Regulatory Perspectives on the Significance of Ecological Changes as Reported in Ecological Risk Assessments

A broad range of perspectives exists regarding the interpretation of potentially adverse ecological changes in ecological risk assessments conducted under Superfund and RCRA. While USEPA's Proposed Guidelines for Ecological Risk Assessment recommend determining whether predicted changes are adverse based on the nature of effects, intensity of effects, spatial scale, temporal scale, and potential for recovery, the guidelines do not provide specific stan dards for judging adversity. Hence, implementation of the proposed guide lines varies with each risk manager's subjective judgments regarding the relative importance of each of these five criteria. In an effort to increase consistency in the scientific interpretation of ecological risk assessments, the following practices are recommended. First, measures of effects should focus on levels of ecological organization that are more complex than the individual organ ism. Second, multiple lines of evidence should be evaluated for each assessment endpoint. Third, bioequivalence testing should be used in place of traditional statistical testing (e.g., Student t-test) because the goal of bioequivalence testing is to answer the biologically relevant question of whether measurements differ by, at most, a biologically small amount. Fourth, in defining biologically small differences, site-specific and species specific conditions should be considered to the greatest extent possible. Fifth, where the outcomes of multiple lines of evidence contradict one another, the risk assessor should employ a quantitative approach to weighing the evidence based on the scientific defensibility of each measure of effect.     

Meta-analysis in applied ecology

This overview examines research synthesis in applied ecology and conservation. Vote counting and pooling unweighted averages are widespread despite the superiority of syntheses based on weighted combination of effects. Such analyses allow exploration of methodological uncertainty in addition to consistency of effects across species, space and time, but exploring heterogeneity remains controversial. Meta-analyses are required to generalize in ecology, and to inform evidence-based decision-making, but the more sophisticated statistical techniques and registers of research used in other disciplines must be employed in ecology to fully realize their benefits.     

从证据法学角度看《病历书写基本规范》对入院记录要求的瑕疵及对策

从证据法学角度看,《病历书写基本规范》对入院记录的要求存在病历作为证据形式上不完整的瑕疵。实行患方确认病史签名,可以有效弥补这一瑕疵,维护医院、患者及其他第三方的正当权益。但由此引起的法律相关问题,需要进一步研究。     

Contemplating Risk Assessment: A Critique of NRC (1983, 1996)

Assessing risks involves developing predictive mathematical models, using interpretations of data that are based on scientific assumptions or theories and knowledge of how the data were created. The predictions are used for developing strategies that affect many people in society. Often, it is sufficient that the models that are used are justifiable by a well-accepted set of assumptions or theories, reflecting the state-of-the art science at the time. However, this does not ensure that the “best” decision would be made, nor does it ensure that the decision processes would be fair by ensuring that concerned and affected individuals would be able to participate, effectively presenting arguments on their own behalf. Because of these concerns, procedures of risk analysis, including the management of the process, have been written about, for example, in a National Research Council (NRC 1996 NRC. 1996. Understanding Risk, Informing Decisions in a Democratic Society, Washington, DC, , USA: National Academy Press.  [Google Scholar]) publication, with the intention of getting stakeholders (interested participants) more involved in the risk analysis process. This publication suggests that Risk Characterization be expanded to include an active participation of stakeholders. Such an expansion would affect the risk assessor's approach toward science compared to the present approach, as implied in the seminal NRC (1983) NRC (National Research Council). 1983. Risk Assessment in the Federal Government: Managing the Process, Washington, DC, , USA: National Academy Press.  [Google Scholar] publication. Both of these NRC publications have had great influence on the development of risk analysis management and policy in the United States and elsewhere. Subsequent risk assessment guidance documents have generally relied heavily on these publications, but have focused mainly on managerial attitudes (or policy) toward the uncertainty that is inherent in risk assessment and in communicating to the public the risk assessment conclusions and decisions made from them. Subsequent documents have not, unlike NRC (1996) NRC. 1996. Understanding Risk, Informing Decisions in a Democratic Society, Washington, DC, , USA: National Academy Press.  [Google Scholar], focused on the risk assessors' attitude toward science inference that would better help ensure that risk assessments contain the type of information that could be used to empower stakeholders. Thus, in this Perspective article I focus on the two NRC “foundation documents,” identifying and contrasting two types of approaches toward science, one narrow and the other expansive. The latter approach is designed to increase stakeholders' involvement more than the former. The features of the expansive approach include a contemplative method toward science, where the risk assessor does not express opinions or take a stand regarding the scientific material, but rather considers many possibilities, presents discussions that include direct challenges to assumptions, and uses falsification principles for excluding theories.     

