Model Problems in Technologies for Interoperability: OWL Web Ontology Language for Services (OWL-S)

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Metcalf, Chris; Lewis, Grace A

2006-01-01

.... The OWL Web Ontology Language for Services (OWL-S) is a language to describe the properties and capabilities of Web Services in such a way that the descriptions can be interpreted by a computer system in an automated manner. This technical note presents the results of applying the model problem approach to examine the feasibility of using OWL-S to allow applications to automatically discover, compose, and invoke services in a dynamic services-oriented environment.

The Proliferation and Illicit Trafficking of Small Arms and Light Weapons in the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Kiugu, Aphaxard M

2007-01-01

In Africa, the effect of the proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALW) continues to impact negatively on socioeconomic development, particularly within the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa...

Competitive interactions and resource partitioning between northern spotted owls and barred owls in western Oregon

Science.gov (United States)

Wiens, J. David; Anthony, Robert G.; Forsman, Eric D.

2014-01-01

The federally threatened northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) is the focus of intensive conservation efforts that have led to much forested land being reserved as habitat for the owl and associated wildlife species throughout the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Recently, however, a relatively new threat to spotted owls has emerged in the form of an invasive competitor: the congeneric barred owl (S. varia). As barred owls have rapidly expanded their populations into the entire range of the northern spotted owl, mounting evidence indicates that they are displacing, hybridizing with, and even killing spotted owls. The range expansion by barred owls into western North America has made an already complex conservation issue even more contentious, and a lack of information on the ecological relationships between the 2 species has hampered recovery efforts for northern spotted owls. We investigated spatial relationships, habitat use, diets, survival, and reproduction of sympatric spotted owls and barred owls in western Oregon, USA, during 2007–2009. Our overall objective was to determine the potential for and possible consequences of competition for space, habitat, and food between these previously allopatric owl species. Our study included 29 spotted owls and 28 barred owls that were radio-marked in 36 neighboring territories and monitored over a 24-month period. Based on repeated surveys of both species, the number of territories occupied by pairs of barred owls in the 745-km2 study area (82) greatly outnumbered those occupied by pairs of spotted owls (15). Estimates of mean size of home ranges and core-use areas of spotted owls (1,843 ha and 305 ha, respectively) were 2–4 times larger than those of barred owls (581 ha and 188 ha, respectively). Individual spotted and barred owls in adjacent territories often had overlapping home ranges, but interspecific space sharing was largely restricted to broader foraging areas in the home range

Demographic response of northern spotted owls to barred owl removal

Science.gov (United States)

Diller, V. Lowell; Hamm, Keith A; Early, Desiree A; Lamphear, David W; Dugger, Katie M.; Yackulic, Charles B.; Schwarz, Carl J.; Carlson, Peter C.; McDonald, Trent L.

2016-01-01

Federally listed as threatened in 1990 primarily because of habitat loss, the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) has continued to decline despite conservation efforts resulting in forested habitat being reserved throughout its range. Recently, there is growing evidence the congeneric invasive barred owl (Strix varia) may be responsible for the continued decline primarily by excluding spotted owls from their preferred habitat. We used a long-term demographic study for spotted owls in coastal northern California as the basis for a pilot barred owl removal experiment. Our demography study used capture–recapture, reproductive output, and territory occupancy data collected from 1990 to 2013 to evaluate trends in vital rates and populations. We used a classic before-after-control-impact (BACI) experimental design to investigate the demographic response of northern spotted owls to the lethal removal of barred owls. According to the best 2-species dynamic occupancy model, there was no evidence of differences in barred or northern spotted owl occupancy prior to the initiation of the treatment (barred owl removal). After treatment, barred owl occupancy was lower in the treated relative to the untreated areas and spotted owl occupancy was higher relative to the untreated areas. Barred owl removal decreased spotted owl territory extinction rates but did not affect territory colonization rates. As a result, spotted owl occupancy increased in the treated area and continued to decline in the untreated areas. Prior to and after barred owl removal, there was no evidence that average fecundity differed on the 2 study areas. However, the greater number of occupied spotted owl sites on the treated areas resulted in greater productivity in the treated areas based on empirical counts of fledged young. Prior to removal, survival was declining at a rate of approximately 0.2% per year for treated and untreated areas. Following treatment, estimated survival was 0.859 for

Blood parasites in Owls with conservation implications for the Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis)

Science.gov (United States)

Ishak, H.D.; Dumbacher, J.P.; Anderson, N.L.; Keane, J.J.; Valkiunas, G.; Haig, S.M.; Tell, L.A.; Sehgal, R.N.M.

2008-01-01

The three subspecies of Spotted Owl (Northern, Strix occidentalis courina; California, S. o. occidentalis; and Mexican, S. o. lucida) are all threatened by habitat loss and range expansion of the Barred Owl (S. varia). An unaddressed threat is whether Barred Owls could be a source of novel strains of disease such as avian malaria (Plasmodium spp.) or other blood parasites potentially harmful for Spotted Owls. Although Barred Owls commonly harbor Plasmodium infections, these parasites have not been documented in the Spotted Owl. We screened 111 Spotted Owls, 44 Barred Owls, and 387 owls of nine other species for haemosporidian parasites (Leucocytozoon, Plasmodium, and Haemoproteus spp.). California Spotted Owls had the greatest number of simultaneous multi-species infections (44%). Additionally, sequencing results revealed that the Northern and California Spotted Owl subspecies together had the highest number of Leucocytozoon parasite lineages (n=17) and unique lineages (n=12). This high level of sequence diversity is significant because only one leucocytozoon species (L. danilewskyi) has been accepted as valid among all owls, suggesting that L. danilewskyi is a cryptic species. Furthermore, a Plasmodium parasite was documented in a Northern Spotted Owl for the first time. West Coast Barred Owls had a lower prevalence of infection (15%) when compared to sympatric Spotted Owls (S. o. caurina 52%, S. o. occidentalis 79%) and Barred Owls from the historic range (61%). Consequently, Barred Owls on the West Coast may have a competitive advantage over the potentially immune compromised Spotted Owls. ?? 2008 Ishak et al.

Paraconsistent Reasoning for OWL 2

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Yue; Hitzler, Pascal

A four-valued description logic has been proposed to reason with description logic based inconsistent knowledge bases. This approach has a distinct advantage that it can be implemented by invoking classical reasoners to keep the same complexity as under the classical semantics. However, this approach has so far only been studied for the basic description logic mathcal{ALC}. In this paper, we further study how to extend the four-valued semantics to the more expressive description logic mathcal{SROIQ} which underlies the forthcoming revision of the Web Ontology Language, OWL 2, and also investigate how it fares when adapted to tractable description logics including mathcal{EL++}, DL-Lite, and Horn-DLs. We define the four-valued semantics along the same lines as for mathcal{ALC} and show that we can retain most of the desired properties.

Experiences with Aber-OWL, an Ontology Repository with OWL EL Reasoning

KAUST Repository

Slater, Luke

2016-04-19

Ontologies are widely used in biology and biomedicine for the annotation and integration of data, and hundreds of ontologies have been developed for this purpose. These ontologies also constitute large volumes of formalized domain knowledge, usually expressed in the Web Ontology Language (OWL). Computational access to the knowledge contained within them relies on the use of automated reasoning. We have developed Aber-OWL, an ontology repository that provides OWL EL reasoning to answer queries and verify the consistency of ontologies. Aber-OWL also provides a set of web services which provide ontology-based access to scientific literature in Pubmed and Pubmed Central, SPARQL query expansion to retrieve linked data, and integration with Bio2RDF. Here, we report on our experiences with Aber-OWL and outline a roadmap for future development. Aber-OWL is freely available at http://aber-owl.net.

Experiences with Aber-OWL, an Ontology Repository with OWL EL Reasoning

KAUST Repository

Slater, Luke; Rodriguez-Garcia, Miguel Angel; O’ Shea, Keiron; Schofield, Paul N.; Gkoutos, Georgios V.; Hoehndorf, Robert

2016-01-01

expressed in the Web Ontology Language (OWL). Computational access to the knowledge contained within them relies on the use of automated reasoning. We have developed Aber-OWL, an ontology repository that provides OWL EL reasoning to answer queries and verify

ER2OWL: Generating OWL Ontology from ER Diagram

Science.gov (United States)

Fahad, Muhammad

Ontology is the fundamental part of Semantic Web. The goal of W3C is to bring the web into (its full potential) a semantic web with reusing previous systems and artifacts. Most legacy systems have been documented in structural analysis and structured design (SASD), especially in simple or Extended ER Diagram (ERD). Such systems need up-gradation to become the part of semantic web. In this paper, we present ERD to OWL-DL ontology transformation rules at concrete level. These rules facilitate an easy and understandable transformation from ERD to OWL. The set of rules for transformation is tested on a structured analysis and design example. The framework provides OWL ontology for semantic web fundamental. This framework helps software engineers in upgrading the structured analysis and design artifact ERD, to components of semantic web. Moreover our transformation tool, ER2OWL, reduces the cost and time for building OWL ontologies with the reuse of existing entity relationship models.

Comparison of the Diet of Two Desert-living Owls, the Long-eared Owl ( Asio otus and Little Owl ( Athene noctua from Southern Mongolia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dawn M. Scott

2005-06-01

Full Text Available The diet of two sympatric owl species, the long-eared owl ( Asio otus and the little owl ( Athene noctua was investigated in an arid area of southern Mongolia using pellet analysis. In total 334 pellets of long-eared owl and 52 pellets of little owl were analysed, revealing the presence of five small mammal species (Dipodidae, three Muridae and one Soricidae, small birds and invertebrate fragments. Accumulative composition plots indicated a batch size of 35 - 60 pellets was sufficient to reveal representative diet composition. Small mammals comprised the largest component of the diet of long- eared owls with four species recorded, Phodopus was the most frequently occurring (85 %, followed by Meriones (33 %. Bird and invertebrate remains were also found in long-eared owl pellets but comprised less than 2 %. In contrast, invertebrates were the highest occurring component of the diet of little owls (35 %, with small mammals occurring in only 40 % of pellets. Meriones was the most frequently recorded small mammal in little owl pellets (23 % and contributed the greatest in terms of overall rodent biomass. There was a highly statistically significant difference in the diet of the two species (÷ 2 = 2043, d.f. = 4, P < 0.001. Levin’s measure of niche breadth was greater for little owls (0.71 than long-eared owls (0.51, but overall the two species had low niche overlap using Levin’s index (0.22. These results are discussed in relation to previous findings of these two species.

78 FR 57171 - Experimental Removal of Barred Owls To Benefit Threatened Northern Spotted Owls; Record of...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-09-17

... spotted owls in many portions of the northern spotted owl's range (Pearson and Livezey 2003, p. 272... populations. Barred owls displace spotted owls from high-quality habitat (Kelley et al. 2003, p. 51; Pearson... management intervention, it is reasonable to expect that competition from barred owls may cause extirpation...

Outrageous Owls

Science.gov (United States)

Walkup, Nancy

2007-01-01

The author's encounter with a live owl and her purchase of a Peruvian folk art gourd inspired a new interdisciplinary experience for the author's fourth grade students. In this article, she describes how her students explored owls through clay sculpture. (Contains 2 resources and 1 online resource.)

Burrowing Owls, Pulex irritans, and Plague.

Science.gov (United States)

Belthoff, James R; Bernhardt, Scott A; Ball, Christopher L; Gregg, Michael; Johnson, David H; Ketterling, Rachel; Price, Emily; Tinker, Juliette K

2015-09-01

Western Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) are small, ground-dwelling owls of western North America that frequent prairie dog (Cynomys spp.) towns and other grasslands. Because they rely on rodent prey and occupy burrows once or concurrently inhabited by fossorial mammals, the owls often harbor fleas. We examined the potential role of fleas found on burrowing owls in plague dynamics by evaluating prevalence of Yersinia pestis in fleas collected from burrowing owls and in owl blood. During 2012-2013, fleas and blood were collected from burrowing owls in portions of five states with endemic plague-Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, and South Dakota. Fleas were enumerated, taxonomically identified, pooled by nest, and assayed for Y. pestis using culturing and molecular (PCR) approaches. Owl blood underwent serological analysis for plague antibodies and nested PCR for detection of Y. pestis. Of more than 4750 fleas collected from owls, Pulex irritans, a known plague vector in portions of its range, comprised more than 99.4%. However, diagnostic tests for Y. pestis of flea pools (culturing and PCR) and owl blood (PCR and serology) were negative. Thus, even though fleas were prevalent on burrowing owls and the potential for a relationship with burrowing owls as a phoretic host of infected fleas exists, we found no evidence of Y. pestis in sampled fleas or in owls that harbored them. We suggest that studies similar to those reported here during plague epizootics will be especially useful for confirming these results.

78 FR 44588 - Experimental Removal of Barred Owls To Benefit Threatened Northern Spotted Owls; Final...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-07-24

... spotted owl populations and to test the feasibility and efficiency of barred owl removal as a management... outnumber spotted owls in many portions of the northern spotted owl's range (Pearson and Livezey 2003, p.... 51; Pearson and Livezey 2003, p. 274; Courtney et al., pp. 7-27 through 7-31; Gremel 2005, pp. 9, 11...

Tooele Army Depot - South Area Suspected Release Units. RCRA Facility Investigation - Phase 2, for SWMUs 1, 25, and 27

Science.gov (United States)

1995-11-01

metabolism before reaching the systemic circulation. Therefore, a toxic effect attributable to an active metabolite might be more pronounced if the compound...no first-pass metabolism might result in a greater dose of the toxic constituent entering the systemic circulation than if the compound were absorbed...great horned owls, red-tailed hawks, loggerhead shrikes, badgers, Ord’s kangaroo rats, horned larks, and sagebrush lizards. The vegetation types

Implementing OWL Defaults

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Kolovski, Vladimir; Parsia, Bijan; Katz, Yarden

2006-01-01

...) have often requested some form of non-monotonic reasoning. In this paper, we present preliminary optimizations and an implementation of a restricted version of Reiter's default logic as an extension to the description logic fragment of OWL, OWL DL...

The effects of habitat, climate, and Barred Owls on long-term demography of Northern Spotted Owls

Science.gov (United States)

Dugger, Catherine; Forsman, Eric D.; Franklin, Alan B.; Davis, Raymond J.; White, Gary C.; Schwarz, Carl J.; Burnham, Kenneth P.; Nichols, James D.; Hines, James E.; Yackulic, Charles B.; Doherty, Paul F.; Bailey, Larissa; Clark, Darren A.; Ackers, Steven H.; Andrews, Lawrence S.; Augustine, Benjamin; Biswell, Brian L.; Blakesley, Jennifer; Carlson, Peter C.; Clement, Matthew J.; Diller, Lowell V.; Glenn, Elizabeth M.; Green, Adam; Gremel, Scott A.; Herter, Dale R.; Higley, J. Mark; Hobson, Jeremy; Horn, Rob B.; Huyvaert, Kathryn P.; McCafferty, Christopher; McDonald, Trent; McDonnell, Kevin; Olson, Gail S.; Reid, Janice A.; Rockweit, Jeremy; Ruiz, Viviana; Saenz, Jessica; Sovern, Stan G.

2016-01-01

Estimates of species' vital rates and an understanding of the factors affecting those parameters over time and space can provide crucial information for management and conservation. We used mark–recapture, reproductive output, and territory occupancy data collected during 1985–2013 to evaluate population processes of Northern Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) in 11 study areas in Washington, Oregon, and northern California, USA. We estimated apparent survival, fecundity, recruitment, rate of population change, and local extinction and colonization rates, and investigated relationships between these parameters and the amount of suitable habitat, local and regional variation in meteorological conditions, and competition with Barred Owls (Strix varia). Data were analyzed for each area separately and in a meta-analysis of all areas combined, following a strict protocol for data collection, preparation, and analysis. We used mixed effects linear models for analyses of fecundity, Cormack-Jolly-Seber open population models for analyses of apparent annual survival (ϕ), and a reparameterization of the Jolly-Seber capture–recapture model (i.e. reverse Jolly-Seber; RJS) to estimate annual rates of population change (λRJS) and recruitment. We also modeled territory occupancy dynamics of Northern Spotted Owls and Barred Owls in each study area using 2-species occupancy models. Estimated mean annual rates of population change (λ) suggested that Spotted Owl populations declined from 1.2% to 8.4% per year depending on the study area. The weighted mean estimate of λ for all study areas was 0.962 (± 0.019 SE; 95% CI: 0.925–0.999), indicating an estimated range-wide decline of 3.8% per year from 1985 to 2013. Variation in recruitment rates across the range of the Spotted Owl was best explained by an interaction between total winter precipitation and mean minimum winter temperature. Thus, recruitment rates were highest when both total precipitation (29 cm) and

Managing emerging threats to spotted owls

Science.gov (United States)

Ho Yi Wan; Joseph L. Ganey; Christina D. Vojta; Samuel A. Cushman

2018-01-01

The 3 spotted owl (Strix occidentalis) subspecies in North America (i.e., northern spotted owl [S. o. caurina], California spotted owl [S. o. occidentalis], Mexican spotted owl [S. o. lucida]) have all experienced population declines over the past century due to habitat loss and fragmentation from logging. Now, the emerging influences of climate change, high-severity...

Mobile Sensors Environmental Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

2005-09-26

rhinoceros auklet; red-winged blackbird; red-tailed hawk; great horned owl; and golden eagle have also been spotted. (U.S. Department of the Air Force...Coleoptera ( beetles ). (WILC Supplemental EA, 1999) The main predators on the island include feral cats and rats. Skinks and geckos (introduced

Effects of experimental removal of Barred Owls on population demography of Northern Spotted Owls in Washington and Oregon—2017 progress report

Science.gov (United States)

Wiens, J. David; Dugger, Katie M.; Lesmeister, Damon B.; Dilione, Krista E.; Simon, David C.

2018-05-21

Populations of Northern Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis caurina; hereinafter referred to as Spotted Owl) are declining throughout this subspecies’ geographic range. Evidence indicates that competition with invading populations of Barred Owls (S. varia) has contributed significantly to those declines. A pilot study in California showed that localized removal of Barred Owls coupled with conservation of suitable forest conditions can slow or even reverse population declines of Spotted Owls. It remains unknown, however, whether similar results can be obtained in areas with different forest conditions, greater densities of Barred Owls, and fewer remaining Spotted Owls. During 2015–17, we initiated a before-after-control-impact (BACI) experiment at three study areas in Oregon and Washington to determine if removal of Barred Owls can improve population trends of Spotted Owls. Each study area had at least 20 years of pre-treatment demographic data on Spotted Owls, and represented different forest conditions occupied by the two owl species in the Pacific Northwest. This report describes research accomplishments and preliminary results from the first 2.5 years (March 2015–August 2017) of the planned 5-year experiment.

Effects of experimental removal of barred owls on population demography of northern spotted owls in Washington and Oregon—2015 progress report

Science.gov (United States)

Wiens, J. David; Dugger, Katie M.; Lewicki, Krista E.; Simon, David C.

2016-03-14

Evidence indicates that competition with newly established barred owls (Strix varia) is causing rapid declines in populations of northern spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina), and that the longterm persistence of spotted owls may be in question without additional management intervention. A pilot study in California showed that lethal removal of barred owls in combination with habitat conservation may be able to slow or even reverse population declines of spotted owls at local scales, but it remains unknown whether similar results can be obtained in larger areas with different forest conditions and where barred owls are more abundant. In 2015, we implemented a before-after-controlimpact (BACI) experimental design on two study areas in Oregon and Washington with at least 20 years of pre-treatment demographic data on spotted owls to determine if removal of barred owls can improve population trends of spatially associated spotted owls. Here we provide an overview of our research accomplishments and preliminary results in Oregon and Washington in 2015.

On a new Owl from Liberia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Büttikofer, J.

1889-01-01

Amongst the last birds received from Mr. Stampfli, there was a very peculiar new Owl, which I propose to name Bubo lettii, after its discoverer Mr. Lett, our former landlord and huntsman at Schieffelinsville. This Owl shows no affinity to any of the Owls at present known from the old world, but

Demography of Northern Spotted Owls in southwestern Oregon

Science.gov (United States)

Zabel, Cynthia J.; Salmons, Susan E.; Forsman, Eric D.; DeStefano, Stephen; Raphael, Martin G.; Gutierrez, R.J.

1996-01-01

Northern Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) are associated with lower elevation, commercially valuable, late-successional coniferous forests in the Pacific Northwest. Meta-analyses of demographic parameters indicate that Northern Spotted Owl populations are declining throughout their range (Anderson and Burnham 1992, Burnham et al. this volume). Recent research has attempted to determine whether management activities have affected the viability of Spotted Owl populations, and results have led to development of conservation plans for the species (Dawson et al. 1987, Thomas et al. 1990, Murphy and Noon 1992, USDI 1992, Thomas et al. 1993b).In the Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl (USDI 1992b) threats to the species were identified as small population sizes, declining populations, limited amounts of habitat, continued loss and fragmentation of habitat, geographically isolated populations, and predation and competition from other avian species. Weather and fire are natural processes that also may affect reproductive success of Spotted Owls. Weather may be a factor in the high annual variability in fecundity of Spotted Owls, as has been suggested for other predatory bird species (Newton, 1979, 1986). However, these factors have not been addressed in previous studies of Spotted Owls.Our objectives were to estimate survival, fecundity, and annual rates of population change (l) for resident, territorial female Spotted Owls at two study areas in the coastal mountains of southwestern Oregon. We tested if the amount of rainfall was correlated with reproduction of Spotted Owls. While surveying for Spotted Owls, we documented the increased presence of Barred Owls (Strix varia), a potential competitor of Spotted Owls.

Semantic Web Services with Web Ontology Language (OWL-S) - Specification of Agent-Services for DARPA Agent Markup Language (DAML)

Science.gov (United States)

2006-08-01

Sycara, and T. Nishimura, "Towards a Semantic Web Ecommerce ," in Proceedings of 6th Conference on Business Information Systems (BIS2003), Colorado...the ontology used is the fictitious ontology http://fly.com/Onto. The advantage of using concepts from Web-addressable ontologies, rather than XML...the advantage of the OWL-S approach compared with other approaches, namely BPEL4WS and WS-CDL, is that OWL-S allows the flexibility to change the

Laboratory blood analysis in Strigiformes-Part II: plasma biochemistry reference intervals and agreement between the Abaxis Vetscan V2 and the Roche Cobas c501.

Science.gov (United States)

Ammersbach, Mélanie; Beaufrère, Hugues; Gionet Rollick, Annick; Tully, Thomas

2015-03-01

Limited plasma biochemical information is available in Strigiformes. Only one study investigated the agreement between a point-of-care with a reference laboratory analyzer for biochemistry variables in birds. The objective was to report reference intervals (RI) for plasma biochemistry variables in Strigiformes, and to assess agreement between the Abaxis Vetscan V2 and Roche Cobas c501. A prospective study was designed to assess plasma biochemistry RI for concentration of calcium, phosphorus, total protein, albumin, globulin, glucose, bilirubin, uric acid, bile acids, sodium, potassium, and chloride, and activities of AST, GGT, CK, amylase, lipase, LDH, and GLDH. In addition, the agreement between the Vetscan and the Cobas in owl species was assessed. A total of 190 individuals were sampled belonging to 12 Strigiformes species including Barn Owls, Barred Owls, Great Horned Owls, Eurasian Eagle Owls, Spectacled Owls, Eastern Screech Owls, Long-Eared Owls, Short-Eared Owls, Great Gray Owls, Snowy Owls, Northern Saw-Whet Owls, and Northern Hawk-Owls. Order-, species-, and method-specific RI were determined on both analyzers. Although Vetscan data were not equivalent to the Cobas, 4 analytes (glucose, AST, CK, and total protein, with correction for bias) were within acceptable agreement, 3 analytes (uric acid, calcium, and phosphorus) were within close agreement, and the remaining analytes were in strong disagreement. Species-specific differences were observed notably for the concentration of glucose in Barn Owls and electrolytes in Northern Saw-Whet Owls. Overall, this study suggests that the Vetscan has acceptable clinical performance in Strigiformes for some analytes and highlights discrepancies for several analytes. © 2015 American Society for Veterinary Clinical Pathology.

West Nile virus in raptors from Virginia during 2003: clinical, diagnostic, and epidemiologic findings.

Science.gov (United States)

Joyner, Priscilla H; Kelly, Sean; Shreve, Allison A; Snead, Sarah E; Sleeman, Jonathan M; Pettit, Denise A

2006-04-01

Sixty-one birds of prey admitted to The Wildlife Center of Virginia (WCV; Waynesboro, Virginia, USA) from June to November 2003 were tested for West Nile virus (WNV) infection. Choanal and/or cloacal swabs were obtained and submitted to Virginia's Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services (Richmond, Virginia, USA) for analysis with real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Forty birds of prey were positive for WNV by RT-PCR. Five avian families and nine species of raptors were represented, with great horned owls (Bubo virginianus) and red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) most frequently affected. Presenting clinical signs were consistent with previous reports of WNV infection in raptors; however, these differed between species. Of WNV positive birds, nonspecific signs of illness were the most common clinical findings, particularly in red-tailed hawks; signs included dehydration (n = 20), emaciation (n = 18), and depression (n = 15). Neurologic abnormalities were frequently identified, especially in great horned owls, and included head tremors (n = 17), ataxia (n = 13), head incoordination (n = 7), torticollis (n = 3), nystagmus (n = 3), and head tilt (n = 3). Great horned owls exhibited anemia and leukocytosis with heterophilia, eosinophilia, and monocytosis consistent with chronic inflammation. Red-tailed hawks were anemic with a heterophilic leukocytosis and regenerative left shift. The majority of WNV cases occurred during August and September; there was a marked increase in the number of raptors admitted to WCV during these months followed by a marked decrease during October, November, and December. This pattern differed from mean monthly admissions during the previous 10 years and suggests a negative impact on local raptor populations. The effects of WNV on avian populations are largely unknown; however, because of their ecological importance, further investigation of the effects of WNV on raptor populations is warranted.

Assessing management of raptor predation management for snowy plover recovery

Science.gov (United States)

Bruce G. Marcot; Daniel C. Elbert

2015-01-01

On February 4, 2014, a seven-member expert panel provided objective technical information on the potential effectiveness and feasibility of activities to manage raptors (northern harriers and great horned owls) to aid the recovery of western snowy plovers. The panel discussed and scored the 26 raptor control techniques in nine main categories of habitat modification,...

Does petroleum development affect burrowing owl nocturnal space-use?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Scobie, Corey; Wellicome, Troy; Bayne, Erin [Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta (Canada)], email: cscobie@ualberta.ca, email: tiw@ualberta.ca, email: bayne@ualberta.ca

2011-07-01

Decline all over Canada in the population of burrowing owls, a federally listed endangered species, has raised concerns about the possible influence of petroleum infrastructure development on owl nocturnal space-use while foraging. Roads, wells, pipelines and sound-producing facilities related to petroleum development change the landscape and can influence the owls' mortality risk. For 3 years, 27 breeding adult male burrowing owls with nests close to different petroleum infrastructures were captured and fitted with a miniature GPS datalogger in order to track their nocturnal foraging. Data from these GPS devices were fed into a geographical information system and showed that pipelines and wells did not alter the foraging habits of the owls. Dirt and gravel roads, with little traffic, were preferentially selected by the owls, conceivably because of higher owl mortality risk along paved roads. Sound-producing facilities did not change owls' foraging behaviour, implying that sound may not affect their nocturnal space-use. Traffic data and sound power measurements will be used in further studies in an effort to better understand burrowing owls' nocturnal foraging habits.

Comparison of Food Habits of the Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus) and the Western Screech-owl (Otus kennicottii) in Southwestern Idaho

Science.gov (United States)

Charlotte Rains

1997-01-01

I compared the breeding-season diets of Northern Saw-whet Owls (Aegolius acadicus) and Western Screech-owls (Otus kennicottii). Prey items were obtained from regurgitated pellets collected from saw-whet owl and screech-owl nests found in nest boxes in the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area in southwestern Idaho....

Sexing young snowy owls

Science.gov (United States)

Seidensticker, M.T.; Holt, D.W.; Detienne, J.; Talbot, S.; Gray, K.

2011-01-01

We predicted sex of 140 Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) nestlings out of 34 nests at our Barrow, Alaska, study area to develop a technique for sexing these owls in the field. We primarily sexed young, flightless owls (3844 d old) by quantifying plumage markings on the remiges and tail, predicting sex, and collecting blood samples to test our field predictions using molecular sexing techniques. We categorized and quantified three different plumage markings: two types of bars (defined as markings that touch the rachis) and spots (defined as markings that do not touch the rachis). We predicted sex in the field assuming that males had more spots than bars and females more bars than spots on the remiges and rectrices. Molecular data indicated that we correctly sexed 100% of the nestlings. We modeled the data using random forests and classification trees. Both models indicated that the number and type of markings on the secondary feathers were the most important in classifying nestling sex. The statistical models verified our initial qualitative prediction that males have more spots than bars and females more bars than spots on flight feathers P6P10 for both wings and tail feathers T1 and T2. This study provides researchers with an easily replicable and highly accurate method for sexing young Snowy Owls in the field, which should aid further studies of sex-ratios and sex-related variation in behavior and growth of this circumpolar owl species. ?? 2011 The Raptor Research Foundation, Inc.

F-OWL: An Inference Engine for Semantic Web

Science.gov (United States)

Zou, Youyong; Finin, Tim; Chen, Harry

2004-01-01

Understanding and using the data and knowledge encoded in semantic web documents requires an inference engine. F-OWL is an inference engine for the semantic web language OWL language based on F-logic, an approach to defining frame-based systems in logic. F-OWL is implemented using XSB and Flora-2 and takes full advantage of their features. We describe how F-OWL computes ontology entailment and compare it with other description logic based approaches. We also describe TAGA, a trading agent environment that we have used as a test bed for F-OWL and to explore how multiagent systems can use semantic web concepts and technology.

Secondary poisoning of owls by anticoagulant rodenticides

Science.gov (United States)

Mendenhall, Vivian M.; Pank, L.F.

1980-01-01

Anticoagulants-compounds that prevent clotting of the blood-are extensively used for control of small mammal pests. The potential secondary hazards of 6 anticoagulant rodenticides to birds of prey were examined in this study. Whole rats or mice were killed with each anticoagulant and were fed to 1-3 species of owls. Owls died of hemorrhaging after feeding on rats killed with bromadiolone, brodifacoum, or diphacinone; sublethal hemorrhaging occurred in owls fed rats killed with difenacoum. These results demonstrate potential secondary hazards of 4 anticoagulants to avian predators. No abnormalities were observed in owls fed rats killed with fumarin and chlorophacinone

Sexual dimorphism of four owl species in South Africa | Ansara-Ross ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Owl Tyto capensis, Barn Owl T. alba, Marsh Owl Asio capensis and Spotted Eagle-Owl Bubo africanus) by examining specimens of intact owl carcasses found killed by vehicles along a national road in Gauteng province, South Africa. Females ...

OWL references in ORM conceptual modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Matula, Jiri; Belunek, Roman; Hunka, Frantisek

2017-07-01

Object Role Modelling methodology is the fact-based type of conceptual modelling. The aim of the paper is to emphasize a close connection to OWL documents and its possible mutual cooperation. The definition of entities or domain values is an indispensable part of the conceptual schema design procedure defined by the ORM methodology. Many of these entities are already defined in OWL documents. Therefore, it is not necessary to declare entities again, whereas it is possible to utilize references from OWL documents during modelling of information systems.

Autumn migration of Northern Saw-whet Owls (Aegolius acadicus) in the Middle Atlantic and Northeastern United States: what observations from 1995 suggest

Science.gov (United States)

David F. Brinker; Katharine E. Duffy; David M. Whalen; Bryan D. Watts; Kevin M. Dodge

1997-01-01

During the autumn of 1995 more than 5,900 migrant Northern Saw-whet Owls were banded in eastern and central North America. Though typical numbers of owls were banded at most Great Lakes stations during 1995, a record number were netted at Hawk Ridge, near Duluth, Minnesota and, when compared with more normal years, a remarkably disproportionate 40 percent of the total...

Solving non-linear Horn clauses using a linear Horn clause solver

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kafle, Bishoksan; Gallagher, John Patrick; Ganty, Pierre

2016-01-01

In this paper we show that checking satisfiability of a set of non-linear Horn clauses (also called a non-linear Horn clause program) can be achieved using a solver for linear Horn clauses. We achieve this by interleaving a program transformation with a satisfiability checker for linear Horn...... clauses (also called a solver for linear Horn clauses). The program transformation is based on the notion of tree dimension, which we apply to a set of non-linear clauses, yielding a set whose derivation trees have bounded dimension. Such a set of clauses can be linearised. The main algorithm...... dimension. We constructed a prototype implementation of this approach and performed some experiments on a set of verification problems, which shows some promise....

Potential trophic cascades triggered by the barred owl range expansion

Science.gov (United States)

Holm, Samantha R.; Noon, Barry R.; Wiens, David; Ripple, William J.

2016-01-01

Recently, the barred owl (Strix varia) has expanded its range into the Pacific Northwest of the United States resulting in pronounced effects on the demography and behavior of the northern spotted owl (S. occidentalis caurina). The range expansion has brought together historically allopatric species, creating the potential for significant changes in the avian predator community with possible cascading effects on food-web dynamics. The adverse effects of the barred owl on the behavior and demography of the northern spotted owl are well-documented, but little is known about the immediate and long-term effects changes in the predator community may have on native species composition and ecosystem processes. Based on northern spotted owl and barred owl selection for diet and habitat resources, there is a potential for trophic cascades within the region's predator and prey communities, differing responses by their shared and unique prey species, and possible direct and indirect effects on ecosystem processes. We explored the possible ecological consequences of the barred owl range expansion to wildlife communities of the Pacific Northwest based on the theoretical underpinnings of predator–prey relationships, interspecific competition, intraguild predation, and potential cascading trophic interactions. Negative effects on fitness of northern spotted owls because of interspecific competition with barred owls are strong selection forces that may contribute to the regional extinction of the northern spotted owl. In addition, we posit that shared prey species and those uniquely consumed by barred owls, along with other competing native predators, may experience changes in behavior, abundance, and distribution as a result of increased rates of predation by rapidly expanding populations of barred owls.

Mapping between the OBO and OWL ontology languages.

Science.gov (United States)

Tirmizi, Syed Hamid; Aitken, Stuart; Moreira, Dilvan A; Mungall, Chris; Sequeda, Juan; Shah, Nigam H; Miranker, Daniel P

2011-03-07

Ontologies are commonly used in biomedicine to organize concepts to describe domains such as anatomies, environments, experiment, taxonomies etc. NCBO BioPortal currently hosts about 180 different biomedical ontologies. These ontologies have been mainly expressed in either the Open Biomedical Ontology (OBO) format or the Web Ontology Language (OWL). OBO emerged from the Gene Ontology, and supports most of the biomedical ontology content. In comparison, OWL is a Semantic Web language, and is supported by the World Wide Web consortium together with integral query languages, rule languages and distributed infrastructure for information interchange. These features are highly desirable for the OBO content as well. A convenient method for leveraging these features for OBO ontologies is by transforming OBO ontologies to OWL. We have developed a methodology for translating OBO ontologies to OWL using the organization of the Semantic Web itself to guide the work. The approach reveals that the constructs of OBO can be grouped together to form a similar layer cake. Thus we were able to decompose the problem into two parts. Most OBO constructs have easy and obvious equivalence to a construct in OWL. A small subset of OBO constructs requires deeper consideration. We have defined transformations for all constructs in an effort to foster a standard common mapping between OBO and OWL. Our mapping produces OWL-DL, a Description Logics based subset of OWL with desirable computational properties for efficiency and correctness. Our Java implementation of the mapping is part of the official Gene Ontology project source. Our transformation system provides a lossless roundtrip mapping for OBO ontologies, i.e. an OBO ontology may be translated to OWL and back without loss of knowledge. In addition, it provides a roadmap for bridging the gap between the two ontology languages in order to enable the use of ontology content in a language independent manner.

Semantic Web Services with Web Ontology Language (OWL-S) - Specification of Agent-Services for DARPA Agent Markup Language (DAML)

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Sycara, Katia P

2006-01-01

CMU did research and development on semantic web services using OWL-S, the semantic web service language under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency- DARPA Agent Markup Language (DARPA-DAML) program...

XQOWL: An Extension of XQuery for OWL Querying and Reasoning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jesús M. Almendros-Jiménez

2015-01-01

Full Text Available One of the main aims of the so-called Web of Data is to be able to handle heterogeneous resources where data can be expressed in either XML or RDF. The design of programming languages able to handle both XML and RDF data is a key target in this context. In this paper we present a framework called XQOWL that makes possible to handle XML and RDF/OWL data with XQuery. XQOWL can be considered as an extension of the XQuery language that connects XQuery with SPARQL and OWL reasoners. XQOWL embeds SPARQL queries (via Jena SPARQL engine in XQuery and enables to make calls to OWL reasoners (HermiT, Pellet and FaCT++ from XQuery. It permits to combine queries against XML and RDF/OWL resources as well as to reason with RDF/OWL data. Therefore input data can be either XML or RDF/OWL and output data can be formatted in XML (also using RDF/OWL XML serialization.

Habitat selection by owls in a seasonal semi-deciduous forest in southern Brazil

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W. Menq

Full Text Available Abstract This paper tested the hypothesis that the structural components of vegetation have impact over the distribution of owl species in a fragment of a semi-deciduous seasonal forest. This paper also determined which vegetation variables contributed to the spatial distribution of owl species. It was developed in the Perobas Biological Reserve (PBR between September and December 2011. To conduct the owl census, a playback technique was applied at hearing points distributed to cover different vegetation types in the study area. A total of 56 individual owls of six species were recorded: Tropical Screech-Owl (Megascops choliba, Black-capped Screech-Owl (Megascops atricapilla, Tawny-browed Owl (Pulsatrix koeniswaldiana, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl (Glaucidium brasilianum, Mottled Owl (Strix virgata and Stygian Owl (Asio stygius. The results suggest that the variables of vegetation structure have impact on the occurrence of owls. The canopy height, the presence of hollow trees, fallen trees and glades are the most important structural components influencing owl distribution in the sampled area.

Regional and Seasonal Diet of the Western Burrowing Owl in South-Central Nevada

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Derek B. Hall, Paul D. Greger, Jeffrey R. Rosier

2009-04-01

We examined diets of Western Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) based on contents of pellets and large prey remains collected year-round at burrows in each of the 3 regions in south central Nevada (Mojave Desert, Great Basin Desert, and Transition region). The most common prey items, based on percent frequency of occurrence, were crickets and grasshoppers, beetles, rodents, sun spiders, and scorpions. The most common vertebrate prey was kangaroo rats (Dipodomys spp.). True bugs (Hemiptera), scorpions, and western harvest mice (Reithrodontomys megalotis) occurred most frequently in pellets from the Great Basin Desert region. Kangaroo rats (Dipodomys spp.) and pocket mice (Perognathinae) were the most important vertebrate prey items in the Transition and Mojave Desert regions, respectively. Frequency of occurrence of any invertebrate prey was high (>80%) in samples year-round but dropped in winter samples, with scorpions and sun spiders exhibiting the steepest declines. Frequency of occurrence of any vertebrate prey peaked in spring samples, was intermediate for winter and summer samples, and was lowest in fall samples. With the possible exception of selecting for western harvest mice in the Great Basin Desert region, Western Burrowing Owls in our study appeared to be opportunistic foragers with a generalist feeding strategy.

Optimization of the Orbiting Wide-Angle Light Collectors (OWL) Mission for Charged-Particle and Neutrino Astronomy

Science.gov (United States)

Krizmanic, John F.; Mitchell, John W.; Streitmatter, Robert E.

2013-01-01

OWL [1] uses the Earth's atmosphere as a vast calorimeter to fully enable the emerging field of charged-particle astronomy with high-statistics measurements of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECR) and a search for sources of UHE neutrinos and photons. Confirmation of the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) suppression above approx. 4 x 10(exp 19) eV suggests that most UHECR originate in astrophysical objects. Higher energy particles must come from sources within about 100 Mpc and are deflected by approx. 1 degree by predicted intergalactic/galactic magnetic fields. The Pierre Auger Array, Telescope Array and the future JEM-EUSO ISS mission will open charged-particle astronomy, but much greater exposure will be required to fully identify and measure the spectra of individual sources. OWL uses two large telescopes with 3 m optical apertures and 45 degree FOV in near-equatorial orbits. Simulations of a five-year OWL mission indicate approx. 10(exp 6) sq km/ sr/ yr of exposure with full aperture at approx. 6 x 10(exp 19) eV. Observations at different altitudes and spacecraft separations optimize sensitivity to UHECRs and neutrinos. OWL's stereo event reconstruction is nearly independent of track inclination and very tolerant of atmospheric conditions. An optional monocular mode gives increased reliability and can increase the instantaneous aperture. OWL can fully reconstruct horizontal and upward-moving showers and so has high sensitivity to UHE neutrinos. New capabilities in inflatable structures optics and silicon photomultipliers can greatly increase photon sensitivity, reducing the energy threshold for n detection or increasing viewed area using a higher orbit. Design trades between the original and optimized OWL missions and the enhanced science capabilities are described.

Are owl pellets good estimators of prey abundance?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Analia Andrade

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Some ecologists have been skeptics about the use of owl pellets to estimate small mammal’s fauna. This is due to the assumptions required by this method: (a that owls hunt at random, and (b that pellets represent a random sample from the environment. We performed statistical analysis to test these assumptions and to assess the effectiveness of Barn owl pellets as a useful estimator of field abundances of its preys. We used samples collected in the arid Extra-Andean Patagonia along an altitudinal environmental gradient from lower Monte ecoregion to upper Patagonian steppe ecoregion, with a mid-elevation ecotone. To test if owls hunt at random, we estimated expected pellet frequency by creating a distribution of random pellets, which we compared with data using a simulated chi-square. To test if pellets represent a random sample from the environment, differences between ecoregions were evaluated by PERMANOVAs with Bray–Curtis dissimilarities. We did not find evidence that owls foraged non-randomly. Therefore, we can assume that the proportions of the small mammal’s species in the diet are representative of the proportions of the species in their communities. Only Monte is different from other ecoregions. The ecotone samples are grouped with those of Patagonian steppes. There are no real differences between localities in the small mammal’s abundances in each of these ecoregions and/or Barn owl pellets cannot detect patterns at a smaller spatial scale. Therefore, we have no evidence to invalidate the use of owl pellets at an ecoregional scale.

Aber-OWL: a framework for ontology-based data access in biology

KAUST Repository

Hoehndorf, Robert

2015-01-28

Background: Many ontologies have been developed in biology and these ontologies increasingly contain large volumes of formalized knowledge commonly expressed in the Web Ontology Language (OWL). Computational access to the knowledge contained within these ontologies relies on the use of automated reasoning. Results: We have developed the Aber-OWL infrastructure that provides reasoning services for bio-ontologies. Aber-OWL consists of an ontology repository, a set of web services and web interfaces that enable ontology-based semantic access to biological data and literature. Aber-OWL is freely available at http://aber-owl.net. Conclusions: Aber-OWL provides a framework for automatically accessing information that is annotated with ontologies or contains terms used to label classes in ontologies. When using Aber-OWL, access to ontologies and data annotated with them is not merely based on class names or identifiers but rather on the knowledge the ontologies contain and the inferences that can be drawn from it.

Chapter 3. Current management situation: Flammulated owls

Science.gov (United States)

Jon Verner

1994-01-01

The flammulated owl (Otus flammeolus) is a western mountain species associated mainly with ponderosa (Pinus ponderosa) and Jeffrey pine (Pinus jefferyi) forests in the United States and Canada (see Chapter 4). As a neotropical migrant, this small forest owl occurs on national forests in the United States during...

Semantically-Rigorous Systems Engineering Modeling Using Sysml and OWL

Science.gov (United States)

Jenkins, J. Steven; Rouquette, Nicolas F.

2012-01-01

The Systems Modeling Language (SysML) has found wide acceptance as a standard graphical notation for the domain of systems engineering. SysML subsets and extends the Unified Modeling Language (UML) to define conventions for expressing structural, behavioral, and analytical elements, and relationships among them. SysML-enabled modeling tools are available from multiple providers, and have been used for diverse projects in military aerospace, scientific exploration, and civil engineering. The Web Ontology Language (OWL) has found wide acceptance as a standard notation for knowledge representation. OWL-enabled modeling tools are available from multiple providers, as well as auxiliary assets such as reasoners and application programming interface libraries, etc. OWL has been applied to diverse projects in a wide array of fields. While the emphasis in SysML is on notation, SysML inherits (from UML) a semantic foundation that provides for limited reasoning and analysis. UML's partial formalization (FUML), however, does not cover the full semantics of SysML, which is a substantial impediment to developing high confidence in the soundness of any conclusions drawn therefrom. OWL, by contrast, was developed from the beginning on formal logical principles, and consequently provides strong support for verification of consistency and satisfiability, extraction of entailments, conjunctive query answering, etc. This emphasis on formal logic is counterbalanced by the absence of any graphical notation conventions in the OWL standards. Consequently, OWL has had only limited adoption in systems engineering. The complementary strengths and weaknesses of SysML and OWL motivate an interest in combining them in such a way that we can benefit from the attractive graphical notation of SysML and the formal reasoning of OWL. This paper describes an approach to achieving that combination.

Chapter 8. Current management situation: Boreal owls

Science.gov (United States)

Jon Verner

1994-01-01

The range of boreal owls (Aegolius funereus) in the United States includes Alaska, the mountains of the western United States, and the northern tier states from the Atlantic to Pacific (see Chapter 9). Based on the species' documented distribution (see National Geographic Society 1987, Hayward et al. 1987, Johnsgard 1988, and others) the owl may...

Modeling co-occurrence of northern spotted and barred owls: accounting for detection probability differences

Science.gov (United States)

Bailey, Larissa L.; Reid, Janice A.; Forsman, Eric D.; Nichols, James D.

2009-01-01

Barred owls (Strix varia) have recently expanded their range and now encompass the entire range of the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina). This expansion has led to two important issues of concern for management of northern spotted owls: (1) possible competitive interactions between the two species that could contribute to population declines of northern spotted owls, and (2) possible changes in vocalization behavior and detection probabilities of northern spotted owls induced by presence of barred owls. We used a two-species occupancy model to investigate whether there was evidence of competitive exclusion between the two species at study locations in Oregon, USA. We simultaneously estimated detection probabilities for both species and determined if the presence of one species influenced the detection of the other species. Model selection results and associated parameter estimates provided no evidence that barred owls excluded spotted owls from territories. We found strong evidence that detection probabilities differed for the two species, with higher probabilities for northern spotted owls that are the object of current surveys. Non-detection of barred owls is very common in surveys for northern spotted owls, and detection of both owl species was negatively influenced by the presence of the congeneric species. Our results suggest that analyses directed at hypotheses of barred owl effects on demographic or occupancy vital rates of northern spotted owls need to deal adequately with imperfect and variable detection probabilities for both species.

tOWL: a temporal Web Ontology Language.

Science.gov (United States)

Milea, Viorel; Frasincar, Flavius; Kaymak, Uzay

2012-02-01

Through its interoperability and reasoning capabilities, the Semantic Web opens a realm of possibilities for developing intelligent systems on the Web. The Web Ontology Language (OWL) is the most expressive standard language for modeling ontologies, the cornerstone of the Semantic Web. However, up until now, no standard way of expressing time and time-dependent information in OWL has been provided. In this paper, we present a temporal extension of the very expressive fragment SHIN(D) of the OWL Description Logic language, resulting in the temporal OWL language. Through a layered approach, we introduce three extensions: 1) concrete domains, which allow the representation of restrictions using concrete domain binary predicates; 2) temporal representation , which introduces time points, relations between time points, intervals, and Allen's 13 interval relations into the language; and 3) timeslices/fluents, which implement a perdurantist view on individuals and allow for the representation of complex temporal aspects, such as process state transitions. We illustrate the expressiveness of the newly introduced language by using an example from the financial domain.

Long-horned Ceratopsidae from the Foremost Formation (Campanian of southern Alberta

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Caleb M. Brown

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The horned Ceratopsidae represent one of the last radiations of dinosaurs, and despite a decade of intense work greatly adding to our understanding of this diversification, their early evolution is still poorly known. Here, two postorbital horncores from the upper Foremost Formation (Campanian of Alberta are described, and at ∼78.5 Ma represent some of the geologically oldest ceratopsid material. The larger of these specimens is incorporated into a fused supraorbital complex, and preserves a massive, straight, postorbital horncore that is vertical in lateral view, but canted dorsolaterally in rostral view. Medially, the supracranial sinus is composed of a small, restricted caudal chamber, and a large rostral chamber that forms the cornual diverticulum. This morphology is distinct from that of the long-horned Chasmosaurinae, and similar to, but still different from, those of younger Centrosaurinae taxa. The smaller specimen represents an ontogenetically younger individual, and although showing consistent morphology to the larger specimen, is less taxonomically useful. Although not certain, these postorbital horns may be referable to a long-horned basal (i.e., early-branching, non-pachyrhinosaurini, non-centrosaurini centrosaurine, potentially the contemporaneous Xenoceratops, largely known from the parietosquamosal frill. These specimens indicate the morphology of the supracranial sinus in early, long-horned members of the Ceratopsidae, and add to our understanding of the evolution of the cranial display structures in this iconic dinosaur clade.

Home range characteristics of Mexican Spotted Owls in the Rincon Mountains, Arizona

Science.gov (United States)

Willey, David W.; van Riper, Charles

2014-01-01

We studied a small isolated population of Mexican Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis lucida) from 1996–1997 in the Rincon Mountains of Saguaro National Park, southeastern Arizona, USA. All mixed-conifer and pine-oak forest patches in the park were surveyed for Spotted Owls, and we located, captured, and radio-tagged 10 adult birds representing five mated pairs. Using radio-telemetry, we examined owl home range characteristics, roost habitat, and monitored reproduction within these five territories. Breeding season (Mar–Sep) home range size for 10 adult owls (95% adaptive kernel isopleths) averaged 267 ha (±207 SD), and varied widely among owls (range 34–652 ha). Mean home range size for owl pairs was 478 ha (±417 ha SD), and ranged from 70–1,160 ha. Owls that produced young used smaller home ranges than owls that had no young. Six habitat variables differed significantly between roost and random sites, including: percent canopy cover, number of trees, number of vegetation layers, average height of trees, average diameter of trees, and tree basal area. Radio-marked owls remained in their territories following small prescribed management fires within those territories, exhibiting no proximate effects to the presence of prescribed fire.

Barn Owl (Tyto alba) and Long-Eared Owl (Asio otus) mortality along motorways in Bourgogne-Champagne: report and suggestions

Science.gov (United States)

Hugues Baudvin

1997-01-01

The purpose of the study was to find where and why two species of owls were killed by traffic along motorways. Three different factors have an important influence on the mortality of the two owl species: the biotops crossed by motorways, the road elevation and the presence of small rodents, the Common Vole (Microtus arvalis) being most numerous. In...

Flammulated Owls (Otus flammeolus) breeding in deciduous forests

Science.gov (United States)

Carl D. Marti

1997-01-01

The first studies of nesting Flammulated Owls (Otus flammeolus) established the idea that the species needs ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests for breeding. In northern Utah, Flammulated Owls nested in montane deciduous forests dominated by quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides). No pines were present but...

Owl's eye appearance: a case report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mathur, Mukul; Asha, P.

2010-01-01

Full text: Hyper-functioning thyroid nodule may present various scintigraphic appearances on thyroid scans. Autonomously hyper functioning thyroid nodules often show degenerative changes. These changes may give rise to peripheral photopenic areas on a thyroid scan. In this report we present a case of hyper functioning nodule showing appearance of an owl's eye. Although rare, such pattern can be seen in a variety of benign and malignant thyroid conditions. A 42-year-old man presented with a solitary thyroid nodule in the right lobe and weight loss for four months. The thyroid hormone profile confirmed hyperthyroidism. Thyroid function testing revealed T4=136.8 nmol/l (Normal = 66.0-181.0 nmol/L) and Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) = 0.283 (Normal =0.27- 4.2 μIU/ml). Antithyroglobulin antibodies and antimicrosmal antibodies were negative. The patient was referred for thyroid scan and uptake. A Thyroid scan was obtained after the intravenous injection of 5 mCi (185MBq) of 99m Tc pertechnetate. Anterior view obtained using a parallel hole collimator. The scan showed peripheral photopenic area with a central focal area of increased uptake giving the appearance of 'Owl's eye'. 99m Tc-pertechnetate uptake was increased. A scintigraphic 'Owl's eye' sign has been described in thyroid cyst, benign autonomous nodule and papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland. This Owl's eye pattern appears to be caused by a focus of functioning tissue overlapping a large cold area in a nodule that has cystic,degenerative and necrotic changes in the middle of a benign and malignant pathology. Hyper functioning nodules may scintigraphically show Owl's eye pattern due to intra nodular degeneration, with residual hyper functioning tissue within or overlapping the degenerative area

Owl: A General-Purpose Numerical Library in OCaml

OpenAIRE

Wang, Liang

2017-01-01

Owl is a new numerical library developed in the OCaml language. It focuses on providing a comprehensive set of high-level numerical functions so that developers can quickly build up data analytical applications. In this abstract, we will present Owl's design, core components, and its key functionality.

Fatal pox infection in a rough-legged hawk

Science.gov (United States)

Pearson, G.L.; Pass, D.A.; Beggs, E.C.

1975-01-01

Natural pox infection occurred in a free-living rough-legged hawk (Buteo lagopus) in northeastern North Dakota. Gross, histological and electron microscopic findings were typical of pox infection, and characteristic lesions developed in red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) but not in great horned owls (Bubo virginianus) following inoculation with case material. Death of the rough-legged hawk was attributed to starvation resulting from inability to capture prey and to blood loss from foot lesions.

Barred Owl [ds8

Data.gov (United States)

California Natural Resource Agency — These data define the current range of Barred and hybrid Barred/Spotted Owls in California. The current range includes the coastal mountains of northern California...

