CHANGING STATUS OF MOUNTAIN LION IN CALIFORNIA AND LIVESTOCK DEPREDATION PROBLEMS

The California Department of Fish and Game studied depredation by mountain lions on livestock from 1971 through 1977 to determine the scope of the problem. Information was needed on the physical characteristics of a stock killer, the frequency and trend of predation, the livestock types preyed upon, and the geographic distribution of incidents. Department of Fish and Game verified 134 incidents of mountain lion predation on livestock which occurred between April 1971 and December 1977. Forty-five mountain lions (28 males and 17 females) were killed on depredation during this time. Approximately 42 percent of the predation incidents involved sheep, 22 percent goats and 16 percent cattle, with horses, pigs, poultry and pets composing most of the remaining prey. California\u27s south coast region from Santa Clara to Ventura County reported 44 percent of the predation incidents, 28 percent from the Sierra Nevada, 20 percent from the north coast from Napa and Sonoma counties to Humboldt County and nearly 8 percent from southern California. There does not appear to be a stock-killer profile of common sex, age or health factors. Present depredation policy appears adequate to handle the problem, but efficiency could be increased by coordinating incident verification investigations and available depredation resources, such as U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and county predator control agents

CHANGING STATUS OF MOUNTAIN LION IN CALIFORNIA AND LIVESTOCK DEPREDATION PROBLEMS

The California Department of Fish and Game studied depredation by mountain lions on livestock from 1971 through 1977 to determine the scope of the problem. Information was needed on the physical characteristics of a stock killer, the frequency and trend of predation, the livestock types preyed upon, and the geographic distribution of incidents. Department of Fish and Game verified 134 incidents of mountain lion predation on livestock which occurred between April 1971 and December 1977. Forty-five mountain lions (28 males and 17 females) were killed on depredation during this time. Approximately 42 percent of the predation incidents involved sheep, 22 percent goats and 16 percent cattle, with horses, pigs, poultry and pets composing most of the remaining prey. California\u27s south coast region from Santa Clara to Ventura County reported 44 percent of the predation incidents, 28 percent from the Sierra Nevada, 20 percent from the north coast from Napa and Sonoma counties to Humboldt County and nearly 8 percent from southern California. There does not appear to be a stock-killer profile of common sex, age or health factors. Present depredation policy appears adequate to handle the problem, but efficiency could be increased by coordinating incident verification investigations and available depredation resources, such as U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and county predator control agents

Diffuse energy propagation on heterogeneous plates: Structural acoustics radiative transfer theory

The propagation of diffuse energy on an unwetted flat plate with attached heterogeneities is examined using a statistical, multiple scattering approach. The statistically homogeneous heterogeneities lightly couple the membrane and flexural waves. The problem is formulated in terms of the Bethe–Salpeter equation, which governs the field covariance. It is reduced to a radiative transfer equation in the limit that the attenuations per wave number are small, i.e., when the heterogeneities are weak. This radiative transfer equation governs the diffuse energy propagation as a function of space, time, and propagation direction. Solutions of the radiative transfer equation are presented for the simple case of attached heterogeneities in the form of delta-correlated springs excited by an extensional point source. The results show the evolution of the extensional, shear, and flexural energy densities across the plate as a function of time. A similar approach is expected to apply to the more complicated case of submerged complex structures

Centralized Consensus Hemagglutinin Genes Induce Protective Immunity against H1, H3 and H5 Influenza Viruses

With the exception of the live attenuated influenza vaccine there have been no substantial changes in influenza vaccine strategies since the 1940’s. Here we report an alternative vaccine approach that uses Adenovirus-vectored centralized hemagglutinin (HA) genes as vaccine antigens. Consensus H1-Con, H3-Con and H5-Con HA genes were computationally derived. Mice were immunized with Ad vaccines expressing the centralized genes individually. Groups of mice were vaccinated with 1 X 1010, 5 X 107 and 1 X 107 virus particles per mouse to represent high, intermediate and low doses, respectively. 100% of the mice that were vaccinated with the high dose vaccine were protected from heterologous lethal challenges within each subtype. In addition to 100% survival, there were no signs of weight loss and disease in 7 out of 8 groups of high dose vaccinated mice. Lower doses of vaccine showed a reduction of protection in a dose-dependent manner. However, even the lowest dose of vaccine provided significant levels of protection against the divergent influenza strains, especially considering the stringency of the challenge virus. In addition, we found that all doses of H5-Con vaccine were capable of providing complete protection against mortality when challenged with lethal doses of all 3 H5N1 influenza strains. This data demonstrates that centralized H1-Con, H3-Con and H5-Con genes can be effectively used to completely protect mice against many diverse strains of influenza. Therefore, we believe that these Ad-vectored centralized genes could be easily translated into new human vaccines

