Assessing the efficacy of medetomidine and tiletamine-zolazepam for remote immobilisation of feral horses (Equus caballus)

Context The study of any wild animal's home range requires the collection of spatiotemporal data, obtained independently of climatic conditions or time of day. This can be achieved by the attachment of global positioning system (GPS) data loggers, which, in large species, is best achieved by remote immobilisation. Feral horses (Equus caballus) usually occupy remote areas of Australia; however, a considerable population increase has been observed in a close proximity to metropolitan areas of the Australian east coast, creating increasing conflict with human interests. Aim The aim of the present study was to investigate the efficacy of remote chemical immobilisation of feral horses with medetomidine combined with tiletamine-zolazepam to facilitate placement of satellite GPS collars. Methods Nine feral horses were darted from the ground with 60mg (i.m.) medetomidine and 1500mg (i.m.) tiletamine-zolazepam. The effects of medetomidine were reversed with 50-100mg (i.m. or i.v.) atipamezole 30-40min after induction (IV/IM). Physiological variables monitored during anaesthesia were heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature and oxygen haemoglobin saturation (Spo2). Key results All horses were successfully immobilised with between one and three darts (n≤9). The mean (± s.e.m.) dose of medetomidine was 0.15±0.01mg kg-1, whereas that of tiletamine-zolazepam was 3.61±0.16mg kg-1. Mean time from darting to lateral recumbency was 13.3±2.7min and mean recumbency time was 54±13min. Vital signs for all anaesthetised animals remained within the normal range during anaesthesia, with the exception of one animal exhibiting a transient drop in Spo2. There were no deaths. Key conclusions The combination of medetomidine and tiletamine-zolazepam provided adequate anaesthesia in feral horses in the field for application of GPS collars. Implications Although a limited number of horses was immobilised, the present study shows that the combination of medetomidine and tiletamine-zolazepam provides effective short-term anaesthesia for feral horses, affording a practical and field-accessible capture technique. This method could also be applied to other management actions requiring the safe and humane capture of feral horses

Using Sentiment Analysis on online product reviews for determining fairness

Product reviews became one of the most relevant ways customers have to make up their mind about buying specific products. The relevance of these reviews tempts companies to either use them to attack their rivals or to oversell their products by providing misguiding information that does not fit with the real product’s characteristics. Identifying this unfair situation is complicated but, at the same time, crucial to guarantee the reliability on the customer’s choice. In this work, we aim to simplify unlawful reviews by providing a simile mechanism. Our hypothesis claims that sentiment analysis can help to red flag unfair reviews and, consequently, simplify this difficult process. For that, we measure the correlation between unfairness and sentiments to check how much emotions are manipulated to guide shopping tendencies. On the one hand, having access to meaningful information is, in fact, essential during the decision-making process and, on the other hand, observation of unfair data can prevent its negative impact on businesses and consumer choices, therefore this project focuses on exploring and experimenting how to detect unfair online reviews through Sentiment Analysis using Machine Learning Techniques. The experiments focus on the discovery of unfairness in online product feedback through the process of establishing the accuracy of sentiment classification algorithms aims to detect existing unfairness towards the products

Enforcing the ADA: How the Eighth Circuit Has Interpreted Undue Hardship to Employers When Examining Mandatory Reassignment as a Reasonable Accommodation Under the ADA—\u3ci\u3eHuber v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.\u3c/i\u3e

In Huber v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., the Eighth Circuit joined a circuit split regarding whether it is mandatory under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 for an employer to accommodate a disabled employee by reassigning them to a vacant position, even if they are not the most qualified individual available to fill that position. The Eighth Circuit asserts that the ADA is an anti-discrimination statute, and therefore should not impose automatic employment preferences like mandatory reassignment. Courts on the opposite side of the split have held that the ADA requires mandatory reassignment because if it did not, the reassignment provision would lack meaning and enforceability. While Huber continues to embody the stance of the Eighth Circuit, other courts have continued to uphold mandatory reassignment under the ADA with legal analysis and argument that was not considered by the Eighth Circuit. This Note provides background and analysis of the ADA and the circuit split regarding mandatory reassignment and provides an argument that the Eighth Circuit should reevaluate its position opposing mandatory reassignment as a reasonable accommodation under the ADA

