Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Barred Owl'

Obesity is the most prevalent nutritional disorder encountered in small animal medicine. Problems related with obesity are the higher incidence of morbidity and mortality. Nutritional and physical activity interventions have been common strategies employed; however, they have shown low compliance rates. Because of it more attention has been given to the nutrient composition of diets. Using the canine model, three experiments were conducted to examine the effect of fish oil or barley on protein and lipid metabolism, as well as postprandial glycemia, and nutrient digestibility in mature and in young adult dogs. In Exp. 1, seven female dogs were randomly assigned to one of two isonitrogenous and isocaloric diets, control (CO) or fish oil (FO), in a crossover design. Animals fed the FO diet tended to be more sensitive to glucose, showing a lower glucose half life. Cholesterol and HDL decreased (p<0.05) on the FO treatment. Overall, the supplementation of fish oil may improve glucose clearance rate and is effective in decreasing cholesterol in mature overweight dogs. In Exp. 2, eight female Beagles were randomly assigned to one of two isonitrogenous and isocaloric diets, control (CO) or fish oil (FO), in a crossover design. Overall, feeding a FO containing diet showed a protective effect against the rise of plasma CHOL and it increased plasma ghrelin levels. However, it did not appear to improve protein metabolism or postprandial glycemia in adult lean dogs. In Exp. 3, sixteen female dogs were randomly assigned to four experimental diets; control (40% corn) or three levels of barley (10, 20, 40%). The data suggest that inclusion of barley up to 40% in diets for adult dogs is well tolerated and does not negatively impact nutrient digestibility of the diets. However, inclusion of barley did not improve aspects related to fecal odor, postprandial glycemia, or plasma cholesterol. Overall, the research presented herein suggests that different nutritional strategies - dietary lipid or carbohydrate manipulation - may be beneficial in ameliorating health issues (e.g., hyperlipidemia) or in improving the health status of dogs (e.g., gut health by increased SCFA production).

Background: The differential effects of using topical oils for the prevention or treatment of baby dry skin on skin barrier function may contribute to the development of childhood atopic eczema. Prevalence of atopic eczema has increased from 5% of children aged 2 to 15 years in the 1940s, to approaching 30% more recently. This increase cannot be attributed to genetic changes. It is likely that increases stem from environmental factors, including the increased use of some inappropriately formulated commercial and natural baby skincare products. Midwives, health visitors and other maternity service health professionals, in the UK, routinely recommend the use of olive oil and sunflower oil for baby dry skin or massage, but the effect of these oils on newborn baby skin has not been studied. Aim: The aim of this research was to assess the feasibility and acceptability of testing the hypothesis that the regular application of sunflower oil, when compared to no oil or olive oil, had an effect on skin barrier function of newborn term babies. Study Design: A pilot, assessor-blinded, single centre, three-arm, randomised controlled trial, with nested qualitative component, underpinned by post-positivism. Methods: Quantitative methods were used to establish proof of concept that the use of topical oils had some effect on newborn baby skin barrier function, and to assess the feasibility of trial processes and parameters. Qualitative methods were used to explore the acceptability to parents of having a newborn baby participating in a randomised controlled trial, and trial design and procedures. The study was conducted in St. Mary’s hospital, a large teaching hospital in North West England. Data were collected between September 2013 and August 2014.The randomised controlled trial included 115 babies who were randomised to three groups: sunflower oil, olive oil and no oil, using a computer-generated varied size block randomisation with concealed allocation. Parents of babies randomised to the oil groups were blinded to which oil they were allocated. Data were collected using standardised case report forms for demographic and clinical observation data, weekly telephone questionnaires and a follow-up questionnaire, informed by previous baby skincare trials. The qualitative study encompassed semi-structured interviews, conducted within six months of birth. The sample was a subset of the trial participants, purposively sampled to incorporate a mix of treatment groups and positive and negative experiences derived from the follow-up questionnaire. Data also included two open-text questions from the follow-up questionnaire. Quantitative data were managed using IBM SPSS Statistics versions 20 and 22 and analysed descriptively. Qualitative data were managed in NVivo 10 and analysed using Framework Analysis. Results: The pilot study found that a definitive randomised controlled trial is not the optimal next step. A longitudinal observational study and further mechanistic work is recommended. Recruitment was challenging and loss to follow-up was higher than anticipated. Protocol adherence was reasonable and the study was acceptable to parents. Some statistically significant results were obtained, which must be interpreted with caution as the study was not powered to detect such a difference. These results showed that both oils may impede the development of the skin barrier function from birth; clinical importance of the results is not known. Conclusion: A longitudinal observational study is required, which maps the diagnosis of atopic eczema with environmental factors such as the use of baby skincare products from birth. Mechanistic work is also required to consider the optimal skincare formulation. As any intervention should do more good than harm, it would be wrong to support the recommendation of topical olive oil or sunflower oil for newborn baby dry skin or massage, based on the study data.

