344 research outputs found

    Roost Use and Movements of Northern Long-Eared Bats in a Southeast Nebraska Agricultural Landscape

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    Bats are important bio-indicators of ecosystem health and provide a number of ecosystem services. White-nose Syndrome and habitat loss have led to the decline of many bat species in eastern North America, including the federally threatened northern long-eared bat, Myotis septentrionalis. White-nose Syndrome was only recently found in Nebraska, which lies on the western extent of this species geographic range. To better understand how this forest-dependent species persists in an agriculturally dominated landscape amid a growing number of pressures, we investigated the roosting habits of this bat at the Homestead National Monument of America, located in southeast Nebraska. We mist-netted bats on eight nights in 2019 (16 August–26 August) and caught 55 bats across five species, including five juvenile northern long-eared bats. We located five unique roosts between two juvenile radio-tracked bats; most of the female roosts were in anthropogenic structures and tree cavities within 0.23 km of capture, while most of the male roosts were in snags and tree cavities as far as 2.73 km from the capture site. Fence cavities were also used by other undocumented northern long-eared bats. We recorded three radio-tagged bats that commuted between roosting sites and capture sites within hours after sunset. Our results provide evidence that at the distributional edge for this species, wooded areas, riparian zones, and human-built structures in an intensively managed agricultural landscape are used by this imperiled species

    Localization Error Bounds for 5G mmWave Systems under I/Q Imbalance

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    Location awareness is expected to play a significant role in 5G millimeter-wave (mmWave) communication systems. One of the basic elements of these systems is quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), which has in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) modulators. It is not uncommon for transceiver hardware to exhibit an imbalance in the I/Q components, causing degradation in data rate and signal quality. Under an amplitude and phase imbalance model at both the transmitter and receiver, 2D positioning performance in 5G mmWave systems is considered. Towards that, we derive the position and orientation error bounds and study the effects of the I/Q imbalance parameters on the derived bounds. The numerical results reveal that I/Q imbalance impacts the performance similarly, whether it occurs at the transmitter or the receiver, and can cause a degradation up to 12% in position and orientation estimation accuracy

    РОЛЬ РОДИНИ Й СІМЕЙНОГО ВИХОВАННЯ В ОРГАНІЗАЦІЇ ОСВІТНЬОГО ПРОЦЕСУ НІМЕЧЧИНИ І ФРАНЦІЇ: ІСТОРІЯ ТА ДОСВІД

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    The aim of the work – to determine the influence of family and family education on the educational process in Germany and France in the historical aspect. The main body. Innovative technologies can not replace the upbringing of a person and the importance of family is gradually increasing: the role of education of younger generation (the formation of a citizen) is emphasized. The study of the historical experience of family education in Germany and France, the educational process of which expresses advanced ideas of European pedagogical thought which occupy leading positions in the educational process, is relevant today. From the pedagogical point of view, on the basis of the main principles of the school organization theory, the teaching communities of Germany and France have stated the primary right of family for child’s upbringing. Conclusions. In Germany, Herbartianism provided all the prerequisites for educational policy and practice combining family education, creative learning, proper rest, religious understanding of the meaning of life. In France, families and all those involved in upbringing and education of children have established Family Education Associations, supported by the state and local authorities, charitable communities and numerous partners in France.Мета роботи – з’ясувати вплив родини й сімейного виховання на навчально-виховний процес у Німеччині та Франції в істо­ричному аспекті. Основна частина. Інноваційні технології не можуть замінити виховання людини, і важливість родини поступово зростає: усвідомлюється роль виховання підростаючого покоління (формування громадянина). Вивчення історичного досвіду Німеччини та Франції щодо сімейного виховання, у виховному процесі яких втілено передові ідеї європейської педагогічної думки і які займають лідерські позиції у навчально-виховному процесі, є сьогодні актуальним. З педагогічної точки зору на основні принципи і засади теорії шкільної організації, педагогічні спільноти Німеччини та Франції констатували першочергове право родини на виховання дитини. Висновки. Гербартіанство забезпечило у Німеччині всі належні передумови для освітньої політики й практики, де поєднані: сімейне виховання, креативне навчання, належний відпочинок, релігійне осмислення сенсу життя. У Франції для підтримки сімей та всіх, хто займається вихованням й освітою дітей, створені асоціації сімейної освіти, які підтримуються державою та місцевими органами влади, благодійними спільнотами й чисельними партнерами

