The Eurasian woodcock Scolopax rusticola (hereon woodcock) is a wader adapted to woodland and farmland habitats. It is an important quarry species, widely hunted across Europe, but owing to its cryptic plumage and elusive nature, there exists only poor information concerning its natural history. As such, the conservation status of the woodcock remains uncertain. One area that is particularly lacking is knowledge of its ecology outside the breeding season. Generally, avian ecological studies have focused on breeding season events due to the importance of reproductive success in determining fitness. However, it is now apparent that the non-breeding season represents an equally important period of the annual cycle. For example, recent studies have shown that declines in some migratory bird populations were due to events during the non-breeding season, either during migration, or on the wintering grounds. In Britain, the non-breeding woodcock population comprises both British breeding and non-British breeding birds, yet the origins and relative distribution of these sub-populations is not fully understood. Nor is it known whether ecological differences exist between them. This thesis addresses these two aspects of woodcock biology, using stable isotope and radio-tracking methods. The former was used to assign birds to their likely origins and determine population-specific distributions across Britain. The latter was used, in conjunction with the former, to determine whether ecological differences exist between locally-breeding and non-locally breeding birds residing in Hampshire in winter. A large degree of mixing between birds from different breeding populations was apparent for woodcock residing in Britain over winter. Russia and Fennoscandia comprised the most likely origins of migratory birds and regional differences in distributions were apparent. The highest proportions of birds from Russia were found in Norfolk and Wales, whilst the highest proportions of birds from Fennoscandia were found in Scotland. The presence of non-breeding residents in Cornwall and Ireland also provided strong evidence for the short-distance, south-westerly movements of resident birds, which probably originated from Scotland. Locally, the movements and behaviour of birds were found to vary with age (adult vs. juvenile) and/or predicted migratory status (resident vs. migrant), with adult residents potentially representing the dominant group. Differences in habitat use, commuting flights, home range size and activity patterns were all apparent. As such, these findings might have important consequences for the relative survival rates and breeding success of resident and migrant woodcock. This work has provided new insights into the non-breeding ecology of woodcock in Britain and contributes significantly to European efforts to better understand this bird species. Given the importance of seasonal interactions, an understanding of events throughout the annual cycle is necessary and this can only be achieved through concerted efforts. Indeed, an integrated approach is imperative to develop the conservation plans necessary to ensure the sustainability of the woodcock.

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In winter-cities such as Saskatoon there exists a significant potential to improve cold-weather walking conditions for most pedestrians. To realize the walkability potential of a winter-city downtown, by necessity automobile traffic must be reduced. However, when surface parking lots are permitted to operate in abundance, isolated and uncoordinated, and detached from overall planning and transportation policy, automobile traffic reduction downtown cannot be efficiently achieved. In many winter-cities, Saskatoon included, downtown parking lots in fact are oversupplied. Vital space for housing, employment and public space is thereby reduced and pedestrian winter exposure to wind chill and sidewalk ice is increased by breaks in the urban fabric. Systematic conversion of surface parking lots into mixed use would not only enhance incentives to walk, but simultaneously would reduce the incentive to drive. The question thus arises whether and how can we screen a large number of surface parking lots for a limited number of candidate-sites that could be earmarked for infill redevelopment. A screening methodology that prioritizes potential parking lot sites ought to account for a wide range of criteria that address urban design, development-potential, proximity, and microclimate. In a case study of parking lots in downtown Saskatoon, a screening methodology has yielded one priority site out of an inventory of twenty-four sites. Integrated within public transit policy the proposed methodology has generic applicability to downtown areas elsewhere, and can advance the goal of safety and higher residential density downtown.

Manual wheelchair users who live in cold climates are faced with daily difficulties related to personal independence and societal inclusion, as their assistive devices are unable to overcome the physical barriers created by snow. Packed snow on sidewalks creates a barrier for wheelchair users as the small caster wheels become embedded in the snow-pack, this leads to upper body fatigue as well as wheelchair tipping, and falling. The purpose of this thesis was to develop a method by which the best design could be determined of a group of four commercially available manual wheelchair casters. This method was developed based on the HAAT model of assistive technology design. It was confirmed that snow-packed surfaces, as well as increased inclines, had a significant detrimental effect on the recorded human factors determinants, as well as conventional engineering determinants. / October 2016

