The hydrological and topographical variation of wetlands can affect the behavior, population growth, and local densities of aquatic species, which in turn can drive the behavior and density dynamics of gleaning predators. Prey availability, primarily determined by prey density and water depth in wetlands, is an important limiting factor for nesting wading bird populations, top predators in the south Florida Everglades. The Everglades is able to support large colonies of nesting wading birds because of the microtopographic variation in the landscape. Some types of prey concentrate in flat, shallow sloughs or become trapped in isolated pools as they move down from higher elevation ridges with receding water levels. Manipulations to the hydrology and landscape of the Everglades has negatively impacted nesting wading bird populations in the past, and may continue to be detrimental by allowing flat, shallow sloughs to be intersected by deep canals, a potential refuge for wading bird prey. In addition, the subtle elevation differences between the ridge and slough landscape may be an important mechanism for increasing slough crayfish (Procambarus fallax) prey availability for the most abundant and seemingly depth-sensitive Everglades wading bird, the White Ibis (Eudocimus albus). I implemented a 2-year experimental study in four replicated manmade wetlands with controlled water recession rates in order to determine the effects of proximate deep water (akin to canals) on fish prey concentrations in the sloughs, as water levels receded similarly to a natural Everglades dry season. I also calculated average daily wading bird densities with game cameras (Reconyx PC800 Hyperfire) using timelapse imagery over 60 days to determine when and where wading birds responded to changing prey concentrations. I completed an additional observational study on White Ibis and slough crayfish prey from the first year of data (2017). Crayfish make up the majority of the diet for nesting White Ibis, and literature has suggested crayfish are most abundant at slough depths much deeper than previously proposed foraging depth limitations for White Ibis. This study specifically compared recent determinations about crayfish movement dynamics in the ridge and slough system with White Ibis foraging behavior and depth limits. Results from the first experimental study suggest that canals might be an attractive refuge for relatively large prey fishes (> 3 cm SL) in sloughs, but it is uncertain if the fencing blocked all prey fish movement. The second observational study determined White Ibis foraging activity was primarily driven by a down-gradient crayfish flux from ridge to slough, with the majority of foraging activity occurring at much deeper slough depths than previously suggested water depth limitations for White Ibis. Results from both of these studies support the importance of preserving the ridgeslough landscape of the Everglades to sustain high prey availability for wading birds. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

La necesidad de tomar decisiones es algo fundamental para cualquier empresa, estas decisiones deben permitir que la empresa logre un desarrollo que la lleve a crecer. Esto lleva a una inevitable serie de reuniones, donde los miembros de la empresa puedan participar y exponer sus distintos puntos de vista para encontrar respuestas a las necesidades que se presenten. El problema con esta necesidad es el uso del tiempo, que puede ser un recurso escaso en el funcionamiento de la empresa, lo que lleva a requerir reuniones que maximicen la calidad de los resultados obtenidos. Uno se los puntos clave para lograr esto es una preparación cuidadosa de estas reuniones, tanto al definir los temas a discutir en forma precisa como al generar el material necesario para la reunión. Debido a esto se necesita un modo de representar esta preparación de un modo que todos los participantes puedan comprender y utilizar para comunicar sus aportes a la preparación de la reunión. Existen distintos modelos para representar esta información, que definen en forma clara esta estructura, lo que obliga a los usuarios a comprender esta estructura y a la inevitable necesidad de aprender a expresar sus ideas con los elementos que presenta el modelo para este proceso. Esto provoca un problema, ya que obliga a los usuarios a salir de la forma usual de comunicación que se utiliza entre personas, que es rico al momento de comprender y expresar ideas, pero complejo al momento de ordenarlo. Un sistema de reuniones distribuido presenta el beneficio de guardar información y tener acceso a ésta sin las barreras de la disponibilidad de tiempo, pero para ello se debe ahondar en los aspectos de la construcción de decisiones. Esto implica la necesidad de contar con un modelo de discusión, en el cual se pueda estructurar el proceso de construcción de decisiones. Dentro de los modelos disponibles, IBIS es simple pero con una gran capacidad para expresar de manera sencilla distintas ideas utilizando solo tres tipos de elementos (PreguntasRespuestas-Argumentos), pero el problema sigue siendo la rigidez que se presenta a los usuarios. El mecanismo que se presenta en este trabajo evita este problema y guía a las personas en el proceso de convertir sus ideas a una estructura que siga el modelo IBIS y así lograr un material útil para la realizar la reunión. A través de etapas, y la guía de personas entendidas en este modelo de discusión, se logra transformar la información del leguaje que utilizan las personas para expresar sus posiciones, a una presentación de ideas en una forma organizada que puede ser útil para otras personas, utilizando los elementos del modelo IBIS.

