Green Animal Shelter Design for the Stokes County Humane Society of North Carolina

The Stokes County Humane Society has the opportunity to implement sustainable design concepts and demonstrate long-term fiscal savings in the design of an animal shelter for Stokes County, North Carolina. The proposed renovated structure takes advantage of passive design strategies that convert a cold, steel structure into one with warmth, light, and functionality. Proposed design techniques include an interior courtyard, geothermal heating and cooling, solar panels, a green roof, rainwater harvesting, sustainable landscaping, and clever materials selection. A cost analysis identifies capital costs and long term operational costs for both traditional and sustainable construction techniques. The results are capital costs of a sustainable design that are comparable to a traditional build, with long-term operational cost savings and generated revenue.

One day at Wood Green Animal Shelter.

Vamos a visitar un refugio de animales acompañados por algunos de sus empleados y por la autora del libro que lleva su máquina de fotos y un magnetófono. Ésta utiliza una combinación de texto y fotografía collage y nos introduce en el desarrollo de un día en este centro, en el que las personas y los animales, que son cuidados y tratados de sus enfermedades, forman una familia.

Assisting a Local Animal Shelter

Construction Technology students, JJ Potvin and Jim Strande assisted Pintler Pets, Montana's Anaconda-Deer Lodge Animal Shelter, with its recent major influx of feral cats by constructing a "lean to" addition to the building.

National school fallout shelter design competition awards:

Mode of access: Internet.

Bouncing Back : Recovery through Design + Making

Architectural education is beginning to recognise the potential of a more intensive relationship between the tasks of designing and building (Erdman et al., 2002) within a work integrated learning environment. The Bouncing Back Project, began after the Queensland, Australia floods in January 2011, and has organically grown through a number of architectural student exhibitions, initially displaying flood responsive designs. In September 2011, 10 Queensland University of Technology architecture students travelled to Sydney to work together in helping to construct a shelter in the Emergency Shelter Exhibition, at Customs House in Circular Quay. The construction and making of the shelter, was filmed. This film documents the student experience, of making, working with industry professionals, community engagement and it reveals how this activity promotes informal work integrated learning in a real world context.

The seroprevalence of Rocky Mountain spotted fever in shelter dogs in Harris County

Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) is a tick-borne illness caused by the bacteria Rickettsia rickettsii, with infections occurring in humans and dogs. The prominent tick vector of RMSF, Dermacantor variabilis, and another potential vector, Rhipacephalus sanguineus, are prevalent in Texas. The goal of this study was to determine the prevalence of past infections by testing for IgG antibodies to R. rickettsii in dogs in an animal shelter in Harris County using an immunofluorescence assay (IFA) test. We found that 12.6% (24) of 191 dogs tested had a positive IFA test at 1:64 serum dilution, indicating infection at some time in the past. We also sampled the ticks present on dogs in the animal shelter to understand the prevalence of potential vector species. Of a total of 58 ticks, 86% were D. variabilis and the remaining 14% were R. sanguineus. The results of this study demonstrate that RMSF has the potential to be, and may already be, endemic to the Harris County area. Public health actions such as heightened surveillance and education that RMSF is present would be appropriate in the Harris County area.^

Relação de variáveis ambientais em baias cobertas com polietileno e desempenho da rã-touro (Rana catesbeiana)

Este trabalho visou a relacionar variáveis ambientais em instalação para criação de rãs, com cobertura de polietileno e baias construídas usando material alternativo, com o desempenho de rãs-touro (Rana catesbeiana). No interior das baias, foram medidas as temperaturas do piso, do ar ambiente (bulbo seco), de bulbo úmido, globo negro e da água do reservatório. Foram utilizados 60 animais por baia e três baias por galpão. As variáveis de desempenho estudadas foram peso vivo, ganho de peso e conversão alimentar. Nas condições experimentais, quando a temperatura do ar atingiu valores abaixo de 10 ºC ou superiores a 40 ºC, houve diminuição no consumo de ração pelos animais. Concluiu-se que o estresse predominante, neste tipo de estrutura, para as condições climáticas do período experimental, foi devido, principalmente, às baixas temperaturas. Concluiu-se, ainda, que o uso do Índice de Temperatura e Umidade (THI), na estimativa de variáveis de desempenho, melhorou a precisão da estimativa em relação ao uso exclusivo da temperatura do ar, embora valores desse índice, considerados estressantes para animais superiores, não o tenham sido para as rãs.

Avaliação da ventilação e insolação em edificações na região de Bauru - SP

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Energia na Agricultura) - FCA

Molecular investigation of zoonotic genotypes of Giardia intestinalis isolates in humans, dogs and cats, sheep, goats and cattle in Araçatuba (Sãoo Paulo State, Brazil) by the analysis of beta-giardin gene fragments

In the period from July 2009 to October 2010, fecal samples from 61 animals and 154 humans from the municipality of Aracatuba (São Paulo State, Brazil) were studied. Fecal samples from animals were collected in the Municipal Animal Shelter and the Veterinary Hospital of the Universidade Estadual Paulista. Human fecal specimens were collected in playschools in the outskirts of the city by the private network of clinical analysis laboratories of the municipal. Diagnosis was done by optical microscopy using the Faust and Hoffmann, Pons and Janer techniques. The genotypes of Giardia intestinalis were characterized by PCR-RFLP and confirmed by sequencing the ß-giardin gene. Human specimens were positive in 25.3% (39/154) of the cases with 26.8% (36/134) of the specimens from children and 15% (3/20) from adults being positive. The frequency of G. intestinalis among the animals was 23.0% (14/61). A total of 32 isolates of G. intestinalis obtained from human feces and six from dogs and cats were characteristic of the A genotype (AI and AII/AIII). The results of this study in respect to frequency of giardiasis are similar to reported in most studies in Brazil. The prevalence observed in animal populations conforms to worldwide infection rates. G. intestinalis genotypes considered zoonotic were detected in both pets and humans from the city of Aractuba, suggesting a possible zoonotic transmission of the parasite in the northwestern region of São Paulo State. The absence of these genotypes in farm animals may imply that they are not involved in the chain of transmission to humans in this region.

