Changes In Occupancy Research Articles

Migration and Return to Mapuche Lands in Southern Chile, 1970–2022

This article addresses the emerging issue of migration from cities to the countryside, a trend which increased and became more evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, this study follows the population growth of Mapuche communities in southern Chile. It proposes that this migration pattern represents a medium-term pendular historical phenomenon; decades after the initial Mapuche exodus to cities in Chile and Argentina in the 1960s and 1970s, families and individuals have decided to return to live permanently on community lands. This study utilized official Mapuche community resources and interviews with public officials, experts, community members, and Mapuche leaders. This article highlights a very important historical phenomenon, as return migration generates changes in the communities and the southern landscape, as well as posing challenges for the rural world. In some cases, the recent return migration has generated substantial occupation changes for the migrants, resulting in a change from urban to rural activities. In other cases, individuals and families have returned to live in the community but maintained jobs in nearby cities, or have retired.

Rig1 receptor plays a critical role in cardiac reprogramming via YY1 signaling.

We discovered that innate immunity plays an important role in the reprogramming of fibroblasts into cardiomyocytes. In this report, we define the role of a novel retinoic acid-inducible gene 1 Yin Yang 1 (Rig1:YY1) pathway. We found that fibroblast to cardiomyocyte reprogramming efficacy was enhanced by specific Rig1 activators. To understand the mechanism of action, we performed various transcriptomic, nucleosome occupancy, and epigenomic approaches. Analysis of the datasets indicated that Rig1 agonists had no effect on reprogramming-induced changes in nucleosome occupancy or loss of inhibitory epigenetic motifs. Instead, Rig1 agonists were found to modulate cardiac reprogramming by promoting the binding of YY1 specifically to cardiac genes. To conclude, these results show that the Rig1:YY1 pathway plays a critical role in fibroblast to cardiomyocyte reprogramming.

Physiological Condition-Dependent Changes in Ciliary GPCR Localization in the Brain.

Primary cilia are cellular appendages critical for diverse types of Signaling. They are found on most cell types, including cells throughout the CNS. Cilia preferentially localize certain G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and are critical for mediating the signaling of these receptors. Several of these neuronal GPCRs have recognized roles in feeding behavior and energy homeostasis. Cell and model systems, such as Caenorhabditis elegans and Chlamydomonas, have implicated both dynamic GPCR cilia localization and cilia length and shape changes as key for signaling. It is unclear whether mammalian ciliary GPCRs use similar mechanisms in vivo and under what conditions these processes may occur. Here, we assess two neuronal cilia GPCRs, melanin-concentrating hormone receptor 1 (MCHR1) and neuropeptide-Y receptor 2 (NPY2R), as mammalian model ciliary receptors in the mouse brain. We test the hypothesis that dynamic localization to cilia occurs under physiological conditions associated with these GPCR functions. Both receptors are involved in feeding behaviors, and MCHR1 is also associated with sleep and reward. Cilia were analyzed with a computer-assisted approach allowing for unbiased and high-throughput analysis. We measured cilia frequency, length, and receptor occupancy. We observed changes in ciliary length, receptor occupancy, and cilia frequency under different conditions for one receptor but not another and in specific brain regions. These data suggest that dynamic cilia localization of GPCRs depends on properties of individual receptors and cells where they are expressed. A better understanding of subcellular localization dynamics of ciliary GPCRs could reveal unknown molecular mechanisms regulating behaviors like feeding.

Evidence of mental health-related morbidities and its association with socio-economic status among previously hospitalized patients with symptoms of COVID-19 in Bangladesh.

The long-term impact of COVID-19 on mental health, particularly in relation to socio-economic vulnerabilities, has received little attention. This study reports the prevalence of mental health-related symptoms among previously hospitalized patients after recovery from COVID-19, and its association with socio-economic status (SES). Data collection of this cross-sectional study was conducted during February-April 2021, among previously hospitalized patients with COVID-19 like symptoms, on average six months after their discharge from the hospital. Using DASS-21, a validated scale to document symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress, information on mental health-related symptoms were recorded from 481 respondents along with sociodemographic and economic information through telephone interviews. Chi-square tests were performed to identify significant group differences. Multinomial logistic regression analyzed the association between the changes in socioeconomic characteristics and mental health-related symptoms. Relative index of inequality (RII), slope index of inequality (SII), and concentration index (CIX) were applied to capture relevant inequalities in relation to mental health-related symptoms. Eleven percent of the respondents reported changes in employment status, nearly half changes in income and expenditure. Forty-five percent reported symptoms of depression, anxiety and/or stress, and 12% reported coexistence of all three symptoms. Women [Adjusted Odds Ratio, AOR: 2.95; 95% Confidence Interval, CI: 1.39-5.68], and those who reported changes in occupation [AOR: 3.04; 95% CI: 1.01-9.08] and expenditure [AOR: 2.46; 95% CI: 1.12-5.37] were more likely to report all three mental health-related symptoms compared to men and those without changes in occupation and expenditure. The older age group was less likely [AOR: 0.96; 95%CI: 0.93-0.99] to report coexistence of all three symptoms compared to their younger counterparts. Negative values of concentration index (CIX) indicate that any one mental health-related symptom was significantly concentrated among those with lower expenditure and poor SES. This study will help in addressing mental health-related challenges after recovery from COVID-19 among the identified vulnerable groups through relevant community-based and clinical response, including counseling services, in Bangladesh and similar LMIC contexts.

