scholarly journals A Global Assessment of Parasite Diversity in Galaxiid Fishes

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Rachel A. Paterson ◽  
Gustavo P. Viozzi ◽  
Carlos A. Rauque ◽  
Verónica R. Flores ◽  
Robert Poulin
Keyword(s):  
Research Effort ◽  
Molecular Techniques ◽  
Taxonomic Resolution ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Parasite Diversity ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Fish Family ◽  
Body Tissues ◽  
Parasite Biodiversity ◽  
Geographic Regions

Free-living species often receive greater conservation attention than the parasites they support, with parasite conservation often being hindered by a lack of parasite biodiversity knowledge. This study aimed to determine the current state of knowledge regarding parasites of the Southern Hemisphere freshwater fish family Galaxiidae, in order to identify knowledge gaps to focus future research attention. Specifically, we assessed how galaxiid–parasite knowledge differs among geographic regions in relation to research effort (i.e., number of studies or fish individuals examined, extent of tissue examination, taxonomic resolution), in addition to ecological traits known to influence parasite richness. To date, ~50% of galaxiid species have been examined for parasites, though the majority of studies have focused on single parasite taxa rather than assessing the full diversity of macro- and microparasites. The highest number of parasites were observed from Argentinean galaxiids, and studies in all geographic regions were biased towards the highly abundant and most widely distributed galaxiid species, Galaxias maculatus. Parasite diversity generally increased with the number of studies and individual fish examined, however studies which examined parasites from all body tissues could overcome the effects of low study effort. In order to promote further understanding of galaxiid–parasite biodiversity, we provide a series of recommendations, including the use of molecular techniques to verify parasite identity, and highlight the future roles both fish biologists and parasitologists can play.

scholarly journals Poor geographical match between the distributions of host diversity and parasite discovery effort

2018 ◽  
Vol 285 (1879) ◽  
pp. 20180072 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fátima Jorge ◽  
Robert Poulin
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
Host Species ◽  
Parasite Species ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Helminth Parasites ◽  
Parasite Diversity ◽  
Species Discovery ◽  
Host Diversity ◽  
Parasite Biodiversity

Mapping global parasite diversity is crucial to identify geographical hotspots of emerging disease, and guide public health and conservation efforts. In principle, assuming a bottom-up coupling between the diversity of resources and consumers, the geographical distribution of parasite diversity should match that of host diversity. We test the expected spatial congruence between host and parasite diversity for helminth parasites of vertebrate hosts, across grid cells of a global map. Using high-resolution databases on host species distributions and newly compiled data on the geographical distribution of parasite species discovery, we found positive covariation between host species richness and the number of parasite species discovered, for all vertebrate groups, regardless of the analytical method used, spatial autocorrelation, and spatial resolution. However, all associations were very weak, indicating a poor match between host species richness and parasite species discovery. The research deficit in parasite discovery peaks in areas corresponding to hotspots of host diversity, where disproportionately fewer new parasites are discovered than expected based on local host richness. This spatially biased research effort prevents a full inventory of parasite biodiversity, and impedes predictions of where new diseases may emerge. The host taxon-specific maps we produced, however, can guide future efforts to uncover parasite biodiversity.

scholarly journals Phishing for Long Tails: Examining Organizational Repeat Clickers and Protective Stewards

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824402199065
Author(s):  
Matthew Canham ◽  
Clay Posey ◽  
Delainey Strickland ◽  
Michael Constantino
Keyword(s):  
Research Effort ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Negative Behaviors ◽  
Computer Abuse ◽  
Positive Behaviors ◽  
Phishing Attacks ◽  
Long Tails ◽  
Motivated Behaviors ◽  
External Actors