Cover of tall trees best predicts California spotted owl habitat

Science.gov (United States)

Malcolm P. North; Jonathan T. Kane; Van R. Kane; Gregory P. Asner; William Berigan; Derek J. Churchill; Scott Conway; R.J. Gutiérrez; Sean Jeronimo; John Keane; Alexander Koltunov; Tina Mark; Monika Moskal; Thomas Munton; Zachary Peery; Carlos Ramirez; Rahel Sollmann; Angela White; Sheila Whitmore

2017-01-01

Restoration of western dry forests in the USA often focuses on reducing fuel loads. In the range of the spotted owl, these treatments may reduce canopy cover and tree density, which could reduce preferred habitat conditions for the owl and other sensitive species. In particular, high canopy cover (≥70%) has been widely reported to be an important feature of spotted owl...

Development of survival skills in captive-raised Siberian polecats (Mustela eversmanni) II: predator avoidance

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Brian; Biggins, Dean; Wemmer, Chris; Powell, Roger; Calvo, Lorena; Hanebury, Lou; Wharton, Tracy

1990-01-01

We exposed naive Siberain polecats (Mustela eversmanni) (aged 2, 3, and 4 months) to a swooping stuffed great horned owl (Buho virginianus) and a stuffed badger (Taxidae taxus) mounted on a remote control toy automobile frame. The first introduction to each was harmless, the second was accompanied by a mild aversive stimulus, the third (1 day after attack) was harmless, and the fourth (30 days after attack) was harmless. Alert behavior increased after a single attack by either predator model. Escape responses of naive polecats did not differ between ages when exposed to the badger, but 4 month old polecats reduced their escape times after a single badger attack. When exposed to the swooping owl, naive 4 month old polecats redponded more quickly than the other two age groups, and 3 and 4 month old polecats reduced escape times after a single owl attack. This indicates an innate escape response to the owl model at 4 months of age, and a short-tert ability to remember a single mild aversive encounter with the badger and owl models at 3 or 4 months of age.

Effects of radiotransmitter necklaces on behaviors of adult male western burrowing owls

Science.gov (United States)

Chipman, E.D.; McIntyre, N.E.; Ray, J.D.; Wallace, M.C.; Boal, C.W.

2007-01-01

We studied the behavioral effects of necklace-style radiotransmitters on breeding male western burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) in 2 areas of northwestern Texas, USA, in 2004 and 2005. We tested the hypothesis that transmittered owls would spend time interacting with their necklaces and as a result spend less time in vigilance and resting activities than would nontransmittered owls. Nontransmittered owls (n = 6) spent significantly more time being vigilant (P = 0.007) than did transmittered owls (n = 3) in 2004, who spent significant amounts of time interacting with their necklaces. In 2005, behaviors of transmittered owls (n = 8) were significantly different (P < 0.001) from control individuals (n = 4), but behaviors did not vary consistently by treatment period (prenecklace vs. necklace vs. postnecklace periods). Behavioral activity budgets varied considerably among individuals. Although the owls spent a significant amount of time interacting with their necklaces, they appeared to habituate to the presence of the transmitters within a relatively short period (<1 week), and necklaces did not affect survivorship or fitness in the short-term.

Effects of radiotransmitter necklaces on behaviors of adult male western burrowing owls

Science.gov (United States)

Chipman, E.D.; McIntyre, N.E.; Ray, J.D.; Wallace, M.C.; Boal, C.W.

2007-01-01

We studied the behavioral effects of necklace-style radiotransmitters on breeding male western burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) in 2 areas of northwestern Texas, USA, in 2004 and 2005. We tested the hypothesis that transmittered owls would spend time interacting with their necklaces and as a result spend less time in vigilance and resting activities than would nontransmittered owls. Nontransmittered owls (n = 6) spent significantly more time being vigilant (P = 0.007) than did transmittered owls (n = 3) in 2004, who spent significant amounts of time interacting with their necklaces. In 2005, behaviors of transmittered owls (n = 8) were significantly different (P of time interacting with their necklaces, they appeared to habituate to the presence of the transmitters within a relatively short period (<1 week), and necklaces did not affect survivorship or fitness in the short-term.

Derivation of Event-B Models from OWL Ontologies

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Alkhammash Eman H.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The derivation of formal specifications from large and complex requirements is a key challenge in systems engineering. In this paper we present an approach that aims to address this challenge by building formal models from OWL ontologies. An ontology is used in the field of knowledge representation to capture a clear view of the domain and to produce a concise and unambiguous set of domain requirements. We harness the power of ontologies to handle inconsistency of domain requirements and produce clear, concise and unambiguous set of domain requirements for Event-B modelling. The proposed approach works by generating Attempto Controlled English (ACE from the OWL ontology and then maps the ACE requirements to develop Event-B models. ACE is a subset of English that can be unambiguously translated into first-order logic. There is an injective mapping between OWL ontology and a subset of ACE. ACE is a suitable interlingua for producing the mapping between OWL and Event-B models for many reasons. Firstly, ACE is easy to learn and understand, it hides the math of OWL and would be natural to use by everybody. Secondly ACE has a parser that converts ACE texts into Discourse Representation Structures (DRS. Finally, ACE can be extended to target a richer syntactic subset of Event-B which ultimately would facilitate the translation of ACE requirements to Event-B.

Modeling interactions betweenspotted owl and barred owl populations in fire-prone forests

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Background / Question / Methods Efforts to conserve northern spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) in the eastern Cascades of Washington must merge the challenges of providing sufficient structurally complex forest habitat in a fire-prone landscape with the limitations impos...

Population dynamics of spotted owls in the Sierra Nevada, California

Science.gov (United States)

Blakesley, J.A.; Seamans, M.E.; Conner, M.M.; Franklin, A.B.; White, Gary C.; Gutierrez, R.J.; Hines, J.E.; Nichols, J.D.; Munton, T.E.; Shaw, D.W.H.; Keane, J.J.; Steger, G.N.; McDonald, T.L.

2010-01-01

The California spotted owl (Strix occidentalis occidentalis) is the only spotted owl subspecies not listed as threatened or endangered under the United States Endangered Species Act despite petitions to list it as threatened. We conducted a meta-analysis of population data for 4 populations in the southern Cascades and Sierra Nevada, California, USA, from 1990 to 2005 to assist a listing evaluation by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Our study areas (from N to S) were on the Lassen National Forest (LAS), Eldorado National Forest (ELD), Sierra National Forest (SIE), and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (SKC). These study areas represented a broad spectrum of habitat and management conditions in these mountain ranges. We estimated apparent survival probability, reproductive output, and rate of population change for spotted owls on individual study areas and for all study areas combined (meta-analysis) using model selection or model-averaging based on maximum-likelihood estimation. We followed a formal protocol to conduct this analysis that was similar to other spotted owl meta-analyses. Consistency of field and analytical methods among our studies reduced confounding methodological effects when evaluating results. We used 991 marked spotted owls in the analysis of apparent survival. Apparent survival probability was higher for adult than for subadult owls. There was little difference in apparent survival between male and female owls. Model-averaged mean estimates of apparent survival probability of adult owls varied from 0.811 ?? 0.021 for females at LAS to 0.890 ?? 0.016 for males at SKC. Apparent survival increased over time for owls of all age classes at LAS and SIE, for adults at ELD, and for second-year subadults and adults at SKC. The meta-analysis of apparent survival, which included only adult owls, confirmed an increasing trend in survival over time. Survival rates were higher for owls on SKC than on the other study areas. We analyzed data

Food habits of Mexican Spotted Owls in Arizona

Science.gov (United States)

Joseph L. Ganey

1992-01-01

The Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis) is most common in mature and old-growth coniferous forests throughout much of its range (Forsman et al. 1984, Laymon 1988, Ganey and Balda 1989a, Thomas et al. 1990). Proximate factors underlying habitat selection in Spotted Owls are understood poorly. Abundance and availability of food, however, may be a key...

The first reported ceratopsid dinosaur from eastern North America (Owl Creek Formation, Upper Cretaceous, Mississippi, USA).

Science.gov (United States)

Farke, Andrew A; Phillips, George E

2017-01-01

Ceratopsids ("horned dinosaurs") are known from western North America and Asia, a distribution reflecting an inferred subaerial link between the two landmasses during the Late Cretaceous. However, this clade was previously unknown from eastern North America, presumably due to limited outcrop of the appropriate age and depositional environment as well as the separation of eastern and western North America by the Western Interior Seaway during much of the Late Cretaceous. A dentary tooth from the Owl Creek Formation (late Maastrichtian) of Union County, Mississippi, represents the first reported occurrence of Ceratopsidae from eastern North America. This tooth shows a combination of features typical of Ceratopsidae, including a double root and a prominent, blade-like carina. Based on the age of the fossil, we hypothesize that it is consistent with a dispersal of ceratopsids into eastern North America during the very latest Cretaceous, presumably after the two halves of North America were reunited following the retreat of the Western Interior Seaway.

The first reported ceratopsid dinosaur from eastern North America (Owl Creek Formation, Upper Cretaceous, Mississippi, USA

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Andrew A. Farke

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Ceratopsids (“horned dinosaurs” are known from western North America and Asia, a distribution reflecting an inferred subaerial link between the two landmasses during the Late Cretaceous. However, this clade was previously unknown from eastern North America, presumably due to limited outcrop of the appropriate age and depositional environment as well as the separation of eastern and western North America by the Western Interior Seaway during much of the Late Cretaceous. A dentary tooth from the Owl Creek Formation (late Maastrichtian of Union County, Mississippi, represents the first reported occurrence of Ceratopsidae from eastern North America. This tooth shows a combination of features typical of Ceratopsidae, including a double root and a prominent, blade-like carina. Based on the age of the fossil, we hypothesize that it is consistent with a dispersal of ceratopsids into eastern North America during the very latest Cretaceous, presumably after the two halves of North America were reunited following the retreat of the Western Interior Seaway.

Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) Genome: Divergence with the Barred Owl (Strix varia) and Characterization of Light-Associated Genes.

Science.gov (United States)

Hanna, Zachary R; Henderson, James B; Wall, Jeffrey D; Emerling, Christopher A; Fuchs, Jérôme; Runckel, Charles; Mindell, David P; Bowie, Rauri C K; DeRisi, Joseph L; Dumbacher, John P

2017-10-01

We report here the assembly of a northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) genome. We generated Illumina paired-end sequence data at 90× coverage using nine libraries with insert lengths ranging from ∼250 to 9,600 nt and read lengths from 100 to 375 nt. The genome assembly is comprised of 8,108 scaffolds totaling 1.26 × 109 nt in length with an N50 length of 3.98 × 106 nt. We calculated the genome-wide fixation index (FST) of S. o. caurina with the closely related barred owl (Strix varia) as 0.819. We examined 19 genes that encode proteins with light-dependent functions in our genome assembly as well as in that of the barn owl (Tyto alba). We present genomic evidence for loss of three of these in S. o. caurina and four in T. alba. We suggest that most light-associated gene functions have been maintained in owls and their loss has not proceeded to the same extent as in other dim-light-adapted vertebrates. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

A Director's Guide to High School Horns.

Science.gov (United States)

Conway, Collen

1998-01-01

Conveys that the horn (French horn) is the most difficult instrument for band and orchestra directors to teach because playing the horn requires students to have very strong aural skills. Identifies the horn specific techniques students should know, such as hand positions, alternate fingerings, and transposition. Provides different methods for…

Fuzzy reasoning on Horn Set

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, X.; Fang, K.

1986-01-01

A theoretical study in fuzzy reasoning on Horn Set is presented in this paper. The authors first introduce the concepts of λ-Horn Set of clauses and λ-Input Half Lock deduction. They then use the λ-resolution method to discuss fuzzy reasoning on λ-Horn set of clauses. It is proved that the proposed λ-Input Half Lock resolution method is complete with the rules in certain format

In-pile loop OWL-2 and irradiation tests done with it

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suzuki, Shinobu; Ikeshima, Yoshiaki; Kawano, Masakatsu; Watanabe, Hiroyuki; Sato, Hitoshi; Tanaka, Isao

1990-11-01

The OWL-2 which was built in the JMTR as the biggest water loop in Japan has been operating for irradiation service since February 1972. The desired objective of the OWL-2, contributing to the development of various nuclear fuels and materials for the light water power reactor and to reactor engineering, has been so fully achieved that the OWL-2 is planned to be dismantled. After the dismantling, a loop, needed for the research and development of the breeding blanket for the fusion reactor, is going to be installed in place of the OWL-2 as a part of the JMTR Modification Program. This paper deals with the history of the OWL-2 with an emphasis on the technical affairs taken into consideration when designing the OWL-2, the irradiation tests, development of the turbine flowmeter, results of the surveillance test of the material of the in-reactor tube, the knowledge gained in the course of the investigation into the cause of transgranular stress corrosion cracking (TGSCC) which developed in the wall of the in-reactor tube, and countermeasures taken to prevent TGSCC from recurring. (author)

Effects of post-fire logging on California spotted owl occupancy

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Chad T. Hanson

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In fire-adapted forest ecosystems around the world, there has been growing concern about adverse impacts of post-fire logging on native biodiversity and ecological processes. This is also true in conifer forests of California, U.S.A. which are home to a rare and declining owl subspecies, the California spotted owl (Strix occidentalis occidentalis. While there has been recent concern about the California spotted owl occupancy in large fire areas where some territories have substantial high-severity fire effects, the influence of post-fire logging on the California spotted owl occupancy has been investigated very little, leading to some uncertainty about interpretation of conflicting results in different large fires. Research has found these owls preferentially select high-severity fire areas, characterised by high levels of snags and native shrubs, for foraging in forests that were not logged after fire, suggesting that removal of this foraging habitat might impact occupancy. The authors assessed the effect of post-fire logging and high-severity fire, on occupancy of this subspecies in eight large fire areas, within spotted owl sites with two different levels of high-severity fire effects. They found a significant adverse effect of such logging and no effect of high-severity fire alone. These results indicate it is post-fire logging, not large fires themselves, that poses a conservation threat to this imperilled species.

The influence of hunger on meal to pellet intervals in barred owls

Science.gov (United States)

Duke, G.E.; Fuller, M.R.; Huberty, B.J.

1980-01-01

1. Barred owls fed at a sub-maintenance (SM) level had significantly (P < 0.01) longer meal to pellet intervals (MPI)/g eaten/kg body weight (BW) than those fed at an above maintenance (AM) level; MPI/g per kg for owls fed at a maintenance (M) level was intermediate but significantly (P < 0.01) different from both SM and AM.2. During SM feeding, MPI/g per kg gradually increased.3. The proportion of a meal occurring in a pellet was less in “hungry” owls whether losing weight (SM) or gaining (AM) as compared to owls maintaining their normal body weight (M).4. SM fed owls appear to be able to increase digestion time as well as thoroughness of digestion.

Avian trichomonosis in spotted owls (Strix occidentalis: Indication of opportunistic spillover from prey

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Krysta H. Rogers

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Avian trichomonosis, caused by the flagellated protozoan parasite Trichomonas gallinae, has variable pathogenicity among bird species ranging from asymptomatic infections to severe disease periodically manifesting in epidemic mortality. Traditionally, columbids are identified as highly susceptible to infection with occasional spillover into raptors that prey on infected birds. We identified avian trichomonosis in two dead California spotted owls (Strix occidentalis occidentalis and three dead northern spotted owls (S. o. caurina in California during 2011–2015; infection was confirmed in four owls by PCR. Pathologic lesions associated with trichomonosis in the owls included caseonecrotic lesions of the upper palate accompanied by oropharyngitis, cellulitis, myositis, and/or sinusitis. Spotted owls are known to mainly feed on small mammals; therefore, the source of infection as well as the significance of the disease in spotted owls is unclear. These owl trichomonosis cases coincided temporally and spatially with three trichomonosis epidemics in band-tailed pigeons (Patagioenas fasciata monilis. The same parasite, T. gallinae subtype A2, was isolated from the spotted owls and band-tailed pigeons, suggesting the owls became infected when opportunistically feeding on pigeons during mortality events. Avian trichomonosis is an important factor in the decline of the Pacific Coast band-tailed pigeon population with near-annual mortality events during the last 10 years and could have conservation implications for raptor species at risk, particularly those that are facing multiple threats.

Visual-auditory integration for visual search: a behavioral study in barn owls

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Yael eHazan

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Barn owls are nocturnal predators that rely on both vision and hearing for survival. The optic tectum of barn owls, a midbrain structure involved in selective attention, has been used as a model for studying visual- auditory integration at the neuronal level. However, behavioral data on visual- auditory integration in barn owls are lacking. The goal of this study was to examine if the integration of visual and auditory signals contributes to the process of guiding attention towards salient stimuli. We attached miniature wireless video cameras on barn owls' heads (OwlCam to track their target of gaze. We first provide evidence that the area centralis (a retinal area with a maximal density of photoreceptors is used as a functional fovea in barn owls. Thus, by mapping the projection of the area centralis on the OwlCam's video frame, it is possible to extract the target of gaze. For the experiment, owls were positioned on a high perch and four food items were scattered in a large arena on the floor. In addition, a hidden loudspeaker was positioned in the arena. The positions of the food items and speaker were changed every session. Video sequences from the OwlCam were saved for offline analysis while the owls spontaneously scanned the room and the food items with abrupt gaze shifts (head saccades. From time to time during the experiment, a brief sound was emitted from the speaker. The fixation points immediately following the sounds were extracted and the distances between the gaze position and the nearest items and loudspeaker were measured. The head saccades were rarely towards the location of the sound source but to salient visual features in the room, such as the door knob or the food items. However, among the food items, the one closest to the loudspeaker had the highest probability of attracting a gaze shift. This result supports the notion that auditory signals are integrated with visual information for the selection of the next visual search

in the diet of Verreaux's Eagle Owl Bubo lacteus

African Journals Online (AJOL)

two different species from the family Molossidae, and one individual of Lander's. Horseshoe Bat Rhinolophus landeri (Rhinolophidae). Bats are common prey items of owls, not surprising considering that both these animal groups are nocturnal (Marks et al. 1999). However, the proportion of bats in owls' diets varies between ...

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.

The audiological health of horn players.

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Wilson, Wayne J; O'Brien, Ian; Bradley, Andrew P

2013-01-01

Among orchestral musicians, horn players are one of the most at-risk groups for noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). To investigate this group further, pure tone audiometry and a 14-item questionnaire were used to assess the hearing health, as well as attitudes and practices regarding hearing conservation, among 142 French horn players attending an international horn conference in Brisbane, Australia. Of this study's French horn players, 11.1% to 22.2%, and 17.7% to 32.9% of those aged ≤40 years, showed some form of hearing loss (corrected for age and gender) typical of NIHL, using conservative versus lenient criteria, respectively. Stepwise multiple regression analyses showed no obvious predictor of hearing loss in this study's participants. Of the 18% of participants who reported using hearing protection, 81% used this protection "sometimes" and 50% used generic, foam, or other inferior forms of protection. Continued efforts to better manage the hearing health of horn players is warranted particularly as any hearing loss will affect a horn player's ability to perform and therefore his or her livelihood. Managing the hearing health of horn players will be challenging, however, with no simple predictor of NIHL loss being identified in this study's sample.

A Process for the Representation of openEHR ADL Archetypes in OWL Ontologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Porn, Alex Mateus; Peres, Leticia Mara; Didonet Del Fabro, Marcos

2015-01-01

ADL is a formal language to express archetypes, independent of standards or domain. However, its specification is not precise enough in relation to the specialization and semantic of archetypes, presenting difficulties in implementation and a few available tools. Archetypes may be implemented using other languages such as XML or OWL, increasing integration with Semantic Web tools. Exchanging and transforming data can be better implemented with semantics oriented models, for example using OWL which is a language to define and instantiate Web ontologies defined by W3C. OWL permits defining significant, detailed, precise and consistent distinctions among classes, properties and relations by the user, ensuring the consistency of knowledge than using ADL techniques. This paper presents a process of an openEHR ADL archetypes representation in OWL ontologies. This process consists of ADL archetypes conversion in OWL ontologies and validation of OWL resultant ontologies using the mutation test.

Non-communicating Rudimentary Uterine Horn Pregnancy

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I Upadhyaya

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Pregnancy in a non-communicating rudimentary horn is an extremely rare form of ectopic gestation. The rudimentary horn may or may not communicate with the uterine cavity with the majority of cases being non-communicating. The patient exhibits features of acute abdomen and carries a high risk of maternal death. Even modern scans remain elusive whereas laparatomy remains the confi rmatory procedure for the diagnosis. Because of the varied muscular constitution in the thickness and distensibility of the wall of the rudimentary horn, pregnancy is accommodated for a variable period of gestation. Here, we report three cases of pregnancy in a non-communicating rudimentary horn of the uterus in different periods of gestation, their outcome and a review of the available literature. Keywords: Mullerian anomalies, non-communicating rudimentary horn pregnancy, surgical management.

Ecotoxicological suitability of floodplain habitats in The Netherlands for the little owl (Athene noctua vidalli)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brink, N.W. van den; Groen, N.M.; Jonge, J. de; Bosveld, A.T.C.

2003-01-01

PCBs pose a risk to little owls from floodplain habitats. - This study describes the actual risks of exposure to contaminants, which little owls (Athene noctua vidalli) face in Dutch river floodplains. The results indicate that PCBs pose a risk: not only are levels in little owls from floodplains higher than levels found in little owls from a reference site but the PCB patterns in owls from the floodplains also indicate induction of hepatic cytochrome P450 enzymes by dioxin like compounds, possibly PCBs. Of the heavy metals, only cadmium is thought to pose a risk in certain conditions, for example, when little owls are feeding only on earthworms over a prolonged period of time. The results do not indicate any effects on the occurrence of prey items of the little owl like for instance earthworm, beetles and shrews. Hence, it is not expected that little owls will be affected by diminishing prey availability due to contamination

Ecotoxicological suitability of floodplain habitats in The Netherlands for the little owl (Athene noctua vidalli)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brink, N.W. van den; Groen, N.M.; Jonge, J. de; Bosveld, A.T.C

2003-03-01

PCBs pose a risk to little owls from floodplain habitats. - This study describes the actual risks of exposure to contaminants, which little owls (Athene noctua vidalli) face in Dutch river floodplains. The results indicate that PCBs pose a risk: not only are levels in little owls from floodplains higher than levels found in little owls from a reference site but the PCB patterns in owls from the floodplains also indicate induction of hepatic cytochrome P450 enzymes by dioxin like compounds, possibly PCBs. Of the heavy metals, only cadmium is thought to pose a risk in certain conditions, for example, when little owls are feeding only on earthworms over a prolonged period of time. The results do not indicate any effects on the occurrence of prey items of the little owl like for instance earthworm, beetles and shrews. Hence, it is not expected that little owls will be affected by diminishing prey availability due to contamination.

Exploiting Semantic Web Technologies to Develop OWL-Based Clinical Practice Guideline Execution Engines.

Science.gov (United States)

Jafarpour, Borna; Abidi, Samina Raza; Abidi, Syed Sibte Raza

2016-01-01

Computerizing paper-based CPG and then executing them can provide evidence-informed decision support to physicians at the point of care. Semantic web technologies especially web ontology language (OWL) ontologies have been profusely used to represent computerized CPG. Using semantic web reasoning capabilities to execute OWL-based computerized CPG unties them from a specific custom-built CPG execution engine and increases their shareability as any OWL reasoner and triple store can be utilized for CPG execution. However, existing semantic web reasoning-based CPG execution engines suffer from lack of ability to execute CPG with high levels of expressivity, high cognitive load of computerization of paper-based CPG and updating their computerized versions. In order to address these limitations, we have developed three CPG execution engines based on OWL 1 DL, OWL 2 DL and OWL 2 DL + semantic web rule language (SWRL). OWL 1 DL serves as the base execution engine capable of executing a wide range of CPG constructs, however for executing highly complex CPG the OWL 2 DL and OWL 2 DL + SWRL offer additional executional capabilities. We evaluated the technical performance and medical correctness of our execution engines using a range of CPG. Technical evaluations show the efficiency of our CPG execution engines in terms of CPU time and validity of the generated recommendation in comparison to existing CPG execution engines. Medical evaluations by domain experts show the validity of the CPG-mediated therapy plans in terms of relevance, safety, and ordering for a wide range of patient scenarios.

The Harry Potter effect: The rise in trade of owls as pets in Java and Bali, Indonesia

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Vincent Nijman

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Hundreds of species of wild-caught birds are offered for sale in the bird markets of Java and Bali, Indonesia, to meet the demand for the largely-domestic pet and songbird trade. In the past, owls were offered only in very small numbers in these bird markets but since the release of the Harry Potter series in Indonesia in the early 2000s their popularity as pets has increased. Whereas in the past owls were collective known as Burung Hantu (“Ghost birds”, in the bird markets they are now commonly referred to as Burung Harry Potter (“Harry Potter birds”. We made a retrospective quantitative assessment of the abundance of owls in the bird markets (1979–2010 and conducted 109 surveys in 20 bird markets in 2012–2016 to quantify owls in trade. In the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s owls were rarely recorded in Indonesia's bird markets, typically one or two and up to five per survey, and frequently no owls were recorded at all. The trade was largely confined to small scops owls. In the late 2000s more species were offered for sale, including barn and bay owls, and larger owl species such as wood-owls, eagle-owls and fish-owls; typically 10 + owls were observed per survey. In recent years, the number of owl species increased even more, and on average we recorded 17 owls per survey, yielding a total of 1810 owls, and in >90% of the surveys owls were present. In the larger bird markets in Jakarta and Bandung typically 30 to 60 owls are on offer of up to 8 species at a time. The number of owls as a proportion of all birds in the markets increased from 0.43% post 2008, suggesting a delayed Harry Potter effect. Over this period, common species have become cheaper and less common ones have become more expensive. The owls are largely, if not exclusively, wild-caught and are sold into the domestic pet market. The release of Harry Potter films and novels in Indonesia coincided with the rise of the Internet and social media and, with some delay, the

Morphological Variations of Leading-Edge Serrations in Owls (Strigiformes.

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Matthias Weger

Full Text Available Owls have developed serrations, comb-like structures, along the leading edge of their wings. Serrations were investigated from a morphological and a mechanical point of view, but were not yet quantitatively compared for different species. Such a comparative investigation of serrations from species of different sizes and activity patterns may provide new information about the function of the serrations.Serrations on complete wings and on tenth primary remiges of seven owl species were investigated. Small, middle-sized, and large owl species were investigated as well as species being more active during the day and owls being more active during the night. Serrations occurred at the outer parts of the wings, predominantly at tenth primary remiges, but also on further wing feathers in most species. Serration tips were oriented away from the feather rachis so that they faced into the air stream during flight. The serrations of nocturnal owl species were higher developed as demonstrated by a larger inclination angle (the angle between the base of the barb and the rachis, a larger tip displacement angle (the angle between the tip of the serration and the base of the serration and a longer length. Putting the measured data into a clustering algorithm yielded dendrograms that suggested a strong influence of activity pattern, but only a weak influence of size on the development of the serrations.Serrations are supposed to be involved in noise reduction during flight and also depend on the aerodynamic properties that in turn depend on body size. Since especially nocturnal owls have to rely on hearing during prey capture, the more pronounced serrations of nocturnal species lend further support to the notion that serrations have an important function in noise reduction. The differences in shape of the serrations investigated indicate that a silent flight requires well-developed serrations.

Morphological Variations of Leading-Edge Serrations in Owls (Strigiformes)

Science.gov (United States)

Weger, Matthias; Wagner, Hermann

2016-01-01

Background Owls have developed serrations, comb-like structures, along the leading edge of their wings. Serrations were investigated from a morphological and a mechanical point of view, but were not yet quantitatively compared for different species. Such a comparative investigation of serrations from species of different sizes and activity patterns may provide new information about the function of the serrations. Results Serrations on complete wings and on tenth primary remiges of seven owl species were investigated. Small, middle-sized, and large owl species were investigated as well as species being more active during the day and owls being more active during the night. Serrations occurred at the outer parts of the wings, predominantly at tenth primary remiges, but also on further wing feathers in most species. Serration tips were oriented away from the feather rachis so that they faced into the air stream during flight. The serrations of nocturnal owl species were higher developed as demonstrated by a larger inclination angle (the angle between the base of the barb and the rachis), a larger tip displacement angle (the angle between the tip of the serration and the base of the serration) and a longer length. Putting the measured data into a clustering algorithm yielded dendrograms that suggested a strong influence of activity pattern, but only a weak influence of size on the development of the serrations. Conclusions Serrations are supposed to be involved in noise reduction during flight and also depend on the aerodynamic properties that in turn depend on body size. Since especially nocturnal owls have to rely on hearing during prey capture, the more pronounced serrations of nocturnal species lend further support to the notion that serrations have an important function in noise reduction. The differences in shape of the serrations investigated indicate that a silent flight requires well-developed serrations. PMID:26934104

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.

Tutorial on Modeling VAT Rules Using OWL-DL

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Morten Ib; Simonsen, Jakob Grue; Larsen, Ken Friis

. In an ERP setting such a model could reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and increase the quality of the system. We have selected OWL-DL because we believe that description logic is suited for modeling VAT rules due to the decidability of important inference problems that are key to the way we plan...... to use the model and because OWL-DL is relatively intuitive to use....

Biology and conservation of owls of the Northern Hemisphere: 2nd International symposium

Science.gov (United States)

James R. Duncan; David H. Johnson; Thomas H. Nicholls

1997-01-01

The proceeding contains 91 papers authored by 143 people from 13 countries covering biology, ecology, monitoring, habitat-use, status conservation, education, genetics, toxicology, diet, migration, mortality and related topics concerning owls of the Northern Hemisphere. Thirty-three owl species are discussed. Information presented will be useful in owl conservation,...

On the origin of Ammon's horn.

Science.gov (United States)

Iniesta, I

2014-10-01

Greek and Roman worship of their gods and myths go back to Ancient Egyptian times. Images engraved in Greco-Roman coinage range from references to the assassination of Caesar and legendary stories like the arrival of a snake shaped demi-god Aesculapius to save the Romans from the plague, to invocations of major deities including Apollo the physician or Ammon the protector. Depicted with the horns of a ram, Ammon was adopted by the Greeks as an epithet of Zeus and later incorporated by the Romans as Jupiter. References to the cult of Ammon appear on tetradrachms minted for Alexander The Great and on provincial Roman coins struck under Claudius. It is thrilling to hold a coin depicting Marcus Aurelius with Salus on the reverse and think that it could have been handed to Galen in payment for his services. However, it is rare to find figures other than rulers on coins and the physician of Pergamum is no exception. Inspired by the Renaissance school of Padua, French anatomists in the Enlightenment (Garengeot in 1742 and Flurant in 1752) continued reviving ancient myths and named the curve-shaped-inner portion of the temporal lobe Ammon's horn. Outstanding scholars who studied this primitive structure of the brain included Lorente de Nó and his mentor Cajal, whose portrait appeared on fifty-pesetas notes issued in 1935. As primary sources of great archaeological and artistic value, Greco-Roman coins provide information about the origins of the myths and gods of classical antiquity and continue to inspire the arts and sciences to this day. Copyright © 2011 Sociedad Española de Neurología. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Survival and reproduction of radio-marked adult spotted owls.

Science.gov (United States)

C.C. Foster; E.D. Forsman; E.C. Meslow; G.S. Miller; J.A. Reid; F.F. Wagner; A.B. Carey; J.B. Lint

1992-01-01

We compared survival, reproduction, and body mass of radio-marked and non radio-marked spotted owls (Strix occidentalis) to determine if backpack radios influenced reproduction or survival. In most study areas and years, there were no differences (P > 0.05) in survival of males and females or in survival of radio-marked versus banded owls. There...

Prurigo Nodularis With Cutaneous Horn

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thadeus Joseph

1997-01-01

Full Text Available Cutaneous horns are rare horny excrescences which occur in various dermatoses. We report a girl with prurigo nodularis who developed a horn on one of the nodules. This unique association has not been reported so far.

California Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis occidentalis) habitat use patterns in a burned landscape

Science.gov (United States)

Eyes, Stephanie; Roberts, Susan L.; Johnson, Matthew D.

2017-01-01

Fire is a dynamic ecosystem process of mixed-conifer forests of the Sierra Nevada, but there is limited scientific information addressing wildlife habitat use in burned landscapes. Recent studies have presented contradictory information regarding the effects of stand-replacing wildfires on Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis) and their habitat. While fire promotes heterogeneous forest landscapes shown to be favored by owls, high severity fire may create large canopy gaps that can fragment the closed-canopy habitat preferred by Spotted Owls. We used radio-telemetry to determine whether foraging California Spotted Owls (S. o. occidentalis) in Yosemite National Park, California, USA, showed selection for particular fire severity patch types within their home ranges. Our results suggested that Spotted Owls exhibited strong habitat selection within their home ranges for locations near the roost and edge habitats, and weak selection for lower fire severity patch types. Although owls selected high contrast edges with greater relative probabilities than low contrast edges, we did not detect a statistical difference between these probabilities. Protecting forests from stand-replacing fires via mechanical thinning or prescribed fire is a priority for management agencies, and our results suggest that fires of low to moderate severity can create habitat conditions within California Spotted Owls' home ranges that are favored for foraging.

magnetic horn

CERN Document Server

Neutrinos and antineutrinos are ideal for probing the weak force because it is effectively the only force they feel. How were they made? Protons fired into a metal target produce a tangle of secondary particles. A magnetic horn like this one, invented by Simon Van der Meer, selected pions and focused them into a sharp beam. Pions decay into muons and neutrinos or antineutrinos. The muons were stopped in a wall of 3000 tons of iron and 1000 tons of concrete, leaving the neutrinos or antineutrinos to reach the Gargamelle bubble chamber. A simple change of magnetic field direction on the horn flipped between focusing positively- or negatively-charged pion beams, and so between neutrinos and antineutrinos.

Prevalence of encysted apicomplexans in muscles of raptors.

Science.gov (United States)

Lindsay, D S; Blagburn, B L

1999-01-28

An acid-pepsin digestion technique was used to examine portions of breast muscle and heart from raptors for encysted protozoans. Apicomplexan zoites were present in 52 (45.6%) of the 114 samples examined: 11 of 12 (91.7%) red-shouldered hawks (Buteo lineatus), 20 of 34 (58.8%) red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis), two of seven (28.6%) Cooper's hawks (Accipiter cooperi), three of four (75%) sharp-shinned hawks (Accipiter striatus), one (100%) Mississippi kites (Ictinia misisippiensis), one of two (50%) American kestrels (Falco sparverius), one bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), one of two (50%) golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), one of three (33%) turkey vultures (Cathartes aura), two of three (66.7%) black vultures (Coragyps atratus), three of six (50%) great-horned owls (Bubo virginianus), five of 15 (33.3%) barred owls (Strix varia), and one of 12 (8.3%) screech owls (Asio otus). Encysted protozoans were not observed in digests of tissues from three broad-winged hawks (Buteo platypterus), four ospreys (Pandion haliaetus), and five barn owls (Tyto alba). Apicomplexan cysts resembling Sarcocystis species were observed in tissue sections of muscles from 28 (37.8%) of 74 raptors.

OWL2 benchmarking for the evaluation of knowledge based systems.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sher Afgun Khan

Full Text Available OWL2 semantics are becoming increasingly popular for the real domain applications like Gene engineering and health MIS. The present work identifies the research gap that negligible attention has been paid to the performance evaluation of Knowledge Base Systems (KBS using OWL2 semantics. To fulfil this identified research gap, an OWL2 benchmark for the evaluation of KBS is proposed. The proposed benchmark addresses the foundational blocks of an ontology benchmark i.e. data schema, workload and performance metrics. The proposed benchmark is tested on memory based, file based, relational database and graph based KBS for performance and scalability measures. The results show that the proposed benchmark is able to evaluate the behaviour of different state of the art KBS on OWL2 semantics. On the basis of the results, the end users (i.e. domain expert would be able to select a suitable KBS appropriate for his domain.

Methods and materials, for locating and studying spotted owls.

Science.gov (United States)

Eric D. Forsman

1983-01-01

Nocturnal calling surveys are the most effective and most frequently used technique for locating spotted owls. Roosts and general nest locations may be located during the day by calling in suspected roost or nest areas. Specific nest trees are located by: (1) baiting with a live mouse to induce owls to visit the nest, (2) calling in suspected nest areas to stimulate...

Burrowing owl nesting productivity: A comparison between artificial and natural burrows on and off golf courses

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, M.D.; Conway, C.J.; Ellis, L.A.

2005-01-01

Burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia) populations are declining in many portions of their range, and lack of suitable nesting burrows is thought to be one reason for observed declines. Burrowing owls are attracted to golf courses because the birds generally nest and forage in short-grass, open areas, yet golf courses seldom have suitable nesting burrows. We examined the efficacy of installing artificial nesting burrows on golf courses as a way to help restore local burrowing owl populations. From 2001-2004 we monitored over 175 natural burrows off golf courses, 14 natural burrows on golf courses, 86 artificial burrows off golf courses, and 130 artificial burrows on golf courses. Owls located and used 8 of the 130 artificial burrows installed on golf courses (4 were used as nests). Owls selected burrows that were closer to existing natural burrows, farther from maintained areas (areas receiving turf maintenance by golf course staff), and farther from sprinkler heads. All 4 of the artificial burrows used as nests successfully fledged young, and annual site fidelity for owls nesting on golf courses was higher than for owls nesting off golf courses. However, annual fecundity of owls nesting on golf courses was lower than that of owls nesting off golf courses. If golf courses have sufficiently large nonmaintained areas and there are nesting owls nearby, course managers potentially can help in restoring local burrowing owl populations by installing artificial nesting burrows on the periphery of the course. However, the low fecundity on golf courses reported here should be more thoroughly examined before artificial burrows are used to attract owls to golf courses.

Horn amplification at a tyre/road interface. Pt. 1. Experiment and computation; Tire/romenkan ni okeru horn koka. Jikken to keisan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fujikawa, T. [Japan Automobile Research Institute Inc., Tsukuba (Japan)

2000-01-01

Tyre/road interface noise can be amplified by a horn type space formed by the tread face of the tyre and the road. This paper is a report on studies on experiment and computation to elucidate the above phenomenon in detail. Measurement and computation were carried out on a tyre replaced with a single cylinder, whereas it was verified that the horn effect by each frequency can be calculated by BEM computation. Then, discussions were given on actual tyres combined with the BEM computation, and the following results were acquired: (1) the horn effect is small in zones of low frequencies; (2) the larger the tread width, the larger the horn effect increases; (3) the relationship between the tread width and the horn effect is governed by the ratio of the road contact width to noise wavelength; (4) the frequency characteristics of the horn effect vary largely according to whether the sound source exists in forward or rearward locations; (5) the relationship between the forward and rearward locations of the sound source with the horn effect is governed by the distance between the front and rear ends of the road contact face of the tyre; (6) the smaller the radius of the tread shoulder, the greater the horn effect; (7) tread deformation due to load applied on the tyre slightly changes the frequency characteristics of the horn effect; (8) with the sound source existing closer to the center of ground contacting width, the horn effect increases; and (9) the present study has verified the horn effect of 22 dB as the maximum. If the sound source is not present at the center of ground contacting width, the horn effect is reduced to about 10 dB, but the value cannot be ignored as the influence on traffic noise. (translated by NEDO)

Using detection dogs to conduct simultaneous surveys of northern spotted (Strix occidentalis caurina and barred owls (Strix varia.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samuel K Wasser

Full Text Available State and federal actions to conserve northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina habitat are largely initiated by establishing habitat occupancy. Northern spotted owl occupancy is typically assessed by eliciting their response to simulated conspecific vocalizations. However, proximity of barred owls (Strix varia-a significant threat to northern spotted owls-can suppress northern spotted owl responsiveness to vocalization surveys and hence their probability of detection. We developed a survey method to simultaneously detect both species that does not require vocalization. Detection dogs (Canis familiaris located owl pellets accumulated under roost sites, within search areas selected using habitat association maps. We compared success of detection dog surveys to vocalization surveys slightly modified from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Draft 2010 Survey Protocol. Seventeen 2 km × 2 km polygons were each surveyed multiple times in an area where northern spotted owls were known to nest prior to 1997 and barred owl density was thought to be low. Mitochondrial DNA was used to confirm species from pellets detected by dogs. Spotted owl and barred owl detection probabilities were significantly higher for dog than vocalization surveys. For spotted owls, this difference increased with number of site visits. Cumulative detection probabilities of northern spotted owls were 29% after session 1, 62% after session 2, and 87% after session 3 for dog surveys, compared to 25% after session 1, increasing to 59% by session 6 for vocalization surveys. Mean detection probability for barred owls was 20.1% for dog surveys and 7.3% for vocal surveys. Results suggest that detection dog surveys can complement vocalization surveys by providing a reliable method for establishing occupancy of both northern spotted and barred owl without requiring owl vocalization. This helps meet objectives of Recovery Actions 24 and 25 of the Revised Recovery Plan for the

Immunostaining for Homer reveals the majority of excitatory synapses in laminae I?III of the mouse spinal dorsal horn

OpenAIRE

Gutierrez-Mecinas, Maria; Kuehn, Emily D.; Abraira, Victoria E.; Polg?r, Erika; Watanabe, Masahiko; Todd, Andrew J.

2016-01-01

The spinal dorsal horn processes somatosensory information before conveying it to the brain. The neuronal organization of the dorsal horn is still poorly understood, although recent studies have defined several distinct populations among the interneurons, which account for most of its constituent neurons. All primary afferents, and the great majority of neurons in laminae I–III are glutamatergic, and a major factor limiting our understanding of the synaptic circuitry has been the difficulty i...

Spatial behaviour of little owls (Athene noctua) in a decreasing farmland population in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sunde, P.; Thorup, K.; Jacobsen, L. B.

We describe basic spatial behaviour and social organisation in the small and declining Danish population of little owls. The behaviour was mainly studied using radio tracking during 2005-2007 of 14 pairs of little owls, representing a total of 29 individuals.......We describe basic spatial behaviour and social organisation in the small and declining Danish population of little owls. The behaviour was mainly studied using radio tracking during 2005-2007 of 14 pairs of little owls, representing a total of 29 individuals....

Actively adjustable step-type ultrasonic horns in longitudinal vibration

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Shuyu; Guo, Hao; Xu, Jie

2018-04-01

Actively adjustable longitudinal step-type ultrasonic horns are proposed and studied. The horn is composed of a traditional ultrasonic horn and piezoelectric material. In practical applications, this kind of step-type ultrasonic horn is mechanically excited by an ultrasonic transducer and the piezoelectric material is connected to an adjustable electric impedance. In this research, the effects of the electric impedance and of the location of the piezoelectric material on the performance of the horn are studied. It is shown that when the electric resistance is increased, the resonance frequency of the horn is increased; the displacement magnification is increased when the piezoelectric material is located in the large end and decreased when the piezoelectric material is located in the small end of the horn. The displacement magnification for the piezoelectric material in the large end is larger than that for the piezoelectric material in the small end of the horn. Some step-type ultrasonic horns are designed and manufactured; the resonance frequency and the displacement magnification are measured by means of POLYTEC Laser Scanning vibrometer. It is shown that the theoretical resonance frequency and the displacement magnification are in good agreement with the measured results. It is concluded that by means of the insertion of the piezoelectric material in the longitudinal horn, the horn performance can be adjusted by changing the electric impedance and the location of the piezoelectric material in the horn. It is expected that this kind of adjustable ultrasonic horns can be used in traditional and potential ultrasonic technologies where the vibrational performance adjustment is needed.

Protozoal hepatitis in a western burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea)

Science.gov (United States)

Franson, J. Christian

2017-01-01

A western burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) found dead in southern California had many light-colored lesions visible grossly on its liver, and histopathology revealed extensive necrosis throughout the hepatic parenchyma. Single-celled organisms were seen in clear spaces within the areas of necrosis. The owl was diagnosed with protozoal hepatitis.

Relative effects of road risk, habitat suitability, and connectivity on wildlife roadkills: the case of tawny owls (Strix aluco).

Science.gov (United States)

Santos, Sara M; Lourenço, Rui; Mira, António; Beja, Pedro

2013-01-01

Despite its importance for reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions, there is still incomplete understanding of factors responsible for high road mortality. In particular, few empirical studies examined the idea that spatial variation in roadkills is influenced by a complex interplay between road-related factors, and species-specific habitat quality and landscape connectivity. In this study we addressed this issue, using a 7-year dataset of tawny owl (Strix aluco) roadkills recorded along 37 km of road in southern Portugal. We used a multi-species roadkill index as a surrogate of intrinsic road risk, and we used a Maxent distribution model to estimate habitat suitability. Landscape connectivity was estimated from least-cost paths between tawny owl territories, using habitat suitability as a resistance surface. We defined 10 alternative scenarios to compute connectivity, based on variation in potential movement patterns according to territory quality and dispersal distance thresholds. Hierarchical partitioning of a regression model indicated that independent variation in tawny owl roadkills was explained primarily by the roadkill index (70.5%) and, to a much lesser extent, by landscape connectivity (26.2%), while habitat suitability had minor effects (3.3%). Analysis of connectivity scenarios suggested that owl roadkills were primarily related to short range movements (habitat quality and landscape connectivity are globally high for the study species. Nevertheless, the study supported the view that functional connectivity should be incorporated whenever possible in roadkill models, as it may greatly increase their power to predict the location of roadkill hotspots.

Expert2OWL: A Methodology for Pattern-Based Ontology Development.

Science.gov (United States)

Tahar, Kais; Xu, Jie; Herre, Heinrich

2017-01-01

The formalization of expert knowledge enables a broad spectrum of applications employing ontologies as underlying technology. These include eLearning, Semantic Web and expert systems. However, the manual construction of such ontologies is time-consuming and thus expensive. Moreover, experts are often unfamiliar with the syntax and semantics of formal ontology languages such as OWL and usually have no experience in developing formal ontologies. To overcome these barriers, we developed a new method and tool, called Expert2OWL that provides efficient features to support the construction of OWL ontologies using GFO (General Formal Ontology) as a top-level ontology. This method allows a close and effective collaboration between ontologists and domain experts. Essentially, this tool integrates Excel spreadsheets as part of a pattern-based ontology development and refinement process. Expert2OWL enables us to expedite the development process and modularize the resulting ontologies. We applied this method in the field of Chinese Herbal Medicine (CHM) and used Expert2OWL to automatically generate an accurate Chinese Herbology ontology (CHO). The expressivity of CHO was tested and evaluated using ontology query languages SPARQL and DL. CHO shows promising results and can generate answers to important scientific questions such as which Chinese herbal formulas contain which substances, which substances treat which diseases, and which ones are the most frequently used in CHM.

Aber-OWL: a framework for ontology-based data access in biology

KAUST Repository

Hoehndorf, Robert; Slater, Luke; Schofield, Paul N; Gkoutos, Georgios V

2015-01-01

these ontologies relies on the use of automated reasoning. Results: We have developed the Aber-OWL infrastructure that provides reasoning services for bio-ontologies. Aber-OWL consists of an ontology repository, a set of web services and web interfaces that enable

Next steps in propositional horn contraction

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Booth, R

2009-06-01

Full Text Available not opted for this choice.) Our start- ing point for defining Horn e-contraction is in terms of Del- grande’s definition of e-remainder sets. Definition 3.1 (Horn e-Remainder Sets) For a belief setH , X ∈ H ↓e Φ iff (i) X ⊆ H , (ii) X 6|= Φ, and (iii...) for every X ′ s.t. X ⊂ X ′ ⊆ H , X ′ |= Φ. We refer to the elements of H ↓eΦ as the Horn e-remainder sets of H w.r.t. Φ. It is easy to verify that all Horn e-remainder sets are belief sets. Also, H ↓eΦ = ∅ iff |= Φ. We now proceed to define selection...

The Fat-Dachsous signaling pathway regulates growth of horns in Trypoxylus dichotomus, but does not affect horn allometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Hust, James; Lavine, Mark D; Worthington, Amy M; Zinna, Robert; Gotoh, Hiroki; Niimi, T; Lavine, Laura

Males of the Asian rhinoceros beetle, Trypoxylus dichotomus, possess exaggerated head and thoracic horns that scale dramatically out of proportion to body size. While studies of insulin signaling suggest that this pathway regulates nutrition-dependent growth including exaggerated horns, what regulates disproportionate growth has yet to be identified. The Fat signaling pathway is a potential candidate for regulating disproportionate growth of sexually-selected traits, a hypothesis we advanced in a previous paper (Gotoh et al., 2015). To investigate the role of Fat signaling in the growth and scaling of the sexually dimorphic, condition-dependent traits of the in the Asian rhinoceros beetle T. dichotomus, we used RNA interference to knock down expression of fat and its co-receptor dachsous. Knockdown of fat, and to a lesser degree dachsous, caused shortening and widening of appendages, including the head and thoracic horns. However, scaling of horns to body size was not affected. Our results show that Fat signaling regulates horn growth in T. dichotomus as it does in appendage growth in other insects. However, we provide evidence that Fat signaling does not mediate the disproportionate, positive allometric growth of horns in T. dichotomus. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Exposure affects the risk of an owl being mobbed - experimental evidence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hendrichsen, Ditte Katrine; Christiansen, Peter; Nielsen, Elsemarie K.

2006-01-01

Mobbing is a widespread anti-predator strategy in birds, and predators are generally expected to avoid mobbing. For example, observational studies suggest that the cryptic roosting behaviour of nocturnal predators, such as many owls, may be a strategy to limit mobbing. In this paper, we present...... the results of the first experimental study investigating to what degree roost exposure influences the risk of being mobbed, and the intensity of a mobbing incidence once initiated. To determine these factors, we used an experimental setup with taxidermic mounts of tawny owls Strix aluco in Grib Skov forest......, Denmark. The risk of an owl being mobbed during a 50 min morning survey period increased with the exposure of its roosting position, from 24% when hidden to 85% when openly exposed. The corresponding increase in the afternoon was from 6% to 36%. This suggests that an owl may minimize the mobbing rate...

Owls may use faeces and prey feathers to signal current reproduction.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vincenzo Penteriani

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Many animals communicate by marking focal elements of their home range with different kinds of materials. Visual signaling has been demonstrated to play a previously unrecognized role in the intraspecific communication of eagle owls (Bubo bubo, in both territorial and parent-offspring contexts. Visual signals may play a role in a variety of circumstances in this crepuscular and nocturnal species. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here, we report that a large amount of extremely visible white faeces and prey feathers appear during the breeding season on posts and plucking sites in proximity to the nest, potentially representing a way for eagle owls to mark their territory. We present descriptive and experimental evidence showing that faeces and prey remains could act as previously unrecognized visual signals in a nocturnal avian predator. This novel signaling behavior could indicate the owls' current reproductive status to potential intruders, such as other territorial owls or non-breeding floaters. Faeces and prey feather markings may also advertise an owl's reproductive status or function in mate-mate communication. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We speculate that faeces marks and plucking may represent an overlooked but widespread method for communicating current reproduction to conspecifics. Such marking behavior may be common in birds, and we may now be exploring other questions and mechanisms in territoriality.

Owls may use faeces and prey feathers to signal current reproduction.

Science.gov (United States)

Penteriani, Vincenzo; Delgado, Maria del Mar

2008-08-20

Many animals communicate by marking focal elements of their home range with different kinds of materials. Visual signaling has been demonstrated to play a previously unrecognized role in the intraspecific communication of eagle owls (Bubo bubo), in both territorial and parent-offspring contexts. Visual signals may play a role in a variety of circumstances in this crepuscular and nocturnal species. Here, we report that a large amount of extremely visible white faeces and prey feathers appear during the breeding season on posts and plucking sites in proximity to the nest, potentially representing a way for eagle owls to mark their territory. We present descriptive and experimental evidence showing that faeces and prey remains could act as previously unrecognized visual signals in a nocturnal avian predator. This novel signaling behavior could indicate the owls' current reproductive status to potential intruders, such as other territorial owls or non-breeding floaters. Faeces and prey feather markings may also advertise an owl's reproductive status or function in mate-mate communication. We speculate that faeces marks and plucking may represent an overlooked but widespread method for communicating current reproduction to conspecifics. Such marking behavior may be common in birds, and we may now be exploring other questions and mechanisms in territoriality.

Using C-OWL for the Alignment and Merging of Medical Ontologies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stuckenschmidt, Heiner; van Harmelen, Frank; Serafini, Luciano; Bouquet, Paolo; Giunchiglia, Fausto

2004-01-01

A number of sophisticated medical ontologies have been created over the past years. With their de-velopment the need for supporting the alignment of different ontologies is gaining importance. We proposed C-OWL, an extension of the Web Ontology Language OWL that supports alignment mappings between

Inferring ontology graph structures using OWL reasoning

KAUST Repository

Rodriguez-Garcia, Miguel Angel

2018-01-05

Ontologies are representations of a conceptualization of a domain. Traditionally, ontologies in biology were represented as directed acyclic graphs (DAG) which represent the backbone taxonomy and additional relations between classes. These graphs are widely exploited for data analysis in the form of ontology enrichment or computation of semantic similarity. More recently, ontologies are developed in a formal language such as the Web Ontology Language (OWL) and consist of a set of axioms through which classes are defined or constrained. While the taxonomy of an ontology can be inferred directly from the axioms of an ontology as one of the standard OWL reasoning tasks, creating general graph structures from OWL ontologies that exploit the ontologies\\' semantic content remains a challenge.We developed a method to transform ontologies into graphs using an automated reasoner while taking into account all relations between classes. Searching for (existential) patterns in the deductive closure of ontologies, we can identify relations between classes that are implied but not asserted and generate graph structures that encode for a large part of the ontologies\\' semantic content. We demonstrate the advantages of our method by applying it to inference of protein-protein interactions through semantic similarity over the Gene Ontology and demonstrate that performance is increased when graph structures are inferred using deductive inference according to our method. Our software and experiment results are available at http://github.com/bio-ontology-research-group/Onto2Graph .Onto2Graph is a method to generate graph structures from OWL ontologies using automated reasoning. The resulting graphs can be used for improved ontology visualization and ontology-based data analysis.