Concordant and opposing effects of climate and land-use change on avian assemblages in California's most transformed landscapes.

Climate and land-use change could exhibit concordant effects that favor or disfavor the same species, which would amplify their impacts, or species may respond to each threat in a divergent manner, causing opposing effects that moderate their impacts in isolation. We used early 20th century surveys of birds conducted by Joseph Grinnell paired with modern resurveys and land-use change reconstructed from historic maps to examine avian change in Los Angeles and California's Central Valley (and their surrounding foothills). Occupancy and species richness declined greatly in Los Angeles from urbanization, strong warming (+1.8°C), and drying (-77.2millimeters) but remained stable in the Central Valley, despite large-scale agricultural development, average warming (+0.9°C), and increased precipitation (+11.2millimeters). While climate was the main driver of species distributions a century ago, the combined impacts of land-use and climate change drove temporal changes in occupancy, with similar numbers of species experiencing concordant and opposing effects.

How Have Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior, Changed during the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Swedish Repeated Cross-Sectional Design Study.

Physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) affect people's physical and mental health. The aim was to examine changes in PA and SB in a Swedish population: at three time points: 2019, 2020, and 2022, i.e., before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pre-pandemic PA and SB, i.e., 2019, were assessed retrospectively in 2020. Associations between PA and SB with sex, age, occupation, COVID-19 history, weight change, health, and life satisfaction were also examined. The design was repeated cross-sectionally. The main findings demonstrate the PA levels decreased between 2019 and 2020, and between 2019 and 2022, but not between 2020 and 2022. The SB increase was most evident between 2019 and 2020. Between 2020 and 2022, results showed a decrease in SB, but SB did not reach pre-pandemic levels. Both sexes decreased their PA over time. Although men reported more PA sex, they did not have any association with PA changes. Two age groups, 19-29 years and 65-79 years, decreased their PA over time. Both PA and SB were associated with COVID-19, occupation, age, life satisfaction, health, and weight change. This study underlines the importance of monitoring changes in PA and SB as they have relevance for health and well-being. There is a risk that the levels of PA and SB do not return to pre-pandemic levels in the population.

Men's Lived Experiences of Breast Cancer and Changes in Occupation.

Male breast cancer is rare and frequently diagnosed at later stages of disease with low survival rates. There is a lack of knowledge of how breast cancer impacts men's occupations. This study is aimed at understanding the lived experiences of men with breast cancer and their changes in occupation. Methodology. Twenty-four men with breast cancer participated in semistructured phone interviews. Data was open-coded and analyzed for themes. Findings. The six major themes are as follows: (1) death as a reality, (2) unique personal insights, (3) social environment, (4) interactions with the healthcare system, (5) decreased engagement in occupations, and (6) finding meaning in new occupations. The healthcare team can improve the patient experience by discussing and responding to the client's experience throughout the diagnosis, intervention, and survival continuum. The scope of occupational therapy is well suited to address the needs of men with breast cancer to maintain optimal levels of functioning.

Resiliency and Sustainability after Oil Spill in Imo State and the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

The study investigated resiliency in Imo State and the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria where oil spill has continued over fifty years causing severe socioeconomic, health, environmental hazards and occupational displacements. Various literature on dimensions, approaches and findings on resiliency were discussed. Using qualitative data, the study found that the communities adopted and adapted various strategies to bounce back after the spill; building private fishing pounds, buying more sophisticated boats for long distance fishing in oceans, combination of crop farming and fishing. The crop farmers converted lands closer to their homes into farmlands, leasing farmlands from other communities, planting improved seedlings. Spirituality and occupational change were part of the resilience; even women deviated from the cultural norms doing certain jobs traditionally forbidden. The lack of support from the government, oil companies and external aids made the bounce back difficult and extended.

