Habitat selection in a changing environment: the relationship between habitat alteration and Scops Owl (Aves: Strigidae) territory occupancy

Abstract The Scops Owl Otus scops (L., 1758) is a species of European concern, which suffered a noticeable decrease in distribution in the last decades, and changes in agricultural practices have been proposed as a major threat for this owl. We studied the habitat preference of the Scops Owl by assessing the habitat occupancy of 401 territories distributed in a large area in northwest Italy, with a special focus on 98 territories located in a high-density area (Monferrato). Habitat characteristics were analyzed with maximum entropy (MAXENT) models that included both vegetational (16 land use categories) and physical features estimated from a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) (altitude, slope, hillshade). In the Monferrato area, a comparison of 2009 landcover was also made with year 1954/55 characteristics obtained from aerial photographs. In the full northwest Italy area, the Scops Owl preferred areas located at middle altitude with intermediate slope. The preferred habitats included riparian areas and pasture-grassland, while woodlands and zones with Robinia pseudoacacia shrublands were avoided. In the Monferrato area, Scops Owl occupancy occurred in sites where the landuse (croplands/vineyard mosaic) had changed little since the mid-1950s. Our study suggests that conservation activity should focus on interventions halting riparian zone transformation and subsidies promoting agricultural practices favouring pastures and grassland

Immunity to Polyomavirus BK Infection: Immune Monitoring to Regulate the Balance between Risk of BKV Nephropathy and Induction of Alloimmunity.

Polyomavirus BK-associated nephropathy (PyVAN) is the main infectious cause of allograft damage after kidney transplantation. A number of studies revealed an association between the presence of BKV-specific cellular immunity and BK viral clearance, with patients failing to recover specific T cells progressing to PyVAN. Evolution to allograft dysfunction can be prevented by restoration of BKV-specific immunity through a stepwise reduction of maintenance immunosuppressive drugs. Prospective monitoring of BK viral load and specific immunity, together with B-cell alloimmune surveillance, may allow a targeted modification/reduction of immunosuppression, with the aim of obtaining viral clearance while preventing graft injury due to deposition of de novo donor-specific HLA antibodies and late/chronic antibody-mediated allograft injury. Innovative, immune-based therapies may further contribute to BKV infection prevention and control

Outer space technopolitics and postcolonial modernity in Kazakhstan

This is the final version. Available on open access from Routledge via the DOI in this recordThis article examines the role of outer space technopolitics in post-Soviet Kazakhstan. It explores how outer space, the technological artefact of global relevance, works as a postcolonial fetish of modernity that is called upon to produce what it represents, i.e. the reality of a technologically advanced Kazakh nation. The article shows that in its project of becoming a spacefaring nation the country reiterates major incentives that have motivated nuclear and space programme development in the postcolonial context of the Global South. The article explores how collaboration with Russia allows Kazakhstan to claim its share in the Soviet space legacy rather than to distance itself from it. It then traces the rise of a new internationalism in the Kazakhstani space programme outside the post-Soviet context. The article contributes to the debate on postcolonial techonopolitics and shows how outer space has been used to enhance the conventional domain of postcolonial national ideologies – nativism and tradition – with technology and science. Finally, the article depicts how the growing resistance to the space programme among Kazakh civil society groups reveals a close association of the environmental agenda with an “eco-nationalism” permeated by a profoundly anti-imperial and, ultimately, antiauthoritarian political discourse

Nurses' perceptions of aids and obstacles to the provision of optimal end of life care in ICU

Contains fulltext : 172380.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Habitat selection in a changing environment: the relationship between habitat alteration and Scops Owl (Aves: Strigidae) territory occupancy

The Scops Owl Otus scops (L., 1758) is a species of European concern, which suffered a noticeable decrease in distribution in the last decades, and changes in agricultural practices have been proposed as a major threat for this owl. We studied the habitat preference of the Scops Owl by assessing the habitat occupancy of 401 territories distributed in a large area in northwest Italy, with a special focus on 98 territories located in a high-density area (Monferrato). Habitat characteristics were analyzed with maximum entropy (MAXENT) models that included both vegetational (16 land use categories) and physical features estimated from a DTM (altitude, slope, hillshade). In the Monferrato area, a comparison of 2009 landcover was also made with year 1954/55 characteristics obtained from aerial photographs. In the full northwest Italy area, the Scops Owl preferred areas located at middle altitude with intermediate slope. The preferred habitats included riparian areas and pasture-grassland, while woodlands and zones with Robinia pseudoacacia shrublands were avoided. In the Monferrato area, Scops Owl occupancy occurred in sites where the landuse (croplands/vineyard mosaic) had changed little since the mid- 1950s. Our study suggests that conservation activity should focus on interventions halting riparian zone transformation and subsidies promoting agricultural practices favouring pastures and grassland

Detecting Hate Speech Online: A Case of Croatian

This project proposes a NooJ algorithm with the task to find and categorize various slurs, insults and ultimately, hate speech in Croatian. The results also provide a more detailed insight into inappropriate language in Croatian. We strongly emphasize the ethical considerations of (mis)identifying hate speech and as a result, an unethical and undeserved censorship of inappropriate, but free speech. Thus, we tried to make a clear distinction between insults and hate speech. The test corpus consists of written online comments and remarks posted on five Croatian Facebook news pages during one week period. Given the differences between the standard Croatian grammar and syntax, and what is actually being used in informal on-line communication, the false negatives present the biggest difficulty since some variations (substandard usages of cases, spelling errors, colloquialisms) are impossible to predict, and therefore, extremely hard to implement into the algorithm