Local and regional movements of the Australian white ibis threskiornis molucca in eastern Australia

Little is known about the movements of Australian birds. Information is particularly scarce on large, aquatic birds, which are usually difficult to access and handle. Their movements are also often complex, and therefore difficult to Identify. Here we present data on the local and long distance movements of the Australian White Ibis Threskiornis molucca, a highly mobile bird, which as many other waterbirds, continues to decline In its traditional ranges in inland Australia. At the same time it has invaded coastal urban environments, where its high abundances cause many problems and require management. Our analysis of past and present banding studies reveals that Australian White Ibis travel throughout the urban environment and visit landfills, where they forage in large numbers. They also conduct long distance movements, which lead birds from breeding sites In south-eastern Australia along the eastern coast to regions further north (Queensland and Papua New Guinea). Young birds return to their hatching site, when sexually mature. Their preferences for landfills, high mobility, complex movements and current decline in inland Australia need to be considered, when developing and implementing management strategies for Australian White Ibis and ecologically similar birds

Resistance to Digitisation: Curated Memory Cards Artefact

date-added: 2015-03-24 04:16:59 +0000 date-modified: 2015-03-24 04:16:59 +0000date-added: 2015-03-24 04:16:59 +0000 date-modified: 2015-03-24 04:16:59 +0000The act of networking in any context has some element of ceremonial performance attached to it. In an analogue world these performances have historically included the act of exchanging business cards. This ‘ceremony of networking’ has the potential to be altered by the emergence of new media, especially digital technology, displacing the old ceremony of business card exchanges and disrupting what can traditional be seen as networking. The history of business cards have shown that, despite several digital alternatives, they are still resistant to digitisation and so predominantly still physical and tangible. So, we sought to explore the ceremony around giving business cards as the sharing of ‘curated memory’, to better understand how and why we share and co-create curated memories with others. Including the sharing curated memories more generally, and the changing nature of networking, arising from the ever-increasing connectivity and digital embeddedness associated with the information age. Therefore, exploring the ceremony around needing, creating, sharing and using business cards, within different contexts and cultures. Also, identifying the tasks that people are trying to perform and optimise at different stages (before, during, and after) in a range of scenarios. Also, to explore how the ceremonies of networking might be significantly altered as a result of digital media and tools. The approach of using sets of cards around Who, How, Why and Where emerged from the need for a tool that could build narratives around the considerable diversity of the disjointed scenarios of networking we observed. So, the cards provide a reference by which to share general understanding in an entertaining and easily accessible manner. Second, provides a tool to summarise narratives from the scenarios we observed, and that we could then use to create new scenarios to explore insights such as post-meeting curation of ‘shared memories’ when networking. Third, define a number of ‘games’ to help anyone explore how to better understand and utilise aspects of networking in their current approaches, and challenge them to develop new approaches. Therefore, generating debate and self-reflection on the ways players use business cards themselves

Population ecology of the Australian White Ibis, Threskiornis molucca, in the urban environment

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Science.The Australian White Ibis (Threskiornis molucca) has dramatically increased in many coastal urban environments, while it has decreased in large areas of its traditional environment range in inland Australia since the 1970s. Ibis are often viewed as pests in urban environments due to the social, economical and environmental problems they can cause. Current, management of ibis in the urban environment predominately focuses on restricting their breeding success, in order to reduce abundances. Management can be costly, labour intensive and limited in its success, due to a lack of detailed knowledge of the ecology of urban ibis. The focus of this thesis is to explore various ecological parameters of urban ibis to increase the effectiveness of their management. Three major breeding/roosting colonies of ibis were monitored weekly for a whole year (2005 to 2006). In addition, five major landfills for domestic waste were investigated for avian abundances and diversity. My main aims were to provide details on the reproductive biology, population dynamics, local and regional movements and the use of landfills by ibis. In comparison to non-urban ibis, urban ibis have a longer breeding period, smaller mean egg volumes and clutch sizes, but a larger range of clutch sizes. They also have a lower hatching success, but higher reproductive success and a higher mean number of fledglings per clutch. Each roosting/breeding and landfill site differed in their reproductive success and/or population dynamics. Ibis used multiple sites for breeding and feeding and were capable of moving over vast distances after they had fledged. The ability of ibis to obtain food from anthropogenic sources appears to be one of the key factors in the urban environment that allows them to survive and breed there. Management plans need to consider this and their decline in their traditional environments to be effective, without harming the overall survival of this native species