The need for energy and the associated economic benefits from the oil and gas deposits found mainly in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria necessitated the exploration and exploitation activities being carried out by the oil and gas Companies. However, these exploration and exploitation activities due to their unpredictable nature have a huge potential for environmental pollution as been experienced in the form of oil spills, gas flaring, irresponsible disposal of waste and several other activities that have resulted in the environmental degradation of the Niger Delta region. In the light of these, the Federal Government of Nigeria having experienced the consequences of pollution of the environment during the Koko Toxic Waste Dump incident in the then Bendel State in 1987 established a regulatory body tasked with the responsibility of harmonizing the economic interest from the oil and gas exploration and exploitation activities with the sustainability of the natural environment by developing well structured and articulated policies aimed at guiding the operations of the oil and gas operators, track their compliance and administer appropriate punitive measures for non compliance. However, this research work which is aimed at evaluating the impact of the environmental protection policies in upstream oil and gas activities in the Niger Delta region, involved the use of questionnaires and interviews. These questionnaires were completed by the management and staff of three major oil and gas companies operating within the area, the Department of Petroleum Resources and members of the Host communities. The interview was carried out to provide relevant feedback on their assessment of the impact made by the environmental protection policies on the upstream oil and gas activities in their operational areas/host communities. The study however concluded that “Although there is a regulatory body tasked with the responsibility to develop, implement and track compliance of the environmental protection policies in the upstream oil industry, the body is ineffective and as such the impact of the environmental protection policies is inadequate. Appropriate informed recommendations on the improvement strategies to the identified gaps that resulted in the unfavorable conditions were also provided.
Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011

A large part of energy carriers and chemicals of our society come from fossil fuels; due to their critical exploitation and environmental concerns, alternative solutions should be promoted. The goal of this work is to understand the environmental impacts of different supply chains of levulinic acid production. To enable this comparison, a cradle-to-gate LCA was conducted on different kinds of biomasses, under an innovative thermochemical process called Biofine. The study concerns biomass not only of agri-food origin (corn stover, barley straw, wheat straw), but also deriving from the waste collection supply chain (organic fraction of municipal solid waste). Results show that biochemicals production from waste-derived biomass represent the lowest environmental impact solution, compared to the supply chain with biomass of agri-food origin. For agri-food biomasses, the impacts deriving from the agricultural phase are orders of magnitude more significant than those of the industrial phase, while the transport phase is the least impacting in absolute terms. For waste-derived biomasses, transport is the most impacting phase of the entire supply chain.

