1,798 research outputs found
Estimating the distribution of demand for Antarctic krill (Euphauisa superba) from land-based predators at South Georgia
No full textSouth Georgia is renowned for the abundance of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) and a range of krill predators. Variability in krill availability at a range of scales, and the consequences of this for predator-prey interactions, mean that quantifying the spatially explicit demand for krill by those predators is essential to understanding the mechanisms underlying ecosystem changes in the region. In this thesis demand within a distinct study box to the northwest of the island has been assessed. The thesis has three sections; (1) the number of predators; (2) the distribution of predators; and (3) the demand for krill by those predators.
(1) Predator densities with confidence intervals were determined from appropriately designed shipboard transect survey; counts of Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella), macaroni penguins (Eudyptes chrysolophus), gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua), and Antarctic prions (Pachyptila desolata) were adjusted for sea state, distance from observer and dive behaviour. Providing the first at-sea predator density estimates for the region.
(2) A comparison of the distribution of female Antarctic fur seals engaged in pup-rearing (using satellite telemetry) and the whole population that were not restricted to a single part of the population (from shipboard transect survey) was undertaken. Using two general additive models based on the relationship between seal distribution (one derived from transect and the other from telemetry) and the physical environment indicated that the spatial distribution of lactating females is representative of the general population.
(3) Using the derived predator density, the local krill demand estimate was 2581 tonnes krill per day, a consumption rate of 0.45% per day of the concurrently estimated krill biomass (using shipboard acoustics). Antarctic fur seals accounted for 75% of this demand. This level of demand was less than the increase in biomass resulting from krill growth. However, based on the length-specific demand, determined from concurrent predator diet samples demand exceeded growth for krill >48mm
Author Q and A with editor Phil Crockett Thomas and contributors on abolition science fiction
No full textIn this author Q&A, Rémy-Paulin Twahirwa speaks to editor Phil Crockett Thomas and contributors about their recent collection, Abolition Science Fiction, a collection of short science fiction stories written by activists and scholars involved in prison abolition and transformative justice in the UK
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Phil Magness: COVID-19 Interview
No full textPhil Magness is a Senior Research Fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research. He is the author of numerous works on economic history, taxation, economic inequality, the history of slavery, and education policy in the United States. Listen to the Policy@McCombs podcast to learn more about the data shaping public policy and the data that should be. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel to watch video versions of the podcasts.Salem Cente
The Phil Rogers Russell, D.O. Collection
No full textFinding aid for The Phil Rogers Russell, D.O. CollectionPhil Rogers Russell, D.O., practiced osteopathic medicine in the state of Texas from his 1917 graduation from the American School of Osteopathy, Kirksville, Missouri, until his death at the age of 80 in 1975. He was a strong supporter of the profession and was instrumental in the establishment and growth of the Fort Worth Osteopathic Hospital and the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine. He won numerous awards and honors from the American Osteopathic Association, the Texas Osteopathic Association, other osteopathic institutions and associations, and civil awards. He was the author of "Quack Doctor", a memoir of his years as an osteopathic physician.The Phil R. Russell, D.O. Collection consists of speeches, articles, book manuscripts, books, memorabilia, photographs, certificates and awards that Dr. Russell authored or was presented during his lifetime
Phil Raisor, 36th Annual ODU Literary Festival
No full textPhil Raisor is the author of Swimming in the Shallow End and Outside Shooter: A Memoir, and the editor of Tuned and Under Tension: The Recent Poetry of W. D. Snodgrass. His poetry and reviews have appeared in The Southern Review, The Sewanee Review, Prairie Schooner, Southern Poetry Review, 5AM, Poetry East, Tar River Poetry, Ascent , Poetry Northwest , Midwest Quarterly, Aethlon and Poet Lore. He was on the Board of Directors of the Associated Writers and Writing Programs and managing editor of New Virginia Review. Raisor is an emeritus professor of English at Old Dominion University
Re-engaging with the intimacy of materials through touch
No full textIn today’s retail led world consumers are suffocating through an excess of soulless products. It is time we paused to breathe.
