Search results for " pellet"

The owl that never left! Taphonomy of Earlier Stone Age small mammal assemblages from Wonderwerk Cave (South Africa)

2022

Wonderwerk Cave, in South Africa, is an exceptional site that has yielded a large collection of small mammal fossils in a stratigraphic sequence reaching back ca. 2 million years. Taphonomic studies undertaken to date, show that Tytonidae (likely Tyto alba) was the dominant predator during the Earlier Stone Age. They produced masses of pellets that formed a dense carpet-like surface that covered the cave floor at intervals throughout the sequence. This paper compares the taphonomic signatures of five different Earlier Stone Age small mammal assemblages from Wonderwerk Cave, including assemblages not studied before, as well as a modern pellet assemblage collected from inside the cave. These …

A taphonomic investigation of small vertebrate accumulations produced by the snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus) and its implications for fossil studies

2019

17 pages; International audience; The action of predators, such as diurnal raptors, owls, mammals or humans, influence the nature of smallvertebrate fossil assemblages but currently their taphonomic features are still poorly understood. In this study,we investigate the taphonomic signature of the snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus) based on an analysis of pelletscollected at breeding sites located in Greenland and the Canadian Arctic. This taxon is widely distributedthrough the North Hemisphere and was an important predator in Pleistocene times. Taphonomic parameterssuggest that, contrary to previous assumptions, B. scandiacus produces, on average, moderate digestion of incisors,molars and post-cra…

A comparative economic analysis of torrefied pellet production based on state-of-the-art pellets

2017

Abstract Torrefied pellets have fuel properties superior to those of conventional wood pellets and potentially allow greater rates of co-firing and thus larger reductions in net CO 2 emissions. Despite the growing amount of scientific output on torrefaction, the economic feasibility of torrefied pellet production is still a topic of considerable uncertainty. This is an obstacle for decision makers looking to implement sustainable energy policies. This paper compares the economics of torrefied pellets to conventional wood pellets. Working backwards from demonstrated pellet properties, this work attempts to answer the following question: Based on state-of-the-art torrefied pellets, what would…

Many Common Odour Cues and (at Least) One Pheromone Shaping the Behaviour of Young Rabbits

2008

Characterization of phenolic solid state pellets for ESR dosimetry with radio-therapeutic photon and electron beams

2018

Introduction Among the various dosimetric techniques used for characterizing the radiation beams used in radiation therapy, the electron spin resonance (ESR) arouses increasing interest for applications in various therapy procedures. In this work we report the ESR investigation of particular phenol compound (IRGANOX 1076) exposed to clinical photon and electron beams (Gallo et al., 2017). Methods Phenol (IRGANOX 1076 - Sigma Aldrich) pellets were produced also with paraffin (10% by weight). Phenol pellets were exposed to clinical photon and electron beams at various energies produced by a linear accelerator (LINAC) Siemens Primus (Siemens Medical Systems, CA, USA) installed at the Radiother…

Bioflocculation of Euglena gracilis via direct application of fungal filaments: a rapid harvesting method

2021

Funding Information: Special thanks to the US Agricultural Research Service for the provision of fungal strains. Thanks also to Dr Marilyn Wiebe (Technical Research Centre of Finland) for her expert advice on fungi and Johanna Oja for her technical help. This research was enabled by funding from The Land and Water Technology Foundation, The Finnish Cultural Foundation, and The Finnish Foundation for Technology Promotion. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s). The high cost and environmental impact of traditional microalgal harvesting methods limit commercialization of microalgal biomass. Fungal bioflocculation of microalgae is a promising low-cost, eco-friendly method but the range of …

Actinomadura pelletieri mycetoma--an atypical case with spine and abdominal wall involvement.

2011

We describe a case of mycetoma caused by Actinomadura pelletieri with simultaneous involvement of the spine, abdominal wall and retroperitoneal space in a man who had suffered from ‘Madura foot’ 10 years earlier. The characteristics of this case were analysed and contextualized among those of other cases of mycetoma caused by other micro-organisms found through a review of the international literature. The rarity of the disease in industrialized countries and its possible atypical presentations may hinder a prompt diagnosis. Culture techniques that allow detection of slow-growing fungi and actinomycetes should be routinely used when dealing with tissue samples from patients from tropical an…

Factors affecting the diet of Peregrine Falcon in Italy

2016

The diet of top predators can provide useful information on phenology and abundance of their prey. The cosmopolitan and specialist Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) is an ideal model to assess whether food changes have occurred in the long-term. In this contribution, we reviewed all available literature on Peregrine Falcon diet in Italy which contained 11 detailed datasets useful for our review, and also included analysis of pellets, collected at three breeding sites of Sicily during 2014 and 2015. These data allowed us to shed light on the Peregrine Falcon’s diet over the last forty years (1978-2015). We calculated the numerical and biomass percentage of the resident and not-resident pre…

A comparison of peregrine Falco peregrinus and lanner Falco biarmicus trophic niche in Sicily

2017

Prey availability is a crucial factor for the reproductive success of apex predators and the analysis of their diets can provide meaningful information about the quality of their habitats. In Sicily the declining lanner falcon Falco biarmicus feldeggii and the increasing peregrine falcon Falco peregrines brookei share similar habitats and trophic needs. By studying their current and past diets, we have investigated whether the characteristics of their foraging ecology could explain these different demographic trends. In 2014-2016, we identified 805 peregrine and 250 lanner Vertebrate prey from 15 peregrine and 6 lanner nests, and compared our dataset with previous data from Sicily (Peregrin…

In spermatozoa collected after pellet swim up, when total dna fragmentation is higher than 15%, the normal morphologically spermatozoa population sho…

2020

Study question: We investigated the DNA Fragmentation Index (DFI) in motile normal morphologically spermatozoa comparing samples with total DFI < 15% Vs ≥ 15% collected after pellet swim up Summary answer: In the case of DFI ≥15% the percentage of normal morphologically spermatozoa with fragmented DNA is significantly higher than the population with DFI < 15% What is known already: Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is widely used in the treatment of male infertility. Only morphologically normal spermatozoa are mainly used by embryologists to fertilize an oocyte. Different papers have reported that spermatozoa with apparently normal morphology may have DNA fragmentation. These ev…