Status differentials and framing in the implementation of IT ‐enabled task migration strategies

Abstract Background The migration patterns of land birds can generally be divided into those species that migrate principally during the day and those that migrate during the night. Some species may show individual plasticity in the use of day or night flight, particularly when crossing large, open-water or desert barriers. However, individual plasticity in circadian patterns of migratory flights in diurnally migrating songbirds has never been investigated. Methods We used high precision GPS tracking of a diurnal, migratory swallow, the purple martin (Progne subis), to determine whether individuals were flexible in their spring migration strategies to include some night flight, particularly at barrier crossing. Results Most (91%) of individuals made large (sometimes > 1000 km), open-water crossings of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico that included the use of night flight. 32% of all water crossings were initiated at night, demonstrating that night flight is not only used to complete large crossings but may confer other advantages for diurnal birds. Birds were not more likely to initiate crossings with supportive winds, however crossings were more likely when they reduced travel distances. Our results are consistent with diurnal birds using night flight to help achieve time- and energy-savings through ‘short cuts’ at barrier crossings, at times and locations when foraging opportunities are not available. Conclusions Overall, our results demonstrate the use of nocturnal flight and a high degree of individual plasticity in migration strategies on a circadian scale in a species generally considered to be a diurnal migrant. Nocturnal flights at barrier crossing may provide time and energy savings where foraging opportunities are low in an otherwise diurnal strategy. Future research should target how diel foraging and refueling strategies support nocturnal flights and barrier crossing in this and other diurnal species.

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Dynamic Task Migration Combining Energy Efficiency and Load Balancing Optimization in Three-Tier UAV-Enabled Mobile Edge Computing System

Electronics ◽

10.3390/electronics10020190 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 190

Author(s):

Wu Ouyang ◽

Zhigang Chen ◽

Jia Wu ◽

Genghua Yu ◽

Heng Zhang

Keyword(s):

Energy Consumption ◽

Load Balancing ◽

Markov Decision Process ◽

Decision Process ◽

Base Station ◽

Edge Computing ◽

Mobile Edge Computing ◽

Task Migration ◽

Migration Strategy ◽

Markov Decision

As transportation becomes more convenient and efficient, users move faster and faster. When a user leaves the service range of the original edge server, the original edge server needs to migrate the tasks offloaded by the user to other edge servers. An effective task migration strategy needs to fully consider the location of users, the load status of edge servers, and energy consumption, which make designing an effective task migration strategy a challenge. In this paper, we innovatively proposed a mobile edge computing (MEC) system architecture consisting of multiple smart mobile devices (SMDs), multiple unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and a base station (BS). Moreover, we establish the model of the Markov decision process with unknown rewards (MDPUR) based on the traditional Markov decision process (MDP), which comprehensively considers the three aspects of the migration distance, the residual energy status of the UAVs, and the load status of the UAVs. Based on the MDPUR model, we propose a advantage-based value iteration (ABVI) algorithm to obtain the effective task migration strategy, which can help the UAV group to achieve load balancing and reduce the total energy consumption of the UAV group under the premise of ensuring user service quality. Finally, the results of simulation experiments show that the ABVI algorithm is effective. In particular, the ABVI algorithm has better performance than the traditional value iterative algorithm. And in a dynamic environment, the ABVI algorithm is also very robust.

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Seasonal differences in migration strategies of Red Kites (Milvus milvus) wintering in Spain

Journal of Ornithology ◽

10.1007/s10336-021-01918-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jorge García-Macía ◽

Javier Vidal-Mateo ◽

Javier De La Puente ◽

Ana Bermejo ◽

Rainer Raab ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Spring Migration ◽

Great Variability ◽

Autumn Migration ◽

Seasonal Differences ◽

North Eastern ◽

Wintering Areas ◽

Satellite Transmitters ◽

Migration Strategies ◽

Migratory Movements ◽

Milvus Milvus

AbstractRed Kite shows a great variability in its migration strategies: most individuals in north-eastern Europe are migrants, but there is also a growing number of sedentary individuals. Here, we tagged 49 Red Kites wintering in Spain with GPS/satellite transmitters between 2013 and 2020 to study the autumn and spring migration between the breeding or summering areas in Central Europe and the wintering quarters in Spain. In first place, differences between immatures and adults were found for spring migration. Adults began the spring migration towards the northeast in February–March while the immature individuals began to migrate significantly later and showing a wider date range (February-June). Adults also takes significantly less days to arrive at their destinations (12 ± 5 days) and cover more distance per day (134.2 ± 37.1 km/day) than immatures (19 ± 11 days and 98.9 ± 21.2 km/day). In second place, we also found differences between spring and autumn migration (excluding immatures). Spring migrations were clearly faster and with less stopovers days than autumn migrations. Autumn migration began between mid-October and late November and two different behaviours were observed: most birds made a quick migration direct to the wintering areas with only some days of stopovers, but others prolonged the migration with long stops along the route. These results highlight a great variation in the migratory movements of Red Kite, not only according to age but also between individuals and seasons.

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