Influences of Anthropogenic Noise on Flight Initiation Distance, Foraging Behavior, And Feeder Community Structure of Wild Birds

Throughout the world, birds represent the primary type of wildlife that people experience on a daily basis. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that alterations to the acoustic environment can negatively affect birds as well as humans in a variety of ways, and altered acoustics from noise pollution has the potential to influence human interactions with wild birds. In this thesis, I investigated how anthropogenic noise impacts daily behavior as well as community structure of wild birds. In the first component of this thesis, I assessed the distance at which a bird initiates flight or escape behavior (i.e., flight initiation distance or FID) in varying acoustic conditions. I surveyed 12 songbird species from three foraging guilds, ground foragers, canopy gleaners, and hawking flycatchers, and I predicted FIDs to decrease, remain the same, and increase with noise exposure, respectively. Contrary to expectations, the canopy gleaning and flycatching guilds exhibited mixed responses, with some species exhibiting unchanged FIDs with noise while others exhibited increased FIDs with noise. However, FIDs of all ground foraging species and one canopy gleaner decreased with noise levels. In the second component, I examined the feeding of wild birds, an increasingly popular recreational activity throughout North America that promotes increased sense of wellbeing by connecting people with wildlife and nature. I tested how experimental noise influences abundance, species richness, community structure and foraging behavior of songbirds at maintained bird feeders. By measuring activity levels of all species that utilized the feeders exposed to intervals of quiet and noisy conditions, I found noise to be a significant predictor of community turnover. Specifically, noise exposure resulted in increased feeder activity for two species, and decreased activity for one species. I also confirmed previous research conducted in the laboratory indicating white-crowned sparrows decrease their foraging rate under noise conditions, presumably as a trade off with visual vigilance. Considering the interactions of humans and wild birds, the results from my two thesis components indicate that the acoustic environment can play a role in how species of different foraging guilds respond to birdwatchers and what species visit bird feeders

Advanced technologies for perimeter intrusion detection sensors

The development of integrated circuit fabrication techniques and the resulting devices have contributed more to the advancement of exterior intrusion detectors and alarm assessment devices than any other technology. The availability of this technology has led to the improvements in and further development of smaller more powerful computers, microprocessors, solid state memories, solid state cameras, thermal imagers, low-power lasers, and shorter pulse width and higher frequency electronic circuitry. This paper presents information on planning a perimeter intrusion detection system, identifies the site characteristics that affect its performance, and describes improvements to perimeter intrusion detection sensors and assessment devices that have been achieved by using integrated circuit technology

On a test-bed application for the ART-WiSe framework

This report describes the development of a Test-bed Application for the ART-WiSe Framework with the aim of providing a means of access, validate and demonstrate that architecture. The chosen application is a kind of pursuit-evasion game where a remote controlled robot, navigating through an area covered by wireless sensor network (WSN), is detected and continuously tracked by the WSN. Then a centralized control station takes the appropriate actions for a pursuit robot to chase and “capture” the intruder one. This kind of application imposes stringent timing requirements to the underlying communication infrastructure. It also involves interesting research problems in WSNs like tracking, localization, cooperation between nodes, energy concerns and mobility. Additionally, it can be easily ported into a real-world application. Surveillance or search and rescue operations are two examples where this kind of functionality can be applied. This is still a first approach on the test-bed application and this development effort will be continuously pushed forward until all the envisaged objectives for the Art-WiSe architecture become accomplished

Primary schools building handbook. Section 3a

"This document provides the general design requirements and room inter-relationships applicable to the design of primary schools." - introduction

Utilization Of A Large-Scale Wireless Sensor Network For Intrusion Detection And Border Surveillance

To control the border more effectively, countries may deploy a detection system that enables real-time surveillance of border integrity. Events such as border crossings need to be monitored in real time so that any border entries can be noted by border security forces and destinations marked for apprehension. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are promising for border security surveillance because they enable enforcement teams to monitor events in the physical environment. In this work, probabilistic models have been presented to investigate senor development schemes while considering the environmental factors that affect the sensor performance. Simulation studies have been carried out using the OPNET to verify the theoretical analysis and to find an optimal node deployment scheme that is robust and efficient by incorporating geographical coordination in the design. Measures such as adding camera and range-extended antenna to each node have been investigated to improve the system performance. A prototype WSN based surveillance system has been developed to verify the proposed approach

Small UAS Detect and Avoid Requirements Necessary for Limited Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Operations

