An examination of trends in the growing scientific literature on approaching wildlife with drones

Drones or unoccupied aerial vehicles are rapidly being used for a spectrum of applications, including replacing traditional occupied aircraft as a means of approaching wildlife from the air. Though less intrusive to wildlife than occupied aircraft, drones can still cause varying levels of disturbance. Policies and protocols to guide lowest-impact drone flights are most likely to succeed if considerations are derived from knowledge from scientific literature. This study examines trends in the scientific literature on using drones to approach wildlife between 2000 and 2020, specifically in relation to the type of publications, scientific journals works are published in, the purposes of drone flights reported, taxa studied, and locations of studies. From 223 publications, we observed a large increase in relevant scientific literature, the majority of which were peer-reviewed articles published across 87 scientific journals. The largest proportions of peer-reviewed research articles related to aquatic mammals or aquatic birds, and the use or trial of drone flights for conducting population surveys, animal detection or investigations of animal responses to drone flights. The largest proportion of articles were studies conducted in North America and Australia. Since animal responses to drone flights vary between taxa, populations, and geographic locations, we encourage further growth in the volume of relevant scientific literature needed to inform policies and protocols for specific taxa and/or locations, particularly where knowledge gaps exist.

REASONS OF USING ARABIZI AMONG ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDENTS IN JORDAN

The purpose of this study is to investigate the reasons for utilizing Arabizi among students at Jadara and Yarmouk Universities, as well as the prevalent motivations for switching for each reason. For the academic year 2019/2020, this quantitative study includes students studying English language and translation at two institutions, Yarmouk and Jadara. The participants in this study were picked at random from Jadara and Yarmouk Universities in the Irbid governorate. This study's data comes from a questionnaire that was given to 283 students of both genders (male and female). The researchers used Standard Deviations, percentages, means, frequencies, statistical figures, and the Friedman test to answer the study's research question. The findings revealed that there are numerous explanations for this. It is used by the participants as a prestigious language, as well as an easy way to write and appear more westernized. Code switching has three motivations: communication, intellectual, and solidarity. Because this study was limited to the governorate of Irbid, which is located in northern Jordan, there is a need to investigate the reasons in other Jordanian geographic locations.

Salutogenesis in Challenging Social Circumstances and Environments

Part VII, Salutogenesis in Challenging Social Circumstances and Environments, is new to the 2nd Edition of The Handbook of Salutogenesis, addressing the utility of a salutogenic approach in coping with extreme and challenging environments. In the chapters of Part VII, we are on a path following Antonovsky’s footsteps, seeking constructive solutions in seemingly impossible situations. The settings included in the chapters are heterogeneous and stem from diverse geographic locations.

Introduction to the Special IBMR Issue on the World Christian Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition

Forty years ago, David B. Barrett, then based in Nairobi, Kenya, put the finishing touches on the first edition of the World Christian Encyclopedia. A second edition was produced in 2001, and now a third edition is in circulation, prepared between 2015 and 2019. This special issue of the IBMR reflects a core part of the methodology of the World Christian Encyclopedia, namely, interaction with World Christianity from different disciplinary perspectives and geographic locations. This introduction to the issue features reflection on articles on global Catholicism, missions, women and gender studies, religious freedom, Christianity in the Middle East, and refugees.

Sustainable Skyscrapers: A Review of Green Features

Increasingly, architects and engineers are interested in pursuing sustainable design. Yet, they lack sources that summarize best practices. As such, this review paper maps out and examines prominent examples of "sustainable" skyscrapers of varying geographic locations, climates, and socio-cultural contexts. It discusses the design themes and green features of "LEED skyscrapers" and elaborates on recent developments in architecture and engineering. The presented 12 case studies do not intend to evaluate LEED rating systems. Instead, they illustrate how LEED has advanced the green design agenda and encouraged the pursuit of innovative design and engineering solutions. The mapped-out green features in this article should be helpful to all professionals interested in green architecture.

Phylogeographic Clustering Suggests that Distinct Clades of Salmonella enterica Serovar Mississippi Are Endemic in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States

The number of known so-called “polyphyletic” serovars (i.e., phylogenetically distinct clades with the same O and H antigenic formulas) continues to increase as additional Salmonella isolates are sequenced. While serotyping remains a valuable tool for reporting and monitoring Salmonella , more discriminatory analyses for classifying polyphyletic serovars may improve surveillance efforts for these serovars, as we found that for S. Mississippi, distinct genotypes predominate at different geographic locations.

