that questions the link between business education and opportunistic behavior. The present paper revisits this debate, by studying the impact of business education on rule compliance in a specific type of information commons (libraries). Employing a novel dataset related to more than 700,000 library transactions during a 10-year period (2006-2015), I correlate business background with users’ compliance behavior, while controlling for their time-invariant characteristics. I find no evidence of a significant effect of business education on rule compliance in this specific setting. In fact, some of the estimates here reported suggest a negative correlation between business background and compliance behavior. These results have important implications for ethical theories in economics, suggesting that compliance behavior is context-dependent.

Case-based Method and its Implementation in English for Medical Purposes

The case study or case-based technique has been widely employed in a variety of areas due to the tremendous benefits it provides for teaching and learning. The Indonesian government also encourages the use of the case method as one of the methods emphasized in the Key Performance Indicators of Higher Education (IKU) guidelines. This article presents a literature review of the case study by exploring the benefits and the challenges of implementing this method in the classroom. Besides, an alternative scenario of the case study implementation in English for Medical Purposes is also presented. It is hoped that this article will give insight into the implementation of the case method in a specific setting to help students learn English in a meaningful way. Keywords: Key Performance Indicator, Case-based Learning, English for Medical Purposes

The Role of Salam TV as Islamic Based Television in Promoting Interfaith Harmony in North Sumatera

<p class="Default"><span lang="EN-US">This study aims to determine the role of Salam TV in promoting harmony among religious communities in North Sumatera. This research method is a qualitative method that aims to get an in-depth description of speech, writing and behavior observed from an individual, group, community or organization in a specific setting which is studied from a comprehensive perspective. Salam TV does not produce programs that specifically feature harmony or tolerance. Salam TV's strategy in establishing harmony among religious communities is maintaining the shows that do not contain expressions of hatred that can trigger conflicts between religious communities. Institutionally Salam TV opens itself to work together in social and cultural fields to non-Muslim institutions. </span></p>

Validation of a Smartwatch-Based Workout Analysis Application in Exercise Recognition, Repetition Count and Prediction of 1RM in the Strength Training-Specific Setting

The goal of this study was to assess the validity, reliability and accuracy of a smartwatch-based workout analysis application in exercise recognition, repetition count and One Repetition Maximum (1RM) prediction in the strength training-specific setting. Thirty recreationally trained athletes performed four consecutive sets of barbell deadlift, barbell bench press and barbell back squat exercises with increasing loads from 60% to 80% of their estimated 1RM with maximum lift velocity. Data was measured using an Apple Watch Sport and instantaneously analyzed using an iOS workout analysis application called StrengthControl. The accuracies in exercise recognition and repetition count, as well as the reliability in predicting 1RM, were statistically analyzed and compared. The correct strength exercise was recognised in 88.4% of all the performed sets (N = 363) with accurate repetition count for the barbell back squat (p = 0.68) and the barbell deadlift (p = 0.09); however, repetition count for the barbell bench press was poor (p = 0.01). Only 8.9% of attempts to predict 1RM using the StrengthControl app were successful, with failed attempts being due to technical difficulties and time lag in data transfer. Using data from a linear position transducer instead, significantly different 1RM estimates were obtained when analysing repetition to failure versus load-velocity relationships. The present results provide new perspectives on the applicability of smartwatch-based strength training monitoring to improve athlete performance.

The Central Role of Left Atrium in Heart Failure

In past cardiovascular medicine, the attention to the left ventricle-identified as the only indicator and determinant of healthy or unhealthy cardiac conditions- has systematically hidden the role of the left atrium (LA). The recent advances in cardiovascular imaging have provided a better understanding of LA anatomy, physiology, and pathology, making us realize that this functional structure is far from being an innocent spectator. We now know that the LA's mechanical and neuro-hormonal properties play a relevant part in several cardiovascular diseases, including atrial fibrillation, ischemic heart disease, valvular heart disease, and heart failure. The present review aims to describe the role of LA in the specific setting of heart failure. We provide currently available information on LA structure and function and summarize its role as a determinant of symptoms, prognosis, and potential therapeutic target in heart failure patients.

Pipeline Geohazard Target Susceptibility Threshold – A Reliability-Based Rationalization

Pipeline geohazard assessment involves the delineation and quantification of threat severity associated with a suite of geohazard mechanisms deemed credible for a specific setting or project. The context for a typical assessment is loss of containment from the pipeline — an ultimate limit state (ULS) — considering individual geohazard mechanisms (e.g., landslide, fault displacement, rockfall, subsidence, etc.). To estimate the probability of loss of containment associated with a particular geohazard mechanism at a given location, the evaluation process can be partitioned into an estimate of the probability of occurrence of the geohazard mechanism at that location, and the conditional probability of loss of pipe integrity should the event occur. The product of these two probabilities is termed “susceptibility” expressed as loss of containment events per year at a given location. A typical approach to manage geohazards assessed in this way is to set a target susceptibility threshold to determine mitigation requirements to reduce the estimated susceptibility value for individual geohazards. The rationale for selecting a target susceptibility threshold value has been a topic of interest in recent pipeline projects in Canada. This paper demonstrates a reliability-based approach in rationalizing the selected pipeline geohazard target susceptibility threshold and linking geohazard assessment results to Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) of all threat categories in ASME B31-8S.

Play by design: The porn-viewing room in Taiwanese and Korean men’s sex saunas

This article discusses the relationship between play and space through the examination of the porn-viewing room of men’s sex saunas in Taiwan and South Korea. In these spaces, varying notions of play and playfulness are encouraged and experienced. Through an examination of the spatial layout of the room, the content of the videos exhibited therein, and the physical manifestation of the enveloping cultural context, I consider how the intersection of these three elements serve to guide bodily pleasures by encouraging some forms of sexual pleasure over others. If the sauna is analogous to a playground, then the porn-viewing room is a piece of playground equipment that sets out to guide players to engage in acceptable use through its design, without necessarily accounting for the ways in which the equipment can be co-opted for other forms of pleasure. Ultimately, I seek to situate the question of what bodies can experience in terms of sexual pleasure in a specific setting and subsequently consider how the cultural context may influence the forms of pleasures experienced in these spaces.

Social comparison effects on academic self-concepts – Which peers matter most?

Social comparisons with peers are important sources of self development during adolescence. Many previous studies showed that to form their academic self-concepts (ASC), students contrast their achievement with the average of their class or school (the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect, BFLPE). Based on social comparison theory, however, we would expect some peers to be more likely social comparison targets because they are more visible or students perceive them as similar to themselves. In this study, we used sociometric data to analyze which peers play the most important role for social comparison effects on ASC. We examined how the average achievement of friends, study partners, popular peers as well as same-gender and same-ethnic peers affect the general ASC and how these effects compare to the effect of classroom average achievement. The study was based on a German longitudinal sample of 2,438 students from 117 school classes that were followed from Grade 9 to 10. As a novelty in ASC research, we applied methods for longitudinal social network analysis. . Our results do not confirm substantial incremental effects of specific peers, while class average achievement showed a stable negative effect (the BFLPE). In addition, we could provide evidence for social selection effects based on ASC. Controlling for endogenous network processes and similarity in achievement, gender, socioeconomic background, and ethnicity, students were more likely to select peers with similar ASCs as friends. We conclude that classrooms provide a specific setting that imposes social comparisons with the “generalized peer” rather than with specific subgroups of peers.