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The forest transition – a sustained shift from net loss to net gain in forest cover – has enabled macro-level explanatory accounts of the causal processes underlying reversals of net forest loss. However, criticisms emphasise the inadequate accounting of scalar and spatial interdependences giving rise to uneven dynamics, while the dominant explanatory approach of characterising pathways seem incapable of explaining heterogeneous forest transition experiences. To advance the value of the forest transition framework, this paper (1) draws on a review of 126 articles to elucidate the methodological approaches and causal-analytic strategies of three strands of forest transition research; (2) presents a series of methodological heuristics grounded in critical realism to advance more holistic and context-dependent causal analysis; and (3) illustrates the resulting methodological framework with an ongoing research project. The review demonstrates a wide diversity of methodological leanings in forest transition scholarship, ranging from regression on forest cover change and econometric analysis to local mixed-method case studies and historical narrative analyses. Less than half of studies (48 %) engage with pathways as an explanatory approach, while 22 % draw on complementary theoretical approaches. The methodological heuristics proposed reconcile competing epistemologies and carve out a causal role for emergent powers of social practices, recognising the complex and situated expressions of forest transitions while retaining ambitions for boundedly generalisable claims on causal processes. I argue that a CR-based methodological approach permits engaging seriously with multiple, interacting generative processes while asking normative questions about what types of forest transitions are desirable to whom. • Forest transition research marked by methodological diversity. • Offers heuristics to better operationalise forest transition under globalisation. • Reconciles competing epistemologies for improved methodological integration. • Explicates causal role of emergent social practices and movements in explanations. • Refocuses causal analysis to unearthing interacting generative mechanisms in context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Planning development while minimizing negative impacts to sensitive habitats poses a challenge for global natural resource management. After impacts from development are avoided and minimized, remaining adverse impacts may be offset using compensatory mitigation. Along the California coast, the California Coastal Commission (CCC) regulates development and subsequent mitigation for allowable impacts. We reviewed publicly available CCC staff reports for approved projects that impacted coastal habitats and required compensatory mitigation from 2010 to 2018. The median project size was approximately 728 square meters and almost all permanent impacts were mitigated at a >1:1 ratio, with regional and habitat-specific planning regulations driving some variation across the state. We found that wetlands were the most frequently impacted and had higher mitigation ratios. Temporary impacts were almost always mitigated at a 1:1 ratio. While most mitigation was on-site and in-kind, mitigation that was required off-site had a median distance of 4.7 km from the site of impact. Restoration was the most frequent mitigation action, over creation, enhancement, or preservation, but proportions of each action varied across habitat types. While our findings suggest no net loss of habitat area within the California Coastal Zone, the net change in ecosystem function is dependent on the performance of the mitigation projects. This review is only the first step in evaluating the success of compensatory mitigation along California's coast. • Most commonly developed habitats wetlands (frequency) & open water/marine (area). • Majority of compensatory mitigation permitted was on-site & in-kind. • Off-site mitigation had a median distance of 4.7 km from site of impact. • No net loss of habitat area; more research required to assess functional equivalency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Younghusband Peninsula coastal barrier extends ∼190 km and is predominantly comprised of a mix of active, semi-stabilised and stabilised (relict) transgressive and parabolic dunefields. Wave driven shoreline erosion has triggered the rapid development of a transgressive dunefield along a portion the peninsula. This study focuses on a ∼2 km region with the highest regional erosion rates (> −2.0 m/year since 1988), and which has experienced rapid destabilisation and subsequent landward translation of the dunefield. Aerial LIDAR derived datasets of the barrier system from 2008 and 2018 and eight drone photogrammetry surveys between August 2020 and April 2022 are used to compare the rates of change across the beach-dune system. The net and intra-survey changes are used to show the short- to medium-term system response and illustrate the relationship of sediment dynamics to the developing morphology and structure of the dunefield. Shoreline change rates (m/yr) are sourced from the Digital Earth Australia coastlines dataset which provides annual rates for continental Australia from a Landsat time series (1988–2021). When the rate of shoreline change is segmented from the total dataset to the study time-period (2008–2021), the average resulting rates show an increase from −2.2 m/yr to −3.3 m/yr, respectively. This coincides with a landward advance rate of >10 m/yr from 2008 of the dunefield edge, with the fastest eroding dune toes corresponding to regions with the highest rate of dunefield translation and transgression. Net volumetric totals and their ratios of gain to loss of sediments show that significant sediment is lost to offshore during the retrogradation of the dunefield as only a fraction of the stoss slope sediment is transferred landwards. All regions of the dunefield exhibit a net loss of sediments but the high-temporal resolution shows that the magnitude of 3D changes varies through time. An adapted model of erosional stoss slope evolution and dunefield development is advanced and a temporal model of transgressive dunefield evolution is synthesised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Historical IPV was associated with IPV during COVID-19 among families. • Isolation, household crowding, and income loss increased risk for IPV. • Among isolating families, crowding increased IPV regardless of income loss. The COVID-19 pandemic presents significant risk for family violence. Risk for intimate partner violence (IPV) may be especially pronounced among families with young children that are isolating in crowded households and experiencing severe income loss. Because child exposure to IPV is increasingly recognized as a form and risk factor for child maltreatment, understanding factors contributing to IPV among families with young children can inform prevention and intervention efforts regarding family and child well-being during and after the pandemic. The present study examines