Natural Context Research Articles

Typification and Characterization of Different Livestock Production Systems of Mediterranean Dairy Sheep Farms with Different Degrees of Intensification: A Comparative Study

It is necessary to study small-ruminant production systems in a spatial context, as different areas, depending on their natural, socioeconomic, and cultural context, will respond differently to the effects of such causal factors. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationships between technology use and farm and farmer characteristics in dairy sheep production by developing a farm typology using multivariate statistical analysis and comparing it with the multi-scale sustainability evaluation of the Natural Resource Management Systems (NRMS) method. Quantitative and qualitative data were evaluated and compared using the NRMS method and cluster analysis to identify groups of farms. Fourteen variables were considered for the analysis, resulting in four farm systems with the NRMS method, named Intensive, Semi-Intensive, Semi-Extensive, and Extensive; however, when analyzing the data by cluster analysis, the following clusters were used: Cluster 1, Semi-Extensive Dairy Systems (SEDSs); Cluster 2, Semi-Intensive Systems (SIDSs); Cluster 3, Semi-Extensive Cheese Systems (SECSs); and Cluster 4, Intensive Dairy Systems (IDSs). This study concludes that the traditional classification of dairy sheep farms based on their dependence on natural resources can be enriched by incorporating additional indicators that allow for a more comprehensive and accurate characterization of farms.

Audit pricing of restatement severity in the announcement year: the moderating effects of client management changes and specialist auditors

Purpose This paper aims to examine the audit pricing of restatement severity in the year of restatement announcement and how client management changes and auditor industry specialization moderate such pricing for a sample of restating firms. Design/methodology/approach The sample consists of restating firms without auditor changes in the year of restatement announcement in the USA from 2005 to 2020. Restatement severity is measured by nine measures, which are further grouped into four categories. An audit fee model is used to investigate whether audit fees are higher for more severe restatements. Interaction terms involving the four categories of severity measures and a dummy variable for top management changes and for industry specialists are used to study the moderating effects. Findings This paper reports that audit fees are higher for more severe restatements (those that are more serious in nature, pervasive, unfavourable in financial impact and relevant to auditors) and even higher for clients with top management changes. However, audit fees are not always higher for specialist auditors. The results show that, for auditors who are specialists, audit fees are higher for restatements that are more serious in nature but lower for those that are more pervasive. Originality/value Prior studies examine audit pricing of restatement or restatement severity one or two years after restatement announcement. In contrast, this paper studies audit pricing of restatement severity in the year of restatement announcement because clients and auditors are likely to renegotiate audit fees for restatement as early as possible and if the pricing issue is studied after the announcement year, noisy results may be obtained due to factors arising solely after that year. Also, in contrast to prior studies that do not investigate the moderating effects of clients’ and auditors’ characteristics on the pricing issue, this paper studies the effects of client management changes and auditor industry specialization on the issue and, thus, recognizes the contextual nature of the issue.

Training Parents to Implement Communication Intervention Package in Naturalistic Context Via Telehealth

This study evaluated the effects of behavioral skills training (BST) in training parents to implement communication intervention packages in naturalistic contexts via telehealth. Three parent-child dyads participated in the study. All participants were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and their age ranged between four and six years. Parents were trained to teach their children augmented and non-augmented requesting skills in a natural context via internet-based service delivery. The findings of the study revealed that parents were successful in implementing communication intervention packages in teaching communication skills to their children with ASD during snack time. Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Behavior Skills Training (BST), Telehealth, Naturalistic Context

Active vision in freely moving marmosets using head-mounted eye tracking.

