scholarly journals Optimal sampling methods for modelling the occupancy of Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus) in the Canadian Barrenlands

2017 ◽  
Vol 74 (10) ◽  
pp. 1564-1574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leanne F. Baker ◽  
Kyle J. Artym ◽  
Heidi K. Swanson

In occupancy models, imperfect detectability of animals is usually corrected for by using temporally repeated surveys to estimate probability of detection. Substituting spatial replicates for temporal replicates could be an advantageous sampling strategy in remote Arctic regions, but may lead to serious violations of model assumptions. Using a case study of site occupancy of adfluvial young-of-year Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus) in Barrenland tundra streams, we assessed the reliability and efficiency of alternative sampling strategies: (i) randomly distributed versus sequential adjacent spatial replicates; (ii) visual versus electrofishing surveys; and (iii) spatial versus temporal replicates. Sequential, adjacent spatial replicates produced spatially autocorrelated data. Autocorrelation was relieved using randomly distributed spatial replicates, but using these randomly distributed spatial replicates introduced significant error into estimates of the probability of occupancy in streams. Models designed for spatially autocorrelated data could minimize this bias. Visual and electrofishing surveys produced comparable probabilities of detection. Spatially replicated surveys performed better than temporal replicates. The easiest and relatively most cost-effective sampling methods performed as well as, or better than, the more established, expensive, and logistically difficult alternatives for occupancy estimation.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Desrochers ◽  
Pierre Blanchette ◽  
Marc J. Mazerolle

Occupancy models have become popular in wildlife survey analyses because they account for the frequent failure to detect individuals of targeted species. Those individuals sometimes move outside sampling sites, i.e. exhibit temporary emigration. In such cases, occupancy models may become difficult to interpret or even misleading either at the species or the individual level, because they confound presence at the site, availability for detection given presence, and actual detection by the observer. We quantified the probabilities of these three components with spruce grouse (Falcipennis canadensis) in southern Quebec, Canada. We conducted call-response surveys of 24 grouse monitored by radio-telemetry. We defined sites empirically as circular areas of 83 m radius centered on the observer, corresponding to the maximum detection distance obtained. Based on telemetry locations, grouse were present at the site during 42 % of the surveys. Six stationary grouse were present during surveys, but were never detected. Thus, only individuals that moved in the presence of the observer (89 %) were considered available for detection. Individuals available for detection were detected in 51 % of the cases. We simulated detection histories and built single-season occupancy models, based on the empirical relationship between detection probability and the distance measured between observers and grouse. When temporary emigration was ignored, site occupancy was ψ = 0.89, and the associated probability of detection was p = 0.23. When instances of temporary emigration were dropped, estimates were ψ = 0.88 and p = 0.41. Using only grouse available for detection, estimates were ψ = 0.87 and p = 0.42. Disentangling the components of detection probabilities had little impact on occupancy estimates, but showed a major effect of temporary emigration on estimated detection probabilities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Valli Trisha ◽  
Kai Seng Koh ◽  
Lik Yin Ng ◽  
Vui Soon Chok

Limited research of heat integration has been conducted in the oleochemical field. This paper attempts to evaluate the performance of an existing heat exchanger network (HEN) of an oleochemical plant at 600 tonnes per day (TPD) in Malaysia, in which the emphases are placed on the annual saving and reduction in energy consumption. Using commercial HEN numerical software, ASPEN Energy Analyzer v10.0, it was found that the performance of the current HEN in place is excellent, saving over 80% in annual costs and reducing energy consumption by 1,882,711 gigajoule per year (GJ/year). Further analysis of the performance of the HEN was performed to identify the potential optimisation of untapped heating/cooling process streams. Two cases, which are the most cost-effective and energy efficient, were proposed with positive results. However, the second case performed better than the first case, at a lower payback time (0.83 year) and higher annual savings (0.20 million USD/year) with the addition of one heat exchanger at a capital cost of USD 134,620. The first case had a higher payback time (4.64 years), a lower annual saving (0.05 million USD/year) and three additional heaters at a capital cost of USD 193,480. This research has provided a new insight into the oleochemical industry in which retrofitting the HEN can further reduce energy consumption, which in return will reduce the overall production cost of oleochemical commodities. This is particularly crucial in making the product more competitive in its pricing in the global market.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-354
Author(s):  
Mohammad Omidalizarandi ◽  
Ralf Herrmann ◽  
Boris Kargoll ◽  
Steffen Marx ◽  
Jens-André Paffenholz ◽  
...  