the hypothesis that IPV during the pandemic would be more likely among families with a history of IPV that are isolating in crowded households and/or experiencing severe income loss resulting from the pandemic. Parents (n = 363) of 4- to 10-year-olds living in the United States completed an online survey with demographic, pandemic experiences, and IPV questionnaires. Family history of IPV was strongly associated with recurring IPV during the pandemic (Cramer's V =.55). Induction rates of IPV during the pandemic were low; four families experienced IPV for the first time during the pandemic. Household isolation (r =.12), household crowding (r =.13), and severity of income loss (r =.25) were significantly and positively associated with IPV during the pandemic. Income loss was positively associated with IPV during the pandemic at low and average levels of household crowding. At high levels of household crowding, families were at high risk for IPV during the pandemic regardless of the severity of income loss. Our findings indicate that isolating families with young children are at-risk for recurring IPV during the pandemic, especially if they are also experiencing household crowding and/or severe income loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Future atmospheric carbon-dioxide concentration ([CO2]) rise is expected to increase the grain yield of C3 crops like wheat even higher under drought. This expectation is based on small-scale experiments and model simulations based on such observations. However, this combined effect has never been confirmed through actual observations at the nationwide or regional scale. We present the first evidence that warming and drought in the world's leading wheat-producing countries offset the benefits of increasing [CO2] to wheat yield in the last six decades. Using country-level wheat yield census observations, [CO2] records, and gridded climate data in a statistical model based on a well-established methodology, we show that a [CO2] rise of ~ 98 μmol mol−1 increased the yield by 7% in the area of the top-twelve wheat-producing countries, while warming of 1.2 °C and water depletion of ~ 29 mm m−2 reduced the wheat grain yield by ~ 3% and ~ 1%, respectively, in the last six decades (1961–2019). Our statistical model corroborated the beneficial effect of [CO2] but contrasted the expected increase of grain yield under drought. Moreover, the increase in [CO2] barely offsets the adverse impacts of warming and drought in countries like Germany and France, with a net yield loss of 3.1% and no gain, respectively, at the end of the sampling period relative to the 1961–1965 baseline. In China and the wheat-growing areas of the former Soviet Union—two of the three largest wheat-producing regions—yields were ~ 5.5% less than expected from current [CO2] levels. Our results suggest shifting our efforts towards more experimental studies set in currently warm and dry areas and combining these with statistical and numerical modeling to improve our understanding of future impacts of a warmer and drier world with higher [CO2]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The eastward surface flow in the interior region of the Japan Sea, known as Tsushima Warm Cur)rent (TWC), which is accompanied by a meridional temperature gradient on a planetary β-plane, could be determined by the heat balance between net heat loss at the sea surface and lateral heat transport from the southern entrance. Such surface flow, which satisfies the thermal wind balance, induces upwelling and downwelling at the western and eastern boundaries, respectively; as a next step, an overturning circulation through the middle or bottom layers is formed. The High Salinity Intermediate Water (HSIW), near water depths of 500-700 m, is located in the very fine salinity-maximum layer, which is present below the Japan Sea Intermediate Water (JSIW), that rapidly freshened in the 2010s. More in detail, HSIW arises from inflowing high salinity from TWC off the coast of Hokkaido, thus corresponding to downwelling along the eastern boundary by overturning. The remarkable surface mixed layer with high salinity as HSIW has been observed during summer 2009, and was considered as a direct evidence of ventilation. However, the freshening JSIW always capped HSIW in the 2010s. We propose that preformed PO4 (PO4 0 ) is one of the most useful biogeochemical tracers for tracking temporal changes in HSIW. Furthermore, JSIW would be ventilated every winter, since PO4 0 in JSIW indicates active mixing with surface PO4 0 depletion. On the other hand, PO4 0 in HSIW decreased under the influence of vertical diffusion from JSIW, even maintaining a maximum structure. Presumably, major events of HSIW ventilation are sporadic, thus they would be separated by several years [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Hamstrings injuries are a major concern in football (soccer), affecting both recreational players and professional athletes. Although being a recognized issue within the football community, its incidence has been increasing over the last years and still poses a challenge to all practitioners involved. Study objectives and rationale The goal of this narrative review is to outline hamstrings injuries epidemiology and mechanisms of injury, identify and discuss its risk factors, provide an approach to a proper early diagnosis, evaluate the efficacy of current treatment options and return to sports, and present the best strategies for hamstrings injury prevention. These guidelines will help the sports medicine staff team on how to better manage their players with or at risk of hamstrings injuries. Conclusion Despite several breakthroughs in research of hamstrings injuries, there is still heterogeneity across studies and lack of consensus in regards to classification, diagnosis, treatment and prevention. Hamstrings injuries compromise the athlete's performance with time loss due to injury, shortens their highest-level career longevity with higher risk of reinjury rates, and is a defying problem for clubs to balance financial losses due to having their players off the pitch. Further research is warranted to keep moving forward with evidence on treating and preventing hamstrings injuries to mitigate its high incidence and keep the players safe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought and competition affect how morphological and physiological traits are expressed in plants. California plants were previously found to respond less negatively to resource limitation compared to invasive counterparts. In a glasshouse in Santa Cruz, CA, USA, we exposed five native California C3 grassland species to episodic drought and competition (via five locally invasive species). We hypothesized that leaf morphology would be more affected by competition, and leaf photosynthetic gas exchange more so by drought, consistent with optimal partitioning and environmental filter theories. We expected that traits would exhibit trade‐offs along a spectrum for resource conservatism versus acquisition. Bromus carinatus had greater photosynthetic recovery, while Diplacus aurantiacus