Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) populations have continually declined across much of their native range due to changes in land use and habitat. This notable decline causes concern for the future of this important game bird species and highlights the need for research on how habitat influences bobwhite vital rates. My research, conducted during 2018-2020 at Burning Star State Fish and Wildlife Area, addressed the following two objectives to provide information on how landcover characteristics influence bobwhite populations: (1) investigate how landcover characteristics influence annual bobwhite home range size, and (2) investigate how landcover characteristics influence bobwhite breeding season survival. For Objective 1, I radio-marked 113 individuals of which 50 bobwhites (31 males and 19 females) had ≥25 independent tracking locations and were used in my analyses. I modeled landcover types related to bobwhite habitat selection, habitat avoidance, foraging habitat, and protective cover to annual bobwhite home range size. Landcover types related to foraging habitat formed the most parsimonious model, with the proportion of grassland having the greatest negative influence on bobwhite home range size. As expected, landcover types that are thought to be beneficial to bobwhite fitness were negatively related to bobwhite home range size, suggesting those landcover types provide necessary resources for bobwhites throughout their full annual cycle. For Objective 2, I radio-marked 113 individuals of which 50 bobwhites (31 males and 19 females) had ≥25 independent tracking locations and were used in my analyses. I used a known fate model of the influence of landcover types, in a stepwise fashion, on bobwhite breeding season survival at two scales, home range and landscape. At the home range scale, the univariate model including early successional forest was the most parsimonious model, wherein the proportion of early successional forest negatively influenced bobwhite breeding season survival. Other competitive models included agriculture and early successional forest + scrub shrub where agriculture positively influenced breeding season survival while early successional forest and scrub shrub negatively influenced breeding season survival. The negative influence of landcover types thought to provide necessary protective cover for bobwhites on breeding season survival is inconsistent with the current paradigm that woody cover is an important habitat component that provides protective and escape cover, thermoregulatory functions, and midday loafing sites for bobwhites. Early successional forest provides visually appealing woody protective cover but appears to expose bobwhites to a higher predation risk because trees provide perch habitat for avian predators. Agriculture positively influenced breeding season survival because during the breeding season, agriculture provides overhead cover and bare ground that provides protective cover, foraging opportunities, and enables ease of movement. At the landscape scale, the null model was the most parsimonious model, but there was weak evidence that the proportion of grassland positively influenced breeding season survival. My study demonstrates how landcover composition influences annual home range size and breeding season survival at different scales.

Livestock management influences the extent to which grazing lands provide resources for native species. We compared how livestock species – sheep or cattle – affected floral resources and bee and butterfly communities in low-diversity, post-Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) pastures managed with patch-burning. We sampled bees and butterflies three times per season 2017-2019 and counted flowering stems within 1 m of transects. Pastures grazed by sheep had significantly fewer flowers and significantly lower floral richness than cattle pastures. Native bees were three to sixteen times more abundant in cattle pastures compared to sheep. Butterfly communities were similar between grazing treatments, because agricultural-tolerant, habitat generalists comprised the majority of the butterfly community. Grassland-obligate butterflies comprised only 2% of observations. The dearth of grassland-obligate butterfly species and low native bee abundances suggest that post-CRP fields, especially those grazed by sheep, do not provide abundant and diverse floral resources for native bees and imperiled butterfly species.

