Members Of Local Group Research Articles

Understanding the perception of buffer zone communities to gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) conservation in Chitwan National Park, Nepal

The gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) is a Critically Endangered species found in Nepal and India. In Nepal, gharials are distributed in Chitwan and Bardia National Parks. Gharials are highly threatened due to various and severe anthropogenic activities. In this study, we assess the attitude, perception and willingness of a range of stakeholders living around Chitwan National Park to participate in gharial conservation. We conducted semi-structured questionnaire surveys with open ended questions. We interviewed national park officials (n = 8), local community group members (n = 54), hoteliers (n = 12), conservation partners (n = 5), local elected representatives (n = 38), fishing community members (n = 14), fishing net sellers (n = 15) and students (n = 9). Our study revealed that respondents are familiar with existing conservation awareness activities and expressed their willingness to participate in gharial conservation activities which can be capitalized on for future conservation initiatives for gharials. Further, we suggest to concentrate efforts particularly on local representatives, fishing net sellers and river dependent communities. These efforts include community level gharial knowledge sharing and interaction program, school teaching program, participating community in gharial conservation and its habitat management intervention and livelihood programs.

Implementing a home-based personalised cognitive rehabilitation intervention for people with mild-to-moderate dementia: GREAT into Practice

BackgroundEvidence-based rehabilitative interventions, if widely implemented, could equip people with dementia and their families to manage life with the condition and reduce the need for health and care services. The aim of this translational study, building on evidence from the GREAT randomised controlled trial, was to develop a foundation for implementing the GREAT Cognitive Rehabilitation intervention in community-based services for people with mild-to-moderate dementia.MethodsKey elements of the implementation strategy were identifying and supporting managerial and clinical leadership, conducting collaborative planning and target-setting, training and supporting practitioners, and providing external facilitation. We developed implementation plans with, and trained staff in, 14 organisations. We subsequently worked closely with 11 of these, 10 National Health Service organisations and one private home care provider, to support practitioners to deliver GREAT Cognitive Rehabilitation over a 12-month period. Outcome evaluation examined the perspectives of local steering group members, practitioners and service users, and the reach, effectiveness and cost of the intervention.ResultsImplementation was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but six organisations completed at least six months of intervention delivery. Forty-one practitioners, mainly occupational therapists, provided the intervention, and 54 people with dementia completed a course of GREAT Cognitive Rehabilitation. Goal attainment by people with dementia exceeded levels of improvement seen in the original trial. People with dementia, carers, practitioners and steering group members all evaluated the intervention positively, and economic analysis indicated that the intervention could be provided at modest cost. However, we identified a range of mainly organisational barriers that impeded implementation and limited the potential for sustainability.ConclusionsGREAT Cognitive Rehabilitation benefits people with dementia, can be delivered effectively at modest cost in routine services, and is viewed positively by people with dementia, family carers and practitioners. To fully realise these benefits and achieve widespread and sustainable implementation, however, requires sufficient resources and a reorientation of service priorities towards preventive and rehabilitative approaches.Trial RegistrationNational Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Central Portfolio Management System, registration number 38994.

The implementation of nUrsiNg DEliRium preventive INterventions in the Intensive Care Unit (UNDERPIN-ICU): A qualitative evaluation

BackgroundDelirium frequently occurs in intensive care unit patients and is associated with worse outcomes. Recently, a multicomponent non-pharmacological nursing intervention program called UNDERPIN-ICU, was implemented in ten Dutch intensive care units. The program was aimed at delirium reduction by optimizing four modifiable risk factors: visual and hearing impairment, cognitive impairment, immobility, and sleep deprivation. Despite its scientific fundament and extensive implementation, this program showed no effect on delirium outcomes. ObjectiveTo explore factors that hindered or facilitated the application of the UNDERPIN-ICU delirium program in daily practice as experienced by healthcare professionals. MethodsSemi-structured focus group interviews were conducted in all participating centers between April and June of 2019. Directed content and thematic analyses were applied. Interviews were coded. Codes were grouped into categories based on factors that hindered or facilitated program application. ResultsIn total, 22 ICU nurses, 3 ICU physicians, 5 local delirium group members and one research manager participated in 10 focus group interviews. We found 41 factors that hindered or facilitated program application, grouped into five categories: interventions; individual healthcare professional; patient; implementation process; capacity for change, incentives and resources. Among the factors identified in this study, the facilitating factors included standardized interventions, a structured implementation, interactive educational meetings and, feedback and support. The hindering factors included doubts about usefulness, feasibility, the extensive number of program components, limited knowledge about the program and a focus on physical care. ConclusionFactors that hindered program application may explain why the UNDERPIN-ICU program did not have positive effects on delirium outcomes. Factors that facilitated application should be strengthened in future non-pharmacological nursing interventions to prevent or reduce delirium in intensive care. RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03002701; registration date December 26, 2016.

