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- ItemRisk perception and knowledge of protective measures for flood risk planning. The case study of Brindisi (Puglia region)(2022-09-01) Santoro, S; Totaro, V; Lovreglio, R; Camarda, D; Iacobellis, V; Fratino, UFloods are among the most frequent natural hazards, and flood risk management is a paramount task when planning solutions to reduce their impact on communities. In the last decades, policy makers' actions for flood risk management have been redirected from purely physical self-protective measures towards integrated management strategies by including social components. Assessing flood risk perception and the level of knowledge of citizens regarding protective measures is becoming a pillar for generating innovative flood integrated management strategies. This study aims to highlight multiple aspects which can influence flood risk management in urban areas, providing a preliminary assessment of citizens’ flood risk perception and knowledge of protective measures. Proposed methodology is based on E-survey in order to gather data and Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests to analyze them and has been applied to the case study of Brindisi (Puglia region, Southern Italy). The results suggest that flood risk perception depends on intrinsic components of individuals, mainly related to trust in public strategies and risk communication. It depends on hazard proximity but is uniformly distributed over the whole city, demonstrating that the perception of flood risk can not be related only to river floods. Knowledge of protective measures appears uniformly low by category of citizens and territorial area, particularly for teenagers. The methodological approach has allowed to bring out how the different nature of floods could produce a spatial and social heterogeneity in citizens’ flood risk perception and knowledge of protective measures, revealing latent risk features useful for supporting flood risk planning.
- ItemMeasuring driving fear: Development and validation of the Instrument for Fear of Driving (IFD)(Hogrefe Publishing, 2021-11-24) Fischer C; Schröder A; Taylor JE; Heider JPresently, there is no instrument to support the diagnosis of driving fear and its severity. To enable a reliable and valid diagnosis, the 5-item German-language Instrument for Fear of Driving (IFD) was developed. The items, by DSM-5 criteria for a specific phobia, measure the emotional, cognitive, and physiological components of driving fear as well as the degree of avoidance and impairment. The present paper comprises two studies that describe the development of the IFD and its psychometric properties. In Study 1, the IFD was administered to 810 non-clinical participants in an online survey and demonstrated good reliability and construct validity. In Study 2, fifty-four people with a clinical diagnosis, including clinically relevant driving fear, completed the IFD and a clinical interview. The IFD demonstrated good sensitivity and specificity, and a cut-off score resulted in 95% sensitivity and 97% specificity. While the findings are preliminary and further studies with larger samples are needed, the IFD is a promising screening instrument for driving fear and its severity.
- ItemDemocracy and belief in conspiracy theories in New Zealand(Australian Political Studies Association, 2022) Marques MD; Hill SR; Clarke EJR; Williams M; Ling M; Kerr J; Douglas K; Cichocka A; Sibley C
The COVID-19 pandemic supercharged the spread of fake news, misinformation, and conspiracy theories worldwide. Using a national probability sample of adults from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study during 2020 (17–99 years old; M = 48.59, SD = 13.86; 63% women, 37% men; N = 41,487), we examined the associations between agreement with general conspiracy beliefs and political indicators of intention to vote and satisfaction with government, alongside political factors including trust in politicians, political efficacy, identity centrality, and political ideology. Left-wing political ideology, trust in politicians, and political efficacy accounted for most of the explained variance in satisfaction with the government. General conspiracy belief was also a unique contributor to lower satisfaction with the government. We also found a curvilinear relationship between political ideology with heightened belief in conspiracies at both ideological extremes and the centre. Findings are discussed in terms of the consequences of conspiracy belief on democratic engagement.