Inferring ontology graph structures using OWL reasoning.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodríguez-García, Miguel Ángel; Hoehndorf, Robert

2018-01-05

Ontologies are representations of a conceptualization of a domain. Traditionally, ontologies in biology were represented as directed acyclic graphs (DAG) which represent the backbone taxonomy and additional relations between classes. These graphs are widely exploited for data analysis in the form of ontology enrichment or computation of semantic similarity. More recently, ontologies are developed in a formal language such as the Web Ontology Language (OWL) and consist of a set of axioms through which classes are defined or constrained. While the taxonomy of an ontology can be inferred directly from the axioms of an ontology as one of the standard OWL reasoning tasks, creating general graph structures from OWL ontologies that exploit the ontologies' semantic content remains a challenge. We developed a method to transform ontologies into graphs using an automated reasoner while taking into account all relations between classes. Searching for (existential) patterns in the deductive closure of ontologies, we can identify relations between classes that are implied but not asserted and generate graph structures that encode for a large part of the ontologies' semantic content. We demonstrate the advantages of our method by applying it to inference of protein-protein interactions through semantic similarity over the Gene Ontology and demonstrate that performance is increased when graph structures are inferred using deductive inference according to our method. Our software and experiment results are available at http://github.com/bio-ontology-research-group/Onto2Graph . Onto2Graph is a method to generate graph structures from OWL ontologies using automated reasoning. The resulting graphs can be used for improved ontology visualization and ontology-based data analysis.

Book review: Peeters, H. 2007. Field guide to owls of California and the West

Science.gov (United States)

Eric D. Forsman

2010-01-01

Field Guide to Owls of California and the West. Written primarily for nonprofessionals,this little field guide is a treasure trove of published and unpublished information on the natural history and distribution of owls in the western United States. It covers just about everything you could want to know about owls, from why they take dust baths, to facultative...

Isolation and serological differentiation of a herpesvirus from bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus, L. 1758).

Science.gov (United States)

Kaleta, E F; Marschall, H J; Glünder, G; Stiburek, B

1980-01-01

An infectious agent was isolated from the liver of bobwhite quails (Colinus virginianus, L. 1758). The agent was sensitive to chloroform and its multiplication was inhibited by 5-iodine-2-deoxy-uridine. It passed filters with a pore diameter of 220 nm and more but not 100 nm filters. Electron microscopic examination revealed numerous nucleocapsids with hollow capsomeres and few enveloped particles in the supernatant fluids of infected cultures. The nucleocapsids were calculated to have 162 capsomeres on their surface. Using the plaque reduction method for neutralization tests no serological cross reactions could be detected between the quail isolate and sera against Marek's disease virus, turkey herpes-virus (HV), duck enteritis HV, infectious laryngotracheitis HV, amazon parrot HV, great horned owl HV, eagle owl HV, snowy owl HV, falcon HV, pigeon HV, Lake Victoria Cormorant HV, and stork HV. The isolate from bobwhite quail did only cross-react with antiserum against crane HV. It is concluded that the isolated virus is a member of the avian herpesvirus group and it is proposed to tentatively term it herpesvirus colinum (from Colinus virginianus = bobwhite quail).

Antibody Prevalence and Isolation of Viable Toxoplasma gondii from Raptors in the Southeastern USA.

Science.gov (United States)

Love, David; Kwok, Oliver C; Verma, Shiv Kumar; Dubey, Jitender P; Bellah, Jamie

2016-07-01

Raptors are good indicators of the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in the environment because they prey on small mammals and birds. These prey species are a major source of infection in domestic cats ( Felis catus ), which shed the environmentally resistant oocysts. We assessed T. gondii infection in 281 opportunistically available raptors at a rehabilitation facility between 2012 and 2014. Antibodies to T. gondii were assayed by a modified agglutination test (cutoff 1:25) and found in serum of 22/71 Red-tailed Hawks ( Buteo jamaicensis ), 25/54 Barred Owls ( Strix varia ), 9/41 Red-shouldered Hawks ( Buteo lineatus ), 13/28 Great Horned Owls ( Bubo virginianus ), 6/20 Broad-winged Hawks ( Buteo platypterus ), 2/16 Eastern Screech Owls (Megascops asio), 12/13 Bald Eagles ( Haliaeetus leucocephalus ), 6/12 Cooper's Hawks ( Accipiter cooperii ), 1/8 Black Vultures ( Coragyps atratus ), and 1/1 Golden Eagle ( Aquila chrysaetos ). Antibodies were not detected in 5 Barn Owls ( Tyto alba ), 3 American Kestrels ( Falco sparverius ), 1 Mississippi Kite ( Ictinia mississippiensis ), and 1 Osprey ( Pandion haliaetus ). Viable T. gondii was isolated from the tissues of 1 antibody-positive Barred Owl and identified as a strain having type II alleles at all 10 loci tested, except one (ToxoDB polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism genotype 3). Type II strain is the most common strain in the US. Results of this study indicate a high prevalence of T. gondii in some raptor species and the first reported genotyping from a Barred Owl.

Horn installed in CNGS tunnel

CERN Multimedia

Maximilien Brice

2005-01-01

The horn is installed for the CERN Neutrinos to Gran Sasso (CNGS) project. Protons collide with a graphite target producing charged particles that are focussed by the magnetic field in the horn. These particles will then pass into a decay tube where they decay into neutrinos, which travel towards a detector at Gran Sasso 732 km away in Italy.

AA, sandwich line with magnetic horn

CERN Multimedia

CERN PhotoLab

1980-01-01

The magnetic horn, focusing the antiprotons emanating from the target, was affixed to a sandwich line through which the 150 kA pulses were supplied. Expecting to have to change from time to time the fragile horn (inner conductor only 0.7 mm thick), the assembly was designed for quick exchange. At the lower end of the sandwich line we see the connectors for the high-current cables, at the upper end the magnet horn. It has just been lifted from the V-supports which held it aligned downstream of the target. Continue with 8010293.

Horn belief change: A contraction core

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Booth, R

2010-08-01

Full Text Available , and counterfactuals’, Artificial Intelligence, 57(2–3), 227–270, (1992). [5] S.O. Hansson, ‘Kernel contraction’, Journal of Symbolic Logic, 59(3), 845–859, (1994). [6] M. Langlois, R. Sloan, B. Szo¨re´nyi, and G. Thra´n, ‘Horn complements: Towards Horn... e-contractions. The argument is based on the observation that the convexity result for full propositional logic [2, Proposition 2.1] does not hold for Horn logic. Example 1 Let H = CnHL(fp! q; q ! rg). Then, for the e- contraction of H with p ! r...

Thermal adaptiveness of plumage color in screech owls

Science.gov (United States)

Mosher, James A.; Henny, Charles J.

1976-01-01

Clinal variation in the relative proportions of red and gray plum- age phases in Screech Owls (Otus asio) was analyzed by Owen (1963) and Marshall (1967). This variation was well known prior to Owen's work, but was misinterpreted (Baird, et al. 1874, Hasbrouck 1893, Allen 1893).]Laurel VanCamp and Charles Henny (MS) have 30 years of data on a northern Ohio Screech Owl population. They observed an over- winter decline (from about 25% to 15%) in the proportion of red phase birds in the winter of 1951-52. This decline was correlated with a severe winter of above normal snowfall and below average temperatures. They examined banding and recovery data and found overwinter survival of red and gray birds to be the same except for this one severe winter when 44% more red phase birds were lost than grays (VanCamp and Henny MS). Differential mortality was reported by Gullion and Marshall (1968) for red and gray phase Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus) where snow conditions for roosting is apparently the critical factor for grouse overwinter survival and is related to predation. Snow- roosting has not, to our knowledge, been observed in Screech Owls. VanCamp and Henny (MS) discuss the observations of Ruffed Grouse and Screech Owls and suggest that possible thermoregulatory differences between red and gray phase birds could account for differential overwinter survival.Our objective was to test for differences between color phase in oxygen uptake at several ambient temperatures. We hypothesized that oxygen uptake would be greater by red phase birds, especially at lower temperatures.

77 FR 14036 - Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Experimental Removal of Barred Owls to Benefit...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-03-08

... whether to move forward with future management of barred owls. The action alternatives vary by the number... now outnumber spotted owls in many portions of the northern spotted owl's range (Pearson and Livezey..., p. 51; Pearson and Livezey 2003, p. 274; Courtney et al., pp. 7-27 through 7-31; Gremel 2005, pp. 9...

To dare or not to dare? Risk management by owls in a predator-prey foraging game.

Science.gov (United States)

Embar, Keren; Raveh, Ashael; Burns, Darren; Kotler, Burt P

2014-07-01

In a foraging game, predators must catch elusive prey while avoiding injury. Predators manage their hunting success with behavioral tools such as habitat selection, time allocation, and perhaps daring-the willingness to risk injury to increase hunting success. A predator's level of daring should be state dependent: the hungrier it is, the more it should be willing to risk injury to better capture prey. We ask, in a foraging game, will a hungry predator be more willing to risk injury while hunting? We performed an experiment in an outdoor vivarium in which barn owls (Tyto alba) were allowed to hunt Allenby's gerbils (Gerbillus andersoni allenbyi) from a choice of safe and risky patches. Owls were either well fed or hungry, representing the high and low state, respectively. We quantified the owls' patch use behavior. We predicted that hungry owls would be more daring and allocate more time to the risky patches. Owls preferred to hunt in the safe patches. This indicates that owls manage risk of injury by avoiding the risky patches. Hungry owls doubled their attacks on gerbils, but directed the added effort mostly toward the safe patch and the safer, open areas in the risky patch. Thus, owls dared by performing a risky action-the attack maneuver-more times, but only in the safest places-the open areas. We conclude that daring can be used to manage risk of injury and owls implement it strategically, in ways we did not foresee, to minimize risk of injury while maximizing hunting success.

Chapter 4: Northern spotted owl habitat and populations: Status and threats

Science.gov (United States)

Lesmeister, Damon B.; Davis, Ramond J; Singleton, Peter H; Wiens, David

2018-01-01

The northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1990 (USFWS 1990). Providing adequate amounts of suitable forest cover to sustain the subspecies was a major component of the first recovery plan for northern spotted owls (USFWS 1992) and a driver in the basic reserve design and old-forest restoration under the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP, or Plan) (USDA and USDI 1994). The reserve design included large contiguous blocks of late-successional forest, which was expected to be sufficient to provide habitat for many interacting pairs of northern spotted owls. As such, the selection of reserves generally favored areas with the highest quality old-growth

Geographical assemblages of European raptors and owls

Science.gov (United States)

López-López, Pascual; Benavent-Corai, José; García-Ripollés, Clara

2008-09-01

In this work we look for geographical structure patterns in European raptors (Order: Falconiformes) and owls (Order: Strigiformes). For this purpose we have conducted our research using freely available tools such as statistical software and databases. To perform the study, presence-absence data for the European raptors and owl species (Class Aves) were downloaded from the BirdLife International website. Using the freely available "pvclust" R-package, we applied similarity Jaccard index and cluster analysis in order to delineate biogeographical relationships for European countries. According to the cluster of similarity, we found that Europe is structured into two main geographical assemblages. The larger length branch separated two main groups: one containing Iceland, Greenland and the countries of central, northern and northwestern Europe, and the other group including the countries of eastern, southern and southwestern Europe. Both groups are divided into two main subgroups. According to our results, the European raptors and owls could be considered structured into four meta-communities well delimited by suture zones defined by Remington (1968) [Remington, C.L., 1968. Suture-zones of hybrid interaction between recently joined biotas. Evol. Biol. 2, 321-428]. Climatic oscillations during the Quaternary Ice Ages could explain at least in part the modern geographical distribution of the group.

Breeding-season food habits of burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia) in southwestern Dominican Republic

Science.gov (United States)

Wiley, J.W.

1998-01-01

Diet data from 20 Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) nests were collected in southwestern Dominican Republic in 1976, 1982, and 1996. Invertebrates (53.3%) comprised the most numerous prey items (N = 396) delivered to nests by adult owls, but vertebrates (46.7%) were much better represented than in other studies of Burrowing Owl diet. Among vertebrates, birds (28.3% of all items) and reptiles (14.9%) were most important, whereas mammals (1.0%) and amphibians (2.5%) were less commonly delivered to nests. Vertebrates, however, comprised more than twice (69.2%) of the total biomass as invertebrates (30.8%), with birds (50.4%) and reptiles (12.8%) the most important of the vertebrate prey classes. A positive relationship was observed between bird species abundance and number of individuals taken as prey by Burrowing Owls.

Neutrino horn

CERN Multimedia

1967-01-01

View of the new neutrino horn installed in its blockhouse from the target end. Protons pass through the 2mm hole in the centre of the small fluorescent screen, hitting the target immediately behind it. The circular tubes carry pressurized cooling water.

Nocturnal raptors (owls: contributions to study of its popularity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Lindelia Rincón Hernández

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This research characterizes the nocturnal birds of prey on the campus of Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia (UPTC; in English, Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia, in addition to the contribution to the study of its popularity, with students in fifth grade from two educational institutions, one, of the urban context, and other, of the rural context. The study involved the implementation of the didactic component to promote recognition of their biological significance in elementary school students. Among the findings two species of nocturnal birds of prey were identified: common currucutú owl (Tropical Screech Owl, Megascops choliba and the barn owl (Tyto alba, with a relative abundance of 12 individuals and 10 individuals, respectively. It also includes changes in perception from students regarding beliefs and superstitions about such species, which favors the recognition of the biological role in the ecosystem and the need for its conservation.

Chapter 11. Conservation status of boreal owls in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Gregory D. Hayward

1994-01-01

Previous chapters outlined the biology and ecology of boreal owls as well as the ecology of important vegetation communities based on literature from North America and Europe. That technical review provides the basis to assess the current conservation status of boreal owls in the United States. By conservation status, we mean the demographic condition of the species as...

West Nile virus and hemoparasites in captive snowy owls (Bubo scandiacus)--management strategies to optimize survival.

Science.gov (United States)

Harasym, Carol A

2008-11-01

In August 2005, 2 members of a group of 6 captive snowy owls (Bubo scandiacus) in central Saskatchewan died of West Nile virus infection. One of these owls and 3 of the remaining owls had significant numbers of circulating hemoparasites. Management strategies are suggested to reduce morbidity and mortality.

Towards Self-managed Pervasive Middleware using OWL/SWRL ontologies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, Weishan; Hansen, Klaus Marius

2008-01-01

Self-management for pervasive middleware is important to realize the Ambient Intelligence vision. In this paper, we present an OWL/SWRL context ontologies based self-management approach for pervasive middleware where OWL ontology is used as means for context modeling. The context ontologies....../SWRL context ontologies based self-management approach with the self-diagnosis in Hydra middleware, using device state machine and other dynamic context information, for example web service calls. The evaluations in terms of extensibility, performance and scalability show that this approach is effective...

Visual search in barn owls: Task difficulty and saccadic behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Orlowski, Julius; Ben-Shahar, Ohad; Wagner, Hermann

2018-01-01

How do we find what we are looking for? A target can be in plain view, but it may be detected only after extensive search. During a search we make directed attentional deployments like saccades to segment the scene until we detect the target. Depending on difficulty, the search may be fast with few attentional deployments or slow with many, shorter deployments. Here we study visual search in barn owls by tracking their overt attentional deployments-that is, their head movements-with a camera. We conducted a low-contrast feature search, a high-contrast orientation conjunction search, and a low-contrast orientation conjunction search, each with set sizes varying from 16 to 64 items. The barn owls were able to learn all of these tasks and showed serial search behavior. In a subsequent step, we analyzed how search behavior of owls changes with search complexity. We compared the search mechanisms in these three serial searches with results from pop-out searches our group had reported earlier. Saccade amplitude shortened and fixation duration increased in difficult searches. Also, in conjunction search saccades were guided toward items with shared target features. These data suggest that during visual search, barn owls utilize mechanisms similar to those that humans use.

Computed tomography of the temporal horns at Alzheimer's disease

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gerber, U.; Vogel

1989-01-01

In the literature there are different opinions referring to the involvement of the temporal lobes or horns at Alzheimer's disease. Conventionally computed tomogram of the head does not include the temporal horn in its full length. A simple method to demonstrate the temporal horns after cranial computer tomography is described. It allows the evaluation of temporal lobe and temporal horn if questionable alterations at Alzheimer's disease are to be discussed. (orig.) [de

Improvement of directionality and sound-localization by internal ear coupling in barn owls

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wagner, Hermann; Christensen-Dalsgaard, Jakob; Kettler, Lutz

Mark Konishi was one of the first to quantify sound-localization capabilities in barn owls. He showed that frequencies between 3 and 10 kHz underlie precise sound localization in these birds, and that they derive spatial information from processing interaural time and interaural level differences....... However, despite intensive research during the last 40 years it is still unclear whether and how internal ear coupling contributes to sound localization in the barn owl. Here we investigated ear directionality in anesthetized birds with the help of laser vibrometry. Care was taken that anesthesia...... time difference in the low-frequency range, barn owls hesitate to approach prey or turn their heads when only low-frequency auditory information is present in a stimulus they receive. Thus, the barn-owl's sound localization system seems to be adapted to work best in frequency ranges where interaural...

A Korean Space Situational Awareness Program : OWL Network

Science.gov (United States)

Park, J.; Choi, Y.; Jo, J.; Moon, H.; Im, H.; Park, J.

2012-09-01

We are going to present a brief introduction to the OWL (Optical Wide-field patroL) network, one of Korean space situational awareness facilities. Primary objectives of the OWL network are 1) to obtain orbital information of Korean domestic LEOs using optical method, 2) to monitor GEO-belt over territory of Korea, and 3) to alleviate collisional risks posed to Korean satellites from space debris. For these purposes, we are planning to build a global network of telescopes which consists of five small wide-field telescopes and one 2m class telescope. The network of small telescopes will be dedicated mainly to the observation of domestic LEOs, but many slots will be open to other scientific programs such as GRB follow-up observations. Main targets of 2m telescope not only include artificial objects such as GEO debris and LEO debris with low inclination and high eccentricity, but also natural objects such as near Earth asteroids. We expect to monitor space objects down to 10cm in size in GEO using the 2m telescope system. Main research topics include size distribution and evolution of space debris. We also expect to utilize this facility for physical characterization and population study of near Earth asteroids. The aperture size of the small telescope system is 0.5m with Rechey-Cretian configuration and its field of view is 1.75 deg x 1.75 deg. It is equipped with 4K CCD with 9um pixel size, and its plate scale is 1.3 arcsec/pixel. A chopper wheel is employed to maximize astrometric solutions in a single CCD frame, and a de-rotator is used to compensate field rotation of the alt-az type mount. We have designed a compact end unit in which three rotating parts (chopper wheel, filter wheel, de-rotator) and a CCD camera are integrated, and dedicated telescope/site control boards for the OWL network. The design of 2m class telescope is still under discussion yet is expected to be fixed in the first half of 2013 at the latest. The OWL network will be operated in a fully

Focusing horn

CERN Multimedia

1980-01-01

This was the first magnetic horn developed by Simon Van der Meer to collect antiprotons in the AD complex. It was used for the AA (antiproton accumulator). Making an antiproton beam took a lot of time and effort. Firstly, protons were accelerated to an energy of 26 GeV/c (protons at 26GeV/c, antiprotons at 3.6GeV/c) in the PS and ejected onto a metal target. From the spray of emerging particles, a magnetic horn picked out 3.6 GeV antiprotons for injection into the AA through a wide-aperture focusing quadrupole magnet. For a million protons hitting the target, just one antiproton was captured, 'cooled' and accumulated. It took 3 days to make a beam of 3 x 10^11 -, three hundred thousand million - antiprotons. The development of this technology was a key step to the functioning of CERN's Super Proton Synchrotron as a proton - antiproton collider.

An Annotated Guide and Interactive Database for Solo Horn Repertoire

Science.gov (United States)

Schouten, Sarah

2012-01-01

Given the horn's lengthy history, it is not surprising that many scholars have examined the evolution of the instrument from the natural horn to the modern horn and its expansive repertoire. Numerous dissertations, theses, and treatises illuminate specific elements of the horn's solo repertoire; however, no scholar has produced a…

Enhancing the ifcOWL ontology with an alternative representation for geometric data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pauwels, P.; Krijnen, T.; Terkaj, W.; Beetz, J.

2017-01-01

Over the past few years, several suggestions have been made of how to convert an EXPRESS schema into an OWL ontology. The conversion from EXPRESS to OWL is of particular use to the architectural design and construction industry, because one of the key data models in this domain, namely the Industry

Burrowing Owl - Palo Verde Valley [ds197

Data.gov (United States)

California Natural Resource Agency — These burrowing owl observations were collected during the spring and early summer of 1976 in the Palo Verde Valley, eastern Riverside County, California. This is an...

Pollution chronology of the Golden Horn sediments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Teksoez, G.; Yetis, U.; Tuncel, G.; Balkas, T.I.

1990-01-01

Sediment accumulation in the Golden Horn has been established by means of a useful geochronological technique; 210 Pb Radiometric Dating Method. The 210 Pb dating technique revealed a sediment accumulation rate of 3.5 cm yr -1 which is very reasonable given the characteristics of the Golden Horn. The 210 Pb profile also revealed three distinct levels in the sediments of the Golden Horn: a surface layer with nearly uniform activities, an exponential decay interval and a lower region with almost constant low activity. (author)

Spatial, road geometric, and biotic factors associated with Barn Owl mortality along an interstate highway

Science.gov (United States)

Arnold, Erin M.; Hanser, Steven E.; Regan, Tempe; Thompson, Jeremy; Lowe, Melinda; Kociolek, Angela; Belthoff, James R.

2018-01-01

Highway programs typically focus on reducing vehicle collisions with large mammals because of economic or safety reasons while overlooking the millions of birds that die annually from traffic. We studied wildlife‐vehicle collisions along an interstate highway in southern Idaho, USA, with among the highest reported rates of American Barn Owl Tyto furcata road mortality. Carcass data from systematic and ad hoc surveys conducted in 2004–2006 and 2013–2015 were used to explore the extent to which spatial, road geometric, and biotic factors explained Barn Owl‐vehicle collisions. Barn Owls outnumbered all other identified vertebrate species of roadkill and represented > 25% of individuals and 73.6% of road‐killed birds. At a 1‐km highway segment scale, the number of dead Barn Owls decreased with increasing numbers of human structures, cumulative length of secondary roads near the highway, and width of the highway median. Number of dead Barn Owls increased with higher commercial average annual daily traffic (CAADT), small mammal abundance index, and with grass rather than shrubs in the roadside verge. The small mammal abundance index was also greater in roadsides with grass versus mixed shrubs, suggesting that Barn Owls may be attracted to grassy portions of the highway with more abundant small mammals for hunting prey. When assessed at a 3‐km highway segment scale, the number of dead Barn Owls again increased with higher CAADT as well as with greater numbers of dairy farms. At a 5‐km scale, number of dead Barn Owls increased with greater percentage of cropland near the highway. While human conversion of the environment from natural shrub‐steppe to irrigated agriculture in this region of Idaho has likely enhanced habitat for Barns Owls, it simultaneously has increased risk for owl‐vehicle collisions where an interstate highway traverses the altered landscape. We review some approaches for highway mitigation and suggest that reducing wildlife�

AA, sandwich line with magnetic horn

CERN Multimedia

CERN PhotoLab

1980-01-01

Continuation from 8010293: Finally, the sandwich line with the horn is placed on the ground, for the horn to be inspected and, if needed, exchanged for a new one. The whole procedure was trained with several members of the AA team, for quick and safe handling, and to share the radiation dose amongst them.

Selective predation of tawny owls (Strix aluco) on yellow-necked mice (Apodemus flavicollis) and bank voles (Myodes glareolus)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sunde, Peter; Forsom, Heidi Malene; Al-Sabi, Mohammad Nafi Solaiman

2012-01-01

years by comparing prey from owl nests with live-trapped individuals. The owls killed significantly more male M.g. (73%) than females, but not more than expected from traps (57%). For A.f., owls selected adults in favour of subadults, and for adults, individuals with longer femurs. Adult males of A.......f. killed by owls had significantly heavier testes in relation their size than the trapped males. Prey selection did not correlate with size-adjusted body or spleen mass. Owl-killed A.f. had higher prevalences of the intestinal helminth Heligmosomoides sp. than trapped individuals, but hosted similar...

Viscoelastic Characterization of Long-Eared Owl Flight Feather Shaft and the Damping Ability Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jia-li Gao

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Flight feather shaft of long-eared owl is characterized by a three-parameter model for linear viscoelastic solids to reveal its damping ability. Uniaxial tensile tests of the long-eared owl, pigeon, and golden eagle flight feather shaft specimens were carried out based on Instron 3345 single column material testing system, respectively, and viscoelastic response of their stress and strain was described by the standard linear solid model. Parameter fitting result obtained from the tensile tests shows that there is no significant difference in instantaneous elastic modulus for the three birds’ feather shafts, but the owl shaft has the highest viscosity, implying more obvious viscoelastic performance. Dynamic mechanical property was characterized based on the tensile testing results. Loss factor (tanδ of the owl flight feather shaft was calculated to be 1.609 ± 0.238, far greater than those of the pigeon (0.896 ± 0.082 and golden eagle (1.087 ± 0.074. It is concluded that the long-eared owl flight feather has more outstanding damping ability compared to the pigeon and golden eagle flight feather shaft. Consequently, the long-eared owl flight feathers can dissipate the vibration energy more effectively during the flying process based on the principle of damping mechanism, for the purpose of vibration attenuation and structure radiated noise reduction.

75 FR 71069 - Big Horn County Resource Advisory Committee

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-22

....us , with the words Big Horn County RAC in the subject line. Facsimilies may be sent to 307-674-2668... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service Big Horn County Resource Advisory Committee AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice of meeting. SUMMARY: The Big Horn County Resource Advisory Committee...

76 FR 26240 - Big Horn County Resource Advisory Committee

Science.gov (United States)

2011-05-06

... words Big Horn County RAC in the subject line. Facsimilies may be sent to 307-674-2668. All comments... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service Big Horn County Resource Advisory Committee AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice of meeting. SUMMARY: The Big Horn County Resource Advisory Committee...

Ultra-wideband horn antenna with abrupt radiator

Science.gov (United States)

McEwan, Thomas E.

1998-01-01

An ultra-wideband horn antenna transmits and receives impulse waveforms for short-range radars and impulse time-of flight systems. The antenna reduces or eliminates various sources of close-in radar clutter, including pulse dispersion and ringing, sidelobe clutter, and feedline coupling into the antenna. Dispersion is minimized with an abrupt launch point radiator element; sidelobe and feedline coupling are minimized by recessing the radiator into a metallic horn. Low frequency cut-off associated with a horn is extended by configuring the radiator drive impedance to approach a short circuit at low frequencies. A tapered feed plate connects at one end to a feedline, and at the other end to a launcher plate which is mounted to an inside wall of the horn. The launcher plate and feed plate join at an abrupt edge which forms the single launch point of the antenna.

Habitat use and movements of breeding male Boreal Owls (Aegolius funereus) in northeast Minnesota as determined by radio telemetry

Science.gov (United States)

William H. Lane; David E. Andersen; Thomas H. Nicholls

1997-01-01

To determine habitat use and movements of male Boreal Owls (Aegolius funereus) in northeast Minnesota, we monitored 10 radio-equipped owls from 1990-1992. We used mist nets, bal-chartris, and the taped playback recording of the primary song of the male Boreal Owl to trap territorial male owls during the springtime breeding season.

Detecting West Nile virus in owls and raptors by an antigen-capture assay.

Science.gov (United States)

Gancz, Ady Y; Campbell, Douglas G; Barker, Ian K; Lindsay, Robbin; Hunter, Bruce

2004-12-01

We evaluated a rapid antigen-capture assay (VecTest) for detection of West Nile virus in oropharyngeal and cloacal swabs, collected at necropsy from owls (N = 93) and raptors (N = 27). Sensitivity was 93.5%-95.2% for northern owl species but raptors.

Detecting West Nile Virus in Owls and Raptors by an Antigen-capture Assay

OpenAIRE

Gancz, Ady Y.; Campbell, Douglas G.; Barker, Ian K.; Lindsay, Robbin; Hunter, Bruce

2004-01-01

We evaluated a rapid antigen-capture assay (VecTest) for detection of West Nile virus in oropharyngeal and cloacal swabs, collected at necropsy from owls (N = 93) and raptors (N = 27). Sensitivity was 93.5%–95.2% for northern owl species but

Observations of wintering Snowy Owls (Nyctea scandiaca) at Logan Airport, East Boston, Massachusetts from 1981-1997

Science.gov (United States)

Norman Smith

1997-01-01

Snowy Owls (Nyctea scandiaca) wintering at Logan International Airport were studied over the 15-year period of 1981-1997. Two-hundred twenty-seven Snowy Owls were banded and color-marked to examine the length of time individual birds stayed at this location and to track the movements elsewhere. Fifty-six owls were re-observed outside of the airport...

Ruptured rudimentary horn at 22 weeks | Dhar | Nigerian Medical ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Rudimentary horn is a developmental anomaly of the uterus. Pregnancy in a noncommunicating rudimentary horn is very difficult to diagnose before it ruptures. A case of undiagnosed rudimentary horn pregnancy at 22 weeks presented to Nizwa regional referral hospital in shock with features of acute abdomen. Chances of ...

Modeling demographic performance of northern spotted owls relative to forest habitat in Oregon

Science.gov (United States)

Olson, Gail S.; Glenn, Elizabeth M.; Anthony, Robert G.; Forsman, Eric D.; Reid, Janice A.; Loschl, Peter J.; Ripple, William J.

2004-01-01

Northern spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) are known to be associated with late-successional forests in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, but the effects of habitat on their demographic performance are relatively unknown. We developed statistical models relating owl survival and productivity to forest cover types within the Roseburg Study Area in the Oregon Coast Range of Oregon, USA. We further combined these demographic parameters using a Leslie-type matrix to obtain an estimate of habitat fitness potential for each owl territory (n = 94). We used mark–recapture methods to develop models for survival and linear mixed models for productivity. We measured forest composition and landscape patterns at 3 landscape scales centered on nest and activity sites within owl territories using an aerial photo-based map and a Geographic Information System (GIS). We also considered additional covariates such as age, sex, and presence of barred owls (Strix varia), and seasonal climate variables (temperature and precipitation) in our models. We used Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC) to rank and compare models. Survival had a quadratic relationship with the amount of late- and mid-seral forests within 1,500 m of nesting centers. Survival also was influenced by the amount of precipitation during the nesting season. Only 16% of the variability in survival was accounted for by our best model, but 85% of this was due to the habitat variable. Reproductive rates fluctuated biennially and were positively related to the amount of edge between late- and mid-seral forests and other habitat classes. Reproductive rates also were influenced by parent age, amount of precipitation during nesting season, and presence of barred owls. Our best model accounted for 84% of the variability in productivity, but only 3% of that was due to the habitat variable. Estimates of habitat fitness potential (which may range from 0 to infinity) for the 94 territories ranged from 0.74 to 1

Magnetic Focusing Horn

CERN Multimedia

1974-01-01

This magnetic focusing horn was used for the AA (antiproton accumulator). Its development was an important step towards using CERN's Super Proton Synchrotron as a proton - antiproton collider. This eventually led to the discovery of the W and Z particles in 1983. Making an antiproton beam took a lot of time and effort. Firstly, protons were accelerated to an energy of 26 GeV in the PS and ejected onto a metal target. From the spray of emerging particles, a magnetic horn picked out 3.6 GeV antiprotons for injection into the AA through a wide-aperture focusing quadrupole magnet. For a million protons hitting the target, just one antiproton was captured, 'cooled' and accumulated. It took 3 days to make a beam of 3 x 10^11 -, three hundred thousand million - antiprotons.

West Nile virus and hemoparasites in captive snowy owls (Bubo scandiacus) — management strategies to optimize survival

OpenAIRE

Harasym, Carol A.

2008-01-01

In August 2005, 2 members of a group of 6 captive snowy owls (Bubo scandiacus) in central Saskatchewan died of West Nile virus infection. One of these owls and 3 of the remaining owls had significant numbers of circulating hemoparasites. Management strategies are suggested to reduce morbidity and mortality.

Four photon interference experiment for the testing of the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger theorem

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shih, Y.H.; Rubin, M.H.

1993-01-01

The theory of a four photon interference experiment is investigated for the testing of the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) theorem. The strong correlation in the GHZ theorem is due to the multi-particle Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen type entangled quantum state. We present the theory to construct the four photon EPR state for space-time variables. The four photon nonlocal quantum interference effect itself is also of great interest. (orig.)

Landscape features influence postrelease predation on endangered black-footed ferrets

Science.gov (United States)

Poessel, S.A.; Breck, S.W.; Biggins, D.E.; Livieri, T.M.; Crooks, K.R.; Angeloni, L.

2011-01-01

Predation can be a critical factor influencing recovery of endangered species. In most recovery efforts lethal and nonlethal influences of predators are not sufficiently understood to allow prediction of predation risk, despite its importance. We investigated whether landscape features could be used to model predation risk from coyotes (Canis latrans) and great horned owls (Bubo virginianus) on the endangered black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes). We used location data of reintroduced ferrets from 3 sites in South Dakota to determine whether exposure to landscape features typically associated with predators affected survival of ferrets, and whether ferrets considered predation risk when choosing habitat near perches potentially used by owls or near linear features predicted to be used by coyotes. Exposure to areas near likely owl perches reduced ferret survival, but landscape features potentially associated with coyote movements had no appreciable effect on survival. Ferrets were located within 90 m of perches more than expected in 2 study sites that also had higher ferret mortality due to owl predation. Densities of potential coyote travel routes near ferret locations were no different than expected in all 3 sites. Repatriated ferrets might have selected resources based on factors other than predator avoidance. Considering an easily quantified landscape feature (i.e., owl perches) can enhance success of reintroduction efforts for ferrets. Nonetheless, development of predictive models of predation risk and management strategies to mitigate that risk is not necessarily straightforward for more generalist predators such as coyotes. ?? 2011 American Society of Mammalogists.

West Nile virus and hemoparasites in captive snowy owls (Bubo scandiacus) — management strategies to optimize survival

Science.gov (United States)

Harasym, Carol A.

2008-01-01

In August 2005, 2 members of a group of 6 captive snowy owls (Bubo scandiacus) in central Saskatchewan died of West Nile virus infection. One of these owls and 3 of the remaining owls had significant numbers of circulating hemoparasites. Management strategies are suggested to reduce morbidity and mortality. PMID:19183740

Morphometric characterisation of wing feathers of the barn owl Tyto alba pratincola and the pigeon Columba livia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Klaas Michael

2007-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Owls are known for their silent flight. Even though there is some information available on the mechanisms that lead to a reduction of noise emission, neither the morphological basis, nor the biological mechanisms of the owl's silent flight are known. Therefore, we have initiated a systematic analysis of wing morphology in both a specialist, the barn owl, and a generalist, the pigeon. This report presents a comparison between the feathers of the barn owl and the pigeon and emphasise the specific characteristics of the owl's feathers on macroscopic and microscopic level. An understanding of the features and mechanisms underlying this silent flight might eventually be employed for aerodynamic purposes and lead to a new wing design in modern aircrafts. Results A variety of different feathers (six remiges and six coverts, taken from several specimen in either species, were investigated. Quantitative analysis of digital images and scanning electron microscopy were used for a morphometric characterisation. Although both species have comparable body weights, barn owl feathers were in general larger than pigeon feathers. For both species, the depth and the area of the outer vanes of the remiges were typically smaller than those of the inner vanes. This difference was more pronounced in the barn owl than in the pigeon. Owl feathers also had lesser radiates, longer pennula, and were more translucent than pigeon feathers. The two species achieved smooth edges and regular surfaces of the vanes by different construction principles: while the angles of attachment to the rachis and the length of the barbs was nearly constant for the barn owl, these parameters varied in the pigeon. We also present a quantitative description of several characteristic features of barn owl feathers, e.g., the serrations at the leading edge of the wing, the fringes at the edges of each feather, and the velvet-like dorsal surface. Conclusion The quantitative

CLINICAL EFFECT OF HEMOPARASITE INFECTIONS IN SNOWY OWLS ( BUBO SCANDIACUS).

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Kendra C; Rettenmund, Christy L; Sander, Samantha J; Rivas, Anne E; Green, Kaitlin C; Mangus, Lisa; Bronson, Ellen

2018-03-01

Vector-borne hemoparasites are commonly found in avian species. Plasmodium spp., the causative agent of avian malaria, are intraerythrocytic parasites that can cause signs ranging from subclinical infection to severe acute disease. In raptor species, most hemoparasites are associated with subclinical infection and are generally not treated when seen on blood evaluation. This case series reviews five cases of hemoparasite infection in snowy owls ( Bubo scandiacus). These animals were infected with a variety of hemoparasites, including Plasmodium, Haemoproteus, and Leukocytozoon spp. Death of one of these birds due to hemoparasite burden led to a change in the monitoring for and treatment of subclinical hemoparasitic infections in this species. Three subsequently infected snowy owls have been treated with primaquine and chloroquine. The birds that were treated survived infection, and parasite burdens in peripheral blood diminished. Postulated reasons for increased morbidity and mortality associated with hemoparasitic infections in captive snowy owls, as opposed to other raptor species, include stress, concurrent disease, novel pathogen exposure, and elevated environmental temperatures.

Brominated flame retardants in Belgian little owl (Athene noctua) eggs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jaspers, V.; Covaci, A.; Maervoet, J.; Dauwe, T.; Schepens, P.; Eens, M. [Antwerp Univ. (Belgium)

2004-09-15

Since the 1960s, polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs), a class of brominated flame retardants (BFRs), are widely used in textiles, plastics, electronic equipment and other materials. Their massive use has led to the ubiquitous presence of PBDEs in the environment and in biota in which the PBDE levels seem to increase rapidly. High concentrations of some congeners may cause adverse effects in both wildlife and in human populations1 and this has led to the growing concern of scientists over the last decade and to the need for more data on environmental levels of PBDEs. The little owl (Athene noctua) is a small sedentary predator, which makes it a very suitable biomonitoring species. This owl species feeds on a variety of preys, including small mammals and birds, reptiles, amphibians, earthworms and beetles, depending on the season and the local circumstances. Because very limited information is available about contamination levels in the little owl, a study was conducted to determine the concentrations of PBDEs, polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in deserted or addled eggs of little owls in Belgium. Eggs have been used successfully as a monitoring tool for persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in several studies. Although the analysis of POPs in deserted or addled eggs has clear limitations, these can be partially avoided by analysing only highly persistent components, for which the original composition will not change due to 'posthatching' microbiological degradation.

EST and microarray analysis of horn development in Onthophagus beetles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tang Zuojian

2009-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The origin of novel traits and their subsequent diversification represent central themes in evo-devo and evolutionary ecology. Here we explore the genetic and genomic basis of a class of traits that is both novel and highly diverse, in a group of organisms that is ecologically complex and experimentally tractable: horned beetles. Results We developed two high quality, normalized cDNA libraries for larval and pupal Onthophagus taurus and sequenced 3,488 ESTs that assembled into 451 contigs and 2,330 singletons. We present the annotation and a comparative analysis of the conservation of the sequences. Microarrays developed from the combined libraries were then used to contrast the transcriptome of developing primordia of head horns, prothoracic horns, and legs. Our experiments identify a first comprehensive list of candidate genes for the evolution and diversification of beetle horns. We find that developing horns and legs show many similarities as well as important differences in their transcription profiles, suggesting that the origin of horns was mediated partly, but not entirely, by the recruitment of genes involved in the formation of more traditional appendages such as legs. Furthermore, we find that horns developing from the head and prothorax differ in their transcription profiles to a degree that suggests that head and prothoracic horns are not serial homologs, but instead may have evolved independently from each other. Conclusion We have laid the foundation for a systematic analysis of the genetic basis of horned beetle development and diversification with the potential to contribute significantly to several major frontiers in evolutionary developmental biology.

Barn Owl Productivity Response to Variability of Vole Populations.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petr Pavluvčík

Full Text Available We studied the response of the barn owl annual productivity to the common vole population numbers and variability to test the effects of environmental stochasticity on their life histories. Current theory predicts that temporal environmental variability can affect long-term nonlinear responses (e.g., production of young both positively and negatively, depending on the shape of the relationship between the response and environmental variables. At the level of the Czech Republic, we examined the shape of the relationship between the annual sum of fledglings (annual productivity and vole numbers in both non-detrended and detrended data. At the districts' level, we explored whether the degree of synchrony (measured by the correlation coefficient and the strength of the productivity response increase (measured by the regression coefficient in areas with higher vole population variability measured by the s-index. We found that the owls' annual productivity increased linearly with vole numbers in the Czech Republic. Furthermore, based on district data, we also found that synchrony between dynamics in owls' reproductive output and vole numbers increased with vole population variability. However, the strength of the response was not affected by the vole population variability. Additionally, we have shown that detrending remarkably increases the Taylor's exponent b relating variance to mean in vole time series, thereby reversing the relationship between the coefficient of variation and the mean. This shift was not responsible for the increased synchrony with vole population variability. Instead, we suggest that higher synchrony could result from high food specialization of owls on the common vole in areas with highly fluctuating vole populations.

The effects of habitat, climate, and Barred Owls on long-term demography of Northern Spotted Owls

Science.gov (United States)

Katie M. Dugger; Eric D. Forsman; Alan B. Franklin; Raymond J. Davis; Gary C. White; Carl J. Schwarz; Kenneth P. Burnham; James D. Nichols; James E. Hines; Charles B. Yackulic; Paul F. Doherty; Larissa Bailey; Darren A. Clark; Steven H. Ackers; Lawrence S. Andrews; Benjamin Augustine; Brian L. Biswell; Jennifer Blakesley; Peter C. Carlson; Matthew J. Clement; Lowell V. Diller; Elizabeth M. Glenn; Adam Green; Scott A. Gremel; Dale R. Herter; J. Mark Higley; Jeremy Hobson; Rob B. Horn; Kathryn P. Huyvaert; Christopher McCafferty; Trent McDonald; Kevin McDonnell; Gail S. Olson; Janice A. Reid; Jeremy Rockweit; Viviana Ruiz; Jessica Saenz; Stan G. Sovern

2016-01-01

Estimates of species’ vital rates and an understanding of the factors affecting those parameters over time and space can provide crucial information for management and conservation. We used mark–recapture, reproductive output, and territory occupancy data collected during 1985–2013 to evaluate population processes of Northern Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis...

Science verses political reality in delisting criteria for a threatened species: The Mexican spotted owl experience

Science.gov (United States)

Gary C. White; William M. Block; Joseph L. Ganey; William H. Moir; James P. Ward; Alan B. Franklin; Steven L. Spangle; Sarah E. Rinkevich; J. Robert Vahle; Frank P. Howe; James L. Dick

1999-01-01

The Mexican spotted owl (Strix occidentalis lucida) was listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in April 1993 (USDI 1993). Concomitant with the listing of the owl, a recovery team was appointed to develop a plan to recover the owl, allowing for its removal from the list of threatened and endangered species. The recovery plan - "the...

Prevalence of encysted Toxoplasma gondii in raptors from Alabama.

Science.gov (United States)

Lindsay, D S; Smith, P C; Hoerr, F J; Blagburn, B L

1993-12-01

Little is known about the prevalence of encysted Toxoplasma gondii in wild birds. We examined the hearts and breast muscles from 101 raptors for encysted T. gondii. All of the raptors had been submitted for necropsy to the State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, Auburn, Alabama. Tissues were digested in acid-pepsin solution and inoculated into groups of 3-5 laboratory mice. Toxoplasma gondii was isolated from 27 of 101 (26.7%) raptors: 8 of 12 (66.7%) red-shouldered hawks (Buteo lineatus), 13 of 27 (41.1%) red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis), 1 of 4 (25%) Cooper's hawks (Accipiter cooperi), 1 of 5 (20%) great horned owls (Bubo virginianus), 4 of 15 (26.7%) barred owls (Strix varia), and 1 of 3 (33.3%) kestrels (Falco sparverius). Toxoplasma gondii was not isolated from 3 broad-winged hawks (Buteo platypterus), 3 sharp-shinned hawks (Accipiter striatus), 6 barn owls (Tyto alba), 9 screech owls (Asio otus), a Mississippi kite (Ictinia misisippiensis), 2 golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), a bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), 4 ospreys (Pandion haliaetus), 4 turkey vultures (Cathartes aura), or 2 black vultures (Coragyps atratus). No significant difference (P > 0.05) in prevalence was detected based on sex using chi-square analysis. Chi-square analysis of the data demonstrated that adult raptors had encysted stages of T. gondii significantly (P < 0.05) more often than did immature raptors.

Map-Based Repowering and Reorganization of a Wind Resource Area to Minimize Burrowing Owl and Other Bird Fatalities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lee Neher

2009-10-01

Full Text Available Wind turbines in the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area (Alameda/Contra Costa Counties, California, USA generate about 730 GWh of electricity annually, but have been killing thousands of birds each year, including >2,000 raptors and hundreds of burrowing owls. We have developed collision hazard maps and hazard ratings of wind turbines to guide relocation of existing wind turbines and careful repowering to modern turbines to reduce burrowing owl fatalities principally, and other birds secondarily. Burrowing owls selected burrow sites lower on slopes and on smaller, shallower slopes than represented by the average 10 × 10 m2 grid cell among 187,908 grid cells sampled from 2,281,169 grid cells comprising a digital elevation model (DEM of the study area. Fuzzy logic and discriminant function analysis produced likelihood surfaces encompassing most burrowing owl burrows within a fraction of the study area, and the former corresponded with burrowing owl fatalities and the latter with other raptor fatalities. Our ratings of wind turbine hazard were more predictive of burrowing owl fatalities, but would be more difficult to implement. Careful repowering to modern wind turbines would most reduce fatalities of burrowing owls and other birds while adding about 1,000 GWh annually toward California’s 33% Renewable Portfolio Standard.

Map-based repowering and reorganization of a wind resource area to minimize burrowing owl and other bird fatalities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Smallwood, K. S. [Research Ecologist, 3108 Finch Street, Davis, CA 95616 (United States); Neher, L. [Gis Specialist, Neher Consulting, 7241 34th Street, North Highlands, CA 95660 (United States); Bell, D. A. [East Bay Regional Park District, 2950 Peralta Oaks Court, Oakland, CA 94605-0381 (United States)

2009-07-01

Wind turbines in the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area (Alameda/Contra Costa Counties, California, USA) generate about 730 GWh of electricity annually, but have been killing thousands of birds each year, including >2,000 raptors and hundreds of burrowing owls. We have developed collision hazard maps and hazard ratings of wind turbines to guide relocation of existing wind turbines and careful repowering to modern turbines to reduce burrowing owl fatalities principally, and other birds secondarily. Burrowing owls selected burrow sites lower on slopes and on smaller, shallower slopes than represented by the average 10 x 10 m{sup 2} grid cell among 187,908 grid cells sampled from 2,281,169 grid cells comprising a digital elevation model (DEM) of the study area. Fuzzy logic and discriminant function analysis produced likelihood surfaces encompassing most burrowing owl burrows within a fraction of the study area, and the former corresponded with burrowing owl fatalities and the latter with other raptor fatalities. Our ratings of wind turbine hazard were more predictive of burrowing owl fatalities, but would be more difficult to implement. Careful repowering to modern wind turbines would most reduce fatalities of burrowing owls and other birds while adding about 1,000 GWh annually toward California's 33% Renewable Portfolio Standard. (author)

Assembly of the magnetic horns under way

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

One of the key components of the CNGS facility is the system of magnetic lenses, known as horns, which are to point the pions and kaons that will decay into muons and muon-neutrinos in the direction of the Gran Sasso Laboratory. Positioned at the end of the target, which produces the pions and kaons, the system comprises two of these horns. The first focuses the positively charged pions and kaons, which have an energy of approximately 35 GeV, and defocuses the negative particles. Unfortunately, it has a tendency to cause excessive deflection of particles that have energies of less than 35 GeV and insufficient deflection of those with energies of more than 35 GeV. These negative effects are corrected by the second horn (also known as the reflector), which is positioned 40 metres from the first. Ahmed Cherif of the EST Division's Metrology Service checks the straightness of the inner conductor of the first magnetic horn for CNGS. The tolerance is less than one millimetre over a length of approximately 6.5 metre...

Contraction core for horn belief change: preliminary report

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Booth, R

2010-05-01

Full Text Available In this paper the authors continue recent investigations into belief change for Horn logic. The main contribution is a result which shows that the construction method for Horn contraction for belief sets based on infraremainder sets, as recently...

The Binaural Interaction Component in Barn Owl (Tyto alba) Presents few Differences to Mammalian Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Palanca-Castan, Nicolas; Laumen, Geneviève; Reed, Darrin; Köppl, Christine

2016-12-01

The auditory brainstem response (ABR) is an evoked potential that reflects the responses to sound by brainstem neural centers. The binaural interaction component (BIC) is obtained by subtracting the sum of the monaural ABR responses from the binaural response. Its latency and amplitude change in response to variations in binaural cues. The BIC is thus thought to reflect the activity of binaural nuclei and is used to non-invasively test binaural processing. However, any conclusions are limited by a lack of knowledge of the relevant processes at the level of individual neurons. The aim of this study was to characterize the ABR and BIC in the barn owl, an animal where the ITD-processing neural circuits are known in great detail. We recorded ABR responses to chirps and to 1 and 4 kHz tones from anesthetized barn owls. General characteristics of the barn owl ABR were similar to those observed in other bird species. The most prominent peak of the BIC was associated with nucleus laminaris and is thus likely to reflect the known processes of ITD computation in this nucleus. However, the properties of the BIC were very similar to previously published mammalian data and did not reveal any specific diagnostic features. For example, the polarity of the BIC was negative, which indicates a smaller response to binaural stimulation than predicted by the sum of monaural responses. This is contrary to previous predictions for an excitatory-excitatory system such as nucleus laminaris. Similarly, the change in BIC latency with varying ITD was not distinguishable from mammalian data. Contrary to previous predictions, this behavior appears unrelated to the known underlying neural delay-line circuitry. In conclusion, the generation of the BIC is currently inadequately understood and common assumptions about the BIC need to be reconsidered when interpreting such measurements.

Spatial behaviour of little owls (Athene noctua) in a declining low-density population in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sunde, Peter; Thorup, Kasper; Jacobsen, Lars Bo

2009-01-01

Knowledge of a species' spatial behaviour is essential for understanding its behavioural ecology and a prerequisite to planning of conservation strategies. The little owl has shown a substantial decline in North-western Europe and is on the road of extinction in Denmark. To quantify relevant...... aspects of spatial behaviour in the last remaining Danish population, we followed 27 radio-tagged owls representing 14 territories during a period of 2 years. Mated owls were resident at nesting sites year-round with half of all nocturnal locations found within 125 m. Nightly distance from roosts peaked...

Dog-Bone Horns for Piezoelectric Ultrasonic/Sonic Actuators

Science.gov (United States)

Sherrit, Stewart; Bar-Cohen, Yoseph; Chang, Zensheu; Bao, Xiaoqi

2007-01-01

A shape reminiscent of a dog bone has been found to be superior to other shapes for mechanical-amplification horns that are components of piezoelectrically driven actuators used in a series of related devices denoted generally as ultrasonic/sonic drill/corers (USDCs). The first of these devices was reported in Ultrasonic/Sonic Drill/Corers With Integrated Sensors (NPO-20856), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 25, No. 1 (January 2001), page 38. The dog-bone shape was conceived especially for use in a more recent device in the series, denoted an ultrasonic/ sonic gopher, that was described in Ultrasonic/Sonic Mechanisms for Drilling and Coring (NPO-30291), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 27, No. 9 (September 2003), page 65. The figure shows an example of a dog-bone-shaped horn and other components of an ultrasonic gopher. Prerequisite to a meaningful description of this development is an unavoidably lengthy recapitulation of the principle of operation of a USDC and, more specifically, of the ultrasonic/sonic gopher as described previously in NASA Tech Briefs. The ultrasonic actuator includes a stack of piezoelectric rings, the horn, a metal backing, and a bolt that connects the aforementioned parts and provides compressive pre-strain to the piezoelectric stack to prevent breakage of the rings during extension. The stack of piezoelectric rings is excited at the resonance frequency of the overall ultrasonic actuator. Through mechanical amplification by the horn, the displacement in the ultrasonic vibration reaches tens of microns at the tip of the horn. The horn hammers an object that is denoted the free mass because it is free to move longitudinally over a limited distance between hard stops: The free mass bounces back and forth between the ultrasonic horn and a tool bit (a drill bit or a corer). Because the longitudinal speed of the free mass is smaller than the longitudinal speed of vibration of the tip of the horn, contact between the free mass and the horn tip usually occurs at a

OWLS as platform technology in OPTOS satellite

Science.gov (United States)

Rivas Abalo, J.; Martínez Oter, J.; Arruego Rodríguez, I.; Martín-Ortega Rico, A.; de Mingo Martín, J. R.; Jiménez Martín, J. J.; Martín Vodopivec, B.; Rodríguez Bustabad, S.; Guerrero Padrón, H.

2017-12-01

The aim of this work is to show the Optical Wireless Link to intraSpacecraft Communications (OWLS) technology as a platform technology for space missions, and more specifically its use within the On-Board Communication system of OPTOS satellite. OWLS technology was proposed by Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA) at the end of the 1990s and developed along 10 years through a number of ground demonstrations, technological developments and in-orbit experiments. Its main benefits are: mass reduction, flexibility, and simplification of the Assembly, Integration and Tests phases. The final step was to go from an experimental technology to a platform one. This step was carried out in the OPTOS satellite, which makes use of optical wireless links in a distributed network based on an OLWS implementation of the CAN bus. OPTOS is the first fully wireless satellite. It is based on the triple configuration (3U) of the popular Cubesat standard, and was completely built at INTA. It was conceived to procure a fast development, low cost, and yet reliable platform to the Spanish scientific community, acting as a test bed for space born science and technology. OPTOS presents a distributed OBDH architecture in which all satellite's subsystems and payloads incorporate a small Distributed On-Board Computer (OBC) Terminal (DOT). All DOTs (7 in total) communicate between them by means of the OWLS-CAN that enables full data sharing capabilities. This collaboration allows them to perform all tasks that would normally be carried out by a centralized On-Board Computer.

Association of weather and nest-site structure with reproductive success in California spotted owls

Science.gov (United States)

Malcolm North; George Steger; Renee Denton; Gary Eberlein; Tom Munton; Ken Johnson

2000-01-01

Although the spotted owl (Strix occidentalis) has been intensively studied, factors influencing its reproduction are not well understood. We examined a 9-year demographic study of 51-86 pairs of the California spotted owl (S. o. occidentalis), weather conditions, and forest structure at nest sites in oak (Quercus sp.) woodland and...