"Touch has a memory" - John Keats. [A1]
It is often assumed that product designers, especially in the fashion industry, will have a deep understanding of the tactile properties of materials that they use. This tacit knowledge is also assumed to be an essential ingredient for intimate engagement with the materials, for touch is about direct contact, close and personal; it is not sensation at a distance in the way of sound and vision. Through this intimacy, the designer can fully understand the potential sensory impact on their customers and can share their knowledge of this intimacy with the customers.
However the rise of fast, offshore manufacture has led to a virtual design approach where cad-cam rules and the first direct contact that the designer has with their material is often when they receive the finished goods. The approach has become embedded in teaching, where virtual-oriented design is cheap and simple as well as effective.
This runs in parallel to what Black [A2] describes as "The Fashion Paradox", i.e. the tension between an industry which has become dependent on the overconsumption of the consumer society made possible by low cost design and manufacture processes with emerging imperatives of environmental and ethical issues. It has become easy to make and sell a lot of goods, but perhaps a new approach is needed before we drown in an ocean of stuff.
We hypothesise that a business strategy to introduce a new intimacy with materials to consumers through goods and experiences that celebrate "the joy of touch" will a) spawn better, higher value goods with cutting-edge appeal and b) provide a positive piece in the jigsaw necessary to address the Fashion Paradox, taking the line described by Fletcher and Early in "5-Ways" [A3, A4] that touch is relevant to the production of "supersatisfiers...which begin to break the chain of consumption and dissatisfaction".
There are always many old voices that decry the lack of materials knowledge in the "designers of today", and we do not wish simply to join them. To avoid this yet to achieve new thinking in the territory we take a tangential approach that does not get stuck into stuff to early.
Accordingly, the method will apply a method of research and teaching based on storytelling in multidisciplinary teams developed by Smith and Sams [A5, A6]. This reflects on the role of designer-storytellers described by Seah [A7] and Erikson [A8]. Thus, perhaps counter-intuitively, we seek to stimulate word-based approaches to a physical effect.
The resultant project vehicle "Touch Stories" is inspired by the observations of experimental psychologist Charles Spence, e.g. [A9], that people have difficulty in detecting and remembering touch, but can be taught touch skills. This builds on earlier design projects "Touch Gourmet" by Torres and Sams [A10]. We provide below a short summary of the science context as well as the more usual design context for the project.
The work described here is our first experiment using this method in the touch context with a fashion student community of young business and design professionals. In recognition, we report in the style of a science experiment - which also reflects the background of the second author.
We are at the very start of a journey which we intend to take well beyond fashion (for the challenge of new materials and "too much stuff" spreads well beyond Fashion and its Paradox), thus to stretch and develop the territory, through the processes described in [A5, A6]. It’s a journey the design world needs to ‘touch on’
Maine Voices piece by Phil Hoose of Portland, whose cousin Don Larsen on Octob
No full textMaine Voices piece by Phil Hoose of Portland, whose cousin Don Larsen on October 8, 1956, pitched a perfect game in the World Series. Hoose, an author, wrote It\u27s Our World, Too!, which was named a Lupine Honor Book by the Maine Library Association
How Phil Collins became cool (no, really)
No full textThe piece is based on an article the authors have coming up in Research in the Sociology of Organisations.Marketing and Consumer Researc
Computer vision-aided biophysical and ecological studies of Antarctic species
No full textGlobal change is predicted to have a strong impact on the Southern Ocean ecosystem. The
warming climate, variations in sea ice formation and increased activity of humans affect the
food availability and will require indigenous species to adapt. The rate and nature of changes
in the ecosystem and the effect of long-term climate variation, however, are not trivially identifiable. Hence, sentinel species, for example the Emperor penguin in Antarctica, are used as
a sensitive indicator for such changes. However, to discern variations in behavior and identify
adaption to their environment, an understanding of the baseline behavior is required. The difficult access to remote locations and harsh environmental conditions prevalent in the Antarctic,
especially during the Antarctic winter hamper large-scale and long-term observations. Knowledge of the Emperor penguins’ behavioral traits is so far limited to few accessible colonies in
the close proximity of year-round manned stations and opportunistic recordings. In light of a
predicted population decrease of up to 50% by the end of the century, further studies are a
pressing matter.
