Area sensitivity of North American grassland birds is a significant conservation concern; yet, its causes are not known. I used point count data from 20 tall-grass prairie patches in Southern Manitoba to assess the relative importance of patch size, edge proximity, and landscape composition on the densities and species richness of grassland songbirds. The degree to which the landscape surrounding point count plots was open, as opposed to forested or urban, had a positive effect on species richness and the densities of most focal species, and was more important than patch size, edge proximity, or habitat amount. These results suggest that landscape openness, not patch size (with which it is usually correlated) drives area sensitivity. Small grassland patches embedded in open landscapes are less susceptible to area sensitivity and may be of high conservation value for grassland birds. / February 2017

Elevperspektivet på klassdebatter/rollspel som pedagogisk metod i skolan är ett område som är relativt outforskat. Syftet med den här studien är att utveckla kunskaper om elevers upplevelser av klassdebatter/rollspel. Studien genomförs ur ett sociokulturellt perspektiv, där samspel och kommunikation ses som en förutsättning för lärande. Empirin samlades in genom videodokumentation av elever då de genomförde debatter/rollspel. Därefter intervjuades enskilda elever i form av stimulated reflection, viket är en metod som ger intervjupersonen möjlighet att reflektera över det som sker i den videoinspelade debatten/rollspelet. Resultatet av studien, vilket tolkas genom en innehållsanalys, visar tydligt att eleverna är positiva till debatt/rollspel som pedagogiskt verktyg. Här ser de fördelar med att samlära och interagera för att utveckla lärandet och nå djupare kunskap. Att inta ett annat perspektiv i form av en roll upplevs som ett positivt redskap i bearbetningen av frågor och problem. Samtidigt visar resultatet att eleverna upplever olika begränsningar vilket hämmar både deras lärarande och möjligheten att visa sina kunskaper. Begränsningar som nämns är; en ojämn fördelning av talutrymmet, för stora grupper och gruppsammansättningen samt olika förutsättningar beroende på rollens karaktär. Slutsatsen blir att pedagogiska debatter/rollspel är ett bra verktyg för lärande men att det behöver utvecklas för att undanröja de begränsningar som finns, för att därigenom skapar ännu bättre förutsättningar för lärande och bedömning. / Summary: Student perspective on the class debates/role-playing as a teaching method in schools is an area that is relatively unexplored. The purpose of this study is to develop the knowledge of students' experiences of the class debates/role-playing. The study was conducted from a socio-cultural perspective, where interaction and communication are seen as a prerequisite for learning. The empirical data were collected through video documentation of students when they conducted debates/role-playing. Afterwards the students were interviewed individually in the form of stimulated reflection, which is a method that gives the interviewee the opportunity to reflect on what is happening in the videotaped debate/role-playing. The results of the study, which are interpreted through content analysis, clearly shows that students are positive for debate/role-playing as educational tools. Here they see the advantages to combine cooperative learning and interaction to develop their learning and achieve deeper knowledge. Taking a different perspective in the form of a role is perceived as a positive tool in the processing of issues and problems. At the same time, the results show that students experience different constraints which hamper both their learning and the opportunity to show their skills. Limitations that are mentioned; an uneven distribution of linguistic space for large groups and group composition and different conditions depending on the nature of the role. The conclusion is that educational debates/role-playing games are a great learning tool, but it needs to be developed to overcome the limitations that exist, thereby creating better conditions for learning and assessment.

Under bearbetning av bilder idag förekommer ofta stora filer. Med den effektiva teknologiska utvecklingen har efterfrågan på kvalitet växt allt mer. I en värld där fotografens kamera har blivit mer högupplöst har även bilders filstorlek blivit större. Målet med detta examensarbete har varit att komma fram med en rekommendation för hur man arbetar mot en liten filstorlek. Rekommendationen är till för retuschörer som arbetar inom modebranschen och med bilder ämnade för print. Arbetet har försökt åskådliggöra vad under retuscheringens arbetsgång som orsakar en större filstorlek. Detta genom att kontakta retuschörer som ofta arbetar med modebilder. Fokus har legat på lager i Photoshop samt editeringsalternativ för retuschören. Det framkom att retuschörer gjorde liknande åtgärder för att få en liten filstorlek, och att en viss likhet kan urskiljas i deras arbetssätt kring vad som ökade filstorlek. Det framkom även att filstorleken påverkas mest av hur pixellager och masker ser ut, till skillnad från justeringslager. / During the processing of pictures today the file size often becomes large. An effective technological development has made the demand for quality higher. In a world where the photographer's camera has gotten a higher resolution, the image's file size has also increased. The aim of this thesis has been to come up with a recommendation for how to work towards getting a smaller file size. The recommendation was intended for retouchers who work in the fashion industry and with pictures meant for print. The work has dealt with file sizes associated with retouching and have tried to illustrate what during the retouch procedure that causes a larger file size. This has been done by contacting retouchers who often work with fashion images. The focus has been on the layers in Photoshop and editing options for the retoucher. The results showed that the retouchers had similar ways of working towards a small file size, and a certain similarity is apparent in their way of retouching which caused a bigger file size. What also showed was that the file size is the most affected by how layers consisting of pixels and masks look compared to adjustment layers.

