Vocalizations are widely studied as possible non-invasive indicators of welfare. The most common vocalizations in pigs are grunts and screams. This thesis is focused on the relationship between vocal parameters of piglet's grunts and screams and the behavioural arousal (which is assumed to indicate stress intensity) during the social isolation.

While the gestural communication of apes is widely recognised as intentional and flexible, their vocal communication still remains considered as mostly genetically determined and emotionally bound. Trying to limit the direct projections of linguistic concepts, that are far from holding a unified view on what constitute human language, this thesis presents a detailed description of the pant-grunt vocalisation usage and development in the chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) of the Budongo forest, Uganda. Pant-grunts are one of the most social vocalisations of the chimpanzee vocal repertoire and are always given from a subordinate individual to a dominant. The question of how such a signal is used and develops is critical for our understanding of chimpanzee social and vocal complexity in an ontogenetical and phylogenetical perpective. Results suggest that pant-grunt vocalisations can be used in a flexible way, both in their form and usage within a social group. More specifically, chimpanzees seemed to take into account the number and identity of surrounding individuals before producing these vocalisations. At the acoustic level, pant-grunts seem to be very variable vocalisations that corresponded to different social situations commonly encountered. Grunts are one of the first vocalisations produced by babies but they are not first produced in social contexts. Although some modifications of the social grunts form and usage could not entirely be attributed to maturation only, the role of the mother seemed to be restricted. Her direct influence was perhaps more visible in the rhythmic patterns of chorusing events. Taken together, this thesis suggests that chimpanzee vocalisations are more flexible in their usage, production and acquisition than previously thought and might therefore be more similar to gestural communication.

Submitted by (edna.saturno@ufrpe.br) on 2017-02-17T13:58:04Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Monica Maria Cavalcati de Azevedo Souza.pdf: 1419418 bytes, checksum: 5a4162f4745891068477edbb753e7d65 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-17T13:58:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Monica Maria Cavalcati de Azevedo Souza.pdf: 1419418 bytes, checksum: 5a4162f4745891068477edbb753e7d65 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-04-17 / The white grunt, Haemulon plumieri, is a tropical marine fish of relative economic importance, targeted by the artisanal fleet in the state of Pernambuco (Brazil). Although it has been widely caught, very little has been published on the fishery and biology of the species, especially regarding its reproduction. Thus, the main objective of the present study was to study the fishering operations, reproductive biology and feeding habits of the white grunt along the central coast of the state of Pernambuco. We hope that the information obtained might help to assure a sustainable exploitation of this important fishery resource. For the study of the white grunt fishery, data were obtained from the ESTATPESCA databank developed by the Brazilian environmental agency IBAMA, in August of 2007 and through direct interviews with fishermen from the Z1, Z2 and Z4 colonies, locates in the cities of Recife, Paulista and Olinda, respectively. For the study on reproductive biology, a total of 300 specimens caught between May 2003 and September 2005 were measured, among which 111 males and 180 females were macroscopically identified. In the laboratory, the gonads and stomach of each specimen were collected and fixed in a 10% formaldehyde solution. 261 stomachs were examined for the analysis of feeding habits, the contents of which were identified to the lowest possible taxon level. Among a fishery production of 16870.0 t for the state, in 2005, the white grunt was the eighth most caught fish, with a landed production corresponding to 164.5 t. The artisanal fishing communities have relatively similar socioeconomic characteristics, employing the same fishing methods, namely, fish pots, gillnets, seines and hand lines, with the principal fishing product being the mutton snapper. Fork length (FL) of the white grunt specimens sampled ranged from 14.0 to 29.5 cm, with a female to male sex ratio of 1.7:1.0. Mean monthly distribution of the Gonadossomatic Index (GSI) of adult specimens ranged from 0.28 and 1.63 for males and from 1.47 to 4.68 for females. Size at first sexual maturity (L50) was estimated at 20 cm FL for females and 26 cm FL for males. Among the 261 stomachs analyzed, 25 were everted (9.6%), 218 were empty (83.5%) and just 18 had contents (6.9%). Based on the Index of Relative Importance(IRI), the feeding habits of the species was mainly directed at small fish and mollusks. The results presented here are expected to contribute toward the sustainability of this important fishery resource in the state. / A biquara, Haemulon plumieri, é um peixe tropical marinho que possui relativa importância econômica, sendo bastante pescada pelas embarcações da frota artesanal do Estado de Pernambuco. Embora seja amplamente capturada, muito pouco tem sido publicado sobre a pesca e a biologia da espécie, particularmente sobre a sua reprodução. Neste contexto, o presente trabalho teve como objetivo principal estudar a pesca, a biologia reprodutiva e alimentar da biquara na costa central do Estado de Pernambuco, com vistas a gerar subsídios necessários a uma explotação sustentável desse importante recurso pesqueiro. Para o estudo da pesca, os dados analisados foram obtidos em agosto de 2007,através do banco de dados estatísticos, ESTATPESCA, desenvolvido pelo IBAMA, e por meio de entrevistas diretas realizadas com pescadores das colônias Z1, Z2 e Z4, pertencentes aos municípios de Recife, Paulista e Olinda, respectivamente. Para o estudo da biologia reprodutiva, foram mensurados um total de 300 exemplares, capturados entre maio de 2003 e setembro de 2005, dos quais se identificaram macroscopicamente 111 machos e 189 fêmeas. Em laboratório, cada espécime teve a gônada e o estômago coletados e fixados em solução de formol a 10%. Para análise do hábito alimentar foram examinados 261 estômagos cujos conteúdos foram identificados até o menor táxon possível. Para uma produção pesqueira no Estado, no ano de 2005, igual a 16.870,0 t, a biquara foi a oitava espécie mais capturada, com uma produção desembarcada correspondendo a 164,5 t. As comunidades de pesca artesanal apresentaram características sócioeconômicas relativamente semelhantes, empregando as mesmas técnicas de pesca, a saber:covo, rede de emalhe, rede de arrasto e linha de mão, tendo como principal produto pescado a cioba. O comprimento zoológico (CZ) dos exemplares amostrados variou de 14,0 a 29,5 cm, com uma proporção sexual de 1,7 fêmeas: 1,0 macho. Adistribuição da média mensal do IGS (Índice Gonadossomático) dos indivíduos adultos apresentou valores variando entre 0,28 e 1,63 para os machos, e entre 1,47 e 4,68, para as fêmeas. O tamanho da primeira maturação sexual (L50) para as fêmeas foi estimado em 20 cm CZ, enquanto que para os machos esse valor foi de 26 cm. Dos 261 estômagos analisados, 25 estavam evertidos (9,6%), 218 vazios (83,5%) e apenas 18 apresentaram conteúdo (6,9%). De acordo com o Índice de Importância Relativa (IIR), o hábito alimentar da espécie foi principalmente constituído por pequenos peixes e moluscos. A expectativa é de que os resultados aqui aportados contribuam para a sustentabilidade da pesca deste importante recurso pesqueiro, no Estado.