The emotional landscape of curriculum making

AbstractOur aim with this study was to gain a better understanding of the emotional landscape of curriculum making by exploring the variety of emotions embedded in shared sense‐making about the national curriculum reform implementation at the district level. Focus group interview data were collected from 12 curriculum reform steering groups around Finland, that were responsible for orchestrating curriculum reform work at the district level. The data were qualitatively content analysed. The results showed that the local steering group members experienced a wide range of emotions in shared sense‐making. Positive emotions were described slightly more often than negative emotions. The emotional landscape of the sense‐making strategies applied in curriculum reform work varied depending on the strategy applied.

Liwetan, The Boardroom for Managing Horizontal Conflicts in Tourism Village Sustainability

In the tourism development and sustainability literature, conflicts among local communities, i.e. horizontal conflicts, about community-based tourism have been found to be detrimental to the sustainability of their village. This qualitative study aims to counter that perception. In-depth interviews were conducted with the village’s communities, including local community group members and local authorities. The findings revealed that the ‘responsible manner of local communities’ is the best practice to mitigate horizontal conflicts. Specifically, we discovered that local community groups in the tourism village are aware that their collaborations may potentially lead to conflicts; therefore, they preemptively prepared themselves with a platform that enables them to discuss intrapersonal, intragroup, and intergroup matters in a manner that avoids and minimizes horizontal conflicts. This platform emerged through their ancestral tradition called liwetan. Although liwetan is not a new concept, using it in the management of tourism villages is not a common practice. We thus suggest that the approach discussed in this study be replicated and applied in other tourism villages all over Indonesia, given that the liwetan tradition can be found in many villages, albeit with different names.

Violation Detection in Service Level Agreement to Ensure the Privacy in Cloud Community using Chicken Spider Monkey Optimization-Based Deep Belief Network

In the cloud service system, the expectation between the customer and the cloud provider for the delivered services like, responsibilities and penalties of the violation arise in the cloud parties are specifically designed in a document named as Service Level Agreement (SLA). However, violation in the Service Level Agreement is a major challenge in the research community of SaaS cloud providers. Hence, an effective violation detection method named Chicken Spider Monkey Optimization-based Deep Belief Network (ChicSMO-based DBN) is proposed in this research to perform the violation detection mechanism in the cloud environment. The proposed Chicken Spider Monkey Optimization-based Deep Belief Network effectively computes the scores, like User Privacy Score (UPS), Service Level Agreement score (SLA), and Cloud Service Provider score (CSP) based on the fitness value. The spider monkeys forage the food by evaluating the distance from the food, and update their position towards the food source. The feature scores are computed by updating the position of local and global leader group members, and perform the violation detection process using the Deep Belief Network classifier. The performance enhancement attained by the proposed algorithm in terms of the evaluation metrics, like accuracy, coverage rate, and F-value which acquire with the values of 0.862, 0.944, and 0.889 with the transaction data of 1000, respectively. It increases the reliability to address the QoS guarantee issues and increase the confidence level of the prediction model.

