Using continuous-wave near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), this study compared three different methods, namely the slope method (SM), the amplitude method (AM), and the area under the curve (AUC) method to determine the variations of intramuscular oxygenation level as a function of workload. Ten right-handed subjects (22±4 years) performed one isometric contraction at each of three different workloads (30 %, 50 % and 90 % of maximal voluntary strength) during a period of twenty seconds. Changes in oxyhemoglobin (Δ[HbO2]) and deoxyhemoglobin (Δ[HHb]) concentrations in the superficial flexor of fingers were recorded using continuous-wave NIRS. The results showed a strong consistency between the three methods, with standardized Cronbach alphas of 0.87 for Δ[HHb] and 0.95 for Δ[HbO2]. No significant differences between the three
methods were observed concerning Δ[HHb] as a function of workload. However, only the SM showed sufficient sensitivity to detect a significant decrease in Δ[HbO2] between 30 % and 50 % of workload (p<0.01). Among these three methods, the SM appeared to be the only method that was well adapted and sensitive enough to determine slight changes in Δ[HbO2]. Theoretical and methodological implications of these results are discussed.
Shade treatment was applied to tall fescue with 30% full light. The results showed that shade increased chlorophyll (Chl) content per unit leaf mass, decreased the Chl a/b ratio in the mature leaves, and decreased effective quantum yield based on Chl fluorescence compared to the full light treatment. Shade stress did not cause increased contents of malondiadehyde at the early stages of leaf development. However, normalized vegetation indices were able to detect shade stress. Chloroplasts in the shaded leaves are arranged tightly against the periclinal cell wall and are in a spindle shape. There were no differences in the number of grana per chloroplast or grana size (thylakoids per granum) between shade and full light treatment. In conclusion, tall fescue leaves showed unique ultrastructure changes. Turfgrass managers could use vegetation indices developed from the leaf light reflection spectrum as an effective tool to assess shade stress levels and make management decisions.
The spider community of a beech forest on limestone was studied for one year using four sampling techniques: emergence traps, pitfall traps, soil samples, and arboreal eclectors. 87 spider species were recorded. Emergence traps and arboreal eclectors were particularly efficient in detecting spider species. Dominance identity (percentage similarity) was highest for catches from emergence traps and pitfall traps. Species recorded were assigned to various ecological groups. In terms of proportional abundance, representation of the ecological groups varied and appeared related to the sampling method used. Stratum type and type of prey capture strategy accounted for >60% of the variance in the catch results (canonical correspondence analysis). Proportional abundance of funnel-web spiders was much higher in pitfall trap catches (31.7%) than in any other method (1.0-11.6%).
The complex environmental research (hydrology, vegetation, soils and ground water) has been carried out in nature reserves, located on the Danube banks within the zone of broad-leaved forests in Germany. Under comparison were terrestrial ecosystems along the regulated and natural rivers. It was established that the weirs, dams with low head of water and small artificial reservoirs affects upon the vegetation and soils of floodplains to be manifested some decades later. A comprehensive analysis of trends in mean annual water level, water flow and the precipitation for the long period revealed the significant influence of natural long-term variability of the water content on the vegetation dynamics in floodplains. The methods, suggested by the authors made possible to assess the after-effects upon floodplain ecosystems due to changes in the river flow regime caused by different hydrotechnical constructions. and V prírodných rezerváciách v blízkosti Dunaja (v Nemecku) v oblasti pokrytej listnatými lesmi bol vykonaný komplexný environmentálny výskum (hydrológia, vegetácia, pôdy a podzemné vody). Porovnávali sa ekosystémy pozdĺž regulovaných a prirodzených tokov. Zistilo sa, že hate a priehrady s relatívne malým vzdutím, ako aj malé vodné nádrže ovplyvňovali vegetáciu a pôdy v záplavových územiach tak, že sa to prejavilo už o niekoľko desaťročí neskôr. Vyčerpávajúca analýza trendov priemernej ročnej výšky hladín, prietokov a zrážok počas dlhého obdobia pomohla objasniť významný vplyv prirodzenej dlhodobej variability obsahu vody na dynamiku vegetácie v zátopových územiach. Metóda navrhnutá autormi umožňuje určiť následné vplyvy zmien vodného režimu tokov spôsobených hydrotechnickými stavbami na ekosystém v záplavovom území.
