Effects of mesohabitat use and intercohort competition on the density of sea run brown trout (Salmo trutta) in six tributaries of the Verdal River

Det siste århundret har sjøauren (Salmo trutta) opplevd ein vesentleg populasjonsnedgong i Trøndelag og sørover langs norskekysten. Menneskeleg påverknad i bekkar har forringa eller øydelagt mykje habitat. Meir kunnskap om habitatbruken til sjøauren er difor naudsynt for å ta betre forvaltningsavgjersler. I denne studien vart seks bekkar i Verdalsvassdraget i Trøndelag undersøkt. Noko uvisse har vore knytta til effektane av interkohortkonkurranse og abiotiske faktorar på sjøauretettleiken i desse bekkane. Denne studien undersøker effektane ved å sjå på mesohabitatet på ein finare skala enn tidlegare undersøkingar. Variasjonen i mesohabitatet vart beskriven gjennom kulp, brekk, stryk og død ved etter ein modifisert MESOHABsim modell. Tettleikstal for yngel (0+) og ungfisk (1+) vart innhenta ved elfiske. 29 stasjonar vart elfiska ved å dele kvar stasjon inn i 10 mindre segment, slik at den romlege koplinga mellom fisken og mesohabitatet vart nærare enn på stasjonsnivå. For kvart segment vart tettleikstal for 0+ og 1+ estimert, antall død ved notert, og prosentvis dekke av kulp, brekk og stryk vart estimert. Fire miljøvariablar vart samla inn og knytta opp til mesohabitatstrukturane kulp, brekk og stryk. Tettleiken av 0+ vart mest effektivt forklart av ein zero inflated GLMM-modell med tettleik av 1+, brekkdekninga i bekken og kulpdekninga som forklaringsvariablar. Tettleik av 1+ og brekkdekninga var einaste variablane som hadde ei positiv innverknad på 0+. Denne positive innverknaden av 1+ på 0+ vart forklart gjennom lite 1+ i bekken, krevjande miljøtilhøve eller at bekkane var langt unna bæreevna. Positiv effekt frå brekket vart knytta opp mot at brekket er eit gytehabitat og har god næringstilgong. Tettleik av 1+ var mest effektivt forklart av diversiteten i mesohabitatet, der diversitet i fordelinga av kulp og brekk påverka tettleik positivt. Ei noko positiv effekt av kulp var knytta til at kulpane gir stor romleg variasjon for territoriell 1+. Mengda død ved forklarte ikkje tettleikar av verken 0+ eller 1+. VGAM analysar knytta miljøvariablane djupn, vekta skjul, substratstorleik og vassnøggleik opp mot mesohabitatstrukturar og fann at brekk kunne knyttast til vassnøggleik rundt 0,2 m/s og stryk ved vassnøggleik mot 1 m/s. Vassnøggleik har i tidlegare undersøkingar vore positivt korrelert med yngeltettleik, ein samanheng VGAM-analysane fann at ikkje samsvarte med årets resultat. Studien fann at effekten av kulpar var noko svakare enn forventa og fann ikkje prov for interkohortkonkurranse i bekkane. Resultata viser at etablering av kulp og brekk bør prioriterast i framtidige restaureringsprosjekt.M-N

Diffusion Tensor Imaging Detects Early Cerebral Cortex Abnormalities in Neuronal Architecture Induced by Bilateral Neonatal Enucleation: An Experimental Model in the Ferret

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a technique that non-invasively provides quantitative measures of water translational diffusion, including fractional anisotropy (FA), that are sensitive to the shape and orientation of cellular elements, such as axons, dendrites and cell somas. For several neurodevelopmental disorders, histopathological investigations have identified abnormalities in the architecture of pyramidal neurons at early stages of cerebral cortex development. To assess the potential capability of DTI to detect neuromorphological abnormalities within the developing cerebral cortex, we compare changes in cortical FA with changes in neuronal architecture and connectivity induced by bilateral enucleation at postnatal day 7 (BEP7) in ferrets. We show here that the visual callosal pattern in BEP7 ferrets is more irregular and occupies a significantly greater cortical area compared to controls at adulthood. To determine whether development of the cerebral cortex is altered in BEP7 ferrets in a manner detectable by DTI, cortical FA was compared in control and BEP7 animals on postnatal day 31. Visual cortex, but not rostrally adjacent non-visual cortex, exhibits higher FA than control animals, consistent with BEP7 animals possessing axonal and dendritic arbors of reduced complexity than age-matched controls. Subsequent to DTI, Golgi-staining and analysis methods were used to identify regions, restricted to visual areas, in which the orientation distribution of neuronal processes is significantly more concentrated than in control ferrets. Together, these findings suggest that DTI can be of utility for detecting abnormalities associated with neurodevelopmental disorders at early stages of cerebral cortical development, and that the neonatally enucleated ferret is a useful animal model system for systematically assessing the potential of this new diagnostic strategy

The Role of Metropolitan Cooperation and Administrative Capacity in Subnational Debt Dynamics: Evidence From Municipal Mexico

