Harvest data are typically used to evaluate mesocarnivore population dynamics in many states, including Kentucky. While relatively easy to collect, these data are subject to reporting biases, and inferences about population trends can often only be made at coarse spatial scales. Gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), bobcat (Lynx rufus), and coyote (Canis latrans) populations in Kentucky are managed primarily through harvest data used to establish future harvest quotas. Increasingly, noninvasive survey methods have been used to characterize a number of population parameters for a variety of species; however, successful use of these methods is often site-specific. We assessed the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of two noninvasive survey methods, scat detection dogs and rub-pad hair snares, for surveying mesocarnivore species at two sites in the mixed-mesophytic forest of northeastern Kentucky. We sampled 100 hair snares covering approximately 100km2 and 27 transects covering approximately 27km2 from which 7 hair samples and 261 scat samples were collected respectively. Hair snares cost $397/sample at 6.4 hours/day, while scat detection dogs cost $47/sample at 4.9 hours/day. Genetic methods were used to identify biological samples to species and individual. Our findings should prove useful to state wildlife managers in comparatively evaluating methods for future mesocarnivore monitoring.

The southern Chukchi and Bering Sea region regularly experiences powerful storms that bring high winds that cause positive and negative water level set-up (storm surges) events. Positive set-up events can cause coastal inundation, sometimes extending far inland for low-relief locations, and negative set-up events can be problematic for shallow-draft marine equipment, such as barges. A ten year record (2004-2014) of water level data is available from a NOAA tide gauging station situated at the Teck Alaska Inc. Red Dog Mine Port Facility located to the north of the Bering Strait on the southwest Chukchi Sea coast. In this thesis these data are used to develop a database of water level set-up (storm surge) events using a novel identification methodology; by adapting fundamental wind storm identification concepts used by Atkinson (2005) and applying them to a water level dataset. The surge event database is then analyzed to identify primary types of events, to derive seasonal patterns and frequencies of occurrence, and to determine likely atmospheric driving mechanisms. There were 44 surge events identified – 21 positive, 23 negative – that tended to occur during the months of November, December, and January; none were recorded in the months May through August. The event typing work suggested four distinct surge patterns. Analysis of weather drivers, performed through visual interpretation of the temporal shape/form of the events and via use of an Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis, suggested favoured locations for storm systems – the far eastern Chukotka Peninsula for positive set up events (west of Red Dog Dock), and the Alaska Peninsula for negative set ups (south of Red Dog Dock). A storm system situated to the west of the port generates southwest winds that drive positive set-up events, and a storm situated to the south generates easterly winds that drive negative set-up events. The sea level pressure weather patterns for positive set-up surge events are much stronger and shorter lived than for negative set-up events. This work has established an improved understanding of seasonal storm surge for the region and offers a potential basis for the improved forecasting of both positive and negative set-up surge events in the future. / Graduate / 0725

No description available.

As robots continue to enter people's spaces and environments, it will be increasingly important to have effective interfaces for interaction and communication. One such aspect of this communication is people's awareness of the robot's actions and state. We believe that using high-level state representations, as a peripheral awareness channel, will help people to be aware of the robotic states in an easy to understand way. For example, when a robot is boxed in a small area, it can suggest a negative robot state (e.g., not willing to work in a small area as it cannot clean the entire room) by appearing unhappy to people. To investigate this, we built a robotic dog tail prototype and conducted a study to investigate how different tail motions (based on several motion parameters, e.g., speed) influence people’s perceptions of the robot. The results from this study formed design guidelines that Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) designers can leverage to convey robotic states. Further, we evaluated our overall approach and tested these guidelines by conducting a design workshop with interaction designers where we asked them to use the guidelines to design tail behaviors for various robotic states (e.g., looking for dirt) for robots working in different environments (e.g., domestic service). Results from this workshop helped in improving the confusing parts in our guidelines and making them easy to use by the designers. In conclusion, this thesis presents a set of solidified design guidelines that can be leveraged by HRI designers to convey the states of robots in a way that people can readily understand when and how to interact with them.

During domestication, the dog( Canis familiaris), have become skilful in understanding human communication and also in communicating with humans. The wolf ( Canis lupus), is not as skilled with this interspecific communication. When dogs are faced with an unsolvable problem, they seek help from human by e.g. gazing at them. This behaviour has been studied and both age and breed group differences have been showed. In this study, we presented dogs with a task that consisted of a solvable and unsolvable problem in order to see if they gazed at their owner and/or an unfamiliar person for help. Although we did not find any difference in breed groups regarding gazing at humans, we did find that adult dogs (dogs older than 2 years) gazed more frequently at their owner and for a longer duration than adolescent dogs (6 months to 2 years). This may be because the adult dogs have more experience of this communication with humans, as they have lived longer with them. These findings empathize the bond between a dog and its owner that seems to grow stronger during the dogs’ life.

