Pointwise construction of Lippschitz aggregation operators with specific properties

This paper describes an approach to pointwise construction of general aggregation operators, based on monotone Lipschitz approximation. The aggregation operators are constructed from a set of desired values at certain points, or from empirically collected data. It establishes tight upper and lower bounds on Lipschitz aggregation operators with a number of different properties, as well as the optimal aggregation operator, consistent with the given values. We consider conjunctive, disjunctive and idempotent n-ary aggregation operators; p-stable aggregation operators; various choices of the neutral element and annihilator; diagonal, opposite diagonal and marginal sections; bipolar and double aggregation operators. In all cases we provide either explicit formulas or deterministic numerical procedures to determine the bounds. The findings of this paper are useful for construction of aggregation operators with specified properties, especially using interpolation schemata.

Public and stakeholder values and knowledge of wildlife in Victoria, Australia

Prompted by a lack of human dimensions research in Australia, this study investigated the values and knowledge relating to wildlife held by members of the public within distinct demographic subsets of the Victorian population and members of wildlife management stakeholder groups; and compared these characteristics with how Victorian wildlife managers perceive these groups. A combination of semi-structured interviews and postal questionnaires were used. Fifteen in-depth interviews were conducted to explore how wildlife managers perceive the values and knowledge of wildlife held by members of various subsets of the Victorian population. A total of 1,431 questionnaires were completed by members of 13 public and stakeholder groups throughout Victoria, and these were analysed to explore values and knowledge relating to wildlife in Victoria. The findings of this study suggest that Victorian people have a strong emotional attachment to individual animals (the humanistic value), and an interest in learning about wildlife (the curiosity/learning/interacting value). The dominionistic/wildlife-consumption, utilitarian-habitat, aesthetic and negativistic values were not expressed by the majority of respondents from the public samples. The data also suggest that Victorian people have relatively low levels of factual knowledge about Australian wildlife. Thus, wildlife managers should expect support for wildlife management objectives that reflect the strong humanistic orientation of Victorians and tailor management and education programs to appeal to this value and Victorians' interest in learning about wildlife. Members of the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria (FNCV), Bird Observers Club of Australia (BOCA), Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) stakeholder groups and management agency Parks Victoria expressed a strong interest in learning about wildlife. Members of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) obtained high humanistic value scores; and members of the Victorian Field and Game Association (VFGA) obtained high domimomstic/wildlife-consumption value scores. Importantly, the humanistic and curiosity/learning/interacting values were the most strongly expressed values in all six groups and these values could be the key to more effective communication and collaboration between groups. Relationships between demographic factors, and values and knowledge relating to wildlife were found. For example, rural Victorians held a stronger dominionistic/ wildlife-consumption value than urban Victorians; females held stronger humanistic, curiosity/learning/interacting and negativistic values than males; young Victorians (18-34 years) held a lower curiosity/learning/interacting value and lower factual knowledge of wildlife than older Victorians; and more highly educated Victorians were more knowledgeable about wildlife than people with less formal education. No statistically significant differences were found between the values and knowledge of wildlife held by different income classes. While relationships between demographic factors, and values and knowledge relating to wildlife were found, they were generally much smaller than expected based on wildlife managers' perceptions and previous research. For example, the results suggest that Victorian females have a slightly stronger humanistic value of wildlife than males do. However, the important message emerging from the data is that males and females both express a strong emotional attachment to individual animals. Importantly, the results indicate that the effects of demographic factors on values and knowledge relating to wildlife are not always consistent across different geographic locations and stakeholder groups. For example, the slightly stronger interest in learning about wildlife among females when compared with males was observed in the rural and urban-fringe samples but not in the urban samples. This suggests that caution must be used when generalising the findings from human dimensions studies from one type of community or stakeholder group to another. Management programs should be tailored to the specific characteristics of the target audience. The findings also indicate that Victorian wildlife managers have diverse perceptions about the values and knowledge of wildlife held by members of different publics and stakeholder groups, and that the perceptions held by wildlife managers are not always consistent with the actual values and knowledge of wildlife held by members of different publics and stakeholders. For example, counter to the perceptions expressed by the interviewed wildlife managers, the interest in and factual knowledge of wildlife held by members of voluntary conservation groups equalled or surpassed that of wildlife managers; young Victorian adults (18-34 years) held a slightly lower curiosity/learning/interacting value and slightly lower level of factual knowledge of wildlife than older Victorians; and rural and urban communities in Victoria held low dominionistic and utilitarian values. Such discrepancies highlight the importance of investigating the actual values and knowledge held by members of such groups, so that appropriate and effective wildlife management programs can be implemented. Inaccurate perceptions and assumptions may contribute to ineffective communication between managers, stakeholders and publics; and adversely effect the success of wildlife management programs.

