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No description available.

The main idea of project is to design heraldic zoo in the area of old castle park Horní Hrad, which is located few kilometers next to the Karlovy Vary. Heraldry is science of knowledge of family symbols. Concretely it will be zoo, which will be focused on animals, which can be found on the old czech signs. The idea comes from surrounding relations of dramatic terrain and it's affected by context of the historic monument. Castle is the huge dominant of the all views to the surrounding countryside.

Analysis of the breeding of higher primates in Czech zoos in terms of use for teaching at primary and secondary schools This thesis analyzes the breeding of higher primates in zoos in Czech and its use for teaching at primary and secondary schools. The theoretical part of the work deals with the history of zoological gardens, and features characteristics of higher primates bred in the Czech Republic and introduces the EAZA campaign to protect the apes. The research part is composed of the actual observation of zoos in the Czech Republic, the analysis of Internet resources and the rating of the zoos. The best zoos to teach about the higher primates were found the ZOO Plzeň and the ZOO Usti nad Labem. Keywords: zoo, higher primates, tutorial program, the EAZA campaign to protect apes

Summary: This dissertation is focused on observation of locomotion two groups of mantled guereza in ZOO Prague and ZOO Usti nad Labem. The observation took place in the summer of 2011. The locomotion behavior is for better clarity presented by tables, diagrams and detailed description of the breeding facilities of both groups. The work contains list of all species of guereza, including all subspecies of mantled guereza. Key words: primates, old world monkeys, Colobinae, black and white colobus monkey, mantled guereza, threat, behavior, breeding in the zoo.

Most computing and communicating devices have been personal computers that were connected to Internet through a fixed network connection. It is believed that future communication devices will not be of this type. Instead the intelligence and communication capability will move into various objects that surround us. This is often referred to as the "Internet of Things" or "Wireless Embedded Internet". This thesis deals with video processing and communication in these types of systems. One application scenario that is dealt with in this thesis is real-time video transmission over wireless ad-hoc networks. Here a set of devices automatically form a network and start to communicate without the need for any previous infrastructure. These devices act as both hosts and routers and can build up large networks where they forward information for each other. We have identified two major problems when sending real-time video over wireless ad-hoc networks. One is the reactive design used by most ad-hoc routing protocols. When nodes move some links that are used in the communication path between the sender and the receiver may disappear. The reactive routing protocols wait until some links on the path breaks and then start to search for a new path. This will lead to long interruptions in packet delivery and does not work well for real-time video transmission. Instead we propose an approach where we identify when a route is about to break and start to search for new routes before this happen. This is called a proactive approach. Another problem is that video codecs are very sensitive for packet losses and at the same time the wireless ad-hoc network is very error prone. The most common way to handle lost packets in video codecs is to periodically insert frames that are not predictively coded. This method periodically corrects errors regardless there has been an error or not. The method we propose is to insert frames that are not predictively coded directly after a packet has been lost, and only if a packet has been lost. Another area that is dealt with in this thesis is video sensor networks. These are small devices that have communication and computational capacity, they are equipped with an image sensor so that they can capture video. Since these devices in general have very limited resources in terms of energy, computation, communication and memory they demand a lot of the video compression algorithms used. In standard video compression algorithms the complexity is high for the encoder while the decoder has low complexity and is just passively controlled by the encoder. We propose video compression algorithms for wireless video sensor networks where complexity is reduced in the encoder by moving some of the image analysis to the decoder side. We have implemented our approach on actual low-power sensor nodes to test our developed algorithms. Finally we have built a "Digital Zoo" that is a complete system including a large scale outdoor video sensor network. The goal is to use the collected data from the video sensor network to create new experiences for physical visitors in the zoo, or "cyber" visitors from home. Here several topics that relate to practical deployments of sensor networks are addressed.