The federally threatened northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) is the focus of intensive conservation efforts that have led to much forested land being reserved as habitat for the owl and associated wildlife species throughout the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Recently, however, a relatively new threat to spotted owls has emerged in the form of an invasive competitor: the congeneric barred owl (Strix varia). As barred owls have rapidly expanded their populations into the entire range of the northern spotted owl, mounting evidence indicates that they are displacing, hybridizing with, and even killing spotted owls. The barred owl invasion into western North America has made an already complex conservation issue even more contentious, and a lack of information on the ecological relationships between the 2 species has hampered conservation efforts. During 2007–2009 I investigated spatial relationships, habitat selection, diets, survival, and reproduction of sympatric spotted owls and barred owls in western Oregon, USA. My overall objective was to determine the potential for and possible consequences of competition for space, habitat, and food between the 2 species. My study included 29 spotted owls and 28 barred owls that were radio-marked in 36 neighboring territories and monitored over a 24-month tracking period. Based on repeated surveys of both species, the number of territories occupied by pairs of barred owls in the 745 km² study area (82) greatly outnumbered those occupied by pairs of spotted owls (15). Estimates of mean size of home-ranges and core-use areas of spotted owls (1,843 ha and 305 ha, respectively) were 2–4 times larger than those of barred owls (581 ha and 188 ha, respectively). Individual spotted and barred owls in adjacent territories often had overlapping home ranges, but inter-specific space sharing was largely restricted to broader foraging areas in the home range with minimal spatial overlap among core-use areas. I used an information-theoretic approach to rank discrete choice models representing alternative hypotheses about the influence of forest conditions and interspecific interactions on species-specific patterns of nighttime habitat selection. Spotted owls spent a disproportionate amount of time foraging on steep slopes in ravines dominated by old (>120 yrs old) conifer trees. Barred owls used available forest types more evenly than spotted owls, and were most strongly associated with patches of large hardwood and conifer trees that occupied relatively flat areas along streams. Spotted and barred owls differed in the relative use of old conifer forest (higher for spotted owls) and slope conditions (steeper slopes for spotted owls). I found no evidence that the 2 species differed in their use of young, mature, and riparian-hardwood forest types, and both species avoided forest-nonforest edges. The best resource selection function for spotted owls indicated that the relative probability of a location being selected was reduced if the location was within or in close proximity to a core-use area of a barred owl. I used pellet analysis and measures of food niche overlap to examine the potential for dietary competition between spatially associated pairs of spotted owls and barred owls. I identified 1,223 prey items from 15 territories occupied by pairs of spotted owls and 4,299 prey items from 24 territories occupied by pairs of barred owls. Diets of both species were dominated by nocturnal mammals, but diets of barred owls included many terrestrial, aquatic, and diurnal prey species that were rare or absent in diets of spotted owls. Northern flying squirrels (Glaucomys sabrinus), woodrats (Neotoma fuscipes, N. cinerea), and lagomorphs (Lepus americanus, Sylvilagus bachmani) were particularly important prey for both owl species, accounting for 81% and 49% of total dietary biomass for spotted owls and barred owls, respectively. Dietary overlap between pairs of spotted and barred owls in adjacent territories ranged from 28–70% (mean = 42%) In addition to overlap in resource use, I also identified strong associations between the presence of barred owls and the behavior of spotted owls, as shown by changes in space-use, habitat selection, and reproductive output of spotted owls exposed to different levels of spatial overlap with barred owls in adjacent territories. Barred owls in my study area displayed both numeric and demographic superiority over spotted owls; the annual survival probability of radio-marked spotted owls from known-fate analyses (0.81, SE = 0.05) was lower than that of barred owls (0.92, SE = 0.04), and barred owls produced over 6 times as many young over a 3-year period as spotted owls. Survival of both species was positively associated with an increasing proportion of old (>120 yrs old) conifer forest within the home range, which suggested that availability of old forest was a potential limiting factor in the competitive relationship between the 2 species. When viewed collectively, my results support the hypothesis that interference competition with a high density of barred owls for territorial space can act to constrain the availability of critical resources required for successful recruitment and reproduction of spotted owls. My findings have broad implications for the conservation of spotted owls, as they suggest that spatial heterogeneity in survival and reproduction may arise not only because of differences among territories in the quality of forest habitat, but also because of the spatial distribution of an invasive competitor.
Graduation date: 2012
This pdf will not be made available until April 12th, 2012.

Barred Owls were located through audio playback surveying searching in southern Manitoba. Sixty-one confirmed home ranges were located and nine nest sites were located. Mean diameter at breast height and cavity depth and width were determined to be limiting factors governing Barred Owl distribution. Barred Owl habitat use was examined at two scales: immediately around nest trees and within estimated breeding and non-breeding home ranges. Barred Owl breeding and non-breeding home ranges had significantly more hardwood and mixedwood than random plots. Barred Owl breeding season commenced in early March, egg laying in early April, hatching in early May, and fledging at the start of June. Mean and standard deviation of clutch size were 1.91 ± 0.83. Barred Owl diet was determined to be generalist in nature. Dietary breadth was calculated, using Simpson’s formula for measurement of diversity in a sample, of D = 0.1525.

Barley protein based microcapsules (1-5µm) incorporating fish oil/β-carotene were successfully prepared. Well suspended solid microcapsules, rather than emulsions, were able to form after high pressure emulsifying process. These wet-status microcapsules could be turned into dry powder by a spray drying process. The microcapsules demonstrated spherical shape and high loading capacity. Oxidative stability tests under accelerated conditions and in food formulations suggest barley proteins are effective microencapsulation materials to protect fish oil against oxidation. Microcapsule degradation and bioactive compound release behaviors were studied in the simulated gastro-intestinal tract. The data revealed that nano-encapsulations (20-30nm) were formed as a result of enzymatic degradation of microcapsule bulk matrix in the simulated gastric tract. These nano-encapsulations delivered β-carotene to a simulated human intestinal tract intact, where they were degraded by pancreatic enzymes and steadily released the β-carotene. These uniquely structured microcapsules may provide a new strategy to develop target delivery systems for nutraceuticals
Food Science and Technology