Organizational cybersecurity efforts depend largely on the employees who reside within organizational walls. These individuals are central to the effectiveness of organizational actions to protect sensitive assets, and research has shown that they can be detrimental (e.g., sabotage and computer abuse) as well as beneficial (e.g., protective motivated behaviors) to their organizations. One major context where employees affect their organizations is phishing via email systems, which is a common attack vector used by external actors to penetrate organizational networks, steal employee credentials, and create other forms of harm. In analyzing the behavior of more than 6,000 employees at a large university in the Southeast United States during 20 mock phishing campaigns over a 19-month period, this research effort makes several contributions. First, employees’ negative behaviors like clicking links and then entering data are evaluated alongside the positive behaviors of reporting the suspected phishing attempts to the proper organizational representatives. The analysis displays evidence of both repeat clicker and repeat reporter phenomena and their frequency and Pareto distributions across the study time frame. Second, we find that employees can be categorized according to one of the four unique clusters with respect to their behavioral responses to phishing attacks—“Gaffes,” “Beacons,” “Spectators,” and “Gushers.” While each of the clusters exhibits some level of phishing failures and reports, significant variation exists among the employee classifications. Our findings are helpful in driving a new and more holistic stream of research in the realm of all forms of employee responses to phishing attacks, and we provide avenues for such future research.

scholarly journals Social exclusion increases the executive function of attention networks

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Huoyin Zhang ◽  
Shiyunmeng Zhang ◽  
Jiachen Lu ◽  
Yi Lei ◽  
Hong Li
Keyword(s):  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Attention Network ◽  
Attention Networks ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Control

AbstractPrevious studies in humans have shown that brain regions activating social exclusion overlap with those related to attention. However, in the context of social exclusion, how does behavioral monitoring affect individual behavior? In this study, we used the Cyberball game to induce the social exclusion effect in a group of participants. To explore the influence of social exclusion on the attention network, we administered the Attention Network Test (ANT) and compared results for the three subsystems of the attention network (orienting, alerting, and executive control) between exclusion (N = 60) and inclusion (N = 60) groups. Compared with the inclusion group, the exclusion group showed shorter overall response time and better executive control performance, but no significant differences in orienting or alerting. The excluded individuals showed a stronger ability to detect and control conflicts. It appears that social exclusion does not always exert a negative influence on individuals. In future research, attention to network can be used as indicators of social exclusion. This may further reveal how social exclusion affects individuals' psychosomatic mechanisms.

scholarly journals Co-Creating New Directions for Service Robots in Hospitality and Tourism

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-61
Author(s):  
Francesc Fusté-Forné ◽  
Tazim Jamal
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Service Robots ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Tourism Management ◽  
New Directions ◽  
Hospitality And Tourism ◽  
New Research

Research on the relationship between automation services and tourism has been rapidly growing in recent years and has led to a new service landscape where the role of robots is gaining both practical and research attention. This paper builds on previous reviews and undertakes a comprehensive analysis of the research literature to discuss opportunities and challenges presented by the use of service robots in hospitality and tourism. Management and ethical issues are identified and it is noted that practical and ethical issues (roboethics) continue to lack attention. Going forward, new directions are urgently needed to inform future research and practice. Legal and ethical issues must be proactively addressed, and new research paradigms developed to explore the posthumanist and transhumanist transitions that await. In addition, closer attention to the potential of “co-creation” for addressing innovations in enhanced service experiences in hospitality and tourism is merited. Among others, responsibility, inclusiveness and collaborative human-robot design and implementation emerge as important principles to guide future research and practice in this area.

scholarly journals IoT Cloud Security Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
Fei Chen ◽  
Duming Luo ◽  
Tao Xiang ◽  
Ping Chen ◽  
Junfeng Fan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Security Analysis ◽  
Cloud Security ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Security Risk ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Cloud Systems

