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Movement patterns and habitat use for the sympatric species: Gambelia wislizenii and Aspidoscelis tigris
No full textMovement is an important characteristic of an animal's ecology, reflecting the perception of and response to environmental conditions. To effectively search for food, movement patterns likely depend on habitat characteristics and the sensory systems used to find prey. We examined movements associated with foraging for two sympatric species of lizards inhabiting the Great Basin Desert of southeastern Oregon. The two species have largely overlapping diets but find prey via different sensory cues, which link to their differing foraging strategies—the long‐nosed leopard lizard, Gambelia wislizenii, is a visually‐oriented predator, while the western whiptail, Aspidoscelis tigris, relies more heavily on chemosensory cues to find prey. Using detailed focal observations, we characterized the habitat use and movement paths of each species. We placed markers at the location of focal animals every minute for the duration of each 30‐min observation. Afterward, we recorded whether each location was in the open or in vegetation, as well as the movement metrics of step length, path length, net displacement, straightness index, and turn angle, and then made statistical comparisons between the two species. The visual forager spent more time in open areas, moved less frequently over shorter distances, and differed in patterns of plant use compared to the chemosensory forager. Path characteristics of step length and turn angle differed between species. The visual predator moved in a way that was consistent with the notion that they require a clear visual path to stalk prey whereas the movement of the chemosensory predator increased their chances of detecting prey by venturing further into vegetation. Sympatric species can partition limited resources through differences in search behavior and habitat use
Population pharmacokinetic analysis of enrofloxacin and its active metabolite ciprofloxacin after intravenous injection to cats with reduced kidney function
No full textBackground
It is unknown if enrofloxacin accumulates in plasma of cats with reduced kidney function.
Hypothesis
To determine if enrofloxacin and its active metabolite ciprofloxacin have reduced clearance in azotemic cats.
Animals
Thirty‐four cats hospitalized for clinical illness with variable degree of kidney function.
Methods
Prospective study. After enrofloxacin (dose 5 mg/kg) administration to cats, sparse blood sampling was used to obtain 2 compartment population pharmacokinetic results using nonlinear mixed‐effects modeling. Plasma enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin concentrations were measured and summed to obtain the total fluoroquinolone concentration. A model of ciprofloxacin metabolism from enrofloxacin was created and evaluated for covariate effects on clearance, volume of distribution, and the metabolic rate of ciprofloxacin generation from enrofloxacin.
Results
Body weight was the only covariate found to affect total fluoroquinolone volume of distribution (effect 1.63, SE 0.19, P < .01) and clearance (effect 1.63, SE 0.27, P < .01). Kidney function did not have a significant effect on total fluoroquinolone clearance (median 440.8 mL/kg/h (range 191.4‐538.0 mL/kg/h) in cats with normal kidney function, 365.8 mL/kg/h (range 89.49‐1092.0 mL/kg/h) in cats with moderate kidney dysfunction, and 308.5 mL/kg/h (range 140.20‐480.0 mL/kg/h) in cats with severe kidney dysfunction (P = .64). Blood urea nitrogen concentration influenced the metabolic generation of ciprofloxacin from enrofloxacin (effect 0.51, SE 0.08, P < .01), but other markers of kidney function did not.
Conclusions and clinical importance.
