Priorities for the conservation of the pudu (Pudu puda) in southern South America

2011 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo A. Silva-Rodríguez ◽  
O. Alejandro Aleuy ◽  
Marcelo Fuentes-Hurtado ◽  
Juliana A. Vianna ◽  
Fernando Vidal ◽  
...  

The southern pudu (Pudu puda) is a threatened deer that is endemic to the South American temperate forests. Despite its assumed threatened status, there is relatively little understanding on the ecology and conservation of this species. Considering this situation and the fact that there are some research groups currently working on this species, we organised a symposium to discuss research and management priorities – as well as to coordinate efforts – to move forward on the conservation of the pudu. We agreed that main research priorities should be to increase the understanding of the threats that jeopardize the viability of pudu populations, with a strong emphasis on research questions that will provide information for the management of these threats. The main management recommendations were to implement monitoring of pudu populations at least in protected areas, to implement specific actions to remove threats from protected areas and to start following internationally-accepted guidelines for the management of rescued and confiscated animals.

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (104) ◽  
pp. 55-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kadir Yıldız ◽  
Pınar Güzel ◽  
Fırat Çetinöz ◽  
Tolga Beşikçi

Background. In this research, we aimed to investigate the effects of outdoor camps on orienteering athletes. Methods. The study group consisted of 74 athletes (44 males and 30 females, aged 11.94 ± 1.32 years) who participated in Bolu outdoor camp on the 3 rd –13 th of August, 2015. Interview technique, which is one of the qualitative research methods, was used as data collection tool and content analysis method was used for data analysis. Results. Demographic factors were interpreted after the analysis of the obtained data and three main research questions were discussed under the topics of the views of athletes about the concept of Orienteering which is an outdoor sport, themes and codes regarding the purpose of Orienteering by the students who participated in the outdoor camp, and themes and codes about the outcomes of Orienteering for the students who participated in outdoor camps. Conclusion. It is suggested that a policy must be developed within the Ministry of Youth and Sport and Sport Federations in order to disseminate more deliberate and more comprehensive outdoor education among young people and measures should be taken to provide extensive participation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1373-1382
Author(s):  
Avril Thomson ◽  
Hilary Grierson

AbstractThe paper reports on a study that aims to gain an understanding of how senior engineering design students engage and attain throughout the various stages of the design process during a major design project. Following a literature review it sets out to answer 3 main research questionsQ1. Do students engage more with certain stages of the design process during major project work?;Q2. Do students attain better during certain phases of the design process during major project ?Q3. Is there a difference in this attainment between year groups of the same degree programme ?The methodology adopted employs an analysis of marks and an online questionnaire to collect data. Patterns and trends in how senior BEng and MEng Product Design Engineering students engage and attain within the design process are presented, identified and discussed and in turn used to inform reflection on the research questions set.


Pathogens ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 947
Author(s):  
Rishi Kondapaneni ◽  
Ashley N. Malcolm ◽  
Brian M. Vazquez ◽  
Eric Zeng ◽  
Tse-Yu Chen ◽  
...  

Florida lies within a subtropical region where the climate allows diverse mosquito species including invasive species to thrive year-round. As of 2021, there are currently 66 state-approved Florida Mosquito Control Districts, which are major stakeholders for Florida public universities engaged in mosquito research. Florida is one of the few states with extensive organized mosquito control programs. The Florida State Government and Florida Mosquito Control Districts have long histories of collaboration with research institutions. During fall 2020, we carried out a survey to collect baseline data on the current control priorities from Florida Mosquito Control Districts relating to (1) priority control species, (2) common adult and larval control methods, and (3) major research questions to address that will improve their control and surveillance programs. The survey data showed that a total of 17 distinct mosquito species were considered to be priority control targets, with many of these species being understudied. The most common control approaches included truck-mounted ultra-low-volume adulticiding and biopesticide-based larviciding. The districts held interest in diverse research questions, with many prioritizing studies on basic science questions to help develop evidence-based control strategies. Our data highlight the fact that mosquito control approaches and priorities differ greatly between districts and provide an important point of comparison for other regions investing in mosquito control, particularly those with similar ecological settings, and great diversity of potential mosquito vectors, such as in Florida. Our findings highlight a need for greater alignment of research priorities between mosquito control and mosquito research. In particular, we note a need to prioritize filling knowledge gaps relating to understudied mosquito species that have been implicated in arbovirus transmission.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (24) ◽  
pp. 10360
Author(s):  
Hyun-Do Yun ◽  
Sun-Woong Kim ◽  
Wan-Shin Park ◽  
Sun-Woo Kim

