Fat Tail Model for Simulating Test Systems in Multiperiod Unit Commitment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. A. Marmolejo

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the use of Chambers-Mallows-Stuck method for simulating stable random variables in the generation of test systems for economic analysis in power systems. A study that focused on generating test electrical systems through fat tail model for unit commitment problem in electrical power systems is presented. Usually, the instances of test systems in Unit Commitment are generated using normal distribution, but in this work, simulations data are based on a new method. For simulating, we used three original systems to obtain the demand behavior and thermal production costs. The estimation of stable parameters for the simulation of stable random variables was based on three generally accepted methods: (a regression, (b quantiles, and (c maximum likelihood, choosing one that has the best fit of the tails of the distribution. Numerical results illustrate the applicability of the proposed method by solving several unit commitment problems.

Stretched exponential distributions in Nature and Economy: ``Fat tails'' with characteristic scales

OpenAIRE

Laherrère, Jean; Sornette, D.

1998-01-01

To account quantitatively for many reported ``natural'' fat tail distributions in Nature and Economy, we propose the stretched exponential family as a complement to the often used power law distributions. It has many advantages, among which to be economical with only two adjustable parameters with clear physical interpretation. Furthermore, it derives from a simple and generic mechanism in terms of multiplicative processes. We show that stretched exponentials describe very well the distributi...

Pendular motion in the brachiation of captive Lagothrix and Ateles.

Science.gov (United States)

Turnquist, J E; Schmitt, D; Rose, M D; Cant, J G

1999-01-01

Pendular motion during brachiation of captive Lagothrix lagothricha lugens and Ateles fusciceps robustus was analyzed to demonstrate similarities, and differences, between these two closely related large bodied atelines. This is the first captive study of the kinematics of brachiation in Lagothrix. Videorecordings of one adult male of each species were made in a specially designed cage constructed at the DuMond Conservancy/Monkey Jungle, Miami, FL. Java software (Jandel Scientific Inc., San Rafael, CA) was used for frame-by-frame kinematic analysis of individual strides/steps. Results demonstrate that the sequence of hand and tail contacts differ significantly between the two species with Lagothrix using a new tail hold with every hand hold, while Ateles generally utilizes a new tail hold with only every other hand hold. Stride length and stride frequency, even after adjusting for limb length, also differ significantly between the two species. Lagothrix brachiation utilizes short, choppy strides with quick hand holds, while Ateles uses long, fluid strides with longer hand holds. During brachiation not only is Lagothrix's body significantly less horizontal than that of Ateles but also, within Ateles, there are significant differences between steps depending on tail use. Because of the unique nature of tail use in Ateles, many aspects of body positioning in Lagothrix more closely resemble Ateles steps without a simultaneous tail hold rather than those with one. Overall pendulum length in Lagothrix is shorter than in Ateles. Tail use in Ateles has a significant effect on maximum pendulum length during a step. Although neither species achieves the extreme pendulum effect and long period of free-flight of hylobatids in fast ricochetal brachiation, in captivity both consistently demonstrate effective brachiation with brief periods of free-flight and pendular motion. Morphological similarities between ateline brachiators and hylobatids are fewer and less pronounced in

Value-at-risk estimations of energy commodities via long-memory, asymmetry and fat-tailed GARCH models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aloui, Chaker; Mabrouk, Samir

2010-01-01

In this paper, we evaluate the value-at-risk (VaR) and the expected shortfalls for some major crude oil and gas commodities for both short and long trading positions. Classical VaR estimations as well as RiskMetrics and other extensions to cases considering for long-range memory, asymmetry and fat-tail in energy markets volatility were conducted. We computed the VaR for three ARCH/GARCH-type models including FIGARCH, FIAPARCH and HYGARCH. These models were estimated in the presence of three alternative innovation's distributions: normal, Student and skewed Student. Our results show that considering for long-range memory, fat-tails and asymmetry performs better in predicting a one-day-ahead VaR for both short and long trading positions. Moreover, the FIAPARCH model outperforms the other models in the VaR's prediction. These results present several potential implications for energy markets risk quantifications and hedging strategies. (author)

A review of morphological characteristics relating to the production and reproduction of fat-tailed sheep breeds.

Science.gov (United States)

Pourlis, Aris F

2011-10-01

The purpose of this study is to survey the literature pertinent to some morphological traits which are related with the production and reproduction of fat-tailed sheep breeds. The fat-tailed breeds were identified according to Food and Agriculture Organization databases. Articles referring to all these sheep breeds were evaluated. The morphology of udders and their measurable variables were collected and described. The particularities of pelt and fleece features which are important from an economic point of view were summarized. Linear, planar, and spatial parameters of body, slaughter, and carcass factors were compared at various ages of breeding. Testicular dimensions and semen characteristics were recorded. Their relationships with productive and reproductive performance were discussed. The pattern of ovarian follicle development and the involution of the genital tract were assessed from the anatomical point of view in normal and untreated animals. The data presented here provide useful baseline information on the normal morphological aspects which are important in the animal production of these breeds.

Comparative social grooming networks in captive chimpanzees and bonobos.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodrigues, Michelle A; Boeving, Emily R

2018-06-21

Despite similar dispersal patterns, models of Pan sociality emphasize sex differences in social bonding between the two species. Such disparities are attributed to hypothesized differences in environmental selective pressures that structure association patterns. However, recent research documents greater within-species variation in social bonds in both species. Here, we examine grooming networks in captive chimpanzees at the North Carolina Zoo, and captive bonobos at the Columbus Zoo. We hypothesized that male-female grooming relationships would be the strongest in both species, but that males and females of both species would not significantly differ between centrality, strength, or clustering. Via Mantel tests, we found that neither bonobos (t = - 0.070, r = - 0.009, two-tailed p = 0.942) nor chimpanzees (t = - 0.495, r = - 0.0939, two-tailed p = 0.6205) had significant differences in grooming between or within sexes. Neither species had significant sex differences in centrality, strength, or clustering. To account for idiosyncratic factors affecting grooming distribution, we examined the effect of origin, kinship, and group tenure on social network position. We found that wild-born bonobos exhibited greater eigenvector centrality (t = - 2.592, df = 9, p = 0.29) and strength (t = - 2.401; df = 9, p = 0.040), and group tenure was significantly correlated with strength (r = 0.608; N = 11, p - 0 = 0.47). None of these factors varied with social network position in chimpanzees. Our findings suggest that in captive settings, idiosyncratic factors related to individual history play a greater role in structuring social networks. Such variation may point to the behavioral flexibility inherent in fission-fusion networks, and mirror between-site variation found in wild chimpanzees. However, some idiosyncratic factors shaping captive networks may be an artifact of captivity.

Introgression of the callipyge mutation into the Assaf fat tail breed

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gootwine, E.; Rosov, A.; Bor, A.; Yossafi, S.; Zenue, A.

2003-01-01

Introgression of the callipyge (CLPG) mutation into the fat-tail Assaf breed was initiated by inseminating Assaf ewes with Dorset-Hampshire semen from a ram that was heterozygous for the callipyge mutation. Presence of the mutation in the F1 generation and the first backcross generation (BC1) was validated using molecular markers linked to the CLPG locus. Carcasses of callipyge BC1-CN lambs had significantly (P less than 0.01) better conformation than carcasses of normal BC1-NN lambs and straightbred Assaf lambs. Computerized tomography analysis of live BC1 and Assaf lambs showed that carrying the callipyge mutation increased Longissimus dorsi and Quadriceps femoris muscles by about 30

Sensitive detection of PrPCWD in rectoanal mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue from preclinical white-tailed deer

Science.gov (United States)

This report summarizes the comparative diagnostic performance of postmortem rectoanal mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (RAMALT) sampling in four white-tailed deer test populations: from Wisconsin, a sample of free-ranging deer and a captive herd; and from Saskatchewan, Canada, two captive herds. Th...

Feeding and growth in a captive-born bottlenose dolphin Tursiops ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

1991-06-12

Jun 12, 1991 ... The feeding and growth of a captive-born bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus calf were studied for 30 months post ..... was made between suckling from the left or right in further analyses. .... possibly more important function is that this tail position .... Institute of Brain Anatomy, University of Berne, Berne,.

Brachial plexus block using lidocaine/epinephrine or lidocaine/xylazine in fat-tailed sheep

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Safoura Ghadirian

2013-09-01

Full Text Available This blinded, randomized experimental study was designed to evaluate the analgesic effects of adding epinephrine or xylazine to lidocaine solution for brachial plexus block (BPB in sheep. Nine healthy, fat-tailed female lambs (26.6 ± 1.5 kg were randomly allocated into three groups: lidocaine 2%, 5 mg kg-1 (LID, n = 6, lidocaine (5 mg kg-1 with epinephrine 5 μg mL-1 (LIDEP, n = 6 or lidocaine (5 mg kg-1 with xylazine 0.05 mg kg-1 (LIDXY, n = 6. Each animal was tested twice. The sheep received a total volume of 0.25 mL kg-1 for BPB. A nerve stimulator was used to locate the nerves of the brachial plexus. Onset and duration of analgesia of the forelimb were evaluated using superficial and deep pin prick and pinching of skin with a hemostat clamp. Heart and respiratory rates, and rectal temperature were recorded before and at predetermined intervals following the completion of the block. Brachial administration of LID, LIDEP or LIDXY produced forelimb analgesia within 11.3, 11.0 and 7.0 minutes, respectively. The mean duration of analgesia was 100.0 min in LID and 133.2 min in LIDEP group. The mean duration of analgesia in LIDXY group (186.8 min was significantly longer compared with LID group. In LIDEP group a significant increase in heart rate occurred 5 min after drug administration. Heart rate decreased from 35 to 80 min in sheep received LIDXY. In conclusion, the addition of xylazine to lidocaine solution for BBP provided a prolonged duration of action without any adverse effects in fat-tailed sheep.

Piezoelectric energy harvesting from colored fat-tailed fluctuations: An electronic analogy

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J. I. Peña Rosselló

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Aiming to optimize piezoelectric energy harvesting from strongly col-ored fat-tailed fluctuations, we have recently studied the performance ofa monostable inertial device under a noise whose statistics depends on aparameter q (bounded for q 1.We have studied the interplay between the potential shape (interpolatingbetween square-well and harmonic-like behaviors and the noise’s statis-tics and spectrum, and showed that its output power grows as q increasesabove 1. We now report a real experiment on an electronic analog of theproposed system, which sheds light on its operating principle. Received: 20 Novembre 2014, Accepted: 7 September 2015; Edited by: C. A. Condat, G. J. Sibona; DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.4279/PIP.070014 Cite as: J I Peña Rosselló, R Deza, J . Deza, H S Wio, Papers in Physics 7, 070014 (2015

Current redistribution in resistor networks: Fat-tail statistics in regular and small-world networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Lehmann, Jörg; Bernasconi, Jakob

2017-03-01

The redistribution of electrical currents in resistor networks after single-bond failures is analyzed in terms of current-redistribution factors that are shown to depend only on the topology of the network and on the values of the bond resistances. We investigate the properties of these current-redistribution factors for regular network topologies (e.g., d-dimensional hypercubic lattices) as well as for small-world networks. In particular, we find that the statistics of the current redistribution factors exhibits a fat-tail behavior, which reflects the long-range nature of the current redistribution as determined by Kirchhoff's circuit laws.

Ultraviolet light and heat source selection in captive spiny-tailed iguanas (Oplurus cuvieri)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dickinson, H.C.; Fa, J.E.

1997-01-01

Three experimental manipulations were conducted to assess the influence of heat source selection and active thermoregulation on ultraviolet (UV) light exposure in captive spiny-tailed iguanas (Oplurus cuvieri) at the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust. Four replicates per manipulation were conducted on six individual lizards. All animals were tested in a separate enclosure to which they were acclimated before observations. Data on choice of thermal sources were collected during the first 2 hr of light, when lizards were actively thermoregulating. Animals were allowed to choose between incandescent light, UV light and a non-light heat source (thermotube) in different combinations. Recorded temperatures close to the incandescent light (37°C) were always significantly higher than at the thermotube (33°C) and at the UV light (29°C). Manipulation 1 offered the animals a choice of an UV light and an incandescent light as thermal sources. Manipulation 2 presented animals with the thermal choices in Manipulation 1, but substrates under each source in Manipulation 1 were switched. In Manipulation 3, animals could choose between an incandescent light and the thermotube. All studied lizards were significantly more attracted to the incandescent light than to the UV light or thermotube. Incandescent light elicited a significantly higher proportion of basking behaviors in all individuals than the other sources. A high proportion of time basking was also spent in front of the thermotube but fewer individuals and less time were spent basking under the UV light. Heat source selection was generally found to be independent of substrate. Management applications of this preference are suggested for juvenile diurnal heliothermic iguanids. (author)

Does taurine deficiency cause metabolic bone disease and rickets in polar bear cubs raised in captivity?

Science.gov (United States)

Chesney, Russell W; Hedberg, Gail E; Rogers, Quinton R; Dierenfeld, Ellen S; Hollis, Bruce E; Derocher, Andrew; Andersen, Magnus

2009-01-01

Rickets and fractures have been reported in captive polar bears. Taurine (TAU) is key for the conjugation of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), a bile acid unique to bears. Since TAU-conjugated UDCA optimizes fat and fat-soluble vitamin absorption, we asked if TAU deficiency could cause vitamin D malabsorption and lead to metabolic bone disease in captive polar bears. We measured TAU levels in plasma (P) and whole blood (WB) from captive and free-ranging cubs and adults, and vitamin D3 and TAU concentrations in milk samples from lactating sows. Plasma and WB TAU levels were significantly higher in cubs vs captive and free-ranging adult bears. Vitamin D in polar bear milk was 649.2 +/- 569.2 IU/L, similar to that found in formula. The amount of TAU in polar bear milk is 3166.4 +/- 771 nmol/ml, 26-fold higher than in formula. Levels of vitamin D in bear milk and formula as well as in plasma do not indicate classical nutritional vitamin D deficiency. Higher dietary intake of TAU by free-ranging cubs may influence bile acid conjugation and improve vitamin D absorption.

Asymmetric Extreme Tails and Prospective Utility of Momentum Returns

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stork, P.A.; Gregory-Allen, R.; Lu, H.

2012-01-01

We use extreme value theory to analyse the tails of a momentum strategy's return distribution. The asymmetry between the fat left tail and thin right tail strongly reduces a momentum strategy's prospective utility levels. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.

Chronic wasting disease in a Wisconsin white-tailed deer farm

Science.gov (United States)

Keane, D.P.; Barr, D.J.; Bochsler, P.N.; Hall, S.M.; Gidlewski, T.; O'Rourke, K. I.; Spraker, T.R.; Samuel, M.D.

2008-01-01

In September 2002, chronic wasting disease (CWD), a prion disorder of captive and wild cervids, was diagnosed in a white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) from a captive farm in Wisconsin. The facility was subsequently quarantined, and in January 2006 the remaining 76 deer were depopulated. Sixty animals (79%) were found to be positive by immunohistochemical staining for the abnormal prion protein (PrPCWD) in at least one tissue; the prevalence of positive staining was high even in young deer. Although none of the deer displayed clinical signs suggestive of CWD at depopulation, 49 deer had considerable accumulation of the abnormal prion in the medulla at the level of the obex. Extraneural accumulation of the abnormal protein was observed in 59 deer, with accumulation in the retropharyngeal lymph node in 58 of 59 (98%), in the tonsil in 56 of 59 (95%), and in the rectal mucosal lymphoid tissue in 48 of 58 (83%). The retina was positive in 4 deer, all with marked accumulation of prion in the obex. One deer was considered positive for PrPCWD in the brain but not in the extraneural tissue, a novel observation in white-tailed deer. The infection rate in captive deer was 20-fold higher than in wild deer. Although weakly related to infection rates in extraneural tissues, prion genotype was strongly linked to progression of prion accumulation in the obex. Antemortem testing by biopsy of rectoanal mucosal-associated lymphoid tissue (or other peripheral lymphoid tissue) may be a useful adjunct to tonsil biopsy for surveillance in captive herds at risk for CWD infection.

Prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites in captive Odocoileus virginianus and Tayassu tajacu from Panama Republic

OpenAIRE

VALDÉS SÁNCHEZ, Vanessa Vianeth; SALDAÑA PATIÑO, Azael; PINEDA SEGUNDO, Vanessa Jenny; CAMACHO SANDOVAL, Jorge Antonio; CHARPENTIER ESQUIVEL, Claudia Virginia; CRUZ SÁNCHEZ, Tonatiuh Alejandro

2010-01-01

The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of the gastrointestinal parasites of Tayassu tajacu (Collared peccary) and Odocoileus virginianus (White-tailed deer) in captivity in the Republic of Panama during the year 2008. The gastrointestinal parasites with major prevalence were Entamoeba coli, Entamoeba sp., Crystosporidium sp., Endolimax nana and Strongyloides sp.

Safety and efficacy of reduced doses of Brucella melitensis strain Rev. 1 vaccine in pregnant Iranian fat-tailed ewes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Ebrahimi

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Brucellosis is one of the most important zoonotic diseases and is a significant cause of abortion in animals. Brucella melitensis strain Rev. 1 is recommended as the most effective vaccine for small ruminants but the application of full doses in adult animals is restricted. This study was conducted to determine a proper reduced dose of vaccine which confers protection but which is not abortifacient in Iranian fat-tailed sheep. A total of 51 non-vaccinated pregnant ewes were divided into three main groups and several subgroups. Ewes in different groups were vaccinated at different stages of pregnancy and various subgroups were subcutaneously immunised with different quantities of the micro-organism (7.5 × 106, 106, 5 × 105. Ewes again became pregnant a year later and were challenged with the wild-type strain to evaluate the protection conferred. Results revealed that the proportion of vaccination-induced abortions was significantly higher in ewes immunised with 7.5 × 106 Rev. 1 organisms than in those which received 106 or 5 × 105 bacteria. While 80% of non-vaccinated ewes aborted after challenge, none of the vaccinated ewes aborted post-challenge. This study indicated that a reduced dose of Rev. 1 vaccine containing 106 or 5 × 105 live cells could be safely used to induce protection in Iranian fat-tailed sheep at various stages of pregnancy.

Physiologic Reference Ranges for Captive Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus)

Science.gov (United States)

Keckler, M Shannon; Gallardo-Romero, Nadia F; Langham, Gregory L; Damon, Inger K; Karem, Kevin L; Carroll, Darin S

2010-01-01

The black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) is a member of the order Rodentia and the family Sciuridae. Ecologically, prairie dogs are a keystone species in prairie ecology. This species is used as an animal model for human gallbladder disease and diseases caused by infection with Clostridium difficile, Yersinia pestis, Francisella tularensis, and most recently, Orthopoxvirus. Despite increasing numbers of prairie dogs used in research and kept as pets, few data are available on their baseline physiology in animal facility housing conditions. To establish baseline physiologic reference ranges, we designed a study using 18 wild-caught black-tailed prairie dogs. Telemetry data were analyzed to establish circadian rhythms for activity and temperature. In addition, hematologic and serum chemistry analyses were performed. Baseline measurements were used to establish the mean for each animal, which then were compiled and analyzed to determine the reference ranges. Here we present physiologic data on serum chemistry and hematology profiles, as well as weight, core body temperature, and daily activity patterns for black-tailed prairie dogs. These results reflect the use of multiple measurements from species- and age-matched prairie dogs and likely will be useful to ecologists, scientists interested in using this animal model in research, and veterinarians caring for pet prairie dogs. PMID:20587156

Merits of the fat-tailed Barbarine sheep raised in different production systems in Tunisia: digestive, productive and reproductive characteristics.

Science.gov (United States)

Ben Salem, Hichem; Lassoued, Narjess; Rekik, Mourad

2011-10-01

Barbarine sheep is the dominant breed in Tunisia. This fat-tailed breed present in all production systems is characterised by metabolic and digestive adaptation to the contrasting environment conditions prevailing in the country (heat stress, water deprivation, salinity etc.). The fat tail (1.5 to 7 kg) is an energy reservoir that is used in periods of feed scarcity. Moreover, the rumen of this breed harbours a microflora enabling it to valorize low-quality roughages and native range vegetation. Barbarine sheep could make benefit from a wide range of local feed resources like fodder shrubs (e.g. cactus and oldman saltbushes), tannin-containing shrubs (e.g. Acacia cyanophylla) and agro-industrial by-products (e.g. olive cake, bran etc. conserved in the form of feed blocks or pellets). It has a very shallow anoestrous, the intensity of which is dependant upon nutrition conditions rather than day length as temperate breeds. Productive and reproductive performances of late pregnant-early suckling, pre-mating ewes and also rams of this breed are not affected when some alternative feed resources replace common feedstuffs which are expensive and cannot afford regularly to smallholders. In brief, the merits of the Barbarine sheep in the production systems and other main adaptive mechanisms of this breed are discussed in this paper. The prospective of Barbarine sheep husbandry in the system dynamics, climate change and the evolution of the socioeconomic context are also envisaged.

Price Tails in the Smith and Farmer's Model

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Šmíd, Martin

2008-01-01

Roč. 15, č. 25 (2008), s. 31-40 ISSN 1212-074X R&D Projects: GA ČR GA402/07/1113; GA ČR(CZ) GA402/06/1417 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10750506 Keywords : limit order market * continuous double auction * price increments * fat tails * tail exponent Subject RIV: AH - Economics http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2008/E/smid-price tails in the smith and farmer's model.pdf

Captive elephants - an overview

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H.S. Riddle

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Currently a significant portion of the world’s elephant population is in captivity, mainly in Asia. Elephants have a long history of captivity in both Africa and Asia, and have adapted to many environments. Today, due to evolving needs and philosophies, some changes have occurred in the use of captive elephants, and debate about their welfare and management is increasing. To address this, several countries are developing higher standards of care via policies and guidelines; unfortunately most elephant range countries do not have a national strategy concerning their captive elephant population. Challenges in elephant medicine are always present, yet there is a lack of standardized requirements for veterinary care in elephant range countries, and the ability of veterinarians to treat elephant diseases is often limited. In recent years, much has been learned about elephant physiology, biology, and communication from captive elephants, and this knowledge supports management decisions affecting both captive and wild populations. Captive elephants present important educational and fundraising opportunities in support of conservation, but these are often not fully leveraged. Future considerations include implementing changes to improve staff support and training, establishing comprehensive registration of all captive populations, and ensuring that captive management does not negatively impact wild elephant populations.

Stretched exponential distributions in nature and economy: ``fat tails'' with characteristic scales

Science.gov (United States)

Laherrère, J.; Sornette, D.

1998-04-01

To account quantitatively for many reported "natural" fat tail distributions in Nature and Economy, we propose the stretched exponential family as a complement to the often used power law distributions. It has many advantages, among which to be economical with only two adjustable parameters with clear physical interpretation. Furthermore, it derives from a simple and generic mechanism in terms of multiplicative processes. We show that stretched exponentials describe very well the distributions of radio and light emissions from galaxies, of US GOM OCS oilfield reserve sizes, of World, US and French agglomeration sizes, of country population sizes, of daily Forex US-Mark and Franc-Mark price variations, of Vostok (near the south pole) temperature variations over the last 400 000 years, of the Raup-Sepkoski's kill curve and of citations of the most cited physicists in the world. We also discuss its potential for the distribution of earthquake sizes and fault displacements. We suggest physical interpretations of the parameters and provide a short toolkit of the statistical properties of the stretched exponentials. We also provide a comparison with other distributions, such as the shifted linear fractal, the log-normal and the recently introduced parabolic fractal distributions.

Genome-wide detection of CNVs in Chinese indigenous sheep with different types of tails using ovine high-density 600K SNP arrays

OpenAIRE

Zhu, Caiye; Fan, Hongying; Yuan, Zehu; Hu, Shijin; Ma, Xiaomeng; Xuan, Junli; Wang, Hongwei; Zhang, Li; Wei, Caihong; Zhang, Qin; Zhao, Fuping; Du, Lixin

2016-01-01

Chinese indigenous sheep can be classified into three types based on tail morphology: fat-tailed, fat-rumped, and thin-tailed sheep, of which the typical breeds are large-tailed Han sheep, Altay sheep, and Tibetan sheep, respectively. To unravel the genetic mechanisms underlying the phenotypic differences among Chinese indigenous sheep with tails of three different types, we used ovine high-density 600K SNP arrays to detect genome-wide copy number variation (CNV). In large-tailed Han sheep, A...

Methylation-sensitive amplification polymorphism analysis of fat and muscle tissues in pigs.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, J D; Li, M Z; Zhou, S L; Zhou, C W; Li, X W

2012-09-26

DNA methylation may be involved in regulating the expression of protein-coding genes, resulting in different fat and muscle phenotypes. Using a methylation-sensitive amplified polymorphism approach, we obtained 7423 bands by selective amplification of genomic DNA from six different fat depots and two heterogeneous muscle types from Duroc/Landrace/Yorkshire cross-bred pigs. The degrees of DNA methylation, determined by the percentages of hemi- and fully methylated sites relative to the total number of CCGG sites, were similar in male and female pigs for each specific tissue [χ(2) test; P (two-tailed) > 0.05]. Gender bias was therefore ignored. There were significant differences in the degree of DNA methylation among the eight tissue types [χ(2) test; P(total) (two-tailed) = 0.009]. However, similar degrees of methylation were observed among the six fat depots [χ(2) test; P(fat) (two-tailed) = 0.24 > 0.05]and between the two muscle types [χ(2) test; P(muscle) (two-tailed) = 0.76 > 0.05]. We conclude that the degree of DNA methylation differs between porcine fat and muscle tissue, but that the methylation status of a particular tissue type is similar, despite being deposited at different body sites.

Reproduction of Persian Gulf anemone fish (Amphiprion clarkii) in captive system

OpenAIRE

Javad Sahandi

2011-01-01

The present study was carried out to assess the reproduction of Persian Gulf anemone fish,Amphiprion clarkii (Bennett, 1830), in captive conditions with artificial features. Persian Gulf, havinggood relation with Indian Ocean, is one of the important niches of fishes and the specific position ofthis Gulf makes its fishes popular. The yellow tail clown fish which originates to this gulf has the bestsurvival rate and health than the other areas. Live food is the most important factor in product...

A hybrid pareto mixture for conditional asymmetric fat-tailed distributions.

Science.gov (United States)

Carreau, Julie; Bengio, Yoshua

2009-07-01

In many cases, we observe some variables X that contain predictive information over a scalar variable of interest Y , with (X,Y) pairs observed in a training set. We can take advantage of this information to estimate the conditional density p(Y|X = x). In this paper, we propose a conditional mixture model with hybrid Pareto components to estimate p(Y|X = x). The hybrid Pareto is a Gaussian whose upper tail has been replaced by a generalized Pareto tail. A third parameter, in addition to the location and spread parameters of the Gaussian, controls the heaviness of the upper tail. Using the hybrid Pareto in a mixture model results in a nonparametric estimator that can adapt to multimodality, asymmetry, and heavy tails. A conditional density estimator is built by modeling the parameters of the mixture estimator as functions of X. We use a neural network to implement these functions. Such conditional density estimators have important applications in many domains such as finance and insurance. We show experimentally that this novel approach better models the conditional density in terms of likelihood, compared to competing algorithms: conditional mixture models with other types of components and a classical kernel-based nonparametric model.

Suspected lead poisoning in two captive cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus) in South Africa, in 2008 and 2013.

Science.gov (United States)

North, Michelle A; Lane, Emily P; Marnewick, Kelly; Caldwell, Peter; Carlisle, Glen; Hoffman, Louw C

2015-08-13

Whilst lead poisoning in raptors, scavenging birds and waterfowl is well studied and common knowledge, there is surprisingly little literature detailing the risk to mammalian scavengers and captive carnivores fed hunted meat. This case report describes the death of two captive cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus) following acute onset of nervous symptoms. Clinical signs included hyper-excitability, seizures, arched back, tail held abnormally high and hyper-salivation. Necropsy findings included bullets or a bullet in their stomachs. Kidney and liver lead levels from one cheetah (15.6 ppm and 17 ppm respectively) were consistent with a diagnosis of lead poisoning; liver from the second cheetah was not available for testing. Both animals were routinely fed hunted antelope or game birds. This is the first report of oral lead poisoning in captive large carnivores, although these are unlikely to be the first cases. Without awareness of the risks of feeding hunted game, lead exposure will continue to be an underdiagnosed reality in the rehabilitation of endangered carnivores.

Skin Colour, Abdominal Fat, and Carcass Fat of Male Alabio Duck (Anas plathyrhincos Borneo Fed Azolla Based Ration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R Samudera

2008-09-01

Full Text Available This was conducted to know the effect of Azzola usage in their dietary toward skin color abdomen fat and carcass fat of male Alabio duck. The subject of this research was male Alabio duck attain the age 3 weeks as number 80 tails, with average first body weight 390,82 ± 0,63 g.  The dietary contain 16% protein and 3000 kcal energy.  Observation parameters including abdomen fat percentage, carcass fat, and skin color. Complete Random Design (RAL consist of 4 treatments and 5 repeating was applied.  Each treatment unit consisted of 4 tails of male Alabio duck.  Set as treatment was levels of Azzola pinnata flour usage as much as 0 (A0; 7.5 (A2; 15 (A3; and 22.5% (A4.  The effect of treatment towards abdomen fat (A0, A1, A2, and A3 / 1.50; 1.41; 1.23; 0.92 %, carcass fat (A0, A1, A2, and A3 / 7.99; 7.53; 5.74; 5.25 %, and skin color (A0, A1, A2, and A3 / 2.66; 3.62; 3.94; 4.20.  this research showed result of that treatment influence was significantly difference (P < 0.05.   Conclusion of this research, that azolla usage within dietary is able to decrease abdomen fat degree and carcass fat, reform skin color, thus, produce yellow color or un-pale. (Animal Production 10(3: 164-167 (2008   Key Words: Alabio duck, azolla, skin color, abdomen fat, carcass fat

Suspected lead poisoning in two captive cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus in South Africa, in 2008 and 2013

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Michelle A. North

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Whilst lead poisoning in raptors, scavenging birds and waterfowl is well studied and common knowledge, there is surprisingly little literature detailing the risk to mammalian scavengers and captive carnivores fed hunted meat. This case report describes the death of two captive cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus following acute onset of nervous symptoms. Clinical signs included hyper-excitability, seizures, arched back, tail held abnormally high and hyper-salivation. Necropsy findings included bullets or a bullet in their stomachs. Kidney and liver lead levels from one cheetah (15.6 ppm and 17 ppm respectively were consistent with a diagnosis of lead poisoning; liver from the second cheetah was not available for testing. Both animals were routinely fed hunted antelope or game birds. This is the first report of oral lead poisoning in captive large carnivores, although these are unlikely to be the first cases. Without awareness of the risks of feeding hunted game, lead exposure will continue to be an underdiagnosed reality in the rehabilitation of endangered carnivores.

The tail index of exchange rate returns

NARCIS (Netherlands)

C.G. Koedijk (Kees); M. Schafgans (Marcia); C.G. de Vries (Casper)

1990-01-01

textabstractIn the literature on the empirical distribution of foreign exchange rates there is now consensus that exchange rate yields are fat-tailed. Three problems, however, persist: (1) Which class of distribution functions is most appropriate? (2) Are the parameters of the distribution invariant

Being attractive brings advantages: the case of parrot species in captivity.

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Daniel Frynta

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Parrots are one of the most frequently kept and bred bird orders in captivity. This increases poaching and thus the potential importance of captive populations for rescue programmes managed by zoos and related institutions. Both captive breeding and poaching are selective and may be influenced by the attractiveness of particular species to humans. In this paper, we tested the hypothesis that the size of zoo populations is not only determined by conservation needs, but also by the perceived beauty of individual parrot species assessed by human observers. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: For the purpose of data collection, we defined four sets of species (40 parrots, 367 parrots, 34 amazons, 17 macaws. Then, we asked 776 human respondents to evaluate parrot pictures of the selected species according to perceived beauty and we analyzed its association with color and morphological characters. Irrespective of the species set, we found a good agreement among the respondents. The preferred species tended to be large, colorful, and long-tailed. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We repeatedly confirmed significant, positive association between the perceived beauty and the size of worldwide zoo population. Moreover, the range size and body size appeared to be significant predictors of zoo population size. In contrast, the effects of other explanatory variables, including the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature listing, appeared insignificant. Our results may suggest that zoos preferentially keep beautiful parrots and pay less attention to conservation needs.

MODEL SYSTEM EVALUATIONS OF MEAT EMULSIONS PREPARED WITH DIFFERENT EDIBLE BEEF BY PRODUCTS AND FATS AND OIL

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Mustafa KARAKAYA

1997-02-01

Full Text Available Emulsion parameters of different meat by-products (beef head-meat, beef heart and liver and animal fats and oil (beef fat, mutton fat, sheep tail-fat and corn oil were studied in a model system. The results of the study showed that the highest emulsion capacity (EC was with the heart meat and beef fat emulsion while the lowest EC was measured in the beef head-meat and sheep tail-fat combination. Corn oil gave the best emulsification with beef head-meat and liver, and beef fat resulted the second best results. Beef head-meat gave the most stable emulsion with all fats, but the emulsions prepared with heart and liver were generally unstable.

Some aspects of radiocesium retention in naturally contaminated captive snakes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Staton, M.A.; Brisbin, I.L. Jr.; Geiger, R.A.

1974-01-01

Thirty-two captive snakes from contaminated natural habitats on or near the Savannah River Plant showed single-phase 137 Cs bioelimination curves suggesting that, in the wild state, they were near equilibrium with respect to this radionuclide at the time of capture. Radiocesium biological half-lives in the snakes averaged 131.3 +- 15.7 (SE) days with extreme values of 430.0 and 23.7 days. There was no correlation between radiocesium loss rate and initial body burden. Radiocesium loss rate showed a positive linear correlation with caloric intake and a negative exponential correlation with body weight. Less than 1 percent of radiocesium excretion could be accounted for in shed skins, the remainder being lost mainly through the feces. Two females which laid eggs in captivity transferred 6.37 and 6.43 percent of their total body burden to their eggs. Radiocesium showed a greater concentration in skeletal muscle than in kidney or liver, while fat bodies contained the lowest concentrations. Radiocesium concentrations of feces and stomach contents were generally low and were not correlated with total body burdens. (U.S.)

The Lion-tailed Macaque Macaca silenus (Primates: Cercopithecidae: conservation history and status of a flagship species of the tropical rainforests of the Western Ghats, India

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M. Singh

2009-03-01

Full Text Available The Lion-tailed Macaque (Macaca silenus is a threatened species inhabiting the rainforests of the Western Ghats mountain range in southern India. Once assessed to be less than a thousand individuals remaining in the wild habitats, the population is now estimated to be between 3000 and 3500 individuals. However, the rainforest habitats of the species are highly fragmented. During the past three decades or less, the population of this species has severely declined due to habitat degradation and illegal hunting in several areas of its occurrence. In situ conservation programs included notification of certain areas as Lion-tailed Macaque conservation regions. Several captive breeding programs have been initiated in order to have a viable captive population of the species. However, the analysis reveals that both in situ and ex situ conservation programs have not achieved the desired success and the species is even more endangered than it was a few decades ago. In this article, we discuss these conservation programs and suggest further measures for effective conservation of Lion-tailed Macaques.

An investigation into onshore captive insurance companies

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ME Le Roux

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Insurance provided by captive insurers is one of various forms of risk financing.  The nature and main types of captive insurance companies are discussed.  This is followed by the results of an empirical study that focused on South African onshore captive insurance companies.  The objectives in establishing and operating a captive insurer, the factors which determine the decision of the parent company to establish and operate a captive insurer and the future and usefulness of insurance provided by captive insurers are some of the aspects that are addressed.

Tail function during arboreal quadrupedalism in squirrel monkeys (Saimiri boliviensis) and tamarins (Saguinus oedipus).

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Jesse W; Russo, Gabrielle A; Fellmann, Connie D; Thatikunta, Meena A; Chadwell, Brad A

2015-10-01

The need to maintain stability on narrow branches is often presented as a major selective force shaping primate morphology, with adaptations to facilitate grasping receiving particular attention. The functional importance of a long and mobile tail for maintaining arboreal stability has been comparatively understudied. Tails can facilitate arboreal balance by acting as either static counterbalances or dynamic inertial appendages able to modulate whole-body angular momentum. We investigate associations between tail use and inferred grasping ability in two closely related cebid platyrrhines-cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) and black-capped squirrel monkeys (Saimiri boliviensis). Using high-speed videography of captive monkeys moving on 3.2 cm diameter poles, we specifically test the hypothesis that squirrel monkeys (characterized by grasping extremities with long digits) will be less dependent on the tail for balance than tamarins (characterized by claw-like nails, short digits, and a reduced hallux). Tamarins have relatively longer tails than squirrel monkeys, move their tails through greater angular amplitudes, at higher angular velocities, and with greater angular accelerations, suggesting dynamic use of tail to regulate whole-body angular momentum. By contrast, squirrel monkeys generally hold their tails in a comparatively stationary posture and at more depressed angles, suggesting a static counterbalancing mechanism. This study, the first empirical test of functional tradeoffs between grasping ability and tail use in arboreal primates, suggests a critical role for the tail in maintaining stability during arboreal quadrupedalism. Our findings have the potential to inform our functional understanding of tail loss during primate evolution. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

What role does heritability play in transgenerational phenotypic responses to captivity? Implications for managing captive populations.

Science.gov (United States)

Courtney Jones, Stephanie K; Byrne, Phillip G

2017-12-01

Animals maintained in captivity exhibit rapid changes in phenotypic traits, which may be maladaptive for natural environments. The phenotype can shift away from the wild phenotype via transgenerational effects, with the environment experienced by parents influencing the phenotype and fitness of offspring. There is emerging evidence that controlling transgenerational effects could help mitigate the effects of captivity, improving the success of captively bred animals post release. However, controlling transgenerational effects requires knowledge of the mechanisms driving transgenerational changes. To better understand the genetic mechanisms that contribute to transgenerational effects in captivity we investigated the heritability of behavioral phenotypes using mid parent- and single parent-offspring regressions in a population of captive-reared house mouse (Mus musculus) that we had previously shown exhibit transgenerational changes in boldness and activity behavioral types. Slopes for boldness and activity were all positive, indicating a low to moderate degree of heritability. Though, none of the heritability estimates were statistically significant due to the large surrounding errors. However, the large error surrounding the heritability estimates may also indicate that there is variability in heritability between behavioral traits within the boldness and activity behavioral types. The implication of this finding is that the potential for heritable genetic changes in captivity varies considerably between traits. We conclude that continued investigation of the potential for traits to evolve in captivity is needed to better inform captive breeding and reintroduction programs. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Fat-tailed fluctuations in the size of organizations: the role of social influence.

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Mondani, Hernan; Holme, Petter; Liljeros, Fredrik

2014-01-01

Organizational growth processes have consistently been shown to exhibit a fatter-than-Gaussian growth-rate distribution in a variety of settings. Long periods of relatively small changes are interrupted by sudden changes in all size scales. This kind of extreme events can have important consequences for the development of biological and socio-economic systems. Existing models do not derive this aggregated pattern from agent actions at the micro level. We develop an agent-based simulation model on a social network. We take our departure in a model by a Schwarzkopf et al. on a scale-free network. We reproduce the fat-tailed pattern out of internal dynamics alone, and also find that it is robust with respect to network topology. Thus, the social network and the local interactions are a prerequisite for generating the pattern, but not the network topology itself. We further extend the model with a parameter δ that weights the relative fraction of an individual's neighbours belonging to a given organization, representing a contextual aspect of social influence. In the lower limit of this parameter, the fraction is irrelevant and choice of organization is random. In the upper limit of the parameter, the largest fraction quickly dominates, leading to a winner-takes-all situation. We recover the real pattern as an intermediate case between these two extremes.

Tooth damage in captive orcas (Orcinus orca).

Science.gov (United States)

Jett, John; Visser, Ingrid N; Ventre, Jeffrey; Waltz, Jordan; Loch, Carolina

2017-12-01

Tooth damage as a result of oral stereotypies is evident in captive orca, yet little research on the topic exists. This study examines the associations between dental pathology, sex, facility, duration of captivity and other factors in captive orca. We evaluated mandibular and maxillary teeth from dental images of 29 captive orca owned by a US-based theme park. Each tooth was scored for coronal wear, wear at or below gum line and bore holes. Fractured and missing teeth were also noted. Summary statistics described the distribution and severity of pathologies; inferential statistics examined how pathologies differed between sexes, between wild-captured and captive-born orcas and between captive orca at four facilities. We also evaluated how dental pathology and duration of captivity were related. Approximately 24% of whales exhibited "major" to "extreme" mandibular coronal tooth wear, with coronal wear and wear at or below gum line highly correlated. More than 60% of mandibular teeth 2 and 3 exhibited fractures. Bore holes were observed primarily among anterior mandibular teeth, with more than 61% of teeth 2 and 3 bearing evidence of having been drilled. Four of five orca with the highest age-adjusted tooth pathology indices were captive-born. Various dental pathologies were observed across all whales, with pathologies beginning at a young age. Oral stereotypies exhibited by captive orca contributed to the observed dental damage. By making dental and health records of captive whales publicly available, the theme park industry is uniquely positioned to provide further insight into dental pathology and resultant health consequences in captive orca. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dengue, Japanese encephalitis and Chikungunya virus antibody prevalence among captive monkey (Macaca nemestrina) colonies of Northern Thailand.

Science.gov (United States)

Nakgoi, Khajornpong; Nitatpattana, Narong; Wajjwalku, Worawidh; Pongsopawijit, Pornsawan; Kaewchot, Supakarn; Yoksan, Sutee; Siripolwat, Voravit; Souris, Marc; Gonzalez, Jean-Paul

2014-01-01

The potential of macaque Macaca nemestrina leonina in Thailand to be infected by endemic arboviruses was assessed. The prevalence of antibodies of three arboviruses actively circulating in Thailand was determined by Plaque Reduction Neutralization assay procedures using samples from captive colonies in Northern Thailand. Out of 38 macaques, 9 (24%) presented reacting antibodies against dengue virus, 5 (13%) against Japanese encephalitis virus, and 4 (10%) against Chikungunya virus. Our results indicate that the northern pig-tailed macaque in Thailand can be infected by these arboviruses, inferring therefore that their virus specific vectors have bitten them. Given that, northern pig-tailed macaque represents an abundant population, living in close range to human or in peridomestic setting, they could play a role as potential reservoir host for arboviruses circulating in Thailand. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Captivity humanizes the primate microbiome.

Science.gov (United States)

Clayton, Jonathan B; Vangay, Pajau; Huang, Hu; Ward, Tonya; Hillmann, Benjamin M; Al-Ghalith, Gabriel A; Travis, Dominic A; Long, Ha Thang; Tuan, Bui Van; Minh, Vo Van; Cabana, Francis; Nadler, Tilo; Toddes, Barbara; Murphy, Tami; Glander, Kenneth E; Johnson, Timothy J; Knights, Dan

2016-09-13

The primate gastrointestinal tract is home to trillions of bacteria, whose composition is associated with numerous metabolic, autoimmune, and infectious human diseases. Although there is increasing evidence that modern and Westernized societies are associated with dramatic loss of natural human gut microbiome diversity, the causes and consequences of such loss are challenging to study. Here we use nonhuman primates (NHPs) as a model system for studying the effects of emigration and lifestyle disruption on the human gut microbiome. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing in two model NHP species, we show that although different primate species have distinctive signature microbiota in the wild, in captivity they lose their native microbes and become colonized with Prevotella and Bacteroides, the dominant genera in the modern human gut microbiome. We confirm that captive individuals from eight other NHP species in a different zoo show the same pattern of convergence, and that semicaptive primates housed in a sanctuary represent an intermediate microbiome state between wild and captive. Using deep shotgun sequencing, chemical dietary analysis, and chloroplast relative abundance, we show that decreasing dietary fiber and plant content are associated with the captive primate microbiome. Finally, in a meta-analysis including published human data, we show that captivity has a parallel effect on the NHP gut microbiome to that of Westernization in humans. These results demonstrate that captivity and lifestyle disruption cause primates to lose native microbiota and converge along an axis toward the modern human microbiome.

Utilização de fenbendazole e da associação febantel, pamoato de pirantel e praziquantel no controle de oxiurídeos em gerbis Use of fenbendazole and the febantel, pamoato of pirantel and praziquantel association in the control of oxiurids in jirds

OpenAIRE

H.H.S. Machado; F.F. Gomes; V.R.S. Fiuza; R.S. Toledo; F. C.R. de Oliveira

2007-01-01

Eighteen jirds were equally distributed in two treated and one control groups. The commercial products to the fenbendazole base (10mg) and the association of febantel (1.5mg), pirantel (1.44mg) and praziquantel (0.5mg) were orally administred in the concentration of 0.1ml in each group. The effectiveness of febendazole against oxiurids was 81.8%, 65.0 and 38.7% and for the association of febantel, pirantel and praziquantel was 72.7%, 73.8% and 51.0% on days 7, 14 and 21, respectively. Three a...

Contrasting the Effects of Maternal and Behavioral Characteristics on Fawn Birth Mass in White-Tailed Deer.

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Eric S Michel

Full Text Available Maternal care influences offspring quality and can improve a mother's inclusive fitness. However, improved fitness may only occur when offspring quality (i.e., offspring birth mass persists throughout life and enhances survival and/or reproductive success. Although maternal body mass, age, and social rank have been shown to influence offspring birth mass, the inter-dependence among these variables makes identifying causation problematic. We established that fawn birth mass was related to adult body mass for captive male and female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus, thus maternal care should improve offspring fitness. We then used path analysis to identify which maternal characteristic(s most influenced fawn birth mass of captive female white-tailed deer. Maternal age, body mass and social rank had varying effects on fawn birth mass. Maternal body mass displayed the strongest direct effect on fawn birth mass, followed by maternal age and social rank. Maternal body mass had a greater effect on social rank than age. The direct path between social rank and fawn birth mass may indicate dominance as an underlying mechanism. Our results suggest that heavier mothers could use dominance to improve access to resources, resulting in increased fitness through production of heavier offspring.

Social grooming network in captive chimpanzees: does the wild or captive origin of group members affect sociality?

Science.gov (United States)

Levé, Marine; Sueur, Cédric; Petit, Odile; Matsuzawa, Tetsuro; Hirata, Satoshi

2016-01-01

Many chimpanzees throughout the world are housed in captivity, and there is an increasing effort to recreate social groups by mixing individuals with captive origins with those with wild origins. Captive origins may entail restricted rearing conditions during early infant life, including, for example, no maternal rearing and a limited social life. Early rearing conditions have been linked with differences in tool-use behavior between captive- and wild-born chimpanzees. If physical cognition can be impaired by non-natural rearing, what might be the consequences for social capacities? This study describes the results of network analysis based on grooming interactions in chimpanzees with wild and captive origins living in the Kumamoto Sanctuary in Kumamoto, Japan. Grooming is a complex social activity occupying up to 25% of chimpanzees' waking hours and plays a role in the emergence and maintenance of social relationships. We assessed whether the social centralities and roles of chimpanzees might be affected by their origin (captive vs wild). We found that captive- and wild-origin chimpanzees did not differ in their grooming behavior, but that theoretical removal of individuals from the network had differing impacts depending on the origin of the individual. Contrary to findings that non-natural early rearing has long-term effects on physical cognition, living in social groups seems to compensate for the negative effects of non-natural early rearing. Social network analysis (SNA) and, in particular, theoretical removal analysis, were able to highlight differences between individuals that would have been impossible to show using classical methods. The social environment of captive animals is important to their well-being, and we are only beginning to understand how SNA might help to enhance animal welfare.

Genetic composition of captive panda population.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Jiandong; Shen, Fujun; Hou, Rong; Da, Yang

2016-10-03

A major function of the captive panda population is to preserve the genetic diversity of wild panda populations in their natural habitats. Understanding the genetic composition of the captive panda population in terms of genetic contributions from the wild panda populations provides necessary knowledge for breeding plans to preserve the genetic diversity of the wild panda populations. The genetic contributions from different wild populations to the captive panda population were highly unbalanced, with Qionglai accounting for 52.2 % of the captive panda gene pool, followed by Minshan with 21.5 %, Qinling with 10.6 %, Liangshan with 8.2 %, and Xiaoxiangling with 3.6 %, whereas Daxiangling, which had similar population size as Xiaoxiangling, had no genetic representation in the captive population. The current breeding recommendations may increase the contribution of some small wild populations at the expense of decreasing the contributions of other small wild populations, i.e., increasing the Xiaoxiangling contribution while decreasing the contribution of Liangshan, or sharply increasing the Qinling contribution while decreasing the contributions of Xiaoxiangling and Liangshan, which were two of the three smallest wild populations and were already severely under-represented in the captive population. We developed three habitat-controlled breeding plans that could increase the genetic contributions from the smallest wild populations to 6.7-11.2 % for Xiaoxiangling, 11.5-12.3 % for Liangshan and 12.9-20.0 % for Qinling among the offspring of one breeding season while reducing the risk of hidden inbreeding due to related founders from the same habitat undetectable by pedigree data. The three smallest wild panda populations of Daxiangling, Xiaoxiangling and Liangshan either had no representation or were severely unrepresented in the current captive panda population. By incorporating the breeding goal of increasing the genetic contributions from the smallest wild

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??????, ?. ?.

2012-01-01

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No costly prosociality among related long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis).

Science.gov (United States)

Sterck, Elisabeth H M; Olesen, Caroline U; Massen, Jorg J M

2015-08-01

Altruism, benefiting another at a cost to the donor, may be achieved through prosocial behavior. Studies of nonhuman animals typically investigate prosocial behavior with paradigms in which the donor can choose to give a recipient a food item, and the choice does not affect the donor's reward (which is either present or absent). In such tasks, long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) show prosocial behavior, especially toward kin. Here, we tested captive long-tailed macaques with related recipients in an alternative task, in which the donor had to give up a preferred reward to benefit the recipient; that is, they had to choose a lower valued reward for themselves to provide food to their kin. Overall, the macaques did not provide their kin with food. The task forced the donor to balance its prosocial behavior with its selfish choice for a higher value reward, a balance that turned out to favor selfish motives. Consequently, our study shows that a prosocial tendency is not sufficient to elicit costly prosocial behavior in long-tailed macaques. Subsequently, we feel that tasks in which the donor must choose a lower value reward to benefit another individual may allow the titration of the strength of prosocial behavior, and thus provides interesting possibilities for future comparative studies. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

CAPTIVE AS AN INSURANCE FORMULA FOR RISK MANAGEMENT: ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

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R. Holly

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This article introduces subject of an insurance captive entity, with focus on how it could be used as insurance formula for risk management. Captive might be the most appropriate insurance formula for risk management. However, the level of achieved success depends on many factors.Insurance captivesare understood as entities which are formed and owned by companies mostly for the purpose of insuring own risks (pure captive or single parent captive. More and more often captives are also formed by a group of companies (group captives to insure their properties and liabilities towards 3rd parties. Captives are widely used by many companies nowadays. However, many of them,are used solely for a purpose of a risk cession and premium transfer, with an intention to use captivesmore as a profit center in a low taxation country rather than for the purpose of risk management (i.e. a more appropriate role for captive would be to support their owners in enterprise risk management - ERM. This article touches on why captives are not used to their full potential. It may be toochallenging for many decision makers to embrace on captives as risk management formula and extend captives' roles to utilize all possible advantages resulting from owning a captive. Captive can deliver risk management in a more comprehensive way than most commercial insurers on the market. The article also presents advantages and disadvantages of owning an insurance captive.

In vitro silencing of Brugia malayi trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase impairs embryogenesis and in vivo development of infective larvae in jirds.

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Susheela Kushwaha

Full Text Available The trehalose metabolic enzymes have been considered as potential targets for drug or vaccine in several organisms such as Mycobacterium, plant nematodes, insects and fungi due to crucial role of sugar trehalose in embryogenesis, glucose uptake and protection from stress. Trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase (TPP is one of the enzymes of trehalose biosynthesis that has not been reported in mammals. Silencing of tpp gene in Caenorhabditis elegans revealed an indispensable functional role of TPP in nematodes.In the present study, functional role of B. malayi tpp gene was investigated by siRNA mediated silencing which further validated this enzyme to be a putative antifilarial drug target. The silencing of tpp gene in adult female B. malayi brought about severe phenotypic deformities in the intrauterine stages such as distortion and embryonic development arrest. The motility of the parasites was significantly reduced and the microfilarial production as well as their in vitro release from the female worms was also drastically abridged. A majority of the microfilariae released in to the culture medium were found dead. B. malayi infective larvae which underwent tpp gene silencing showed 84.9% reduced adult worm establishment after inoculation into the peritoneal cavity of naïve jirds.The present findings suggest that B. malayi TPP plays an important role in the female worm embryogenesis, infectivity of the larvae and parasite viability. TPP enzyme of B. malayi therefore has the potential to be exploited as an antifilarial drug target.

Captivity, citizenship, and the ethics of otherwise in the society-of-captives thesis: a commentary on Arrigo.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Michelle

2013-06-01

In this engagement with Professor Bruce Arrigo's psychological jurisprudence model, I explore his critique of captivity and risk management. I am particularly interested in his claims that incarceration culminates in society's own captivity, that the most destructive aspect of captivity is its foreclosing of human difference and potentiality, and that a praxis that is both clinical and mindful might point a way out. By way of a case anecdote, I interrogate several of the key terms in Arrigo's formulation-citizenship, reform, revolution, and praxis-in an effort to further conjugate from the ground up such an innovative and important set of possibilities.

On the statistical properties and tail risk of violent conflicts

Science.gov (United States)

Cirillo, Pasquale; Taleb, Nassim Nicholas

2016-06-01

We examine statistical pictures of violent conflicts over the last 2000 years, providing techniques for dealing with the unreliability of historical data. We make use of a novel approach to deal with fat-tailed random variables with a remote but nonetheless finite upper bound, by defining a corresponding unbounded dual distribution (given that potential war casualties are bounded by the world population). This approach can also be applied to other fields of science where power laws play a role in modeling, like geology, hydrology, statistical physics and finance. We apply methods from extreme value theory on the dual distribution and derive its tail properties. The dual method allows us to calculate the real tail mean of war casualties, which proves to be considerably larger than the corresponding sample mean for large thresholds, meaning severe underestimation of the tail risks of conflicts from naive observation. We analyze the robustness of our results to errors in historical reports. We study inter-arrival times between tail events and find that no particular trend can be asserted. All the statistical pictures obtained are at variance with the prevailing claims about ;long peace;, namely that violence has been declining over time.

Effect of feeding olive-pulp ensiled with additives on feedlot performance and carcass attributes of fat-tailed lambs.

Science.gov (United States)

Taheri, Mohammad Reza; Zamiri, Mohammad Javad; Rowghani, Ebrahim; Akhlaghi, Amir

2013-01-01

Feed cost has a significant effect on the economic efficiency of feedlot lambs; therefore, the use of low-cost non-conventional feedstuffs, such as olive pulp (OP), has the potential to decrease the production costs. Because optimum inclusion of OP-treated silages has not been determined in feedlot lambs, an experiment was conducted to determine the effect of inclusion of OP ensiled with additives in the diet on the feedlot performance and carcass attributes of feedlot lambs. Ram lambs of Mehraban and Ghezel breeds (n = 50 lambs per breed) were randomly allotted to 10 groups and fed with one of the nine diets containing OP silage or a control diet. Silage treatments were: (1) OP silage without additives (OPS), (2) OP ensiled with 8 % beet molasses and 0.4 % formic acid (OP-MF), and (3) OP ensiled with 8 % beet molasses, 0.4 % formic acid and 0.5 % urea (OP-MFU). The control diet contained 50 % alfalfa hay and 50 % barley grain. Three levels from each silage were chosen to replace the barley grain (10, 20, or 30 % dry matter basis). The lambs were slaughtered after 92 days, and the average daily gain (ADG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), and carcass characteristics were determined. Feeding OPS to fat-tailed lambs, at an inclusion level of 30 %, decreased the carcass dressing percentage, mainly as a result of decreased brisket percentage, but the ADG and FCR values were not adversely affected. Ghezel lambs had higher ADG than Mehraban lambs, but the visceral fat weight percentage, flap weight percentage, and back fat depth were higher in Mehraban. The crude protein content in the longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle was higher in Ghezel, but the dry matter percentage was higher in Mehraban (P 0.05). Most carcass characteristics, including major cuts, were not affected by OPS feeding; therefore, feeding OPS (up to 30 %) can be economical for feedlot lambs. Most carcass characteristics, including major cuts, were not affected by OPS levels used in this experiment; therefore

Hybridization between Dusky Grouse and Sharp-tailed Grouse

Science.gov (United States)

O'Donnell, Ryan P.

2015-01-01

Cache County, Utah, 7 April 2013: rare hybrid combination of grouse noted. Hybridization between Dusky Grouse (Dendragapus obscurus) and Sharp-tailed Grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus) has been rarely documented in the wild. The only published record was of one collected from Osoyoos, British Columbia, in 1906 (Brooks 1907, Lincoln 1950). There is also one record of this hybrid in captivity (McCarthy 2006)...Although hybridization within genera is more common than between genera, it is perhaps not all too remarkable that these species would hybridize, given that Dendragapus and Tympanuchus are each other’s closest relatives (Drovetski 2002). The ranges of these two species overlap over a broad area ranging roughly from parts of northern Utah and Colorado to Yukon and the Northwest Territories. Given the close relatedness and extent of overlap of their ranges, it is perhaps surprising that there have not been more reports of this hybrid combination in the over-100 years since Brooks (1907) first described one. The species may be segregated by habitat use, as Sharp-tailed prefer open grassland sites for lekking and shrub areas for nesting, and Dusky are often found in more densely forested conifer stands—although Dusky often use more open habitats in the spring.

Utilização de fenbendazole e da associação febantel, pamoato de pirantel e praziquantel no controle de oxiurídeos em gerbis Use of fenbendazole and the febantel, pamoato of pirantel and praziquantel association in the control of oxiurids in jirds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H.H.S. Machado

2007-02-01

Full Text Available Eighteen jirds were equally distributed in two treated and one control groups. The commercial products to the fenbendazole base (10mg and the association of febantel (1.5mg, pirantel (1.44mg and praziquantel (0.5mg were orally administred in the concentration of 0.1ml in each group. The effectiveness of febendazole against oxiurids was 81.8%, 65.0 and 38.7% and for the association of febantel, pirantel and praziquantel was 72.7%, 73.8% and 51.0% on days 7, 14 and 21, respectively. Three applications of that dose of the tested medications, within intervals of 10 days, associated to hygiene, are recommended.

