Is there a puddling surface preference in a population of captive butterflies?

This research revolves around the question ‘Do captive butterflies have a surface preference for participating in puddling behaviour?’. Puddling, or mud puddling, is a behaviour that’s carried out across many insects, but is most commonly seen in Lepidopterans (butterflies and moths). Its known as a form of feeding for butterflies, allowing them to obtain the appropriate nutrients including sodium, that are needed for them to carry out a variety of physiological and ethological functions; one being successful reproduction. In both captive and wild populations puddling can take place on a variety of surfaces, including, but not limited to: mud, blood, dung, urine and sand. To answer this question, observations of a population of captive butterflies will be conducted to note their puddling behaviour across many surfaces. It is believed that these observations will allow for the most natural behaviour to be expressed as well as gaining maximum data. Once data is collected and analysed it is believed that mud will be the most popular surface amongst the butterflies, as it is usually the most readily available surface for puddling. This research is important for a number of reasons including enhancing care of captive and wild populations of butterflies, and therein improving their numbers through giving them optimal chance of reproduction and longevity. This research is critical, as insects globally are facing a dramatic reduction in numbers, with as much as a 98% decrease across the past 35 years. By understanding smaller areas of insect behaviour, we may be able to curb this decline and increase population numbers

Natal coastal branch: Honorary secretary's report

No Abstract

The Expansion of Admiralty Jurisdiction Into the Realm of Workers’ Compensation: Newly Applying Learned Hand to Jones Act Personal Injury Claims to Incentivize Dangerous Seafaring Work and Protect Workers From the Perils of the Sea, 48 J. Marshall L. Rev. 877 (2015)

This Comment proposes a novel application of Learned Hand’s calculus of negligence to divide the protections for traditional and non-traditional maritime workers

Genome-Wide Association Study on the Sleep Symptom of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric condition that presents with 3 main symptoms\u27re-experiencing, avoidance/numbing, and hyper arousal\u27after an individual experiences a traumatic event. Recent evidence suggests a potential genetic basis for PTSD and a sub symptom of hyper arousal, sleep, as a potential pathway for PTSD development, but no study has identified candidate genes associated with specific symptoms such as sleep difficulty. Based on a conceptual framework in which specific genes are associated with the onset of PTSD, this study used a genome-wide association study (GWAS) method with a case control study design to compare the genomes of individuals with and without PTSD. A secondary GWAS dataset from a study on alcohol dependence in European and African Americans was obtained from the National Center for Biotechnology Information. PTSD cases and controls were analyzed using PLINK software. Signals from 2 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which have not been previously associated with PTSD, exceeded the established genome-wide threshold: SNP rs13160949 on chromosome 5 (p = 7.33x10-9, OR: 1.565) and SNP rs2283877 on chromosome 22 (p = 2.55x10-8, OR: 1.748). Neither SNP, though, maintained genomewide significance following corrected tests for multiple testing, population stratification, and false discovery, so the planned analysis for possible associations with PTSD by symptom category then by the sub symptom of sleep could not be completed. The results of this study suggest that PTSD may be the result of polygenic SNPs with weak effects, which supports a recent study indicating the disease may be highly polygenic. Positive social change implications include bringing attention to the clinical and research community that PTSD may involve complex polygenic factors in need of further study

Entropy Maximization, Information Minimization And Population Potential: Joint Considerations

The dissertation presents joint considerations of the concepts of (1) entropy maximization and population potential and (2) information minimization and population potential.;In order to calculate population potential it is necessary to determine the probability that a randomly selected individual at one location will have a spatial interation at another location. The methods of maximum entropy and minimum information provide a means for estimating such probabilities. Population potential is closely related to, and derivable from, spatial interaction and this allows an indirect connection to be made between population potential and the methods of maximum entropy and minimum information. This is, therefore, a reconsideration of the potential concept within the context of these contemporary methods of probability estimation and it addresses the question of whether it is possible to derive, and practicable to employ, entropy maximizing and information minimizing population potential functions.;The amount of potential interaction between places is a function of both the attenuating effect of distance and the emissivity of the origin, and an attempt is made to demonstrate that maximum entropy is of relevance to the former and minimum information to the latter. In the former case a quadratic gamma family of distance response functions for potentials is derived, and in the latter case a method is presented for allowing for changes in the emissivity of the origin by sequentially adding alternative prior probability distributions

Question design in nurse-led and GP-led telephone triage for same-day appointment requests: a comparative investigation

Objective: To compare doctors’ and nurses’ communication with patients in primary care telephone triage consultations. Design: Qualitative comparative study of content and form of questions in 51 telephone triage encounters between practitioners (general practitioners (GPs)=29; nurses=22) and patients requesting a same-day appointment in primary care. Audio-recordings of nurse-led calls were synchronised with video recordings of nurse's use of computer decision support software (CDSS) during triage. Setting: 2 GP practices in Devon and Warwickshire, UK. Participants: 4 GPs and 29 patients; and 4 nurses and 22 patients requesting a same-day face-to-face appointment with a GP. Main outcome measure: Form and content of practitioner-initiated questions and patient responses during clinical assessment. Results: A total of 484 question–response sequences were coded (160 GP; 324 N). Despite average call lengths being similar (GP=4 min, 37 s, (SD=1 min, 26 s); N=4 min, 39 s, (SD=2 min, 22 s)), GPs and nurses differed in the average number (GP=5.51, (SD=4.66); N=14.72, (SD=6.42)), content and form of questions asked. A higher frequency of questioning in nurse-led triage was found to be due to nurses’ use of CDSS to guide telephone triage. 89% of nurse questions were oriented to asking patients about their reported symptoms or to wider-information gathering, compared to 54% of GP questions. 43% of GP questions involved eliciting patient concerns or expectations, and obtaining details of medical history, compared to 11% of nurse questions. Nurses using CDSS frequently delivered questions designed as declarative statements requesting confirmation and which typically preferred a ‘no problem’ response. In contrast, GPs asked a higher proportion of interrogative questions designed to request information. Conclusions: Nurses and GPs emphasise different aspects of the clinical assessment process during telephone triage. These different styles of triage have implications for the type of information available following nurse-led or doctor-led triage, and for how patients experience triage

Alien Registration- Pooler, Frances C. (Madison, Somerset County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/7028/thumbnail.jp