ABSTRACT Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is characterized by annual recurrence of clinical depression in the fall and winter months. The importance of SAD as a public health problem is underscored by its high prevalence (an estimated 5%) and by the large amount of time individuals with SAD are impaired (on average, 5 months each year). The specific cause of SAD remains unknown; however, researchers have identified possible chronobiological and psychological vulnerabilities to SAD. The study aimed to clarify psychological and chronobiological correlates of SAD in the first test of an integrative model of SAD. The project used a longitudinal design to test the respective contributions of the chronobiological and cognitive vulnerabilities on winter depression severity in 31 SAD patients and 33 never-depressed controls at sites in Burlington, VT and Pittsburgh, PA. The measures selected for the cognitive vulnerability were established measures of vulnerability to nonseasonal depression with empirical support for their relevance to SAD: brooding rumination, dysfunctional attitudes, cognitive reactivity to an induced sad mood, and season-specific cognitions. The chronobiological vulnerability was measured as Phase Angle Difference (PAD) and deviation from PAD of 6 hours. All measures were completed once in the summer, when the SAD patients were remitted, and once in the winter, when patients were clinically depressed. Patients were distinguished from controls on most cognitive vulnerability measures (brooding, as well as rumination, dysfunctional attitudes, and seasonal beliefs). SAD patients exhibited shorter PAD than controls, but did not exhibit greater deviation from PAD-6. Results provide further support for specific cognitive, but not chronobiological, vulnerabilities in prediction of SAD. Limitations of the current sample are discussed. Results hold implications for future SAD research bridging the chronobiological and psychological disciplines with the ultimate aim of improved understanding, assessment, treatment, and prevention of SAD.

Coronavirus bovino (BCoV), um membro da família i>Coronaviridae, causa severa diarréia em bezerros neonatos e tem sido associado a diarréias de inverno em vacas leiteiras em vários paises, incluindo o Brasil. A morbidade da disenteria de inverno e alta chegando ate 100% , sendo um fator importante para economia já que causa queda da produção leiteira, levando a grandes perdas as criações de vacas leiteiras. O objetivo deste trabalho foi pesquisar a ocorrência de BCoV em vacas, diagnosticando amostras positivas por RT-PCR gene Rp Rd e isolando estas amostras positivas em células da linhagem HRT-18G. As amostras de fecais foram obtidas de 43 vacas leiteiras com disenteria de 8 propriedades dos Estados de São Paulo e Minas Gerais, Brasil. Das dez (10/43=23%) amostras positivas para esta técnica, 7 foram inoculadas em células da linhagem HRT-18G, sendo que o isolamento foi comprovado pela mesma técnica após seis passagens seriadas em 4 inoculações. Com isso, mostra-se que o BCoV também esta envolvido em disenterias de inverno em vacas leiteiras no Brasil. E através de isolamentos deste vírus, podemos contribuir para estudos continuados ajudar no esclarecimento de sua epidemiologia e possibilitar com um banco de vírus a prevenção de ordem também especifica da enfermidade. / Bovine coronavirus (BCoV), a member of Coronaviridae family, causes severe diarrhea in newborn calves and has been associated with outbreaks of winter dysentery (WD) in adult cattle in several countries, including Brazil. The morbidity rate of WD is very high (50-100%) and the disease causes severe economic losses once it decreases milk production. The aim of the present study was to survey for the occurrence of BCoV in cows using a RT-PCR targeted to the replicase gene and to isolate positive samples in HRT-18G cells. The fecal samples were obtained from 43 adult dairy cows with dysentery from São Paulo and Minas Gerais States, Brazil. Ten (23%) of the 43 fecal samples were positive for BCoV and 7 of these were inoculated in HRT-18G cells, when the isolation of 4 samples was proved by RT-PCR after sex passages. These findings indicate that BCoV is also involved in outbreaks of dysentery in adult cattle in Brazil. This shows the importance of more comprehensive studies on coronavirus in dairy cattle in the surveyed area and, with the isolation of the virus strains studied herein, one may contribute to other studies to enlighten the epidemiology and prevention of the disease.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:22:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2003Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:27:23Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 penariol_fg_me_botfca.pdf: 713853 bytes, checksum: 48e44a4b5a9a47973e7f4c8db0731fdc (MD5) / Conduziu-se durante o ano agrícola 2002/2003, na área experimental do Departamento de Produção Vegetal, na Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas/UNESP, Campus de Botucatu-SP, um experimento com o objetivo de verificar a influência de épocas de semeadura e do manejo de corte do milheto cultivado no outono-inverno sobre a cultura da soja em sucessão em plantio direto. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi o de blocos casualizados, em esquema de parcelas subdivididas, com quatro repetições. As parcelas foram representadas por três épocas de semeadura (E1, E2, E3) da cultura do milheto, sendo a E1 realizada em 25 de abril de 2002, E2 em 15 de maio de 2002 e E3 em 06 de junho de 2002. As subparcelas foram representadas por manejos de corte da parte aérea do milheto, sendo: manejo 1 (M1) corte a cada florescimento e retirada do material cortado da área, manejo 2 (M2) corte a cada florescimento e permanência do material, manejo 3 (M3) corte apenas no primeiro florescimento e retirada do material, manejo 4 (M4) corte apenas no primeiro florescimento e permanência do material e manejo 5 (M5) livre crescimento, sem cortar. Na cultura do milheto, foram avaliadas a produtividade de massa seca da parte aérea (kg ha-1), a porcentagem de cobertura do solo, observada antes da semeadura da soja e a extração de nutrientes pela planta. Na cultura da soja, foi avaliado o teor de foliar de nutrientes, a população de plantas, a altura de planta e altura de inserção da primeira vagem, além dos componentes de produção (número de vagens por planta, número de grãos por vagem e massa... / The experiment was installed and led, during the agricultural year 2002/2003, in an experimental area of Departamento de Produção Vegetal, in Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas/UNESP, Campus of Botucatu-SP. The aim of this experiment was verify the influence of the planting date and of the handling of the pearl millet cultivated in the autumn-winter in the rotation with the soybean in no-tillage system. The experiment was arranged in split-plot experimental design with four replications. The main plots were three planting dates (E1, E2, E3) of the pearl millet, being E1 on April 25, 2002, E2 in May 15, 2002 and E3 on June 06, 2002. The sub-plot was represented by handlings of cut of pearl millet's shoot part, being: handling 1 (M1) it cuts to each flowering and retreat of the cut material of the area, handling 2 (M2) it cuts to each flowering and permanence of the material, handling 3 (M3) it just cuts in the first flowering and retreat of the material, handling 4 (M4) it just cuts in the first In pearl millet crop, they were appraised the productivity of dry matter of pearl millet's shoot part (kg ha-1); the percentage of covering of the soil, done before soybean's planting and; the extraction of nutrients for the plant. In soybean crop, it was evaluated the population of plants, the height of plants and height of insert of the first bean, the production components (number of beans for plant, number of grains for bean and mass... (Complete abstract, click electronic access below)