A holistic model of Emperor penguin colonies would allow us to predict behavior, identify
deviations from this baseline behavior and infer potential causes. In the recent years, satellite
based remote sensing has been successfully used to detect breeding locations along the
Antarctic coast line. Bio-logging approaches have been applied to provide information on
circumpolar migration and life history of individuals. However, methods to study behavior of
individuals or colonies on time scales from minutes to months are largely missing. These
timescales are critical to observe and understand behavior changes on short time scales over
multiple seasons, for example, the rearrangement and relocation of the colony in reaction to
changing environmental conditions, or the shift in conditions that trigger the emergence of
huddling behavior.
In this thesis, an integrated, videography-based study of animals in remote areas and under
environmentally challenging conditions is presented and applied to penguins in Antarctica. The
approach combines the fields of engineering, computer science, physics and biology, to cover
all necessary steps from the data acquisition, data evaluation and analysis to the interpretation
of the results. Physics-based models and methods are used to relate observations and are
applied to biophysical and ecological research questions.
1A B S T R AC T
First, three types of novel observatories were designed, built and deployed to obtain suitable
data. The micrObs - an affordable time lapse recorder, atkaSPOT - an energetically selfsufficient and remote controlled observatory, and antaviaSPOT - a system for continuous long
term monitoring. All three observatory types have been successfully operated in the field over
the last years.
Second, software for an efficient data management and evaluation of large time series datasets
was developed. ClickPoints - a Python-based scientific image viewer and analysis tool - provides basic features for manual evaluations, labeling of data sets for machine learning approaches and an add-on interface to extend the functionality for semi and fully automated
evaluations.
Third, the data recorded by the observatories is used to investigate the collective behavior
of Emperor penguins, adding building blocks towards a holistic Emperor penguin model. The
driving factors for the locomotion of individuals and colony during the breeding period were
studied to interpret recently observed changes in breeding behavior. The study shows a
strong correlation between wind direction and colony movement direction. This indicates that
the recently observed relocation of breeding penguins from the sea ice to the shelf ice is
not necessarily an adaption to thinning sea ice, but is instead a consequence of increased
precipitation and dominant wind direction.
Furthermore, the effect of meteorological parameters on the transition from dispersed individuals to tightly grouped huddles was investigated. Huddling is an emergent behavior which allows
Emperor penguins to conserve energy during the breeding period. From time lapse recordings,
the state of the colony was determined and the dependence on environmental parameters
was investigated. This allows for the identification of the individual environmental parameters
contribution to an apparent temperature, which in turn describes the Emperor penguins’ cold
perception. The fraction of penguins in a huddle depend on the apparent temperature and
follows a sigmoidal function. The inflection point characterizes a transition temperature at
which both states are equiprobable. A shift of this transition temperature could be used as an
integrated measure of the foraging success and the environmental strain experienced during
the breeding period.
Furthermore, it was examined how the observatories complement existing methods, to determine abundance and phenology, and whether the recordings provide sufficient quality to
supplement previous studies on a single penguin level, which were limited by insufficient
available data.
Finally, the feasibility of an automated visual tracking of penguins in their natural habitat was
studied based on antaviaSPOT recordings of Adélie penguins.
In summary, this thesis presents an integrated, videography-based approach for ecological
studies in the Antarctic. The feasibility of remote controlled or autonomous observatories
based on consumer-grade components for biophysical and ecological studies is evaluated.
2Designed for the exceptionally harsh environmental conditions of Antarctica, the observatories
are suitable to be used for other tasks and locations with minor modifications. Videographybased studies provide the spatial and temporal resolution to fill the gap between satellite or
aerial remote sensing and bio-logging methods. This work provides the foundation for future
research, by overcoming the lack of available data, the limited tools for time series evaluation,
and moreover presents novel analysis approaches.