Estimation of food consumption from pellets cast by captive Ural Owls (Strix uralensis)

Science.gov (United States)

Aki Higuchi; Manabu T. Abe

1997-01-01

There is considerable data in the literature on the diet of the Ural Owl (Strix uralensis) based on pellet analysis. Though it is possible to identify prey items by this method, the volume of food consumption is still unknown. The population of Ural Owls in Japan is declining due to the reduction of old-growth forest and the concurrent loss of...

Seasonal survival rates and causes of mortality of Little Owls in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thorup, Kasper; Pedersen, Dorthe; Sunde, Peter

2013-01-01

Survival rate is an essential component of population dynamics; therefore, identification of variation in mortality rates and the factors that influence them might be of key importance in understanding why populations increase or decrease. In Denmark, the Little Owl Athene noctua, a species...... the causes of current survival rates, we estimated age- and season-specific survival rates and causes of mortality in Danish Little Owls on the basis of ringed birds 1920–2002, radio tagged adult and juveniles 2005–2008 and nest surveys 2006–2008. We estimate that 32 % of all eggs fledge and survive to 2...... the breeding season. In radio-tagged adults and fledged juveniles, accidents in buildings and other human infrastructures were responsible for two-thirds of all fatalities. Anthropogenic habitats currently comprise the nesting and roosting habitats for the last Danish Little Owls. The accidental deaths...

Initial Investigation on the Diet of Eastern Grass Owl (Tyto longimembris in Southern Taiwan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wen-Loung Lin

2007-03-01

Full Text Available This investigation, undertaken in the two regions of Nanshi and Yujing in Tainan County over the period of 2001 to 2003, included three nests belonging to the Eastern Grass Owl (Tyto longimembris. From these, we collected a total of 157 owl pellets. Analysis and examination of the pellets revealed 329 prey items. More in-depth investigation determined that 95.1% of the Eastern Grass Owl pellets collected consisted of mammal remains, while the remaining 4.9% were made up of bird remains. Of the various types of mammals consumed, rats made up the highest proportion, with a total of 285 rats, accounting for 86.6%. This was followed by 27 shrews and moles, accounting for 8.2%. Hares and birds were seldom caught and consumed. The findings suggested that rats are the main food source of the Eastern Grass Owl, with the Spinus Country-rat (Rattus losea comprising the majority with 136 counted (41.3%, followed by the Formosan Mouse (Mus caroli with 96 counted (29.2%. Regarding biomass, the reversion method was used to calculate that owls at the three nests consumed approximately 22,987 grams of mammal and 480 grams of bird, accounting for 98.0% and 2.0%, respectively. The biomass consumed for each pellet was approximately 149.5 g.

Tree automata-based refinement with application to Horn clause verification

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kafle, Bishoksan; Gallagher, John Patrick

2015-01-01

In this paper we apply tree-automata techniques to refinement of abstract interpretation in Horn clause verification. We go beyond previous work on refining trace abstractions; firstly we handle tree automata rather than string automata and thereby can capture traces in any Horn clause derivation...... compare the results with other state of the art Horn clause verification tools....

Entanglement Classification of extended Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger-Symmetric States

OpenAIRE

Jung, Eylee; Park, DaeKil

2013-01-01

In this paper we analyze entanglement classification of extended Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger-symmetric states $\\rho^{ES}$, which is parametrized by four real parameters $x$, $y_1$, $y_2$ and $y_3$. The condition for separable states of $\\rho^{ES}$ is analytically derived. The higher classes such as bi-separable, W, and Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger classes are roughly classified by making use of the class-specific optimal witnesses or map from the extended Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger symmetry t...

Coursing with Coils: The Only Orchestral Instrument Harder Than the French Horn

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarah R. Plumley

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Playing the horn has become not only more sophisticated and accurate, but simpler and more efficient for the horn player. The natural horn, used in a variety ways in early history, demanded an incredible level of skill and precision, more than our valved horn today in some ways because it required a more accurate ear, more embouchure dexterity, and the necessity of wrangling crooks for different keys. Thus, it required many practiced skills of the player that are no longer as necessary as they once were. This paper discusses each of these demands along with the history of the horn, its uses and popularity, and how it compares in construction to the valved horn.

Giant cutaneous horn in an African woman: a case report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nthumba Peter M

2007-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Introduction A cutaneous horn is a conical projection of hyperkeratotic epidermis. Though grossly resembling an animal horn, it lacks a bony core. These lesions have been well described in Caucasian patients, as well as in a number of Arabic and Asian patients. Case presentation A young female presented with a large 'horn' of five-year duration, arising from a burn scar. Excision and scalp reconstruction were performed. Histology was reported as verrucoid epidermal hyperplasia with cutaneous horn. Conclusion This may be the first documentation of this lesion in a black African. Although likely rare, it should be considered in the differential diagnosis of dermatologic lesions. Up to 40% of cutaneous horns occur as part of a premalignant or malignant lesion, and surgical extirpation with histological examination is thus more important than the curiosity surrounding these lesions.

Reproduction in eastern screech-owls fed selenium

Science.gov (United States)

Wiemeyer, Stanley N.; Hoffman, D.J.

1996-01-01

Raptors are occasionally exposed to excessive selenium from contaminated prey, but the effects of this exposure on reproduction are unknown. Therefore, we fed captive eastern screech-owls (Otus asio) diets containing 0, 4.4, or 13.2 ppm (wet wt) added selenium in the form of seleno-DL-methionine. Adult mass at sacrifice and reproductive success of birds receiving 13.2 ppm selenium were depressed (P biochemistries indicative of oxidative stress were affected (P < 0.05) in 5-day-old nestlings from parents fed 4.4 ppm selenium and included a 19% increase in glutathione peroxidase activity, a 43% increase in the ratio of oxidized glutathione (GSSG) to reduced glutathione (GSH), and a 17% increase in lipid peroxidation. Based on reproductive effects relative to dietary exposure, sensitivity of eastern screech-owls to selenium was similar to that of black-crowned night-herons (Nycticorax nycticorax) but less than that of mallards (Anas platyrhynchos).

Horn's Biologically Active Substances - Can We Replace Horns of Critically Endangered Species (Saiga) by Horns of More Abundant Animals?

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Mikšík, Ivan; Romanov, O.

2017-01-01

Roč. 7, č. 1 (2017), s. 3-11 ISSN 2210-3155 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA15-01948S Institutional support: RVO:67985823 Keywords : biologically active compounds * horn * rhinoceros * saiga * traditional Chinese medicine Subject RIV: CB - Analytical Chemistry, Separation OBOR OECD: Analytical chemistry

What do predators really want? The role of gerbil energetic state in determining prey choice by Barn Owls.

Science.gov (United States)

Embar, Keren; Mukherjee, Shomen; Kotler, Burt P

2014-02-01

In predator-prey foraging games, predators should respond to variations in prey state. The value of energy for the prey changes depending on season. Prey in a low energetic state and/or in a reproductive state should invest more in foraging and tolerate higher predation risk. This should make the prey more catchable, and thereby, more preferable to predators. We ask, can predators respond to prey state? How does season and state affect the foraging game from the predator's perspective? By letting owls choose between gerbils whose states we experimentally manipulated, we could demonstrate predator sensitivity to prey state and predator selectivity that otherwise may be obscured by the foraging game. During spring, owls invested more time and attacks in the patch with well-fed gerbils. During summer, owls attacked both patches equally, yet allocated more time to the patch with hungry gerbils. Energetic state per se does not seem to be the basis of owl choice. The owls strongly responded to these subtle differences. In summer, gerbils managed their behavior primarily for survival, and the owls equalized capture opportunities by attacking both patches equally.

Barred Owl Habitat and Prey: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature

OpenAIRE

Livezey, Kent B.

2007-01-01

Barred Owls (Strix varia) historically inhabited the forests of eastern North America. During the last century, they expanded their range to include forests throughout the southern provinces of Canada, southeastern Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and northern California. To date, there has been no synthesis of the varied habitats or prey used by Barred Owls in their expanded range. Here I review and synthesize studies concerning habitat (N  =  114) and prey (N  =  43) of Barred ...

A rat uterine horn model of genital tract wound healing.

Science.gov (United States)

Schlaff, W D; Cooley, B C; Shen, W; Gittlesohn, A M; Rock, J A

1987-11-01

A rat uterine horn model of genital tract wound healing is described. Healing was reflected by acquisition of strength and elasticity, measured by burst strength (BS) and extensibility (EX), respectively. A tensiometer (Instron Corp., Canton, MA) was used to assess these characteristics in castrated and estrogen-supplemented or nonsupplemented animals. While the horn weights (HW), BS, and EX of contralateral horns were not significantly different, the intra-animal variation of HW was 7.2%, BS was 17.7% and EX was 38.2%. In a second experiment, one uterine horn was divided and anastomosed, and the animal given estrogen supplementation or a placebo pellet. Estrogen administration was found to increase BS and EX of anastomosed horns prior to 14 days, but had no beneficial effect at 21 or 42 days. The data suggest that estrogen may be required for optimal early healing of genital tract wounds.

On-line leak detection method for OWL-1 loop by ARX modeling using dewpoint signals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oguma, Ritsuo; Hayashi, Koji; Kitajima, Toshio.

1981-01-01

Model identification technique based on ARX (autoregressive model with exogenous variable) process was applied to dewpoint data recorded at OWL-1 (Oarai Water Loop No. 1) loop cubicle in JMTR (Japan Materials Testing Reactor) and the dynamical interrelationship between the supply and exhaust dewpoints in the ventilation system of the cubicle was empirically determined. It was shown that the information so derived on the dewpoint dynamics can assist to enhance the sensitivity of leak detection, if it was incorporated into a leak monitoring system for the OWL-1 loop. A simple digital filter incorporating the dewpoint dynamics was designed in an attempt to develop an efficient leak monitor for the OWL-1 loop. This filter was applied to the dewpoint data recordings during an abnormal leak that had occurred at the OWL-1 loop in the 43 rd cycle of JMTR operation, which demonstrated the effectiveness of the present method for leak detection at its early stage. (author)

The Ecology of the Ural Owl at South-Western Border of Its Distribution (Slovenia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Al Vrezec

2016-04-01

Full Text Available In Slovenia the Ural Owl (Strix uralensis is on its south-western limit of distribution and belongs to the southern subspecies Strix uralensis macroura. Dark coloured owls are characteristic for this subspecies and represent between 5 to 15% of the population. Slovenian breeding population size is estimated at 400 to 700 pairs. The densities of territories ranges between 0.9 to 13.4 territories per 10 km2, and the highest are reached in mountain forests of southern Dinaric region. In the forests with dominant deciduous trees, e.g. Beech (Fagus sylvatica and Pedinculate Oak (Quercus robur, the breeding densities are significantly higher than in the forests with higher proportion of coniferous trees, e.g. Norway Spruce (Picea abies. The species does not select specific altitude and throughout Slovenia it occurs between 150 and 1600 m a.s.l.  The most of the nest found at natural nest-sites were in tree holes or semi-holes (56% and at the tree stumps (20%. Nest boxes were occupied less frequently in Slovenia with occupancy rate of 29%. At least in mountain regions breeding begins quite late, between 15 March to 21 June. Average clutch size is 3.3 ± 1.0 eggs per nest. About 80% of all nests are successful raising at least one young. The diet shifts significantly between breeding and non-breeding period due to the seasonality in prey availability. According to the biomass the most important prey in breeding period are mice (Muridae, voles (Arvicollidae and mole (Talpa europaea, but in the non-breeding period voles and dormice (Gliridae predominate. Large Fat Dormouse (Glis glis seems to have very important role in the post-breeding period, but not in the breeding period due to its dormancy. As a large forest-dwelling predator the Ural Owl shapes the raptor community in the forest by excluding mezopredator species, as Tawny Owl (Strix aluco, what allows smaller raptors, e.g. Boreal Owl (Aegolius funereus to expend their ranges to lower elevations

Wave propagation inside the Agbo horn | Nwachukwu | Nigerian ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... comparable to that of modern horns and other musical instruments in emitting harmonious vibrations of even and odd harmonics when excited. This investigation has further shown that the “agbo” horns can be used for fourier analysis and amplitude modulation. They also have characteristics similar to violin, piano, oboe, ...

"Not in the Middle Ages"?: Alan Garner's "The Owl Service" and the Literature of Adolescence.

Science.gov (United States)

Hardwick, Paul

2000-01-01

Discusses connecting with the Middle Ages in adolescent fiction. Discusses how, in "The Owl Service," Garner addresses a relationship between adolescence in the late twentieth century and an aspect of the past--specifically the Middle Ages. Considers how "The Owl Service" is a story energized by myth, concerning the…

Clinical significance of neonatal parafrontal horn cysts detected by cranial sonography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Woo, Jeong Joo; Jung, Myung Ja; Kim, Eun Ryung

2005-01-01

The describe the significance, incidence and characteristics of sonographic findings and long term outcomes of parafrontal horn cysts detected by screening cranial sonography done within the first week following birth. 2122 first cranial ultrasound scans performed over a five year period were retrospectively evaluated and 23 neonates with parafrontal horn cysts were found (which are different from secondary cystic lesions). 17 cases had a birth weight of 2400 gm with gestation between 34 and 41 weeks. The size, shape and location of the parafrontal horn cysts and other associated abnormalities shown on the cranial sonogram were evaluated and sequential ultrasound study, maternal records, neonatal events and neurodevelopmental evaluations were retrospectively assessed. Of the 23 subjects, 21 had isolated parafrontal horn cysts and 2 had subependymal hemorrhages. There was no record of any abnormal perinatal history. The cysts were bilateral in 20 neonates and unilateral in the others. The size of the cysts ranged from 3 to 18 mm in diameter (mean 9 mm). Sonographic features of the parafrontal horn cysts were distinctive morphology (elliptical, thin walled) and location (adjacent to the tip of the frontal horn). In 17 of the cases a follow-up cranial sonography was performed, and all parafrontal horn cysts disappeared within 3 to 6 months. Neurodevelopmental outcomes were normal in those 17 cases. Screening cranial sonography of neonates discovers isolated parafrontal horn cyst. The incidence of parafrontal horn cysts in neonates in our study was 1.1%. They are present in the first week following birth and resolve themselves without medical treatment within a few months. In addition, they show normal neurodevelopment. The parafrontal cysts are suspected to be a benign variant of normal neurodevelopment

Studies on thermo-elastic heating of horns used in ultrasonic plastic welding.

Science.gov (United States)

Roopa Rani, M; Prakasan, K; Rudramoorthy, R

2015-01-01

Ultrasonic welding horn is half wavelength section or tool used to focus the ultrasonic vibrations to the components being welded. The horn is designed in such a way that it maximizes the amplitude of the sound wave passing through it. The ends of the horn represent the displacement anti-nodes and the center the 'node' of the wave. As the horns perform 20,000 cycles of expansion and contraction per second, they are highly stressed at the nodes and are heated owing to thermo-elastic effects. Considerable temperature rise may be observed in the horn, at the nodal region when working at high amplitudes indicating high stress levels leading to failure of horns due to cyclic loading. The limits for amplitude must therefore be evaluated for the safe working of the horn. Horns made of different materials have different thermo-elastic behaviors and hence different temperatures at the nodes and antinodes. This temperature field can be used as a control mechanism for setting the amplitude/weld parameters. Safe stress levels can be predicted using modal and harmonic analyses followed by a stress analysis to study the effect of cyclic loads. These are achieved using 'Ansys'. The maximum amplitude level obtained from the stress analysis is used as input for 'Comsol' to predict the temperature field. The actual temperature developed in the horn during operation is measured using infrared camera and compared with the simulated temperature. From experiments, it is observed that horn made of titanium had the lowest temperature rise at the critical region and can be expected to operate at amplitudes up to 77 μm without suffering failure due to cyclic loading. The method of predicting thermo-elastic stresses and temperature may be adopted by the industry for operating the horn within the safe stress limits thereby extending the life of the horn. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Horn clause verification with convex polyhedral abstraction and tree automata-based refinement

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kafle, Bishoksan; Gallagher, John Patrick

2017-01-01

In this paper we apply tree-automata techniques to refinement of abstract interpretation in Horn clause verification. We go beyond previous work on refining trace abstractions; firstly we handle tree automata rather than string automata and thereby can capture traces in any Horn clause derivations...... underlying the Horn clauses. Experiments using linear constraint problems and the abstract domain of convex polyhedra show that the refinement technique is practical and that iteration of abstract interpretation with tree automata-based refinement solves many challenging Horn clause verification problems. We...... compare the results with other state-of-the-art Horn clause verification tools....

76 FR 47141 - Big Horn County Resource Advisory Committee

Science.gov (United States)

2011-08-04

....us , with the words Big Horn County RAC in the subject line. Facsimilies may be sent to 307-674-2668... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service Big Horn County Resource Advisory Committee AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. [[Page 47142

Nesting of the Blakiston's Fish-Owl in the Nest of the Steller’s Sea Eagle, Magadan Region, Russia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Irina G. Utekhina

2016-04-01

Full Text Available In 2015 one Steller’s Sea Eagle nest was occupied by a Blakiston’s Fish Owl, the first record of which came from the Nature Reserve Inspector, E.A. Stepanov, who, on May 17, noted the pair of fish owls near a Steller’s Sea Eagle nest on the western bank of the Chelomdja River, 3 km downstream from the Moldot ranger’s station. On that date one of the owls was sitting in the nest, and another was sitting in a tree nearby the nest. On May 26, E. Stepanov observed the owls in the same position. We observed the nest on 20 and 21 June 2015, and saw one large Blakiston’s Fish Owl chick in the nest; no adults were noted. Inspector A. Stepanov saw the chick in the nest on June 23, and an adult in a nearby.  Magadan State Reserve Inspector A. Akhanov reported that the nest was empty and no adults were seen on June 25.

DIP: A defeasible-inference platform for OWL ontologies

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Meyer, T

2014-07-01

Full Text Available unpublished. We present a defeasible-reasoning system for OWL ontologies demonstrating that we need not devise new decision procedures for certain preferential DLs. Our reasoning procedures are composed purely of classical DL decision steps which allows us...

AA, Inner Conductor of Magnetic Horn

CERN Multimedia

CERN PhotoLab

1979-01-01

Antiprotons emerging at large angles from the production target (hit by an intense 26 GeV proton beam from the PS), were focused into the acceptance of the injection line of the AA by means of a "magnetic horn" (current-sheet lens). Here we see an early protype of the horn's inner conductor, machined from solid aluminium to a thickness of less than 1 mm. The 1st version had to withstand pulses of 150 kA, 15 us long, every 2.4 s. See 8801040 for a later version.

Distribution, abundance, and habitat use of territorial male Boreal Owls (Aegolius funereus) in northeast Minnesota

Science.gov (United States)

William H. Lane; David E. Andersen; Thomas H. Nicholls

1997-01-01

We conducted nocturnal auditory surveys from 1987-1992 to determine the distribution, abundance, and habitat use of Boreal Owls (Aegolius funereus) in northeast Minnesota. We concentrated our efforts in areas where documented nesting attempts by the owls had occurred, along roadways maintained for winter-time access by motor vehicles, and by...

Elaborate horns in a giant rhinoceros beetle incur negligible aerodynamic costs.

Science.gov (United States)

McCullough, Erin L; Tobalske, Bret W

2013-05-07

Sexually selected ornaments and weapons are among nature's most extravagant morphologies. Both ornaments and weapons improve a male's reproductive success; yet, unlike ornaments that need only attract females, weapons must be robust and functional structures because they are frequently tested during male-male combat. Consequently, weapons are expected to be particularly costly to bear. Here, we tested the aerodynamic costs of horns in the giant rhinoceros beetle, Trypoxylus dichotomus. We predicted that the long, forked head horn would have three main effects on flight performance: increased body mass, an anterior shift in the centre of mass and increased body drag. We found that the horns were surprisingly lightweight, and therefore had a trivial effect on the male beetles' total mass and mass distribution. Furthermore, because beetles typically fly at slow speeds and high body angles, horns had little effect on total body drag. Together, the weight and the drag of horns increased the overall force required to fly by less than 3 per cent, even in the largest males. Because low-cost structures are expected to be highly evolutionarily labile, the fact that horns incur very minor flight costs may have permitted both the elaboration and diversification of rhinoceros beetle horns.

Using AberOWL for fast and scalable reasoning over BioPortal ontologies

KAUST Repository

Slater, Luke

2016-08-08

Background: Reasoning over biomedical ontologies using their OWL semantics has traditionally been a challenging task due to the high theoretical complexity of OWL-based automated reasoning. As a consequence, ontology repositories, as well as most other tools utilizing ontologies, either provide access to ontologies without use of automated reasoning, or limit the number of ontologies for which automated reasoning-based access is provided. Methods: We apply the AberOWL infrastructure to provide automated reasoning-based access to all accessible and consistent ontologies in BioPortal (368 ontologies). We perform an extensive performance evaluation to determine query times, both for queries of different complexity and for queries that are performed in parallel over the ontologies. Results and conclusions: We demonstrate that, with the exception of a few ontologies, even complex and parallel queries can now be answered in milliseconds, therefore allowing automated reasoning to be used on a large scale, to run in parallel, and with rapid response times.

Small mammals in the diet of barn owls, Tyto alba (Aves: Strigiformes along the mid-Araguaia river in central Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rita G. Rocha

2011-12-01

Full Text Available We collected and analyzed 286 Barn owl, Tyto alba (Scopoli, 1769, pellets from two nests in different environments along the mid-Araguaia River in central Brazil. Our analyses revealed that these owls feed mainly on small mammals, especially rodents. Owls from the riverbanks at Fazenda Santa Fé had a more diverse diet, preying mainly on rodents that typically inhabit riparian grasslands - Holochilus sciureus Wagner, 1842 - and forests - Hylaeamys megacephalus (Fischer, 1814 and Oecomys spp., which probably also occur in forest borders or clearings. On the other hand, owls from an agroecosystem at Fazenda Lago Verde preyed mostly on rodent species common in these agrarian fields, Calomys tocantinsi Bonvicino, Lima & Almeida, 2003. Additionally, we compared small mammal richness estimates based on the analysis of owl pellets with estimates from live-trapping in the same areas. Owl pellets revealed two rodent species undetected by live traps - Euryoryzomys sp. and Rattus rattus (Linnaeus, 1758 - and four rodent species were trapped, but not found in owl pellets - Oecomys roberti Thomas, 1904, Pseudoryzomys simplex (Winge, 1887, Rhipidomys ipukensis Rocha, B.M.A. Costa & L.P. Costa, 2011, and Makalata didelphoides (Desmarest, 1817. Traps yielded higher species richness, but these two methods complement each other for surveying small rodents.

Ulnar nerve entrapment in a French horn player.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoppmann, R A

1997-10-01

Nerve entrapment syndromes are frequent among musicians. Because of the demands on the musculoskeletal system and the great agility needed to per-form, musicians often present with vague complaints early in the course of entrapment, which makes the diagnosis a challenge for the clinician. Presented here is such a case of ulnar nerve entrapment at the left elbow of a French horn player. This case points out some of the difficulties in establishing a diagnosis of nerve entrapment in musicians. It also supports the theory that prolonged elbow flexion and repetitive finger movement contribute to the development of ulnar entrapment at the elbow. Although surgery is not required for most of the musculoskeletal problems of musicians, release of an entrapped nerve refractory to conservative therapy may be career-saving for the musician.

Clinical significance of neonatal parafrontal horn cysts detected by cranial sonography

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Woo, Jeong Joo [Eulji University of Medicine, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Jung, Myung Ja [Sanggye Paik Hospital, Inje University of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Eun Ryung [Sungae General Hospital, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2005-07-15

The describe the significance, incidence and characteristics of sonographic findings and long term outcomes of parafrontal horn cysts detected by screening cranial sonography done within the first week following birth. 2122 first cranial ultrasound scans performed over a five year period were retrospectively evaluated and 23 neonates with parafrontal horn cysts were found (which are different from secondary cystic lesions). 17 cases had a birth weight of < 2400 gm with gestation between 30 and 35 weeks, 6 cases had a birth weight of > 2400 gm with gestation between 34 and 41 weeks. The size, shape and location of the parafrontal horn cysts and other associated abnormalities shown on the cranial sonogram were evaluated and sequential ultrasound study, maternal records, neonatal events and neurodevelopmental evaluations were retrospectively assessed. Of the 23 subjects, 21 had isolated parafrontal horn cysts and 2 had subependymal hemorrhages. There was no record of any abnormal perinatal history. The cysts were bilateral in 20 neonates and unilateral in the others. The size of the cysts ranged from 3 to 18 mm in diameter (mean 9 mm). Sonographic features of the parafrontal horn cysts were distinctive morphology (elliptical, thin walled) and location (adjacent to the tip of the frontal horn). In 17 of the cases a follow-up cranial sonography was performed, and all parafrontal horn cysts disappeared within 3 to 6 months. Neurodevelopmental outcomes were normal in those 17 cases. Screening cranial sonography of neonates discovers isolated parafrontal horn cyst. The incidence of parafrontal horn cysts in neonates in our study was 1.1%. They are present in the first week following birth and resolve themselves without medical treatment within a few months. In addition, they show normal neurodevelopment. The parafrontal cysts are suspected to be a benign variant of normal neurodevelopment.

a Design of the Driver Airbag Module with Floating Horn Assembly

Science.gov (United States)

Suh, Chang-Min; Lee, Young-Hoon; Suh, Duck-Young

The driver airbag system is designed as a supplemental restraint system in addition to the seatbelt, and is designed to protect the driver's head and chest against severe injury by a device that is actuated in case of vehicle's fronted impact. Deployment of an airbag module with floating horn assembly is a highly dynamic process. The concept of driver airbag module with floating horn assembly and aluminum emblem is presented as a useful parameter when the airbag deploys and the energy is evaluated as performance factor in airbag module. Floating horn assembly is also one of the major factors for driver airbag module design to perform its horn function and check the package between driver airbag module and steering wheel. This study on the design of driver airbag module with floating horn assembly proved the feasibility as a new safety device. However, the system level study is needed for decrease of passenger injury. This study can be used for the implementation of a prototype of DABM with floating horn device.

Post-fledging behaviour of juveniles in the little owl (Athene noctua)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Dorthe; Thorup, Kasper; Sunde, Peter

2013-01-01

Before dispersal, social and spatial behaviour in owls has only been briefly studied. We used radio tracking to monitor age-influenced social and spatial behaviour in 10 juvenile Little Owls (Athene noctua) from nests in Northern Jutland, Denmark. On average, the post-fledging dependency period.......53 ha (mean ± SD) from fledging to independence and 3.25 ± 4.15 ha from independence to dispersal.Within the first 40 days after fledging, the nightly distance from the nest and the distance between siblings increased, and the frequency and intensity of begging calls decreased. These results were...

The effects of forest structure on occurrence and abundance of three owl species (Aves: Strigidae in the Central Amazon forest

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Obed G. Barros

2009-03-01

Full Text Available We investigated how forest structure affects the occurrence and abundance of three owl species: the crested owl Lophostrix cristata Daudin, 1800, the Amazon pygmy owl Glaucidium hardyi Vielliard, 1990, and the tawny-bellied screech owl Megascops watsonii Cassin, 1849. We surveyed the owls mostly between 07:00 and 11:00 pm from July 2001 to April 2002, in eighteen 8 km transects along trails at the Ducke Reserve, Manaus, Central Amazon, Brazil. We staked out 50 x 50 m plots where the presence and absence of the owls were recorded. We compared some components of the forest structure between plots where owls were present and plots where they were absent. The spatial variation in these components were related to the occurrence and abundance of the owls using models of multiple logistic and multiple linear regressions analysis, respectively. Lophostrix cristata is rare in many other areas of the Amazon forest, but it was the most abundant in our study area. Lophostrix cristata and G. hardyi were more concentrated along the uplands (central plateau, which divide the reserve into two drainage water-basins. Megascops watsonii was distributed mainly in the southeastern part of the reserve. Glaucidium hardyi was more often found in areas with larger canopy openness. In areas with higher abundance of snags, there was significantly higher occurrence of L. cristata and M. watsonii. Megascops watsonii was also more abundant in areas with higher abundance of forest trees and in areas bearing shallower leaf litter on the forest floor. This study is the first to analyze at large spatial scale the effects of forest structure on neotropical forest top predator nocturnal birds. The results indicate that forest structure can affect the occurrence and abundance of owls in the Amazon forest.

A telemetry study of the social organization of a tawny owl (Strix aluco) population

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sunde, Peter; Bølstad, Mikkel S.

2004-01-01

The spatial dispersion and social interactions were studied in 11 neighbouring pairs of radio-tagged tawny owls Strix aluco in a deciduous wood in Denmark from 1998-2001. The numbers and shapes of territories were stable throughout the survey and similar to a mapping made 40 years earlier. The home...... involving one owl only from each pair. The dispute rate between neighbouring pairs correlated positively with home-range overlap. The total annual mortality was 21% (95% CI: 6-33%). Dead owners were usually replaced within 1-2 months. Two out of four cases of radio-tagged owls disappearing from...

The tissue microarray OWL schema: An open-source tool for sharing tissue microarray data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hyunseok P Kang

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Tissue microarrays (TMAs are enormously useful tools for translational research, but incompatibilities in database systems between various researchers and institutions prevent the efficient sharing of data that could help realize their full potential. Resource Description Framework (RDF provides a flexible method to represent knowledge in triples, which take the form Subject- Predicate-Object. All data resources are described using Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs, which are global in scope. We present an OWL (Web Ontology Language schema that expands upon the TMA data exchange specification to address this issue and assist in data sharing and integration. Methods: A minimal OWL schema was designed containing only concepts specific to TMA experiments. More general data elements were incorporated from predefined ontologies such as the NCI thesaurus. URIs were assigned using the Linked Data format. Results: We present examples of files utilizing the schema and conversion of XML data (similar to the TMA DES to OWL. Conclusion: By utilizing predefined ontologies and global unique identifiers, this OWL schema provides a solution to the limitations of XML, which represents concepts defined in a localized setting. This will help increase the utilization of tissue resources, facilitating collaborative translational research efforts.

Radial tear of posterior horn of the medial meniscus and osteonecrosis of the knee

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Motoyama, Tatsuo; Ihara, Hidetoshi; Kawashima, Mahito

2003-01-01

We studied the relation between a radial tear of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus and osteonecrosis of the knee. Thirty-eight knees of 37 patients were diagnosed as medial meniscus tear and received arthroscopic knee surgery. We divided them into two groups: knees having radial tear of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus (posterior horn group) and knees containing radial tear except for posterior horn, horizontal tear, degenerative tear, and flap tear of the medial meniscus (non-posterior horn group). The posterior horn group consisted of 14 knees (average age: 65.1 years old) and the non-posterior horn group consisted of 24 knees (average age: 59.6 years old). All cases underwent MRI before arthroscopy. MRI findings were classified into three types (typical osteonecrosis, small osteonecrosis, and non-osteonecrosis). In the posterior horn group, typical osteonecrosis were five knees and small osteonecrosis were five knees, while in the non-posterior horn group only three knees were small osteonecrosis. These findings suggest the relevance between radial tear of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus and osteonecrosis of the knee (Mann-Whitney test p<0.01). The etiology of spontaneous osteonecrosis of the knee joint is unknown, however one etiology could be the radial tear of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus. (author)

Environmental Assessment: Access Roads and An Associated Interior Road, Centennial Estates Lease, Ellsworth AFB, SD

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-01

Near jet plane at takeoff 140 Gun muzzle blast 140 Threshold of pain 120 Loud music 115 Car horn 115 Thunder 110 Chainsaw 100 Lawn...Swainson’s hawk and the silver-haired bat do not occur in the areas of the Proposed Action. 15 Habitat for the burrowing owl includes prairie dog colonies...that are reportedly present near the proposed 16 Tower Road and Legion Boulevard. Burrowing owls generally use abandoned prairie dog burrows and 17

76 FR 7810 - Big Horn County Resource Advisory Committee

Science.gov (United States)

2011-02-11

..., Wyoming 82801. Comments may also be sent via e-mail to [email protected] , with the words Big... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service Big Horn County Resource Advisory Committee AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice of meeting. SUMMARY: The Big Horn County Resource Advisory Committee...

The 'horns' of a medical dilemma: Alexander the Great.

Science.gov (United States)

Russell, Gül A

2004-06-01

Retrospective 'diagnosis' of clinical disorders of famous historical figures has been of medical interest. In the absence of a patient's 'body', the validity of 'physical symptoms' and their interpretation by contemporary diagnostic criteria are questionable. When the symptoms have been gleaned from the patients's effigy which, as in the case of Alexander the Great, is submerged in legend, the enterprise becomes inherently hazardous. In the present paper, some of the conceptual problems underlying retrospective diagnoses will be identified. Then the use of iconographic records, such as numismatics and sculpture, to provide evidence of clinical symptoms will be shown to be highly misleading.

Influence of vegetation on the nocturnal foraging behaviors and vertebrate prey capture by endangered Burrowing Owls

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alan Marsh

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Restrictions in technology have limited past habitat selection studies for many species to the home-range level, as a finer-scale understanding was often not possible. Consequently, these studies may not identify the true mechanism driving habitat selection patterns, which may influence how such results are applied in conservation. We used GPS dataloggers with digital video recorders to identify foraging modes and locations in which endangered Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia captured prey. We measured the coarse and fine-scale characteristics of vegetation at locations in which owls searched for, versus where they caught, vertebrate prey. Most prey items were caught using hover-hunting. Burrowing Owls searched for, and caught, vertebrate prey in all cover types, but were more likely to kill prey in areas with sparse and less dense vegetative cover. Management strategies designed to increase Burrowing Owl foraging success in the Canadian prairies should try to ensure a mosaic of vegetation heights across cover types.

Overview of recent focussing horns for the BNL neutrino program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carroll, A.; Leonhardt, W.; Monaghan, R.

1987-01-01

In this paper we present an overview of the two magnetic focussing horn systems recently constructed, installed, and operated in the fast extracted beam for the neutrino physics program at the AGS. These horn systems consist of a number of interrelated subsystems which operate together to produce a very intense, parallel beam of pions. The strong magnetic focussing is generated by pulsing the coaxial structures of the horns with currents of up to 300kA during the 2.5 μsec proton beam spill. Because of their high levels of induced radioactivity, these horns had to be designed for reliability and ease in installation. Both horn systems built had the same overall features, but the broad band system focussed pions over as large a momentum band as possible to maximize the neutrino flux. The narrow band systems restricted the momentum to +-15% of 3 GeV/c to provide kinematic constraints for the experiment. A synopsis of the design concepts and critical engineering requirements is given. Detailed discussion of the subsystems follows in the subsequent papers

Nest reuse by Northern Spotted Owls on the east slope of the Cascade Range, Washington

Science.gov (United States)

Stan G. Sovern; Margaret Taylor; Eric D. Forsman

2011-01-01

During a long-term demography study of Northern Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) in the eastern Cascade Range of Washington State in 1989 to 2008, we documented 276 nests of Northern Spotted Owls at 73 different territories. Of these nests, 90.2% were on platforms, mostly in clumps of deformed limbs caused by dwarf mistletoe (primarily...

Several required OWL features for indigenous knowledge management systems

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Alberts, R

2012-05-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the features required of OWL (Web Ontology Language) to realise and enhance Indigenous Knowledge (IK) digital repositories. Several needs for Indigenous Knowledge management systems (IKMSs) are articulated, based on extensive...

On the barn owl's visual pre-attack behavior: 1. Structure of head movements and motion patterns

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ohayon, S.; Willigen, R.F. van der; Wagner, H.; Katsman, I.; Rivlin, E.

2006-01-01

Barn owls exhibit a rich repertoire of head movements before taking off for prey capture. These movements occur mainly at light levels that allow for the visual detection of prey. To investigate these movements and their functional relevance, we filmed the pre-attack behavior of barn owls. Off-line

Conflict Resolution in Partially Ordered OWL DL Ontologies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ji, Q.; Gao, Z.; Huang, Z.

2014-01-01

Inconsistency handling in OWL DL ontologies is an important problem because an ontology can easily be inconsistent when it is generated or modified. Current approaches to dealing with inconsistent ontologies often assume that there exists a total order over axioms and use such an order to select

Representing chemicals using OWL, description graphs and rules

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Hastings, J

2010-06-01

Full Text Available OWL, Description Graphs and Rules Janna Hastings1;2;3?, Michel Dumontier4, Duncan Hull1, Matthew Horridge5, Christoph Steinbeck1, Ulrike Sattler5, Robert Stevens5, Tertia H orne2, and Katarina Britz2;3 1 European Bioinformatics Institute, UK 2...

Diet of the Tawny Owl Strix aluco in the area of Slovenske gorice (NE Slovenia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Janžekovič Franc

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The diet of Tawny Owl Strix aluco was studied in the area of Slovenske gorice - NE Slovenia. The analysis was carried out by examining pellets collected at ten locations in the period from 1984 to 2015. From the pellets, 2,121 prey units were isolated. The predominant prey were mammals (Mammalia, 84.8%, followed by birds (Aves, 8.3%, insects (Insecta, 4.7%, frogs (Anura, 1.6% and earthworms (Oligochaeta, 0.5%. Four orders of mammals were found: rodents (Rodentia, insectivores (Insectivora, bats (Chiroptera and carnivores (Carnivora. The most frequent prey in the owls’ diet were voles (Arvicolinae, 46.6% and mice (Murinae, 28.8%, while the number of shrews (Soricidae was low (4.5%. The obtained results are in concordance with the conclusions of other studies. In the area of Slovenske gorice, the Tawny Owl is an opportunistic predator of small mammals with an emphasis on voles and mice. Prey frequencies differ significantly among some localities. Variability in proportions of prey species among localities can also be the result of sampling carried out in different seasons and variability in the population dynamics of small mammals among years. Challenges for future research are to describe seasonal variability of the diet and to evaluate interspecific competition within the guild of night predators of small mammals: Tawny Owl, Long-eared Owl Asio otus, and Barn Owl Tyto alba, which are sympatric in this area.

Coursing with Coils: The Only Orchestral Instrument Harder Than the French Horn

OpenAIRE

Sarah R. Plumley

2016-01-01

Playing the horn has become not only more sophisticated and accurate, but simpler and more efficient for the horn player. The natural horn, used in a variety ways in early history, demanded an incredible level of skill and precision, more than our valved horn today in some ways because it required a more accurate ear, more embouchure dexterity, and the necessity of wrangling crooks for different keys. Thus, it required many practiced skills of the player that are no longer as necessary as the...

Occupational cow horn eye injuries in Ibadan, Nigeria | Ibrahim ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This case series aims to describe the clinical features, management, and outcome of occupational eye injuries caused by cow horns and to recommend possible preventive measures. A review of patients with cow horn inflicted eye injuries seen at the University College Hospital, Ibadan between January 2006, and ...

Prey selection of Tawny owls (Strix aluco) on Yellow necked mouse and Bank Vole

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Forsom, H. M.; Sunde, P.; Overskaug, K.

As predators owls may have a strong impact on mortality of their favourite prey, and may therefore act as important selective agents on their prey species. Little is known, however, about whether owls choose prey randomly or if some prey items suffer a higher risk of predation due to certain life...

Possible mechanisms for sensitivity to organophosphorus and carbamate insecticides in eastern screech-owls and American kestrels

Science.gov (United States)

Vyas, N.B.; Thiele, L.A.; Garland, S.C.

1998-01-01

Effects of a single dietary exposure to fenthion and carbofuran on the survival, feeding behavior and brain ChE activity of eastern screech-owls, Otus asio and American kestrels, Falco sparverius, were evaluated. Birds were exposed to fenthion (23.6–189.0 ppm) or carbofuran (31.7–253.6 ppm) via meatballs. Carbofuran-exposed owls ate either ≤10% or ≥80% of the meatball whereas all kestrels ate ≤10% of the meatball before exhibiting acute signs of toxicity. Fenthion-exposed owls and kestrels displayed a wide spectrum of meatball consumption (<10–100%). Significant brain ChE inhibition was observed in dead and surviving kestrels exposed to fenthion and carbofuran and dead owls exposed to fenthion (P<0.0001). Brain ChE activity of owls exposed to carbofuran that survived was not different from that of controls (P=0.25). Data suggest: (1) slow feeding on a carbamate-contaminated item may provide limited protection from the toxicity of the chemical at certain rates of exposure; (2) the degree of ChE inhibition at neuromuscular junctions may be critical in determining the sensitivity of a species to a carbamate insecticide; (3) sensitivity may be a function of the ChE affinity for the carbamate inhibitor; and (4) the importance of neuromuscular junction ChE depression in determining the sensitivity of an animal may be species-specific.

Possible mechanisms for sensitivity to organophosphorus and carbamate insecticides in eastern screech-owls and American kestrels.

Science.gov (United States)

Vyas, N B; Thiele, L A; Garland, S C

1998-07-01

Effects of a single dietary exposure to fenthion and carbofuran on the survival, feeding behavior and brain ChE activity of eastern screech-owls, Otus asio and American kestrels, Falco sparverius, were evaluated. Birds were exposed to fenthion (23.6-189.0 ppm) or carbofuran (31.7-253.6 ppm) via meatballs. Carbofuran-exposed owls ate either or = 80% of the meatball whereas all kestrels ate meatball before exhibiting acute signs of toxicity. Fenthion-exposed owls and kestrels displayed a wide spectrum of meatball consumption (< 10-100%). Significant brain ChE inhibition was observed in dead and surviving kestrels exposed to fenthion and carbofuran and dead owls exposed to fenthion (P < 0.0001). Brain ChE activity of owls exposed to carbofuran that survived was not different from that of controls (P = 0.25). Data suggest: (1) slow feeding on a carbamate-contaminated item may provide limited protection from the toxicity of the chemical at certain rates of exposure; (2) the degree of ChE inhibition at neuromuscular junctions may be critical in determining the sensitivity of a species to a carbamate insecticide; (3) sensitivity may be a function of the ChE affinity for the carbamate inhibitor; and (4) the importance of neuromuscular junction ChE depression in determining the sensitivity of an animal may be species-specific.

Modeling seasonal detection patterns for burrowing owl surveys

Science.gov (United States)

Quresh S. Latif; Kathleen D. Fleming; Cameron Barrows; John T. Rotenberry

2012-01-01

To guide monitoring of burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia) in the Coachella Valley, California, USA, we analyzed survey-method-specific seasonal variation in detectability. Point-based call-broadcast surveys yielded high early season detectability that then declined through time, whereas detectability on driving surveys increased through the season. Point surveys...

Preference of redear sunfish on zebra mussels and rams-horn snails

Science.gov (United States)

French, John R. P.; Morgan, Michael N.

1995-01-01

We tested prey preferences of adult (200- to 222-mm long) redear sunfish (Lepomis microlophus) on two size classes of zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) and two-ridge rams-horns (Helisoma anceps) in experimental aquaria. We also tested physical limitations on consuming these mollusks and determined prey bioenergetic profitability. Redear sunfish strongly preferred rams-horns over zebra mussels, but they displayed no size preference for either prey. Ingestion was not physically limited since both prey species up to 15-mm long fit within the pharyngeal gapes of redear sunfish. Rams-horns were more bioenergetically profitable than zebra mussels and ingestion of rams-horn shell fragments was about three times less than zebra mussels. Rams-horns were somewhat more resistant to shell-crushing, but all size ranges of both prey species tested were crushable by redear sunfish. These studies suggested that the redear sunfish should not be considered a panacea for biological control of zebra mussels.

Genetic consequences of population decline in the Danish population of the little owl (Athene noctua)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pertoldi, Cino; Pellegrino, Irene; Cucco, Maroc

2012-01-01

Background: Danish populations of the little owl (Athene noctua) have experienced dramaticdeclines in size over the past century. Before 1960 the little owl population was abundantin Denmark (estimated N>2000), but between 1960 and 1980 the population declinedrapidly, and since 1980 the little ow...

The winter diet of short-eared owls in subtropical Texas: Do southern diets provide evidence of opportunity?

Science.gov (United States)

Williford, Damon; Woodin, Marc C.; Skoruppa, Mary Kay

2011-01-01

Winter diet of the Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) in Texas is little known. We investigated the diet of Short-eared Owls wintering in McMullen County, in subtropical Texas, by analyzing the contents of 129 pellets collected over two winters (28 November 2007 to 22 February 2008 and 11 December 2008 to 11 February 2009) and conducted a latitudinal-based comparison of published diet studies of Short-eared Owls. In southern Texas, we recovered the remains of 162 prey items, 98% of which were vertebrates. Hispid cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus) were the most important prey species in terms of percent of total number (67%) and percent of total biomass (87%). Most (86%) Short-eared Owl diet studies (based on ≥100 pellets) have been conducted north of 35°N, with only six studies, including the present study, conducted at or south of 35°N latitude. Voles (primarily Microtus spp.) were the dominant prey in North American studies (71%), but microtines were not the dominant prey in any of the six studies conducted south of 35°N latitude. We suggest that Short-eared Owls do not specialize on microtines, as is often implied, but rather depend on rodents with cyclic populations, such as the hispid cotton rat in southern areas.

Combating Rhino Horn Trafficking: The Need to Disrupt Criminal Networks.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Timothy C Haas

Full Text Available The onslaught on the World's wildlife continues despite numerous initiatives aimed at curbing it. We build a model that integrates rhino horn trade with rhino population dynamics in order to evaluate the impact of various management policies on rhino sustainability. In our model, an agent-based sub-model of horn trade from the poaching event up through a purchase of rhino horn in Asia impacts rhino abundance. A data-validated, individual-based sub-model of the rhino population of South Africa provides these abundance values. We evaluate policies that consist of different combinations of legal trade initiatives, demand reduction marketing campaigns, increased anti-poaching measures within protected areas, and transnational policing initiatives aimed at disrupting those criminal syndicates engaged in horn trafficking. Simulation runs of our model over the next 35 years produces a sustainable rhino population under only one management policy. This policy includes both a transnational policing effort aimed at dismantling those criminal networks engaged in rhino horn trafficking-coupled with increases in legal economic opportunities for people living next to protected areas where rhinos live. This multi-faceted approach should be the focus of the international debate on strategies to combat the current slaughter of rhino rather than the binary debate about whether rhino horn trade should be legalized. This approach to the evaluation of wildlife management policies may be useful to apply to other species threatened by wildlife trafficking.

Multistate Models Reveal Long-Term Trends of Northern Spotted Owls in the Absence of a Novel Competitor.

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Andrew J Kroll

Full Text Available Quantifying spatial and temporal variability in population trends is a critical aspect of successful management of imperiled species. We evaluated territory occupancy dynamics of northern spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina, California, USA, 1990-2014. The study area possessed two unique aspects. First, timber management has occurred for over 100 years, resulting in dramatically different forest successional and structural conditions compared to other areas. Second, the barred owl (Strix varia, an exotic congener known to exert significant negative effects on spotted owls, has not colonized the study area. We used a Bayesian dynamic multistate model to evaluate if territory occupancy of reproductive spotted owls has declined as in other study areas. The state-space approach for dynamic multistate modeling imputes the number of territories for each nesting state and allows for the estimation of longer-term trends in occupied or reproductive territories from longitudinal studies. The multistate approach accounts for different detection probabilities by nesting state (to account for either inherent differences in detection or for the use of different survey methods for different occupancy states and reduces bias in state assignment. Estimated linear trends in the number of reproductive territories suggested an average loss of approximately one half territory per year (-0.55, 90% CRI: -0.76, -0.33, in one management block and a loss of 0.15 per year (-0.15, 90% CRI: -0.24, -0.07, in another management block during the 25 year observation period. Estimated trends in the third management block were also negative, but substantial uncertainty existed in the estimate (-0.09, 90% CRI: -0.35, 0.17. Our results indicate that the number of territories occupied by northern spotted owl pairs remained relatively constant over a 25 year period (-0.07, 90% CRI: -0.20, 0.05; -0.01, 90% CRI: -0.19, 0.16; -0.16, 90% CRI: -0.40, 0.06. However, we cannot exclude

Multistate Models Reveal Long-Term Trends of Northern Spotted Owls in the Absence of a Novel Competitor.

Science.gov (United States)

Kroll, Andrew J; Jones, Jay E; Stringer, Angela B; Meekins, Douglas J

2016-01-01

Quantifying spatial and temporal variability in population trends is a critical aspect of successful management of imperiled species. We evaluated territory occupancy dynamics of northern spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina), California, USA, 1990-2014. The study area possessed two unique aspects. First, timber management has occurred for over 100 years, resulting in dramatically different forest successional and structural conditions compared to other areas. Second, the barred owl (Strix varia), an exotic congener known to exert significant negative effects on spotted owls, has not colonized the study area. We used a Bayesian dynamic multistate model to evaluate if territory occupancy of reproductive spotted owls has declined as in other study areas. The state-space approach for dynamic multistate modeling imputes the number of territories for each nesting state and allows for the estimation of longer-term trends in occupied or reproductive territories from longitudinal studies. The multistate approach accounts for different detection probabilities by nesting state (to account for either inherent differences in detection or for the use of different survey methods for different occupancy states) and reduces bias in state assignment. Estimated linear trends in the number of reproductive territories suggested an average loss of approximately one half territory per year (-0.55, 90% CRI: -0.76, -0.33), in one management block and a loss of 0.15 per year (-0.15, 90% CRI: -0.24, -0.07), in another management block during the 25 year observation period. Estimated trends in the third management block were also negative, but substantial uncertainty existed in the estimate (-0.09, 90% CRI: -0.35, 0.17). Our results indicate that the number of territories occupied by northern spotted owl pairs remained relatively constant over a 25 year period (-0.07, 90% CRI: -0.20, 0.05; -0.01, 90% CRI: -0.19, 0.16; -0.16, 90% CRI: -0.40, 0.06). However, we cannot exclude small

Diet of the Barn Owl (Tyto alba in Ocoyoacac, Estado de Mexico

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alvaro González-Calderón

2017-10-01

Full Text Available I studied the feeding habits of the Barn Owl (Tyto alba Strigiformes in Ocoyoacac, State of Mexico (Mexico in 2012. On such occasion, its diet was analyzed based on the description of the mass of undigested parts of preys in 732 pellets collected. For such description I resorted to Margalef, Simpson, Shannon-Wiener and Pielou diversity index showing the diversity of preys on which the Barn Owls fed. Based on Levin’s standardized trophic niche index the food niche breadth was estimated as well as the correlation between pellet dimensions and the number of eaten preys. Small mammals were the most frequent source of food, followed by arthropods and birds. The dominance of small mammals was relatively low (λ = 0.20. Rattus rattus was the species most frequently consumed, followed by four other rodent species associated with an abundant frequency of consumption (Microtus mexicanus, Reithrodontomys microdon, R. megalotis and Peromyscus maniculatus. Shannon-Wiener index value (H’ = 1.85 and Levin’s standardized trophic breadth index (Bst = 0.42 showed a relatively low uniformity and a selective tendency in the consumption of small mammals. The diet of the Barn Owl showed that the consumption of arthropods was relevant, including arachnids. A selective tendency was observed in the consumption of birds. The significant correlations between the dimensions of the pellets with the number of preys consumed were discussed. The results show that the Barn Owl plays an important role in the biological control of native and non-native rodents of the region.

The natural horn as an efficient sound radiating system ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Results obtained showed that the locally made horn are efficient sound radiating systems and are therefore excellent for sound production in local musical renditions. These findings, in addition to the portability and low cost of the horns qualify them to be highly recommended for use in music making and for other purposes ...

New Eimeria species from the snowy owl (Nyctea scandiaca)

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Volf, J.; Koudela, Břetislav; Modrý, D.

1998-01-01

Roč. 45, č. 1 (1998), s. 8 ISSN 1066-5234. [New Eimeria species from the snowy owl (Nyctea scandiaca). 01.01.1998-02.01.1998, Praha] R&D Projects: GA MŠk 8111231 Subject RIV: fp - Other Medical Disciplines

Owl-inspired leading-edge serrations play a crucial role in aerodynamic force production and sound suppression.

Science.gov (United States)

Rao, Chen; Ikeda, Teruaki; Nakata, Toshiyuki; Liu, Hao

2017-07-04

Owls are widely known for silent flight, achieving remarkably low noise gliding and flapping flights owing to their unique wing morphologies, which are normally characterized by leading-edge serrations, trailing-edge fringes and velvet-like surfaces. How these morphological features affect aerodynamic force production and sound suppression or noise reduction, however, is still not well known. Here we address an integrated study of owl-inspired single feather wing models with and without leading-edge serrations by combining large-eddy simulations (LES) with particle-image velocimetry (PIV) and force measurements in a low-speed wind tunnel. With velocity and pressure spectra analysis, we demonstrate that leading-edge serrations can passively control the laminar-turbulent transition over the upper wing surface, i.e. the suction surface at all angles of attack (0°    15° where owl wings often reach in flight. Our results indicate that the owl-inspired leading-edge serrations may be a useful device for aero-acoustic control in biomimetic rotor designs for wind turbines, aircrafts, multi-rotor drones as well as other fluid machinery.

Birds of a Great Basin Sagebrush Habitat in East-Central Nevada

OpenAIRE

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service

1992-01-01

Breeding bird populations ranged from 3.35 to 3.48 individuals/ha over a 3-year study conducted from 1981 to 1983. Brewer's sparrows, sage sparrows, sage thrashers, and black-throated sparrows were numerically dominant. Horned larks and western meadowlarks were less common. Results are compared with bird populations in Great Basin sagebrush habitats elsewhere in the United States.

A dominance hierarchy of auditory spatial cues in barn owls.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ilana B Witten

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Barn owls integrate spatial information across frequency channels to localize sounds in space.We presented barn owls with synchronous sounds that contained different bands of frequencies (3-5 kHz and 7-9 kHz from different locations in space. When the owls were confronted with the conflicting localization cues from two synchronous sounds of equal level, their orienting responses were dominated by one of the sounds: they oriented toward the location of the low frequency sound when the sources were separated in azimuth; in contrast, they oriented toward the location of the high frequency sound when the sources were separated in elevation. We identified neural correlates of this behavioral effect in the optic tectum (OT, superior colliculus in mammals, which contains a map of auditory space and is involved in generating orienting movements to sounds. We found that low frequency cues dominate the representation of sound azimuth in the OT space map, whereas high frequency cues dominate the representation of sound elevation.We argue that the dominance hierarchy of localization cues reflects several factors: 1 the relative amplitude of the sound providing the cue, 2 the resolution with which the auditory system measures the value of a cue, and 3 the spatial ambiguity in interpreting the cue. These same factors may contribute to the relative weighting of sound localization cues in other species, including humans.