- ItemAn exploration of frontline health professional's current understanding of non-fatal strangulation.(John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2024-07-07) Donaldson AE; Ravono A; Hurren E; Harvey C; Baldwin A; Solomon BAim To explore frontline health professionals' current understanding of non-fatal strangulation and their need for and support for a comprehensive education and screening package to support health delivery. Design A descriptive mixed-method approach was chosen to analyse responses to an anonymous, online survey consisting of ten Likert scale, open-ended and five demographic questions. 103 frontline health professionals (nurses, doctors, paramedics, midwives) participated in this study. Methods Content analysis of the Likert scale and open-ended questions describing the subjective experiences and perceptions of the participants was undertaken along with percentage and frequency counts of the rated Likert responses. Results The findings identified that 51.1% of health professionals do not ask about strangulation routinely and that 59% of health professionals reported receiving no formal education or professional development on NFS to enhance their knowledge or inform clinical practice. No health professionals identified mild traumatic brain injury as a consequence or sign of strangulation, nor did they identify an understanding that 50% of people may have no visible injuries after being strangled. Health professionals also do not routinely document the different agencies referred to or involved in supporting the person who experienced NFS. Conclusion Findings suggest that frontline health professionals lack the confidence, skills and education needed to meet medical obligations to their patients and to fulfil their duty to ‘do no harm’. Frontline health professionals would welcome a comprehensive education and screening package to guide recognition and response to non-fatal strangulation in their clinical settings. Where and on Whom Will the Research Have an Impact? The purpose of the study was to understand and explore health professionals' knowledge about non-fatal strangulation so that improved education around better screening, and management of trauma-focused care to people who have been subjected to non-fatal strangulation could occur. No Patient or Public Contribution This review contains no patient or public contribution since it examines health professionals' knowledge of identifying non-fatal strangulation and the screening and assessment tools used in clinical practice.
- ItemAssessing the win-win situation of forage production and soil organic carbon through a short-term active restoration strategy in alpine grasslands(Frontiers Media S.A., 2024-01-11) Wang Y; Wang Z; Kang Y; Zhang Z; Bao D; Sun X; Su JINTRODUCTION: Grassland degradation has seriously affected the ecological environment and human livelihood. To abate these, implementing effective management strategies to restore and improve the service functions and productivity of degraded grasslands is crucial. METHODS: To evaluate the influences of restoration measures combined with different grazing intensities on short-term (1 year) grassland restoration, the changes in soil physicochemical properties, as well as plant traits under restoration measures of different grazing intensities, reseeding, and fertilization, were analyzed. RESULTS: Soil organic carbon (SOC) increased to varying degrees, whereas available nutrients decreased under all combined restoration measures. Reseeding, alone and in combination with fertilization, substantially increased SOC, improved grassland vegetation status, and enhanced grassland productivity. The aboveground biomass of Gramineae and the total aboveground biomass increased under the combined restoration measures of transferring livestock out of the pasture 45 days in advance, reseeding, and fertilization (T4). Redundancy analysis revealed a strong correlation between grassland vegetation characteristics, SOC, and available potassium. Considering soil and vegetation factors, the short-term results suggested that the combination measures in T4had the most marked positive impact on grassland restoration. DISCUSSION: These findings offer valuable theoretical insights for the ecological restoration of degraded grasslands in alpine regions.