Pheasant Eye (Adonis annua L.), a native of Europe, is commonly cultivated as an ornamental, but ocasionally escapes into fields and waste places. It is prevalent in certain area in the United States, especially southward, on heavy soils that are inadequately drained (20). This Plant is one of a number of early maturing winter annual weeds that infests dryland wheat in northern Utah, and it has become a problem in certain lowland areas.

Large sums of money are spent annually for herbicides to control weeds in fall sown wheat. Many of these weeds are killed by such treatments while others survive and mature seed. Viability of seeds produced by weeds injured by systemic or growth regulator type herbicides has long been a matter of great interest, much speculation, and very little research. Data on this subject are needed in order to intelligently use chemicals for weed control.

Microhabitat use by cutthroat trout and macrohabitat use by both cutthroat and rainbow trout were studied i n the Green River below Flaming Gorge Dam during the winters of 1988 and 1989. Microhabitat parameters used by cutthroat trout, such as focal velocity, depth, and fish elevation, differed significantly in eddies, runs, and riffles. Mean focal velocities in runs were 0.79 body lengths/seconds (bl/s), in riffles 0.66 bl/s, and in eddies 0.24 bl/s. Cutthroat trout size also varied significantly with macrohabitat; larger fish were found in riffles. Macrohabitat use by cutthroat trout and rainbow trout differed significantly among species, macrohabitat types, and months. Both rainbow trout and cutthroat trout macrohabitat use shifted from lower velocity habitats during winter to faster velocity habitats in summer. Cutthroat trout and rainbow trout used macrohabitats at seasonally differing rates. Riffles were never selected in proportion to their abundance, especially during high winter discharges. Cutthroat trout implanted with radiotransmitters exhibited little movement during diel monitoring and did not change their occupation of macrohabitats.