Relative Scarcity Of Information Research Articles

Telomeres in a spatial context: a tool for understanding ageing pattern variation in wild populations

Ageing refers to the loss of organismal functionality with age, a process that is characterised by decreased reproduction and survival probability. In natural populations, it is expected that environmental conditions influence an individual's ageing trajectory. Understanding the role of environmental heterogeneity on ageing variation could provide critical insights into population resilience and species distribution but remains overlooked. Telomeres, the end cap of chromosomes, are a promising integrative physiological marker of an individual's health and a possible proxy to aid the understanding of variation in ageing trajectories. Here, we review the existing information on telomere length and its dynamics in wild populations distributed across spatial scales. Despite a relative scarcity of information, there is evidence for divergence in telomere length between populations facing contrasting environments. Nonetheless, a higher spatial resolution and temporal replication are needed to fully understand the role that environmental conditions play on telomere length variation. Since most of the existing studies are correlational, future field and laboratory experiments are required. For the first time, we demonstrate the use of population telomere data to predict species habitat suitability through species distribution models (SDMs). This represents a promising new research area in the study of ageing pattern variation in wild populations. Furthermore, the inclusion of telomere data in future physiological SDMs may improve our understanding of species distribution and population resilience. However, the use of telomeres within this context could be limited if no previous knowledge on the relevance of telomeres as markers of health and survival at the species level is available. Finally, we suggest some key practical and theoretical considerations that, ideally, future studies combining biogeographic and telomere data should pay attention.

Renal involvement in systemic lupus erythematosus: additional histopathological lesions.

A common criticism of the classification of lupus nephritis is the relative scarcity of information regarding tubular, interstitial, and vascular changes compared to the available information regarding glomerular changes, even though their potential for independent progression is known. This study reviewed the importance of less explored lesions by the current and widely used 2003 classification of lupus nephritis of the International Society of Nephrology/Renal Pathology Society (ISN/RPS), with emphasis on the tubulointerstitial, podocyte, and vascular lesions, increasingly recognised as being important in the pathogenesis and prognosis of the disease. Recognition of these lesions can help with therapeutic decision-making, thereby allowing better results for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Revealing the Elemental Distribution within Latent Fingermarks Using Synchrotron Sourced X-ray Fluorescence Microscopy.

Fingermarks are an important form of crime-scene trace evidence; however, their usefulness may be hampered by a variation in response or a lack of robustness in detection methods. Understanding the chemical composition and distribution within fingermarks may help explain variation in latent fingermark detection with existing methods and identify new strategies to increase detection capabilities. The majority of research in the literature describes investigation of organic components of fingermark residue, leaving the elemental distribution less well understood. The relative scarcity of information regarding the elemental distribution within fingermarks is in part due to previous unavailability of direct, micron resolution elemental mapping techniques. This capability is now provided at third generation synchrotron light sources, where X-ray fluorescence microscopy (XFM) provides micron or submicron spatial resolution and direct detection with sub-μM detection limits. XFM has been applied in this study to reveal the distribution of inorganic components within fingermark residue, including endogenous trace metals (Fe, Cu, Zn), diffusible ions (Cl-, K+, Ca2+), and exogeneous metals (Ni, Ti, Bi). This study incorporated a multimodal approach using XFM and infrared microspectroscopy analyses to demonstrate colocalization of endogenous metals within the hydrophilic organic components of fingermark residue. Additional experiments were then undertaken to investigate how sources of exogenous metals (e.g., coins and cosmetics) may be transferred to, and distributed within, latent fingermarks. Lastly, this study reports a preliminary assessment of how environmental factors such as exposure to aqueous environments may affect elemental distribution within fingermarks. Taken together, the results of this study advance our current understanding of fingermark composition and its spatial distribution of chemical components and may help explain detection variation observed during detection of fingermarks using standard forensic protocols.

