Reframing the grazing debate: Evaluating ecological sustainability and bioregional food production

The semi-arid grasslands of the Colorado Plateau are productive, diverse, and extensive ecosystems. The majority of these ecosystems have been altered by human land use, primarily through the grazing of domestic livestock, yielding a plethora of environmental and social consequences that are tightly interconnected. From an agroecological perspective, untangling these issues requires both an understanding of the role of livestock grazing in bioregional food production and the effect of that grazing on ecological sustainability. To address the former, we discuss the importance of cattle ranching as a bioregional food source, including estimates of meat production and water use in Arizona. To address the latter, we present data from a long-term project addressing changes in native plant community composition, under a range of alternative livestock management strategies. Our study site near Flagstaff, AZ includes four different management treatments: (1) conventional low-intensity, long-duration grazing rotations; (2) high-intensity, short-duration rotations; (3) very high-impact, very short-duration grazing (to simulate herd impact); and, (4) livestock exclosure. Preliminary results suggest belowground properties are responding more quickly to grazing treatments than aboveground properties. Particular response variables, such as cyanobacteria and diatoms, show a marked short-term response to very high-impact, short-duration grazing, but long-term implications are as yet unknown

Teplotní závislost autonomní kvantové koherence

It was shown that quantum coherence can emerge autonomously in a target system interacting with the ambient environment in contact with a thermal bath. However, current models neglect interactions within the environment itself. We investigate the rise of the autonomous coherence in the models where components of the environment are coupled via interactions of two paradigmatic types: the Ising and hopping transport of excitations. We demonstrate that intra-environment interactions can either enhance or suppress coherence, depending on the type of coupling. Using analytical methods, we derive exact expressions for the coherence and analyze its dependence on temperature and model parameters, and show that some features of these dependencies are determined by general properties of interaction. We also identify quantum phase transitions in the ground state structure.Práce se zabývá vlastnostmi kvantové koherence C dvouhladinového systému (spinu), která vzniká spontánně prostřednictvím interakce systemu s jeho nejbližším okolím. Jako model okolí je uvažován řetízek N interagujících dvouhladinových systémů s periodickými okrajovými podmínkami. Celá soustava N + 1 dvouhladinových systémů je v rovnováze s tepelným rezervoárem o teplotě T. Doposud byl podobný model zkoumán pouze v aproximaci zanedbávající interakci mezi spiny. V práci se zaměřujeme na dvě modelové interakce mezi spiny, odvozujeme exaktní výraz pro matici hustoty dvouhladinového sys- tému a diskutujeme možné tvary závislosti C na T, jaký vliv na tuto závislost mají ostatní parametry modelů. Výsledky vysvětluji, jak lze C posílit (resp. zeslabit) prostřednictvím interakce v okolí studovaného systému C, jaké vlastností té interakce ovlivňují C, a jaký vliv na C(T) mohou mít kvantové fázové přechody.Department of Macromolecular PhysicsKatedra makromolekulární fyzikyFaculty of Mathematics and PhysicsMatematicko-fyzikální fakult

Coyote Management in Residential Areas: Human Dimensions Research Needs

To effectively meet the challenges of urban coyote (Canis latrans) management, wildlife professionals will need human dimensions (and ecological) research to fill information gaps associated with a typical program planning process. Most wildlife agencies use the steps of a rational decision-making approach to plan and develop their programs (i.e., they define goals, identify problems and opportunities, identify management objectives, develop management action alternatives, and implement and evaluate alternatives). We describe general human dimensions (HD) information needs associated with each step, and then suggest corresponding HD research priorities to support urban coyote management decisions. We suggest that HD research priorities include: (I) situational analysis to characterize impact perceptions, attitudes, experiences, and behaviors of key stakeholders in hot spots for human-coyote conflict; (2) investigations that shed light on the processes of coyotes\u27 habituation to humans and humans\u27 habituation to coyotes; (3) studies that allow managers to apply acceptance capacity concepts to objective setting; (4) locally-specific research to characterize acceptability of various management actions among key stakeholders; and (5) outcome evaluations to measure attitude, perception, and behavior change associated with management actions