Continued data acquisition over the next years will allow for an extension of the initial studies
presented here, incorporating data over multiple years and from multiple colonies across
Antarctica. This will enable the identification of seasonal and location dependent variations,
and will provide statistically robust models to contribute to determining the effects of global
change on the Southern Ocean ecosystem and Emperor penguins in particular.Bedingt durch den globalen Wandel werden in den nächsten Jahrzehnten drastische Veränderungen im Ökosystem des Südlichen Ozeans erwartet. Das sich erwärmende Klima, die
reduzierte Meereisbildung und die erhöhte Aktivität des Menschen beeinflussen die Verfügbarkeit von Nahrung und erfordern die Adaption einheimischer Arten an die veränderten
Gegebenheiten. Die Geschwindigkeit und Art der Veränderungen im Ökosystem und die
langfristigen Auswirkungen sind jedoch schwer identifizierbar. Daher werden Sentinel-Arten
(engl. sentinel species), zum Beispiel der Kaiserpinguin in der Antarktis, als sensible Indikatoren für diese Veränderungen herangezogen. Um jedoch Unterschiede im Verhalten zu erkennen und Anpassungen an ihre Umgebung zu identifizieren, ist ein grundlegendes Verständnis
des Ausgangsverhaltens erforderlich. Der schwierige Zugang zu den entlegenen Gebieten
und die rauen Umweltbedingungen in der Antarktis, insbesondere während des antarktischen
Winters, erschweren jedoch umfassende und langfristige Studien. Bisherige Erkenntnisse sind
auf wenige zugängliche Kolonien in der Nähe von ganzjährig besetzten Stationen und opportunistische Aufnahmen beschränkt. Angesichts eines prognostizierten Rückganges der
Kaiserpinguin-Population von bis zu 50% bis zum Ende des Jahrhunderts sind weiterführende
Studien zeitnah erforderlich.
Ein ganzheitliches Modell der Kaiserpinguinkolonien würde es ermöglichen, Verhalten vorherzusagen, Abweichungen von diesem Grundverhalten zu erkennen und mögliche Ursachen
abzuleiten. In den letzten Jahren wurde die satellitengestützte Fernerkundung erfolgreich
zur Erkennung von Brutplätzen entlang der antarktischen Küstenlinie eingesetzt, und BioLogging-Ansätze haben sich bewährt, um Informationen über zirkumpolare Migration und
Lebensgeschichten von Individuen zu ermitteln. Jedoch fehlen Methoden, um das Verhalten von Individuen und Kolonien auf Zeitskalen von Minuten bis Monaten zu untersuchen.
Diese Zeitskalen sind entscheidend, um Verhaltensänderungen innerhalb kurzer Zeiträume
hinweg zu erkennen und zu verstehen, z.B. die Neuordnung und Verlagerung der Kolonie als
Reaktion auf veränderte Umweltbedingungen oder die Verschiebung der Bedingungen, die
zur Huddle-Bildung führen.
In dieser Arbeit wird ein umfassender Ansatz für bildgebungs-gestützte Studien von Tieren
in abgelegenen Gebieten und unter schwierigen Umweltbedingungen vorgestellt und auf Pinguine in der Antarktis angewandt. Der Ansatz verbindet die Bereiche Ingenieurwesen, Infor-
5ZUSAMMENFASSUNG
matik, Physik und Biologie zu einem ganzheitlichen Ansatz, der alle notwendigen Schritte
von der Datenerfassung, Datenauswertung und -analyse bis zur Interpretation der Ergebnisse
umfasst. Physikalische Modelle und Methoden werden eingesetzt, um Beobachtungen zu
interpretieren und auf biophysikalische und ökologische Forschungsfragen anzuwenden.
In dieser Arbeit wurden drei neuartigen Observatorien entwickelt und im Feld eingesetzt, um
geeignete Daten zu erhalten. Das micrObs - eine erschwingliche Zeitrafferkamera, atkaSPOT
- ein energetisch autarkes und ferngesteuertes Observatorium, und antaviaSPOT - ein System zur kontinuierlichen Langzeitüberwachung. Alle drei Observatorien wurden über mehrere
Jahre hinweg erfolgreich in der Antarktis betrieben.
Zusätzlich wurde Software für ein effizientes Datenmanagement und die Auswertung großer
Zeitreihen-Datensätze entwickelt. ClickPoints - ein Python-basiertes wissenschaftliches Bildbetrachungs- und Analysetool - bietet grundlegende Funktionen für manuelle Auswertungen,
die Annotation von Datensätzen für maschinelle Lernansätze und eine Add-On-Schnittstelle
zur Erweiterung der Funktionalität für halb- und vollautomatische Auswertungen.