Our understanding of how vision functions as primates actively navigate the real-world is remarkably sparse. As most data have been limited to chaired and typically head-restrained animals, the synergistic interactions of different motor actions/plans inherent to active sensing-e.g., eyes, head, posture, movement, etc.-on visual perception are largely unknown. To address this considerable gap in knowledge, we developed an innovative wireless head-mounted eye-tracking system that performs Chair-free Eye-Recording using Backpack mounted micROcontrollers (CEREBRO) for small mammals, such as marmoset monkeys. Because eye illumination and environment lighting change continuously in natural contexts, we developed a segmentation artificial neural network to perform robust pupil tracking in these conditions. Leveraging this innovative system to investigate active vision, we demonstrate that although freely moving marmosets exhibit frequent compensatory eye movements equivalent to other primates, including humans, the predictability of the visual behavior (gaze) is higher when animals are freely moving relative to when they are head-fixed. Moreover, despite increases in eye/head-motion during locomotion, gaze stabilization remains steady because of an increase in vestibularocular reflex gain during locomotion. These results demonstrate the efficient, dynamic visuo-motor mechanisms and related behaviors that enable stable, high-resolution foveal vision in primates as they explore the natural world.

Rethinking fieldwork in critical algorithm research: slippery positionalities and generative vulnerabilities

ABSTRACT This commentary proposes an approach to reflexivity in positionality in critical algorithms research that situates our ‘fieldwork’ at the intersection of the different sites where algorithmic practices materialize. Drawing from feminist epistemologies and transgender sensibilities, I suggest foregrounding researchers’ embodiment and vulnerability as a way to access and represent vulnerabilities, contradictions, textures and frictions present in the ‘field’, which algorithmic logic itself tends to erase. For that, I describe a speculative pre-fieldwork exercise based on my own position as migrant, transgender researcher, studying platform labour and preparing to start fieldwork in a potential hostile environment. Transgender and other border-dwelling identities are particularly attuned to the very fluid and contextual nature of our positionality and the co-constitutive aspect of our encounters with research participants and the social-political-affective economies in which our research unfolds. I argue that we approach the anticipation work around fieldwork anxiety, unpredictability and vulnerability generatively, and incorporate them as tactics for a more nuance and grounded approach to the study of algorithms as situated practice.

Modeling Drop Atomization Using Computational Fluid Dynamics

Atomization, a process in which droplets break into smaller structures, is common in both natural and industrial contexts. The mechanisms of droplet deformation and breakup are often described through hydrodynamic instabilities, informed by experimental studies, theoretical developments, and simulations via Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). In this work, Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) were employed to analyze droplet atomization under various conditions. Two models were considered for studying droplet deformation and breakup: one axisymmetric and the other threedimensional. The results showed that the deformation and fragmentation of the droplet are highly de- pendent on the Weber number. Additionally, an increase in the Weber number accelerates the onset of the fragmentation process. The three-dimensional (3D) simulations revealed perforations with a spatial distribution characterized by initial axial symmetry, which dissipates as fragmentation progresses. DNS proves valuable in such studies due to its ability to detect the droplets produced during atomization, enabling the measurement of their positions and velocities at each moment, which can be aggregated into statistical data.

Automated segmentation of child-clinician speech in naturalistic clinical contexts.

Computational approaches hold significant promise for enhancing diagnosis and therapy in child and adolescent clinical practice. Clinical procedures heavily depend n vocal exchanges and interpersonal dynamics conveyed through speech. Research highlights the importance of investigating acoustic features and dyadic interactions during child development. However, observational methods are labor-intensive, time-consuming, and suffer from limited objectivity and quantification, hindering translation to everyday care. We propose a novel AI-based system for fully automatic acoustic segmentation of clinical sessions with autistic preschool children. We focused on naturalistic and unconstrained clinical contexts, which are characterized by background noise and data scarcity. Our approach addresses key challenges in the field while remaining non-invasive. We carefully evaluated model performance and flexibility in diverse, challenging conditions by means of domain alignment. Results demonstrated promising outcomes in voice activity detection and speaker diarization. Notably, minimal annotation efforts -just 30 seconds of target data- significantly improved model performance across all tested conditions. Our models exhibit satisfying predictive performance and flexibility for deployment in everyday settings. Automating data annotation in real-world clinical scenarios can enable the widespread exploitation of advanced computational methods for downstream modeling, fostering precision approaches that bridge research and clinical practice.

Effect of exogenous manipulation of glucocorticoid concentrations on meerkat heart rate, behaviour and vocal production.