The first part of Master`s thesis focuses on defining the concept of small and medium sized company, a description of their meaning and the possibility of obtaining grants from EU structural funds and from government institutions. Within the options of grant will be prepared and submitted a grant application for a subsidized loan from Czech-Moravian Guarantee and Development Bank or from another entity. The second part of Thesis deals with the business plan. Thesis compares business plan from the franchisor with the reality that arose in building small store in Tabor and its operation in the first fifteen months. Based on the comparison may be designed to optimizing cost outlets of the store. The contribution of this Thesis is to look at a small retail business and it's financing. Such a complex view can help to similar retailers with orientation in the establishment and funding of a similar type of retail businesses. It will also be evaluated by franchise concept Náš grunt in the light of the real picture of financing its stores.

Inshore tropical and subtropical estuaries harbor a relatively high abundance and diversity of organisms. Specifically within estuaries, mangrove and seagrass habitats provide shelter and food for a plethora of organisms, through some or all their life histories. Given the biological connection between offshore coral reefs and coastal estuaries, there is a critical need to understand the underlying processes that determine distribution and abundance patterns within mangrove-seagrass habitats. The predatory fish assemblage within the mangrove and seagrass beds of Biscayne Bay, Florida (USA), was examined over 24-hr. time periods along a distance and habitat gradient from the mangrove edge and nearshore environment (0–300 m) to farshore (301–700 m) seagrass beds. This thesis also investigated the occurrence, distribution and timing of reef fish movement between offshore coral reef habitat and inshore seagrass beds over 24-hr periods. Results indicate that fish predators differed over both the sampling period and with distance from mangrove edge. The results also demonstrated reef fishes move into Biscayne Bay at dusk and exit at dawn by utilizing Broad Creek Channel as a passageway. This work supports the idea of diel migration of selected reef fishes to inshore seagrass beds and highlights the importance of connective channels between habitats. The results suggest that the degradation or loss of seagrass habitat could differentially impact the life-history stages of reef fish species.