Adjustment of enrofloxacin dosage is not indicated for azotemic cats
kuʻu ēwe, kuʻu piko
No full textkuʻu ēwe, kuʻu piko is a Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition that consists of seven prints, one artist book, and one drawing. Though it can be interpreted in various ways, “kuʻu ēwe, kuʻu piko” can be translated to mean “my umbilical, my navel” in the Hawaiian language. I use these words to refer to my connection to my Native Hawaiian ancestry and to emphasize that this connection is still intact despite years of disregarding it. This exhibition focuses on my Native Hawaiian identity and acknowledges the loss of some cultural knowledge within my family. Thus, this body of work showcases my ongoing journey to reacquaint myself with my multicultural background and utilizes aspects of the land, the various cultures, and the histories present within Hawai’i. In doing so, it will provide a stronger connection and understanding to my home and how my relationship to it will change
Identifying Climatic Drivers of Hybridization with a New Ancestral Niche Reconstruction Method
No full textApplications of molecular phylogenetic approaches have uncovered evidence of hybridization across numerous clades of life, yet the environmental factors responsible for driving opportunities for hybridization remain obscure. Verbal models implicating geographic range shifts that brought species together during the Pleistocene have often been invoked, but quantitative tests using paleoclimatic data are needed to validate these models. Here, we produce a phylogeny for Heuchereae, a clade of 15 genera and 83 species in Saxifragaceae, with complete sampling of recognized species, using 277 nuclear loci and nearly complete chloroplast genomes. We then employ an improved framework with a coalescent simulation approach to test and confirm previous hybridization hypotheses and identify one new intergeneric hybridization event. Focusing on the North American distribution of Heuchereae, we introduce and implement a newly developed approach to reconstruct potential past distributions for ancestral lineages across all species in the clade and across a paleoclimatic record extending from the late Pliocene. Time calibration based on both nuclear and chloroplast trees recovers a mid- to late-Pleistocene date for most inferred hybridization events, a timeframe concomitant with repeated geographic range restriction into overlapping refugia. Our results indicate an important role for past episodes of climate change, and the contrasting responses of species with differing ecological strategies, in generating novel patterns of range contact among plant communities and therefore new opportunities for hybridization. The new ancestral niche method flexibly models the shape of niche while incorporating diverse sources of uncertainty and will be an important addition to the current comparative methods toolkit. [Ancestral niche reconstruction; hybridization; paleoclimate; pleistocene.
Dynamics of stored lipids in fall migratory monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus): Nectaring in northern Mexico allows recovery from droughts at higher latitudes
No full textThe eastern population of the North American monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) overwinters from November through March in the high-altitude (3000 m+) forests of central Mexico during which time they rely largely on stored lipids. These are acquired during larval development and the conversion of sugars from floral nectar by adults. We sampled fall migrant monarchs from southern Canada through the migratory route to two overwintering sites in 2019 (n = 10 locations), 2020 (n = 8 locations) and 2021 (n = 7 locations). Moderate to extreme droughts along the migratory route were expected to result in low lipid levels in overwintering monarchs but our analysis of lipid levels of monarchs collected at overwintering sites indicated that in all years most had high levels of lipids prior to winter. Clearly, a significant proportion of lipids were consistently acquired in Mexico during the last portion of the migration. Drought conditions in Oklahoma, Texas and northern Mexico in 2019 resulted in the lowest levels of lipid mass and wing loading observed in that year but with higher levels at locations southward in Mexico to the overwintering sites. Compared with 2019, lipid levels increased during the 2020 and 2021 fall migrations but were again higher during the Mexican portion of the migration than for Oklahoma and Texas samples, emphasizing a recovery of lipids as monarchs advanced toward the overwintering locations. In all 3 years, body water was highest during the Canada—USA phase of migration but then declined during the nectar foraging phase in Mexico before recovering again at the overwintering sites. The increase in mass and lipids from those in Texas to the overwintering sites in Mexico indicates that nectar availability in Mexico can compensate for poor conditions experienced further north. Our work emphasizes the need to maintain the floral and therefore nectar resources that fuel both the migration and storage of lipids throughout the entire migratory route
CSCO guidelines for metastatic colorectal cancer: personalized medicine in clinical practice
No full textThe Effects of Pre-session Access to Competing Stimuli on Motor Stereotypy
