Developing a Kalman filter approach to home range estimation: Applied to the Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus)

Accurate estimation of an animal\u27s home range, or utilization distribution, is of great importance to understanding the animal\u27s role in the ecosystem, and for effective population management. Current methods for home range estimation often do not incorporate uncertainty in the observations of monitored animals. Given days without observations, they also have the potential to omit migration corridors when describing important habitat. Here the Extended Kalman filter is modified to return daily predicted geolocations, creating a most probable estimation of the true path the observed animal followed. Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods were used to map the uncertainty in this path to create a probability of use distribution, representing the animal\u27s utilization distribution. The modified method was applied to Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) observed using pop-off satellite archival tags with light-based geolocation. The home range estimation technique developed can be used for any animal with a time-series of locations

ANALYZING PEST CONTROL STRATEGIES FOR COTTON WITH AN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT MATRIX

Environmental Economics and Policy,

ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF LAND USE CHANGES FROM A RESTRICTED NITROGEN FERTILIZER STRATEGY

Land Economics/Use,

Close contact restriction periods for patients who received iodine-131 therapy for differentiated thyroid cancer

Objective. Patients treated with radionuclide therapy may require restrictions on certain activities for a period of time following treatment to optimise protection of the public and ensure the legal dose limit is not exceeded. Software may be used to calculate necessary restriction periods for an individual based on longitudinal dose rate measurements from the time of radiopharmaceutical administration. A spreadsheet program has been used for this purpose in Australian hospitals for the last two decades. However, this spreadsheet has a limitation in that it uses an approximation in the calculation of dose from a contact pattern, which affects the calculated restriction period. A computer program called Dorn was developed that provides the same functionality as the spreadsheet but without this approximation. Proffered radiation safety advice from Dorn and the spreadsheet were compared. Approach. Advice from the spreadsheet and Dorn were compared for 55 patients who underwent iodine-131 therapy for differentiated thyroid cancer. Main results. The restriction periods for caring for infants, close contact with children and sleeping with a partner were typically about 13 hours longer in Dorn than in the spreadsheet, but in some cases were over a week shorter or a month longer. Significance. If the Dorn program is used clinically in place of the spreadsheet, some patients will enjoy shorter restriction periods and the therapy provider can be more confident in their compliance with regulatory requirements and best practice. Dorn is freely available from https://doi.org/jg5f.Comment: 17 pages, 16 figure

Developing a virtual reality environment for educational and therapeutic application to investigate psychological reactivity to bullying

Understanding how bullying victimisation influences cognitive and emotional processes may help to direct early intervention to prevent the development of psychopathology. In a convenience sample of 67 female adolescents, we assessed the potential of a newly developed classroom-set bullying experience in virtual reality (VR) to evoke psychological reactions. Two VR experiences were co-developed with young people, one neutral and one hostile (bullying). Participants were matched and assigned to a condition based on measures of anxiety, depression, paranoia, and previous bullying, before experiencing either the neutral or hostile scenario. Before and after the VR session, participants completed measures of negative affect and levels of distress. All participants remained immersed for the whole duration, which supports the acceptability of using these VR experiences with more vulnerable participants. Those experiencing the hostile version reported greater negative affect post-immersion compared to those experiencing the neutral version (p = .018; d = 0.61). Although non-significant, a similar outcome was found regarding distress (p = .071; d = 0.37). Whilst we did not find a significant relationship between pre-existing internalisation on negative affect and distress, our sample was limited by containing adolescents with relatively low levels of previous bullying experience. Yet we still found evidence that the VR scenario evoked bullying-related psychological reactions. Further testing with a more representative groups of adolescents, especially those with more experience of bullying, would be advised. The VR scenario could potentially be used in educational and therapeutic settings to enhance empathy towards victimised children or enhance resilience following victimisation

Evaluation of Eggplant, Solanum spp. Germplasm against Field Insect Pests’ Infestation at Bunso in the Eastern Region of Ghana