Encoding of emotional arousal in vocalisations is commonly observed in the animal kingdom, and provides a rapid means of information transfer about an individual's affective responses to internal and external stimuli. As a result, assessing affective arousal-related variation in the acoustic structure of vocalisations can provide insight into how animals perceive both internal and external stimuli, and how this is, in turn, communicated to con- or heterospecifics. However, the underlying physiological mechanisms driving arousal-related acoustic variation remains unclear. One potential driver of such variation in behaviour and vocal production are glucocorticoids. Through exogenous glucocorticoid manipulation, we aimed to gain insight on the relationship between arousal and physiological parameters, behaviour and vocal production in wild meerkats (Suricata suricatta). To this aim, we administered glucocorticoids to wild meerkats, and recorded their heart rate, vigilance behaviour, call rate and acoustic structure during natural behavioural contexts. The results suggest that, although the glucocorticoid treatment did increase plasma glucocorticoid levels, this did not result in observable changes in heart rate, vigilance, or vocal production. This lack of treatment effect suggests that, while glucocorticoids may be a significant component and correlate of the arousal response, they are not the direct drivers of affective arousal related changes in heart rate, behaviour, or vocal production.

Ants’ Collective Intelligence: What Could We Learn?

Ants, albeit appearing diminutive and trivial within the broader context of nature, demonstrate an extraordinary capacity for collective problem-solving and exhibit intellect that beyond expectations for individual members of their species. This phenomenon, termed ants’ collective intelligence, has elicited attention and appreciation from both experts and enthusiasts. This article examines the complex mechanisms of ants’ collective intelligence, highlighting its essential features, ramifications across diverse domains, and the significant insights it can provide to human. Embark on an intriguing exploration of the ant kingdom, where collaboration, communication, and decentralized decision-making coalesce to create a complex system that offers significant lessons for human pursuits.

Lista Verde: Estándar para optimizar la evaluación de efectividad de manejo de Áreas Protegidas (Ecuador)

In this study, the management effectiveness assessment tool of Ecuador National Protected Areas System was optimized, based on adapting and including indicators and means of verification from the Green List Standard (IUCN). The main goals were to obtain results that respond to international schemes, reflect natural protected areas local context, support the information obtained in this kind of evaluation process and reduce subjectivity in the qualifications. The methodology consists of analyzing the tools taken as study basis, from which an optimized proposal tool was developed and that was validated by applying it on Cuyabeno Fauna Production Reserve as a pilot case. The main results showed that the Green List Standard has a high level of inclusion feasibility in the national tool, due to this, an optimized management effectiveness assessment questionnaire was developed and its validation results evidenced that the proposed questions achieved a high measurement capability, and the complete questionnaire contains indicators considered applicable and important for the evaluation. From this, functionality of the optimized proposal was demonstrated and the components provided by the Green List Standard contributed to make visible gaps that are not being considered in the management effectiveness assessment tool applied in Ecuador National Protected Areas System

Coordination of ontological and deontological aspects of discretion of law enforcement subjects

The relevance of the study of the discretion of law enforcement agencies is due to the fact that, firstly, there are constant heated discussions around the very concept of discretion - what is discretion itself and where are the limits of its application, and secondly, an analysis of a number of classical sources and modern studies of this issue gives grounds to assert that the views of scholars on this issue are divided into two streams, some of which defend the expediency (even the necessity) of discretion, while others express fears that unlimited discretionary powers may lead to procedural arbitrariness. Without adhering to any of these trends, i.e., professing objectivity as a necessary element of any research, the author made an attempt to study the discretion of law enforcement subjects from a philosophical point of view, in particular, through the prism of ontological and deontological modes of cognition. Using the method of analysis, the author managed to establish that the legal concept of discretion should be studied not only in the ontological dimension, but also in the deontological aspect, combining these modes of knowledge for a more complete understanding of discretionary powers, while to substantiate the results and formulate the conclusions of the proposed study, the author used the methods of deductive-logical analysis, inductive generalisation and analogy, which led to the conclusion that a fundamental condition for optimising discretionary approaches to procedural decision-making is the mutual coordination of the deontological content of the latter with the ontology of natural and social contexts. The author is convinced that the study of the discretion of law enforcement officials is very relevant today and requires wider discussions among scholars and practitioners, and his attempt to address this issue in a philosophical manner is quite original and has a scientific novelty, since so far the issues under consideration have not been studied from this perspective at this level, especially since the idea of the expediency of reconciling these two modes of knowledge in understanding the phenomenon of reason has not yet been the subject of thorough scientific research. At the same time, the author believes that understanding the discretion of law enforcement officials in a philosophical manner is of great practical importance, since it is hardly possible to understand a particular subject or phenomenon without its awareness and cognition.