Influences on gum feeding in primates

This chapter reviews the factors that may affect patterns of gum feeding by primates. These are then examined for mixed-species troops of saddleback (S. fuscicollis) and mustached (S. mystax) tamarins. An important distinction is made between gums produced by tree trunks and branches as a result of damage and those produced by seed pods as part of a dispersal strategy as these may be expected to differ in their biochemistry. Feeding on fruit and Parkia seed pod exudates was more prevalent in the morning whereas other exudates were eaten in the afternoon. This itinerary may represent a deliberate strategy to retain trunk gums in the gut overnight, thus maximising the potential for microbial fermentation of their β-linked oligosaccharides. Both types of exudates were eaten more in the dry than the wet season. Consumption was linked to seasonal changes in resource availability and not the tamarins’ reproductive status pro-viding no support for the suggestion that gums are eaten as a pri-mary calcium source in the later stages of gestation and lactation. The role of availability in determining patterns of consumption is further supported by the finding that dietary overlap for the trunk gums eaten was greater between species within mixed-species troops within years than it was within species between years. These data and those for pygmy marmosets (Cebuella pygmaea) suggest that patterns of primate gummivory may reflect the interaction of prefer-ence and availability for both those able to stimulate gum production and those not

TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

Population‐based cohort study of outcomes following cholecystectomy for benign gallbladder diseases

Background The aim was to describe the management of benign gallbladder disease and identify characteristics associated with all‐cause 30‐day readmissions and complications in a prospective population‐based cohort. Methods Data were collected on consecutive patients undergoing cholecystectomy in acute UK and Irish hospitals between 1 March and 1 May 2014. Potential explanatory variables influencing all‐cause 30‐day readmissions and complications were analysed by means of multilevel, multivariable logistic regression modelling using a two‐level hierarchical structure with patients (level 1) nested within hospitals (level 2). Results Data were collected on 8909 patients undergoing cholecystectomy from 167 hospitals. Some 1451 cholecystectomies (16·3 per cent) were performed as an emergency, 4165 (46·8 per cent) as elective operations, and 3293 patients (37·0 per cent) had had at least one previous emergency admission, but had surgery on a delayed basis. The readmission and complication rates at 30 days were 7·1 per cent (633 of 8909) and 10·8 per cent (962 of 8909) respectively. Both readmissions and complications were independently associated with increasing ASA fitness grade, duration of surgery, and increasing numbers of emergency admissions with gallbladder disease before cholecystectomy. No identifiable hospital characteristics were linked to readmissions and complications. Conclusion Readmissions and complications following cholecystectomy are common and associated with patient and disease characteristics

Teaching language components to deaf/hard-of-hearing and cochlear implant users: a literature review

ABSTRACT Cochlear implants are one of the possible ways for Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) individuals to detect sounds and as a mean of insertion in the social, academic and work environments. Nevertheless, in many cases, the cochlear implant alone is not sufficient, demanding hearing and expressive language skills rehabilitation to optimize the device used. This study aimed at reviewing scientific articles that described empirical research with interventions and/or teaching methods of various language repertoires to deaf and hard-of-hearing cochlear implant users. The review was carried out in five scientific databases considering all periods. On the first phase, 156 articles were identified and from these, 24 publications were selected. After being read, these articles were categorized and analyzed as to the participants, teaching targets and procedures adopted. On the last stage of the research, 10 experimental studies were selected and analyzed regarding procedures and results, indicating important factors in teaching this population. The results point to the necessity of an increase of scientific production in the construction and evaluation of effective verbal repertoires teaching programs for cochlear implant users.RESUMO O indivíduo com deficiência auditiva encontra no implante coclear um dispositivo de reabilitação da capacidade de detectar sons e de inserção no meio social, acadêmico e do trabalho. No entanto, em muitos casos, apenas o implante não é suficiente, sendo necessário investimento na reabilitação de habilidades auditivas e da linguagem expressiva para otimizar o uso do dispositivo. O presente estudo teve como objetivo revisar artigos científicos que apresentem estudos empíricos da aplicação de intervenções e/ou métodos de ensino de repertórios de linguagem diversos a população com deficiência auditiva e usuária de implante coclear. O levantamento foi realizado em cinco bases de dados em qualquer período. Na primeira etapa foram levantadas 156 publicações, e destes, 24 artigos foram selecionados. A partir da leitura, os artigos foram categorizados e analisados quanto aos participantes, alvos de ensino e procedimentos empregados. Na última etapa da pesquisa, 10 estudos experimentais foram selecionados e analisados quanto aos procedimentos e resultados, indicando alguns fatores importantes no ensino com esta população. Os resultados sugerem a necessidade de uma maior e mais sistemática produção científica na construção e avaliação de programas de ensino de repertórios verbais efetivos para a população usuária de implante coclear

