Dogs increase recovery of passerine carcasses in dense vegetation

Wildlife managers use carcass searches to assess mortality resulting from biological (e.g., diseases) and physical (e.g., structure collisions) sources. Carcass searches may occur over large areas and need to be completed rapidly because of scavenging and decomposition. However, small carcasses are often missed when dense vegetation is searched. We placed carcasses of house sparrows (Passer domesticus) in dense cover of residual and newly grown vegetation and compared searching efficiency of humans and canines. Dogs received no special training in searching for passerine carcasses. In 36 trials conducted in 5 x 40-m plots, human searchers found 45% (SD=19) of the carcasses compared to 92% (SD=13) for dogs (P=0.005). The ratio of recovered to missed carcasses was approximately 12:l for dogs and 1 :I for humans. The improvement in searching efficiency using dogs was similar (P=0.58) between residual cover (searched in April) and new growth cover (searched in August). A greater rate of searching efficiency is obtained per unit of time by using dogs. Greater efficiency improves quantitative and qualitative assessments of avian mortality in the field

Effect of voltage reduction in minimising partial discharge activity in cables - experimental study

A common cause of insulation degradation in high voltage (HV) cables is due to partial discharges (PD). PD may be initiated through imperfections and contaminants present in the insulation. It can be hypothesized that a reduction in system voltage can potentially reduce PD, which will correspondingly extend the service life of the cable. Currently, industry voltage statutory requirements permit ±6% tolerance setting on nominal voltage on distribution networks. Such ±6% voltage reduction on may have little or adverse effect on PD magnitude which depends on the nature of defect. Hence the accuracy and type of measuring PD while reducing system voltage is more critical for this application. Power cable as a low pass filter which attenuates and disperse the PD pulses. In this paper effect of voltage reduction on PD is investigated using standard electrode geometries such as point-plane, point-point and point- rod using IEC60270 measurement system together with frequency domain measurements. It has been observed that PD frequency characteristics at different voltages varies in the wideband frequency spectrum

Editorial: psychological dimensions in human sexual health and behavior

Human sexuality is still an underexplored world, subjected to great taboos and controversies over the decades, representing one of the most challenging areas of research and facing countless political and social demands. In this sense, leading organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO, 2014) and the World Association for Sexual Health (WAS, 2014) have established sexual health and well-being as human rights and key goals to be achieved worldwide to improve the health-related quality of life. The newmessage that is being carried out by these entities, is that sexual health not only concerns reproductive issues, sexual problems, sexual violence, and sexually transmitted infections, but also positive aspects related to intimate relationships, pleasure, consenting sexual relationships, gender and sexual orientation variety, and sexual functioning among other aspects

Using RT-PCR to Determine the Presence of Various Viruses Found in Nebraska Wastewater

Detection of Adenovirus, Aichi virus, Influenza, Cytomegalovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, and Hepatitis A in Nebraska wastewater using RT-PCR. Extraction of virus nucleic acid was done using Dynabead enrichment and MagMAX wastewater extraction kit.https://digitalcommons.unmc.edu/surp2022/1037/thumbnail.jp

Blue photon management by inhouse grown ZnO:Al cathode for enhanced photostability in polymer solar cells

We report the improvement in photostability of P3HT:PC60BM based bulk heterojunction solar cells deposited on Al-doped ZnO as a cathode layer replacing ITO as regularly used TCO in cells with N-I-P configuration. We experimentally and theoretically demonstrate that use of thicker ZnO:Al as cathode can successfully cut down the rate of photodegradation in short circuit current by ~40% and open circuit voltage by ~30% compared to the control device made on ITO based cathode. This effective reduction in photodegradation is understood to be coming from the absorption of ultraviolet and blue photon in the cathode layer itself. The loss in short circuit current due to the loss of blue photon in EQE is compensated by higher FF (lower series resistance) due to thicker ZnO:Al layer resulting in final device efficiency almost uncompromised with added benefit of reduced photo degradation. The experimental results are supported with optical simulations which show more absorption in the short wavelength region for the thicker ZnO films, compared to ITO films, deposited on glass substrates. This work also proposes using ZnO:Al cathode as a template for random textured front surface to potentially increase short circuit current by increase in photon absorption in active layer matrix by light scattering techniques. Our results provide an inexpensive pathway for improving the stability of organic photovoltaics without compromising the device performance

Multiple regression analysis for adoption studies of potato growers in Jammu division

The research identified the significant and negative relationship between socio-economic parameters with the level of adoption of recommended crop production technologies reveals that such information could be useful to Department of agriculture, and concerned SAU who strive to maximize production and productivity levels of potato crop. They have to gear-up there extension wings for imparting correct and scientific knowledge of crop production. It also suggested to State Govt. officials to ensure adequate facilities for fertilizers to reap full benefits of this cash crop. The study on determining the correlation between socio-economic standards of potato growers with the level of adoption of the recommended crop production technologies was conducted in sub-tropical zone of Jammu division. Three districts namely Jammu, Kathua and Samba were selected purposively on the basis of maximum area under potato crop. Sample size of 225 potato growers was selected randomly from 15 villages from selected districts and their socio-economic standards were correlated with the level of adoption of crop production technologies as recommended by SKUAST-JAMMU, the concerned SAU. The study revealed that age, education, operational land holding, net income, mass media exposure and extension contact had significant correlation at p? 0.05 level of probability with the level of adoption. Studies revealed that 45.78% of respondents adopted recommended seed rate per hectare, whereas 57.33%, 40.89% and 8.89% respondents adopted recommended application of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to the crop. The study further highlighted highest adoption level for insecticide like dimethoate 30 EC (52.05%) and fungicide like metalxyl +mancozeb (57.38%) respectively