A comparison of the socio-cultural influences on body size perceptions and values among European Australian and Indigenous Fijian adolescent girls

Western women are experiencing increases in the prevalence of overweight and obesity despite valuing slimness as ideal and equating thinness with attractiveness and beauty. Pacific populations are also experiencing high prevalence rates of overweight and obesity. A lage body size, however, has many positive connotations among pacific populations that stem from rich cultural practices such as feasts and deliberate fattening of women. There appears to be many sociocultural factors however, such as images of the slim ideal portrayed in Western media, influencing body image concerns that are shared between the two groups. A qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews was conducted to examine and compare the sociocultural influences on body size perceptionsand values. Participants include 16 European Australian and 16 Indigenous Fijian adolescent girls aged between 15 and 17 years. Inductive thematic analysis and analytical induction were qualitativemethods employed to facilitate interpretation of the findings. Preliminary findings suggest that Fijian adolescent girls experience greater conflict than European Australian girls about the desired body size endorsed in their community. Results also suggest that Indigenous Fijian girls place less importance than Australian girls on manipulating their body to achieve a specific ideal. Specific results of this study are reviewed and recommendations for future research are discussed.

A calibration protocol for population-specific accelerometer cut-points in children

Purpose

To test a field-based protocol using intermittent activities representative of children's physical activity behaviours, to generate behaviourally valid, population-specific accelerometer cut-points for sedentary behaviour, moderate, and vigorous physical activity.
Methods

Twenty-eight children (46% boys) aged 10–11 years wore a hip-mounted uniaxial GT1M ActiGraph and engaged in 6 activities representative of children's play. A validated direct observation protocol was used as the criterion measure of physical activity. Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve analyses were conducted with four semi-structured activities to determine the accelerometer cut-points. To examine classification differences, cut-points were cross-validated with free-play and DVD viewing activities.
Results

Cut-points of ≤372, >2160 and >4806 counts•min−1 representing sedentary, moderate and vigorous intensity thresholds, respectively, provided the optimal balance between the related needs for sensitivity (accurately detecting activity) and specificity (limiting misclassification of the activity). Cross-validation data demonstrated that these values yielded the best overall kappa scores (0.97; 0.71; 0.62), and a high classification agreement (98.6%; 89.0%; 87.2%), respectively. Specificity values of 96–97% showed that the developed cut-points accurately detected physical activity, and sensitivity values (89–99%) indicated that minutes of activity were seldom incorrectly classified as inactivity.
Conclusion

The development of an inexpensive and replicable field-based protocol to generate behaviourally valid and population-specific accelerometer cut-points may improve the classification of physical activity levels in children, which could enhance subsequent intervention and observational studies.

Integrating biological and social values when prioritizing places for biodiversity conservation

The consideration of information on social values in conjunction with biological data is critical for achieving both socially acceptable and scientifically defensible conservation planning outcomes. However, the influence of social values on spatial conservation priorities has received limited attention and is poorly understood. We present an approach that incorporates quantitative data on social values for conservation and social preferences for development into spatial conservation planning. We undertook a public participation GIS survey to spatially represent social values and development preferences and used species distribution models for 7 threatened fauna species to represent biological values. These spatially explicit data were simultaneously included in the conservation planning software Zonation to examine how conservation priorities changed with the inclusion of social data. Integrating spatially explicit information about social values and development preferences with biological data produced prioritizations that differed spatially from the solution based on only biological data. However, the integrated solutions protected a similar proportion of the species' distributions, indicating that Zonation effectively combined the biological and social data to produce socially feasible conservation solutions of approximately equivalent biological value. We were able to identify areas of the landscape where synergies and conflicts between different value sets are likely to occur. Identification of these synergies and conflicts will allow decision makers to target communication strategies to specific areas and ensure effective community engagement and positive conservation outcomes.