Recent years have seen the rapid development and integration of the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing. The market is providing various consumer-oriented smart IoT devices; the mainstream cloud service providers are building their software stacks to support IoT services. With this emerging trend even growing, the security of such smart IoT cloud systems has drawn much research attention in recent years. To better understand the emerging consumer-oriented smart IoT cloud systems for practical engineers and new researchers, this article presents a review of the most recent research efforts on existing, real, already deployed consumer-oriented IoT cloud applications in the past five years using typical case studies. Specifically, we first present a general model for the IoT cloud ecosystem. Then, using the model, we review and summarize recent, representative research works on emerging smart IoT cloud system security using 10 detailed case studies, with the aim that the case studies together provide insights into the insecurity of current emerging IoT cloud systems. We further present a systematic approach to conduct a security analysis for IoT cloud systems. Based on the proposed security analysis approach, we review and suggest potential security risk mitigation methods to protect IoT cloud systems. We also discuss future research challenges for the IoT cloud security area.

scholarly journals Consequences of mandated usage of innovations in organizations: developing an innovation decision model of symbolic and forced adoption

AMS Review ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 279-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sven Heidenreich ◽  
Katrin Talke
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Decision Model ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Adoption Process ◽  
Negative Outcomes ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Advance Theory ◽  
Mandated Adoption

AbstractIn organizations, mandated adoption contexts are the rule rather than the exception. Individuals, who are denied the choice between adopting and rejecting an innovation, are more likely to engage in opposition behavior, particularly if the innovation conflicts with their held beliefs. Interestingly, neither the construct of forced adoption nor its consequences have received much research attention. To address this gap, we conduct a systematic literature review and provide theoretical rationales for the emergence of innovation resistance and opposition behaviors in organizations. We then develop an innovation decision model of individual adoption behavior that localizes negative outcomes of the secondary adoption process along the different process stages, providing insights into their emergence and potential consequences for the organization. Furthermore, we identify important avenues for future research and show how our innovation decision model can be used to advance theory development on forced adoption.

Correlates of Physical Activity Participation in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 375-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christy Haley ◽  
Ross Andel
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Male Gender ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Physical Activity Participation ◽  
Functional Health ◽  
Activity Participation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Exercise Participation

The authors examined factors related to participation in walking, gardening or yard work, and sports or exercise in 686 community-dwelling adults 60–95 years of age from Wave IV of the population-based Americans’ Changing Lives Study. Logistic regression revealed that male gender, being married, and better functional health were associated with greater likelihood of participating in gardening or yard work (p < .05). Male gender, better functional health, and lower body-mass index were independently associated with greater likelihood of walking (p < .05). Increasing age, male gender, higher education, and better functional health were associated with greater likelihood of participating in sports or exercise (p < .05). Subsequent analyses yielded an interaction of functional health by gender in sport or exercise participation (p = .06), suggesting a greater association between functional health and participation in men. Gender and functional health appear to be particularly important for physical activity participation, which may be useful in guiding future research. Attention to different subgroups may be needed to promote participation in specific activities.

scholarly journals A Strong Graded Relationship between Level of Obesity and COPD: Findings from a National Population-Based Study of Lifelong Nonsmokers

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esme Fuller-Thomson ◽  
Kaitlyn E. N. Howden ◽  
Lilia R. Fuller-Thomson ◽  
Senyo Agbeyaka
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factor ◽  
Representative Sample ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Chronic Obstructive ◽  
Healthy Weight ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Never Smokers ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Hispanic White

Factors associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among never-smokers have received little research attention. One potential risk factor for COPD is obesity, which is of particular importance in light of the global obesity epidemic. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between COPD and levels of obesity in a nationally representative sample of non-Hispanic white never-smokers. Data were drawn from the 2012 Center for Disease Control’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). Pearson’s chi-square tests and logistic regression analyses were conducted in a large nationally representative sample of non-Hispanic white respondents aged 50 and over (76,004 women; 37,618 men) who reported that they had never smoked. A dose-response relationship was observed for both men and women: the prevalence of COPD increased from 2.5% in men and 3.5% in women who were of a healthy weight (BMI < 25) to 7.6% in men and 13.4% in women who had a BMI of 40 or higher. Even after adjusting for 7 potential confounds (e.g., age, education, and income), the odds of COPD were 3.21 higher for men (95% CI = 2.46, 4.20) and 4.00 higher for women with class III obesity (95% CI = 3.52, 4.55) in comparison with those of healthy weight. Regular screening for COPD is warranted in never-smoking obese patients who are aged 50 and over. Future research is needed to investigate plausible mechanisms for this association, including (1) the role of chronic inflammation associated with obesity and (2) the impact of central obesity on respiratory system mechanics.

