Adolescents' experiences of victimization: the role of attribution style and generalized trust

Positive attribution style, negative attribution style, and generalised peer trust beliefs were examined as mediators in the relationship between adolescents’ peer victimisation experiences and psychosocial and school adjustment. Two hundred and eighty (150 female and 130 males, Mage = 13 years 4 months, SDage = 1 year 1 month) adolescents completed measures of peer victimisation, global self-worth, depressive symptoms, social confidence, school liking, loneliness, attribution styles, and generalised trust beliefs. Multigroup path analysis revealed that: (a) negative attribution style mediated the relationship between cyber victimisation and school liking and depressive symptoms for males and females; (b) positive attribution style mediated the relationship between cyber victimisation, school liking, global self-worth, and depressive symptoms for females; and (c) generalised peer trust beliefs mediated the relationship between social victimisation, depressive symptoms, social confidence, and loneliness for females. Consequently, attribution style and generalised trust beliefs differentially influence the relationship between peer victimisation and adjustment

Young children's interpersonal trust consistency as a predictor of future school adjustment

Young children’s interpersonal trust consistency was examined as a predictor of future school adjustment. One hundred and ninety two (95 male and 97 female, M age = 6 years 2 months, SD age = 6 months) children from school years 1 and 2 in the United Kingdom were tested twice over one-year. Children completed measures of peer trust and school adjustment and teachers completed the Short-Form Teacher Rating Scale of School Adjustment. Longitudinal quadratic relationships emerged between consistency of children’s peer trust beliefs and peer-reported trustworthiness and school adjustment and these varied according to social group, facet of trust, and indictor of school adjustment. The findings support the conclusion that interpersonal trust consistency, especially for secret-keeping, predicts aspects of young children’s school adjustment

When Friends Behave Badly: Loneliness and Children's Expectations of Friends and Responses to Transgressions

Previous research has shown that friendships buffer against loneliness, but some children remain lonely despite having best friends. The current study examines relationships between loneliness and friendship functions, expectations, and responses to friendship transgressions in children with best friends (8-11 years; N = 177). Children completed questionnaires that measured loneliness, fulfilment of friendship functions, friendship expectations, and the Transgressions of Friendship Expectations Questionnaire (MacEvoy & Asher, 2012). Findings in the current study showed that loneliness was associated with lower friendship expectations and higher reliable alliance in existing best friendships. Loneliness was also associated with lower sadness and lower perceptions of feeling controlled and devalued by their friend when they transgress. Thus, children with best friends experiencing high loneliness may be more permissiveness of friendship transgressions and may need support to ensure that they do not allow their friends to be unfair to them

An evidence-based assessment of the past distribution of Golden and White-tailed Eagles across Wales

Two species of eagles (Golden and White‐tailed) bred in Wales during prehistoric and historic times and became regionally extinct as breeding species in the mid‐1800s. They are iconic and charismatic, and discussions about reintroducing them back into the Welsh landscape have been ongoing for years. Reintroductions, however, can be risky, costly and/or contentious. To address these concerns, and to judge whether it is appropriate to reintroduce a regionally extinct species; the “International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)” have produced criteria by which a proposed reintroduction can be assessed. A key criterion is that the potential reintroduction location lies within the former range of the species. In this study, we addressed this criterion by assessing the past distributions of Golden and White‐tailed Eagles within Wales. Using historic observational data, fossil/archaeological records and evidence from place‐names in the Welsh language, we demonstrated strong evidence for the presence of both of these eagle species in Wales in pre‐historic and historic times. We used kernel density functions to model the likely core distributions of each species within Wales. The resulting core distributions encompassed much of central and west‐north Wales for both species, with the White‐tailed Eagle exhibiting a wider core distribution extending into south Wales. Our results fill knowledge gaps regarding the historic ranges of both species in Britain, and support the future restoration of either or both species to Wales

