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Object personification is the attribution of human characteristics to non-human agents. In online forums, autistic individuals commonly report experiencing this phenomenon. Given that approximately half of all autistic individuals experience difficulties identifying their own emotions, the suggestion that object personification may be a feature of autism seems almost paradoxical. Why would a person experience sympathy for objects, when they struggle to understand and verbalise the emotions of other people as well as their own? An online survey was used to assess tendency for personification in 87 autistic and 263 non-autistic adults. Together, our results indicate that object personification occurs commonly among autistic individuals, and perhaps more often (and later in life) than in the general population. Given that in many cases, autistic people report their personification experiences as distressing, it is important to consider the reasons for the increased personification and identify structures for support.

Reports results of a survey conducted by the British Library to identify distance education packages relating to library and information science (LIS) education in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Resistance to distance education in LIS is discussed and attitudes toward distance education are examined. (10 references) (LRW)

An upland moorland podzol profile was reconstructed in 100 cores. Cores were subjected, over 20 weeks, to simulated ambient rainfall, andrainfall containing enhanced N (2- and 6-fold increases) either as (HNO3) or as (NH4)2SO4. Selected cores were destructively analyzed every two weeks, to quantifythe dynamics of soil change in each horizon. The drainage water was analyzed on a biweekly basis. Enhanced NH4+ deposition caused substantial mobilization of base cations from upper horizons with subsequent accumulation in lower horizons. Base cation concentrations in drainage water increased generally for both ammonium and nitrate enhanced N treatments. The results suggest that deposition of (NH4)2SO4 can be just as damaging as deposition of HNO3, and that competition between NH4+ and base cations for cation exchange sites isan additional damaging aspect of N deposition which is currently being largely ignored in the quantification of risk of N damage to soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Without urgent action, climate change will put the health of future populations at risk. Policies to reduce these risks require support from today's populations; however, there are few studies assessing public support for such policies. Willingness to pay (WtP), a measure of the maximum a person is prepared to pay for a defined benefit, is widely used to assess public support for policies. We used WtP to investigate whether there is public support to reduce future health risks from climate change and if individual and contextual factors affect WtP, including perceptions of the seriousness of the impacts of climate change., Study Design: A cross-sectional British survey., Methods: Questions about people's WtP for policies to reduce future climate change-related deaths and their perceptions of the seriousness of climate change impacts were included in a British survey of adults aged 16 years and over (n=1859). We used contingent valuation, a survey-based method for eliciting WtP for outcomes like health which do not have a direct market value., Results: The majority (61%) were willing to pay to reduce future increases in climate change-related deaths in Britain. Those regarding climate change impacts as not at all serious were less willing to pay than those regarding the impacts as extremely serious (OR 0.04, 95% CI 0.02-0.09). Income was also related to WtP; the highest-income group were twice as likely to be willing to pay as the lowest-income group (OR 2.14, 95% CI 1.40-3.29)., Conclusions: There was public support for policies to address future health impacts of climate change; the level of support varied with people's perceptions of the seriousness of these impacts and their financial circumstances. Our study adds to evidence that health, including the health of future populations, is an outcome that people value and suggests that framing climate change around such values may help to accelerate action., (Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Tuberculosis (TB) in livestock, caused by Mycobacterium bovis, persists in many countries. In Britain, efforts to control TB through the culling of badgers (Meles meles), the principal wildlife host, have so far been unsuccessful, and there is significant interest in vaccination of badgers as an alternative or complementary strategy [corrected]. Using a simulation model, we show that where TB is self-contained within the badger population and there are no external sources of infection, limited-duration vaccination at a high level of efficacy can reduce or even eradicate TB from the badger population. However, where sources of external infection persist, benefits in TB reduction in badgers can only be achieved by ongoing, annual vaccination. Vaccination is likely to be most effective as part of an integrated disease management strategy incorporating a number of different approaches across the entire host community.