This research seeks to advance our understanding of how to make better informed species conservation decisions on a global scale and advance our understanding of how species' spatial distributions (their geographic ranges) may be respond to climate change, so we can know which areas should be set aside to ensure their present and future conservation. To understand how species' geographic ranges may change, it's important to first assess how geographic ranges are defined and measured. The quantifiable measurement of a species' geographic range, (its geographic range size), is a key criterion the International Union for the Conservation of Nature uses to determine the conservation status and prioritization of species worldwide. Thus, part one of this thesis evaluates different measures for how geographic range size is commonly quantified in the conservation community, to determine whether some range size measures are more reliable than others.Further, to evaluate how species' geographic ranges may respond to climate change, I examine the climatic factors influencing observable longitudinal range size gradients in the North American tree species range maps from E.L. Little's Atlas of North American Trees.

In 1979, the Chinese government introduced the One-child Policy for the purpose of controlling population growth. Thirty years later, the fertility rate in China has declined to a very low level and one-child families have become the norm. At the same time, the consequences of low fertility rates have emerged. In 2015, the government announced a new policy that encouraged couples to have two children in order to raise the total fertility rate. In this paper, I analyze the economic and legal implications of the Chinese family planning policies. By examining to what extent fertility decisions are affected by government policies, I evaluate the potential effects of the Two-child Policy. The findings suggest that the Two-child Policy might not be effective in increasing the total fertility rate.

Aerosol particles, especially in the high Arctic are still not very well represented in climate models. Particle size and number concentrations are strongly under-predicted and temporal variations of aerosol composition and size are still not very well understood, mainly due to the sparsity of observations. The main objective of this thesis is the characterization of the high Arctic summer aerosol by means of electron microscopy in order to extend the existing data set from previous expeditions by size resolved data on aerosol number, morphology and chemical composition and to gain a better understanding of the evolution of the aerosol in the atmosphere. Ambient aerosol was collected over the pack ice during the Arctic Summer Cloud and Ocean (ASCOS) campaign to the high Arctic in summer 2008. Aerosol particles were evaluated with scanning electron microscopy and subsequent digital image processing to assess particle size and morphology. More than 3900 aerosol particles from 9 sampling events were imaged with scanning electron microscopy and merged into groups of similar morphology which contributed to different degrees to the total aerosol: single particles (82%), gel particles (11%) and halo particles (7%). Single particles were observed over the whole size range with a maximum at 64 nm in diameter, gel particles appeared &gt; 45 nm with a maximum in number at 174 nm, halo particles appeared &gt; 75 nm with a maximum in number at 161 nm. The majority of particles showed the morphology of marine gels, no sea salt or otherwise crystalline particles were observed. Transmission electron microscopy enabled more subtle insights into particle morphology and allowed further subdivision of gel particles into aggregates, aggregates with film and mucus-like particles. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy of individual particles revealed a gradual transition in the content of Na+/K+ and Ca2+/Mg2+ between particle morphologies. Single particles and aggregate particles preferentially contained Na+/K+ whereas aggregate with film particles and mucus-like particles mainly contained Ca2+/Mg2+ suggesting a connection between particle morphology and ion content. Back-trajectory analysis was used to identify aerosol sources and to understand the evolution of the aerosol as a function of the synoptic weather situation. Particle numbers, size and morphology changed with the days the air mass spent over the pack-ice. A morphological descriptor applied to gel particles showed a clear trend suggesting that the contour of the particles becomes sharper and more distinct with increased time spent over the pack-ice. For a very long time over the pack-ice, however, we observed a morphology comparable to freshly emitted particles suggesting aerosol sources over the inner pack-ice. Size resolved aerosol chemical composition measurements were utilized to investigate the inorganic composition of laboratory generated nascent sea spray aerosol particles and ambient aerosol samples collected during ASCOS. A significant enrichment of Ca2+ was observed in submicrometer particles in either case with a tendency for increasing Ca2+ enrichment with decreasing particle size. This has strong implications for the alkalinity of sea spray aerosol particles with consequences for the sulfur chemistry in the marine boundary layer, the hygroscopicity and thus the potential of sea spray aerosol particles to act as cloud condensation nuclei. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: Manuscript.</p>