Analyzing naturally-sourced Questions Under Discussion

The Question Under Discussion (QUD) framework of discourse has been a highly influential theoretical device in many accounts of various pragmatic phenomena, yet there has been comparatively little work assessing the extent to which the QUD can be reliably inferred from naturalistic contexts. In this paper, we focus primarily on measuring the variability across individuals in QUD inference, while also verifying other related, commonly held assumptions about QUD theory. To this end, we collect QUDs from many theoretically naive subjects tasked with processing a radio interview utterance by utterance. We consider various analyses designed to address the problem of measuring question similarity. Overall, we find that there exists moderate variability among subjects, consistent with possibly the insufficiency of context in determining QUD, or possibly also the simultaneous coexistence of multiple valid QUDs. To more adequately tease apart these possibilities, we also propose additional analyses for addressing the issue of question identity.

Covid-19 Pandemic as a Natural Experiment: The Case of Home Advantage in Sports

Establishing a causal relationship requires not only the presence of a factor of interest but also the demonstration that the relationship is absent when the factor is absent. Such ideal conditions are rare, especially in observational studies in which creating control conditions is inherently difficult. The COVID-19 pandemic, with its unparalleled disruptions, offers a unique opportunity to isolate causal effects and test previously impossible hypotheses. Here, we examine the home advantage (HA) in sports—a phenomenon in which teams generally perform better in front of their home fans—and how the pandemic-induced absence of fans offered a fortunate yet systematic change to typical conditions, serving as a natural experiment. Using a structural equation modeling approach and building a mediation model encompassing all relevant HA factors, we quantified the reduction in HA and elucidated the specific mechanisms behind it. The theory behind HA and the availability of measures for each factor before and during COVID-19 lockdowns enabled us to estimate all postulated pathways within a natural experimental context. The robust statistical framework used in our study offers a foundational model for integrating naturally occurring events that serve as control conditions into the analysis of various real-life phenomena.

Enhancing Qualitative Research: The Use of Design Probes and Cooking Sessions Deepens the Understanding of 9- to 11-Year-Old Children’s Food Perceptions

Qualitative research with children is critical for tailoring interventions and decisions that directly impact their well-being and future. Yet, the involvement of children in the field of sustainable food perception is still limited because of children’s unique cognitive needs. This research aims to reflect upon design probes, one-to-one interviews, and cooking sessions as complementary qualitative research methods for understanding children’s perception of plant-based food products. A three-stage study was designed to holistically address children’s competences, communication preferences, and experiences. In the first stage, children received a design probe box with assignments to be performed individually at home, aiming at gathering data about their everyday life and experiences in a familiar, informal setting. In the second stage, one-to-one interviews were conducted to reflect upon the assignments and to dive deeper into the reasons behind children’s experiences. In the final stage, children created a pizza with their classmates in groups of 3–6 children at their schools. This paper focuses on the evaluation of these different qualitative research methods for understanding children’s perceptions. Results demonstrate that utilizing a combination of methods to explore food perceptions of children aged 9 to 11 can lead to a more comprehensive and profound understanding of their viewpoint. Design probe activities and cooking sessions create feelings of empowerment amongst children as children are the creators of crafts or products. These new child-centered qualitative participatory research methods enable to perform the intervention in a natural and real-life context, favouring the expression of thoughts about the research topic. The findings provide evidence that participatory methods should be combined with traditional methods, such as one-to-one interviews, to get richer and more detailed insights into children’s food perceptions in real-world contexts.

