Thermal adaptation as a factor affecting colonizing success of introduced Sturnidae (Aves) in North America

1974 ◽  
Vol 52 (12) ◽  
pp. 1559-1576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen R. Johnson ◽  
Ian McTaggart Cowan
Keyword(s):  
Resource Use ◽  
Thermal Adaptation ◽  
Active Phase ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Feeding Rates ◽  
Sympatric Populations ◽  
The Common ◽  
Incubation Temperatures ◽  
Nesting Season

Two species of starlings (Sturnidae) have established themselves in southwestern British Columbia: the crested myna (Sturnus cristatellus), by escape from captivity about 5897, and the common starling (Sturnus vulgaris), by natural invasion during the 1950's. The crested myna has shown little capacity to expand its range or its population. The common starling is in an active phase of increasing density and distribution. These sympatric populations have been studied over a period of 3 years. This paper reports comparative aspects of reproduction, and resource use by the two species.We have found that the nesting season for starlings was synchronized into definite peaks of nest building, egg laying, hatching and fledging, which was not the case for crested mynas.Clutch and brood sizes were higher in starlings than mynas. Starlings successfully reared more second broods than mynas (38% vs. 9%). Per 100 pairs/annum, starlings contributed significantly more offspring (547 compared to 238) to the sturnid population.Although development of plumage and endothermy were similar in myna and starling chicks, feeding rates, quality of foods, and subsequent growth rates of chicks were significantly different.Egg transplant and heater nest box experiments suggested that poor nest attentiveness and low incubation temperatures maintained by crested mynas resulted in the low hatching and consequent low fledging success.

The concept of motivation for effective credit risk management

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 2567-2593
Author(s):  
M.V. Pomazanov
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Economic Modeling ◽  
Type I ◽  
Credit Risk Management ◽  
Curve Modeling ◽  
Business Functions ◽  
The Common ◽  
Lending Decisions ◽  
The One

Subject. The study addresses the improvement of risk management efficiency and the quality of lending decisions made by banks. Objectives. The aim is to present the bank management with a fair algorithm for risk management motivation on the one hand, and the credit management (business) on the other hand. Within the framework of the common goal to maximize risk-adjusted income from loans, this algorithm will provide guidelines for ‘risk management’ and ‘business’ functions on how to improve individual and overall efficiency. Methods. The study employs the discriminant analysis, type I and II errors, Lorentz curve modeling, statistical analysis, economic modeling. Results. The paper offers a mechanism for assessing the quality of risk management decisions as opposed to (or in support of) decisions of the lending business when approving transactions. The mechanism rests on the approach of stating type I and II errors and the corresponding classical metric of the Gini coefficient. On the ‘business’ side, the mechanism monitors the improvement or deterioration of the indicator of changes in losses in comparison with the market average. Conclusions. The study substantiates the stimulating ‘rules of the game’ between the ‘business’ and ‘risk management’ to improve the efficiency of the entire business, to optimize interactions within the framework of internal competition. It presents mathematical tools to calculate corresponding indicators of the efficiency of internally competing entities.

INFLUENCE OF BIOSTIMULANTS ON THE IMMUNE PROTECTION OF CHICKENS

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Growth And Development ◽  
Digestive System ◽  
Great Influence ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Growth Spurt ◽  
Immune Protection ◽  
Internal Organs ◽  
State Growth ◽  
Active Peak

Among the animals of different species chickens react in greater numbers and more noticeable to a va-riety of growth biostimulators. There are great improvements on their general state, growth spurts and development of internal organs is quicker when they are injected with small portions. Such stimulation has a great influence not only on growth and development of chickens in their first period of life but also on health and productivity later on. The most active peak of reaction is when chicken is two months old. Their internal organs, especially the digestive system, develop earlier, their genitals appear earlier and they begin egg-laying much earlier too, when chickens are being fed those biostimulants. Slaughter meat yield becomes more and quality of meat improves with the influence of stimulators. A major disease pre-vention and healing effect can be reached, since most of the biostimulants raise immune system and re-sistance of the organism. It can be the only thing to justify their usage on animals. Tests show that the most typical growth spurt of birds is from fifteen to twenty percent in normal conditions. Growth spurts are also accompanied with the rise of resistance to different infections and activation of different physio-logical processes. Growth spurts can be twice or more than written here, but those spurts are usually short-timed and often accompanied with the dysfunction of different organs

METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH TO EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF RESOURCE USE BY MEDICAL ORGANIZATIONS

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (7) ◽  
pp. 62-69
Author(s):  
S. S. BUDARIN ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Medical Care ◽  
Resource Use ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
Quality Of Medical Care ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
Performance Audit ◽  
Available Resources

The article reveals methodological approaches to evaluating the effectiveness of the use of resources of medi-cal organizations in order to improve the availability and quality of medical care based on the application of the methodology of performance audit; a methodological approach to the use of individual elements of the efficiency audit methodology for evaluating the performance of medical organizations and the effectiveness of the use of available resources is proposed.

scholarly journals Development of a Multidisciplinary Aerodigestive Program: An Institutional Experience

Children ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 535
Author(s):  
Seung Kim ◽  
Mireu Park ◽  
Eunyoung Kim ◽  
Ga Eun Kim ◽  
Jae Hwa Jung ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Chart Review ◽  
Retrospective Chart Review ◽  
Multidisciplinary Management ◽  
Neurologic Disease ◽  
Institutional Experience ◽  
Swallowing Difficulty ◽  
The Common ◽  
Chronic Comorbidities

We share our experience on the implementation of a multidisciplinary aerodigestive program comprising an aerodigestive team (ADT) so as to evaluate its feasibility. We performed a retrospective chart review of the patients discussed at the monthly ADT meetings and analyzed the data. A total of 98 children were referred to the ADT during the study period. The number of cases increased steadily from 3.5 cases per month in 2019 to 8.5 cases per month in 2020. The median age of patients was 34.5 months, and 55% were male. Among the chronic comorbidities, neurologic disease was the most common (85%), followed by respiratory (36%) and cardiac (13%) disorders. The common reasons for consultation were suspected aspiration (56%), respiratory difficulty (44%), drooling/stertor (30%), regurgitation/vomiting (18%), and feeding/swallowing difficulty (17%). Following discussions, 58 patients received active interventions, including fundoplication, gastrostomy, laryngomicrosurgery, tracheostomy, and primary dilatation of the airway. According to the questionnaire of the caregiver, the majority agreed that the main symptoms and quality of life of patients had improved (88%), reducing the burden on caregivers (77%). Aerodigestive programs may provide comprehensive and multidisciplinary management for children with complex airway and digestive tract disorders.

scholarly journals Health-related quality of life 1–3 years post-myocardial infarction: its impact on prognosis

Open Heart ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. e001499
Author(s):  
Stuart Pocock ◽  
David B Brieger ◽  
Ruth Owen ◽  
Jiyan Chen ◽  
Mauricio G Cohen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Resource Use ◽  
Rate Ratio ◽  
Index Score ◽  
Health Related Quality ◽  
Lower Index ◽  
Related Quality ◽  
Health Related

ObjectiveTo assess associations of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) with patient profile, resource use, cardiovascular (CV) events and mortality in stable patients post-myocardial infarction (MI).MethodsThe global, prospective, observational TIGRIS Study enrolled 9126 patients 1–3 years post-MI. HRQoL was assessed at enrolment and 6-month intervals using the patient-reported EuroQol-5 dimension (EQ-5D) questionnaire, with scores anchored at 0 (worst possible) and 1 (perfect health). Resource use, CV events and mortality were recorded during 2-years’ follow-up. Regression models estimated the associations of index score at enrolment with patient characteristics, resource use, CV events and mortality over 2-years’ follow-up.ResultsAmong 8978 patients who completed the EQ-5D questionnaire, 52% reported ‘some’ or ‘severe’ problems on one or more health dimensions. Factors associated with a lower index score were: female sex, older age, obesity, smoking, higher heart rate, less formal education, presence of comorbidity (eg, angina, stroke), emergency room visit in the previous 6 months and non-ST-elevation MI as the index event. Compared with an index score of 1 at enrolment, a lower index score was associated with higher risk of all-cause death, with an adjusted rate ratio of 3.09 (95% CI 2.20 to 4.31), and of a CV event, with a rate ratio of 2.31 (95% CI 1.76 to 3.03). Patients with lower index score at enrolment had almost two times as many hospitalisations over 2-years’ follow-up.ConclusionsClinicians managing patients post-acute coronary syndrome should recognise that a poorer HRQoL is clearly linked to risk of hospitalisations, major CV events and death.Trial registration numberClinicalTrials.gov Registry (NCT01866904) (https://clinicaltrials.gov).