Characteristics and Trends of Occupational Radiation Doses among Korean Radiation Workers (1984-2020).

This study identified characteristics of occupational radiation doses among Korean radiation workers from 1984-2020 using the National Dose Registry. The overall mean effective dose from 1984-2020 was 1.05 mSv y -1 , with the highest mean effective dose of 2.61 mSv y -1 for non-destructive testing workers. The mean effective dose gradually decreased from 2.97 mSv in 1984 to 0.34 mSv in 2020. The largest decline ratio between 1984 and 2020 was observed in educational institutions at 97.4% (0.84 mSv in 1984 and 0.02 mSv in 2020), followed by industries at 96.5% (2.55 mSv in 1984 and 0.09 mSv in 2020). Compared to 1984, the individual dose-distribution and collective dose-distribution ratios in 2020 decreased by 82.6-99% and 53.7-94.7%, respectively. This downward trend was consistent in all occupations, while decline characteristics were different depending on occupation types, work experience, and changes in radiation safety regulations. Considering that some changes in radiation doses in the registry could be solely based on changing the recording mode regardless of the actual changes in radiation doses, a careful understanding of radiation doses in the registry is particularly relevant for future epidemiological studies.

An RGB-D camera-based indoor occupancy positioning system for complex and densely populated scenarios

The dynamic changes in occupants’ presence, movements and other behaviours could affect the actual operation and energy consumption of buildings. The design and operation of buildings can be adjusted to be more energy efficient by thinking over the actual distribution of occupants and application scenarios. Nevertheless, accurate, nonintrusive and applicable occupancy positioning systems, especially for complex and densely populated scenarios, have not yet been established. Herein, we propose a novel indoor positioning system based on a red green blue-depth (RGB-D) camera (CIOPS-RGBD). This system utilizes multiple RGB-D cameras to capture colour and depth images from different views. A data fusion algorithm is developed according to the result from a human pose estimation method. Then, the proposed CIOPS-RGBD system was setup and verified within a multifunction room for steady and dynamic accuracy estimation. The accuracy was verified within 10 cm in most cases. Finally, the system was tested under different application scenarios with more than 25 occupants in an 86 m2 space. The results demonstrate that the system can provide high-quality occupancy positioning and body orientation information for these scenarios in almost real-time, providing a solid basis to improve the actual operation and design of indoor environment creation systems.

Continuous forest at higher elevation plays a key role in maintaining bird and mammal diversity across an Andean coffee‐growing landscape

AbstractShade coffee is among the most widespread and economically important crops in montane tropical regions and is considered more hospitable to wildlife than non‐shaded crops. Questions remain regarding the value of shade coffee as habitat for wildlife, however, given the historical research focus on small‐bodied and canopy species. Simultaneously, climate‐driven upslope migration of coffee crops represents an emerging threat to well‐conserved tropical montane forest at higher elevations. This study examined ground‐dwelling birds and medium‐large mammals in a shade coffee landscape of the Western Andes of Colombia. We asked the following questions: (1) How do bird and mammal occupancy, richness, and community composition change from continuous forest at higher elevations to middle‐elevation forest fragments and shade coffee? (2) Do birds and mammals differ in their response to shade coffee? (3) Do high‐elevation forests contribute to maintaining biodiversity in mid‐elevation shade coffee? We sampled birds and mammals with camera traps in middle‐elevation shade coffee plantations and forest fragments and in continuous forest further upslope. We then used a multi‐species occupancy model to correct for imperfect detection and to estimate occupancy, richness, and community composition. Shade coffee lacked ~50% of the bird and mammal species found in continuous forest, primarily large‐bodied and insectivorous birds and forest‐specialist and large‐bodied mammals. Forest fragment richness was closer to shade coffee than to continuous forest, but species composition significantly differed between coffee and both forest types. Birds in coffee plantations were generally a unique subset of disturbance‐adapted specialists, whereas mammals in coffee were mostly generalists. Distance from continuous forest was the most important landscape‐level predictor of occupancy for both taxa, suggesting that this forest plays a key role in maintaining biodiversity across the coffee landscape. Biodiversity conservation in shade coffee landscapes, therefore, will be ineffective unless linked to landscape‐level initiatives that conserve higher elevation tropical montane forest.

Early Opportunities to Explore Occupational Identity Change: Qualitative Study of Return-To-Work Experiences After Stroke.