PANDA is the next generation hadron physics detector under construction at the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) in Darmstadt, Germany to accurately detect and parameterize particles with kinetic energies from 1MeV to 8GeV. PANDA is a 4π detector and due to its unique shape, all the readout electronic from ADC modules, power supplies, and a controller unit is housed in the liquid-cooled crates mounted inside the detector. Therefore, the readout electronics are exposed to a high level of magnetic field and radiation. The controller unit as the critical component of the digitization system with adequate radiation resiliency governs the crate. The control unit manages power supplies, monitors the radiation damages of each ADC modules, offer a mechanism to re-program the ADC module firmware, and finally features a redundant communication for the crate over fiber optics. The purpose of this thesis is to study and design the controller unit hardware that meets the specification of the PANDA experiment.

Reproductive success of white-faced ibis (Plegadis chihi) was measured in nine colonies on marshes in northern Utah during 1979. The effects of pesticides and characteristics of colonies and sub-colonies on reproductive success were examined. DDE was present in all 80 eggs sampled and had a geometric mean concentration of 1.25 ppm. Shell thickness of 176 eggs was 4.3 percent below pre-1945 thickness. Shell thickness was weakly correlated with residues of DDT, DDE, Dieldrin, and heptachlor epoxide. Residues of these four pesticides were all correlated with each other. However, because of the stronger correlations between shell thickness and two residues, DDE and DDT, and because of studies in the literature, it was concluded that these two residues were responsible for the observed shell thinning. Observed levels of pesticides did not cause sufficient shell thinning to reduce hatching success, but clutch size was negatively correlated with pesticide residues. Only two characteristics of colonies were observed to be associated with differences in reproductive success. Earlier sub-colonies had larger clutches and larger colonies suffered higher rates of predation. If there are effects of subcolony size, degree of nesting synchrony, vegetation type, or avian species association on reproductive success, they may not be detectable with one year of data.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・論文博士 / 博士(農学) / 乙第12986号 / 論農博第2826号 / 新制||農||1038(附属図書館) / 学位論文||H28||N4961(農学部図書室) / 32456 / 名古屋大学大学院農学研究科生化学制御専攻 / (主査)教授 祝前 博明, 教授 今井 裕, 教授 廣岡 博之 / 学位規則第4条第2項該当 / Doctor of Agricultural Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Exchanges of water in the soil-plant-atmosphere are controlled by physical-hydric soils, which in turn are highly variable in space and very sensitive to the use and soil management, especially in an agroecosystem. Precipitation, runoff, soil water storage and exchange of water vapor between the surface-atmosphere obtained from the eddy covariance and hydro-physical properties of soil were analyzed during the growing season (2009/2010) for no-till systems (NT) and conventional tillage (PC) in the cycle of soybean, in Cruz Alta, northwest of Rio Grande do Sul (RS). Most models that describe the interaction biosphere - atmosphere in agroecosystems has not efficiently represent physical differences for different soil management. In this sense, the study also will examine the response of the dynamic exchanges of water in the Agro-IBIS model when the soil physical properties in a system of management of PD (without revolution planting soil) and PC (with planting soil Revolution) are implemented. For this purpose, are used to soil properties of a long-term experiment in southern Brazil 2009/2010. Moreover, mathematical adjustments in leaf area index (LAI) is suggested to better represent the stage of leaf senescence. The results of the dynamics of soil water and evapotranspiration in the Agro-IBIS model for soybeans, when the implementation of soil properties and setting the IAF are compared with experimental data and with a simulation in which the soil property are described through the global database. The model represents satisfactorily the dynamics of soil water and evapotranspiration for both management systems, especially for wet periods. The results presented for the conventional management system are best correlated with the simulations, when the physical properties of this system are implemented and leaf senescence is corrected. Of