Akustiska kanaler för undervattenskommunikation är flervägskanaler där ljudet reflekteras från havets yta och botten och bryts vid ljudhastighetsförändringar. I grunt vatten är impulssvaret långt jämfört med symbolernas tidslängd i ett utskickat meddelande. Detta orsakar intersymbolinterferens, vilket gör det svårt att återskapa meddelandet. Denna avhandling behandlar fysikalisk modellering av kommunikationskanalen. Sådan modellering kan öka insikten om de svårigheter som finns vid design av kommunikationssystem och kan vara till hjälp vid utveckling av lämpliga modulationstekniker och avkodningsalgoritmer. Ljudutbredningen simuleras med en strålgångsmetod med reflektionskoefficienter beräknade för plana vågor. I artikel 4 och 5 utvidgas modellen till en algoritm för gaussisk strålsummation. De viktigaste vetenskapliga bidragen är följande. Artikel 1: Aktuell kunskap om impulssvaret hos kommunikationskanalen gör det betydligt lättare att tolka det mottagna meddelandet. I denna artikel studeras tidsvariabiliteten hos impulssvaret i termer av bitfelssannolikhet när ett gammalt impulssvar används för kanalutjämning. Tidsvariabiliteten visar sig variera avsevärt med mottagarpositionen, inte bara när det gäller avståndet till sändaren, utan även när det gäller placeringen i djupled. Artikel 2: En hybridmetod presenteras, där strålgång i ett avståndsberoende medium kombineras med lokal fullfältsmodellering av interaktionen med havsbottnen. Metoden används för simuleringar av akustisk kommunikation i grunt vatten. Artikel 3: För att kunna göra tillförlitliga simuleringar av ljudutbredning behöver man god kunskap om mediets ljudhastighetsprofil --- information som inte alltid är tillgänglig. I denna artikel används den hybrida strålgångsmetoden från artikel 2 för att skatta ljudhastighetsprofilen från kommunikationsdata. Miljöparametrarna som beräknats genom inversionen minskar avvikelsen mellan simulerade och observerade skattningar av impulssvaret jämfört med avvikelsen då en uppmätt, två dagar gammal ljudhastighetsprofil används vid simuleringen. Miljömodellen används också för en genomgång av alternativa käll- och mottagarpositioner. Artikel 4: Gaussisk strålsummation är en vågutbredningsmodell som liknar strålgång men kan ge korrekta resultat i strålgångens singulära områden, som skuggzoner och kaustikor. I denna artikel diskuteras hur några olika val av den komplexa strålparametern $\epsilon$ fungerar i grunda vågledare. Bäst resultat erhålls om man väljer $\epsilon$ så att strålen blir smal i punkten närmast mottagaren och får en plan vågfront där. Artikel 5: En adaptiv metod för gaussisk strålsummation i grunda vågledare presenteras. Algoritmen ger en noggrannhet som är bättre än eller minst lika bra som strålgångens, även i grunda vågledare med en starkt djupberoende ljudhastighet. / Acoustic underwater communication channels are multipath channels where sound is reflected from the surface and the bottom of the sea and refracted by sound speed variations. In shallow water, the impulse response is typically long compared to the time length of the symbols in a transmitted message. This causes inter-symbol interference, which makes the message difficult to decode. This thesis deals with physical modelling of the communication channel. Such modelling can provide insight into the difficulties of communication system design and may serve as an aid in the development of appropriate modulation techniques and decoding algorithms. The sound propagation is simulated by a ray tracing method with plane-wave reflection coefficients, in papers 4 and 5 expanded to a Gaussian beam summation algorithm. The main scientific contributions are the following. Paper 1: Up-to-date knowledge of the impulse response of the communication channel considerably simplifies the extraction of information from a detected signal. In this paper the time variability of the impulse response is studied in terms of the bit-error rate, when an old impulse response is used for channel equalisation. The time variability is found to vary significantly with the receiver position, not only in range, but also in depth. Paper 2: A hybrid raytrace method is presented, combining ray tracing in a range-dependent water column with local full-field modelling of the seabed interaction. The method is applied to simulations of acoustic communication in shallow water. Paper 3: To be able to make reliable simulations of sound propagation, one needs to know, quite accurately, the sound speed profile of the medium --- information which is not always available. In this paper the hybrid raytrace method from paper 2 is used to estimate the sound speed profile from communication data. The environmental model obtained by the inversion reduces the mismatch between the modelled and the observed impulse response estimates, compared to the mismatch with a two-days-old sound speed profile. The model is also used to investigate alternative source-receiver configurations. Paper 4: Gaussian beam summation is a wave propagation model similar to ray tracing, which can yield correct results in singular regions like shadow zones and caustic points. In this paper some different choices of the complex beam parameter $\epsilon$ are discussed for shallow waveguides. Best results are observed when $\epsilon$ is chosen so that each beam is narrow at the point where it is closest to the receiver and has a plane wavefront there. Paper 5: An adaptive method for Gaussian beam summation in shallow waveguides is presented. The algorithm yields better or at least as good accuracy as ray tracing, even in shallow waveguides with a strongly depth-dependent sound speed profile. / QC 20100819