scholarly journals Effect of a Neuropeptide Gene on Behavioral States in Caenorhabditis elegans Egg-Laying

Genetics ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 154 (3) ◽  
pp. 1181-1192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura E Waggoner ◽  
Laura Anne Hardaker ◽  
Steven Golik ◽  
William R Schafer
Keyword(s):  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Active Phase ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Sensory Cues ◽  
Nematode Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Inactive State ◽  
Recessive Mutations ◽  
Inactive Phase ◽  
Behavioral States ◽  
Stimulation Of

Abstract Egg-laying behavior in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans involves fluctuation between alternative behavioral states: an inactive state, during which eggs are retained in the uterus, and an active state, during which eggs are laid in bursts. We have found that the flp-1 gene, which encodes a group of structurally related neuropeptides, functions specifically to promote the switch from the inactive to the active egg-laying state. Recessive mutations in flp-1 caused a significant increase in the duration of the inactive phase, yet egg-laying within the active phase was normal. This pattern resembled that previously observed in mutants defective in the biosynthesis of serotonin, a neuromodulator implicated in induction of the active phase. Although flp-1 mutants were sensitive to stimulation of egg-laying by serotonin, the magnitude of their serotonin response was abnormally low. Thus, the flp-1-encoded peptides and serotonin function most likely function in concert to facilitate the onset of the active egg-laying phase. Interestingly, we observed that flp-1 is necessary for animals to down-regulate their rate of egg-laying in the absence of food. Because flp-1 is known to be expressed in interneurons that are postsynaptic to a variety of chemosensory cells, the FLP-1 peptides may function to regulate the activity of the egg-laying circuitry in response to sensory cues.

scholarly journals Mind the Gap: Why the Landscape Planning System in Sardinia Does Not Work

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7300
Author(s):  
Anna Maria Colavitti ◽  
Alessio Floris ◽  
Sergio Serra
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Planning ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Planning System ◽  
Local Planning ◽  
The Common ◽  
Regional Landscape ◽  
Landscape Protection

In Italy, after the introduction of the Code of Cultural Heritage and Landscape in 2004, the Regional Landscape Plan (RLP) has acquired a coordination role in the urban planning system, for the implementation of policies for landscape protection and valorisation. The case study of the RLP of Sardinia is a paradigmatic application to the coastal area of the island, which is considered most vulnerable and subject to settlement pressure. The objectives of preservation and valorisation of the territorial resources should be transferred into local planning instruments by adopting strategies aimed at the preservation of the consolidated urban fabric, at the requalification and completion of the existing built-up areas according to the principles of land take limitation and increase in urban quality. The paper investigates the state of implementation and the level of integration of landscape contents in the local plans that have been adapted to the RLP, using a qualitative comparative method. In addition, the results of the plan coherence checks, elaborated by the regional monitoring bodies after the adaptation process, have been analysed to identify the common criticalities and weaknesses. The results highlight the lack of effectiveness of the RLP, after more than a decade since its approval, considering the limited number of adequate local plans and the poor quality of their analytical and regulative contents in terms of landscape protection and valorisation. Conclusions suggest some possible ways to revise the RLP, focusing on the participation of local communities and the development of a new landscape culture.

scholarly journals A Mathematical Study of Barcelona Metro Network

Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 557
Author(s):  
Irene Mariñas-Collado ◽  
Elisa Frutos Bernal ◽  
Maria Teresa Santos Martin ◽  
Angel Martín del Rey ◽  
Roberto Casado Vara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clustering Analysis ◽  
Transportation Network ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Statistical Point ◽  
Transport Services ◽  
Urban Public Transport ◽  
The Common ◽  
Subway Stations ◽  
Metro Network

The knowledge of the topological structure and the automatic fare collection systems in urban public transport produce many data that need to be adequately analyzed, processed and presented. These data provide a powerful tool to improve the quality of transport services and plan ahead. This paper aims at studying, from a mathematical and statistical point of view, the Barcelona metro network; specifically: (1) the structural and robustness characteristics of the transportation network are computed and analyzed considering the complex network analysis; and (2) the common characteristics of the different subway stations of Barcelona, based on the passenger hourly entries, are identified through hierarchical clustering analysis. These results will be of great help in planning and restructuring transport to cope with the new social conditions, after the pandemic.

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