Determining species specific nightly bat activity in sites with varying urban intensity

Time of peak bat activity during the night differs among bat species due to temperature, prey availability, habitat availability, and/or interactions between species. Habitat availability is altered in urban areas, which may affect insect prey availability and interspecies interactions. Our objectives were to use mobile acoustic monitoring to determine when bat species were active in a single night in urban and nonurban sites and if nightly bat activity patterns differed in urban versus nonurban sites. Bat echolocation call sequences were recorded using Anabat acoustic detectors while driving transects through the night at five sites (three “urban” and two “nonurban”) located in the Piedmont region of north-central North Carolina from May through August 2016. Transects were driven three times per night starting 45 min, 180 min, and 300 min after sunset. Recorded echolocation call sequences were analyzed manually using AnalookW and automatically using Bat Call Identification and Echoclass software. Total bat activity was not different between urban and nonurban sites. However, total bat activity was lower later in the night in urban sites, but stayed the same in nonurban sites. Species specifically, there were more Eptesicus fuscus, Lasionycteris noctivagans, and Tadarida brasiliensis call sequences and fewer Lasiurus borealis, Nycticeius humeralis, and Perimyotis subflavus call sequences in urban sites than nonurban sites. There were also fewer E. fuscus, L. noctivagans, and N. humeralis call sequences later in the night in both urban and nonurban sites. Only Lasiurus borealis activity in urban sites later in the night reduced and L. borealis activity in nonurban sites remained at the same. These results suggest that bats in urban areas partition time differently, which is important to consider for urban conservation efforts and planning.     

Strong convergence rates of probabilistic integrators for ordinary differential equations

Probabilistic integration of a continuous dynamical system is a way of systematically introducing discretisation error, at scales no larger than errors introduced by standard numerical discretisation, in order to enable thorough exploration of possible responses of the system to inputs. It is thus a potentially useful approach in a number of applications such as forward uncertainty quantification, inverse problems, and data assimilation. We extend the convergence analysis of probabilistic integrators for deterministic ordinary differential equations, as proposed by Conrad et al. (Stat Comput 27(4):1065–1082, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11222-016-9671-0), to establish mean-square convergence in the uniform norm on discrete- or continuous-time solutions under relaxed regularity assumptions on the driving vector fields and their induced flows. Specifically, we show that randomised high-order integrators for globally Lipschitz flows and randomised Euler integrators for dissipative vector fields with polynomially bounded local Lipschitz constants all have the same mean-square convergence rate as their deterministic counterparts, provided that the variance of the integration noise is not of higher order than the corresponding deterministic integrator. These and similar results are proven for probabilistic integrators where the random perturbations may be state-dependent, non-Gaussian, or non-centred random variables.

     

孔隙介质中滞留聚合物分子的粘弹效应系数

本文在文献[1]的基础上做了进一步的试验研究,发现慢速降压过程流速对时间的依赖关系呈指数曲线形式,同时进行了慢速升压试验,同样发现流速与时间的指数关系。文中对文献[1]定义的附加残余效应系数提出了修改,重新定义为滞留分子粘弹效应系数,对降压过程和升压过程的粘弹效应系数进行了对比。通过岩心出口液浓度数据,证实了文中描述的粘弹效应机理和分子构象改变的物理模型的可靠性。     

Parenting and children’s negative emotionality,self‐regulation,and academic skills: The moderating role of fathers’ residency

We examined whether fathers’ residency modified the associations among mothers’ supportiveness, father involvement, children’s negative emotionality during toddlerhood and children’s academic skills in pre‐kindergarten via children’s self‐regulation. Participants were 2,291 mothers (M_age = 23.24 years) and children (M_age = 14.99 months at Wave 1; 50.7% girls) in the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project. Results revealed distinctive associations by fathers’ residency: self‐regulation mediated the association between mothers’ supportiveness and academic skills only in resident‐father‐families. Self‐regulation mediated the association between negative emotionality and academic skills only in nonresident‐father‐families. The findings highlight the family processes of mothers, fathers, and children in low‐income family contexts that contribute to children’s academic skills, and how those family processes may vary by fathers’ residency status.     

Forecasting Australian subnational age-specific mortality rates

Journal of Population Research - When modeling sub-national mortality rates, it is important to incorporate any possible correlation among sub-populations to improve forecast accuracy. Moreover,...     

