Initial Occupation Research Articles

Maintaining Competence in the Initial Occupation: Activities among Vocational Teachers

Contemporary work-life changes rapidly, and vocational education and training (VET) teachers need to keep up-to-date with changing knowledge demands and technological developments. This article concerns VET teachers’ continuing professional development (CPD) related to the specific vocations for which they teach. The aim is to analyse VET teachers’ participation in various types of activities designed to make them become more knowledgeable in relation to industry currency. The study draws on a socio-cultural perspective on practice and learning. Theory concerning adults’ participation in education is also used in analysing drivers of and barriers to participation in learning activities. The analyses are based on survey data from 886 Swedish VET teachers relating to their participation in different activities, barriers/drivers concerning participation in these activities, perceived effects (outcomes) of participation in terms of professional development, and teachers’ background. Reading professional texts was the most common CPD activity among those VET teachers participating in the study. Reading, and work in the VET teacher’s former/initial occupation were the two activities where variation in performing them could be explained to the highest degree. The study particularly highlights the importance of boundary crossing between school and work-life for maintaining and developing the industrial currency of VET teachers’ competence. Active membership and engagement in the community of practice of the initial occupation is important for participation in CPD activities closely related to this community.

Ruffed grouse population declines after introduction of West Nile virus

ABSTRACTThe abundance of ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) has declined over a broad region in the Appalachian Mountains in the last 3 decades. We determined empirical support for different hypothesized causes of declines: habitat loss, forest maturation, and the introduction of West Nile virus (WNV) in the early 2000s. We examined how these factors relate to declines observed in 2 data sets: changes between 2 Breeding Bird Atlas (BBA) surveys in Pennsylvania conducted in the 1980s and 2000s and a 48‐year time series of flush rate data. Initial occupancy of BBA blocks was positively related to the amount of available forested habitat, and persistence and colonization probabilities were negatively related to WNV intensity and positively related to available forest and to increasing trends in early successional habitat. Flush rates dropped in most regions after the arrival of WNV, but trend estimates were imprecisely estimated, and there was considerable uncertainty about whether or how the slope of annual trends in flush rates changed. Our results provide support for the importance of forest and early successional forest, but taken together with other supporting evidence for the presence of WNV in wild ruffed grouse populations and mortality in ruffed grouse chicks caused by WNV infection, our results also suggest that ruffed grouse populations might have been affected by mortality from WNV. In the face of WNV, managing habitat may be insufficient to sustain ruffed grouse populations. © 2017 The Wildlife Society.

Thermalization of overpopulated systems in the 2PI formalism

Based on the two-particle irreducible (2PI) formalism to next-to-leading order in the $1/N$ expansion, we study the thermalization of overpopulated systems in scalar $O(N)$ theories with moderate coupling. We focus in particular on the growth of soft modes, and examine whether this can lead to the formation of a transient Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) when the initial occupancy is high enough. For the value of the coupling constant used in our simulations, we find that while the system rapidly approaches the condensation threshold, the formation of a BEC is eventually hindered by particle number changing processes.

Localization of fermions in coupled chains with identical disorder

We study fermionic ladders with identical disorder along the leg direction. Following recent experiments we focus, in particular, on how an initial occupation imbalance evolves in time. By considering different initial states and different ladder geometries we conclude that in generic cases interchain coupling leads to a destruction of the imbalance over time, both for Anderson and for many-body localized systems.