環境教育隨全球化趨勢已成各國教育目標，動物園具可執行教育課程的自然場域及專業設施，應可善盡環境教育設施角色，呈現人與自然生態的關係，。就學校教學而言，動物園如能發揮環境教育功能，將成為戶外環境教育有效的教學資源，使參訪者能提升環境知識或環境態度。本研究目的在探討國小學童使用動物園昆蟲館設施時的使用狀況，及在環境知識與環境態度上的學習成效，進而探討學童背景變項及使用狀況不同時，是否造成其環境教育學習成效的差異；最後提出對動物園設施規劃及環境教育方案的建議，俾提供園方未來參考。 本研究方法分為二部份：一、以班級為單位，隨機抽樣參加臺北市立動物園校外教學之國小四年級學生共1200位為研究對象，施以問卷調查，以瞭解其在昆蟲館的使用成效率、使用滿意度、環境知識成效、環境態度成效及個人背景資料。二、立意取樣三位隨行志工進行半結構訪談，以了解其對昆蟲館設施的意見及建議。在資料分析上，主要採用了描述性分析、次數百分比統計、t檢定、Cochran Q考驗及ANOVA變異數分析等方法。 研究發現，臺北市立動物園之參訪遊客普及度高及具重複參訪之特質；且昆蟲館使用成效率高的環境教育設施具有內容生活化、展示媒體多元化、展示媒體功能與活體互補、設立位置明顯及展示手法具互動性之特質。而使用成效率低的設施則導因於展示媒體變化少、展示手法缺乏互動性、輔助說明不足、位置不佳的狀況。 此外，位於昆蟲館遊客動線前端展示區設施較後端設施有較高使 用成效率，顯示遊客閱聽量有限。使用狀況部分，昆蟲館內60.83％ 的環境教育設施具使用成效，居住地區造成使用成效率差異，且使用 成效率隨來園次數遞增。學童之使用滿意度為正向的「滿意」，隨來園次數遞增，惟使用滿意度因環境教育構面不足呈現邊際效應。學習成效部分，設施的使用成效率越高，學童對該設施欲傳遞的環境教育知識學習成效越佳。另學童環境知識答題正確率高，居住地區造成環境知識學習成效差異，來園次數越多的學童，其環境知識的學習成效亦越佳。學童環境態度為正向的「同意」，且學童來園次數與環境態度得分成正比，然因環境教育構面不足有造成環境態度得分呈現邊際效應。另使用狀況與學習成效關連部分，使用成效率及滿意度越高的學童，在環境知識及環境態度上有較佳的學習效果。 研究者針對前揭研究結論，提出下列建議：環境教育設施首 應提升使用成效率，以促進學習成效，進而發展完整環境教育構 面，避免使用滿意度及學習成效的邊際效應；且臺北市立動物園 具發展環境教育之利基，建議以昆蟲館為全園啟動點，策略地持 續發展其他適合館區。 此外，昆蟲館環境教育設施應朝向內容生活化、展示媒體多元、展示媒體功能與活體互補及展示手法互動化的方向設計；並應避免大量平面輸出、過多文字內容，並加強輔助說明並注意損壞率及置放地點。另因遊客閱聽量有限，建議先行估算期待的使用成效率，俾有效規劃環境教育設施空間用途，並建議延伸設施內容的環境教育構面及指標，以提升遊客使用成效率、使用滿意度及環境態度成效，並可避免邊際效應。 就參訪者部分，學童居住地區影響其使用成效率及學習成效，建議園方應考量較不利學習的地區的學童，輔以行前說明或補充資料。另因遊客重複來園特性，建議可縮短昆蟲館展示更換期至半年或每季，並擴增短期展示空間。未來並可將館內設施納入學習單內容或作為志工導覽時的駐站教具，以增進遊客使用動機及次數，進而增加環境教育學習成效。