the major changes that have been added, such as setting physical properties of soil, definition of the retention curve coefficients, and phenology of the crop, the main one was the consideration of a new factor of decline in leaf area index during senescence which greatly reduced the error in water balance components of the surface of soybean. / As trocas de água no sistema solo-planta-atmosfera são controladas pelas características físico-hídricas dos solos, que por sua vez são altamente variáveis no espaço e muito sensíveis ao uso e manejo do solo, principalmente em um agroecossistema. Precipitação, escoamento, armazenamento de água do solo e trocas de vapor de água entre superfície-atmosfera obtido a partir da covariância turbulenta e propriedades físico-hídricas do solo foram analisados durante a estação de cultivo (2009/2010) para os sistemas de plantio direto (PD) e plantio convencional (PC) no ciclo da cultura da soja, no município de Cruz Alta, região noroeste do Rio Grande do Sul (RS). A maioria dos modelos que descrevem a interação biosfera - atmosfera em agroecossistemas ainda não representam de forma eficiente às diferenças físicas para diferentes manejos do solo. Neste sentido, o estudo, também analisará a resposta da dinâmica das trocas de água no modelo Agro-IBIS quando as propriedades físicas do solo em um sistema de manejo de PD (plantio sem revolução do solo) e PC (plantio com revolução do solo) são implementadas. Para tanto, são usados às propriedades do solo de um experimento de longo prazo no sul do Brasil 2009/2010. Além disso, ajustes matemáticos no índice de área foliar (IAF) são sugeridos para melhor representar o estágio de senescência foliar. Os resultados da dinâmica da água no solo e evapotranspiração no modelo Agro-IBIS para a soja, quando da implementação das propriedades do solo e do ajuste no IAF são comparados com os dados experimentais e com uma simulação em que as propriedade do solo são descritas através do banco de dados globais. O modelo representa satisfatoriamente a dinâmica da água no solo e evapotranspiração para ambos os sistemas de manejo, especialmente para períodos úmidos. Os resultados apresentados para o sistema de manejo convencional estão melhores correlacionados com as simulações, quando as propriedades físicas deste sistema são implementadas e a senescência foliar é corrigida. Das principais mudanças que foram adicionadas, tais como o ajuste de propriedades físicas do solo, definição de coeficientes da curva de retenção, e fenologia da cultura, a principal foi à consideração de um novo fator de declínio do índice de área foliar na fase de senescência que reduziu sobremaneira o erro nas componentes do balanço de água da superfície de soja.

L'objet du projet CALAS est l'étude de la supergranulation solaire, structure à grande échelle de la photosphère. L'origine de la supergranulation est encore controversée et nécessite des observations à très haute résolution spatiale sur un grand champ de vue. Le projet CALAS répond à ces exigences en proposant de concevoir une caméra rapide combinant grand champ et haute résolution, installée à la Lunette Jean Rösch, réfracteur de 50 cm de diamètre situé au Pic du Midi. Cette caméra utilise des capteurs CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semi-conductor) dont les avantages sont notamment la rapidité de lecture, le coût réduit et de grands formats disponibles.<br />Nous avons conçu une chaîne d'acquisition complète, comprenant la caméra et son électronique de commande, une électronique de lecture couplée à un logiciel de prise de vues, et un système de stockage des données.<br />Le projet a également consisté à concevoir un banc optique sur deux voies permettant l'observation de la surface solaire en mode imagerie mais aussi en mode Doppler et magnétographie, par l'utilisation d'un filtre magnéto-optique. Le travail a également nécessité d'étudier l'intégration de CALAS au sein de la Lunette Jean Rösch, en participant à la jouvence de cet instrument.<br />Enfin, au cours de ce projet, outre de nombreuses missions d'observation à la Lunette Jean Rösch, j'ai également été amené à participer à une campagne internationale d'observations coordonnées consacrée à l'étude des mouvements de la photosphère dans l'environnement de filaments. A l'issue de cette thèse, les premières observations à grand champ et haute résolution de la photosphère solaire ont été réalisées à la LJR, et leur excellente qualité se révèle déjà tout à fait prometteuse pour la suite de l'exploitation scientifique.