Boreal small mammals show evidence of density-dependent patterns with area-sensitivity

In recent years, habitat amount in fragmented landscapes has been shown to positively influence population size, species occurrence, and species diversity. Quantifying how sensitive bioindicator species respond to the amount of habitat in disturbed landscapes (i.e. area-sensitivity) has become a growing research focus to provide robust guidelines for ecosystem-based management. In this study, we modelled the occurrence of North American boreal small mammals in relation with the total amount of forest surrounding remnant forest patches in disturbed landscapes while controlling for local habitat associations. Over the summers of 2013 and 2014, we conducted four trapping sessions in 60 sites located in old forest remnant patches of old forests in both wildfires and aggregated clearcuts, and in continuous old forest blocks within the black spruce forest of northwestern Quebec, Canada. American red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), southern red-backed voles (Myodes gapperi) and masked shrews (Sorex cinereus) represented 85.5% of our total captures. We measured the amount of habitat (percentage of forest cover) within 100 concentric buffers around each capture grid using digital forest cover maps. Buffers varied in radii from 50m to 5km. We quantified area-sensitivity using dynamic models of single-species occupancy to estimate the probabilities of initial site occupancy, site extinction and site colonisation of each species according to both local habitat variables and surrounding habitat amount. We found no associations between initial site occupancy, site colonisation, or site extinction with local habitat features, possibly in response to habitat structure similarity of our three site types. Species studied had different life histories in terms of population dynamics' and timing of juvenile dispersal, possibly explaining why each species had its individual response to the amount of habitat in the surrounding landscape. For the American red squirrel, we found no evidence of within-year area-sensitivity on initial site occupancy patterns, whereas negative area sensitivity on initial site occupancy between-years was observed for the southern red-backed vole. In contrast, we found positive area-sensitivity on between-years site colonisation for this latter species at small spatial scales. For masked shrews, we detected negative area-sensitivity on initial site occupancy within-year. As populations were sampled at low density, we suspect that the sparse distribution of individuals may influence area-sensitivity patterns. Future studies should consider area-sensitivity with regards to both spatial and temporal scales. We encourage long-term monitoring of animal populations at multiple spatial scales to investigate the underlying ecological mechanisms of positive and negative area-sensitivity.

Late Holocene Human Expansion into Near and Remote Oceania: A Bayesian Model of the Chronologies of the Mariana Islands and Bismarck Archipelago

ABSTRACTSince the investigations of Spoehr in the 1950s, most researchers have accepted a date of ∼3500 BP/1500 BC for the initial human settlement of the Mariana Islands in the western Pacific. The relationship of this early expansion beyond Island Southeast Asia, characterized by Lapita-like pottery, to the appearance of Lapita in Near Oceania, generally was either given little thought or largely ignored. The Lapita settlement of Near Oceania is almost universally regarded as the initial expansion of Austronesian speakers into the Pacific, followed a few centuries later by a rapid migration to the east into Remote Oceania. More recently, however, radiocarbon evidence from several sites suggests that initial late Holocene expansion into the Pacific occurred in the Mariana Islands. This hypothesis needs critical evaluation. To this end, we created site- and region-level Bayesian calibration models. Results estimate that initial Lapita occupation of the Mussau Islands in the Bismarck Archipelago occurred between 3535 and 3234 cal BP (95% probability), which is 50–385 years (95% probability) earlier than the initial settlement of the Mariana Islands, dated to 3230–3085 cal BP (95% probability). Additionally, settlement of the Mariana Islands was either coeval or later (−66 to 254 years [95% probability]) than Lapita expansion out of Mussau into the greater Bismarck archipelago between 3397 and 3115 cal BP (95% probability). Radiocarbon datasets from these regions are hampered by problematic samples, and we anticipate that additional reliable radiocarbon dates will refine these estimates.

The Effects of Gendered Occupational Roles on Men’s and Women’s Workplace Authority: Evidence from Microfinance

The gendering of occupational roles affects a variety of outcomes for workers and organizations. We examine how the gender of an initial role occupant influences the authority enjoyed by individuals who subsequently fill that role. We use data from a microfinance bank in Central America to examine how working initially with a male or female loan manager shapes borrowers’ compliance with future managers’ directives. First, we show that borrowers originally paired with female managers continue to be less compliant with subsequent managers, regardless of subsequent managers’ gender. Next, we demonstrate how compliance is shaped by the gender-typing of the role and the gender of the individual who fills that role. We find that men enjoy significantly greater compliance in male-typed roles, but male and female managers experience similar levels of compliance in female-typed roles. Further analyses reveal that these gendered patterns become especially pronounced after managers demonstrate their authority by disciplining borrowers. Overall, we show how quickly gendered expectations become inscribed into occupational roles, and we identify their lasting organizational consequences. More broadly, we suggest authority mechanisms that may contribute to the “stalled” gender revolution in the workplace.