Factors influencing participatory intervention implementation to improve care coordination

Abstract Background Problems related to care coordination are identified as challenges to the organization of health systems. In order to improve coordination, it is necessary to invest in interventions that promote collaboration between levels of care. The study analyzes factors influencing the implementation of the intervention joint meetings between levels of care, guided by participatory action research to improve clinical coordination from the perspective of actors involved in a public health care network in Brazil. Methods Qualitative descriptive-interpretative study carried out in the health network of a municipality in the northeast of Brazil. Ten interviews were conducted to managers and health professionals, members of local steering committee and focus group with primary care physicians and specialists participating in the intervention. Thematic content analysis was used; it generated categories from theoretical and emerging frameworks. Results The willingness of professionals and management support to participate of the intervention process emerge as fundamental factors. However, they are influenced by factors of the system, such as electoral period and management change and these reflected on the slowdown and instability in implementation process. In the health network, turnover of professionals and low trust between primary and specialized care were evidenced as challenges. However, the proactive role of local steering committee, driven by participatory strategy for development of the intervention, promoted reflections and decisions agreed between professionals and managers. This rebounded on adjustments to strengthen the intervention and improvements on knowledge and collaboration between levels. Conclusions analysis of factors contributes to reflection on changes in the context, adaptation of intervention over time and importance of the role of professionals. Such understanding becomes essential for sustainability and improvement of care coordination. Key messages Knowledge about factors that influence implementation of an intervention guided by participatory action research contributes to the development of strategies aimed at its sustainability. Contextual factors that hamper improvements implementation to coordination of care can be overcome through participatory strategies mobilizing health professionals and managers.

Does decentralization of decisions increase the stability of large groups?

Using a laboratory experiment with nested local and global public goods, we analyze the stability of global groups when individuals have the option to separate, according to the degree of decentralization of decision-making. We show that increasing the number of decisions made at the local level within a smaller group reduces the likelihood that individuals vote in favor of a configuration that includes no global good for interacting only within their local group. Voting for such a configuration is more likely when global group members are less cooperative and local group members are more cooperative. Reinforcing local group identity has no impact on votes.

Planck observations of M33

We have performed a comprehensive investigation of the global integrated flux density of M33 from radio to ultraviolet wavelengths, finding that the data between $\sim$100 GHz and 3 THz are accurately described by a single modified blackbody curve with a dust temperature of $T_\mathrm{dust}$ = 21.67$\pm$0.30 K and an effective dust emissivity index of $\beta_\mathrm{eff}$ = 1.35$\pm$0.10, with no indication of an excess of emission at millimeter/sub-millimeter wavelengths. However, sub-dividing M33 into three radial annuli, we found that the global emission curve is highly degenerate with the constituent curves representing the sub-regions of M33. We also found gradients in $T_\mathrm{dust}$ and $\beta_\mathrm{eff}$ across the disk of M33, with both quantities decreasing with increasing radius. Comparing the M33 dust emissivity with that of other Local Group members, we find that M33 resembles the Magellanic Clouds rather than the larger galaxies, i.e., the Milky Way and M31. In the Local Group sample, we find a clear correlation between global dust emissivity and metallicity, with dust emissivity increasing with metallicity. A major aspect of this analysis is the investigation into the impact of fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) on the integrated flux density spectrum of M33. We found that failing to account for these CMB fluctuations would result in a significant over-estimate of $T_\mathrm{dust}$ by $\sim$5 K and an under-estimate of $\beta_\mathrm{eff}$ by $\sim$0.4.

Does Decentralization of Decisions Increase the Stability of Large Groups?

Using a laboratory experiment with nested local and global public goods, we analyze the stability of global groups when individuals have the option to separate, according to the degree of decentralization of decision-making. We show that increasing the number of decisions made at the local level within a smaller group reduces the likelihood that individuals vote in favor of a configuration that includes no global good for interacting only within their local group. Voting for such a configuration is more likely when global group members are less cooperative and local group members are more cooperative. Reinforcing local group identity has no impact on votes.

Does Decentralization of Decisions Increase the Stability of Large Groups?

Using a laboratory experiment with nested local and global public goods, we analyze the stability of global groups when individuals have the option to separate, according to the degree of decentralization of decision-making. We show that increasing the number of decisions made at the local level within a smaller group reduces the likelihood that individuals vote in favor of a break-up of the global group. Voting for a break-up of the global group is more likely when global group members are less cooperative and local group members are more cooperative. Reinforcing local group identity has no impact on votes.