Denna studie handlar om den fartförlust och därmed den ökade energiförbrukningen som drabbar fartyg på grunt vatten. Syftet var att ta reda på hur mycket kortare en grund passage behöver vara för att den ska vara ett bättre alternativ än en lång och djup rutt med hänsyn till bränsleförbrukning och tidsåtgång. Resultatet av detta blev att det inte går att dra några generella slutsatser som gäller för alla fartygstyper men att det går att se tydliga tendenser. Studien hade även som målsättning att skapa ett underlag som skulle kunna användas av nautiker vid planering av resor, detta presenterades i form av en sammanställning av de resultat som erhållits vid beräkning av fartförlust i öppet vatten. Någon sammanställning gjordes inte för begränsat vatten eftersom exempelfartygen där fick likadana resultat vilket skulle ha gjort en sådan överflödig. Syftet uppnåddes genom användande av kvantitativa studier i form av matematiska beräkningsmetoder för att beräkna fartförlust, bränsleförbrukning och tidsåtgång för ett antal exempelfartyg. / This study concerns the speed loss and thereby the increased energy consumption which affects ships in shallow water. The aim of the study was to gain knowledge of how much shorter a shallow passage is required to be in order to be the better alternative compared to a long and deep route with regard to fuel and time consumption. The result was that it is not possible to draw any definitive conclusions which are applicable to all ship types, however, there are clear patterns. Moreover, the goal of the study was to aid mariners facing a choice between a long and deep route and a short and shallow route, this was done by creating a compilation of the results for speed loss in open water. Due to the results for confined waters being the same for all the ships in the study, no compilation was done for confined waters as it was deemed excessive. The aim of the study was achieved by quantitative research in the form of mathematical models to calculate speed loss, fuel consumption and time consumption for a number of fictitious ships.

The populations of three–spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) in the Baltic Sea have increased tenfold over the last decade. A large increase in abundance can alter the offshore and coastal food webs. Despite of these facts, there are large gaps in the knowledge about the stickleback ecology in the Baltic and the possible effect they might have on their environment. Earlier investigations state that stickleback mainly occupy the deeper areas offshore, and only migrate to the shallow areas during May–July to spawn. Observations by recreational fishermen indicate that this may be incorrect, and that some adult sticklebacks are present in the shallow areas even during the winter. One aim of this study was to investigate the timing of stickleback migration to a shallow coastal area in Kalmar Sound. The study also aimed to examine the relative abundance in two adjacent shallow areas in the archipelago south of Kalmar, where one of the areas is a pike spawning ground. A one month long test fishing with fyke nets was started on the first day after ice break. Results show that the sticklebacks are present in the bays immediately after the ice break, and that high abundances coincide with the pike spawning period. Stomach analyses showed that sticklebacks consumed a large proportion of crustaceans, but also fish eggs were found. These results shed new light on the management actions for many of the coastal spring spawning fish species that have shown decreasing abundances during the last decades. / Bestånden av storspigg (Gasterosteus aculeatus) i Östersjön har ökat markant, data visar på en tiofaldig ökning under det senaste decenniet. Ökningen kan medföra att bl.a. näringsväven, till havs och längs kusterna förändras. Trots vetskapen om detta finns det kunskapsluckor kring spiggens ekologi och dess möjliga påverkan på sin omgivning. Litteratur säger att spiggen till största del bara befinner sig inne längs kusterna under maj-juli. Observationer från sportfiskare tyder på att detta inte stämmer, och att vuxen storspigg befinner sig inne längs kusten och i skärgårdsvikar året om. Ett syfte med studien var att undersöka när spiggen kom in till de grunda vikarna i Kalmarsund. Studien jämförde även spiggtätheterna mellan två närliggande områden där den största skillnaden var födan. Ett månadslångt provfiske inleddes den första isfria dagen i två skyddade vikar söder om Kalmar, där en av lokalerna var en dokumenterad leklokal för gäddor. Resultaten visade att spiggen fanns i vikarna direkt efter islossningen, och vid fisket sammanföll de största spiggfångsterna med gäddleken. Maganalyser visade att en stor andel av födan bestod av olika kräftdjur, men även romkorn hittades. Resultaten tyder på andra förutsättningar för många av de hårt ansatta vårlekande fiskarterna än vad som tidigare är dokumenterat.