Stimulated absorption of light in bosonic cascades of excitons

In bosonic cascades of excitons or exciton-polaritons the absorption of electromagnetic radiation resonant to the energy spacing between neighboring quantization levels may be stimulated by the initial state occupation number. This opens way to realization of ultrasensitive detectors of infrared or terahertz radiation. The stimulated absorption of light by bosonic condensates has also a high potentiality for photovoltaic applications.

Hunter-Gatherer Mobility Strategies in the High Andes of Northern Chile during the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene Transition (ca. 11,500–9500 CAL B.P.)

ABSTRACTThe high Andes of western South America feature extreme ecological conditions that impose important physiological constraints on humans including high-elevation hypoxia and cold stress. This leads to questions regarding how these environments were colonized by the first waves of humans that reached them during the late Pleistocene. Based on previous research, and aided by human behavioral ecology principles, we assess hunter-gatherer behavioral strategies in the Andean highlands during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. Specifically, we formulate three mobility strategies and their archaeological expectations and test these using technological and subsistence evidence from the six earliest well-dated highland sites in northern Chile. Our results suggest that all of the studied sites were temporarily occupied for hunting, processing animals, and toolkit maintenance. The sites also exhibit shared technological features within a curatorial strategy albeit with different occupation intensities. From this evidence, we infer that the initial occupations of the highlands were logistical and probably facilitated by increased local resource availability during a period of environmental amelioration.

Archaeological Investigations Into the Origins of Bel Trading Groups Around the Madang Coast, Northeast New Guinea

ABSTRACTThis article presents archaeological data critical to our understanding of the pre-colonial past along the northeast coast of New Guinea. Two archaeological sites from coastal and offshore Madang, Papua New Guinea, were excavated to establish the timing of colonization by Bel (Austronesian) speakers, and the subsequent emergence of their trade and exchange networks along the coast leading up to ethnographic accounts. These sites include Nunguri on Bilbil Island, formerly the center of the expansive Madang (Bilbil) pottery exchange network, and Tilu, Malmal village, a pottery consumption area along the coast. Both excavations suggest that initial occupation at these sites by the Bel-speaking groups occurred very recently in the last millennium before present (c. 550–650 cal BP), which is broadly in line with oral history and linguistic evidence. From the start, this occupation involved local red-slipped pottery production and distribution, the exchange of obsidian and sedimentary lithics, and the consumption of nearshore marine resources along with key domesticated animals. In-depth descriptions of these investigations and the archaeological material are presented here.

Occupancy dynamics of the Wood Warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix assessed with habitat and remote sensing data

The study of population dynamics and species–habitat interactions is important for many ecological and conservation issues. We analysed the occupancy dynamics of the Wood Warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix, a forest interior passerine that has suffered long‐term declines in many European countries. Considering a broad range of habitat descriptors, including LiDAR‐based variables characterizing forest structure, we identified environmental factors influencing the probabilities of occupancy, colonization, extinction and detection, and mapped these probabilities at a landscape scale. We used presence–absence data collected between 1999 and 2013 in a robust‐design protocol with replicated surveys within each primary sampling season (i.e. breeding season). To analyse occupancy dynamics, we fitted dynamic occupancy models with covariates describing topography, forest extent and structure, soil, seed masting (as a proxy for rodent abundance) and weather conditions during settlement. Initial occupancy was positively related to slope, forest cover and the proportion of broadleaf forest, and negatively related to forest edge length, canopy height variation and soil nutrients. Colonization probability was positively associated with slope and negatively with canopy height variation and soil nutrients. Extinction probability was negatively related to slope, positively related to forest edge length and was lowest at intermediate vegetation heights. Detection probability decreased during the season and was positively related to forest cover. This study provides insights into the settlement dynamics of a declining forest species by identifying potential drivers of the processes underlying occupancy dynamics, instead of simply modelling species abundance or occurrence. Forest‐related covariates were of overwhelming importance for the settlement dynamics of the Wood Warbler. Conservation measures should focus on providing and maintaining the species' preferred forest structure, specifically in extended forests. In Switzerland, forests located on slopes and on nutrient‐poor soils should be prioritized for conservation. Finally, comparing findings derived from the relatively coarse scale of this study with those from the small scale of individual territories suggests that conservation recommendations deduced from large‐scale monitoring schemes alone may be incomplete, and vice versa.