Mastering Adobe Captivate 7

CERN Document Server

Bruyndonckx, Damien

2014-01-01

A comprehensive tutorial packed with examples, which is divided into small subtopics that follows a clear and logical outline to help you get to grips with Adobe Captivate 7. Readers are also encouraged to develop their understanding of the tool through practical exercises and experimentations in every chapter. A lot of external references and tips and tricks from established e-Learning professionals are also included. If you are a designer, e-Learning developer, or webmaster who wants to construct an interactive and fun-filled e-Learning project using Adobe Captivate 7, this book is ideal for

The Effect of Crude Protein Content on Meat and Fat Production in Sheep

Science.gov (United States)

Mawati, S.; Restitrisnani, V.; Soedarsono

2018-02-01

This study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of crude protein (CP) content on meat protein and fat production in sheep. Twenty four male thin tail sheep aged 6-7 months with average body weight of 13±1.56 kg were used in this study. The sheep were fed 10-14% CP. Sheep with the average body weight amount 16.75 kg were slaughter after 4 months rising. Parameters observed in this study were carcass weight, meat weight and fat weight of thin tail sheep. The data were analyzed using correlation analysis. The result of this study showed that CP content on diet had weak and negative correlation with meat production (r = -0.06) (y = -0.148x + 62.54) but had weak and possitive correlation with fat production (r = 0.3) (y = 0.807x2 -18.40x + 119.1). Based on the result, it can be concluded that the optimum CP content for sheep is 12.5% CP.

Spontaneous, generalized lipidosis in captive greater horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum).

Science.gov (United States)

Gozalo, Alfonso S; Schwiebert, Rebecca S; Metzner, Walter; Lawson, Gregory W

2005-11-01

During a routine 6-month quarantine period, 3 of 34 greater horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) captured in mainland China and transported to the United States for use in echolocation studies were found dead with no prior history of illness. All animals were in good body condition at the time of death. At necropsy, a large amount of white fat was found within the subcutis, especially in the sacrolumbar region. The liver, kidneys, and heart were diffusely tan in color. Microscopic examination revealed that hepatocytes throughout the liver were filled with lipid, and in some areas, lipid granulomas were present. renal lesions included moderate amounts of lipid in the cortical tubular epithelium and large amounts of protein and lipid within Bowman's capsules in the glomeruli. In addition, one bat had large lipid vacuoles diffusely distributed throughout the myocardium. The exact pathologic mechanism inducing the hepatic, renal, and cardiac lipidosis is unknown. The horseshoe bats were captured during hibernation and immediately transported to the United States. It is possible that the large amount of fat stored coupled with changes in photoperiod, lack of exercise, and/or the stress of captivity might have contributed to altering the normal metabolic processes, leading to anorexia and consequently lipidosis in these animals.

Captive Conditions of Pet Lemurs in Madagascar.

Science.gov (United States)

Reuter, Kim E; Schaefer, Melissa S

2016-01-01

Live extraction of wildlife is a threat to biodiversity and can compromise animal welfare standards. Studies of the captive environments and welfare of pet primates are known, but none has focused on Madagascar. We aimed to expand knowledge about the captive conditions of pet lemurs in Madagascar. We hypothesized that captive lemurs would often be kept in restrictive settings, including small cages, would be fed foods inconsistent with their natural diets and, as a result, would be in bad physical or psychological health. Data were collected via a web-based survey (n = 253 reports) and from the websites and social media pages of 25 hotels. Most lemurs seen by respondents were either kept on a rope/leash/chain or in a cage (67%), though some lemurs were habituated and were not restrained (28%). Most of the time (72%) cages were considered small, and lemurs were rarely kept in captivity together with other lemurs (81% of lemurs were caged alone). Pet lemurs were often fed foods inconsistent with their natural diets, and most (53%) were described as being in bad health. These findings point to a need to undertake outreach to pet lemur owners in Madagascar about the captivity requirements of primates. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Coping with chaos: unpredictable food supplies intensify torpor use in an arid-zone marsupial, the fat-tailed dunnart ( Sminthopsis crassicaudata)

Science.gov (United States)

Munn, Adam J.; Kern, Pippa; McAllan, Bronwyn M.

2010-06-01

The severity, duration and amplitude of extreme weather events are forecast to intensify with current climate trends, over both long (e.g. seasonal) and short (e.g. daily) time-scales. As such, the predictability of food supplies for many small endotherms is likely to become increasingly important. Numerous small mammals and birds combat food shortages using torpor, a controlled reduction in metabolic rate and body temperature that helps lower their daily energy requirements. As such, torpor often has been cited as a key feature allowing some small endotherms to survive highly unpredictable climates, such as tropics or dry deserts, but mensurative demonstrations of this are lacking. We have shown here that when a small desert marsupial, the fat-tailed dunnart ( Sminthopsis crassicaudata), is offered unpredictable levels of daily food, they increase frequency of daily torpor and length of bouts compared with animals offered ad libitum food, but this was not found for animals offered a 70% food-restricted diet. Our data suggest that simple food restriction may not be sufficient for evaluating the efficacy of torpor as a strategy for managing unpredictable climates.

77 FR 42941 - Captive Nations Week, 2012

Science.gov (United States)

2012-07-20

..., 2012 Captive Nations Week, 2012 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation When... unbreakable bonds endure. During Captive Nations Week, America renews our abiding ties to all peoples who... sound the call for reform. We see the same fierce hope in those who defy censorship and reach beyond an...

Integrating miRNA and mRNA Expression Profiling Uncovers miRNAs Underlying Fat Deposition in Sheep

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guangxian Zhou

2017-01-01

Full Text Available MicroRNAs (miRNAs are endogenous, noncoding RNAs that regulate various biological processes including adipogenesis and fat metabolism. Here, we adopted a deep sequencing approach to determine the identity and abundance of miRNAs involved in fat deposition in adipose tissues from fat-tailed (Kazakhstan sheep, KS and thin-tailed (Tibetan sheep, TS sheep breeds. By comparing HiSeq data of these two breeds, 539 miRNAs were shared in both breeds, whereas 179 and 97 miRNAs were uniquely expressed in KS and TS, respectively. We also identified 35 miRNAs that are considered to be putative novel miRNAs. The integration of miRNA-mRNA analysis revealed that miRNA-associated targets were mainly involved in the gene ontology (GO biological processes concerning cellular process and metabolic process, and miRNAs play critical roles in fat deposition through their ability to regulate fundamental pathways. These pathways included the MAPK signaling pathway, FoxO and Wnt signaling pathway, and focal adhesion. Taken together, our results define miRNA expression signatures that may contribute to fat deposition and lipid metabolism in sheep.

Captive-rearing piping plovers: Developing techniques to augment wild populations

Science.gov (United States)

Powell, A.N.; Cuthbert, F.J.; Wemmer, L.C.; Doolittle, A.W.; Feirer, S.T.

1997-01-01

Techniques for captive-rearing and releasing piping plovers (Charadrius melodus) were developed using a surrogate species, killdeer (Charadrius vociferus). We compared captive-and parent-reared killdeer, and parent-reared piping plovers and determined that growth and behavior were similar. After surrogate trials determined that captive-rearing was feasible, we used the same methods to raise piping plover chicks from salvaged eggs. For captive-reared chick of both species, survival to fledging was higher than and behaviors similar to parent-reared chicks in the wild. Rearing techniques were fine-tuned, and ten piping plover fledglings were released to the wild. Based on our results, we developed recommendations for captive-rearing piping plovers using salvaged eggs to enhance productivity of small populations. ?? 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Developments in amphibian captive breeding and reintroduction programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Harding, Gemma; Griffiths, Richard A; Pavajeau, Lissette

2016-04-01

Captive breeding and reintroduction remain high profile but controversial conservation interventions. It is important to understand how such programs develop and respond to strategic conservation initiatives. We analyzed the contribution to conservation made by amphibian captive breeding and reintroduction since the launch of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Amphibian Conservation Action Plan (ACAP) in 2007. We assembled data on amphibian captive breeding and reintroduction from a variety of sources including the Amphibian Ark database and the IUCN Red List. We also carried out systematic searches of Web of Science, JSTOR, and Google Scholar for relevant literature. Relative to data collected from 1966 to 2006, the number of species involved in captive breeding and reintroduction projects increased by 57% in the 7 years since release of the ACAP. However, there have been relatively few new reintroductions over this period; most programs have focused on securing captive-assurance populations (i.e., species taken into captivity as a precaution against extinctions in the wild) and conservation-related research. There has been a shift to a broader representation of frogs, salamanders, and caecilians within programs and an increasing emphasis on threatened species. There has been a relative increase of species in programs from Central and South America and the Caribbean, where amphibian biodiversity is high. About half of the programs involve zoos and aquaria with a similar proportion represented in specialist facilities run by governmental or nongovernmental agencies. Despite successful reintroduction often being regarded as the ultimate milestone for such programs, the irreversibility of many current threats to amphibians may make this an impractical goal. Instead, research on captive assurance populations may be needed to develop imaginative solutions to enable amphibians to survive alongside current, emerging, and future threats. © 2015

Review of the 2012 Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease Outbreak in Domestic Ruminants in the United States.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G Stevens

Full Text Available An unusually large number of cases of Epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD were observed in United States cattle and white-tailed deer in the summer and fall of 2012. USDA APHIS Veterinary Services area offices were asked to report on foreign animal disease investigations and state diagnostic laboratory submissions which resulted in a diagnosis of EHD based on positive PCR results. EHD was reported in the following species: cattle (129 herds, captive white-tailed deer (65 herds, bison (8 herds, yak (6 herds, elk (1 herd, and sheep (1 flock. A majority of the cases in cattle and bison were found in Nebraska, South Dakota, and Iowa. The majority of cases in captive white-tailed deer were found in Ohio, Iowa, Michigan, and Missouri. The most common clinical sign observed in the cattle and bison herds was oral lesions. The major observation in captive white-tailed deer herds was death. Average within-herd morbidity was 7% in cattle and bison herds, and 46% in captive white-tailed deer herds. The average within-herd mortality in captive white-tailed deer herds was 42%.

Undernutrition and serum and urinary urea nitrogen of white-tailed deer during winter

Science.gov (United States)

DelGiudice, G.D.; Mech, L.D.; Seal, U.S.

1994-01-01

Direct, practical means of assessing undernutrition in deer (Odocoileus spp.) and other ungulates during winter are needed in areas of research and management. We examined the relationship between mass loss and serum urea nitrogen (SUN) and urinary urea nitrogen:creatinine (U:C) in captive white-tailed deer (O. virginianus). During 4 February-5 May 1988, we maintained 7 adult white-tailed deer on various feeding regimes to simulate natural nutritional restriction during winter. Mass loss was greater (P = 0.037) in deer (17.0-32.2%) fed restricted amounts of a low protein low energy diet versus control deer (7.0-17.4%) fed the same diet ad libitum. Serum triiodothyronine (T3) concentrations did not differ (P = 0.191) between groups, but declined (P = 0.001) as nutrition declined. Slopes of percent mass lossSUN and urinary U:C relationships were positive (P = 0.008 and 0.055) in 7 and 6 deer, respectively. Mean U:C was directly related (r2 = 0.52, P = 0.040) to mean cumulative mass loss, whereas mean SUN was not (r2 = 0.29, P = 0.125). Data presented support the potential of urinary U:C as an index of winter nutritional condition of white-tailed deer; however, additional research is required to provide a complete understanding of this index's utility under field conditions.

Comparative analyses of tooth wear in free-ranging and captive wild equids.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, L A; Müller, D W H; Schwitzer, C; Kaiser, T M; Castell, J C; Clauss, M; Schulz-Kornas, E

2016-03-01

Captive breeding has played a crucial role in the conservation of threatened equid species. Grazing ruminants and rhinoceros in captivity have less abrasion-dominated tooth wear than their free-ranging conspecifics, with potential negative consequences for their health. However, a similar study on wild equids in captivity is missing. The aim was to establish if different tooth wear patterns are exhibited by free-ranging and captive equids. Cross-sectional study of museum specimens comparing free-ranging and captive equids. Dental casts of maxillary cheek teeth of 228 museum specimens (122 from free-ranging and 106 from captive individuals) of 7 wild equid species were analysed using the extended mesowear method. Although teeth showing specific abnormalities were not scored, the presence of focal overgrowths (hooks) of the rostral premolars (106, 206) was recorded. Captive Equus ferus przewalskii, E. grevyi, E. hemionus, E. quagga boehmi and E. zebra hartmannae have less abrasion-dominated tooth wear on their premolars than their free-ranging conspecifics (P<0.001). Fewer differences were exhibited between populations in the molars. No differences were exhibited in the distal cusp of the molars (110, 210) between populations, except in a small sample of E. kiang. Captive equids exhibited more homogeneous wear along the tooth row whereas free-ranging equids exhibited a tooth wear gradient, with more abrasion on premolars than molars. There were more rostral hooks on the premolars (106, 206) in the captive than the free-ranging population (P = 0.02). Captive equids did experience less abrasion-dominated tooth wear than their free-ranging conspecifics, but the differences in tooth wear were less pronounced than those between captive and free-ranging wild ruminant and rhinoceros species. This indicates that feeding regimes for captive equids deviate less from natural diets than those for captive ruminants and rhinoceros but that factors leading to hook

Tail posture predicts tail damage among weaned piglets

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zonderland, J.J.; Riel, van J.W.; Bracke, M.B.M.; Kemp, B.; Hartog, den L.A.; Spoolder, H.A.M.

2009-01-01

Tail biting in pigs is a widespread behavioural vice with significant animal welfare and economic consequences. All too often, tail biting is not diagnosed nor dealt with until tail damage is present. To effectively reduce the negative effects of tail biting, it must be diagnosed in an early stage.

Rabies in Captive Deer

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

2012-04-30

Dr. Brett Petersen, a medical officer at CDC, discusses rabies in captive deer.  Created: 4/30/2012 by National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID).   Date Released: 4/30/2012.

Reproductive profile of captive Sumateran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

GONO SEMIADI

2006-10-01

Full Text Available The Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae is one of several endemic Indonesian wild cat groups which population is critically endangered. A program to increase the population size had been conducted in captivity, especially in the zoo. In order to monitor the captive population and for the means of management in captivity, a logbook data recording system had been developed for individual animals. A compilation data from the Tiger International Stud Book from 1942 to 2000 was analyzed. The extraction data consisted of the reproduction performance of the animals, such as calving pattern, sex ratio, litter size etc. The results showed that mortality of cubs at ≤ 5 months old reached 59%, between 5 and 24 months old was 9.3% and above 24 months was 31.7%. Cubs were born all year round with concentration in July for Europe and North America regions. The mean of first reproductive age was at 4.6 years old (± 2.28, with the mean of the oldest reproductive age was at 8.3 years (± 3.63. Mean litter size was 2.21 cubs from dame born in captivity and 2.45 cubs from dame capture from the wild. Sex ratio of male to female was 53.8:46.2. The average lifespan of adult wild captive tiger was 5108.9 day (± 2365.4 day, while for adult (≥ 24 months of age captive tiger was 4417.4 day (± 1972.7.

Modification of sympathetic neuronal function in the rat tail artery by dietary lipid treatment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Panek, R.L.; Dixon, W.R.; Rutledge, C.O.

1985-01-01

The effect of dietary lipid treatment on sympathetic neuronal function was examined in isolated perfused tail arteries of adult rats. The hypothesis that dietary manipulations alter the lipid environment of receptor proteins which may result in the perturbation of specific membrane-associated processes that regulate peripheral adrenergic neurotransmission in the vasculature was the basis for this investigation. In the present study, rats were fed semisynthetic diets enriched in either 16% coconut oil (saturated fat) or 16% sunflower oil (unsaturated fat). The field stimulation-evoked release of endogenous norepinephrine and total 3 H was decreased significantly in rats receiving the coconut oil diet when compared to either sunflower oil- or standard lab chow-fed rats. Norepinephrine content in artery segments from coconut oil-treated rats was significantly higher compared to either sunflower oil- or standard lab chow-fed rats. Tail arteries from rats receiving the coconut oil diet displayed significantly lower perfusion pressure responses to nerve stimulation at all frequencies tested when compared to the sunflower oil- or standard lab chow-fed rats. Vasoconstrictor responses of perfused tail arteries exposed to exogenous norepinephrine resulted in an EC50 for norepinephrine that was not changed by the dietary treatment, but adult rats receiving the sunflower oil diet displayed a significantly greater maximum response to exogenous norepinephrine (10(-5) M) compared to arteries from either coconut oil- or standard lab chow-fed rats

Growth and Carcass Physical Components of Thin Tail Rams Fed on Different Levels of Rice Bran

OpenAIRE

Rianto, E; Lindasari, E; Purbowati, E

2006-01-01

This experiment was aimed to investigate the effect of rice bran supplementation on live weight gain (LWG), the proportion of carcass meat, bone and fat of Thin Tail Rams. Twelve thin tail rams, aged about 12 months, weighed 20.95 ± 1.52 kg (CV = 7.26%) were allocated into a Randomized Block Design with 2 blocks and 3 treatments. The treatments applied were levels of rice bran supplementation, i.e. Napier grass ad libitum without rice bran (T1), Napier grass ad libitum and 200 g rice bran (T2...

Adobe Captivate 7 for mobile learning

CERN Document Server

Bruyndonckx, Damien

2013-01-01

A tutorial-based approach to learning the basics of Adobe Captivate to help bring your existing eLearning content to mobile platforms. The book will help readers to learn at their own pace with practical examples and step-by-step instructions.This book has been primarily written for teachers, course designers, professors, curriculum experts, subject matter experts, and eLearning developers who want to provide mobile-friendly content to their students.A basic knowledge of your operating system is required to follow the exercises of this book. No prior knowledge of Captivate is required, althoug

Keeping and breeding the rescued Sunda pangolins (Manis javanica) in captivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Fuhua; Yu, Jiaming; Wu, Shibao; Li, Shaoshan; Zou, Cuiyun; Wang, Qiaoyun; Sun, Ruyong

2017-12-01

The Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica Desmarest, 1822) is a Critically Endangered species. Given that this species lacks effective policies for in situ conservation and prevention of poaching in the wild, ex situ conservation and a captive breeding program are urgently needed to save this species from extinction. However, techniques for the maintenance and captive breeding of pangolins have not been well developed. In June 2010, we established the Pangolin Research Base for Artificial Rescue and Conservation Breeding of South China Normal University (PRB-SCNU). To date, a total of 34 Sunda pangolin cubs have been born at PRB-SCNU, 26 of which were captive bred, indicating great progress in keeping and breeding the Sunda pangolin. The techniques for maintenance-including housing, transitioning to an artificial diet, husbandry, and captive breeding-are described in this paper. The purpose of this manuscript is to share our successful experiences and techniques in the maintenance, management, and captive breeding of Sunda pangolins, and to provide guidance and a reference for the captive care and management of Sunda pangolins and other pangolin species. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Effect of adaptation and heat stress on reproductive performances of fat-tail Awassi rams in eastern mediterranean

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abi Saab, S.; Darwish, W.Y.; Aad, P.; Sleiman, F.T.; Kallassy, N.; Aad, Y.

2011-01-01

The Awassi fat-tail sheep is desired in the Middle East and Sahara for its hardiness and resistance. In this region, the adaptability of Awassi rams to elevated heat stress is controversial. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of ambient or testicular 43 deg C heat on semen characteristics. 12 Awassi rams of 1.2 to 2 years were allowed an initial adaptation period (P0), followed by two experimental phases (P1 and P2), each including a period of heat stress (HS1 and HS2) followed by a period of recovery from heat stress (R1and R2). Heat stress conditions were considered when ambient temperature (Group 2) or testicular environment (Group 3) reached 42 to 44 deg C. Control animals (Group 1) were exposed to ambient environmental conditions. Temperature-humidity index (THI) as a relationship of ambient temperature, wet and dry humidity effect along with respiration and pulse rate, body temperature and live body weight (BW) were measured weekly as adaptation parameters. Reproductive parameters assessed included scrotum circumference and testicular volume measured twice per heat stress period, whereas semen volume density,concentration and motility were measured twice weekly. Data were analyzed using the mixed procedure of SAS under a time series analysis model, with treatment and time nested within period as main effects, and treatment by time within period as interaction terms. Treatment means were separated using Fisher protected LSD. Results showed a THI of 25.7 during therest periods (R1 and R2), 30 during HS1 and 28 during HS2. BW decreased with ambient stress, whereas respiration rate increased during heat stress periods (HS1 and HS2). Testes volume decreased with both ambient and testicular heat stress, whereas testicular circumference was not affected by these conditions. Semen concentration decreased whereas semen volume increased with ambient but not testicular heat stress. Spermatozoa abnormalities increased in R1 following heat stress (HS1

Captive power generation in Saudi Arabia—Overview and recommendations on policies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdul-Majeed, Mohammed Arif; Al-Hadhrami, Luai M.; Al-Soufi, Khaled Y.; Ahmad, Firoz; Rehman, Shafiqur

2013-01-01

The power sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is undergoing the restructuring process. Moreover, during the last decade the Kingdom has witnessed a phenomenal growth in the load demand, consequently a huge amount of generation is added to the electric utilities to meet the load. Up to now only the electric utility generation was taken in the planning of the electrical sector. The data regarding the captive power generation was not readily available. A survey is conducted regarding the captive power generation in Saudi Arabia based on its utilization pattern, fuel used and amount of excess energy available to the grid. The existing regulatory framework and institutional structure of the Saudi power industry was also reviewed. Based on the information collected in the survey of captive power, key guidelines that may be considered in developing the policy for the captive power generators are presented. Furthermore, these guidelines and later the policies will help promote the investors to come forward in developing the captive power generation in Saudi Arabia. -- Highlights: •Database of captive power generation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. •Historical perspective of electrical power industry in the Kingdom. •Saudi Arabia′s power requirements. •Regulatory framework and key guidelines regarding captive power generation. •It is first of its kind study in the region

Redfish Lake sockeye salmon captive broodstock rearing and research, 1994. Annual report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Flagg, T.A.; McAuley, W.C.; Wastel, M.R.; Frost, D.A.; Mahnken, C.V.W.

1996-03-01

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Northwest Fisheries Science Center, in cooperation with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) and the Bonneville Power Administration, has established captive broodstocks to aid recovery of Snake River sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) listed as endangered under the US Endangered Species Act (ESA). Captive broodstock programs are emerging as an important component of restoration efforts for ESA-listed salmon populations. Captive broodstock programs are a form of artificial propagation. However, they differ from standard hatchery techniques in one important respect: fish are cultured in captivity for the entire life cycle. The high fecundity of Pacific salmon, coupled with their potentially high survival in protective culture, affords an opportunity for captive broodstocks to produce large numbers of juveniles in a single generation for supplementation of natural populations. The captive broodstocks discussed in this report were intended to protect the last known remnants of this stock: sockeye salmon that return to Redfish Lake in the Sawtooth Basin of Idaho at the headwaters of the Salmon River. This report addresses NMFS research from January to December 1994 on the Redfish Lake sockeye salmon captive broodstock program and summarizes results since the beginning of the study in 1991. Spawn from NMFS Redfish Lake sockeye salmon captive broodstocks is being returned to Idaho to aid recovery efforts for the species

Redfish Lake Sockeye Salmon Captive Broodstock Rearing and Research, 1994 Annual Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Flagg, Thomas A.

1996-03-01

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Northwest Fisheries Science Center, in cooperation with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) and the Bonneville Power Administration, has established captive broodstocks to aid recovery of Snake River sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) listed as endangered under the US Endangered Species Act (ESA). Captive broodstock programs are emerging as an important component of restoration efforts for ESA-listed salmon populations. Captive broodstock programs are a form of artificial propagation. However, they differ from standard hatchery techniques in one important respect: fish are cultured in captivity for the entire life cycle. The high fecundity of Pacific salmon, coupled with their potentially high survival in protective culture, affords an opportunity for captive broodstocks to produce large numbers of juveniles in a single generation for supplementation of natural populations. The captive broodstocks discussed in this report were intended to protect the last known remnants of this stock: sockeye salmon that return to Redfish Lake in the Sawtooth Basin of Idaho at the headwaters of the Salmon River. This report addresses NMFS research from January to December 1994 on the Redfish Lake sockeye salmon captive broodstock program and summarizes results since the beginning of the study in 1991. Spawn from NMFS Redfish Lake sockeye salmon captive broodstocks is being returned to Idaho to aid recovery efforts for the species.

The transaction costs driving captive power generation: Evidence from India

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghosh, Ranjan; Kathuria, Vinish

2014-01-01

The 2003 Indian Electricity Act incentivizes captive power production through open access in an attempt to harness all sources of generation. Yet, we observe that only some firms self-generate while others do not. In this paper we give a transaction cost explanation for such divergent behavior. Using a primary survey of 107 firms from India, we construct a distinct variable to measure the transaction-specificity of electricity use. The ‘make or buy’ decision is then econometrically tested using probit model. Results are highly responsive to transaction-specificity and the likelihood of captive power generation is positively related to it. At the industrial level, this explains why food and chemical firms are more likely to make their own electricity. Since the burden of poor grid supply is highest on smaller sized and high transaction-specific firms, the grid access policies need to account for firm-level characteristics if government wants to incentivize captive power generation. - Highlights: • We analyze why some firms opt for captive power generation while others do not. • We examine the role of transaction costs in this decision making using probit model. • Unique data from a primary survey of manufacturing firms in Andhra Pradesh, India. • Transaction-specificity significantly determines who installs captive power plant (CPP). • Firm-level characteristics crucial in policies incentivizing captive generation

Microbiological evaluation of different strategies for management of snakes in captivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Campagner, M V; Bosco, S M G; Bagagli, E; Cunha, M L R S; Jeronimo, B C; Saad, E; Biscola, N P; Ferreira, R S; Barraviera, B

2012-01-01

Keeping snakes in captivity to produce venom for scientific research and production of inputs is now a worldwide practice. Maintaining snakes in captivity involves capture, infrastructure investments, management techniques, and appropriate qualified personnel. Further, the success of the project requires knowledge of habitat, nutrition, and reproduction, and control of opportunistic infections. This study evaluated the management of snakes in three types of captivity (quarantine, intensive, and semiextensive) and diagnosed bacterial and fungal contaminants. A bacteriological profile was obtained by swabbing the oral and cloacal cavities, scales, and venoms of healthy adult snakes from Bothrops jararaca (Bj) and Crotalus durissus terrificus (Cdt). There was predominance of Enterobacteriaceae, especially non-fermenting Gram-negative bacilli excluding Pseudomonas spp and Gram- positive bacteria. Statistically, intensive captivity resulted in the highest number of bacterial isolates, followed by recent capture (quarantine) and by semiextensive captivity. No statistical difference was found between Bj and Cdt bacterial frequency. In vitro bacterial susceptibility testing found the highest resistance against the semisynthetic penicillins (amoxicillin and ampicillin) and highest sensitivity to amicacin and tobramycin aminoglycosides. To evaluate mycological profile of snakes from intensive captivity, samples were obtained from two healthy Bj and one B. moojeni, one B. pauloensis, and one Cdt showing whitish lesions on the scales suggestive of ringworm. Using conventional methods and DNA-based molecular procedures, five samples of Trichosporon asahii were identified. Despite the traditional role of intense captivity in ophidian venom production, semiextensive captivity was more effective in the present study by virtue of presenting superior control of bacterial and fungal transmission, easier management, lowest cost, and decreased rate of mortality; therefore, it should be

Comparative skull analysis suggests species-specific captivity-related malformation in lions (Panthera leo).

Science.gov (United States)

Saragusty, Joseph; Shavit-Meyrav, Anat; Yamaguchi, Nobuyuki; Nadler, Rona; Bdolah-Abram, Tali; Gibeon, Laura; Hildebrandt, Thomas B; Shamir, Merav H

2014-01-01

Lion (Panthera leo) populations have dramatically decreased worldwide with a surviving population estimated at 32,000 across the African savannah. Lions have been kept in captivity for centuries and, although they reproduce well, high rates of stillbirths as well as morbidity and mortality of neonate and young lions are reported. Many of these cases are associated with bone malformations, including foramen magnum (FM) stenosis and thickened tentorium cerebelli. The precise causes of these malformations and whether they are unique to captive lions remain unclear. To test whether captivity is associated with FM stenosis, we evaluated 575 lion skulls of wild (N = 512) and captive (N = 63) origin. Tiger skulls (N = 276; 56 captive, 220 wild) were measured for comparison. While no differences were found between males and females or between subadults and adults in FM height (FMH), FMH of captive lions (17.36±3.20 mm) was significantly smaller and with greater variability when compared to that in wild lions (19.77±2.11 mm). There was no difference between wild (18.47±1.26 mm) and captive (18.56±1.64 mm) tigers in FMH. Birth origin (wild vs. captive) as a factor for FMH remained significant in lions even after controlling for age and sex. Whereas only 20/473 wild lions (4.2%) had FMH equal to or smaller than the 5th percentile of the wild population (16.60 mm), this was evident in 40.4% (23/57) of captive lion skulls. Similar comparison for tigers found no differences between the captive and wild populations. Lions with FMH equal to or smaller than the 5th percentile had wider skulls with smaller cranial volume. Cranial volume remained smaller in both male and female captive lions when controlled for skull size. These findings suggest species- and captivity-related predisposition for the pathology in lions.

Comparative skull analysis suggests species-specific captivity-related malformation in lions (Panthera leo.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joseph Saragusty

Full Text Available Lion (Panthera leo populations have dramatically decreased worldwide with a surviving population estimated at 32,000 across the African savannah. Lions have been kept in captivity for centuries and, although they reproduce well, high rates of stillbirths as well as morbidity and mortality of neonate and young lions are reported. Many of these cases are associated with bone malformations, including foramen magnum (FM stenosis and thickened tentorium cerebelli. The precise causes of these malformations and whether they are unique to captive lions remain unclear. To test whether captivity is associated with FM stenosis, we evaluated 575 lion skulls of wild (N = 512 and captive (N = 63 origin. Tiger skulls (N = 276; 56 captive, 220 wild were measured for comparison. While no differences were found between males and females or between subadults and adults in FM height (FMH, FMH of captive lions (17.36±3.20 mm was significantly smaller and with greater variability when compared to that in wild lions (19.77±2.11 mm. There was no difference between wild (18.47±1.26 mm and captive (18.56±1.64 mm tigers in FMH. Birth origin (wild vs. captive as a factor for FMH remained significant in lions even after controlling for age and sex. Whereas only 20/473 wild lions (4.2% had FMH equal to or smaller than the 5th percentile of the wild population (16.60 mm, this was evident in 40.4% (23/57 of captive lion skulls. Similar comparison for tigers found no differences between the captive and wild populations. Lions with FMH equal to or smaller than the 5th percentile had wider skulls with smaller cranial volume. Cranial volume remained smaller in both male and female captive lions when controlled for skull size. These findings suggest species- and captivity-related predisposition for the pathology in lions.

TB in Captive Elephants

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

2017-04-27

Dr. Barry Kreiswirth, founding director of the Public Health Research Institute, TB Center, at Rutgers University, discusses TB in three captive elephants.  Created: 4/27/2017 by National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID).   Date Released: 4/27/2017.

Use of three joints as predictors of carcass and body fat depots in Blanca Celtibérica goats

OpenAIRE

Teixeira, A.; Delfa, R.; González, C.; Gosalvez, L.F.; Tor, M.

1995-01-01

Nineteen adult goats of the Blanca Celtibérica breed - in non productive stage - from the experimental flock of Servicio de Investigación Agraria (Diputación General de Aragón) were scored using the lumbar, breast and tail palpation. Sternal triangle joint, lumbar square jointt a ailn tdha t were handled to assess body condition scores were dissected into muscle, bone subcutaneous fat and intermuscular fat. Regression analyses were developed for predicting carcass and body fat dep...

Coherent captivity of population in gas of excited atoms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anisimov, P.M.; Akhmedzhanov, R.A.; Zelenskij, I.V.; Kolesov, R.L.; Kuznetsova, E.A.

2003-01-01

The coherent captivity of the population in the gaseous discharge on the transitions between the neon atoms excited levels is studied. The resonances, corresponding to the origination of the population coherent captivity in the Λ- and V-schemes on the Zeeman sublevels of the low and upper working states, were observed in the presence of the longitudinal magnetic field. The effect of the nonlinear rotation of the polarization plane under the conditions of the population coherent captivity was studied. The possibility of applying the results of the work for the diagnostics of the local magnetic fields and other plasma parameters in the gaseous discharges is considered [ru

Periodicals оn the Fate of Russian Captives During the First World War

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nazarova Tatyana

2014-11-01

Full Text Available The materials of periodicals represent an important source for studying public opinion and the executive policy regarding the fate of Russian captives. The analysis of the periodicals proves that despite the patriotic fervor that swept the press during the First World War, the plight of Russian captives was not widely highlighted. The article analyzes the nature of the publications on the Russian captives and identifies the reasons of journalists’ neglect of their problems. Among these reasons, the author calls an unprecedented scale of captivity – the millions of war prisoners from each warring sides. The government and their controlled press tried to forget the captives instead of analyzing the causes of mass captivity and correcting the command errors. The theme of captivity was not a separate issue in the national press, and it was used only as the material for the formation of the “image of enemy” to illustrate the violations of the international humanistic principles by the Germans. This was largely due to the attitude of the government and the military toward their captives – they were treated like traitors, they were blamed for the failures that have dogged the Russian army in the first years of the war.

Telling tails: selective pressures acting on investment in lizard tails.

Science.gov (United States)

Fleming, Patricia A; Valentine, Leonie E; Bateman, Philip W

2013-01-01

Caudal autotomy is a common defense mechanism in lizards, where the animal may lose part or all of its tail to escape entrapment. Lizards show an immense variety in the degree of investment in a tail (i.e., length) across species, with tails of some species up to three or four times body length (snout-vent length [SVL]). Additionally, body size and form also vary dramatically, including variation in leg development and robustness and length of the body and tail. Autotomy is therefore likely to have fundamentally different effects on the overall body form and function in different species, which may be reflected directly in the incidence of lost/regenerating tails within populations or, over a longer period, in terms of relative tail length for different species. We recorded data (literature, museum specimens, field data) for relative tail length (n=350 species) and the incidence of lost/regenerating tails (n=246 species). We compared these (taking phylogeny into account) with intrinsic factors that have been proposed to influence selective pressures acting on caudal autotomy, including body form (robustness, body length, leg development, and tail specialization) and ecology (foraging behavior, physical and temporal niches), in an attempt to identify patterns that might reflect adaptive responses to these different factors. More gracile species have relatively longer tails (all 350 spp., P lost/regenerating tails for nocturnal lizards (all 246 spp., P pressure.

Nature versus nurture? Consequences of short captivity in early stages.

Science.gov (United States)

Horreo, Jose L; Valiente, America G; Ardura, Alba; Blanco, Aida; Garcia-Gonzalez, Claudia; Garcia-Vazquez, Eva

2018-01-01

Biological changes occurring as a consequence of domestication and/or captivity are not still deeply known. In Atlantic salmon (S almo salar ), endangered (Southern Europe) populations are enhanced by supportive breeding, which involves only 6 months of captive rearing following artificial spawning of wild-collected adults. In this work, we assess whether several fitness-correlated life-history traits (migratory behavior, straying rate, age at maturity, and growth) are affected by early exposure to the captive environment within a generation, before reproduction thus before genetic selection. Results showed significant differences in growth and migratory behavior (including straying), associated with this very short period of captivity in natural fish populations, changing even genetic variability (decreased in hatchery-reared adults) and the native population structure within and between rivers of the species. These changes appeared within a single generation, suggesting very short time of captivity is enough for initiating changes normally attributed to domestication. These results may have potential implications for the long-term population stability/viability of species subjected to restoration and enhancement processes and could be also considered for the management of zoo populations.

Captivate Your Audience by Turning Powerpoint Presentations into Interactive E-Learning Content

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Montessa; Hirnyck, Ronda; Agenbroad, Ariel; Bechinski, Edward J.

2015-01-01

Adobe® Captivate software provides educators with a tool to create interactive distance learning modules. This article describes how Adobe® Captivate was used to increase engagement of volunteer learners. An Adobe® Captivate module was created for the University of Idaho Master Gardener program to educate and test new Master Gardener volunteers on…

Genetic characterization of Strongyloides spp. from captive, semi-captive and wild Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) in Central and East Kalimantan, Borneo, Indonesia.

Science.gov (United States)

Labes, E M; Nurcahyo, W; Wijayanti, N; Deplazes, P; Mathis, A

2011-09-01

Orangutans (Pongo spp.), Asia's only great apes, are threatened in their survival due to habitat loss, hunting and infections. Nematodes of the genus Strongyloides may represent a severe cause of death in wild and captive individuals. In order to better understand which Strongyloides species/subspecies infect orangutans under different conditions, larvae were isolated from fecal material collected in Indonesia from 9 captive, 2 semi-captive and 9 wild individuals, 18 captive groups of Bornean orangutans and from 1 human working with wild orangutans. Genotyping was done at the genomic rDNA locus (part of the 18S rRNA gene and internal transcribed spacer 1, ITS1) by sequencing amplicons. Thirty isolates, including the one from the human, could be identified as S. fuelleborni fuelleborni with 18S rRNA gene identities of 98·5-100%, with a corresponding published sequence. The ITS1 sequences could be determined for 17 of these isolates revealing a huge variability and 2 main clusters without obvious pattern with regard to attributes of the hosts. The ITS1 amplicons of 2 isolates were cloned and sequenced, revealing considerable variability indicative of mixed infections. One isolate from a captive individual was identified as S. stercoralis (18S rRNA) and showed 99% identity (ITS1) with S. stercoralis sequences from geographically distinct locations and host species. The findings are significant with regard to the zoonotic nature of these parasites and might contribute to the conservation of remaining orangutan populations.

Redfish Lake Sockeye Salmon Captive Broodstock Rearing and Research, 1995-2000 Annual Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Flagg, Thomas A.

2001-01-01

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Northwest Fisheries Science Center, in cooperation with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and the Bonneville Power Administration, has established captive broodstocks to aid recovery of Snake River sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) listed as endangered under the US Endangered Species Act (ESA). Captive broodstock programs are a form of artificial propagation and are emerging as an important component of restoration efforts for ESA-listed salmon populations. However, they differ from standard hatchery techniques in one important respect: fish are cultured in captivity for the entire life cycle. The high fecundity of Pacific salmon, coupled with their potentially high survival in protective culture, affords an opportunity for captive broodstocks to produce large numbers of juveniles in a single generation for supplementation of natural populations. The captive broodstocks discussed in this report were intended to protect the last known remnants of this stock: sockeye salmon that return to Redfish Lake in the Sawtooth Basin of Idaho at the headwaters of the Salmon River. This report addresses NMFS research from January 1995 to August 2000 on the Redfish Lake sockeye salmon captive broodstock program and summarizes results since the beginning of the study in 1991. Since initiating captive brood culture in 1991, NMFS has returned 742,000 eyed eggs, 181 pre-spawning adults, and over 90,000 smolts to Idaho for recovery efforts. The first adult returns to the Stanley Basin from the captive brood program began with 7 in 1999, and increased to about 250 in 2000. NMFS currently has broodstock in culture from year classes 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999 in both the captive broodstock program, and an adult release program. Spawn from NMFS Redfish Lake sockeye salmon captive broodstocks is being returned to Idaho to aid recovery efforts for the species.

Reintroduction of captive-bred African Grass-Owls Tyto capensis ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study represents the first attempt to determine post-release survival of a captive-bred owl in Africa. We released six captive-bred African Grass-Owls Tyto capensis into suitable habitat and, using radio telemetry, determined their daytime roost sites. One bird left the study area soon after release and did not yield data.

A modified captive bubble method for determining advancing and receding contact angles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xue, Jian; Shi, Pan; Zhu, Lin; Ding, Jianfu; Chen, Qingmin; Wang, Qingjun

2014-01-01

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • A modified captive bubble method for determining advancing and receding contact angle is proposed. • We have designed a pressure chamber with a pressure control system to the original experimental. • The modified method overcomes the deviation of the bubble in the traditional captive bubble method. • The modified captive bubble method allows a smaller error from the test. - Abstract: In this work, a modification to the captive bubble method was proposed to test the advancing and receding contact angle. This modification is done by adding a pressure chamber with a pressure control system to the original experimental system equipped with an optical angle mater equipped with a high speed CCD camera, a temperature control system and a computer. A series of samples with highly hydrophilic, hydrophilic, hydrophobic and superhydrophobic surfaces were prepared. The advancing and receding contact angles of these samples with highly hydrophilic, hydrophilic, and hydrophobic surfaces through the new methods was comparable to the result tested by the traditional sessile drop method. It is proved that this method overcomes the limitation of the traditional captive bubble method and the modified captive bubble method allows a smaller error from the test. However, due to the nature of the captive bubble technique, this method is also only suitable for testing the surface with advancing or receding contact angle below 130°

A modified captive bubble method for determining advancing and receding contact angles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xue, Jian; Shi, Pan; Zhu, Lin [Key Laboratory of High Performance Polymer Materials and Technology (Nanjing University), Ministry of Eduction, Nanjing 210093 (China); Ding, Jianfu [Security and Disruptive Technologies, National Research Council Canada, 1200 Montreal Road, Ottawa, K1A 0R6, Ontario (Canada); Chen, Qingmin [Key Laboratory of High Performance Polymer Materials and Technology (Nanjing University), Ministry of Eduction, Nanjing 210093 (China); Wang, Qingjun, E-mail: njuwqj@nju.edu.cn [Key Laboratory of High Performance Polymer Materials and Technology (Nanjing University), Ministry of Eduction, Nanjing 210093 (China)

2014-03-01

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • A modified captive bubble method for determining advancing and receding contact angle is proposed. • We have designed a pressure chamber with a pressure control system to the original experimental. • The modified method overcomes the deviation of the bubble in the traditional captive bubble method. • The modified captive bubble method allows a smaller error from the test. - Abstract: In this work, a modification to the captive bubble method was proposed to test the advancing and receding contact angle. This modification is done by adding a pressure chamber with a pressure control system to the original experimental system equipped with an optical angle mater equipped with a high speed CCD camera, a temperature control system and a computer. A series of samples with highly hydrophilic, hydrophilic, hydrophobic and superhydrophobic surfaces were prepared. The advancing and receding contact angles of these samples with highly hydrophilic, hydrophilic, and hydrophobic surfaces through the new methods was comparable to the result tested by the traditional sessile drop method. It is proved that this method overcomes the limitation of the traditional captive bubble method and the modified captive bubble method allows a smaller error from the test. However, due to the nature of the captive bubble technique, this method is also only suitable for testing the surface with advancing or receding contact angle below 130°.

Comparison of Serum Protein Electrophoresis Values in Wild and Captive Whooping Cranes ( Grus americana ).

Science.gov (United States)

Hausmann, Jennifer C; Cray, Carolyn; Hartup, Barry K

2015-09-01

Protein electrophoresis of serum samples from endangered, wild whooping cranes ( Grus americana ) was performed to help assess the health of the only self-sustaining, migratory population in North America. Serum samples from wild adult cranes (n = 22) were taken at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Texas, USA during winter. Wild juvenile cranes (n = 26) were sampled at Wood Buffalo National Park, Northwest Territories, Canada, in midsummer. All captive crane samples were acquired from the International Crane Foundation, Baraboo, WI, USA. Captive adult cranes (n = 30) were sampled during annual examinations, and archived serum samples from captive juvenile cranes (n = 19) were selected to match the estimated age of wild juveniles. Wild juveniles had significantly lower concentrations of all protein fractions than wild adults, except for prealbumin and γ globulins. All protein fraction concentrations for wild juveniles were significantly lower compared with captive juveniles, except for prealbumin and γ globulins, which were higher. Wild adults had significantly greater γ globulin concentrations than captive adults. Captive juveniles had significantly lower prealbumin and albumin concentrations and albumin : globulin ratios than captive adults. The higher γ globulin concentrations in wild versus captive cranes are likely because of increased antigenic exposure and immune stimulation. Protein fraction concentrations vary significantly with age and natural history in this species. Reference intervals for serum protein electrophoresis results from captive adult whooping cranes are provided in this study.

Research on Captive Broodstock Programs for Pacific Salmon; Assessment of Captive Broodstock Technologies, Annual Report 2002-2003.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berejikian, Barry

2004-01-01

The success of captive broodstock programs depends on high in-culture survival, appropriate development of the reproductive system, and the behavior and survival of cultured salmon after release, either as adults or juveniles. Continuing captive broodstock research designed to improve technology is being conducted to cover all major life history stages of Pacific salmon. Current velocity in rearing vessels had little if any effect on reproductive behavior of captively reared steelhead. However, males and females reared in high velocity vessels participated a greater number of spawning events than siblings reared in low velocity tanks. Observations of nesting females and associated males in a natural stream (Hamma Hamma River) were consistent with those observed in a controlled spawning channel. DNA pedigree analyses did not reveal significant differences in the numbers of fry produced by steelhead reared in high and low velocity vessels. To determine the critical period(s) for imprinting for sockeye salmon, juvenile salmon are being exposed to known odorants at key developmental stages. Subsequently they will be tested for development of long-term memories of these odorants. In 2002-2003, the efficacy of EOG analysis for assessing imprinting was demonstrated and will be applied in these and other behavioral and molecular tools in the current work plan. Results of these experiments will be important to determine the critical periods for imprinting for the offspring of captively-reared fish destined for release into natal rivers or lakes. By early August, the oocytes of all of Rapid River Hatchery chinook salmon females returning from the ocean had advanced to the tertiary yolk globule stage; whereas, only some of the captively reared Lemhi River females sampled had advanced to this stage, and the degree of advancement was not dependent on rearing temperature. The mean spawning time of captive Lemhi River females was 3-4 weeks after that of the Rapid River fish

Consolidation of tailings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nelson, J.D.; Wardwell, R.E.; Abt, S.R.; Staub, W.P.

1983-09-01

The integrity of cover systems placed on tailings impoundments will be affected by the potential for differential settlement of the tailings surface. Settlement of the sand fraction will occur relatively rapidly. The slimes will take longer time for consolidation and will produce greater settlement. This report reviews the phenomenon of consolidation for saturated and unsaturated tailings. The effect of load application by cover placement and the extent to which dewatering of tailings will cause consolidation are considered. In addition, the feasibility of inducing consolidation by alternative means and the potential applicability of these methods to tailings impoundments reclamation are discussed. Differential settlement of the tailings will cause tensile strain to be developed in covers. This strain could be large enough to cause cracking within a relatively brittle compacted clay. Dewatering of tailings by drainage can cause settlement even greater than that by placement of a cover material. Dewatering of the tailings would also increase the stability of the tailings surface, thereby enhancing reclamation operations. Consequently, in view of the enhanced surface stability and the fact that a portion of the differential settlement can be accomplished prior to cover placement, dewatering of tailings impoundments during operations may have benefical effects

Effects of DDE on experimentally poisoned free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis): Lethal brain concentrations

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, D.R.; Kroll, J.C.

1977-01-01

Adult female free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) were collected at Bracken Cave, Texas, and shipped to the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. Treated mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) containing 107 ppm DDE were fed to 17 bats; five other bats were fed untreated mealworms. After 40 days on dosage, during which one dosed bat was killed accidentally, four dosed bats were frozen and the remaining 17 were starved to death. The objective was to elevate brain levels of DDE to lethality and measure these concentrations. After the feeding period, dosed bats weighed less than controls. After starvation, the body condition of dosed bats was poorer than that of controls even though there was no difference in the amounts of carcass fat. During starvation, dosed bats lost weight faster than controls. Also, four dosed bats exhibited the prolonged tremoring that characterizes DDE poisoning. DDE increased in brains of starving bats as fat was metabolized. The estimated mean brain concentration of DDE diagnostic of death was 519 ppm with a range of 458-564 ppm. These values resemble diagnostic levels known for two species of passerine birds, but they exceed published levels for two free-tailed bats from Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico.

Tail posture predicts tail biting outbreaks at pen level in weaner pigs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lahrmann, Helle Pelant; Hansen, Christian Fink; D'Eath, Rick

2018-01-01

posture and behaviour could be detected at pen level between upcoming tail biting pens (T-pens) and control pens (C-pens). The study included 2301 undocked weaner pigs in 74 pens (mean 31.1 pigs/pen; SD 1.5). Tails were scored three times weekly (wound freshness, wound severity and tail length) between 07......Detecting a tail biting outbreak early is essential to reduce the risk of pigs getting severe tail damage. A few previous studies suggest that tail posture and behavioural differences can predict an upcoming outbreak. The aim of the present study was therefore to investigate if differences in tail......:00 h-14:00 h from weaning until a tail biting outbreak. An outbreak (day 0) occurred when at least four pigs had a tail damage, regardless of wound freshness. On average 7.6 (SD 4.3) pigs had a damaged tail (scratches + wound) in T-pens on day 0. Tail posture and behaviour (activity, eating...

Thermal characteristics of wild and captive Micronesian Kingfisher nesting habitats

Science.gov (United States)

Kesler, Dylan C.; Haig, Susan M.

2004-01-01

To provide information for managing the captive population of endangered Guam Micronesian kingfishers (Halcyon cinnamomina cinnamomina), four biologically relevant thermal metrics were compared among captive facilities on the United States mainland and habitats used by wild Micronesian kingfishers on the island of Pohnpei (H. c. reichenbachii), Federated States of Micronesia. Additionally, aviaries where kingfishers laid eggs were compared to those in which birds did not attempt to breed. Compared to aviaries, habitats used by wild Pohnpei kingfishers had 3.2A?C higher daily maximum and minimum temperatures and the proportion of time when temperatures were in the birds' thermoneutral zone was 45% greater. No differences were found in the magnitude of temperature fluctuation in captive and wild environments. In captive environments in which birds bred, daily maximum temperatures were 2.1A?C higher and temperatures were within the thermoneutral zone 25% more often than in the aviaries where the kingfishers did not breed. No differences were found in the magnitude of temperature fluctuation or the daily minimum temperature. Results suggest that the thermal environment has the potential to influence reproduction, and that consideration should be given to increasing temperatures in captive breeding facilities to improve propagation of the endangered Micronesian kingfisher.

Tucannon River Spring Chinook Salmon Captive Broodstock Program, Annual Report 2001.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gallinat, Michael P.; Bumgarner, Joseph D.

2002-05-01

This report summarizes the objectives, tasks, and accomplishments of the Tucannon River spring chinook captive brood during 2001. The WDFW initiated a captive broodstock program in 1997. The overall goal of the Tucannon River captive broodstock program is for the short-term, and eventually long-term, rebuilding of the Tucannon River spring chinook salmon run, with the hope that natural production will sustain itself. The project goal is to rear captive salmon selected from the supplementation program to adults, spawn them, rear their progeny, and release approximately 150,000 smolts annually into the Tucannon River between 2003-2007. These smolt releases, in combination with the current hatchery supplementation program (132,000 smolts) and wild production, are expected to produce 600-700 returning adult spring chinook to the Tucannon River each year from 2005-2010. The captive broodstock program will collect fish from five (1997-2001) brood years (BY). The captive broodstock program was initiated with 1997 BY juveniles, and the 2001 BY fish have been selected. As of Jan 1, 2002, WDFW has 17 BY 1997, 159 BY 1998, 316 BY 1999, 448 BY 2000, and approximately 1,200 BY 2001 fish on hand at LFH. The 2001 eggtake from the 1997 brood year (Age 4) was 233,894 eggs from 125 ripe females. Egg survival was 69%. Mean fecundity based on the 105 fully spawned females was 1,990 eggs/female. The 2001 eggtake from the 1998 brood year (Age 3) was 47,409 eggs from 41 ripe females. Egg survival was 81%. Mean fecundity based on the 39 fully spawned females was 1,160 eggs/female. The total 2001 eggtake from the captive brood program was 281,303 eggs. As of May 1, 2002 we have 171,495 BY 2001 captive brood progeny on hand. A total of 20,592 excess fish were marked as parr (AD/CWT) and will be released during early May, 2002 into the Tucannon River (rkm 40-45). This will allow us to stay within our maximum allowed number (150,000) of smolts released. During April 2002, WDFW volitionally

Captive breeding of pangolins: current status, problems and future prospects.

Science.gov (United States)

Hua, Liushuai; Gong, Shiping; Wang, Fumin; Li, Weiye; Ge, Yan; Li, Xiaonan; Hou, Fanghui

2015-01-01

Pangolins are unique placental mammals with eight species existing in the world, which have adapted to a highly specialized diet of ants and termites, and are of significance in the control of forest termite disaster. Besides their ecological value, pangolins are extremely important economic animals with the value as medicine and food. At present, illegal hunting and habitat destruction have drastically decreased the wild population of pangolins, pushing them to the edge of extinction. Captive breeding is an important way to protect these species, but because of pangolin's specialized behaviors and high dependence on natural ecosystem, there still exist many technical barriers to successful captive breeding programs. In this paper, based on the literatures and our practical experience, we reviewed the status and existing problems in captive breeding of pangolins, including four aspects, the naturalistic habitat, dietary husbandry, reproduction and disease control. Some recommendations are presented for effective captive breeding and protection of pangolins.

Captive breeding of pangolins: current status, problems and future prospects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liushuai Hua

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Pangolins are unique placental mammals with eight species existing in the world, which have adapted to a highly specialized diet of ants and termites, and are of significance in the control of forest termite disaster. Besides their ecological value, pangolins are extremely important economic animals with the value as medicine and food. At present, illegal hunting and habitat destruction have drastically decreased the wild population of pangolins, pushing them to the edge of extinction. Captive breeding is an important way to protect these species, but because of pangolin’s specialized behaviors and high dependence on natural ecosystem, there still exist many technical barriers to successful captive breeding programs. In this paper, based on the literatures and our practical experience, we reviewed the status and existing problems in captive breeding of pangolins, including four aspects, the naturalistic habitat, dietary husbandry, reproduction and disease control. Some recommendations are presented for effective captive breeding and protection of pangolins.

Captive breeding of pangolins: current status, problems and future prospects

Science.gov (United States)

Hua, Liushuai; Gong, Shiping; Wang, Fumin; Li, Weiye; Ge, Yan; Li, Xiaonan; Hou, Fanghui

2015-01-01

Abstract Pangolins are unique placental mammals with eight species existing in the world, which have adapted to a highly specialized diet of ants and termites, and are of significance in the control of forest termite disaster. Besides their ecological value, pangolins are extremely important economic animals with the value as medicine and food. At present, illegal hunting and habitat destruction have drastically decreased the wild population of pangolins, pushing them to the edge of extinction. Captive breeding is an important way to protect these species, but because of pangolin’s specialized behaviors and high dependence on natural ecosystem, there still exist many technical barriers to successful captive breeding programs. In this paper, based on the literatures and our practical experience, we reviewed the status and existing problems in captive breeding of pangolins, including four aspects, the naturalistic habitat, dietary husbandry, reproduction and disease control. Some recommendations are presented for effective captive breeding and protection of pangolins. PMID:26155072

Rotary peening with captive shot

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-02-01

Roto Peen with captive shot removes coatings and surface contamination from concrete floors. The objective of treating radioactively contaminated concrete floors during the Deactivation and Decommissioning (D and D) process is to reduce the surface contamination levels to meet regulatory criteria for unrestricted use. The US Department of Energy (DOE) Chicago Operations office and DOE's Federal Energy Technology Center (FETC) jointly sponsored a Large-Scale Demonstration Project (LSDP) at the Chicago Pile-5 Research Reactor (CP-5) at Argonne National Laboratory-East (ANL). The objective of the LSDP is to demonstrate potentially beneficial D and D technologies in comparison with current baseline technologies. As part of the LSDP, roto Peen with captive shot was demonstrated March 17--20, 1997, to treat a 20 x 25 ft area of radioactively contaminated concrete floor on the service level of the CP-5 building

Tail gut cyst.

Science.gov (United States)

Rao, G Mallikarjuna; Haricharan, P; Ramanujacharyulu, S; Reddy, K Lakshmi

2002-01-01

The tail gut is a blind extension of the hindgut into the tail fold just distal to the cloacal membrane. Remnants of this structure may form tail gut cyst. We report a 14-year-old girl with tail gut cyst that presented as acute abdomen. The patient recovered after cyst excision.

Influence of nutrients on feed intake and condition of captive canvasbacks in winter

Science.gov (United States)

Perry, M.C.; Kuenzel, W.J.; Williams, B.K.; Serafin, J.A.

1986-01-01

Dramatic changes in the food habits and distribution of canvasbacks (Aythya valisineria) in Chesapeake Bay during the 1970's generated a need to evaluate the nutritional value of food items and the requirements of this species on its wintering grounds. Groups of captive canvasbacks were maintained ad libitum on 5 diets during the winters of 1978-79 and 1979-80 to evaluate the effects of varying protein and energy levels on feed intake and condition. Feed intake during the 1979-80 winter was 42% greater for those ducks fed the low energy (1,543 kcal/kg) diet than for those fed the high energy (3,638 kcal/kg) diet. Canvasbacks fed the high energy diet, however, consumed 317 kcal/bird day, whereas those fed the low energy diet consumed only 191 kcal/bird day. Body weight of males and females did not differ among groups fed different diets, but there were seasonal differences (P < 0.05) for both sexes aggregated across diets. Data from this study indicate that canvasbacks may be unable to adjust intake rates to compensate for low energy foods and subsequently may store less fat or modify behavior. However, decreased weight, feed intake, and activity of ducks fed ad libitum rations occurred in mid-winter irrespective of diet quality and appeared to be an endogenous component of their annual cycle that persists in captivity. These changes apparently have a selective advantage of increasing the probability of survival in ducks by decreasing energy expenditure during periods of winter stress.

(Forced Walks on the Wild Side: Precarious Borders in American Captivity Narratives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander Starre

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Most readings of American captivity narratives have so far investigated their intercultural, psychological, and theological significances, while disregarding their ecological aspects. Despite its appropriation into US-American national literature, the captivity genre contains at its root a transcultural plot of an individual's confrontation with the environment and the unsettling forces of wilderness and animality. These personal memoirs indeed hold global value by pointing to our collective embeddedness and embodiedness.This essay surveys two early captivity narratives - the classical one by Mary Rowlandson (1682 and a lesser known text by John Gyles (1736 - alongside contemporary examples of the genre that relate the stories of American captives in Iraq and Colombia.

Aerobic salivary bacteria in wild and captive Komodo dragons.

Science.gov (United States)

Montgomery, Joel M; Gillespie, Don; Sastrawan, Putra; Fredeking, Terry M; Stewart, George L

2002-07-01

During the months of November 1996, August 1997, and March 1998, saliva and plasma samples were collected for isolation of aerobic bacteria from 26 wild and 13 captive Komodo dragons (Varanus komodoensis). Twenty-eight Gram-negative and 29 Gram-positive species of bacteria were isolated from the saliva of the 39 Komodo dragons. A greater number of wild than captive dragons were positive for both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. The average number of bacterial species within the saliva of wild dragons was 46% greater than for captive dragons. While Escherichia coli was the most common bacterium isolated from the saliva of wild dragons, this species was not present in captive dragons. The most common bacteria isolated from the saliva of captive dragons were Staphylococcus capitis and Staphylococcus capitis and Staphylococcus caseolyticus, neither of which were found in wild dragons. High mortality was seen among mice injected with saliva from wild dragons and the only bacterium isolated from the blood of dying mice was Pasteurella multocida. A competitive inhibition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay revealed the presence of anti-Pasteurella antibody in the plasma of Komodo dragons. Four species of bacteria isolated from dragon saliva showed resistance to one or more of 16 antimicrobics tested. The wide variety of bacteria demonstrated in the saliva of the Komodo dragon in this study, at least one species of which was highly lethal in mice and 54 species of which are known pathogens, support the observation that wounds inflicted by this animal are often associated with sepsis and subsequent bacteremia in prey animals.