Derivation of Conditions for the Normal Gain Behavior of Conical Horns

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chin Yeng Tan

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Monotonically increasing gain-versus-frequency pattern is in general expected to be a characteristic of aperture antennas that include the smooth-wall conical horn. While optimum gain conical horns do naturally exhibit this behavior, nonoptimum horns need to meet certain criterion: a minimum axial length for given aperture diameter, or, alternatively, a maximum aperture diameter for the given axial length. In this paper, approximate expressions are derived to determine these parameters.

Effects of forest management on California Spotted Owls: implications for reducing wildfire risk in fire‐prone forests.

Science.gov (United States)

Tempel, Douglas J; Gutiérrez, R J; Whitmore, Sheila A; Reetz, Matthew J; Stoelting, Ricka E; Berigan, William J; Seamans, Mark E; Zachariah Peery, M

Management of many North American forests is challenged by the need to balance the potentially competing objectives of reducing risks posed by high-severity wildfires and protecting threatened species. In the Sierra Nevada, California, concern about high-severity fires has increased in recent decades but uncertainty exists over the effects of fuel-reduction treatments on species associated with older forests, such as the California Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis occidentalis). Here, we assessed the effects of forest conditions, fuel reductions, and wildfire on a declining population of Spotted Owls in the central Sierra Nevada using 20 years of demographic data collected at 74 Spotted Owl territories. Adult survival and territory colonization probabilities were relatively high, while territory extinction probability was relatively low, especially in territories that had relatively large amounts of high canopy cover (≥70%) forest. Reproduction was negatively associated with the area of medium-intensity timber harvests characteristic of proposed fuel treatments. Our results also suggested that the amount of edge between older forests and shrub/sapling vegetation and increased habitat heterogeneity may positively influence demographic rates of Spotted Owls. Finally, high-severity fire negatively influenced the probability of territory colonization. Despite correlations between owl demographic rates and several habitat variables, life stage simulation (sensitivity) analyses indicated that the amount of forest with high canopy cover was the primary driver of population growth and equilibrium occupancy at the scale of individual territories. Greater than 90% of medium-intensity harvests converted high-canopy-cover forests into lower-canopy-cover vegetation classes, suggesting that landscape-scale fuel treatments in such stands could have short-term negative impacts on populations of California Spotted Owls. Moreover, high-canopy-cover forests declined by an average of

Preliminary AD-Horn Thermomechanical and Electrodynamic Simulations

CERN Document Server

AUTHOR|(CDS)2095747; Horvath, David; Calviani, Marco

2016-01-01

As part of the Antiproton Decelerator (AD) target area consolidation activities planned for LS2, it has been necessary to perform a comprehensive study of the thermo-structural behaviour of the AD magnetic horn during operation, in order to detail specific requirements for the upgrade projects and testing procedures. The present work illustrates the preliminary results of the finite element analysis carried out to evaluate the thermal and structural behaviour of the device, as well as the methodology used to model and solve the thermomechanical and electrodynamic simulations performed in the AD magnetic horn.

Alpine ibex males grow large horns at no survival cost for most of their lifetime.

Science.gov (United States)

Toïgo, Carole; Gaillard, Jean-Michel; Loison, Anne

2013-12-01

Large horns or antlers require a high energy allocation to produce and carry both physiological and social reproductive costs. Following the principle of energy allocation that implies trade-offs among fitness components, growing large weapons early in life should thus reduce future growth and survival. Evidence for such costs is ambiguous, however, partly because individual heterogeneity can counterbalance trade-offs. Individuals with larger horns or antlers may be of better quality and thus have a greater capacity to survive. We investigated trade-offs between male early horn growth and future horn growth, baseline mortality, onset of actuarial senescence, and rate of ageing in an Alpine ibex (Capra ibex ibex) population. Horn growth of males in early life was positively correlated to their horn length throughout their entire life. Cohort variation and individual heterogeneity both accounted for among-individual variation in horn length, suggesting both long-lasting effects of early life conditions and individual-specific horn growth trajectories. Early horn growth did not influence annual survival until 12 years of age, indicating that males do not invest in horn growth at survival costs over most of their lifetime. However, males with fast-growing horns early in life tended to have lower survival at very old ages. Individual heterogeneity, along with the particular life-history tactic of male ibex (weak participation to the rut until an old age after which they burn out in high mating investment), are likely to explain why the expected trade-off between horn growth and survival does not show up, at least until very old ages.

Survey on birds of prey and owls Falconiformes and Strigiformes) on Java sea islands: correction and additions.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nijman, V.

2005-01-01

): In Southeast Asia the short-eared owl Asio flammeus is a northern migrant and is normally not recorded south of Singapore and, rarely, northern Borneo. The occurrence of short-eared owl in the Kangean archipelago, Java Sea, has been noted in several publications, including a recent one in this

Pyrosequencing-based analysis of the microbiome associated with the horn fly, Haematobia irritans.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Azhahianambi Palavesam

Full Text Available The horn fly, Haematobia irritans, is one of the most economically important pests of cattle. Insecticides have been a major element of horn fly management programs. Growing concerns with insecticide resistance, insecticide residues on farm products, and non-availability of new generation insecticides, are serious issues for the livestock industry. Alternative horn fly control methods offer the promise to decrease the use of insecticides and reduce the amount of insecticide residues on livestock products and give an impetus to the organic livestock farming segment. The horn fly, an obligatory blood feeder, requires the help of microflora to supply additional nutrients and metabolize the blood meal. Recent advancements in DNA sequencing methodologies enable researchers to examine the microflora diversity independent of culture methods. We used the bacterial 16S tag-encoded FLX-titanium amplicon pyrosequencing (bTEFAP method to carry out the classification analysis of bacterial flora in adult female and male horn flies and horn fly eggs. The bTEFAP method identified 16S rDNA sequences in our samples which allowed the identification of various prokaryotic taxa associated with the life stage examined. This is the first comprehensive report of bacterial flora associated with the horn fly using a culture-independent method. Several rumen, environmental, symbiotic and pathogenic bacteria associated with the horn fly were identified and quantified. This is the first report of the presence of Wolbachia in horn flies of USA origin and is the first report of the presence of Rikenella in an obligatory blood feeding insect.

Determination of Gastrointestinal Transit Times in Barred Owls ( Strix varia ) by Contrast Fluoroscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Doss, Grayson A; Williams, Jackie M; Mans, Christoph

2017-06-01

Contrast imaging studies are routinely performed in avian patients when an underlying abnormality of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is suspected. Fluoroscopy offers several advantages over traditional radiography and can be performed in conscious animals with minimal stress and restraint. Although birds of prey are commonly encountered as patients, little is known about GI transit times and contrast imaging studies in these species, especially owls. Owls are commonly encountered in zoological, educational, and wildlife settings. In this study, 12 adult barred owls ( Strix varia ) were gavage fed a 30% weight-by-volume barium suspension (25 mL/kg body weight). Fluoroscopic exposures were recorded at 5, 15, 30, 60, 120, 180, 240, and 300 minutes after administration. Overall GI transit time and transit times of various GI organs were recorded. Median (interquartile range [IQR]) overall GI transit time was 60 minutes (IQR: 19-60 minutes) and ranged from 5-120 minutes. Ventricular and small intestinal contrast filling was rapid. Ventricular emptying was complete by a median of 60 minutes (IQR: 30-120 minutes; range: 30-240 minutes), whereas small intestinal emptying was not complete in 9/12 birds by 300 minutes. Median small intestinal contraction rate was 15 per minute (IQR: 13-16 minutes; range: 10-19 minutes). Median overall GI transit time in barred owls is more rapid than mean transit times reported for psittacine birds and red-tailed hawks ( Buteo jamaicensis ). Fluoroscopy is a safe, suitable method for investigating GI motility and transit in this species.

Airborne ocean water lidar (OWL) real time processor (RTP)

Science.gov (United States)

Hryszko, M.

1995-03-01

The Hyperflo Real Time Processor (RTP) was developed by Pacific-Sierra Research Corporation as a part of the Naval Air Warfare Center's Ocean Water Lidar (OWL) system. The RTP was used for real time support of open ocean field tests at Barbers Point, Hawaii, in March 1993 (EMERALD I field test), and Jacksonville, Florida, in July 1994 (EMERALD I field test). This report describes the system configuration, and accomplishments associated with the preparation and execution of these exercises. This document is intended to supplement the overall test reports and provide insight into the development and use of the PTP. A secondary objective is to provide basic information on the capabilities, versatility and expandability of the Hyperflo RTP for possible future projects. It is assumed herein that the reader has knowledge of the OWL system, field test operations, general lidar processing methods, and basic computer architecture.

Novel Insights into the Bovine Polled Phenotype and Horn Ontogenesis in Bovidae

Science.gov (United States)

Allais-Bonnet, Aurélie; Grohs, Cécile; Medugorac, Ivica; Krebs, Stefan; Djari, Anis; Graf, Alexander; Fritz, Sébastien; Seichter, Doris; Baur, Aurélia; Russ, Ingolf; Bouet, Stéphan; Rothammer, Sophie; Wahlberg, Per; Esquerré, Diane; Hoze, Chris; Boussaha, Mekki; Weiss, Bernard; Thépot, Dominique; Fouilloux, Marie-Noëlle; Rossignol, Marie-Noëlle; van Marle-Köster, Este; Hreiðarsdóttir, Gunnfríður Elín; Barbey, Sarah; Dozias, Dominique; Cobo, Emilie; Reversé, Patrick; Catros, Olivier; Marchand, Jean-Luc; Soulas, Pascal; Roy, Pierre; Marquant-Leguienne, Brigitte; Le Bourhis, Daniel; Clément, Laetitia; Salas-Cortes, Laura; Venot, Eric; Pannetier, Maëlle; Phocas, Florence; Klopp, Christophe; Rocha, Dominique; Fouchet, Michel; Journaux, Laurent; Bernard-Capel, Carine; Ponsart, Claire; Eggen, André; Blum, Helmut; Gallard, Yves; Boichard, Didier; Pailhoux, Eric; Capitan, Aurélien

2013-01-01

Despite massive research efforts, the molecular etiology of bovine polledness and the developmental pathways involved in horn ontogenesis are still poorly understood. In a recent article, we provided evidence for the existence of at least two different alleles at the Polled locus and identified candidate mutations for each of them. None of these mutations was located in known coding or regulatory regions, thus adding to the complexity of understanding the molecular basis of polledness. We confirm previous results here and exhaustively identify the causative mutation for the Celtic allele (PC) and four candidate mutations for the Friesian allele (PF). We describe a previously unreported eyelash-and-eyelid phenotype associated with regular polledness, and present unique histological and gene expression data on bovine horn bud differentiation in fetuses affected by three different horn defect syndromes, as well as in wild-type controls. We propose the ectopic expression of a lincRNA in PC/p horn buds as a probable cause of horn bud agenesis. In addition, we provide evidence for an involvement of OLIG2, FOXL2 and RXFP2 in horn bud differentiation, and draw a first link between bovine, ovine and caprine Polled loci. Our results represent a first and important step in understanding the genetic pathways and key process involved in horn bud differentiation in Bovidae. PMID:23717440

Food partitioning between breeding White-tailed Kites (Elanus leucurus; Aves; Accipitridae and Barn Owls (Tyto alba; Aves; Tytonidae in southern Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

DR. Scheibler

Full Text Available I examined the diet of breeding White-tailed Kites (Elanus leucurus; Aves; Accipitridae and Barn Owls (Tyto alba; Aves; Tytonidae in an agrarian area of southern Brazil by analyzing regurgitated prey remains. The objective was to evaluate how these raptors, which differ markedly in their hunting activity periods (owls are nocturnal and kites diurnal, share their mammalian food component. 2,087 prey consumed by Barn Owls and 1,276 by White-tailed Kites were identified. They presented a high overlap of food-niches (Pianka’s index was 0.98. Based on the daily activity period of their main small mammal prey, a lower overlap would be expected. The crepuscular/nocturnal Mus musculus was the main prey for the diet of breeding Barn Owls (81% and White-tailed Kites (63%. This small exotic rodent provided 63% of the small mammal biomass ingested by owls and 44% by kites. Larger native small mammals were also considered important for the diet of kites, mainly because of their biomass contribution. Although these raptors differ markedly in their hunting activity periods, Barn Owls and White-tailed Kites are very similar predators in southern Brazil, overlapping their diets.

[Book review] The Eastern Screech Owl: Life History, Ecology and Behavior in the Suburbs and Countryside, by Frederick Gehlback

Science.gov (United States)

Hahn, D.C.

1995-01-01

Review of: Eastern Screech Owl: Life History, Ecology, and Behavior in the Suburbs and Countryside. Frederick R. Gehlbach. Issue 16; Issue 2008 of W. L. Moody Jr. Natural History Series. Texas A&M University Press; 1st edition (November 1994). ISBN: 0890966095. For ornithologists and ecologists alike, Fred Gehlbach's book promises to hold both interest and information value as a comprehensive study of the eastern screech owl (Otus asio hasbroucki). Gehlbach was intrigued with screech owls as a boy and encouraged as an undergraduate by William Hamilton, who underscored that in-depth studies of familiar backyard species can be as fascinating as those in exotic sites. Correspondence with another owl-aficionado, the late H. N. Southern, inspired the author's long-term study of screech owls in a woodland landscape in central Texas and led him to provide nest boxes to enhance his access and sample size. This book is based on observations over a 25-year period-beginning in 1967, with intensive study during an 11-year period (1976-1987) in Texas south of Waco, where Gehlbach teaches at Baylor University. The study represents observations on 659 screech owls, covering several generations of birds and entire lives of many individuals. Gehlbach compares screech owl nesting behavior in a rural versus suburban setting and includes chapters on food supplies and predation tactics; egg-laying, incubation, and parental behavior; vocalizations; and population structure and flux. He discusses why screech owls are widespread across the eastern half of North America and why they succeed among people in suburban environments, where they adapt as easily to mailboxes and porch columns as to natural tree cavities. The book mixes two approaches: on the one hand the dense style of a technical book in which the professional biologist can find information on many aspects of screech owl behavior, life history, and population, including tables, figures, summary statistics, results of statistical

LS1 Report: Thank you magnetic horn!

CERN Multimedia

Antonella Del Rosso & Katarina Anthony

2014-01-01

Experiments at the Antimatter Decelerator (AD) have been receiving beams since the beginning of this week. There is a crucial element at the heart of the chain that prepares the antiproton beam: the so-called magnetic horn, a delicate piece of equipment that had to be refurbished during LS1 and that is now showing just how well it can perform.   View from the top of the target and horn trolley, along the direction of the beam. Antiprotons for the AD are produced by smashing a beam of protons from the PS onto an iridium target. However, the particles produced by the nuclear interactions are emitted at very wide angles; without a focussing element, all these precious particles would be lost. “A magnetic horn is placed at the exit of the target to focus back a large fraction of the negative particles, including antiprotons, parallel to the beam line and with the right momentum,” explains Marco Calviani, physicist in the EN Department and the expert in charge of the AD targe...

Ecological Monitoring and Compliance Program Fiscal Year 2001 report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wills, C.A.

2001-01-01

total of 55 juvenile owls was detected from 11 breeding pairs. Pellet analysis of burrowing owls was completed which identified key prey species. A total of 272 bats, representing 10 bat species were captured in mist-nets at water sources in the Great Basin Desert ecoregion. Bats were detected with the Anabat II call-recording system at water sources and selected tunnel and mine entrances. Thirty-seven adult horses and 11 foals were counted this year. Two of the eleven foals observed last year survived to yearlings. Seven active raptor nests were found and monitored this year. These included two Great-horned Owl nests, three Barn Owl nests, and two Red-tailed Hawk nests. Selected wetlands and man-made water sources were monitored for physical parameters and wildlife use. No dead animals were observed this year in any plastic-lined sump. The chemical spill test plans for four experiments at the HAZMAT Spill Center were reviewed for their potential to impact biota downwind of spills on Frenchman Lake playa

Ecological Monitoring and Compliance Program Fiscal Year 2001

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

C. A. Wills

2001-12-01

April. A total of 55 juvenile owls was detected from 11 breeding pairs. Pellet analysis of burrowing owls was completed which identified key prey species. A total of 272 bats, representing 10 bat species were captured in mist-nets at water sources in the Great Basin Desert ecoregion. Bats were detected with the Anabat II call-recording system at water sources and selected tunnel and mine entrances. Thirty-seven adult horses and 11 foals were counted this year. Two of the eleven foals observed last year survived to yearlings. Seven active raptor nests were found and monitored this year. These included two Great-horned Owl nests, three Barn Owl nests, and two Red-tailed Hawk nests. Selected wetlands and man-made water sources were monitored for physical parameters and wildlife use. No dead animals were observed this year in any plastic-lined sump. The chemical spill test plans for four experiments at the HAZMAT Spill Center were reviewed for their potential to impact biota downwind of spills on Frenchman Lake playa.

Home range and habitat use of little owl (Athene noctua in an agricultural landscape in coastal Catalonia, Spain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Framis, H.

2011-12-01

Full Text Available In recent decades agricultural landscapes in Catalonia have undergone a profound transformation as in most of Europe. Reforestation and urban development have reduced farmland and therefore the availability of suitable habitat for some bird species such as the little owl (Athene noctua. The outskirts of the city of Mataró by the Mediterranean Sea exemplify this landscape change, but still support a population of little owl where agriculture is carried out. Three resident little owls were monitored with telemetry weekly from November 2007 until the beginning of August 2008 in this suburban agricultural landscape. Mean home range ± SD was 10.9 ± 5.5 ha for minimum convex polygon (MCP100 and 7.4 ± 3.8 ha for Kernel 95% probability function (K95. Home ranges of contiguous neighboring pairs overlapped 18.4% (MCP100 or 6% (K95. Home range varied among seasons reaching a maximum between March and early August but always included the nesting site. Small forested patches were associated with roosting and nesting areas where cavities in Carob trees (Ceratonia siliqua were important. When foraging in crop fields, the owls typically fed where crops had recently been harvested and replanted. All three owls bred successfully.

9 CFR 95.12 - Bones, horns, and hoofs; importations permitted subject to restrictions.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Bones, horns, and hoofs; importations... ENTRY INTO THE UNITED STATES § 95.12 Bones, horns, and hoofs; importations permitted subject to restrictions. Bones, horns, and hoofs offered for importation which do not meet the conditions or requirements...

Wave power plant at Horns Rev. Screening[Denmark]; Boelgekraftanlaeg ved Horns Rev. Screening

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Soerensen, Hans C.; Nielsen, Kim; Steenstrup, P.R.; Friis-Madsen, E.; Wigant, L.

2005-12-15

The objective for the analysis has been to establish data for the sea at Horns Rev wind farm in the North Sea in order to assess the opportunity for using the site as test site for demonstration of wave energy devices exemplified by three different devices under development in Denmark. For comparison alternative sites like Hanstholm, Samsoe and Nissum Bredning are also assessed as well as the test centre EMEC at the Orkney Islands and the proposed test site Wave Hub at the north coast of Cornwall. The analysis shows that it is possible without major technical problems to connect 2-4 MW power generated by 3 different wave energy devices (AquaBuOY, Wave Star Energy and Wave Dragon) to the wind farm at Horns Rev (www.hornsrev.dk). The expenses for connection and regulation within the wind farm is about 200,000 DKK (30,00 EURO). On top of this comes the cost for individual sub sea cable connection to the wave devices, pull in of the sub sea cable through the existing J-tube in turbine T04 and the necessary regulation/control system in the individual wave devices to avoid damaging the power system in case of too high production. The analysis of the co-production of wind and wave power is dealt with in a separate report which shows that over a time period of half to one hour the time variation for wind generated electricity is 3 times as large as for wave energy generated power based on the actual measurement at Horns Rev. Further on the analysis shows that the wave generated power is more predictable than wind energy generated power as the power from the waves first is present about 2 hours after the wind is acting and last for 3 to 6 hours after the wind dies out; 6 to 12 hours with wind from west. The time is off course strongly depending of the direction of the wind i.e. the fetch. As this special report has a more general scope than the analysis as such it is reported in English (Annex Report II). The analysis shows that it is up to the individual device developer

Current status, distribution, and conservation of the Burrowing Owl (Speotyto cunicularia) in midwestern and western North America

Science.gov (United States)

Steven R. Sheffield

1997-01-01

The Burrowing Owl (Speotyto cunicularia) inhabits open prairie grassland habitat in the midwestern and western US and Canada. For several years now, numbers of this species in North America have been declining at an alarming rate. Currently, Burrowing Owls are listed as endangered in Canada and threatened in Mexico. In the United States, the...

A ruptured rudimentary horn of a unicornuate uterus at 18 weeks ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

76000 pregnancies. Rupture of the horn in pregnancy is considered the most serious and common complication of rudimentary horns. The investigation of choice is considered to be magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Evaluation of renal tract ...

Tree dimension in verification of constrained Horn clauses

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kafle, Bishoksan; Gallagher, John Patrick; Ganty, Pierre

2018-01-01

In this paper, we show how the notion of tree dimension can be used in the verification of constrained Horn clauses (CHCs). The dimension of a tree is a numerical measure of its branching complexity and the concept here applies to Horn clause derivation trees. Derivation trees of dimension zero c...... algorithms using these constructions to decompose a CHC verification problem. One variation of this decomposition considers derivations of successively increasing dimension. The paper includes descriptions of implementations and experimental results....

Chapter 2: A historical perspective on the population decline of the cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl in Arizona

Science.gov (United States)

R. Roy Johnson; Jean-Luc E. Cartron; Lois T. Haight; Russell B. Duncan; Kenneth J. Kingsley

2000-01-01

The cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl (Glaucidium brasilianum cactorum) was discovered in the U.S. by Bendire in 1872 in the Tucson area (Coues 1872). During the next five decades, naturalists collected many specimens of this owl and typically described the subspecies as common or fairly common along some streams and rivers of central and southern Arizona...

Life-history tradeoffs and reproductive cycles in Spotted Owls

Science.gov (United States)

Stoelting, Ricka E.; Gutierrez, R.J.; Kendall, William L.; Peery, M. Zachariah

2015-01-01

The study of tradeoffs among life-history traits has long been key to understanding the evolution of life-history strategies. However, more recently, evolutionary ecologists have realized that reproductive costs have the potential to influence population dynamics. Here, we tested for costs of reproduction in the California Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis occidentalis), and assessed whether costs of reproduction in year t − 1 on reproduction in year t could be responsible for regionally synchronized biennial cycles in reproductive output. Logistic regression analysis and multistate mark–recapture models with state uncertainty revealed that breeding reduced the likelihood of reproducing in the subsequent year by 16% to 38%, but had no influence on subsequent survival. We also found that costs of reproduction in year t − 1 were correlated with climatic conditions in year t, with evidence of higher costs during the dry phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation. Using a simulation-based population model, we showed that strong reproductive costs had the potential to create biennial cycles in population-level reproductive output; however, estimated costs of reproduction appeared to be too small to explain patterns observed in Spotted Owls. In the absence of strong reproductive costs, we hypothesize that observed natural cycles in the reproductive output of Spotted Owls are related to as-yet-unmeasured, regionally concordant fluctuations in environmental conditions or prey resources. Despite theoretical evidence for demographic effects, our analyses illustrate that linking tradeoffs to actual changes in population processes will be challenging because of the potential confounding effects of individual and environmental variation.

Optical Waveguide Lightmode Spectroscopy (OWLS) as a Sensor for Thin Film and Quantum Dot Corrosion

OpenAIRE

Yu, Hao; Eggleston, Carrick M.; Chen, Jiajun; Wang, Wenyong; Dai, Qilin; Tang, Jinke

2012-01-01

Optical waveguide lightmode spectroscopy (OWLS) is usually applied as a biosensor system to the sorption-desorption of proteins to waveguide surfaces. Here, we show that OWLS can be used to monitor the quality of oxide thin film materials and of coatings of pulsed laser deposition synthesized CdSe quantum dots (QDs) intended for solar energy applications. In addition to changes in data treatment and experimental procedure, oxide- or QD-coated waveguide sensors must be synthesized. We synthesi...

Cross: an OWL wrapper for teasoning on relational databases

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Champin, P.A.; Houben, G.J.P.M.; Thiran, Ph.; Parent, C.; Schewe, K.D.; Storey, V.C.; Thalheim, B.

2007-01-01

One of the challenges of the Semantic Web is to integrate the huge amount of information already available on the standard Web, usually stored in relational databases. In this paper, we propose a formalization of a logic model of relational databases, and a transformation of that model into OWL, a

Methods and materials for capturing and monitoring flammulated owls

Science.gov (United States)

Richard T. Reynolds; Brian D. Linkhart

1984-01-01

Techniques for locating, capturing, and monitoring activities and movements of Flammulated Owls were developed during four years of study. Adults responded to imitated territorial song throughout the nesting season. Nests were found by noting vocalizations and behaviors associated with courtship-feeding and food transfers between the sexes. After fledging, broods were...

Preliminary risk assessment of the Mexican Spotted Owl under a spatially-weighted foraging regime at the Los Alamos National Laboratory

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gallegos, A.F.; Gonzales, G.J.; Bennett, K.D.; Pratt, L.E.

1997-02-01

The Record of Decision on the Dual Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test Facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory requires that the Department of Energy takes special precautions to protect the Mexican Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis lucida). In order to do so, risk to the owl presented by radiological and nonradiological contaminants must be estimated. A preliminary risk assessment on the Mexican Spotted Owl in two Ecological Exposure Units (EEUs) was performed using a modified Environmental Protection Agency Quotient method, the FORTRAN model ECORSK4, and a geographic information system. Estimated doses to the owl under a spatially-weighted foraging regime were compared against toxicological reference doses generating hazard indices (HIs) and hazard quotients (HQs) for three risk source types. The average HI was 0.20 for EEU-21 and 0.0015 for EEU-40. Under the risk parameter assumptions made, hazard quotient results indicated no unacceptable risk to the owl, including a measure of cumulative effects from multiple contaminants that assumes a linear additive toxicity type. An HI of 1.0 was used as the evaluative criteria for determining the acceptability of risk. This value was exceeded (1.06) in only one of 200 simulated potential nest sites. Cesium-137, Ni, {sup 239}Pu, Al and {sup 234}U we`re among the constituents with the highest partial HQs. Improving model realism by weighting simulated owl foraging based on distance from potential nest sites decreased the estimated risk by 72% (0.5 HI units) for EEU-21 and by 97.6% (6.3E-02 HI units) for EEU-40. Information on risk by specific geographical location was generated, which can be used to manage contaminated areas, owl habitat, facility siting, and/or facility operations in order to maintain risk from contaminants at acceptably low levels.

Preliminary risk assessment of the Mexican Spotted Owl under a spatially-weighted foraging regime at the Los Alamos National Laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gallegos, A.F.; Gonzales, G.J.; Bennett, K.D.; Pratt, L.E.

1997-02-01

The Record of Decision on the Dual Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test Facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory requires that the Department of Energy takes special precautions to protect the Mexican Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis lucida). In order to do so, risk to the owl presented by radiological and nonradiological contaminants must be estimated. A preliminary risk assessment on the Mexican Spotted Owl in two Ecological Exposure Units (EEUs) was performed using a modified Environmental Protection Agency Quotient method, the FORTRAN model ECORSK4, and a geographic information system. Estimated doses to the owl under a spatially-weighted foraging regime were compared against toxicological reference doses generating hazard indices (HIs) and hazard quotients (HQs) for three risk source types. The average HI was 0.20 for EEU-21 and 0.0015 for EEU-40. Under the risk parameter assumptions made, hazard quotient results indicated no unacceptable risk to the owl, including a measure of cumulative effects from multiple contaminants that assumes a linear additive toxicity type. An HI of 1.0 was used as the evaluative criteria for determining the acceptability of risk. This value was exceeded (1.06) in only one of 200 simulated potential nest sites. Cesium-137, Ni, 239 Pu, Al and 234 U we're among the constituents with the highest partial HQs. Improving model realism by weighting simulated owl foraging based on distance from potential nest sites decreased the estimated risk by 72% (0.5 HI units) for EEU-21 and by 97.6% (6.3E-02 HI units) for EEU-40. Information on risk by specific geographical location was generated, which can be used to manage contaminated areas, owl habitat, facility siting, and/or facility operations in order to maintain risk from contaminants at acceptably low levels

Computational modeling and experimental studies of the dynamic performance of ultrasonic horn profiles used in plastic welding.

Science.gov (United States)

Roopa Rani, M; Rudramoorthy, R

2013-03-01

Ultrasonic horns are tuned components designed to vibrate in a longitudinal mode at ultrasonic frequencies. Reliable performance of such horns is normally decided by the uniformity of vibration amplitude at the working surface and the stress developed during loading condition. The horn design engineer must pay particular attention to designing a tool that will produce the desired amplitude without fracturing. The present work discusses horn configurations which satisfy these criteria and investigates the design requirements of horns in ultrasonic system. Different horn profiles for ultrasonic welding of thermoplastics have been characterized in terms of displacement amplitude and von-Mises stresses using modal and harmonic analysis. To validate the simulated results, five different horns are fabricated from Aluminum, tested and tuned to the operating frequency. Standard ABS plastic parts are welded using these horns. Temperature developed during the welding of ABS test parts using different horns is recorded using sensors and National Instruments (NIs) data acquisition system. The recorded values are compared with the predicted values. Experimental results show that welding using a Bezier horn has a high interface temperature and the welded joints had higher strength as compared to the other horn profiles. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The role of doublesex in the evolution of exaggerated horns in the Japanese rhinoceros beetle.

Science.gov (United States)

Ito, Yuta; Harigai, Ayane; Nakata, Moe; Hosoya, Tadatsugu; Araya, Kunio; Oba, Yuichi; Ito, Akinori; Ohde, Takahiro; Yaginuma, Toshinobu; Niimi, Teruyuki

2013-06-01

Male-specific exaggerated horns are an evolutionary novelty and have diverged rapidly via intrasexual selection. Here, we investigated the function of the conserved sex-determination gene doublesex (dsx) in the Japanese rhinoceros beetle (Trypoxylus dichotomus) using RNA interference (RNAi). Our results show that the sex-specific T. dichotomus dsx isoforms have an antagonistic function for head horn formation and only the male isoform has a role for thoracic horn formation. These results indicate that the novel sex-specific regulation of dsx during horn morphogenesis might have been the key evolutionary developmental event at the transition from sexually monomorphic to sexually dimorphic horns.

AFP Algorithm and a Canonical Normal Form for Horn Formulas

OpenAIRE

Majdoddin, Ruhollah

2014-01-01

AFP Algorithm is a learning algorithm for Horn formulas. We show that it does not improve the complexity of AFP Algorithm, if after each negative counterexample more that just one refinements are performed. Moreover, a canonical normal form for Horn formulas is presented, and it is proved that the output formula of AFP Algorithm is in this normal form.

Moonstruck primates: owl monkeys (Aotus need moonlight for nocturnal activity in their natural environment.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eduardo Fernández-Duque

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Primates show activity patterns ranging from nocturnality to diurnality, with a few species showing activity both during day and night. Among anthropoids (monkeys, apes and humans, nocturnality is only present in the Central and South American owl monkey genus Aotus. Unlike other tropical Aotus species, the Azara's owl monkeys (A. azarai of the subtropics have switched their activity pattern from strict nocturnality to one that also includes regular diurnal activity. Harsher climate, food availability, and the lack of predators or diurnal competitors, have all been proposed as factors favoring evolutionary switches in primate activity patterns. However, the observational nature of most field studies has limited an understanding of the mechanisms responsible for this switch in activity patterns. The goal of our study was to evaluate the hypothesis that masking, namely the stimulatory and/or inhibitory/disinhibitory effects of environmental factors on synchronized circadian locomotor activity, is a key determinant of the unusual activity pattern of Azara's owl monkeys. We use continuous long-term (6-18 months 5-min-binned activity records obtained with actimeter collars fitted to wild owl monkeys (n =  10 individuals to show that this different pattern results from strong masking of activity by the inhibiting and enhancing effects of ambient luminance and temperature. Conclusive evidence for the direct masking effect of light is provided by data showing that locomotor activity was almost completely inhibited when moonlight was shadowed during three lunar eclipses. Temperature also negatively masked locomotor activity, and this masking was manifested even under optimal light conditions. Our results highlight the importance of the masking of circadian rhythmicity as a determinant of nocturnality in wild owl monkeys and suggest that the stimulatory effects of dim light in nocturnal primates may have been selected as an adaptive response to

Organochlorine Pesticides in the Ferruginous Pygmy Owl (Glaucidium brasilianum) in Chiapas, Mexico.

Science.gov (United States)

Arrona-Rivera, Alicia E; Enríquez, Paula L; García-Feria, Luis M; Orellana, Sergio Alvarado; von Osten, Jaime Rendón

2016-09-01

Concentrations of organochlorine pesticides were quantified in samples of feathers (n = 17) and blood (n = 15) of the ferruginous pygmy owl (Glaucidium brasilianum). The individuals were captured near the Protected Natural Area Cerro Sonsonate, Chiapas, Mexico, between February and June 2014. In both tissues, pesticides belonging to seven organochlorine chemical families were detected. However, the organochlorine pesticide concentrations differed between feathers and blood. The highest concentrations of hexachlorocyclohexanes were found in feathers (0.63 ± 0.89 μg/g), whereas the highest concentrations of ΣDrines were found in blood (0.31 ± 0.47 μg/mL). By using the summed concentrations for each of the seven families of pesticides found in feathers, we did not find any significant correlation between the pesticides and pectoral muscle or body weight (p > 0.15). The ΣDDT group was the only pesticide family that showed a positive correlation with owl body weight (r = 0.60, p = 0.05); the concentrations of these pesticides were also high in feather and blood tissues (r = 0.87, p = 0.02). Our results confirm that ferruginous pygmy owls in the study area are exposed to these pesticides.

Computed tomography of the temporal horns at Alzheimer's disease. Computertomographie der Temporalhoerner bei Morbus Alzheimer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gerber, U; Vogel, [Allgemeines Krankenhaus Ochsenzoll, Hamburg (Germany, F.R.). Abt. Roentgendiagnostik

1989-06-01

In the literature there are different opinions referring to the involvement of the temporal lobes or horns at Alzheimer's disease. Conventionally computed tomogram of the head does not include the temporal horn in its full length. A simple method to demonstrate the temporal horns after cranial computer tomography is described. It allows the evaluation of temporal lobe and temporal horn if questionable alterations at Alzheimer's disease are to be discussed. (orig.).

OWL Reasoning Framework over Big Biological Knowledge Network

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Huajun; Chen, Xi; Gu, Peiqin; Wu, Zhaohui; Yu, Tong

2014-01-01

Recently, huge amounts of data are generated in the domain of biology. Embedded with domain knowledge from different disciplines, the isolated biological resources are implicitly connected. Thus it has shaped a big network of versatile biological knowledge. Faced with such massive, disparate, and interlinked biological data, providing an efficient way to model, integrate, and analyze the big biological network becomes a challenge. In this paper, we present a general OWL (web ontology language) reasoning framework to study the implicit relationships among biological entities. A comprehensive biological ontology across traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and western medicine (WM) is used to create a conceptual model for the biological network. Then corresponding biological data is integrated into a biological knowledge network as the data model. Based on the conceptual model and data model, a scalable OWL reasoning method is utilized to infer the potential associations between biological entities from the biological network. In our experiment, we focus on the association discovery between TCM and WM. The derived associations are quite useful for biologists to promote the development of novel drugs and TCM modernization. The experimental results show that the system achieves high efficiency, accuracy, scalability, and effectivity. PMID:24877076

Distribution of the characteristics of barbs and barbules on barn owl wing feathers.

Science.gov (United States)

Weger, Matthias; Wagner, Hermann

2017-05-01

Owls are known for the development of a silent flight. One conspicuous specialization of owl wings that has been implied in noise reduction and that has been demonstrated to change the aerodynamic behavior of the wing is a soft dorsal wing surface. The soft surface is a result of changes in the shape of feather barbs and barbules in owls compared with other bird species. We hypothesized that as the aerodynamic characteristics of a wing change along its chordwise and spanwise direction, so may the shape of the barbs and barbules. Therefore, we examined in detail the shapes of the barbs and barbules in chordwise and spanwise directions. The results showed changes in the shapes of barbs and barbules at the anterior and distal parts of the wing, but not at more posterior parts. The increased density of hook radiates at the distalmost wing position could serve to stiffen that vane part that is subject to the highest forces. The change of pennulum length in the anterior part of the wing and the uniformity further back could mean that a soft surface may be especially important in regions where flow separation may occur. © 2017 Anatomical Society.

DYNAMICS OF A PROMINENCE-HORN STRUCTURE DURING ITS EVAPORATION IN THE SOLAR CORONA

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Bing; Chen, Yao; Fu, Jie; Li, Bo [Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, and Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University, Weihai 264209 (China); Li, Xing [Department of Physics, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3BZ (United Kingdom); Liu, Wei, E-mail: yaochen@sdu.edu.cn [Stanford-Lockheed Institute for Space Research, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States)

2016-08-20

The physical connections among and formation mechanisms of various components of the prominence-horn cavity system remain elusive. Here we present observations of such a system, focusing on a section of the prominence that rises and separates gradually from the main body. This forms a configuration sufficiently simple to yield clues regarding the above issues. It is characterized by embedding horns, oscillations, and a gradual disappearance of the separated material. The prominence-horn structure exhibits a large-amplitude longitudinal oscillation with a period of ∼150 minutes and an amplitude of ∼30 Mm along the trajectory defined by the concave horn structure. The horns also experience a simultaneous transverse oscillation with a much smaller amplitude (∼3 Mm) and a shorter period (∼10–15 minutes), likely representative of a global mode of the large-scale magnetic structure. The gradual disappearance of the structure indicates that the horn, an observational manifestation of the field-aligned transition region separating the cool and dense prominence from the hot and tenuous corona, is formed due to the heating and diluting process of the central prominence mass; most previous studies suggested that it is the opposite process, i.e., the cooling and condensation of coronal plasmas, that formed the horn. This study also demonstrates how the prominence transports magnetic flux to the upper corona, a process essential for the gradual build-up of pre-eruption magnetic energy.

Attached cavitation at a small diameter ultrasonic horn tip

Science.gov (United States)

Žnidarčič, Anton; Mettin, Robert; Cairós, Carlos; Dular, Matevž

2014-02-01

Ultrasonic horn transducers are frequently used in applications of acoustic cavitation in liquids, for instance, for cell disruption or sonochemical reactions. They are operated typically in the frequency range up to about 50 kHz and have tip diameters from some mm to several cm. It has been observed that if the horn tip is sufficiently small and driven at high amplitude, cavitation is very strong, and the tip can be covered entirely by the gas/vapor phase for longer time intervals. A peculiar dynamics of the attached cavity can emerge with expansion and collapse at a self-generated frequency in the subharmonic range, i.e., below the acoustic driving frequency. Here, we present a systematic study of the cavitation dynamics in water at a 20 kHz horn tip of 3 mm diameter. The system was investigated by high-speed imaging with simultaneous recording of the acoustic emissions. Measurements were performed under variation of acoustic power, air saturation, viscosity, surface tension, and temperature of the liquid. Our findings show that the liquid properties play no significant role in the dynamics of the attached cavitation at the small ultrasonic horn. Also the variation of the experimental geometry, within a certain range, did not change the dynamics. We believe that the main two reasons for the peculiar dynamics of cavitation on a small ultrasonic horn are the higher energy density on a small tip and the inability of the big tip to "wash" away the gaseous bubbles. Calculation of the somewhat adapted Strouhal number revealed that, similar to the hydrodynamic cavitation, values which are relatively low characterize slow cavitation structure dynamics. In cases where the cavitation follows the driving frequency this value lies much higher - probably at Str > 20. In the spirit to distinguish the observed phenomenon with other cavitation dynamics at ultrasonic transducer surfaces, we suggest to term the observed phenomenon of attached cavities partly covering the full horn

Kamillo Horn und das Melodram

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Bajgarová, Jitka

2010-01-01

Roč. 12, - (2010), s. 229-237 ISSN 1212-1193. [Zdeněk Fibich, středoevropský skladatel konce 19. století. Olomouc, 19.05.2010–21.05.2010] Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z90580513 Keywords : Kamillo Horn * concert melodrama Subject RIV: AL - Art, Architecture, Cultural Heritage

Carcinoma Buccal Mucosa Underlying a Giant Cutaneous Horn: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

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Sunil Kumar

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Cutaneous horn is a conical, dense, and hyperkeratotic protrusion that often appears similar to the horn of an animal. Giant cutaneous horns are rare; no incidence or prevalence has been reported. The significance of cutaneous horns is that they occur in association with, or as a response to, a wide variety of underlying benign, premalignant, and malignant cutaneous diseases. A case of giant cutaneous horn of left oral commissure along with carcinoma left buccal mucosa is reported here as an extremely rare oral/perioral pathology.

9 CFR 95.11 - Bones, horns, and hoofs for trophies or museums; disinfected hoofs.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Bones, horns, and hoofs for trophies..., OFFERED FOR ENTRY INTO THE UNITED STATES § 95.11 Bones, horns, and hoofs for trophies or museums; disinfected hoofs. (a) Clean, dry bones, horns, and hoofs, that are free from undried pieces of hide, flesh...

40K, 137Cs, 90Sr, 238,239+240Pu and 241Am in mammals' skulls from owls' pellets and owl skeletons in Poland.

Science.gov (United States)

Gaca, Paweł; Mietelski, Jerzy W; Kitowski, Ignacy; Grabowska, Sylwia; Tomankiewicz, Ewa

2005-01-01

Skulls of small mammals belonging to two species of rodents and three species of insectivores collected in Eastern Poland were the subject of the present investigation. The skulls were separated from owl pellets. Activities of 40K, 137Cs, 90Sr, 238,239+240Pu and 241Am were determined by means of gamma spectrometry as well as liquid scintillation spectrometry or alpha spectrometry along with relevant radiochemical procedures. A detailed description of the procedures is provided. The research was supplied with the analysis of three skeletons of owls. No measurable difference between the skulls of rodents and insectivorous animals with regard to activity of any of the examined radionuclides was found. No accumulation effect in the owl skeletons was detected. Though measured activities of 137Cs and 40K for the skulls were of the same magnitude as those found previously for large wild herbivorous animals from typical locations in Poland, those for 90Sr were even lower than previously determined. A big difference was found for activities of plutonium and americium isotopes. Their mean activities were higher by an order of magnitude when compared to the examined previously values. The maximum 239+240Pu activity was equal to 97.5+/-7.7 mBq/kg, with 65% of it originating from global fallout. Relatively high content of transuranic elements found for rodents and insectivorous mammals seems to be unrelated to their feeding habits and should rather be attributed to the living conditions. It is suggested that small mammals, together with tiny soil particles present in mid-soil living tunnels, can inhale the transuranic elements.

Ruptured Rudimentary Horn Pregnancy at 25 Weeks with Previous Vaginal Delivery: A Case Report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deepa V. Kanagal

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Unicornuate uterus with rudimentary horn occurs due to failure of complete development of one of the Mullerian ducts and incomplete fusion with the contralateral side. Pregnancy in a noncommunicating rudimentary horn is extremely rare and usually terminates in rupture during first or second trimester of pregnancy. Diagnosis of rudimentary horn pregnancy and its rupture in a woman with prior vaginal delivery is difficult. It can be missed in routine ultrasound scan and in majority of cases it is detected after rupture. It requires a high index of suspicion. We report a case of G2PlL1 with rupture rudimentary horn pregnancy at 25 weeks of gestation which was misdiagnosed as intrauterine pregnancy with fetal demise by ultrasound, and termination was attempted and the case was later referred to our hospital after the patient developed hemoperitoneum and shock with a diagnosis of rupture uterus. Laparotomy revealed rupture of right rudimentary horn pregnancy with massive hemoperitoneum. Timely laparotomy, excision of the horn, and blood transfusion saved the patient.

Optical Waveguide Lightmode Spectroscopy (OWLS as a Sensor for Thin Film and Quantum Dot Corrosion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jinke Tang

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Optical waveguide lightmode spectroscopy (OWLS is usually applied as a biosensor system to the sorption-desorption of proteins to waveguide surfaces. Here, we show that OWLS can be used to monitor the quality of oxide thin film materials and of coatings of pulsed laser deposition synthesized CdSe quantum dots (QDs intended for solar energy applications. In addition to changes in data treatment and experimental procedure, oxide- or QD-coated waveguide sensors must be synthesized. We synthesized zinc stannate (Zn2SnO4 coated (Si,TiO2 waveguide sensors, and used OWLS to monitor the relative mass of the film over time. Films lost mass over time, though at different rates due to variation in fluid flow and its physical effect on removal of film material. The Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD technique was used to deposit CdSe QD coatings on waveguides. Sensors exposed to pH 2 solution lost mass over time in an expected, roughly exponential manner. Sensors at pH 10, in contrast, were stable over time. Results were confirmed with atomic force microscopy imaging. Limiting factors in the use of OWLS in this manner include limitations on the annealing temperature that maybe used to synthesize the oxide film, and limitations on the thickness of the film to be studied. Nevertheless, the technique overcomes a number of difficulties in monitoring the quality of thin films in-situ in liquid environments.

Demography of the California spotted owl in the Sierra National Forest and Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Parks

Science.gov (United States)

George N. Steger; Thomas E. Munton; Kenneth D. Johnson; Gary P. Eberlein

2002-01-01

Nine years (1990–1998) of demographic data on California spotted owls (Strix occidentalis occidentalis) in two study areas on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada—one in the Sierra National Forest (SNF), the other in Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Parks (SNP)—are summarized. Numbers of territorial owls fluctuated from 85 to 50 in SNF and 80 to 58...

Optical modelling of far-infrared astronomical instrumentation exploiting multimode horn antennas

Science.gov (United States)

O'Sullivan, Créidhe; Murphy, J. Anthony; Mc Auley, Ian; Wilson, Daniel; Gradziel, Marcin L.; Trappe, Neil; Cahill, Fiachra; Peacocke, T.; Savini, G.; Ganga, K.

2014-07-01

In this paper we describe the optical modelling of astronomical telescopes that exploit bolometric detectors fed by multimoded horn antennas. In cases where the horn shape is profiled rather than being a simple cone, we determine the beam at the horn aperture using an electromagnetic mode-matching technique. Bolometers, usually placed in an integrating cavity, can excite many hybrid modes in a corrugated horn; we usually assume they excite all modes equally. If the waveguide section feeding the horn is oversized these modes can propagate independently, thereby increasing the throughput of the system. We use an SVD analysis on the matrix that describes the scattering between waveguide (TE/TM) modes to recover the independent orthogonal fields (hybrid modes) and then propagate these to the sky independently where they are added in quadrature. Beam patterns at many frequencies across the band are then added with a weighting appropriate to the source spectrum. Here we describe simulations carried out on the highest-frequency (857-GHz) channel of the Planck HFI instrument. We concentrate in particular on the use of multimode feedhorns and consider the effects of possible manufacturing tolerances on the beam on the sky. We also investigate the feasibility of modelling far-out sidelobes across a wide band for electrically large structures and bolometers fed by multi-mode feedhorns. Our optical simulations are carried out using the industry-standard GRASP software package.

Holocene Evolution and Sediment Provenance of Horn Island, Mississippi, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Schulze, N.; Wallace, D. J.; Miner, M. D.

2017-12-01

As one of the most stable islands in the Mississippi-Alabama barrier island chain, Horn Island provides critical habitat, plays an important role in regulating estuarine conditions in the Mississippi Sound, and helps to attenuate wave energy and storm surge for the mainland. The provenance of sediments comprising Horn Island is largely unknown and has implications for mode of island genesis and evolution. The existing literature proposes that island chain formation was initiated by bar emergence from a subaqueous spit that grew laterally westward from Dauphin Island in the east. Decelerating sea level rise 4,000 to 5,000 years ago facilitated island formation. This proposed mode of formation is supported by a lone radiocarbon date from lagoonal sediments below Horn Island, suggesting the system formed after 4,615 ± 215 years BP. Rivers supplying suspended sediment include the Mississippi, Pascagoula, Mobile and Apalachicola, but the variable nature of their paths and sediment supply means that Horn Island has received differing amounts of sediment from these proximal rivers throughout the Holocene. To analyze the stratigraphy and sediment characteristics of Horn Island, we will utilize 24 vibracores (up to 6 meters in length) from offshore Horn Island that were obtained by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and 9 onshore drill cores (up to 28 meters in length) from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. High-resolution LiDAR data collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2010 will be used to describe modern geomorphic barrier environments. We will employ down-core x-ray diffraction and x-ray fluorescence analyses to identify mineralogical and chemical signatures that potentially correspond to unique signatures of the fluvial sources of proximal rivers. New radiocarbon ages will be used to constrain the timing of island formation and alterations in sediment supply. High-resolution shallow geophysical data will provide

Variation in working effort in Danish Little Owls Athene noctua

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holsegård-Rasmussen, Miriam H.; Sunde, Peter; Thorup, K.

2009-01-01

with extinction. The study is based on 143 one-hour surveys of breeding and 274 surveys of non-breeding Little Owls (27 territorial individuals on 14 territories). Working effort is calculated as the total linear distance between all observed consecutive telemetry fixes during one-hour surveys (Minimum Flight...

An Interview with Michael Horn: Blending Education for High-Octane Motivation

Science.gov (United States)

Patterson, Gregory A.

2012-01-01

Blended learning holds the potential of improving the way we educate students and of making them more motivated. Blended education--the melding of information technology based distance learning with school attendance--is perhaps the best way to educate students for 21st century skills, says Michael Horn in a "Kappan" interview. Horn points out…

Fault-tolerant Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger paradox based on non-Abelian anyons.

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Dong-Ling; Wu, Chunfeng; Chen, Jing-Ling; Oh, C H

2010-08-06

We propose a scheme to test the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger paradox based on braidings of non-Abelian anyons, which are exotic quasiparticle excitations of topological states of matter. Because topological ordered states are robust against local perturbations, this scheme is in some sense "fault-tolerant" and might close the detection inefficiency loophole problem in previous experimental tests of the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger paradox. In turn, the construction of the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger paradox reveals the nonlocal property of non-Abelian anyons. Our results indicate that the non-Abelian fractional statistics is a pure quantum effect and cannot be described by local realistic theories. Finally, we present a possible experimental implementation of the scheme based on the anyonic interferometry technologies.

Influence of primary prey on home-range size and habitat-use patterns of northern spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina)

Science.gov (United States)

Cynthia J. Zabel; Kevin S. McKelvey; James P. Ward

1995-01-01

Correlations between the home-range size of northern spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) and proportion of their range in old-growth forest have been reported, but there are few data on the relationship between their home-range size and prey. The primary prey of spotted owls are wood rats and northern flying squirrels (Glaucomys sabrinus). Wood...

The role of envelope shape in the localization of multiple sound sources and echoes in the barn owl.

Science.gov (United States)

Baxter, Caitlin S; Nelson, Brian S; Takahashi, Terry T

2013-02-01

Echoes and sounds of independent origin often obscure sounds of interest, but echoes can go undetected under natural listening conditions, a perception called the precedence effect. How does the auditory system distinguish between echoes and independent sources? To investigate, we presented two broadband noises to barn owls (Tyto alba) while varying the similarity of the sounds' envelopes. The carriers of the noises were identical except for a 2- or 3-ms delay. Their onsets and offsets were also synchronized. In owls, sound localization is guided by neural activity on a topographic map of auditory space. When there are two sources concomitantly emitting sounds with overlapping amplitude spectra, space map neurons discharge when the stimulus in their receptive field is louder than the one outside it and when the averaged amplitudes of both sounds are rising. A model incorporating these features calculated the strengths of the two sources' representations on the map (B. S. Nelson and T. T. Takahashi; Neuron 67: 643-655, 2010). The target localized by the owls could be predicted from the model's output. The model also explained why the echo is not localized at short delays: when envelopes are similar, peaks in the leading sound mask corresponding peaks in the echo, weakening the echo's space map representation. When the envelopes are dissimilar, there are few or no corresponding peaks, and the owl localizes whichever source is predicted by the model to be less masked. Thus the precedence effect in the owl is a by-product of a mechanism for representing multiple sound sources on its map.

Recent and subrecent diet of the barn owl (Tyto alba in Slovakia

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Obuch Ján

2016-12-01

Full Text Available We completed data on the diet of the barn owl (Tyto alba predominately from pellets for the period of the last 50 years from Slovakia. We analyzed material from 251 locations and 16 territorial units. The aggregate represents 119,231 pieces of prey from 47 species of mammals (Mammalia, 95.7% and 58 species of birds (Aves, 3.9%, with a small representation of amphibians, reptiles (Amphibia and Reptilia, 0.2% and invertebrates (Invertebrata, 0.2%. The obtaining of food among the owls is limited to synanthropic environments and the surrounding agricultural landscape, and the centre of its distribution in the recent period (i.e. the past 50 years: 1965-201 5 has been concentrated mainly on the southern parts of Slovakia. In this environment the common vole (Microtus arvalis, 59.6% is the primary prey. Additional prey are rodents of the family Muridae: Mus musculus (5.6%, Micromys minutus (2.2%, Apodemus microps (2.2%, A. flavicollis (2.0%, A. sylvaticus (1 .6% and A. agrarius (1 .5%; insectivores of the family Soricidae: Sorex araneus (6.2%, S. minutus (2.4%, Crocidura leucodon (4.8% and C. suaveolens (2.8%; and the house sparrow Passer domesticus (2.9%. In the higher situated Turcianska kotlina Basin the species M. arvalis (74.3% has higher domination, and instead of the white-toothed shrews the water shrews Neomys anomalus (2.8% and N. fodiens (1 .3% are more abundantly represented. In 3 localities owls focused on hunting bats; for example, in the church in Ratková the order Chiroptera made up 35.2% of prey. From the subrecent period (i.e. from before more than 50 years ago we evaluate 4 samples from the territory of Slovakia with 15,601 pieces of prey ofT. alba. Before more than 50 years ago owls were also more abundantly represented at higher elevations in Slovakia, evidence of which is Weisz’s collection of pellets from 1 6 localities in the Ondavská vrchovina Upland in the years 1945 to 1963, but also a registry of data from the 19th and

Toxicokinetics and coagulopathy threshold of the rodenticide diphacinone in eastern screech-owls (Megascops asio)

Science.gov (United States)

Rattner, Barnett A.; Horak, K.E.; Lazarus, Rebecca S.; Goldade, D.A.; Johnston, J.J.

