Zooplankton patchiness and the associated shoaling response of the temperate reef fish Trachinops taeniatus

The grouping behaviour of fishes plays an important role in the success of the group and individual in terms of foraging, reproduction and predator avoidance. The temperate Sydney (Australia) reef fish species Trachinops taeniatus was investigated between February and September 2002 to determine whether there was a relationship between shoal dynamics and zooplankton prey distribution. The diet of T. taeniatus consisted mainly of Copepoda. T. taeniatus shoals were strongly associated with the largest patches of Copepoda, with shoal size increasing as prey density increased. Available Copepoda per fish, however, decreased with shoal size, presenting a possible 'overmatching' foraging situation. The present study suggests there may be an optimum shoal size to achieve maximum prey intake, and that shoal location and size may be linked to the distribution of zooplankton prey. © Inter-Research 2005

Floor Mapping: A Novel Method of Integrating Anatomical Structure with Immunological Function

Session - Assessment (Abstract)This free journal suppl. entitled: Special Issue: Abstracts of the 13th Asia Pacific Medical Education Conference (APMEC) ... 2016The Biomedical Common Year 1 occurs prior to admission to the medical programme. Students achieving a grade point average over 6.0 are eligible for an admissions interview. The research question of the study was, “If students have a definite interest in becoming a future doctor in their premedical course, does this relate to their levels of motivation, competitiveness, perceived stress, quality of life and grade attainment?” A total of 1369 students who completed a high stakes biosciences assessment were asked to disclose their grade (converted to a numerical value) and to complete the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire, a World Health Organisation Quality Of Life (QoL) questionnaire, Perceived Stress Scale, and Revised Competitiveness Index. To explore differences between those students who aimed to be doctors vs those who did not, a binary logistic regression was conducted. Twenty five percent of students participated in the research. Significant predictors of course intention (medicine; other) were academic attainment, perceived stress, and physical and environmental QoL. Post hoc analyses revealed that perceived stress and physical QoL were moderating variables. Students with an intention to become a doctor tend to attain higher grades and have better environmental quality of life scores. This may indicate that students who are admitted into medical school gain higher grades but also likely come from more affluent and well-resourced backgrounds. Physical health problems and perceived stress are likely to moderate the impact of grade achievement, environmental QoL, competition and motivation.link_to_OA_fulltex

High-precision Density Mapping of Marine Debris and Floating Plastics via Satellite Imagery

Combining multi-spectral satellite data and machine learning has been suggested as a method for monitoring plastic pollutants in the ocean environment. Recent studies have made theoretical progress regarding the identification of marine plastic via machine learning. However, no study has assessed the application of these methods for mapping and monitoring marine-plastic density. As such, this paper comprised of three main components: (1) the development of a machine learning model, (2) the construction of the MAP-Mapper, an automated tool for mapping marine-plastic density, and finally (3) an evaluation of the whole system for out-of-distribution test locations. The findings from this paper leverage the fact that machine learning models need to be high-precision to reduce the impact of false positives on results. The developed MAP-Mapper architectures provide users choices to reach high-precision ($\textit{abbv.}$ -HP) or optimum precision-recall ($\textit{abbv.}$ -Opt) values in terms of the training/test data set. Our MAP-Mapper-HP model greatly increased the precision of plastic detection to 95\%, whilst MAP-Mapper-Opt reaches precision-recall pair of 87\%-88\%. The MAP-Mapper contributes to the literature with the first tool to exploit advanced deep/machine learning and multi-spectral imagery to map marine-plastic density in automated software. The proposed data pipeline has taken a novel approach to map plastic density in ocean regions. As such, this enables an initial assessment of the challenges and opportunities of this method to help guide future work and scientific study.Comment: 14 pages, 4 tables, 4 figure

Addressing Potential Conflicts of Interest Arising from the Multiple Roles of Colorado’s Community Centered Boards

This document summarizes the information we gathered, our analysis of potential conflicts of interest, and recommendations for addressing opportunities for improvement. The information we gathered is based on document review, input from stakeholders, and a review of practices in four other states

Performance Measurement: Managing and Using Home and Community-based Services Data for Quality Improvement

The Data Management and Use Series represents the third in a group of papers synthesizing the ideas and practices of states as they improve the quality of home and community based services (HCBS) and supports for older persons and persons with disabilities

Work Book: Improving the Quality of Home and Community-based Services and Supports

The HCBS Work Book is a technical assistance guide to assist state agencies with their HCBS quality improvement efforts. It provides step-by-step guidance on how to conduct quality improvement projects within the HCBS waiver program, and illustrates the principles of quality improvement in an easy to use format. The Work Book was developed for CMS by the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine

Data Integration and Storage: Managing and Using Home and Community-Based Services Data for Quality Improvement

This paper reports on data integration from a program manager’s perspective. The paper is not meant to be an exhaustive research document, nor does it single out any one correct approach. The paper is meant to facilitate communication between program units and analytic staff and serve as one reference for states as they continue to improve upon data collection techniques and use this information for ongoing quality management and improvement

Measuring cosmogenic Li9 background in a reactor neutrino experiment

Cosmogenic isotopes 9Li and 8He produced in the detector are the most problematic background in the reactor neutrino experiments designed to determine precisely the neutrino mixing angle theta13. The average time interval of cosmic-ray muons in the detector is often on the order of the lifetimes of the 9Li and 8He isotopes. We have developed a method for determining this kind of background from the distribution of time since last muon for muon rate up to about 20 Hz when the background-to-signal ratio is small, on the order of a few percents.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures. To appear in NIM

Home and Community-based Services: Quality Management Roles and Responsibilities

Early in the development of this first working paper on QM roles and responsibilities, QA/QI grantees contributed to a preliminary outline of the issues to be addressed. A subset of grantee states agreed to more fully discuss their perceptions of the issues and to guide the exploratory efforts of Muskie School staff. While the initial list of issues was quite lengthy, it was subsequently reduced to four essential questions: How is quality defined for HCBS? What is meant by quality management? How do states develop quality management expertise? How do states organize their quality management strategies? This paper attempts to answer these questions from the perspectives of the grantees and available federal guidance. The topic is limited to quality management strategies focused on the quality of services and supports for HCBS consumers and is not intended to represent the quality management field as a whole

Home and Community-based Services: Quality Management Roles and Responsibilities [Appendices]

Contents Appendix A: Wisconsin Quality Management Concept ... A-1 Appendix B: Sample State HCBS Values and Principles... B5 Appendix C: Examples of State Templates for Mapping HCBS QM Activities... C9 Appendix D: Sample State HCBS Performance Indicators... D49 Appendix E: Oregon HCBS Contract Reporting Requirements ... E63 Appendix F: Georgia Performance Profile Statewide Summary ... F70 Appendix G. Sample Job Descriptions ... G76 Appendix H: Texas Health and Human Services Commission... H82 Appendix I: South Carolina First Health Services Partnership ... I8