No full textStereotypy – repetitive and invariant behavior that occurs independent of social consequences – is a common behavior of individuals with autism and can be detrimental, as it may negatively impact learning opportunities and interfere with social inclusion. Stereotypy is often maintained by automatic reinforcement (occurring in the absence of social consequences) due to the ‘self-stimulatory’ or sensory consequences produced by the behavior itself. The purpose of this study was to examine the subsequent effects of pre-session access to competing stimuli on automatically maintained motor stereotypy during discrete trial training. A free-operant competing stimulus assessment identified high preference, low stereotypy items for both participants that classified as matched stimuli and unmatched stimuli (preferred items that are arbitrarily selected) within the treatment evaluation sessions. An alternating treatment design was used to compare the efficacy of 5 min pre-session access to matched and unmatched items on the subsequent level of stereotypy during a discrete-trial session. Results indicated that the pre-session access to competing stimuli had little to no effect on the subsequent level of stereotypy during discrete-trial sessions for both participants. Additionally, there was no obvious difference in the efficacy of matched and unmatched competing items on stereotypy. Several limitations and directions for future research are discussed
Shakespeare as Interface: Audiences, Readers, and User Experience
No full textWhile “interface” is a modern term mostly associated with genres of new media that involve screens, this dissertation argues that applying the concepts of interface theory anachronistically onto “old” media, in particular Shakespeare’s drama, reorients our understanding of drama from one of mimetic artifact to one of designed user experience. Applying an interface perspective changes the critical question asked about drama from “What does this play represent or mean?” to “What did the audience experience, and how did the play design that experience?” While the first question will remain a foundational critical question for literary dramatic interpretation, the shift to the second question moves interrogative focus away from what drama is toward a focus on how drama works. In other words, an interface perspective probes how drama creates experiences for its users. This project approaches literary and performative drama as an assemblage of media forms (“media” being another term more modern in origin with a complex set of meanings), and argues for literary history as a history of media concepts, which is why interface theory has something to say about Shakespearean drama. The issues that an interface perspective focuses on – user experience and designed access – have always been present to a greater or lesser degree in the history of literary production and study. They are dressed in different terms or form an undercurrent to debates about mimetic imitation, rhetoric versus communication, the page versus the stage, or any other number of issues, but the framework of the interface reorganizes these familiar concepts of literary study to reveal new relationships. An interface perspective turns Shakespeare’s drama into something that is “used” by audiences rather than merely watched or read
Watershed Health within Ioway Nation of Kansas and Nebraska: Measuring Nitrogen & Phosphorus Nutrient Loads in the Roy’s and Snake Creek Watersheds
No full textConventional agriculture has disrupted soil function in the soils of the Midwestern United States for many years. Plowing, fertilizers, and herbicides have created soil degradation throughout the expansion of industrial sized farming. Further enhancement is created by drought induced by climate change. Nitrogen and phosphorus loads derived from conventional agriculture are far from what the natural processes create. In areas where Indigenous People live, it has created severe impacts on everyday life as well as from a cultural and spiritual perspective. The Ioway Nation of Kansas and Nebraska have a complex relationship with their land and are concentrating on regenerative agriculture. The Ioway People were stewards of their land long before Europeans settled in America.This study has taken place on the Ioway Reservation to create a baseline of soil health. The baseline is for the tribe to use as a reference. The study focuses on nitrogen and phosphorus nutrient loads in the Roy’s and Snake creek watersheds. As the tribe continues to accomplish their environmental goals, more data may be collected and added to create a database for the tribe. This information will help the tribe in future environmental projects. This study is for the tribe and will be utilized by the tribe in the manner which the tribe sees fit to their needs
Exploring Transparency– Sustainability Linkage: Analysis of CSR Disclosures
No full textCorporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting is a strategy for communicating sustainability data to stakeholders. Sharing data with stakeholders is the key to the effectiveness and validity of CSR. However, the often-voluntary nature of CSR disclosure reporting results in perceived bias. Consequently, the relationship between CSR disclosure transparency and the sustainable character of a company remains unclear. The article suggests a methodology for evaluating corporate transparency through t-value analysis. The t-value analysis of CSR reports from Corporate Knights’ 2021 Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations quantifies the total number of negative disclosures in a CSR report. This research shows a lack of correlation (p value = .805) between observable levels of transparency and third-party sustainability rankings amongst the sustainability elite of the corporate world