Research on Captive Broodstock Technology for Pacific Salmon, 1995 Annual Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Swanson, Penny; Pascho, Ronald; Hershberger, William K. (Northwest and Alaska Fisheries Center, Coastal Zone and Estuarine Studies Division, Seattle, WA)

1996-01-01

This report summarizes research on captive broodstock technologies conducted during 1995 under Bonneville Power Administration Project 93-56. Investigations were conducted by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in cooperation with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, University of Washington, and Northwest Biological Science Center (US Geological Survey). Studies encompassed several categories of research, including fish husbandry, reproductive physiology, immunology, pathology, nutrition, and genetics. Captive broodstock programs are being developed and implemented to aid recovery of endangered Pacific salmon stocks. Like salmon hatchery programs, however, captive broodstock programs are not without problems and risks to natural salmon populations. The research projects described in this report were developed in part based on a literature review, Assessment of the Status of Captive Broodstock Technology for Pacific Salmon. The work was divided into three major research areas: (1) research on sockeye salmon; (2) research on spring chinook salmon; and (3) research on quantitative genetic problems associated with captive broodstock programs. Investigations of nutrition, reproductive physiology, fish husbandry, and fish health were integrated into the research on sockeye and spring chinook salmon. A description of each investigation and its major findings and conclusions is presented.

Tucannon River Spring Chinook Salmon Captive Broodstock Program, Annual Report 2002.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gallinat, Michael; Varney, Michelle

2003-05-01

This report summarizes the objectives, tasks, and accomplishments of the Tucannon River Spring Chinook Captive Broodstock Program during 2002. The WDFW initiated a captive broodstock program in 1997. The overall goal of the Tucannon River captive broodstock program is for the short-term, and eventually long-term, rebuilding of the Tucannon River spring chinook salmon run, with the hope that natural production will sustain itself. The project goal is to rear captive salmon selected from the supplementation program to adults, spawn them, rear their progeny, and release approximately 150,000 smolts annually into the Tucannon River between 2003-2007. These smolt releases, in combination with the current hatchery supplementation program (132,000 smolts) and wild production, are expected to produce 600-700 returning adult spring chinook to the Tucannon River each year from 2005-2010. The captive broodstock program collected fish from five (1997-2001) brood years (BY). As of January 1, 2003, WDFW has approximately 11 BY 1998, 194 BY 1999, 314 BY 2000, 447 BY 2001, and 300 BY 2002 (for extra males) fish on hand at LFH. The 2002 eggtake from the 1997 brood year (Age 5) was 13,176 eggs from 10 ripe females. Egg survival was 22%. Mean fecundity based on the 5 fully spawned females was 1,803 eggs/female. The 2002 eggtake from the 1998 brood year (Age 4) was 143,709 eggs from 93 ripe females. Egg survival was 29%. Mean fecundity based on the 81 fully spawned females was 1,650 eggs/female. The 2002 eggtake from the 1999 brood year (Age 3) was 19,659 eggs from 18 ripe females. Egg survival was 55%. Mean fecundity based on the 18 fully spawned fish was 1,092 eggs/female. The total 2002 eggtake from the captive brood program was 176,544 eggs. A total of 120,833 dead eggs (68%) were removed with 55,711 live eggs remaining for the program. As of May 1, 2003 we had 46,417 BY 2002 captive brood progeny on hand A total of 20,592 excess BY 01 fish were marked as parr (AD/CWT) and

Tucannon River Spring Chinook Salmon Captive Brood Program, FY 2000 Annual Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bumgarner, Joseph D.; Gallinat, Michael P.

2001-06-01

This report summarizes the objectives, tasks, and accomplishments of the Tucannon River spring chinook captive brood program from program inception (1997) through April 2001. The WDFW initiated a captive broodstock program in 1997. The overall goal of the Tucannon River captive broodstock program is for the short-term, and eventually long-term, rebuilding of the Tucannon River spring chinook salmon run, with the hope that natural production will eventually sustain itself. The project goal is to rear captive salmon to adults, spawn them, rear their progeny, and release approximately 150,000 smolts annually into the Tucannon River between 2003-2007. These smolt releases, in combination with the current hatchery supplementation program (132,000 smolts), and wild production, is expected to produce 600-700 returning adult spring chinook to the Tucannon River each year from 2005-2010. The Master Plan, Environmental Assessment, and most facility modifications at LFH were completed for the Tucannon River spring chinook captive broodstock program during FY2000 and FY2001. DNA samples collected since 1997 have been sent to the WDFW genetics lab in Olympia for baseline DNA analysis. Results from the genetic analysis are not available at this time. The captive broodstock program is planned to collect fish from five (1997-2001) brood years (BY). The captive broodstock program was initiated with 1997 BY juveniles, and the 2000 BY fish have been selected. As of April 30, 2001, WDFW has 172 BY 1997, 262 BY 1998, 407 BY 1999, and approximately 1,190 BY 2000 fish on hand at LFH. Twelve of 13 mature 97 BY females were spawned in 2000. Total eggtake was 14,813. Mean fecundity was 1,298 eggs/female based on 11 fully spawned females. Egg survival to eye-up was 47.3%. This low survival was expected for three year old captive broodstock females. As of April 30, 2001, WDFW has 4,211 captive broodstock progeny on hand. These fish will be tagged with blank wire tag without fin clips and

Update on common nutritional disorders of captive reptiles.

Science.gov (United States)

Mans, Christoph; Braun, Jana

2014-09-01

Nutritional disorders of captive reptiles remain very common despite the increasing knowledge about reptile husbandry and nutrition. Many nutritional disorders are diagnosed late in the disease process; often secondary complications, such as pathologic fractures in reptiles suffering from nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism have occurred. Therefore, every attempt should be made to educate reptile owners and keepers about the proper care and dietary needs of reptiles under their care because all nutritional disorders seen in captive reptiles are preventable. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

R+D works for the further development of high temperature reactors. (1) Captive bearing experiments for active magnetic bearings. (2) Captive bearing test for HTR blowers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1991-01-01

When using active magnetic bearings as blower shaft bearings, blower motors and bearings must be protected against mechanical damage in case of faults (example: total electrical supply failure due to the supply cables breaking). So-called captive bearings are provided, in order to be able to shut the blowers down safely in such faults. These captive bearings are roller bearings which are additionally fitted in the area of the blower shaft bearings, to prevent mechanical contact between the blower rotor and stator. As there was little experience available for the given boundary conditions, such as - speed, - acceleration, - bearing load, - bearing dimensions, - ambient conditions, appropriate development and tests had to be carried out. It was important to determine suitable captive bearings and the necessary ambient conditions, which will make it possible to support the failures of the magnetic bearings to be expected in 40 years' operation of the reactor without damage and to meet the requirements of the captive bearings. (orig./GL) [de

Proteomic comparisons of venoms of long-term captive and recently wild-caught Eastern brown snakes (Pseudonaja textilis) indicate venom does not change due to captivity.

Science.gov (United States)

McCleary, Ryan J R; Sridharan, Sindhuja; Dunstan, Nathan L; Mirtschin, Peter J; Kini, R Manjunatha

2016-07-20

Snake venom is a highly variable phenotypic character, and its variation and rapid evolution are important because of human health implications. Because much snake antivenom is produced from captive animals, understanding the effects of captivity on venom composition is important. Here, we have evaluated toxin profiles from six long-term (LT) captive and six recently wild-caught (RC) eastern brown snakes, Pseudonaja textilis, utilizing gel electrophoresis, HPLC-MS, and shotgun proteomics. We identified proteins belonging to the three-finger toxins, group C prothrombin activators, Kunitz-type serine protease inhibitors, and phospholipases A2, among others. Although crude venom HPLC analysis showed LT snakes to be higher in some small molecular weight toxins, presence/absence patterns showed no correlation with time in captivity. Shotgun proteomics indicated the presence of similar toxin families among individuals but with variation in protein species. Although no venom sample contained all the phospholipase A2 subunits that form the textilotoxin, all did contain both prothrombin activator subunits. This study indicates that captivity has limited effects on venom composition, that venom variation is high, and that venom composition may be correlated to geographic distribution. Through proteomic comparisons, we show that protein variation within LT and RC groups of snakes (Pseudonaja textilis) is high, thereby resulting in no discernible differences in venom composition between groups. We utilize complementary techniques to characterize the venom proteomes of 12 individual snakes from our study area, and indicate that individuals captured close to one another have more similar venom gel electrophoresis patterns than those captured at more distant locations. These data are important for understanding natural variation in and potential effects of captivity on venom composition. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Maintenance of Genetic Diversity in Natural Spawning of Captively-Reared Endangered Sockeye Salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ruth E. Withler

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Captive propagation of Pacific salmon is routine, but few captive breeding programs have been conducted to successfully re-establish extirpated wild populations. A captive breeding program for endangered Sakinaw Lake sockeye salmon was established from 84 adults between 2002 and 2005, just prior to extirpation of the wild population. After several years of absence, sockeye salmon released from captivity returned to spawn in Sakinaw Lake in 2010 and in all years thereafter. Freshwater survival rates of released hatchery fry and naturally produced progeny of reintroduced sockeye salmon have not limited abundance of the reintroduced population. In contrast, marine survival rates for Sakinaw sockeye salmon have been <1%, a level that precludes population restoration in the absence of supplementation. Genetic diversity commensurate with the number of parental founders has been maintained in captivity. The 517 adult second-generation captive fish that spawned in Sakinaw Lake in 2011 produced a smolt emigration of almost 28,000 juvenile fish with an effective population size of 132. Allelic richness and gene diversity levels in the smolts were similar to those observed in captivity. This indicates genetic contributions from all or most founding parents have been retained both in captivity and in the nascent reintroduced natural population.

Uranium Mill Tailings Management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nelson, J.D.

1982-01-01

This book presents the papers given at the Fifth Symposium on Uranium Mill Tailings Management. Advances made with regard to uranium mill tailings management, environmental effects, regulations, and reclamation are reviewed. Topics considered include tailings management and design (e.g., the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project, environmental standards for uranium mill tailings disposal), surface stabilization (e.g., the long-term stability of tailings, long-term rock durability), radiological aspects (e.g. the radioactive composition of airborne particulates), contaminant migration (e.g., chemical transport beneath a uranium mill tailings pile, the interaction of acidic leachate with soils), radon control and covers (e.g., radon emanation characteristics, designing surface covers for inactive uranium mill tailings), and seepage and liners (e.g., hydrologic observations, liner requirements)

More tail lesions among undocked than tail docked pigs in a conventional herd

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lahrmann, H. P.; Busch, M. E.; D'Eath, R. B.

2017-01-01

The vast majority of piglets reared in the European Union (EU) and worldwide is tail docked to reduce the risk of being tail bitten, even though EU animal welfare legislation bans routine tail docking. Many conventional herds experience low levels of tail biting among tail docked pigs, however...

Discrepancies in the occurrence of Balantidium coli between wild and captive African great apes.

Science.gov (United States)

Pomajbíková, Kateřina; Petrželková, Klára J; Profousová, Ilona; Petrášová, Jana; Modrý, David

2010-12-01

Balantidium coli is a ciliate reported in many mammalian species, including African great apes. In the former, asymptomatic infections as well as clinical balantidiasis have been reported in captivity. We carried out a cross-sectional study of B. coli in African great apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, and both species of gorillas) and examined 1,161 fecal samples from 28 captive facilities in Europe, plus 2 sanctuaries and 11 wild sites in Africa. Samples were analyzed with the use of Sheather's flotation and merthiolate-iodine-formaldehyde (MIFC) sedimentation. MIFC sedimentation was the more sensitive technique for diagnostics of B. coli in apes. Although not detected in any wild-ape populations, B. coli was diagnosed in 52.6% of captive individuals. Surprisingly, in the apes' feces, trophozoites of B. coli were commonly detected, in contrast with other animals, e.g., Old World monkeys, pigs, etc. Most likely reservoirs for B. coli in captive apes include synantropic rats. High starch diets in captive apes are likely to exacerbate the occurrence of balantidiasis in captive apes.

Establishment and maintenance of threatened long snouted seahorse, Hippocampus guttulatus, broodstock in captivity

OpenAIRE

Planas, Miguel; Chamorro, Alexandro; Quintas, Patricia; Vilar, Antonio

2008-01-01

Knowledge on seahorses is generally scarce but has been increasing in recent years due to their conservation status. Seahorse culture is a quite recent activity in most countries attempting it, and captive breeding techniques are available only for some species. With the aim of contributing to the development of breeding in captivity for conservative purposes, captive broodstock of the European long-snouted seahorse (Hippocampus guttulatus) was established with 32 wild seahorses captured in G...

Comparative Analysis of the Gut Microbiota Composition between Captive and Wild Forest Musk Deer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yimeng Li

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The large and complex gut microbiota in animals has profound effects on feed utilization and metabolism. Currently, gastrointestinal diseases due to dysregulated gut microbiota are considered important factors that limit growth of the captive forest musk deer population. Compared with captive forest musk deer, wild forest musk deer have a wider feeding range with no dietary limitations, and their gut microbiota are in a relatively natural state. However, no reports have compared the gut microbiota between wild and captive forest musk deer. To gain insight into the composition of gut microbiota in forest musk deer under different food-source conditions, we employed high-throughput 16S rRNA sequencing technology to investigate differences in the gut microbiota occurring between captive and wild forest musk deer. Both captive and wild forest musk deer showed similar microbiota at the phylum level, which consisted mainly of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, although significant differences were found in their relative abundances between both groups. α-Diversity results showed that no significant differences occurred in the microbiota between both groups, while β-diversity results showed that significant differences did occur in their microbiota compositions. In summary, our results provide important information for improving feed preparation for captive forest musk deer and implementing projects where captive forest musk deer are released into the wild.

Presentations of the CONRAD tailings seminar : exploring the past, present and future of tailings technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2004-01-01

This symposium explored oil sand tailings activities in Canada and their associated technologies. It was attended by active and prospective tailings researchers and developers of tailings technology who addressed timely issues regarding mature fine tailings, consolidated tailings, thickened tailings, and emerging tailings technologies. The collaborative research projects that are underway at the Oil Sands Tailings Research Facility were also discussed along with other topics such as tailings ponds management, water treatment, water quality and water supply security. All 16 presentations featured at this conference were indexed separately for inclusion in this database

Tucannon River spring chinook salmon captive brood program, FY 2000 annual report; ANNUAL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bumgarner, Joseph D.; Gallinat, Michael P.

2001-01-01

This report summarizes the objectives, tasks, and accomplishments of the Tucannon River spring chinook captive brood program from program inception (1997) through April 2001. The WDFW initiated a captive broodstock program in 1997. The overall goal of the Tucannon River captive broodstock program is for the short-term, and eventually long-term, rebuilding of the Tucannon River spring chinook salmon run, with the hope that natural production will eventually sustain itself. The project goal is to rear captive salmon to adults, spawn them, rear their progeny, and release approximately 150,000 smolts annually into the Tucannon River between 2003-2007. These smolt releases, in combination with the current hatchery supplementation program (132,000 smolts), and wild production, is expected to produce 600-700 returning adult spring chinook to the Tucannon River each year from 2005-2010. The Master Plan, Environmental Assessment, and most facility modifications at LFH were completed for the Tucannon River spring chinook captive broodstock program during FY2000 and FY2001. DNA samples collected since 1997 have been sent to the WDFW genetics lab in Olympia for baseline DNA analysis. Results from the genetic analysis are not available at this time. The captive broodstock program is planned to collect fish from five (1997-2001) brood years (BY). The captive broodstock program was initiated with 1997 BY juveniles, and the 2000 BY fish have been selected. As of April 30, 2001, WDFW has 172 BY 1997, 262 BY 1998, 407 BY 1999, and approximately 1,190 BY 2000 fish on hand at LFH. Twelve of 13 mature 97 BY females were spawned in 2000. Total eggtake was 14,813. Mean fecundity was 1,298 eggs/female based on 11 fully spawned females. Egg survival to eye-up was 47.3%. This low survival was expected for three year old captive broodstock females. As of April 30, 2001, WDFW has 4,211 captive broodstock progeny on hand. These fish will be tagged with blank wire tag without fin clips and

Non-invasive assessment of reproductive status and stress in captive Asian elephants in three south Indian zoos.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Vinod; Palugulla Reddy, Vivekananda; Kokkiligadda, Adiseshu; Shivaji, Sisinthy; Umapathy, Govindhaswamy

2014-05-15

Asian elephants in captivity need immediate attention to be bred so as to meet the increasing demand for captive elephants and to overcome the dependence on supplementing the captive stock with wild animals. Unfortunately, captive breeding programs across the globe have met with limited success and therefore more effort is needed to improve breeding in captivity. Endocrine profiling of reproductive hormones (progestagens and androgens) and the stress hormone (glucocorticoids) could facilitate better management and breeding strategies. In the present study, we investigated reproductive and stress physiology of 12 captive Asian elephants for 10-27 months using a non-invasive method based on steroid analysis of 1700 elephant dung samples. Most of the elephants were cycling regularly. Males during musth showed increased fecal androgen metabolite concentrations and exhibited a slight increase in fecal glucocorticoid metabolite levels. Elephants used in public festivals and processions showed significantly increased in faecal glucocorticoid metabolite levels. The results indicate that captive elephants require periodic health care, better husbandry practices and scientific management for sustainable captive population. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Galaxies with long tails

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schweizer, F.

1978-01-01

Two types of galaxies with long tails are described. The first occurs in pairs, each individual one having a long tail and the second occurs on its own with two tails. NGC 7252 shows several characteristics which one would expect of a merger: a pair of tidal tails despite the splendid isolation, a single nucleus, tail motions in opposite directions relative to the nucleus, and chaotic motions of a strangely looped main body. (C.F.)

Gastrointestinal and blood parasite determination in the guanaco (Lama guanicoe) under semi-captivity conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Correa, Loreto; Zapata, Beatriz; Soto-Gamboa, Mauricio

2012-01-01

The breeding of wild animals for commercial purposes is becoming more frequent nowadays. This situation has led to an increase in contact rates between wild and domestic animals, with subsequent reciprocal transmission of parasites. In this study, we characterized the gastrointestinal and blood parasites of a group of 15 semi-captive guanacos (Lama guanicoe). We characterized gastrointestinal parasites by analyzing fecal samples through the sedimentation-flotation technique and hemoparasites by using blood smears stained with Giemsa. We found several gastrointestinal parasites including Nematoda and protozoans. The most frequently found parasites were Nematodirus sp. and Eimeria sp. In contrast with previous studies, neither Cestoda nor Fasciola were found. The only hemoparasite detected was Mycoplasma haemolamae, a parasite already described in llamas and alpacas. We conclude that the most frequent gastrointestinal parasites of semi-captive guanacos were nematodes and protozoans. Also, the hemoparasite M. haemolamae seems to be prevalent among captive populations of South American camelids. Finally, captive guanacos share several parasites with the traditional livestock. Therefore, keeping captive or semi-captive guanacos without an adequate sanitary protocol might have adverse consequences to adjacent traditional cattle farming and/or for wild animals.

Genetic evaluation of the captive breeding program of the Persian wild ass

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, R.K.; Pertoldi, C.; Loeschcke, Volker

2007-01-01

During the last century, many species have become endangered and conservation in terms of captive breeding has been crucial for their survival. Classical management of captive species is based on recorded genealogies. However, if pedigrees are incomplete or inaccurate, it can bias...

Attitudes of Dutch Pig Farmers Towards Tail Biting and Tail Docking

OpenAIRE

Bracke, M.B.M.; Lauwere, de, C.C.; Wind, S.M.M.; Zonderland, J.J.

2013-01-01

The Dutch policy objective of a fully sustainable livestock sector without mutilations by 2023 is not compatible with the routine practice of tail docking to minimize the risk of tail biting. To examine farmer attitudes towards docking, a telephone survey was conducted among 487 conventional and 33 organic Dutch pig farmers. “Biting” (of tails, ears, or limbs) was identified by the farmers as a main welfare problem in pig farming. About half of the farmers reported to have no tail biting prob...

The disadvantages of mating outside home: How breeding in captivity affects the reproductive success of seahorses?

Science.gov (United States)

Faleiro, Filipa; Narciso, Luís

2013-04-01

In captivity, husbandry conditions are distinct from those experienced by fish in the wild and may have a significant effect on reproductive success. This study evaluates the effect of supportive breeding (i.e., breeding animals in captivity using wild parents) on some quantitative and qualitative aspects of the reproductive success of the long-snouted seahorse, Hippocampus guttulatus. Wild and captive broods were compared in terms of juvenile number, size, condition and fatty acid profile at birth. Reproductive investment and breeding success of H. guttulatus decreased considerably in captivity. Juveniles from captive broods were fewer in number, smaller, generally thinner and with lower fatty acid contents (per juvenile) than those from wild broods, although their fatty acid composition (μg mg- 1 DW or %TFA) was not significantly affected. Although not greatly encouraging, the poor reproductive performance of captive seahorses should not, however, efface the potential of supportive breeding as a tool for seahorse conservation. Enhanced conditions and long-term breeding in captivity will allow to improve the reproductive success of the species and the quality of the fingerlings.

Assessing welfare of individual sirenians in the wild and in captivity

Science.gov (United States)

Flint, Mark; Bonde, Robert K.

2017-01-01

Assessing the welfare of wild populations of sirenians has required a “generalist” approach. The outcome has been a subjective decision as to whether what the observers are witnessing in an individual or group of animals is normal and whether that has positive or negative consequences. The understanding of sirenian welfare requirements, and a decision process for whether to support and maintain their natural habitats or to try to replicate it in a meaningful way in an artificial captive setting, is still in its early developmental stages and has dynamic qualities that are in need of urgent attention. In this chapter we use the knowledge and observations presented throughout the chapters on sirenians to outline a proposed standard approach for assessing welfare in individuals in wild populations, as well as guidelines for assessing captive groups of dugongs and manatees. In the wild, the suitability of the habitat and human impact on it, the limitations of carrying capacity, the dynamics of ecosystems, and the effects that the immediate environment will have on the known resident populations are examined. In captivity, we use the foundation of the Five Freedoms, based on experience derived from other captive species, and we combine this with experience from rehabilitating manatees in Europe and the United States and, more recently, dugongs in the Indo-Pacific, to identify requirements and to help us to assess the unique needs of these species when held in facilities. We present considerations and approaches to (1) holistically assess captive facilities and to assess the well-being of the individuals held in the facility, (2) derive a guideline for standard captive assessment, (3) determine if adequate welfare needs for the animals are being met, and (4) help to provide guidance on whether an animal is suitable for release after rehabilitation.

An investigation into the prevalence of exploratory behavior in captive cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus).

Science.gov (United States)

Quirke, Thomas; O'Riordan, Ruth

2015-01-01

Exploratory behavior in the wild is fundamentally linked to an animal's survival and natural life history. The ability to gather information about their environment, establish territories, assert dominance, communicate information regarding reproductive status and locate mates are closely associated with a range of exploratory behaviors. Understanding how these behaviors are performed within the captive setting is crucial in order to create a captive environment in which these behaviors can be expressed, and their function conserved. The objective of this research was to highlight the factors of captive husbandry and management that influence the occurrence of exploratory behaviour of cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) in captivity. One hundred and twelve cheetahs in 88 enclosures across nine zoological institutions in five countries were the subjects of this study. The presence of raised areas, number of movements between enclosures, group composition, sex and an interaction between group composition and the ability to view cheetahs in adjacent enclosures, all significantly influenced the prevalence of exploratory behavior in captive cheetahs. The presence of raised areas and an increasing number of movements between enclosures significantly increased the probability of observing exploratory behaviour, while this probability was significantly decreased for female cheetahs, when cheetahs were able to view conspecifics in adjacent enclosures, and were maintained in groups. A number of recommendations are discussed in relation to promoting exploratory behavior in captive cheetahs. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

PENINGKATAN KOMPETENSI GURU MELALUI WORKSHOP PENYUSUNAN SOAL DIGITAL BAHASA JAWA DENGAN MENGGUNAKAN PROGRAM ADOBE CAPTIVATE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joko Sukoyo

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Kegiatan workshop ini dilakukan dengan tujuan untuk meningkatkan kemampuan guru sekolah dasar di Kecamatan Semarang Utara dalam hal penyusunan soal digital bahasa Jawa dengan menggunakan program adobe captivate. Metode yang digunakan dalam kegiatan ini adalah: ceramah, demonstrasi, praktik langsung, tanya jawab, dan penugasan. Peserta yang mengikuti workshop sebanyak 47 guru SD di Kecamatan Semarang Utara. Materi yang diberikan kepada peserta meliputi pengenalan program adobe captivate, penginstalan program adobe captivate, dan penulisan soal digital bahasa Jawa dengan menggunakan program adobe captivate. Kegiatan workshop ini berdampak positif kepada guru-guru SD di Kecamatan Semarang Utara. Sebelum diadakan kegiatan workshop, mereka sama sekali tidak dapat membuat soal digital dengan program adobe captivate. Setelah diadakan kegiatan worshop dan diadakan evaluasi terjadi peningkatan yang sangat signifikan, lebih dari 75% dapat membuat soal digital.

Blood values in wild and captive Komodo dragons (Varanus komodoensis).

Science.gov (United States)

Gillespie, Don; Frye, Frederic L.; Stockham, Steven L.; Fredeking, Terry

2000-01-01

The Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) is the largest living lizard and occupies a range smaller than that of any other large carnivore in the world. Samples from 33 free-ranging animals at five localities in Komodo National Park, Indonesia were evaluated to assess underlying health problems. To build a comparative database, samples from 44 Komodo dragons in both Indonesian and U.S. zoos were also analyzed. Tests performed included complete blood counts, clinical chemistry profiles, vitamin A, D(3), and E analyses, mineral levels, and screening for chlorinated pesticides or other toxins in wild specimens. Blood samples from wild dragons were positive for hemogregarines, whereas captive specimens were all negative. Total white blood cell counts were consistently higher in captive Komodo dragons than in wild specimens. Reference intervals were established for some chemistry analytes, and values obtained from different groups were compared. Vitamin A and E ranges were established. Vitamin D(3) levels were significantly different in Komodo dragons kept in captive, indoor exhibits versus those with daily ultraviolet-B exposure, whether captive or wild specimens. Corrective measures such as ultraviolet-permeable skylights, direct sunlight exposure, and self-ballasted mercury vapor ultraviolet lamps increased vitamin D(3) concentrations in four dragons to levels comparable with wild specimens. Toxicology results were negative except for background-level chlorinated pesticide residues. The results indicate no notable medical, nutritional, or toxic problems in the wild Komodo dragon population. Problems in captive specimens may relate to, and can be corrected by, husbandry measures such as regular ultraviolet-B exposure. Zoo Biol 19:495-509, 2000. Copyright 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Bar-tailed

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Duijns, S.; Hidayati, N.A.; Piersma, T.

2013-01-01

Capsule Across the European wintering range Bar-tailed Godwits Limosa lapponica lapponica selected polychaete worms and especially Ragworms Hediste diversicolor, with differences between areas due to variations in prey availability.Aims To determine the diet of Bar-tailed Godwits across their

TAIL ASYMPTOTICS OF LIGHT-TAILED WEIBULL-LIKE SUMS

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Asmussen, Soren; Hashorva, Enkelejd; Laub, Patrick J.

2017-01-01

We consider sums of n i.i.d. random variables with tails close to exp{-x(beta)} for some beta > 1. Asymptotics developed by Rootzen (1987) and Balkema, Kluppelberg, and Resnick (1993) are discussed from the point of view of tails rather than of densities, using a somewhat different angle...

Effects of weather and tailings properties on tailings drying times

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gantzer, C.; Fasking, T.; Costello, M.; Greenwood, J. [Barr Engineering, Calgary, AB (Canada)

2010-07-01

This PowerPoint presentation presented the results of a study conducted to determine the effects of weather and tailings properties on tailings drying times. Weather conditions have a significant impact the potential evaporation (PE) and actual evaporation (AE) of oil sands tailings. A 2-stage drying of slurry at a constant PE was conducted to determine the shrinkage limit of untreated mature fine tailings (MFT). An evaporation and seepage model was used to determine maximum first-stage drying rates. Measurements were also taken in a wind tunnel. Potential evaporation rates were calculated and evaporative water losses from the MFT were determined. Estimated drying times were presented. Results of the approach were compared with field measurements conducted in a previous study. Results of the study showed that evaporative water loss rates for May through August were limited by the properties of the tailings. Water loss rates were limited by weather for other months in the year-long study. tabs., figs.

Cameco engineered tailings program: linking research with industrial processes for improved tailings performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kotzer, T.; Hendry, M.J.

2011-01-01

The waste product from uranium mining and milling that generates the greatest public and regulatory concern is tailings. The tailings contain all of the mined material except uranium plus a host of processing reagents. These minerals and compounds have the potential to harm the local environment if not deposited in a fashion that is both geochemically and geotechnically stable. Environmental leadership impels Cameco Corporation to ensure that the methods used to dispose of tailings are at the forefront of best available technologies whereby tailings production results in a product with geotechnical and geochemical characteristics that minimize the environmental impact associated with long-term storage of this product. Cameco has developed an Engineered Tailings (ET) program to ensure optimization of long-term tailings performance and minimal impacts of elements of concern (EOCs) to the receiving environment, regardless of the ore being milled. Within this program chemical and physical performance of tailings from geochemical and geotechnical investigations and baseline environmental data, integrated with regulatory requirements and corporate commitments, will be used to evaluate and set criteria for mill- and tailings management facilities-based chemical and physical tailings characteristics, identify key knowledge gaps, prioritize areas of concern and implement appropriate responses. This paper provides an overview of the Engineered Tailings program, the research being conducted as part of the ET program, and how it links with present and future Cameco operations. (author)

Leptospirosis on captive wild animals in Latin America.

Science.gov (United States)

Vieira, Anahi S; Lilenbaum, Walter

2017-12-01

Leptospirosis is a worldwide bacterial infection, being more prevalent in tropical regions. Human beings, domestic animals and wildlife species are susceptible to a wide variety of serovars. Zoos have a great importance in keeping endangered species, increasing populations and accumulating knowledge on these species. Although some studies describe the occurrence of leptospirosis in captivity animals, a systematic review regarding the infection in these animals in tropical areas has never been conducted. Thus, the objective of this study was to systematically gather and analyze data regarding leptospirosis among captive wild animals in Latin America. A total of 141 species were studied, 93 genus, 44 families and 15 orders from three classes. Median seroprevalence ranged from 0 to 52% and predominant serogroups were Canicola and Icterohaemorrhagiae for mammalian, and Sejroe for reptiles. One important outcome is that, when kept on zoos, wildlife is more frequently infected by incidental strains instead of adapted strains. Preventive measures should consider periodic serosurvey of all animal species in captivity, as well as the use of commercial vaccines to reduce leptospiral infection and its hazards. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Parasitic fauna of captive snakes in Tamilnadu, India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nakulan Valsala Rajesh

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Objective: To study the parasitic fauna on serpentines under captive condition in zoological park of Tamilnadu, India. Methods: Fecal samples were collected from (n = 247 serpentines, Arignar Anna Zoological Park (n = 22, Vandalur, Tamilnadu, India and Snake Park (n = 27, Guindy, Tamilnadu, India and screened for endoparasites using sedimentation techniques. Ectoparasites were also reported in this study. Results: Coprological examination (n = 247 from captive snakes (n = 49 on random analysis revealed strongyles were predominant in Arignar Anna Zoological Park, Vandalur and Snake Park, Guindy, however the parasites were absent in king cobras (Ophiophagus hannah. Eggs of Capillaria sp. showed less predominance in Vandalur and Gunidy. Rat snakes [Ptyas mucosus (P. mucosus] showed higher prevalence of strongyle infection in Vandalur, and Russell’s viper (Daboia russelii showed higher prevalence in Guindy. Study on ectoparasites revealed Aponomma gerviasii ticks in P. mucosus, Indian cobras (Naja naja, king cobras (Ophiophagus hannah, reticulated pythons (Python reticulates and Indian rock pythons (Python molurus, among them, the most heavy infestation was documented in P. mucosus (n = 9. Conclusions: Confinement favour stress and dysecdysis in captive condition affect the health status of snakes in zoological park.

Uranium tailings sampling manual

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feenstra, S.; Reades, D.W.; Cherry, J.A.; Chambers, D.B.; Case, G.G.; Ibbotson, B.G.

1985-01-01

The purpose of this manual is to describe the requisite sampling procedures for the application of uniform high-quality standards to detailed geotechnical, hydrogeological, geochemical and air quality measurements at Canadian uranium tailings disposal sites. The selection and implementation of applicable sampling procedures for such measurements at uranium tailings disposal sites are complicated by two primary factors. Firstly, the physical and chemical nature of uranium mine tailings and effluent is considerably different from natural soil materials and natural waters. Consequently, many conventional methods for the collection and analysis of natural soils and waters are not directly applicable to tailings. Secondly, there is a wide range in the physical and chemical nature of uranium tailings. The composition of the ore, the milling process, the nature of tailings depositon, and effluent treatment vary considerably and are highly site-specific. Therefore, the definition and implementation of sampling programs for uranium tailings disposal sites require considerable evaluation, and often innovation, to ensure that appropriate sampling and analysis methods are used which provide the flexibility to take into account site-specific considerations. The following chapters describe the objective and scope of a sampling program, preliminary data collection, and the procedures for sampling of tailings solids, surface water and seepage, tailings pore-water, and wind-blown dust and radon

Microplastic Contamination of Wild and Captive Flathead Grey Mullet (Mugil cephalus)

Science.gov (United States)

Lui, Ching Yee

2018-01-01

A total of 60 flathead grey mullets were examined for microplastic ingestion. Thirty wild mullets were captured from the eastern coast of Hong Kong and 30 captive mullets were obtained from fish farms. Microplastic ingestion was detected in 60% of the wild mullets, with an average of 4.3 plastic items per mullet, while only 16.7% of captive mullets were found to have ingested microplastics, with an average of 0.2 items per mullet. The results suggested that wild mullets have a higher risk of microplastic ingestion than their captive counterparts. The most common plastic items were fibres that were green in colour and small in size (microplastics was positively correlated with larger body size among the mullets. PMID:29587444

Diet Versus Phylogeny: a Comparison of Gut Microbiota in Captive Colobine Monkey Species.

Science.gov (United States)

Hale, Vanessa L; Tan, Chia L; Niu, Kefeng; Yang, Yeqin; Knight, Rob; Zhang, Qikun; Cui, Duoying; Amato, Katherine R

2018-02-01

Both diet and host phylogeny shape the gut microbial community, and separating out the effects of these variables can be challenging. In this study, high-throughput sequencing was used to evaluate the impact of diet and phylogeny on the gut microbiota of nine colobine monkey species (N = 64 individuals). Colobines are leaf-eating monkeys that fare poorly in captivity-often exhibiting gastrointestinal (GI) problems. This study included eight Asian colobines (Rhinopithecus brelichi, Rhinopithecus roxellana, Rhinopithecus bieti, Pygathrix nemaeus, Nasalis larvatus, Trachypithecus francoisi, Trachypithecus auratus, and Trachypithecus vetulus) and one African colobine (Colobus guereza). Monkeys were housed at five different captive institutes: Panxi Wildlife Rescue Center (Guizhou, China), Beijing Zoo, Beijing Zoo Breeding Center, Singapore Zoo, and Singapore Zoo Primate Conservation Breeding Center. Captive diets varied widely between institutions, but within an institution, all colobine monkey species were fed nearly identical or identical diets. In addition, four monkey species were present at multiple captive institutes. This allowed us to parse the effects of diet and phylogeny in these captive colobines. Gut microbial communities clustered weakly by host species and strongly by diet, and overall, colobine phylogenetic relationships were not reflected in gut microbiota analyses. Core microbiota analyses also identified several key taxa-including microbes within the Ruminococcaceae and Lachnospiraceae families-that were shared by over 90% of the monkeys in this study. Microbial species within these families include many butyrate producers that are important for GI health. These results highlight the importance of diet in captive colobines.

Effects of various tailings covers on radon gas emanation from pyritic uranium tailings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dave, N.K.; Lim, T.P.

1987-01-01

Radon emanation studies were carried out at an inactive pyritic uranium tailings site in Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada, to evaluate the effects of various existing dry and wet covers on radon flux rates. Measurements were taken using activated charcoal cartridges for various surface covers consisting of bare, vegetated, acidophilic moss with high degree of water saturation, compacted crushed rock and gravel, and winter snow. The results showed that at a given site, there was no significant difference in radon emanation rates between various tailings covers and bare tailings. In particular, no increase In radon emanation rates from vegetated areas compared to bare tailings was observed. Radon emanation rates varied spatially depending on tailings grain size, porosity, moisture content and on pressure and water table variations. The emanation rates were higher for tailings with low water contents compared to those for wet and moss covered tailings

Oxidative stress, activity behaviour and body mass in captive parrots

OpenAIRE

Larcombe, S. D.; Tregaskes, C. A.; Coffey, J.; Stevenson, A. E.; Alexander, L. G.; Arnold, K. E.

2015-01-01

Many parrot species are kept in captivity for conservation, but often show poor reproduction, health and survival. These traits are known to be influenced by oxidative stress, the imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and ability of antioxidant defences to ameliorate ROS damage. In humans, oxidative stress is linked with obesity, lack of exercise and poor nutrition, all of which are common in captive animals. Here, we tested whether small parrots (budgerigars, Melo...

Sexual exchange relationships in captive chimpanzees

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hemelrijk, C.K.; Van Laere, G.J.; Van Hooff, J.A.R.A.M.

1992-01-01

In a group of captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), we studied whether females received more social benefits from males when they were in oestrus than at other times and whether males distributed their beneficial acts especially to females with whom they mated more frequently. When in oestrus,

9 CFR 91.7 - Captive cervids.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Captive cervids. 91.7 Section 91.7 Animals and Animal Products ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE EXPORTATION AND IMPORTATION OF ANIMALS (INCLUDING POULTRY) AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS INSPECTION AND HANDLING OF...

Extrinsic factors significantly affect patterns of disease in free-ranging and captive cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) populations.

Science.gov (United States)

Munson, Linda; Terio, Karen A; Worley, Michael; Jago, Mark; Bagot-Smith, Arthur; Marker, Laurie

2005-07-01

The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) has been considered a paradigm for disease vulnerability due to loss of genetic diversity. This species monomorphism has been suspected to be the basis for their general poor health and dwindling populations in captivity. North American and South African captive populations have high prevalences of hepatic veno-occlusive disease, glomerulosclerosis, gastritis, and systemic amyloidosis, diseases that are rare in other species. Unusually severe inflammatory reactions to common infectious agents have also been documented in captive cheetahs. The current study compared disease prevalences in free-ranging Namibian cheetahs with those in two captive populations of similar ages. The occurrence of diseases in the free-ranging population was determined from 49 necropsies and 27 gastric biopsies obtained between 1986 and 2003 and compared with prevalences in 147 North American and 80 South African captive cheetahs. Except for two cheetahs, the free-ranging population was in robust health with only mild lesions present, in contrast with significantly higher prevalences in the captive populations. Despite widespread heavy Helicobacter colonization in wild cheetahs, only 3% of the free-ranging population had moderate to severe gastritis, in contrast with 64% of captive cheetahs. No severe inflammatory reactions to viral infections were detected in the free-ranging animals. Because free-ranging Namibian cheetahs are as genetically impoverished as captive cheetahs, these findings caution against attributing loss of fitness solely to genetic factors and attest to the fundamental importance of extrinsic factors in wildlife health.

Self-hypnosis training and captivity survival.

Science.gov (United States)

Wood, D P; Sexton, J L

1997-01-01

In February and March, 1973, 566 U.S. military prisoners (POWs) were released from North Vietnam. These men had been POWs for a period of time between 2 months and 9 years, with a mean incarceration of 4.44 years. They had faced physical and psychological stress similar to that experienced by POWs from previous wars: starvation, disease, inadequate shelter, lack of medical care, interrogations and torture (Deaton, Burge, Richlin & Latrownik, 1977; Mitchell, 1991). By definition, such prison conditions constituted a traumatic experience (Deaton et al., 1977). However, a unique stress for our POWs in North Vietnam was the additional trauma of solitary confinement. This paper reviews the coping and "time killing" activities of U.S. Navy Vietnam POWs who experienced solitary confinement and tortuous interrogation. This paper also reports the physical and psychological adjustment of our POWs following their release from captivity. Suggestions are made regarding the revision of the curriculum for captivity survival training programs such as Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) school.

Uranium mill tailings conditioning technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dreesen, D.R.; Cokal, E.J.; Wangen, L.E.; Williams, J.M.; O'Brien, P.D.; Thode, E.F.

1982-01-01

Conditioning of uranium mill tailings involves the physicochemical alteration of tailings to remove or immobilize mobile radionuclides and toxic trace elements before disposal in a repository. The principal immobilization approach under investigation is sintering tailings at high temperatures (1100-1200 deg. C) to radically alter the structure of tailings. This thermal stabilization at 1200 deg. C reduced radon emanation power for tailings sands by factors of 20 to 200 and for tailings fines by factors of 300 to 1100. Substantial reductions in the leachability of most contaminants have been found for thermally conditioned tailings. Obvious mineral transformations occur, including an increase in amorphous material, the conversion of gypsum to anhydrite and its subsequent decomposition, the disappearance of clay minerals, and some decrease in quartz content. A conceptual thermal stabilization process has been developed wherein obsolete coal-fired rotary cement kilns perform the sintering. An economic analysis of this conceptual process has shown that thermal stabilization can be competitive at certain tailings sites with other remedial actions requiring the excavation, transportation, and burial of tailings in a repository. An analysis of the long-term radiological hazard posed by untreated tailings and by tailings conditioned by radionuclide removal has illustrated the necessity of extracting both 226 Ra and 230 Th to achieve long-term hazard reductions. Sulphuric acid extraction of residual mineral values and important radionuclides from tailings has been investigated. Concentrated H 2 SO 4 can extract up to 80% of the 226 Ra, 70% of the Ba, and 90% of the 230 Th from tailings in a single stage extraction. An economic analysis of a sulphuric acid leach process was made to determine whether the value of minerals recovered from tailings would offset the leaching cost. For one relatively mineral-rich tailings pile, the U and V values would more than pay for the

Uranium tailings bibliography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holoway, C.F.; Goldsmith, W.A.; Eldridge, V.M.

1975-12-01

A bibliography containing 1,212 references is presented with its focus on the general problem of reducing human exposure to the radionuclides contained in the tailings from the milling of uranium ore. The references are divided into seven broad categories: uranium tailings pile (problems and perspectives), standards and philosophy, etiology of radiation effects, internal dosimetry and metabolism, environmental transport, background sources of tailings radionuclides, and large-area decontamination

Pododermatitis in captive-reared black stilts (Himantopus novaezelandiae).

Science.gov (United States)

Reissig, Elizabeth Chang; Tompkins, Daniel M; Maloney, Richard F; Sancha, Emily; Wharton, David A

2011-09-01

A potential cause of pododermatitis ("bumblefoot") was investigated in captive-reared juvenile black stilts at the Department of Conservation "Kaki Recovery Program" at Twizel, New Zealand. To address the importance of substrate, the development of clinical signs in individuals was compared among aviaries that contained rubber matting and/or salt footbaths, and controls. No effect of either experimental manipulation of the environment was apparent on pododermatitis development. With the substrate appearing not to be an initiating factor, and a previous study that indicated that the birds' diet fulfills the nutritional requirements for rearing black stilts in captivity, results of this study suggest that insufficient space for exercise may instead be the cause.

Performance Comparison between Neutralization Tailings and Flotation Tailings Used for Backfill Mix and Mechanism Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bin Han

2016-01-01

Full Text Available A comparison test of different tailings used for underground backfill was conducted, using neutralized tailings from BIOX and flotation tailings of Jinfeng Mine. Laboratory comparison test results show that, with neutralized tailings, when the cement dosage is at 19%, backfill UCS after 7 days, 14 days, and 28 days are 105%–163%, 80%–102%, and 33%–43%, respectively, which are higher than those of flotation tailings. When the cement dosage is at 12%, backfill UCS after 7 days, 14 days, and 28 days are 58%–77%, 50%–60%, and 28%–51%, respectively, which are higher than those of flotation tailings. Slurry fluidity of neutralized tailings is lower than that of flotation tailings, while, in these two tailings, the difference of slump and diffusivity values is less than 6%, which is not a significant difference in slurry fluidity. The reason for neutralized tailings showing higher UCS is as follows: during backfill curing, neutralization tailings produce abundant crystals of CaSO4·2H2O in interlaced structure which helps in combining aggregates closely; CaSO4·2H2O hydrates with C3A C4AF contained in the cement and forms clavate cement bacillus which works as a micro reinforcing steel bar. The test proved that neutralized tailings are more optimal for backfilling.

Research on Captive Broodstock Programs for Pacific Salmon, 2001-2002 Annual Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berejikian, Barry A.; Tezak, E.P. (National Marine Fisheries Service); Endicott, Rick (Long Live the Kings, Seattle, WA)

2002-08-01

In the 2000 Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) Biological Opinion, NMFS identified six populations of steelhead and several salmon populations that had dropped to critically low levels and continue to decline. Following thorough risk-benefit analyses, captive propagation programs for some or all of the steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) populations may be required to reduce the risk of extinction, and more programs may be required in the future. Thus, captive propagation programs designed to maintain or rebuild steelhead populations require intensive and rigorous scientific evaluation, much like the other objectives of BPA Project 1993-056-00 currently underway for chinook (O. tshawytscha) and sockeye salmon (O. nerka). Pacific salmon reared to the adult stage in captivity exhibit poor reproductive performance when released to spawn naturally. Poor fin quality and swimming performance, incomplete development of secondary sex characteristics, changes in maturation timing, and other factors may contribute to reduced spawning success. Improving natural reproductive performance is critical for the success of captive broodstock programs in which adult-release is a primary reintroduction strategy for maintaining ESA-listed populations.

Reproduction of Phylloderma stenops in captivity (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

CEL Esbérard

Full Text Available A reproductive colony of Phylloderma stenops was established in captivity. The bats were maintained in 1/2" wired screen cages sized 90 × 60 × 80 cm in a room with cycles of 13 hours of light and 11 hours of dark and with temperature and humidity ranging from 27 to 31 °C and 75 to 90% respectively. Bats were fed with a semi-liquid diet composed of chopped fruits, raw eggs, bovine meat, dog food, honey, dehydrated shrimp, salt and a vitamin and mineral complex offered daily. In the first two years of confinement the diet was complemented with laboratory-raised cockroaches, mealworms, young mice and seasonal fruits. Nine births occurred from three wild caught females 770-1050 days after capture and two captive-born females. Births occurred in September, February and November-December. The neonate measured 15.0 g of weight and present 34.1 mm of forearm length. Two captive-born females gave birth for the first time at 402-445 days of age. Phylloderma stenops species presents postpartum oestrus, gestation of 5.5 months, lactation of 3.3 months and sexual maturity at 8.0-8.5 months. Fetuses are palpable around two months before birth and females may present synchronisation of births.

The effects of captive versus wild rearing environments on long bone articular surfaces in common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kristi L. Lewton

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The physical environments of captive and wild animals frequently differ in substrate types and compliance. As a result, there is an assumption that differences in rearing environments between captive and wild individuals produce differences in skeletal morphology. Here, this hypothesis is tested using a sample of 42 captive and wild common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes. Articular surface areas of the humerus, radius, ulna, femur, and tibia were calculated from linear breadth measurements, adjusted for size differences using Mosimann shape variables, and compared across sex and environmental groups using two-way ANOVA. Results indicate that the articular surfaces of the wrist and knee differ between captive and wild chimpanzees; captive individuals have significantly larger distal ulna and tibial plateau articular surfaces. In both captive and wild chimpanzees, males have significantly larger femoral condyles and distal radius surfaces than females. Finally, there is an interaction effect between sex and rearing in the articular surfaces of the femoral condyles and distal radius in which captive males have significantly larger surface areas than all other sex-rearing groups. These data suggest that long bone articular surfaces may be sensitive to differences experienced by captive and wild individuals, such as differences in diet, body mass, positional behaviors, and presumed loading environments. Importantly, these results only find differences due to rearing environment in some long bone articular surfaces. Thus, future work on skeletal morphology could cautiously incorporate data from captive individuals, but should first investigate potential intraspecific differences between captive and wild individuals.

Focal palatine erosion in captive and free-living cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) and other felid species.

Science.gov (United States)

Zordan, Martýn; Deem, Sharon L; Sanchez, Carlos R

2012-01-01

We examined 1,092 skulls of captive and free-living individuals, representing 33 felid species, to determine the prevalence of focal palatine erosion (FPE). FPE was detected in 3.2% of cats evaluated, including cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) and 14 other felid species. The prevalence of FPE between cheetah (9.4%; n = 64) and non-cheetah species (2.8%; n = 1,028) (χ(2) test; P = 0.004) and between captive (5.7%; n = 246) and free-living (2.4%; n = 824) individuals (χ(2) test; P = 0.010) were significantly different, with prevalence between captive (19%; n = 21) and free-living (2.9%; n = 34) cheetahs approaching significance (Fisher's exact test; P = 0.064). FPE was diagnosed with equal prevalence in skulls from individuals in which the lower molars did not meet the palatine bone (60.6%) and individuals in which it did (39.4%; n = 33) (χ(2) test; P = 0.139). In cheetahs with FPE, one was a captive animal in Germany, one a free-living cheetah from Mali, one captive cheetah from Kenya, and three captive cheetahs of unknown origin. Additionally, we evaluated the medical records of 49 captive cheetahs in Namibia. Of these cheetahs, 48 (98.0%) had clinical signs consistent with FPE, although only 16 of these 48 (39.6%) had perforation of the palatine bone. Based on physical examinations, FPE was diagnosed in two caracals (Caracal caracal) and one fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) from a North American Zoo. Results from this study confirm FPE in cheetahs outside of Namibia, in a minimum of 15 felid species, and a higher FPE prevalence in captive individuals than free-living ones. Clinical implications of these findings and recommendations for future studies are provided. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Captivity Shapes the Gut Microbiota of Andean Bears: Insights into Health Surveillance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrea Borbón-García

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The Andean bear is an endemic species of the tropical Andes who has an almost exclusively plant-based diet. Since herbivorous mammals do not carry enzymes for fiber degradation, the establishment of symbiosis with cellulolytic microorganisms in their gastrointestinal (GI tract is necessary to help them fulfill their nutritional needs. Furthermore, as described for other mammals, a stable, diverse, and balanced gut microbial composition is an indicator of a healthy status of the host; under disturbances this balance can be lost, leading to potential diseases of the host. The goal of this study was to describe the gut microbiota of wild and captive Andean bears and determine how habitat status influences the composition and diversity of the gut symbiotic community. Fecal samples from wild (n = 28 and captive (n = 8 Andean bears were collected in “Reserva Pantano de Martos” and “Fundación Bioandina”, Colombia. Composition and diversity analyses were performed using amplicons from the V4 region of the 16S rDNA gene sequenced using the Ion PGM platform. PICRUSt algorithm was applied to predict the gene content of the gut microbiome of wild and captive Andean bears. A total of 5,411 and 838 OTUs were identified for wild and captive bears, respectively. Captive bears contained a lower number of bacterial phyla (n = 7 compared to wild individuals (n = 9. Proteobacteria (59.03% and Firmicutes (14.03% were the phyla that contributed the most to differences between wild and captive bears (overall dissimilarity = 87.72%. At family level, Enterobacteriaceae drove the main differences between the two groups (13.7%. PICRUSt metagenomics predictions suggested a similar pattern of relative abundance of gene families associated with the metabolism of carbohydrates across samples in wild individuals, despite the taxonomic differences of their gut microbiota. Captivity alters the availability and diversity of food resources, which likely reduces microbiota

Tailings management at Nabarlek

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Waggitt, P.

1989-01-01

As the entire uranium deposit at Nabarlek was mined in 1979, the mine pit was available as a tailing's repository from the time of commencement of ore processing. In the early years Nabarlek's tailings were deposited subaqueously. In 1985 the tailings deposition method was changed to a sub-aerial, or semi-dry, method. Over the subsequent three years there was evidence that the tailings settled further and squeezed water from lower layers. The water was pumped away and treated for removal of radium before being evaporated in one of the mine's evaporation ponds. When milling was completed in 1988 it was decided to try and increase the rate of water removal and so obtain even greater consolidation of the trailings in a shorter time. This was achieved by loading the tailings with a layer of screened leached sands and waste rock placed on a layer of geotextile filter fabric that had been laid over the whole of the tailings surface in the pit. Once this was completed a modified piling rig was used to insert vertical drains, or wicks, up to 30 metres into the tailings. The drains were placed on a square grid at a spacing of 3.25 metres. Water that was forced out of the tailings by the downward pressure of the sand and rock could flow freely to the surface up these drains. Once at the surface the water was gathered into a sump and pumped away for treatment as before. The drains are working very well at present although it will be some considerable time before the water stops flowing. Already settlement of the tailings is apparent and the settled density of the material is increasing. As far as is known this is the first time that such a system has been employed on mine tailings in a pit in this way

Bioassay for uranium mill tailings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tschaeche, A.N.

1986-01-01

Uranium mill tailings are composed of fine sand that contains, among other things, some uranium (U/sup 238/ primarily), and all of the uranium daughters starting with /sup 230/Th that are left behind after the usable uranium is removed in the milling process. Millions of pounds of tailings are and continue to be generated at uranium mills around the United States. Discrete uranium mill tailings piles exist near the mills. In addition, the tailings materials were used in communities situated near mill sites for such purposes as building materials, foundations for buildings, pipe runs, sand boxes, gardens, etc. The Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project (UMTRAP) is a U.S. Department of Energy Program designed with the intention of removing or stabilizing the mill tailings piles and the tailings used to communities so that individuals are not exposed above the EPA limits established for such tailings materials. This paper discusses the bioassay programs that are established for workers who remove tailings from the communities in which they are placed

Cameco engineered tailings program: linking applied research with industrial processes for improved tailings performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kotzer, T.G.

2010-01-01

'Full text:' Mine tailings at Cameco's operations are by-products of milling uranium ore having variable concentrations of uranium, metals, oxyanions and trace elements or elements of concern (EOC). Cameco has undertaken an Engineered Tailings (ET) program to optimize tailings performance and minimize environmental EOC impacts, regardless of the milled ore source. Applied geochemical and geotechnical tailings research is key within the ET program. In-situ drilling and experimental programs are used to understand long-term tailings behaviour and help validate source term predictions. Within this, the ET program proactively aids in the development of mill-based processes for production of tailings having improved long-term stability. (author)

Heavy tails of OLS

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mikosch, Thomas Valentin; de Vries, Casper

2013-01-01

Suppose the tails of the noise distribution in a regression exhibit power law behavior. Then the distribution of the OLS regression estimator inherits this tail behavior. This is relevant for regressions involving financial data. We derive explicit finite sample expressions for the tail probabili...

Prefered Feed of Anoa (Bubalus sp. at Manado Forestry Research Institute Captivity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diah Irawati Dwi Arini

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The present study aims to determine the type of fodder available and the level of scarcity of Anoa’s fodder at the condition prior to captivity at the Forestry Research Institute of Manado. The method employed was a trial of 12 (twelve types of fodder available around the captivity site given to 2 (two female anoas. The data were analyzed and displayed in tables and graphs while the data of preferred fodder were analyzed using Neu’s index equation. The findings suggest that anoa put in captivity at the Forestry Research Institute of Manado did not encounter problems during the process of feeding adaptation. The average fodder needs required anoa at the captivity site of the Forestry Research Institute of Manado range from 10.2 to 11.7 kg/ day in which the fodder was given twice a day. Meanwhile, based on the availability and ease of supplying the fodder from around the captivity site, the following are the types of fodder from higher to lower preferences, namely: field grass, kangkung, shoes banana, string beans, beans and cucumbers, respectively. While fodder with the lowest level of scarcity is the type of fodder with a hard texture such as sweet potatoes, carrots or potatoes. Based on the results of a number of studies, it is recommended that variations in anoa’s fodder can be done every 4-5 times a day.

Haptoglobin concentrations in free-range and temporarily captive juvenile steller sea lions.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomton, Jamie D; Mellish, Jo-Ann E

2007-04-01

Haptoglobin (Hp) is an acute-phase protein synthesized in the liver that circulates at elevated concentrations in response to tissue damage caused by inflammation, infection, and trauma. As part of a larger study, sera Hp concentrations were measured in temporarily captive (n = 21) and free-range (n = 38) western stock juvenile Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) sampled from 2003 to 2006. Baseline Hp concentration at time of capture was 133.3 +/- 17.4 mg/dl. Temporarily captive animals exhibited a 3.2-fold increase in Hp concentrations during the first 4 wk of captivity, followed by a return to entry levels by week 5. Haptoglobin levels were not influenced by age, season, or parasite load. There was a significant positive correlation between Hp concentrations and white blood cell count (P < 0.001) and globulin levels (P < 0.001) and a negative correlation to red blood cell count and hematocrit (P < 0.001 for both). There was no correlation between Hp levels and platelet count (P = 0.095) or hemoglobin (P = 0.457). Routine blubber biopsies collected under gas anesthesia did not produce a measurable Hp response. One animal with a large abscess had an Hp spike of 1,006.0 mg/dl that returned to entry levels after treatment. In conclusion, serum Hp levels correlate to the stable clinical health status observed during captivity, with moderate Hp response during capture and initial acclimation to captivity and acute response to inflammation and infection.

An Assessment of the Status of Captive Broodstock Technology of Pacific Salmon, 1995 Final Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Flagg, Thomas A.; Mahnaken, Conrad V.W.; Hard, Jeffrey J.

1995-06-01

This report provides guidance for the refinement and use of captive broodstock technology for Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) by bringing together information on the husbandry techniques, genetic risks, physiology, nutrition, and pathology affecting captive broodstocks. Captive broodstock rearing of Pacific salmon is an evolving technology, as yet without well defined standards. At present, we regard captive rearing of Pacific salmon as problematic: high mortality rates and low egg viability were common in the programs we reviewed for this report. One of the most important elements in fish husbandry is the culture environment itself. Many captive broodstock programs for Pacific salmon have reared fish from smolt-to-adult in seawater net-pens, and most have shown success in providing gametes for recovery efforts. However, some programs have lost entire brood years to diseases that transmitted rapidly in this medium. Current programs for endangered species of Pacific salmon rear most fish full-term to maturity in fresh well-water, since ground water is low in pathogens and thus helps ensure survival to adulthood. Our review suggested that captive rearing of fish in either freshwater, well-water, or filtered and sterilized seawater supplied to land-based tanks should produce higher survival than culture in seawater net-pens.