Officers’ views on women in policing

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how receptive police officers are to having women as partners and supervisors at work in a cross-national context. Specifically, it compares male and female police officers’ views on women in policing along three dimensions in Dubai and Taipei: perceived efficacy of women in policing; receptiveness of women at work (as partners and supervisor); and perceived women’s role in police work. Design/methodology/approach Surveys (with the same instrument) were conducted with 622 officers (344 male and 278 female officers) in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates and 391 officers (297 male and 94 female officers) in Taipei, Taiwan. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were employed to compare male and female officers’ views on women in policing in both countries. Findings It was found that female officers (in Dubai and Taipei) were more likely than their male colleagues to see women as capable and effective in performing police duties. Compared to their colleagues in Taiwan, the Emirati male and female officers were more likely to be supportive of women’s restricted role in policing. Dubai male officers were less likely to be receptive to working at a unit with a female as their supervisor in comparison to their female colleagues in both countries. Research limitations/implications Although this study provides important information from a cross-national perspective, caution should be taken while interpreting these findings. The gender roles embedded in Islamic cultures seem to explain Dubai officers’ favorable attitudes toward women’s restricted role in policing. Future studies should incorporate in-depth interviews to explain why officers in Dubai prefer women’s restricted roles in policing. Practical implications The statistical analyses show that officers with higher levels of confidence not only held more positive attitudes toward women in policing, but also were more receptive to having women as their partners and supervisors. It suggests that confident officers would be more open-minded and welcome the entry of women into police work. By offering training courses that enhance officers’ work confidence, police organizations in both countries might well cultivate a welcoming work environment for women. Social implications If police organizations in Taiwan and the UAE instill cultures with an emphasis less on masculine traits than on collaborative style, male officers might free themselves from traditional gender norms and become more welcoming to women who work in policing. Originality/value Previous scholarly efforts on examining different areas of women in policing have mainly focused on police officers in western countries, leaving a relative scarcity of information about how officers perceive women’s role in policing in the other parts of the globe. Female officers have to work hand in hand with male officers in policing. To enhance the efficiency of deployment and cohesion of work relationship among male and female officers, it is important to understand how male officers perceive women’s roles in policing and how receptive they are to having women as partners. Understanding their perceptions from both sides can help administrations initiate effective training and educational programs.

New Insights on the Strongest Historical Earthquake in the Pollino Region (Southern Italy)