Using Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) to address activities of daily living, rest and sleep

ABSTRACT Occupational therapy practitioners in school systems address children’s needs in a natural context within the school, where children participate in both academic and non-academic activities. This column provides examples of occupational therapy interventions and programs for addressing children’s needs targeting the non-academic activities of ADL, rest and sleep. Examples include strategies for utilizing the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) framework, specifically Tier 1 (i.e., universal district-wide, whole school or whole classroom interventions) and Tier 2 (i.e., group interventions) interventions, to help all students learn and practice ADLs and healthy routines throughout the school day.

Approach–Avoidance Bias in Virtual and Real-World Simulations: Insights from a Systematic Review of Experimental Setups

Background: Approach and avoidance bias (AAB) describes automatic behavioral tendencies to react toward environmental stimuli regarding their emotional valence. Traditional setups have provided evidence but often lack ecological validity. The study of the AAB in naturalistic contexts has recently increased, revealing significant methodological challenges. This systematic review evaluates the use of virtual reality (VR) and real-world setups to study the AAB, summarizing methodological innovations and challenges. Methods: We systematically reviewed peer-reviewed articles employing VR and real-world setups to investigate the AAB. We analyzed experimental designs, stimuli, response metrics, and technical aspects to assess their alignment with research objectives and identify limitations. Results: This review included 14 studies revealing diverse methodologies, stimulus types, and novel behavioral responses, highlighting significant variability in design strategies and methodological coherence. Several studies used traditional reaction time measures yet varied in their application of VR technology and participant interaction paradigms. Some studies showed discrepancies between simulated and natural bodily actions, while others showcased more integrated approaches that preserved their integrity. Only a minority of studies included control conditions or acquired (neuro)physiological data. Conclusions: VR offers a potential ecological setup for studying the AAB, enabling dynamic and immersive interactions. Our results underscore the importance of establishing a coherent framework for investigating the AAB tendencies using VR. Addressing the foundational challenges of developing baseline principles that guide VR-based designs to study the AAB within naturalistic contexts is essential for advancing the AAB research and application. This will ultimately contribute to more reliable and reproducible experimental paradigms and develop effective interventions that help individuals recognize and change their biases, fostering more balanced behaviors.

Идентичность как проявление целостности личности

<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Objective.</strong> Consideration of the phenomenon of identity in the context of integrity as a fundamental characteristic of personality; discussion of the thesis on the possibility of understanding identity as a manifestation of personality wholeness. <br><strong>Background.</strong> The consequence of the transition from structural descriptions of personality with an emphasis on its stable characteristics to processual-dynamic descriptions, characteristic of modern personality psychology, is an increased attention to the fundamental properties of personality and a revision of a number of traditional views about personal phenomenology. These fundamental properties include the wholeness of the personality. The development of approaches to the study of wholeness is the most important task of psychology, since it is the "separation" of personality into separate mental formations that is considered one of the main causes of the methodological crisis of psychology of the twentieth century. The description of the wholeness of the personality can be carried out by analyzing personal phenomena that are manifestations of the wholeness of the personality. It is proposed to consider personality identity as the main manifestation of personality wholeness in personal phenomenology. <br><strong>Methodology.</strong> A system approach to personality, methodological principles of the processual approach.<br><strong>Conclusions.</strong> In modern psychology, the concepts of personal wholeness and identity lose their structural certainty and are considered as dynamic formations. Recognition of its contextual nature is essential for the study of identity. In interaction with the context, identity performs the function of "gathering" a personality, ensuring its integrity.</p>

Neruda through copper-coloured glasses: the role of place attachment in the embeddedness of Chilean entrepreneurship