Microplastic Contamination of Wild and Captive Flathead Grey Mullet (Mugil cephalus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lewis T. O. Cheung

2018-03-01

Full Text Available A total of 60 flathead grey mullets were examined for microplastic ingestion. Thirty wild mullets were captured from the eastern coast of Hong Kong and 30 captive mullets were obtained from fish farms. Microplastic ingestion was detected in 60% of the wild mullets, with an average of 4.3 plastic items per mullet, while only 16.7% of captive mullets were found to have ingested microplastics, with an average of 0.2 items per mullet. The results suggested that wild mullets have a higher risk of microplastic ingestion than their captive counterparts. The most common plastic items were fibres that were green in colour and small in size (<2 mm. Polypropylene was the most common polymer (42%, followed by polyethylene (25%. In addition, the abundance of microplastics was positively correlated with larger body size among the mullets.

Captive rearing initiative for Salmon River chinook salmon; Report period: January 1998-January 1999; Annual report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hassemer, Peter; Kline, Paul; Heindel, Jeff; Plaster, Kurtis

1999-01-01

The IDFG initiated a captive rearing program for populations at high risk of extinction to maintain metapopulation structure. Captive rearing is a short-term approach to species preservation. The main goal of the captive rearing approach is to avoid demographic and environmental risks of cohort extinction; maintaining the genetic identity of the breeding unit is an important but secondary objective

Tailings neutralization and other alternatives for immobilizing toxic materials in tailings. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Opitz, B.E.; Sherwood, D.R.; Dodson, M.E.; Serne, R.J.

1985-09-01

This document, ''Tailing Neutralization and Other Alternatives for Immobilizing Toxic Materials in Tailings,'' is the final report in a series of six. It summarizes research completed since the beginning of the project. Three subtasks are included: Subtask A - Neutralization Methods Selection; Subtask B - Laboratory Analysis; and Subtask C - Field Testing. Subtask A reviews treatment processes from other industries to evaluate whether current waste technology from other fields is applicable to the uranium industry. This task also identifies several reagents that were tested for their effectiveness in treating acidic tailings and tailings solution in order to immobilize the contaminants associated with the acid waste. Subtask B describes the laboratory batch and column treatment studies performed on solid waste tailings and tailings solutions over the course of the project. The evaluation of several reagents identified in Subtask A was based on three criteria: (1) treated effluent water quality; (2) neutralized sludge handling and hydraulic properties; and (3) reagent costs and acid neutralizing efficiency. Subtask C presents a field demonstration plan that will evaluate the effectiveness, costs, and benefits of neutralizing acidic uranium mill tailings solution to reduce the potential leaching of toxic trace metals, radionuclides, and macro ions from a tailings impoundment. Details of the related research can be found in the documents listed in the ''Previous Documents in Series.'' 43 refs., 9 figs., 46 tabs

Czechs and Slovaks in Russian Captivity during World War I (1914-1918)

OpenAIRE

Oksana E. Dmitrieva

2013-01-01

The article is focused on the features of more than 250 000 Czechs and Slovaks in Russian captivity during World War I: the amount, quartering and supply benefits, work in various sectors of the Russian economy, military units formation, social and national organizations activities, charity support. The conditions of Czechs and Slovaks captivity are recollected. New sources are introduced into scientific use.

Lateral movements of a massive tail influence gecko locomotion: an integrative study comparing tail restriction and autotomy.

Science.gov (United States)

Jagnandan, Kevin; Higham, Timothy E

2017-09-07

Tails are an intricate component of the locomotor system for many vertebrates. Leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularius) possess a large tail that is laterally undulated during steady locomotion. However, the tail is readily shed via autotomy, resulting in the loss of tail function, loss in body mass, and a cranial shift in the center of mass. To elucidate the function of tail undulations, we investigated changes in limb kinematics after manipulating the tail artificially by restricting tail undulations and naturally by removing the tail via autotomy. Restricting tail undulations resulted in kinematic adjustments similar to those that occur following tail autotomy, characterized by more flexed hind limb joints. These data suggest that effects of autotomy on locomotion may be linked to the loss of tail movements rather than the loss of mass or a shift in center of mass. We also provide empirical support for the link between lateral tail undulations and step length through the rotation of the pelvic girdle and retraction of the femur. Restriction and autotomy of the tail limits pelvic rotation, which reduces femur retraction and decreases step length. Our findings demonstrate a functional role for tail undulations in geckos, which likely applies to other terrestrial vertebrates.

Socialization of adult owl monkeys (Aotus sp.) in Captivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Lawrence E; Coke, C S; Weed, J L

2017-01-01

Social housing has often been recommended as one-way to address the psychological well-being of captive non-human primates. Published reports have examined methods to socialize compatible animals by forming pairs or groups. Successful socialization rates vary depending on the species, gender, and environment. This study presents a retrospective look at pairing attempts in two species of owl monkeys, Aotus nancymaae and A. azarae, which live in monogamous pairs in the wild. The results of 477 pairing attempt conducted with captive, laboratory housed owl monkeys and 61 hr of behavioral observations are reported here. The greatest success pairing these owl monkeys occurred with opposite sex pairs, with an 82% success rate. Opposite sex pairs were more successful when females were older than males. Female-female pairs were more successful than male-male (MM) pairs (62% vs 40%). Successful pairs stayed together between 3 and 7 years before the animals were separated due to social incompatibility. Vigilance, eating, and sleeping during introductions significantly predicted success, as did the performance of the same behavior in both animals. The results of this analysis show that it is possible to give captive owl monkeys a social alternative even if species appropriate social partners (i.e., opposite sex partners) are not available. The focus of this report is a description of one potential way to enhance the welfare of a specific new world primate, the owl monkey, under laboratory conditions. More important is how the species typical social structure of owl monkeys in nature affects the captive management of this genus. Am. J. Primatol. 79:e22521, 2017. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

High prevalence of antibodies against hepatitis A virus among captive nonhuman primates.

Science.gov (United States)

Sa-nguanmoo, Pattaratida; Thawornsuk, Nutchanart; Rianthavorn, Pornpimol; Sommanustweechai, Angkana; Ratanakorn, Parntep; Poovorawan, Yong

2010-04-01

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) can infect not only humans but also several other nonhuman primates. This study has been conducted to evaluate the comprehensive anti-HAV seroprevalence in captive nonhuman primate populations in Thailand. The prevalence of antibodies against HAV in 96 captive nonhuman primates of 11 species was evaluated by competitive enzyme immunoassay (EIA). HAV antibodies were found in 64.7% (11/17) of macaques, 85.7% (6/7) of langurs, 28.4% (10/35) of gibbons, and 94.6% (35/37) of orangutans. However, anti-HAV IgM was not found in any sera. These results indicate that the majority of captive nonhuman primates in Thailand were exposed to HAV. It is possible that some of the animals were infected prior to capture.

NEPHROPATHIES IN THE EUROPEAN CAPTIVE CHEETAH (ACINONYX JUBATUS) POPULATION.

Science.gov (United States)

Url, Angelika; Krutak, Verena; Kübber-Heiss, Anna; Chvala-Mannsberger, Sonja; Robert, Nadia; Dinhopl, Nora; Schmidt, Peter; Walzer, Chris

2016-09-01

According to previous studies in captive cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ) populations, one of the most threatening diseases besides amyloidosis, myelopathy, veno occlusive disease, and gastritis, is renal failure. Contrary to captive cheetahs in North America and South Africa, morphological data concerning renal lesions in the cheetah European Endangered Species Program (EEP) are lacking. This study details the histological characterization as well as immunohistochemical and morphometrical analysis of nephropathies in 35 captive cheetahs from the EEP, which were necropsied between 1985 and 2003. Examination of paraffin- and glycolmethacrylate-methylmethacrylate (GMA-MMA) embedded kidney samples by light microscopy revealed glomerulonephritis in 91%, with a high prevalence for glomerulosclerosis and glomerulonephritis with the histologic pattern of membranous glomerulonephritis (77%). Besides these predominating glomerulopathies, a wide range of other renal lesions, like acute tubular necrosis, interstitial nephritis, calcinosis, and amyloidosis, were present. Pathological expression of collagen type IV, complement C3, fibronectin, and IgG was demonstrated in the glomeruli of the cheetah kidneys with the use of the avidin-biotin complex method. Morphometrical analysis was performed on GMA-MMA embedded kidney samples to obtain glomerulosclerosis index and glomerulosclerosis incidence.

Occurrence of Hepatozoon spp. (Apicomplexa, Hepatozoidae) in snakes of genus Bothrops in captivity

OpenAIRE

Glaser, V.; Boni, A.P.; Albuquerque, C.A.C.

2008-01-01

The occurrence of Hepatozoon gamont in the blood cells of Bothrops jararaca and B. jararacussu in captivity was analyzed. The prevalence of infection by Hepatozoon spp. was 50% and few erythrocytes contained the gamonts. Results suggest that the infection by Hepatozoon spp. occurred in the natural environment or after the captivity.

Injurious tail biting in pigs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

D'Eath, R.B.; Amott, G.; Turner, S. P.

2014-01-01

not allow tail docking at all. Against this background, using a novel approach focusing on research where tail injuries were quantified, we review the measures that can be used to control tail biting in pigs without tail docking. Using this strict criterion, there was good evidence that manipulable...... substrates and feeder space affect damaging tail biting. Only epidemiological evidence was available for effects of temperature and season, and the effect of stocking density was unclear. Studies suggest that group size has little effect, and the effects of nutrition, disease and breed require further...... underlying processes of tail biting. A quantitative comparison of the efficacy of different methods of provision of manipulable materials, and a review of current practices in countries and assurance schemes where tail docking is banned, both suggest that daily provision of small quantities of destructible...

Lateral movements of a massive tail influence gecko locomotion: an integrative study comparing tail restriction and autotomy

OpenAIRE

Jagnandan, Kevin; Higham, Timothy E.

2017-01-01

Tails are an intricate component of the locomotor system for many vertebrates. Leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularius) possess a large tail that is laterally undulated during steady locomotion. However, the tail is readily shed via autotomy, resulting in the loss of tail function, loss in body mass, and a cranial shift in the center of mass. To elucidate the function of tail undulations, we investigated changes in limb kinematics after manipulating the tail artificially by restricting tail un...

The effect of continuous feeding of gliricidia on reproduction and production performances of Javanese Fat-Tailed sheep: Impact on the second breeding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Supriyati

1999-10-01

Full Text Available The effect of continuous feeding of gliricidia on reproduction and production performances in second breeding of Javanese Fat-Tailed (JFT sheep through the second breeding period was studied. Twenty six ewes post lactation at first lambing (body weight 22.5-26.5 kg were divided into four treatment groups. Each group consisted of 6 animals except Group D had 8 animals. They were given King grass (Pennisetum purpureophoides and gliricidia (Gliricidia sepium Jacq. leaf with ratio of 100:0 (Group A = control, 75:25 (Group B, 50:50 (Group C and 0:100 (Group D. Forages were given 2.5-3% (dry matter of liveweight. All groups were supplemented with 100g/head/day concentrate (crude protein = 16%, but during late pregnancy and lactation they were supplemented at 200 g/head/day. Results showed that feeding gliricidia 25-100% of total forages improved body weight due to the increasing protein intake. The maximum concentration of progesteron increased from 0.81 to 2.78 ng/ml. The ovulation rate and prolification also increased significantly (P<0.05 from 1.6 to 3.0 and 1.33 to 2.38, respectively. Individual birth and weaning weights of the lambs were not affected. It is concluded that feeding gliricidia continuously up to 100% as forages and supplemented with concentrate gives positive effect on bodyweight gain, reproduction and production performances in second breeding of JFT sheep.

Isospora bocamontensis (Protozoa: Apicomplexa in captive yellow cardinal Gubernatrix cristata (Passeriformes: Emberezidae

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Larissa Quinto Pereira

2013-03-01

Full Text Available The yellow cardinal (Gubernatrix cristata is a passerine found in southern Brazil, especially along the border with Uruguay and Argentina. It is an endangered species and its population is decreasing. Among the parasites that affect passerines, the genus Isospora is the most easily found in both captive and free-living birds. This parasite commonly causes injury to the intestinal tissue and could occasionally affect other organs. In this work we examined the occurrence of coccidiosis in captive yellow cardinals and its association with factors such as sex, use of parasiticides, type of enclosure, contact with feces, type of food and cleaning frequency. We collected fecal samples of 45 yellow cardinals, healthy and kept in captivity, in late afternoon at the end of the reproductive period. The examination showed parasitic infection by Isospora bocamontensis in 44.5% of the birds. This infection is not influenced by the sex of birds, but is significantly affected by the type of enclosure, contact with the feces, use of parasiticides, type of food and cleaning frequency. The results indicate that to keep yellow cardinals captive, these factors must be observed.

Effects of short-term feeding of different sources of fatty acids in pre-mating diets on reproductive performance and blood metabolites of fat-tailed Iranian Afshari ewes.

Science.gov (United States)

Mirzaei-Alamouti, H; Mohammadi, Z; Shahir, M H; Vazirigohar, M; Mansouryar, M

2018-06-01

The effects of dietary omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids (FAs) in pre-mating diets on reproductive performances and metabolic status of ewes have not been well investigated. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of supplementing different source of FAs on different aspects of reproductive performance of fat-tailed Iranian Afshari ewes. Thirty-two cycling, multiparous Afshari ewes were divided into four groups and fed one of the isocaloric and isonitrogenous diets supplemented with Sunflower oil (SFO), Fish oil (FO), calcium salt of palm oil (CaPO) and/or an equal mixture of SFO + FO (SFOFO). One day after the start of the flushing, the estrous cycles of all ewes were synchronized using 12-day CIDRs. After detecting signs of estrous, all ewes were mated with rams for 2 days. The examination of ovarian follicles was done by a transrectal ultrasonography. After counting all visible follicles, they were classified into 3 classes based on their diameters: small (≤3 mm), medium (3-4 mm) and large (≥4 mm). The results showed that fat sources had no impact on dry matter intake (DMI) and body condition score (BCS) of animals (P > 0.05). Plasma glucose, total cholesterol, and albumin concentrations also were not significantly affected by supplemental fat sources (P > 0.05). Plasma insulin levels were higher at the end of the flushing (on the day of CIDR removal) and the day of mating for ewes on CaPO diet (P ewes fed FO (P ewes fed FO were higher 30 d after mating (11.02 ng/mL; P ewes fed FO or SFO diets (P ewes on FO diet (P ewes fed FO or SFO, respectively. In conclusion, supplementation of n-3 PUFA rich FA especially FO in pre-mating diets showed beneficial effects on some indices of reproductive performance of Afshari ewes including lambing and twining rate due to higher number of medium sized follicles and size of the ovulatory (large) follicles at the day of oestrus and increased plasma progesterone levels in pregnant ewes. Copyright © 2018

Haematological values for captive harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja

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Marcos J. Oliveira

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Decreasing of harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja populations in natural environments, mainly in non-preserved areas, makes captive population management an important contribution to genetic diversity conservation. The aim of this study is to evaluate hematological parameters for captive harpy eagles maintained at the wild animals breeding center of Itaipu Binacional, Paraná State, Brazil. Fourteen blood samples from nine harpy eagles were collected from animals of both sexes, of different ages and with no clinical signs of disease. Significant variations were found in haematological values of hematocrit, hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC, leukocyte, a relative number of heterophils, absolute and relative number of lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophils, basophils and plasma protein between groups of young (less than six months old and adult birds. Comparing males and females there was variation in the values of erythrocytes, hemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume (MCV, mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH on heterophils, absolute and relative number of lymphocytes, eosinophils and basophils. There was also variation in the values of red blood cells, hematocrit, hemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume (MCV, mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC, leukocyte count, absolute number of lymphocytes, eosinophils and basophils among birds that study compared to another reference birds. Due to the limited information available on harpy eagle hematology, this study will be useful to the clinical assessment of birds maintained in captivity.

Efficacy of parasitological diagnosis methods in wild animals kept in captivity

OpenAIRE

Carvalho, Aline Feola; Barnabe, Anderson Sena; Federsoni, Igor Popovic; Ferraz, Renato Ribeiro Nogueira; Marco, Rogerio Milton De; Garcia, Isabel Priscilla

2018-01-01

ABSTRACT: Parasitic diseases are common in wild animals kept in captivity, and the research of these parasites is a tool used in wildlife management actions. Once the method most used in the practice of veterinary laboratories is the direct examination, it was considered appropriate to report the parasitism in captivity wildlife comparing this technique with modified methods of Hoffman, Pons and Janer (HPJ) and Willis. Fresh feces were surveyed in eleven precincts with specimens of the class ...

Seroepidemiology of TmPV1 infection in captive and wild Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris).

Science.gov (United States)

Donà, Maria Gabriella; Rehtanz, Manuela; Adimey, Nicole M; Bossart, Gregory D; Jenson, Alfred B; Bonde, Robert K; Ghim, Shin-je

2011-07-01

In 1997, cutaneous papillomatosis caused by Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris [Tm]) papillomavirus 1 (TmPV1) was detected in seven captive manatees at the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, Florida, USA, and, subsequently, in two wild manatees from the adjacent Homosassa River. Since then, papillomatosis has been reported in captive manatees housed in other locations, but not in wild animals. To determine TmPV1 antibody prevalence in captive and wild manatees sampled at various locations throughout Florida coastal regions, virus-like particles, composed of the L1 capsid protein of TmPV1, were generated with a baculovirus expression system and used to measure anti-TmPV1 antibodies in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Serologic analysis of 156 manatees revealed a TmPV1 antibody prevalence of 26.3%, with no significant difference between captive (n=39) and wild (n=117) manatees (28.2% and 25.6%, respectively). No antibody-positive wild animal showed PV-induced cutaneous lesions, whereas papillomatosis was observed in 72.7% of antibody-positive captive manatees. Our data indicate that Florida manatees living in the wild are naturally infected by TmPV1 but rarely show TmPV1-induced papillomatosis. Hence, it appears that the wild population would not be harmed in a case of contact with captive animals without visible lesions and productive infections, which could be thus released into the wild.

Snake River Sockeye Salmon Captive Broodstock; Research Element, 1993 Annual Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Johnson, Keith A.

1995-12-01

In 1991, the National Marine Fisheries Service listed Snake River sockeye salmon Oncorhynchus nerka as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Initial steps to recover the species include the establishment of captive broodstocks at the Eagle Fish Hatchery in Eagle, Idaho. Research and recovery activities for sockeye conducted by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game during the period of April 1993 to April 1994 are covered by this report. Eight anadromous adults (two female and six male) returned to the Redfish Lake Creek trap this year and were spawned at the Sawtooth Hatchery near Stanley, Idaho. Fecundity was 3160 for each female. The mean fertilization rate was 52% for female {open_quotes}A{close_quotes} and 65% for female {open_quotes}B.{close_quotes} Captive broodstock also spawned as well as residual sockeye captured in a Merwin trap in Redfish Lake. Spawning data from 72 fish spawned during this period is included in this report. Captive broodstock also matured later than normal (winter and spring 1994). Fish were spawned and samples were taken to investigate reasons for poor fertilization rates. Twenty-four out migrants of 1991 were selected for return to Redfish Lake for volitional spawning. Releases were made in August of 1993. All fish were implanted with sonic tags and tracking of this group began soon after the release to identify spawning-related activities. A research project is being conducted on captive broodstock diets. The project will investigate the effect of diet modification on spawn timing, gamete quality, and fertilization rates. A second project used ultrasound to examine fish for sexual maturity. The goal was to obtain a group a fish to be released f or volitional spawning. A total of 44 fish were found to be mature. The performance of all captive groups held at Eagle are included in this report.

Evolution of Peromyscus leucopus mice in response to a captive environment.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert C Lacy

Full Text Available Many wildlife species are propagated in captivity as models for behavioral, physiological, and genetic research or to provide assurance populations to protect threatened species. However, very little is known about how animals evolve in the novel environment of captivity. The histories of most laboratory strains are poorly documented, and protected populations of wildlife species are usually too small and too short-term to allow robust statistical analysis. To document the evolutionary change in captive breeding programs, we monitored reproduction and behavior across 18 generations in six experimental populations of Peromyscusleucopus mice started from a common set of 20 wild-caught founders. The mice were propagated under three breeding protocols: a strategy to retain maximal genetic diversity, artificial selection against stereotypic behaviors that were hypothesized to reflect poor adaptation to captivity, and random bred controls. Two replicates were maintained with each protocol, and inter-replicate crosses at generations 19 and 20 were used to reverse accumulated inbreeding. We found that one of the stereotypic behaviors (repetitive flipping was positively associated with reproductive fitness, while the other (gnawing was relatively invariant. Selection to reduce these stereotypic behaviors caused marked reduction in reproduction, and populations not under artificial selection to reduce these behaviors responded with large increases in flipping. In non-selected populations, there was rapid evolution toward much higher proportion of pairs breeding and more rapid conception. Litter size, pup survival, and weaning mass all declined slowly, to the extent that would be predicted based on inbreeding depression. Inter-crossing between replicate populations reversed these declines in fitness components but did not reverse the changes in behavior or the accelerated breeding. These findings indicate that adaptation to captivity can be rapid

Czechs and Slovaks in Russian Captivity during World War I (1914-1918

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oksana E. Dmitrieva

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The article is focused on the features of more than 250 000 Czechs and Slovaks in Russian captivity during World War I: the amount, quartering and supply benefits, work in various sectors of the Russian economy, military units formation, social and national organizations activities, charity support. The conditions of Czechs and Slovaks captivity are recollected. New sources are introduced into scientific use.

Spawning data - Snake River sockeye salmon captive propagation

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Gene rescue captive broodstock program was established for ESA-listed endangered Snake River sockeye salmon from Redfish Lake, Idaho. The program has consisted of...

Production data - Snake River sockeye salmon captive propagation

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Gene rescue captive broodstock program was established for ESA-listed endangered Snake River sockeye salmon from Redfish Lake, Idaho. The program has consisted of...

Growth data - Snake River sockeye salmon captive propagation

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Gene rescue captive broodstock program was established for ESA-listed endangered Snake River sockeye salmon from Redfish Lake, Idaho. The program has consisted of...

Broodyear data - Snake River sockeye salmon captive propagation

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Gene rescue captive broodstock program was established for ESA-listed endangered Snake River sockeye salmon from Redfish Lake, Idaho. The program has consisted of...

Causes and correlates of calf mortality in captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khyne U Mar

Full Text Available Juvenile mortality is a key factor influencing population growth rate in density-independent, predation-free, well-managed captive populations. Currently at least a quarter of all Asian elephants live in captivity, but both the wild and captive populations are unsustainable with the present fertility and calf mortality rates. Despite the need for detailed data on calf mortality to manage effectively populations and to minimize the need for capture from the wild, very little is known of the causes and correlates of calf mortality in Asian elephants. Here we use the world's largest multigenerational demographic dataset on a semi-captive population of Asian elephants compiled from timber camps in Myanmar to investigate the survival of calves (n = 1020 to age five born to captive-born mothers (n = 391 between 1960 and 1999. Mortality risk varied significantly across different ages and was higher for males at any age. Maternal reproductive history was associated with large differences in both stillbirth and liveborn mortality risk: first-time mothers had a higher risk of calf loss as did mothers producing another calf soon (<3.7 years after a previous birth, and when giving birth at older age. Stillbirth (4% and pre-weaning mortality (25.6% were considerably lower than those reported for zoo elephants and used in published population viability analyses. A large proportion of deaths were caused by accidents and lack of maternal milk/calf weakness which both might be partly preventable by supplementary feeding of mothers and calves and work reduction of high-risk mothers. Our results on Myanmar timber elephants with an extensive keeping system provide an important comparison to compromised survivorship reported in zoo elephants. They have implications for improving captive working elephant management systems in range countries and for refining population viability analyses with realistic parameter values in order to predict future population

Performance Comparison between Neutralization Tailings and Flotation Tailings Used for Backfill Mix and Mechanism Analysis

OpenAIRE

Han, Bin; Sun, Wei; Yu, Shaofeng; Liu, Chao; Yao, Song; Wu, Jianxun

2016-01-01

A comparison test of different tailings used for underground backfill was conducted, using neutralized tailings from BIOX and flotation tailings of Jinfeng Mine. Laboratory comparison test results show that, with neutralized tailings, when the cement dosage is at 19%, backfill UCS after 7 days, 14 days, and 28 days are 105%–163%, 80%–102%, and 33%–43%, respectively, which are higher than those of flotation tailings. When the cement dosage is at 12%, backfill UCS after 7 days, 14 days, and 28 ...

Redfish Lake Sockeye Salmon Captive Broodstock Rearing and Research, 1993 Annual Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Flagg, Thomas A.

1994-11-01

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), in cooperation with Idaho and BPA, has established captive broodstocks to aid recovery of endangered Snake River sockeye salmon. NMFS is currently maintaining four separate Redfish Lake sockeye Salmon captive broodstocks; all these broodstocks are being reared full-term to maturity in fresh (well) water. Experiments are also being conducted on nonendangered 1990 and 1991-brood Lake Wenatchee (WA) sockeye salmon to compare effects on survival and reproduction to maturity in fresh water and seawater; for both brood-years, fish reared in fresh water were larger than those reared in seawater. Data from captive rearing experiments suggest a ranking priority of circular tanks supplied with pathogen-free fresh water, circular tanks supplied with pumped/filtered/uv-sterilized seawater, and seawater net-pens for rearing sockeye salmon to maturity.

Efficacy of fenbendazole and levamisole treatments in captive Houston toads (Bufo [Anaxyrus] houstonensis).

Science.gov (United States)

Bianchi, Catherine M; Johnson, Cassidy B; Howard, Lauren L; Crump, Paul

2014-09-01

Effective disease monitoring and prevention is critical to the success of captive amphibian care. Nematodes, including the genera Rhabdias and Strongyloides, are known to contribute to mortality in captive amphibians and have been identified in the Houston Zoo's endangered Houston toad (Bufo [Anaxyrus] houstonensis) captive assurance colony. Five years of fecal data for the toad colony were compiled and analyzed in order to investigate the efficacy of two anthelminthic medications, fenbendazole (FBZ) and levamisole (LMS), which were used to control nematode infections. Both FBZ (dusted onto food items) and topical LMS (6.5 to 13.5 mg/kg) significantly reduced the number of nematode eggs, larvae, and adults observed by fecal parasitologic examination. There were no significant differences between treatments, and egg reappearance periods were difficult to compare as a result of low sample size. No adverse effects from either anthelminthic treatment were observed. Both topical LMS and oral FBZ appear to be safe and efficacious treatments for the reduction of the internal nematode burden in captive Houston toads.

The effects of hibernation and captivity on glucose metabolism and thyroid hormones in American black bear (Ursus americanus).

Science.gov (United States)

McCain, Stephanie; Ramsay, Ed; Kirk, Claudia

2013-06-01

American black bears (Ursus americanus) have been shown to become transiently insulin resistant and hypothyroid during winter, but no studies have investigated these changes in long-term captive bears or in bears which remain awake year-round. Wild, captive hibernating, and captive nonhibernating bears were evaluated at times corresponding to three of their major physiologic stages: fall (hyperphagic stage), winter (hibernation stage), and summer (normal activity stage). Combined insulin and glucose tolerance tests and thyroid hormone profiles were performed on all bears during each stage. All three groups of bears had evidence of insulin resistance during the winter, as compared to the summer or fall, based on glucose tolerance curves. Analysis of thyroid hormone concentration varied and distinct patterns or similarities were not apparent. While obesity in captive American black bears is multifactorial, the finding that, regardless of their ability to hibernate, captive bears retain similar physiology to their wild counterparts indicates that captive bears' complex physiologic changes need to be addressed in their management.

Frost evolution in tailings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1991-04-01

A review was carried out on the physical and thermal mechanisms of permafrost evaluation in soils and uranium tailings. The primary mechanism controlling permafrost evolution is conductive heat transfer with the latent heat of fusion of water being liberated as phase change occurs. Depending on the soil properties and freezing rate, pore water can be expelled from the frost front or pore water can migrate towards the frost front. Solute redistribution may occur as the frost front penetrates into the soil. The rate of frost penetration is a function of the thermal properties of the tailings and the climatic conditions. Computer modelling programmes capable of modelling permafrost evolution were reviewed. The GEOTHERM programme was selected as being the most appropriate for this study. The GEOTHERM programme uses the finite element method of thermal analysis. The ground surface temperature is determined by solving the energy balance equations a the ground surface. The GEOTHERM programme was used to simulate the permafrost evolution in the Key Lake Mine tailings located in north central Saskatchewan. The analyses indicated that the existing frozen zones in the tailing pond will eventually thaw if an average snow depth covers the tailings. Hundreds of years are required to thaw the tailings. If minimal snow cover is present the extent of the frozen zone in the tailings will increase

Effect of Captive Environment on Plasma Cortisol Level and Behavioral Pattern of Bengal Tigers (Panthera tigris tigris

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Sajjad, U. Farooq1*, M. Anwar, A. Khurshid2 and S.A. Bukhari1

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Captive environment in zoological parks often do not provide optimum conditions for natural behaviors due to spatial constraints and negative public reaction. These factors elicit stereotypic behavior in tigers such as pacing, head bobbing and aimless repetition of some movements, and are considered to be an indication of stress. The present study was conducted to assess the effect of captivity on the plasma cortisol level and behavioral pattern in Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris tigris. Tigers kept in captivity at the Lahore zoo (n=4 and in semi natural environment at the Lahore Wildlife Park (n=6 were used for this study, and standard protocols of housing and sampling were observed. The mean plasma cortisol values for the captive animals and those kept in a semi natural environment were 34.48±1.33 and 39.22±3.16µg/dl, respectively; and were statistically non significant. Similarly, no significant difference in the plasma cortisol levels was observed among the individuals within each form of captivity. From the behavioral survey it was observed that the time spent in pacing and resting was much longer for captive animals than animals confined to the semi natural environment. Thus, Technically monitored “Environmental Enrichment’ plans need to be devised which are as close as possible to the natural environment of the captive animals in order to achieve their utmost performance.

Characterization of oils sands thickened tailings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Scott, J.D.; Jeeravipoolvarn, S.; Donahue, R.; Ozum, B. [Alberta Univ., Edmonton, AB (Canada). Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

2008-07-01

This presentation discussed the characterization of oils sands thickened tailings. The problem statement was defined as the fact that many laboratory procedures to characterize fine tailings do not take into account the extraction process, and instead use standardized laboratory tests. The purpose of this presentation was to demonstrate how different extraction processes affect the fine tailings geotechnical properties and water chemistry. Properties that were characterized included particle size analysis from hydrometer-sieve tests; per cent clay from methylene blue tests; per cent clay from mineralogy tests; Atterberg limits; water chemistry; and morphology by scanning electron microscopy. The presentation discussed the origin of fines (silt and clay) in tailings; where fine particles come from; tailings materials; mineralogy of tailings; the hydrometer-sieve test on fine tailings and thickened tailings; and the methylene blue test. It was concluded that the great majority of clay minerals in the tailings come from the clay-shale discontinuous seams and layers. For thickened tailings, the dispersed and non-dispersed hydrometer tests show considerable difference in the amount of clay size material. tabs., figs.

Feed consumption and utilisation in female western tarsier (Tarsius bancanusin captivity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

WARTIKA ROSA FARIDA

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Western tarsier (Tarsius bancanus, one of protected Indonesian wildlife is endemic primate of Bangka, Sumatra, Kalimantan and Natuna Islands. Studies on nutrition requirement through feed consumption and utilization of western tarsier was conducted in the Small Mammal Captivity of Zoology Division, Research Center for Biology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI Cibinong, Bogor. The results indicated that average of dry matter intake was 4.05±0.14 g/head/day or 4.01±0.24% of body weight. Diets given were cricket and grasshopper, considered high coefficient of dry matter digestibility (94.33±1.76%. Average of the following nutrient intake was ash 4.12±0.04%; crude protein 64.52±0.49%; fat 12.82±0.68%; crude fiber 6.59±0.11%; nitrogen free extract 12.03±0.79% and gross energy 23.54±0.67 kcal/head/day. Average of body weight gain of western tarsier at this experiment was 0.5 5± 0.2 g/head/day with average of feed efficiency was 13.39±4.66% and protein efficiency ratio was 0.21±0.07 g/day. Average of total digestible nutrient (TDN was 67.42±0.97%.

Serratospiculosis in Captive Peregrine Falcons (Falco peregrinus) in Switzerland.

Science.gov (United States)

Veiga, Inês B; Schediwy, Marion; Hentrich, Brigitte; Frey, Caroline F; Marreros, Nelson; Stokar-Regenscheit, Nadine

2017-09-01

Infection with Serratospiculum species was identified in a captive peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) in Switzerland. Pathologic and parasitologic examination results revealed generalized severe granulomatous airsacculitis, with intralesional adults, larvae, and eggs of Serratospiculum species. Subsequently, an individual coprological analysis of the remaining 15 falcons (peregrine falcons and gyrfalcons [Falco rusticolus]) from the same owner was performed. Eggs of Serratospiculum species (4 birds) and Capillaria species (11 birds), and oocysts of Caryospora species (1 bird) were detected. Treatment with ivermection (2 mg/kg SC) was effective, as none of the falcons excreted Serratospiculum species eggs 10 days after one dose. To our knowledge, this is the first report of infection with Serratospiculum species in captive falcons in Europe.

Steroid excretion during the ovarian cycle in captive and wild muriquis, Brachyteles arachnoides.

Science.gov (United States)

Ziegler, T E; Santos, C V; Pissinatti, A; Strier, K B

1997-01-01

Urine, feces, and copulation frequency were collected from two captive muriqui females, Brachyteles arachnoides, at the Centro de Primatologia do Rio de Janeiro following the resumption of postpartum ovarian cycles. Fecal steroid profiles from seven wild muriqui females at the Estação Biologica de Caratinga, Minas Gerais, Brazil, were compared to the captive females to determine the approximate patterns of steroid excretion relative to the urinary LH peak. Hormonal profiles from one of the captive female muriquis revealed a discrete urinary LH peak. For this female, fecal progesterone increased on the same day as the urinary LH peak, while fecal estradiol increased 6 days later and urinary steroids increased 5 days later. For both captive females, the onset of fecal progesterone increase was preceded by the onset of copulations, which occurred during at least a 5-day period. The complete fecal hormonal profiles of the one captive female for which continuos data were available were similar to those found in wild muriqui monkeys, with the onset of an increase in sustained progesterone levels occurring several days prior to the onset of sustained estradiol increase. These patterns suggest that fecal progesterone may be excreted rapidly in this species. The onset of sustained increase in fecal progesterone levels, together with the consistent delay in the onset of the sustained increase in estradiol, may provide the best indicators of the periovulatory period for muriqui females.

Electro-remediation of copper mine tailings. Comparing copper removal efficiencies for two tailings of different age

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Henrik K.; Lamas, Victor; Gutierrez, Claudia

2013-01-01

This work compares and evaluates the copper removal efficiency when applying electric fields to two mine tailings originating from the same mine but of different age. Eight experiments were carried out - four on tailings deposited more than 20 years ago (old tailings) and four on tailings deposit...

A new perspective on the pathogenesis of chronic renal disease in captive cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus).

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, Emily P; Prozesky, Leon; Lawrence, John

2018-01-01

The sustainability of captive cheetah populations is limited by high mortality due to chronic renal disease. This necropsy study, conducted on 243 captive cheetahs from one institution, investigated the relationships between focal palatine erosions, gastritis, enterocolitis, glomerulosclerosis, chronic renal infarcts, renal cortical and medullary fibrosis, and renal medullary amyloidosis at death. Associations between the individual renal lesions and death due to chronic renal disease and comparisons of lesion prevalence between captive bred and wild born and between normal and king coated cheetahs were also assessed. All lesions were significantly positively correlated with age at death. Renal medullary fibrosis was the only lesion associated with the likelihood of death being due to chronic renal disease, and cheetahs with this lesion were younger, on average, than cheetahs with other renal lesions. Alimentary tract lesions were not associated with amyloidosis. All lesions, except for palatine erosions, were more common in wild born than in captive bred cheetahs; the former were older at death than the latter. Having a king coat had no clear effect on disease prevalence. These results suggest that age and renal medullary fibrosis are the primary factors influencing the pathogenesis of chronic renal disease in captive cheetahs. Apart from amyloidosis, these findings are analogous to those described in chronic renal disease in domestic cats, which is postulated to result primarily from repetitive hypoxic injury of renal tubules, mediated by age and stress. Cheetahs may be particularly susceptible to acute renal tubular injury due to their propensity for stress and their extended life span in captivity, as well as their adaptation for fecundity (rather than longevity) and adrenaline-mediated high speed prey chases. The presence of chronic renal disease in subadult cheetahs suggests that prevention, identification and mitigation of stress are critical to the

Uranium mill tailings management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1982-01-01

Facilities for the disposal of uranium mill tailings will invariably be subjected to geomorphological and climatological influences in the long-term. Proceedings of a workshop discuss how the principles of geomorphology can be applied to the siting, design, construction, decommissioning and rehabilitation of disposal facilities in order to provide for long-term containment and stability of tailings. The characteristics of tailings and their behaviour after disposal influence the potential impacts which might occur in the long-term. Proceedings of another workshop examine the technologies for uranium ore processing and tailings conditioning with a view to identifying improvements that could be made in such characteristics

Mine tailings disposal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gonzales, P.A.; Adams, B.J.

1980-06-01

The hydrologic evaluation of mine tailings disposal sites after they are abandoned is considered in relation to their potential environmental impact on a long term basis. There is a direct relation between the amounts and types of water leaving a disposal site and the severity of the potential damage to the environment. The evaluation of the relative distribution of the precipitation reaching the ground into evaporation, runoff and infiltration is obtained for a selected site and type of tailings material whose characteristics and physical properties were determined in the soils laboratory. A conceptual model of the hydrologic processes involved and the corresponding mathematical model were developed to simulate the physical system. A computer program was written to solve the set of equations forming the mathematical model, considering the physical properties of the tailings and the rainfall data selected. The results indicate that the relative distribution of the precipitation depends on the surface and upper layer of the tailings and that the position of the groundwater table is governed by the flow through the bottom of the profile considered. The slope of the surface of the mass of tailings was found to be one of the principal factors affecting the relative distribution of precipitation and, therefore, the potential pollution of the environment

Evidence for chronic stress in captive but not free-ranging cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) based on adrenal morphology and function.

Science.gov (United States)

Terio, Karen A; Marker, Laurie; Munson, Linda

2004-04-01

The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is highly endangered because of loss of habitat in the wild and failure to thrive in captivity. Cheetahs in zoos reproduce poorly and have high prevalences of unusual diseases that cause morbidity and mortality. These diseases are rarely observed in free-ranging cheetahs but have been documented in cheetahs that have been captured and held in captive settings either temporarily or permanently. Because captivity may be stressful for this species and stress is suspected as contributing to poor health and reproduction, this study aimed to measure chronic stress by comparing baseline concentrations of fecal corticoid metabolites and adrenal gland morphology between captive and free-ranging cheetahs. Additionally, concentrations of estradiol and testosterone metabolites were quantified to determine whether concentrations of gonadal steroids correlated with corticoid concentration and to assure that corticosteroids in the free-ranging samples were not altered by environmental conditions. Concetntrations of fecal corticoids, estradiol, and testosterone were quantified by radioimmunoassay in 20 free-ranging and 20 captive cheetahs from samples collected between 1994 and 1999. Concentrations of baseline fecal corticoids were significantly higher (p = 0.005) in captive cheetahs (196.08 +/- 36.20 ng/g dry feces) than free-ranging cheetahs (71.40 +/- 14.35 ng/g dry feces). Testosterone concentrations were lower in captive male cheetahs (9.09 +/- 2.84 ng/g dry feces) than in free-ranging cheetahs (34.52 +/- 12.11 ng/g dry feces), which suggests suppression by elevated corticoids in the captive males. Evidence for similar sulppression of estradiol concentrations in females was not present. Adrenal corticomedullary ratios were determined on midsagittal sections of adrenal glands from 13 free-ranging and 13 captive cheetahs obtained between 1991 and 2002. The degree of vacuolation of cortical cells in the zona fasciculata was graded for each animal

TIDAL TAILS OF MINOR MERGERS. II. COMPARING STAR FORMATION IN THE TIDAL TAILS OF NGC 2782

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Knierman, Karen A.; Scowen, Paul; Veach, Todd; Groppi, Christopher [School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, 550 E. Tyler Mall, Room PSF-686 (P.O. Box 871404), Tempe, AZ 85287-1404 (United States); Mullan, Brendan; Charlton, Jane [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Penn State University, 525 Davey Lab, University Park, PA (United States); Konstantopoulos, Iraklis [Australian Astronomical Observatory, P.O. Box 915, North Ryde NSW 1670 (Australia); Knezek, Patricia M., E-mail: karen.knierman@asu.edu, E-mail: paul.scowen@asu.edu, E-mail: tveach@asu.edu, E-mail: cgroppi@asu.edu, E-mail: mullan@astro.psu.edu, E-mail: iraklis@aao.gov.au, E-mail: pknezek@noao.edu [WIYN Consortium, Inc., 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States)

2013-09-10

The peculiar spiral NGC 2782 is the result of a minor merger with a mass ratio {approx}4: 1 occurring {approx}200 Myr ago. This merger produced a molecular and H I-rich, optically bright eastern tail and an H I-rich, optically faint western tail. Non-detection of CO in the western tail by Braine et al. suggested that star formation had not yet begun. However, deep UBVR and H{alpha} narrowband images show evidence of recent star formation in the western tail, though it lacks massive star clusters and cluster complexes. Using Herschel PACS spectroscopy, we discover 158 {mu}m [C II] emission at the location of the three most luminous H{alpha} sources in the eastern tail, but not at the location of the even brighter H{alpha} source in the western tail. The western tail is found to have a normal star formation efficiency (SFE), but the eastern tail has a low SFE. The lack of CO and [C II] emission suggests that the western tail H II region may have a low carbon abundance and be undergoing its first star formation. The western tail is more efficient at forming stars, but lacks massive clusters. We propose that the low SFE in the eastern tail may be due to its formation as a splash region where gas heating is important even though it has sufficient molecular and neutral gas to make massive star clusters. The western tail, which has lower gas surface density and does not form high-mass star clusters, is a tidally formed region where gravitational compression likely enhances star formation.

TIDAL TAILS OF MINOR MERGERS. II. COMPARING STAR FORMATION IN THE TIDAL TAILS OF NGC 2782

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knierman, Karen A.; Scowen, Paul; Veach, Todd; Groppi, Christopher; Mullan, Brendan; Charlton, Jane; Konstantopoulos, Iraklis; Knezek, Patricia M.

2013-01-01

The peculiar spiral NGC 2782 is the result of a minor merger with a mass ratio ∼4: 1 occurring ∼200 Myr ago. This merger produced a molecular and H I-rich, optically bright eastern tail and an H I-rich, optically faint western tail. Non-detection of CO in the western tail by Braine et al. suggested that star formation had not yet begun. However, deep UBVR and Hα narrowband images show evidence of recent star formation in the western tail, though it lacks massive star clusters and cluster complexes. Using Herschel PACS spectroscopy, we discover 158 μm [C II] emission at the location of the three most luminous Hα sources in the eastern tail, but not at the location of the even brighter Hα source in the western tail. The western tail is found to have a normal star formation efficiency (SFE), but the eastern tail has a low SFE. The lack of CO and [C II] emission suggests that the western tail H II region may have a low carbon abundance and be undergoing its first star formation. The western tail is more efficient at forming stars, but lacks massive clusters. We propose that the low SFE in the eastern tail may be due to its formation as a splash region where gas heating is important even though it has sufficient molecular and neutral gas to make massive star clusters. The western tail, which has lower gas surface density and does not form high-mass star clusters, is a tidally formed region where gravitational compression likely enhances star formation

THE NARROW X-RAY TAIL AND DOUBLE Hα TAILS OF ESO 137-002 IN A3627

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, B.; Lin, X. B.; Kong, X.; Sun, M.; Ji, L.; Sarazin, C.; Nulsen, P. E. J.; Forman, W.; Jones, C.; Roediger, E.; Donahue, M.; Voit, G. M.

2013-01-01

We present the analysis of a deep Chandra observation of a ∼2 L * late-type galaxy, ESO 137-002, in the closest rich cluster A3627. The Chandra data reveal a long (∼>40 kpc) and narrow tail with a nearly constant width (∼3 kpc) to the southeast of the galaxy, and a leading edge ∼1.5 kpc from the galaxy center on the upstream side of the tail. The tail is most likely caused by the nearly edge-on stripping of ESO 137-002's interstellar medium (ISM) by ram pressure, compared to the nearly face-on stripping of ESO 137-001 discussed in our previous work. Spectral analysis of individual regions along the tail shows that the gas throughout it has a rather constant temperature, ∼1 keV, very close to the temperature of the tails of ESO 137-001, if the same atomic database is used. The derived gas abundance is low (∼0.2 solar with the single-kT model), an indication of the multiphase nature of the gas in the tail. The mass of the X-ray tail is only a small fraction (<5%) of the initial ISM mass of the galaxy, suggesting that the stripping is most likely at an early stage. However, with any of the single-kT, double-kT, and multi-kT models we tried, the tail is always 'over-pressured' relative to the surrounding intracluster medium (ICM), which could be due to the uncertainties in the abundance, thermal versus non-thermal X-ray emission, or magnetic support in the ICM. The Hα data from the Southern Observatory for Astrophysical Research show a ∼21 kpc tail spatially coincident with the X-ray tail, as well as a secondary tail (∼12 kpc long) to the east of the main tail diverging at an angle of ∼23° and starting at a distance of ∼7.5 kpc from the nucleus. At the position of the secondary Hα tail, the X-ray emission is also enhanced at the ∼2σ level. We compare the tails of ESO 137-001 and ESO 137-002, and also compare the tails to simulations. Both the similarities and differences of the tails pose challenges to the simulations. Several implications are

Tailings management best practice: a case study of the McClean Lake JEB Tailings Management Facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tremblay, M.A.J.; Rowson, J.

2005-01-01

COGEMA Resources Inc. (which is part of the Areva Group) is a Canadian company with its head office in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. It owns and operates mining and milling facilities in Northern Saskatchewan, which produce uranium concentrate. McClean Lake Operation commenced production in 1999 and its tailings management facility represents the state of the art for tailings management in the uranium industry in Canada. Tailings disposal has the potential to cause effects in the surrounding receiving environment primarily through migration of soluble constituents from the facility to surface water receptors. In-pit disposal or mill tailings has become the standard in the uranium mining industry in Northern Saskatchewan. This method or tailings management demonstrates advances in terms of worker radiation protection and containment of soluble constituents both during operations and into the long term. Sub-aqueous deposition of tailings protects personnel from exposure to radiation and airborne emissions and prevents freezing of tailings, which can hinder consolidation. The continuous inflow of groundwater to the facility is achieved during operations, through control of water levels within the facility. This ensures hydrodynamic containment, which prevents migration of soluble radionuclides and heavy metals into the surrounding aquifer during operations. The environmental performance of the decommissioned facility depends upon the rate of release of contaminants to the receiving environment. The rate of constituent loading to the receiving environment will ultimately be governed by the concentrations of soluble constituents within the tailings mass, the mechanisms for release from the tailings to the surrounding groundwater system, and transport of constituents within the groundwater pathway to the receiving environment. The tailings preparation process was designed to convert arsenic into a stable form to reduce soluble concentrations within the tailings mass. The

Settlement of uranium mill tailings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, P.K.; Guros, F.B.; Keshian, B.

1988-01-01

Two test embankments were constructed on top of an old tailings deposit near Ambrosia Lake, New Mexico to determine settlement characteristics of hydraulically- deposited uranium mill tailings. Before construction of the embankments, properties of in-situ tailings and foundation soils were determined using data from boreholes, piezocone soundings, and laboratory tests. These properties were used to estimate post-construction settlement of a planned disposal embankment to be constructed on the tailings. However, excessive uncertainty existed in the following: field settlement rates of saturated and unsaturated tailings, degree of preconsolidation of the upper 15 feet of tailings, and the ability of an underlying silty sand foundation layer to facilitate drainage. Thus, assurance could not be provided that differential settlements of the radon barrier and erosion protection layers would be within allowable limits should the planned disposal embankment be constructed in a single-stage

Limits to captive breeding of mammals in zoos.

Science.gov (United States)

Alroy, John

2015-06-01

Captive breeding of mammals in zoos is the last hope for many of the best-known endangered species and has succeeded in saving some from certain extinction. However, the number of managed species selected is relatively small and focused on large-bodied, charismatic mammals that are not necessarily under strong threat and not always good candidates for reintroduction into the wild. Two interrelated and more fundamental questions go unanswered: have the major breeding programs succeeded at the basic level of maintaining and expanding populations, and is there room to expand them? I used published counts of births and deaths from 1970 to 2011 to quantify rates of growth of 118 captive-bred mammalian populations. These rates did not vary with body mass, contrary to strong predictions made in the ecological literature. Most of the larger managed mammalian populations expanded consistently and very few programs failed. However, growth rates have declined dramatically. The decline was predicted by changes in the ratio of the number of individuals within programs to the number of mammal populations held in major zoos. Rates decreased as the ratio of individuals in programs to populations increased. In other words, most of the programs that could exist already do exist. It therefore appears that debates over the general need for captive-breeding programs and the best selection of species are moot. Only a concerted effort could create room to manage a substantially larger number of endangered mammals. © 2015, Society for Conservation Biology.

Spatial Memory in Captive Giant Anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephanie M. Allard

2014-08-01

Full Text Available The type of learning exhibited during foraging has been studied in a large number of species. Species that feed on food sources that temporally vary in quality could be well suited for exhibiting evidence of spatial learning. The foraging strategies of captive giant anteaters were examined using an experimental foraging task. Two giant anteaters were exposed to a modified radial arm maze in order to determine whether or not they would demonstrate evidence of spatial learning. Both subjects demonstrated significant improvement in performance by visiting baited feeders more consistently across learning trials. A disruption in performance occurred when the task was reversed, indicating that giant anteaters may use spatial learning to locate food sources. Obtaining a more sound understanding of the cognitive abilities of giant anteaters may help to enhance their welfare in captive settings.

Attitudes of Dutch Pig Farmers Towards Tail Biting and Tail Docking

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bracke, M.B.M.; Lauwere, de C.C.; Wind, S.M.M.; Zonderland, J.J.

2013-01-01

The Dutch policy objective of a fully sustainable livestock sector without mutilations by 2023 is not compatible with the routine practice of tail docking to minimize the risk of tail biting. To examine farmer attitudes towards docking, a telephone survey was conducted among 487 conventional and 33

Tail-weighted dependence measures with limit being the tail dependence coefficient

KAUST Repository

Lee, David

2017-12-02

For bivariate continuous data, measures of monotonic dependence are based on the rank transformations of the two variables. For bivariate extreme value copulas, there is a family of estimators (Formula presented.), for (Formula presented.), of the extremal coefficient, based on a transform of the absolute difference of the α power of the ranks. In the case of general bivariate copulas, we obtain the probability limit (Formula presented.) of (Formula presented.) as the sample size goes to infinity and show that (i) (Formula presented.) for (Formula presented.) is a measure of central dependence with properties similar to Kendall\\'s tau and Spearman\\'s rank correlation, (ii) (Formula presented.) is a tail-weighted dependence measure for large α, and (iii) the limit as (Formula presented.) is the upper tail dependence coefficient. We obtain asymptotic properties for the rank-based measure (Formula presented.) and estimate tail dependence coefficients through extrapolation on (Formula presented.). A data example illustrates the use of the new dependence measures for tail inference.

Tail-weighted dependence measures with limit being the tail dependence coefficient

KAUST Repository

Lee, David; Joe, Harry; Krupskii, Pavel

2017-01-01

For bivariate continuous data, measures of monotonic dependence are based on the rank transformations of the two variables. For bivariate extreme value copulas, there is a family of estimators (Formula presented.), for (Formula presented.), of the extremal coefficient, based on a transform of the absolute difference of the α power of the ranks. In the case of general bivariate copulas, we obtain the probability limit (Formula presented.) of (Formula presented.) as the sample size goes to infinity and show that (i) (Formula presented.) for (Formula presented.) is a measure of central dependence with properties similar to Kendall's tau and Spearman's rank correlation, (ii) (Formula presented.) is a tail-weighted dependence measure for large α, and (iii) the limit as (Formula presented.) is the upper tail dependence coefficient. We obtain asymptotic properties for the rank-based measure (Formula presented.) and estimate tail dependence coefficients through extrapolation on (Formula presented.). A data example illustrates the use of the new dependence measures for tail inference.

Copper tailings in stucco mortars

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Osvaldo Pavez

Full Text Available Abstract This investigation addressed the evaluation of the use of copper tailings in the construction industry in order to reduce the impact on the environment. The evaluation was performed by a technical comparison between stucco mortars prepared with crushed conventional sand and with copper tailings sand. The best results were achieved with the stucco mortars containing tailings. The tailings presented a fine particles size distribution curve different from that suggested by the standard. The values of compressive strength, retentivity, and adherence in the stucco mortars prepared with copper tailings were much higher than those obtained with crushed sand. According to the results from this study, it can be concluded that the preparation of stucco mortars using copper tailings replacing conventional sand is a technically feasible alternative for the construction industry, presenting the benefit of mitigating the impact of disposal to the environment.

Seasonal influence on the response of the somatotropic axis to nutrient restriction and re-alimentation in captive Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus).

Science.gov (United States)

Richmond, Julie P; Jeanniard du Dot, Tiphaine; Rosen, David A S; Zinn, Steven A

2010-03-01

Fluctuations in availability of prey resources can impede acquisition of sufficient energy for maintenance and growth. By investigating the hormonal mechanisms of the somatotropic axis that link nutrition, fat metabolism, and lean tissue accretion, we can assess the physiological impact of decreased nutrient intake on growth. Further, species that undergo seasonal periods of reduced intake as a part of their normal life history may have a differential seasonal response to nutrient restriction. This experiment evaluated the influence of season and age on the response of the somatotropic axis, including growth hormone (GH), insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I, and IGF-binding proteins (BP), to reduced nutrient intake and re-alimentation in Steller sea lions. Eight captive females (five juveniles, three sub-adults) were subject to 28-day periods of food restriction, controlled re-feeding, and ad libitum recovery in summer (long-day photoperiod) and winter (short-day photoperiod). Hormone concentrations were insensitive to type of fish fed (low fat pollock vs. high fat herring), but sensitive to energy intake. Body mass, fat, and IGF-I declined, whereas GH and IGFBP-2 increased during feed restriction. Reduced IGF-I and IGFBP with increased GH during controlled re-feeding suggest that animals did not reach positive energy balance until fed ad libitum. Increased IGF-I, IGFBP-2, IGFBP-3, and reduced GH observed in summer reflected seasonal differences in energy partitioning. There was a strong season and age effect in the response to restriction and re-alimentation, indicating that older, larger animals are better able to cope with stress associated with energy deficit, regardless of season.

A note on reproduction of Didelphis marsupialis in captivity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria de Fatima Dezonne Motta

1983-12-01

Full Text Available Conditions leading to successful reproduction of Didelphis marsupialis in captivity are described. A trial involving four mating pairs which had been maintained at least four months in the laboratory resulted in three litters and one false pregnancy. This is, to our knowledge, the first record of successful breeding of this species in captivity.As condições utilizadas para o sucesso da reprodução de D. marsupialis em cativeiro são descritas. Esta tentativa envolveu quatro casais, os quais haviam sido mantidos no mínimo por quatro meses em laboratório e resultou em três ninhadas e uma falsa prenhez. Julgamos ser este o primeiro registro da reprodução desta espécie em cativeiro.

Research on Long Tail Recommendation Algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Xuezhi; Zhang, Chuang; Wu, Ming; Zeng, Yang

2017-10-01

Most recommendation systems in the major electronic commerce platforms are influenced by the long tail effect more or less. There are sufficient researches of how to assess recommendation effect while no criteria to evaluate long tail recommendation rate. In this study, we first discussed the existing problems of recommending long tail products through specific experiments. Then we proposed a long tail evaluation criteria and compared the performance in long tail recommendation between different models.

50 CFR 23.63 - What factors are considered in making a finding that an animal is bred in captivity?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... finding that an animal is bred in captivity? 23.63 Section 23.63 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH... controlled environment; and has general characteristics that may include artificial housing, waste removal... means an ensemble of captive wildlife used for reproduction. (c) Bred-in-captivity criteria. For a...

Revisions of rump fat and body scoring indices for deer, elk, and moose

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Rachel C.; Cook, John G.; Stephenson, Thomas R.; Myers, Woodrow L.; Mccorquodale, Scott M.; Vales, David J.; Irwin, Larry L.; Hall, P. Briggs; Spencer, Rocky D.; Murphie, Shannon L.; Schoenecker, Kathryn A.; Miller, Patrick J.

2010-01-01

Because they do not require sacrificing animals, body condition scores (BCS), thickness of rump fat (MAXFAT), and other similar predictors of body fat have advanced estimating nutritional condition of ungulates and their use has proliferated in North America in the last decade. However, initial testing of these predictors was too limited to assess their reliability among diverse habitats, ecotypes, subspecies, and populations across the continent. With data collected from mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), elk (Cervus elaphus), and moose (Alces alces) during initial model development and data collected subsequently from free-ranging mule deer and elk herds across much of the western United States, we evaluated reliability across a broader range of conditions than were initially available. First, to more rigorously test reliability of the MAXFAT index, we evaluated its robustness across the 3 species, using an allometric scaling function to adjust for differences in animal size. We then evaluated MAXFAT, rump body condition score (rBCS), rLIVINDEX (an arithmetic combination of MAXFAT and rBCS), and our new allometrically scaled rump-fat thickness index using data from 815 free-ranging female Roosevelt and Rocky Mountain elk (C. e. roosevelti and C. e. nelsoni) from 19 populations encompassing 4 geographic regions and 250 free-ranging female mule deer from 7 populations and 2 regions. We tested for effects of subspecies, geographic region, and captive versus free-ranging existence. Rump-fat thickness, when scaled allometrically with body mass, was related to ingesta-free body fat over a 38–522-kg range of body mass (r2 = 0.87; P 12% body fat. This bias translated into a difference between subspecies, because Rocky Mountain elk tended to be fatter than Roosevelt elk in our sample. Effects of observer error with the rBCS also existed for mule deer with moderate to high levels of body fat, and deer body size significantly affected accuracy of the MAXFAT predictor

Tail Asymptotics for the Sum of two Heavy-tailed Dependent Risks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Albrecher, H.; Asmussen, Søren

Let X1,X2 denote positive exchangable heavy-tailed random variables with continuous marginal distribution function F. The asymptotic behavior of the tail of X1 + X2 is studied in a general copula framework and some bounds and extremal properties are provided. For more specific assumptions on F...