Rates of return-to-work after stroke are low, yet work is known to positively impact people's wellbeing and overall health outcomes. To understand return-to-work trajectories, barriers encountered, and resources that may be used to better support participants during early recovery and rehabilitation. The experiences of 31 participants (aged 25-76 years) who had or had not returned to work after stroke were explored. Interview data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis methods within a broader realist research approach. Participants identified an early need to explore a changed and changing occupational identity within a range of affirming environments, thereby ascertaining their return-to-work options early after stroke. The results articulate resources participants identified as most important for their occupational explorations. Theme 1 provides an overview of opportunities participants found helpful when exploring work options, while theme 2 explores fundamental principles for ensuring the provided opportunities were perceived as beneficial. Finally, theme 3 provides an overview of prioritized return-to-work service characteristics. The range and severity of impairments experienced by people following stroke are broad, and therefore their return-to-work needs are diverse. However, all participants, irrespective of impairment, highlighted the need for early opportunities to explore their changed and changing occupational identity.

Effective pandemic policy design through feedback does not need accurate predictions.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous toll on human health and well-being and led to major social and economic disruptions. Public health interventions in response to burgeoning case numbers and hospitalizations have repeatedly bent down the epidemic curve, effectively creating a feedback control system. Worst case scenarios have been avoided in many places through this responsive feedback. We aim to formalize and illustrate how to incorporate principles of feedback control into pandemic projections and decision-making, and ultimately shift the focus from prediction to the design of interventions. Starting with an epidemiological model for COVID-19, we illustrate how feedback control can be incorporated into pandemic management using a simple design that couples recent changes in case numbers or hospital occupancy with explicit policy restrictions. We demonstrate robust ability to control a pandemic using a design that responds to hospital cases, despite simulating large uncertainty in reproduction number R0 (range: 1.04-5.18) and average time to hospital admission (range: 4-28 days). We show that shorter delays, responding to case counts versus hospital measured infections, reduce both the cumulative case count and the average level of interventions. Finally, we show that feedback is robust to changing compliance to public health directives and to systemic changes associated with variants of concern and with the introduction of a vaccination program. The negative impact of a pandemic on human health and societal disruption can be reduced by coupling models of disease propagation with models of the decision-making process. In contrast to highly varying open-loop projections, incorporating feedback explicitly in the decision-making process is more reflective of the real-world challenge facing public health decision makers. Using feedback principles, effective control strategies can be designed even if the pandemic characteristics are highly uncertain, encouraging earlier and smaller actions that reduce both case counts and the extent of interventions.

Occurrence of Occupational Injuries and Within Day Changes in Wet Bulb Temperature Among Sugarcane Harvesters

ABSTRACT Objective Climate change has implications for human health worldwide, with workers in outdoor occupations in low- to middle-income countries shouldering the burden of increasing average temperatures and more frequent extreme heat days. An overlooked aspect of the human health impact is the relationship between heat exposure and increased risk of occupational injury. In this study, we examined the association between occupational injury occurrence and changes in outdoor temperatures through the workday among a cohort of Guatemalan sugarcane harvesters. Methods Occupational injuries recorded for the 2014/2015 to 2017/2018 harvest seasons were collected from a large agribusiness employing male sugarcane harvesters in Southwest Guatemala. Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) for the same period was collected from the El Balsamo weather station. We used a logistic mixed effects model to examine the association between injury occurrence and (1) the average WBGT during the hour injury was recorded, (2) the average WBGT during the hour prior to the injury being recorded, and (3) the change in the hourly average WBGT prior to the injury being recorded. Results There were 155 injuries recorded during the study period. Injuries were recorded most often between 14:00 and 16:00 (n = 62, 40%) followed by 8:00 and 10:00 (n = 56, 36%). There were significant differences in the average hourly WBGT and the hour in which injuries were recorded (p-value <.001). There were no observable associations between average hourly WBGT (OR: 1.00, 95%CI: 0.94, 1.05; p-value: 0.87), lagged average hourly WBGT (OR: 1.01, 95%CI: 0.97, 1.05; p-value: 0.71), or change in average hourly WBGT (OR: 0.96, 95%CI: 0.89, 1.04; p-value: 0.35) and recorded occupational injury. Conclusions This is the first study that has examined how changes in WBGT throughout the day are related to occupational injury among agricultural workers. Although this study did not demonstrate an association, there is a need for future research to examine how various measurements of WBGT exposure are related to occupational injury in agricultural worker populations.

Climate-related range shifts in Arctic-breeding shorebirds.