Potential small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operational scenarios/use cases and Detect And Avoid (DAA) approaches were collected through a number of industry wide data calls. Every 333 Exemption holder was solicited for this same information. Summary information from more than 5,000 exemption holders is documented, and the information received had varied level of detail but has given relevant experiential information to generalize use cases. A plan was developed and testing completed to assess Radio Line Of Sight (RLOS), a potential key limiting factors for safe BVLOS ops. Details of the equipment used, flight test area, test payload, and fixtures for testing at different altitudes is presented and the resulting comparison of a simplified mathematical model, an online modeling tool, and flight data are provided. An Operational Framework that defines the environment, conditions, constraints, and limitations under which the recommended requirements will enable sUAS operations BVLOS is presented. The framework includes strategies that can build upon Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and industry actions that should result in an increase in BVLOS flights in the near term. Evaluating approaches to sUAS DAA was accomplished through five subtasks: literature review of pilot and ground observer see and avoid performance, survey of DAA criteria and recommended baseline performance, survey of existing/developing DAA technologies and performance, assessment of risks of selected DAA approaches, and flight testing. Pilot and ground observer see and avoid performance were evaluated through a literature review. Development of DAA criteria—the emphasis here being well clear— was accomplished through working with the Science And Research Panel (SARP) and through simulations of manned and unmanned aircraft interactions. Information regarding sUAS DAA approaches was collected through a literature review, requests for information, and direct interactions. These were analyzed through delineation of system type and definition of metrics and metric values. Risks associated with sUAS DAA systems were assessed by focusing on the Safety Risk Management (SRM) pillar of the SMS (Safety Management System) process. This effort (1) identified hazards related to the operation of sUAS in BVLOS, (2) offered a preliminary risk assessment considering existing controls, and (3) recommended additional controls and mitigations to further reduce risk to the lowest practical level. Finally, flight tests were conducted to collect preliminary data regarding well clear and DAA system hazards

Behavioral Ecology of Singing in the Heart-Nosed Bat, Cardioderma cor

Although singing has been recently recognized in some bat species, the prevalence and ecological significance of this behavior in bats is still mysterious. Cardioderma cor, the heart-nosed bat, was one of the first bats reported to sing, but little is known about the behavior of this species. Unlike other singing bats, this species roosts in groups during the day but disperses nightly to exclusive foraging areas, whereupon they sing from perches. The goal of this dissertation was to investigate the behavioral ecology of singing in C. cor, addressing key questions such as which bats sing, when and where they sing, and what and why they sing. I conducted a series of experiments to test the hypothesis that C. cor sings to create and defend foraging territories, a behavior commonly observed in songbirds but not mammals. I recorded the singing and sonar behavior of individuals across three field seasons in Tanzania. I mist-netted, tagged, and VHF-tracked 14 individuals to collect movement and singing data. Finally, I conducted acoustic playback experiments with 10 singers. C. cor males showed high fidelity to closely abutting night ranges that varied in size from 0.97 to 5.23 ha. Males foraged early in the evening before singing from preferred perches for up to several hours. I documented two C. cor song types, the most frequent being a “loud” song and less frequently a “soft” song uttered at the height of the dry season. Songs varied within individuals, but each individual’s songs were distinguishable by a unique set of spectral and temporal syllable parameters. C. cor and the sympatric, confamilial yellow-winged bat, Lavia frons, had overlapping foraging territories. However, C. cor’s repertoire was distinctive from that of L. frons’. Song playback experiments with C. cor elicited strong movement responses and changes in singing. Results suggested that song spectral and temporal parameters influenced behavioral responses. The results of this dissertation support the conclusion that C. cor’s singing behavior is consistent with the territory defense hypothesis for the evolution of singing, and suggest that song variability is likely integral to social interactions by facilitating individual discrimination or signaling motivational states

Perimeter Security and Intruder Detection Using Gravity Gradiometry: A Feasibility Study

Changes in the mass distribution around some point on the Earth’s surface induce corresponding changes to the magnitude and direction of the gravity vector at that location. The nine-tensor derivative of the gravity vector, or gravity gradient, is sensitive to very small changes in the gravity vector. With some assumptions, continuous measurement of the gravity gradient using a gravity gradiometer (GGI) is used to determine the location of a mass change in the local area near the instrument. This investigation sought to determine the effectiveness, operating characteristics, and limitations of a physical perimeter security system that uses an array of GGIs to detect and locate a human intruder. Results are obtained via computer simulations utilizing the closed form solution for calculating a gravity gradient given an object’s size and mass, as well as industry-predicted future GGI performance characteristics

Wildlife Deterrence Method Test Device

The objective of the Deer Busters team is to design and build a device or system of devices that will be used to determine which method, or methods, are most effective at deer deterrence. JumpSport suspects that a method which gives the appearance of approach to the deer in an aggressive or startling manner but also changes the way it attacks so that the deer do not get used to the device will be most effective. Deer Busters is committed to the completion of the deer deterrent testing device by the end of the fall quarter of 2014