Wading bird foraging success is influenced by many different factors. From January to March 2008, I conducted a small-scale experiment with three captive Scarlet Ibis (Eudocimus ruber) at the Palm Beach Zoo, in West Palm Beach, Florida. Prey density and the presence of conspecifics were manipulated to test for a response by ibis in terms of prey capture rate. Mixed model analysis, when one prey type was available, showed that capture rate increased significantly with prey density and decreased with the presence of conspecifics. When two prey types were available, prey density and the presence of conspecifics had no effect on the capture rates of either prey type. Selectivity analysis revealed that ibis always selected for crayfish in mixed treatments. I hypothesize that the number of prey types available in a treatment played an important role in determining how fish density and the presence of conspecifics affected ibis foraging success. / by Rebecca A. Stanek. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:21:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 3664.pdf: 2255481 bytes, checksum: 8606405322631d7b23133954708544a6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-03-01 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / The family Threskiornithidae includes 13 genera and 32 species, but the relationships among genera, species or subspecies have been little studied. This family is traditionally divided into two subfamilies: Plataleinae and Threskiornithinae. One of the more interesting taxonomical questions within this group is the case of the species Eudocimus ruber and Eudocimus albus. They are usually considered as separate species, but they show similar behavior and there are also records of hybridization in nature. This study aims to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships within the family Threskiornithidae as well as assess the level of genetic differentiation between Eudocimus albus and E. rubber, using mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences. DNA was extracted from blood and tissue samples from 13 species of Threskiornithidae (seven genera) and two outgroups. For the Eudocimus study were extracted 10 individuals of each species. We sequenced the 16S rRNA and the intron 7 of &#946;- Fibrinogen for all species. For Eudocimus Cytochrome B, Cytochrome Oxidase I, intron 11 of Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Desidrogenase, intron 4 of the Myelin Proteolipid Protein and intron 2 of Myoglobin were also sequenced. Sequences for other five species of the family were obtained from GenBank. Phylogenetic trees were constructed using Neighbor-Joining, Maximum Parsimony, Maximum Likelihood, Bayesian inference and Bayesian inference of species tree. Networks and genetic distances were determined for Eudocimus haplotypes. Several approaches for species delimitation using multilocus data were applied. All analyses strongly supported the family Threskiornithidae (18 species) as a monophyletic group. However, the current classification of two subfamilies was not supported by our data: Plataleinae formed a monophyletic group, but nested within Threskiornithinae (a paraphyletic group). Tests of monophyly rejected the hypothesis of monophyly of Threskiornithinae. The family Threskiornithidae also showed a division into two groups: one with only genera endemic to the American continent (Theristicus and Eudocimus) and another with the remaining species. Within the latter clade, species of genus Plegadis are observed in a basal position, while subfamily Plataleinae was grouped with the remaining species. This pattern of species distribution suggests an initial Gondwana division and subsequent colonization by species from the Old to the New World. The divergence within the family was estimated at 35-40 million years, which is before the separation between America and Antarctica. Mitochondrial genetic analysis showed Eudocimus species as two different lineages. Multilocus analysis based on nuclear genes revealed a strong signal of speciation despite the polyphyly found in three of the four markers. / A família Threskiornithidae inclui 13 gêneros e 32 espécies e suas relações interespecíficas, assim