An important issue in the area of biology is form following function. It is evident that animals have wide variation in morphology, but what functions do these forms follow? The postural stability of an animal decreases as the neural delay increases. This delay increases with animal size because signals must travel across a longer distance at a constant speed. Despite this increase in delay, large animals typically do not fall. In addition to the neural components, animal morphology also affects stability. Therefore it is possible that stability is a guiding principle of morphology. An animal may have a particular shape in order to function in its niche in an ecosystem while maintaining a stable morphology. It is proposed that in order to maintain postural stability, large animals have adapted different morphologies to counteract their longer neural delays. The postural stabilities of animals of different shapes and sizes will be examined using a mathematical model of balance. The effects of neural delay and morphology on postural stability were studied using a four-bar linkage model of frontal plane balance applied to previously- published morphological data from horses and dogs. The postural stability was quantified by calculating the maximum allowable neural delay for an animal in order for the animal to prevent falling via corrective action. This measure was compared to the calculated neural delay for each animal. It was found that maximum allowable delay scales proportionally to neural delay, indicating that postural stability may scale across animal size and morphology. The model has limitations in that it does not incorporate animal width into the calculation of neural delay, therefore excluding the effects of animal width. These results may reveal a scaling relationship for the stability of biological systems across sizes, morphologies, and species.

In der Veterinärmedizin existieren nur wenige Veröffentlichungen zur, in der Humanmedizin weitgehend etablierten, Sonographie des Oropharynx. Da vor allem bei brachyzephalen Hunden das Ausmaß der Hyperplasie der oropharyngalen Weichteile, insbesondere des weichen Gaumens, von großem diagnostischen Interesse ist, wird nach Möglichkeiten zur wenig invasiven Untersuchung dieser Region am wachen Patienten gesucht. So war es Ziel dieser kumulativen Dissertation die Grundlagen der sonographischen Untersuchungs- und Messmethode am weichen Gaumen zu erarbeiten. Die Darstellung der sonographischen Anatomie des weichen Gaumens und der Umgebung erfolgte in der ersten Studie an sieben Tierkörpern normozephaler Hunderassen. Die transkutane Untersuchung erfolgte bei submentaler Schallkopfauflage. Zudem kamen speziell geformte Schallköpfe zur direkten Auflage auf den weichen Gaumen in einer intraoralen Untersuchung zum Einsatz. Zur Erleichterung der Identifizierung der anatomischen Strukturen wurden Wasserbad- und sequentielle Ultraschalluntersuchungen im Anschluss an submentale Weichteilpräparationen des Maulhöhlenbodens durchgeführt. Unter Herstellung des Gewebekontaktes zwischen Zunge und weichem Gaumens bei submentaler Schallkopfauflage, gelang die transkutane sonographische Darstellung des weichen Gaumens im kranialen und mittleren Bereich. Der weiche Gaumen wies eine mondsichelähnliche Form und eine geringe Echogenität auf. Als charakteristisch zeigte sich der Übergang von hartem zu weichem Gaumen, die Darstellung des kaudalen Anteils des Gaumensegels ist aufgrund der umgebenen Luft und Überlagerung mit dem Zungenbein nur eingeschränkt möglich. Die intraorale Untersuchung erlaubte die Darstellung der gaumenspezifischen Echotextur. In der zweiten Studie wurde an 15 normozephalen Hunden in Allgemeinanästhesie die Dicke der Gaumensegel sowohl sonographisch als auch computertomographisch an zwei definierten Messpunkten bestimmt. Die Übereinstimmung der Ergebnisse von wiederholten Messungen mit der jeweiligen Messmethode wurde geprüft. Die wiederholten Messungen erzielten sehr gute Übereinstimmungen (Mean absolute deviation von 0), so dass davon ausgegangen werden kann, dass sowohl die Sonographie als auch die CT reproduzierbare Messungen ermöglicht. Im Messmethodenvergleich wurden die Messergebnisse, die mit den unterschiedlichen Messverfahren (Ultraschall und CT) gewonnen wurden, in der Bland-Altman Auswertung miteinander verglichen. Es waren Abweichungen für beide Messpunkte zu verzeichnen, wobei der Mittelwert der Abweichung vor allem für den zweiten Messpunkt mit 0,31 cm als hoch anzusehen ist. Der Mittelwert der Abweichung fällt am ersten Messpunkt mit 0,08 cm geringer aus. Die klinisch relevanten Abweichungen wurden als Folge der zwischen beiden Messmethoden variierenden Untersuchungsbedingungen, insbesondere der abweichenden Patientenlagerung, interpretiert. Sonographie und CT sind damit, trotz guter Reliabilität des einzelnen Verfahrens, als nicht austauschbare Methoden zur Gaumensegeldickenmessung anzusehen. Die transkutane Sonographie ermöglichte, unter den geschilderten Untersuchungs-bedingungen, erstmals eine Darstellung des kranialen und mittleren Anteils des weichen Gaumens. Der kaudale Anteil des Gaumensegels konnte nicht identifiziert werden. Die Sonographie birgt, nach Ermittlung entsprechender Referenzbereiche, das Potential einer nichtinvasiven, schnellen Untersuchungsmethode zur Vermessung der Gaumensegeldicke am wachen Hund.