ABSTRACT Despite scholarly interest in how emotional and instrumental place attachments motivate entrepreneurship, the influences on embeddedness remain underexplored. Building on the notion that entrepreneurship becomes embedded in a locality, we argue that this process is packed with place-based interpretations of the material and imagined reality. Engaging with the empirical setting of Chile, the world’s largest copper producer, we embark on a study examining the interactions between the place attachment, embeddedness and natural resource-based entrepreneurship. We uncover these interactions through analysing several works of poetry by Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda, which focus on the diverging place attachment styles between local and multinational agents. Through reflecting on the poems, we show how historical changes within the Chilean mining industry and broader societal changes are visible in Neruda’s imagery of place attachments, emotions and concerns for local conditions. We problematize embeddedness and entrepreneurship through illuminating the place attachments shaping local actors’ entrepreneurial imagination, thus contributing to knowledge about being embedded in natural resource-based entrepreneurship contexts. We provide new insights into how place attachment can evolve alongside different forms of embedded entrepreneurship.

Community-based interventions against HIV-related stigma: a systematic review of evidence in Sub-Saharan Africa

BackgroundHIV-related stigma remains a key barrier to the attainment of the UNAIDS global goal of ending AIDS by 2030. Due to the social and contextual nature of HIV-related stigma, community-based interventions may be more effective in addressing it. In this review, we synthesized evidence on the effectiveness and features of community-based interventions against HIV-related stigma in Sub-Saharan Africa.MethodsMEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Psych INFO, and Web of Science were searched in July 2023. We also searched Google Scholar and reference lists of all selected studies. Included studies were randomized controlled trials, mixed methods studies, as well as pre-test and post-test studies that evaluated the effectiveness of a community-based intervention to reduce HIV-related stigma in the general population or among specific groups. Data extraction was done using a pre-designed and pre-tested form. We performed a synthesis without meta-analysis, utilizing Fisher’s method to combine p-values, to demonstrate evidence of an effect in at least one study. Additionally, we applied framework thematic analysis to qualitatively synthesize the intervention characteristics of the included studies.ResultsA total of nine journal articles were included, largely with a high risk of bias. Results from the combined p-values provide strong evidence supporting the effectiveness of community-based interventions in reducing HIV-related stigma in at least one of the studies (p < 0.001, X2 = 73.1, 18 degrees of freedom). Most studies involved people living with HIV (PLH) alone as intervention recipients and as intervention implementers. Community members with unknown HIV status were involved in only 2 studies. The intervention strategies were largely information sharing through workshops and training as well as individualized counselling. In few studies, additional support in the form of referrals, nutritional supplements, and adherence support was provided to PLH during the interventions. Most studies were judged to be of moderate to high cost except in 3 where the intervention implementers were PLH within the community, volunteering in the home-based support approach. The involvement of community members in the design of intervention strategies was not seen in all the studies.ConclusionCommunity-based interventions appear to be effective in reducing HIV-related stigma. However, more robust randomized trials are needed to provide stronger evidence for this effect. Although these interventions have been multifariously developed in Sub-Saharan Africa, comprehensive strategies involving the stigmatized and the “stigmatizers” in a social change approach are lacking. The application of strategies without the involvement of community members in their design takes away a sense of community responsibility, and this threatens the sustainability of such interventions.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO CRD42023418818.

Twist-Induced Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition Confers Specific Metabolic and Mitochondrial Alterations.

Cells undergo significant epigenetic and phenotypic change during the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a process observed in development, wound healing, and cancer metastasis. EMT confers several advantageous characteristics, including enhanced migration and invasion, resistance to cell death, and altered metabolism. In disease, these adaptations could be leveraged as therapeutic targets. Here, we analyze Twist-induced EMT in non-transformed HMLE cells as well as a breast cancer cell line with (MDA-MB-231) and without (MCF7) EMT features to compare differences in metabolic pathways and mitochondrial morphology. Analysis of oxidative and glycolytic metabolism reveals a general EMT-associated glycolytic metabolic phenotype accompanied by increased ATP production. Furthermore, a decrease in mitochondrial size was also associated with EMT-positive cells. However, mitochondrial elongation and spatial dynamics were not consistently altered, as HMLE Twist cells exhibit more rounded and dispersed mitochondria compared to control, while MDA-MB-231 cells exhibit more elongated and clustered mitochondria compared to MCF7 cells. These results provide further insight as to the contextual nature of EMT conferred properties.