The purpose of this study was to evaluate Lewis (2016) simple method to determine hydraulic conductivity in soil samples. This was conducted by comparing Lewis method to a slug-test, Guelph permeameter and calculations from grain size analysis in order to find out if the method is a reliable source for measuring hydraulic conductivity. Other parameters to compare is time consumption, cost effectiveness and area of use. Four different samples were used in the testing, a sand, two tills and pyrite ash (which is a rest product from manufacturing sulfite pulp). The results indicated that measurements in the homogenic sand all methods was in a good range of each other, while in the more heterogenic till the slug-test and Lewis method was close and the calculations from grainsize analysis was much lower. Only grainsize analysis was performed on the pyrite ash and the results was similar to Lewis method. This study shows that Lewis method works well as a reliable source for K measurements and is less time consuming than all the other methods. The material required for the method can be obtained in a hardware store.

Abstract In 2007, an adaptive grazing management process began on the Santa Rita Experimental Range (SRER) in southern Arizona with a primary management objective to reduce repeated defoliation of perennial bunchgrass plants during the summer growing season. In order to follow defoliation events, 1400 individual plants were identified in 6 pastures scheduled for summer grazing from June 15 to October 2, 2013. Plant height and diameter categories were measured before cattle entered each pasture and were re-measured daily or alternate days throughout the grazing period. The differences between heights and diameters were used to calculate any regrowth that occurred. Of the 1400 plants marked, 738 (52.7%) were not defoliated, 453 (32.3%) plants were defoliated once, 199 (14.2%) plants were defoliated twice, and 10 (0.7%) plants were defoliated three-times for a total of 881 defoliation events recorded. The majority of first defoliation events and first incidences of second defoliation occurred on day 3. Cattle began switching their grazing strategy from undefoliated plants to new growth of previously defoliated plants by day 9 with 48 of a total 161 previously defoliated plants being defoliated. The highest number of second defoliations were measured on day 11 when 115 plants were observed as having been defoliated for a second time and 5 plants were defoliated for a third time. Arizona cottontop (Digitaria californica) had a higher percentage of both single and multiple defoliation events when compared to the other perennial grass species. Distance from a permanent water source was not found to have a significant impact on the number of defoliations that an individual plant received. Plants defoliated the first time were taller and had a larger circumference (21.0±5.6 cm and 40.8±9.0 cm) than plants that were re-defoliated (15.5±5.6 cm and 31.4±9.0 cm). This study found that the planned 10 day SRER grazing rotation, when followed, would minimize multiple defoliations by cattle on perennial bunchgrasses.

Animals in general vary immensely in body size, which greatly affects their morphology, physiology, survival, and nutritional requirements. The nervous system is also affected by variation in body size, which, in turn, shapes the perception of environmental stimuli and the behavior of animals. Comparative studies of vertebrates suggest that larger brains and their integrative centers comprise more and generally larger neurons (Jerison, 1973; Kaas, 2000), but much less is known about brain - body size relations in invertebrates. Closely related social bee species are well suited to study correlations between body size and brain composition. Different honey bee species vary in body size yet differ little in their ecological requirements and behavior and bumble bees feature a large range of body sizes even within a single colony.

The mechanisms that control growth processes in biology tissues have attracted continuous research interest despite their complexity. With the emergence of big data experimental approaches there is an urgent need to develop statistical and computational models to fit the experimental data and that can be used to make predictions to guide future research. In this work we apply statistical methods on growth process of different biological tissues, focusing on development of neuron dendrites and tumor cells. We first examine the neuron cell growth process, which has implications in neural tissue regenerations, by using a computational model with uniform branching probability and a maximum overall length constraint. One crucial outcome is that we can relate the parameter fits from our model to real data from our experimental collaborators, in order to examine the usefulness of our model under different biological conditions. Our methods can now directly compare branching probabilities of different experimental conditions and provide confidence intervals for these population-level measures. In addition, we have obtained analytical results that show that the underlying probability distribution for this process follows a geometrical progression increase at nearby distances and an approximately geometrical series decrease for far away regions, which can be used to estimate the spatial location of the maximum of the probability distribution. This result is important, since we would expect maximum number of dendrites in this region; this estimate is related to the probability of success for finding a neural target at that distance during a blind search. We then examined tumor growth processes which have similar evolutional evolution in the sense that they have an initial rapid growth that eventually becomes limited by the resource constraint. For the tumor cells evolution, we found an exponential growth model best describes the experimental data, based on the accuracy and robustness of models. Furthermore, we incorporated this growth rate model into logistic regression models that predict the growth rate of each patient with biomarkers; this formulation can be very useful for clinical trials. Overall, this study aimed to assess the molecular and clinic pathological determinants of breast cancer (BC) growth rate in vivo.