AbstractToday, short- and long-term structural health monitoring (SHM) of bridge infrastructures and their safe, reliable and cost-effective maintenance has received considerable attention. From a surveying or civil engineer’s point of view, vibration-based SHM can be conducted by inspecting the changes in the global dynamic behaviour of a structure, such as natural frequencies (i. e. eigenfrequencies), mode shapes (i. e. eigenforms) and modal damping, which are known as modal parameters. This research work aims to propose a robust and automatic vibration analysis procedure that is so-called robust time domain modal parameter identification (RT-MPI) technique. It is novel in the sense of automatic and reliable identification of initial eigenfrequencies even closely spaced ones as well as robustly and accurately estimating the modal parameters of a bridge structure using low numbers of cost-effective micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) accelerometers. To estimate amplitude, frequency, phase shift and damping ratio coefficients, an observation model consisting of: (1) a damped harmonic oscillation model, (2) an autoregressive model of coloured measurement noise and (3) a stochastic model in the form of the heavy-tailed family of scaled t-distributions is employed and jointly adjusted by means of a generalised expectation maximisation algorithm. Multiple MEMS as part of a geo-sensor network were mounted at different positions of a bridge structure which is precalculated by means of a finite element model (FEM) analysis. At the end, the estimated eigenfrequencies and eigenforms are compared and validated by the estimated parameters obtained from acceleration measurements of high-end accelerometers of type PCB ICP quartz, velocity measurements from a geophone and the FEM analysis. Additionally, the estimated eigenfrequencies and modal damping are compared with a well-known covariance driven stochastic subspace identification approach, which reveals the superiority of our proposed approach. We performed an experiment in two case studies with simulated data and real applications of a footbridge structure and a synthetic bridge. The results show that MEMS accelerometers are suitable for detecting all occurring eigenfrequencies depending on a sampling frequency specified. Moreover, the vibration analysis procedure demonstrates that amplitudes can be estimated in submillimetre range accuracy, frequencies with an accuracy better than 0.1 Hz and damping ratio coefficients with an accuracy better than 0.1 and 0.2 % for modal and system damping, respectively.


2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rashmi Deka ◽  
Soma Chakraborty ◽  
Sekhar Roy

Spectrum availability is becoming scarce due to the rise of number of users and rapid development in wireless environment. Cognitive radio (CR) is an intelligent radio system which uses its in-built technology to use the vacant spectrum holes for the use of another service provider. In this paper, genetic algorithm (GA) is used for the best possible space allocation to cognitive radio in the spectrum available. For spectrum reuse, two criteria have to be fulfilled - 1) probability of detection has to be maximized, and 2) probability of false alarm should be minimized. It is found that with the help of genetic algorithm the optimized result is better than without using genetic algorithm. It is necessary that the secondary user should vacate the spectrum in use when licensed users are demanding and detecting the primary users accurately by the cognitive radio. Here, bit error rate (BER) is minimized for better spectrum sensing purpose using GA.


2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 68-75
Author(s):  
Drew David Reinbold-Wasson ◽  
Michael Hay Reiskind

ABSTRACT An essential component of vector-borne disease monitoring programs is mosquito surveillance. Surveillance efforts employ various collection traps depending on mosquito species and targeted life-history stage, i.e., eggs, larvae, host-seeking, resting, or gravid adults. Surveillance activities often use commercial traps, sometimes modified to accept specific mosquito species attractants. The advent of widely available and affordable 3D printing technology allows the construction of novel trap designs and components. The study goal was to develop and assess a cost-effective, multipurpose, 6-volt mosquito trap integrating features of both host-seeking and gravid mosquito traps to collect undamaged live specimens: a multifunctional mosquito trap (MMT). We tested the MMT in comparison to commercial traps, targeting gravid Aedes albopictus, host-seeking Ae. albopictus, and total number of host-seeking mosquitos regardless of species. Field evaluations found the MMT performed as well as or better than comparable commercial traps. This project demonstrates an easy to construct, inexpensive, and versatile mosquito trap, potentially useful for surveying multiple mosquito species and other hematophagous insects by varying attractants into the MMT.


2019 ◽  
Vol 102 (11) ◽  
pp. 1337-1349
Author(s):  
Jeffrey A. Falke ◽  
Lauren T. Bailey ◽  
Kevin M. Fraley ◽  
Michael J. Lunde ◽  
Andrew D. Gryska

1970 ◽  
pp. 26-31
Author(s):  
Tahsinul Amin ◽  
MAK Azad Chowdhury ◽  
M Monir Hossain ◽  
M Mahbubul Hoque

Background: There is still controversy among the pediatricians regarding when and how to start enteral feeding in preterm neonates. However, early feeding with breast milk was presumed to be well-tolerated, cost-effective and promote growth better than late feeding. Objectives: To compare growth pattern, benefits and risks between early and late breast feeding in preterm (30-35 weeks' gestation) neonates. Methods: This was a randomized controlled trial. Total 100 preterm neonates were stratified into early feeding (n=50) and late feeding (n=50) groups. Early feeding was started on day 3 and late feeding on day 5 of life with expressed breast milk as 20 ml/ kg/day by gavage feeding with daily increment 20 ml/kg till full enteral feeding. Growth was recorded by anthropometric measurements with accuracy and precision for first 3 months of life. Results: Early breast feeding was found to be significantly better than late breast feeding in duration to reach full feeding (13.08 days vs. 16.70 days), time to regain enrolment weight (10.87 days vs. 13.70 days), feed tolerance (78% vs. 58%), hospital stay (13.58 days vs. 16.82 days), mean weight (3773.62 ±310.49 gm vs. 3636.91 ±340.20 gm), linear growth (53.64 ±2.26 cm vs. 52.62 ±2.04 cm) and OFC growth (35.85 ±1.50 cm vs. 35.35 ±1.40 cm) at 3 months of age. Conclusion: Early feeding with breast milk is well tolerated with less morbidity and promotes growth better than late feeding in preterm neonates. Key words: Growth pattern; preterm; breast fed DOI: 10.3329/bjch.v31i1.6071 Bangladesh Journal of Child Health 2007; Vol.31(1-3): 26-31


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