Using passive hair traps to obtain genetic material from wild mammals is an effective form of testing the abundance of animal populations. Based on genetic analysis of collected hair, it is possible to estimate the number and sex of individuals present in a given area. The aim of this study was to confirm the success of the method of collecting hair from beavers in a non-invasive way, as well as to determine the effectiveness of using passive hair traps as sampling tools that can be applied in different regions. The study was carried out in the area of Stobrawa Landscape Park (southwestern Poland) between December 2017 and May 2018. For 17 control days, 12 samples were obtained, which gave the result of 0.7 samples per control day. This study shows that the proposed method, due to its simplicity and efficiency, could be a cost-effective way of collecting hair from free-ranging beavers without the need for capturing individuals.
Light trapping is the most widely used tool for determining the diversity of nocturnal Lepidoptera, but UV LEDs have yet to be used as light sources for the large-scale monitoring of Lepidoptera. We assessed the efficiency of this novel light source for sampling moths using a Heath type moth equipped with a strip of 150 high brightness UV LEDs (emission peak 398 nm, ~ 15 W) powered by a 12 V battery. We compared the number of individuals, the number of species and the Geometridae / Noctuidae ratio recorded for the samples collected using UV LED traps with those collected in two monitoring programs carried out in the same geographic region using two different light sources: a 200 W incandescent lamp (Rothamsted trap) and a 160 W mercury vapour lamp (manual catch). The total catch consisted of 61,120 individuals belonging to 699 species. The species richness rarefaction curves revealed that the Rothamsted trap collected fewer species and individuals than UV LED traps. Furthermore, the median numbers of species and individuals caught by UV LED traps fell within the range of those caught by mercury vapour lamp traps. In addition, the community composition recorded using incandescent lamps and UV LEDs was similar. The data obtained using UV LED traps, in absolute terms and in comparison with the other light sources and different sampling methods, clearly reveal that this light source is suitable for sampling macro-moth communities. For field work UV LEDs have many advantages, as they are resistant to mechanical damage, easily protected from heavy rain and energy efficient., Marco Infusino, Gunnar Brehm, Carlo Di Marco, Stefano Scalercio., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The analysis of the evolution of learning with graphical maps is based on the placement of the individuals in positions that are computed on the basis of their answers to certain tests. These techniques are useful for detecting similarities between the knowledge profiles of the subjects and can also be used for assessing the acquisition of capabilities after a course. In this paper, we propose to extend some graphical exploratory analysis techniques to the case where there are missing or conflicting answers in the tests. We will also consider that either a missing or unknown answer, or a set of conflictive answers to a survey, is aptly represented by an interval or a fuzzy set. This representation causes that each individual in the map is no longer a point but a figure whose shape and size determine the coherence of the answers and whose position with respect to its neighbors determines the similarities and differences between the individuals.
Accuracy alone can be deceptive when evaluating the performance of a classifier, especially if the problem involves a high number of classes. This paper proposes an approach used for dealing with multi-class problems, which tries to avoid this issue. The approach is based on the Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) classifier, which is trained by using a Differential Evolution (DE) algorithm. Two error measures (Accuracy, $C$, and Sensitivity, S) are combined and applied as a fitness function for the algorithm. The proposed approach is able to obtain multi-class classifiers with a high classification rate level in the global dataset with an acceptable level of accuracy for each class. This methodology is evaluated over seven benchmark classification problems and one real problem, obtaining promising results.