The APOSTLE simulations: solutions to the Local Group's cosmic puzzles

The Local Group of galaxies offer some of the most discriminating tests of models of cosmic structure formation. For example, observations of the Milky Way (MW) and Andromeda satellite populations appear to be in disagreement with N-body simulations of the "Lambda Cold Dark Matter" ({\Lambda}CDM) model: there are far fewer satellite galaxies than substructures in cold dark matter halos (the "missing satellites" problem); dwarf galaxies seem to avoid the most massive substructures (the "too-big-to-fail" problem); and the brightest satellites appear to orbit their host galaxies on a thin plane (the "planes of satellites" problem). Here we present results from APOSTLE (A Project Of Simulating The Local Environment), a suite of cosmological hydrodynamic simulations of twelve volumes selected to match the kinematics of the Local Group (LG) members. Applying the Eagle code to the LG environment, we find that our simulations match the observed abundance of LG galaxies, including the satellite galaxies of the MW and Andromeda. Due to changes to the structure of halos and the evolution in the LG environment, the simulations reproduce the observed relation between stellar mass and velocity dispersion of individual dwarf spheroidal galaxies without necessitating the formation of cores in their dark matter profiles. Satellite systems form with a range of spatial anisotropies, including one similar to that of the MW, confirming that such a configuration is not unexpected in {\Lambda}CDM. Finally, based on the observed velocity dispersion, size, and stellar mass, we provide new estimates of the maximum circular velocity for the halos of nine MW dwarf spheroidals.

Social familiarity affects Diana monkey (Cercopithecus diana diana) alarm call responses in habitat-specific ways.

Male Diana monkeys produce loud and acoustically distinct alarm calls to leopards and eagles that propagate over long distances, much beyond the immediate group. Calling is often contagious, with neighbouring males responding to each other’s calls, indicating that harem males communicate both to local group members and distant competitors. Here, we tested whether male Diana monkeys responding to each other’s alarm calls discriminated familiar from unfamiliar callers in two populations in Taï Forest (Ivory Coast) and on Tiwai Island (Sierra Leone). At both sites, we found specific acoustic markers in male alarm call responses that discriminated familiar from unfamiliar callers, but response patterns were site-specific. On Tiwai Island, males responded to familiar males’ eagle alarms with ‘standard’ eagle alarm calls, whereas unfamiliar males triggered acoustically atypical eagle alarms. The opposite was found in Taï Forest where males responded to unfamiliar males’ eagle alarm calls with ‘standard’ eagle alarms, and with atypical eagle alarms to familiar males’ calls. Moreover, only Taï, but not Tiwai, males also marked familiarity with the caller in their leopard-induced alarms. We concluded that male Diana monkeys encode not only predator type but also signaller familiarity in their alarm calls, although in population-specific ways. We explain these inter-site differences in vocal behaviour in terms of differences in predation pressure and population density. We discuss the adaptive function and implications of this behaviour for the origins of acoustic flexibility in primate communication.

Expanded haloes, abundance matching and too-big-to-fail in the Local Group

Observed kinematical data of 40 Local Group (LG) members are used to derive the dark matter halo mass of such galaxies. Haloes are selected from the theoretically expected LG mass function and two different density profiles are assumed, a standard universal cuspy model and a mass dependent profile which accounts for the effects of baryons in modifying the dark matter distribution within galaxies. The resulting relations between stellar and halo mass are compared with expectations from abundance matching. Using a universal cuspy profile, the ensemble of LG galaxies is fit in relatively low mass haloes, leaving "dark" many massive haloes of \mhalo$\gtrsim$10$^{10}$\msun: this reflects the "too big to fail" problem and results in a \mstar-\mhalo\ relation that differs from abundance matching predictions. Moreover, the star formation efficiency of isolated LG galaxies increases with decreasing halo mass when adopting a cuspy model. By contrast, using the mass dependent density profile, dwarf galaxies with \mstar$\gtrsim$10$^{6}$\msun are assigned to more massive haloes, which have a central cored distribution of dark matter: the "too big to fail" problem is alleviated, the resultant \mstar-\mhalo\ relation follows abundance matching predictions down to the completeness limit of current surveys, and the star formation efficiency of isolated members decreases with decreasing halo mass, in agreement with theoretical expectations. Finally, the cusp/core space of LG galaxies is presented, providing a framework to understand the non-universality of their density profiles.

