1,720,979 research outputs found
Non-invasive monitoring of the European wildcat in a recently colonized area in the Northern Apennines (Italy)
No full textAcquiring up-to-date information on the distribution of a species is an issue of paramount importance to set up proper conservation strategies and to assess its conservation status over time. The European wildcat has recently expanded its distribution in different parts of its range in Italy, including the Northern Apennines area. The current study represents the first wildcat systematic monitoring in the central part of Northern Apennines. Non-invasive genetic sampling-based both on valerian and catnip lures-was applied, integrated with camera trapping within two Regional Parks. This approach is needed in order to obtain hair samples to be genetically analyzed, since cross-breeding with domestic cats can make wildcat identification based only on coat characteristics misleading. Videos obtained from camera traps allowed the identification of several individuals (image capture rate of 1.04/100 trap-nights), including at least one female. Hair samples were only collected in April-May using catnip as an attractant, whereas the valerian-based solution used did not yield the expected results (i.e., attracting wildcats and stimulating their rubbing behavior to allow hair collection). These results allowed for the first time the genetic confirmation of a pure wildcat in the study area. Domestic cat presence (image capture rate of 1.4/100 trap-nights) was also assessed in the same locations, posing a possible threat for wildcat conservation at the expanding margin of its distribution. Our findings confirm the effectiveness of the integration of multiple monitoring techniques for wildcat detection and highlight the need for a continued monitoring of the species, especially in newly colonized areas
Spatial explicity capture recapture model apply to camera trapping and genetic scat survey on the wildcat from Sicily
No full textRecent development of spatial explicit capture recapture (SECR) models have override the problem of how to calculate
the study area of which the expected density refers. The future use of such models allows for a great flexibility of the
study design (e.g. allowing individual recaptures into the same occasion or even to limit monitoring to just one sample
occasion): given that a great revolution in census methods is ongoing.
We used this new generation of model, specifically the software Density 4.4 which, trough a Maximum Likelihood
based model selection, generated density estimates in a spatial-explicit capture-recapture (SECR) framework. We
assessed density of wildcat in Sicily using data from a study where camera trapping and genetic scat survey where
conducted simultaneously on the Etna Volcano.
Genetic scat survey was conducted in order to provide both molecular data on the taxonomic status of this population
and an independent estimation of the density.
In 2010 we monitored two consecutive and adjacent trapping lines from 14 May to 11 September for a total of 18
camera stations (camera traps were placed in pair at each stations). 1080 trap-days gained 67 events from 16 stations.
The resulting pictures were compared between them and with those collected during previous camera trapping
monitoring undertaken in the same study area. We identified at least 14 wildcats (excluding two kittens) and the rate of
capture success was 1/16 trap-nights.
Scat collection was done during the camera trapping monitor and the transects were designed in order to search near the
camera stations, therefore genetic captures from scats were then assigned to the nearest camera trapping station.
4 transects (23 Km) were repeated weekly for 17 times (391 km) and 11 out of 39 fresh wildcat scats provided, using
genetic molecular tool analyses, the identification of at least 7 individuals (2 individuals were located three times whilst
the remains once).
Genotype were identified using a panel of 12 autosomal microsatellites, and assignment procedures to wildcat, domestic
cat or hybrid reference sample groups.
The software analyses performed on the two independent data set of spatial captures produced the follow results
(wildcat/100 ha): Dct= 0.31 + 0.1 (s.e), g0= 0.17410, σ=978, with 95% confidence interval of 0.17-0.54 and Dg= 0.76 +
0.4 (s.e), g0= 0.09, σ=280 with 95% confidence interval of 0.28-2.
For comparison, traditional capture-recapture model associated with FMMDM buffer results are: Dct= 0.41 + 0.35 (s.e);
Dg= 0.29 + 1.15 (s.e).
Genetic scat density is greater than that of camera trapping, probably as consequence of smallest sample size, however
the confidence intervals of the two monitoring slightly overlapped.
The goodness of camera trapping to assess the wildcat’s density is reasserted, and to our knowledge, our study is the
first that successfully performed genetic molecular analyses on the wildcat scats.
Future developments will be focus on the maximization of genetic analyses success as this non-invasive method
provides crucial data on the taxonomic status of the wildcat populations.
Camera trapping became a common tools for wildlife management and the scientific progress into the analyses and
implementation of spatial capture recapture models promise a wider range of field application.
Finally we strong suggest, when camera trapping monitors detect the presence of wildcats, to engage in the collection of
the scats and successive molecular analyses: the combination and integration of this two non invasive methods surveys
will produce a wider and more complete view on the wildcat biology, which is an essential condition to formulate
concrete and successfully conservation measures
GÜNTHER ANDERS. IL CONSERVATORE APOCALITTICO § 2. Günther Anders: l’apocalittico impolitico
No full textAnders, un grande pensatore apocalittico, scopre attraverso l’enormità dei fatti storici del suo tempo vissuto, cioè tramite Auschwitz e Hiroshima, non soltanto gli esiti catastrofici della tanatotecnica nel suo intreccio con la tanatopolitica, ma anche la conferma di quanto aveva già intuito agli albori della propria riflessione filosofico-antropologica, cioè, la natura doppia, scissa e irrisolta del soggetto che nel mondo attuale vaga alla ricerca di un orientamento morale ed esistenziale perduto
Maxima Moralia. L’antropologia liminale di Günther Anders per l’etica contemporanea dopo Auschwitz e Hiroshima
No full textLa riflessione andersiana su media invita ad una riflessione morale innervata da una "antropologia liminale". Infatti Anders si sofferma sui limiti etico-morali dell'agire e sui loro significati, oltre che sulla loro comprensibilità e permeabilità, elaborando un pensiero etico intorno all'enormità degli eventi che quegli "apprendisti stregoni" che sono gli umani innescano e insieme subiscono, esercitando come novelli
Prometeo un illimitato tecnopotere di cui non riescono a controllare gli effetti. D'altra parte anche all'invasione di immagini scaturita dai media corrisponde un’anchilosi dell’immaginazione che ci impedisce di percepire le catastrofi da noi stessi provocate, ed è per questo che Anders individua nella “rappresentazione perspicua” della “smisuratezza” dell’orrore estremo, causato da lager e bombe atomiche, la sola possibilità di promuovere un “ampliamento della fantasia morale” che sottragga in extremis l’umanità al suo tragico tecnodestino e, con esso, alla “fine della storia”
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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