Im Zuge der immer größer werdenden Knappheit fossiler Ressourcen und des damit verbundenen Anstiegs des Rohölpreises ergibt sich ein Trend hin zur Elektromobilität. In den nächsten Jahren werden jedoch nur Elektrofahrzeuge mit deutlich eingeschränkter maximaler Reichweite im Vergleich zu Benzin- oder Dieselfahrzeugen produziert werden können. Um den täglichen Umgang des Kunden mit einem Elektrofahrzeug trotzdem möglichst reibungslos zu ermöglichen, wurde im Rahmen dieser Arbeit eine neuartige Anzeige der verbleibenden Reichweite auf der Navigationskarte entwickelt. Nach detaillierter Analyse vorhandener Ansätze wurde je ein empirisches und ein modellbasiertes Verfahren ausgearbeitet. Die Ansätze wurden systematisch verglichen und zu einem komplett neuartigen, hybriden Ansatz kombiniert. Die auftretenden Verbräuche des Fahrzeugs werden im Kundenbetrieb erfasst, je nach Fahrsituation klassifiziert und für eine Extrapolation in der Zukunft verwendet. Die entwickelte Methodik zur Untersuchung der erreichbaren Genauigkeit ergab ein erzielbares Fehlermaß von durchschnittlich unter 10%. / Due to the prospect of a worldwide shortage of fossil fuels and the correlated increase of prices for crude-oil, a global trend to invest in electric mobility has started. During the next couple of years, electric vehicles will still have restrictions on the maximum distance that can be driven before having the need to recharge the battery. The potential costumers face the so-called „range-anxiety“, the fear to be stranded prior to reaching the destination. In order to provide a safe and easy way of operating such a vehicle, the work conducted in the course of this doctoral thesis led to a new way of displaying the remaining range of the vehicle on a navigation map. After detailed analysis of the state of the art, an empirical- and a model-based solution for calculating the remaining range were developed utilizing predictive map-data from a roadnetwork. After a systematical optimization of the developed solutions, an embedded prototype was developed which captured the driving situation of the vehicle together with the corresponding energy-consumption in order to provide a context-aware interpolation of the remaining range, depending on where the costumer would drive next. A developed methodology of objectively determining the error produced by the system resulted in a mean-deviation of 10% of absolute value.

The role of randomness as a generator of long range correlations and ordinary statistical mechanics is investigated in this Dissertation. The difficulties about the derivation of thermodynamics from mechanics are pointed out and the connection between the ordinary fluctuation-dissipation process and possible anomalous properties of statistical systems is highlighted.

This study concerns itself with the changing characteristics of singing within popular music. It does so by examining 100 of the most successful songs – “most successful” denoting the top selling songs, or the songs with the highest chart positions – of the last 100 years, selecting 10 songs from each decade. All 100 songs were analyzed with regards to the vocal range the singer sang in; the range between the bottommost note and the topmost note was measured (referred to as ”låtomfång”). Here it was found that the overall range shrunk and lowered during the first half of the 20th century, and then expanded and rose during the second half.  The use of physically produced vocal effects – such as distortion or breathy voice – of the 20 most popular songs (two from each decade) was also examined. Here it was found that the presence of vocal effects in the popular music analyzed in this study has developed along a similar curve to that of the vocal ranges. This means that an overall decrease of the use of vocal effects happened until the mid 20th century, whereas an overall densification of the presence vocal effects took place during the second half of the 20th century. It would also seem that the types of vocal effects more commonly used in current popular music is less associated with classical singing than the vocal effects that were in use in older popular music.

The implementation of a ported shroud casing treatment is often used to extend the operating range of a centrifugal compressor. This work utilizes the STAR-CCM+ CFD package to analyze steady-state, single-passage simulations of a centrifugal compressor with and without a ported shroud to better understand how a ported shroud affects compressor flow physics. Verification and validation of simulations were conducted by comparison of results with a time-accurate full-annulus simulation and experimental data. Four different ported shroud revisions were considered and modeled along the full range of their stable operation, with emphasis placed on the flow limits of choke and stall. A ported shroud is found to improve the choked mass flow limit by increasing the aerodynamic area of the compressor. Near-stall operation is improved through flow recirculation through the ported shroud. This flow, which is induced with a large component of tangential velocity from having passed the impeller blades' leading edge once, reduces the impeller incidence. The influence of a strut is found to restrict both limits of operation by reducing the aerodynamic area and obstruction of tangential velocity. The revisions considered demonstrate that facilitation of flow entering the ported shroud under either near-stall or choked conditions causes a noteworthy improvement in performance. Such alterations, in this application, demonstrate a 3.3% improvement in choked mass flow rate under choked conditions and an 1.3 degree reduction in impeller incidence under near-stall conditions, as compared to the initial ported shroud design. Understanding the effect that a ported shroud casing treatment has on compressor flow physics, especially near its limits of operation, suggests methods for improving centrifugal compressor design to increase its stable operating range.

Title: Evaluation of the range of motion of the upper limbs using the OpenPose program Objectives: The aim of the work was to determine whether it is possible to use the OpenPose program as a tool for measuring upper limb range of motion, highlight OpenPose limits and consider whether the program could be used for evaluation in clinical practise or as part of telerehabiliation in the future. Methods: 48 probands participated in the research. Participants were intentionally selected from healthy population due to the nature of the work. Each participant was measured in 6 different positions while lying on a lounger. Measurements were taken bilaterally. A total of 14 different angles of shoulder and elbow were measured. These were maximum flexion of the elbow joint, flexion of the arm with flexion of the elbow, flexion of the arm, internal and external rotation of the arm and extension of the arm. Data were collected using a standardised examination method using a goniometer and a video recording. Video recordings were later used in the OpenPose program for angle evaluation. Finally, the results of both methods were compared. Results: 8 out of total 14 measured angles of shoulder and elbow were excluded based on evaluation criteria. Values with average difference between both examiner's results...