had lower percent loss of net assimilation (PLA) and intrinsic water‐use efficiency (iWUE) during drought and competition simultaneously compared to just drought. Stipa pulchra and Sidalcea malviflora gas exchange was unaffected by drought, and leaf morphology exhibited drought‐related adjustments. Lupinus nanus exhibited trait adjustments for competition but not drought. Functional traits sorted onto two principal components related to trade‐offs for resource conservatism versus acquisition, and for above‐ versus belowground allocation. In summary, morphological traits were affected by competition and drought, whereas physiological traits, like leaf gas exchange, were primarily affected by drought. The grassland plants we studied showed diverse responses to drought and competition with trait trade‐offs related to resource conservatism versus acquisition, and for above‐ versus belowground allocation consistent with optimal partitioning and environmental filter theories. Diplacus aurantiacus experienced competitive release based on greater iWUE and lower PLA when facing drought and competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protected areas are a leading conservation tool for preserving biodiversity. However, the restrictions on human uses often engender resistance of local communities to the idea of living in protected environment. This paper describes the preparation of Biodiversity Investment Opportunities (BIO) maps for seven case areas in Central and South-Eastern Europe, using participatory methods. BIO maps have been further developed with the involvement of local stakeholders to define areas that can support economic activities while achieving a no net loss or even benefits for nature. The BIO maps can then be used to foster the development of Pro-Biodiversity Businesses (PBBs). PBBs are enterprises that generate financial returns without compromising the natural environments they depend on. PBBs were found to be a viable solution, effective in changing the perceptions of both the park managers and the local people towards the protected areas. Moreover, these enterprises can improve the local livelihoods, as well as actively protect nature and biodiversity. Therefore, the approach presented in this paper can be adopted as a model for managing any protected area and conserving cultural landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

38.5% of the Spanish working population reports pain, 5.1% severe pain. Pain is associated with a high utilization of health services, but, more importantly, with a significant reduction in the ability to continue their work performance. Interventions to minimize the significant costs inflicted by pain should be implemented. Objective: The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the epidemiology of pain in the Spanish working population and to investigate the incremental costs of the different levels of pain on medical costs and productivity losses. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of costs of pain in the Spanish working population from a societal perspective using data from a national representative survey. Results: Data from the 9919 respondents were analyzed. The prevalence of reported pain was 38.5%: 21.9% mild or very mild; 11.5% moderate; 5.1% severe or extreme. Increased self-reported pain was independently associated with significant increases in direct and indirect costs. Those reporting severe or extreme pain showed excess annual costs of €5118.97 per case, being 85% indirect costs. Conclusions: Spain is paying a heavy price for the high prevalence of pain in its working population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micro inverters are power electronics devices integrated close to photovoltaic (PV) panels. PVs produced today could make 92% of its rated power. With the passage of time, the reliability and performance of micro inverter needs to be redesigned to operate under harsh temperature conditions. This paper presents the distribution of electrical and thermal stresses that occur in semiconductor devices of micro inverters. H5 micro inverter topology is simulated and analyzed as a benchmark of losses in devices of PVs. The performance of micro inverter is evaluated on the basis of conduction and switching losses in basic and distributed micro inverters using simulation tool PSIM. H5 inverter single switch conduction losses came out to be in the range of 6 W while the switching losses were about 0.12 W. Net conduction losses of the inverter were 24.2 W while the switching losses were 0.483 W. For modified inverter as well as auxiliary, single switch had conduction losses in the range of 1.64 W while the total conduction losses for individual switching segment were 13.22 W which are almost half of H5 losses. Results revealed that it has a significant impact on the micro inverter which is replaced with distributed components in this design and has a remarkable improvement. The conduction losses are reduced to 73% and that of switching losses are reduced to 58.4%; leading to major contribution in designing cost effective and safe applications for micro inverters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiversity offsetting is increasingly used to mitigate biodiversity impacts from development, but the practice of offsetting rarely considers how to also mitigate losses of ecosystem services. Offset rules, such as how near an offset must be to an impact site, may help ensure biodiversity offsets also counterbalance losses of ecosystem services but this has not yet well understood.We explored how different rules for siting coastal offsets could change net impacts to a provisioning ecosystem service: fishery resources in Queensland, Australia. A spatially explicit model incorporating supply, flow and demand of fishery resources was developed to simulate contributions of offset sites to commercial fisheries in Queensland, Australia. We simulated offsets for losses due to 63 real projects that damaged mangroves and 14 projects damaging seagrasses.We found that the percentage of species suffering net negative outcomes for the whole commercial fishery increased from about 68% when offsets were located close to impact sites to >85% when there were no restrictions on offset location. All fisheries for seagrass offsets suffered net economic losses under both scenarios, but these were worse when offsets were not required to be near to impact sites.Offsetting outcomes varied substantially across species. Species with shorter maximum dispersal distance and higher dispersal decay parameters suffered greater net losses.Synthesis and applications. Our model quantified impacts of fishery habitat depletion and offsets on fishery resources and the approach can be applied to assess impacts of losses of fishery habitats globally. The findings suggest that to minimize losses of fishery resources caused by habitat depletion, offset policy should generally locate offset sites at the locations available for restoration that are nearest to impact sites, unless specific information about the relative contributions of sites to impacted fisheries is