Expansion of one-dimensional lattice hard-core bosons at finite temperature

We develop an exact approach to study the quench dynamics of hard-core bosons initially in thermal equilibrium in one-dimensional lattices. This approach is used to study the sudden expansion of thermal states after confining potentials are switched off. We find that a dynamical fermionization of the momentum distribution occurs at all temperatures. This phenomenon is studied for low initial site occupations, for which the expansion of the cloud is self-similar. In this regime, the occupation of the natural orbitals allows one to distinguish hard-core bosons from noninteracting fermions. We also study the free expansion of initial Mott insulating domains at finite temperature and show that the emergence of off-diagonal one-body correlations is suppressed gradually with increasing temperature. Surprisingly, the melting of the Mott domain is accompanied by an effective cooling of the system. We explain this phenomenon analytically using an equilibrium description based on an emergent local Hamiltonian.

Effects of Tamarix removal on the community dynamics of riparian birds in a semiarid grassland

AbstractInvasion of riparian habitats by non‐native plants is a global problem that requires an understanding of community‐level responses by native plants and animals. In the Great Plains, resource managers have initiated efforts to control the eastward incursion of Tamarix as a non‐native bottomland plant (Tamarix ramosissima) along the Cimarron River in southwestern Kansas, United States. To understand how native avifauna interact with non‐native plants, we studied the effects of Tamarix removal on riparian bird communities. We compared avian site occupancy of three foraging guilds, abundance of four nesting guilds, and assessed community dynamics with dynamic, multiseason occupancy models across three replicated treatments. Community parameters were estimated for Tamarix‐dominated sites (untreated), Tamarix‐removal sites (treated), and reference sites with native cottonwood sites (Populus deltoides). Estimates of initial occupancy (ψ2006) for the ground‐to‐shrub foraging guild tended to be highest at Tamarix‐dominated sites, while initial occupancy of the upper‐canopy foraging and mid‐canopy foraging guilds were highest in the treated and reference sites, respectively. Estimates of relative abundance for four nesting guilds indicated that the reference habitat supported the highest relative abundance of birds overall, although the untreated habitat had higher abundance of shrub‐nesters than treated or reference habitats. Riparian sites where invasive Tamarix is dominant in the Great Plains can provide nesting habitat for some native bird species, with avian abundance and diversity that are comparable to remnant riparian sites with native vegetation. Moreover, presence of some native vegetation in Tamarix‐dominated and Tamarix‐removal sites may increase abundance of riparian birds such as cavity‐nesters. Overall, our study demonstrates that Tamarix may substitute for native flora in providing nesting habitat for riparian birds at the eastern edge of its North American range.

Worker Adjustment to Trade Shocks: Where You Work or What You Do?

I study the adjustment of Brazilian workers to rising import competition from China. I compare the impact of trade exposure based on workers’ initial industries, geographic regions, and occupations on long-term earnings and employment. Occupation-based exposure to this trade shock leads to the largest adjustment costs in terms of both earnings and employment. I show these adjustment costs are heterogeneous and depend on workers’ educational attainment and tenure at their initial employers. I disentangle the impact of trade on earnings at workers’ initial employers or industries versus the impact on earnings outside of these.