Runaway tails in magnetized plasmas

Science.gov (United States)

Moghaddam-Taaheri, E.; Vlahos, L.; Rowland, H. L.; Papadopoulos, K.

1985-01-01

The evolution of a runaway tail driven by a dc electric field in a magnetized plasma is analyzed. Depending on the strength of the electric field and the ratio of plasma to gyrofrequency, there are three different regimes in the evolution of the tail. The tail can be (1) stable with electrons accelerated to large parallel velocities, (2) unstable to Cerenkov resonance because of the depletion of the bulk and the formation of a positive slope, (3) unstable to the anomalous Doppler resonance instability driven by the large velocity anisotropy in the tail. Once an instability is triggered (Cerenkov or anomalous Doppler resonance) the tail relaxes into an isotropic distribution. The role of a convection type loss term is also discussed.

Genetic variability in captive populations of the stingless bee Tetragonisca angustula.

Science.gov (United States)

Santiago, Leandro R; Francisco, Flávio O; Jaffé, Rodolfo; Arias, Maria C

2016-08-01

Low genetic variability has normally been considered a consequence of animal husbandry and a major contributing factor to declining bee populations. Here, we performed a molecular analysis of captive and wild populations of the stingless bee Tetragonisca angustula, one of the most commonly kept species across South America. Microsatellite analyses showed similar genetic variability between wild and captive populations However, captive populations showed lower mitochondrial genetic variability. Male-mediated gene flow, transport and division of nests are suggested as the most probable explanations for the observed patterns of genetic structure. We conclude that increasing the number of colonies kept through nest divisions does not negatively affect nuclear genetic variability, which seems to be maintained by small-scale male dispersal and human-mediated nest transport. However, the transport of nests from distant localities should be practiced with caution given the high genetic differentiation observed between samples from western and eastern areas. The high genetic structure verified is the result of a long-term evolutionary process, and bees from distant localities may represent unique evolutionary lineages.

Fish Culture data - Snake River sockeye salmon captive propagation

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Gene rescue captive broodstock program was established for ESA-listed endangered Snake River sockeye salmon from Redfish Lake, Idaho. The program has consisted of...

Immunological evaluation of captive green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) with ulcerative dermatitis

Science.gov (United States)

Muñoz, Fernando Alberto; Estrada-Parra, Sergio; Romero-Rojas, Andrés; Gonzalez-Ballesteros, Erik; Work, Thierry M.; Villaseñor-Gaona, Hector; Estrada-Garcia, Iris

2013-01-01

Ulcerative dermatitis (UD) is common in captive sea turtles and manifests as skin erosions and ulcers associated with gram-negative bacteria. This study compared clinically healthy and UD-affected captive turtles by evaluating hematology, histopathology, immunoglobulin levels, and delayed-type hypersensitivity assay. Turtles with UD had significantly lower weight, reduced delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) responses, and higher heterophil:lymphocyte ratios. This study is the first to assay DTH in green turtles (Chelonia mydas) and suggests that UD is associated with immunosuppression.

The quotient of normal random variables and application to asset price fat tails

Science.gov (United States)

Caginalp, Carey; Caginalp, Gunduz

2018-06-01

The quotient of random variables with normal distributions is examined and proven to have power law decay, with density f(x) ≃f0x-2, with the coefficient depending on the means and variances of the numerator and denominator and their correlation. We also obtain the conditional probability densities for each of the four quadrants given by the signs of the numerator and denominator for arbitrary correlation ρ ∈ [ - 1 , 1) . For ρ = - 1 we obtain a particularly simple closed form solution for all x ∈ R. The results are applied to a basic issue in economics and finance, namely the density of relative price changes. Classical finance stipulates a normal distribution of relative price changes, though empirical studies suggest a power law at the tail end. By considering the supply and demand in a basic price change model, we prove that the relative price change has density that decays with an x-2 power law. Various parameter limits are established.

TIDAL TAILS OF MINOR MERGERS: STAR FORMATION EFFICIENCY IN THE WESTERN TAIL OF NGC 2782

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Knierman, Karen; Scowen, Paul; Jansen, Rolf A. [School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, 550 East Tyler Mall, Room PSF-686 (P.O. Box 871404), Tempe, AZ 85287-1404 (United States); Knezek, Patricia M. [WIYN Consortium, Inc., 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States); Wehner, Elizabeth, E-mail: karen.knierman@asu.edu, E-mail: paul.scowen@asu.edu, E-mail: rolf.jansen@asu.edu, E-mail: pknezek@noao.edu, E-mail: ewehner@haverford.edu [Department of Astronomy, Haverford College, Haverford, PA 19041 (United States)

2012-04-10

While major mergers and their tidal debris are well studied, they are less common than minor mergers (mass ratios {approx}< 0.3). The peculiar spiral NGC 2782 is the result of a merger between two disk galaxies with a mass ratio of {approx}4: 1 occurring {approx}200 Myr ago. This merger produced a molecular and H I-rich, optically bright eastern tail and an H I-rich, optically faint western tail. Non-detection of CO in the western tail by Braine et al. suggested that star formation had not yet begun to occur in that tidal tail. However, deep H{alpha} narrowband images show evidence of recent star formation in the western tail. Across the entire western tail, we find the global star formation rate per unit area ({Sigma}{sub SFR}) to be several orders of magnitude less than expected from the total gas density. Together with extended FUV+NUV emission from Galaxy Evolution Explorer along the tail, this indicates a low global star formation efficiency in the tidal tail producing lower mass star clusters. The H II region that we observed has a local (few-kiloparsec scale) {Sigma}{sub SFR} from H{alpha} that is less than that expected from the total gas density, which is consistent with other observations of tidal debris. The star formation efficiency of this H II region inferred from the total gas density is low, but normal when inferred from the molecular gas density. These results suggest the presence of a very small, locally dense region in the western tail of NGC 2782 or of a low-metallicity and/or low-pressure star-forming region.

Reproductive parameters of critically endangered European mink (Mustela lutreola) in captivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Kiik, Kairi; Maran, Tiit; Nemvalts, Kristel; Sandre, Siiri-Lii; Tammaru, Toomas

2017-06-01

Founding captive populations is often the last chance for saving endangered species from extinction. Ensuring successful reproduction is typically most critical for the maintenance of captive populations, with purposeful selection of individuals for breeding being one of the crucial aspects. Comparable cross-species data on the determinants of reproduction success are most useful for solving problems in captive species programs. In the present study, we provide an overview of a 20-year captive breeding program of the critically endangered European mink. The mating season starts in March, reaching its peak in the middle of April. The average gestation length was 43.8days (mode 43), the mean litter size being 4.4 (mode 4). Litter size and cub survival were negatively correlated with maternal age but this effect was entirely due to the lower performance of the females over 4 years of age. Female body weight also showed a positive correlation with litter size, with the weight itself having increased by 10% during the 20- year period. We did not find any signs of a cost of reproduction: the number of litters the female had delivered earlier in her life did not have an effect on her litter size in the focal year. Beyond the effect of age and size, individual females did not differ in litter sizes. Consistently, we found the heritability of litter size to be low. We conclude that, when selecting females for breeding, there is little need to consider aspects other than genetic relatedness crucial for avoiding progressive inbreeding. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Walking with lions: why there is no role for captive-origin lions Panthera leo in species restoration

OpenAIRE

Hunter, Luke T.B.; White, Paula; Henschel, Philipp; Frank, Laurence; Burton, Cole; Loveridge, Andrew; Balme, Guy; Breitenmoser, Christine; Breitenmoser, Urs

2017-01-01

Despite formidable challenges and few successes in reintroducing large cats from captivity to the wild, the release of captives has widespread support from the general public and local governments, and continues to occur ad hoc. Commercial so-called lion Panthera leo encounter operations in Africa exemplify the issue, in which the captive breeding of the lion is linked to claims of reintroduction and broader conservation outcomes. In this article we assess the capacity of such programmes to c...

Thermal stabilization of uranium mill tailings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dreesen, D.R.; Williams, J.M.; Cokal, E.J.

1981-01-01

The sintering of tailings at high temperatures (1200 0 C) has shown promise as a conditioning approach that greatly reduces the 222 Rn emanation of uranium mill tailings. The structure of thermally stabilized tailings has been appreciably altered producing a material that will have minimal management requirements and will be applicable to on-site processing and disposal. The mineralogy of untreated tailings is presented to define the structure of the original materials. Quartz predominates in most tailings samples; however, appreciable quantities of gypsum, clay, illite, or albites are found in some tailings. Samples from the Durango and Shiprock sites have plagioclase-type aluminosilicates and non-aluminum silicates as major components. The iron-rich vanadium tailings from the Salt Lake City site contain appreciable quantities of α-hematite and chloroapatite. The reduction in radon emanation power and changes in mineralogy as a function of sintering temperature are presented

Which is the most preventive measure against tail damage in finisher pigs: tail docking, straw provision or lowered stocking density?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Mona Lilian Vestbjerg; Andersen, Heidi Mai-Lis; Pedersen, Lene Juul

2018-01-01

One challenge of intensive pig production is tail damage caused by tail biting, and farmers often decrease the prevalence of tail damage through tail docking. However, tail docking is not an optimal preventive measure against tail damage and thus, it would be preferable to replace it. The aim of ...

Oxidative stress, activity behaviour and body mass in captive parrots.

Science.gov (United States)

Larcombe, S D; Tregaskes, C A; Coffey, J; Stevenson, A E; Alexander, L G; Arnold, K E

2015-01-01

Many parrot species are kept in captivity for conservation, but often show poor reproduction, health and survival. These traits are known to be influenced by oxidative stress, the imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and ability of antioxidant defences to ameliorate ROS damage. In humans, oxidative stress is linked with obesity, lack of exercise and poor nutrition, all of which are common in captive animals. Here, we tested whether small parrots (budgerigars, Melopsittacus undulatus) maintained in typical pet cages and on ad libitum food varied in oxidative profile, behaviour and body mass. Importantly, as with many birds held in captivity, they did not have enough space to engage in extensive free flight. Four types of oxidative damage, single-stranded DNA breaks (low-pH comet assay), alkali-labile sites in DNA (high-pH comet assay), sensitivity of DNA to ROS (H2O2-treated comet assay) and malondialdehyde (a byproduct of lipid peroxidation), were uncorrelated with each other and with plasma concentrations of dietary antioxidants. Without strenuous exercise over 28 days in a relatively small cage, more naturally 'active' individuals had more single-stranded DNA breaks than sedentary birds. High body mass at the start or end of the experiment, coupled with substantial mass gain, were all associated with raised sensitivity of DNA to ROS. Thus, high body mass in these captive birds was associated with oxidative damage. These birds were not lacking dietary antioxidants, because final body mass was positively related to plasma levels of retinol, zeaxanthin and α-tocopherol. Individuals varied widely in activity levels, feeding behaviour, mass gain and oxidative profile despite standardized living conditions. DNA damage is often associated with poor immunocompetence, low fertility and faster ageing. Thus, we have candidate mechanisms for the limited lifespan and fecundity common to many birds kept for conservation purposes.

Fat-saturated post gadolinium T1 imaging of the brain in multiple sclerosis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Al-Saeed, Osama; Sheikh, Mehraj; Ismail, Mohammed; Athyal, Reji

2011-01-01

Background Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is of vital importance in the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Imaging sequences better demonstrating enhancing lesions can help in detecting active MS plaques. Purpose To evaluate the role of fat-saturated gadolinium-enhanced T1-weighted (T1W) images of the brain in MS and to assess the benefit of performing this additional sequence in the detection of enhancing lesions. Material and Methods In a prospective study over a six-month period, 70 consecutive patients with clinically diagnosed MS were enrolled. These constituted 14 male and 56 female patients between the ages of 21 and 44 years. All the patients underwent brain MRIs on a 1.5 Tesla Magnet. Gadolinium-enhanced T1 images with and without fat saturation were compared and results were recorded and analyzed using a conspicuity score and McNemar test. Results There were a total of 157 lesions detected in 70 patients on post-contrast T1W fat-saturated images compared with 139 lesions seen on the post-contrast T1W fast spin-echo (FSE) images. This was because 18 of the lesions (11.5%) were only seen on the fat-saturated images. In addition, 15 lesions were more conspicuous on the fat saturation sequence (9.5%). The total conspicuity score obtained, including all the lesions, was 2.24 +/-0.60 (SD). Using the two-tailed McNemar test for quantitative analysis, the P value obtained was <0.0001. Conclusion T1W fat-saturated gadolinium-enhanced images show better lesion enhancement than T1W images without fat saturation

Captive solvent methods for fast, simple carbon-11 radioalkylations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jewett, D.M.; Mangner, T.J.; Watkins, G.L.

1991-01-01

Carbon-11 labeled radiopharmaceuticals for receptor studies usually require final purification by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). A significant simplification of the apparatus is possible if the radiolabeling reaction can be done directly in the HPLC injection circuit. Captive solvent methods in which the reaction is done in a small volume of solvent absorbed in a porous solid matrix are a general approach to this problem. For N-methylations with [ 11 C] methyl iodide, a basic catalyst may be incorporated in the polymeric or alumina solid phase. Reaction volumes are from 20 to 100 ML. Often no heating or cooling of the reaction column is necessary. The syntheses of [ 11 C]PK11195 and [ 11 C] flumazenil are described to illustrate some of the advantages and limitations of captive solvent methods

Risk factors for development of foot lesions in captive flamingos (Phoenicopteridae)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Adriana M.W.; Nielsen, Søren Saxmose; King, Catherine E.

2012-01-01

different types of foot lesions (hyperkeratosis, nodular lesions, papillomatous growths, and fissures) in captive flamingos. The study was based on photos of 445 pairs of flamingo foot soles. Data originating from 337 birds in 10 different zoos were included. The odds of birds having hyperkeratosis......Foot lesions are highly prevalent in captive flamingos (Phoenicopterus spp.); however, the etiology of these lesions remains mainly speculative. The objectives of this study were to identify climatic factors (latitude, temperature, and housing) and surface factors influencing the risk of four...... and substrate appear to affect the odds of developing different types of foot lesions....

Effect of seasonal differences in dietary meat intake on changes in body mass and composition in wild and captive brown bears

Science.gov (United States)

Hilderbrand, G.V.; Jenkins, S.G.; Schwartz, C.C.; Hanley, Thomas A.; Robbins, C.T.

1999-01-01

The influence of seasonal dietary meat intake on changes in body mass and composition in wild and captive brown bears (Ursus arctos) was investigated because the importance and availability of meat to brown bear populations is currently an important management consideration in several North American ecosystems. Adult female brown bears on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, utilized meat heavily in both spring and fall. Meat accounted for 76.2 ± 26.0% (mean ± 1 SD; primarily moose carrion and calves) of assimilated carbon and nitrogen in the spring and 80.4 ± 22.2% (primarily salmon) in the fall. Mass increases in the spring (71.8 ± 28.2%) were mostly lean body mass, but increases in the fall (81.0 ± 19.5%) were primarily fat. Daily intake by captive brown bears fed meat ad libitum during 12-day trials was positively related to body mass. Mass change was positively related to intake in both seasons, but the composition of the gain varied by season, with spring gains primarily lean body mass (64.2 ± 9.4%), while fall gains were 78.8 ± 19.6% lipid. Absolute rates of gain by wild bears occasionally equaled, but were usually much less than, those of captive bears. This was likely due to a combination of factors, which included the time required to locate and handle meat resources, the limited availability of or access to meat resources, and (or) the duration of meat resource availability. Estimated intake by bears not feeding selectively on high-energy components of moose and salmon were 8.5 ± 1.5 kg/day and 541 ± 156 kg/year and 10.8 ± 4.6 kg/day and 1003 ± 489 kg/year, respectively. Intake would drop by as much as 58% for bears feeding exclusively on salmon roe. Management strategies for areas with brown bears that consume significant amounts of meat should address the perpetuation and availability of these meat resources.

Uranium mill tailings and radon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hanchey, L.A.

1981-01-01

The major health hazard from uranium mill tailings is presumed to be respiratory cancer resulting from the inhalation of radon daughter products. A review of studies on inhalation of radon and its daughters indicates that the hazard from the tailings is extremely small. If the assumptions used in the studies are correct, one or two people per year in the US may develop cancer as a result of radon exhaled from all the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Program sites. The remedial action should reduce the hazard from the tailings by a factor of about 100

Uranium mill tailings and radon

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hanchey, L A

1981-04-01

The major health hazard from uranium mill tailings is presumed to be respiratory cancer resulting from the inhalation of radon daughter products. A review of studies on inhalation of radon and its daughters indicates that the hazard from the tailings is extremely small. If the assumptions used in the studies are correct, one or two people per year in the United States may develop cancer as a result of radon exhaled from all the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action program sites. The remedial action should reduce the hazard from the tailings by a factor of about 100.

Uranium mill tailings and radon

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hanchey, L A

1981-01-01

The major health hazard from uranium mill tailings is presumed to be respiratory cancer resulting from the inhalation of radon daughter products. A review of studies on inhalation of radon and its daughters indicates that the hazard from the tailings is extremely small. If the assumptions used in the studies are correct, one or two people per year in the US may develop cancer as a result of radon exhaled from all the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Program sites. The remedial action should reduce the hazard from the tailings by a factor of about 100.

Estimation of Jump Tails

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bollerslev, Tim; Todorov, Victor

We propose a new and flexible non-parametric framework for estimating the jump tails of Itô semimartingale processes. The approach is based on a relatively simple-to-implement set of estimating equations associated with the compensator for the jump measure, or its "intensity", that only utilizes...... the weak assumption of regular variation in the jump tails, along with in-fill asymptotic arguments for uniquely identifying the "large" jumps from the data. The estimation allows for very general dynamic dependencies in the jump tails, and does not restrict the continuous part of the process...... and the temporal variation in the stochastic volatility. On implementing the new estimation procedure with actual high-frequency data for the S&P 500 aggregate market portfolio, we find strong evidence for richer and more complex dynamic dependencies in the jump tails than hitherto entertained in the literature....

Average configuration of the geomagnetic tail

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fairfield, D.H.

1979-01-01

Over 3000 hours of Imp 6 magnetic field data obtained between 20 and 33 R/sub E/ in the geomagnetic tail have been used in a statistical study of the tail configuration. A distribution of 2.5-min averages of B/sub z/ as a function of position across the tail reveals that more flux crosses the equatorial plane near the dawn and dusk flanks (B-bar/sub z/=3.γ) than near midnight (B-bar/sub z/=1.8γ). The tail field projected in the solar magnetospheric equatorial plane deviates from the x axis due to flaring and solar wind aberration by an angle α=-0.9 Y/sub SM/-2.7, where Y/sub SM/ is in earth radii and α is in degrees. After removing these effects, the B/sub y/ component of the tail field is found to depend on interplanetary sector structure. During an 'away' sector the B/sub y/ component of the tail field is on average 0.5γ greater than that during a 'toward' sector, a result that is true in both tail lobes and is independent of location across the tail. This effect means the average field reversal between northern and southern lobes of the tail is more often 178 0 rather than the 180 0 that is generally supposed

Stress assessment in captive greylag geese (Anser anser)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Scheiber, Isabella; Sterenborg, Marlijn; Komdeur, Jan

2015-01-01

Chronic stress—or, more appropriately, “allostatic overload”—may be physiologically harmful and can cause death in the most severe cases. Animals in captivity are thought to be particularly vulnerable to allostatic overload due to artificial housing and group makeup. Here we attempted to determine

Liver iron overloading in captive muriquis (Brachyteles spp.).

Science.gov (United States)

Santos, Stéfanie V; Strefezzi, Ricardo De F; Pissinatti, Alcides; Catão-Dias, José L

2011-04-01

Iron accumulation was investigated qualitatively and quantitatively in the liver of 15 captive Brachyteles spp. Hepatic hemosiderosis index (HHI) was determined as the area percentage of the liver parenchyma occupied by hemosiderin and ferritin deposits, through computerized histomorphometric analysis of Prussian blue-stained histologic sections. All studied animals presented liver hemosiderosis, and HHI ranged from 0.2% to 41.7%. There were no significant differences in HHI between muriqui species or genders, and no correlations were detected among HHI and age, time in captivity or body mass. Iron deposits were accompanied by other hepatic disorders. This is the first study addressing the occurrence and consequences of iron overloading in the liver of muriquis. We propose that hemosiderosis may act as a contribute factor for the development of hepatic injuries. Further studies are advised to clarify the role of diet in the pathogenesis of hemosiderosis in these atelids. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Comparisons of genetic diversity in captive versus wild populations of the federally endangered Quino checkerspot butterfly (Euphydryas editha quino Behr; Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Mark P.; Pratt, Gordon F.; Mullins, Thomas D.; Haig, Susan M.

2014-01-01

Captive populations can play a significant role in threatened and endangered species management. An important consideration when developing and managing captive populations, however, is the maintenance of genetic diversity to ensure that adequate variation exists to avoid the negative consequences of inbreeding. In this investigation, we compared genetic diversity patterns within captive and wild populations of the federally endangered Quino checkerspot butterfly (Euphydryas editha quino Behr [Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae]), a taxon with a restricted distribution to chaparral and sage shrublands within Riverside and San Diego counties, California. Our analyses revealed that medium to high-frequency alleles from the wild populations were also present in the captive populations. While there was no significant difference in genetic diversity as quantified by expected heterozygosity, the captive populations showed tendencies toward significantly lower allelic richness than their wild counterparts. Given that alleles from the wild populations were occasionally not detected in captive populations, periodic incorporation of new wild specimens into the captive population would help ensure that allelic diversity is maintained to the extent possible. If performed in advance, genetic surveys of wild populations may provide the clearest insights regarding the number of individuals needed in captivity to adequately reflect wild populations.

Research on Captive Broodstock Programs for Pacific Salmon, 2004-2005 Annual Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berejikian, Barry A. (National Marine Fisheries Service)

2005-11-01

The success of captive broodstock programs depends on high in-culture survival, appropriate development of the reproductive system, and the behavior and survival of cultured salmon after release, either as adults or juveniles. Continuing captive broodstock research designed to improve technology is being conducted to cover all major life history stages of Pacific salmon. Accomplishments detailed in this report and those since the last project review period (FY 2003) are listed below by major objective. Objective 1: (i) Developed tools for monitoring the spawning success of captively reared Chinook salmon that can now be used for evaluating the reintroduction success of ESA-listed captive broodstocks in their natal habitats. (ii) Developed an automated temperature controlled rearing system to test the effects of seawater rearing temperature on reproductive success of Chinook salmon. Objective 2: (i) Determined that Columbia River sockeye salmon imprint at multiple developmental stages and the length of exposure to home water is important for successful imprinting. These results can be utilized for developing successful reintroduction strategies to minimize straying by ESA-listed sockeye salmon. (ii) Developed behavioral and physiological assays for imprinting in sockeye salmon. Objective 3: (i) Developed growth regime to reduce age-two male maturation in spring Chinook salmon, (ii) described reproductive cycle of returning hatchery Snake River spring Chinook salmon relative to captive broodstock, and (iii) found delays in egg development in captive broodstock prior to entry to fresh water. (iv) Determined that loss of Redfish Lake sockeye embryos prior to hatch is largely due to lack of egg fertilization rather than embryonic mortality. Objective 4 : (i) Demonstrated safety and efficacy limits against bacterial kidney disease (BKD) in fall Chinook of attenuated R. salmoninarum vaccine and commercial vaccine Renogen, (ii) improved prophylactic and therapeutic

Comparison of serum hormone levels of captive and free-living maned wolves Chrysocyon brachyurus

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O.B. Maia

2008-02-01

Full Text Available Serum hormone levels were compared between captive and free-living maned wolves and seasonal variations of sex hormones were studied. Blood samples were collected from 16 male and 26 female adult animals from Brazilian zoos, and from 30 male and 24 female free-living adults to determine serum progesterone and testosterone by radioimmunoassay. Serum testosterone concentrations varied (P 0.05. Sixteen captive males showed higher testosterone concentration during winter and spring compared with 30 free-living animals (P < 0.05. Progesterone concentration varied among seasons in 26 captive females (P < 0.05, being higher in autumn (15.3 ± 3.1 ng/mL than in summer (6.6 ± 1.5 ng/mL, winter (5.3 ± 3.1 ng/mL and spring (4.3 ± 0.7 ng/mL. Progesterone concentration of 24 free-living females varied between autumn (17.1 ± 6.0 ng/mL and winter (1.7 ± 0.3 ng/mL (P < 0.05, but we could not obtain data for spring or summer. No difference in progesterone levels was observed between captive and free-living females in autumn and winter.

Grande Ronde Basin Chinook Salmon Captive Brood and Conventional Supplementation Programs, 2002 Annual Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carmichael, Richard W. (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, La Grande, OR)

2003-07-01

Endangered Species Permit Number 1011 (formerly Permit No. 973) authorizes ODFW to take listed spring chinook salmon juveniles from Catherine Creek (CC), Lostine River (LR) and Grande Ronde River (GR) for research and enhancement purposes. Modification 2 of this permit authorizes ODFW to take adults for spawning and the production and release of smolts for the Captive and Conventional broodstock programs. This report satisfies the requirement that an annual report be submitted. Herein we report on activities conducted and provide cursory data analyses for the Grande Ronde spring chinook salmon Captive and Conventional broodstock projects from 1 January-31 December 2002. The Grande Ronde Basin Spring Chinook Salmon Captive Broodstock Project is designed to rapidly increase numbers of salmon in stocks that are in imminent danger of extirpation. Parr are captured in Catherine Creek, upper Grande Ronde River and Lostine River and reared to adulthood in captivity. Upon maturation, they are spawned (within stocks) and their progeny reared to smoltification before being released into the natal stream of their parents. This program is co-managed by ODFW, National Marine Fisheries Service, the Nez Perce Tribe and Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

Effect of captivity on genetic variance for five traits in the large milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus).

Science.gov (United States)

Rodríguez-Clark, K M

2004-07-01

Understanding the changes in genetic variance which may occur as populations move from nature into captivity has been considered important when populations in captivity are used as models of wild ones. However, the inherent significance of these changes has not previously been appreciated in a conservation context: are the methods aimed at founding captive populations with gene diversity representative of natural populations likely also to capture representative quantitative genetic variation? Here, I investigate changes in heritability and a less traditional measure, evolvability, between nature and captivity for the large milkweed bug, Oncopeltus fasciatus, to address this question. Founders were collected from a 100-km transect across the north-eastern US, and five traits (wing colour, pronotum colour, wing length, early fecundity and later fecundity) were recorded for founders and for their offspring during two generations in captivity. Analyses reveal significant heritable variation for some life history and morphological traits in both environments, with comparable absolute levels of evolvability across all traits (0-30%). Randomization tests show that while changes in heritability and total phenotypic variance were highly variable, additive genetic variance and evolvability remained stable across the environmental transition in the three morphological traits (changing 1-2% or less), while they declined significantly in the two life-history traits (5-8%). Although it is unclear whether the declines were due to selection or gene-by-environment interactions (or both), such declines do not appear inevitable: captive populations with small numbers of founders may contain substantial amounts of the evolvability found in nature, at least for some traits.

Low Impact of Avian Pox on Captive-Bred Houbara Bustard Breeding Performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Le Loc'h, Guillaume; Souley, Mam-Noury Amadou; Bertagnoli, Stéphane; Paul, Mathilde C

2017-01-01

Avian pox, a disease caused by avipoxviruses, is a major cause of decline of some endangered bird species. While its impact has been assessed in several species in the wild, effects of the disease in conservation breeding have never been studied. Houbara bustard species ( Chlamydotis undulata and Chlamydotis macqueenii ), whose populations declined in the last decades, have been captive bred for conservation purposes for more than 20 years. While mortality and morbidity induced by avipoxviruses can be controlled by appropriate management, the disease might still affect bird breeding performance and jeopardize the production objectives of conservation programs. Impacts of the disease was studied during two outbreaks in captive-bred juvenile Houbara bustards in Morocco in 2009-2010 and 2010-2011, by modeling the effect of the disease on individual breeding performance (male display and female egg production) of 2,797 birds during their first breeding season. Results showed that the impact of avian pox on the ability of birds to reproduce and on the count of displays or eggs is low and mainly non-significant. The absence of strong impact compared to what could be observed in other species in the wild may be explained by the controlled conditions provided by captivity, especially the close veterinary monitoring of each bird. Those results emphasize the importance of individual management to prevent major disease emergence and their effects in captive breeding of endangered species.

Birth and mortality of maned wolves Chrysocyon brachyurus (Illiger, 1811 in captivity

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O. B. MAIA

Full Text Available The aims of this study were to verify the distribution of births of captive maned wolves Chrysocyon brachyurus and the causes of their deaths during the period from 1980 to 1998, based on the registry of births and deaths in the International Studbook for Maned Wolves. To determine birth distribution and average litter size, 361 parturitions were analyzed for the 1989-98 period. To analyze causes of mortality, the animals were divided into four groups: 1. pups born in captivity that died prior to one year of age; 2. animals born in captivity that died at more than one year of age; 3. animals captured in the wild that died at any age; and 4. all animals that died during the 1980-98 period. In group 1, the main causes of mortality were parental incompetence (67%, infectious diseases, (9% and digestive system disorders (5%. The average mortality rate for pups was 56%. Parental incompetence was responsible for 95% of pup deaths during the first week of life. In group 2, the main causes were euthanasia (18% and disorders of the genitourinary (10% and digestive systems (8%. Euthanasia was implemented due to senility, congenital disorders, degenerative diseases, and trauma. In group 3, the main causes were digestive system disorders (12%, infectious diseases (10%, and lesions or accidents (10%. The main causes of mortality of maned wolves in captivity (group 4 were parental incompetence (38%, infectious diseases (9%, and digestive system disorders (7%.

Birth and mortality of maned wolves Chrysocyon brachyurus (Illiger, 1811 in captivity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MAIA O. B.

2002-01-01

Full Text Available The aims of this study were to verify the distribution of births of captive maned wolves Chrysocyon brachyurus and the causes of their deaths during the period from 1980 to 1998, based on the registry of births and deaths in the International Studbook for Maned Wolves. To determine birth distribution and average litter size, 361 parturitions were analyzed for the 1989-98 period. To analyze causes of mortality, the animals were divided into four groups: 1. pups born in captivity that died prior to one year of age; 2. animals born in captivity that died at more than one year of age; 3. animals captured in the wild that died at any age; and 4. all animals that died during the 1980-98 period. In group 1, the main causes of mortality were parental incompetence (67%, infectious diseases, (9% and digestive system disorders (5%. The average mortality rate for pups was 56%. Parental incompetence was responsible for 95% of pup deaths during the first week of life. In group 2, the main causes were euthanasia (18% and disorders of the genitourinary (10% and digestive systems (8%. Euthanasia was implemented due to senility, congenital disorders, degenerative diseases, and trauma. In group 3, the main causes were digestive system disorders (12%, infectious diseases (10%, and lesions or accidents (10%. The main causes of mortality of maned wolves in captivity (group 4 were parental incompetence (38%, infectious diseases (9%, and digestive system disorders (7%.

Does the stress response predict the ability of wild birds to adjust to short-term captivity? A study of the rock pigeon (Columbia livia).

Science.gov (United States)

Angelier, Frédéric; Parenteau, Charline; Trouvé, Colette; Angelier, Nicole

2016-12-01

Although the transfer of wild animals to captivity is crucial for conservation purposes, this process is often challenging because some species or individuals do not adjust well to captive conditions. Chronic stress has been identified as a major concern for animals held on long-term captivity. Surprisingly, the first hours or days of captivity have been relatively overlooked. However, they are certainly very stressful, because individuals are being transferred to a totally novel and confined environment. To ensure the success of conservation programmes, it appears crucial to better understand the proximate causes of interspecific and interindividual variability in the sensitivity to these first hours of captivity. In that respect, the study of stress hormones is relevant, because the hormonal stress response may help to assess whether specific individuals or species adjust, or not, to such captive conditions ('the stress response-adjustment to captivity hypothesis'). We tested this hypothesis in rock pigeons by measuring their corticosterone stress response and their ability to adjust to short-term captivity (body mass loss and circulating corticosterone levels after a day of captivity). We showed that an increased corticosterone stress response is associated with a lower ability to adjust to short-term captivity (i.e. higher body mass loss and circulating corticosterone levels). Our study suggests, therefore, that a low physiological sensitivity to stress may be beneficial for adjusting to captivity. Future studies should now explore whether the stress response can be useful to predict the ability of individuals from different populations or species to not only adjust to short-term but also long-term captivity.

Segregation and differential settling in flocculated tailings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Farinato, R.S.; Mahmoudkhani, A.; Fenderson, T.; Watson, P. [Kemira, Atlanta, GA (United States)

2010-07-01

Untreated oil sands tailings have a high solids content, have poor dewaterability, and contain no aggregates. This PowerPoint presentation investigated segregation and differential settling in flocculated tailings. Tailings were treated with gypsum and various polymers. Cylinder settling, dynamic rheometry, particle size analysis, and microscopy techniques were used to characterize the composite tailings. The particles sizes of the samples were evaluated in relation to shear rate, bed depth, and treatment. The study showed that the gypsum-treated tailings had small aggregates, size stratification, a high solids content, and poor dewaterability. The polymer N-treated tailings had the lowest solids content, good dewaterability, and weak aggregates. The polymer A-treated tailings had a low solids content, very good dewaterability, and strong aggregates. The addition of a coagulant to the polymer-A treated tailings provided weaker aggregates and a higher solids content. tabs., figs.

Evaluating genetic traceability methods for captive-bred marine fish and their applications in fisheries management and wildlife forensics

OpenAIRE

Bylemans, Jonas; Maes, Gregory E.; Diopere, Eveline; Cariani, Alessia; Senn, Helen; Taylor, Martin I.; Helyar, Sarah; Bargelloni, Luca; Bonaldo, Alessio; Carvalho, Gary; Guarniero, Ilaria; Komen, Hans; Martinsohn, Jann Th; Eg Nielsen, Einar; Tinti, Fausto

2016-01-01

Growing demands for marine fish products is leading to increased pressure on already depleted wild populations and a rise in aquaculture production. Consequently, more captive-bred fish are released into the wild through accidental escape or deliberate releases. The increased mixing of captive-bred and wild fish may affect the ecological and/or genetic integrity of wild fish populations. Unambiguous identification tools for captive-bred fish will be highly valuable to manage risks (fisheries ...

Ecotoxicity of Mine Tailings: Unrehabilitated Versus Rehabilitated.

Science.gov (United States)

Maboeta, M S; Oladipo, O G; Botha, S M

2018-05-01

Earthworms are bioindicators of soil pollution. The ecotoxicity of tailings from selected gold mines in South Africa was investigated utilizing Eisenia andrei bioassays and biomarkers. Samples were obtained from unrehabilitated, rehabilitated and naturally vegetated sites. Biomass, neutral red retention time (NRRT), survival and reproduction were assessed using standardized protocols. Earthworm biomass, NRRT and reproductive success in rehabilitated tailings (comparable to naturally vegetated site) were significantly higher (p tailings. In addition, significantly lower (p tailings compared to the unrehabilitated. Further, significantly lower (p tailings than the rehabilitated and naturally vegetated sites. Overall, reduced ecotoxicity effects were confirmed in rehabilitated compared to unrehabilitated tailings. This suggests that rehabilitation as a post-mining restorative strategy has strong positive influence on mine tailings.

Assessment of Captive Management of Nile Crocodile, Crocodylus ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The number of crocodiles and the number of eggs were of the constraints faced in managing them in captivity. The constraints mentioned includes inadequate space (75%) and inadequate funds (62.5%). Others includes problems of water, fighting among the crocodiles, diseases and parasites. The main recommendation is ...

Ascaridosis in captive reticulated python( Python reticulatus ) | Taiwo ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Two captive reticulated pythons, Python reticulatus, in the Zoological Gardens, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria died and were submitted for necropsy at the Diagnostic Laboratory of the Department of Veterinary Pathology, University of Ibadan. Both pythons had been infected with Ascaridia galli for a long period of time ...

PTSD of rape after IS ("Islamic State") captivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Kizilhan, Jan Ilhan

2018-03-10

Research into the psychological consequences of rape on women in war and warlike situations is limited. The aims of this study were (a) to describe the prevalence and the nature of PTSD symptoms among Yazidi women reporting rape during IS captivity, (b) to describe comorbidity of other psychological disorders, and (c) to examine the risk factors associated with posttraumatic stress disorder.The study included 296 Yazidi women survivors of rape and has been conducted in Germany since January 2016 as part of a special-quota project in the German region of Baden-Wuerttemberg, designed to support the women and children who have escaped after being held hostage by IS.The survivors were recruited into a retrospective, cross-sectional study. Interviews in Germany were done through trained personnel to evaluate the mental health status of raped women.All the investigated women had been raped many times during IS captivity. About 82% of the women were also physically tortured. Of the sample, 67% suffered from somatoform disorder, 53% suffered from depression, 39% from anxiety, and 28% from dissociation. The prevalence of PTSD in those with rape events of more than 20 times was 57% (95% CI = 35.1-65.9%), less than 20 times was 41% (95%, CI = 28.7-4.8% and less than 10 times 39% [95% CI = 28.2-41.8%], respectively.The IS captivity and wartime rapes had deep immediate and long-term consequences on the mental health of women survivors. The high prevalence of PTSD emphasizes the need for culturally sensitive diagnostic and therapeutic services to address the intermediate and long-term consequences of wartime rape.

Nutrition of the captive western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla): a dietary survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, B K; Remis, M J; Dierenfeld, E S

2014-01-01

The successful management of captive animals requires attention to multiple interconnected factors. One critical aspect of the daily life of a captive animal is the recommended and/or provisioned diet. This study focuses on the diets of zoo-housed gorillas. A national survey of diets among zoo-housed gorillas was conducted to examine diets being offered to captive gorillas in the United States and Canada. This survey serves as a follow-up to a 1995 dietary survey of zoo-housed gorillas and goes further to quantify nutritional profiles at responding institutions. Results are encouraging, as zoos have made clear improvements in dietary nutrient profiles offered over the past 15 years. However, we suggest that zoological and sanctuary institutions follow Gorilla Species Survival Plan (SSP) recommendations and work to continuously improve diets provided, which could improve gorillas' health and well-being. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Calving pattern on captive sambar deer (Cervus unicolor in East Kalimantan

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ANDI TRASODIHARTO

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Sambar deer (Cervus unicolor is the biggest of tropical deer with its distribution in Indonesia limited to Kalimantan and Sumatera islands and neighboring islands near Sumatera. Several countries such as Malaysia and Thailand have been developing their tropical deer farming, whereas in Indonesia they are still in its infancy, as captive breeding. The knowledge on the biology of reproduction from tropical deer is still limited, particularly those under their natural habitat. An evaluation on the reproduction profiles of captive sambar deer were conducted by analyzing log book of the captive breeding in East Kalimantan. The results indicated that conception rates was very low, only 48,8% (SD=16.24; n=10 years with peak calving time between June and July and mean calving date was on 4 July (SD=10.4 days; n=109 fawns. Calving interval was 388,2 days (SD=82.45; n=33 fawns, with natural nursing lasted for 148 days. Young hind gave birth for the first time at the age of 693.8 days (SD=89.40; n=4 hinds, giving a time estimate of first mating at the age of 453 days.

Feline panleukopaenia virus in captive non-domestic felids in South Africa

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Emily P. Lane

2016-06-01

Full Text Available An outbreak of feline panleukopaenia virus (FPLV infection was diagnosed by pathology, electron microscopy and polymerase chain reaction (PCR in vaccinated captive-bred subadult cheetahs in South Africa. Subsequent to this disease outbreak, 12 cases of FPLV diagnosed on histology were confirmed by PCR in captive African black-footed cat, caracal, cheetah, lion, ocelot and serval. Phylogenetic analyses of the viral capsid protein gene on PCR-positive samples, vaccine and National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI reference strains identified a previously unknown strain of FPLV, present since at least 2006, that differs from both the inactivated and the modified live vaccine strains. A previously described South African strain from domestic cats and cheetahs was identified in a serval. Surveys of FPLV strains in South African felids are needed to determine the geographical and host species distribution of this virus. Since non-domestic species may be reservoirs of parvoviruses, and since these viruses readily change host specificity, the risks of FPLV transmission between captive-bred and free-ranging carnivores and domestic cats and dogs warrant further research. Keywords: feline panleukopaenia; parvovirus; felid; cheetah; vaccination

Functional and proteomic comparison of Bothrops jararaca venom from captive specimens and the Brazilian Bothropic Reference Venom.

Science.gov (United States)

Farias, Iasmim Baptista de; Morais-Zani, Karen de; Serino-Silva, Caroline; Sant'Anna, Sávio S; Rocha, Marisa M T da; Grego, Kathleen F; Andrade-Silva, Débora; Serrano, Solange M T; Tanaka-Azevedo, Anita M

2018-03-01

Snake venom is a variable phenotypic trait, whose plasticity and evolution are critical for effective antivenom production. A significant reduction of the number of snake donations to Butantan Institute (São Paulo, Brazil) occurred in recent years, and this fact may impair the production of the Brazilian Bothropic Reference Venom (BBRV). Nevertheless, in the last decades a high number of Bothrops jararaca specimens have been raised in captivity in the Laboratory of Herpetology of Butantan Institute. Considering these facts, we compared the biochemical and biological profiles of B. jararaca venom from captive specimens and BBRV in order to understand the potential effects of snake captivity upon the venom composition. Electrophoretic analysis and proteomic profiling revealed few differences in venom protein bands and some differentially abundant toxins. Comparison of enzymatic activities showed minor differences between the two venoms. Similar cross-reactivity recognition pattern of both venoms by the antibothropic antivenom produced by Butantan Institute was observed. Lethality and neutralization of lethality for B. jararaca venom from captive specimens and BBRV showed similar values. Considering these results we suggest that the inclusion of B. jararaca venom from captive specimens in the composition of BBRV would not interfere with the quality of this reference venom. Snakebite envenomation is a neglected tropical pathology whose treatment is based on the use of specific antivenoms. Bothrops jararaca is responsible for the majority of snakebites in South and Southeastern Brazil. Its venom shows individual, sexual, and ontogenetic variability, however, the effect of animal captivity upon venom composition is unknown. Considering the reduced number of wild-caught snakes donated to Butantan Institute in the last decades, and the increased life expectancy of the snakes raised in captivity in the Laboratory of Herpetology, this work focused on the comparative

A retrospective study of end-stage renal disease in captive polar bears (Ursus maritimus).

Science.gov (United States)

LaDouceur, Elise E B; Davis, Barbara; Tseng, Flo

2014-03-01

This retrospective study summarizes 11 cases of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in captive polar bears (Ursus maritimus) from eight zoologic institutions across the United States and Canada. Ten bears were female, one was male, and the mean age at the time of death was 24 yr old. The most common clinical signs were lethargy, inappetence, and polyuria-polydipsia. Biochemical findings included azotemia, anemia, hyperphosphatemia, and isosthenuria. Histologic examination commonly showed glomerulonephropathies and interstitial fibrosis. Based on submissions to a private diagnostic institution over a 16-yr period, ESRD was the most commonly diagnosed cause of death or euthanasia in captive polar bears in the United States, with an estimated prevalence of over 20%. Further research is needed to discern the etiology of this apparently common disease of captive polar bears.

Choanal and cloacal aerobic bacterial flora in captive green iguanas: a comparative analysis

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Silvia Barazorda Romero

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The aims of this study were to characterize the choanal and cloacal aerobic bacterial flora in healthy captive green iguanas and to compare it with the bacterial flora of the biofilm present in the water container of each terrarium. Samples were collected from the choana and the cloaca of 20 healthy captive adult green iguanas and from the biofilm of 15 water containers. The final identification of aerobic bacteria was performed by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Salmonella positive samples were serotyped. The most common strains observed at each test location were from 1 choanae: Staphylococcus spp., Enterobacter cloacae and Comamonas testosteroni; 2 cloacae: Citrobacter spp., Salmonella spp. and Corynebacterium spp.; and 3 biofilms: Pseudomonas spp., Salmonella spp. and Acidovorax spp. We showed that apart from Salmonella spp., the choanal and cloacal bacterial flora differed from the microorganisms present in the biofilm of the animal’s water container. These data revealed that healthy captive adult green iguanas harbored several aerobic bacterial strains that in immunosuppressed reptiles may act as opportunistic pathogens. Also, several of the aerobic bacteria identified in samples are potential zoonotic agents. Characterization of the normal background flora in captive reptiles and their environment can contribute to an understanding of the spread of bacterial contamination and the risk of potential zoonotic diseases for people in contact with these animals.

Cecal bacterial communities in wild Japanese rock ptarmigans and captive Svalbard rock ptarmigans.

Science.gov (United States)

Ushida, Kazunari; Segawa, Takahiro; Tsuchida, Sayaka; Murata, Koichi

2016-02-01

Preservation of indigenous gastrointestinal microbiota is deemed to be critical for successful captive breeding of endangered wild animals, yet its biology is poorly understood. Here, we investigated cecal bacterial communities in wild Japanese rock ptarmigans (Lagopus muta japonica) and compared them with those in Svalbard rock ptarmigans (L. m. hyperborea) in captivity. Ultra-deep sequencing of 16S rRNA gene indicated that the community structure of cecal microbiota in wild rock ptarmigans was remarkably different from that in captive Svalbard rock ptarmigans. Fundamental differences between bacterial communities in the two groups of birds were detected at the phylum level. Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Synergistetes were the major phyla detected in wild Japanese rock ptarmigans, whereas Firmicutes alone occupied more than 80% of abundance in captive Svalbard rock ptarmigans. Furthermore, unclassified genera of Coriobacteriaceae, Synergistaceae, Bacteroidaceae, Actinomycetaceae, Veillonellaceae and Clostridiales were the major taxa detected in wild individuals, whereas in zoo-reared birds, major genera were Ruminococcus, Blautia, Faecalibacterium and Akkermansia. Zoo-reared birds seemed to lack almost all rock ptarmigan-specific bacteria in their intestine, which may explain the relatively high rate of pathogenic infections affecting them. We show evidence that preservation and reconstitution of indigenous cecal microflora are critical for successful ex situ conservation and future re-introduction plan for the Japanese rock ptarmigan.

Captive-rearing of Gunnison sage-grouse from egg collection to adulthood to foster proactive conservation and recovery of a conservation-reliant species.

Science.gov (United States)

Apa, Anthony D; Wiechman, Lief A

2015-01-01

Gunnison sage-grouse (Centrocercus minimus) are distributed across southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah, United States. Their distribution has decreased over the past century and the species has been listed as threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Reduced genetic diversity, small population size, and isolation may affect Gunnison sage-grouse population persistence. Population augmentation can be used to counteract or mitigate these issues, but traditional translocation efforts have yielded mixed, and mostly unsuccessful, results. Captive-rearing is a viable, although much debated, conservation approach to bolster wild conservation-reliant species. Although there have been captive-rearing efforts with greater sage-grouse (C. urophasianus), to date, no information exists about captive-rearing methods for Gunnison sage-grouse. Therefore, we investigated techniques for egg collection, artificial incubation, hatch, and captive-rearing of chicks, juveniles, subadults, and adults for Gunnison sage-grouse. In 2009 we established a captive flock that produced viable eggs. From 2009-2011, we collected and artificially incubated 206 Gunnison sage-grouse eggs from 23 wild and 14 captive females. Our hatchability was 90%. Wild-produced eggs were heavier than captive-produced eggs and lost mass similarly during incubation. We produced 148 chicks in captivity and fed them a variety of food sources (e.g. invertebrates to commercial chow). Bacterial infections were the primary cause of chick mortality, but we successfully reduced the overall mortality rate during the course of our study. Conservationists and managers should consider the utility in developing a captive-rearing program or creating a captive population as part of a proactive conservation effort for the conservation-reliant Gunnison sage-grouse. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Monthly morphometric data on captive loggerhead sea turtles 1995-present

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The database contains monthly measurements taken on captive reared sea turtles. Measurements include: straight carapace length nuchal notch to carapace tip, straight...

ESTIMATION OF FILTRATION CAPACITY OF POSTFLOTATION TAILINGS EMBEDDED IN DAMS OF TAILINGS DEPOSITION SITES

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Wojciech Tschuschke

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Construction of very big mine tailings deposition sites, such as postflotation tailings ponds, is a complicated engineering task, in which several technical and environmental problems need to be solved. Designing, construction and operation of such an object applying the monitoring method consists in the verification of design assumptions based on continuous observations. One of the primary tasks of monitoring while the deposition site is being filled with tailings is to control quality of the formed dam embankments, as the structural element of the object responsible for its stability. In order to use material selected from deposited tailings in the construction of dams it is necessary to define grain size and compaction criteria, which directly affect load bearing capacity and deformation of the structure. For this reason main control tests include the analyses of grain size distribution and physical properties of the material embedded in the dams. These data may also be used to estimate filtration capacity of the embankment. A lack of drainage, causing accumulation of water within the embankment, may potentially deteriorate stability conditions. This paper presents the use of empirical formulas, i.e. formulas typically applied to natural soils, to assess permeability coefficient of tailings. A simple empirical formula was also proposed for the estimation of permeability coefficient of tailings based on grain size and compaction parameters determined in routine quality tests of constructed dam embankments.

Sub-aerial tailings deposition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knight, R.B.; Haile, J.P.

1984-01-01

The sub-aerial technique involves the systematic deposition of tailings in thin layers and allowing each layer to settle, drain and partially air dry prior to covering with a further layer. Underdrainage produces densities in excess of those achieved by sub-aqueous deposition and any air-drying serves to preconsolidate each layer with a resulting further increase in density. The low permeability of the tailings surface resulting from this deposition technique results in high runoff coefficients and, by decanting the runoff component of direct precipitation, a net evaporation condition can be achieved even in high rainfall areas. An underdrainage system prevents the build-up of excess pore-pressures within the tailings mass and at decommissioning the tailings are fully consolidated and drained thereby eliminating the possibility of any long term seepage. This paper presents a general description of these design concepts, and details of two projects where the concepts have been applied

(Reinsurance captives, efficiency and moral hazard. An attractive manner of risk financing and risk management for companies in certain circumstances

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wim Weterings

2014-03-01

Full Text Available In this study the contribution is intended to provide more clarity and to demonstrate that under certain circumstances an insurance captive can have important efficiency effects and, among other things, a positive effect on moral hazard and adverse selection. For the purpose of acquiring more information on insurance captives and their operation, literature research was augmented by interviews conducted with the director of an insurance captive of a Dutch multinational, as well as with representatives from AON and Marsh, two major insurance brokers/consultancy firms in risk management that are often involved in the establishment and management of a captive

Alternative fat sources to animal fat for pigs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lauridsen, Charlotte; Christensen, Thomas Bruun; Halekoh, Ulrich

2007-01-01

% of either animal fat, palm oil mix, palm oil, vegetable oil mix, coconut oil, or rapeseed oil were tested in weaned and growing pigs. It was concluded that several vegetable fat sources (palm oil mix, palm oil, coconut oil, rapeseed oil) could be used as alternatives to animal fat in pig feed, whereas fat......The use of fats and oils in diets for pigs is of great importance due to their high energy value. As a consequence of the BSE-crisis in the European Union, the amount of animal fat available for animal feeds has been reduced, and alternative fat sources are of increasing importance. In this paper...

Markov Tail Chains

OpenAIRE

janssen, Anja; Segers, Johan

2013-01-01

The extremes of a univariate Markov chain with regularly varying stationary marginal distribution and asymptotically linear behavior are known to exhibit a multiplicative random walk structure called the tail chain. In this paper we extend this fact to Markov chains with multivariate regularly varying marginal distributions in Rd. We analyze both the forward and the backward tail process and show that they mutually determine each other through a kind of adjoint relation. In ...

Diagnostic analysis of electrodialysis in mine tailing materials

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Henrik K.; Ribeiro, Alexandra B.; Mateus, Eduardo

2007-01-01

Removal of heavy metals from mine tailings and soil contaminated by copper mining activities was studied under batch electrodialytic conditions. Two types of mine tailings were treated: (i) freshly produced tailings coming directly from the flotation process, and (ii) tailings deposited...... in a tailings pond, for approximately 20 years. The main contaminant was copper-found in concentration around 800-1800 ppm. The fractionation of copper and other characteristics of the tailings differ for the two tailings, indicating natural oxidation reactions in the old deposited ones. Electrodialytical...

Tales of island tails

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Groot, de Alma V.; Oost, Albert P.; Veeneklaas, Roos M.; Lammerts, Evert Jan; Duin, van Willem E.; Wesenbeeck, van Bregje K.

2016-01-01

The Frisian islands (Southern North Sea) have extensive island tails, i.e. the entire downdrift side of an island consisting of salt marshes, dunes, beaches and beach plains, and green beaches. Currently, large parts of these tails are ageing and losing dynamics, partly due to human influence.

Sectoral networks and macroeconomic tail risks in an emerging economy.

Science.gov (United States)

Romero, Pedro P; López, Ricardo; Jiménez, Carlos

2018-01-01

This paper aims to explain the macroeconomic volatility due to microeconomic shocks to one or several sectors, recognizing the non-symmetrical relation in the interaction among the Ecuadorian economic sectors. To grasp the economic structure of this emerging economy, a statistical analysis of network data is applied to the respective input-output matrix of Ecuador from 1975 until 2012. We find periods wherein the production of domestic inputs is concentrated in a few suppliers; for example, in 2010, the concentration significantly affects sectors and their downstream providers, thus influencing aggregate volatility. Compared to the US productive structure, this emerging economy presents fewer sectors and degree distributions with less extreme fat-tail behavior. In this simpler economy, we continue to find a link between microeconomic shocks and aggregate volatility. Two new theoretical propositions are introduced to formalize our results.

Sectoral networks and macroeconomic tail risks in an emerging economy

Science.gov (United States)

López, Ricardo; Jiménez, Carlos

2018-01-01

This paper aims to explain the macroeconomic volatility due to microeconomic shocks to one or several sectors, recognizing the non-symmetrical relation in the interaction among the Ecuadorian economic sectors. To grasp the economic structure of this emerging economy, a statistical analysis of network data is applied to the respective input-output matrix of Ecuador from 1975 until 2012. We find periods wherein the production of domestic inputs is concentrated in a few suppliers; for example, in 2010, the concentration significantly affects sectors and their downstream providers, thus influencing aggregate volatility. Compared to the US productive structure, this emerging economy presents fewer sectors and degree distributions with less extreme fat-tail behavior. In this simpler economy, we continue to find a link between microeconomic shocks and aggregate volatility. Two new theoretical propositions are introduced to formalize our results. PMID:29293567

Tail docking in pigs: a review on its short- and long-term consequences and effectiveness in preventing tail biting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eleonora Nannoni

2014-02-01

Full Text Available In spite of European legislation attempting to limit this practice, tail docking is nowadays the only preventive measure against tail biting which is widely adopted by farmers. Docking consists in amputating, usually without anaesthesia or analgesia, the distal part of the tail, in order to reduce its attractiveness and to sensitize it, increasing avoidance behaviour in the bitten pig. Tail docking results in both acute and chronic effects on pig welfare, and its effectiveness in preventing tail biting is limited, since it reduces the symptoms of a behavioural disorder, but does not address the underlying causes. The aim of the present paper is to review the available literature on the effects of tail docking on swine welfare. Although from a practical standpoint the welfare risks arising from tail docking may appear to be negligible compared to those arising during and after tail biting outbreaks, it should be considered that, apart from acute physiological and behavioural responses, tail docking may also elicit long-term effects on weight gain, tail stump sensitivity and animal freedom to express their normal behaviour. Such chronic effects have been poorly investigated so far. Besides, studies evaluating the effectiveness of anaesthetics or analgesic treatments are often conflicting. Within this framework, further research is recommended in order to reduce the acute and chronic pain and discomfort experienced by the animals, until preventive measures (e.g., environmental enrichment, stocking densities are broadly adopted to prevent tail biting.

Meeting the challenge - solutions for managing oil sands tailings: report of the fine tailings fundamentals consortium 1989-1995

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-01-01

The development and demonstration of effective alternatives for the management of fine tailings in the oil sands industry were discussed in a report describing the work of the Fine Tailings Fundamentals Consortium during the period from 1989 to 1995. The final report of the Consortium is a four-volume publication entitled 'Advances in Oil Sands Tailings Research' which is the state-of-the-art reference to key issues in the reclamation of fine tailings. Government regulations now make it the responsibility of industry to integrate the fine tailings into reclaimed landscapes, so that the final landscape is equal in productive capability to the pre-disturbed state. Impressive progress has been made in understanding the formation of fine tailings and in characterizing their properties, much of it through the work of this Consortium. Fundamental research on the clay particles within fine tailings provides a better understanding of how to manage them. Although there is no 'magic bullet', research has demonstrated that an integrated approach incorporating fine tailings with a variety of elements, uplands, lakes and wetlands, offer the best hope for an environmentally sound solution. figs

The Tail of BPM

Science.gov (United States)

Kruba, Steve; Meyer, Jim

Business process management suites (BPMS's) represent one of the fastest growing segments in the software industry as organizations automate their key business processes. As this market matures, it is interesting to compare it to Chris Anderson's 'Long Tail.' Although the 2004 "Long Tail" article in Wired magazine was primarily about the media and entertainment industries, it has since been applied (and perhaps misapplied) to other markets. Analysts describe a "Tail of BPM" market that is, perhaps, several times larger than the traditional BPMS product market. This paper will draw comparisons between the concepts in Anderson's article (and subsequent book) and the BPM solutions market.

Effects of Tail Clipping on Larval Performance and Tail Regeneration Rates in the Near Eastern Fire Salamander, Salamandra infraimmaculata.

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Ori Segev

Full Text Available Tail-tip clipping is a common technique for collecting tissue samples from amphibian larvae and adults. Surprisingly, studies of this invasive sampling procedure or of natural tail clipping--i.e., bites inflicted by predators including conspecifics--on the performance and fitness of aquatic larval stages of urodeles are scarce. We conducted two studies in which we assessed the effects of posterior tail clipping (~30 percent of tail on Near Eastern fire salamander (Salamandra infraimmaculata larvae. In a laboratory study, we checked regeneration rates of posterior tail-tip clipping at different ages. Regeneration rates were hump-shaped, peaking at the age of ~30 days and then decreasing. This variation in tail regeneration rates suggests tradeoffs in resource allocation between regeneration and somatic growth during early and advanced development. In an outdoor artificial pond experiment, under constant larval densities, we assessed how tail clipping of newborn larvae affects survival to, time to, and size at metamorphosis. Repeated measures ANOVA on mean larval survival per pond revealed no effect of tail clipping. Tail clipping had correspondingly no effect on larval growth and development expressed in size (mass and snout-vent length at, and time to, metamorphosis. We conclude that despite the given variation in tail regeneration rates throughout larval ontogeny, clipping of 30% percent of the posterior tail area seems to have no adverse effects on larval fitness and survival. We suggest that future use of this imperative tool for the study of amphibian should take into account larval developmental stage during the time of application and not just the relative size of the clipped tail sample.