Spatial Overlap and Habitat Selection of Corvid Species in European Cities

Understanding habitat and spatial overlap in sympatric species of urban areas would aid in predicting species and community modifications in response to global change. Habitat overlap has been widely investigated for specialist species but neglected for generalists living in urban settings. Many corvid species are generalists and are adapted to urban areas. This work aimed to determine the urban habitat requirements and spatial overlap of five corvid species in sixteen European cities during the breeding season. All five studied corvid species had high overlap in their habitat selection while still having particular tendencies. We found three species, the Carrion/Hooded Crow, Rook, and Eurasian Magpie, selected open habitats. The Western Jackdaw avoided areas with bare soil cover, and the Eurasian Jay chose more forested areas. The species with similar habitat selection also had congruent spatial distributions. Our results indicate that although the corvids had some tendencies regarding habitat selection, as generalists, they still tolerated a wide range of urban habitats, which resulted in high overlap in their habitat niches and spatial distributions

A homozygous MED11 C-terminal variant causes a lethal neurodegenerative disease

Purpose: The mediator (MED) multisubunit-complex modulates the activity of the transcriptional machinery, and genetic defects in different MED subunits (17, 20, 27) have been implicated in neurologic diseases. In this study, we identified a recurrent homozygous variant in MED11 (c.325C>T; p.Arg109Ter) in 7 affected individuals from 5 unrelated families. Methods: To investigate the genetic cause of the disease, exome or genome sequencing were performed in 5 unrelated families identified via different research networks and Matchmaker Exchange. Deep clinical and brain imaging evaluations were performed by clinical pediatric neurologists and neuroradiologists. The functional effect of the candidate variant on both MED11 RNA and protein was assessed using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and western blotting using fibroblast cell lines derived from 1 affected individual and controls and through computational approaches. Knockouts in zebrafish were generated using clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/Cas9. Results: The disease was characterized by microcephaly, profound neurodevelopmental impairment, exaggerated startle response, myoclonic seizures, progressive widespread neurodegeneration, and premature death. Functional studies on patient-derived fibroblasts did not show a loss of protein function but rather disruption of the C-terminal of MED11, likely impairing binding to other MED subunits. A zebrafish knockout model recapitulates key clinical phenotypes. Conclusion: Loss of the C-terminal of MED subunit 11 may affect its binding efficiency to other MED subunits, thus implicating the MED-complex stability in brain development and neurodegeneration

An analysis of the use and success of online recruitment methods in the UK

The use of online recruitment methods is now widespread among UK organisations, but has not dominated the recruitment market in the way that was predicted by the popular media. This may be because organisations experience mixed success in using online methods of recruitment. This paper reports on the use of a large scale, longitudinal survey of recruitment activity to investigate the usage and perceived success of both corporate and commercial websites by employers. In addition, twenty interviews with users and providers of online recruitment were conducted, in order to provide a deeper exploration of the factors that may affect the success of these methods. The results provide valuable insights into the use and success of online recruitment in the UK and have strong implications for practitioners

On the association of lightning activity and projected change in climate over the Indian sub-continent

The association of lightning activity with the long-term as well as seasonal spatio-temporal distribution of convective available potential energy (CAPE), surface convective precipitation, vegetation cover and anthropogenic aerosol loading over the Indian sub-continent has been studied for the period 2000–2014. The north-east to north-west arc including the foothills of the Himalayas is the primary seats of lightning occurrences. The correlations of lightning activity with each of aerosol loading, vegetation cover, convective instability and convective precipitation helps us in understanding the definite entity that is responsible for changing the lightning activity in different parts of this tropical region. Lightning flash rate (LFR) has significant positive correlations (r ~ 0.5–0.7) with AOD, CAPE and surface convective precipitation but significant negative correlation (r ~− 0.4) with Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Using global circulation models from the Climate Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5), time-series of observed and projected upper tropospheric water vapor, surface convective precipitation and aerosol optical depth (AOD) from the historical simulations (1996–2005) and RCP8.5 emission scenario (2036–2045) are analyzed over the Indian region that are vulnerable to climate change in terms of occurrence of convective events and associated hazardous lightning phenomena. This study indicates that upper tropospheric water vapor (300 hPa) has a significant linkage with the lightning occurrences associated with convective activities and strong updraft. During the mid- 21st century, AOD, surface convective precipitation and specific humidity are projected to increase by 1.42%, 2.01% and 1.40%, respectively which may result in regional changes in lightning activity over the Indian sub-continent