Pore-Scale Network Modeling of Three-Phase Flow Based on Thermodynamically Consistent Threshold Capillary Pressures. I. Cusp Formation and Collapse

We present a pore-scale network model of two- and three-phase flow in disordered porous media. The model reads three-dimensional pore networks representing the pore space in different porous materials. It simulates wide range of two- and three-phase pore-scale displacements in porous media with mixed-wet wettability. The networks are composed of pores and throats with circular and angular cross sections. The model allows the presence of multiple phases in each angular pore. It uses Helmholtz free energy balance and Mayer–Stowe–Princen (MSP) method to compute threshold capillary pressures for two- and three-phase displacements (fluid configuration changes) based on pore wettability, pore geometry, interfacial tension, and initial pore fluid occupancy. In particular, it generates thermodynamically consistent threshold capillary pressures for wetting and spreading fluid layers resulting from different displacement events. Threshold capillary pressure equations are presented for various possible fluid configuration changes. By solving the equations for the most favorable displacements, we show how threshold capillary pressures and final fluid configurations may vary with wettability, shape factor, and the maximum capillary pressure reached during preceding displacement processes. A new cusp pore fluid configuration is introduced to handle the connectivity of the intermediate wetting phase at low saturations and to improve model’s predictive capabilities. Based on energy balance and geometric equations, we show that, for instance, a gas-to-oil piston-like displacement in an angular pore can result in a pore fluid configuration with no oil, with oil layers, or with oil cusps. Oil layers can then collapse to form cusps. Cusps can shrink and disappear leaving no oil behind. Different displacement mechanisms for layer and cusp formation and collapse based on the MSP analysis are implemented in the model. We introduce four different layer collapse rules. A selected collapse rule may generate different corner configuration depending on fluid occupancies of the neighboring elements and capillary pressures. A new methodology based on the MSP method is introduced to handle newly created gas/water interfaces that eliminates inconsistencies in relation between capillary pressures and pore fluid occupancies. Minimization of Helmholtz free energy for each relevant displacement enables the model to accurately determine the most favorable displacement, and hence, improve its predictive capabilities for relative permeabilities, capillary pressures, and residual saturations. The results indicate that absence of oil cusps and the previously used geometric criterion for the collapse of oil layers could yield lower residual oil saturations than the experimentally measured values in two- and three-phase systems.

Análisis de los factores que influyen en la afectación psicológica, la capacidad funcional y la calidad de vida en pacientes con parálisis facial periférica

Introduction and objectivesThe aim of this study was to analyse various factors that can contribute to psychological distress, functional capacity and quality of life in people with incompletely resolved peripheral facial palsy (PFP). Material and methodsWe performed a retrospective cross-sectional study in 31 patients with incompletely resolved PFP. The factors analysed were: severity, age, gender, laterality, aetiology, degree of initial nerve injury, duration, marital status and occupation. Psychological distress was assessed through the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), disability through the Facial Disability Index (FDI) and quality of life through the Facial Clinimetric Evaluation Scale (FaCE) questionnaires. ResultsThe most important factor was severity, with statistically significant correlations with FaCE Total (r=0.596; p<0.01), FaCE Social (r=0.444; p<0.05), FDI Physical (r=0.539; p<0.01), and FDI Total (r=0.395; p<0.05). Age was correlated with FDI Social (r=0.36; p<0.05). Patients with a partner showed more disability, with statistically significant differences in mean scores of FDI Physical (p<0.01) and FDI Total (p<0.01). Working with the public was associated with lower quality of life, with statistically significant differences in FaCE Total (p<0.05). ConclusionThe severity of PFP is directly correlated with disability and quality of life. Age influences social disability. Marital status is associated with disability and occupation with quality of life. The other factors studied had little influence.