Characterization and dewatering of flotation technological tailings

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Grigorova I.

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The treatment of flotation tailings is today a subject of interest in mineral processing because of the potential of wasted materials as an actual mineral resource and because of environmental reasons. Decantation ponds are found at almost every mine in the world. They are large earth fill dams containing the residue of the milling process to extract metals from mined ores. Traditional wet tailings disposal has been problematic due to the risk of ground water contamination and the difficulty in rehabilitating storage sites. Tailings dams are at risk of failure due to leakage, instability, liquefaction, and poor design. In the last few years the use of paste technology in the disposal of mine tailings is increasingly studied as an option to conventional tailings dams. The Lucky Invest Concentrator is located in the Eastern Rhodopes Mountain of Bulgaria. Since 1959 lead-zinc ores are dressed. Finally, during the flotation cycle lead and zinc concentrates are produced. The final technological processing waste precipitates in tailing pond. Research and development program has started to established opportunities to obtain dry deposit of the ore processing residue and analyses the feature of new tailing disposal method. The tailings particle size distributions and chemical compositions were determined. The data from laboratory and pilot scale tests clearly illustrate that there are the possibilities to obtaine lead-zinc dewatered tailings. The experimental results show that new cyclone modifications have a potential in dewatering technology of flotation tailings. It appears that dewatering cyclones can be an approach on new tailings pond elimination technology.

Genetic assessments and parentage analysis of captive Bolson tortoises (Gopherus flavomarginatus inform their "rewilding" in New Mexico.

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Taylor Edwards

Full Text Available The Bolson tortoise (Gopherus flavomarginatus is the first species of extirpated megafauna to be repatriated into the United States. In September 2006, 30 individuals were translocated from Arizona to New Mexico with the long-term objective of restoring wild populations via captive propagation. We evaluated mtDNA sequences and allelic diversity among 11 microsatellite loci from the captive population and archived samples collected from wild individuals in Durango, Mexico (n = 28. Both populations exhibited very low genetic diversity and the captive population captured roughly 97.5% of the total wild diversity, making it a promising founder population. Genetic screening of other captive animals (n = 26 potentially suitable for reintroduction uncovered multiple hybrid G. flavomarginatus×G. polyphemus, which were ineligible for repatriation; only three of these individuals were verified as purebred G. flavomarginatus. We used these genetic data to inform mate pairing, reduce the potential for inbreeding and to monitor the maintenance of genetic diversity in the captive population. After six years of successful propagation, we analyzed the parentage of 241 hatchlings to assess the maintenance of genetic diversity. Not all adults contributed equally to successive generations. Most yearly cohorts of hatchlings failed to capture the diversity of the parental population. However, overlapping generations of tortoises helped to alleviate genetic loss because the entire six-year cohort of hatchlings contained the allelic diversity of the parental population. Polyandry and sperm storage occurred in the captives and future management strategies must consider such events.

Uranium mill tailings stabilization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hartley, J.N.; Koehmstedt, P.L.; Esterl, D.J.; Freeman, H.D.

1980-02-01

Uranium mill tailings pose a potential radiation health hazard to the public. Therefore, stabilization or disposal of these tailings in a safe and environmentally sound way is needed to minimize radon exhalation and other environmental hazards. One of the most promising concepts for stabilizing U tailings is the use of asphalt emulsion to contain radon and other hazardous materials within uranium tailings. This approach is being investigated at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory. Results of these studies indicate that a radon flux reduction of greater than 99% can be obtained using either a poured-on/sprayed-on seal (3.0 to 7.0 mm thick) or an admixture seal (2.5 to 12.7 cm thick) containing about 18 wt % residual asphalt. A field test was carried out in June 1979 at the Grand Junction tailings pile in order to demonstrate the sealing process. A reduction in radon flux ranging from 4.5 to greater than 99% (76% average) was achieved using a 15.2-cm (6-in.) admix seal with a sprayed-on top coat. A hydrostatic stabilizer was used to apply the admix. Following compaction, a spray coat seal was applied over the admix as the final step in construction of a radon seal. Overburden was applied to provide a protective soil layer over the seal. Included in part of the overburden was a herbicide to prevent root penetration

Liquefaction of uranium tailings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-02-01

Numerical methods for assessing the liquefaction potential of soils are reviewed with a view to their application to uranium tailings. The method can be divided into two categories: total stress analysis, where changes in pore pressure are not considered in the soil model, and effective stress analysis, where changes in pore pressure are included in the soil model. Effective stress analysis is more realistic, but few computer programs exist for such analysis in two or three dimensions. A simple linearized, two-dimensional, finite element effective stress analysis which incorporates volumetric compaction due to shear motion is described and implemented. The new program is applied to the assessment of liquefaction potential of tailings in the Quirke Mine tailings area near Elliot Lake, Ontario. The results are compared with those of a total stress analysis. Both analyses indicate liquefaction would occur if a magnitude 6.0 earthquake were to occur near the area. However, the extent of liquefaction predicted by the effective stress analysis is much less than that predicted by the total stress analysis. The results of both methods are sensitive to assumed material properties and to the method used to determine the cyclic shear strength of the tailings. Further analysis, incorporating more in situ and/or laboratory data, is recommended before conclusions can be made concerning the dynamic stability of these tailings

Predicting radon flux from uranium mill tailings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Freeman, H.D.; Hartley, J.N.

1983-11-01

Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL), under contract to the US Department of Energy (DOE) Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project (UMTRAP) office, is developing technology for the design of radon barriers for uranium mill tailings piles. To properly design a radon cover for a particular tailings pile, the radon flux emanating from the bare tailings must be known. The tailings characteristics required to calculate the radon flux include radium-226 content, emanating power, bulk density, and radon diffusivity. This paper presents theoretical and practical aspects of estimating the radon flux from an uranium tailings pile. Results of field measurements to verify the calculation methodology are also discussed. 24 references, 4 figures, 4 tables

Numerical modelling for stability of tailings dams

OpenAIRE

Auchar, Muhammad; Mattsson, Hans; Knutsson, Sven

2013-01-01

A tailings dam is a large embankment structure that is constructed to store the waste from the mining industry. Stability problems may occur in a tailings dam due to factors such as quick rate of raising, internal erosion and liquefaction. The failure of a tailings dam may cause loss of human life and environmental degradation. Tailings Dams must not only be stable during the time the tailings storage facility is in operation, but also long time after the mine is closed. In Sweden, the licens...

Patterns of oocyte development in natural habitat and captive Salminus hilarii Valenciennes, 1850 (Teleostei: Characidae).

Science.gov (United States)

Honji, R M; Narcizo, A M; Borella, M I; Romagosa, E; Moreira, R G

2009-03-01

Fecundity and oocyte development in Salminus hilarii female brood stock were analyzed with the aim of investigating the impact of migration impediment on oogenesis. Histological analyses of the ovaries were performed in adult females caught in two different environments--the Tietê River (natural) and captivity--and the gonadossomatic index, oocyte diameter and fecundity determined. Five germ cell development stages (oogonium, perinucleolar, cortical alveoli, vitellogenic, ripe) and two other structures (postovulatory follicles and atretic oocytes) were observed in females caught in the river. Captive animals lacked the ripe oocytes and postovulatory follicles and had a relatively higher number of atretic oocytes. Females in captivity are known to produce larger oocytes, and they release fewer eggs in each spawn (absolute fecundity) when compared with animals that are able to migrate. Our results suggest that the Tietê River is undergoing alterations which are being reflected in the reproductive performance of S. hilarii, mainly due to the presence of atretic oocytes in females caught in the river. The lack of postovulatory follicles and ripe oocytes in captive animals reveals that migratory impediment negatively impacts final oocyte maturation. However, the stage of maturation reached is adequate for ovulation induction with hormone manipulation.

Serum Chemistry Variables of Bengal Tigers (Panthera tigris tigris Kept in Various Forms of Captivity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

U. Farooq*, S. Sajjad1, M. Anwar1 and B.N. Khan2

2012-05-01

Full Text Available There is a dearth of published literature regarding the effect of captivity on serum chemistry variables of tigers kept in the zoos and wildlife sanctuaries. The present study was hence conducted to determine and compare serum chemistry values in tigers of Bengal origin (Panthera tigris tigris kept in captivity at Lahore zoo (LZ (n=4 and in semi natural environment of Lahore Wildlife Park (LWP (n=6, Pakistan. The tigers kept at LZ had significantly (P<0.05 higher mean concentrations of Cl- (108.6±0.57 versus 105.6±0.49 mmol/l and a significantly lower creatinine (1.78±0.06 versus 3.04±0.35mg/dl and AST values (41.66±0.77 versus 54.88±4.22 U/l than tigers kept at LWP. No other significant differences in serum chemistry were observed for both forms of captivity. Results would be useful for the evaluation of physiological and pathological alterations in wild and captive tiger individuals and populations not only in Pakistan but also for other countries harboring the Bengal tigers.

Oral, Maxillofacial and Dental Diseases in Captive Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus).

Science.gov (United States)

Steenkamp, G; Boy, S C; van Staden, P J; Bester, M N

2018-01-01

Descriptions of several oral, maxillofacial and dental conditions/diseases exist for a variety of captive large felids, but little is reported on the pathology of free roaming large felids. Apart from focal palatine erosions (FPEs) as initially described by Fitch and Fagan (1982) and some reference to absent incisor teeth, few data exist on diseases affecting the oral, maxillofacial and dental structures of cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus), regardless of their captivity status. This study reports 18 different conditions affecting the teeth, bone and oral cavity soft tissue of cheetahs, based on initial assessment of 256 animals over 11 years (2002-2012) in South Africa and Namibia. This report excludes oral tumours or FPEs, but includes several acquired and developmental conditions never described before. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Differentiation of lard, chicken fat, beef fat and mutton fat by GCMS and EA-IRMS techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmad Nizar, Nina Naquiah; Nazrim Marikkar, Jalaldeen Mohamed; Hashim, Dzulkifly Mat

2013-01-01

A study was conducted to differentiate lard, chicken fat, beef fat and mutton fat using Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) and Elemental Analyzer-Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (EA-IRMS). The comparison of overall fatty acid data showed that lard and chicken fat share common characteristics by having palmitic, oleic and linoleic acid as major fatty acids while beef and mutton fats shared common characteristics by possessing palmitic, stearic and oleic acid as major fatty acids. The direct comparisons among the fatty acid data, therefore, may not be suitable for discrimination of different animal fats. When the fatty acid distributional data was subjected to Principle Component Analysis (PCA), it was demonstrated that stearic, oleic and linoleic acids as the most discriminating parameters in the clustering of animal fats into four subclasses. The bulk carbon analysis of animal fats using EA-IRMS showed that determination of the carbon isotope ratios (δ¹³C) would be a good indicator for discriminating lard, chicken fat, beef fat and mutton fat. This would lead to a faster and more efficient method to ascertain the source of origin of fats used in food products.

DEFECATION RATE IN CAPTIVE DEER IN “LOS CAPOMOS”, MUNICIPALITY OF El FUERTE, SINALOA

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Héctor Gibrán Ochoa-Álvarez

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The sustainable use of white-tailed deer in Mexico can only be performed in Management Units for the Conservation of Wildlife (UMA , for its acronym in Spanish , based on a management plan for legal operation. Among the methods for population estimate harvest rates, highlights fecal count groups, depending on the frequency at which a deer excretes daily, and whose values are estimated from captive specimens and tolerant observer, but considering subspecies and different from the northern Sinaloa conditions. Using these rates of defecation can lead to overharvesting. This research was conducted in the farmed deer of the indigenous ejido (Mayo-Yoreme ethnic group called “Los Capomos”, in the municipality of El Fuerte, Sinaloa, between October 2011 and May 2012, to estimate the rate of defecation counts from fecal groups, obtained from a confined deer population and in apparent equilibrium with its environment through adjustments to the model of Eberhardt and Van Etten. It was found that the lowest rate published defecation (12.7 deer fecal groups per day, the estimated population accounted for half of the known population, which would prevent excessive use of native deer in the wild. However, the pattern of random grouping of excreta in confinement, makes it advisable that it be used in conditions of freedom, since it presupposes the mathematical model used aggregate grouping patterns.

Multichannel thickener of flotation tailings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kondratenko, A F; Shuliko, A N; Zinchenko, A F

1983-04-01

A multichannel thickener of flotation tailings developed by Ukrniiugleobogashchenie is described. Tailings with solid content ranging from 40 to 60 g/l are mixed with flocculation reagents (quantity ratio from 60 to 70 g/l) in a turbulent mixer: waste water with tailings fed to the mixer is divided into three streams, flocculation reagents are batched in stages with each water stream. After turbulent mixing, water, tailings and reagent are fed to the settling chamber. Settling chamber (dimensions 2.4 x 1.5 x 1.0 m) is divided into a number of channels by settling surfaces of 0.35 m/sup 2/ each, inclined at an angle of 55 degrees. Distance between the surfaces is 50 mm. The thickener has a total settling surface of 18.7 m/sup 2/. Water with tailings flows upwards, cleaned water is removed by a separating system and settled tailings move downward and accumulate in the compacting chamber (dimensions 1.5 x 1.5 x 0.9 m). From the compacting chamber thickened slurry with solid content from 90 to 150 g/l is removed by a hydraulic system. During performance testing in some plants preparing coal difficult to wash, thickening efficiency amounted to 100%. The results of performance testing are shown in two tables. Factors which influence thickener productivity are evaluated. (In Russian)

Blood lipid concentrations and lipoprotein patterns in captive and wild American black bears (Ursus americanus).

Science.gov (United States)

Frank, Nicholas; Elliott, Sarah B; Allin, Shawn B; Ramsay, Edward C

2006-02-01

To compare blood lipid concentrations and lipoprotein patterns for captive and wild American black bears (Ursus americanus). 7 captive and 9 wild adult (> or = 4 years old) black bears. Blood was collected from 2 groups of captive black bears (groups A and B) and 1 group of wild black bears (group C). Blood triglyceride (TG) and cholesterol concentrations were compared among groups. Plasma lipoproteins were isolated by use of a self-generating gradient of iodixanol, and lipoprotein patterns were compared between groups A and B. Captive bears (mean +/- SD, 187.8 +/- 44.4 kg) weighed significantly more than wild bears (mean, 104.8 +/- 41.4 kg), but mean body weight did not differ between groups A and B. Mean blood TG concentrations for groups B (216.8 +/- 16.0 mg/dL) and C (190.7 +/- 34.0 mg/dL) were significantly higher than that of group A (103.9 +/- 25.3 mg/dL). Mean blood cholesterol concentration was also significantly higher for group B (227.8 +/- 8.2 mg/dL) than for groups A (171.7 +/- 35.5 mg/dL) or C (190.8 +/- 26.8 mg/dL). Mean very-low-density lipoprotein TG and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations were 2- and 3-fold higher, respectively, for group B, compared with concentrations for group A. Blood lipid concentrations vary significantly among populations of black bears. Plasma lipoprotein patterns of captive bears differed significantly between colonies and may have reflected differences in diet or management practices.

Methicillin resistance gene diversity in staphylococci isolated from captive and free-ranging wallabies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michelle M. S. Chen

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Background: Infection with methicillin-resistant staphylococci (MRS can be life-threatening in humans and its presence in animals is a cause for public health concern. The aim of this study was to measure the prevalence of MRS in captive and free-ranging wallabies over a 16-month period in South Australia, Australia. Materials and methods: Eighty-nine purified staphylococcal isolates recovered from 98 captive and free-ranging wallabies' anterior nasal swabs were used in this study. All isolates were tested for the presence of the mecA, mecA1, and mecC genes. Multiplex PCR-directed SCCmec-typing, ccrB-typing, and determination of the minimal inhibitory concentration of oxacillin were performed on mec-positive isolates. Results and discussion: In total, 11 non-Staphylococcus aureus MRS were isolated from 7 out of 98 animals, corresponding to a 7.1% carriage rate. The SCCmec types I, III, and V were identified by multiplex PCR and sequencing of the ccrB gene. This is the first report of MRS carriage in both captive and free-ranging wallabies in Australia. These data demonstrate a low prevalence of MRS and no association between wallaby captivity status and MRS carriage could be assigned. These animals may act as a reservoir for the exchange of genetic elements between staphylococci. Furthermore, the mecA genes of animal isolates were identical to that found in human MRS strains and thus the possibility of zoonotic transfer must be considered.

Hepatic lipidosis and other test findings in two captive adult porcupines (Erethizon dorsatum) dying from a "sudden death syndrome".

Science.gov (United States)

Barigye, Robert; Schamber, Ev; Newell, Teresa K; Dyer, Neil W

2007-11-01

Routine postmortem examination and histologic evaluation of tissue sections demonstrated hepatic lipidosis (HL) in 2 adult captive porcupines with a history of sudden death. The male porcupine had a markedly enlarged pale liver that microscopically showed large unilocular vacuoles within hepatocellular cytoplasm. The periparturient female had similar but less marked hepatic lesions and an incidental pulmonary mycosis. These findings suggest HL as an important differential of spontaneous death in captive porcupines. It is hypothesized that in addition to the widely documented causes, HL in captive porcupines may be specifically associated with nutritional imbalances caused by the feeding of unsuitable commercial diets. The possible association of the condition with dietary and other factors in captive porcupines needs to be thoroughly investigated.

Ultrasonographic anatomy of reproductive female leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularius).

Science.gov (United States)

Cojean, Ophélie; Vergneau-Grosset, Claire; Masseau, Isabelle

2018-02-19

Captive leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularius) often present to the exotic clinic for gastrointestinal impactions, follicular stasis, or dystocia. To our knowledge, normal ultrasonographic anatomy of these lizards has not been described. The objectives of this prospective, anatomic, analytical study were to develop ultrasound techniques for this species and to describe the normal sonographic anatomy of the head, coelomic cavity, and tail. Eleven, healthy, female leopard geckos were included. A linear array 13-18 MHz transducer was used. Geckos were sedated and restrained in dorsal recumbency for coelomic structure examination and in ventral recumbency for head and tail examinations. Sagittal and transverse images were acquired and authors recorded qualitative and quantitative ultrasonographic characteristics of anatomic structures. The ventral surface of the lungs, liver, gallbladder, caudal vena cava, portal vein, ventral abdominal vein, aorta, ovarian follicles, fat bodies, tail, and brain were visualized in 10 of 11 individuals. In one individual, molt precluded ultrasonographic examination. The heart, kidneys, urinary bladder, spleen, and pancreas were not visualized. The digestive tract was observed in 10 individuals but was too small to be measured. Findings from the current study could be used as a reference for future studies of leopard geckos. © 2018 American College of Veterinary Radiology.

Comparison of the breeding biology of sympatric red-tailed Hawks, White-tailed Hawks, and Crested Caracaras in south Texas

Science.gov (United States)

Actkinson, M.A.; Kuvlesky, W.P.; Boal, C.W.; Brennan, L.A.; Hernandez, F.

2009-01-01

We compared the breeding biology of sympatric nesting Red-tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis), White-tailed Hawks (Buteo albicaudatus), and Crested Caracaras (Caracara cheriway) in south Texas during 2003 and 2004. We monitored 46 breeding attempts by Red-tailed Hawks, 56 by White-tailed Hawks, and 27 by Crested Caracaras. Observed nesting success was similar for Red-tailed Hawks (62%) and Crested Caracaras (61%), but lower for White-tailed Hawks (51%). Daily survival rates (0.99) were the same for all three species. Red-tailed Hawks and White-tailed Hawks both fledged 1.13 young per nesting pair and Crested Caracaras fledged 1.39 young per nesting pair. All three species nested earlier in 2004 than in 2003; in addition, the overall nesting density of these three species almost doubled from 2003 (1.45 pairs/km2) to 2004 (2.71 pairs/km2). Estimated productivity of all three species was within the ranges reported from other studies. Given extensive and progressive habitat alteration in some areas of south Texas, and the limited distributions of White-tailed Hawks and Crested Caracaras, the presence of large ranches managed for free-range cattle production and hunting leases likely provides important habitat and may be key areas for conservation of these two species. ?? 2009 The Raptor Research Foundation, Inc.

Mineralogy and geochemistry of uranium mill tailings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pagel, M.; Somot, S.

2002-01-01

We have investigated three main types of uranium mill tailings: (1) acid mill tailings (Mounana, Gabon), (2) neutralized acid mill tailings (Ecarpiere and Jouac, France) and (3) alkaline mill tailings (Lodeve, France). We have focused especially on radium behaviour which is of major environmental concern in these tailings, but other metals were also studied. It is shown that in type 1 , trapping of 226 Ra by anglesite and barite is dominant whereas in types 2 and 3, 226 Ra is mainly or significantly scavenged by Fe- Mn oxyhydroxides. This study points out the importance of keeping conditions in which these oxyhydroxides will be stable for the long-term. Uranium would be also released during acidification of the tailings. This shows the importance to know more about the behavior of Ra during the crystallization of oxyhydroxides and during tailings diagenesis. Therefore, it is very important to study the sorption of Ra by clay minerals or late authigeneous minerals such as barite. (author)

A guide to the management of tailings facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bedard, C.; Ferguson, K.; Gladwin, D.; Lang, D.; Maltby, J.; McCann, M.; Poirier, P.; Schwenger, R.; Vezina, S.; West, S.; Duval, J.; Gardiner, E.; Jansons, K.; Lewis, B.; Matthews, J.; Mchaina, D.; Puro, M.; Siwik, R.; Welch, D.

1998-01-01

The 'Guide to the Management of Tailings Facilities' has been developed by the Mining Association of Canada in an effort to provide guidance to its member companies on sound practices for the safe and environmentally responsible management of tailings facilities. The guide is a reference tool to help companies ensure that they are managing their tailings facilities responsibly, integrating environmental and safety considerations in a consistent manner, with continuous improvement in the operation of tailings facilities. The key to managing tailings responsibly is consistent application of engineering capabilities through the full life cycle. The guide provides a basis for the development of customized tailings management systems to address specific needs at individual operations, and deals with environmental impacts, mill tailing characteristics, tailings facility studies and plans, dam and related structure design, and control and monitoring. Aspects relating to tailings facility siting, design, construction, operation, decommissioning and closure are also fully treated. 1 tab., 3 figs

Ejaculate traits in the Namibian cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus): influence of age, season and captivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Crosier, Adrienne E; Marker, Laurie; Howard, JoGayle; Pukazhenthi, Budhan S; Henghali, Josephine N; Wildt, David E

2007-01-01

The objective was to examine the influence of animal age, season and captivity status on seminal quality in wild-born cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) in Namibia, Africa. Animals were divided into three age categories: juvenile (14-24 months; n = 16 males, 23 ejaculates); adult (25-120 months; n = 76 males, 172 ejaculates); and aged (>120 months; n = 5 males, 5 ejaculates). Seasons were categorised into hot-wet (January-April), cold-dry (May-August) and hot-dry (September-December). A comparison between freshly wild-caught (n = 29 males, 41 ejaculates) and captive-held cheetahs (n = 68 males, 159 ejaculates) was also conducted. Raw ejaculates contained 69.0 +/- 1.1% motile spermatozoa (mean +/- s.e.m.) with 73.6 +/- 1.5% of these cells containing an intact acrosome. Overall, 18.4 +/- 0.9% of spermatozoa were morphologically normal, with midpiece anomalies being the most prevalent (approximately 39%) defect. Juvenile cheetahs produced ejaculates with poorer sperm motility, forward progressive status, lower seminal volume and fewer total motile spermatozoa than adult and aged animals. Spermatogenesis continued unabated throughout the year and was minimally influenced by season. Proportions of sperm malformations were also not affected by season. Ejaculates from captive cheetahs had increased volume and intact acrosomes, but lower sperm density than wild-caught counterparts. In summary, Namibian cheetahs produce an extraordinarily high proportion of pleiomorphic spermatozoa regardless of age, season or living (captive versus free-ranging) status. Young males less than 2 years of age produce poorer ejaculate quality than adult and aged males. Because (1) all study animals were wild born and (2) there was little difference between freshly caught males and those maintained in captivity for protracted periods, our results affirm that teratospermia in the cheetah is mostly genetically derived. It also appears that an ex situ environment for the Namibian cheetah can ensure sperm

Haemangiosarcoma in a captive Asiatic lion ( Panthera leo persica ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A 2.7-year-old male captive Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica) died unexpectedly without preceding symptoms. Gross necropsy revealed liver and lung tumours, which proved to be haemangiosarcomas by histopathology. Some of the liver tumours were ruptured, leading to massive intra-abdominal haemorrhage and death.

Effects of odors on behaviors of captive Amur leopards Panthera pardus orientalis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shangying YU

2009-02-01

Full Text Available Captive environments often fail to resemble the wild environment in respects of limited space, unchanging habitat, lack of stimulus and contingency. Common animal welfare problems which occur in captive animals include low behavioral diversity, abnormal behavior and excessive inactivity. Environmental enrichment, as an effective strategy to tackle these problems and promote mental health of captive animals, has been recognized as an important principal for captive animal management. Among all the enrichment techniques, olfactory enrichment is a simple and effective method for improving the well-being of the olfactory sensitive felids. Behavioral problems were observed in six Amur leopards Panthera pardus orientalis at Beijing Zoological Garden. These were held in the older type exhibits which have now been rebuilt. These behaviors include stereotypic behavior and excessive inactivity caused by the spatially limited enclosures with low levels of stimuli. To determine the effects of predator, prey, and herb odors as potential enrichment materials for captive leopards, we conducted olfactory enrichment experiments for the leopards and tested the effects of nutmeg Myristica fragrans, feces of roe deer Capreolus capreolus and urine of Amur tiger Panthera tigris altaica to test for an increase in behavioral repertoire and activity. Odors provided in this study were also believed to improve the psychological and physiological health of individuals. To standardize the method of presentation the odors were introduced to the enclosures by rubbing or spraying onto a clean towel. Our results show that the selected three odors effectively increased the behavioral diversity. Ten new behavior types were observed in the nutmeg experiment, eight in the feces of roe deer experiment and six in the tiger urine experiment. Among the three odors, cats responded to nutmeg for the longest duration, followed by tiger urine and feces of roe deer. Leopards showed more

Snake River Sockeye Salmon Captive Broodstock Program; Hatchery Element, 1999 Annual Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baker, Dan J,; Heindel, Jeff A.; Kline, Paul A. (Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Boise, ID)

2005-08-01

On November 20, 1991, the National Marine Fisheries Service listed Snake River sockeye salmon Oncorhynchus nerka as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. In 1991, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, and the National Marine Fisheries Service initiated efforts to conserve and rebuild populations in Idaho. Initial steps to recover sockeye salmon included the establishment of a captive broodstock program at the Idaho Department of Fish and Game Eagle Fish Hatchery. Sockeye salmon broodstock and culture responsibilities are shared with the National Marine Fisheries Service at two locations adjacent to Puget Sound in Washington State. Activities conducted by the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and the National Marine Fisheries Service are reported under separate cover. Idaho Department of Fish and Game monitoring and evaluation activities of captive broodstock program fish releases are also reported under separate cover. Captive broodstock program activities conducted between January 1, 1999 and December 31, 1999 are presented in this report. In 1999, seven anadromous sockeye salmon returned to the Sawtooth Valley and were captured at the adult weir located on the upper Salmon River. Four anadromous adults were incorporated in the captive broodstock program spawning design for year 1999. The remaining three adults were released to Redfish Lake for natural spawning. All seven adults were adipose and left ventral fin-clipped, indicating hatchery origin. One sockeye salmon female from the anadromous group and 81 females from the captive broodstock group were spawned at the Eagle Fish Hatchery in 1999. Spawn pairings produced approximately 63,147 eyed-eggs with egg survival to eyed-stage of development averaging 38.97%. Eyed-eggs (20,311), presmolts (40,271), smolts (9,718), and adults (21) were planted or released into Sawtooth Valley waters in 1999. Supplementation strategies involved releases to Redfish Lake, Redfish Lake Creek

Taming the tailings : dead ducks notwithstanding, extensive research is underway to deal with oilsands tailings in a more efficient manner

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Collison, M.

2008-09-15

Research is now being conducted to reduce the environmental impacts of oil sands tailing ponds. Alberta's oil sands region contains an estimated 60 km{sup 2} of tailings ponds, which serve as holding basins for recycled water as well as collection sites for materials used in reclamation activities. The ponds contain residual bitumen, production chemicals, and minerals. While some of the water in the ponds can be re-used, mature fine tailings must be contained behind dikes. Every barrel of bitumen produced by the industry results in the creation of 1.5 barrels of mature fine tailings. Natural Resources Canada's CANMET Energy Technology Centre is currently conducting a research program with the University of Alberta to reduce the amounts of tailings produced by the industry. Options for dry stackable tailings are being explored, as well as methods of using the tailings to enhance various oil sands processes. It is hoped that the dry, stackable tailings can be used to help reclaim and rebuild Boreal regions impacted by the oil sands industry. The program is gaining interest due to concerns that leakages from the tailings ponds may pollute aquifers and rivers in a region noted for its water shortages. Research teams are also investigating the use of flocculants to create heavy non-segregated tailings. Researchers are also examining methods of recovering hydrocarbons, titanium, and zircon from the tailings. 3 figs.

Assessing Risks of Mine Tailing Dam Failures

Science.gov (United States)

Concha Larrauri, P.; Lall, U.

2017-12-01

The consequences of tailings dam failures can be catastrophic for communities and ecosystems in the vicinity of the dams. The failure of the Fundão tailings dam at the Samarco mine in 2015 killed 19 people with severe consequences for the environment. The financial and legal consequences of a tailings dam failure can also be significant for the mining companies. For the Fundão tailings dam, the company had to pay 6 billion dollars in fines and twenty-one executives were charged with qualified murder. There are tenths of thousands of active, inactive, and abandoned tailings dams in the world and there is a need to better understand the hazards posed by these structures to downstream populations and ecosystems. A challenge to assess the risks of tailings dams in a large scale is that many of them are not registered in publicly available databases and there is little information about their current physical state. Additionally, hazard classifications of tailings dams - common in many countries- tend to be subjective, include vague parameter definitions, and are not always updated over time. Here we present a simple methodology to assess and rank the exposure to tailings dams using ArcGIS that removes subjective interpretations. The method uses basic information such as current dam height, storage volume, topography, population, land use, and hydrological data. A hazard rating risk was developed to compare the potential extent of the damage across dams. This assessment provides a general overview of what in the vicinity of the tailings dams could be affected in case of a failure and a way to rank tailings dams that is directly linked to the exposure at any given time. One hundred tailings dams in Minas Gerais, Brazil were used for the test case. This ranking approach could inform the risk management strategy of the tailings dams within a company, and when disclosed, it could enable shareholders and the communities to make decisions on the risks they are taking.

Analysis of Heavy-Tailed Time Series

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Xie, Xiaolei

This thesis is about analysis of heavy-tailed time series. We discuss tail properties of real-world equity return series and investigate the possibility that a single tail index is shared by all return series of actively traded equities in a market. Conditions for this hypothesis to be true...... are identified. We study the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of sample covariance and sample auto-covariance matrices of multivariate heavy-tailed time series, and particularly for time series with very high dimensions. Asymptotic approximations of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of such matrices are found...... and expressed in terms of the parameters of the dependence structure, among others. Furthermore, we study an importance sampling method for estimating rare-event probabilities of multivariate heavy-tailed time series generated by matrix recursion. We show that the proposed algorithm is efficient in the sense...

Monte Carlo-based tail exponent estimator

Science.gov (United States)

Barunik, Jozef; Vacha, Lukas

2010-11-01

In this paper we propose a new approach to estimation of the tail exponent in financial stock markets. We begin the study with the finite sample behavior of the Hill estimator under α-stable distributions. Using large Monte Carlo simulations, we show that the Hill estimator overestimates the true tail exponent and can hardly be used on samples with small length. Utilizing our results, we introduce a Monte Carlo-based method of estimation for the tail exponent. Our proposed method is not sensitive to the choice of tail size and works well also on small data samples. The new estimator also gives unbiased results with symmetrical confidence intervals. Finally, we demonstrate the power of our estimator on the international world stock market indices. On the two separate periods of 2002-2005 and 2006-2009, we estimate the tail exponent.

Uranium mill tailings remedial action technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hartley, J.N.; Gee, G.W.

1984-01-01

The uranium milling process involves the hydrometallurgical extraction of uranium from ores and the resultant generation of large quantities of waste referred to as tailings. Uranium mill tailings have been identified as requiring remediation because they contain residual radioactive material that is not removed in the milling process. Potential radiation exposure can result from direct contact with the tailings, from radon gas emitted by the tailings, and from radioactive contamination of groundwater. As a result, the technology developed under the US Department of Energy (DOE) Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project (UMTRAP) and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Uranium Recovery Program have focused on radon control, groundwater contamination and the long-term protection of the containment system. This paper briefly summarizes the UMTRAP and NRC remedial action technology development. 33 references, 9 figures, 5 tables

The Oral and Skin Microbiomes of Captive Komodo Dragons Are Significantly Shared with Their Habitat

OpenAIRE

Embriette R. Hyde; Jose A. Navas-Molina; Se Jin Song; Jordan G. Kueneman; Gail Ackermann; Cesar Cardona; Gregory Humphrey; Don Boyer; Tom Weaver; Joseph R. Mendelson; Valerie J. McKenzie; Jack A. Gilbert; Rob Knight; Ashley Shade

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Examining the way in which animals, including those in captivity, interact with their environment is extremely important for studying ecological processes and developing sophisticated animal husbandry. Here we use the Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) to quantify the degree of sharing of salivary, skin, and fecal microbiota with their environment in captivity. Both species richness and microbial community composition of most surfaces in the Komodo dragon?s environment are similar t...

Chapter 2. The history of uranium tailings formation in the North of Tajikistan, their current condition. 2.4. Degmai uranium tailings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khakimov, N.; Nazarov, Kh.M.; Mirsaidov, I.U.

2012-01-01

Present article is devoted to Degmai uranium tailings. The history of Degmai uranium tailings is presented. The current condition of uranium tailings is described. During the last 6-7 years, together with IAEA experts, monitoring is permanently carried out and the tailings influence on the environment is defined. Radiation and dosimetric investigation results from Degmai tailing' surface (June 2006) are considered.

CLINICOPATHOLOGIC FEATURES OF MAMMARY MASSES IN CAPTIVE LIONS (PANTHERA LEO).

Science.gov (United States)

Sadler, Ryan A; Craig, Linden E; Ramsay, Edward C; Helmick, Kelly; Collins, Darin; Garner, Michael M

2016-03-01

A multi-institutional retrospective analysis of 330 pathology accessions from 285 different lions found 15 captive, female African lions (Panthera leo) with confirmed mammary masses. Aside from the presence of a mammary mass, the most common initial clinical sign was inappetence. Histologic diagnoses were predominantly adenocarcinoma (n = 12), though two benign masses (mammary hyperplasia and a mammary cyst) and one squamous cell carcinoma were identified. Nine of 13 malignant tumors had metastasized to lymph nodes or viscera at the time of necropsy. Six lions with adenocarcinoma and two lions with benign mammary masses had received hormonal contraception, though little evidence of mammary lobular hyperplasia was seen in association with the adenocarcinomas. The most common concurrent disease processes found at necropsy were chronic urinary tract disease and other malignancies. These cases demonstrate that mammary malignancies occur in captive lions and frequently metastasize.

Risk assessment of tailings facility dam failure

OpenAIRE

Hadzi-Nikolova, Marija; Mirakovski, Dejan; Stefanova, Violeta

2011-01-01

This paper presents the consequences of tailings facility dam failure and therefore the needs for its risk assessment. Tailings are fine-grained wastes of the mining industry, output as slurries, due to mixing with water during mineral processing. Tailings dams vary a lot as it is affected by: tailings characteristics and mill output, site characteristics as: topography, hydrology, geology, groundwater, seismicity and available material and disposal methods. The talings which accumulat...

Placement of radium/barium sludges in tailings areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murphy, K.L.; Multamaki, G.E.

1980-01-01

Currently radium is removed from uranium mining and milling effluents by the addition of barium chloride to precipitate the radium as radium/barium sulphate. The precipitate is allowed to settle in sedimentation basins prior to discharge of the effluent. The sedimentation basins are not suitable for final disposal of the sludge, and placement of the sludges in the tailings area has been proposed. The geochemical environment of fresh tailings areas was characterized as an acidic, oxidized surface zone underlain by an alkaline, reduced zone comprising the rest of the tailings. The quantity of sludge produced was estimated to be small relative to the quantity of tailings, and therefor a relatively small amount of radium would be added to the tailings disposal area by the addition of sludge. To confirm whether sludge addition affected radionuclide solubilization, laboratory leaching tests were conducted on slurries of acid leach tailings, and sludge-tailings mixtures. Radium in the (Ra,Ba)SO 4 sludge was at least as stable as radium in the tailings, and the sludge was able to absorb radium released from the tailings. The addition of sludge did not affect uranium and thorium solubilization. From these results it appears that the placement of sludge in tailings areas would not adversely affect the stability of radionuclides in the tailings or sludge. (auth)

Research on Captive Broodstock Programs for Pacific Salmon, 2002-2003 Annual Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berejikian, Barry A. (National Marine Fisheries Service)

2004-01-01

The success of captive broodstock programs depends on high in-culture survival, appropriate development of the reproductive system, and the behavior and survival of cultured salmon after release, either as adults or juveniles. Continuing captive broodstock research designed to improve technology is being conducted to cover all major life history stages of Pacific salmon. Current velocity in rearing vessels had little if any effect on reproductive behavior of captively reared steelhead. However, males and females reared in high velocity vessels participated a greater number of spawning events than siblings reared in low velocity tanks. Observations of nesting females and associated males in a natural stream (Hamma Hamma River) were consistent with those observed in a controlled spawning channel. DNA pedigree analyses did not reveal significant differences in the numbers of fry produced by steelhead reared in high and low velocity vessels. To determine the critical period(s) for imprinting for sockeye salmon, juvenile salmon are being exposed to known odorants at key developmental stages. Subsequently they will be tested for development of long-term memories of these odorants. In 2002-2003, the efficacy of EOG analysis for assessing imprinting was demonstrated and will be applied in these and other behavioral and molecular tools in the current work plan. Results of these experiments will be important to determine the critical periods for imprinting for the offspring of captively-reared fish destined for release into natal rivers or lakes. By early August, the oocytes of all of Rapid River Hatchery chinook salmon females returning from the ocean had advanced to the tertiary yolk globule stage; whereas, only some of the captively reared Lemhi River females sampled had advanced to this stage, and the degree of advancement was not dependent on rearing temperature. The mean spawning time of captive Lemhi River females was 3-4 weeks after that of the Rapid River fish

Contrafreeloading in grizzly bears: implications for captive foraging enrichment.

Science.gov (United States)

McGowan, Ragen T S; Robbins, Charles T; Alldredge, J Richard; Newberry, Ruth C

2010-01-01

Although traditional feeding regimens for captive animals were focused on meeting physiological needs to assure good health, more recently emphasis has also been placed on non-nutritive aspects of feeding. The provision of foraging materials to diversify feeding behavior is a common practice in zoos but selective consumption of foraging enrichment items over more balanced "chow" diets could lead to nutrient imbalance. One alternative is to provide balanced diets in a contrafreeloading paradigm. Contrafreeloading occurs when animals choose resources that require effort to exploit when identical resources are freely available. To investigate contrafreeloading and its potential as a theoretical foundation for foraging enrichment, we conducted two experiments with captive grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis). In Experiment 1, bears were presented with five foraging choices simultaneously: apples, apples in ice, salmon, salmon in ice, and plain ice under two levels of food restriction. Two measures of contrafreeloading were considered: weight of earned food consumed and time spent working for earned food. More free than earned food was eaten, with only two bears consuming food extracted from ice, but all bears spent more time manipulating ice containing salmon or apples than plain ice regardless of level of food restriction. In Experiment 2, food-restricted bears were presented with three foraging choices simultaneously: apples, apples inside a box, and an empty box. Although they ate more free than earned food, five bears consumed food from boxes and all spent more time manipulating boxes containing apples than empty boxes. Our findings support the provision of contrafreeloading opportunities as a foraging enrichment strategy for captive wildlife. (c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Effects of satellite transmitters on captive and wild mallards

Science.gov (United States)

Kesler, Dylan C.; Raedeke, Andrew H.; Foggia, Jennifer R.; Beatty, William S.; Webb, Elisabeth B.; Humburg, Dale D.; Naylor, Luke W.

2014-01-01

Satellite telemetry has become a leading method for studying large-scale movements and survival in birds, yet few have addressed potential effects of the larger and heavier tracking equipment on study subjects. We simultaneously evaluated effects of satellite telemetry equipment on captive and wild mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) to assess impacts on behavior, body mass, and movement. We randomly assigned 55 captive ducks to one of 3 treatment groups, including a standard body harness group, a modified harness group, and a control group. Ducks in the control group were not fitted with equipment, whereas individuals in the other 2 groups were fitted with dummy transmitters attached with a Teflon ribbon harness or with a similar harness constructed of nylon cord. At the conclusion of the 14-week captive study, mean body mass of birds in the control group was 40–105 g (95% CI) greater than birds with standard harnesses, and 28–99 g (95% CI) greater than birds with modified harnesses. Further, results of focal behavior observations indicated ducks with transmitters were less likely to be in water than control birds. We also tested whether movements of wild birds marked with a similar Teflon harness satellite transmitter aligned with population movements reported by on-the-ground observers who indexed local abundances of mid-continent mallards throughout the non-breeding period. Results indicated birds marked with satellite transmitters moved concurrently with the larger unmarked population. Our results have broad implications for field research and suggest that investigators should consider potential for physiological and behavioral effects brought about by tracking equipment. Nonetheless, results from wild ducks indicate satellite telemetry has the potential to provide useful movement data.

The incidence and antibiotic resistance of Salmonella species isolated from cloacae of captive veiled chameleons

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvia Barazorda Romero

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Salmonella can be present in the intestinal flora of captive reptiles without clinical disease or it can cause life threatening morbidity. The presence of certain species of Salmonella in reptiles is consistent with them being the source of contamination in some cases of human disease. Thus, Salmonella positive animals can be a potential public health concern even more when strains acquire resistance to antibiotics. The nature and extent of Salmonella harboured by different species of reptiles commonly kept in captivity are not known. The aims of this study were to analyse the incidence of Salmonella species in cloacae as an indicator of the intestinal flora in a cohort of healthy captive bred female veiled chameleons. A cloacal sample was taken from each of fifteen healthy captive bred, adult female veiled chameleons that were housed at a teaching and research clinic. Salmonella isolates were confirmed by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry and positive cases were serotyped by slide agglutination test. Salmonella organisms were detected in 12 chameleons. Eighty percent of chameleons harboured 1 of 4 subspecies and serovars of Salmonella. All strains belonged to the species enterica, predominantly subspecies enterica (91.7 % and were distributed among 4 different serovars: S. Ago (58.3 %, S. Blijdorp (16.7 %, S. Tennessee (16.7 % and S. IV 45:g,z51:- (8.3 %. Antibiotic resistance to streptomycin was detected in one of 12 Salmonella strains: S. IV 45:g,z51:-. Our study extended the list of Salmonella found in healthy captive animals and included serovars S. Tennessee and S. IV 45:g,z51:- that have been associated with morbidity in humans.

Proceedings of the 15. annual British Columbia MEND ML/ARD workshop : the management of tailings and tailings impoundments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2009-02-01

This Mine Environment Neutral Drainage (MEND) workshop was held to promote the exchange of information and ideas on environmental protection and reclamation associated with mining. The workshop covered a broad spectrum of reclamation issues and the key environmental challenges facing the mining industry, such as acid mine drainage (AMD) control, and metal leaching and acid rock drainage (ML/ARD). The theme for the 2008 workshop was the management of tailings and tailings impoundments. Topics of discussion included hydrogeology and geochemistry; tailings disposal; mitigation; closure plans; and postclosure performance. The emphasis was on full-scale case studies, practical constraints and sustaining successful disposal strategies and remediation. The session on tailings management reviewed overarching policies and practices; methods of subaerial tailings disposal and case studies of tailings management; and detailed investigations of geochemical properties and processes. The conference featured 22 presentations, of which 4 have been catalogued separately for inclusion in this database. refs., tabs., figs

The evolution of tail weaponization in amniotes.

Science.gov (United States)

Arbour, Victoria M; Zanno, Lindsay E

2018-01-31

Weaponry, for the purpose of intraspecific combat or predator defence, is one of the most widespread animal adaptations, yet the selective pressures and constraints governing its phenotypic diversity and skeletal regionalization are not well understood. Here, we investigate the evolution of tail weaponry in amniotes, a rare form of weaponry that nonetheless evolved independently among a broad spectrum of life including mammals, turtles and dinosaurs. Using phylogenetic comparative methods, we test for links between morphology, ecology and behaviour in extant amniotes known to use the tail as a weapon, and in extinct taxa bearing osseous tail armaments. We find robust ecological and morphological correlates of both tail lashing behaviour and bony tail weaponry, including large body size, body armour and herbivory, suggesting these life-history parameters factor into the evolution of antipredator behaviours and tail armaments. We suggest that the evolution of tail weaponry is rare because large, armoured herbivores are uncommon in extant terrestrial faunas, as they have been throughout evolutionary history. © 2018 The Author(s).

Monthly morphometric data on captive Kemps ridley sea turtles 1995-2013

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The database contains monthly measurements taken on captive reared sea turtles. Measurements include: straight carapace length nuchal notch to carapace tip, straight...

Ecological aspects of microorganisms inhabiting uranium mill tailings

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, C.L.; Landa, E.R.; Updegraff, D.M.

1987-01-01

Numbers and types of microorganisms in uranium mill tailings were determined using culturing techniques. Arthrobacter were found to be the predominant microorganism inhabiting the sandy tailings, whereas Bacillus and fungi predominated in the slime tailings. Sulfate-reducing bacteria, capable of leaching radium, were isolated in low numbers from tailings samples but were isolated in significantly high numbers from topsoil in contact with the tailings. The results are placed in the context of the magnitude of uranium mill tailings in the United States, the hazards posed by the tailings, and how such hazards could be enhanced or diminished by microbial activities. Patterns in the composition of the microbial population are evaluated with respect to the ecological variables that influence microbial growth. ?? 1987 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

Tailings management for the twenty-first century

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frost, S.E.

1996-01-01

The evolution of tailings management at Saskatchewan uranium mines is traced from the fifties to the nineties. Some of the problems with past systems are discussed. The new tailings systems now being proposed for the new operations currently undergoing environmental assessment in Saskatchewan are examined in detail. These new systems represent a change in tailings management philosophy, from keeping tailings high and dry on the surface, to placement of tailings in a low-energy regime within the water table. There they are removed from the active surface environment, avoiding future erosion problems, with a reduced likelihood of suffering intrusion from future human or animal activities. (author). 16 refs., 5 figs

Snake River sockeye salmon captive broodstock program: hatchery element: annual progress report, 2000.; ANNUAL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kline, Paul A.; Willard, Catherine

2001-01-01

On November 20, 1991, the National Marine Fisheries Service listed Snake River sockeye salmon Oncorhynchus nerka as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. In 1991, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, and the National Marine Fisheries Service initiated efforts to conserve and rebuild populations in Idaho. Initial steps to recover sockeye salmon included the establishment of a captive broodstock program at the Idaho Department of Fish and Game Eagle Fish Hatchery. Sockeye salmon broodstock and culture responsibilities are shared with the National Marine Fisheries Service at two locations adjacent to Puget Sound in Washington State. Activities conducted by the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and the National Marine Fisheries Service are reported under separate cover. Idaho Department of Fish and Game monitoring and evaluation activities of captive broodstock program fish releases are also reported under separate cover. Captive broodstock program activities conducted between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2000 are presented in this report

Snake River Sockeye Salmon Captive Broodstock Program; Research Element, 2002 Annual Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Willard, Catherine; Hebdon, J. Lance; Castillo, Jason (Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Boise, ID)

2004-06-01

On November 20, 1991, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration listed Snake River sockeye salmon Oncorhynchus nerka as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. In 1991, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and Idaho Department of Fish and Game initiated the Snake River Sockeye Salmon Sawtooth Valley Project to conserve and rebuild populations in Idaho. Restoration efforts are focusing on Redfish, Pettit, and Alturas lakes within the Sawtooth Valley. The first release of hatchery-produced juvenile sockeye salmon from the captive broodstock program occurred in 1994. The first anadromous adult returns from the captive broodstock program were recorded in 1999 when six jacks and one jill were captured at IDFG's Sawtooth Fish Hatchery. In 2002, progeny from the captive broodstock program were released using four strategies: age-0 presmolts were released to Alturas, Pettit, and Redfish lakes in August and to Pettit and Redfish lakes in October, age-1 smolts were released to Redfish Lake Creek in May, eyed-eggs were planted in Pettit Lake in December, and hatchery-produced and anadromous adult sockeye salmon were released to Redfish Lake for volitional spawning in September. Oncorhynchus nerka population monitoring was conducted on Redfish, Alturas, and Pettit lakes using a midwater trawl in September 2002. Age-0, age-1, and age-2 O. nerka were captured in Redfish Lake, and population abundance was estimated at 50,204 fish. Age-0, age-1, age-2, and age-3 kokanee were captured in Alturas Lake, and population abundance was estimated at 24,374 fish. Age-2 and age-3 O. nerka were captured in Pettit Lake, and population abundance was estimated at 18,328 fish. The ultimate goal of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) captive broodstock development and evaluation efforts is to recover sockeye salmon runs in Idaho waters. Recovery is defined as reestablishing sockeye salmon runs and providing for utilization of sockeye salmon and kokanee resources by anglers

Evaluating genetic traceability methods for captive-bred marine fish and their applications in fisheries management and wildlife forensics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bylemans, Jonas; Maes, Gregory E.; Diopere, Eveline

2016-01-01

Growing demands for marine fish products is leading to increased pressure on already depleted wild populations and a rise in aquaculture production. Consequently, more captive-bred fish are released into the wild through accidental escape or deliberate releases. The increased mixing of captive-br...

Does the stress response predict the ability of wild birds to adjust to short-term captivity? A study of the rock pigeon (Columbia livia)

OpenAIRE

Angelier, Fr?d?ric; Parenteau, Charline; Trouv?, Colette; Angelier, Nicole

2016-01-01

Although the transfer of wild animals to captivity is crucial for conservation purposes, this process is often challenging because some species or individuals do not adjust well to captive conditions. Chronic stress has been identified as a major concern for animals held on long-term captivity. Surprisingly, the first hours or days of captivity have been relatively overlooked. However, they are certainly very stressful, because individuals are being transferred to a totally novel and confined...

Social influences on the estrous cycle of the captive sun bear (Helarctos Malayanus).

Science.gov (United States)

Frederick, Cheryl; Hunt, Kathleen; Kyes, Randall; Collins, Darin; Durrant, Barbara; Ha, James; Wasser, Samuel K

2013-01-01

We examined the potential influences of existing social housing arrangements on captive sun bear female reproductive cycling. Three social conditions were studied: 1.2, 1.1, and 0.2. Fecal hormone metabolites of total estrogens, progestins and glucocorticoids were compared between the three social conditions and were analyzed along with vaginal cytology data in individuals that experienced a change in social condition. Behavioral data were collected on females in each of the social conditions and summarized into agonistic, affiliative and sexual categories. Results indicated that sun bears are spontaneous ovulators, but that the presence of a male does influence hormone metabolite concentrations and cytological profiles. Male presence was also associated with a greater proportion of females cycling. In most female pairs, only one female cycled, typically the younger, subordinate female. The presence of a second female appeared to have a suppressive influence on both cycling and mating behavior. Agonistic behavior and associated stress may be a mechanism for lowering progesterone. In contrast, high estrogen levels were associated with low levels of agonistic interactions; thus, reproductive cycle monitoring could facilitate social introductions with either sex. Females in 1.2 social groupings had significantly higher GC metabolite concentrations and agonistic behavior, suggesting that 1.2 social groupings may not be advisable for captive breeding programs. Data from the North American historical captive population indicate that at most 32% of all sun bear pairs and only 18.5% of females have successfully reproduced. Implications of these social and reproductive patterns for captive management are discussed. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Dietary estrogens--a probable cause of infertility and liver disease in captive cheetahs.

Science.gov (United States)

Setchell, K D; Gosselin, S J; Welsh, M B; Johnston, J O; Balistreri, W F; Kramer, L W; Dresser, B L; Tarr, M J

1987-08-01

The cheetah in the wild is "racing towards extinction" mostly due to habitat destruction. Its survival will probably depend on accelerated captive breeding. At this time, however, reproductive failure and liver disease threaten the future of the captive cheetah population. Histopathological evaluation of more than 100 cheetah livers identified venocclusive disease as the main hepatic lesion responsible for liver disease in this species. Analysis of the commercial feline diet by high-performance liquid chromatography and gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry revealed large amounts of two phytoestrogens identified as daidzein and genistein. These compounds were found to be derived from a soybean product that was a component of the cheetah diet, and their concentrations both ranged from 18 to 35 micrograms/g diet. The adult cheetah consequently consumes approximately 50 mg/day of these weak estrogens. When extracts of the diet were tested for estrogenicity using a bioassay, a dose-related increase in uterine weight was observed. In 4 cheetahs studied, withdrawal of this feline diet by substitution with a chicken diet resulted in an improvement in conventional liver function tests and a normalization in the appearance of hepatic mitochondria. We conclude that the relatively high concentrations of phytoestrogens from soybean protein present in the commercial diet fed to captive cheetahs in North American zoos may be one of the major factors in the decline of fertility and in the etiology of liver disease in this species. The survival of the captive cheetah population could depend upon a simple change of diet by excluding exogenous estrogen.

Parasites and associated packed cell volume changes of captive ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The results revealed that out of the 126 captive wild birds examined during the period, 98 (77.8%) were infected with at least one parasite species. Arthropod parasites were encountered in 63 (34.1%) birds and the parasites recovered were Echidnophaga gallinacea (27.0%), Argas persicus (18.2%) and Ctnemidocoptes ...

[Effect of jiaotai pill on pancreatic fat accumulation and islet cell apoptosis in rats with type 2 diabetes].

Science.gov (United States)

Zou, Xin; Liu, De-Liang; Lu, Fu-Er; Dong, Hui; Xu, Li-Jun; Luo, Yun-Huan; Wang, Kai-Fu

2014-06-01

In this study, the rat type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) model was established through tail vein injection with low dose of streptozotocin (STZ) and high fat diet for 8 weeks, and then treated with Jiaotai Pill. The oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), fasting serum insulin (FINS), free fatty acid(FFA) levels and blood lipid were assayed. HOMA-IR was calculated. Pancreatic pathology was performed. And pancreatic triglyceride (TG) content was examined by the lipid extraction method. Pancreatic islet cell apoptosis were detected by terminal dexynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL). According to the results, the model group showed abnormal OGTT, increased FINS, HOMA-IR, FFA, lipid disorder, obvious fat accumulation and significantly increased TG content in pancreatic tissues, and enhanced pancreatic islet cell apoptosis. Compared with the model group, the Jiaotai Pill group displayed improved OGTT, reduced FINS, HOMA-IR, FFA, recovered lipid disorder, decreased fat accumulation and significantly declined TG content in pancreatic tissues, and lowered pancreatic islet cell apoptosis. In summary, Jiaotai pill could effectively treat type 2 diabetes in rats. Its mechanism may be related to the reduction in pancreatic fat accumulation and islet cell apoptosis.

Rehabilitation of uranium tailings impoundments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crawley, A.H.

1983-01-01

Under Australian environmental controls relating to the management of uranium tailings, it is no longer acceptable practice to search for a rehabilitation strategy at the end of production when the generation of tailings has ceased. The uranium projects currently in production and those being proposed are tightly regulated by the authorities. The waste management plans must consider site specific factors and must include selection of appropriate disposal sites and design for long term containment. The final encapsulation in engineered facilities must take into account the probable routes to the environment of the tailings. Rehabilitation shoud be undertaken by the mining and milling operators to standards approved by appropriate authorities. Appropriate administrative arrangements are required, by way of technical committees and financial bonds to ensure that agreed standards of rehabilitation may be achieved. Past and present experience with the rehabilitation of uranium tailings impoundments in Australia is discussed

Histone H2A mobility is regulated by its tails and acetylation of core histone tails

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Higashi, Tsunehito; Matsunaga, Sachihiro; Isobe, Keisuke; Morimoto, Akihiro; Shimada, Tomoko; Kataoka, Shogo; Watanabe, Wataru; Uchiyama, Susumu; Itoh, Kazuyoshi; Fukui, Kiichi

2007-01-01

Histone tail domains play important roles in cellular processes, such as replication, transcription, and chromosome condensation. Histone H2A has one central and two tail domains, and their functions have mainly been studied from a biochemical perspective. In addition, analyses based on visualization have been employed for functional analysis of some chromatin proteins. In this study, we analyzed histone H2A mobility in vivo by two-photon FRAP, and elucidated that the histone H2A N- and C-terminal tails regulate its mobility. We found that histone H2A mobility was increased following treatment of host cells with a histone deacetylase inhibitor. Our results support a model in which core histone tails directly regulate transcription by interacting with nucleosome DNA via electrostatic interactions

Cylinder Symmetric Measures with the Tail Property

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Balkema, A.A.

2006-01-01

Abstract: A Pareto distribution has the property that any tail of the distribution has the same shape as the original distribution. The exponential distribution and the uniform distribution have the tail property too. The tail property characterizes the univariate generalized Pareto distributions.

Radon emanation characteristics of uranium mill tailings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nielson, K.K.; Freeman, H.D.; Hartley, J.N.; Mauch, M.L.; Rogers, V.C.

1982-01-01

Radon emanation from uranium mill tailings was examined with respect to the mechanisms of emanation and the physical properties of the tailings which affect emanation. Radon emanation coefficients were measured at ambient moisture on 135 samples from the 1981 field test site at the Grand Junction tailings pile. These coefficients showed a similar trend with moisture to those observed previously with uranium ores, and averaged 0.10 + or - 0.02 at dryness and 0.38 + or - 0.04 for all samples having greater than five weight-percent moisture. Small differences were noted between the maximum values of the coefficients for the sand and slime fractions of the tailings. Separate measurements on tailings from the Vitro tailings pile exhibited much lower emanation coefficients for moist samples, and similar coefficients for dry samples. Alternative emanation measurement techniques were examined and procedures are recommended for use in future work

Impact of plant cover on fitness and behavioural traits of captive red-eyed tree frogs (Agalychnis callidryas.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher J Michaels

Full Text Available Despite the importance of ex situ conservation programmes as highlighted in the Amphibian Conservation Action Plan, there are few empirical studies that examine the influence of captive conditions on the fitness of amphibians, even for basic components of enclosure design such as cover provision. Maintaining the fitness of captive amphibian populations is essential to the success of ex situ conservation projects. Here we examined the impact of plant cover on measures of fitness and behaviour in captive red-eyed tree frogs (Agalychnis callidryas. We found significant effects of plant provision on body size, growth rates and cutaneous bacterial communities that together demonstrate a compelling fitness benefit from cover provision. We also demonstrate a strong behavioural preference for planted rather than non-planted areas. We also assessed the impact of plant provision on the abiotic environment in the enclosure as a potential driver of these behavioural and fitness effects. Together this data provides valuable information regarding enclosure design for a non-model amphibian species and has implications for amphibian populations maintained in captivity for conservation breeding programmes and research.