2014-01-01

In the United States, new regulations on second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides will likely be offset by expanded use of first-generation anticoagulant rodenticides. In the present study, eastern screech-owls (Megascops asio) were fed 10 µg diphacinone/g wet weight food for 7 d, and recovery was monitored over a 21-d postexposure period. By day 3 of exposure, diphacinone (DPN) was detected in liver (1.63 µg/g wet wt) and kidney (5.83 µg/g) and coagulopathy was apparent. By day 7, prothrombin time (PT) and Russell's viper venom time (RVVT) were prolonged, and some individuals were anemic. Upon termination of exposure, coagulopathy and anemia were resolved within 4 d, and residues decreased to <0.3 µg/g by day 7. Liver and kidney DPN elimination occurred in 2 phases (initial rapid loss, followed by slower loss rate), with overall half-lives of 11.7 d and 2.1 d, respectively. Prolonged PT and RVVT occurred in 10% of the exposed owls with liver DPN concentrations of 0.122 µg/g and 0.282 µg/g and in 90% of the owls with liver concentrations of 0.638 µg/g and 0.361 µg/g. These liver residue levels associated with coagulopathy fall in the range of values reported in raptor mortality incidents involving DPN. These tissue-based toxicity reference values for coagulopathy in adult screech-owls have application for interpreting nontarget mortality and assessing the hazard of DPN in rodent-control operations. Diphacinone exposure evokes toxicity in raptors within a matter of days; but once exposure is terminated, recovery of hemostasis occurs rapidly

Fouling and biocorrosion of a high-alloy steel in the Golden Horn bay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koryakova, M.D.; Nikitin, V.M.; Suponina, A.P.; Kharchenko, U.V.; Zvyagintsev, A.Yu.

2002-01-01

The studies on the effect of contamination of the Golden Horn bay waters (the Peter the Great Bay in the Japanese Sea) on formation of the community of the bacterio- and macrofouling and corrosion resistance of the Kh18N10T high-alloy steel are continued. The dissolved and chemically absorbed oxygen, pH, saprophytes, oil-oxidizing, sulfate-reducing bacteria and heavy metals are among the medium indicators, characterizing the level of pollution of the regions of the samples testing. It is shown, that the obtained experimental data extend our understanding of the dependent effect of three factors: the sea medium → fouling → corrosion resistance of the Kh18N10T high-alloy steel [ru

Diagnosis of radial tear of posterior horn of medial meniscus by MR imaging. Prospective study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Motoyama, Tatsuo; Ihara, Hidetoshi; Kawashima, Mahito

2002-01-01

It is not easy to detect radial tears of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus (torn posterior horn) under arthroscopy if the surgeon does not notice the tear before arthroscopy. Occasionally the tear goes undetected or is missed during arthroscopy. The sagittal view of MR imaging is very useful for diagnosing torn posterior horns. The normal posterior horn of the medial meniscus appears as an image of low intensity triangle of the sagittal MRI medial slice next to the PCL. On the contrary, the image of the torn posterior horn shows a high intensity triangle, so we refer to the feature as a white meniscus sign. We prospectively examined the accuracy of white meniscus sign of MRI. Forty-two knees in 41 patients were studied. They were over 40 years of age, diagnosed with medial meniscus tear and had undergone MRI before arthroscopy. Before arthroscopy, we predicted the existence of torn posterior horn by the white meniscus sign and examined the accuracy of the MRI after arthroscopy. Total accuracy rate was 90.5%, sensitivity was 94.1%, and specificity was 88.0%. We concluded that the white meniscus sign on MRI is very useful for defecting torn posterior horn of the medial meniscus. (author)

Conflicting perspectives on spotted owls, wildfire, and forest restoration

Science.gov (United States)

Joseph L. Ganey; Ho Yi Wan; Samuel A. Cushman; Christina D. Vojta

2017-01-01

Evidence of increasing fire extent and severity in the western US in recent decades has raised concern over the effects of fire on threatened species such as the spotted owl (Strix occidentalis Xantus de Vesey), which nests in forests with large trees and high canopy cover that are vulnerable to high-severity wildfire. A dichotomy of views exists on the impact of high-...

ANALYSIS OF A COLLECTION OF BARN OWL TYTO ALBA ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

1969/70, birds made up 1,13 % of the total biomass, and in 1971, 4,75 %. Two birds, P loceus velatus and Que/ea quelea made up 4,55 % of the total biomass. .... Rate o/pellet casting. Table 3 gives the number of pellets collected at the roost and the number of owls present at the roost. TABLE 3. MEAN NUMBER OF ...

Reproductive working effort in Danish little owl (Athene noctua)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holsegård-Rasmussen, M.; Sunde, P.; Thorup, K.

Reduced reproductive success, caused by energy constraints during breeding, is suspected to be one of the reasons for an ongoing decline in the Danish population of little owls (Athene noctua). To measure any food stress during the breeding period, working effort was defined as the minimum flight...... distance (the linear distance between consecutive telemetry fixes) during one-hour surveys of radio tagged individuals....

76 FR 53295 - Unexpected Urgent Refugee and Migration Needs Related to the Horn of Africa

Science.gov (United States)

2011-08-25

...-12 of August 8, 2011--Unexpected Urgent Refugee and Migration Needs Related to the Horn of Africa... Migration Needs Related to the Horn of Africa Memorandum for the Secretary of State By the authority vested... Department of State, related to the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa. You are authorized and...

Use of Artificial Burrows by Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia) at the HAMMER Facility on the U.S. Department of Energy Hanford Site

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alexander, Amanda K.; Sackschewsky, Michael R.; Duberstein, Corey A.

2005-09-30

In 2003 the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) constructed an Emergency Vehicle Operations Course (EVOC) at the Hazardous Material Management and Emergency Response Training and Education Center (HAMMER) in the southern portion of the Hanford Site. Preliminary surveys during 2001 identified an active burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia) burrow and three burrowing owls within the proposed development area. Burrowing owls were classified as a federal species of concern, a Washington State ?candidate? species, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife priority species, and a Hanford Site Biological Resources Management Plan Level III resource. Therefore, the mitigation action plan for the project included the installation of twenty artificial burrows around EVOC in the spring of 2003. The mitigation plan established a success criterion of five percent annual use of the burrows by owls. In July 2005, a field survey of the EVOC burrow complex was conducted to determine use and demography at each site. Burrow locations were mapped and signs of activity (feces, owl tracks, castings, feathers) were recorded. Out of the twenty burrows, twelve were found to be active. Of the eight inactive burrows three appeared to have been active earlier in the 2005 breeding season. A total of nineteen owls were counted but demography could not be determined. It appears that the EVOC mitigation exceeded burrow use goals during 2005. Continued site monitoring and maintenance, according to mitigation plan guidelines should be conducted as prescribed.

Insulation Coordination of Arcing Horns on HVDC Electrode Lines: Protection Performance Evaluation, Influence Factors and Improvement Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiandong Li

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Arcing horns are widely used in high voltage overhead lines to protect insulator strings from being destroyed by the free burning arcs caused by lightening faults. In this paper, we focus on the insulation coordination of arcing horns on the electrode lines of a 5000 MW, ±800 kV high voltage direct current (HVDC system. The protection performance of arcing horns are determined by the characteristics of not only the external system but also the fault arc. Therefore, the behaviors and characteristics of long free burning arcs are investigated by the experiments at first. In order to evaluate the protection performance of arcing horns, the static stability criterion U-I characteristic method is introduced. The influence factors on the protection performance of arcing horns are analyzed theoretically. Finally, the improvement methods for the protection performance of arcing horns are proposed, and the diversified configuration strategy of arcing horns is recommended for cost saving.

Spotted owl roost and nest site selection in northwestern California

Science.gov (United States)

J.A. Blakesley; A.B. Franklin; R.J. Gutierrez

1992-01-01

We directly observed roost and nest site selection in a population of northern spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) in northwestern California during 1985-89. Because of potential biases caused by use of radio telemetry in previous studies, we examined habitat use relative to habitat availability at a level not previously reported for spotted...

Research and in situ conservation of owl monkeys enhances environmental law enforcement at the Colombian-Peruvian border

OpenAIRE

Maldonado, Angela M; Peck, Mika R

2014-01-01

This study reports on impacts of illegal trade in owl monkeys (Aotus nancymaae, A. vociferans) for the biomedical research market in the Colombian-Peruvian Amazonian border. Through freedom of information requests and interviews with hunters we found that 912 owl monkeys, including A. nancymaae captured in Peru, were trapped over a 3-month period in 2012 to supply a malaria research facility based in Leticia, Colombia, which had trapping permits for the use of only 800 A. vociferans annually ...

The flora of woody plants and vegetation on the Horn of Africa

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Friis, Ib

2017-01-01

There are about one thousand species of woody plants that occur naturally on the Horn of Africa, including trees and large shrubs, and they have many functions in the highly varied ecosystem on the Horn, including soil conservation and the prevention of flooding during tropical rainstorms. For hi...

Short-term plasticity in turtle dorsal horn neurons mediated by L-type Ca2+ channels

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Russo, R E; Hounsgaard, J

1994-01-01

Windup--the gradual increase of the response--of dorsal horn neurons to repeated activation of primary afferents is an elementary form of short-term plasticity that may mediate central sensitization to pain. In deep dorsal horn neurons of the turtle spinal cord in vitro we report windup of the re......Windup--the gradual increase of the response--of dorsal horn neurons to repeated activation of primary afferents is an elementary form of short-term plasticity that may mediate central sensitization to pain. In deep dorsal horn neurons of the turtle spinal cord in vitro we report windup...

Hierarchical State Machines as Modular Horn Clauses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pierre-Loïc Garoche

2016-07-01

Full Text Available In model based development, embedded systems are modeled using a mix of dataflow formalism, that capture the flow of computation, and hierarchical state machines, that capture the modal behavior of the system. For safety analysis, existing approaches rely on a compilation scheme that transform the original model (dataflow and state machines into a pure dataflow formalism. Such compilation often result in loss of important structural information that capture the modal behaviour of the system. In previous work we have developed a compilation technique from a dataflow formalism into modular Horn clauses. In this paper, we present a novel technique that faithfully compile hierarchical state machines into modular Horn clauses. Our compilation technique preserves the structural and modal behavior of the system, making the safety analysis of such models more tractable.

Long-term population dynamics of a managed burrowing owl colony

Science.gov (United States)

Barclay, John H.; Korfanta, Nicole M.; Kauffman, Matthew J.

2011-01-01

We analyzed the population dynamics of a burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia) colony at Mineta San Jose International Airport in San Jose, California, USA from 1990-2007. This colony was managed by using artificial burrows to reduce the occurrence of nesting owls along runways and within major airport improvement projects during the study period. We estimated annual reproduction in natural and artificial burrows and age-specific survival rates with mark-recapture techniques, and we estimated the relative contribution of these vital rates to population dynamics using a life table response experiment. The breeding colony showed 2 distinct periods of change: high population growth from 7 nesting pairs in 1991 to 40 pairs in 2002 and population decline to 17 pairs in 2007. Reproduction was highly variable: annual nesting success (pairs that raised =1 young) averaged 79% and ranged from 36% to 100%, whereas fecundity averaged 3.36 juveniles/pair and ranged from 1.43 juveniles/pair to 4.54 juveniles/pair. We estimated annual adult survival at 0.710 during the period of colony increase from 1996 to 2001 and 0.465 during decline from 2002 to 2007, but there was no change in annual survival of juveniles between the 2 time periods. Long-term population growth rate (lambda) estimated from average vital rates was lambdaa=1.072 with lambdai=1.288 during colony increase and lambdad=0.921 (DELTA lambda=0.368) during decline. A life table response experiment showed that change in adult survival rate during increasing and declining phases explained more than twice the variation in growth rate than other vital rates. Our findings suggest that management and conservation of declining burrowing owl populations should address factors that influence adult survival.

Responses of spinal dorsal horn neurons to foot movements in rats with a sprained ankle

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jae Hyo; Kim, Hee Young; Chung, Kyungsoon

2011-01-01

Acute ankle injuries are common problems and often lead to persistent pain. To investigate the underlying mechanism of ankle sprain pain, the response properties of spinal dorsal horn neurons were examined after ankle sprain. Acute ankle sprain was induced manually by overextending the ankle of a rat hindlimb in a direction of plantarflexion and inversion. The weight-bearing ratio (WBR) of the affected foot was used as an indicator of pain. Single unit activities of dorsal horn neurons in response to plantarflexion and inversion of the foot or ankle compression were recorded from the medial part of the deep dorsal horn, laminae IV-VI, in normal and ankle-sprained rats. One day after ankle sprain, rats showed significantly reduced WBRs on the affected foot, and this reduction was partially restored by systemic morphine. The majority of deep dorsal horn neurons responded to a single ankle stimulus modality. After ankle sprain, the mean evoked response rates were significantly increased, and afterdischarges were developed in recorded dorsal horn neurons. The ankle sprain-induced enhanced evoked responses were significantly reduced by morphine, which was reversed by naltrexone. The data indicate that movement-specific dorsal horn neuron responses were enhanced after ankle sprain in a morphine-dependent manner, thus suggesting that hyperactivity of dorsal horn neurons is an underlying mechanism of pain after ankle sprain. PMID:21389306

Diets of California spotted owls in the Sierra National Forest

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas E. Munton; Kenneth D. Johnson; George N. Steger; Gary P. Eberlein

2002-01-01

From May 1987 through October 1992 and from July through August 1998, we studied diets of California spotted owls (Strix occidentalis occidentalis). Regurgitated pellets were collected at roost and nest sites between 1,000 and 7,600 ft elevation in the Sierra National Forest and were examined for remnant bones, feathers, and insect exoskeletons....

Distributional changes in the western Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) in North America from 1967 to 2008

Science.gov (United States)

Macias-Duarte, Alberto; Conway, Courtney J.

2015-01-01

The quantification of shifts in bird distributions in response to climate change provides an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the processes that influence species persistence. We used data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) to document changes in the distributional limits of the western Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) from 1967 to 2008. We used logistic regression to model presence probability (p) as a function of longitude, latitude, and year. We modeled a linear trend in logit(p) through time with slope and intercept modeled as a double Fourier series of longitude and latitude. We found that the western Burrowing Owl has experienced an intriguing southward shift in the northern half of its breeding range, contrary to what is predicted by most species niche models and what has been observed for many other species in North America. The breeding range of the Burrowing Owl has been shrinking near its northern, western, and eastern edges. Our model detected the population declines that were observed in California and eastern Washington, in locations where maps based on route-specific estimating equations had predicted significant population increases. We suggest that the northern boundary of the breeding distribution of the western Burrowing Owl has contracted southward and the southern boundary of the species' breeding distribution has expanded southward into areas of northern Mexico that were formerly used only by wintering migrants.

Study on CT scanning technique of inferior horn of lateral ventricle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kakoi, Iwao; Okubo, Mitsuo; Nakamura, Sumio; Yoshinaga, Toshihiko; Shimono, Tetsuo

1984-01-01

It is said that temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), one of the incurable epilepsies, results from the lesions of various structrues located in the medial and deep portion of the temporal lobe such as the hippocampus and amygdaloid nucleus. Routine CT scanning techniques cannot adequately delineate these structures in the assessment of TLE. The anatomical relationship between these medial temporal structures and the inferior horn of lateral ventricle which is lateral to them and easily identified by CT lead us to believe that the sections through the longitudinal plane of the inferior horn may clearly delineate them. The present experimental study was undertaken to develop the CT scan technique of the inferior horn of lateral ventricle, which results in the clear delineation of the region of the hippocampus and amygdaloid nucleus. As a result, A total of the 3-4 reversed axial 5 mm-thick section centered at 2.5 cm cephalad to the roof of the external auditory canal at a reversed 25 0 angle to ABL are adequate to delineate the inferior horn and the medial temporal structures. This scan technique is considered to be useful in the assessment of TLE. (author)

Optimal Prediction of Moving Sound Source Direction in the Owl.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weston Cox

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Capturing nature's statistical structure in behavioral responses is at the core of the ability to function adaptively in the environment. Bayesian statistical inference describes how sensory and prior information can be combined optimally to guide behavior. An outstanding open question of how neural coding supports Bayesian inference includes how sensory cues are optimally integrated over time. Here we address what neural response properties allow a neural system to perform Bayesian prediction, i.e., predicting where a source will be in the near future given sensory information and prior assumptions. The work here shows that the population vector decoder will perform Bayesian prediction when the receptive fields of the neurons encode the target dynamics with shifting receptive fields. We test the model using the system that underlies sound localization in barn owls. Neurons in the owl's midbrain show shifting receptive fields for moving sources that are consistent with the predictions of the model. We predict that neural populations can be specialized to represent the statistics of dynamic stimuli to allow for a vector read-out of Bayes-optimal predictions.

Prey selection by the Barn Owl Tyto alba (Scopoli, 1769 in captivity

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V. Vanitha

2009-07-01

Full Text Available We investigated prey selection of the Barn Owl Tyto alba under captive conditions where birds were allowed to choose among individuals of varying size from four field rodent species: Bandicota bengalensis, Millardia meltada, Tatera indica and Mus booduga. Owls showed little species preference and a tendency to favour the medium weight class in all prey species except M. booduga. Preference for body parts consumed varied according to prey size, ranging from the head alone in the large weight class to the entire body in the small weight class. Biochemical measurements showed that protein, carbohydrate and lipid levels were higher respectively in the brain, liver and muscles of all three species and weight classes studied. The preference for medium weight prey despite a lower nutrient content compared to large weight prey is attributed to a greater ease of capture.

Design and Simulation of Horn Antenna Using CST Software for GPR System

Science.gov (United States)

Joret, Ariffuddin; Sulong, M. S.; Abdullah, M. F. L.; Madun, Aziman; Haimi Dahlan, Samsul

2018-04-01

Detection of underground object can be made using a GPR system. This system is classified as a non-destructive technique (NDT) where the ground areas need not to be excavated. The technique used by the GPR system is by measuring the reflection of electromagnetic wave signal produced and detected by antenna which is known as the transmitter and the receiver antenna. In this study, a GPR system was studied by means of simulation using a Horn antenna as a transceiver antenna. The electromagnetic wave signal in this simulation is produced by current signal of an antenna which having a shape of modulation of Gaussian pulse which is having spectrum from 8 GHz until 12 GHz. CST and MATLAB Software are used in this GPR system simulation. A model of a Horn antenna has been designed using the CST software before the GPR’s system simulation modeled by adding a model of background in front of the Horn antenna. The simulation results show that the output signal of the Horn antenna can be used in detecting embedded object which are made from material of wood and iron. In addition, the simulation result has successfully developed a 3D model image of the GPR system using output signal of the Horn antenna. The embedded iron object in the GPR system simulation can be seen clearly by using this 3D image.

Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger nonlocality for continuous-variable systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Zengbing; Zhang Yongde

2002-01-01

As a development of our previous work, this paper is concerned with the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) nonlocality for continuous-variable cases. The discussion is based on the introduction of a pseudospin operator, which has the same algebra as the Pauli operator, for each of the N modes of a light field. Then the Bell-Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality is presented for the N modes, each of which has a continuous degree of freedom. Following Mermin's argument, it is demonstrated that for N-mode parity-entangled GHZ states (in an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space) of the light field, the contradictions between quantum mechanics and local realism grow exponentially with N, similarly to the usual N-spin cases

Assembly of the magnetic horns under way

CERN Multimedia

Maximilien Brice

2003-01-01

Ahmed Cherif of the EST Division's Metrology Service checks the straightness of the inner conductor of the first magnetic horn for CNGS. The tolerance is less than one millimetre over a length of approximately 6.5 metres.

Transformation of standardized clinical models based on OWL technologies: from CEM to OpenEHR archetypes.

Science.gov (United States)

Legaz-García, María del Carmen; Menárguez-Tortosa, Marcos; Fernández-Breis, Jesualdo Tomás; Chute, Christopher G; Tao, Cui

2015-05-01

The semantic interoperability of electronic healthcare records (EHRs) systems is a major challenge in the medical informatics area. International initiatives pursue the use of semantically interoperable clinical models, and ontologies have frequently been used in semantic interoperability efforts. The objective of this paper is to propose a generic, ontology-based, flexible approach for supporting the automatic transformation of clinical models, which is illustrated for the transformation of Clinical Element Models (CEMs) into openEHR archetypes. Our transformation method exploits the fact that the information models of the most relevant EHR specifications are available in the Web Ontology Language (OWL). The transformation approach is based on defining mappings between those ontological structures. We propose a way in which CEM entities can be transformed into openEHR by using transformation templates and OWL as common representation formalism. The transformation architecture exploits the reasoning and inferencing capabilities of OWL technologies. We have devised a generic, flexible approach for the transformation of clinical models, implemented for the unidirectional transformation from CEM to openEHR, a series of reusable transformation templates, a proof-of-concept implementation, and a set of openEHR archetypes that validate the methodological approach. We have been able to transform CEM into archetypes in an automatic, flexible, reusable transformation approach that could be extended to other clinical model specifications. We exploit the potential of OWL technologies for supporting the transformation process. We believe that our approach could be useful for international efforts in the area of semantic interoperability of EHR systems. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Potential influences of climate and nest structure on spotted owl reproductive success: a biophysical approach.

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Jeremy T Rockweit

Full Text Available Many bird species do not make their own nests; therefore, selection of existing sites that provide adequate microclimates is critical. This is particularly true for owls in north temperate climates that often nest early in the year when inclement weather is common. Spotted owls use three main types of nest structures, each of which are structurally distinct and may provide varying levels of protection to the eggs or young. We tested the hypothesis that spotted owl nest configuration influences nest microclimate using both experimental and observational data. We used a wind tunnel to estimate the convective heat transfer coefficient (h(c of eggs in 25 potential nest configurations that mimicked 2 nest types (top-cavity and platform nests, at 3 different wind speeds. We then used the estimates of h(c in a biophysical heat transfer model to estimate how long it would take unattended eggs to cool from incubation temperature (~36 °C to physiological zero temperature (PZT; ~26 °C under natural environmental conditions. Our results indicated that the structural configuration of nests influences the cooling time of the eggs inside those nests, and hence, influences the nest microclimate. Estimates of time to PZT ranged from 10.6 minutes to 33.3 minutes. Nest configurations that were most similar to platform nests always had the fastest egg cooling times, suggesting that platform nests were the least protective of those nests we tested. Our field data coupled with our experimental results suggested that nest choice is important for the reproductive success of owls during years of inclement weather or in regions characterized by inclement weather during the nesting season.

Ultrasonic horn design for ultrasonic machining technologies

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Naď M.

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Many of industrial applications and production technologies are based on the application of ultrasound. In many cases, the phenomenon of ultrasound is also applied in technological processes of the machining of materials. The main element of equipments that use the effects of ultrasound for machining technology is the ultrasonic horn – so called sonotrode. The performance of ultrasonic equipment, respectively ultrasonic machining technologies depends on properly designed of sonotrode shape. The dynamical properties of different geometrical shapes of ultrasonic horns are presented in this paper. Dependence of fundamental modal properties (natural frequencies, mode shapes of various sonotrode shapes for various geometrical parameters is analyzed. Modal analyses of the models are determined by the numerical simulation using finite element method (FEM design procedures. The mutual comparisons of the comparable parameters of the various sonotrode shapes are presented.

Status report of seabird surveys at Horns Rev, 2000-2001

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kjaer Christensen, T.; Clausager, I.; Krag Petersen, I.

2002-01-01

The present report presents the results of three bird surveys conducted in the Horns Rev area during the second half of 2001. Due to poor weather conditions in December 2001, the last survey was, however, performed on 7 January 2002. The surveys are part of the base-line investigations of birds performed in relation to the proposed construction of an offshore wind farm at Horns Rev in the Danish part of the North Sea ca 14 km southwest of Blaevandshuk. The results of the surveys during August 2001 - January 2002 are presented together with the results obtained during the period August 2000 - April 2001, and are also compared to results obtained during the period August 1999 - April 2000. Based on the distribution of the most abundant bird species recorded during 16 aerial surveys performed during August 1999 - January 2002, there were no indications that the wind farm area was of any particular importance to the birds' exploitation of the Horns Rev area. Fish-eating species like divers, gannet, terns, auks and gulls generally showed scattered and variable distributions, mainly occurring in the areas north and south of Horns Rev, and with low numbers on the reef proper and within the planned wind farm area. The distribution of benthic foraging species, eider and common Scoter, showed that they mainly exploited the coastal parts of the area off Blaevandshuk and Skallingen, although common scoter was found in relatively high numbers on the southeast slopes of the Horns Rev and within the wind farm area in the April 2001 survey. Common scoters occurred in very high numbers in January 2002. This was probably related to increased immigration of birds from the inner Danish waters during a cold period in late December 2001. Preference analyses of bird exploitation of the Horns Rev area showed that if the birds completely avoid the wind farm area after erection of the wind turbines, this will affect less than 1% of the various species, except divers where 1.58% will be

Practical querying of temporal data via OWL 2 QL and SQL: 2011

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Klarman, S

2013-12-01

Full Text Available We develop a practical approach to querying temporal data stored in temporal SQL:2011 databases through the semantic layer of OWL 2 QL ontologies. An interval-based temporal query language (TQL), which we propose for this task, is defined via...

Comparison of reasoners for large ontologies in the OWL 2 EL profile

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dentler, K.; Cornet, R.; ten Teije, A.C.M.; de Keizer, N.F.

2011-01-01

This paper provides a survey to and a comparison of state-of-the-art Semantic Web reasoners that succeed in classifying large ontologies expressed in the tractable OWL 2 EL profile. Reasoners are characterized along several dimensions: The first dimension comprises underlying reasoning

Some remarks on Cicindela saetigera Horn

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jong, de C.

1937-01-01

In 1936 five specimens of the beautiful beetle Cicindela saetigera Horn (fig. 1) were collected by Prof. Dr. L. G. M. Baas Becking and Dr. J. Reuter on their journey in Australia and kindly given to the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie at Leiden. As this rather uncommon species was new to the

Bionic Design of Wind Turbine Blade Based on Long-Eared Owl's Airfoil.

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Weijun; Yang, Zhen; Zhang, Qi; Wang, Jiyue; Li, Ming; Ma, Yi; Cong, Qian

2017-01-01

The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a bionic design for the airfoil of wind turbines inspired by the morphology of Long-eared Owl's wings. Glauert Model was adopted to design the standard blade and the bionic blade, respectively. Numerical analysis method was utilized to study the aerodynamic characteristics of the airfoils as well as the blades. Results show that the bionic airfoil inspired by the airfoil at the 50% aspect ratio of the Long-eared Owl's wing gives rise to a superior lift coefficient and stalling performance and thus can be beneficial to improving the performance of the wind turbine blade. Also, the efficiency of the bionic blade in wind turbine blades tests increases by 12% or above (up to 44%) compared to that of the standard blade. The reason lies in the bigger pressure difference between the upper and lower surface which can provide stronger lift.

General proof of the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger theorem

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Zeqian

2004-01-01

It is proved that all states of three spin-(1/2) particles exhibiting an 'all versus nothing' contradiction between quantum mechanics and the local realism of Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen are exactly the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states and the states obtained from them by local unitary transformations. The proof is obtained by showing that there are at most four elements (except for a different sign) in a set of mutually commuting nonlocal spin observables in the three-qubit system and using the certain algebraic properties that Pauli's matrices satisfy. We show that only does such a set of four nonlocal spin observables present a Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger-Mermin-like argument. This also reveals the equivalence between the GHZ theorem and maximal violation of the Bell inequality

Ruptured non-communicating rudimentary horn of unicornuate uterus at 14 weeks of pregnancy: a case report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arun Kumar

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Rudimentary horn is one of the rarest congenital uterine anomalies and consists of a relatively normal appearing uterus on one side with a rudimentary horn on the other side. Pregnancy in the rudimentary horn of the uterus is a rare form of ectopic pregnancy of which most of the patients present in second trimester in haemorrhagic shock and severe anaemia due to rupture. We report a case of ruptured rudimentary horn at 14 weeks of pregnancy with shock and severe anaemia. A 30 yr old G2P1L1 with last child birth 4 yrs back reported to casualty with acute abdominal pain since 3 hrs, bleeding PV and vomiting since one hr. Ultrasound done showed haemoperitoneum with fetus of 14 weeks. Emergency laparotomy was done with excision of the rudimentary horn was done.

Ruptured non-communicating rudimentary horn of unicornuate uterus at 14 weeks of pregnancy: a case report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arun Kumar

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Rudimentary horn is one of the rarest congenital uterine anomalies and consists of a relatively normal appearing uterus on one side with a rudimentary horn on the other side. Pregnancy in the rudimentary horn of the uterus is a rare form of ectopic pregnancy of which most of the patients present in second trimester in haemorrhagic shock and severe anaemia due to rupture. We report a case of ruptured rudimentary horn at 14 weeks of pregnancy with shock and severe anaemia. A 30 yr old G2P1L1 with last child birth 4 yrs back reported to casualty with acute abdominal pain since 3 hrs, bleeding PV and vomiting since one hr. Ultrasound done showed haemoperitoneum with fetus of 14 weeks. Emergency laparotomy was done with excision of the rudimentary horn was done.

Mercury levels in feathers of eagle-owls Bubo bubo in a captive, a reintroduced and a native wild population in SW Sweden

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Broo, B.; Odsjoe, T.

1981-01-01

Mercury levels in feathers are presented for both captive and wild eagle-owls from the period 1963-1976. Levels are compared between wild birds occupying old territories and released birds in newly occupied territories. The wild population in SW Sweden shows decreasing levels in the inland territories, and at present these levels are similar to the natural background level. The coastal owls have significantly higher levels which show no decrease. Low levels prevail in captive eagle-owls, fed on low-contaminted food. Birds in newly occupied territories (mainly released birds) have similar mercury levels as native birds. After being released captive birds therefore seem to accumulate mercury rather quickly. (author)

Investigating the impact of media on demand for wildlife: A case study of Harry Potter and the UK trade in owls.

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Diane A Megias

Full Text Available In recent decades, a substantial number of popular press articles have described an increase in demand for certain species in the pet trade due to films such as "Finding Nemo", "Ninja turtles", and "Harry Potter". Nevertheless, such assertions are largely supported only by anecdotal evidence. Given the role of the wildlife trade in the spread of pathogens and zoonosis, the introduction of invasive species, the overexploitation of biodiversity, and the neglect of animal welfare, it is crucial to understand what factors drive demand for a species. Here, we investigate the effect the movie industry may have on wildlife trade by examining the relationship between the "Harry Potter" cultural phenomenon and the trade in owls within the United Kingdom (UK. We gathered data from the UK box office, book sales, and newspaper mentions, and examined their relationship with data from three independent sources reflecting the legal ownership of owls in the UK, which is likely to involve several thousands of animals. Additionally, we conducted a questionnaire survey with UK animal sanctuaries to study the presumed mass abandonment of pet owls when the film series ended. Counter to common assertions, we find no evidence that the "Harry Potter" phenomenon increased the legal trade in owls within the UK, even when possible time-lag effects were taken into account. Only one indicator, the number of movie tickets sold, showed a weak but contradictory relationship with demand for owls, with a recorded drop of 13% (95% CI: 3-27% per 1 SD in tickets sold in the original analysis but an increase of 4% (95% CI: 0-8% with a one-year lag. In addition, our results suggest that the end of the Harry Potter series did not have a noticeable impact on the number of owls abandoned in UK wildlife sanctuaries, as only two of the 46 animal sanctuaries we contacted independently stated they had seen an increase in owls received and believed this was due to the Harry Potter series. We

Investigating the impact of media on demand for wildlife: A case study of Harry Potter and the UK trade in owls.

Science.gov (United States)

Megias, Diane A; Anderson, Sean C; Smith, Robert J; Veríssimo, Diogo

2017-01-01

In recent decades, a substantial number of popular press articles have described an increase in demand for certain species in the pet trade due to films such as "Finding Nemo", "Ninja turtles", and "Harry Potter". Nevertheless, such assertions are largely supported only by anecdotal evidence. Given the role of the wildlife trade in the spread of pathogens and zoonosis, the introduction of invasive species, the overexploitation of biodiversity, and the neglect of animal welfare, it is crucial to understand what factors drive demand for a species. Here, we investigate the effect the movie industry may have on wildlife trade by examining the relationship between the "Harry Potter" cultural phenomenon and the trade in owls within the United Kingdom (UK). We gathered data from the UK box office, book sales, and newspaper mentions, and examined their relationship with data from three independent sources reflecting the legal ownership of owls in the UK, which is likely to involve several thousands of animals. Additionally, we conducted a questionnaire survey with UK animal sanctuaries to study the presumed mass abandonment of pet owls when the film series ended. Counter to common assertions, we find no evidence that the "Harry Potter" phenomenon increased the legal trade in owls within the UK, even when possible time-lag effects were taken into account. Only one indicator, the number of movie tickets sold, showed a weak but contradictory relationship with demand for owls, with a recorded drop of 13% (95% CI: 3-27%) per 1 SD in tickets sold in the original analysis but an increase of 4% (95% CI: 0-8%) with a one-year lag. In addition, our results suggest that the end of the Harry Potter series did not have a noticeable impact on the number of owls abandoned in UK wildlife sanctuaries, as only two of the 46 animal sanctuaries we contacted independently stated they had seen an increase in owls received and believed this was due to the Harry Potter series. We highlight the

Discovery, Development, and Evaluation of a Horn Fly-Isolated (Diptera: Muscidae) Beauveria bassiana (Hypocreales: Cordyciptaceae) Strain From Florida, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Holderman, Christopher J.; Wood, Lois A.; Geden, Christopher J.

2017-01-01

The horn fly, Haematobia irritans (L.) is an important cattle pest and traditionally has been managed using insecticides; however, many horn fly populations are insecticide-resistant in United States. Use of alternative control techniques has been limited because of the challenges of managing a fly pest on pastured cattle. After the discovery of a wild horn fly infected with Beauveria bassiana in Florida, the fungus was cultured and evaluated for efficacy against laboratory-reared horn flies. This fungal strain was selected for increased virulence by passage through laboratory-reared horn fly hosts to shorten interval from infection to fly death and subsequent conidia formation, properties important to future use of the fungus as a biological control agent against horn flies. After seven passages through horn fly hosts, fly mortality was not significantly accelerated as evaluated through LT50 values, but conidia were readily produced from these killed flies. Although further development is needed to improve fungal efficacy, this fungal strain holds promise as a biological control agent for inclusion in horn fly integrated pest management programs. PMID:28423414

Revisiting the Battle of the Little Big Horn

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Burns, Matthew

2000-01-01

The Battle of the Little Big Horn has captured the interest of historians, scholars, and military enthusiasts since the day that over 200 United States soldiers under General George Armstrong Custer's...

Sedimentary processes and depositional environments of the Horn River Shale in British Columbia, Canada

Science.gov (United States)

Yoon, Seok-Hoon; Koh, Chang-Seong; Joe, Young-Jin; Woo, Ju-Hwan; Lee, Hyun-Suk

2017-04-01

The Horn River Basin in the northeastern British Columbia, Canada, is one of the largest unconventional gas accumulations in North America. It consists mainly of Devonian shales (Horn River Formation) and is stratigraphically divided into three members, the Muskwa, Otterpark and Evie in descending order. This study focuses on sedimentary processes and depositional environments of the Horn River shale based on sedimentary facies analysis aided by well-log mineralogy (ECS) and total organic carbon (TOC) data. The shale formation consists dominantly of siliceous minerals (quartz, feldspar and mica) and subordinate clay mineral and carbonate materials, and TOC ranging from 1.0 to 7.6%. Based on sedimentary structures and micro texture, three sedimentary facies were classified: homogeneous mudstone (HM), indistinctly laminated mudstone (ILM), and planar laminated mudstone (PLM). Integrated interpretation of the sedimentary facies, lithology and TOC suggests that depositional environment of the Horn River shale was an anoxic quiescent basin plain and base-of-slope off carbonate platform or reef. In this deeper marine setting, organic-rich facies HM and ILM, dominant in the Muskwa (the upper part of the Horn River Formation) and Evie (the lower part of the Horn River Formation) members, may have been emplaced by pelagic to hemipelagic sedimentation on the anoxic sea floor with infrequent effects of low-density gravity flows (turbidity currents or nepheloid flows). In the other hand, facies PLM typifying the Otterpark Member (the middle part of the Horn River Formation) suggests more frequent inflow of bottom-hugging turbidity currents punctuating the hemipelagic settling of the background sedimentation process. The stratigraphic change of sedimentary facies and TOC content in the Horn River Formation is most appropriately interpreted to have been caused by the relative sea-level change, that is, lower TOC and frequent signal of turbidity current during the sea

HE GATES OF HORN AND IVORY: A GEOGRAPHICAL MYTH

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Jörg Schulte

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The articles proposes a new interpretation of the Homeric myth of the gates of horn and ivory that occurs in Book 19 of the Odyssey. It first argues that horn (the material of the southern gate in neoplatonic commentaries can be found in the sign of Capricornus. More complex is the argument that also ivory (the material of the northern gate in neoplatonic commentaries is derived from astronomical myths: the myths discussed are the myth of Adonis (beginning with the story about the ivory statue carved by Pygmalion, the myths of the Erymanthian, Studia Litterarum. Vol. 1, no 3–4 Jörg Schulte 83 the Calydonian, and the Ephesian boars, the myth of Orion, and the myth of the constellation ursa major. An enquiry into the occurance of ivory in Greek mythology leads to the hypothesis that the constellation ursa major was identified with a boar (with ivory tusks. The hypothesis implies that the gates of horn and ivory were already at the times of Homer understood as an astronomical myth that described the northernmost and southernmost points of the sky.

New methods for isolation of keratolytic bacteria inducing intractable hoof wall cavity (Gidoh) in a horse; double screening procedures of the horn powder agar-translucency test and horn zymography.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuwano, Atsutoshi; Niwa, Hidekazu; Arai, Katsuhiko

2017-01-01

To establish a new system to isolate keratolytic bacteria from the hoof wall cavity ( Gidoh ) of a racehorse, we invented the horn powder agar-translucency (HoPAT) test and horn zymography (HZ). Using routine bacteriological techniques and these methods, we isolated five strains of keratolytic soil bacteria, which were then identified by means of 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing analysis. The findings from the study on the horse suggested that Brevibacterium luteolum played the main role in the local fragility of the hoof, eventually forming a Gidoh in coordination with four other strains of keratolytic bacteria. The double screening procedures of the HoPAT test and HZ were useful and easy techniques for isolating the keratolytic bacteria from the horn lesions.

Insights into the development and evolution of exaggerated traits using de novo transcriptomes of two species of horned scarab beetles.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ian A Warren

Full Text Available Scarab beetles exhibit an astonishing variety of rigid exo-skeletal outgrowths, known as "horns". These traits are often sexually dimorphic and vary dramatically across species in size, shape, location, and allometry with body size. In many species, the horn exhibits disproportionate growth resulting in an exaggerated allometric relationship with body size, as compared to other traits, such as wings, that grow proportionately with body size. Depending on the species, the smallest males either do not produce a horn at all, or they produce a disproportionately small horn for their body size. While the diversity of horn shapes and their behavioural ecology have been reasonably well studied, we know far less about the proximate mechanisms that regulate horn growth. Thus, using 454 pyrosequencing, we generated transcriptome profiles, during horn growth and development, in two different scarab beetle species: the Asian rhinoceros beetle, Trypoxylus dichotomus, and the dung beetle, Onthophagus nigriventris. We obtained over half a million reads for each species that were assembled into over 6,000 and 16,000 contigs respectively. We combined these data with previously published studies to look for signatures of molecular evolution. We found a small subset of genes with horn-biased expression showing evidence for recent positive selection, as is expected with sexual selection on horn size. We also found evidence of relaxed selection present in genes that demonstrated biased expression between horned and horn-less morphs, consistent with the theory of developmental decoupling of phenotypically plastic traits.

Insights into the development and evolution of exaggerated traits using de novo transcriptomes of two species of horned scarab beetles.

Science.gov (United States)

Warren, Ian A; Vera, J Cristobal; Johns, Annika; Zinna, Robert; Marden, James H; Emlen, Douglas J; Dworkin, Ian; Lavine, Laura C

2014-01-01

Scarab beetles exhibit an astonishing variety of rigid exo-skeletal outgrowths, known as "horns". These traits are often sexually dimorphic and vary dramatically across species in size, shape, location, and allometry with body size. In many species, the horn exhibits disproportionate growth resulting in an exaggerated allometric relationship with body size, as compared to other traits, such as wings, that grow proportionately with body size. Depending on the species, the smallest males either do not produce a horn at all, or they produce a disproportionately small horn for their body size. While the diversity of horn shapes and their behavioural ecology have been reasonably well studied, we know far less about the proximate mechanisms that regulate horn growth. Thus, using 454 pyrosequencing, we generated transcriptome profiles, during horn growth and development, in two different scarab beetle species: the Asian rhinoceros beetle, Trypoxylus dichotomus, and the dung beetle, Onthophagus nigriventris. We obtained over half a million reads for each species that were assembled into over 6,000 and 16,000 contigs respectively. We combined these data with previously published studies to look for signatures of molecular evolution. We found a small subset of genes with horn-biased expression showing evidence for recent positive selection, as is expected with sexual selection on horn size. We also found evidence of relaxed selection present in genes that demonstrated biased expression between horned and horn-less morphs, consistent with the theory of developmental decoupling of phenotypically plastic traits.

Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus surveys in the North American Intermountain West: utilizing citizen scientists to conduct monitoring across a broad geographic scale

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert A. Miller

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus is an open-country species breeding in the northern United States and Canada, and has likely experienced a long-term, range-wide, and substantial decline. However, the cause and magnitude of the decline is not well understood. We set forth to address the first two of six previously proposed conservation priorities to be addressed for this species: (1 better define habitat use and (2 improve population monitoring. We recruited 131 volunteers to survey over 6.2 million ha within the state of Idaho for Short-eared Owls during the 2015 breeding season. We surveyed 75 transects, 71 of which were surveyed twice, and detected Short-eared Owls on 27 transects. We performed multiscale occupancy modeling to identify habitat associations, and performed multiscale abundance modeling to generate a state-wide population estimate. Our results suggest that within the state of Idaho, Short-eared Owls are more often found in areas with marshland or riparian habitat or areas with greater amounts of sagebrush habitat at the 1750 ha transect scale. At the 50 ha point scale, Short-eared Owls tend to associate positively with fallow and bare dirt agricultural land and negatively with grassland. Cropland was not chosen at the broader transect scale suggesting that Short-eared Owls may prefer more heterogeneous landscapes. On the surface our results may seem contradictory to the presumed land use by a "grassland" species; however, the grasslands of the Intermountain West, consisting largely of invasive cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum, lack the complex structure shown to be preferred by these owls. We suggest the local adaptation to agriculture represents the next best habitat to their historical native habitat preferences. Regardless, we have confirmed regional differences that should be considered in conservation planning for this species. Last, our results demonstrate the feasibility, efficiency, and effectiveness of utilizing public

"To Thine Own Self Be True": Existentialism in Hamlet and The Blind Owl

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Masoud Farahmandfar

2015-04-01

Full Text Available This article aims at exploring the key concepts of Existential thought in two masterpieces of the world literature, namely, William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Sadeq Hedayat’s The Blind Owl (Buf-e Kur. Freedom, free will, authenticity, self-realization, self-becoming, and awareness of death are among the main concerns of both writers. Shakespeare depicts authenticity in the character of Hamlet, and it is in contrast to him that the reader finds many instances of inauthenticity. The Danish prince has no tolerance whatsoever for inauthentic or self-deceiving. The same thing is visible in The Blind Owl in which the narrator-protagonist feels himself above all the low, petty desires of mankind. All in all, both characters’ main challenge is to live authentically. Keywords: Existential philosophy, authenticity, angst, death, being, existence, self-realization

The Best of All Possible Worlds: Applying the Model Driven Architecture Approach to a JC3IEDM OWL Ontology Modeled in UML

Science.gov (United States)

2014-06-01

from the ODM standard. Leveraging SPARX EA’s Java application programming interface (API), the team built a tool called OWL2EA that can ingest an OWL...server MySQL creates the physical schema that enables a user to store and retrieve data conforming to the vocabulary of the JC3IEDM. 6. GENERATING AN

Fabrication and Testing of Pyramidal X- Band Standard Horn Antenna

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Hasan F. Khazaal

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Standard horn antennas are an important device to evaluate many types of antennas, since they are used as a reference to any type of antennas within the microwave frequency bands. In this project the fabrication process and tests of standard horn antenna operating at X-band frequencies have been proposed. The fabricated antenna passed through multi stages of processing of its parts until assembling the final product. These stages are (milling, bending, fitting and welding. The assembled antenna subjected to two types of tests to evaluate its performance. The first one is the test by two port network analyzer to point out S & Z parameters, input resistance, and the voltage standing wave ratio of the horn, while the second test was done using un-echoic chamber to measure the gain, side lobes level and the half power beam width. The results of testing come nearly as a theoretical value of the most important of antenna parameters, like; gain, side lobe level, -3 dB beam width, return loss and voltage standing wave ratio "VSWR", input Impedance.

Interpolant Tree Automata and their Application in Horn Clause Verification

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Bishoksan Kafle

2016-07-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the combination of abstract interpretation over the domain of convex polyhedra with interpolant tree automata, in an abstraction-refinement scheme for Horn clause verification. These techniques have been previously applied separately, but are combined in a new way in this paper. The role of an interpolant tree automaton is to provide a generalisation of a spurious counterexample during refinement, capturing a possibly infinite set of spurious counterexample traces. In our approach these traces are then eliminated using a transformation of the Horn clauses. We compare this approach with two other methods; one of them uses interpolant tree automata in an algorithm for trace abstraction and refinement, while the other uses abstract interpretation over the domain of convex polyhedra without the generalisation step. Evaluation of the results of experiments on a number of Horn clause verification problems indicates that the combination of interpolant tree automaton with abstract interpretation gives some increase in the power of the verification tool, while sometimes incurring a performance overhead.

MR imaging of displaced meniscal tears of the knee. Importance of a 'disproportional posterior horn sign'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, H.C.; Hsu, C.Y.; Shih, T.T.F.; Huang, K.M.; Li, Y.W.

2001-01-01

Purpose: Meniscal tears associated with displaced fragments are clinically significant. We propose the 'disproportional posterior horn sign' as a supportive criterion to identify a posterocentrally displaced meniscal fragment on MR imaging studies. If the meniscal posterior horn in the central portion appears larger than that in the peripheral section, it is considered positive for 'disproportional posterior horn sign'. Material and Methods: MR images obtained in 42 patients with 43 lesions, confirmed to have displaced meniscal tears, were included in this study. The MR images were retrospectively evaluated for the presence of the 'disproportional posterior horn sign', as well as the other known signs. Results: The 'disproportional posterior horn sign' was seen in 9 (20.9%) of 43 lesions, including 1 lateral discoid meniscal tear, 5 lateral meniscal tears and 3 medial meniscal tears. Five of them also had other signs of a displaced meniscal fragment. However, the remaining 4 cases only exhibited the 'disproportional posterior horn sign'. For the other MR signs, the 'absent bow tie sign' was detected in 40 (93%) of 43 lesions, the 'flipped meniscus sign' in 27 (62.8%) of 43 lesions, the 'double posterior cruciate ligament sign' in 17 (39.5%) of 43 lesions and the 'notch fragment sign' in 22 (51.2%) of 43 lesions. Conclusion: The 'disproportional posterior horn sign' is helpful in demonstrating a posterocentrally displaced meniscal fragment, especially when other characteristic signs are unremarkable or absent

Removing Unnecessary Variables from Horn Clause Verification Conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emanuele De Angelis

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Verification conditions (VCs are logical formulas whose satisfiability guarantees program correctness. We consider VCs in the form of constrained Horn clauses (CHC which are automatically generated from the encoding of (an interpreter of the operational semantics of the programming language. VCs are derived through program specialization based on the unfold/fold transformation rules and, as it often happens when specializing interpreters, they contain unnecessary variables, that is, variables which are not required for the correctness proofs of the programs under verification. In this paper we adapt to the CHC setting some of the techniques that were developed for removing unnecessary variables from logic programs, and we show that, in some cases, the application of these techniques increases the effectiveness of Horn clause solvers when proving program correctness.

Distribution of the Chuckwalla, Western Burrowing Owl, and Six Bat Species on the Nevada Test Site

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cathy A. Willis

1997-05-01

Field Surveys were conducted in 1996 to determine the current distribution of several animal species of concern on the Nevada Test Site (NTS). They included the chuckwall (Sauromalus obesus), western burrowing owl (Speotyto cunicularia), and six species of bats. Nineteen chuckwallas and 118 scat locations were found during the chuckwalla field study. Eighteen western burrowing owls were found at 12 sighting locations during the 1996 field study. Of the eleven bat species of concern which might occur on the NTS, five, and possibly six, were captured during this survey. The U.S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office, takes certain management actions to protect and conserve the chuckwalla, western burrowing owl, and bats on the NTS. These actions are described and include: (1) conducting surveys at sites of proposed land-disturbing activities (2) altering projects whenever possible to avoid or minimize impacts to these species (3) maintaining a geospatial database of known habitat for species of concern (4) sharing sighting and trap location data gathered on the NTS with other local land and resource managers, and (5) conducting periodic field surveys to monitor these species distribution and relative abundance on the NTS.

Social monogamy in wild owl monkeys (Aotus azarae) of Argentina: the potential influences of resource distribution and ranging patterns

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Fernandez-Duque, Eduardo

2017-01-01

Using published and new data from a population of monogamous owl monkeys in the Argentinean Chaco, I examine the hypothesis that social monogamy is a default social system imposed upon males because the spatial and/or temporal distribution of resources and females makes it difficult for a single male to defend access to more than one mate. First, I examine a set of predictions on ranging patterns, use of space, and population density. This first section is followed by a second one considering predictions related to the abundance and distribution of food. Finally, I conclude with a section attempting to link the ranging and ecological data to demographic and life-history parameters as proxies for reproductive success. In support of the hypothesis, owl monkey species do live at densities (7 to 64 ind/km2) that are predicted for monogamous species, but groups occupy home ranges and core areas that vary substantially in size, with pronounced overlap of home ranges, but not of core areas. There are strong indications that the availability of food sources in the core areas during the dry season may be of substantial importance for regulating social monogamy in owl monkeys. Finally, none of the proxies for the success of groups were strongly related to the size of the home range or core area. The results I present do not support conclusively any single explanation for the evolution of social monogamy in owl monkeys, but they help us to better understand how it may function. Moreover, the absence of conclusive answers linking ranging, ecology, and reproductive success with the evolution of social monogamy in primates, offer renewed motivation for continuing to explore the evolution of monogamy in owl monkeys. PMID:25931263

The role of the Drosophila lateral horn in olfactory information processing and behavioral response.

Science.gov (United States)

Schultzhaus, Janna N; Saleem, Sehresh; Iftikhar, Hina; Carney, Ginger E

2017-04-01

Animals must rapidly and accurately process environmental information to produce the correct behavioral responses. Reactions to previously encountered as well as to novel but biologically important stimuli are equally important, and one understudied region in the insect brain plays a role in processing both types of stimuli. The lateral horn is a higher order processing center that mainly processes olfactory information and is linked via olfactory projection neurons to another higher order learning center, the mushroom body. This review focuses on the lateral horn of Drosophila where most functional studies have been performed. We discuss connectivity between the primary olfactory center, the antennal lobe, and the lateral horn and mushroom body. We also present evidence for the lateral horn playing roles in innate behavioral responses by encoding biological valence to novel odor cues and in learned responses to previously encountered odors by modulating neural activity within the mushroom body. We describe how these processes contribute to acceptance or avoidance of appropriate or inappropriate mates and food, as well as the identification of predators. The lateral horn is a sexually dimorphic and plastic region of the brain that modulates other regions of the brain to ensure that insects produce rapid and effective behavioral responses to both novel and learned stimuli, yet multiple gaps exist in our knowledge of this important center. We anticipate that future studies on olfactory processing, learning, and innate behavioral responses will include the lateral horn in their examinations, leading to a more comprehensive understanding of olfactory information relay and resulting behaviors. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Absorption and distribution of 3H in horned cattle of different age

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sirotkin, A.N.; Rusakov, N.V.

1979-01-01

Studied are the regularity of absorption of the tritium oxide in the gastrointestinal tract, the character of the distribution among the organs and of the radionuclide accumulation in horned cattle of different are. To determine the tritium absorption in the gastrointestinal tract the method of single oral and intravenous injection of radionuclide were used. The tritium concentration values in organs and tissues of horned cattle are presented. The results obtained show that tritium distribution in the organism occurs uniformly and does not depend on the way of intake. With the age the tritium concentration in dry residue increases and in the water phase decreases. The tritium absorption value calculated in the digestive tract of the horned cattle practically does not depend on the animals' age and constitutes 96.2% in average

Gemelligraviditet i et horn af bicorn uterus

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Maagaard, Mathilde; Langhoff-Roos, Jens

2009-01-01

Bicornuate uterus is associated with early foetal loss and extremely preterm delivery. A patient with dichorionic twins in a single horn of a bicornuate uterus was admitted in week 24 + 6 with preterm labour. Long-term treatment with a combination of tocolytics, atosiban and diclofenac inhibited...

The orthopaedic management of myelomeningocele | Horn | South ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The orthopaedic management of myelomeningocele. A Horn, S Dix-Peek, S Mears, EB Hoffman. Abstract. Despite improvement in antenatal care and screening, myelomeningocele remains the most common congenital birth defect, with a reported incidence of 1 - 2.5/1000 patients in the Western Cape, South Africa.

Habitat use of little owls (Athene noctua) in a decreasing farmland population in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sunde, P.; Thorup, K.; Jacobsen, L. B.

habitat types (analysed with GLMMs, treating territory ID as random factor) of different habitat types (categorised as ¡§cultivated fields¡¨, ¡§gardens and built-up areas¡¨, ¡§grazed land¡¨, ¡§continuous tree vegetation¡¨ and ¡§uncultivated open areas¡¨) was similar for males and females, but varied...... supply. The extensive use of farmland indicates that habitat improvement initiatives for little owls will be difficult without including the foraging potential of these economically exploited areas. Land use policies favouring maintenance of permanently grazed areas within 313 m of nests, where owls...

