Influence of predator odour on the feeding behaviour of the root vole (Microtus oeconomus Pallas, 1776)

1998 ◽  
Vol 76 (9) ◽  
pp. 1791-1794 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zbigniew Borowski
Keyword(s):  
Feeding Behaviour ◽  
Distilled Water ◽  
Microtus Oeconomus ◽  
Root Vole ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
Water Rinse ◽  
Predator Odour

An experiment carried out under laboratory conditions addressed the influence exerted by the odour of a stoat, Mustela erminea Linnaeus, 1758, on the feeding behaviour of a root vole, Microtus oeconomus Pallas, 1776. Specifically, the impact of the odour on the chewing of rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) shoots and consumption of food pellets by voles that were not sexually active was observed over a 14-day period. The floors of cages with individuals from the experimental group were sprinkled daily with a distilled-water rinse from a glass clamber in which a stoat had been confined, while cages holding control individuals were sprinkled with distilled water only. The uptake of food was monitored daily by checking the degree to which shoots had been chewed, as well as the amount of food pellets consumed. Stoat odour caused a significant reduction in chewing of the shoots but did not affect the amount of food pellets eaten. There was no significant influence of the scent on body mass, which suggests that the assimilation of food was probably the same for voles in the experimental and control groups. Long-term exposure to stoat scent was not associated with changes in food consumption over time, which suggests that the voles had not become habituated to the presence of the odour over the 2-week period. It would therefore seem that the stoat scent affected the specific feeding behaviour of the voles rather than their overall consumption level.

Suppressed, but Not Forgotten

2011 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beat Meier ◽  
Anja König ◽  
Samuel Parak ◽  
Katharina Henke
Keyword(s):  
Memory Trace ◽  
Thought Suppression ◽  
Test Phase ◽  
Indirect Test ◽  
Final Test ◽  
Test Experiment ◽  
And Control ◽  
Cue Words ◽  
The Impact

This study investigates the impact of thought suppression over a 1-week interval. In two experiments with 80 university students each, we used the think/no-think paradigm in which participants initially learn a list of word pairs (cue-target associations). Then they were presented with some of the cue words again and should either respond with the target word or avoid thinking about it. In the final test phase, their memory for the initially learned cue-target pairs was tested. In Experiment 1, type of memory test was manipulated (i.e., direct vs. indirect). In Experiment 2, type of no-think instructions was manipulated (i.e., suppress vs. substitute). Overall, our results showed poorer memory for no-think and control items compared to think items across all experiments and conditions. Critically, however, more no-think than control items were remembered after the 1-week interval in the direct, but not in the indirect test (Experiment 1) and with thought suppression, but not thought substitution instructions (Experiment 2). We suggest that during thought suppression a brief reactivation of the learned association may lead to reconsolidation of the memory trace and hence to better retrieval of suppressed than control items in the long term.

scholarly journals What is the impact of methotrexate on liver in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis? Results of liver SWE performed in a single centre

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vildan Güngörer ◽  
Mehmet Öztürk ◽  
Mustafa Yasir Özlü ◽  
Şükrü Arslan
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis ◽  
Shear Wave Elastography ◽  
Term Therapy ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Group 2 ◽  
Long Term Therapy ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACT Objectives Long-term therapy with low-dose methotrexate (MTX) is widely used in treatment of rheumatic diseases, in children. The purpose of this study was to evaluate liver elasticity in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) who received MTX and compare the results with control group. Methods Liver elasticity was evaluated with shear wave elastography (SWE) technique in 25 patients aged 3–17 years who were followed up with JIA and received MTX and compared with 25 healthy controls of the same age and weight. Factors that had an effect on liver elasticity were examined. Results The mean SWE value of patients was 2.64 ± 2.13 m/s and 24.10 ± 18.50 kPa, whereas 1.83 ± 0.16 m/s and 10.09 ± 1.83 kPa in control group. There was a significant difference in liver elasticity in the patient and control groups. When the patients were evaluated as Group 1 (< 1000 mg) and Group 2 (≥ 1000 mg) according to the cumulative MTX dose, no significant difference was obtained. There was positive correlation between liver elasticity and weekly MTX dose and age. Conclusions Our study revealed that liver elasticity significantly decreased in patients who received MTX when compared with the control group. The elastography technique will be understood better over time and used safely in many areas.

scholarly journals The Impact of Smartboard on Preparatory Year EFL Learners’ Motivation at a Saudi University

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 172
Author(s):  
Waqar Ahmad ◽  
Zuraina Ali ◽  
Muhammad Aslam Sipra ◽  
Imtiaz Hassan Taj
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Saudi Students ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Literature Reviews ◽  
Preparatory Year ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Experimental Group