Factors Affecting Fishers' Perceptions of Benefits, Threats, and State, and Participation in Mangrove Management in Pak Phanang Bay, Thailand

Jumnongsong, S.; Gallardo, W.G.; Ikejima, K., and Cochard, R., 2015. Factors affecting fishers' perceptions of benefits, threats, and state, and participation in mangrove management in Pak Phanang Bay, Thailand.Mangrove ecosystems provide a variety of services to people living on the coasts, in particular fishers whose livelihoods depend on healthy stocks of fish and other marine products. Fishers' participation and their understanding about mangroves are vital in mangrove management. This research was conducted to identify the factors contributing to the fishers' perceptions of the mangrove resources and their participation in mangrove management. In this study, mangroves in Pak Phanang Bay in Thailand were assessed in terms of state (diversity, structure, and regeneration) using the point-centered quarter method and fishers' perceptions of mangrove benefits, threats, and state, and their participation in management was investigated using a questionnaire. Ordinal logistic regression revealed that fishers' perceptions of mangrove benefits, threats, and state differed by residence location. Mangrove-related training affected perceptions of benefit and state, and participation in mangrove management, whereas local group membership affected perceptions of threat. Monthly income was identified as an important factor for participation. The perception of benefit is more important for participation in mangrove management compared with the perception of threat and mangrove state. There were some inconsistencies between the perceptions of mangrove state and the field study results; thus, it is recommended that a program that adopts a participatory approach including mangrove monitoring by the villagers could improve perceptions and understanding of mangrove state. Information on the actual state of mangroves and knowledge, particularly on mangrove ecosystem services, should be disseminated to the community via mangrove-related training and local group activities to enhance participation in mangrove management.

Analyzing Local Community Participation in Watershed Management Programs in Iran

Purpose of this study is to explore level of local community participation in Watershed Management Programs (WMP) within the rural population in Iran, and explore how level of people participation varies according to their socio demographic backgrounds. Data for this study were collected from 200 respondents through personal interviews using a pre-coded questionnaire from three villages in Hable-Rud basin during the August and September of 2008. Descriptive analysis, independent t-test, and one way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were employed to analyze the data. Results of this study indicated that level of local people participation in WMP was moderate to low and there was variation in patterns of participation. Data showed significant differences between level of participation in gender, marital status, educational groups, occupational groups, sources of motivation to join to program, and number of local group membership.

LACERTA I AND CASSIOPEIA III. TWO LUMINOUS AND DISTANT ANDROMEDA SATELLITE DWARF GALAXIES FOUND IN THE 3π PAN-STARRS1 SURVEY

We report the discovery of two new dwarf galaxies, Lacerta I/Andromeda XXXI (Lac I/And XXXI) and Cassiopeia III/Andromeda XXXII (Cas III/And XXXII), in stacked Pan-STARRS1 rP1- and iP1-band imaging data. Both are luminous systems (MV ∼ −12) located at projected distances of 203 and 105 from M31. Lac I and Cas III are likely satellites of the Andromeda galaxy with heliocentric distances of and , respectively, and corresponding M31-centric distances of 275 ± 7 kpc and . The brightest of recent Local Group member discoveries, these two new dwarf galaxies owe their late discovery to their large sizes ( arcmin or for Lac I; arcmin or 1456 ± 267 pc for Cas III) and consequently low surface brightness (μ0 ∼ 26.0 mag arcsec−2), as well as to the lack of a systematic survey of regions at large radii from M31, close to the Galactic plane. This latter limitation is now alleviated by the 3π Pan-STARRS1 survey, which could lead to the discovery of other distant Andromeda satellite dwarf galaxies.