a1_This study evaluated the relationship between photosynthetic carbon accumulation and symbiotic nitrogen nutrition in young fully expanded leaves of 30 nodulated cowpea genotypes grown in the field at Manga, Ghana, in 2005 and 2006. Estimates of fixed-N in photosynthetic leaves revealed greater symbiotic N in genotypes with higher photosynthetic rates and increased leaf transpiration rate/efficiency. There was also greater C accumulation in genotypes with higher symbiotic N and/or total N. Additionally, genotypes with high contents of C per unit of leaf total N exhibited greater C per unit of leaf N-fixed. The C/N and C/Rubisco-N ratios were generally similar in their magnitude when compared to the C/N-fixed ratio due possibly to the fact that Rubisco accounts for a high proportion of photosynthetic leaf N, irrespective of whether the enzyme was formed from soil N or symbiotic N. Cowpea genotypes that relied heavily on soil N for their N nutrition exhibited much higher C/N-fixed ratios, while conversely those that depended more on symbiosis for meeting their N demands showed markedly lower C/N-fixed values. For example, genotypes Omondaw, Bensogla, IT93K-2045-29, and Sanzie, which respectively derived 83.9, 83.1, 82.9, and 76.3% N from fixation, recorded lower C/N-fixed ratios of 10.7, 12.2, 12.1, and 13.0 mg mg-1 in that order in 2005. In contrast, genotypes Botswana White, IT94D-437-1, TVu1509, and Apagbaala, which obtained 14.8, 15.0, 26.4, and 26.0% of their N nutrition from fixation, showed high C/N-fixed values of 84.0, 69.0, 35.2, and 40.6 mg.mg-1, respectively, in 2005., a2_This clearly indicates that genotypes that obtained less N from symbiosis and more N from soil revealed very high C/N-fixed values, an argument that was reinforced by the negative correlations obtained between the three C/N ratios (i.e. C/N, C/Rubisco-N, and C/N-fixed) and leaf N concentration, percentage nitrogen derived from fixation, total N content, amount of N-fixed, and Rubisco N. These data suggest a direct link between photosynthetic C accumulation and symbiotic N assimilation in leaves of nodulated cowpea, and where genotypes derived a large proportion of their N from fixation, photosynthetic C yield substantially increased., A. K. Belane, F. D. Dakora., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
This paper presents a method for assessing the retention capacity of a floodplain in the course of flooding and for estimating the significance of its water storage for transforming a flood wave. The method is based on two-dimensional numerical modeling of the flood flow in a river channel and in the adjacent floodplains, and is suitable for cases when the morphology of the flooding area is variable and complex, e.g. broad inundation areas with meandering channels. The approach adopted here enables us to quantify the retention capacity for inundation areas of various characters and with various land uses, and provides a tool for estimating the efficiency of possible measures for increasing the water storage capacity of a floodplain. The retention capacity is estimated using an evaluation of a series of detailed flood flow modeling results; the flood wave transformation effect is predicted with the aim of creating a non-linear reservoir model. A parametric study of the floodplain retention capacity for the upper branch of the Lužnice River is presented here, and the results for the current state and for various hypothetical scenarios of changes in geometry and land use are evaluated and compared. and V příspěvku je prezentována metodika pro stanovení retenční kapacity inundačního území při povodňových průtocích a jeho význam pro transformaci povodňové vlny. Metoda využívá dvourozměrný numerický model proudění vody korytem a přilehlým inundačním územím a je vhodná pro případy, kdy charakter nivy je proměnlivý a velmi komplikovaný, např. široká inundační území s meandrujícími toky. Navržený způsob řešení umožňuje kvantifikovat retenční schopnosti niv různého charakteru při různých způsobech využívání a umožňuje případně navrhnout úpravu inundačního území tak, aby transformační účinek při průchodu povodňové vlny byl co největší. Retenční kapacita inundačního území je stanovena na základě výsledků podrobného modelování proudění vody při různých průtokových stavech a transformace povodňové vlny je řešena pomocí iteračního postupu založeného na Bratránkově metodě. V příspěvku je uvedena parametrická studie kvantifikace retenční kapacity nivy na základě vyhodnocení a porovnání transformační schopnosti pro nivu Lužnice v jejím horním úseku pro současný přirozený stav a pro různé teoretické scénáře změněného charakteru a způsobu využívání nivy.