Syfte &amp; Frågeställning: Syftet är att studera hur manipulering av ROM påverkar två olika träningsprogram med samma mängd träningsvolym (sets x reps x vikt x tid). Syftet är specifikt att studera hur ROM kan påverka ansträngningsgraden, prestationen i form av kraftutveckling under återhämtningsperioden, men även en uppskattning på träningsvärk av dessa två träningsprogram och på så sätt estimera betydelsen av ROM.  Frågeställningar: I ett träningsupplägg i en benspark med fullt respektive partiellt ROM. Påverkas kraftutvecklingen i en statisk knäböj, upplevd ansträngning under bensparken samt graden av träningsvärk från baslinje, 24 och 48 timmar senare trots likvärdig träningsvolym.? Metod: Detta är en kvantitativ experimentell studie som sex personer deltog i. Effekten av två olika träningsprogram, ett för vardera ben, undersöktes genom att mäta kraftutveckling genom statisk knäböj före träningsprogrammet (vid baslinje) och 24 timmar efter träningsprogrammet. Ett ben genomförde fullt ROM medan det andra benet genomförde partiellt ROM. Under träningspasset angav deltagarna graden av muskulär ansträngning med hjälp av en subjektiv ansträngningsskala efter set 4 och set 8. Innan styrketräningen genomförde deltagarna en knäböj med ett ben under vilken graden av muskulär värk angavs vid baslinjen, samt efter 24 och 48 timmar från baslinjen. Resultat: Resultatet visar inte på någon signifikant skillnad mellan fullt och partiellt ROM vad gäller kraftutvecklingen i en statisk knäböj vid jämförelsen mellan baslinje och 24 timmar senare. En signifikant skillnad kunde ses vid ansträngningsgraden vid genomförandet i bensparken mellan fullt ROM 17,75±0,88 och partiellt ROM 14,00±1,26 efter 8 set (P &lt;0.05). Vid självupplevd smärtskattning resulterades en signifikant skillnad efter 24 och 48 timmar efter styrketestet mellan fullt ROM 30,8±21,3 och partiellt ROM 20,5±14. Slutsats: Resultatet från träningen visar att fullt ROM är mer ansträngande, orsakar mer träningsvärk samt tenderar till att sänka kraftutveckling i benmuskulaturen vid återhämtningen jämfört med träning med partiellt ROM. / <p>Ämneslärarprogrammet, Specialidrott</p>

Stretching is commonly used by many athletes in different sports. Although acute stretching, as part of a warm-up, can enhance range of motion, it may also reduce performance. Acute stretching can reduce peak force, rate of force production, and power output. Chronic stretching may enhance performance, although the mechanism is unclear. Acute stretching has little effect on injury. However, chronic stretching (not part of warm-up) may have some injury reduction potential.

The role of territoriality was investigated using 25 impala rams in a site in South Africa. Field data were used to determine known rams as territorial and bachelors, as well as aspirant and indeterminate. The mean territorial tenure was 67.25 days, with a mean territory size of 21.0 ± 11.27 ha, compared to the home ranges of 34.1 ha ± 9.03 ha for territorial and 58.8 ha ± 33.35 ha for bachelor males. Territory boundaries seemed to remain constant through the season, and are smaller when bordering important features such as water holes, which appear to be neutral in terms of territoriality. Mating was observed on three separate dates between 16 May - 4 June 2001, three times by territorial males, the exception being an aspirant ram. The most important diurnal behaviour was feeding, followed by watching, walking, ruminating, resting and licking salt. It was found that bachelors browse more than territorial males, and all males browse and lick salt more in the non-rut. All rams were also more vigilant after lions were released. Only bachelors spar and allogroom, and they also orally groom themselves more than territorial males. Territorial males chase and roar more, and perform longer object aggression acts during the non-rut than bachelors. Other behaviours were rare or performed by all rams during the year. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2002. / Centre for Veterinary Wildlife Studies / MSc / Unrestricted