- ItemAn analysis of binary microlensing event OGLE-2015-BLG-0060(Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2019-08) Tsapras Y; Cassan A; Ranc C; Bachelet E; Street R; Udalski A; Hundertmark M; Bozza V; Beaulieu JP; Marquette JB; Euteneuer E; Bramich DM; Dominik M; Figuera Jaimes R; Horne K; Mao S; Menzies J; Schmidt R; Snodgrass C; Steele IA; Wambsganss J; Mróz P; Szymański MK; Soszyński I; Skowron J; Pietrukowicz P; Kozłowski S; Poleski R; Ulaczyk K; Pawlak M; Jørgensen UG; Skottfelt J; Popovas A; Ciceri S; Korhonen H; Kuffmeier M; Evans DF; Peixinho N; Hinse TC; Burgdorf MJ; Southworth J; Tronsgaard R; Kerins E; Andersen MI; Rahvar S; Wang Y; Wertz O; Rabus M; Calchi Novati S; D'Ago G; Scarpetta G; Mancini L; Abe F; Asakura Y; Bennett DP; Bhattacharya A; Donachie M; Evans P; Fukui A; Hirao Y; Itow Y; Kawasaki K; Koshimoto N; Li MCA; Ling CH; Masuda K; Matsubara Y; Muraki Y; Miyazaki S; Nagakane M; Ohnishi K; Rattenbury N; Saito T; Sharan A; Shibai H; Sullivan DJ; Sumi T; Suzuki D; Tristram PJ; Yamada T; Yonehara A; The RoboNet team; The OGLE collaboration; The MiNDSTEp collaboration; The MOA collaborationWe present the analysis of stellar binary microlensing event OGLE-2015-BLG-0060 based on observations obtained from 13 different telescopes. Intensive coverage of the anomalous parts of the light curve was achieved by automated follow-up observations from the robotic telescopes of the Las Cumbres Observatory. We show that, for the first time, all main features of an anomalous microlensing event are well covered by follow-up data, allowing us to estimate the physical parameters of the lens. The strong detection of second-order effects in the event light curve necessitates the inclusion of longer-baseline survey data in order to constrain the parallax vector. We find that the event was most likely caused by a stellar binary-lens with masses M = 0.87 pm 0.12 mathrm{M} and M = 0.77 pm 0.11 mathrm{M}. The distance to the lensing system is 6.41 ± 0.14 kpc and the projected separation between the two components is 13.85 ± 0.16 au. Alternative interpretations are also considered.
- ItemStayability in Simmental cattle as affected by muscularity and body condition score between calvings.(Frontiers Media S.A., 2023-03-24) Buonaiuto G; Lopez-Villalobos N; Costa A; Niero G; Degano L; Mammi LME; Cavallini D; Palmonari A; Formigoni A; Visentin G; Čobanović NThe present study aimed to investigate the association between stayability (STAY) traits, muscularity, and body condition score (BCS) in the Italian Simmental dual-purpose cows. Data were collected from 2,656 cows linearly scored in their first lactation from 2002 to 2020 and reared in 324 herds. The binary trait STAY, which is the ability of a cow to stay in the herd, was obtained for each cow-lactation available up to parity 5 (from STAY1-2 to STAY4-5). Analysis of STAY was carried out using logistic regression, considering the fixed effect of energy corrected milk, conception rate, somatic cell score, and muscularity or BCS predicted at different time points. The herd of linear classification and residual error were the random effects. Primiparous cows with a medium BCS and muscularity in early lactation presented a more favorable STAY across life compared to thinner ones (P < 0.05). In fact, cows with an intermediate BCS/muscularity were more likely to stay in the herd after the third lactation (STAY3-4), compared to those presenting a lower BCS/muscularity (P < 0.01). However, cows whose muscularity was high were generally less likely to start the third lactation compared to the others. A potential explanation for this could be the willing to market cows with good conformation for meat purpose. Simmental is in fact a dual-purpose breed known for the good carcass yield and meat quality. This study demonstrates how muscularity and BCS available early in life can be associated with the ability of Simmental cows to stay in the herd.
- ItemSmooth muscle hamartoma in a castrated male red deer (Cervus elaphus) in New Zealand.(Taylor and Francis Group, 2023-07-01) Johnson SG; Fermin LM; Aberdein D; Lawrence KEReports of neoplasia in deer remain rare (Hill and Staples Citation1999), despite the conviction that as deer farming became more common, a greater number of pathological processes, including tumours, would be recognised in deer (Pérez et al. Citation1998). Skin tumours are among the most common neoplasms reported in red deer (Cervus elaphus) and are usually papillomavirus-associated dermal fibropapillomas and papillomas (Erdélyi et al. Citation2009; Vaatstra et al. Citation2014; Garcês et al. Citation2020). Additional reports of cutaneous and subcutaneous tumours in red deer include malignant schwannoma and dermal malignant melanoma (Pérez et al. Citation1998; Scandrett and Wobeser Citation2004). In related deer species, subcutaneous dermoid cysts have been described in caribou (Rangifer tarandus) (Wobeser et al. Citation2009) and cutaneous fibromas in predominantly male white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) (Berry Citation1925; Friend Citation1967; Sundberg and Nielsen Citation1982).
