Research

Scientific Reports - Deep learning and citizen science enable automated plant trait predictions from photographs

To explain diversity in forests, niche theory must show how multiple plant species coexist while competing for the same resources. Although success...

Advances in process-based community ecology models are hindered by the challenge of linking functional traits to demography in species-rich systems, where a high number of parameters need to be estimated from limited data. Here the authors propose a new Bayesian framework to calibrate community models via functional traits, and validate it in a species-rich plant community.

Understanding the main determinants of species coexistence across space and time is a central question in ecology. However, ecologists still know little about the scales and conditions at which biotic interactions matter and how these interact with the ...

Understanding the drivers of community assembly is critical for predicting the future of biodiversity and ecosystem services. While trait-based frameworks are often used to this end, correlations among traits and the assumption of unimodal trait-abundance distributions confound detection of the underlying processes. To overcome these caveats, here we quantify multidimensional trait distributions of communities (community trait niches), which we use to identify ecological selection types shaping communities along environmental gradients. We find that directional, stabilizing, and divergent selection all modify community trait niches in over 3600 boreal forest understory plant communities, and selection on a particular trait may change from one type to another over time. Our results provide novel and rare empirical evidence from a natural system for divergent selection. The results also show that while higher trait diversity (measured as trait niche volume) is generally associated with higher species richness, high resource availability may enable tighter niche packing. Jointly our approach provides a framework for identifying key traits under selection and facilitates the detection of processes underlying community dynamics. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

The use of trait-based approaches to understand ecological communities has increased in the past two decades because of their promise to preserve more information about community structure than taxonomic methods and their potential to connect ...

Sexual assistance may have some aspects that resemble prostitution and others that might lead one to think of sexual assistants as similar to a group of subjects whose sexual object is disability (devotees). In this study, we investigate whether a ...

Adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID) represent an invisible at-risk population for multiple negative health outcomes. Much like their non-disabled peers, promoting healthy behaviors during adolescence has the potential to improve quality of life later on in life (McPherson et al. in J Appl Res Intellect Disabil 30(2):360, 2017). Many studies have analyzed disparities in obesity (Phillips et al. in Matern Child Health J 18(8):1964, 2014; Stancliffe et al. in Am J Intellect Dev Disabil 116(6):401, 2011), mental health (Charlot and Beasley in J Ment Health Res Intellect Disabil 6(2):74, 2013), and health care access (Baller and Barry in J Disabil Policy Stud 27(3):148, 2016), however sexual health needs further research and translation to practice. Access to sexual health education is limited for many youth with ID (Barnard-Brak et al. in Ment Retard 52(2):85–97, 2014). Studies have shown that students with ID experience higher rates of sexual abuse and assault than their non-disabled peers (Haydon et al. in J Interpers Violence 26(17):3476, 2011; Mahoney and Poling in J Dev Phys Disabil 23(4):369, 2011). Sexually active youth with ID are at a higher risk for contracting sexually transmitted infections compared to their non-disabled peers (Cheng and Udry in J Dev Phys Disabil 17(2):155–172, 2005; Mandell et al. in J School Health 78(7):382–388, 2008). Additional barriers exist including stigma and misperceptions around disability and sexuality and the assumption that the developmental status of the student will prevent sex education comprehension (Sinclair et al. in Educ Train Autism Dev Disabil 50(1):3–16, 2015). Qualitative studies of adult providers (Linton et al. in Sex Disabil 34(2):145–156, 2016; Murphy et al. in J Genet Couns 25(3):552, 2016), parents (Kok and Akyuz in Sex Disabil 33(2):157–174, 2015), and adolescents with ID (Löfgren-Mårtenson in Sex Disabil 30(2):209–225, 2012) have found overwhelming support for tailored sexual risk reduction interventions (Swango-Wilson in Sex Disabil 27(4):223, 2009). Developing evidence-based, inclusive curricula to prevent sexual coercion as well as promote sexual health self-determination for this vulnerable population is long overdue (McDaniels and Fleming in Sex Disabil 34(2):215, 2016). This study demonstrates the use of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), an educational framework, guidelines, and checklist tools (Eagleton, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Salem Press, Ipswich, 2015; Center for Applied Special Technology, UDL curriculum self-check 2011 (updated 2011), 2011. http://udlselfcheck.cast.org/resources.php ) to increase accessibility in HIPTeens, an evidence-based sexual risk reduction intervention (Morrison-Beedy et al. in J Assoc Nurses AIDS Care 13(1):21–27, 2002; Res Nurs Health 28(1):3–15, 2005; AIDS Behav 10(5):541, 2006; J Assoc Nurses AIDS Care 21(2):153–161, 2010; West J Nurs Res 33(5):690–711, 2011; J Adolesc Health 52(3):314–321, 2013; J Assoc Nurses AIDS Care 28(6):877–887, 2017). As a result, supplemental curriculum components were developed with UDLguided technology use recommendations. A UDL-integrated evidence-based sexual risk reduction intervention could increase accessibility and, with additional research, could help inform inclusive policy.

In conclusion, there is a need to draw up educational programmes, differentiated according to gender and adapted to their reality, which include contents related with sexual health, sexual abuse and condom use.

Capacity of adults with intellectual disabilities to consent to sexual relationships - Volume 34 Issue 7

Abstract. Despite the difficulties people with disabilities may have garnering intimate relationships, intimate relationships may be particularly beneficial for people with disabilities as they result in greater self-acceptance, less internalized stigma, and more camaraderie. The aim of this study was to explore the intimate relationships of adults with disabilities (n = 1,443) in its many forms (from intimate friendships to romantic relationships). We particularly explored what factors increased the odds of adults with disabilities having intimate relationships, what supports resulted in increased likeliness to have intimate relationships, and what factors resulted in the presence of favorable intimate relationship outcomes. Our analysis revealed service organizations are key to enhancing the social and intimate relationships of adults with disabilities.

Restraint, restrictive interventions, and seclusion are hotly contested practices with inconclusive evidence of their effectiveness. Because the use of restraint and seclusion on people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) is controversial and its effectiveness doubtable, this stud …

In agreement with the new paradigm of supports, this study examines the adequacy and psychometric properties of the Supports Intensity Scale (SIS) in a sample of 182 participants with severe mental illness (mean Global Assessment of Functioning [GAF] score = 60.2). The measure focuses on identifying …

(1) Background: While there is a growing awareness of the rights of individuals with intellectual disabilities, very limited progress has been made in supporting these people to create and maintain intimate and personal relationships. (2) Methods: This paper reports the results from a program aimed …

This article discusses privacy and secrecy in relation to the sexual lives of adults with significant disabilities. It compares ideologies and practices of privacy in two Scandinavian countries that diverge dramatically when it comes to sexuality and disability. In Sweden, the sexual lives of adults with disabilities are hindered and blocked by the people the welfare state pays to assist them. In Denmark, those same kinds of assistants facilitate sexual lives. A reason for this difference hinges on how “privacy” is conceptualized and practiced. In Denmark, to label something as “private” configures a particular kind of ethical space of engagement. In Sweden, “private” means “secret,” “off limits,” “beyond the boundary of knowledge or engagement.” This collapse of privacy and secrecy into one another has dire consequences for people with disabilities.

Consulta todas los blogs publicados en elDiario.es: el boletín del director, Contracorriente, El Rastreador, Al Día, Micromachismos…

En torno al debate sobre la asistencia sexual, desde la diversidad física