The purpose of this study was to experimentally evaluate the effect of a hinged steel damping system on the shear behavior of a nonductile reinforced concrete frame with an opening. For the experimental test, a total of three full-scale reinforced concrete frame specimens were planned, based on the “no retrofitting” (NR) specimens with non-seismic details. The main research questions were whether the hinged steel damping system is reinforced and whether torsion springs are installed in the hinged steel damping system. From the results of the experiment, the hinged steel damping system (DR specimen) was found to be effective in seismic retrofitting, while isolating the opening of the reinforced concrete (RC) frame, and the torsion spring installed at the hinged connection (DSR specimen) was evaluated to be effective in controlling the amount of deformation of the upper and lower dampers. The strength, stiffness, and energy dissipation capacity of the DSR specimen were slightly improved compared to the DR specimen, and it was confirmed that stress redistribution was induced by the rotational stiffness of the torsion spring installed in the hinge connection between the upper and lower frames.


1970 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-30
Author(s):  
R Sogarwal ◽  
D Bachani

Introduction: During the fi rst 2 years of the fi ve year plan of India’s National AIDS Control Programme Phase-III (NACP-III; 2007-12), various interactive consultative workshops were organized in collaboration with development partners with the objective of identifying priority areas for operational research and further development of research protocols adopting mentorship approach. Methodology: This article is an attempt to present the Nominal Group Technique (NGT) which was used to identify a set of fundable and practically feasible research priorities under NACP-III specifi cally focusing on Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission (PPTCT) and Pediatric HIV Care in India. The activity was undertaken with support of UNICEF in the year 2010. A total of 110 persons participated in the consultation clustering into 37, 36 and 37 members in Group A, B and C, respectively. The participants refl ected the mix of policy makers / decision makers (8), programme managers (12), implementers (36), subject experts / researchers (28), other stakeholders (16). Results: A total of nine highest priority research questions were identifi ed by all the groups in the assigned themes. The value of Kendall’s W coeffi cient of concordance was 0.68, which shows signifi cant agreement among raters on priority research questions (chi-square=16.35; p=0.03). Conclusion: Based on our experience, we can conclude that NGT was found to be an important tool for setting research priorities that is more democratic and transparent than the traditional methods. By applying various stages of the group sessions, participants can experience the rethinking process with reference information to enhance their judgment. The results of our experience may help programme managers / policy makers to plan similar and more improved method in other element of NACP as well as other health programmes. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/saarctb.v8i1.5888 SAARCTB 2011; 8(1): 20-30


Oryx ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guilherme Braga Ferreira ◽  
Marcelo Juliano Rabelo Oliveira ◽  
Rogério Cunha de Paula ◽  
Flávio Henrique Guimarães Rodrigues ◽  
Érica Daniele Cunha Carmo

AbstractThe bush dog Speothos venaticus, a rare Near Threatened South American canid that lives in packs, was thought to be extinct in Minas Gerais state, south-eastern Brazil, until recently. Here, we report four recent records of the species in Minas Gerais, the first in the state since the description of the species in 1842. All records are from the Cerrado ecosystem in the north and north-west of the state; two are from animals found dead, one from footprints and another from a camera trap. Three of the records were inside or close (< 10 km) to strict protected areas, in a region recognized as the Protected Areas Mosaic Sertão Veredas–Peruaçu, where we expect any new records of the bush dog to be found. We discuss the low probability of detecting the bush dog and the main regional threats to the species, and emphasize the need to protect large and interconnected natural areas and keep them free of domestic dogs to avoid the extinction of the bush dog in Minas Gerais.


