Don't break a leg: Running birds from quail to ostrich prioritise leg safety and economy in uneven terrain

Cursorial ground birds are paragons of bipedal running that span a 500-fold mass range from quail to ostrich. Here we investigate the task-level control priorities of cursorial birds by analysing how they negotiate single-step obstacles that create a conflict between body stability (attenuating deviations in body motion) and consistent leg force–length dynamics (for economy and leg safety). We also test the hypothesis that control priorities shift between body stability and leg safety with increasing body size, reflecting use of active control to overcome size-related challenges. Weight-support demands lead to a shift towards straighter legs and stiffer steady gait with increasing body size, but it remains unknown whether non-steady locomotor priorities diverge with size. We found that all measured species used a consistent obstacle negotiation strategy, involving unsteady body dynamics to minimise fluctuations in leg posture and loading across multiple steps, not directly prioritising body stability. Peak leg forces remained remarkably consistent across obstacle terrain, within 0.35 body weights of level running for obstacle heights from 0.1 to 0.5 times leg length. All species used similar stance leg actuation patterns, involving asymmetric force–length trajectories and posture-dependent actuation to add or remove energy depending on landing conditions. We present a simple stance leg model that explains key features of avian bipedal locomotion, and suggests economy as a key priority on both level and uneven terrain. We suggest that running ground birds target the closely coupled priorities of economy and leg safety as the direct imperatives of control, with adequate stability achieved through appropriately tuned intrinsic dynamics

The Pauli Equation for Probability Distributions

The "marginal" distributions for measurable coordinate and spin projection is introduced. Then, the analog of the Pauli equation for spin-1/2 particle is obtained for such probability distributions instead of the usual wave functions. That allows a classical-like approach to quantum mechanics. Some illuminating examples are presented.Comment: 14 pages, ReVTe

Comparative analysis of forest lands cadastral appraisal estimated with regards to wood and food resources

Cadastral appraisal of forest fund is one of the topical challenges of modern natural resource management. The paper delivers comparison of different approaches to cadastral appraisal of forest lands. The authors suggest a uniformed model to compare objectively and choose the most effective use of parcels

Rare, Imperiled, and Recently Extinct or Extirpated Mollusks of Utah: A Literature Review

About 139 species of mollusks are known to occur, or within historical times to have occurred, in Utah. The number of known Utah mollusks is not fixed and can be expected to continue to change, increasing as new molluscan discoveries are made in Utah and possibly decreasing as taxonomic revisions change our concept of how many valid mollusk species exist. This report represents one of the end products of a review of literature—published journal articles and books as well as unpublished agency reports—dealing with mollusks in Utah. The goals of this review were to determine (1) which species have been documented from the state, (2) extent of knowledge of the status—abundance, distribution, conservational needs, and so forth—of each of the species in Utah, and, thus, (3) which species are of conservational concern in the state. This report summarizes the assembled information pertaining to the last goal, the 79 molluscan species that are of conservational priority—or of conservational interest in the cases of those believed to be extirpated or extinct; it is intended to help guide current management of the molluscan resources of the state as well as to identify gaps in existing knowledge that will need to be filled in order to manage these resources more effectively in the future. Some of the understanding that is important for truly effective management of Utah\u27s mollusks is lacking, especially with regard to our knowledge of threats to and population trends in these species. Threats to various species discussed in this report should be understood, in most cases, as potential threats, often based on educated guesses. Similarly, information pertaining to population trends of mollusks in Utah is largely unavailable from the existing literature. Despite the incompleteness of reported information concerning Utah mollusks, much is known, and this information obtained from the literature provides an valuable base from which to plan future work. Mollusks, as a group, are thought to be among the most endangered of animal groups that occur in North America, but this is a new awareness, and conservational management attention has only recently begun to be directed toward this group. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources now has management authority for all mollusks in the state and is establishing mechanisms and procedures for the management and protection of the state\u27s molluscan resources

Improving health and well-being through community health champions: a thematic evaluation of a programme in Yorkshire and Humber.

AIMS: The contribution that lay people can make to the public health agenda is being increasingly recognised in research and policy literature. This paper examines the role of lay workers (referred to as 'community health champions') involved in community projects delivered by Altogether Better across Yorkshire and Humber. The aim of the paper is to describe key features of the community health champion approach and to examine the evidence that this type of intervention can have an impact on health. METHODS: A qualitative approach was taken to the evaluation, with two strands to gathering evidence: interviews conducted with different stakeholder groups including project leads, key partners from community and statutory sectors and community workers, plus two participatory workshops to gather the views of community health champions. Seven projects (from a possible 12) were identified to be involved in the evaluation. Those projects that allowed the evaluation team to explore fully the champion role (training, infrastructure, etc.) and how that works in practice as a mechanism for empowerment were selected. In total, 29 semi-structured interviews were conducted with project staff and partners, and 30 champions, varying in terms of age, gender, ethnicity and disability, took part in the workshops. RESULTS: Becoming a community health champion has health benefits such as increased self-esteem and confidence and improved well-being. For some champions, this was the start of a journey to other opportunities such as education or paid employment. There were many examples of the influence of champions extending to the wider community of family, friends and neighbours, including helping to support people to take part in community life. Champions recognised the value of connecting people through social networks, group activities, and linking people into services and the impact that that had on health and well-being. Project staff and partners also recognised that champions were promoting social cohesiveness and helping to integrate people into their community. CONCLUSIONS: The recent public health White Paper suggested that the Altogether Better programme is improving individual and community health as well as increasing social capital, voluntary activity and wider civic participation. This evaluation supports this statement and suggests that the community health champion role can be a catalyst for change for both individuals and communities