1,720,961 research outputs found
Impact Assessment of a Trap-Neuter-Return Program on Selected Features of Auburn, Alabama Feral Cat Colonies
Get PDFFeral cats (Felis catus) are defined here as offspring of domestic cats raised without human socialization or cats that were previously owned that have reverted to a wild state not trusting humans. A feral cat colony consists of a group of cats that regularly reside in a particular area which includes a food source and shelter. A non-lethal approach to feral cat control known as Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) has been used with increasing frequency over the past decade. TNR involves trapping all cats at a location for surgical sterilization and subsequently returning them to their respective colony site. This investigation’s main focus was to determine what effects TNR has on feral cats located on Auburn University’s campus located in Auburn, Alabama. Specifically, the influence of TNR on population size, home range size and habitat use of 7 colonies of feral cats was evaluated. Population parameters were measured for 1 year before and 1 year after initiating treatment to determine the effects of TNR on the Auburn feral cat colonies.
Seven box-style feeding stations were established at 7 pre-existing unmanaged feral cat colonies (Graywood, Jennings, Mack’s, Thach Hall, Ingram Hall, Horticulture and Theta Xi). Photographic sampling using infrared-triggered cameras from inside each feeding box was conducted once every two weeks. During the two-year study, 4,924 photographs were produced and analyzed. A total of 99 individual cats were identified in photographs from the 7 colonies. Total cats identified per colony ranged from 7-30 cats. The Chapman model for mark-recapture used a 95% confidence interval to analyze data in 3-month intervals. The Chapman model was successful for estimating 4 of the 7 colony populations due to their larger colony size (n=5-21). Photographic sampling results from the 3 smaller colonies (Ingram Hall, Horticulture, and Theta Xi) periodically resulted in only 1 cat photographed for weeks at a time. With only 1 cat sited the Chapman model produced a population outcome of n=0. Therefore, the smaller colonies were not analyzed further. Graywood feral cat colony grew significantly larger (p=0.002) from pre-TNR (X=9.2, SD=2.2, n=4) and post-TNR initiation (X=15.5, SD=1.1, n=4) treatment. Thach Hall had a similar outcome although not significant (p=0.49). Jennings and Mack’s had a decrease from pre-TNR to post-TNR initiation however neither difference was significant (p=0.34 and p=0.49). Photographic sampling was an accurate and reliable way to census these colonies of feral cats. Longer study duration is recommended to determine possible impact of TNR on the population size of feral cat colonies.
The mean home ranges were calculated as minimum convex polygons or (MCP) and then categorized by sex and TNR status. The MCPs were compared using the proc_glm ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test. Overall the model was not significant (F=2.67) with p=0.0668. There were differences among male (X=8.5 pre-TNR and X=3.6 post-TNR initiation) and female (X=2.5 pre-TNR and X=2.2. post-TNR initiation) home ranges, but due to a small sample size and high variability the results were not significant.
Lawn, hardscape and structures composed over 65% of the study area with roadway, landscaping, woods, scrub, and water composing the other portion of study area. The most common habitats in the pre-TNR and post-TNR MCP were hardscape, structures, and landscaping. Within the MCP both pre-TNR and post-TNR initiation feral cats significantly preferred woods over other habitat types
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
General Zoology Laboratory Manual
Get PDFThis lab manual for General Zoology was created under a Round Twelve ALG Textbook Transformation Grant. The manual contains six individual labs to be completed within a laboratory, along with a collection project to be completed outdoors with an instructor.
Topics include: Classification and Evolution The Planaria Project Introduction to Invertebrates Introduction to Chordates Vertebrates Continued Mammalogyhttps://oer.galileo.usg.edu/biology-textbooks/1017/thumbnail.jp
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
Get PDFWe 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
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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