Då hunden har blivit en allt större del i människans liv och är en växande målgrupp, vill vi undersöka hur svenska hundägare ser på att resa med sin hund inom Sverige, speciellt vad de har för åsikter om hundvänliga hotell. Den data vi har samlat in är från en enkätundersökning gjord på 522 hundägare i Sverige. Vårt huvudsakliga mål med denna studie är att se om det finns en marknad för fler hundvänliga hotell i Sverige och hur kommunikationen mellan hotellen och hundägarna fungerar. Vi tror att hotellen kan dra nytta av resultatet från denna studie. Resultatet visar på att det finns ett behov av fler hundvänliga hotell i Sverige. Dock verkar det största problemet ligga i kommunikationen mellan hotellen och hundägarna. Eftersom hundägarna känner att det finns en brist i informationen, om vilka hotell som tillåter hundar. En lösning på detta problem skulle kunna vara att göra en internationell symbol, som visar ifall ett hotell är hundvänligt eller inte. / Since the dog is becoming a more important role in the life of humans and is a growing target group, our research will examine how dog owners feel about traveling with their dogs in Sweden, in particularly staying at dog friendly hotels. The data we have collected is from a survey done on 522 dog owners in Sweden. Our main goal with this study is to see if there is a market for more dog friendly hotels in Sweden and how the communication between the hotels and the dog owners is working. We believe that the hotels can benefit from the results of this study. The result shows that there is a need for more dog friendly hotels in Sweden. However the main problem seems to be the communication between the hotels and the dog owners. Since the dog owners feel that there is a lack of information, about which hotels are allowing dogs. A solution to this problem could be to make an international symbol, which will show if a hotel is dog friendly or not.

Šunų I tipo padidinto jautrumo reakcijos klinikinė ir laboratorinė diagnostika. Darbo apimtis 42 puslapiai, sudarytos 8 lentelės, 6 paveikslai, naudoti 62 literatūros šaltiniai. Darbo tikslas - klinikiniais ir laboratoriniais tyrimo metodais įvertinti I tipo alerginės reakcijos atvejus šunų tarpe, kurie pasitaiko nedidelės smulkių gyvūnų klinikos praktikoje. Tyrimas buvo atliekamas veterinarijos klinikoje „Pas pumą“ 2012 – 2013 m. Buvo užregistruoti 38 šunų susirgimai, susiję su I tipo padidinto jautrumo reakcijos klikiniais požymiais, iš savininkų surinkta išsami anamnezė ir atlikti hematologiniai (morfologija) tyrimai. Imunologiniam tyrimui surinkti 13 alergiškų ir 12 sveikų šunų kraujo serumo mėginiai. Imunologinis IFA (ELISA) tyrimas, nustatyti tiriamųjų šunų IgE koncentracijai kraujo serume, buvo atliktas Lietuvos sveikatos mokslų universiteto veterinarijos fakulteto anatomijos ir fiziologijos katedros imunologijos laboratorijoje. Tyrimo metu nustatyta, kad dažniausiai pasitaikanti I tipo padidinto jautrumo reakcijos forma šunų tarpe buvo atopinis dermatitas (63,2 proc.), kurios ryškiausias požymis buvo niežulys (57,9 proc.), daugiausiai apimantis ausis ir pilvo ventralinę sieną. Šunų lytis ir veislė neturėjo reikšmingos įtakos I tipo padidinto jautrumo reakcijos pasireiškimui, o amžiaus tendencija ryški – alergijos pirmieji požymiai pasireiškia 6 mėn. – 2 m. šunims (62,5 – 78,57 proc.), o šunims iki 6 metų amžiaus alergijos pasikartoja dažniau. Kraujo neutrofilų... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Master thesis: Clinical and laboratory diagnosis of type I hypersensitivity reaction in dogs. Master thesis volume 41 pages, consisting of 8 tables, 6 pictures, 61 references used. The main aim of the thesis is to evaluate type I hypersensitivity reaction cases in dogs in small animal veterinary practice using clinical and laboratory methods. The study was carried out in veterinary practise “Pas pumą” in 2012 – 2013. 38 cases of dogs associated with type I hypersensitivity reaction were registered and a detailed medical history was collected from these dogs owners. Haematological examination was performed. Blood samples were collected from 13 dogs with type I hypersensitivity and from 12 healthy dogs. Immunological test ELISA was done to evaluate canine serum IgE levels concentration. Testing was performed in Lithuanian University of Health Sciences , Faculty of Veterinary Anatomy and Physiology, Department of Immunology laboratory. The analysis of clinical findings has shown the most common type I hypersensitivity clinical presentation among dogs is atopic dermatitis (63.2 percent). The most common clinical features were pruritus (57.9 percent) mainly of the ears and the ventral abdominal wall. Dog gender and breed had no significant effect on type I hypersensitivity reactions. The analysis showed that first signs of allergy for dogs commonly occur from 6 months until 2 years of age (62.5 – 78.57 percent of dogs). Allergies had a higher incidence of recurrence in dogs up... [to full text]