Schließlich werden die von den Observatorien aufgezeichneten Daten verwendet, um das
kollektive Verhalten von Kaiserpinguinen zu untersuchen und weitere Bausteine für ein ganzheitliches Kaiserpinguinmodell beizusteuern. Die treibenden Faktoren für die Fortbewegung
von Individuen und Kolonien während der Brutzeit wurden untersucht, um kürzlich beobachtete
Veränderungen im Brutverhalten zu interpretieren. Die Studie zeigt eine starke Korrelation
zwischen Windrichtung und Koloniebewegungsrichtung. Dies deutet darauf hin, dass die
beobachtete Verlagerung von Brutpinguinen vom Meereis auf das Schelfeis nicht zwangsläufig eine Anpassung an ein weniger stabiles Meereis ist, sondern eine Folge von vermehrten
Niederschlägen und dominanter Windrichtung.
Darüber hinaus wurde der Einfluss von meteorologischen Parametern auf die Umformung
der Kolonie von verstreuten Individuen zu dicht gedrängten Ansammlungen (Huddle) untersucht. Huddling ist ein emergentes Verhalten, das es Kaiserpinguinen ermöglicht, während der
Brutzeit Energie zu sparen. Aus Zeitrafferaufnahmen wurde der Zustand der Kolonie ermittelt
und die Abhängigkeit von Umweltparametern untersucht. Dies erlaubt es, den Beitrag einzelner
Umweltparameter zu einer gefühlten Temperatur zu identifizieren und die Kältewahrnehmung
der Kaiserpinguine zu charakterisieren. Der Anteil der Pinguine in einem Huddle hängt von
dieser gefühlten Temperatur gemäß einer sigmoiden Funktion ab, deren Inflektionspunkt eine
Übergangstemperatur charakterisiert, bei welcher sich die Hälfte der Tiere in einem Huddle
befindet. Eine Verschiebung dieser Übergangstemperatur könnte als integriertes Maß für den
Erfolg der Nahrungssuche und die Belastung durch Umweltbedingungen während der Brutzeit
verwendet werden.
Darüber hinaus wurde untersucht, wie die Observatorien bestehende Methoden ergänzen,
um die Abundanz und Phänologie der Kaiserpinguine zu bestimmen, und ob die gewonnen
Daten hinreichende Qualität bieten, um frühere Studien über das Verhalten von Individuen zu
6ergänzen, die durch unzureichend verfügbare Daten begrenzt waren.
Schließlich wurde die Machbarkeit einer automatisierten visuellen Verfolgung von Pinguinen
in ihrem natürlichen Lebensraum anhand von Aufnahmen des antaviaSPOT Observatoriums
von Adélie-Pinguinen untersucht.
Diese Arbeit präsentiert einen integrierten, bildgebungs-gestützten Ansatz für ökologische
Studien in der Antarktis und untersucht die Tauglichkeit von ferngesteuerten und autonomen
Observatorien auf Basis von handelsüblichen Komponenten für biophysikalische und ökologische Studien. Obwohl sie für die außergewöhnlich rauen Bedingungen der Antarktis konzipiert
sind, ist zu erwarten, dass die Observatorien mit geringen Modifikationen für andere Aufgaben
und Standorte adaptiert werden können. Lokale bildgebungs-gestützte Verfahren liefern die
räumliche und zeitliche Auflösung, um die Lücke zwischen Satelliten- oder Luftbildfernerkundung und Bio-Logging-Methoden zu füllen.
Diese Arbeit legt den Grundstein für zukünftige Studien, indem sie den Mangel an verfügbaren
Daten sowie die begrenzten Werkzeuge für die Zeitreihenauswertung überwindet und darüber
hinaus neue Analyseansätze präsentiert. Die kontinuierlich weitegeführte Datenerfassung
in den nächsten Jahren wird eine Erweiterung der hier vorgestellten Studien ermöglichen.
Basierend auf Daten über mehrere Jahre und von mehreren Kolonien in der Antarktis können saisonale und ortsabhängige Schwankungen identifiziert und statistisch robuste Modelle
erstellt werden, welche es uns erlauben, die Auswirkungen des globalen Wandels auf das
Ökosystem des Südlichen Ozeans und insbesondere auf die Kaiserpinguine zu bestimmen
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