Markers of thrombogenesis are activated in unmedicated patients with acute psychosis: a matched case control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Antipsychotic treatment has been repeatedly found to be associated with an increased risk for venous thromboembolism in schizophrenia. The extent to which the propensity for venous thromboembolism is linked to antipsychotic medication alone or psychosis itself is unclear. The objective of this study was to determine whether markers of thrombogenesis are increased in psychotic patients who have not yet been treated with antipsychotic medication.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We investigated the plasma levels of markers indicating activation of coagulation (D-dimers and Factor VIII) and platelets (soluble P-selectin, sP-selectin) in an antipsychotic-naive group of fourteen men and eleven women with acute psychosis (age 29.1 ± 8.3 years, body mass index 23.6 ± 4.7), and twenty-five healthy volunteers were matched for age, gender and body mass index.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>D-dimers (median 0.38 versus 0.19 mg/l, mean 1.12 ± 2.38 versus 0.28 ± 0.3 mg/l; P = 0.003) and sP-selectin (median 204.1 versus 112.4 ng/ml, mean 209.9 ± 124 versus 124.1 ± 32; P = 0.0005) plasma levels were significantly increased in the group of patients with acute psychosis as compared with healthy volunteers. We found a trend (median 148% versus 110%, mean 160 ± 72.5 versus 123 ± 62.5; P = 0.062) of increased plasma levels of factor VIII in psychotic patients as compared with healthy volunteers.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results suggest that at least a part of venous thromboembolic events in patients with acute psychosis may be induced by pathogenic mechanisms related to psychosis rather than by antipsychotic treatment. Finding an exact cause for venous thromboembolism in psychotic patients is necessary for its effective treatment and prevention.</p

Effect of Resting Patterns of Tamarins (Saguinus fuscicollis and Saguinus mystax) on the Spatial Distribution of Seeds and Seedling Recruitment

The spatial distributions of dispersed seeds have important evolutionary consequences for plants. Repeated defecations in sites frequently used by seed dispersers can result in high seed concentrations. We observed the resting behavior of a mixed-species group of tamarins in Peru and recorded the occurrence of seed dispersal (over 8 mo) and seed fate (over 11–22 mo) to determine whether the location and use of resting sites influenced the spatial distribution of dispersed seeds and seedlings. The tamarins rested mostly on trees (Saguinus fuscicollis: 60.6%, S. mystax: 89.2%) and dead trunks (S. fuscicollis: 24.4%) and used 61% of their resting sites repeatedly. During both the dry and wet seasons, tamarins dispersed significantly more seeds within resting areas (0.00662 and 0.00424 seeds/m2, respectively) than outside them (0.00141 and 0.00181 seeds/m2). Seed survival and seedling recruitment did not differ significantly between resting and other areas, resulting in a higher seedling concentration around the resting sites. Seed density did not increase with the duration or the frequency of use of the resting sites but did increase when we pooled the seasonal resting sites together in 50 m × 50 m quadrats, ultimately causing a clumped distribution of dispersed seeds. The use of resting sites in secondary forest, particularly during the dry season, allows the creation of seedling recruitment centers for species coming from the primary forest. Our findings show that tamarin resting behavior affects the spatial distribution of dispersed seeds and seedlings, and their resting sites play an important role in plant diversity maintenance and facilitate forest regeneration in degraded areas