available to guide offset location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several methods of measuring biodiversity in development‐offset trades exist. However, there is little consensus on which biodiversity metrics should be used for quantifying development impacts and assigning offsets.We simulated development impacts in a virtual landscape and offset these impacts using six biodiversity metrics: vegetation area, vegetation condition, habitat suitability, species abundance, metapopulation connectivity and rarity‐weighted richness. We tested long‐term impacts of metric choice during offsetting by combining simulated landscapes with population viability analyses.No net loss or net gains in habitat were achieved using all metrics except vegetation area and condition. Limited habitat and like‐for‐like requirements resulted in offsets exhausting available habitat in each vegetation class before offset requirements were met when using vegetation‐based metrics. We also found that impact avoidance was an important driver in how much compensation offsets could deliver. When impacts avoided high‐suitability habitats, all six metrics achieved no net loss or net gains for most species. However, when core habitats were developed, none of the metrics were able to consistently prevent population declines.Synthesis and application. When impacts on high‐quality habitat were avoided, and assuming the protection and restoration benefits can occur in practice, vegetation‐based metrics may produce offsets which deliver gains in species abundance equivalent to species‐specific metrics. However, species‐specific metrics outperformed vegetation‐based metrics when core habitats were lost. Applying avoidance measures as a first step to minimise biodiversity impacts during development will significantly improve offset outcomes for species and result in greater long‐term population benefits delivered through offsetting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Converting mangroves to other land cover types can induce large emissions of carbon dioxide, depending on the type of land use and land cover (LULC) change. However, mangroves may also recover their ecosystem carbon stocks rapidly following restoration, potentially offsetting carbon stock losses. While studies have quantified these tradeoffs at global scales using coarse metrics, fewer studies have quantified them at national scales at higher resolution. Here, we used high‐resolution data sets of LULC for mangroves in Thailand to quantify district‐level gross and net changes in mangrove carbon stocks from ~1960 to 2014. We found emissions based on gross gain and loss statistics (7.18 ± 0.24 million Mg C) to be greater than those associated with emissions based on net area change statistics (1.65 ± 0.26 million Mg C) by a factor of four. The difference in estimates arises from slower rates of carbon stock recovery following reforestation relative to carbon stock loss following LULC change. Overall, we found the greatest gains in mangrove carbon stocks to be from mangrove expansion in areas of accreting sediments, which were strongly correlated with district‐level extent of undisturbed mangroves. Our results show that net loss statistics may greatly underestimate emissions associated with LULC change in mangroves. Additionally, our findings suggest that gains in mangrove carbon stocks associated with natural establishment at the periphery of standing mangroves may offset substantial carbon stock losses at national scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: As the coronavirus pandemic unfolded during 2020, widespread financial uncertainty emerged amongst university students across the globe. What is not yet clear is how Australian health students were financially impacted during the initial stages of the pandemic and whether this influenced their ability to undertake planned rural or remote placements. Objective: To examine (a) financial concern amongst health students during COVID‐19, (b) the financial implications of changes to planned rural or remote placements and (c) the impact of these factors on students' ability to undertake placements during the pandemic. Design: Mixed‐methods design involving an online survey (n = 1210) and semi‐structured interviews (n = 29). Nursing, medical and allied health students with a planned University Department of Rural Health‐facilitated rural or remote placement between February and October 2020 were invited to participate. Findings: 54.6% of surveyed students reported financial concern during COVID‐19. Financial concern correlated with both changes in financial position and employment, with 36.6% of students reporting a reduction in income and 43.1% of students reporting a reduction in, or cessation of regular employment. Placement changes yielded a range of financial implications. Cancelled placements saved some students travel and accommodation costs, but left others out of pocket if these expenses were prepaid. Placements that went ahead often incurred increased accommodation costs due to limited availability. Financial concern and/or financial implications of placement changes ultimately prevented some students from undertaking their rural or remote placement as planned. Discussion: Many nursing, allied health and medical students expressed financial concern during COVID‐19, associated with a loss of regular employment and income. Placement changes also presented unforeseen financial burden for students. These factors ultimately prevented some students from undertaking their planned rural or remote placement. Conclusion: Universities need to consider how best to align financially burdensome placements with the personal circumstances of students during periods of economic uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a greater need for contemporary research to empirically examine actual internet casino gambling behavior with valid data. To fill this gap in research, the current study examined two years (1 February 2015 to 31 January 2017) of prospective longitudinal data from 4,424 actual online casino gambling subscribers to one of the E.U.'s largest internet gambling services, including novel analyses of depositing and withdrawal behaviors. We found that today's online casino gambling behaviors are similar to those observed 10 years ago in the E.U., with similarly small proportions of the player pool exhibiting more extreme gambling involvement than the rest. Some unique gambling behaviors (e.g. net loss), depositing behaviors (e.g. credit card use), and withdrawal behaviors (e.g. reversed withdrawals) distinguished more involved bettors from typical bettors. Our results suggest that, like a decade prior, most online casino players in our sample bet modest amounts and play relatively infrequently, yet a small percentage (approximately 5%) engage at disproportionately high and potentially risky levels. These findings are based on data from a single online casino operator and bettors in our sample might have gambled with other operators during the study period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asian deltas are