A Holocene record of environmental change from Río Zeballos, central Patagonia

There are few continuous palaeoenvironmental records spanning the Holocene in Andean Southern Patagonia near the Northern Patagonian Ice Field (~47°S). Insights into the environmental context for human–landscape interactions have relied mostly on data extrapolated from distant extra-Andean locations that suggest limited environmental change during the Holocene. La Frontera (46°52′S), a high altitude site on the southern beech forest–steppe ecotone boundary in the Río Zeballos valley, provides lithostratigraphical and palaeoecological evidence, constrained by 14C dating and tephrochronology, for dynamic environmental change during the last ~8000 years. An initial amelioration in environmental conditions after c. 8210 cal. BP was followed by a reversal to colder conditions between c. 7420 and 6480 cal. BP, coincident with initial human occupation within the Paso Roballos and Lago Pueyrredón basin. Between c. 6480 and 3700 cal. BP, the woodland/steppe composition continued to fluctuate in response to climatic change. After c. 3700 cal. BP, a gradual shift to more stable and temperate conditions, punctuated by increased fire activity, is contemporary with the later phases of human occupation extending up into the Paso Roballos–Río Zeballos corridor.

Spontaneous spin bifurcations in a Bose-Einstein condensate of indirect excitons

In this paper, we theoretically study the spin dynamics of a spatially trapped Bose-Einstein condensate of indirect excitons (IXs). A spontaneous parity-symmetry breaking spin bifurcation for bright excitons is reported under non-resonant linearly polarized pumping. Above a certain pumping amplitude, condensation for bright excitons spontaneously and stochastically adopts one of two spin-polarized configurations Sz depending on initial occupations. This phenomenon of spontaneous spin bifurcations is attributed to the small energy splitting and difference in dissipation rates between bright and dark excitons in IX systems. The considered systems thus have potential applications in spin memories, spin switches and to simulate spin interactions in condensed lattices.

Critical Role of the Secondary Binding Pocket in Modulating the Enzymatic Activity of DUSP5 toward Phosphorylated ERKs.

DUSP5 is an inducible nuclear dual-specificity phosphatase that specifically interacts with and deactivates extracellular signal-regulated kinases ERK1 and ERK2, which are responsible for cell proliferation, differentiation, and survival. The phosphatase domain (PD) of DUSP5 has unique structural features absent from other nuclear DUSPs, such as the presence of a secondary anion-binding site in the proximity of the reaction center and a glutamic acid E264 positioned next to the catalytic cysteine C263, as well as a remote intramolecular disulfide linkage. The overall 400 ns molecular dynamics simulations indicate that the secondary binding site of DUSP5 PD acts as an allosteric regulator of the phosphatase activity of DUSP5. Our studies have identified E264 as a critical constituent of the dual binding pocket, which regulates the catalytic activity of DUSP5 by forming a salt bridge with arginine R269. Molecular dynamics studies showed that initial occupation of the secondary binding pocket leads to the breakage of the salt bridge, which then allows the occupation of the active site. Indeed, biochemical analysis using the pERK assay on mutant E264Q demonstrated that mutation of glutamic acid E264 leads to an increase in the DUSP5 catalytic activity. The role of the secondary binding site in assembling the DUSP5-pERK pre-reactive complex was further demonstrated by molecular dynamics simulations that showed that the remote C197-C219 disulfide linkage controls the structure of the secondary binding pocket based on its redox state (i.e., disulfide/dithiol) and, in turn, the enzymatic activity of DUSP5.

Exploring Aredhiou: New Light on the Rural Communities of the Cypriot Hinterland During the Late Bronze Age

This article explores social practices and the material world at Aredhiou Vouppes, a Late Bronze Age rural community in the Cypriot hinterland. In-depth analysis of the excavation results demonstrates that this site was more complex than current typologies of inland production centers, based mainly on survey data, would suggest. Instead, it was multifunctional and played an important economic role within the wider Cypriot landscape. This article addresses the evidence for initial occupation at Aredhiou during Middle Cypriot III–Late Cypriot (LC) I, but the main focus is on the substantial LC IIC remains. Through a detailed contextual analysis and the identification of a multiplicity of activities practiced at the site, I examine social practice, gender relations, and ritual performance within a small farming community.