Effects of farm location on Vibrio parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus levels in oysters after desiccation and resubmersion in the northern Gulf of Mexico

Desiccation is a routine farming practice utilized in off-bottom oyster aquaculture to reduce biofouling organisms and improve shell quality. This practice can increase Vibrio parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus levels, leading to increased risk of illness for raw oyster consumers. Previous resubmersion studies were performed in geographic proximity to one another, so to better understand the broader applicability of resubmersion, the next step was to perform concurrent studies in multiple geographic locations within a region. This study evaluated the effect of variations in geographic location on the recovery time needed for elevated vibrio levels to return to ambient levels in desiccated oysters after resubmersion at Gulf Coast farms. Two trials were performed between May-August 2019 at sites spanning ~100 km: three in Alabama and one in Florida. Oysters were deployed in OysterGro cages at each location, two weeks prior to each trial, then either desiccated for 24 h or remained submersed as controls. Triplicate samples were taken prior to and immediately following the desiccation period, as well as 7 and 14 d post-resubmersion. Total and pathogenic ( tdh +/ trh +) V. parahaemolyticus , and V. vulnificus levels were determined using most probable number (MPN) real-time PCR. Vibrio levels increased by 0.23-3.50 log MPN/g after desiccation. Recovery times varied among geographic locations by trial and Vibrio spp., with all vibrio counts recovering to levels not significantly higher than those in control oysters within 7-14 days of resubmersion (p≥0.06). These results suggest a 14-day resubmersion period of cultured oysters allowed vibrio levels, elevated due to routine handling, to return to ambient levels at all farm sites studied.

Hunting for the Mythic Female Shaman Eagle Featuring the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos)

<p>This essay explores different intonations of the episode of the Female Shaman Eagle that is found in European versions of the Bear’s Son tale. It will be shown that a retelling of this episode can be detected in other myths and legends. It has left traces in the myth of Prometheus as summarized in Hesiod, as well as more explicitly in the legends surrounding the Caucasian hero Amirani. Further to the east the episode surfaces in tales recorded among the Tuvan people while evidence for the entrenchment of the episode along with its mythical ramifications in imagery can be identified in Iran. In the pages that follow we discover that the eastern reach of variants of the Bear’s Son tale takes us into Turkey, the Caucasus, south into Iran and even further to the east into the westernmost steppes of Mongolia. In all these geographic locations it is the figure of the Female Shaman Eagle that is highlighted and acquires mythic proportions, not just in narrative form but also as a highly esteemed bird of prey, celebrated in dance and expressed in striking visual imagery. In these materials the eagle in question is regularly identified as a Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). In addition, these are zones in which there have been strong traditions of raising and training Golden Eagles as hunting companions</p>

Evidence for Persistent Heteroplasmy and Ancient Recombination in the Mitochondrial Genomes of the Edible Yellow Chanterelles From Southwestern China and Europe

Mitochondrial genes and genomes have patterns of inheritance that are distinctly different from those of nuclear genes and genomes. In nature, the mitochondrial genomes in eukaryotes are generally considered non-recombining and homoplasmic. If heteroplasmy and recombination exist, they are typically very limited in both space and time. Here we show that mitochondrial heteroplasmy and recombination may not be limited to a specific population nor exit only transiently in the basidiomycete Cantharellus cibarius and related species. These edible yellow chanterelles are an ecologically very important group of fungi and among the most prominent wild edible mushrooms in the Northern Hemisphere. At present, very little is known about the genetics and population biology of these fungia cross large geographical distances. Our study here analyzed a total of 363 specimens of edible yellow chanterelles from 24 geographic locations in Yunnan in southwestern China and six geographic locations in five countries in Europe. For each mushroom sample, we obtained the DNA sequences at two genes, one in the nuclear genome and one in the mitochondrial genome. Our analyses of the nuclear gene, translation elongation factor 1-alpha (tef-1) and the DNA barcode of C. cibarius and related species, suggested these samples belong to four known species and five potential new species. Interestingly, analyses of the mitochondrial ATP synthase subunit 6 (atp6) gene fragment revealed evidence of heteroplasmy in two geographic samples in Yunnan and recombination within the two new putative species in Yunnan. Specifically, all four possible haplotypes at two polymorphic nucleotide sites within the mitochondrial atp6 gene were found distributed across several geographic locations in Yunnan. Furthermore, these four haplotypes were broadly distributed across multiple phylogenetic clades constructed based on nuclear tef-1 sequences. Our results suggest that heteroplasmy and mitochondrial recombination might have happened repeatedly during the evolution of the yellow chanterelles. Together, our results suggest that the edible yellow chanterelles represent an excellent system from which to study the evolution of mitochondrial-nuclear genome relationships.