1. |
- Böttcher, Johanna, et al.
(author)
-
Adding a smartphone app to internet-based self-help for social anxiety : A randomized controlled trial
- 2018
-
In: Computers in human behavior. - : Elsevier BV. - 0747-5632 .- 1873-7692. ; 87, s. 98-108
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Increasing access to treatment via smartphone apps is an important topic in Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). ‘Challenger’ is an app promoting exposure exercises in daily life. The present study evaluated the additional benefit of using the app as adjunct to Internet-based unguided self-help for SAD. In a second step, we also tested how the app and the self-help programme (SH) should best be combined.Method: 209 patients diagnosed with SAD were randomly allocated to three groups. Group 1 received the app and the self-help programme for six weeks (parallel treatment), group 2 first received SH for six weeks and then the app for six weeks (sequential treatment). Group 3 was a wait-list group. Comparisons were made at week 7 evaluating the potential add-on effect of the app (SH plus app versus SH only) and at week 14 comparing the parallel to the sequential treatment. Participants filled in questionnaires prior, during, and post treatment, and at 4- and 12- months follow-up.Results: Intention-to-treat analyses showed no significant effect of adding the app to Internet-based self-help. However, among participants actively using the app, adding Challenger to self-help resulted in significantly less social anxiety (d = 0.30). At week 14, decreases in social anxiety were large for both the parallel and the sequential group with no differences between the active groups (dwithin = 1.12–1.19). Changes were maintained throughout the follow-up period.Conclusion: Results of the current study cautiously support the notion of adding a smartphone app to unguided self-help for SAD. Future studies should investigate how patients can be motivated to use the app more frequently.
|
|
2. |
- Hentati-Sundberg, Jonas, et al.
(author)
-
COVID-19 lockdown reveals tourists as seabird guardians
- 2021
-
In: Biological Conservation. - : Elsevier BV. - 0006-3207 .- 1873-2917. ; 254
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The widespread lockdowns put in place to limit the spread of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) offers a rare opportunity in understanding how human presence influence ecosystems. Using data from long-term seabird monitoring, we reveal a previously concealed guarding effect by tourist groups on an iconic seabird colony in the Baltic Sea. The absence of tourists in 2020 lead to a sevenfold increase in presence of white-tailed eagles Haliaeetus albicilla, a sevenfold increase in their disturbance of breeding common murres Uria aalge and causing 26% lower murre productivity than the long-term average. Eagles did not prey on murres, but their frequent disturbances delayed egg laying and facilitated egg predation from herring gulls Larus argentatus and hooded crows Corvus cornix. Based on our findings, we suggest that human presence could be used as a strategic measure in guarding seabird colonies, and that a social-ecological systems perspective is vital for long-term success in protected area management.
|
|
3. |
- Hentati-Sundberg, Jonas, et al.
(author)
-
Seabird surveillance: combining CCTV and artificial intelligence for monitoring and research
- 2023
-
In: Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation. - : Wiley. - 2056-3485. ; 9:4, s. 568-581
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Ecological research and monitoring need to be able to rapidly convey information that can form the basis of scientifically sound management. Automated sensor systems, especially if combined with artificial intelligence, can contribute to such rapid high-resolution data retrieval. Here, we explore the prospects of automated methods to generate insights for seabirds, which are often monitored for their high conservation value and for being sentinels for marine ecosystem changes. We have developed a system of video surveillance combined with automated image processing, which we apply to common murres Uria aalge. The system uses a deep learning algorithm for object detection (YOLOv5) that has been trained on annotated images of adult birds, chicks and eggs, and outputs time, location, size and confidence level of all detections, frame-by-frame, in the supplied video material. A total of 144 million bird detections were generated from a breeding cliff over three complete breeding seasons (2019–2021). We demonstrate how object detection can be used to accurately monitor breeding phenology and chick growth. Our automated monitoring approach can also identify and quantify rare events that are easily missed in traditional monitoring, such as disturbances from predators. Further, combining automated video analysis with continuous measurements from a temperature logger allows us to study impacts of heat waves on nest attendance in high detail. Our automated system thus produces comparable, and in several cases significantly more detailed, data than those generated from observational field studies. By running in real time on the camera streams, it has the potential to supply researchers and managers with high-resolution up-to-date information on seabird population status. We describe how the system can be modified to fit various types of ecological research and monitoring goals and thereby provide up-to-date support for conservation and ecosystem management.
|
|
4. |
- Keogan, Katharine, et al.
(author)
-
Global phenological insensitivity to shifting ocean temperatures among seabirds
- 2018
-
In: Nature Climate Change. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1758-678X .- 1758-6798. ; 8:4, s. 313-318
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Reproductive timing in many taxa plays a key role in determining breeding productivity(1), and is often sensitive to climatic conditions(2). Current climate change may alter the timing of breeding at different rates across trophic levels, potentially resulting in temporal mismatch between the resource requirements of predators and their prey(3). This is of particular concern for higher-trophic-level organisms, whose longer generation times confer a lower rate of evolutionary rescue than primary producers or consumers(4). However, the disconnection between studies of ecological change in marine systems makes it difficult to detect general changes in the timing of reproduction(5). Here, we use a comprehensive meta-analysis of 209 phenological time series from 145 breeding populations to show that, on average, seabird populations worldwide have not adjusted their breeding seasons over time (-0.020 days yr(-1)) or in response to sea surface temperature (SST) (-0.272 days degrees C-1) between 1952 and 2015. However, marked between-year variation in timing observed in resident species and some Pelecaniformes and Suliformes (cormorants, gannets and boobies) may imply that timing, in some cases, is affected by unmeasured environmental conditions. This limited temperature-mediated plasticity of reproductive timing in seabirds potentially makes these top predators highly vulnerable to future mismatch with lower-trophic-level resources(2).
|
|