Eggplant (Solanum spp.) germplasm from CSIR – Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute, Bunso, Ghana were evaluated in field experiments against insect pests’ infestation during the major rainy seasons of 2009 and 2010. Twenty-six accessions were evaluated in 2009 and five were subjected to further evaluation in 2010. Insect species recorded on eggplant accessions in both years included Aphis gossypii (Glover), Thrips tabaci (Lindeman) and Leucinodes orbonalis (Gueneé). Camponatus sp. (carpenter ants) was also collected in 2009.  In both 2009 and 2010, leaves of accession GH 5171 harbored significantly lower numbers of A. gossypii.  Leaves of accessions GH 1208 and GH 1113 also harbored the least number of T. tabaci in 2009 and 2010, respectively. T. tabaci preferred flowers to leaves of all eggplant accessions evaluated in 2010. The population dynamics of T. tabaci also fluctuated less on eggplant flowers than on the leaves. The percentage stems attacked by L. orbonalis were not significantly different among accessions in both years.  With respect to fruit infestation by L. orbonalis, although fruits of accessions GH 1208, GH 3944 and GH 3947 were significantly (P < 0.001) less susceptible to infestation in 2009 their yields were relatively low.  Yield obtained ranged from 0 kg/ha in accession GH 1202 (2009) to 837.86 kg/ha in accession GH 5183 (2010). Accessions GH 1113 and GH 5171 combined a relatively good yield with moderate levels of tolerance to all insect pest species identified in this experiment and are consequently recommended for crop improvement programs. Keywords: Accession, Aphis gossypii, eggplant, Leucinodes orbonalis, Thrips tabac

Seven parton amplitudes from recursion relations

We present the first calculation of two-quark and five-gluon tree amplitudes using on-shell recursion relations. These amplitudes are needed for tree level 5-jet cross-section and an essential ingredient for next-to-leading order 4-jet and next-to-next-to-leading order 3-jet production at hadronic colliders. Very compact expressions for all possible helicity configurations are provided, allowing for direct implementation in Monte-Carlo codes.Comment: 11 page

Demand for Selected Recreational Activities in South Central Oklahoma

The Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station periodically issues revisions to its publications. The most current edition is made available. For access to an earlier edition, if available for this title, please contact the Oklahoma State University Library Archives by email at [email protected] or by phone at 405-744-6311

Hydrological and associated biogeochemical consequences of rapid global warming during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) hyperthermal, ~ 56 million years ago (Ma), is the most dramatic example of abrupt Cenozoic global warming. During the PETM surface temperatures increased between 5 and 9 °C and the onset likely took < 20 kyr. The PETM provides a case study of the impacts of rapid global warming on the Earth system, including both hydrological and associated biogeochemical feedbacks, and proxy data from the PETM can provide constraints on changes in warm climate hydrology simulated by general circulation models (GCMs). In this paper, we provide a critical review of biological and geochemical signatures interpreted as direct or indirect indicators of hydrological change at the PETM, explore the importance of adopting multi-proxy approaches, and present a preliminary model-data comparison. Hydrological records complement those of temperature and indicate that the climatic response at the PETM was complex, with significant regional and temporal variability. This is further illustrated by the biogeochemical consequences of inferred changes in hydrology and, in fact, changes in precipitation and the biogeochemical consequences are often conflated in geochemical signatures. There is also strong evidence in many regions for changes in the episodic and/or intra-annual distribution of precipitation that has not widely been considered when comparing proxy data to GCM output. Crucially, GCM simulations indicate that the response of the hydrological cycle to the PETM was heterogeneous – some regions are associated with increased precipitation – evaporation (P – E), whilst others are characterised by a decrease. Interestingly, the majority of proxy data come from the regions where GCMs predict an increase in PETM precipitation. We propose that comparison of hydrological proxies to GCM output can be an important test of model skill, but this will be enhanced by further data from regions of model-simulated aridity and simulation of extreme precipitation events

Lactation and neonatal nutrition: defining and refining the critical questions.

This paper resulted from a conference entitled "Lactation and Milk: Defining and refining the critical questions" held at the University of Colorado School of Medicine from January 18-20, 2012. The mission of the conference was to identify unresolved questions and set future goals for research into human milk composition, mammary development and lactation. We first outline the unanswered questions regarding the composition of human milk (Section I) and the mechanisms by which milk components affect neonatal development, growth and health and recommend models for future research. Emerging questions about how milk components affect cognitive development and behavioral phenotype of the offspring are presented in Section II. In Section III we outline the important unanswered questions about regulation of mammary gland development, the heritability of defects, the effects of maternal nutrition, disease, metabolic status, and therapeutic drugs upon the subsequent lactation. Questions surrounding breastfeeding practice are also highlighted. In Section IV we describe the specific nutritional challenges faced by three different populations, namely preterm infants, infants born to obese mothers who may or may not have gestational diabetes, and infants born to undernourished mothers. The recognition that multidisciplinary training is critical to advancing the field led us to formulate specific training recommendations in Section V. Our recommendations for research emphasis are summarized in Section VI. In sum, we present a roadmap for multidisciplinary research into all aspects of human lactation, milk and its role in infant nutrition for the next decade and beyond