75 FR 63800 - Information Collection; Commercial Use of the Woodsy Owl Symbol

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-18

... to collect royalty fees. Commercial use includes replicating Woodsy Owl symbol or logo on items, such... royalty fees. Information collected includes, but is not limited to, tenure of business or non-profit... Forest Service royalty fee. 5. Royalty fee due based on sales quantity and price. 6. Description and...

Muscular Arrangement and Muscle Attachment Sites in the Cervical Region of the American Barn Owl (Tyto furcata pratincola.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mark L L M Boumans

Full Text Available Owls have the largest head rotation capability amongst vertebrates. Anatomical knowledge of the cervical region is needed to understand the mechanics of these extreme head movements. While data on the morphology of the cervical vertebrae of the barn owl have been provided, this study is aimed to provide an extensive description of the muscle arrangement and the attachment sites of the muscles on the owl's head-neck region. The major cervical muscles were identified by gross dissection of cadavers of the American barn owl (Tyto furcata pratincola, and their origin, courses, and insertion were traced. In the head-neck region nine superficial larger cervical muscles of the craniocervical, dorsal and ventral subsystems were selected for analysis, and the muscle attachment sites were illustrated in digital models of the skull and cervical vertebrae of the same species as well as visualised in a two-dimensional sketch. In addition, fibre orientation and lengths of the muscles and the nature (fleshy or tendinous of the attachment sites were determined. Myological data from this study were combined with osteological data of the same species. This improved the anatomical description of the cervical region of this species. The myological description provided in this study is to our best knowledge the most detailed documentation of the cervical muscles in a strigiform species presented so far. Our results show useful information for researchers in the field of functional anatomy, biomechanical modelling and for evolutionary and comparative studies.

The Many Faces of Compliance: The Supreme Court's Decision in "Horne v. Flores"

Science.gov (United States)

Thro, William E.

2009-01-01

At first blush, the Supreme Court's recent decision in "Horne v. Flores" (2009) appears to be about the proper standard for determining when to modify a previous judgment, a topic that would interest only civil procedure geeks. Yet, on closer examination, "Horne" is about giving local and state officials discretion to solve education problems and,…

A Demographic Model to Evaluate Population Declines in the Endangered Streaked Horned Lark

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Alaine F. Camfield

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The Streaked Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris strigata is listed as endangered by the State of Washington, USA and by Canada under the Species at Risk Act and is also classified as a federal candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act in the USA. A substantial portion of Streaked Horned Lark habitat has been lost or degraded, and range contraction has occurred in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. We estimate the vital rates (fecundity, adult and juvenile survival and population growth rate (λ for Streaked Horned Larks breeding in Washington, USA and conduct a Life-Stage Simulation Analysis (LSA to evaluate which vital rate has the greatest influence on λ. We simulated changes in the three vital rates to examine how much they would need to be adjusted either independently or in concert to achieve a stable Streaked Horned Lark population (λ = 1. We also evaluated which fecundity component (the number of fledglings per egg laid or renesting interval had the greatest impact on λ. The estimate of population growth suggests that Streaked Horned Larks in Washington are declining rapidly (λ = 0.62 ± 0.10 and that local breeding sites are not sustainable without immigration. The LSA results indicate that adult survival had the greatest influence on λ, followed by juvenile survival and fecundity. However, increases in vital rates led to λ = 1 only when adult survival was raised from 0.47 to 0.85, juvenile survival from 0.17 to 0.58, and fecundity from 0.91 to 3.09. Increases in breeding success and decreases in the renesting interval influenced λ similarly; however, λ did not reach 1 even when breeding success was raised to 100% or renesting intervals were reduced to 1 day. Only when all three vital rates were increased simultaneously did λ approach 1 without requiring highly unrealistic increases in each vital rate. We conclude that conservation activities need to target all or multiple vital rates to be successful. The

Outcomes of preterm neonates with frontal horn cysts: a retrospective study.

Science.gov (United States)

Trawber, Rory; Rao, Shripada; Srinivasjois, Ravisha; Thonell, Sven; Nagarajan, Lakshmi; French, Noel; Jacoby, Peter; McMichael, Judy

2010-11-01

Isolated paraventricular frontal horn cysts are sometimes encountered on cranial ultrasound examinations of preterm neonates. The etiology and clinical significance of these lesions are unclear. The authors aimed to identify antenatal/intrapartum risk factors associated with the occurrence of these cysts and to assess developmental outcomes of preterm neonates with isolated frontal horn cysts. A retrospective cohort study with matched control design was used. A total of 28 cases were matched for gestation with 56 controls. No antenatal/intrapartum factors were associated with these cysts. At corrected age of 1 year, there was no difference in the mean general quotient between cases and controls (97.75 ± 17.28 vs 94.94 ± 9.86; P = .410). In all, 1 case and no controls had a diagnosis of cerebral palsy and 1 case and 3 controls had general quotients less than 80. The authors conclude that isolated paraventricular frontal horn cysts are benign, with no effect on neurodevelopment.

Oligocene paleogeography of the northern Great Plains and adjacent mountains

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seeland, D.

1985-01-01

Early Oligocene paleogeography of the northern Great Plains and adjacent mountains is inferred in part from published surface and subsurface studies of the pre-Oligocene surface. These studies are combined with published and unpublished information on clast provenance, crossbedding orientation, and Eocene paleogeography. The Oligocene Arctic Ocean-Gulf of Mexico continental divide extended from the southern Absaroka Mountains east along the Owl Creek Mountains, across the southern Powder River Basin, through the northern Black Hills, and eastward across South Dakota. Streams north of the divide flowed northeastward. The Olligocene White River Group contains 50 to 90 percent airfall pyroclastic debris from a northern Great Basin source. Most of the uranium deposits of the region in pre-Oligocene rocks can be related to a uranium source in the volcanic ash of the White River; in many places the pre-Oligocene deposits can be related to specific Oligocene channels. Uranium deposits in sandstones of major Oligocene rivers are an important new type of deposit. The Oligocene channel sandstones also contain small quantities of gold, molybdenum, gas, and oil

Satellite tracking of harbour seals on Horns Reef - Use of the Horns Reef wind farm area and the North Sea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tougaard, J.; Tougaard, S.; Jensen, Thyge; Ebbesen, I.; Teilmann, J.

2003-03-01

Ten harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) caught on the Danish Wadden Sea island Roemoe were equipped with satellite linked time depth recorders. The animals were caught on three separate occasions (Jan. 4th, Feb. 18th and May 6th, 2002). The transmitters worked between 49 and 100 days, relaying positional and dive information back via the ARGOS satellite service until beginning of July. Background for the studies is the construction of the Worlds largest off shore wind farm on Horns Reef. Based on previous studies using VHF-transmitters, it was expected that the seals would spend considerable time on Horns Reef. The VHF-telemetry studies showed that the preferred direction for seals leaving the Danish Wadden Sea is NW from Graedyb tidal area outside Esbjerg, the direction directly towards the wind farm area. The previously used VHF-transmitters had a limited detection range and it was decided to equip a number of seals from the same area as before with satellite transmitters. This allows for positioning of the seals in the entire North Sea as well as providing dive summary information, as a transmitter with a depth transducer was chosen for the study. Positional information revealed that animals move about more extensively than previously believed. Substantial variation between animals was observed and each seal seemed to have adopted its own foraging strategy. Some animals travelled to the centre of the North Sea on foraging trips and spent considerable time close to the bottom at 30-70 meters depth. Other seals remained in the German Bight and yet others spent considerable time on and around Horns Reef. The area of Horns reef wind farm constitutes a negligible fraction of the total area visited by the tagged seals. The reef as a whole however, appears to be important to the seals both for foraging and as transit area to other feeding grounds further off shore. The resolution in positional information is not sufficiently high to allow for a detailed study of the effects

Satellite tracking of harbour seals on Horns Reef - Use of the Horns Reef wind farm area and the North Sea

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tougaard, J.; Tougaard, S.; Jensen, Thyge [Fisheries and Maritime Museum Esbjerg (Denmark); Ebbesen, I. [Univ. of Sourthern Denmark, Inst. of Biology, Odense (Denmark); Teilmann, J. [NationL Environmental Res. Inst., Roskidle (Denmark)

2003-03-15

Ten harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) caught on the Danish Wadden Sea island Roemoe were equipped with satellite linked time depth recorders. The animals were caught on three separate occasions (Jan. 4th, Feb. 18th and May 6th, 2002). The transmitters worked between 49 and 100 days, relaying positional and dive information back via the ARGOS satellite service until beginning of July. Background for the studies is the construction of the Worlds largest off shore wind farm on Horns Reef. Based on previous studies using VHF-transmitters, it was expected that the seals would spend considerable time on Horns Reef. The VHF-telemetry studies showed that the preferred direction for seals leaving the Danish Wadden Sea is NW from Graedyb tidal area outside Esbjerg, the direction directly towards the wind farm area. The previously used VHF-transmitters had a limited detection range and it was decided to equip a number of seals from the same area as before with satellite transmitters. This allows for positioning of the seals in the entire North Sea as well as providing dive summary information, as a transmitter with a depth transducer was chosen for the study. Positional information revealed that animals move about more extensively than previously believed. Substantial variation between animals was observed and each seal seemed to have adopted its own foraging strategy. Some animals travelled to the centre of the North Sea on foraging trips and spent considerable time close to the bottom at 30-70 meters depth. Other seals remained in the German Bight and yet others spent considerable time on and around Horns Reef. The area of Horns reef wind farm constitutes a negligible fraction of the total area visited by the tagged seals. The reef as a whole however, appears to be important to the seals both for foraging and as transit area to other feeding grounds further off shore. The resolution in positional information is not sufficiently high to allow for a detailed study of the effects

A new horned dinosaur reveals convergent evolution in cranial ornamentation in Ceratopsidae.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Caleb M; Henderson, Donald M

2015-06-15

Ceratopsid (horned) dinosaurs are an iconic group of large-bodied, quadrupedal, herbivorous dinosaurs that evolved in the Late Cretaceous and were largely restricted to western North America [1-5]. Ceratopsids are easily recognized by their cranial ornamentation in the form of nasal and postorbital horns and frill (capped by epiossifications); these structures show high morphological disparity and also represent the largest cranial display structures known to have evolved [2, 4]. Despite their restricted occurrence in time and space, this group has one of the best fossil records within Dinosauria, showing a rapid diversification in horn and frill morphology [1]. Here a new genus and species of chasmosaurine ceratopsid is described based on a nearly complete and three-dimensionally preserved cranium recovered from the uppermost St. Mary River Formation (Maastrichtian) of southwestern Alberta. Regaliceratops peterhewsi gen. et sp. nov. exhibits many unique characters of the frill and is characterized by a large nasal horncore, small postorbital horncores, and massive parietal epiossifications. Cranial morphology, particularly the epiossifications, suggests close affinity with the late Campanian/early Maastrichian taxon Anchiceratops, as well as with the late Maastrichtian taxon Triceratops. A median epiparietal necessitates a reassessment of epiossification homology and results in a more resolved phylogeny. Most surprisingly, Regaliceratops exhibits a suite of cranial ornamentations that are superficially similar to Campanian centrosaurines, indicating both exploration of novel display morphospace in Chasmosaurinae, especially Maastrichtian forms, and convergent evolution in horn morphology with the recently extinct Centrosaurinae. This marks the first time that evolutionary convergence in horn-like display structures has been demonstrated between dinosaur clades, similar to those seen in fossil and extant mammals [6]. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights

Method of segmenting inferior horns of lateral ventricles using active contour models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hattori, Masumi; Koyama, Shuji; Kodera, Yoshie

2007-01-01

Recent research has suggested that the measurement of regional atrophy in the structure of the medial temporal lobe is a promising way to discriminate Alzheimer-type dementia patients from healthy control subjects. There are some reports that the inferior horns of the lateral ventricles are expanded by atrophying the structure of the medial temporal lobe. We developed a technique to automatically detect the region of the inferior horns of the lateral ventricles by gray-level thresholding and morphological processing. However, there were some incorrect regions in this method. Accordingly, we proposed a technique for which active contour models (ACM) were used. Our ACM incorporates the improved edge-based image and the external constraint to improve convergence and to reduce its dependence on initial estimation. In this study, we present the details of an algorithm that traces the contours of the inferior horns of the lateral ventricles and its performance relative to manual methods. The average degree of correspondence between the extract region and manual trace was measured in 30 inferior horns of 15 subjects. The average degree of correspondence of the proposed method was about 4% higher than that of the conventional method. These results suggest that the proposed method is more accurate than the conventional method. (author)

Pathology and epidemiology of natural West Nile viral infection of raptors in Georgia.

Science.gov (United States)

Ellis, Angela E; Mead, Daniel G; Allison, Andrew B; Stallknecht, David E; Howerth, Elizabeth W

2007-04-01

Carcasses from 346 raptors found between August 2001 and December 2004 were tested for West Nile virus (WNV) using virus isolation and immunohistochemistry; 40 were positive for WNV by one or both methods. Of these 40 birds, 35 had histologic lesions compatible with WNV infection, one had lesions possibly attributable to WNV, and four had no histologic evidence of WNV. The most common histologic lesions associated with WNV infection were myocardial inflammation, necrosis, and fibrosis; skeletal muscle degeneration, inflammation, and fibrosis; and lymphoplasmacytic encephalitis. Other lesions included hepatitis, lymphoid depletion in spleen and bursa, splenic and hepatic hemosiderosis, pancreatitis, and ganglioneuritis. Gross lesions included calvarial and leptomeningeal hemorrhage, myocardial pallor, and splenomegaly. Red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) (10/56), sharp-shinned hawks (Accipiter striatus) (8/40), and Cooper's hawks (Accipiter cooperii) (10/103) were most commonly affected. Also affected were red-shouldered hawks (Buteo lineatus) (2/43), an osprey (Pandion haliaetus) (1/5), barred owls (Strix varia) (4/27), a great horned owl (Bubo virginianus) (1/18), and eastern screech owls (Megascops asio) (4/42). Although birds were examined throughout the year, positive cases occurred only during the summer and late fall (June-December). Yearly WNV mortality rates ranged from 7-15% over the four years of the study. This study indicates trends in infection rates of WNV in raptorial species over a significant time period and supports the available information regarding pathology of WNV infection in Strigiformes and Falconiformes. Although many species tested were positive for WNV infection, severity of lesions varied among species.

Predator removal enhances waterbird restoration in Chesapeake Bay (Maryland)

Science.gov (United States)

Erwin, R. Michael; McGowan, Peter C.; Reese, Jan

2011-01-01

This report represents an update to an earlier report(Erwin et al. 2007a) on wildlife restoration on the largest dredge material island project in the United States underway in Talbot County, Maryland (Figure 1) in the mid–Chesapeake Bay region, referred to as the Paul Sarbanes Ecosystem Restoration Project at Poplar Island (www.nab.usace.army.mil/projects/Maryland/PoplarIsland/documents.html). An important component of this largescale restoration effort focused on water birds, as many of these species have undergone significant declines in the Chesapeake region over the past 30 years (Erwin et al. 2007b). The priority waterbird species include common terns (Sterna hirundo), least terns (S. antillarum), snowy egrets (Egretta thula), and ospreys (Pandion haliaetus). Although significant numbers of common terns (more than 800 pairs in 2003), least terns (62 pairs in 2003), snowy egrets (50 or more pairs by 2005), and ospreys (7 to 10 pairs) have nested on Poplar Island since early 2000, tern productivity especially had been strongly limited by a combination of red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and great horned owl (Bubo virginianus) predation. Fox trapping began in 2004, and four were removed that year; no more evidence of fox presence was found in 2005 or subsequently. The owls proved to be more problematic.

Occupational Cow Horn Eye Injuries in Ibadan, Nigeria

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Cow horn injury is an uncommon cause of penetrating eye injury with grave ... cattle‑related jobs, and they all had unilateral open‑globe injuries with corneoscleral lacerations. ... likely to be because men are at increased risk as cattle rearers.

Chapter 6. Conservation status of flammulated owls in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

D. Archibald McCallum

1994-01-01

The status of the flammulated owl will be evaluated in this chapter by asking a series of critical questions about the species and its habitat. Answers to these questions will be used to reach one of the following conclusions: (1) populations in the United States are secure and will likely remain so given current land management practices; (2) populations are in peril...

Management of the spotted owl: a case history in conservation biology

Science.gov (United States)

B.R. Noon; K.S. McKelvey

1996-01-01

Official conservation efforts for the northern spotted owl began in the United States in 1975 when it was declared “threatened” in the state of Oregon; efforts continued in a sporadic and unsystematic way through the 1980s. In 1989 the Interagency Scientific Committee (ISC) was established by Congress and charged with the development of a scientifically defensible...

Ecology and conservation of the cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl in Arizona

Science.gov (United States)

Jean-Luc E. Cartron; Deborah M. Finch

2000-01-01

This report is the result of a cooperative effort by the Rocky Mountain Research Station and the USDA Forest Service Region 3, with participation by the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the Bureau of Land Management. It assesses the state of knowledge related to the conservation status of the cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl in Arizona. The population decline of this...

Estimating inbreeding rates in Northern Spotted Owls: insights from pedigrees and spatio-demographic models

Science.gov (United States)

The federally-threatened Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) has a substantial influence on management of federal lands. Despite decades of investigation, important details about its status and habits remain unknown. In particular, determining the frequency of inbre...

Nonlinear effects contributing to hand-stopping tones in a horn.

Science.gov (United States)

Ebihara, Takayasu; Yoshikawa, Shigeru

2013-05-01

Hand stopping is a technique for playing the French horn while closing the bell relatively tightly using the right hand. The resulting timbre is called "penetrating" and "metallic." The effect of hand stopping on the horn input impedance has been studied, but the tone quality has hardly ever been considered. In the present paper, the dominant physical cause of the stopped-tone quality is discussed in detail. Numerical calculations of the transmission function of the stopped-horn model and the measurements of both sound pressure and wall vibration in hand stopping are carried out. They strongly suggest that the metallicness of the stopped tone is characterized by the generation of higher harmonics extending over 10 kHz due to the rapidly corrugating waveform and that the associated wall vibration on the bell may be responsible for this higher harmonic generation. However, excitation experiments and immobilization experiments performed to elucidate the relationship between sound radiation and wall vibration deny their correlation. Instead, the measurement result of the mouthpiece pressure in hand stopping suggests that minute wave corrugations peculiar to the metallic stopped tones are probably formed by nonlinear sound propagation along the bore.

EXPLORATORY PLASMA BIOCHEMISTRY REFERENCE INTERVALS FOR URAL OWLS (STRIX URALENSIS, PALLAS 1771) FROM THE AUSTRIAN REINTRODUCTION PROJECT.

Science.gov (United States)

Scope, Alexandra; Schwendenwein, Ilse; Stanclova, Gabriela; Vobornik, Angela; Zink, Richard

2016-06-01

The Ural owl (Strix uralensis) is the biggest forest-living owl in Austria; however, it became extinct in Austria through poaching and habitat loss more than half a century ago. The birds examined in the present study were breeding pairs from the reintroduction project with the aim of determining exploratory plasma biochemistry reference intervals in Ural owls and evaluating the amount of biological variation between seasons, sexes, and ages. A total of 45 birds were sampled, including 13 adult males, 14 adult females, and 18 juvenile birds. Remarkably, almost all of the analytes showed significant differences between the subgroups, primarily between seasons, followed by age and sex. Only creatinkinase, glucose, lactatdehydrogenase, and triglycerides did not show any significant variations. Despite partitioning of reference values into subgroups according to biological variation diminishing the number of reference individuals in the respective groups, the resulting smaller reference intervals will improve medical assessment. The results of the present study once again demonstrate that significant seasonal fluctuations must be expected and considered in the interpretation. It can be assumed that these differences are probably even greater in free-range birds with considerable changes in food quantity and quality during and between years.

Giant Cutaneous Horn Overlying A Verruca at an Uncommon Site: Medical Marvel vs Superstitious Dilemma.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanjeeva, Karthik Kathladka; Ali, Puttur Sainuddin Mohammed Ameer; Pinto, Malcolm; Rao, Srikar; Rai, Arvind Shivram

2015-04-01

Cutaneous horn has been a matter of discussion to mankind since time immemorial and a subject of fascination for the layman. There have been instances where certain groups saw it with angst and disgust, with a person having a large cutaneous horn on an exposed area getting a dismal look. We present a case of a 64-year-old man with a giant cutaneous horn over his left gluteal region. Cutaneous horns more commonly present in the sun-exposed areas. In our case it has presented in an uncommon site. The patient had delayed and denied medical treatment due to his superstitious beliefs, after having sought advice from faith healers leading to progression of the disease. This case has been presented for its giant size (rare variety), its location being over the gluteal region (photo-protected site) and its benign histopathology suggestive of wart in spite of the giant size.

A case of leucism in the burrowing owl Athene cunicularia (Aves: Strigiformes with confirmation of species identity using cytogenetic analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Denise M Nogueira

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Leucism is an inherited disorder, characterized by the lack of pigments in part or all of the body, normal coloration of the eyes and, in birds, in naked parts such as the bill and legs. This kind of disorder is sometimes erroneously designated as albinism or partial albinism. In this study, we present a case of leucism in a wild owl. The studied individual presented completely white plumage, light-yellow coloration of legs and bill and normal coloration of eyes. According to morphological features, this owl is a specimen of burrowing owl, Athene cunicularia (Molina, 1782. To confirm the species identity, we used cytogenetic analyses for karyotypic determination, comparing it to the previously described one in the literature. We also studied a captive female of A. cunicularia to complement the species karyotype, which was described in the literature based only on a single male. The karyotype of the leucistic owl individual was compatible with the previously published one for A. cunicularia, confirming the bird was a male specimen. Cytogenetic analysis of the captive female showed that the W sex chromosome is metacentric and comparable to the seventh pair in size. This is the first description of a case of leucism in A. cunicularia for South America. Long-term studies are needed in the Neotropical region to evaluate survival and breeding success in leucistic birds.

The conservation status and trends of raptors and owls in Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Burfield, Ian J

2008-09-01

To conserve biodiversity efficiently, an international framework is needed to ensure that national priorities take into account regional and global priorities. BirdLife International has published five comprehensive assessments of the global status of the world's birds and two evaluations of the status of Europe's birds at a continental level. This paper analyzes the results of these assessments in relation to Europe's 56 species of raptors and owls, 18% of which are of global conservation concern, and 64% of which have an unfavorable conservation status in Europe. The European Union (EU) holds half of the total estimated European breeding population of raptors and owls, and European Russia supports another third, but every European country has a responsibility for at least two species of European conservation concern. During the 1990s, more raptors increased than decreased in most EU member states, but the opposite was true in eastern Europe, where many of the most threatened species are concentrated. Given the popularity of these species with the public, and the political commitment to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2010, much more action is needed to monitor and conserve birds of prey.

OWL-based reasoning methods for validating archetypes.

Science.gov (United States)

Menárguez-Tortosa, Marcos; Fernández-Breis, Jesualdo Tomás

2013-04-01

Some modern Electronic Healthcare Record (EHR) architectures and standards are based on the dual model-based architecture, which defines two conceptual levels: reference model and archetype model. Such architectures represent EHR domain knowledge by means of archetypes, which are considered by many researchers to play a fundamental role for the achievement of semantic interoperability in healthcare. Consequently, formal methods for validating archetypes are necessary. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in exploring how semantic web technologies in general, and ontologies in particular, can facilitate the representation and management of archetypes, including binding to terminologies, but no solution based on such technologies has been provided to date to validate archetypes. Our approach represents archetypes by means of OWL ontologies. This permits to combine the two levels of the dual model-based architecture in one modeling framework which can also integrate terminologies available in OWL format. The validation method consists of reasoning on those ontologies to find modeling errors in archetypes: incorrect restrictions over the reference model, non-conformant archetype specializations and inconsistent terminological bindings. The archetypes available in the repositories supported by the openEHR Foundation and the NHS Connecting for Health Program, which are the two largest publicly available ones, have been analyzed with our validation method. For such purpose, we have implemented a software tool called Archeck. Our results show that around 1/5 of archetype specializations contain modeling errors, the most common mistakes being related to coded terms and terminological bindings. The analysis of each repository reveals that different patterns of errors are found in both repositories. This result reinforces the need for making serious efforts in improving archetype design processes. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Hyper-functioning Thyroid Nodule with Scintigraphic Owl's Eye Appearance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Al-Kordi, R.S.; Elgazzar, A.H.

2006-01-01

Hyper-functioning thyroid nodules may produce various scintigraphic appearances on thyroid scans. Autonomously hyper functioning thyroid nodules invariably demonstrate degenerative changes. These changes may give rise to central or less commonly peripheral photopenic areas on a thyroid scan within otherwise a hot nodule. In this report we present a case of hyper functioning autonomous nodule with peripheral degeneration and residual central functioning tissue giving the appearance of an owl's eye. Although rare, this pattern can be seen in a variety of benign and malignant thyroid conditions. (author)

The contribution of federal and nonfederal habitat to persistence of the northern spotted owl on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington: report of the reanalysis team.

Science.gov (United States)

Richard S. Holthausen; Martin G. Raphael; Kevin S. McKelvey; Eric D. Forsman; Edward E. Starkey; D. Erran. Seaman

1995-01-01

We analyzed likely patterns of distribution and persistence of northern spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) on the Olympic Peninsula. Analysis focused on the effects of Federal habitat under provisions of the Northwest Forest Plan; additional benefits to the owl population of different levels of habitat retention on non-Federal lands; effects of establishing a...

Some Guides to Discovery About Elm Trees, Owls, Cockroaches, Earthworms, Cement and Concrete.

Science.gov (United States)

Busch, Phyllis S.

The introduction emphasizes the need for environmental and conservation education, and advocates an inquiry approach. Outdoor resources available to every school are listed. Detailed suggestions are made for investigating cement and concrete, cockroaches, earthworms, elm trees, and owls. In each case general background information and a list of…

Mapping sources, sinks, and connectivity using a simulation model of Northern Spotted Owls

Science.gov (United States)

This is a study of source-sink dynamics at a landscape scale. In conducting the study, we make use of a mature simulation model for the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) that was developed as part of the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s most recent recovery plannin...

Aerodynamic robustness in owl-inspired leading-edge serrations: a computational wind-gust model.

Science.gov (United States)

Rao, Chen; Liu, Hao

2018-06-08

Owls are a master to achieve silent flight in gliding and flapping flights under natural turbulent environments owing to their unique wing morphologies. While the leading-edge serrations are recently revealed, as a passive flow control micro-device, to play a crucial role in aerodynamic force production and sound suppression [25], the characteristics of wind-gust rejection associated with leading-edge serrations remain unclear. Here we address a large-eddy simulation (LES)-based study of aerodynamic robustness in owl-inspired leading-edge serrations, which is conducted with clean and serrated wing models through mimicking wind-gusts under a longitudinal fluctuation in free-stream inflow and a lateral fluctuation in pitch angle over a broad range of angles of attack (AoAs) over 0° ≤ Φ ≤ 20°. Our results show that the leading-edge serration-based passive flow control mechanisms associated with laminar-turbulent transition work effectively under fluctuated inflow and wing pitch, indicating that the leading-edge serrations are of potential gust fluctuation rejection or robustness in aerodynamic performance. Moreover, it is revealed that the tradeoff between turbulent flow control (i.e., aero-acoustic suppression) and force production in the serrated model holds independently to the wind-gust environments: poor at lower AoAs but capable of achieving equivalent aerodynamic performance at higher AoAs > 15o compared to the clean model. Our results reveal that the owl-inspired leading-edge serrations can be a robust micro-device for aero-acoustic control coping with unsteady and complex wind environments in biomimetic rotor designs for various fluid machineries. © 2018 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Comparison of the insertion of the posterior horn of the lateral meniscus: discoid versus non-discoid.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Nam-Hong; Yang, Bong-Seok; Lee, Sang-Young; Lee, Chae-Chul; Lee, Chang-Yk; Victoroff, Brian N

2017-02-01

The purpose of this study was to compare the insertion sites of the posterior horn between discoid and non-discoid lateral meniscus using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Two hundred and twenty-seven patients who had MRI scans before surgery and underwent arthroscopy were enroled in this study. A coronal view showing the narrowest width of the midbody of the lateral meniscus was chosen to measure the widths of the entire tibial plateau and the midbody of the lateral meniscus. Considering the ratio of the meniscal width to the tibial plateau width, the patients were divided into non-discoid, incomplete discoid, and complete discoid groups. On a coronal view accurately showing the insertion of the posterior horn of the lateral meniscus, a distance between the peak of the lateral tibial eminence and the centre of the insertion of the posterior horn, and a width of the lateral tibial plateau between the lateral edge of the tibial plateau and the peak of the lateral tibial eminence were measured. The insertion centre of the posterior horn was located more medially in the incomplete and complete discoid groups than in the non-discoid group (p = 0.003, 0.010, respectively). When individual differences in the knee size were corrected, the insertion centre of the posterior horn in the incomplete discoid and complete discoid groups was located more medially than in the non-discoid group (p = 0.009, 0.003, respectively). The insertion centre of the posterior horn of the lateral meniscus is located more medially to the apex of the lateral tibial eminence in the discoid group than in the non-discoid group. This finding needs to be considered for an accurate position of the posterior horn of lateral meniscus during the lateral meniscal allograft transplantation. IV.

An assessment of a conical horn waveguide to represent the human eardrum

Science.gov (United States)

Fields, Taylor N.; Schnetzer, Lucia; Brister, Eileen; Yates, Charles W.; Withnell, Robert H.

2018-05-01

This study examined a model of the acoustic input impedance of the ear that includes a waveguide model of the eardrum. The eardrum was modeled as a lossless conical-horn with rigid walls. The ear canal was modeled as a one-dimensional lossy transmission line. The output impedance of the eardrum, the middle ear, and the cochlea, was modeled as a circuit analog. The model was fit to acoustic input impedance data from human ears using a nonlinear least-squares fit. The impact of a conical-horn shape for the eardrum was quantified by comparison with the eardrum modeled as a near-flat surface. The model provided a good match to the data over the frequency range examined. A conical-horn model of the human eardrum provided gain at high frequencies, most notably above 1–2 kHz, with a broader middle-ear frequency response. This finding may suggest that eardrum shape plays an important role in sound transmission to the cochlea.

Interpolant tree automata and their application in Horn clause verification

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kafle, Bishoksan; Gallagher, John Patrick

2016-01-01

This paper investigates the combination of abstract interpretation over the domain of convex polyhedra with interpolant tree automata, in an abstraction-refinement scheme for Horn clause verification. These techniques have been previously applied separately, but are combined in a new way in this ......This paper investigates the combination of abstract interpretation over the domain of convex polyhedra with interpolant tree automata, in an abstraction-refinement scheme for Horn clause verification. These techniques have been previously applied separately, but are combined in a new way...... clause verification problems indicates that the combination of interpolant tree automaton with abstract interpretation gives some increase in the power of the verification tool, while sometimes incurring a performance overhead....

Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger nonlocality in arbitrary even dimensions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Jinhyoung; Lee, Seung-Woo; Kim, M. S.

2006-01-01

We generalize Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) nonlocality to every even-dimensional and odd-partite system. For the purpose we employ concurrent observables that are incompatible and nevertheless have a common eigenstate. It is remarkable that a tripartite system can exhibit the genuinely high-dimensional GHZ nonlocality

Microsatellite analysis detects low rate of extra-pair paternity in Tengmalm’s owl, Aegolius funereus

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Horníček, J.; Menclová, P.; Popelková, A.; Rymešová, D.; Zárybnická, M.; Bryja, Josef; Svobodová, J.

2017-01-01

Roč. 66, č. 1 (2017), s. 22-28 ISSN 0139-7893 Institutional support: RVO:68081766 Keywords : boreal owl * mating system * microsatellites * population density Subject RIV: EG - Zoology OBOR OECD: Zoology Impact factor: 0.739, year: 2016

Tripartite entanglement versus tripartite nonlocality in three-qubit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger-class states.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghose, S; Sinclair, N; Debnath, S; Rungta, P; Stock, R

2009-06-26

We analyze the relationship between tripartite entanglement and genuine tripartite nonlocality for three-qubit pure states in the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger class. We consider a family of states known as the generalized Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states and derive an analytical expression relating the three-tangle, which quantifies tripartite entanglement, to the Svetlichny inequality, which is a Bell-type inequality that is violated only when all three qubits are nonlocally correlated. We show that states with three-tangle less than 1/2 do not violate the Svetlichny inequality. On the other hand, a set of states known as the maximal slice states does violate the Svetlichny inequality, and exactly analogous to the two-qubit case, the amount of violation is directly related to the degree of tripartite entanglement. We discuss further interesting properties of the generalized Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger and maximal slice states.

Transcriptome analysis of yellow horn (Xanthoceras sorbifolia Bunge: a potential oil-rich seed tree for biodiesel in China.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yulin Liu

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Yellow horn (Xanthoceras sorbifolia Bunge is an oil-rich seed shrub that grows well in cold, barren environments and has great potential for biodiesel production in China. However, the limited genetic data means that little information about the key genes involved in oil biosynthesis is available, which limits further improvement of this species. In this study, we describe sequencing and de novo transcriptome assembly to produce the first comprehensive and integrated genomic resource for yellow horn and identify the pathways and key genes related to oil accumulation. In addition, potential molecular markers were identified and compiled. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Total RNA was isolated from 30 plants from two regions, including buds, leaves, flowers and seeds. Equal quantities of RNA from these tissues were pooled to construct a cDNA library for 454 pyrosequencing. A total of 1,147,624 high-quality reads with total and average lengths of 530.6 Mb and 462 bp, respectively, were generated. These reads were assembled into 51,867 unigenes, corresponding to a total of 36.1 Mb with a mean length, N50 and median of 696, 928 and 570 bp, respectively. Of the unigenes, 17,541 (33.82% were unmatched in any public protein databases. We identified 281 unigenes that may be involved in de novo fatty acid (FA and triacylglycerol (TAG biosynthesis and metabolism. Furthermore, 6,707 SSRs, 16,925 SNPs and 6,201 InDels with high-confidence were also identified in this study. CONCLUSIONS: This transcriptome represents a new functional genomics resource and a foundation for further studies on the metabolic engineering of yellow horn to increase oil content and modify oil composition. The potential molecular markers identified in this study provide a basis for polymorphism analysis of Xanthoceras, and even Sapindaceae; they will also accelerate the process of breeding new varieties with better agronomic characteristics.

Preliminary hydrologic evaluation of the North Horn Mountain coal-resource area, Utah

Science.gov (United States)

Graham, M.J.; Tooley, John E.; Price, Don

1981-01-01

North Horn Mountain is part of a deeply dissected plateau in central Utah which is characterized by deep, narrow, steep-walled canyons with local relief of more than 1,000 feet. Geologic units exposed in the North Horn Mountain area range in age from Late Cretaceous to Holocene and contain two mineable seams of Cretaceous coal. The area is in the drainage basin of the San Rafael River, in the Colorado River Basin. Runoff from the mountain is ephemeral. This runoff to the San Rafael River is by way of Cottonwood and Perron Creeks and represents less than 10 percent of their average annual runoff. Probable peak discharges (100-year flood) for the ephemeral streams draining North Horn Mountain are estimated to range from 200 to 380 cubic feet per second.The chemical quality of surface water in the area is good. The water is generally of a calcium magnesium bicarbonate type with average dissolved solids less than 500 milligrams per liter. Annual sediment yield in most of the area ranges from 0.1 to 0.2 acre-foot per square mile but locally is as high as 1.0 acre-foot per square mile. Most of the sediment is eroded during cloudbursts.Most of the ground water above the coal on North Horn Mountain probably is in perched aquifers. These aquifers support the flow of small seeps and springs. In some areas, the regional water table appears to extend upward into the coal. The principal source of recharge is precipitation that probably moves to aquifers along faults, joints, or fractures. This movement is apparently quite rapid. The dissolved-solids concentrations of ground water in the North Horn Mountain area range from less than 500 to about 1,000 milligrams per liter.Coal mining on North Horn Mountain should have minor "effects on the quantity and quality of surface water. The maximum predicted decrease in the annual flow of Ferron and Cottonwood Creeks is less than U percent. The sediment loads of affected streams could be significantly increased if construction were to

Rudimentary horn pregnancy in the first trimester; importance of ultrasound and clinical suspicion in early diagnosis: A case report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hasan Terzi

2014-09-01

Full Text Available We aimed to present 7-8 weeks rudimentary horn pregnancy detected preoperatively. A 37-year-old woman, gravida 3, para 2, at 7-8 weeks’ gestation referred to our clinic with a complaint of abdominal pain. The patient was primarily infertile, and she had unicornuate uterus detected during infertility investigation. Due to abnormal ultrasonographic image, rudimentary horn pregnancy was considered. Accurate diagnosis was made by laparoscopy, and rudimentary horn excision was performed. Prerupture diagnosis is very difficult in rudimentary horn pregnancies. The key role in preoperative diagnosis is suspicion. Ultrasonographic examination and clinical suspicion are sufficient in most cases.

Optical Tracking Data Validation and Orbit Estimation for Sparse Observations of Satellites by the OWL-Net.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Jin; Jo, Jung Hyun; Yim, Hong-Suh; Choi, Eun-Jung; Cho, Sungki; Park, Jang-Hyun

2018-06-07

An Optical Wide-field patroL-Network (OWL-Net) has been developed for maintaining Korean low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites' orbital ephemeris. The OWL-Net consists of five optical tracking stations. Brightness signals of reflected sunlight of the targets were detected by a charged coupled device (CCD). A chopper system was adopted for fast astrometric data sampling, maximum 50 Hz, within a short observation time. The astrometric accuracy of the optical observation data was validated with precise orbital ephemeris such as Consolidated Prediction File (CPF) data and precise orbit determination result with onboard Global Positioning System (GPS) data from the target satellite. In the optical observation simulation of the OWL-Net for 2017, an average observation span for a single arc of 11 LEO observation targets was about 5 min, while an average optical observation separation time was 5 h. We estimated the position and velocity with an atmospheric drag coefficient of LEO observation targets using a sequential-batch orbit estimation technique after multi-arc batch orbit estimation. Post-fit residuals for the multi-arc batch orbit estimation and sequential-batch orbit estimation were analyzed for the optical measurements and reference orbit (CPF and GPS data). The post-fit residuals with reference show few tens-of-meters errors for in-track direction for multi-arc batch and sequential-batch orbit estimation results.

Optical Tracking Data Validation and Orbit Estimation for Sparse Observations of Satellites by the OWL-Net

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jin Choi

2018-06-01

Full Text Available An Optical Wide-field patroL-Network (OWL-Net has been developed for maintaining Korean low Earth orbit (LEO satellites’ orbital ephemeris. The OWL-Net consists of five optical tracking stations. Brightness signals of reflected sunlight of the targets were detected by a charged coupled device (CCD. A chopper system was adopted for fast astrometric data sampling, maximum 50 Hz, within a short observation time. The astrometric accuracy of the optical observation data was validated with precise orbital ephemeris such as Consolidated Prediction File (CPF data and precise orbit determination result with onboard Global Positioning System (GPS data from the target satellite. In the optical observation simulation of the OWL-Net for 2017, an average observation span for a single arc of 11 LEO observation targets was about 5 min, while an average optical observation separation time was 5 h. We estimated the position and velocity with an atmospheric drag coefficient of LEO observation targets using a sequential-batch orbit estimation technique after multi-arc batch orbit estimation. Post-fit residuals for the multi-arc batch orbit estimation and sequential-batch orbit estimation were analyzed for the optical measurements and reference orbit (CPF and GPS data. The post-fit residuals with reference show few tens-of-meters errors for in-track direction for multi-arc batch and sequential-batch orbit estimation results.

Characterisation of rebound depolarisation in mice deep dorsal horn neurons in vitro.

Science.gov (United States)

Rivera-Arconada, Ivan; Lopez-Garcia, Jose A

2015-09-01

Spinal dorsal horn neurons constitute the first relay for pain processing and participate in the processing of other sensory, motor and autonomic information. At the cellular level, intrinsic excitability is a factor contributing to network function. In turn, excitability is set by the array of ionic conductance expressed by neurons. Here, we set out to characterise rebound depolarisation following hyperpolarisation, a feature frequently described in dorsal horn neurons but never addressed in depth. To this end, an in vitro preparation of the spinal cord from mice pups was used combined with whole-cell recordings in current and voltage clamp modes. Results show the expression of H- and/or T-type currents in a significant proportion of dorsal horn neurons. The expression of these currents determines the presence of rebound behaviour at the end of hyperpolarising pulses. T-type calcium currents were associated to high-amplitude rebounds usually involving high-frequency action potential firing. H-currents were associated to low-amplitude rebounds less prone to elicit firing or firing at lower frequencies. For a large proportion of neurons expressing both currents, the H-current constitutes a mechanism to ensure a faster response after hyperpolarisations, adjusting the latency of the rebound firing. We conclude that rebound depolarisation and firing are intrinsic factors to many dorsal horn neurons that may constitute a mechanism to integrate somatosensory information in the spinal cord, allowing for a rapid switch from inhibited-to-excited states.

High population density of Little Owl (Athene noctua) in Hortobagy National Park, Hungary, Central Europe

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Šálek, Martin; Chrenková, M.; Kipson, M.

2013-01-01

Roč. 61, č. 1 (2013), s. 165-169 ISSN 1505-2249 Institutional support: RVO:68081766 Keywords : Little Owl * population density * distribution * breeding places * Hortobagy National Park * Hungary Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour Impact factor: 0.554, year: 2013

Chemical and isotopic studies of granitic Archean rocks, Owl Creek Mountains, Wyoming: Geochronology of an Archean granite, Owl Creek Mountains, Wyoming

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hedge, C.E.; Simmons, K.R.; Stuckless, J.S.

1986-01-01

Rubidium-strontium analyses of whole-rock samples of an Archean granite from the Owl Creek Mountains, Wyo., indicate an intrusive age of 2640 ± 125 Ma. Muscovite-bearing samples give results suggesting that these samples were altered about 2300 Ma. This event may have caused extensive strontium loss from the rocks as potassium feldspar was altered to muscovite. Alteration was highly localized in nature as evidence by unaffected rubidium-strontium mineral ages in the Owl Creek Mountains area. Furthermore, the event probably involved a small volume of fluid relative to the volume of rock because whole-rock δ 18 O values of altered rocks are not distinct from those of unaltered rocks. In contrast to the rubidium-strontium whole-rock system, zircons from the granite have been so severely affected by the alteration event, and possibly by a late-Precambrian uplift event, that the zircon system yields little usable age information. The average initial 87 Sr/ 86 Sr (0.7033 ± 0.0042) calculated from the isochron intercept varies significantly. Calculated initial 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios for nine apparently unaltered samples yield a range of 0.7025 to 0.7047. These calculated initial ratios correlate positively with whole-rock δ 18 O values; and, therefore, the granite was probably derived from an isotopically heterogeneous source. The highest initial 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratio is lower than the lowest reported for the metamorphic rocks intruded by the granite as it would have existed at 2640 Ma. Thus, the metamorphic sequence, at its current level of exposure, can represent no more than a part of the protolith for the granite

Design of the Fermilab neutrino horn train system referenced to radioactive maintenance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grimson, J.; Lindberg, J.; Simon, J.; Theriot, D.

1975-01-01

A high-energy physics device known as a Horn, which operates at 140,000 A and 8 kV, has unique problems in keeping it operationally serviced after being exposed to 300- to 400-GeV protons and 1 to 5 x 10 13 protons per pulse. A modular system consisting of two horns, one cooled by a pulsed water spray and the other by forced air cooling, along with their associated utilities and instrumentation, was designed for primary servicing using electric master-slave manipulators and TV viewing

Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger paradoxes for N N-dimensional systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaszlikowski, Dagomir; Zukowski, Marek

2002-01-01

We show the series of Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger-like paradoxes for N maximally entangled N-dimensional quantum systems. The hypothesis of local hidden variables leads to a prediction of perfect correlations that do not appear for the quantum systems

Long-term data set of small mammals from owl pellets in the Atlantic-Mediterranean transition area.

Science.gov (United States)

Escribano, Nora; Galicia, David; Ariño, Arturo H; Escala, Carmen

2016-09-27

We describe the pellet sampling data set from the Vertebrate Collection of the Museum of Zoology of the University of Navarra. This data set compiles all information about small mammals obtained from the analysis of owl pellets. The collection consists on skulls, mandibles, and some skeletons of 36 species of more than 72,000 georeferenced specimens. These specimens come from the Iberian Peninsula although most samples were collected in Navarra, a highly diverse transitional area of 10,000 kilometre square sitting across three biogeographical regions. The collection spans more than forty years and is still growing as a result of the establishment of a barn owl pellet monitoring network in 2015. The program will provide critical information about the evolution of the small mammals' community in this transition zone as it changes over time.

Spotted owl ecology: theory and methodology—a reply to Rosenberg et al.

Science.gov (United States)

A.B. Carey

1995-01-01

In their remarks on the study of Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis) by Carey et al. (1992). Rosenberg et al. (1994) questioned the appropriateness of certain analyses and methods, and specific interpretation of the results. Herein, I respond to the comments of Rosenberg et al. (1994), which are summarized in italics.Sample sizes were nor...

Cutaneous horn and thermal keratosis in erythema AB igne

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sood Apra

2002-01-01

Full Text Available A 46 - year - old Kashmiri lady developed erythema ab igne on both legs. She subsequently developed multiple keratoses and a cutaneous horn in the involved skin. An uncommon association of these three clinical conditions is being presented.

European monitoring for raptors and owls: state of the art and future needs.

Science.gov (United States)

Kovács, András; Mammen, Ubbo C C; Wernham, Chris V

2008-09-01

Sixty-four percent of the 56 raptor and owl species that occur in Europe have an unfavorable conservation status. As well as requiring conservation measures in their own right, raptors and owls function as useful sentinels of wider environmental "health," because they are widespread top predators, relatively easy to monitor, and sensitive to environmental changes at a range of geographical scales. At a time of global acknowledgment of an increasing speed of biodiversity loss, and new, forward-looking and related European Union biodiversity policy, there is an urgent need to improve coordination at a pan-European scale of national initiatives that seek to monitor raptor populations. Here we describe current initiatives that make a contribution to this aim, particularly the current "MEROS" program, the results of a questionnaire survey on the current state of national raptor monitoring across 22 BirdLife Partners in Europe, the challenges faced by any enhanced pan-European monitoring scheme for raptors, and some suggested pathways for efficiently tapping expertise to contribute to such an initiative.

Radioactivity levels in mussels and sediments of the Golden Horn by the Bosphorus Strait, Marmara Sea.

Science.gov (United States)

Kılıç, Önder; Belivermiş, Murat; Gözel, Furkan; Carvalho, Fernando P

2014-09-15

The Golden Horn is an estuary located in the center of İstanbul receiving freshwater discharges from two creeks and connecting to the Bosphorus Strait. Activity concentrations of natural and artificial radionuclides were determined in mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) and sediments from the Golden Horn sampled in February 2012. Mean activity concentrations of (137)Cs, (40)K, (226)Ra, (228)Ra, (210)Po and (210)Pb in the mussels were determined at 1.03±0.23, 389±41.6, 2.61±1.23, not detected (ND), 91.96±37.88 and 11.48±4.85 Bq kg(-1), respectively. In sediments, it was observed that (137)Cs, (40)K, (226)Ra, (228)Ra, (210)Po and (210)Pb activity concentrations inolden Horn were much lower than in mussels from other coastal regions and this was related to low plankton productivity and eutrophication of the Golden Horn. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Minoan "Horns Of Concecration" Revisited: A Symbol Of Sun Worship In Palatial And Post-Palatial Crete?

Science.gov (United States)

Banou, Emilia

In this article a previously proposed interpretation of Minoan 'horns of consecration' as a symbol of sun is reexamined. A clay model of 'horns of consecration' from the peak sanctuary of Petsophas, the results of astronomical research on Minoan peak sanctuaries, the idols of the so-called 'Goddess with Upraised Arms" and a clay model of 'horns of consecration' from the Mycenaean cemetery of Tanagra are put forward as evidence for a possible adoption - or a parallel development under the influence of adjacent cultures - by the Minoans (and by the Mycenaeans, at least after 1400 B.C.) of religious notions related to the Egyptian symbols of the 'mountain' and the 'horizon', both connected with the Sun in Egyptian cosmology and religion. It is concluded that the 'horns of consecration' may represent a practical device as well as an abstract symbol of the Sun, a symbol of catholic importance, which embraced many aspects of Minoan religious activities as represented on Minoan iconography.

Validation of the openEHR archetype library by using OWL reasoning.

Science.gov (United States)

Menárguez-Tortosa, Marcos; Fernández-Breis, Jesualdo Tomás

2011-01-01

Electronic Health Record architectures based on the dual model architecture use archetypes for representing clinical knowledge. Therefore, ensuring their correctness and consistency is a fundamental research goal. In this work, we explore how an approach based on OWL technologies can be used for such purpose. This method has been applied to the openEHR archetype repository, which is the largest available one nowadays. The results of this validation are also reported in this study.

AA, inner conductor of a magnetic horn

CERN Multimedia

CERN PhotoLab

1981-01-01

At the start-up of the AA and during its initial operation, magnetic horns focused the antiprotons emanating from the production target. These "current-sheet lenses" had a thin inner conductor (for minimum absorption of antiprotons), machined from aluminium to wall thicknesses of 0.7 or 1 mm. The half-sine pulses rose to 150 kA in 8 microsec. The angular acceptance was 50 mrad.

Electroacupuncture reduces the evoked responses of the spinal dorsal horn neurons in ankle-sprained rats

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jae Hyo; Kim, Hee Young; Chung, Kyungsoon

2011-01-01

Acupuncture is shown to be effective in producing analgesia in ankle sprain pain in humans and animals. To examine the underlying mechanisms of the acupuncture-induced analgesia, the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) on weight-bearing forces (WBR) of the affected foot and dorsal horn neuron activities were examined in a rat model of ankle sprain. Ankle sprain was induced manually by overextending ligaments of the left ankle in the rat. Dorsal horn neuron responses to ankle movements or compression were recorded from the lumbar spinal cord using an in vivo extracellular single unit recording setup 1 day after ankle sprain. EA was applied to the SI-6 acupoint on the right forelimb (contralateral to the sprained ankle) by trains of electrical pulses (10 Hz, 1-ms pulse width, 2-mA intensity) for 30 min. After EA, WBR of the sprained foot significantly recovered and dorsal horn neuron activities were significantly suppressed in ankle-sprained rats. However, EA produced no effect in normal rats. The inhibitory effect of EA on hyperactivities of dorsal horn neurons of ankle-sprained rats was blocked by the α-adrenoceptor antagonist phentolamine (5 mg/kg ip) but not by the opioid receptor antagonist naltrexone (10 mg/kg ip). These data suggest that EA-induced analgesia in ankle sprain pain is mediated mainly by suppressing dorsal horn neuron activities through α-adrenergic descending inhibitory systems at the spinal level. PMID:21389301

Independent pseudogenization of CYP2J19 in penguins, owls and kiwis implicates gene in red carotenoid synthesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Emerling, Christopher A

2018-01-01

Carotenoids have important roles in bird behavior, including pigmentation for sexual signaling and improving color vision via retinal oil droplets. Yellow carotenoids are diet-derived, but red carotenoids (ketocarotenoids) are typically synthesized from yellow precursors via a carotenoid ketolase. Recent research on passerines has provided evidence that a cytochrome p450 enzyme, CYP2J19, is responsible for this reaction, though it is unclear if this function is phylogenetically restricted. Here I provide evidence that CYP2J19 is the carotenoid ketolase common to Aves using the genomes of 65 birds and the retinal transcriptomes of 15 avian taxa. CYP2J19 is functionally intact and robustly transcribed in all taxa except for several species adapted to foraging in dim light conditions. Two penguins, an owl and a kiwi show evidence of genetic lesions and relaxed selection in their genomic copy of CYP2J19, and six owls show evidence of marked reduction in CYP2J19 retinal transcription compared to nine diurnal avian taxa. Furthermore, one of the owls appears to transcribe a CYP2J19 pseudogene. Notably, none of these taxa are known to use red carotenoids for sexual signaling and several species of owls and penguins represent the only birds known to completely lack red retinal oil droplets. The remaining avian taxa belong to groups known to possess red oil droplets, are known or expected to deposit red carotenoids in skin and/or plumage, and/or frequently forage in bright light. The loss and reduced expression of CYP2J19 is likely an adaptation to maximize retinal sensitivity, given that oil droplets reduce the amount of light available to the retina. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Event review: 1st Annual Outdoors Without Limits (OWL knap-in, Comer, Georgia, U.S.A.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael James Miller

2014-09-01

Full Text Available In June of 2014, Outdoors Without Limits (OWL, a national non-profit organization that promotes awareness and teamwork between disabled and non-disabled individuals, sponsored their first knap-in and primitive skills gathering.

Differences on Six Horn Abilities for 14 Age Groups between 15-16 and 75-94 Years.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaufman, Alan S.; And Others

1996-01-01

Six abilities derived from the fluid and crystallized intelligence theory of J. L. Horn were studied with 1,193 individuals in age groups between 15 and 94 years. Results supported Horn's classification of crystallized and quantitative as maintained abilities and of fluid and broad visualization as vulnerable abilities. (SLD)

Territories of flammulated owls (Otus flammeolus): Is occupancy a measure of habitat quality?

Science.gov (United States)

Brian D. Linkhart; Richard T. Reynolds

1997-01-01

Annual territory occupancy by Flammulated Owls (Otus flammeolus) in Colorado was evaluated from 1981-1996. Fourteen territories occurred within a 452 ha study area. Each year, three to six territories were occupied by breeding pairs and three to seven were occupied by unpaired males. Territories were occupied by breeding pairs a mean of 5.1 years (...

Developing and managing sustainable forest ecosystems for spotted owls in the Sierra Nevada

Science.gov (United States)

J. Verner; K.S. McKelvey

1994-01-01

Studies of the California spotted owl have revealed significant selection for habitats with large, old trees; relatively high basal areas of snags; and relatively high biomass in large, downed logs. Based on planning documents for national forests in the Sierra Nevada, we projected declining amounts of older-forest attributes. Region 5 has adopted measures to retain...

Clinical utility of a complete diagnostic protocol for the ocular evaluation of free-living raptors.

