Do preservation methods affect the identification of dietary components from faecal samples? A case study using a mycophagous marsupial

2010 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerry Zosky ◽  
Kate Bryant ◽  
Michael Calver ◽  
Adrian Wayne
Keyword(s):  
Correction Factor ◽  
Plant Material ◽  
Food Type ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Preservation Methods ◽  
Bettongia Penicillata ◽  
Faecal Samples ◽  
Dietary Components ◽  
Case Basis

We tested whether four preservation methods for faecal samples affected the identification of dietary components from the mycophagous woylie (Bettongia penicillata ogilbyi). All storage techniques identified fungi as the most abundant food type (>69%), followed by plant material (9–17%) and invertebrates (<5%). Between 8 and 13% of material from each technique was unidentifiable. Despite these general similarities in the results from the different techniques, there were small but statistically significant differences in the relative importance of the food types estimated using the different preservation techniques. Individual researchers will need to decide on a case-by-case basis whether these small differences can be disregarded given the general aims of their study or whether a correction factor is appropriate if small differences in diet are important to their objectives.

scholarly journals The Quality of Life of Suburbanities: A Case Study of the Gdańsk Agglomeration

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 91-101
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Masik
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Public Transport ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Made In

The Quality of Life of Suburbanities: A Case Study of the Gdańsk Agglomeration The article explains the meaning of the concept of ‘quality of life’, placing emphasis on its subjective dimension. As the concept is more and more discussed in the literature, the author intends to examine the satisfaction within public spaces for which local government is responsible. According to research made in Canada it is worth measuring not only satisfaction as such but also the importance of its constituent dynamics. Therefore, a survey made in the suburbs of the Gdańsk agglomeration asked respondents about their satisfaction with public transport, roads, environment, etc., including questions about the relative importance of such issues. The combination of satisfaction and importance provide the overall quality of life. At the end of the paper the author considers if there is a chance to improve the quality of life through a brief analysis of local governments expenditure.

Integrated Quality Function Deployment as a Tool for Quality Achievement in Healthcare

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 80-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chintala Venkateswarlu ◽  
A. K. Birru
Keyword(s):  
Analytic Hierarchy Process ◽  
Quality Function Deployment ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Analytic Hierarchy ◽  
Direct Evaluation ◽  
Quality Function ◽  
Model Combining ◽  
Hierarchy Process

Quality function deployment (QFD) is a methodology that extracts client demands (CDs) and inducting them in the final service/product. Once CDs are extracted from client the traditional QFD approach uses absolute importance to identify the degree of importance for each CD. Direct evaluation of CDs based on absolute weighting without tradeoffs is easy to perform, but may lead to serious deviations from reality. An alternative to avoid this problem is to adopt the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach. In this paper, an integrated model combining AHP and QFD has been delineated as a quality achievement tool in healthcare. A case study is performed on the healthcare services provided by government general hospital, Indore District, Madhya Pradesh, India and data has been analyzed to benchmark the proposed framework by computing the degree of relative importance for CDs through AHP and incorporating them in subsequent deployment matrices.

scholarly journals VIRTUE LANGUAGE IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY ORIENTALISM: A CASE STUDY IN HISTORICAL EPISTEMOLOGY

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 689-715 ◽  
Author(s):  
HERMAN PAUL
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Historical Epistemology ◽  
Detailed Case ◽  
Thought Pattern ◽  
History Of ◽  
Dependency Relations