Research on subnational capital markets in developing nations has tended to focus on designing regulatory frameworks that compensate for structural economic, fiscal, and political factors. However, research on public investment in the United States shows that functional factors, like administrative capacity and metropolitan cooperation, are also important. Using a panel dataset of Mexican municipal debt (2005–2012), the study examines whether metropolitan cooperation and administrative capacity affect subnational debt decisions in this developing nation. Cross‐sectional time‐series analysis of different types of municipal debt (public development bank loans, private commercial bank debt, bond emissions, and trust instruments) reveals that municipalities in metropolitan areas avoid costlier credits but that they do not cooperate to access cheaper loans. The research reveals that administrative capacity plays little to no role in municipal debt decisions

O Estudo do Comportamento Verbal no Brasil

In the present study a historical review was realized of Brazilian master thesis and doctoral dissertations about verbal behavior, which were based on Skinner’ proposals (1957/1992) and carried out from 1968 to 2012. The following aspects were analyzed: a) type of work (thesis or dissertation, b) affiliation of the authors, c) advisor, d) line of research (basic, applied, conceptual or historical), e) methodology (descriptive or experimental), and f) research topics. In total, 177 thesis and 53 dissertations related to verbal behavior were identified. The results indicate that the study of verbal behavior in Brazil has been established as a research program and has grown over the years.O presente trabalho realizou uma revisão histórica de dissertações e teses brasileiras sobre comportamento verbal, com base na proposta de Skinner (1957), produzidas entre 1969 e 2012. Foram investigados: (a) número de dissertações e teses sobre o tema, (b) orientador, (c) tipo de pesquisa (descritiva ou experimental), (d) linha de pesquisa (básica, aplicada ou histórico-conceitual), (e) conceitos da análise do comportamento, (f) área de aplicação, (g) tema e (h) publicações decorrentes das dissertações e teses. Os resultados obtidos no presente trabalho permitem afirmar que o estudo do comportamento verbal, no Brasil, estabeleceu-se como programa de pesquisa e cresceu ao longo dos anos

The 'Positive Effect' is present in older Chinese adults: evidence from an eye tracking study

The 'Positive Effect' is defined as the phenomenon of preferential cognitive processing of positive affective information, and avoidance or dismissal of negative affective information in the social environment. The ‘Positive Effect’ is found for older people compared with younger people in western societies and is believed to reflect a preference for positive emotional regulation in older adults. It is not known whether such an effect is Universal, and in East Asian cultures, there is a highly controversial debate concerning this question. In the current experiment we explored whether Chinese older participants showed a 'Positive Effect' when they inspected picture pairs that were either a positive or a negative picture presented with a neutral picture, or a positive and negative picture paired together. The results indicated that both groups of participants showed an attentional bias to both pleasant (more processing of) and unpleasant pictures (initial orienting to) when these were paired with neutral pictures. When pleasant and unpleasant pictures were paired together both groups showed an initial orientation bias for the pleasant picture, but the older participants showed this bias for initial orienting and increased processing measures, providing evidence of a ‘Positive Effect’ in older Chinese adults

The Standardised Digital Forensic Investigation Process Model (SDFIPM)

The field of digital forensics still lacks formal process models that courts can employ to determine the reliability of the process followed in a digital investigation. The existing models have often been developed by digital forensic practitioners, based on their own personal experience and on an ad-hoc basis, without attention to the establishment of standardisation within the field. This has prevented the institution of the formal processes that are urgently required. Moreover, as digital forensic investigators often operate within different fields of law enforcement, commerce and incident response, the existing models have often tended to focus on one particular field and have failed to consider all the environments. This has hindered the development of a generic model that can be applied in all the three stated fields of digital forensics. To address these shortcomings, this paper makes a novel contribution by proposing the Advanced Investigative Process Model (the SDFIPM) for Conducting Digital Forensic Investigations, encompassing the ‘middle part’ of the digital investigative process, which is formal in that it synthesizes, harmonises and extends the existing models, and which is generic in that it can be applied in the three fields of law enforcement, commerce and incident response

Age differences in moral judgment: Older adults are more deontological than younger adults

In 2 studies, an older and a younger age group morally evaluated dilemmas contrasting a deontological judgment (do not harm others) against a utilitarian judgment (do what is best for the majority). Previous research suggests that deontological moral judgments are often underpinned by affective reactions and utilitarian moral judgments by deliberative thinking. Separately, research on the psychology of aging has shown that affect plays a more prominent role in the judgments and decision making of older (vs. younger) adults. Yet age remains a largely overlooked factor in moral judgment research. Here, we therefore investigated whether older adults would make more deontological judgments on the basis of experiencing different affective reactions to moral dilemmas as compared with younger adults. Results from 2 experiments indicated that older adults made significantly more deontological moral judgments. Mediation analyses revealed that the relationship between age and making more deontological moral judgments is partly explained by older adults exhibiting significantly more negative affective reactions and having more morally idealistic beliefs as compared with younger adults