The Italian seismic catalog (Rovida et al., 2011) portrays a significant gap of seismicity in the Pollino Range area, the southernmost segment of the southern Apennines at the boundary with the Calabrian arc. In this region, the only significant seismic event of the instrumental era occurred in 1998 north of the Pollino Range (Mw 5.6, Fig. 1). No seismic event with intensity greater than VIII on the Mercalli–Cancani–Sieberg (MCS) scale is present in the historical records, whereas strong earthquakes occurred immediately north (1836 M 6.0; 1857 M 7.0) and south (1184 M 6.7; 1836 M 6.2) of the area (Fig. 1). However, geologic data (Bousquet, 1973; Russo and Schiattarella, 1992) have shown clear evidence of Quaternary faulting along two major normal seismogenic faults, the Pollino and the Castrovillari faults. Paleoseismological data (Michetti et al., 1997; Cinti et al., 1997, 2002) recognized the occurrence of large magnitude events during medieval times along those two faults, but no trace is left of these major events in the historical record. In the case of the Pollino area, the discrepancy between true seismic history and recorded seismic history is due to a combination of a documentary gap of the historical sources (Scionti et al., 2006) and to the low population and scarcity of settlements in the epicentral area (D’Addezio et al., 1995; Cinti et al., 1997). Furthermore, there is the sound possibility that such documentary limitation also might affect moderate (M 5–6) earthquakes, thus providing the opportunity for new assessments that could re-estimate their sizes. Noticeable recent examples of this come from Scionti et al. (2006), with the reestimation to Mw 6.2 of an earthquake that occurred 100 km southeast of the Pollino region, from Tertulliani et al. (2012) for the 1762 earthquake close to L’Aquila, and from Azzaro et al. (2007) for northeastern Sicily. We want to emphasize that there is recent growing interest in the question of reestimating the sizes of historical earthquakes (see Rong et al., 2011; Hough, 2013). Therefore, reducing the uncertainties in the locations and sizes of seismic events for areas like Pollino can be an important contribution toward a clearer picture of the seismic potential and the distribution of earthquake recurrence times that can affect the seismic hazard of a territory. The first attempts at in-depth analyses of the historical seismicity in the Pollino seismic gap date back to the first half of the 1990s (Storia Geofisica Ambiente [SGA], 1994; Valensise et al., 1994; Guidoboni and Mariotti, 1997), whereas more recent developments are by SGA (2000), Camassi and Castelli (2004), and Castelli and Camassi (2005). The seismic histories (the list of earthquakes affecting a site during historic time) of towns and villages of the area (Locati et al., 2011) do not contain earthquakes that occurred before A.D. 1600, neither local nor remote, which could have affected such localities. The oldest traces of earthquakes are associated with the 1638 M 7 event that occurred in central Calabria ∼100 km south of the Pollino area and produced damage in Castrovillari. The more ancient event documented in the study area is the 1693 earthquake, which was listed for the first time in a catalog in 2007 (Guidoboni et al., 2007). In this study, we focus on this latter event, which also appears as the strongest shock in the region and is characterized by a relative scarcity of information and few intensity datapoints. We gathered all potential primary sources of information available for the 1693 earthquake in the attempt to improve its intensity map. We also address two further issues in the reappraisal of the 1693 earthquake: (1) the temporal coincidence between 8 January 1693 Pollino earthquake and its aftershocks and 9–11 January 1693 catastrophic earthquakes of eastern Sicily, along with the consequent quest for a correct attribution of the information regarding the two seismic sequences; and (2) the occurrence in October 2012 (following a sequence of small earthquakes lasting three years) of an Mw 5.3 mainshock, which is by far the strongest event in the instrumental era in the area.

Post-Discharge Mortality Among the Elderly Undergoing General Surgery in the United States: An Analysis of 428,176 Patients

The elderly represent an increasing segment of the U.S. population, and they are undergoing more surgical procedures. Attention has been focused on in-hospital adverse events; there is a relative scarcity of information about post-discharge outcomes at the national level.

Engineering Education and Engineering Practice: A Student Teacher Perspective

The paper presents the results of a qualitative and quantitative study of electrical and electronic engineering student teacher perceptions of (a) engineering education, and (b) engineering practice. The study was conducted in ASPETE, the sole HE School for the education and training of prospective engineering educators in Greece. Data came from semi-structured interviews of selected informants across ASPETE’s Departments of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Educators, and a questionnaire survey of a stratified random sample. Given the relative scarcity of information on the issue, an understanding of such perceptions can provide useful insights for educators and curriculum developers.

PERSONAL COMPUTERS IN CARTOGRAPHY

A personal-computer based automated mapping system developed and used at Tbilisi University is described. A block diagram serves as a basis for describing the system's applications, and future possibilities of such systems are outlined. The paper is of interest because of the relative scarcity of information on PC use in Soviet cartography and the use of predominantly non-domestically produced equipment in the automated mapping system. Translated by Edward Torrey, Alexandria, VA 22308 from: Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta, geografiya, 1988, No. 4, pp. 91-96.

Vibrational Deactivation of Excited States of Nitrogen created in a Microwave Discharge

MOST work on the vibrational deactivation of diatomic molecules has been carried out on ground states at moderate temperatures. There is a relative scarcity of information about excited states. In order to use emission spectroscopy as an analytical tool, a population distribution in the excited state markedly different from that which would be imposed by thermal equilibrium is required. This has been achieved by excitation by a single line1 and by recombination of atoms to form highly excited molecules2. An experiment was carried out to determine whether a low pressure microwave discharge would be a suitable source of vibrational overpopulation.