Historical epistemology is a form of intellectual history focused on “the history of categories that structure our thought, pattern our arguments and proofs, and certify our standards for explanation” (Lorraine Daston). Under this umbrella, historians have been studying the changing meanings of “objectivity,” “impartiality,” “curiosity,” and other virtues believed to be conducive to good scholarship. While endorsing this historicization of virtues and their corresponding vices, the present article argues that the meaning and relative importance of these virtues and vices can only be determined if their mutual dependencies are taken into account. Drawing on a detailed case study—a controversy that erupted among nineteenth-century orientalists over the publication of R. P. A. Dozy'sDe Israëlieten te Mekka(The Israelites in Mecca) (1864)—the paper shows that nineteenth-century orientalists were careful to examine (1) the degree to which Dozy practiced the virtues they considered most important, (2) the extent to which these virtues were kept in balance by other ones, (3) the extent to which these virtues were balanced by other scholars’ virtues, and (4) the extent to which they were expected to be balanced by future scholars’ work. Consequently, this article argues that historical epistemology might want to abandon its single-virtue focus in order to allow balances, hierarchies, and other dependency relations between virtues and vices to move to the center of attention.

scholarly journals Consumers Preferences for Plant Size, Type of Plant Material and Design Sophistication in Residential Landscaping

2000 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 224-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Hardy ◽  
Bridget K. Behe ◽  
Susan S. Barton ◽  
Thomas J. Page ◽  
Robert E. Schutzki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Material ◽  
Material Selection ◽  
Perceived Value ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Plant Size ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Home Value ◽  
Size Type ◽  
Survey Responses ◽  
Residential Landscaping

Abstract How much value do consumers place on a good landscape? Self-selected attendees to a Detroit, MI, flower show indicated that plant size was the most important factor in the perceived value of a landscape. Holding other factors equal, increasing from the smallest size plant generally available for installation to the largest size defined in our study increased perceived home value by 5.0%. Design sophistication was almost as important as size. Holding other factors equal, upgrading from a traditional foundation planting to a sophisticated design that incorporated multiple bed and curved bedlines increased perceived home value by 4.5%. The type of plant material used was the least important. The relative importance of plant material selection as a factor contributing value added to the home by the landscape was almost half that of plant size and over 40% less than design sophistication. The conjoint model produced from 158 survey responses predicted that from the least valued landscape to the most valued landscape the perceived value of the home increased 12.7%.

scholarly journals Can You Judge a Disease Host by the Company It Keeps? Predicting Disease Hosts and Their Relative Importance: A Case Study for Leishmaniasis

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. e0005004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher R. Stephens ◽  
Constantino González-Salazar ◽  
Víctor Sánchez-Cordero ◽  
Ingeborg Becker ◽  
Eduardo Rebollar-Tellez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Relative Importance

scholarly journals Characterization of the relative importance of human- and infrastructure-associated bacteria in grey water: a case study

2015 ◽  
Vol 119 (1) ◽  
pp. 289-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.P. Keely ◽  
N.E. Brinkman ◽  
B.D. Zimmerman ◽  
D. Wendell ◽  
K.M. Ekeren ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Relative Importance ◽  
Grey Water ◽  
Associated Bacteria

Biology of The Southern Brown Bandicoot (Isoodon obesulus) In South-Eastern Tasmania. I. Diet.

1998 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 331
Author(s):  
S.A. Mallick ◽  
M.M. Driessen ◽  
G.J. Hocking
Keyword(s):  
Plant Material ◽  
Pitfall Traps ◽  
Hypogeous Fungi ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Faecal Analysis ◽  
Lepidopteran Larvae ◽  
Faecal Samples

The diet of the southern brown bandicoot, lsoodon obesulus, was investigated in south-eastern Tasmania using faecal analysis. Isoodon obesulus consumed a range of invertebrate taxa, including Lumbricid earthworms, isopods, lepidopteran larvae, coleopteran adults and larvae, crickets (Gryllidae) and spiders. Plant material (including monocotyledon, dicotyledon and fern) regularly appeared in faecal samples. Seeds were important during the summer months, while spores from hypogeous fungi featured in the diet year-round. We assessed the opportunism of I. obesulus by comparing diet items in the faeces with items recorded in pitfall traps. Isoodon obesulus utilised crickets and seeds in summer when these items became more abundant. However. there was no evidence of any other items being consumed in proportion to their availability.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document