Author(s):  
Sarah McLachlan ◽  
Hilary Bungay

Abstract Background Consensus methods such as the Delphi technique have been used widely for research priority setting in health care. Within pre-hospital emergency medicine, such approaches have helped to establish national and international research priorities. However, in a dynamic field such as pre-hospital critical care, it is necessary to regularly review the continued relevance of findings. Further, considering the variability between pre-hospital critical care providers, it is also important to determine priorities at the local level. Essex & Herts Air Ambulance (EHAAT) sought to develop a five-year research strategy that aligns with their clinical work streams and organisational priorities. Methods All staff and Trustees were invited to participate in an online Delphi study with three Rounds. The Delphi was administered via email and Online Surveys software. The first Round invited participants to submit up to five research questions that they felt were of greatest importance to EHAAT  to advance the care provided to patients. In Round 2, participants were asked to rate the importance of questions from Round 1, while Round 3 required participants to rank questions that were prioritised in Round 2 in order of importance. Results 22 participants submitted a total of 86 research questions in Round 1, which were reduced to 69 questions following deduplication and refinement. 11 participants rated the importance of the questions in Round 2, resulting in 14 questions being taken forward to Round 3. Following the ranking exercise in Round 3, completed by 12 participants, a top five research priorities were identified. The question deemed most important was “How does a pre-hospital doctor-paramedic team affect the outcome of patients with severe head injuries?”. Conclusions The top five research priorities identified through the Delphi process will inform EHAAT’s research strategy. Findings suggest that there is still work to be done in addressing research priorities described in previous literature.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-67
Author(s):  
Lukasz Damurski ◽  
Jacek Pluta ◽  
Jerzy Ładysz ◽  
Magdalena Mayer-Wydra

Services originally developed as natural concentrations of human activity, reflecting the Christallerian hierarchy of central places. Today, those natural mechanisms are challenged by strong competition from online facilities. More and more services are offered by the internet and this affects the traditional ‘bricks-and-mortar' urban development. In this article, the main research problems of the inter-relatedness of real and virtual environments are defined in the context of urban neighbourhood service centres. The process of conversion from offline services into online ones is treated as a canvas for building a comprehensive research model for studying the development of the contemporary urban services sector in the local scale. Particular research questions and hypotheses are formulated and followed by a set of methods for further empirical research.


Symmetry ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1768
Author(s):  
R. Nemec ◽  
A. Jahodova Berkova ◽  
S. Hubalovsky

This article describes the research results aimed at distance education during the Covid-19 pandemic and closing schools and its symmetry with the classical state in terms of time, difficulty, and the mental and physical condition of students. An important aspect is therefore to maintain the symmetry of attitudes to teaching in face-to-face form and distance form. In terms of the eight-year gymnasium in the Czech Republic, students’ attitudes to the teaching subject informatics were investigated. The main research questions in our study dealt with whether students felt equally balanced regarding the amount of tasks and time taken for home preparation during the Covid-19 outbreak compared with the time before the quarantine and their condition (both mental and physical) during the Covid-19 outbreak. The research was conducted using an anonymous questionnaire, which was answered by 110 out of 180 students. According to the results, it is evident that students felt that during the distance education, there are more tasks compared to face-to-face ones. Students also claimed to spend more time learning at distance education than at school. On the other hand, they agreed that the self-education schedule is suitable for them. In terms of the questionnaire, their condition (both mental and physical) was also evaluated, which was slightly above the average.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1166
Author(s):  
Magdalena Bury-Kamińska ◽  
Aneta Szudy-Szczyrek ◽  
Aleksandra Nowaczyńska ◽  
Olga Jankowska-Łęcka ◽  
Marek Hus ◽  
...  

The paper presents a study on the changes in cognitive functioning in patients undergoing chemotherapy with diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM). The aim of the study was to answer the following two main research questions: Does the treatment stage differentiate the functioning of cognitive processes in patients with diagnosed MM and to what extent? Is it possible to treat biological factors (TNF-α, IL-6, IL-10, and BDNF) as predictors of patients’ cognitive functioning? The patients were examined twice, before the treatment and after 4–6 cycles of chemotherapy. Selected neuropsychological research methods as well as experimental and clinical trials were employed to diagnose the patients’ general cognitive state, attention, memory, and executive functions. The level of biological factors was assessed with the ELISA test. The results show that the patients’ cognitive functioning was worse before the treatment than during the cytostatic therapy. It was also possible to predict the cognitive state of patients suffering from multiple myeloma based on a selected biological parameter (neurotrophin BDNF).


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