全球经济治理创新:一项基于议题调适和规则重构的分析

2016年来,美欧发达国家内部治理失范引发“逆全球化”和经济民族主义盛行,导致全球经济治理规制的“合法性”加速衰减和“有效性”不足,客观上要求推进全球经济治理创新。作为制约创新的主要变量,全球经济治理的“议题调适”和“规则重构”成为影响治理创新成败和绩效的关键因素。在新的国际经济条件下,全球系统性金融风险防控、投资自由化趋势下降及贸易保护主义回潮成为治理议题调适的主要方向,而国家间宏观经济政策协调、“边境后”贸易措施治理和各国“新工业化政策”影响下的投资政策变化成为规则重构的重点。鉴于此,中国应从统筹国内经济发展、扩大“公共物品”供给和凝聚新兴经济体利益共识的角度推进全球经济治理创新,并相应提升中国的影响力。     

重大工程复杂性与适应性组织——港珠澳大桥的案例

 重大工程通常由技术难度、系统关联性、未知因素存在巨大差异的异质性子工程组成，不同子工程往往采取不同的组织模式。传统权变理论认为，不同的外部环境需要采用不同的组织模式，组织的构建要适应外部环境的不确定性。但在重大工程中，子工程本身及其环境的复杂性均会产生不确定性，组织模式的选择和构建与子工程的复杂性具有重要的联系。因此，有必要从复杂性的视角解释重大工程的组织多样化现象。        在梳理重大工程复杂性及组织适应性研究的基础上，选择港珠澳大桥工程中的岛隧工程、钢结构工程、路面铺装工程、海事工程等子工程的组织管理实践作为研究对象，通过访谈、参与式专家和文档资料等方式获取相关数据，从复杂性视角对子工程进行分类，界定重大工程适应性组织概念，解析重大工程中不同子工程采取不同组织模式的适应性组织现象，总结构建适应性组织的路径。        基于重大工程复杂性的具体表现即工程技术方案与外部环境的关联性和认知不完备性，构建子工程复杂性评价指标体系，据此将子工程分为复杂性工程、创新性工程、关联性工程和简单工程4种类型；提出重大工程适应性组织概念；得出重大工程适应性组织构建的路径包括组织需求设计和匹配、工程主体创新和构建、组织系统形成和集成、组织职能实现和协同4个步骤。        研究旨在提出重大工程适应性组织概念，揭示重大工程组织模式选择和构建的机理及动态过程，说明重大工程组织模式与工程复杂性之间的关联性，指导其他重大工程组织管理模式的选择和构建。由于单案例研究的局限性，有必要在其他重大工程中对所提出的重大工程适应性组织概念及适应性组织构建过程进行进一步的完善和验证。     

Assessing Participation and Effectiveness of the Peer-Led Approach in Youth Sexual Health Education: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis in More Developed Countries

Sexual health education for young people is crucial not only for development of norms but also for protection against vulnerabilities during this stage in life. Although several systematic reviews have examined the effectiveness of peer-led sex education, none have focused on the extent of peer participation. The purpose of this review was to evaluate peer-led sexual health education interventions in more developed countries (MDCs). Electronic and manual searches across five social science, education, and medical databases were conducted. Fifteen articles were selected in total. Most (10 of 15) studies gave low or no responsibility to peers. The majority of articles found improvements in sexual health knowledge (13 of 14) and attitudes (11 of 15) at postintervention stages. Two studies showed improved self-efficacy, and three showed behavioral changes. A preliminary synthesis of effectiveness and level of participation was done. Meta-analysis revealed a large effect on knowledge change (Hedges’ g = 0.84, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.43 to 1.25) and a medium effect on attitude change (Hedges’ g = 0.49, 95% CI: 0.19 to 0.80). Peer-led interventions could be a powerful tool. This review shows that this approach is effective in changing knowledge and attitudes but not behaviors. Further research and action are needed to understand optimal implementation.     

Pension scheme fees and charge ratios in 44 countries: A comparative study

Based on data received from pension supervisory authorities, the article reviews 85 different pension schemes in 44 jurisdictions by looking at fees and charges as well as their legal ceilings and their development since 2014. A key finding is the observed decrease in fees and caps. The article presents jurisdictions according to clusters, i.e. by groups of countries with identical or very similar items already covered by pension fees, and analyses the extent to which various cost and fee elements are covered by fees charged to members. Finally, we calculate charge ratios for each cluster to quantify the impact of fees and charges on pension savings. Occupational defined contribution pension schemes and personal plans linked to employment tend to be much more cost effective than personal schemes that have no direct employment link.