como as designações dos gêneros, espécies ou subespécies foram pouco estudadas. A família tem sido dividida em duas subfamílias: Plataleinae e Threskiornithinae. O caso de Eudocimus ruber e Eudocimus albus é uma das questões interessantes da taxonomia do grupo, pois têm sido consideradas como espécies, mas mostram similaridades no comportamento e há registros de hibridização na natureza. Os objetivos do presente estudo foram reconstruir as relações filogenéticas dentro da família Threskiornithidae e avaliar o nível de diferenciação genética entre Eudocimus albus e E. ruber, baseando-se nos dados de sequências de genes mitocondriais e nucleares. DNA foi extraído de amostras de sangue e de tecidos de 13 espécies de Threskiornithidae, representantes de sete gêneros da família e de dois grupos externos. Para o estudo do caso de Eudocimus foram analisadas amostras de 10 indivíduos de cada espécie. Foram sequenciados os genes 16S rRNA e o íntron 7 do &#946;-fibrinogênio para todas as espécies. Nos indivíduos de Eudocimus foram sequenciados também os genes Citocromo B, Citocromo Oxidase I, o íntron 11 da Gliceraldeído-3-Fosfato Desidrogenase, o íntron 4 da Proteína Proteolipídica da Mielina e o íntron 2 da Mioglobina. Sequências para outras cinco espécies da família foram obtidas do GenBank. Árvores filogenéticas foram construídas pelos métodos de inferência de Neighbor-Joining, Máxima Parcimônia, Máxima Verossimilhança, Análise Bayesiana e Estimativa Bayesiana de árvore de espécies. Redes de haplótipos e distâncias genéticas foram determinadas para as sequências de Eudocimus. Diversas abordagens de delimitação de espécies usando informação multilocus foram realizadas. A família Threskiornithidae com 18 espécies se apresentou como grupo monofilético fortemente sustentado em todas as análises. A classificação atual das duas subfamílias não foi corroborada: Plataleinae se apresentou como grupo monofilético, mas agrupada dentro dos Threskiornithinae, sendo este último um grupo parafilético. Os testes de monofilia rejeitaram a hipótese de Threskiornithinae ser um grupo monofilético. A família Threskiornithidae pode ser dividida em dois grupos: o primeiro agrupando somente gêneros endêmicos do continente americano (Theristicus e Eudocimus) e o outro com as demais espécies. Dentro deste ultimo clado, observa-se em posição basal as espécies do gênero Plegadis e a subfamília Plataleinae agrupada com o restante das espécies. Este padrão de distribuição de espécies concorda com uma divisão inicial Gondwânica e uma posterior colonização por espécies do velho ao novo mundo. A divergência da família foi estimada em 35 40 milhões de anos, data anterior à separação do continente Americano da Antártica. As análises genéticas mitocondriais mostraram as espécies de Eudocimus como duas linhagens diferentes. Nas análises multilocus baseadas nos genes nucleares foi possível recuperar um forte sinal de especiação apesar da polifilia encontrada em três dos quatro marcadores.

This thesis is based and developed on the ambiguous and open conception, iconic species, which reveals the relationship between human society and non-human species that goes be- yond its biological status. From the case of the giant panda, I attempt to deconstruct the shap- ing process of an iconic species from multiple perspectives, which includes how a specific cultural context, or a specific historical period contributes to the shaping process and how the government and the public diverge or even clash around the shaping process. Then, I introduce my fieldwork where I through observing both giant pandas and red pandas in the exhibition centres called panda bases to analyse the encountering an iconic species in reality and their different influences on public awareness of the wildlife conservation. I also attempt to explore the various representative forms of an iconic species such as the Tibetan antelope ranging from the mascot to the film and follow the changes of its symbolic meanings in different forms. In conclusion, the thesis is aimed to reflect the hybrid features of the iconic species and pro- vide in-depth interpretation of the endless interactions between the human beings and other species.