    Regime shifts and panarchies in regional scale social-ecological water systems

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    In this article we summarize histories of nonlinear, complex interactions among societal, legal, and ecosystem dynamics in six North American water basins, as they respond to changing climate. These case studies were chosen to explore the conditions for emergence of adaptive governance in heavily regulated and developed social-ecological systems nested within a hierarchical governmental system. We summarize resilience assessments conducted in each system to provide a synthesis and reference by the other articles in this special feature. We also present a general framework used to evaluate the interactions between society and ecosystem regimes and the governance regimes chosen to mediate those interactions. The case studies show different ways that adaptive governance may be triggered, facilitated, or constrained by ecological and/or legal processes. The resilience assessments indicate that complex interactions among the governance and ecosystem components of these systems can produce different trajectories, which include patterns of (a) development and stabilization, (b) cycles of crisis and recovery, which includes lurches in adaptation and learning, and (3) periods of innovation, novelty, and transformation. Exploration of cross scale (Panarchy) interactions among levels and sectors of government and society illustrate that they may constrain development trajectories, but may also provide stability during crisis or innovation at smaller scales; create crises, but may also facilitate recovery; and constrain system transformation, but may also provide windows of opportunity in which transformation, and the resources to accomplish it, may occur. The framework is the starting point for our exploration of how law might play a role in enhancing the capacity of social-ecological systems to adapt to climate change

    The Vertical Structure of Relative Humidity and Ozone in the Tropical Upper Troposphere: Intercomparisons Among In Situ Observations, A-Train Measurements and Large-Scale Models

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    In situ measurements in the tropics have shown that in regions of active convection, relative humidity with respect to ice in the upper troposphere is typically close to saturation on average, and supersaturations greater than 20% are not uncommon. Balloon soundings with the cryogenic frost point hygrometer (CFH) at Costa Rica during northern summer, for example, show this tendency to be strongest between 11 and 15.5 km (345-360 K potential temperature, or approximately 250-120 hPa). this is the altitude range of deep convective detrainment. Additionally, simultaneous ozonesonde measurements show that stratospheric air (O3 greater than 150 ppbv) can be found as low as approximately 14 km (350 K/150 hPa). In contrast, results from northern winter show a much drier upper troposphere and little penetration of stratospheric air below the tropopause at 17.5 km (approximately 383 K). We show that these results are consistent with in situ measurements from the Measurement of Ozone and water vapor by Airbus In-service airCraft (MOZAIC) program which samples a wider, though still limited, range of tropical locations. To generalize to the tropics as a whole, we compare our insitu results to data from two A-Train satellite instruments, the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) on the Aqua and Aura satellites respectively. Finally, we examine the vertical structure of water vapor, relative humidity and ozone in the NASA Goddard MERRA analysis, an assimilation dataset, and a new version of the GEOS CCM, a free-running chemistry-climate model. We demonstrate that conditional probability distributions of relative humidity and ozone are a sensitive diagnostic for assessing the representation of deep convection and upper troposphere/lower stratosphere mixing processes in large-scale analyses and climate models

    Postural stability in older adults with a distal radial fracture

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    BACKGROUND: The physical risk factors leading to distal radial fractures are poorly understood. The goal of this study was to compare postural stability between older adults with and without a prior distal radial fragility fracture. METHODS: This case-control evaluation was performed at a single tertiary institution. The fracture cohort comprised 23 patients treated for a low-energy distal radial fracture within 6 to 24 months prior to this study. Twenty-three age and sex-matched control participants, without a prior fragility fracture, were selected from an outpatient clinic population. All participants completed a balance assessment with a computerized balance platform device. Dynamic motion analysis (DMA) scores ranging from 0 to 1,440 points are produced, with lower scores indicating better postural stability. Participants also completed validated questionnaires for general health quality (EuroQol-5D-3L [EQ-5D-3L]) and physical activity (Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly [PASE]) and comprehensive health and demographic information including treatment for compromised balance or osteoporosis. Statistical analysis compared data between cases and controls using either the Student t test or the Mann-Whitney U test. RESULTS: There were no significant differences (p > 0.05) in age, sex, body mass index, physical activity score, or EQ-5D-3L general health visual analog scale score between participants with or without prior distal radial fracture. The fracture cohort demonstrated poorer balance, with higher DMA scores at 933 points compared with 790 points for the control cohort (p = 0.008). Nineteen patients (83%) in the fracture cohort reported having dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans within 5 years prior to this study, but only 2 patients (9%) had ever been referred for balance training with physical therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Older adults who sustain low-energy distal radial fractures demonstrate impaired postural stability compared with individuals of a similar age who have not sustained such fractures. Following a distal radial fracture, these patients may benefit from interventions to improve postural stability. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Prognostic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence

    Regime shifts and panarchies in regional scale social-ecological water systems

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    In this article we summarize histories of nonlinear, complex interactions among societal, legal, and ecosystem dynamics in six North American water basins, as they respond to changing climate. These case studies were chosen to explore the conditions for emergence of adaptive governance in heavily regulated and developed social-ecological systems nested within a hierarchical governmental system. We summarize resilience assessments conducted in each system to provide a synthesis and reference by the other articles in this special feature. We also present a general framework used to evaluate the interactions between society and ecosystem regimes and the governance regimes chosen to mediate those interactions. The case studies show different ways that adaptive governance may be triggered, facilitated, or constrained by ecological and/or legal processes. The resilience assessments indicate that complex interactions among the governance and ecosystem components of these systems can produce different trajectories, which include patterns of (a) development and stabilization, (b) cycles of crisis and recovery, which includes lurches in adaptation and learning, and (3) periods of innovation, novelty, and transformation. Exploration of cross scale (Panarchy) interactions among levels and sectors of government and society illustrate that they may constrain development trajectories, but may also provide stability during crisis or innovation at smaller scales; create crises, but may also facilitate recovery; and constrain system transformation, but may also provide windows of opportunity in which transformation, and the resources to accomplish it, may occur. The framework is the starting point for our exploration of how law might play a role in enhancing the capacity of social-ecological systems to adapt to climate change

    Pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic modelling approaches in paediatric infectious diseases and immunology.

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    Pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PKPD) modelling is used to describe and quantify dose-concentration-effect relationships. Within paediatric studies in infectious diseases and immunology these methods are often applied to developing guidance on appropriate dosing. In this paper, an introduction to the field of PKPD modelling is given, followed by a review of the PKPD studies that have been undertaken in paediatric infectious diseases and immunology. The main focus is on identifying the methodological approaches used to define the PKPD relationship in these studies. The major findings were that most studies of infectious diseases have developed a PK model and then used simulations to define a dose recommendation based on a pre-defined PD target, which may have been defined in adults or in vitro. For immunological studies much of the modelling has focused on either PK or PD, and since multiple drugs are usually used, delineating the relative contributions of each is challenging. The use of dynamical modelling of in vitro antibacterial studies, and paediatric HIV mechanistic PD models linked with the PK of all drugs, are emerging methods that should enhance PKPD-based recommendations in the future

    The Morningside Initiative: Collaborative Development of a Knowledge Repository to Accelerate Adoption of Clinical Decision Support

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    The Morningside Initiative is a public-private activity that has evolved from an August, 2007, meeting at the Morningside Inn, in Frederick, MD, sponsored by the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) of the US Army Medical Research Materiel Command. Participants were subject matter experts in clinical decision support (CDS) and included representatives from the Department of Defense, Veterans Health Administration, Kaiser Permanente, Partners Healthcare System, Henry Ford Health System, Arizona State University, and the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA). The Morningside Initiative was convened in response to the AMIA Roadmap for National Action on Clinical Decision Support and on the basis of other considerations and experiences of the participants. Its formation was the unanimous recommendation of participants at the 2007 meeting which called for creating a shared repository of executable knowledge for diverse health care organizations and practices, as well as health care system vendors. The rationale is based on the recognition that sharing of clinical knowledge needed for CDS across organizations is currently virtually non-existent, and that, given the considerable investment needed for creating, maintaining and updating authoritative knowledge, which only larger organizations have been able to undertake, this is an impediment to widespread adoption and use of CDS. The Morningside Initiative intends to develop and refine (1) an organizational framework, (2) a technical approach, and (3) CDS content acquisition and management processes for sharing CDS knowledge content, tools, and experience that will scale with growing numbers of participants and can be expanded in scope of content and capabilities. Intermountain Healthcare joined the initial set of participants shortly after its formation. The efforts of the Morningside Initiative are intended to serve as the basis for a series of next steps in a national agenda for CDS. It is based on the belief that sharing of knowledge can be highly effective as is the case in other competitive domains such as genomics. Participants in the Morningside Initiative believe that a coordinated effort between the private and public sectors is needed to accomplish this goal and that a small number of highly visible and respected health care organizations in the public and private sector can lead by example. Ultimately, a future collaborative knowledge sharing organization must have a sustainable long-term business model for financial support
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