Sexual niche segregation and gender-specific individual specialisation in a highly dimorphic marine mammal

While sexual segregation is expected in highly dimorphic species, the local environment is a major factor driving the degree of resource partitioning within a population. Sexual and individual niche segregation was investigated in the Australian fur seal (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus), which is a benthic foraging species restricted to the shallow continental shelf region of south-eastern Australia. Tracking data and the isotopic values of plasma, red blood cells and whiskers were combined to document spatial and dietary niche segregation throughout the year. Tracking data indicated that, in winter, males and females overlapped in their foraging habitat. All individuals stayed within central Bass Strait, relatively close (< 220 km) to the breeding colony. Accordingly, both genders exhibited similar plasma and red cell δ13C values. However, males exhibited greater δ13C intra-individual variation along the length of their whisker than females. This suggests that males exploited a greater diversity of foraging habitats throughout the year than their female counterparts, which are restricted in their foraging grounds by the need to regularly return to the breeding colony to suckle their pup. The degree of dietary sexual segregation was also surprisingly low, both sexes exhibiting a great overlap in their δ15N values. Yet, males displayed higher δ15N values than females, suggesting they fed upon a higher proportion of higher trophic level prey. Given that males and females exploit different resources (mainly foraging habitats), the degree of individual specialisation might differ between the sexes. Higher degrees of individual specialisation would be expected in males which exploit a greater range of resources. However, comparable levels of inter-individual variation in δ15N whisker values were found in the sampled males and females, and, surprisingly, all males exhibited similar seasonal and inter-annual variation in their δ13C whisker values, suggesting they all followed the same general dispersion pattern throughout the year.

Development of site-specific sediment quality guidelines for North and South Atlantic littoral zones: Comparison against national and international sediment quality benchmarks

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Serum and urinary measurements of prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) and prostatic specific antigen (PSA) in dogs

Realizaram-se mensurações sérica e urinária de fosfatase ácida prostática (PAP) e antígeno prostático específico (PSA) de 20 cães. Os testes de PAP e PSA foram feitos em um equipamento automatizado, com o uso de kits comerciais para humanos. A média de PAP sérico foi de 0,7U/l e urinário 0,U/l. As médias do PSA sérico e urinário foram 0,005ng/dL e 0,004ng/dl, respectivamente. A determinação do dois biomarcadores in vivo é uma nova opção de diagnóstico na medicina veterinária e os valores obtidos devem ser correlacionados com a lesão morfológica da próstata.

Assessment of cytokine values in serum by RT-PCR in HIV-1 infected individuals with and without highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Relationship of abomasal histology and parasite-specific immunoglobulin A with the resistance to Haemonchus contortus infection in three breeds of sheep

This study was carried out to evaluate the relationship of abomasal inflammatory cells and parasite-specific immunoglobulin A (IgA) in mucus, with the resistance to Haemonchus contortus infection in three breeds of sheep naturally infected with gastrointestinal nematodes. The breeds were the native Santa Ines sheep, and the European Suffolk and Ile de France breeds. Mast cells, eosinophils and globule leucocytes were enumerated in abomasal mucosa. Eosinophils within the sub-mucosa also were counted separately. Histamine concentration was estimated in abomasal tissue samples. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was carried out in mucus samples to determine the level of IgA anti-H. contortus third and fifth instar. There were no significant differences among group means of these variables (P > 0.05). The correlation coefficients between fecal egg counts (FEC) x mast cells (r = -0.490; P < 0.05) and FEC x eosinophils in sub-mucosa (r = -0.714; P < 0.01) was significant in the Santa Ines sheep. In the Ile de France group, the correlation coefficients between globule leucocytes x FEC (r = -0.879; P < 0.001) and histamine x worm burden (r = -0.833; P < 0.01) were also significant. In the Santa Ines and Ile de France sheep, correlation coefficients between IgA anti-L3 x worm burden and IgA anti-L3 x FEC were negative. In general, inflammatory cells and IgA-parasite-specific in abomasum were inversely associated with H. contortus worm burden and FEC indicating that they may impair parasite development or fecundity in the three breeds of sheep. However, similar mean values of inflammatory cells and IgA were found in the resistant (Santa Ines) and in the susceptible (Suffolk and Ile de France) breeds of sheep. The enumeration of cells by histological assessment does not provide information on their functional activity, which may be different among breeds. Thus, the effect of breed on the functional activity of these and other inflammatory cells is an important area for further study. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Meal size and specific dynamic action in the rattlesnake Crotalus durissus (Serpentes : Viperidae)

We studied the effect of meal size on specific dynamic action (SDA) in the South American rattlesnake Crotalus durissus, by measuring oxygen consumption rates (VO2) prior to and after the ingestion of meals ranging from 10-50% of snake's body mass. Regardless of meal size, variation in VO2 with time during digestion demonstrated the same general pattern. Oxygen consumption rates peaked between 15 and 33 h post-feeding, at values 3.7-7.3 times those prior to feeding. Snakes, while digesting meals of 30% and 50% of their body mass, experienced VO2 that exceeded rates measured during forced activity. Following peaks in VO2, rates returned to prefeeding values within 62-170 h post-feeding. Post-prandial peak in VO2 and the duration of the metabolic response to feeding increased with meal size. Digestion is an energetically demanding activity for C. durissus, with an estimated cost equaling 12-18% of the ingested assimilated energy.

Relationships among growth and different NOR phenotypes in a specific stock of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Specific components found in circulating immune complexes (CIC) in paracoccidioidomycosis

Circulating immune complexes (CIC) from 15 paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) patient sera and from 20 healthy control sera were analysed. After CIC precipitation, solubilization and acid treatment, only a little reactivity to P. brasiliensis antigens was found in the free antibodies from PCM-CIC. This result has suggested that there were antibodies with a high affinity bound to fungus components. Dissociated CIC were fractionated in a column of Sephacryl S300 and the fractions that probably contained antigens were pooled and applied to an affinity column, prepared with mouse anti-gp43 monoclonal antibody. Using ECL-Western blotting assay two polypeptide with apparent mass of 43 and 62 kDa were found.

Influence of the tool edge geometry on specific cutting energy at high-speed cutting

This paper presents specific cutting energy measurements as a function of the cutting speed and tool cutting edge geometry. The experimental work was carried out on a vertical CNC machining center with 7,500 rpm spindle rotation and 7.5 kW power. Hardened steels ASTM H13 (50 HRC) were machined at conventional cutting speed and high-speed cutting (HSC). TiN coated carbides with seven different geometries of chip breaker were applied on dry tests. A special milling tool holder with only one cutting edge was developed and the machining forces needed to calculate the specific cutting energy were recorded using a piezoelectric 4-component dynamometer. Workpiece roughness and chip formation process were also evaluated. The results showed that the specific cutting energy decreased 15.5% when cutting speed was increased up to 700%. An increase of 1 °in tool chip breaker chamfer angle lead to a reduction in the specific cutting energy about 13.7% and 28.6% when machining at HSC and conventional cutting speed respectively. Furthermore the workpiece roughness values evaluated in all test conditions were very low, closer to those of typical grinding operations (∼0.20 μm). Probable adiabatic shear occurred on chip segmentation at HSC Copyright © 2007 by ABCM.

HPLC determination of hemoglobins to establish reference values with the aid of statistics and informatics

The purpose of the present study was to establish reference values for hemoglobins (Hb) using HPLC, in samples containing normal Hb (AA), sickle cell trait without alpha-thalassemia (AS), sickle cell trait with alpha-thalassemia (ASH), sickle cell anemia (SS), and Hb SC disease (SC). The blood samples were analyzed by electrophoresis, HPLC and molecular procedures. The Hb A2 mean was 4.30 ± 0.44% in AS, 4.18 ± 0.42% in ASH, 3.90 ± 1.14% in SS, and 4.39 ± 0.35% in SC. They were similar, but above the normal range. Between the AS and ASH groups, only the amount of Hb S was higher in the AS group. The Hb S mean in the AS group was 38.54 ± 3.01% and in the ASH it was 36.54 ± 3.76%. In the qualitative analysis, using FastMap, distinct groups were seen: AA and SS located at opposite extremes, AS and ASH with overlapping values and intermediate distribution, SC between heterozygotes and the SS group. Hb S was confirmed by allele-specific polymerase chain reaction. The Hb values established will be available for use as a reference for the Brazilian population, drawing attention to the increased levels of Hb A2, which should be considered with caution to prevent incorrect diagnoses. ©FUNPEC-RP.