Smartboards, which are now widely used in the teaching and learning process in Saudi Arabia, have turned the traditional environments of the classrooms, especially the EFL classrooms to be more interesting and encouraging. Literature reviews suggest that Saudi students usually lack motivation for studying English as a foreign language. This study tends to investigate the impact of Smartboards on preparatory year EFL learners motivation at a Saudi university. Two intact groups were selected, in which one was termed as experimental and the second as control group. The experimental group was taught using the Smartboard while the control group was taught with the traditional whiteboard, pen and book method. The treatment was given for seven weeks. A questionnaire was administered to both the groups at the beginning and the end of the study. The data was analysed using the SPSS and the results showed that there was significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of motivation.  

scholarly journals The impact of using the strategy of self-questioning in the achievement of students in the fifth grade in mathematics: أثر استخدام استراتيجية التساؤل الذاتي في تحصيل طلاب الصف الخامس الابتدائي في مادة الرياضيات

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Latif Al-Zakri
Keyword(s):  
Achievement Test ◽  
Experimental Methodology ◽  
Fifth Grade ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Significance Level ◽  
Fifth Grade Students ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Experimental Group

This study aimed to examine the impact of the use of self-questioning in the understanding of fifth grade students in mathematics material. The researcher used the experimental methodology for independent groups to investigate the impact of the independent variable, which is a self-questioning strategy on the dependent variable, which is understanding. The study sample consisted of 42 students from the fifth grade students from Khubayb bin Udai School in Riyadh; equally divided into two groups of 21 students in each group (experimental and control), and after making sure from groups' equivalence by applying the tools of the study, having been taught the experimental group by using self-questioning strategy, while the control group has been studied the unit by using the traditional method. After the completion of the study of prescribed content study, study tools (achievement test) were applied then. The results indicated to the presence of a statistically significant difference (at the significance level <0. 05) between the mean scores of the two groups' students (experimental and control) in achievement test posttest for the experimental group. Since the results of the study were positive in increasing the achievement, the researcher recommended the need to use self-questioning to raise the level of achievement of learners in mathematics material

scholarly journals The Impact of Text Messaging on Iranian University Students as an English as a Foreign Language Instructional Tool to Enhance Learner Autonomy and Perception

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (11) ◽  
pp. 184-202
Author(s):  
Behnam Behforouz ◽  
Anca Daniela Frumuselu
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Text Messaging ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Instructional Tool ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Experimental Group

This paper investigates the efficiency of text messaging as an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instructional tool to enhance learner autonomy and perception at the Islamic Azad University-South Tehran Branch, Iran. The study considers seventy-four learners to participate in the study after the administration of an Oxford Placement Test to measure their proficiency level. Participants are randomly assigned in experimental and control groups, including 37 participants each. A questionnaire is used as a pretest and posttest to measure learners` autonomy. Participants from the experimental group use text messaging (the treatment) to receive instructions, whereas those from the control group receive traditional classroom instructions in a face-to-face channel. A semi-structured interview is also used to collect date on experimental group participants` perception in using MALL in classrooms. The results reveal remarkable differences between the experimental and control groups’ means on their learner autonomy scores. However, the impact of the independent samples t-test has shown that there is no statistically meaningful gender difference among the learners regarding their autonomy scores. The findings based on the semi-structured interview showed complimentary views on MALL. The current study is beneficial since its outcomes could be relevant for EFL curriculum developers and English language teachers in the use of mobile learning and text messaging in the English classroom.

scholarly journals The Impact of Divergent and Convergent Tasks on Iraqi EFL Students Reading Comprehension Success

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-39
Author(s):  
Sabeeha Hamza Dehham ◽  
Nadia Majeed Hussein
Keyword(s):  
Reading Skills ◽  
Experimental Approach ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Preparatory Stage ◽  
The Mean ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Experimental Group

This research attempted to explore the effects of divergent and convergent tasks on the successful reading of EFL students at the preparatory stage. To verify the analysis, the null hypothesis was established that states "There are no differences of statistical significance at the level of (0,05) among the mean of scores of the experimental group who study according to divergent and convergent task technique and the mean of the scores of the control group who study according to the regular method".  The experimental approach is used by designing two equivalent experimental groups of 32 students studying the technique proposed, and an 8-week (2019-2020) control group of 32 students, three classes each week using the Google Classroom Platform and Telegram. The present study utilized the platform Google Classroom (GC) and Telegram as an educational platform to assist students during their course learning process. The writing skills test was administered after checking with the experts. The results show that there are statistical differences at level (0,05) between the average of the experimental and control groups' reading skills and those of the experimental group. This difference is because the experimental group uses divergent and convergent tasks.