Science.gov (United States)

Labelle, Amber L; Whittington, Julia K; Breaux, Carrie B; Labelle, Philippe; Mitchell, Mark A; Zarfoss, Mitzi K; Schmidt, Stephanie A; Hamor, Ralph E

2012-01-01

  To describe a protocol for the examination of free-living raptors and report the ophthalmic examination findings of seven raptor species native to central Illinois, namely the barred owl, Cooper's hawk, eastern screech owl, great horned owl, American kestrel, red-tailed hawk, and turkey vulture and to determine if the findings relative to visual prognosis affected eligibility for future release.   Seventy-nine free-living raptors.   Under manual restraint, complete ophthalmic examination including slit-lamp biomicroscopy and indirect funduscopy, applanation tonometry, rebound tonometry, ocular morphometrics, B-mode ultrasound, and electroretinography (ERG) were performed on each bird. Histopathology of enucleated globes was performed after euthanasia or death in selected cases.   The examination protocol was easily performed using manual restraint alone on all birds. Ocular lesions were detected in 48.1% of birds, with 47.3% affected unilaterally and 52.6% affected bilaterally. Ocular lesions were considered to be vision threatening in 29.0% of the unilaterally affected birds and 29.0% of the bilaterally affected birds. The most common case outcomes were discharge from hospital to rehabilitation facility (45.6%) followed by euthanasia (43.0%). The presence of an ocular lesion or a vision-threatening ocular lesion was not significantly associated with outcome. Reference ranges are reported for B-mode ultrasound, ocular morphometrics, and horizontal corneal diameter in all species.   Complete ophthalmic examination can be supplemented by the use of ocular morphometrics, ultrasound, and ERG in the manually restrained raptor. These advanced diagnostic techniques may be useful in developing more objective criteria for evaluating eligibility for release following rehabilitation of free-living birds of prey. © 2011 American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists.

The use of feathers in monitoring bioaccumulation of metals and metalloids in the South African endangered African grass-owl (Tyto capensis).

Science.gov (United States)

Ansara-Ross, T M; Ross, M J; Wepener, V

2013-08-01

Few studies have quantified metals in South African species and no published data on residues specifically in South African owl feathers exist. Tyto capensis is listed as vulnerable within South Africa, making it preferable to use a non-invasive technique to determine metal bioaccumulation for this species. Comparisons are made with the cosmopolitan T. alba to determine whether this species could be used as a surrogate. Concentrations of various metals were thus determined in feathers of the two species and compared with liver and muscle samples. Samples were taken from 119 owls collected as road kill along a national road. A comparison of concentrations in feathers revealed similarly higher concentrations of aluminium, antimony, lead, nickel, and strontium, whereas concentrations of chromium, copper, iron, manganese, selenium, titanium and zinc were similarly higher in internal tissues for both species. Metal concentrations of owls were comparable to those reported in literature and below toxic levels, suggesting that these metals were not likely to impact the owls. Further regressions between feathers and corresponding livers were examined to determine if feathers were indicative of internal metal burdens. Significant positive relationships were found for aluminium, copper, lead, nickel and vanadium in T. alba and nickel, manganese and vanadium in T. capensis. Preliminary results support the feasibility of using feathers as non-destructive indicators of environmental contamination in T. capensis although caution needs to be taken when interpreting the results.

Cue Reliability Represented in the Shape of Tuning Curves in the Owl's Sound Localization System.

Science.gov (United States)

Cazettes, Fanny; Fischer, Brian J; Peña, Jose L

2016-02-17

Optimal use of sensory information requires that the brain estimates the reliability of sensory cues, but the neural correlate of cue reliability relevant for behavior is not well defined. Here, we addressed this issue by examining how the reliability of spatial cue influences neuronal responses and behavior in the owl's auditory system. We show that the firing rate and spatial selectivity changed with cue reliability due to the mechanisms generating the tuning to the sound localization cue. We found that the correlated variability among neurons strongly depended on the shape of the tuning curves. Finally, we demonstrated that the change in the neurons' selectivity was necessary and sufficient for a network of stochastic neurons to predict behavior when sensory cues were corrupted with noise. This study demonstrates that the shape of tuning curves can stand alone as a coding dimension of environmental statistics. In natural environments, sensory cues are often corrupted by noise and are therefore unreliable. To make the best decisions, the brain must estimate the degree to which a cue can be trusted. The behaviorally relevant neural correlates of cue reliability are debated. In this study, we used the barn owl's sound localization system to address this question. We demonstrated that the mechanisms that account for spatial selectivity also explained how neural responses changed with degraded signals. This allowed for the neurons' selectivity to capture cue reliability, influencing the population readout commanding the owl's sound-orienting behavior. Copyright © 2016 the authors 0270-6474/16/362101-10$15.00/0.

Decomposition by tree dimension in Horn clause verification

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kafle, Bishoksan; Gallagher, John Patrick; Ganty, Pierre

2015-01-01

In this paper we investigate the use of the concept of tree dimension in Horn clause analysis and verification. The dimension of a tree is a measure of its non-linearity - for example a list of any length has dimension zero while a complete binary tree has dimension equal to its height. We apply ...

45-110 GHz Quad-Ridge Horn With Stable Gain and Symmetric Beam

Science.gov (United States)

Manafi, Sara; Al-Tarifi, Muhannad; Filipovic, Dejan S.

2017-09-01

A quad-ridge horn antenna with stabilized gain and minimum difference between Eand H-plane half-power beamwidths (HPBWs) is demonstrated for operation over 45-110 GHz bandwidth. Multistep flaring and corrugations on a finite ground plane are applied to obtain stable radiation patterns with 16-dBi minimum gain over the entire range. The computational studies are validated through measurements of a 3-D printed prototype using the direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) process. Accurate fabrication with achieved surface roughness of DMLS is a viable fabrication process for wideband horn antennas at millimeter-wave frequencies.

Three-dimensional distribution of sensory stimulation-evoked neuronal activity of spinal dorsal horn neurons analyzed by in vivo calcium imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Nishida, Kazuhiko; Matsumura, Shinji; Taniguchi, Wataru; Uta, Daisuke; Furue, Hidemasa; Ito, Seiji

2014-01-01

The spinal dorsal horn comprises heterogeneous populations of interneurons and projection neurons, which form neuronal circuits crucial for processing of primary sensory information. Although electrophysiological analyses have uncovered sensory stimulation-evoked neuronal activity of various spinal dorsal horn neurons, monitoring these activities from large ensembles of neurons is needed to obtain a comprehensive view of the spinal dorsal horn circuitry. In the present study, we established in vivo calcium imaging of multiple spinal dorsal horn neurons by using a two-photon microscope and extracted three-dimensional neuronal activity maps of these neurons in response to cutaneous sensory stimulation. For calcium imaging, a fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based calcium indicator protein, Yellow Cameleon, which is insensitive to motion artifacts of living animals was introduced into spinal dorsal horn neurons by in utero electroporation. In vivo calcium imaging following pinch, brush, and heat stimulation suggests that laminar distribution of sensory stimulation-evoked neuronal activity in the spinal dorsal horn largely corresponds to that of primary afferent inputs. In addition, cutaneous pinch stimulation elicited activities of neurons in the spinal cord at least until 2 spinal segments away from the central projection field of primary sensory neurons responsible for the stimulated skin point. These results provide a clue to understand neuronal processing of sensory information in the spinal dorsal horn.

Three-dimensional distribution of sensory stimulation-evoked neuronal activity of spinal dorsal horn neurons analyzed by in vivo calcium imaging.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kazuhiko Nishida

Full Text Available The spinal dorsal horn comprises heterogeneous populations of interneurons and projection neurons, which form neuronal circuits crucial for processing of primary sensory information. Although electrophysiological analyses have uncovered sensory stimulation-evoked neuronal activity of various spinal dorsal horn neurons, monitoring these activities from large ensembles of neurons is needed to obtain a comprehensive view of the spinal dorsal horn circuitry. In the present study, we established in vivo calcium imaging of multiple spinal dorsal horn neurons by using a two-photon microscope and extracted three-dimensional neuronal activity maps of these neurons in response to cutaneous sensory stimulation. For calcium imaging, a fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET-based calcium indicator protein, Yellow Cameleon, which is insensitive to motion artifacts of living animals was introduced into spinal dorsal horn neurons by in utero electroporation. In vivo calcium imaging following pinch, brush, and heat stimulation suggests that laminar distribution of sensory stimulation-evoked neuronal activity in the spinal dorsal horn largely corresponds to that of primary afferent inputs. In addition, cutaneous pinch stimulation elicited activities of neurons in the spinal cord at least until 2 spinal segments away from the central projection field of primary sensory neurons responsible for the stimulated skin point. These results provide a clue to understand neuronal processing of sensory information in the spinal dorsal horn.

Meteorological explanation of wake clouds at Horns Rev wind farm

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Emeis, S. [Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany). Inst. for Meteorology and Climate Research

2010-08-15

The occurrence of wake clouds at Horns Rev wind farm is explained as mixing fog. Mixing fog forms when two nearly saturated air masses with different temperature are mixed. Due to the non-linearity of the dependence of the saturation water vapour pressure on temperature, the mixed air mass is over-saturated and condensation sets in. On the day in February 2008, when the wake clouds were observed at Horns Rev, cold and very humid air was advected from the nearby land over the warmer North Sea and led to the formation of a shallow layer with sea smoke or fog close above the sea surface. The turbines mixed a much deeper layer and thus provoked the formation of cloud trails in the wakes of the turbines. (orig.)

Survival of male Tengmalm’s owls increases with cover of old forest in the territory

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hakkarainen, H.; Korpimäki, E.; Laaksonen, T.; Nikula, A.; Suorsa, P.

2008-01-01

The loss and fragmentation of forest habitats have been considered to pose a worldwide threat to the viability of forest-dwelling animals, especially to species that occupy old forests. We investigated whether the annual survival of sedentary male Tengmalm’s owls Aegolius funereus was associated

Entrapment of the Temporal Horn as a Cause of Pure Wernicke Aphasia: Case Report.

Science.gov (United States)

Spallone, Aldo; Belvisi, Daniele; Marsili, Luca

2015-07-01

Entrapment of the temporal horn is an extremely rare pathologic condition occurring as a result of surgery for tumors, intraventricular infections, hemorrhage, or traumatic events involving the peritrigonal area. We report a case of a 58-year-old man who presented with pure Wernicke aphasia (never described before in the albeit rare cases of isolated temporal horn dilatation) that regressed completely following successful ventriculoperitoneal shunting. The relevant literature is also briefly reviewed.

Late-successional forests and northern spotted owls: how effective is the Northwest Forest Plan?

Science.gov (United States)

Miles Hemstrom; Martin G. Raphael

2000-01-01

This paper describes the late-successional and old-growth forest and the northern spotted owl effectiveness monitoring plans for the Northwest Forest Plan. The effectiveness monitoring plan for late-successional and old-growth forests will track changes in forest spatial distribution, and within-stand structure and composition, and it will predict future trends.

Brain, memory and development : the imprint of Gabriel Horn

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bolhuis, Johan J; Brown, Malcolm W; Johnson, Mark H

2015-01-01

This special issue of Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews is dedicated to the memory of Sir Gabriel Horn, who died on 2nd August 2012. In his impressive career that spanned more than 50 years (Bolhuis and Johnson, 2012; Brown, 2013), Horn’s contributions to cognitive neuroscience consistently

Calibration of the SH134-20 Standard Gain Horn

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pivnenko, Sergey; Breinbjerg, Olav

This report documents the measurement of the linearly polarized SH134-20 Standard Gain Horn. The measurement comprises on-axis gain, on-axis polarization characteristics, and reflection coefficient at 111 frequencies in the frequency range from 22-33 GHz. The measurement was carried out at the DTU...

Barn Owl (Tyto alba Diet Composition on Intensively Used Agricultural Land in the Danube Lowland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomáš Veselovský

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Based on pellets analysis from five localities in south western Slovakia (Malá Mužla, Malé Ripňany, Obid, Opatovský Sokolec and Tešedíkovo, we studied the diet composition of Barn Owl (Tyto alba in intensively cultivated agricultural lands. A total of 6218 specimens of prey, 17 mammalian and 7 bird species were identified. The main prey species found in all food samples was the Common Vole (Microtus arvalis, varying between 56 % and 67 %. The proportion of synanthropic species (Rattus norvegicus, Passer domesticus and species inhabiting agricultural landscapes (Crocidura leucodon, Crocidura suaveolens, Mus sp. increases in localities with a lower ratio of the Common Vole. The results suggest land use affects the diet of Barn Owls, confirming conclusions which have been drawn in previous studies. From faunistic point of view, discovering the Pannonian Root Vole (Microtus oeconomus mehelyi in the diet from Malá Mužla was important.

Quantitative and Qualitative Composition of Diet of the Ural Owl, Strix Uralensi (Strigidae, Strigiformes, in the Central Part of European Russia (The Example of the Republic of Mordovia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andreychev A.

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The results of the study of the Ural Owl feeding spectrum are presented. In Russia the Ural owl eats over twenty species of mammals, thirty bird species and a number of animals of other classes. The research tasks included the identification of the species of the victims of a large owl in Mordovia, their quantitative data and the characteristics of osteological material from pellets. It was found out that mammals, in particular rodents, are the basis for the Ural owl food. The Ural Owl’s diet consists mainly of gray voles (47.7 %. On the second place there is a red vole (31.4 %. The share of mice is only 7.3 %. Th e predator hunts for the forest mouse most oft en. In pellets the mass fraction of bone remains varies in the range from 3.4 to 44.8 %. Th e average proportion of bone remains is, as a rule, up to 25 %, with the content of only one or two small rodents in pellets; the remains of three to six individuals - up to 45 % of the weight of dry pellet. Among all the bones of mammals, the lower jaws, femoral and tibia bones give the greatest information about the number and composition of victims of the Ural owl. In pellets the brachial and nameless bones of the victims are presented in smaller numbers.

Hard bottom substrate monitoring Horns Rev offshore wind farm. Annual status report 2003

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Leonhard, S.B.; Pedersen, John

2004-05-15

Elsam and Eltra built the offshore demonstration wind farm at Horns Rev in the North Sea. Elsam is the owner and is responsible for the operation of the wind farm. Eltra is responsible for the connection of the wind farm to the national onshore grid. In the summer months of 2002, Elsam constructed the world's largest offshore wind farm off the Danish west coast. The wind farm is sited 14-20 km into the North Sea, west of Blaevands Huk. The first wind turbine was erected in May 2002 and the last wind turbine tower of a total of 80 was in place by August 2002. The construction work was completed with the last connecting cables sluiced down in September 2002. All the wind turbines were in production by December 2002. The expected impact of the wind farm will primarily be an alternation of habitats due to the introduction of hard bottom substrates as wind turbine towers and scour protections. A continuous development in the epifouling communities will be expected together with an introduction of new or alien species in the area. The indigenous benthic community in the area of Horns Rev can be characterised by infauna species belonging to the Goniadella-Spisula community. This community is typical of sandbanks in the North Sea area, although communities in such areas are very variable and site-specific. Character species used as indicators for environmental changes in the Horns Rev area are the bristle worms Goniadella bobretzkii, Ophelia borealis, Psione remota and Orbinia sertulata and the mussels Goodallia triangularis and Spisula solida. In connection with the implementation of the monitoring programme concerning the ecological impact of the introduction of hard substrate related to the Horns Rev Wind Farm, surveys on hard bottom substrate was conducted in March 2003 and in September 2003. This report describes the first year results of surveys on hard substrate after the completion of the offshore wind farm at Horns Rev. (au)

Large acceptance magnetic focussing horns for production of a high intensity narrow band neutrino beam at the AGS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carroll, A.; Chimienti, L.; Leonhardt, W.; Monaghan, R.; Ryan, G.; Sandberg, J.; Sims, W.; Smith, G.; Stillman, P.; Thorwarth, H.

1985-01-01

A set of two large acceptance (20 to 140 mrad) horns have been designed and built to form a parallel beam of 3 GeV/c pions and kaons for the production of an intense, dichromatic neutrino beam. A set of beam plugs and collimators determined the momentum of the particles which pass through the horns. The cooling and maintenance of the horns and target was a particular concern since they were operated with an incident intensity of over 10/sup 13/ proton/sec. These systems were designed for simplicity, reliability, and easy replacement.

Large acceptance magnetic focussing horns for production of a high intensity narrow band neutrino beam at the AGS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carroll, A.; Chimienti, L.; Leonhardt, W.

1985-01-01

A set of two large acceptance (20 to 140 mrad) horns have been designed and built to form a parallel beam of 3 GeV/c pions and kaons for the production of an intense, dichromatic neutrino beam. A set of beam plugs and collimators determined the momentum of the particles which pass through the horns. The cooling and maintenance of the horns and target was a particular concern since they were operated with an incident intensity of over 10 13 proton/sec. These systems were designed for simplicity, reliability, and easy replacement

On the equivalence of the Clauser–Horne and Eberhard inequality based tests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khrennikov, Andrei; Ramelow, Sven; Ursin, Rupert; Wittmann, Bernhard; Kofler, Johannes; Basieva, Irina

2014-01-01

Recently, the results of the first experimental test for entangled photons closing the detection loophole (also referred to as the fair sampling loophole) were published (Vienna, 2013). From the theoretical viewpoint the main distinguishing feature of this long-aspired to experiment was that the Eberhard inequality was used. Almost simultaneously another experiment closing this loophole was performed (Urbana-Champaign, 2013) and it was based on the Clauser–Horne inequality (for probabilities). The aim of this note is to analyze the mathematical and experimental equivalence of tests based on the Eberhard inequality and various forms of the Clauser–Horne inequality. The structure of the mathematical equivalence is nontrivial. In particular, it is necessary to distinguish between algebraic and statistical equivalence. Although the tests based on these inequalities are algebraically equivalent, they need not be equivalent statistically, i.e., theoretically the level of statistical significance can drop under transition from one test to another (at least for finite samples). Nevertheless, the data collected in the Vienna test implies not only a statistically significant violation of the Eberhard inequality, but also of the Clauser–Horne inequality (in the ratio-rate form): for both a violation >60σ. (paper)

Models for mapping potential habitat at landscape scales: an example using northern spotted owls.

Science.gov (United States)

William C. McComb; Michael T. McGrath; Thomas A. Spies; David. Vesely

2002-01-01

We are assessing the potential for current and alternative policies in the Oregon Coast Range to affect habitat capability for a suite of forest resources. We provide an example of a spatially explicit habitat capability model for northern spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina)to illustrate the approach we are taking to assess potential changes...

Clutch size variation in Tawny Owls (Strix aluco) from adjacent valley systems: can this be used as a surrogate to investigate temporal and spatial variations in vole density?

Science.gov (United States)

Steve J. Petty; Billy L. Fawkes

1997-01-01

Research on Tawny Owls (Strix aluco) in Kielder Forest, northern England, since 1981 demonstrated that field voles (Microtus agrestis) were their most important food. Here, field voles exhibited a 3-4 year cycle of abundance, and mean clutch size in Tawny Owls was significantly related to vole abundance in March. In this analysis...

Using population viability analysis, genomics, and habitat suitability to forecast future population patterns of Little Owl Athene noctua across Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Andersen, Line Holm; Sunde, Peter; Pellegrino, Irene; Loeschcke, Volker; Pertoldi, Cino

2017-12-01

The agricultural scene has changed over the past decades, resulting in a declining population trend in many species. It is therefore important to determine the factors that the individual species depend on in order to understand their decline. The landscape changes have also resulted in habitat fragmentation, turning once continuous populations into metapopulations. It is thus increasingly important to estimate both the number of individuals it takes to create a genetically viable population and the population trend. Here, population viability analysis and habitat suitability modeling were used to estimate population viability and future prospects across Europe of the Little Owl Athene noctua , a widespread species associated with agricultural landscapes. The results show a high risk of population declines over the coming 100 years, especially toward the north of Europe, whereas populations toward the southeastern part of Europe have a greater probability of persistence. In order to be considered genetically viable, individual populations must count 1,000-30,000 individuals. As Little Owl populations of several countries count <30,000, and many isolated populations in northern Europe count <1,000 individuals, management actions resulting in exchange of individuals between populations or even countries are probably necessary to prevent losing <1% genetic diversity over a 100-year period. At a continental scale, a habitat suitability analysis suggested Little Owl to be affected positively by increasing temperatures and urban areas, whereas an increased tree cover, an increasing annual rainfall, grassland, and sparsely vegetated areas affect the presence of the owl negatively. However, the low predictive power of the habitat suitability model suggests that habitat suitability might be better explained at a smaller scale.

West nile virus anti-body surveillance in three Sierra Nevada raptors of conservation concern

Science.gov (United States)

J.M. Hull; J.J. Keane; L.A. Tell; H.B. Ernest

2010-01-01

West Nile virus (WNV) infection has caused high levels of mortality in North American hawks and owls. To investigate the extent of infection among raptors of conservation concern in the Sierra Nevada, we tested 62 Northern Goshawks (Accipiter gentilis), 209 Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis), and 22 Great Gray Owls (...

[The unicorn and the unicorn horn among apothecaries and physicians].

Science.gov (United States)

Fischer, Louis-Paul; Cossu Ferra Fischer, Véronique

2011-01-01

In the 4th century A.D. the first unicorn was shown as a little horse with a twisted horn and was completely different from the Oriental one described by Marco Polo. The new unicorn appeared during the 4th century A.D. in Alexandria. This animal enamoured of purity was used as a Christian symbol of purity and sacrifice and adornment of churches like in Lyons in the 13th century. In the 15th & 17th centuries the unicorn was found again in famous tapestries like La Dame B la Licorne as it meant courage, speed and purity. Since the 6th century the powder of unicorn horn was used as a medicine or a drug against poisoning. Depictions of unicorn can be found in chemist's signs, engravings or paintings until the 19th century.

Abundance and population characteristics of Northern Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) in Olympic National Park, Washington

Science.gov (United States)

D. Erran Seaman

1997-01-01

We monitored the threatened Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) in Olympic National Park from 1992 through 1996. We used a stratified random sampling scheme to survey 35 plots totaling 236 km?, approximately 10 percent of the forested area of the park.

Parity modifies endocrine hormones in urine and problem-solving strategies of captive owl monkeys (Aotus spp.).

Science.gov (United States)

Bardi, Massimo; Eckles, Meredith; Kirk, Emily; Landis, Timothy; Evans, Sian; Lambert, Kelly G

2014-12-01

Parental behavior modifies neural, physiologic, and behavioral characteristics of both maternal and paternal mammals. These parenting-induced modifications extend to brain regions not typically associated with parental responses themselves but that enhance ancillary responses, such as foraging efficiency and predator avoidance. Here we hypothesized that male and female owl monkeys (Aotus spp.) with reproductive experience (RE) would demonstrate more adaptive ancillary behavioral and neuroendocrine responses than those of their nonRE counterparts. To assess cognitive skills and coping flexibility, we introduced a foraging strategy task, including a set of novel objects (coin holders) marked with different symbols representing different food rewards, to the animals. To assess endocrine responses, urine samples were assayed for cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) levels and their ratios to determine physiologic measures of emotional regulation in RE and nonRE owl monkeys. Compared with nonRE monkeys, experienced parents had higher DHEA:cortisol ratios after exposure to habituation training and on the first day of testing in the foraging task. Both hormones play critical roles in the stress response and coping mechanisms, and a high DHEA:cortisol ratio usually indicates increased coping skills. In addition, RE monkeys exhibited more efficient foraging responses (by 4-fold) than did the nonRE mating pairs. We conclude that RE modifies relevant behavioral and hormonal responses of both maternal and paternal owl monkeys exposed to a challenging cognitive paradigm. Corroborating previous research demonstrating adaptive modifications in foraging efficiency and emotional responses in reproductively experienced rodents, the current results extend these findings to a monogamous primate species.

Road traffic noise prediction model for heterogeneous traffic based on ASJ-RTN Model 2008 with consideration of horn

Science.gov (United States)

Hustim, M.; Arifin, Z.; Aly, S. H.; Ramli, M. I.; Zakaria, R.; Liputo, A.

2018-04-01

This research aimed to predict the noise produced by the traffic in the road network in Makassar City using ASJ-RTN Model 2008 by calculating the horn sound. Observations were taken at 37 survey points on road side. The observations were conducted at 06.00 - 18.00 and 06.00 - 21.00 which research objects were motorcycle (MC), light vehicle (LV) and heavy vehicle (HV). The observed data were traffic volume, vehicle speed, number of horn and traffic noise using Sound Level Meter Tenmars TM-103. The research result indicates that prediction noise model by calculating the horn sound produces the average noise level value of 78.5 dB having the Pearson’s correlation and RMSE of 0.95 and 0.87. Therefore, ASJ-RTN Model 2008 prediction model by calculating the horn sound is said to be sufficiently good for predicting noise level.

Surveillance test of OWL-2 inpile tube

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shimizu, Masatsugu; Itoh, Noboru

1976-08-01

A series of irradiation surveillance tests performed in integrity evaluation of an inpile tube for the test loop OWL-2 are described. Specimens were exposed to the neutron fluences from 1 x 10 20 to 3.4 x 10 21 n/cm 2 (>1 MeV), and subjected to post-irradiation tensile test at room temperature and service temperature 285 0 C. The strength increased and the ductility decreased with increasing neutron fluence. The reduction in fracture ductility due to neutron irradiation in the fluence range was insignificant, and the elongation of 33% was retained even for the maximum neutron fluence at 285 0 C. Little decrease of the ductility with fluence indicates that the tube would be in service for long time, ie to the integral fluence of 3.4 x 10 21 n/cm 2 . (auth.)

Management of horn gore injury and urticaria in a dairy cow: A case report

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Abdul Nasir Tijjani

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This paper reports how a 4-year old Friesien-Sahiwal cross cow weighing 380 kg with horn gore injury on the left labia of the vulva was managed at the Large Animal Clinic, University Putra Malaysia. The lacerated wound measuring about 4-cm long was originated as a result of horn goring from another cow two weeks prior presentation of the cow to the clinic. Physical examination of the cow incidentally revealed urticaria on the left ventro-lateral aspect of the neck suspected to be sequel of hypersensitivity. The wound was treated by topical application of a mixture of Iodine, Benacillin LA, Biomectin 1% and Ilium Dermapred made into cream. While the uticaria was treated by intramuscular injection of Chlorpheniramine maleate at 0.5 mg/kg bwt. Animal management, housing design and presence of sharp horns are some of the factors that can lead to physical traumatic injuries in dairy cows. [J Adv Vet Anim Res 2015; 2(3.000: 366-368

Occurrence of the saw-whet owl in Florida

Science.gov (United States)

Lesser, F.H.; Stickley, A.R.

1967-01-01

On 31 October 1965 at 1000 hours we observed and collected a Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus) in adult plumage and in apparently good physical condition at Ponte Vedra, St. Johns County, Florida. The bird flew from beneath a truck to a cross beam in a garage adjoining a large, fresh-water, wooded swamp dominated by cabbage palms (Sabal palmetto). We found a regurgitated pellet and a freshly killed, partially eaten cotton mouse (Peromyscus gossypinus) beneath the truck. The bird was sent to Henry M. Stevenson for deposit in Florida State University Museum, Tallahassee (specimen no. 4092b). Dr. Stevenson found that the skull had been shattered and the gonads destroyed in collecting. Total length (before skinning) was 210 mm.

Chapter 6: Research needs for the conservation of the cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl in Arizona

Science.gov (United States)

Jean-Luc E. Cartron; W. Scott Richardson; Deborah M. Finch; David J. Krueper

2000-01-01

In this chapter, we describe research needs for the conservation of the cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl (Glaucidium brasilianum cactorum) in Arizona. Estimates of population size, structure, and dynamics, as well as demographic data, are needed for the recovery team to formulate sound population objectives. Habitat loss due to residential development...

Acute Renal Failure Following the Saharan Horned Viper (Cerastes ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Introduction: The Saharan horned viper (Cerastes cerastes) is a common snake in the sandy and rocky regions in the south of Morocco. Although nearly all snakes with medical relevance can induce acute renal failure (ARF), it's unusual except with bites by some viper species. ARF has very rarely been reported following ...

Issues in treating depression in primary care | Horn | Continuing ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Issues in treating depression in primary care. NR Horn. Abstract. No Abstract. Full Text: EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT · AJOL African Journals Online. HOW TO USE AJOL... for Researchers · for Librarians · for Authors · FAQ's · More about AJOL ...

The distribution of excitatory amino acid receptors on acutely dissociated dorsal horn neurons from postnatal rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Arancio, O; Yoshimura, M; Murase, K; MacDermott, A B

1993-01-01

Excitatory amino acid receptor distribution was mapped on acutely dissociated neurons from postnatal rat spinal cord dorsal horn. N-methyl D-aspartate, quisqualate and kainate were applied to multiple locations along the somal and dendritic surfaces of voltage-clamped neurons by means of a pressure application system. To partially compensate for the decrement of response amplitude due to current loss between the site of activation on the dendrite and the recording electrode at the soma, a solution containing 0.15 M KCl was applied on the cell bodies and dendrites of some cells to estimate an empirical length constant. In the majority of the cells tested, the dendritic membrane had regions of higher sensitivity to excitatory amino acid agonists than the somatic membrane, with dendritic response amplitudes reaching more than seven times those at the cell body. A comparison of the relative changes in sensitivity between each combination of two of the three excitatory amino acid agonists along the same dendrite showed different patterns of agonist sensitivity along the dendrite in the majority of the cells. These data were obtained from dorsal horn neurons that had developed and formed synaptic connections in vivo. They demonstrate that in contrast to observations made on ventral horn neurons, receptor density for all the excitatory amino acid receptors on dorsal horn neurons, including the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor, are generally higher on the dendrites than on the soma. Further, these results are similar to those obtained from dorsal horn neurons grown in culture.

Complex furrows in a 2D epithelial sheet code the 3D structure of a beetle horn.

Science.gov (United States)

Matsuda, Keisuke; Gotoh, Hiroki; Tajika, Yuki; Sushida, Takamichi; Aonuma, Hitoshi; Niimi, Teruyuki; Akiyama, Masakazu; Inoue, Yasuhiro; Kondo, Shigeru

2017-10-24

The external organs of holometabolous insects are generated through two consecutive processes: the development of imaginal primordia and their subsequent transformation into the adult structures. During the latter process, many different phenomena at the cellular level (e.g. cell shape changes, cell migration, folding and unfolding of epithelial sheets) contribute to the drastic changes observed in size and shape. Because of this complexity, the logic behind the formation of the 3D structure of adult external organs remains largely unknown. In this report, we investigated the metamorphosis of the horn in the Japanese rhinoceros beetle Trypoxylus dichotomus. The horn primordia is essentially a 2D epithelial cell sheet with dense furrows. We experimentally unfolded these furrows using three different methods and found that the furrow pattern solely determines the 3D horn structure, indicating that horn formation in beetles occurs by two distinct processes: formation of the furrows and subsequently unfolding them. We postulate that this developmental simplicity offers an inherent advantage to understanding the principles that guide 3D morphogenesis in insects.

The prey composition of the Barn Owl (Tyto alba with respect to landscape structure of its hunting area (Zala County, Hungary

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Szép Dávid

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The prey composition of the Barn Owl (Tyto alba can be monitored indirectly by pellet analysis and we used this method to investigate less known small mammal species of Zala County. The number and abundance of small mammal species depend on the structure of the landscape of Barn Owls’ hunting area, therefore we analysed landscape features in the surrounding circles with 2 km radius around the sampling sites. In 2016 we collected 1106 pellets from 13 sampling localities. From the pellets we identified 21 species of 3022 individuals of small mammals (more than 98% of prey. Among the 21 species there was the rare Parti-colured Bat (Vespertilio murinus and a new species for the county the Steppe Mouse (Mus spicilegus. Positive correlation was found between the diversity of the small mammal fauna of each sampling site and the landscape complexity (number of the landscape patches of the Barn Owl hunting area. Relative abundance of the Wood Mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus showed positive correlation with the number of landscape patches, while the abundance of the Lesser White-toothed Shrew (Crocidura suaveolens, the Miller’s Water Shrew (Neomys anomalus, the Striped Field Mouse (Apodemus agrarius and the Harvest Mouse (Micromys minutus was higher in hunting areas with more homogenous landscapes. Significant correlations were found between the relative abundance of some small mammal species and the landscape structure of the potential hunting area of owls that confirmed the consistency in habitat preference of some species. Our results proved that the prey-composition of Barn Owls reflects the land use through the distribution and abundance of small mammal species, therefore this method is suitable for ecological analyses of landscape.

Emerging landscape degradation trends in the East African Horn

Science.gov (United States)

Pricope, N. G.; Michaelsen, J.; Husak, G. J.; Funk, C. C.; Lopez-Carr, D.

2012-12-01

Increasing climate variability along with declining trends in rainfall represent major risk factors affecting food security in many regions of the world. We identify Africa-wide regions where significant rainfall decreases from 1979-2011 are coupled with significant human population density increases. The rangelands of the East African Horn remain one of the world's most food insecure regions with significantly increasing human populations predominantly dependent on pastoralist and agro-pastoralist livelihoods. Widespread vegetation degradation is occurring, adversely impacting fragile ecosystems and human livelihoods. Using MODIS land cover and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data collected since 2000, we observe significant changes in vegetation patterns and productivity over the last decade across the East African Horn and demonstrate that these two products can be used concurrently at large spatial scales to monitor vegetation dynamics at decadal time scales. Results demonstrate that a near doubling of the population in pastoral regions is linked with hotspots of degradation in vegetation condition. The most significant land cover change and browning trends are observed in areas experiencing drying precipitation trends in addition to increasing population pressures. These findings have serious implications for current and future regional food security monitoring and forecasting and for mitigation and adaptation strategies in a region where population is expected to continue increasing against a backdrop of drying climate trends.Fig.1(a)Change in standardized precipitation index in Africa between 1979-2010 (b)Change in population density at continental scale using the GRUMPv1 1990 and 2000 and AfriPop 2010 population density datasets Fig.2 Land cover change trajectories based on 2001-2009 MOD12Q1 Land Cover product for the East African Horn overlaid over aggregated FEWS Net Livelihoods Zones.

Frequencies of genes for coat colour and horns in Nordic cattle breeds

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Lien Sigbjørn

2000-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Gene frequencies of coat colour and horn types were assessed in 22 Nordic cattle breeds in a project aimed at establishing genetic profiles of the breeds under study. The coat colour loci yielding information on genetic variation were: extension, agouti, spotting, brindle, dun dilution and colour sided. The polled locus was assessed for two alleles. A profound variation between breeds was observed in the frequencies of both colour and horn alleles, with the older breeds generally showing greater variation in observed colour, horn types and segregating alleles than the modern breeds. The correspondence between the present genetic distance matrix and previous molecular marker distance matrices was low (r = 0.08 – 0.12. The branching pattern of a neighbour-joining tree disagreed to some extent with the molecular data structure. The current data indicates that 70% of the total genetic variation could be explained by differences between the breeds, suggesting a much greater breed differentiation than typically found at protein and microsatellite loci. The marked differentiation of the cattle breeds and observed disagreements with the results from the previous molecular data in the topology of the phylogenetic trees are most likely a result of selection on phenotypic characters analysed in this study.

163 COUNTER-TERRORISM IN THE GREATER HORN OF AFRICA ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Administrator

2010-07-11

Jul 11, 2010 ... location in the Horn is strategic. Yet, it is land-locked and .... The insurgents adapted Middle East style suicide bombings. At least one person ... 2002 in Mombasa However, Kenyan security agencies believe that Fazul is alive and is ... In June 2006 IGAD regional ministers ratified a Kenya-led travel ban on.

Quantifying the nonlocality of Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger quantum correlations by a bounded communication simulation protocol.

Science.gov (United States)

Branciard, Cyril; Gisin, Nicolas

2011-07-08

The simulation of quantum correlations with finite nonlocal resources, such as classical communication, gives a natural way to quantify their nonlocality. While multipartite nonlocal correlations appear to be useful resources, very little is known on how to simulate multipartite quantum correlations. We present a protocol that reproduces tripartite Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger correlations with bounded communication: 3 bits in total turn out to be sufficient to simulate all equatorial Von Neumann measurements on the tripartite Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state.

Pre-Migratory Movements by Juvenile Burrowing Owls in a Patchy Landscape

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L. Danielle. Todd

2007-12-01

Full Text Available Dispersal is a fundamental aspect of population dynamics, and can have direct implications on processes such as the colonization of habitat patches. Pre-migratory movements, landscape fragmentation, and body condition have all been hypothesized as key factors influencing dispersal in birds, but little direct evidence exists to support these ideas. We used radio-telemetry and supplementary feeding to test if body condition or landscape pattern influenced pre-migratory movements of juvenile Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia in a fragmented landscape. We categorized grassland patches as either large (≥95 ha or small and isolated (≤58 ha and ≥1.5 km to next nearest grassland patch, and young owls were either provided supplemental food as nestlings or not. Owlets receiving supplemental food and residing in large grassland patches moved a greater maximum distance from their nest than similarly fed owlets residing in small patches (large = 1605 ± 443 m; small = 373 ± 148 m. In contrast, non-supplemented owlets from large and small patches did not differ in their maximum distance moved from the nest (large = 745 ± 307 m; small 555 ± 286 m. Only two of 32 individuals from small patches moved >800 m, whereas ten of 23 owlets from large patches moved >800 m. In addition, owlets from large patches continued to move farther and farther from their nest before migration, whereas owlets in small, isolated patches ultimately moved

Ultrasound Examination Through The Sole Horn On A Weight‐Bearing Claw: Pilot In‐Vitro Study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bach, Kurt; Nielsen, Søren Saxmose; Capion, Nynne

of a 700 kg heavy Holstein cow The correlation between the thickness of the soft tissue measured with the two different methods was 0.91 (Pearson’s correlation coefficient, Figure 1). Discussion The bottom of the tub could carry the weight of a 700 kg cow. It was possible to scan through the sole horn......Introduction A decrease of the soft tissue thickness in the claw increases the pressure on the corium from the pedal bone and may lead to injuries and claw horn lesions (Ossent & Lischer 1998, Tarlton, et al. 2002). Ultrasonography has been described as a useful method to exam the soft tissue...... the sole horn and through the polyethylene plate respectively had an acceptable correlation. Acknowledgements Thanks to Mogens Nielsen Kreaturslagteri A/S for providing slaughter house legs. References Kofler J, Kubber P, and Henninger W 1999 Ultrasonographic imaging and thickness measurement of the sole...

Neogene and Quaternary geology of a stratigraphic test hole on Horn Island, Mississippi Sound

Science.gov (United States)

Gohn, Gregory S.; Brewster-Wingard, G. Lynn; Cronin, Thomas M.; Edwards, Lucy E.; Gibson, Thomas G.; Rubin, Meyer; Willard, Debra A.

1996-01-01

During April and May, 1991, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) drilled a 510-ft-deep, continuously cored, stratigraphic test hole on Horn Island, Mississippi Sound, as part of a field study of the Neogene and Quaternary geology of the Mississippi coastal area. The USGS drilled two new holes at the Horn Island site. The first hole was continuously cored to a depth of 510 ft; coring stopped at this depth due to mechanical problems. To facilitate geophysical logging, an unsampled second hole was drilled to a depth of 519 ft at the same location.

Fluvial sediments characterization of Hornád river in its chosen parts (preliminary study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stela Hanigovská

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Knowledge of main river sedimentary characteristics is very important source of information for next study or potentialcommercial usage of fluvial sediments. In paper is shown characterization of sediment distribution in chosen part of the river Hornád.Three main facial types were studied and described – gravel, sand and clay. Model created in this study shows that Hornád is a riverwith predominant gravel transport. This model also shows a sufficient amount of gravel for commercial use in some parts of the river.

Micromammals in the diet of the Long-eared Owl (Asio otus at the W.W.F.'s Oasi San Giuliano (Matera, South Italy

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Francesco Cecere

2000-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract The presence of small mammals in the winter diet of a dormitory made up of 5 specimens living at the WWF's Oasi San Giuliano (province of Matera is analysed in the following study. The data confirm the presence of small mammals, Microtinae in particular, as a main prey of the Long-eared Owl. 1921 prey-individuals totalling 37695 grams in biomass were found. Rodentia are dominant (86.93% of the biomass; Microtus savii is of particular importance and represents 61.06% of the total biomass and was found in 60.42% of the pellets found. The second most frequently hunted species is the Apodemus sp.: 24.06% of the biomass, 37.08% of the frequency. The other mammals preyed on (Suncus etruscus, Crocidura sp., Pipistrellus sp., Vespertilius sp., Rattus sp., Moscardinus avellanarius are of little importance: 1.27% of the biomass. The owls preyed upon 9 of the 11 species of mammals present (the Talpa sp. and the Mus domesticus are absent. Affinity among different periods, estimated through Sorensen's Index, was found to be medium-high (0.67-0.72. The data analysis confirms the stenophagy of the Long-eared Owl, in this area that is characterised by extensive cereal cultivation and few shrubs and trees. In comparison with other Italian localities, a greater number of preyed species was recorded (8 mammals, 9 birds, 1 insect. Roost owls preyed mainly upon Chiroptera (0.36% compared with 0.1-0.2. Myotis capaccinii and Pipistrellus savii were also found in the diet of the Long-eared Owl for the first time in Italy.

The cervical spine of the American barn owl (Tyto furcata pratincola: I. Anatomy of the vertebrae and regionalization in their S-shaped arrangement.

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Markus Krings

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Owls possess an extraordinary neck and head mobility. To understand this mobility it is necessary to have an anatomical description of cervical vertebrae with an emphasis on those criteria that are relevant for head positioning. No functional description specific to owls is available. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: X-ray films and micro-CT scans were recorded from American barn owls (Tyto furcata pratincola and used to obtain three-dimensional head movements and three-dimensional models of the 14 cervical vertebrae (C1-C14. The diameter of the vertebral canal, the zygapophyseal protrusion, the distance between joint centers, and the pitching angle were quantified. Whereas the first two variables are purely osteological characteristics of single vertebrae, the latter two take into account interactions between vertebrae. These variables change in characteristic ways from cranial to caudal. The vertebral canal is wide in the cranial and caudal neck regions, but narrow in the middle, where both the zygapophyseal protrusion and the distance between joint centers are large. Pitching angles are more negative in the cranial and caudal neck regions than in the middle region. Cluster analysis suggested a complex regionalization. Whereas the borders (C1 and C13/C14 formed stable clusters, the other cervical vertebrae were sorted into 4 or 5 additional clusters. The borders of the clusters were influenced by the variables analyzed. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: A statistical analysis was used to evaluate the regionalization of the cervical spine in the barn owl. While earlier measurements have shown that there appear to be three regions of flexibility of the neck, our indicators suggest 3-7 regions. These many regions allow a high degree of flexibility, potentially facilitating the large head turns that barn owls are able to make. The cervical vertebral series of other species should also be investigated using statistical criteria to further

Registro del búho leonado Strix fulvescens en el estado de Oaxaca, México Record of the Fulvous Owl Strix fulvescens in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico

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Ricarda Ramírez-Julián

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Mediante comparaciones acústicas y espectrográficas del búho leonado Strix fulvescens, se determinó su presencia en el noroeste de la sierra Norte de Oaxaca. Este registro constituye la confirmación de su presencia en el estado; amplía 350 km aproximadamente su distribución hacia el noroeste y aumenta a 21 las especies de búhos registradas en Oaxaca.The occurrence of Fulvous Owl Strix fulvescens in the northwestern portion of the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca was determined using aural and spectrographic comparison. This record confirms the presence of Fulvous Owl in the state of Oaxaca, expanding its distribution range to the northwest by about 350 Km, and increasing to 21 species the number of owls recorded in Oaxaca.

Constraint Specialisation in Horn Clause Verification

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kafle, Bishoksan; Gallagher, John Patrick

2015-01-01

We present a method for specialising the constraints in constrained Horn clauses with respect to a goal. We use abstract interpretation to compute a model of a query-answer transformation of a given set of clauses and a goal. The effect is to propagate the constraints from the goal top......-down and propagate answer constraints bottom-up. Our approach does not unfold the clauses at all; we use the constraints from the model to compute a specialised version of each clause in the program. The approach is independent of the abstract domain and the constraints theory underlying the clauses. Experimental...

Constraint specialisation in Horn clause verification

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kafle, Bishoksan; Gallagher, John Patrick

2017-01-01

We present a method for specialising the constraints in constrained Horn clauses with respect to a goal. We use abstract interpretation to compute a model of a query–answer transformed version of a given set of clauses and a goal. The constraints from the model are then used to compute...... a specialised version of each clause. The effect is to propagate the constraints from the goal top-down and propagate answer constraints bottom-up. The specialisation procedure can be repeated to yield further specialisation. The approach is independent of the abstract domain and the constraint theory...

Brent goose colonies near snowy owls: Internest distances in relation to breeding arctic fox densities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kharitonov, S.P.; Ebbinge, B.S.; De Fouw, J.

2013-01-01

It was shown that in the years when the numbers of the Arctic foxes are high, even though the lemming numbers are high as well, Brent geese nest considerably closer to owls' nests than in the years with low Arctic fox numbers. At values of the Arctic fox densities greater than one breeding pair per

On the Horn Effect of a Tyre/road Interface, Part i: Experiment and Computation

Science.gov (United States)

Graf, R. A. G.; Kuo, C.-Y.; Dowling, A. P.; Graham, W. R.

2002-09-01

Near the tyre/road contact area, the road surface and the tyre belt form a horn-like geometry, which provides a significant amplification mechanism for sound sources. Measurements have been carried out on a stationary tyre placed on a plane surface in an otherwise anechoic chamber. Following the reciprocal theorem a microphone was placed in the road surface near the contact patch and a white noise source was used in the far field. The amplification by the horn effect can then be determined as a function of frequency for an array of microphone positions relative to the contact patch and the centre of the tyre. These experimental measurements show that the horn effect is responsible for about 10-20dB increase in noise level. The amplification function shows a distinct interference pattern for higher frequencies and is independent of the longitudinal source position for low frequencies and source positions close to the contact patch. Numerical calculations using the indirect boundary element method have been carried out. These show excellent agreement with the measurements in the frequency regime of the BEM, i.e., up to 2500 Hz. The dependence of the horn effect on primary geometrical parameters such as the effect of the radius of curvature of the shoulders, the load and the width of the tyre has been investigated experimentally and numerically. The broad features of the horn effect are given by the cylindrical geometry of the tyre. The rounded edges of the tyre tend to increase the levels of the minima and shift them to higher frequencies, while slightly decreasing the levels of the maxima. Shape variations due to load can be accounted for by correcting the source distance to the edge of the formed contact patch. The amplification at low frequencies increases with width, the results collapsing onto a single curve as a function of the dimensionless width ω / λ.

Compounding effects on nest-site dispersal of Barn Owls Tyto alba

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Huffeldt, Nicholas Per; Aggerholm, Iben Næs; Brandtberg, Nathia Hass

2012-01-01

of pulli ringed in Denmark (1921-2009; n=590) and glmms to test density, recovery time, ringing date and brood size for their influence on dispersal probability and recovery distance. Results The probability of being recovered >1 km from the nest-site as well as total recovery distances increased steeply...... from 0 to 100 days after ringing, being stable thereafter, and was also impacted by brood size. Owls ringed very early or late in the breeding season were more likely to be recovered nest-site at a recovery time where dispersal seemed to be completed....

Schemes for Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger and cluster state preparation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song Jie; Xia Yan; Song Heshan

2008-01-01

Schemes to generate Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) and cluster states of three atoms are proposed in a two-mode cavity. The advantages of the schemes are their robustness against decoherence due to spontaneous emission of the excited states and decay of the cavity modes. Moreover, the schemes can be generalized to generate N-atom entangled states

Serologic evidence of exposure of raptors to influenza A virus.

Science.gov (United States)

Redig, Patrick T; Goyal, Sagar M

2012-06-01

Serum or plasma samples from raptors that prey or scavenge upon aquatic birds were tested by a commercially available blocking enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the evidence of antibodies to influenza A virus. Samples were taken from birds (n = 616) admitted to two rehabilitation centers in the United States. In addition, samples from 472 migrating peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) trapped on autumnal and vernal migrations for banding purposes were also tested. Only bald eagles were notably seropositive (22/406). One each of peregrine falcon, great horned owl (Bubo virginianus), and Cooper's hawk (Accipiter cooperi) from a total of 472, 81, and 100, respectively, were also positive. None of the turkey vultures (n = 21) or black vultures (n = 8) was positive. No clinical signs referable to avian influenza were seen in any bird at the time of capture. These data indicate that, among raptors, bald eagles do have exposure to influenza A viruses.

Interdigital dermatitis, heel horn erosion, and digital dermatitis in 14 Norwegian dairy herds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knappe-Poindecker, M.; Gilhuus, M.; Jensen, Tim Kåre

2013-01-01

The aim of this study was to assess infectious foot diseases, including identification and characterization of Dichelobacter nodosus and Treponema spp., in herds having problems with interdigital dermatitis (ID) and heel horn erosion (E) and in control herds expected to have few problems. We also......, with a prevalence of 50.4% in problem herds compared with 26.8% in control herds. Heel horn erosion was recorded in 34.8% of the cows in problem herds compared with 22.1% in control herds. Dichelobacter nodosus was detected in 97.1% of the cows with ID, in 36.4% with E, in all cows with both ID and E, in all cows...

Reconnaissance and economic geology of Copper Mountain metamorphic complex, Owl Creek Mountains, Wyoming

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hausel, W.D.

1983-01-01

The Copper Mountain metamorphic complex lies within a westerly trending belt of Precambrian exposures known as the Owl Creek Mountains uplift. The metamorphic complex at Copper Mountain is part of a larger complex known as the Owl Creek Mountains greenstone belt. Until more detailed mapping and petrographic studies can be completed, the Copper Mountain area is best referred to as a complex, even though it has some characteristics of a greestone belt. At least three episodes of Precambrian deformation have affected the supracrustals, and two have disturbed the granites. The final Precambrian deformation event was preceded by a weak thermal event expressed by retrogressive metamorphism and restricted metasomatic alteration. During this event, a second phase of pegmatization was accompanied by hydrothermal solutions. During the Laramide orogeny, Copper Mountain was again modified by deformation. Laramide deformation produced complex gravity faults and keystone grabens. Uranium deposits were formed following major Laramide deformation. The genesis of these deposits is attributable to either the leaching of granites or the leaching of overlying tuffaceous sediments during the Tertiary. Production of metals and industrial minerals has been limited, although some gold, copper, silver, tungsten, beryl, feldspar, and lithium ore have been shipped from Copper Mountain. A large amount of uranium was produced from the Copper Mountain district in the 1950s

Responses of spinal dorsal horn neurons to foot movements in rats with a sprained ankle

OpenAIRE

Kim, Jae Hyo; Kim, Hee Young; Chung, Kyungsoon; Chung, Jin Mo

2011-01-01

Acute ankle injuries are common problems and often lead to persistent pain. To investigate the underlying mechanism of ankle sprain pain, the response properties of spinal dorsal horn neurons were examined after ankle sprain. Acute ankle sprain was induced manually by overextending the ankle of a rat hindlimb in a direction of plantarflexion and inversion. The weight-bearing ratio (WBR) of the affected foot was used as an indicator of pain. Single unit activities of dorsal horn neurons in res...

Horn逻辑程序和形式文法之间的对应关系%The Correspondence between Horn Logic Programs and Formal Grammars

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

陈文彬; 王驹

2003-01-01

The paper researches Horn logic programs with grammatical view. The correspondence between Horn logic programs and grammars is found. The method by which type-0 grammars generate the least Herbrand models of logic programs is found. The method by which Horn logic programs generate the languages of type-0 grammars is found.The characterization of Horn Logic programs that are semantically equavanent to type-2 grammars and type-3 grammars is found.

REGIONAL SECURITY IN THE HORN OF AFRICA: CONFLICTS, AGENDAS AND THREATS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nilton César Fernandes Cardoso

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This paper aims at analyzing security dynamics in the Horn of Africa in the post-independence period, identifying the actors, agendas and threats. For this purpose, it is subdivided into three parts. The first one analyzes the security dynamics taking place in the Horn of Africa during the Cold War period, focusing on the regional rivalries and on the penetration of extraregional actors. In the second part, there is a discussion regarding the transformations which occurred in region in the immediate post-Cold War period, focusing both on the unities’ (states internal security dynamics and on the regional ones. The third and last section aims at identifying “new” threats and regional and international responses, as well as the emerging strategic importance of the region to traditional superpowers in the post-9/11 period, marked by the process of securitization.

Low frequency eardrum directionality in the barn owl induced by sound transmission through the interaural canal

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kettler, Lutz; Christensen-Dalsgaard, Jakob; Larsen, Ole Næsbye

2016-01-01

. Significant sound transmission across the interaural canal occurred at low frequencies. The sound transmission induces considerable eardrum directionality in a narrow band from 1.5 to 3.5 kHz. This is below the frequency range used by the barn owl for locating prey, but may conceivably be used for locating...

77 FR 50526 - Proposed Safe Harbor Agreement for the Northern Spotted Owl, Skamania, Klickitat, and Yakima...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-08-21

... possibly that spotted owls are not responding to traditional survey methods. As of 2011, only one site... the following methods. You may request hard copies or a CD-ROM of the documents. Email: [email protected] marginal habitat,'' if the conditions associated with that habitat are verified by surveys using...

Littoral Encounters : The Shore as Cultural Interface in King Horn

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sobecki, Sebastian

2006-01-01

1. III * Later Medieval: Excluding Chaucer -- Brown et al., 10.1093 ... ... between the Saracens and the londisse men allied to the protagonist (' Littoral Encounters: the Shore as Cultural Interface in King Horn', Al-Mas a ... www.ywes.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/man0092 2.Murray, Alan V.

Toward a Regional Security Architecture for the Horn of Africa ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Moreover, conflict in one country tends to affect its neighbours, mainly through the flow of refugees and weapons. Building on work carried out during Phase I ... Extrants. Rapports. Towards Developing a Regional Security Architecture for the Horn of Africa: Developing Responses to Human (In) Security-Phase Two ...

Distillation of the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state from arbitrary tripartite states

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mo Yina; Li Chuanfeng; Guo Guangcan

2002-01-01

We present a method of distillation of Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states from arbitrary tripartite pure states by local operations and classical communication. We go further to discuss the various results we get and calculate the efficiency of the protocol

The status and population changes of the Little Owl (Athene noctua in the south of Békés county (Hungary