To test whether the occupancy of shorebirds has changed in the eastern Canadian Arctic, and whether these changes could indicate that shorebird distributions are shifting in response to long-term climate change. Foxe Basin and Rasmussen Lowlands, Nunavut, Canada. We used a unique set of observations, made 25 years apart, using general linear models to test if there was a relationship between changes in shorebird species' occupancy and their species temperature Index, a simple version of a species climate envelope. Changes in occupancy and density varied widely across species, with some increasing and some decreasing. This is despite that overall population trends are known to be negative for all of these species based on surveys during migration. The changes in occupancy that we observed were positively related to the species temperature index, such that the warmer-breeding species appear to be moving into these regions, while colder-breeding species appear to be shifting out of the regions, likely northward. Our results suggest that we should be concerned about declining breeding habitat availability for bird species whose current breeding ranges are centered on higher and colder latitudes.

Four Elegies

Four Elegies

Assessment of changes in land use and occupation on the hydrological regime of a basin in the west of Bahia

The western region of Bahia is one of the most active agricultural frontiers in the country, where areas of vegetation have been replaced by agricultural areas, both rainfed and irrigated. These changes have resulted in conflicts over water use in the region, particularly in this study area, which corresponds to the Sítio Grande flow measurement point, representing a sub-basin of the Rio Grande. Although this scenario of conflicts and water unavailability is attributed to human actions, the decrease in water availability may also be associated with factors such as climate change. This constitutes the main aim of this study, which was to evaluate the hydrological responses to climate change and to land use and occupation using the SWAT hydrological model. The model was calibrated and validated for 3 different periods (1986–1990; 1991–1995), (1996–2000; 2001–2005), (2006–2010; 2011–2015), respectively. These periods were divided so as to portray the observed flow of the drainage basin as closely as possible, since over the years the use and occupation of the land have changed. The simulations were based on the fixing-changing method, in which the three periods were simulated for three different maps of land use and occupation (1990, 2005, and 2015), fixing the land use and occupation map and changing the simulation period. The results show that the SWAT performed satisfactorily in its analysis of the three periods studied on a monthly scale. The areas of all forest types of the Cerrado biome in this sub-basin were reduced by 27.47% between 1990 and 2015, while agricultural areas grew by 192.48%. Land use change scenarios indicate a reduction in flow. If the land use and occupation of the initial period of the study (1990) had remained unchanged and the natural vegetation had been preserved, the Q90, maximum, average, and minimum flows would be higher than in the current scenario.

GW+EDMFT investigation of Pr1−xSrxNiO2 under pressure

Motivated by the recent experimental observation of a large pressure effect on ${T}_{c}$ in ${\mathrm{Pr}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{x}{\mathrm{NiO}}_{2}$, we study the electronic properties of this compound as a function of pressure for $x=0$ and 0.2 doping using self-consistent $GW+\mathrm{EDMFT}$. Our numerical results demonstrate a nontrivial interplay between chemical doping and physical pressure, and small but systematic changes in the orbital occupations, local level energies, and interaction parameters with increasing pressure. The proper treatment of correlation effects, beyond density functional theory, is shown to play an important role in revealing these trends. While the pressure-dependent changes in the electronic structure of the undoped compound suggest a more single-band-like behavior in the high-pressure regime, a qualitatively different behavior is found in the doped system. We also point out that the fluctuations in the orbital occupations and spin states are not consistent with a single-band picture, and that at least a two-band model is necessary to reproduce the full result. This multiorbital nature manifests itself most clearly in the doped compound.

A computational framework for transmission risk assessment of aerosolized particles in classrooms.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00366-022-01773-9.

Distributional effects of COVID-19

Using Italian Labour Force Survey data for the period 2019Q1-2020Q4 and applying quantile regression model accounting for sample selection bias, the paper investigates the effects of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic on the wage distribution of employees, exploiting differences across sectors and by working from home arrangement. The findings reveal that the pandemic seems to positively affect wages of the entire workforce. However, this short-term advantage might be temporary as potentially driven by occupational changes in employment composition, whereas teleworking arrangement entails a wage premium for all workers. Low paid workers, employed in hotel/restaurant sector and not teleworking during the outbreak, face a reduction in wages (− 13.7%), while employees of public administration and education sectors exhibit a wage premium. When considering the joint effect of COVID-19 and working from home arrangement, estimates show that, despite few exceptions, wages of teleworking employees have been not affected by the coronavirus. Finally, we also control for self-selection issue by implementing the inverse probability weighting estimator.