scholarly journals Phytoremediation as a Prospective Method for Rehabilitation of Areas Contaminated by Long-Term Sewage Sludge Storage: The Greek Experience

2017 ◽  
pp. 836-853
Author(s):  
N. Suchkova ◽  
E. Darakas ◽  
J. Ganoulis ◽  
Y. Vergeles
Keyword(s):  
Sewage Sludge ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Shoot Growth ◽  
The Other ◽  
Control Treatment ◽  
Distilled Water ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
And Control ◽  
Control Samples

In this work the suitability of several plant species for phytoremediation under natural and artificially installed conditions was studied. Brassica napus, Medicago sativa, Zea mays, Triticum aestivum, and Hordeum vulgare were grown in pots with sewage sludge from Sindos Main WWTP in Thessaloniki and from Sindos Industrial WWTP in Thessaloniki, Greece. The first series of experiments included comparing measurements of various parameters for the above mentioned plants and the sludge to those for control samples (the same plants growing in compost). It was shown that shoot growth was less reduced in T. aestivum and H. vulgare than in the other plant species studied. B. napus had lower germination tax, followed by M. sativa with the lowest germination tax. Generally B. napus, giving less biomass production than Z. mays and T. aestivum, is characterised by a higher ability to accumulate heavy metals like Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn, Cr, As and Hg. The second series of experiments included comparing measurements of various parameters of B. napus grown in sludge and treated each 7 days with metal solutions of Ni, Zn and Pb containing 10-2mg/l, 10-4mg/l, 10-6mg/l of each metal, to those for control plants treated with double distilled water. Results showed that shoot growth of B. napus were increased at treatments with lower concentrations of metals (10-6 mg/l) and control (treatment with d-distilled water). At the same time uptake of metal ions was increased with the concentration of the solution, i.e. at higher concentrations (10-2 mg/l). It is truly for Pb and Zn, transfer coefficient TC of which (indicates a plant’s potential to concentrate a metal) was quite high 15 % and 7 % correspondingly. It was noticed that B. napus has high ability to accumulate Cr, from the other hand it did not accumulate Ni (at present case).

Parallel Corpora in EFL Writing Classrooms

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-39
Author(s):  
Noorchaya Yahya ◽  
Hind Alotaibi ◽  
Dina Abdel Salam El-Dakhs
Keyword(s):  
Writing Assignments ◽  
Efl Writing ◽  
Writing Ability ◽  
Parallel Corpora ◽  
Self Evaluation ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Writing Tests ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Experimental Group

This study reveals the impact of using parallel corpora on EFL students' writing, and how students perceive it. Female undergraduates (n=46) in an EFL writing course in Saudi Arabia were divided randomly into experimental and control groups taught by the same instructor, using the same materials. Students in the experimental group were introduced to three parallel corpora and encouraged to use them in their writing. Tests at the beginning of the semester showed no difference in English proficiency or writing ability between groups. Over the semester, students in both groups also wrote 5 writing assignments and took three writing exams. To examine students' perceptions of parallel corpora, students in the experimental group were asked to write a self-evaluation report and answer an evaluation questionnaire. Quantitative and qualitative analysis showed significant improvement in their writing but no significant difference between groups. However, students' perception of parallel corpora was generally positive.

scholarly journals The Impact of Teaching Vocabulary through “Kik” Application on Improving Intermediate EFL Learner’s Vocabulary Learning

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saeedeh Rajayi ◽  
Mahpareh Poorahmadi ◽  
Mahpare Poorahmadi
Keyword(s):  
Vocabulary Learning ◽  
Vocabulary Instruction ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Vocabulary Test ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Independent Variable ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Considerable Body ◽  
Experimental Group

A considerable body of research has been conducted on effective vocabulary instruction to improve vocabularylearning. However, no research has been done to empirically document the link between teaching vocabulary through“Kik’ application and vocabulary learning. Thus, this study was conducted to fill this gap in research related to thisphenomenon. To this effect, 61 intermediate EFL learners from Joyandegan language institute were selected throughconvenience sampling and randomly assigned to two groups; experimental and control group. In this pretest, posttestexperimental study, only the experimental group received training through “Kik” application. The comparison of thescores of Teacher Made Vocabulary Test showed that the scores of experimental group were higher than those of thecontrol group. The comparison of the scores of Teacher Made Vocabulary Test showed that the scores ofexperimental group were higher than those of the control group. This provided a statistically significant relationshipbetween the independent variable, teaching vocabulary through “Kik” application, and vocabulary learning which isthe dependent variable. The results of this study point to a probability that on using of “Kik” for teaching vocabularyand the results of this study showed that using “Kik” for teaching can have a significant impact on EFL learners’vocabulary learning.

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