scholarly journals Exploring the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical education: an international cross-sectional study of medical learners

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison Brown ◽  
Aliya Kassam ◽  
Mike Paget ◽  
Kenneth Blades ◽  
Megan Mercia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Medical Training ◽  
Well Being ◽  
World Health ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The World ◽  
Geographic Regions ◽  
The Impact

Background: The evidence surrounding the impact of COVID-19 on medical learners remains anecdotal and highly speculative despite the anticipated impact and potential consequences of the current pandemic on medical training. The purpose of this study was to explore the extent that COVID-19 initially impacted medical learners around the world and examine global trends and patterns across geographic regions and levels of training. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of medical learners was conducted between March 25–June 14, 2020, shortly after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Results: 6492 learners completed the survey from 140 countries. Most medical schools removed learners from the clinical environment and adopted online learning, but students reported concerns about the quality of their learning, training progression, and milestone fulfillment. Residents reported they could be better utilized and expressed concerns about their career timeline. Trainees generally felt under-utilized and wanted to be engaged clinically in meaningful ways; however, some felt that contributing to healthcare during a pandemic was beyond the scope of a learner. Significant differences were detected between levels of training and geographic regions for satisfaction with organizational responses as well as the impact of COVID-19 learner wellness and state-trait anxiety. Conclusions: The disruption to the status quo of medical education is perceived by learners across all levels and geographic regions to have negatively affected their training and well-being, particularly amongst postgraduate trainees. These results provide initial empirical insights into the areas that warrant future research as well as consideration for current and future policy planning.

scholarly journals Recent Advances in Engineered Nanoparticles for RNAi-Mediated Crop Protection Against Insect Pests

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte E. Pugsley ◽  
R. E. Isaac ◽  
Nicholas J. Warren ◽  
Olivier J. Cayre
Keyword(s):  
Nucleic Acid ◽  
Insect Pests ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Insect Pest ◽  
Crop Protection ◽  
Mrna Degradation ◽  
Engineered Nanoparticles ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Therapeutic Applications ◽  
Rnai Response

Since the discovery of RNA interference (RNAi) in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans in 1998 by Fire and Mello et al., strides have been made in exploiting RNAi for therapeutic applications and more recently for highly selective insect pest control. Although triggering mRNA degradation in insects through RNAi offers significant opportunities in crop protection, the application of environmental naked dsRNA is often ineffective in eliciting a RNAi response that results in pest lethality. There are many possible reasons for the failed or weak induction of RNAi, with predominant causes being the degradation of dsRNA in the formulated pesticide, in the field or in the insect once ingested, poor cuticular and oral uptake of the nucleic acid and sometimes the lack of an innate strong systemic RNAi response. Therefore, in the last 10 years significant research effort has focused on developing methods for the protection and delivery of environmental dsRNA to enable RNAi-induced insect control. This review focuses on the design and synthesis of vectors (vehicles that are capable of carrying and protecting dsRNA) that successfully enhance mRNA degradation via the RNAi machinery. The majority of solutions exploit the ability of charged polymers, both synthetic and natural, to complex with dsRNA, but alternative nanocarriers such as clay nanosheets and liposomal vesicles have also been developed. The various challenges of dsRNA delivery and the obstacles in the development of well-designed nanoparticles that act to protect the nucleic acid are highlighted. In addition, future research directions for improving the efficacy of RNA-mediated crop protection are anticipated with inspiration taken from polymeric architectures constructed for RNA-based therapeutic applications.

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