THE OBSERVED PROPERTIES OF DWARF GALAXIES IN AND AROUND THE LOCAL GROUP

Positional, structural and dynamical parameters for all dwarf galaxies in and around the Local Group are presented, and various aspects of our observational understanding of this volume-limited sample are discussed. Over 100 nearby galaxies that have distance estimates placing them within 3Mpc of the Sun are identified. This distance threshold samples dwarfs in a large range of environments, from the satellite systems of the MW and M31, to the dwarfs in the outer regions of the Local Group, to the numerous isolated galaxies found in its surroundings. It extends to, but does not include, the galaxies associated with the next nearest groups. Our basic knowledge of this important galactic subset and their resolved stellar populations will continue to improve dramatically over the coming years with existing and future observational capabilities, and they will continue to provide the most detailed information available on numerous aspects of dwarf galaxy formation and evolution. Basic observational parameters, such as distances, velocities, magnitudes, mean metallicities, as well as structural and dynamical characteristics, are collated, homogenized (as far as possible), and presented in tables that will be continually updated to provide a convenient and current on-line resource. As well as discussing the provenance of the tabulated values and uncertainties affecting their usage, the membership and spatial extent of the MW and M31 subgroups and the Local Group are explored. The morphological diversity of the entire sample and sub-groups is discussed, and time-scales are derived for the Local Group members in the context of their orbital histories. The scaling relations and mean stellar metallicity trends defined by the dwarfs are presented, and the origin of a possible floor in central surface brightness (and, more speculatively, stellar mean metallicity) at faint magnitudes is considered.

Antlia Dwarf Galaxy: distance, quantitative morphology and recent formation history via statistical field correction

We apply a statistical field correction technique originally designed to determine membership of high redshift galaxy clusters to Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the Antlia Dwarf Galaxy; a galaxy at the very edge of the Local Group. Using the tip of the red giant branch standard candle method coupled with a simple Sobel edge detection filter we find a new distance to Antlia of 1.31 +/- 0.03 Mpc. For the first time for a Local Group Member, we compute the concentration, asymmetry and clumpiness (CAS) quantitative morphology parameters for Antlia from the distribution of resolved stars in the HST/ACS field, corrected with a new method for contaminants and complement these parameters with the Gini coefficient (G) and the second order moment of the brightest 20 per cent of the flux (M_20). We show that it is a classic dwarf elliptical (C = 2.0, A = 0.063, S = 0.077, G = 0.39 and M_20 = -1.17 in the F814W band), but has an appreciable blue stellar population at its core, confirming on-going star-formation. The values of asymmetry and clumpiness, as well as Gini and M_20 are consistent with an undisturbed galaxy. Although our analysis suggests that Antlia may not be tidally influenced by NGC 3109 it does not necessarily preclude such interaction.

Long-period variables in NGC 147 and NGC 185

Previous studies on the stellar content of the two nearby dwarf galaxies NGC147 and NGC185 reveal a rich population of late-type giants in both systems, including a large number of carbon-rich objects. These stars are known to show pronounced photometric variability, which can be used for a more detailed characterisation of these highly evolved stars. Owing to their well-studied parameters, these Local Group members are ideal candidates for comparative studies. Trough photometric monitoring, we attempt to provide a catalogue of long-period variables (LPVs), including Mira variables, semi-regular variables, and even irregular variables in NGC 147 and NGC185. We investigate the light variations and compare the characteristics of these two LPV populations with the results found for other galaxies such as the LMC. We carried out time-series photometry in the i-band of the two target galaxies with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT), covering a time span of \approx2.5 years. These data were then combined with single-epoch K-band photometry, also obtained with the NOT. Narrow-band photometry data from the literature was used to distinguish between O-rich and C-rich stars. We report the detection of 513 LPVs in NGC185 and 213 LPVs in NGC147, showing i-amplitudes of up to \approx 2mag and periods ranging between 90 and 800 days. The period-luminosity diagram for each of our target galaxies exhibits a well populated sequence of fundamental mode pulsators. The resulting period-luminosity relations we obtained are compared to relations from the literature. We discuss the universality of those relations because of which, as a side result, a correction of the distance modulus of NGC185 may be necessary. Only one of our two galaxies, namely NGC185, has a significant fraction of possibly first overtone pulsators. An interpretation of this finding in terms of differences in the star-formation histories is suggested.