Power Calculations for Preclinical Studies Using a K-Sample Rank Test and the Lehmann Alternative Hypothesis

Power calculations in a small sample comparative study, with a continuous outcome measure, are typically undertaken using the asymptotic distribution of the test statistic. When the sample size is small, this asymptotic result can be a poor approximation. An alternative approach, using a rank based test statistic, is an exact power calculation. When the number of groups is greater than two, the number of calculations required to perform an exact power calculation is prohibitive. To reduce the computational burden, a Monte Carlo resampling procedure is used to approximate the exact power function of a k-sample rank test statistic under the family of Lehmann alternative hypotheses. The motivating example for this approach is the design of animal studies, where the number of animals per group is typically small.

Winning designs for fallout shelters in shopping centers /

"This booklet is an abstract of OCD technical report TR-28, "National community fallout shelter design competition awards," brochure which is available only to architects,..."--Back cover.

Analyse comparative de l’approche bioclimatique et de la méthode LEED en architecture

Motivé par l’évolution de la production architecturale durable dans les pays d’Amérique latine, et plus particulièrement en Colombie, mon projet de recherche porte sur l’adaptation de l’architecture à ce nouveau contexte. L’approche architecturale traditionnelle à la prise en compte de l’énergie et du climat est l’architecture bioclimatique : reproduite à partir de connaissances et techniques ancestrales remontant à la conception de l’abri, cette dernière étudie les phénomènes physiques associés au confort thermique afin de les reproduire dans une nouvelle architecture. De nouvelles méthodes d’évaluation environnementale se sont développées dans les dernières décennies pour améliorer l’intégration environnementale des bâtiments. Ces méthodes privilégient la normalisation des solutions et utilisent des systèmes de certification pour reconnaître la performance environnementale et énergétique des bâtiments. Le résultat visé est la conformité aux standards internationaux de durabilité. Ce mémoire porte sur l’analyse comparative de l’architecture bioclimatique et de la certification environnementale à partir de la structure des sujets abordés par LEED, une des méthodes les plus connues d’une telle certification. Cette comparaison permet de constater que les deux approches sont motivées par les mêmes préoccupations environnementales mais que leurs méthodes d’intégration de ces préoccupations diffèrent, en particulier quant à la prise en compte des facteurs locaux et globaux.

Analyse comparative de l’approche bioclimatique et de la méthode LEED en architecture

Motivé par l’évolution de la production architecturale durable dans les pays d’Amérique latine, et plus particulièrement en Colombie, mon projet de recherche porte sur l’adaptation de l’architecture à ce nouveau contexte. L’approche architecturale traditionnelle à la prise en compte de l’énergie et du climat est l’architecture bioclimatique : reproduite à partir de connaissances et techniques ancestrales remontant à la conception de l’abri, cette dernière étudie les phénomènes physiques associés au confort thermique afin de les reproduire dans une nouvelle architecture. De nouvelles méthodes d’évaluation environnementale se sont développées dans les dernières décennies pour améliorer l’intégration environnementale des bâtiments. Ces méthodes privilégient la normalisation des solutions et utilisent des systèmes de certification pour reconnaître la performance environnementale et énergétique des bâtiments. Le résultat visé est la conformité aux standards internationaux de durabilité. Ce mémoire porte sur l’analyse comparative de l’architecture bioclimatique et de la certification environnementale à partir de la structure des sujets abordés par LEED, une des méthodes les plus connues d’une telle certification. Cette comparaison permet de constater que les deux approches sont motivées par les mêmes préoccupations environnementales mais que leurs méthodes d’intégration de ces préoccupations diffèrent, en particulier quant à la prise en compte des facteurs locaux et globaux.

The design and evaluation of a mobile sensor/actuator network for autonomous animal control

This paper investigates a mobile, wireless sensor/actuator network application for use in the cattle breeding industry. Our goal is to prevent fighting between bulls in on-farm breeding paddocks by autonomously applying appropriate stimuli when one bull approaches another bull. This is an important application because fighting between high-value animals such as bulls during breeding seasons causes significant financial loss to producers. Furthermore, there are significant challenges in this type of application because it requires dynamic animal state estimation, real-time actuation and efficient mobile wireless transmissions. We designed and implemented an animal state estimation algorithm based on a state-machine mechanism for each animal. Autonomous actuation is performed based on the estimated states of an animal relative to other animals. A simple, yet effective, wireless communication model has been proposed and implemented to achieve high delivery rates in mobile environments. We evaluated the performance of our design by both simulations and field experiments, which demonstrated the effectiveness of our autonomous animal control system.