Monitoring stress in captive and free-ranging African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) using faecal glucocorticoid metabolites.

Science.gov (United States)

Van der Weyde, L K; Martin, G B; Paris, M C J

2016-01-15

An understanding of stress physiology is important for species management because high levels of stress can hamper reproduction and affect an individual's ability to cope with threats to their survival, such as disease and human-wildlife conflict. A commonly used indicator of stress, faecal concentrations of cortisol metabolites (FCM), can be used to assess the impact of social, biological and environmental factors. Measurements of FCM are particularly valuable for endangered species that are logistically challenging to study and where non-invasive techniques are preferred. As the second most endangered canid in Africa, the African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) has been the focus of considerable conservation research, yet there is still little understanding of factors associated with stress, in either captive or free-ranging populations. The present study therefore aimed to determine whether stress levels differ between captive and free-ranging populations, and to detect social, biological and environmental factors that are stressful in these populations. Faecal samples were collected from 20 captive and 62 free-ranging animals. Within free-ranging populations, the sexes differed significantly, but there was no effect of social status, age or breeding period for either sex. Captive females had higher FCM concentrations than free-ranging females. In captive populations, FCM concentrations differed among zoos and with reproductive status in females, but were not related to age class or group-housing structure. In conclusion, FCM is a useful indicator of stress and should be considered an integrative aspect of management, for both in situ and ex situ African wild dog populations. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Snake River Sockeye Salmon Captive Broodstock Program; Hatchery Element, 1997 Annual Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kline, Paul A.; Heindel, Jeff A.; Willard, Catherine (Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Boise, ID)

2003-08-01

On November 20, 1991, the National Marine Fisheries Service listed Snake River sockeye salmon Oncorhynchus nerka as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. In 1991, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, and the National Marine Fisheries Service initiated efforts to conserve and rebuild populations in Idaho. Initial steps to recover sockeye salmon included the establishment of a captive broodstock program at the Idaho Department of Fish and Game Eagle Fish Hatchery. Sockeye salmon broodstock and culture responsibilities are shared with the National Marine Fisheries Service at two locations adjacent to Puget Sound in Washington State. Activities conducted by the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and the National Marine Fisheries Service are reported under separate cover. Idaho Department of Fish and Game monitoring and evaluation activities of captive broodstock program fish releases (annual report to the Bonneville Power Administration for the research element of the program) are also reported under separate cover. Captive broodstock program activities conducted between January 1, 1997 and December 31, 1997 are presented in this report. One hundred twenty-six female sockeye salmon from one captive broodstock group were spawned at the Eagle Fish Hatchery in 1997. Successful spawn pairings produced approximately 148,781 eyed-eggs with a cumulative mean survival to eyed-egg rate of 57.3%. Approximately 361,600 sockeye salmon were released to Sawtooth basin waters in 1997. Reintroduction strategies included eyed-eggs (brood year 1997), presmolts (brood year 1996), and prespawn adults for volitional spawning (brood year 1994). Release locations included Redfish Lake, Alturas Lake, and Pettit Lake. During this reporting period, four broodstocks and two unique production groups were in culture at the Eagle Fish Hatchery. Two of the four broodstocks were incorporated into the 1997 spawning design, and one broodstock was terminated following

Fatness

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Anne Katrine Kleberg

In 1727, the English physician Thomas Short wrote: “I believe no Age did ever afford more instances of Corpulency than our own.” Even in the 18th century, fatness was addressed as an issue of special contemporary concern. This thesis probes concepts and perceptions of fatness in Western European...... Medicine c. 1700–1900. It has been written with particular attention to whether and how fatness has been regarded as a disease during that period in history. One purpose of the thesis is to investigate the immediate period before fatness allegedly became problematized. Another purpose has been to grasp...

Heavy mineral concentration from oil sand tailings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chachula, F.; Erasmus, N. [Titanium Corp. Inc., Regina, SK (Canada)

2008-07-01

This presentation described a unique technique to recover heavy minerals contained in the froth treatment tailings produced by oil sand mining extraction operations in Fort McMurray, Alberta. In an effort to process waste material into valuable products, Titanium Corporation is developing technology to recover heavy minerals, primarily zircon, and a portion of bitumen contained in the final stage of bitumen processing. The process technology is being developed to apply to all mined oil sands operations in the Fort McMurray region. In 2004, Titanium Corporation commissioned a pilot research facility at the Saskatchewan Research Council to test dry oil sands tailings. In 2005, a bulk sampling pilot plant was connected to the fresh oil sands tailings pipeline on-site in Fort McMurray, where washed sands containing heavy minerals were processed at a pilot facility. The mineral content in both deposited tailings and fresh pipeline tailings was assessed. Analysis of fresh tailings on a daily basis identified a constant proportion of zircon and higher levels of associated bitumen compared with the material in the deposited tailings. The process flow sheet design was then modified to remove bitumen from the heavy minerals and concentrate the minerals. A newly modified flotation process was shown to be a viable processing route to recover the heavy minerals from froth treatment tailings. 8 refs., 9 tabs., 12 figs.

Tail-assisted pitch control in lizards, robots and dinosaurs.

Science.gov (United States)

Libby, Thomas; Moore, Talia Y; Chang-Siu, Evan; Li, Deborah; Cohen, Daniel J; Jusufi, Ardian; Full, Robert J

2012-01-04

In 1969, a palaeontologist proposed that theropod dinosaurs used their tails as dynamic stabilizers during rapid or irregular movements, contributing to their depiction as active and agile predators. Since then the inertia of swinging appendages has been implicated in stabilizing human walking, aiding acrobatic manoeuvres by primates and rodents, and enabling cats to balance on branches. Recent studies on geckos suggest that active tail stabilization occurs during climbing, righting and gliding. By contrast, studies on the effect of lizard tail loss show evidence of a decrease, an increase or no change in performance. Application of a control-theoretic framework could advance our general understanding of inertial appendage use in locomotion. Here we report that lizards control the swing of their tails in a measured manner to redirect angular momentum from their bodies to their tails, stabilizing body attitude in the sagittal plane. We video-recorded Red-Headed Agama lizards (Agama agama) leaping towards a vertical surface by first vaulting onto an obstacle with variable traction to induce a range of perturbations in body angular momentum. To examine a known controlled tail response, we built a lizard-sized robot with an active tail that used sensory feedback to stabilize pitch as it drove off a ramp. Our dynamics model revealed that a body swinging its tail experienced less rotation than a body with a rigid tail, a passively compliant tail or no tail. To compare a range of tails, we calculated tail effectiveness as the amount of tailless body rotation a tail could stabilize. A model Velociraptor mongoliensis supported the initial tail stabilization hypothesis, showing as it did a greater tail effectiveness than the Agama lizards. Leaping lizards show that inertial control of body attitude can advance our understanding of appendage evolution and provide biological inspiration for the next generation of manoeuvrable search-and-rescue robots.

Genetic assessment of captive elephant (Elephas maximus) populations in Thailand

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Thitaram, Chatchote; Somgird, Chaleamchart; Mahasawangkul, Sittidet; Angkavanich, Taweepoke; Roongsri, Ronnachit; Thongtip, Nikorn; Colenbrander, Ben; van Steenbeek, Frank G.; Lenstra, Johannes A.

2010-01-01

The genetic diversity and population structure of 136 captive Thai elephants (Elephas maximus) with known region of origin were investigated by analysis of 14 highly polymorphic microsatellite loci. We did not detect significant indications of inbreeding and only a low differentiation of elephants

Increased fat in pancreas not associated with risk of pancreatitis post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pokhrel B

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Bhupesh Pokhrel,1 Eun Kwang Choi,1 Omer Khalid,2 Kumar Sandrasegaran,3 Evan L Fogel,1 Lee McHenry,1 Stuart Sherman,1 James Watkins,1 Gregory A Cote,1 Henry A Pitt,4 Nicholas J Zyromski,4 Beth Juliar,1 Glen A Lehman11Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, 2Department of Gastroenterology, St Louis University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, 3Department of Radiology, 4Department of Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USABackground: A preliminary study has shown increased pancreatic fat in patients with idiopathic pancreatitis and sphincter of Oddi dysfunction. In this study, we aimed to determine if an increased quantity of pancreatic fat is an independent risk factor for pancreatitis post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP.Methods: In this case control study, we retrospectively reviewed a local radiological and ERCP database to identify patients who had had abdominal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI followed by ERCP no more than 60 days later between September 2003 and January 2011. Percentage of fat was determined by recording signal intensity in the in-phase (Sin and out-of-phase (Sout T1-weighted gradient sequences, and calculation of the fat fraction as (Sin - Sout/(Sin × 2 by an abdominal radiologist blinded to clinical history. Controls matched for age, gender, and other pancreatobiliary disease were selected from a group with no post-ERCP pancreatitis (before fat content of the pancreas was analyzed.Results: Forty-seven patients were enrolled. Compared with controls, subjects with post-ERCP pancreatitis were similar in terms of age (41.4 years versus 41.1 years, gender (21.2% versus 20.2% males, pancreatobiliary disease characteristics, and most ERCP techniques. Measurements of pancreatic head, body, and tail fat and body mass index were similar in patients and controls.Conclusion: Increased pancreatic fat on MRI criteria is not an independent

Research on Captive Broodstock Programs for Pacific Salmon, 2000-2001 Annual Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berejikian, Barry A.; Dittman, Andrew H. (National Marine Fisheries Service, Manchester, WA); Hardy, Ronald W. (University of Idaho, Hagerman Fish Culture Experiment Station, Hagerman, ID)

2001-06-01

It is not yet possible to define a feeding regimen for captively-reared stocks similar to their natural regimen that enhances the post-release fitness of juveniles and improves the reproductive performance of adults. In the natural environment, seasonal differences in food quality and quantity have profound effects on growth and 'wild' attributes, such as external coloration and fin quality. Formulating the right feeds for conservation fish held for long periods in captivity before release is more complicated than formulating diets for farm fish. Recent research in salmonid nutrition shows it is necessary to consider daily dietary protein intake and protein intake relative to total dietary energy level, rather than simply the levels of total dietary lipid.

Reclamation and closure of an oil sands tailings facility

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sobkowicz, J. [Thurber Engineering Ltd., Calgary, AB (Canada); Morgenstern, N. [Alberta Univ., Edmonton, AB (Canada)

2010-07-01

This PowerPoint presentation discussed methods of ensuring the successful reclamation of oil sands tailings facilities. Tailings should be reclaimed as mining proceeds in order to avoid an excessive accumulation of fluid fine tailings (FFT). The volume of mature fine tailings (MFT) in ponds should be limited in order to ensure effective tailings management. The reclaimed landforms should have good geotechnical stability and be comprised of self-sustaining native vegetation. Strength is needed to allow for timely capping and initial reclamation, and stiffness is required to minimize future settlement and to allow for the construction of a closure landscape. Reclamation strategies were presented for fines-dominated tailings; sand-depleted tailings; and sand-dominated tailings. Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) criteria for tailings reclamation were discussed, and various monitoring and performance assessment strategies were presented. tabs., figs.

Bacterial populations and metabolites in the feces of free roaming and captive grizzly bears.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwab, Clarissa; Cristescu, Bogdan; Boyce, Mark S; Stenhouse, Gordon B; Gänzle, Michael

2009-12-01

Gut physiology, host phylogeny, and diet determine the composition of the intestinal microbiota. Grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) belong to the Order Carnivora, yet feed on an omnivorous diet. The role of intestinal microflora in grizzly bear digestion has not been investigated. Microbiota and microbial activity were analysed from the feces of wild and captive grizzly bears. Bacterial composition was determined using culture-dependent and culture-independent methods. The feces of wild and captive grizzly bears contained log 9.1 +/- 0.5 and log 9.2 +/- 0.3 gene copies x g(-1), respectively. Facultative anaerobes Enterobacteriaceae and enterococci were dominant in wild bear feces. Among the strict anaerobes, the Bacteroides-Prevotella-Porphyromonas group was most prominent. Enterobacteriaceae were predominant in the feces of captive grizzly bears, at log 8.9 +/- 0.5 gene copies x g(-1). Strict anaerobes of the Bacteroides-Prevotella-Porphyromonas group and the Clostridium coccoides cluster were present at log 6.7 +/- 0.9 and log 6.8 +/- 0.8 gene copies x g(-1), respectively. The presence of lactate and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) verified microbial activity. Total SCFA content and composition was affected by diet. SCFA composition in the feces of captive grizzly bears resembled the SCFA composition of prey-consuming wild animals. A consistent data set was obtained that associated fecal microbiota and metabolites with the distinctive gut physiology and diet of grizzly bears.

Canadian experience with uranium tailings disposal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Culver, K.B.

1982-06-01

During the first years of uranium production in Canada uranium tailings were discharged directly into valleys or lakes near the mill. Treatment with barium chloride to precipitate radium began in 1965 at the Nordic Mine at Elliot Lake, Ontario. In the mid-60s and early 70s water quality studies indicated that discharges from uranium tailings areas were causing degradation to the upper part of the Serpent River water system. Studies into acid generation, revegetation, and leaching of radium were initiated by the mining companies and resulted in the construction of treatment plants at a number of sites. Abandoned tailings sites were revegetated. At hearings into the expansion of the Elliot Lake operations the issue of tailings management was a major item for discussion. As a result federal and provincial agencies developed guidelines for the siting and development of urnaium tailings areas prior to issuing operating licences. Western Canadian uranium producers do not have the acid generation problem of the Elliot Lake operations. The Rabbit Lake mill uses settling ponds followed by filtration. High-grade tailings from Cluff Lake are sealed in concrete and buried. Uranium producers feel that the interim criteria developed by the Atomic Energy Control Board, if adopted, would have a harmful effect on the viability of the Canadian uranium industry

Task Design Influences Prosociality in Captive Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

House, Bailey R; Silk, Joan B; Lambeth, Susan P

2014-01-01

Chimpanzees confer benefits on group members, both in the wild and in captive populations. Experimental studies of how animals allocate resources can provide useful insights about the motivations underlying prosocial behavior, and understanding the relationship between task design and prosocial...... and the methods used, and in most cases employ procedures that reduce critical features of naturalistic social interactions, such as partner choice. The focus of the current study is on understanding the link between experimental methodology and prosocial behavior in captive chimpanzees, rather than on describing...... these animals' social motivations themselves. We introduce a task design that avoids isolating subjects and allows them to freely decide whether to participate in the experiment. We explore key elements of the methods utilized in previous experiments in an effort to evaluate two possibilities that have been...

On the average configuration of the geomagnetic tail

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fairfield, D.H.

1978-03-01

Over 3000 hours of IMP-6 magnetic field data obtained between 20 and 33 R sub E in the geomagnetic tail have been used in a statistical study of the tail configuration. A distribution of 2.5 minute averages of B sub Z as a function of position across the tail reveals that more flux crosses the equatorial plane near the dawn and dusk flanks than near midnight. The tail field projected in the solar magnetospheric equatorial plane deviates from the X axis due to flaring and solar wind aberration by an angle alpha = -0.9 y sub SM - 1.7, where y/sub SM/ is in earth radii and alpha is in degrees. After removing these effects the Y component of the tail field is found to depend on interplanetary sector structure. During an away sector the B/sub Y/ component of the tail field is on average 0.5 gamma greater than that during a toward sector, a result that is true in both tail lobes and is independent of location across the tail

Understanding AL-PAM assisted oil sands tailings treatment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guo, L.; Maham, Y.; Masliyah, J.; Xu, Z. [Alberta Univ., Edmonton, AB (Canada). Dept. of Chemical and Materials Engineering

2010-07-01

Technologies currently used to treat oil sands tailings include the composite tailings (CT) process and the thickened tailings (TT) or paste technology process. This PowerPoint presentation discussed a flocculation and filtration method used to produce stackable tailings deposits. Magnafloc 1011 and AL-PAM additions were used as part of the filtration technique to produce very dry filter cakes. The effect of AL-PAM molecular weight and aluminum content on tailings treatments was investigated as well as the effect of tailings characteristics on the performance of flocculant-assisted tailings filtration processes. The AL-PAM molecular structure was studied. An experimental study was conducted to determine the effect of various polymer additions on fresh tailings from an oil sands plant. The study showed that the optimum dosage for settling and filtration was lower for higher molecular weight AL-PAM. A higher aluminum content was beneficial for settling. Increases in the aluminum content did not improve filtration rates, but reduced optimal dosages. Step-by-step details of the supernatant filtration process were provided, as well as photographs of the laboratory study. tabs., figs.

Impartial third-party interventions in captive chimpanzees: a reflection of community concern.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudia Rudolf von Rohr

Full Text Available Because conflicts among social group members are inevitable, their management is crucial for group stability. The rarest and most interesting form of conflict management is policing, i.e., impartial interventions by bystanders, which is of considerable interest due to its potentially moral nature. Here, we provide descriptive and quantitative data on policing in captive chimpanzees. First, we report on a high rate of policing in one captive group characterized by recently introduced females and a rank reversal between two males. We explored the influence of various factors on the occurrence of policing. The results show that only the alpha and beta males acted as arbitrators using manifold tactics to control conflicts, and that their interventions strongly depended on conflict complexity. Secondly, we compared the policing patterns in three other captive chimpanzee groups. We found that although rare, policing was more prevalent at times of increased social instability, both high-ranking males and females performed policing, and conflicts of all sex-dyad combinations were policed. These results suggest that the primary function of policing is to increase group stability. It may thus reflect prosocial behaviour based upon "community concern." However, policing remains a rare behaviour and more data are needed to test the generality of this hypothesis.

Impartial third-party interventions in captive chimpanzees: a reflection of community concern.

Science.gov (United States)

von Rohr, Claudia Rudolf; Koski, Sonja E; Burkart, Judith M; Caws, Clare; Fraser, Orlaith N; Ziltener, Angela; van Schaik, Carel P

2012-01-01

Because conflicts among social group members are inevitable, their management is crucial for group stability. The rarest and most interesting form of conflict management is policing, i.e., impartial interventions by bystanders, which is of considerable interest due to its potentially moral nature. Here, we provide descriptive and quantitative data on policing in captive chimpanzees. First, we report on a high rate of policing in one captive group characterized by recently introduced females and a rank reversal between two males. We explored the influence of various factors on the occurrence of policing. The results show that only the alpha and beta males acted as arbitrators using manifold tactics to control conflicts, and that their interventions strongly depended on conflict complexity. Secondly, we compared the policing patterns in three other captive chimpanzee groups. We found that although rare, policing was more prevalent at times of increased social instability, both high-ranking males and females performed policing, and conflicts of all sex-dyad combinations were policed. These results suggest that the primary function of policing is to increase group stability. It may thus reflect prosocial behaviour based upon "community concern." However, policing remains a rare behaviour and more data are needed to test the generality of this hypothesis.

Captivity mark as Foundation of Civil Liability for Risk in Prol Consumer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fernando Antônio de Vasconcelos

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The postmodern society can be seen as risk society. From the Ulrich Beck’s idea that the acquired knowledge allows the current development model, but its generates uncontrollable risks, this study attempts to make a validation of trademark captivity theory as the basis for civil liability for risk. The strength of the brands as fundamental goals in today’s economic process is seen as a vector of liability for consumers as a vulnerable class. The difficulty of consumers in the process of accountability for damages suffered in their relations is still present. The supply process is complex and is formed by a network arrangements which stresses the consumer’s vulnerability. The trademark captivity allows the identification of an economic group participants by sharing the brand. The proposal in this article, is to strengthen the idea of   captivity mark as accountability paradigm from the brand with the theory of risk, examining its feasibility framing the sole paragraph of Article 927 of the Brazilian Civil Code.The methodology will be based on a legal-economic aspect and depart from an inductive analysis and bibliographic surveys, with the theoretical framework of Ulrich Beck, Antonny Giddens and Claudia Lima Marques.

Exercise and type 2 diabetes mellitus: changes in tissue-specific fat distribution and cardiac function.

Science.gov (United States)

Jonker, Jacqueline T; de Mol, Pieter; de Vries, Suzanna T; Widya, Ralph L; Hammer, Sebastiaan; van Schinkel, Linda D; van der Meer, Rutger W; Gans, Rijk O B; Webb, Andrew G; Kan, Hermien E; de Koning, Eelco J P; Bilo, Henk J G; Lamb, Hildo J

2013-11-01

To prospectively assess the effects of an exercise intervention on organ-specific fat accumulation and cardiac function in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants, and the study protocol was approved by the medical ethics committee. The study followed 12 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (seven men; mean age, 46 years ± 2 [standard error]) before and after 6 months of moderate-intensity exercise, followed by a high-altitude trekking expedition with exercise of long duration. Abdominal, epicardial, and paracardial fat volume were measured by using magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. Cardiac function was quantified with cardiac MR, and images were analyzed by a researcher who was supervised by a senior researcher (4 and 21 years of respective experience in cardiac MR). Hepatic, myocardial, and intramyocellular triglyceride (TG) content relative to water were measured with proton MR spectroscopy at 1.5 and 7 T. Two-tailed paired t tests were used for statistical analysis. Exercise reduced visceral abdominal fat volume from 348 mL ± 57 to 219 mL ± 33 (P Exercise decreased hepatic TG content from 6.8% ± 2.3 to 4.6% ± 1.6 (P Exercise did not change epicardial fat volume (P = .9), myocardial TG content (P = .9), intramyocellular lipid content (P = .3), or cardiac function (P = .5). A 6-month exercise intervention in type 2 diabetes mellitus decreased hepatic TG content and visceral abdominal and paracardial fat volume, which are associated with increased cardiovascular risk, but cardiac function was unaffected. Tissue-specific exercise-induced changes in body fat distribution in type 2 diabetes mellitus were demonstrated in this study. RSNA, 2013

Proceedings of the 2. international oil sands tailings conference

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2010-07-01

The tailings produced by oil sands extraction processes pose significant threats to the surrounding environment in addition to releasing greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere. Recent directives have been established to reduce the amount of tailings produced at oil sands operations, and to ensure that tailings ponds are reclaimed in the most effective manner. This conference provided a forum for researchers and industry experts to discuss issues related to the management and reclamation of oil sands tailings. New technologies for dewatering tailings ponds were presented, and methods of analyzing the chemical properties of tailings were reviewed. The conference was divided into the following 7 sessions: (1) tailings properties, (2) tailings dewatering, (3) new concepts, (4) water and chemistry, (5) soft tailings stabilization and reclamation, (6) water treatment, and (7) new concepts 2. The conference featured 44 presentations, all of which have been catalogued separately for inclusion in this database. tabs., figs.

(Re)insurance captives, efficiency and moral hazard. An attractive manner of risk financing and risk management for companies in certain circumstances

OpenAIRE

Wim Weterings

2014-01-01

In this study the contribution is intended to provide more clarity and to demonstrate that under certain circumstances an insurance captive can have important efficiency effects and, among other things, a positive effect on moral hazard and adverse selection. For the purpose of acquiring more information on insurance captives and their operation, literature research was augmented by interviews conducted with the director of an insurance captive of a Dutch multinational, as well as with repres...

Excellent Educators: ISTE's Award Winners Inspire, Captivate, and Motivate!

Science.gov (United States)

Fingal, Diana

2012-01-01

In the impassioned debate about school reform, there is one point that all sides agree on: Classroom teachers have a huge impact on student success. Great teachers don't just teach. They inspire, they captivate, and they motivate their students to create, investigate, solve, and continue learning long after their school years are over. This…

Can isotope markers differentiate between wild and captive reptile populations? A case study based on crocodile lizards (Shinisaurus crocodilurus from Vietnam

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mona van Schingen

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The international wildlife trade in allegedly “captive-bred” specimens has globally increased during recent years, while the legal origin of respective animals frequently remains doubtful. Worldwide, authorities experience strong challenges to effectively control the international trade in CITES-listed species and are struggling to uncover fraudulent claims of “captive-breeding”. Forensic analytical methods are being considered as potential tools to investigate wildlife crime. The present case study is the first of its kind in reptiles that investigates the application of δ13C and δ15N stable isotope ratios to discriminate between captive and wild crocodile lizards from Vietnam. The CITES-listed crocodile lizard Shinisaurus crocodilurus is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List mainly due to habitat loss and unsustainable exploitation for the international pet trade. Our results revealed significant differences in the composition of the two tested isotope systems between captive and wild individuals. Isotope values of skin samples from captive specimens were significantly enriched in 13C and 15N as compared to specimens from the wild. We also used the weighted k-Nearest Neighbor classifier to assign simulated samples back to their alleged place of origin and demonstrated that captive bred individuals could be distinguished with a high degree of accuracy from specimens that were not born in captivity. We conclude that isotope analysis appears to be highly attractive as a forensic tool to reduce laundering of wild caught lizards via breeding farms, but acknowledge that this potential might be limited to range restricted or ecologically specialist species.

Intra-abdominal fat: Comparison of computed tomography fat ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Intra-abdominal fat is an important factor in determining the metabolic syndrome/insulin resistance, and thus the risk of diabetes and ischaemic heart disease. Computed Tomography (CT) fat segmentation represents a defined method of quantifying intra-abdominal fat, with attendant radiation risks.

[Leukosis in captive wild birds].

Science.gov (United States)

Loupal, G

1984-10-01

Among 2589 captive wild birds, examined between 1974 and 1983, we found leukosis in 26 birds belonging to 13 different species and five orders. We diagnosed lymphoid leukosis in 11 birds (two Melopsittacus undulatus, two Psittacus erithacus one Platycerus eximius, one Columba livia, one Streptopelia decaocto, one Polyplectron bicalcaratum, one Pavo cristatus, one Aptenodytes patachonia and one finch, species unknown), myeloid leukosis in 14 (nine Melopsittacus undulatus, two Agapomis personata fischeri, two Urgeainthus bengalus and one Neophemia pulchella) and stem cell leukosis in one bird (Serinus canaria). Among the cases with lymphoid leukosis we distinguished between lymphoblastic (four cases) and prolymphocytic forms (seven). Myeloid leukosis was subdivided into poorly differentiated (12 cases) and well differentiated myeloblastosis (two).

Unique structural features facilitate lizard tail autotomy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sanggaard, Kristian W; Danielsen, Carl Chr; Wogensen, Lise

2012-01-01

Autotomy refers to the voluntary shedding of a body part; a renowned example is tail loss among lizards as a response to attempted predation. Although many aspects of lizard tail autotomy have been studied, the detailed morphology and mechanism remains unclear. In the present study, we showed...... that tail shedding by the Tokay gecko (Gekko gecko) and the associated extracellular matrix (ECM) rupture were independent of proteolysis. Instead, lizard caudal autotomy relied on biological adhesion facilitated by surface microstructures. Results based on bio-imaging techniques demonstrated that the tail...

Molecular Detection and Genotyping of Chlamydia psittaci in Captive Psittacines from Costa Rica.

Science.gov (United States)

Sheleby-Elías, Jessica; Solórzano-Morales, Antony; Romero-Zuñiga, Juan José; Dolz, Gaby

2013-01-01

Oropharyngeal and cloacal swabs from 117 captive psittacine birds presented at veterinary clinics (88) and from shelters/rescue centers of wildlife (29) were collected to determine the prevalence of C. psittaci in captive birds in Costa Rica. Samples were collected during 2009 from a total of 19 different species of parrots, with Ara macao (33), Amazona autumnalis (24), Amazona ochrocephala (21), and Ara ararauna (8) being the most representative species sampled. C. psittaci was detected in four (3.4%) birds using molecular detection (PCR). The positive samples belonged to birds presented at veterinary clinics; three of them were Ara macao and one Amazona ochrocephala. Three birds were adults; all positive birds showed no symptoms of illness and lived in homes with other birds, two in San José and two in Heredia. Sequencing was used to confirm the PCR positive results, showing that two samples of C. psittaci belonged to genotype A, representing the first report of the presence of this genotype in Costa Rica. The detection of this bacterium in captive psittacine birds shows that there is a potential risk for people living or having contact with them and that there is a possibility of infecting other birds.

Effects of chronic wasting disease on reproduction and fawn harvest vulnerability in Wisconsin white-tailed deer

Science.gov (United States)

Blanchong, Julie A.; Grear, Daniel A.; Weckworth, Byron V.; Keane, Delwyn P.; Scribner, Kim T.; Samuel, Michael D.

2012-01-01

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal, transmissible spongiform encephalopathy that affects free-ranging and captive North American cervids. Although the impacts of CWD on cervid survival have been documented, little is known about the disease impacts on reproduction and recruitment. We used genetic methods and harvest data (2002–04) to reconstruct parentage for a cohort of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) fawns born in spring 2002 and evaluate the effects of CWD infection on reproduction and fawn harvest vulnerability. There was no difference between CWD-positive and CWD-negative male deer in the probability of being a parent. However, CWD-positive females were more likely to be parents than CWD-negative females. Because our results are based on harvested animals, we evaluated the hypothesis that higher parentage rates occurred because fawns with CWD-positive mothers were more vulnerable to harvest. Male fawns with CWD-positive mothers were harvested earlier (>1 mo relative to their mother’s date of harvest) and farther away from their mothers than male fawns with CWD-negative mothers. Male fawns with CWD-positive mothers were also harvested much earlier and farther away than female fawns from CWD-positive mothers. Most female fawns (86%) with CWD-positive mothers were harvested from the same section as their mothers, while almost half of male and female fawns with CWD-negative mothers were farther away. We conclude that preclinical stages of CWD infection do not prohibit white-tailed deer from successfully reproducing. However, apparently higher harvest vulnerability of male fawns with CWD-positive mothers suggests that CWD infection may make females less capable of providing adequate parental care to ensure the survival and recruitment of their fawns.

Galectin-3 levels relate in children to total body fat, abdominal fat, body fat distribution, and cardiac size.

Science.gov (United States)

Dencker, Magnus; Arvidsson, Daniel; Karlsson, Magnus K; Wollmer, Per; Andersen, Lars B; Thorsson, Ola

2018-03-01

Galectin-3 has recently been proposed as a novel biomarker for cardiovascular disease in adults. The purpose of this investigation was to assess relationships between galectin-3 levels and total body fat, abdominal fat, body fat distribution, aerobic fitness, blood pressure, left ventricular mass, left atrial size, and increase in body fat over a 2-year period in a population-based sample of children. Our study included 170 children aged 8-11 years. Total fat mass and abdominal fat were measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Body fat distribution was expressed as abdominal fat/total fat mass. Maximal oxygen uptake was assessed by indirect calorimetry during a maximal exercise test and scaled to body mass. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure and pulse pressure were measured. Left atrial size, left ventricular mass, and relative wall thickness were measured by echocardiography. Frozen serum samples were analyzed for galectin-3 by the Proximity Extension Assay technique. A follow-up DXA scan was performed in 152 children 2 years after the baseline exam. Partial correlations, with adjustment for sex and age, between galectin-3 versus body fat measurements indicated weak to moderate relationships. Moreover, left atrial size, left ventricular mass, and relative wall thickness and pulse pressure were also correlated with galectin-3. Neither systolic blood pressure nor maximal oxygen uptake was correlated with galectin-3. There was also a correlation between galectin-3 and increase in total body fat over 2 years, while no such correlations were found for the other fat measurements. More body fat and abdominal fat, more abdominal body fat distribution, more left ventricular mass, and increased left atrial size were all associated with higher levels of galectin-3. Increase in total body fat over 2 years was also associated with higher levels of galectin-3. What is Known: • Galectin-3 has been linked to obesity and been proposed to be a novel biomarker

Isolation of Ovicidal Fungi from Fecal Samples of Captive Animals Maintained in a Zoological Park

OpenAIRE

Hernández, José A.; Vázquez-Ruiz, Rosa A.; Cazapal-Monteiro, Cristiana F.; Valderrábano, Esther; Arroyo, Fabián L.; Francisco, Iván; Miguélez, Silvia; Sánchez-Andrade, Rita; Paz-Silva, Adolfo; Arias, María S.

2017-01-01

There are certain saprophytic fungi in the soil able to develop an antagonistic effect against eggs of parasites. Some of these fungal species are ingested by animals during grazing, and survive in their feces after passing through the digestive tract. To identify and isolate ovicidal fungi in the feces of wild captive animals, a total of 60 fecal samples were taken from different wild animals kept captive in the Marcelle Natureza Zoological Park (Lugo, Spain). After the serial culture of the...

Health risks from uranium mill tailings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Russell, J.L.

1992-01-01

This paper reviews the risk to public health and the environment from uranium mill tailings. The steps taken by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reduce this risk from tailing are summarized

Subclinical infection of a young captive Asian elephant with elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus 1.

Science.gov (United States)

Azab, Walid; Damiani, Armando Mario; Ochs, Andreas; Osterrieder, Nikolaus

2018-02-01

Elephant endotheliotropic herpesviruses (EEHVs) are a continuous threat for young Asian elephants. We report a laboratory-confirmed infection of a 5-year-old female Asian elephant (AZ_2016) in the Berlin Zoologischer Garten. Initially, high EEHV-1 loads were detected in trunk swabs obtained from the young elephant during routine screening. The animal showed no clinical signs except for slight irritability. EEHV-1 was continuously shed for almost one year, with fluctuations in viral load from time to time. Our investigations highlight the continuous threat of EEHV-1 to young captive Asian elephants and stress the importance of routine monitoring of captive elephants to allow early detection of infection.

Big picture thinking in oil sands tailings disposal

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boswell, J. [Thurber Engineering Ltd., Calgary, AB (Canada)

2010-07-01

This PowerPoint presentation discussed methods of disposing oil sands tailings. Oil sands operators are currently challenged by a variety of legislative and environmental factors concerning the creation and disposal of oil sands tailings. The media has focused on the negative ecological impact of oil sands production, and technical issues are reducing the effect of some mitigation processes. Operators must learn to manage the interface between tailings production and removal, the environment, and public opinion. The successful management of oil sand tailings will include procedures designed to improve reclamation processes, understand environmental laws and regulations, and ensure that the cumulative impacts of tailings are mitigated. Geotechnical investigations, engineering designs and various auditing procedures can be used to develop tailings management plans. Environmental screening and impact assessments can be used to develop sustainable solutions. Public participation and environmental mediation is needed to integrate the public, environmental and technical tailings management strategies. Operators must ensure public accountability for all stakeholders. tabs., figs.

Quasi-steady state aerodynamics of the cheetah tail

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amir Patel

2016-08-01

Full Text Available During high-speed pursuit of prey, the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus has been observed to swing its tail while manoeuvring (e.g. turning or braking but the effect of these complex motions is not well understood. This study demonstrates the potential of the cheetah's long, furry tail to impart torques and forces on the body as a result of aerodynamic effects, in addition to the well-known inertial effects. The first-order aerodynamic forces on the tail are quantified through wind tunnel testing and it is observed that the fur nearly doubles the effective frontal area of the tail without much mass penalty. Simple dynamic models provide insight into manoeuvrability via simulation of pitch, roll and yaw tail motion primitives. The inertial and quasi-steady state aerodynamic effects of tail actuation are quantified and compared by calculating the angular impulse imparted onto the cheetah's body and its shown aerodynamic effects contribute to the tail's angular impulse, especially at the highest forward velocities.

Research on uranium tailings disposal technology at CANMET, Ottawa

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Skeaff, J.M.; Ritcey, G.M.; Jongejan, A.; Silver, M.

1982-01-01

In this paper, results from three continuing investigations at CANMET on uranium tailings management are presented. These investigations are: cleaning of tailings by flotation, conversion of municipal wastes into compost for use as topsoil on uranium tailings, methods for the chemical fixation of uranium tailings and a laboratory determination of the rate of release of environmental contaminants from uranium tailings

Fat Quality Influences the Obesogenic Effect of High Fat Diets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raffaella Crescenzo

2015-11-01

Full Text Available High fat and/or carbohydrate intake are associated with an elevated risk for obesity and chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The harmful effects of a high fat diet could be different, depending on dietary fat quality. In fact, high fat diets rich in unsaturated fatty acids are considered less deleterious for human health than those rich in saturated fat. In our previous studies, we have shown that rats fed a high fat diet developed obesity and exhibited a decrease in oxidative capacity and an increase in oxidative stress in liver mitochondria. To investigate whether polyunsaturated fats could attenuate the above deleterious effects of high fat diets, energy balance and body composition were assessed after two weeks in rats fed isocaloric amounts of a high-fat diet (58.2% by energy rich either in lard or safflower/linseed oil. Hepatic functionality, plasma parameters, and oxidative status were also measured. The results show that feeding on safflower/linseed oil diet attenuates the obesogenic effect of high fat diets and ameliorates the blood lipid profile. Conversely, hepatic steatosis and mitochondrial oxidative stress appear to be negatively affected by a diet rich in unsaturated fatty acids.

Consistency based correlations for tailings consolidation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Azam, S.; Paul, A.C. [Regina Univ., Regina, SK (Canada). Environmental Systems Engineering

2010-07-01

The extraction of oil, uranium, metals and mineral resources from the earth generates significant amounts of tailings slurry. The tailings are contained in a disposal area with perimeter dykes constructed from the coarser fraction of the slurry. There are many unique challenges pertaining to the management of the containment facilities for several decades beyond mine closure that are a result of the slow settling rates of the fines and the high standing toxic waters. Many tailings dam failures in different parts of the world have been reported to result in significant contaminant releases causing public concern over the conventional practice of tailings disposal. Therefore, in order to reduce and minimize the environmental footprint, the fluid tailings need to undergo efficient consolidation. This paper presented an investigation into the consolidation behaviour of tailings in conjunction with soil consistency that captured physicochemical interactions. The paper discussed the large strain consolidation behaviour (volume compressibility and hydraulic conductivity) of six fine-grained soil slurries based on published data. The paper provided background information on the study and presented the research methodology. The geotechnical index properties of the selected materials were also presented. The large strain consolidation, volume compressibility correlations, and hydraulic conductivity correlations were provided. It was concluded that the normalized void ratio best described volume compressibility whereas liquidity index best explained the hydraulic conductivity. 17 refs., 3 tabs., 4 figs.

Geophysical applications for oil sand mine tailings management

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Parker, D.; Bauman, P. [WorleyParsons, Calgary, AB (Canada)

2009-07-01

Geophysical techniques are applied throughout a mine's life cycle to facilitate siting, constructing and monitoring of tailings dumps and ponds. This presentation described 3 case studies from the Athabasca region in northeast Alberta that demonstrated some of the concerns associated with oil sand mine tailings, and the information that geophysical surveys can provide. The objectives of these studies were to determine the lateral and depth extents of elevated conductivities of soil and groundwater that have high salt concentration from the tailings sand pore fluid. Due to high chloride concentrations within the tailings material, salt within the root zone may affect vegetation. A terrain conductivity survey was designed to map the lateral extents of salinity impact, while an electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) survey was used to delineate the tailings sand leachate at depth. The proper management of oil sand tailings facilities is vital to the life cycle of a mine. It was concluded that geophysical techniques can be instrumental in managing several engineering and environmental challenges, from Pleistocene channel mapping, to tailings pond settling characteristics, to reclaiming tailings sands. 1 ref., 7 figs.

Engineering assessment of inactive uranium mill tailings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1981-07-01

The Grand Junction site has been reevaluated in order to revise the October 1977 engineering assessment of the problems resulting from the existence of radioactive uranium mill tailings at Grand Junction, Colorado. This engineering assessment has included the preparation of topographic maps, the performance of core drillings and radiometric measurements sufficient to determine areas and volumes of tailings and radiation exposures of individuals and nearby populations, the investigations of site hydrology and meteorology, and the evaluation and costing of alternative corrective actions. Radon gas released from the 1.9 million tons of tailings at the Grand Junction site constitutes the most significant environmental impact, although windblown tailings and external gamma radiation are also factors. The eight alternative actions presented herein range from millsite and off-site decontamination with the addition of 3 m of stabilization cover material (Option I), to removal of the tailings to remote disposal sites and decontamination of the tailings site (Options II through VIII). Cost estimates for the eight options range from about $10,200,000 for stabilization in-place to about $39,500,000 for disposal in the DeBeque area, at a distance of about 35 mi, using transportation by rail. If transportation to DeBeque were by truck, the cost estimated to be about $41,900,000. Three principal alternatives for the reprocessing of the Grand Junction tailings were examined: (a) heap leaching; (b) treatment at an existing mill; and (c) reprocessing at a new conventional mill constructed for tailings reprocessing. The cost of the uranium recovered would be about $200/lb by heap leach and $150/lb by conventional plant processes. The spot market price for uranium was $25/lb early in 1981. Therefore, reprocessing the tailings for uranium recovery appears not to be economically attractive.

Engineering assessment of inactive uranium mill tailings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1981-07-01

The Grand Junction site has been reevaluated in order to revise the October 1977 engineering assessment of the problems resulting from the existence of radioactive uranium mill tailings at Grand Junction, Colorado. This engineering assessment has included the preparation of topographic maps, the performance of core drillings and radiometric measurements sufficient to determine areas and volumes of tailings and radiation exposures of individuals and nearby populations, the investigations of site hydrology and meteorology, and the evaluation and costing of alternative corrective actions. Radon gas released from the 1.9 million tons of tailings at the Grand Junction site constitutes the most significant environmental impact, although windblown tailings and external gamma radiation are also factors. The eight alternative actions presented herein range from millsite and off-site decontamination with the addition of 3 m of stabilization cover material (Option I), to removal of the tailings to remote disposal sites and decontamination of the tailings site (Options II through VIII). Cost estimates for the eight options range from about $10,200,000 for stabilization in-place to about $39,500,000 for disposal in the DeBeque area, at a distance of about 35 mi, using transportation by rail. If transportation to DeBeque were by truck, the cost estimated to be about $41,900,000. Three principal alternatives for the reprocessing of the Grand Junction tailings were examined: (a) heap leaching; (b) treatment at an existing mill; and (c) reprocessing at a new conventional mill constructed for tailings reprocessing. The cost of the uranium recovered would be about $200/lb by heap leach and $150/lb by conventional plant processes. The spot market price for uranium was $25/lb early in 1981. Therefore, reprocessing the tailings for uranium recovery appears not to be economically attractive

Behavioral correlates between daily activity and sociality in wild and captive origin African lions.

Science.gov (United States)

Dunston, Emma J; Abell, Jackie; Freire, Rafael

2016-01-01

Study of behavioral correlations within and across populations has long been of interest to ethologists. An exploration of behavioral correlations between sociality and behavior of African lions ( Panthera leo ) was undertaken to examine if this approach is better able to reveal important aspects of lion behavior not easily discernible by looking at these behaviors separately. Resting behavior and received play interactions were correlated in 2 captive-origin prides and one wild pride, attributable to the involvement of cubs and sub-adults. Direct and exploratory movement was negatively correlated with groom centrality in 2 of the 3 prides, due to adults engaging in high levels of both of these activities. Exploration of these behavioral correlations highlighted the differences between age-groups in activity and sociality, facilitating the understanding of the complex behavior and interactions of lions. In addition, the finding of similar behavioral correlations between captive-origin and the wild prides provides confidence in the suitability if captive-origin candidates for ex-situ release. This is imperative to ensure the success of sub-groups and prides under an ex-situ reintroduction program.

Four tails problems for dynamical collapse theories

Science.gov (United States)

McQueen, Kelvin J.

2015-02-01

The primary quantum mechanical equation of motion entails that measurements typically do not have determinate outcomes, but result in superpositions of all possible outcomes. Dynamical collapse theories (e.g. GRW) supplement this equation with a stochastic Gaussian collapse function, intended to collapse the superposition of outcomes into one outcome. But the Gaussian collapses are imperfect in a way that leaves the superpositions intact. This is the tails problem. There are several ways of making this problem more precise. But many authors dismiss the problem without considering the more severe formulations. Here I distinguish four distinct tails problems. The first (bare tails problem) and second (structured tails problem) exist in the literature. I argue that while the first is a pseudo-problem, the second has not been adequately addressed. The third (multiverse tails problem) reformulates the second to account for recently discovered dynamical consequences of collapse. Finally the fourth (tails problem dilemma) shows that solving the third by replacing the Gaussian with a non-Gaussian collapse function introduces new conflict with relativity theory.

Hair plucking, stress, and urinary cortisol among captive bonobos (Pan paniscus).

Science.gov (United States)

Brand, Colin M; Boose, Klaree J; Squires, Erica C; Marchant, Linda F; White, Frances J; Meinelt, Audra; Snodgrass, J Josh

2016-09-01

Hair plucking has been observed in many captive primate species, including the great apes; however, the etiology of this behavioral pattern is poorly understood. While this behavior has not been reported in wild apes, an ethologically identical behavior in humans, known as trichotillomania, is linked to chronic psychosocial stress and is a predominantly female disorder. This study examines hair plucking (defined here as a rapid jerking away of the hair shaft and follicle by the hand or mouth, often accompanied by inspection and consumption of the hair shaft and follicle) in a captive group of bonobos (N = 13) at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Columbus, Ohio. Plucking data were collected using behavior and all-occurrence sampling; 1,450 social and self-directed grooming bouts were recorded during 128 hr of observation. Twenty-one percent of all grooming bouts involved at least one instance of plucking. Urine samples (N = 55) were collected and analyzed for the stress hormone cortisol. Analyses of urinary cortisol levels showed a significant positive correlation between mean cortisol and self-directed plucking for females (r = 0.88, P association between relative self-directed hair plucking and cortisol among female bonobos. This is the first study to investigate the relationship between hair plucking and cortisol among apes. Overall, these data add to our knowledge of a contemporary issue in captive ape management. Zoo Biol. 35:415-422, 2016. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A Note on Upper Tail Behavior of Liouville Copulas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lei Hua

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The family of Liouville copulas is defined as the survival copulas of multivariate Liouville distributions, and it covers the Archimedean copulas constructed by Williamson’s d-transform. Liouville copulas provide a very wide range of dependence ranging from positive to negative dependence in the upper tails, and they can be useful in modeling tail risks. In this article, we study the upper tail behavior of Liouville copulas through their upper tail orders. Tail orders of a more general scale mixture model that covers Liouville distributions is first derived, and then tail order functions and tail order density functions of Liouville copulas are derived. Concrete examples are given after the main results.

Behavioral ecology of captive species: using behavioral adaptations to assess and enhance welfare of nonhuman zoo animals.

Science.gov (United States)

Koene, Paul

2013-01-01

This project aimed to estimate a species' adaptations in nature and in captivity, assess welfare, suggest environmental changes, and find species characteristics that underlie welfare problems in nonhuman animals in the zoo. First, the current status of zoo animal welfare assessment was reviewed, and the behavioral ecology approach was outlined. In this approach, databases of species characteristics were developed using (a) literature of natural behavior and (b) captive behavior. Species characteristics were grouped in 8 functional behavioral ecological fitness-related categories: space, time, metabolic, safety, reproductive, comfort, social, and information adaptations. Assessments of the strength of behavioral adaptations in relation to environmental demands were made based on the results available from the literature. The databases with literature at the species level were coupled with databases of (c) behavioral observations and (d) welfare assessments under captive conditions. Observation and welfare assessment methods were adapted from the animal on the farm realm and applied to zoo species. It was expected that the comparison of the repertoire of behaviors in natural and captive environments would highlight welfare problems, provide solutions to welfare problems by environmental changes, and identify species characteristics underlying zoo animal welfare problems.

The social and ecological integration of captive-raised adolescent male African elephants (Loxodonta africana into a wild population.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kate Evans

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: A rapid rise in the number of captive African elephants (Loxodonta africana used in the tourism industry in southern Africa and orphaned elephants in human care has led to concerns about their long-term management, particularly males. One solution is to release them into the wild at adolescence, when young males naturally leave their herd. However, this raises significant welfare concerns: little is known about how well released elephants integrate into wild populations and whether they pose a greater threat to humans than wild elephants. We document the release of three captive-raised adolescent male African elephants in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Despite having been part of a herd of working elephants for at least eight years, the three males progressively integrated into the complex fission-fusion society of wild bull elephants. In the three years following release, they showed no tendency to be closer to human habitation, and there were no significant differences between wild and captive-raised adolescent males in the total number of social interactions, size of ranges and habitat use. However, the captive-raised elephants sparred less and vocalised more, and spent more time alone and in smaller social groups. Thereafter the released elephants continued to expand their ranges and interact with both mixed-sex herds and males. One male was shot by farmers 94 months after release, along with ten wild elephants, on a ranch outside the protected area. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We show that captive-raised adolescent male elephants can integrate into a wild population. Long-term studies are required to determine the longevity, breeding success, and eventual fate of released male elephants, but we identified no significant short-term welfare problems for the released elephants or recipient population. Release of captive-raised mammals with complex social systems is a husbandry option that should be

Solar wind interaction with type-1 comet tails

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ershkovich, A.I.

1977-01-01

A comet tail is considered as a plasma cylinder separated by a tangential discontinuity surface from the solar wind. Under typical conditions a comet tail boundary is shown to undergo the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. With infinite amplitude the stabilizing effect of the magnetic field increases, and waves become stable. The proposed model supplies the detailed quantitative description of helical waves observed in type-1 comet tails. This theory enables the evaluation of the comet tail magnetic field by means of the observations of helical waves. The magnetic field in the comet tail turns out to be of the order of the interplanetary field. This conclusion seems to be in accordance with Alfven's idea that the magnetic field in type-1 comet tails is a captured interplanetary field. (Auth.)

Uranium mill tailings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McLaren, L.H.

1982-11-01

This bibliography contains information on uranium mill tailings included in the Department of Energy's Energy Data Base from January 1981 through October 1982. The abstracts are grouped by subject category as shown in the table of contents. Entries in the subject index also facilitate access by subject, e.g., Mill Tailings/Radiation Hazards. Within each category the arrangement is by report number for reports, followed by nonreports in reverse chronological order. These citations are to research reports, journal articles, books, patents, theses, and conference papers from worldwide sources. Five indexes, each preceded by a brief description, are provided: Corporate Author, Personal Author, Subject, Contract Number, and Report Number. (335 abstracts)

The relations between posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and disorder of extreme stress (not otherwise specified) symptoms following war captivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Zerach, Gadi; Solomon, Zahava

2013-01-01

War captivity is a recognized pathogenic agent for both posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and disorder of extreme stress not otherwise specified (DESNOS) symptoms, also known as Complex PTSD. However, the relationship between the two disorders remains unclear. While some scholars assume that the two diagnoses are overlapping and share the same predictors, others believe that the two diagnoses are relatively independent and differ in phenomenology and functional impairment. This study aims to assess both PTSD and DESNOS symptoms and their inter-relations among ex-prisoners of war (ex-POWs) and matched controls, 35 years after the end of the war. The sample included two groups of male Israeli veterans from the 1973 Yom Kippur War: ex-POWs (n = 176) and comparable veterans who had not been held captive (n = 118). PTSD and DESNOS symptoms, battlefield and captivity stressors, and ways of coping in captivity were assessed using self-report questionnaires in 2008. Ex-POWs reported a higher number of PTSD symptoms and higher rates of PTSD symptoms that fill criteria for the diagnosis of PTSD than controls. Furthermore, ex-POWs reported a higher number of DESNOS symptom clusters and higher rates of DESNOS symptoms that fill criteria for the diagnosis of DESNOS. Moreover, we found positive relationships between PTSD symptom clusters and DESNOS symptom clusters. Finally, weight loss and mental suffering in captivity, loss of emotional control and total number of DESNOS symptoms predicted total number of PTSD symptoms. However, only the total number of PTSD symptoms predicted the total number of DESNOS symptoms. This study demonstrated the heavy and extensive toll of war captivity, three decades after the ex-POWs' release from captivity. Importantly, approaching the publication of DSM-5, this study depicts both the high number of DESNOS symptom clusters alongside PTSD symptoms and highlights the complex relationship between the two diagnostic entities. Thus

Grande Ronde Basin Chinook Salmon Captive Brood and Conventional Supplementation Program, 2000 Annual Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carmichael, Richard W. (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, La Grande, OR)

2003-03-01

Endangered Species Permit Number 1011 (formerly Permit No. 973) authorizes ODFW to take listed spring chinook salmon juveniles from Catherine Creek (CC), Lostine River (LR) and Grande Ronde River (GR) for research and enhancement purposes. Modification 2 of this permit authorizes ODFW to take adults for spawning and the production and release of smolts for the Captive and Conventional broodstock programs. This report satisfies the requirement that an annual report be submitted. Herein we report on activities conducted and provide cursory data analyses for the Grande Ronde spring chinook salmon Captive and Conventional broodstock projects from 1 January-31 December 2000.

Grande Ronde Basin Chinook Salmon Captive Brood and Conventional Supplementation Programs, 2001 Annual Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carmichael, Richard W. (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, La Grande, OR)

2003-03-01

Endangered Species Permit Number 1011 (formerly Permit No. 973) authorizes ODFW to take listed spring chinook salmon juveniles from Catherine Creek (CC), Lostine River (LR) and Grande Ronde River (GR) for research and enhancement purposes. Modification 2 of this permit authorizes ODFW to take adults for spawning and the production and release of smolts for the Captive and Conventional broodstock programs. This report satisfies the requirement that an annual report be submitted. Herein we report on activities conducted and provide cursory data analyses for the Grande Ronde spring chinook salmon Captive and Conventional broodstock projects from 1 January-31 December 2001.

Multiple myeloma in a captive lion (Panthera leo

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adrian S.W. Tordiffe

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Multiple myeloma is a rare, systemic proliferation of neoplastic plasma cells. A case was reported in an 11-year-old male captive lion (Panthera leo at the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa, Pretoria. The classic features of symptomatic multiple myeloma were all evident in this case; namely osteolytic lesions, monoclonal gammopathy in the serum with excretion of monoclonal proteins in the urine, neoplastic plasma cells in the bone marrow and associated renal failure and anaemia. In addition, similar to the common pattern of this disease in domestic felids, at least three extramedullary tumours were found and several organs were infiltrated by neoplastic plasma cells. The cytoplasm of approximately 50%of the neoplastic round cells, including a few giant myeloma cells, stained weakly to strongly using immunohistochemical stains for B-lymphocytes (CD79a. The normal haematological parameters and lack of any osteolytic lesions in the lion at the time of the first evaluation suggest that the primary neoplastic cells could have originated from one of the extramedullary tumour sites. Only two cases of multiple myeloma have previously been reported in captive wild felids. To the authors’ knowledge, there are no case reports of multiple myeloma in lions.

Heavy Tail Behavior of Rainfall Extremes across Germany

Science.gov (United States)

Castellarin, A.; Kreibich, H.; Vorogushyn, S.; Merz, B.

2017-12-01

Distributions are termed heavy-tailed if extreme values are more likely than would be predicted by probability distributions that have exponential asymptotic behavior. Heavy-tail behavior often leads to surprise, because historical observations can be a poor guide for the future. Heavy-tail behavior seems to be widespread for hydro-meteorological extremes, such as extreme rainfall and flood events. To date there have been only vague hints to explain under which conditions these extremes show heavy-tail behavior. We use an observational data set consisting of 11 climate variables at 1440 stations across Germany. This homogenized, gap-free data set covers 110 years (1901-2010) at daily resolution. We estimate the upper tail behavior, including its uncertainty interval, of daily precipitation extremes for the 1,440 stations at the annual and seasonal time scales. Different tail indicators are tested, including the shape parameter of the Generalized Extreme Value distribution, the upper tail ratio and the obesity index. In a further step, we explore to which extent the tail behavior can be explained by geographical and climate factors. A large number of characteristics is derived, such as station elevation, degree of continentality, aridity, measures for quantifying the variability of humidity and wind velocity, or event-triggering large-scale atmospheric situation. The link between the upper tail behavior and these characteristics is investigated via data mining methods capable of detecting non-linear relationships in large data sets. This exceptionally rich observational data set, in terms of number of stations, length of time series and number of explaining variables, allows insights into the upper tail behavior which is rarely possible given the typical observational data sets available.

Quasi-steady state aerodynamics of the cheetah tail.

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Amir; Boje, Edward; Fisher, Callen; Louis, Leeann; Lane, Emily

2016-08-15

During high-speed pursuit of prey, the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) has been observed to swing its tail while manoeuvring (e.g. turning or braking) but the effect of these complex motions is not well understood. This study demonstrates the potential of the cheetah's long, furry tail to impart torques and forces on the body as a result of aerodynamic effects, in addition to the well-known inertial effects. The first-order aerodynamic forces on the tail are quantified through wind tunnel testing and it is observed that the fur nearly doubles the effective frontal area of the tail without much mass penalty. Simple dynamic models provide insight into manoeuvrability via simulation of pitch, roll and yaw tail motion primitives. The inertial and quasi-steady state aerodynamic effects of tail actuation are quantified and compared by calculating the angular impulse imparted onto the cheetah's body and its shown aerodynamic effects contribute to the tail's angular impulse, especially at the highest forward velocities. © 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Utilization of mine tailings as partial cement replacement

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sigvardsen, Nina Marie; Nielsen, M.R.; Ottosen, Lisbeth M.

2017-01-01

Depositing mine tailings entail major economic costs and negative environmental impacts. Thus finding an alternative to depositing is of interest. This study focused on the use of mine tailings as partial cement replacement, thereby preventing depositing the mine tailings. At the same time......, such use would reduce the CO2 emission related to the production of cement. Mine tailings from two different mines Zinkgruvan (Sweden) and Nalunaq (Greenland) were both tested as 5 and 10 % cement replacement. All mortar specimens with mine tailings had lower compressive strength compared to a reference...... compared to a specimen containing a 10 % replacement of cement with coal fly ash, commonly used in Denmark. The compressive strength of specimens containing mine tailings exceeded the compressive strength of the specimen containing coal fly ash, indicating further the amorphous content of volcanic decent...

The Sodium Tail of the Moon

Science.gov (United States)

Matta, M.; Smith, S.; Baumgardner, J.; Wilson, J.; Martinis, C.; Mendillo, M.