Essays on Places and Economic Inequality

This dissertation uses changes across space to understand economic inequality. Chapter one examines people’s ties to places. If people are tied to places by family and experiences, then welfare will be less equal across space. It presents evidence that this is the case, with formulae that show how this makes local policies less wasteful in declining areas. Chapter two shows that young adults, ages 25 to 35, who live in the same neighborhoods as their parents experience stronger earnings recoveries after a job displacement than those who live farther away. It presents some evidence that these differences are driven by parental help with grandchildren and perhaps help from parents in identifying new jobs. Chapter three uses changes in housing prices and rents to study inequality in standards of living. It suggests that changes in income inequality since 1930 have caused similar changes in housing expenditures, mostly through changes in the value of particular neighborhoods.PHDEconomicsUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145975/1/zabek_1.pd

Un plan de marketing de la Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León: propuestas de futuro

En las últimas décadas, se ha producido un gran cambio coyuntural en el mundo de la música clásica y en la asistencia a los conciertos por parte del público en general. Por ello, se plantea en el presente trabajo la elaboración de un Plan de Marketing para la Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León con el fin de analizar las nuevas estrategias y herramientas que le permitan ampliar las personas que acuden a sus conciertos. Para ello, hemos analizado el sector, sus competidores, tendencias de mercado y el análisis interno de la OSCYL. Posteriormente, se ha procedido a plantear una serie de estrategias y políticas de marketing mix que le ayudan a conseguir dicho objetivo.Grado en Administración y Dirección de Empresa

Supporting bilingualism in children with disabilities: strategies parents use to facilitate the home language in young preschool children

Our country has become a home for many families from around the world that speak different languages and are from different cultural backgrounds. Often concurrently with learning English, parents are teaching their children their home language. Immigrant parents are faced with the lack of support for their heritage language from educators and society. They are being forced to acculturate and abandon their home language in favor of English. This study examines and identifies specific strategies parents from a culturally and linguistically diverse family are using with their young child with disabilities to facilitate their home language. The study also reveals the attitudes of educators and service providers working with the family and the child in supporting the home language. This is a single case study with a family from a diverse cultural and linguistic background with a young child with a disability. Data from multiple home visits, observations, and interview with the mother show that young children with disabilities are more likely to become proficient in their home language if their parents receive support from teachers and service providers and use different strategies to facilitate their child's home language. The study shows the need for further research on how specific disabilities may impact a child's ability to become bilingual and strategies that would help in acquiring proficiency in both languages.California State University, Northridge. Department of Education.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-96

Wind-driven pyroelectric energy harvesting device

Pyroelectric materials have recently received attention for harvesting waste heat owing to their potential to convert temperature fluctuations into useful electrical energy. One of the main challenges in designing pyroelectric energy harvesters is to provide a means to induce a temporal heat variation in a pyroelectric material autonomously from a steady heat source. To address this issue, we propose a new form of wind-driven pyroelectric energy harvester, in which a propeller is set in rotational motion by an incoming wind stream. The speed of the propeller's shaft is reduced by a gearbox to drive a slider-crank mechanism, in which a pyroelectric material is placed on the slider. Thermal cycling is obtained as the reciprocating slider moves the pyroelectric material across alternative hot and cold zones created by a stationary heat lamp and ambient temperature, respectively. The open-circuit voltage and closed-circuit current are investigated in the time domain at various wind speeds. The device was experimentally tested under wind speeds ranging from 1.1 to 1.6 m s-1 and charged an external 100 nF capacitor through a signal conditioning circuit to demonstrate its effectiveness for energy harvesting. Unlike conventional wind turbines, the energy harvested by the pyroelectric material is decoupled from the wind flow and no mechanical power is drawn from the transmission; hence the system can operate at low wind speeds (-1).</p