densely populated and richly bio-diversified regions with significant social, economic, ecological and environmental importance across the globe. These low-lying and fertile floodplains support substantial food production. Because of sediment supply reductions, sea-level rising, subsidence, and frequent storm surges, many deltas are rapidly sinking and shrinking, which will threaten survival of millions of populations. It's of great significance to monitor the delta morphological evolution and understand the relationship between their shoreline migrations and sediment supplies. However, quantifying the delta morphological changes is challenging due to its nature of high dynamics. In this study, we developed a methodology integrated by a time-series algorithm of water frequency and a spatial analysis to track the morphological changes of 11 major Asian deltas from 1986 to 2018.The results show that the deltas of Yellow, Yangtze, Pearl, Red, Mekong, Ganges-Brahmaputra, and Chao Phraya have experienced a net land gain at the total of 1829.3 km2, with China's three major deltas accounting for 73 percent of all. The deltas of Mahanadi, Irrawaddy, Indus, and Godavari-Krishna have undergone a net land loss at the total of 295.1 km2, of which the Indus River Delta accounted for 65 percent. Most of the shorelines in the Yangtze River Delta were constantly advancing seaward at a rate of over 30 m/year, whereas, many ones in the rest of Asian deltas were significantly being eroded at a rate of over 20 m/year. These changes in delta morphology are closely related to sediment supplies and management policies. These results also suggest that rational wetland reclamation with auxiliary projects of ecological restoration can enhance the deltaic ability of sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the global urban population is poised to grow by 2.5 billion over the next 30 y, urban land conversions are expected to be an increasingly prominent driver of habitat and biodiversity loss. Mitigating these impacts urgently requires an improved understanding of where and how these biodiversity losses might occur. Here, we use a recently developed suite of land-use projections to provide an assessment of projected habitat that will be lost to urban land expansion for 30,393 species of terrestrial vertebrates from 2015 to 2050 across three shared socioeconomic pathway (SSP) scenarios. We find that urban land expansion is a contributing driver of habitat loss (≥5% of total loss) for around one-third (26 to 39%) of the species assessed. For up to 855 species (2 to 3% of those assessed), urban land is a direct driver of species imperilment, driving at least one-quarter of a net habitat loss of 10% or more. Urban clusters with the greatest threats to species due to projected expansion are predominantly located in the developing tropical regions of sub-Saharan Africa, South America, Mesoamerica, and Southeast Asia. Our results suggest that strategies for minimizing the impacts of urban land could strengthen global biodiversity protection agreements. Collaborative, global action that focuses on vulnerable species and regions may represent an efficient strategy for avoiding the impacts forecast by our analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Loss aversion has long been regarded as a fundamental psychological regularity, yet evidence has accumulated to challenge this conclusion. We review three theories of how people make decisions under risk and, as a consequence, value potential losses: expected-utility theory, prospect theory, and risk-sensitivity theory. These theories, which stem from different behavioral disciplines, differ in how they conceptualize value and thus differ in their assumptions about the degree to which value is dependent on state and context; ultimately, they differ in the extent to which they see loss aversion as a stable individual trait or as a response to particular circumstances. We highlight points of confusion that have at least partly fueled the debate on the reality of loss aversion and discuss four sources of conflicting views: confusion of loss aversion with risk aversion, conceptualization of loss aversion as a trait or as state dependent, conceptualization of loss aversion as context dependent or independent, and the attention–aversion gap—the observation that people invest more attentional resources when evaluating losses than when evaluating gains, even when their choices do not reveal loss aversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The combined presence of depression with alcohol abuse can increase suicide risk. We used psychological autopsy to evaluate 101 individuals who died by suicide, to understand relationships between stressful life events, alcohol abuse, and depression. As compared to suicidal adults with depression only, individuals meeting criteria for both a depressive disorder and alcohol use disorder tended to be younger and experienced higher rates of stressful life events during the six months prior to death. Alcohol abuse likely influences interpersonal conflict, financial distress, and legal problems. Interventions focusing on managing life problems may help to reduce suicide risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reconfiguration that alters on/off status of sectionalizing and tie switches attempts to improve the operational performances of distribution networks (DNWs). This paper formulates the reconfiguration problem as a multi-objective optimization problem of reducing the net feeder loss(NFL), improving the node voltage profile (NVP) and enhancing the node voltage stability (NVS) and proposes a new reconfiguration method involving rainfall optimization (RO) for obtaining robust solutions. The method performs search for optimal tie switches in several sets of sectionalizing switches; each set is obtained from a closed loop formed for each tie switch, with a view of reducing the computational burden and adapting a self-adaptive technique for tuning the RO parameters for improving convergence. It performs study on 33-, 69- and 119-node DNWs and exhibits its superior performance over existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calculating the consequences of global public bads such as climate change or pandemics helps uncover the scale, distribution and structure of their economic burdens. As violent conflict affects billions of people worldwide, whether directly or indirectly, this article sets out to estimate its global macro-economic repercussions. Using a novel methodology that accounts for multiple dimensions of war, the article finds that, in the absence of violent conflict since 1970, the level of global GDP in 2014 would have been, on average, 12% higher. When disaggregating these results by conflict type, civil conflicts are estimated to have been the costliest by far. Income growth is found to be altered up to four years following the end of a conflict, although the direction of this relationship depends on the intensity and type of conflict. Countries also suffer significantly from fighting in neighbouring countries, thereby showing the importance