Pagrindinis darbo tikslas buvo išsiaiškinti, kokie yra dažniausiai pasitaikantys šunų širdies ritmo sutrikimai, kokie pagrindiniai diagnostiniai metodai naudojami aritmijoms nustatyti ir diferencijuoti, bei aprašyti medikamentinius preparatus, naudojamus gydant šunis nuo aritmijų. Darbo metu buvo analizuojami LSMU VA Dr. L. Kiaučeliūno smulkiųjų gyvūnų klinikoje, nuo 2008 iki 2013 metų, surinkti gydytų šunų duomenys, kuriems pasireiškė širdies ritmo sutrikimai. Buvo analizuojami pacientų anamnezės duomenys, kuriuos pateikė gyvūnų savininkai, ieškoma aritmijų pasireiškimo priklausomybių nuo šunų lyties, veislės, amžiaus, kilmės, svorio. Širdies ritmo sutrikimai buvo nustatyti 145 šunims, iš kurių 103 buvo patinai ir 42 patelės. Širdies ritmo sutrikimai buvo diagnozuojami auskultuojant širdies darbą, atliekant echokardiografiją, rentgeninį tyrimą bei užrašant elektrokardiogramą – tai yra pagrindinis aritmijų tyrimo metodas. Buvo nustatyta, jog dažniausiai pasitaikantis širdies ritmo sutrikimas šunims yra sinusinės aritmijos, kurios pasireiškė 61 pacientui, tai sudarė 42 proc. šunų, kuriems buvo nustatytos aritmijos. Be sinusinių aritmijų, tiriamojoje šunų grupėje, buvo nustatyti dar 6 rūšių širdies ritmo sutrikimai: supraventrikulinės ekstrasistolijos buvo diagnozuotos 21 (14,5 proc.) šuniui, ventrikulinės ekstrasistolijos – 34 (23,4 proc.), Hiso pluošto kojyčių blokados – 9 (6,2 proc.), Io AV blokados – 10 (6,9 proc.), IIo AV blokados – 6 (4,1 proc.), o IIIo AV blokados - 3 (2... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The main aim of work – to determine what are the most common canine cardiac rhythm disorders, analyse diagnostic methods and describe basic medical drugs used in the treatment of arrhythmias. Data of dogs morbidity of cardiac rhythm disorders in 2008 – 2013 has been collected at Dr. L. Kriaučeliūnas Small Animal Clinic of Veterinary Academy of Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. Cardiac rhythm disorders have been diagnosed to 145 dogs: 103 of them were males, and 42 – were females. Clinical diagnosis has been approved according to results of diagnostic methods like: auscultation of heart rate and sounds, X-ray, cardioechoscopy and the main diagnostic method of cardiac arrhythmias – EKG. Sinus arrhythmia has been determined as the most common cardiac rhythm disorder of dogs. This type of arrhythmia has been diagnosed to 61 (42 %) dogs. There were more types of arrhytmias diagnosed like: premature ventricular contractions – 34 (23,4 %) cases, premature atrial contractions - 21 (14,5 %) cases, Hiss bundle branch blocks – 9 (6,2 %) cases and AV blocks – 17 (13,1 %) cases (p<0.001). Male dogs were ill with the cardiac rhythm disorders more often compared to females (71,0% vs. 29,0 %). Arrhythmias were diagnosed to 109 (75,2 %) purebred dogs and 36 (24,8 %) mixed breed dogs (p<0.01). Cardiac rhythm disorders have been diagnosed to 13 Rottweilers (11,9%) and 11 German Shepherds (10,0%), which were most common breeds (p<0.01). In addition, dogs from eight years old and older... [to full text]