The phylogeny of the social Anelosimus spiders (Araneae: Theridiidae) inferred from six molecular loci and morphology

We use fragments of three nuclear genes (Histone 3, 18SrDNA, and 28SrDNA) and three mitochondrial genes (16SrDNA, ND1, and COI) totalling approximately 4.5kb, in addition to morphological data, to estimate the phylogenetic relationships among Anelosimus spiders, well known for their sociality. The analysis includes 67 individuals representing 23 of the 53 currently recognized Anelosimus species and all species groups previously recognized by morphological evidence. We analyse the data using Bayesian, maximum likelihood, and parsimony methods, considering the genes individually as well as combined (mitochondrial, nuclear, and both combined) in addition to a 'total evidence' analysis including morphology. Most of the data partitions are congruent in agreeing on several fundamental aspects of the phylogeny, and the combined molecular data yield a tree broadly similar to an existing morphological hypothesis. We argue that such congruence among data partitions is an important indicator of support that may go undetected by standard robustness estimators. Our results strongly support Anelosimus monophyly, and the monophyly of the recently revised American 'eximius lineage', although slightly altered by excluding A. pacificus. There was consistent support for the scattering of American Anelosimus species in three clades suggesting intercontinental dispersal. Several recently described species are reconstructed as monophyletic, supporting taxonomic decisions based on morphology and behaviour in this taxonomically difficult group. Corroborating previous results from morphology, the molecular data suggest that social species are scattered across the genus and thus that sociality has evolved multiple times, a significant finding for exploring the causes and consequences of social evolution in this group of organisms.     

Molecular evidence for the taxonomic status of three species of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Sphyraena obtusata</Emphasis> group (Perciformes: Sphyraenidae) from East Asia

Genetic differences among the three species of Sphyraena with two gill rakers from East Asia (S. iburiensis, S. obtusata, and S. pinguis, defined recently as the S. obtusata group), were investigated using 799-bp sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. Pairwise sequence differences within each of the three species were 0.0–0.4% (S. iburiensis), 0.0–0.4% (S. obtusata), and 0.0–0.6% (S. pinguis), respectively, pairwise sequence differences among the three species being 18.3–18.6% (S. iburiensis vs. S. obtusata), 14.9–15.4% (S. iburiensis vs. S. pinguis), and 17.6–18.3% (S. obtusata vs. S. pinguis), respectively. The extent of the latter were comparable to those among four other congeneric species, S. africana, S. forsteri, S. helleri, and S. japonica (16.0–24.5%). Phylogenetic analysis using the maximum-likelihood method indicated reciprocal monophyly of the three species, each clade being supported by a bootstrap value of 100%. These findings fully supported the taxonomic status of these species, recently elucidated by detailed morphological comparisons. In addition, the S. obtusata group formed a strongly supported clade against the four other congeneric species.     

Property and wealth inequality as cultural niche construction

In contrast to other approaches, evolutionary perspectives on understanding the power and wealth inequalities in human societies view wealth and power not as ends in themselves but as proximate goals that contribute to the ultimate Darwinian goal of achieving reproductive success. The most successful means of achieving it in specific times and places depend on local conditions and these have changed in the course of human history, to such an extent that strategies focused on the maintenance and increase of wealth can even be more successful in reproductive terms than strategies directed at maximizing reproductive success in the short term. This paper argues that a major factor leading to such changes is a shift in the nature of inter-generational wealth transfers from relatively intangible to material property resources and the opportunities these provided for massively increased inequality. This shift can be seen as a process of niche construction related to the increasing importance of fixed and defensible resources in many societies after the end of the last Ice Age. It is suggested that, despite problems of inference, the evidence of the archaeological record can be used to throw light on these processes in specific places and times.