of mitigating spillovers rapidly. The largest absolute losses associated with violence emanate from Asia, while many high-income economies are found to benefit economically from participating in conflicts on foreign soil. This analysis thus shows that, despite some evidence of a faster post-conflict growth and possible benefits for external participants, violent conflict leads to net global losses that linger long after peace is achieved, reducing the peace dividend. The article concludes by discussing public policy options to strengthen the benefits of peace as a global public good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AC losses in a high temperature superconducting (HTS) coil are experimentally evaluated. Double-pancake (DP) coils with turn-to-turn electrical insulations are wound using bundle conductors formed with two pieces of rare-earth-based coated conductors located face-to-face without insulation to improve thermal stability. Five DP coils are stacked and subsequently four copper plates are soldered between the adjacent DP coils to form a small-size HTS coil for AC loss measurements. The fabricated HTS coil is immersed in liquid nitrogen. Before measuring the AC losses, the contact resistances between the DP coils are observed in DC operations of the HTS coil at first. After that, the total losses including the Joule losses in the joints between the DP coils are measured by integrating the products of almost resistive components extracted from the terminal voltages in the HTS coil and applied transport currents observed using a pickup coil over a cycle under AC operations. Net AC losses in the two-ply bundle conductor windings are obtained by subtracting the Joule losses from the measured ones. In order to understand the mechanism of AC losses in the two-ply bundle conductor windings, the influences of current amplitudes and frequencies are investigated experimentally and theoretically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study was to describe the nature, magnitude, causes, and economic impact, and also to evaluate risk estimates of agricultural incidents occurring during 2012–2013 in Madhya Pradesh, India. The study was carried out in 360 villages in 9 districts of Madhya Pradesh namely Datia, Shivpuri, Balaghat, Barwani, Indore, Jhabua, Narshigpur, Satna, and Bhopal. A total of 92 793 agricultural workers participated in a survey of agricultural incidents. Of 21 agricultural incidents, 14% were fatal and 86% non-fatal in nature. The agricultural incident rates were 0.23/1000 agricultural worker per year and 0.2/1000 agricultural machines per year. The annual monetary loss due to deaths in agricultural incidents in Madhya Pradesh was estimated to be Rs. 16 935.4 lakhs. The economic loss due to agricultural incidents is more severe that resulted in significant loss to the workers due to absence from work. Hence, it is important to map down the cause and taking preventive measures to reduce the losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An energy storage system (ESS) has been considered one promising technology in dealing with challenges from the risk of power fluctuations and load mismatch in power girds. A distributed ESS (DESS) has better efficiency in reducing net losses and operating costs. The net-ability quantifies the power transmission ability across the grid where power is delivered from generators to loads under constraints. This paper proposes a new complex network-based metric: energy storage performance (ESP), for assessing the significance of the DESS inside a power grid. It aids the optimal location selections by improving grids' net-ability structurally. An auxiliary genetic algorithm (GA) sizing strategy is also deployed for deciding the optimal capacity of each DESS with the minimum daily operating and investment costs. The result shows that the DESS improves the rate of cost reduction within an equivalent 24-h daily operation. Moreover, this methodology finds quasi-optimal solutions with better feasibility and efficiency. The improvement of network performance by the DESS depends on its original structure. The result shows that with the assistance of siting plan by a complex network theory, the calculation efficiency improves and performs better in larger power grids. In the IEEE-30 test system, our solution is about 1/3 calculation time as the GA search. The quasi-optimal costs 1.8% more than the optimal searched by the GA. Meanwhile, the DESS can save more cost for networks with higher network-wide ESP value. In the IEEE-118 and IEEE-300 test systems, only the proposed hybrid-GA search can find a solution within a limited calculation time. Therefore, it could be promising in solving siting issues in the planning of smart grids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the relation between corporate cash holdings and tax net operating loss carryforwards (NOLs). The literature demonstrates that firms should distribute cash to shareholders rather than retain it and generate passive investment income taxed at both corporate and investor levels. However, if the firm's tax rate on passive income is lower than shareholders'—as when the firm has NOLs—theory also shows that the firm should retain cash and invest on the shareholders' behalf. Consistent with this, we find that NOLs are associated with higher levels of savings; firms save an additional $0.12 to $0.17 per dollar of tax-effected NOL benefit. Furthermore, investors place a higher value on corporate cash in tax loss firms, consistent with NOLs increasing the after-tax returns on passive investments. The paper adds to the literature studying corporate financial policy responses to taxation and quantifies the role of NOLs in corporate savings decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study empirically examines, from the first quarter of 1981 until the fourth quarter of 2017, the relations across customary domestic issuer credit ratings (long-term, short-term and subordinate) and three popular corporate risk-taking measurements (the variability of operating profitability, net profitability, and research and development expenses). Design/methodology/approach: The author deploys categorical regressions and robustness tests with control variables, interaction terms, fixed effect variables, lag variables and delta variables. Findings: The author documents that both short-term and subordinate domestic credit ratings are key determinants of the volatility of operating profitability. The author also identifies long-term credit ratings as secondary factors, yet they do affect broader corporate risk-taking behavioral features (along all three measurements). Furthermore, the author finds that the higher (lower) the credit ratings assigned, i.e. the superior (inferior) the credit quality externally judged, the more (less) overall risk firms tend to undertake. Originality/value: It is the first research to examine both the inclusive influence and the granular effects of credit ratings on corporate risk-taking (CRT) behavior. It is also the only enquiry to inspect the specific relationships along three types of