2009-01-01

During the few days centered about new Moon, the lunar surface is optically hidden from Earth-based observers. However, the Moon still offers an observable: an extended sodium tail. The lunar sodium tail is the escaping "hot" component of a coma-like exosphere of sodium generated by photon-stimulated desorption, solar wind sputtering and meteoroid impact. Neutral sodium atoms escaping lunar gravity experience solar radiation pressure that drives them into the anti-solar direction forming a comet-like tail. During new Moon time, the geometry of the Sun, Moon and Earth is such that the anti-sunward sodium flux is perturbed by the terrestrial gravitational field resulting in its focusing into a dense core that extends beyond the Earth. An all-sky camera situated at the El Leoncito Observatory (CASLEO) in Argentina has been successfully imaging this tail through a sodium filter at each lunation since April 2006. This paper reports on the results of the brightness of the lunar sodium tail spanning 31 lunations between April 2006 and September 2008. Brightness variability trends are compared with both sporadic and shower meteor activity, solar wind proton energy flux and solar near ultra violet (NUV) patterns for possible correlations. Results suggest minimal variability in the brightness of the observed lunar sodium tail, generally uncorrelated with any single source, yet consistent with a multi-year period of minimal solar activity and non-intense meteoric fluxes.

Dinomys branickii Peters, 1873 (Rodentia, Dinomyidae: consumption and food preference in captivity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raymundo Tomaz Melo dos Santos Neto

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Dinomys branickii is a large rodent listed as Endangered (EN, that suffers pressure from anthropogenic activities such as hunting and habitat destruction. Captive breeding methods are viable for supplementation of conservation projects, and may enhance our knowledge of main aspects of the biology of this species. The objective of this study was to determine consumption and food preferences in a captive group of D. branickii. To determine feeding preferences, the Food Preference Index (P was used for the type of food with highest consumption. The mean amount of food provided was 6.6 kg per day per group, with 4.4 kg per day/group consumed (66%. An average of 11 ± 2.9 types of food were offered daily. The consumption of fruits (71% was higher than the consumption of other food groups, followed by roots/tubers (65.3%. The food groups least consumed were cereals and seeds (39.4% and leaves (38.3%. The preferred foods were: Brassica oleracea (P = 1.38, Zea mays (P = 1.25, Ipomoea batatas (P = 1.17, Mangifera indica (P = 1.13, Cucurbita moschata (P = 1.10, Talinum esculentum (P = 1.00 and Manihot esculenta (P = 1.00. These results suggest that foods with high fiber and carbohydrate content are the best choices for D. branickii development and well-being in captivity.

Digestibility of a new diet for captive short-beaked echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus).

Science.gov (United States)

Stannard, Hayley J; Bekkers, Jamie M; Old, Julie M; McAllan, Bronwyn M; Shaw, Michelle E

2017-01-01

Short-beaked echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus) are myrmecophages, or ant and termite insectivore specialists, and replicating their exact diet in captivity is problematic. Diets for captive animals often incorporate raw meat, eggs and cat food mixed together with water, and vitamin and mineral supplements. These diets have promoted a number of health problems in captive echidnas, such as gastritis, cystitis, gut impaction, obesity, and diarrhea. A manufactured diet was designed and three echidnas from two zoos were transitioned onto this diet to assess the acceptability and digestibility of this diet for echidnas. The new "test" diet was readily accepted by the echidnas with a 1 week transition period. Daily digestible energy intake was 280 kJ kg -0.75 d -1 , similar to another myrmecophagous species. Digestibility values were above 74% for all macronutrients. It was determined that this diet was an acceptable replacement for the previous diets and it was decided that the remaining echidnas at both institutions would be transitioned to the new diet. The diet will also be used for wild echidnas being rehabilitated in the zoo hospitals prior to release and commercially available within Australia. Further data are being collected to assess the use of this diet for seasonal weight management, transitioning hand-reared puggles and effects on gastrointestinal tract health. Zoo Biol. 36:56-61, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Blast densification trials for oilsands tailings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Port, A. [Klohn Crippen Berger Ltd., Vancouver, BC (Canada); Martens, S. [Klohn Crippen Berger Ltd., Calgary, AB (Canada); Eaton, T. [Shell Canada Ltd., Calgary, AB (Canada)

2010-07-01

The Shell Canada Muskeg River Mine External Tailings Facility (ETF) is an upstream constructed tailings facility located near Fort McMurray, Alberta. Raises have incrementally stepped out over the beach since construction of the starter dam and deposition within standing water has left some parts of the beach in a loose state. In order to assess the effectiveness of blast densification, a blast densification trial program that was conducted in 2006 at the ETF. The primary purpose of the test program was to determine the effectiveness of blast densification in tailings containing layers and zones of bitumen. The paper described the site characterization and explosive compaction trial program, with particular reference to test layout; drilling methodology; and blasting and timing sequence. The paper also described the instrumentation, including the seismographs; high pressure electric piezometers; low pressure electric piezometers; vibrating wire piezometers; inclinometers; settlement gauges; and surveys. Trial observations and post-trial observations were also presented. It was concluded that controlled blasting techniques could be used to safely induce liquefaction in localized areas within the tailings deposit, with a resulting increase in the tailings density. 5 refs., 1 tab., 14 figs.

Estimating contaminant discharge rates from stabilized uranium tailings embankments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weber, M.F.

1986-01-01

Estimates of contaminant discharge rates from stabilized uranium tailings embankments are essential in evaluating long-term impacts of tailings disposal on groundwater resources. Contaminant discharge rates are a function of water flux through tailings covers, the mass and distribution of tailings, and the concentrations of contaminants in percolating pore fluids. Simple calculations, laboratory and field testing, and analytical and numerical modeling may be used to estimate water flux through variably-saturated tailings under steady-state conditions, which develop after consolidation and dewatering have essentially ceased. Contaminant concentrations in water discharging from the tailings depend on tailings composition, leachability and solubility of contaminants, geochemical conditions within the embankment, tailings-water interactions, and flux of water through the embankment. These concentrations may be estimated based on maximum reported concentrations, pore water concentrations, extrapolations of column leaching data, or geochemical equilibria and reaction pathway modeling. Attempts to estimate contaminant discharge rates should begin with simple, conservative calculations and progress to more-complicated approaches, as necessary

Tailings dams from the perspective of conventional dam engineering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Szymanski, M.B.

1999-01-01

A guideline intended for conventional dams such as hydroelectric, water supply, flood control, or irrigation is used sometimes for evaluating the safety of a tailings dam. Differences between tailings dams and conventional dams are often substantial and, as such, should not be overlooked when applying the techniques or safety requirements of conventional dam engineering to tailings dams. Having a dam safety evaluation program developed specifically for tailings dams is essential, if only to reduce the chance of potential errors or omissions that might occur when relying on conventional dam engineering practice. This is not to deny the merits of using the Canadian Dam Safety Association Guidelines (CDSA) and similar conventional dam guidelines for evaluating the safety of tailings dams. Rather it is intended as a warning, and as a rationale underlying basic requirement of tailings dam emgineering: specific experience in tailings dams is essential when applying conventional dam engineering practice. A discussion is included that focuses on the more remarkable tailings dam safety practics. It is not addressed to a technical publications intended for such dams, or significantly different so that the use of conventional dam engineering practice would not be appropriate. The CDSA Guidelines were recently revised to include tailings dams. But incorporating tailings dams into the 1999 revision of the CDSA Guidelines is a first step only - further revision is necessary with respect to tailings dams. 11 refs., 2 tabs

Comparative Serum Fatty Acid Profiles of Captive and Free-Ranging Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) in Namibia.

Science.gov (United States)

Tordiffe, Adrian S W; Wachter, Bettina; Heinrich, Sonja K; Reyers, Fred; Mienie, Lodewyk J

2016-01-01

Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) are highly specialised large felids, currently listed as vulnerable on the IUCN red data list. In captivity, they are known to suffer from a range of chronic non-infectious diseases. Although low heterozygosity and the stress of captivity have been suggested as possible causal factors, recent studies have started to focus on the contribution of potential dietary factors in the pathogenesis of these diseases. Fatty acids are an important component of the diet, not only providing a source of metabolisable energy, but serving other important functions in hormone production, cellular signalling as well as providing structural components in biological membranes. To develop a better understanding of lipid metabolism in cheetahs, we compared the total serum fatty acid profiles of 35 captive cheetahs to those of 43 free-ranging individuals in Namibia using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The unsaturated fatty acid concentrations differed most remarkably between the groups, with all of the polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, except arachidonic acid and hypogeic acid, detected at significantly lower concentrations in the serum of the free-ranging animals. The influence of age and sex on the individual fatty acid concentrations was less notable. This study represents the first evaluation of the serum fatty acids of free-ranging cheetahs, providing critical information on the normal fatty acid profiles of free-living, healthy individuals of this species. The results raise several important questions about the potential impact of dietary fatty acid composition on the health of cheetahs in captivity.

Internatural Activists and the “Blackfish Effect”: Contemplating Captive Orcas’ Protest Rhetoric through a Coherence Frame

OpenAIRE

Burford, Caitlyn; Schutten, Julie “Madrone” Kalil

2017-01-01

The documentary film Blackfish (2013; www.blackfishmovie.com) follows Tilikum, a captive SeaWorld prisoner-orca responsible for the death of trainer Dawn Brancheau and two others. The film has had a profound effect on public perceptions of orca captivity creating the “Blackfish Effect.” Our critical analysis of the film engages Plec’s (2013) internatural communication categories of complicity, implication, and coherence. We argue that the film illustrates the flawed hierarchy within the binar...

Temperature discrimination by captive free-swimming tuna, Euthynnus affinis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Steffel, S.; Dizon, A.E.; Magnuson, J.J.; Neill, W.H.

1976-01-01

Captive kawakawa, Euthynnus affinis, were instrumentally conditioned to respond to an increase in temperature to determine discrimination abilities. Two fish yielded a discrimination threshold of 0.10 to 0.15 0 C. Thermal sensitivity of this high-seas pelagic fish is thus no more acute than that of inshore fishes and appears inadequate for direct sensing of weak horizontal temperature gradients at sea

Collisional relaxation of electron tail distribution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamagiwa, Mitsuru; Okamoto, Masao.

1985-05-01

Relaxation due to the Coulomb collisions of the electron velocity distribution function with a high energy tail is investigated in detail. In the course of the relaxation, a 'saddle' point can be created in velocity space owing to upsilon -3 dependence of the deflection rate and a positive slope or a 'dip' appears in the tail direction. The time evolution of the electron tail is studied analytically. A comparison is made with numerical results by using a Fokker-Planck code. Also discussed is the kinetic instability concerned with the positive slope during the relaxation. (author)

Feeding and growth in a captive-born bottlenose dolphin Tursiops ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The feeding and growth of a captive-born bottlenose dolphin Tursiops trunatus calf were studied for 30 months post partum. Changes in the behaviours associated with suckling were monitored and suggested that the mammary glands need tactile stimulation before the calf can feed. The calf exhibited no teat preference ...

78 FR 10200 - Proposed Information Collection; Captive Wildlife Safety Act

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-13

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Fish and Wildlife Service [FWS-HQ-LE-2013-N020; FF09L00200-FX-LE12200900000] Proposed Information Collection; Captive Wildlife Safety Act AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior. ACTION: Notice; request for comments. SUMMARY: We (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) will ask the...

Illegal captive lemurs in Madagascar: Comparing the use of online and in-person data collection methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Reuter, Kim E; Schaefer, Melissa S

2017-11-01

Although it is illegal to capture, sell, and trade lemurs, the live capture of lemurs in Madagascar is ongoing and may have impacted over 28,000 lemurs between 2010 and 2013. Only one study has examined this trade and did so using in-person interviews in northern Madagascar. The current study sought to expand this existing dataset and examine the comparability of online surveys to more traditional on-location data collection methods. In this study, we collected data through a web-based survey resulting in 302 sightings of 685 captive lemurs. We also collected data from 171 hotel and 43 restaurant websites and social media profiles. Survey submissions included sightings of 30 species from 10 genera, nearly twice as many species as identified via the in-person interviews. Lemur catta, Varecia variegata, and Eulemur fulvus were the most common species sighted in captivity. Captive lemurs were reported in 19 of Madagascar's 22 administrative regions and most were seen in urban areas near their habitat ranges. This represents a wider geographic distribution of captive lemurs than previously found through in-person interviews. The online survey results were broadly similar to those of the in-person surveys though greater in species and geographic diversity demonstrating advantages to the use of online surveys. The online research methods were low in cost (USD $100) compared to on-location data collection (USD $12,000). Identified disadvantages included sample bias; most of the respondents to the online survey were researchers and many captive sightings were near study sites. The results illustrate the benefits of incorporating a social science approach using online surveys as a complement to traditional fieldwork. Am. J. Primatol. 79:e22541, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Why are most EU pigs tail docked?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

D'eath, R.B.; Niemi, J.K.; Vosough Ahmadi, B.

2016-01-01

To limit tail biting incidence, most pig producers in Europe tail dock their piglets. This is despite EU Council Directive 2008/120/EC banning routine tail docking and allowing it only as a last resort. The paper aims to understand what it takes to fulfil the intentions of the Directive...... by examining economic results of four management and housing scenarios, and by discussing their consequences for animal welfare in the light of legal and ethical considerations. The four scenarios compared are: ‘Standard Docked’, a conventional housing scenario with tail docking meeting the recommendations...... for Danish production (0.7 m2/pig); ‘Standard Undocked’, which is the same as ‘Standard Docked’ but with no tail docking, ‘Efficient Undocked’ and ‘Enhanced Undocked’, which have increased solid floor area (0.9 and 1.0 m2/pig, respectively) provision of loose manipulable materials (100 and 200 g/straw per...

Unique structural features facilitate lizard tail autotomy.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanggaard, Kristian W; Danielsen, Carl Chr; Wogensen, Lise; Vinding, Mads S; Rydtoft, Louise M; Mortensen, Martin B; Karring, Henrik; Nielsen, Niels Chr; Wang, Tobias; Thøgersen, Ida B; Enghild, Jan J

2012-01-01

Autotomy refers to the voluntary shedding of a body part; a renowned example is tail loss among lizards as a response to attempted predation. Although many aspects of lizard tail autotomy have been studied, the detailed morphology and mechanism remains unclear. In the present study, we showed that tail shedding by the Tokay gecko (Gekko gecko) and the associated extracellular matrix (ECM) rupture were independent of proteolysis. Instead, lizard caudal autotomy relied on biological adhesion facilitated by surface microstructures. Results based on bio-imaging techniques demonstrated that the tail of Gekko gecko was pre-severed at distinct sites and that its structural integrity depended on the adhesion between these segments.

Basic description of tailings from Aitik focusing on mechanical behavior

OpenAIRE

Bhanbhro, Riaz; Knutsson, Roger; Rodriguez, Juan; Edeskär, Tommy; Knutsson, Sven

2013-01-01

Tailings are artificial granular materials that behave different as compared to natural soil of equal grain sizes. Tailings particle sizes, shapes, gradation and mechanical behavior may influence the performance of tailings dams. Hence it is essential to understand the tailings materials in depth. This article describes present studies being carried out on Aitik tailings. Basic tailings characteristics including specific gravity, phase relationships, particle sizes, particle shapes and direct...

Research on captive broodstock programs for pacific salmon: annual report, 2000-2001; ANNUAL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berejikian, B.; Nash, C.

2001-01-01

It is not yet possible to define a feeding regimen for captively-reared stocks similar to their natural regimen that enhances the post-release fitness of juveniles and improves the reproductive performance of adults. In the natural environment, seasonal differences in food quality and quantity have profound effects on growth and 'wild' attributes, such as external coloration and fin quality. Formulating the right feeds for conservation fish held for long periods in captivity before release is more complicated than formulating diets for farm fish. Recent research in salmonid nutrition shows it is necessary to consider daily dietary protein intake and protein intake relative to total dietary energy level, rather than simply the levels of total dietary lipid

A new procedure for deep sea mining tailings disposal

OpenAIRE

Ma, W.; Schott, D.L.; Lodewijks, G.

2017-01-01

Deep sea mining tailings disposal is a new environmental challenge related to water pollution, mineral crust waste handling, and ocean biology. The objective of this paper is to propose a new tailings disposal procedure for the deep sea mining industry. Through comparisons of the tailings disposal methods which exist in on-land mining and the coastal mining fields, a new tailings disposal procedure, i.e., the submarine–backfill–dam–reuse (SBDR) tailings disposal procedure, is proposed. It com...

Better Fitness in Captive Cuvier's Gazelle despite Inbreeding Increase: Evidence of Purging?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eulalia Moreno

Full Text Available Captive breeding of endangered species often aims at preserving genetic diversity and to avoid the harmful effects of inbreeding. However, deleterious alleles causing inbreeding depression can be purged when inbreeding persists over several generations. Despite its great importance both for evolutionary biology and for captive breeding programmes, few studies have addressed whether and to which extent purging may occur. Here we undertake a longitudinal study with the largest captive population of Cuvier's gazelle managed under a European Endangered Species Programme since 1975. Previous results in this population have shown that highly inbred mothers tend to produce more daughters, and this fact was used in 2006 to reach a more appropriate sex-ratio in this polygynous species by changing the pairing strategy (i.e., pairing some inbred females instead of keeping them as surplus individuals in the population. Here, by using studbook data we explore whether purging has occurred in the population by investigating whether after the change in pairing strategy a inbreeding and homozygosity increased at the population level, b fitness (survival increased, and c the relationship between inbreeding and juvenile survival, was positive. Consistent with the existence of purging, we found an increase in inbreeding coefficients, homozygosity and juvenile survival. In addition, we showed that in the course of the breeding programme the relationship between inbreeding and juvenile survival was not uniform but rather changed over time: it was negative in the early years, flat in the middle years and positive after the change in pairing strategy. We highlight that by allowing inbred individuals to mate in captive stocks we may favour sex-ratio bias towards females, a desirable managing strategy to reduce the surplus of males that force most zoos to use ethical culling and euthanizing management tools. We discuss these possibilities but also acknowledge that many

Study on reproduction of captive marine mammals.

Science.gov (United States)

Katsumata, Etsuko

2010-02-01

The reproductive endocrinological characteristics of beluga, killer whale, spotted seal and bottlenose dolphin were evaluated and used in conjunction with applied reproductive research to enhance captive breeding programs. Results from 8 y of biweekly serum progesterone determination in a female beluga indicated that sexual maturity occured at approximately age 13, two to seven estrous cycles, lasting 37 +/- 3.9 days, per yr began in April-May every year. Rectal temperature was positively correlated with serum progesterone levels and negatively associated with behavioral estrus. In five cases of pregnancy of two female killer whale, positive relationship was found between serum progesterone concentration and temperature during the first period of 18 month-gestation. In the normal parturitions (n=4), rectal temperature decreased 0.8 C lower than average rectal temperature during pregnancy. Sexual maturity of female killer whales occurred at age nine. Yearly contraception in the mono-estrus captive spotted seals (n=10) using a single dose of the progestagen (proligestone(TM); 5 or 10 mg/kg s.c.) was achieved in 94% (33/35) of the attempts over 5 yr when the hormone was administered two months prior to the breeding season. Artificial insemination trials (n=4) were conducted in female bottlenose dolphin (n=3) using fresh and frozen-thawed semen. Estrus synchronization using regumate (27 days) resulted in ovulation occurring 19 to 24 days post withdrawal. Conception was confirmed in 75% of the attempts, with two females successfully delivering calves.

Captive insurance: is it the right choice for your insurance exposures?

Science.gov (United States)

Frese, Richard C

2015-12-01

Potential benefits of a captive insurance company include: Broader coverage Improved cash flow and stability. Direct access to reinsurance markets. Tax advantages. Better handling and control of risk management and claims. Potential drawbacks and challenges include: Startup capitalization. Underwriting losses. Administration and commitment.

Relative apportioning of resources to the body and regenerating tail in juvenile leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularius) maintained on different dietary rations.

Science.gov (United States)

Lynn, Sabrina E; Borkovic, Benjamin P; Russell, Anthony P

2013-01-01

Caudal autotomy is a widespread phenomenon among lizards, and similar processes occur in other groups of vertebrates and invertebrates. Many costs have been associated with autotomy, including the regeneration of lost biomass. For lizards, it is not known whether resources are preferentially directed toward caudal regeneration or whether regeneration occurs only when resources are abundant. Conflicting information is present in the literature, and an absence of controlled experiments prevents determination of what pattern of regeneration may occur under a given set of circumstances. We employed the leopard gecko, a fat-tailed species, to examine whether tail regeneration is a priority and, if so, whether it remains so when resources become limiting. We explored this through caudal autotomy and dietary manipulation under conditions that ensured that differences in diet were sufficient to permit differential growth. We examined juvenile leopard geckos because these animals are rapidly growing and allocation of energy is not compromised by reproductive investment. The effects of dietary resource availability and the demands of caudal regeneration were compared in intact and regenerating animals. Our evidence indicates that caudal regeneration is a priority, even when resources are limiting. We conclude that tail regrowth is a priority that is associated with long-term survival and possibly reproductive success.

Metal mobilization under alkaline conditions in ash-covered tailings.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Jinmei; Alakangas, Lena; Wanhainen, Christina

2014-06-15

The aim of this study was to determine element mobilization and accumulation in mill tailings under alkaline conditions. The tailings were covered with 50 cm of fly ash, and above a sludge layer. The tailings were geochemically and mineralogically investigated. Sulfides, such as pyrrhotite, sphalerite and galena along with gangue minerals such as dolomite, calcite, micas, chlorite, epidote, Mn-pyroxene and rhodonite were identified in the unoxidized tailings. The dissolution of the fly ash layer resulted in a high pH (close to 12) in the underlying tailings. This, together with the presence of organic matter, increased the weathering of the tailings and mobilization of elements in the uppermost 47 cm of the tailings. All primary minerals were depleted, except quartz and feldspar which were covered by blurry secondary carbonates. Sulfide-associated elements such as Cd, Fe, Pb, S and Zn and silicate-associated elements such as Fe, Mg and Mn were released from the depletion zone and accumulated deeper down in the tailings where the pH decreased to circum-neutral. Sequential extraction suggests that Cd, Cu, Fe, Pb, S and Zn were retained deeper down in the tailings and were mainly associated with the sulfide phase. Calcium, Cr, K and Ni released from the ash layer were accumulated in the uppermost depletion zone of the tailings. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The radiological impacts of uranium mill tailings - a review with special emphasis on the tailings at Ranstad in Sweden

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Snihs, J.O.; Agnedal, P.O.

1978-07-01

The environmental impact of uranium mill tailings can be expressed in collective dose commitment and corresponding detriment per MWsub(e).Y energy produced by the uranium which corresponds to the amount of waste of interest. The methods of dose commitment calculations are discussed and it is suggested for the purpose of estimation of the detriment to limit the commitment to 10,000 years. The external radiation from the tailings is easily reduced by covering but in case of a future settlement on the tailings the collective dose commitment will be some hundreds to thousands of manrad/MWsub(e).Y depending on the quality of the uranium ore. The dispersion of dust from uncovered tailings is mainly a local problem and the collective dose commitment for critical tissues in the lung will be less than a manrad/MWsub(e).Y. In the long run the cover may be lost and the resultant collective dose commitment for the critical tissues in the lung will be a few tens of manrad/MWsub(e).Y depending on the quality of the tailings. The effects of global dispersion of the material in the tailings are also discussed

Ilmenite Mineral's Recovery from Beach Sand Tailings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mulaba-Bafubiandi, Antoine F.; Mukendi-Ngalula, David; Waanders, Frans B.

2002-01-01

The mineral ilmenite is the major source of rutile for industrial use and is of interest to paint and fertiliser industries. Enormous unutilised tailing dams lie on the eastern coast of the South Africa. Although covered by a simulation of the original indigenous vegetation, these tailings are still ilmenite bearing and of economic value. Tailings emanating from beach sand mineral slimes dams of the Kwazulu-Natal area (South Africa) have been processed. Screening, flotation, spiral concentration and magnetic separation methods were used either separately or successively. The present work sheds light on alternative routes for the extraction of the ilmenite, from these tailings. It moreover points out the usefulness of the Moessbauer spectroscopy in the mineral processing product monitoring. Tailings from the beach sands were used in the present study after the economic industrial minerals zirconia, ilmenite and rutile had been extracted in previous mining operations. About 61% natural ilmenite recovery was observed in the flotation concentrate of a Humphrey Spiral concentrate while a 62% recovery of hematite was found in the flotation tailings. The combination of screening, spiral concentration and magnetic separation, and flotation yielded a product with the highest ilmenite and hematite concentration being 71% and 19%, respectively. A natural ilmenite mineral, containing 87% ilmenite and 13% hematite, could be produced and extracted from the tailings of the flotation process, collected subsequently to the spiral concentration and the initial screening.

Molecular Detection and Genotyping of Chlamydia psittaci in Captive Psittacines from Costa Rica

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jessica Sheleby-Elías

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Oropharyngeal and cloacal swabs from 117 captive psittacine birds presented at veterinary clinics (88 and from shelters/rescue centers of wildlife (29 were collected to determine the prevalence of C. psittaci in captive birds in Costa Rica. Samples were collected during 2009 from a total of 19 different species of parrots, with Ara macao (33, Amazona autumnalis (24, Amazona ochrocephala (21, and Ara ararauna (8 being the most representative species sampled. C. psittaci was detected in four (3.4% birds using molecular detection (PCR. The positive samples belonged to birds presented at veterinary clinics; three of them were Ara macao and one Amazona ochrocephala. Three birds were adults; all positive birds showed no symptoms of illness and lived in homes with other birds, two in San José and two in Heredia. Sequencing was used to confirm the PCR positive results, showing that two samples of C. psittaci belonged to genotype A, representing the first report of the presence of this genotype in Costa Rica. The detection of this bacterium in captive psittacine birds shows that there is a potential risk for people living or having contact with them and that there is a possibility of infecting other birds.

Postmortal radiographic diagnosis of laminitis in a captive European moose (Alces alces).

Science.gov (United States)

Clauss, M; Keller, A; Peemöller, A; Nygrén, K; Hatt, J-M; Nuss, K

2009-11-01

A five year-old bull moose (Alces alces) was culled due to chronic hoof overgrowth that required frequent intervention. Radiographic examination revealed changes in phalangeal bone structure usually considered indicative for laminitis in domestic cattle; similar changes were absent in the hooves of a free-ranging moose of similar age. The captive animal had been maintained in exhibits whose flooring were much harder than the soil in natural moose habitat, and on a diet with a high proportion of easily fermentable carbohydrates. These findings indicate that chronic laminitis should be considered as a potential underlying factor for hoof overgrowth, and that measures aimed at reducing the incidence of laminitis in domestic cattle, such as the use of softer flooring and diets with a higher proportion of fibre, might have prophylactic potential in captive wild ruminants.

Chaperone role for proteins p618 and p892 in the extracellular tail development of Acidianus two-tailed virus

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Scheele, Urte; Erdmann, Susanne; Ungewickell, Ernst J.

2011-01-01

The crenarchaeal Acidianus two-tailed virus (ATV) undergoes a remarkable morphological development, extracellularly and independently of host cells, by growing long tails at each end of a spindle-shaped virus particle. Initial work suggested that an intermediate filament-like protein, p800...... the interactions observed between the different protein and DNA components and to explain their possible structural and functional roles in extracellular tail development....

Captivate MenuBuilder: Creating an Online Tutorial for Teaching Software

Science.gov (United States)

Yelinek, Kathryn; Tarnowski, Lynn; Hannon, Patricia; Oliver, Susan

2008-01-01

In this article, the authors, students in an instructional technology graduate course, describe a process to create an online tutorial for teaching software. They created the tutorial for a cyber school's use. Five tutorial modules were linked together through one menu screen using the MenuBuilder feature in the Adobe Captivate program. The…

Adaptive management for improving species conservation across the captive-wild spectrum

Science.gov (United States)

Canessa, Stefano; Guillera-Arroita, Gurutzeta; Lahoz-Monfort, José J.; Southwell, Darren M; Armstrong, Doug P.; Chadès, Iadine; Lacy, Robert C; Converse, Sarah J.

2016-01-01

Conservation of endangered species increasingly envisages complex strategies that integrate captive and wild management actions. Management decisions in this context must be made in the face of uncertainty, often with limited capacity to collect information. Adaptive management (AM) combines management and monitoring, with the aim of updating knowledge and improving decision-making over time. We provide a guide for managers who may realize the potential of AM, but are unsure where to start. The urgent need for iterative management decisions, the existence of uncertainty, and the opportunity for learning offered by often highly-controlled captive environments create favorable conditions for AM. However, experiments and monitoring may be complicated by small sample sizes, and the ability to control the system, including stochasticity and observability, may be limited toward the wild end of the spectrum. We illustrate the key steps to implementing AM in threatened species management using four case studies, including the management of captive programs for cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) and whooping cranes (Grus americana), of a translocation protocol for Arizona cliffroses Purshia subintegra and of ongoing supplementary feeding of reintroduced hihi (Notiomystis cincta) populations. For each case study, we explain (1) how to clarify whether the decision can be improved by learning (i.e. it is iterative and complicated by uncertainty) and what the management objectives are; (2) how to articulate uncertainty via alternative, testable hypotheses such as competing models or parameter distributions; (3) how to formally define how additional information can be collected and incorporated in future management decisions.

Molecular and serological investigation of infectious diseases in captive and free-range crab-eating fox (Cerdocyon thous - Linnaeus, 1776) from northeastern Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Almeida, Jonatas C; Melo, Renata P B; Kim, Pomy C P; Guerra, Neurisvan R; Alves, Leucio C; Costa, Diego F; Alves, Clebert José; Porto, Wagnner J N; Mota, Rinaldo A

2018-03-26

The aim of this study was to detect DNA and antibodies anti-Leishmania spp., Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii in captive and free-range crab-eating fox (Cerdocyon thous) from northeastern Brazil. Twenty-five crab-eating foxes from different states of northeastern Brazil were sampled by this study. Blood samples were collected by cephalic or jugular vein punctures. The whole blood was submitted to PCR, and the sera samples to the serological analysis as follows: MAT for T. gondii, NAT for N. caninum, and ELISA for L. chagasi. The frequence of antibodies anti-T. gondii was 50% and 29.41% for free-range and captive wild canids, respectively. The frequence of antibodies anti-N. caninum observed by this study was 62.50% and 23.52% for free-range and captive wild canids, respectively. The frequence of antibodies anti-L. chagasi was 4.0% for captive wild canids. Co-infections cases were identified as follows: one captive wild canid seropositive for T. gondii and L. chagasi and two free-range animals seropositive for T. gondii and N. caninum. All PCR assays performed were negative for the pathogens analyzed. This study describes the presence of antibodies anti-T. gondii, N. caninum e L. chagasi in wild canids from northeastern Brazil and highlights the necessity of further studies on infectious diseases in free-range and captive wild canids.

Serum and hepatic vitamin A levels in captive and wild marine toads (Bufo marinus).

Science.gov (United States)

Berkvens, Charlene N; Lentini, Andrew; Dutton, Christopher J; Pearl, David L; Barker, Ian K; Crawshaw, Graham J

2014-01-01

The captive breeding program for the endangered Puerto Rican crested toad (Peltophryne [Bufo] lemur) has been hampered by an undiagnosed condition called "Brown Skin Disease" (BSD). Toads develop widespread skin darkening, skin thickening and abnormal shedding and eventually succumb to a chronic loss of viability. This project evaluated the marine toad (Bufo marinus) as a model for the PRCT, examining vitamin A deficiency as a potential cause of BSD. Wild caught marine toads had significantly higher liver vitamin A concentrations (61.89 ± 63.49 µg/g) than captive born marine toads (0.58 ± 0.59 µg/g); P<0.001). A significant difference in serum vitamin A concentration was found between the captive and wild caught toads (P=0.013) and between the low vitamin A-fed and wild caught toads (P=0.004), when controlling for liver vitamin A concentrations. After captive toads were treated with topical and/or oral vitamin A, their hepatic vitamin A concentrations were similar to those of the wild toads, averaging 48.41 ± 37.03 µg/g. However, plasma vitamin A concentrations pre- and post-vitamin A supplementation did not differ statistically. We concluded that plasma vitamin A concentrations do not provide a linear indication of liver/body vitamin A status, and that both topical and oral supplementation with an oil-based vitamin A formulation can increase liver stores in amphibians. No evidence of BSD or other signs of deficiency were noted in the marine toads, although this feeding trial was relatively short (127 days). To date, clinical, pathological and research findings do not support vitamin A deficiency as a primary factor underlying BSD. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Overview by Pioneer observations of the distant geomagnetic tail

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Villante, U [L' Aquila Univ. (Italy). Istituto de Astrofisica

1977-03-01

Pioneer 7 and Pioneer 8 spacecraft provided the only direct observations of the geomagnetic tail at geocentric distances as large as 1000 Rsub(e) and 500 Rsub(e) respectively. The presence of a low density plasma flow in the region of expected tail and the intermittent and short duration character of the tail encounters suggested in the past a distant tail structure remarkably different from its near-earth and cislunar shape. However the recent discovery of the plasma mantle allows interpretation of the Pioneer observations in terms of a distant tail that possibly is still preserving most of its near-earth characteristics. In particular, the region of tail encounters and the magnitude and direction of the observed magnetic field might be consistent with a cylindrical tail with a modestly increased cross-section. Neutral sheet observations also appear to be consistent with the most recent bidimensional tail models. Finally, as in the cislunar region, the double peaked proton energy spectra can be interpreted in terms of a partial intermingling of plasma sheet and plasma mantle populations.

Vertical Tail Buffeting Alleviation Using Piezoelectric Actuators-Some Results of the Actively Controlled Response of Buffet-Affected Tails (ACROBAT) Program

Science.gov (United States)

Moses, Robert W.

1997-01-01

Buffet is an aeroelastic phenomenon associated with high performance aircraft especially those with twin vertical tails. In particular, for the F/A-18 aircraft at high angles of attack, vortices emanating from wing/fuselage leading edge extensions burst, immersing the vertical tails in their wake. The resulting buffet loads on the vertical tails are a concern from fatigue and inspection points of view. Recently, a 1/6-scale F-18 wind-tunnel model was tested in the Transonic Dynamics Tunnel at the NASA Langley Research Center as part of the Actively Controlled Response Of Buffet Affected Tails (ACROBAT) Program to assess the use of active controls in reducing vertical tail buffeting. The starboard vertical tail was equipped with an active rudder and the port vertical tail was equipped with piezoelectric actuators. The tunnel conditions were atmospheric air at Mach 0.10. By using single-input-single-output control laws at gains well below the physical limits of the actuators, the power spectral density of the root strains at the frequency of the first bending mode of the vertical tail was reduced by as much as 60 percent up to angles of attack of 37 degrees. Root mean square (RMS) values of root strain were reduced by as much as 19 percent. The results herein illustrate that buffet alleviation of vertical tails can be accomplished using simple active control of the rudder or piezoelectric actuators. In fact, as demonstrated herein, a fixed gain single input single output control law that commands piezoelectric actuators may be active throughout the high angle-of-attack maneuver without requiring any changes during the maneuver. Future tests are mentioned for accentuating the international interest in this area of research.

Grande Ronde Basin Spring Chinook Salmon Captive Broodstock Program, 2008 Annual Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoffnagle, Timothy L.; Hair, Donald; Gee, Sally

2009-03-31

The Grande Ronde Basin Spring Chinook Salmon Captive Broodstock Program is designed to rapidly increase numbers of Chinook salmon in stocks that are in imminent danger of extirpation in Catherine Creek (CC), Lostine River (LR) and upper Grande Ronde River (GR). Natural parr are captured and reared to adulthood in captivity, spawned (within stocks) and their progeny reared to smoltification before being released into the natal stream of their parents. This program is co-managed by ODFW, National Marine Fisheries Service, Nez Perce Tribe and Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Presmolt rearing was initially conducted at Lookingglass Fish Hatchery (LFH) but parr collected in 2003 and later were reared at Wallowa Fish Hatchery (WFH). Post-smolt rearing is conducted at Bonneville Fish Hatchery (BOH - freshwater) and at Manchester Research Station (MRS - saltwater). The CC and LR programs are being terminated, as these populations have achieved the goal of a consistent return of 150 naturally spawning adults, so the 2005 brood year was the last brood year collected for theses populations. The Grande Ronde River program continued with 300 fish collected each year. Currently, we are attempting to collect 150 natural parr and incorporate 150 parr collected as eggs from females with low ELISA levels from the upper Grande Ronde River Conventional Hatchery Program. This is part of a comparison of two methods of obtaining fish for a captive broodstock program: natural fish vs. those spawned in captivity. In August 2007, we collected 152 parr (BY 2006) from the upper Grande Ronde River and also have 155 Grande Ronde River parr (BY 2006) that were hatched from eyed eggs at LFH. During 2008, we were unable to collect natural parr from the upper Grande Ronde River. Therefore, we obtained 300 fish from low ELISA females from the upper Grande Ronde River Conventional Program. In October 2008 we obtained 170 eyed eggs from the upper Grande Ronde river Conventional

The Impact of Captivity and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder on Cognitive Performance Among Former Prisoners of War: A Longitudinal Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Aloni, Roy; Crompton, Laura; Levin, Yafit; Solomon, Zahava

2018-04-24

War captivity is a potent pathogen for various aspects of mental health, including cognitive impairments. However, little is known about the long-term impact of war captivity and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on cognitive functioning among former prisoners of war (ex-POWs). This study assesses the effect of captivity, PTSD trajectories, and the accumulating differential effect in the prediction of cognitive performance. This longitudinal research includes 4 assessments (1991 [T1], 2003 [T2], 2008 [T3], 2015 [T4]) of Israeli ex-POWs and comparable combatants from the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Accordingly, 95 ex-POWs and 26 comparable combatants were included in this study. PTSD was assessed according to the DSM-IV, and cognitive performance was assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Ex-POWs reported higher levels of PTSD symptoms compared to controls (P = 0.007). No difference was found between the groups regarding MoCA total score. Ex-POWs with chronic PTSD were found to have more difficulty in overall cognitive functioning, compared to ex-POWs with delayed, recovery, and resilient trajectories (P = 0.03). Finally, physical and psychological suffering in captivity and intrusion symptoms predicted cognitive performance (P < .001, R² = 37.9%). These findings support the potent pathogenic effects of war captivity on cognitive abilities, more than 4 decades after the end of the traumatic event. Our results showed captivity to be a unique and powerful traumatic experience, leading to PTSD and long-lasting and enduring neuropsychological implications. These findings highlight the importance of viewing ex-POWs, in particular those suffering from chronic PTSD, especially as they age, as a high-risk population for cognitive disorders. This requires the appropriate diagnosis and cognitive therapy as a way to preserve cognitive abilities among this population. © Copyright 2018 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.

UTAP, U Tailings Assessment Program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holmes, Ron

1998-01-01

1 - Description of program or function: UTAP carries out probabilistic analyses of the behaviour and environmental effects of uranium mill tailings, following close-out of milling operations. The models have been designed to allow predictions to be made for distances up to 50 kilometers in all directions from the tailings area. The models include features which include the ability to incorporate different receptors and site characteristics and to deal with input parameters which vary with time. 2 - Method of solution: UTAP is composed of a number of modules. These may be classified as either component or control modules. Component modules (or models) are the programs directly concerned with the simulation of a uranium tailings physical system; that is the computer implementation of the mathematical models representing the uranium tailings pile and surrounding environment. Control modules provide the infrastructure for probabilistic analysis using the component modules. These functions include probabilistic sampling of input parameters such as constant, normal, log-normal, uniform, log-uniform, triangular, Weibull, Beta, arbitrary and correlated. The sampling method used is straight Monte Carlo. The radionuclides modelled are: natural uranium, total thorium, radium-226, radon-222 and lead-210. The pH of the reference uranium tailings site and a chained river-lake system are also modelled. For the afore- mentioned radionuclides the following pathways of dose to the receptors modelled: water consumption, fish consumption, radon inhalation, dust inhalation, vegetable consumption, animal produce consumption and ground-shine. 3 - Restrictions on the complexity of the problem: The maximum number of steps through time allowed is 300

Unique structural features facilitate lizard tail autotomy.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kristian W Sanggaard

Full Text Available Autotomy refers to the voluntary shedding of a body part; a renowned example is tail loss among lizards as a response to attempted predation. Although many aspects of lizard tail autotomy have been studied, the detailed morphology and mechanism remains unclear. In the present study, we showed that tail shedding by the Tokay gecko (Gekko gecko and the associated extracellular matrix (ECM rupture were independent of proteolysis. Instead, lizard caudal autotomy relied on biological adhesion facilitated by surface microstructures. Results based on bio-imaging techniques demonstrated that the tail of Gekko gecko was pre-severed at distinct sites and that its structural integrity depended on the adhesion between these segments.

Ecological restoration alters microbial communities in mine tailings profiles.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yang; Jia, Zhongjun; Sun, Qingye; Zhan, Jing; Yang, Yang; Wang, Dan

2016-04-29

Ecological restoration of mine tailings have impact on soil physiochemical properties and microbial communities. The surface soil has been a primary concern in the past decades, however it remains poorly understood about the adaptive response of microbial communities along the profile during ecological restoration of the tailings. In this study, microbial communities along a 60-cm profile were investigated in a mine tailing pond during ecological restoration of the bare waste tailings (BW) with two vegetated soils of Imperata cylindrica (IC) and Chrysopogon zizanioides (CZ) plants. Revegetation of both IC and CZ could retard soil degradation of mine tailing by stimulation of soil pH at 0-30 cm soils and altered the bacterial communities at 0-20 cm depths of the mine tailings. Significant differences existed in the relative abundance of the phyla Alphaproteobacteria, Deltaproteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Firmicutes and Nitrospira. Slight difference of bacterial communities were found at 30-60 cm depths of mine tailings. Abundance and activity analysis of nifH genes also explained the elevated soil nitrogen contents at the surface 0-20 cm of the vegetated soils. These results suggest that microbial succession occurred primarily at surface tailings and vegetation of pioneering plants might have promoted ecological restoration of mine tailings.

Ecological restoration alters microbial communities in mine tailings profiles

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yang; Jia, Zhongjun; Sun, Qingye; Zhan, Jing; Yang, Yang; Wang, Dan

2016-04-01

Ecological restoration of mine tailings have impact on soil physiochemical properties and microbial communities. The surface soil has been a primary concern in the past decades, however it remains poorly understood about the adaptive response of microbial communities along the profile during ecological restoration of the tailings. In this study, microbial communities along a 60-cm profile were investigated in a mine tailing pond during ecological restoration of the bare waste tailings (BW) with two vegetated soils of Imperata cylindrica (IC) and Chrysopogon zizanioides (CZ) plants. Revegetation of both IC and CZ could retard soil degradation of mine tailing by stimulation of soil pH at 0-30 cm soils and altered the bacterial communities at 0-20 cm depths of the mine tailings. Significant differences existed in the relative abundance of the phyla Alphaproteobacteria, Deltaproteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Firmicutes and Nitrospira. Slight difference of bacterial communities were found at 30-60 cm depths of mine tailings. Abundance and activity analysis of nifH genes also explained the elevated soil nitrogen contents at the surface 0-20 cm of the vegetated soils. These results suggest that microbial succession occurred primarily at surface tailings and vegetation of pioneering plants might have promoted ecological restoration of mine tailings.

Food preferences of captive wild raccoons, Procyon lotor, from east Texas

Science.gov (United States)

James F. Taulman; James H. Williamson

1994-01-01

We offered a random assortment of six foods to nine captive raccoons (Procyon lotor) during 10 days in February 1991 and to 10 raccoons during 9 days in January 1992; persimmon (Diospyros virginianus); southern red oak acorn (Quercus falacata); chicken egg; crayfish (Cambarus bartoni);...

A proactive approach to sustainable management of mine tailings

Science.gov (United States)

Edraki, Mansour; Baumgartl, Thomas

2015-04-01

The reactive strategies to manage mine tailings i.e. containment of slurries of tailings in tailings storage facilities (TSF's) and remediation of tailings solids or tailings seepage water after the decommissioning of those facilities, can be technically inefficient to eliminate environmental risks (e.g. prevent dispersion of contaminants and catastrophic dam wall failures), pose a long term economic burden for companies, governments and society after mine closure, and often fail to meet community expectations. Most preventive environmental management practices promote proactive integrated approaches to waste management whereby the source of environmental issues are identified to help make a more informed decisions. They often use life cycle assessment to find the "hot spots" of environmental burdens. This kind of approach is often based on generic data and has rarely been used for tailings. Besides, life cycle assessments are less useful for designing operations or simulating changes in the process and consequent environmental outcomes. It is evident that an integrated approach for tailings research linked to better processing options is needed. A literature review revealed that there are only few examples of integrated approaches. The aim of this project is to develop new tailings management models by streamlining orebody characterization, process optimization and rehabilitation. The approach is based on continuous fingerprinting of geochemical processes from orebody to tailings storage facility, and benchmark the success of such proactive initiatives by evidence of no impacts and no future projected impacts on receiving environments. We present an approach for developing such a framework and preliminary results from a case study where combined grinding and flotation models developed using geometallurgical data from the orebody were constructed to predict the properties of tailings produced under various processing scenarios. The modelling scenarios based on the

Calcinosis circumscripta in a captive African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chisoni Mumba

2014-10-01

Full Text Available This article reports a first case of calcinosis circumscripta in a captive African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus. Histopathology demonstrated well defined multiple cystic structures containing granular, dark basophilic materials with peripheral granulomatous reaction, characterized by presence of multinucleated giant cells surrounded by a varying amounts of fibrous connective tissues. Special staining with von Kossa revealed black stained deposits confirming the presence of calcium salts.

Effects of tail docking and docking length on neuroanatomical changes in healed tail tips of pigs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Herskin, M S; Thodberg, K; Jensen, Henrik Elvang

2015-01-01

% (n=19); or leaving 25% (n=11) of the tail length on the pigs. The piglets were docked between day 2 and 4 after birth using a gas-heated apparatus, and were kept under conventional conditions until slaughter at 22 weeks of age, where tails were removed and examined macroscopically and histologically...

Oil sands tailings technology : understanding the impact to reclamation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mamer, M. [Suncor Energy Inc., Fort McMurray, AB (Canada)

2010-07-01

This paper discussed tailings management techniques at oil sands mines and their effects on reclamation schedules and outcomes. The layer of mature fine tailings (MFT) that forms in tailings ponds does not settle within a reasonable time frame, requiring more and larger tailings ponds for storing MFT. Consolidated tailings (CT) technology was developed to accelerate the consolidation of MFT, although the process nonetheless takes decades. CT is produced from mixing tailings sand, gypsum, and MFT to create a mixture that will consolidate more quickly and release water. However, CT production is tied to the extraction process, making it applicable only when the plant is operational, and a precise recipe and accurate injection are required for CT to work. In tailings reduction operations (TRO), a new approach to tailings management, MFT is mixed with a polymer flocculant, deposited in thin layers, and allowed to dry. TRO has a significant advantage over CT in that the latter takes up to 30 years to consolidate to a trafficable surface compared to weeks for TRO. TRO allows MFT to be consumed more quickly than it is produced, reducing need to build more tailings ponds, operates independent of plant operations, accelerates the reclamation time frame, and offers enhanced flexibility in final tailings placement sites. TRO also creates a dry landscape, to which well established reclamation techniques can be applied. Dried MFT is a new material type, and research is exploring optimum reclamation techniques. 2 figs.

Reclamation of copper mine tailings using sewage sludge

OpenAIRE

Stjernman Forsberg, Lovisa

2008-01-01

Tailings are the fine-grained fraction of waste produced during mining operations. This work was carried out on tailings from the Aitik copper mine in northern Sweden. Establishment of vegetation on the Aitik mine tailings deposit is planned to take place at closure of the mine, using sewage sludge as fertiliser. However, the tailings contain traces of metal sulphides, e.g. pyrite, FeS2, and chalcopyrite, CuFeS2. When the sulphides are oxidised, they start to weather and release metals and st...

Processes for extracting radium from uranium mill tailings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nirdosh, I.; Baird, M.H.; Muthuswami, S.V.

1987-01-01

This patent describes a process for the extraction of radium from uranium mill tailings solids including the steps of contacting the tailings with a liquid leaching agent, leaching the tailings therewith and subsequently separating the leachate liquid and the leached solids. The improvement described here is wherein the leaching agent comprises: (a) a complexing agent in an amount of from 2 to 10 times the stoichiometric amount needed to complex the metal ions to be removed thereby from the tailings; and (b) a reducing agent reducing the hydrolysable ions of the metal ions to be removed to their lower oxidation states, the reduction agent being present in an amount from 2 to 10 times the stoichiometric amount needed for reducing the hydrolysable metals present in the tailings

How abnormal is the behaviour of captive, zoo-living chimpanzees?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lucy P Birkett

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Many captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes show a variety of serious behavioural abnormalities, some of which have been considered as possible signs of compromised mental health. The provision of environmental enrichments aimed at reducing the performance of abnormal behaviours is increasing the norm, with the housing of individuals in (semi-natural social groups thought to be the most successful of these. Only a few quantitative studies of abnormal behaviour have been conducted, however, particularly for the captive population held in zoological collections. Consequently, a clear picture of the level of abnormal behaviour in zoo-living chimpanzees is lacking. METHODS: We present preliminary findings from a detailed observational study of the behaviour of 40 socially-housed zoo-living chimpanzees from six collections in the United States of America and the United Kingdom. We determined the prevalence, diversity, frequency, and duration of abnormal behaviour from 1200 hours of continuous behavioural data collected by focal animal sampling. RESULTS, CONCLUSION AND SIGNIFICANCE: Our overall finding was that abnormal behaviour was present in all sampled individuals across six independent groups of zoo-living chimpanzees, despite the differences between these groups in size, composition, housing, etc. We found substantial variation between individuals in the frequency and duration of abnormal behaviour, but all individuals engaged in at least some abnormal behaviour and variation across individuals could not be explained by sex, age, rearing history or background (defined as prior housing conditions. Our data support a conclusion that, while most behaviour of zoo-living chimpanzees is 'normal' in that it is typical of their wild counterparts, abnormal behaviour is endemic in this population despite enrichment efforts. We suggest there is an urgent need to understand how the chimpanzee mind copes with captivity, an issue with both

APPLICATION OF POSTFLOTATION TAILINGS IN HYDROENGINEERING STRUCTURES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katarzyna Stefaniak

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Economic development stimulated by the increased demand for production of consumer goods and the growing human population result in increasing amounts of various wastes, including tailings. The mining industry in Poland, comprising also mining of non-ferrous metal ores, is a strategic branch of the national economy and at the same time a leading waste producer. Tailings management is a significant problem both in Poland and worldwide. Frequently considerable amounts of wastes are accumulated in mine spoil tips, in areas not always suitable for their deposition, thus leading to the degradation of the surrounding environment. At the huge volume of produced wastes their rational and economically viable management is becoming crucial. On the other hand, depletion of natural aggregate deposits is an important incentive to search for substitutes, which would be suitable for the development of road infrastructure or which could be used in earth structure engineering to construct hydroengineering objects. Since no profitable recovery technologies are available at present, tailings generated by copper mining are deposited in tailings storage facilities. The largest and at the same time the only currently operating facility in Poland is the Żelazny Most Mining Tailings Storage Facility, belonging to KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. The paper presents criteria for material quality and density imposed on the material embedded in the static core of the tailings pond dam. For this purpose studies were conducted to confirm applicability of sorted tailings as a material for the construction of earth structures.

Carbohydrates as Fat Replacers.

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Xingyun; Yao, Yuan

2017-02-28

The overconsumption of dietary fat contributes to various chronic diseases, which encourages attempts to develop and consume low-fat foods. Simple fat reduction causes quality losses that impede the acceptance of foods. Fat replacers are utilized to minimize the quality deterioration after fat reduction or removal to achieve low-calorie, low-fat claims. In this review, the forms of fats and their functions in contributing to food textural and sensory qualities are discussed in various food systems. The connections between fat reduction and quality loss are described in order to clarify the rationales of fat replacement. Carbohydrate fat replacers usually have low calorie density and provide gelling, thickening, stabilizing, and other texture-modifying properties. In this review, carbohydrates, including starches, maltodextrins, polydextrose, gums, and fibers, are discussed with regard to their interactions with other components in foods as well as their performances as fat replacers in various systems.

Comparative Serum Fatty Acid Profiles of Captive and Free-Ranging Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) in Namibia

Science.gov (United States)

Wachter, Bettina; Heinrich, Sonja K.; Reyers, Fred; Mienie, Lodewyk J.

2016-01-01

Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) are highly specialised large felids, currently listed as vulnerable on the IUCN red data list. In captivity, they are known to suffer from a range of chronic non-infectious diseases. Although low heterozygosity and the stress of captivity have been suggested as possible causal factors, recent studies have started to focus on the contribution of potential dietary factors in the pathogenesis of these diseases. Fatty acids are an important component of the diet, not only providing a source of metabolisable energy, but serving other important functions in hormone production, cellular signalling as well as providing structural components in biological membranes. To develop a better understanding of lipid metabolism in cheetahs, we compared the total serum fatty acid profiles of 35 captive cheetahs to those of 43 free-ranging individuals in Namibia using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The unsaturated fatty acid concentrations differed most remarkably between the groups, with all of the polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, except arachidonic acid and hypogeic acid, detected at significantly lower concentrations in the serum of the free-ranging animals. The influence of age and sex on the individual fatty acid concentrations was less notable. This study represents the first evaluation of the serum fatty acids of free-ranging cheetahs, providing critical information on the normal fatty acid profiles of free-living, healthy individuals of this species. The results raise several important questions about the potential impact of dietary fatty acid composition on the health of cheetahs in captivity. PMID:27992457

Impact of flocculation on flotation tailing's hydro-cycloning properties

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Knežević Dinko N.

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Research results of hydro-cycloning of flocculated and non-flocculated flotation tailing from the lead and zinc open pit mine 'Suplja stijena', Sula - Montenegro have been shown in this paper. Reason for this research was finding conditions in order to separate fraction that is suitable for embankment erection. Flotation tailings has been tested in the very state that it goes out from the flotation process and tailings which is flocculated by anionic flocculant. The object was to determine the impact of flocculation on properties of hydro-cycloning products and disposal process. In hydro-cycloning process greater underflow mass is being separated with non-flocculated tailing. Values of geomechanical parameters are significantly different, especially hydro-cyclone's underflow. All geomechanical parameters of hydro-cyclone's underflow are suitable for erecting embankment which shall be made from non-flocculated tailing. Underflow drainage of non-flocculated tailing is faster while overflow drainage is slower and problematic with both tailings.

Long-term ecological behaviour of abandoned uranium mill tailings. 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kalin, M.

1983-03-01

Inactive uranium mill tailings were surveyed in the Province of Ontario to describe their surface characteristics, identify naturally invading biota, and determine essential chemical and physical parameters associated with the tailings. Inactive tailings sites can have wet areas, tailings completely covered with water, and dry areas. In the wet areas of most sites, wetland vegetation stands were found which were dominated by species of cattails (Typhaceae), along with some species of rushes (Juncaceae) and sedges (Cyperceae). Dry areas of the tailings exhibited a variety of surface features which are often a reflection of different amelioration efforts. Most of the indigenous species of vascular plants identified on dry areas of the tailings occurred only sporadically. Invading plants found on most sites were the tree species, trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) and paper birch (Betula papyrifera). Elemental concentration and some physical characteristics of the tailings collected from a depth of 0-20 cm were determined. Uptake of heavy metals and radionuclides were evaluated in trees found in the dry areas and in cattails (Typha latifolia) in the wetland areas. Water bodies on tailings and surface water leaving the tailings, before and after treatment, were characterized in this survey. Aquatic bryophytes have invaded some water bodies on the tailings, and acid tolerant algae were evident in most of the water associated with the tailings. Ecological processes occurring on inactive uranium mill tailings which were identified in this survey are essential in evaluating the long-term fate of these waste sites

Pox infection among captive peacocks.

Science.gov (United States)

Al Falluji, M M; Tantawi, H H; Al-Bana, A; Al-Sheikhly, S

1979-10-01

An outbreak of avian pox was detected among captive peacocks (Pavo cristatus) at Baghdad Zoological Park during spring, 1978. A total of 45 of the 60 birds in the aviary developed pox lesions around the beaks and eyes. Morbidity was 75% and mortality was 13%. A virus isolated from the skin lesions produced large plaques on the chorioallantoic membrane of developing chicken embryos and induced cytopathic effect characteristic for pox viruses in chicken embryo cell cultures. The virus neither haemagglutinated nor haemadsorbed to chicken erythrocytes. It was ether resistant and chloroform sensitive. Chickens inoculated with the virus by scarification developed localized pox-like lesions, while turkeys had only transient swelling of feather follicles at the site of inoculation. Virus partially purified with Genetron 113 was precipitated by antisera to fowlpox and pigeon pox viruses.

Breeding facilities for polar bears, Thalarctos maritimus (Phipps, 1774), in captivity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jacobi, E.F.

1968-01-01

The breeding results of Polar Bears in captivity are in general very disappointing. Unsuitable maternity dens are the main cause. These should be completely closed, very quiet without outside disturbances and should have connection with a run and thus with an outside enclosure. The female should be

Leachability of radioactive constituents from uranium mine tailings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Constable, T.W.

1987-04-01

A series of long-term studies were conducted both to examine the leachability of major constituents (acidity, TDS) and radioisotopes from uranium mining/milling tailings and settling pond sludges, and to assess the effect of two treatment methods (solidification and vegetation) on leachate characteristics. Four bench-scale experiments were conducted to examine the leachability of: 1) old tailings and those containing a large portion of (Ba,Ra)SO 4 sludges; 2) untreated and solidified (Ba,Ra)SO 4 sludges located at the bottom of settling ponds; 3) new tailings that had been vegetated or solidified; and 4) new tailings subject to varying flow rates. A fifth study was conducted to examine the microbiology of Experiments 2 and 3. In addition, the lysimeter solids remaining in the old tailings at the end of Experiment 1 were characterized through chemical and radionuclide analyses and Scanning Electron Microscope-X-ray Emission and Mossbauer Spectroscopy techniques. This report provides an extensive database of temporal variations in leachate characteristics under both normal and accelerated water application rates. It also presents hypotheses of possible leaching mechanisms in the wastes that could explain the observed data, and conceptual model of tailings leaching processes which integrates the results of all the tailings experiments

How We Tend To Overestimate Powerlaw Tail Exponents

OpenAIRE

Nassim N. Taleb

2012-01-01

In the presence of a layer of metaprobabilities (from uncertainty concerning the parameters), the asymptotic tail exponent corresponds to the lowest possible tail exponent regardless of its probability. The problem explains "Black Swan" effects, i.e., why measurements tend to chronically underestimate tail contributions, rather than merely deliver imprecise but unbiased estimates.

Electrodialytic remediation of copper mine tailings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Henrik K.; Rojo, A.; Ottpsen, Lisbeth M.

2005-01-01

electrodialytic remediation experiments on copper mine tailings. The results show that electric current could remove copper from watery tailing if the potential gradient was higher than 2V/cm during 21 days. With addition of sulphuric acid, the process was enhanced because the pH decreased to around 4...

Moth tails divert bat attack: evolution of acoustic deflection.