- ItemAddressing the challenges of implementing evidence-based prioritisation in global health.(BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, 2023-08-02) Hayman DTS; Barraclough RK; Muglia LJ; McGovern V; Afolabi MO; N'Jai AU; Ambe JR; Atim C; McClelland A; Paterson B; Ijaz K; Lasley J; Ahsan Q; Garfield R; Chittenden K; Phelan AL; Lopez Rivera A; Abimbola SGlobal health requires evidence-based approaches to improve health and decrease inequalities. In a roundtable discussion between health practitioners, funders, academics and policy-makers, we recognised key areas for improvement to deliver better-informed, sustainable and equitable global health practices. These focus on considering information-sharing mechanisms and developing evidence-based frameworks that take an adaptive function-based approach, grounded in the ability to perform and respond to prioritised needs. Increasing social engagement as well as sector and participant diversity in whole-of-society decision-making, and collaborating with and optimising on hyperlocal and global regional entities, will improve prioritisation of global health capabilities. Since the skills required to navigate drivers of pandemics, and the challenges in prioritising, capacity building and response do not sit squarely in the health sector, it is essential to integrate expertise from a broad range of fields to maximise on available knowledge during decision-making and system development. Here, we review the current assessment tools and provide seven discussion points for how improvements to implementation of evidence-based prioritisation can improve global health.
- ItemValidation and Cultural Adaptation of the Motors of COVID-19 Vaccination Acceptance Scale (MoVac-COVID19S) in German(Hogrefe, 2023-12-01) Adu P; Popoola T; Roemer A; Collings S; Aspin C; Medvedev ON; Simpson CRBackground: Context-specific standardized psychometric instruments are essential for ensuring valid and reliable assessment of health outcomes across diverse populations to aid the advancement of research and health-related interventions. However, instruments measuring attitudes toward vaccinations are lacking in the extant literature. Therefore, we performed a cross-cultural adaptation of the Motors of COVID-19 Vaccination Acceptance Scale (MoVac-COVID19S) in Germany. Method: During the months of June and July 2022, 475 individuals aged 18 years and older from the general population of Germany participated in an online cross-sectional survey. Participants responded to five demographic questions, a measure of COVID-19 vaccine uptake willingness, and the MoVac-COVID19S. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) fit indices were used to evaluate the factor structures of the MoVac-COVID19S. Results: The CFA revealed that all examined factor structures of both the 9-item and 12-item versions of the MoVac-COVID19S were acceptable among the sample. Overall, CFI, GFI, and TLI values were higher than 0.95; RMSEA and SRMR values were all less than 0.08 for all the estimated models. The one-factor model of the 9-item version of the MoVac-COVID19S exhibited best fits indices compared to the one-factor and four-factor structures of the 12-item version of the scale. The bifactor model revealed that the general factor explained a higher percentage of the Explained Common Variance (ECV; ranging from 55% to 94%) in the majority of the items, compared to the specific factors. The scale was found to demonstrate convergent validity with related measures. Conclusion: The German version of the MoVac-COVID19S should be considered a unidi-mensional rather than a multidimensional measure. Although the 9-item version of the scale performed better among the sample compared to the 12-item version, the overall scores of both versions were found to be valid and reliable measures of attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccinations. The MoVac-COVID19S has the potential to be adapted for assessing attitudes toward any future vaccination programs. Limitations: While our study sampled only the general German population, the criticisms of CFA warrant further research using advanced methods, such as the Rasch model, and subgroups.