domestic issuer credit ratings: long-term, short-term and subordinate ratings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study investigates predictors of weight loss among individuals with serious mental illness participating in an 18-month behavioral weight loss intervention, using Lasso regression to select the most powerful predictors. Methods: Data were analyzed from the intervention group of the ACHIEVE trial, an 18-month behavioral weight loss intervention in adults with serious mental illness. Lasso regression was employed to identify predictors of at least five-pound weight loss across the intervention time span. Once predictors were identified, classification trees were created to show examples of how to classify participants into having likely outcomes based on characteristics at baseline and during the intervention. Results: The analyzed sample contained 137 participants. Seventy-one (51.8%) individuals had a net weight loss of at least five pounds from baseline to 18 months. The Lasso regression selected weight loss from baseline to 6 months as a primary predictor of at least five pound 18-month weight loss, with a standardized coefficient of 0.51 (95% CI: −0.37, 1.40). Three other variables were also selected in the regression but added minimal predictive ability. Conclusions: The analyses in this paper demonstrate the importance of tracking weight loss incrementally during an intervention as an indicator for overall weight loss, as well as the challenges in predicting long-term weight loss with other variables commonly available in clinical trials. The methods used in this paper also exemplify how to effectively analyze a clinical trial dataset containing many variables and identify factors related to desired outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Species turnover is ubiquitous. However, it remains unknown whether certain types of species are consistently gained or lost across different habitats. Here, we analysed the trajectories of 1827 plant species over time intervals of up to 78 years at 141 sites across mountain summits, forests, and lowland grasslands in Europe. We found, albeit with relatively small effect sizes, displacements of smaller‐ by larger‐ranged species across habitats. Communities shifted in parallel towards more nutrient‐demanding species, with species from nutrient‐rich habitats having larger ranges. Because these species are typically strong competitors, declines of smaller‐ranged species could reflect not only abiotic drivers of global change, but also biotic pressure from increased competition. The ubiquitous component of turnover based on species range size we found here may partially reconcile findings of no net loss in local diversity with global species loss, and link community‐scale turnover to macroecological processes such as biotic homogenisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vertically integrated apparent heat source ( ⟨ Q 1 ⟩ ), reflecting features and evolutions of the heat budget, is a key variable in the changing climate of the Tibetan Plateau (TP). Despite previous investigations, characteristics of ⟨ Q 1 ⟩ on the inter-decadal timescale have not received sufficient attention. By extracting the inter-decadal variability (IDV) using the ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) method, results from our analysis reveal the dominant role of IDV of ⟨ Q 1 ⟩ over the TP. ⟨ Q 1 ⟩ variability is closely related to the Indian Ocean sea surface temperature (IOSST) and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) at the inter-decadal timescale. During the IOSST and PDO in-phase combinations (i.e., positive IOSST with positive PDO phase and negative IOSST with negative PDO phase), a low pressure (high pressure) system occured over the TP which was accompanied by cyclonic (anticyclone) circulation bring cold (warm) air from the North Pacific (Indian Ocean), resulting in an obvious net loss (gain) of heat over the central and northeastern TP. In the future, IDV will still dominate the change of ⟨ Q 1 ⟩ over the TP, having a shortened cycle and reduced amplitude under a scenario of intensified emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PURPOSE: We investigated the association between race and FT among previous patients with cancer. Studies show that patients with cancer experience financial toxicity (FT) because of their cancer treatment. METHODS: Data on individuals with a cancer history were collected in this cross-sectional study during 2012, 2014, and 2017, from the US Health Information National Trends Survey. This survey is conducted by mail with monetary compensation as an incentive. We specifically assessed responses to two questions: Has cancer hurt you financially? Have you been denied health insurance because of cancer? Multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to assess the associations between these questions and race. RESULTS: Of 10,592 individuals participating, 1,328 men and women (12.5%) with a cancer history were assessed. Compared with Blacks, Whites were found to have a higher rate of insurance (95.4% v 90.0%), were more likely to receive cancer treatment (93.9% v 85%), and had a higher rate of surgical treatment than Blacks (77% v 60%), Hispanics (55%), and others (77%, 60%, 55%, and 74.2%, respectively, P < .001). On multivariable analysis, Blacks were more than five times as likely to be denied insurance (odds ratio, 5.003; 95% CI, 2.451 to 10.213; P < .001) and more than twice as likely to report being hurt financially because of cancer (odds ratio, 2.448; 95% CI, 1.520 to 3.941; P < .001) than Whites. Of all cancer groups analyzed (genitourinary, gynecologic, gastrointestinal, and breast), genitourinary malignancies were the only group in which the rate of reporting being hurt financially varied in a statistically significant manner (Whites 36.7%, Hispanics 62.5%, and Blacks 59.3%, P = .004). CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that race is significantly associated with FT because of cancer. Awareness of racial inequality with regards to FT should be raised among health care workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing prevalence of clean energy raises the question of possible associated externalities. This article studies the effects of nuclear power plant development (and, as a result, the increased amount of water in the atmosphere from evaporative cooling systems) on nearby crop yields and finds that an average nuclear power plant increases local soybean yields by 2 and corn yields by 1 percent. Considering the low elasticity of demand for these crops, the yield increases translate to annual net benefits of $229 million (2020 US dollars) – $317 million in losses to farmers and $546 million in benefits to consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large changes in the Arctic carbon balance are expected as warming linked to climate change threatens to destabilize ancient permafrost carbon stocks. The eddy covariance (EC) method is an established technique to quantify net losses and gains of carbon between the biosphere and atmosphere at high