Zoological institutions emphasise the importance of excelling in the areas of animal welfare, conservation, education, and research, not only to better the lives of the animals under their care, but to also influence the general population in the pursuit to conserve the natural world. As a result, zoo life is anything but simple. This research project monitored the lives of a captive group of chimpanzees over a two-and-a-half-year period, during which time we explored four research topics while assessing the development of a cognitive research programme and chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) introductions in a zoo: welfare, cognition, public engagement with science, and animal management. The project’s use of touchscreen technology and on-exhibit research was the first of its kind for the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s Edinburgh Zoo. As a result, the researchers placed a great deal of importance not only on assessing the welfare of the chimpanzees throughout training and testing phases, but also assessing the public’s perception of cognitive research being conducted through an internationally broadcast documentary about the project. In the short duration of the project, these research naïve chimpanzees did not fully grasp the concept of video selection in our free-choice activity, but overall, the introduction of a cognitive research programme did not compromise welfare, and the chimpanzees’ repeated interest suggests that chimpanzees found the research to be reinforcing. Partly funded by the BBC, the Chimpcam Project was shown in the UK (broadcast January 2010) and in a variety of other countries, including the United States and Canada (on Animal Planet in 2011). The broadcast allowed us to gather information over the internet on the wider public’s perception of conducting research with great apes in zoos, to complement data collected on visitors to the exhibit itself. Our assessment of the documentary’s impact on public perception showed that it had a positive influence on perceptions of zoo research, scientists, welfare, and the importance of choice for animals. During this research project, a new group of chimpanzees arrived in Edinburgh as part of the international breeding programme for western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus). As the zoo’s focus switched to helping the two chimpanzee groups merge into one, we took the opportunity to apply psychological research to this context, namely the use of video as a research tool and the recognition of the importance of individual differences in response to challenge. The project maintained the cognition and welfare focus by using video introductions (allowing the chimpanzees to watch video footage of the individuals they were about to meet and track the formation of other sub-groups). In addition, personality ratings and chimpanzee behaviour during the visual access period (an animal management technique used prior to physical introductions where the groups could see each other without physical contact) were collected to examine the efficacy of these measures in guiding introductions in order to reduce risk. Personality ratings and behaviours observed during the video introductions could predict the chimpanzees’ behaviour during the physical introductions, however, the visual access period had no predictive power. The welfare implications of the introduction process were also assessed and suggested that: the choice of location (i.e. options of where to be) was more important than the total amount of available space; having individuals removed from your group was more stressful than having individuals added; self-directed behaviour (SDB) performance was context-specific where rubbing significantly increased during periods of uncertainty that were not necessarily negatively valenced; regurgitation and reingestion (R/R) decreased over time; and both in-group members and those of high ranks spent more time grooming others. Overall our data indicate that the chimpanzees coped well with both cognitive challenges and social upheaval during introductions. Despite being regularly studied in captivity and in the wild, chimpanzees have a great deal more to teach us about their world. In order to provide the best welfare for the chimpanzees in our care, we need to understand how research and management practices affect their lives and how the public interpret what we do as researchers. By understanding these aspects of their world, we can better serve those in captivity and influence public opinion on the importance of conserving those in the wild.

Salivary cortisol is becoming an effective method with which to quantify cortisol levels, including the ability to track diurnal patterns and acute stress fluctuations. The purpose of this study was to validate salivary cortisol for use in African elephants (Loxodonta Africana), establish baseline cortisol values in three African elephants at Zoo Atlanta and explore the relationship between cortisol and various behaviors and husbandry events. Elephant salivary cortisol was found to be a valid measure based on correlations with serum cortisol and serial dilution results. Salivary cortisol also decreased across the day, but no definitive patterns were revealed. Using baseline values, salivary cortisol was used to examine the effects of enrichment, maintenance and novel training, and a mild stressor. Maintenance training was found to lead to lower cortisol values than novel training. Salivary cortisol after enrichment did not differ from individual overall means. The mild stressor initiated a rise in salivary cortisol. The final focus of this study was to investigate the link between salivary cortisol and stereotypic behavior. Stereotypies are described as repetitive behaviors with little variance and no discernible function or goal. There is not a straightforward relationship between stereotypies and welfare. Analysis of salivary cortisol at various durations into swaying bouts established that swaying appears to decrease cortisol levels. Additionally, behavioral data were collected. Behavioral data confirmed anecdotal reports of circular dominance in these animals. Behavioral data also revealed that although these individuals spend the majority of their time consuming food, one individual in particular devotes a significant amount of her time to swaying, a percentage much higher than that found when Wilson, Bloomsmith, and Maple (2004) examined stereotypic swaying rates in these same animals. Results of this study have direct ramifications for the current management requirements for captive elephants around the world. It helps tap into aspects of psychological well being of captive elephants to elucidate factors influencing welfare and stereotypic behavior. Research of this nature is a critical endeavor if we are to appropriately manage these magnificent animals in captivity.