Search results for "shifting"
showing 10 items of 48 documents
Biased predation could promote convergence yet maintain diversity within Müllerian mimicry rings of Oreina leaf beetles.
2019
Mullerian mimicry is a classic example of adaptation, yet Muller's original theory does not account for the diversity often observed in mimicry rings. Here, we aimed to assess how well classical Mullerian mimicry can account for the colour polymorphism found in chemically defended Oreina leaf beetles by using field data and laboratory assays of predator behaviour. We also evaluated the hypothesis that thermoregulation can explain diversity between Oreina mimicry rings. We found that frequencies of each colour morph were positively correlated among species, a critical prediction of Mullerian mimicry. Predators learned to associate colour with chemical defences. Learned avoidance of the green…
Five centuries of cod catches in Eastern Canada
2021
Abstract The fishery for Northern Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) off Newfoundland and Labrador, Eastern Canada, presents the most spectacular case of an exploited stock crashed in a few decades by an industrial bottom trawl fishery under a seemingly sophisticated management regime after half a millennium of sustainable fishing. The fishery, which had generated annual catches of 100000 to 200000 tonnes from the beginning of the 16th century to the 1950s, peaked in 1968 at 810000 tonnes, followed by a devastating collapse and closure 24 years later. Since then, stock recovery may have been hindered by premature openings, with vessels targeting the remains of the cod population. Previous researc…
Why aren't warning signals everywhere? : On the prevalence of aposematism and mimicry in communities
2021
Warning signals are a striking example of natural selection present in almost every ecological community - from Nordic meadows to tropical rainforests, defended prey species and their mimics ward off potential predators before they attack. Yet despite the wide distribution of warning signals, they are relatively scarce as a proportion of the total prey available, and more so in some biomes than others. Classically, warning signals are thought to be governed by positive density-dependent selection, i.e. they succeed better when they are more common. Therefore, after surmounting this initial barrier to their evolution, it is puzzling that they remain uncommon on the scale of the community. He…
Economic feasibility of stationary electrochemical storages for electric bill management applications: The Italian scenario
2016
Battery energy storage systems (BESSs) are expected to become a fundamental element of the electricity infrastructure, thanks to their ability to decouple generation and demand over time. BESSs can also be used to store electricity during low-price hours, when the demand is low, and to meet the demand during peak hours, thus leading to savings for the consumer. This work focuses on the economic viability of BESS from the point of view of the electricity customer. The analysis refers to a lithium-ion (Li-ion), an advanced lead-acid, a zinc-based, a sodium-sulphur (NaS) and a flow battery. The total investment and replacement costs are estimated in order to calculate the cumulated cash flow, …
Pathways of care for HIV infected children in Beira, Mozambique: pre-post intervention study to assess impact of task shifting
2018
Abstract Background In 2013, Mozambique implemented task-shifting (TS) from clinical officers to maternal and child nurses to improve care for HIV positive children < 5 years old. A retrospective, pre-post intervention study was designed to evaluate effectiveness of a new pathway of care in a sample of Beira District Local Health Facilities (LHFs), the primary, local, community healthcare services. Methods The study was conducted by accessing registries of At Risk Children Clinics (ARCCs) and HIV Health Services. Two time periods, pre- and post-intervention, were compared using a set of endpoints. Variables distribution was explored using descriptive statistics. T-student, Mann Whitney and …
Analyzing gastrocnemius EMG-activity and sway data from quiet and perturbed standing.
2007
In an experiment, we combined force plate measurements and surface EMG in studying quiet and perturbed standing, involving MS (Multiple sclerosis) and controls. The aim of this paper is to report the results thus obtained on the relation between filtered gastrocnemius (GA) EMG and the anterior-posterior center-of-pressure (A/P COP) coordinate. The main finding is the good correspondence between A/P COP and the filtered GA EMG in the low frequency range. The EMG envelope was calculated using a zero-lag filter. Combining this with time shifts around 250-350 ms produced a high correlation (85.5+/-8.4%) between the GA-EMG envelope and the A/P COP. This EMG-COP relation was closest when using a …
Acceptability of Intimate Partner Violence among Male Offenders: The Role of Set-Shifting and Emotion Decoding Dysfunctions as Cognitive Risk Factors.
2019
Attitudes towards the acceptability of intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) contribute to an increased risk of IPVAW perpetration, and these attitudes are common among IPVAW offenders. Research suggests that IPVAW offenders present cognitive deficits related to information processing. Little is known, however, about how these deficits are related to the acceptability of IPVAW. The main aim of this study was to explore the relationship between specific cognitive deficits (i.e., deficits in attention switching, set-shifting, and emotion decoding abilities) and the acceptability of IPVAW in a sample of 84 IPVAW offenders. Results revealed that IPVAW offenders with deficits in attent…
Executive function and metacognitive self-awareness after severe traumatic brain injury.
2008
The objective of this study is to identify the clinical, neuropsychological, neuropsychiatric, and functional variables that correlate with metacognitive self-awareness (SA) in severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) outpatients and to assess the influence of the same variables on the sensory-motor, cognitive, and behavioral-affective indicators of SA. This cross-sectional observational study evaluated 37 outpatients from May 2006 to June 2007 in a neurorehabilitation hospital on the basis of the following inclusion criteria: (1) age ≥ 15 years; (2) diagnosis of severe TBI (Glasgow Coma Scale, GCS ≤ 8); (3) posttraumatic amnesia (PTA) resolution; (4) capacity to undergo formal psychometric eval…
Alla ricerca dei fattori rilevanti nell’adozione dei sistemi di gestione della performance nelle amministrazioni pubbliche territoriali. L’analisi di…
2013
La ricerca scientifica ha dimostrato che la gestione della performance nelle amministrazioni pubbliche sta oggi spostando il proprio focus dalla mera attività di raccolta e rendicontazione di dati alla generazione di informazioni atte a supportare la formulazione di decisioni. L’analisi comparativa dei casi di studio analizzati in questo articolo mira ad identificare i fattori critici sottostanti alla progettazione e all’utilizzo dei sistemi di gestione della performance nelle amministrazioni regionali. Da questa analisi emerge che alcune variabili risultano essenziali ai fini di un’efficace adozione dei sistemi di performance management. Tra queste variabili sono annoverabili: il ruolo del…
Economic impact of medium-scale battery storage systems in presence of flexible electricity tariffs for end-user applications
2012
This article addresses the question if it is cost-effective to use medium-scale battery storage systems for time-of-use (TMO) energy cost applications at a consumer level, assuming flexible electricity tariffs in the Italian electricity market. TMO application allows customers to reduce their electricity bill charging the storage when off-peak time periods are applied and discharge it during on-peak periods, when electricity energy prices are high. The analysis is carried out taking into account three different electrochemical storage technologies. The economical comparison shows that, at the current costs of storage technologies and at the electricity tariffs currently offered in Italy, th…