The demand for electricity is increasing daily due to technological advancement, and ?luxurious lifestyles. Increasing utilization of electricity means the depletion of fossil fuel ?reserves. Thus, governments around the world are seeking alternative and sustainable ?sources of energy such as the solar powered system. The main purpose of this research is ?to develop a knowledge base on residential electric generation from the grid and solar ?energy. This paper examined the economic feasibility of using grid-tied residential ?photovoltaic (GRPV) system in Saudi Arabia with the HOMER software. Models ?forecasting the price of oil barrels through artificial neural networks (ANN) were also ?employed in the analysis. The study shows that an oil-rich country like Saudi Arabia has ?potential to utilize the GRPV system as an alternative source of energy.
This paper examined the economic feasibility of using grid-tied residential photovoltaic ??(GRPV) system in Saudi Arabia with the HOMER software. Models forecasting the ?price of oil barrels through artificial neural networks (ANN) were also employed in the ?analysis. The study shows that an oil-rich country like Saudi Arabia has potential to ?utilize the GRPV system as an alternative source of energy. This study provides a ?discussion of the potential for applying solar-powered and an assessment of the ?performance of existing systems based on collecting output data.?

A series of experiments were conducted to investigate the nutritional value of a new oat variety developed by the Crop Development Centre at the University of Saskatchewan. Trials 1 and 2 evaluated performance of steers fed a low lignin hull, high oil groat (LLH-HOG) oat as a replacement for barley or corn. In trial 1, 400 steers were fed one of two diets with barley or the LLH-HOG oat at 37.8% of the diet DM. Dry matter intake was lower (P=0.02) and gain to feed improved (P0.01) for steers fed the oat-based diet. In trial 2, 240 steers were finished diets with barley, corn or the LLH-HOG oat at 88.2% of the finishing diet (DM). During finishing, steers on the oat diet had lower (P0.01) ADG, body and carcass (P<0.01) weights than barley or corn-fed cattle reflecting lower (P0.01) DMI. In trial 3, 20 steers were fed one of seven diets consisting of barley silage and 0, 28, 56, or 84% LLH-HOG oat or barley grain (DM basis) to compare nutrient digestibility. Apparent DM, OM, ADF and NDF digestibility coefficients were lower (P<0.05) for LLH-HOG oat-based diets compared to barley-based diets. Apparent CP and EE digestibility coefficients were higher (P<0.05) for the LLH-HOG oat diets. Trial 4 was conducted to assess ruminal fermentation differences between LLH-HOG oat- or barley-based finishing diets using four rumen cannulated steers. No diet effects (P>0.05) were observed for total ruminal VFA concentration or molar proportions of individual VFA however mean ruminal pH was lower (P=0.01) for steers fed the LLH-HOG oat-finishing diet. Further, the extent of pH decline in oat-fed cattle was greater (P<0.01) than for barley-fed cattle. The results indicate that the energy value of the LLH-HOG oat is equivalent or superior to that of barley for growing cattle. However, further research is required to identify factors limiting feed intake of cattle fed this new oat type in finishing diets.

O presente trabalho tem como objectivo analisar se o spread de CDS soberano dos países exportadores de petróleo nomeadamente, o Brasil, Cazaquistão, Colômbia, México, Rússia e Venezuela pode ser explicado pela queda do preço do barril do petróleo no mercado internacional. A partir do modelo de regressão linear, tendo em conta o método dos mínimos quadrados, utilizou-se o software stata para a realização de testes de hipoteses fundamentais. Por fim realizou-se testes de violação do modelo clássico de regressão, com a finalidade de se indentificar eventos como heterocedasticidade e autocorrelação.
O presente trabalho tem como objectivo analisar se o spread de CDS soberano dos países exportadores de petróleo nomeadamente, o Brasil, Cazaquistão, Colômbia, México, Rússia e Venezuela pode ser explicado pela queda do preço do barril do petróleo no mercado internacional. A partir do modelo de regressão linear, tendo em conta o método dos mínimos quadrados, utilizou-se o software stata para a realização de testes de hipoteses fundamentais. Por fim realizou-se testes de violação do modelo clássico de regressão, com a finalidade de se indentificar eventos como heterocedasticidade e autocorrelação.