Tennis grunts communicate acoustic cues to sex and contest outcome

Despite their ubiquity in human behaviour, the communicative functions of nonverbal vocalisations remain poorly understood. Here, we analysed the acoustic structure of tennis grunts, nonverbal vocalisations produced in a competitive context. We predicted that tennis grunts convey information about vocalizer and context, similar to nonhuman vocal displays. Specifically, we tested whether the fundamental frequency (F0) of tennis grunts conveys static cues to a player’s sex, height, weight, and age, and covaries dynamically with tennis shot type (a proxy of body posture) and the progress and outcome of male and female professional tennis contests. We also performed playback experiments (using natural and resynthesised stimuli) to assess the perceptual relevance of tennis grunts. The F0 of tennis grunts predicted player sex, but not age or body size. Serve grunts had higher F0 than forehand and backhand grunts, grunts produced later in contests had higher F0 than those produced earlier, and grunts produced during contests that players won had a lower F0 than those produced during lost contests. This difference in F0 between losses and wins emerged early in matches, and did not change in magnitude as the match progressed, suggesting a possible role of physiological and/or psychological factors manifesting early or even before matches. Playbacks revealed that listeners use grunt F0 to infer sex and contest outcome. These findings indicate that tennis grunts communicate information about both vocalizer and contest, consistent with nonhuman mammal vocalisations

Corona-test of the Real Economy and Financial and Economic Imperatives to Overcome the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The article aims at highlighting the financial and economic imperatives and semantics of the practical ways for overcoming the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by country, and finding capabilities for their implementation in Ukraine, taking into account the corona test results of the real economy expressed in the national measures of sustainable and comprehensive development, traditionally taken as a whole. The state of institutional and sectoral units of the real sector of economy during the COVID-19 global pandemic has been analyzed. The key factors of the negative impact on economic sustainability have been systematized based on the criterial invariance of the quantitative and qualitative indices of the production, logistics, labor availability (saving) and bankruptcy parameters. The research results in suggesting two types of measures to overcome the pandemic effects: the first one is at the enterprise level, and the second one is at the state level. The first group should include the companies’ strategy decomposition, e.g. reducing costs, restructuring activities, diversifying production to meet the domestic market needs, supporting employees’ mobility and engagement in remote work (online operation). The second group should include deferring tax payments, providing assistance (support) to enterprises and employees, state guarantees on loans, interest-free loans, one-time financial help, one-time grants for certain sectors, which are among the most sensitive ones to the COVID-19 pandemic effects. A critical analysis of the best practices in overcoming the pandemic effects in such countries as France, the USA, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Turkey, Japan, China, South Korea and others has been carried out. Possible ways of their application in Ukraine have been offered

How do Suburban Coyote Attacks Affect Residents’ Perceptions? Insights from a New York Case Study

Understanding the human dimensions of human-coyote conflicts in metropolitan areas has taken on greater importance as coyotes (Canis latrans) have established themselves as the top predator in many urban ecosystems across North America. Though uncommon, coyote attacks on humans do occur in metropolitan areas and often receive widespread media coverage. Little research has been done to clarify how media coverage of these uncommon events may influence urban residents’ attitudes toward coyotes. In 2010, two children in Westchester County, New York, were injured in coyote attacks. In fall 2010 and winter 2011, the authors replicated a 2006 telephone survey in two areas of Westchester County, to assess possible changes in residents’ coyote-related experiences, attitudes, and risk perceptions. We documented a substantial, short-term increase in local newspaper coverage about coyotes immediately after the attack. Over 90% of local residents were aware of July 2010 attacks and nearly all residents with awareness reported exposure to media coverage of the attacks (supporting the hypothesis that such media coverage can have an agenda-setting effect). In comparison to 2006 levels, we documented an increase in concern about problems coyotes may cause, concern about coyote-related safety threats to children, and a decline in the proportion of local residents who believed that coyote-related risk to children was acceptably low. The 2006-2010 data comparisons provide support for a media framing hypothesis (i.e., that exposure to media coverage about the attacks made thoughts of human safety more salient, contributing to at least a short-term influence on concern about coyotes). Yet, in early 2011, months after local media coverage of coyotes had returned to background levels, concern about coyotes and coyote-related threats to children remained significantly higher than 2006 levels (i.e., effects continued after media priming ceased). This result suggests that factors other than media priming are needed to explain elevated levels of concern. We hypothesize that awareness of a new impact associated with coyotes (i.e., safety risk to children) may have driven change in resident’s perceptions of coyote-related risk and tolerance for coyote presence. Findings suggest that interventionists with interests in promoting wildlife conservation in urban ecosystems have a window of opportunity in which coyote-related messages may be attended to by local residents. Through efforts to enhance self-efficacy and teach residents how they can reduce the likelihood of a negative interaction with coyotes, interventionists can help human residents learn to live with this mesopredator in urban ecosystems

Investigating humor in social interaction in people with intellectual disabilities: A systematic review of the literature

Humor, both producing and appreciating, underpins positive social interactions. It acts as a facilitator of communication. There are clear links to wellbeing that go along with this form of social engagement. However, humor appears to be a seldom studied, cross-disciplinary area of investigation when applied to people with an intellectual disability. This review collates the current state of knowledge regarding the role of humor behavior in the social interactions of people with intellectual disabilities and their carers

Stakeholder insights into the human-coyote interface in Westchester County, New York

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