spatiotemporal resolution. Over the past decades, a growing network of terrestrial EC tower sites has been established across the Arctic, but a comprehensive assessment of the network's representativeness within the heterogeneous Arctic region is still lacking. This creates additional uncertainties when integrating flux data across sites, for example when upscaling fluxes to constrain pan-Arctic carbon budgets and changes therein. This study provides an inventory of Arctic (here > = 60 ∘ N) EC sites, which has also been made available online (https://cosima.nceas.ucsb.edu/carbon-flux-sites/ , last access: 25 January 2022). Our database currently comprises 120 EC sites, but only 83 are listed as active, and just 25 of these active sites remain operational throughout the winter. To map the representativeness of this EC network, we evaluated the similarity between environmental conditions observed at the tower locations and those within the larger Arctic study domain based on 18 bioclimatic and edaphic variables. This allows us to assess a general level of similarity between ecosystem conditions within the domain, while not necessarily reflecting changes in greenhouse gas flux rates directly. We define two metrics based on this representativeness score: one that measures whether a location is represented by an EC tower with similar characteristics (ER1) and a second for which we assess if a minimum level of representation for statistically rigorous extrapolation is met (ER4). We find that while half of the domain is represented by at least one tower, only a third has enough towers in similar locations to allow reliable extrapolation. When we consider methane measurements or year-round (including wintertime) measurements, the values drop to about 1 / 5 and 1 / 10 of the domain, respectively. With the majority of sites located in Fennoscandia and Alaska, these regions were assigned the highest level of network representativeness, while large parts of Siberia and patches of Canada were classified as underrepresented. Across the Arctic, mountainous regions were particularly poorly represented by the current EC observation network. We tested three different strategies to identify new site locations or upgrades of existing sites that optimally enhance the representativeness of the current EC network. While 15 new sites can improve the representativeness of the pan-Arctic network by 20 %, upgrading as few as 10 existing sites to capture methane fluxes or remain active during wintertime can improve their respective ER1 network coverage by 28 % to 33 %. This targeted network improvement could be shown to be clearly superior to an unguided selection of new sites, therefore leading to substantial improvements in network coverage based on relatively small investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of single macrofauna taxa on benthic nitrogen (N) cycling have been extensively studied, whereas how macrofaunal communities affect N-related processes remains poorly explored. In this study, we characterized benthic N-cycling in bioturbated sediments of the oligotrophic Öre Estuary (northern Baltic Sea). Solute fluxes and N transformations (N2 fixation, denitrification and dissimilative nitrate reduction to ammonium [DNRA]) were measured in sediments and macrofauna-associated microbes (holobionts) to partition the role of three dominant taxa (the filter feeder Limecola balthica, the deep deposit feeder Marenzelleria spp., and the surface deposit feeder Monoporeia affinis) in shaping N-cycling. In the studied area, benthic macrofauna comprised a low diversity community with dominance of the three taxa, which are widespread and dominant in the Baltic. The biomass of these taxa in macrofaunal community explained up to 30% of variation in measured biogeochemical processes, confirming their important role in ecosystem functioning. The results also show that these taxa significantly contributed to the benthic metabolism and N-cycling (direct effect) as well as to sediments bioturbation with positive feedback to dissimilative nitrate reduction (indirect effect). Taken together, these functions promoted a reuse of nutrients at the benthic level, limiting net losses (e.g. denitrification) and effluxes to bottom water. Finally, the detection of multiple N transformations in macrofauna holobionts suggested a community-associated versatile microbiome, however, its role was of minor importance as compared to the activity of sediment-associated microbial communities. The present study highlights hidden and interactive effects among microbes and macrofauna, which should be considered analysing benthic functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consequences of warming and postwarming events on photosynthetic thermotolerance (PT) and photoprotective responses in tropical evergreen species remain elusive. We chose Citrus to answer some of the emerging questions related to tropical evergreen species' PT behaviour including (i) how wide is the genotypic variation in PT? (ii) how does PT respond to short‐term warming and (iii) how do photosynthesis and photoprotective functions respond over short‐term warming and postwarming events? A study on 21 genotypes revealed significant genotypic differences in PT, though these were not large. We selected five genotypes with divergent PT and simulated warming events: Tmax 26/20°C (day‐time highest maximum/night‐time lowest maximum) (Week 1) < Tmax 33/30°C (Week 2) < Tmax 36/32°C (Week 3) followed by Tmax 26/16°C (Week 4, recovery). The PT of all genotypes remained unaltered despite strong leaf megathermy (leaf temperature > air temperature) during warming events. Though moderate warming showed genotype‐specific stimulation in photosynthesis, higher warming unequivocally led to severe loss in net photosynthesis and induced higher nonphotochemical quenching. Even after a week of postwarming, photoprotective mechanisms strongly persisted. Our study points towards a conservative PT in evergreen citrus genotypes and their need for sustaining higher photoprotection during warming as well as postwarming recovery conditions. Our study points towards a conservative photosynthetic thermotolerance in evergreen citrus genotypes and their need for sustaining higher photoprotection during warming and postwarming recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims at assessing the factorial structure and psychometric properties of the Trauma Exposure Checklist, a psychometric tool developed and applied to the COVID-19 pandemic composed of two scales. A web-survey was completed online by 505 participants. An EFA suggested Loss and Coping as factors for the self-perception exposure scale; and Global Measures and Local Measures as factors for the perceived community support scale, which was supported by confirmatory analysis. Overall, the TEC presented a robust factorial structure and good psychometric properties, appearing to be a valid and reliable measure for assessing protective/risk factors at individual and community levels during crisis triggering events (e.g., COVID-19). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]