Radiative transfer of ultrasound

A radiative transfer equation is used to model the diffuse multiple scattering of ultrasound in a medium containing discrete random scatterers. An assumption of uncorrelated phases allows one to write an equation of energy balance for the diffuse intensity. This ultrasonic radiative transfer equation contains single-scattering and propagation parameters that are calculated using the elastic wave equation. Polarization effects are included through the introduction of an elastodynamic Stokes vector which contains a longitudinal Stokes parameter and four shear Stokes parameters similar to the four Stokes parameters used in optical radiative transfer theory. The theory is applied to a statistically homogeneous, isotropic elastic half-space containing randomly distributed spherical voids illuminated by a harmonic plane wave. Results on the angular dependence of backscattered intensity are presented. It is anticipated that this approach may be applicable to materials characterization through the study of the time, space, ultrasonic frequency, and angular dependence of diffusely scattered ultrasound in elastic media with microstructure

Ohio Principals’ Perceptions of Communication Skills, Factors, and Courses Among Criteria for Secondary- Teacher Effectiveness

In a recent article in Communication Education, Curtis, Winsor, and Stephens (1989) presented the results of a study that assessed managers’ perceptions of the skills and abilities of greatest significance in the business setting. The authors concluded “It is our belief and the belief of perspective (sic) employers throughout the United States that courses such as public speaking, listening, and interpersonal communication should be included as an oral communication core in (business programs)” (p. 13). The present study seeks to expand their findings and beliefs to a secondary-education setting. Specifically, this paper presents the results of a survey study conducted using a sample of secondary principals from the state of Ohio. The primary research question was “What skills, factors, and coursework are considered of greatest importance by secondary principals as administrators involved in the hiring and evaluation of secondary teachers?” A second question was “How do principals rate communication skills and courses when considering teacher effectiveness?” The intent of the authors was to examine the perceptions of secondary principals to determine tentative answers to these questions answers to these questions. Principles were chosen because they play a central role in the teacher-effectiveness discussion. As educational administrators, most are directly involved in applying effectiveness standards to their schools. In addition, this study attempts to provide some empirical support for the assertions and suggestions of Dewitt, et all., (1991) as they argue for an increased role for oral-communication theory and practice in education, and for Allen and Shaw (1990) who assert that communication behaviors are related to teaching effectiveness in the perceptions of supervisors of teachers

Removal of Ozone by the Extrathoracic and Intrathoracic Airways in Man

Extrathoracic and intrathoracic ozone removal were studied in eighteen healthy, nonsmoking volunteers using a controlled environmental chamber. Ozone-containing air was drawn through a polyethylene sampling tube placed through one nostril into the posterior pharynx, and analyzed with a rapidly responding ozone analyzer. Measurements were made using a randomized split-split plot design for each subject at ozone concentrations of 0.1 ppm, 0.2 ppm and 0.4 ppm, using three breathing modes (nasal, oronasal and mouth), and at two different breathing frequencies (12 and 24 BPM). For extrathoracic ozone removal, significant effects were demonstrated for mode of breathing and breathing frequency (both with p< 0.001), but not for ambient ozone concentration. For intrathoracic ozone removal, significant effects were demonstrated for ambient ozone concentration (p=0.032) and for breathing frequency (p<0.001), but not for mode of breathing. Mechanisms are postulated to explain the results obtained.Master of Public Healt

Generalized Berry Conjecture and mode correlations in chaotic plates

We consider a modification of the Berry Conjecture for eigenmode statistics in wave-bearing systems. The eigenmode correlator is conjectured to be proportional to the imaginary part of the Green's function. The generalization is applicable not only to scalar waves in the interior of homogeneous isotropic systems where the correlator is a Bessel function, but to arbitrary points of heterogeneous systems as well. In view of recent experimental measurements, expressions for the intensity correlator in chaotic plates are derived.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur