Evaluating the Potential Impact of a Gas Pipeline on Whimbrel Breeding Habitat in the Outer Mackenzie Delta, Northwest Territories

We used ground surveys to identify breeding habitat for Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) in the outer Mackenzie Delta, Northwest Territories, and to test the value of high-resolution IKONOS imagery for mapping additional breeding habitat in the Delta. During ground surveys, we found Whimbrel nests (n = 28) in extensive areas of wet-sedge low-centered polygon (LCP) habitat on two islands in the Delta (Taglu and Fish islands) in 2006 and 2007. Supervised classification using spectral analysis of IKONOS imagery successfully identified additional areas of wet-sedge habitat in the region. However, ground surveys to test this classification found that many areas of wet-sedge habitat had dense shrubs, no standing water, and/or lacked polygon structure and did not support breeding Whimbrel. Visual examination of the IKONOS imagery was necessary to determine which areas exhibited LCP structure. Much lower densities of nesting Whimbrel were also found in upland habitats near wetlands. We used habitat maps developed from a combination of methods, to perform scenario analyses to estimate the potential effects of the Mackenzie Gas Project on Whimbrel habitat. Assuming effective complete habitat loss within 20 m, 50 m, or 250 m of any infrastructure or pipeline, the currently proposed pipeline development would result in loss of 8%, 12%, or 30% of existing Whimbrel habitat. If subsidence were to occur, most Whimbrel habitat could become unsuitable. If the facility is developed, follow-up surveys will be required to test these models.

California's Endangered Belding’s Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis beldingi): Tolerance of Pedestrian Disturbance

Salt marshes constitute habitat islands for many endemic animal species, particularly along the California coast, where urban sprawl has fragmented this habitat. Recreational activities in salt marshes have increased recently, posing an interesting problem: how do endemic species lacking alternative habitat modify their tolerance to humans? We assessed seasonal and site variations in three tolerance parameters (distances at which animals became alert, fled, and moved after fleeing) of California's endangered Belding’s Savannah Sparrow ((Passerculus sandwichensis beldingi). We approached individuals on trails in three salt marshes with different levels of vehicle and pedestrian traffic. Belding’s Savannah Sparrows became aware and fled at shorter distances in the salt marsh coincident with greater levels of recreational activity as a result of habituation or visual obstruction effects. Seasonal effects in tolerance varied between sites. Alert and flight initiation distances were higher in the pre-nesting than in the non-breeding season in the site with the highest levels of recreational use likely due to greater exposure of breeding individuals; however, the opposite seasonal trend was found in each of the two sites with relatively lower human use, probably because individuals were less spatially attached in the non-breeding season when they foraged in aggregations. Distance fled was greater in the non-breeding than in the breeding season. Our findings call for dynamic management of recreational activities in different salt marshes depending on the degree of exposure to humans and seasonal variations in tolerance. We recommend a minimum approaching distance of 63 m and buffer areas of 1.3 ha around Belding's Savannah Sparrows.

Selected topics in probiotics and prebiotics: meeting report for the 2004 international scientific association for probiotics and prebiotics

On August 2931, 2004, 84 academic and industry scientists from 16 countries gathered in Copper Mountain, Colorado USA to discuss certain issues at the forefront of the science of probiotics and prebiotics. The format for this invitation only meeting included six featured lectures: engineering human vaginal lactobacilli to express HIV inhibitory molecules (Peter Lee, Stanford University), programming the gut for health (Thaddeus Stappenbeck, Washington University School of Medicine), immune modulation by intestinal helminthes (Joel Weinstock, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics), hygiene as a cause of autoimmune disorders (G. A. Rook, University College London), prebiotics and bone health (Connie Weaver, Purdue University) and prebiotics and colorectal cancer risk (Ian Rowland, Northern Ireland Centre for Food and Health). In addition, all participants were included in one of eight discussion groups on the topics of engineered probiotics, host-commensal bacteria communication, 'omics' technologies, hygiene and immune regulation, biomarkers for healthy people, prebiotic and probiotic applications to companion animals, development of a probiotic dossier, and physiological relevance of prebiotic activity. Brief conclusions from these discussion groups are summarized in this paper.

RWater – A Cyber Enabled Tool For Hydrologic Modeling And Analysis

Existing distributed hydrologic models are complex and computationally demanding for using as a rapid-forecasting policy-decision tool, or even as a class-room educational tool. In addition, platform dependence, specific input/output data structures and non-dynamic data-interaction with pluggable software components inside the existing proprietary frameworks make these models restrictive only to the specialized user groups. RWater is a web-based hydrologic analysis and modeling framework that utilizes the commonly used R software within the HUBzero cyber infrastructure of Purdue University. RWater is designed as an integrated framework for distributed hydrologic simulation, along with subsequent parameter optimization and visualization schemes. RWater provides platform independent web-based interface, flexible data integration capacity, grid-based simulations, and user-extensibility. RWater uses RStudio to simulate hydrologic processes on raster based data obtained through conventional GIS pre-processing. The program integrates Shuffled Complex Evolution (SCE) algorithm for parameter optimization. Moreover, RWater enables users to produce different descriptive statistics and visualization of the outputs at different temporal resolutions. The applicability of RWater will be demonstrated by application on two watersheds in Indiana for multiple rainfall events.

As contribuições do proformação/pedagogia/UERN para a melhoria da prática pedagógica de professores

This dissertation aims at analyzing some relations established between teachers‟ formative proposal for docent knowledge and pedagogical practices in the Special Program of Professional Formation to Basic Education (Proformação in Portuguese) with the objective of investigating how teachers evaluate knowledge acquired during their course formation to identify its improvement in their pedagogical practice. This is a Pedagogical Program of the State University of Rio Grande do Norte chosen to be analyzed. The objective is to investigate how teachers, Proformação/Pedagogy course students evaluate privileged knowledge in that university formation and how the relation between this knowledge and their pedagogical practice are experienced in classroom as teachers, defining in which way knowledge constructed and reconstructed during the course contributes for an improvement of their pedagogical practices. We have interviewed fourteen Proformação/Pedagogy last-term teachers, emphasizing the analysis of their point of view as social actors related to docent university formation in service. The principles for this investigation comprehend a qualitative approach, in a case study modality, with an exploratory tendency, presented in the introductory section and along four chapters. The research is theoretically guided by Andoino (1998), Bardin (2009); Laville e Dione (1999); Bogdan and Biklen (1994), Hernandez Sampieri, Hernandez Collado and Baptista Lúcio (2006), among others. We justify this thematic choice, considering docent formation and its interface with an improvement for students‟ leaning, taking into account the strict relations between those elements. We have discussed on docent formative paradigms, based on a multireferential perspective, whose main authors that developed research in this area are: Gómez (1998), Sacristán e Gómez (1998), Tardif (2002), Altet (2001) Paquay e Wagner (2001), Garcia (1999), Baldi (2008), La Torre e Barrios (2002). We interviewed fourteen teachers, all of them in the last term of the Program. In the second chapter, we justify the choice of the subject, approaching docent formation and its relation with basic teaching. We understand that there is a strong relation between those aspects. In the third chapter, we discuss on some docent formative paradigms, among them, Gomes (1998), Sacristán and Gomez (1998), Tardig (2002), Altet (2001) Paquay and Wagner (2001), Garcia (1999), Baldi (2008), La Torre and Barrios (2002). We introduce the Pedagogical Program structure and specify which formative paradigms characterize it and identifying that one of the most prominent paradigm is a practical perspective with emphasis on reflexivity about the practice based on the premise that docent formation is be based on from learning to practice theory. We present an data analysis obtained from thematic categorization extracted subjects‟ discourses and, at the end, we discuss on evaluation of the teachers involved in the research related to the course contributions to provide an improvement for pedagogical practices developed by them inside their classrooms. We consider, thus, that teachers evaluate the Program as a guideline for (re)construction of diversified knowledge, which, in turn, provides the development of abilities to analyze classroom situations based on pedagogical theories and to develop investigative practice based on everyday experience. The results point out that some implications are relevant, among them: the thematic-choice, discussed previously, needs other kinds of investigations. The relation between theory and practice proposed in formation programs requires more systematic studies considering others aspects that characterize teaching process, and mainly, to provide investigative proposals of and about such practices

A visita domiciliar como estratégia de ensino aprendizagem na integralidade do cuidado

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)