Postoccupancy evaluations in zoological settings

A postoccupancy evaluation (POE) is a systematic assessment performed to examine the effectiveness of the built environment after occupation. Although POEs have been mainly used to examine the effectiveness of built environments for human usage, they can and should be adapted for use in zoological settings. Zoological exhibits have evolved from when hygiene concerns ruled design to current trends that involve elaborate exhibits that often cost millions of dollars. Thus, it is imperative to conduct evaluations to ensure that these exhibits function to meet the complex needs of all users. It is crucial to perform a comprehensive POE that focuses on all three user groups; animals, visitors, and staff. However, work in this field is limited. Animal research has tended to remain very primate-focused with differing opinions as to what constitutes optimal outcomes. Zoo visitor studies often have limited scope and differing methodologies. Additionally, research on zoo staff opinions and feedback is almost nonexistent. A new exhibit opening at a zoo has huge potential for improving the welfare of the animals it will house, enhancing the zoo visitor experience, and improving the workplace for zoo personnel. Building the best possible exhibits requires not only the analysis of how the built environment affects all three groups, but also dissemination of those findings to guide future design.     

晋陕宁黄土丘陵区生态修复与农林牧业持续发展仿真研究

晋陕宁黄土丘陵区土壤侵蚀严重,生态环境脆弱,不合理利用土地是其主要原因,生态修复与环境重建是该区生态与经济持续发展的重要战略措施。应用系统动力学（System Dynamic,简称SD）和“反馈控制（Feedback control）理论建立了该区生态修复和环境重建的SD模型,它分为人口、农业、林业、牧业、农村经济、土壤侵蚀和生态环境6个模块,仿真时间1990～2080年,步长1a。经检验该SD模型的有效性为93．5％,可用于未来仿真预测。根据该区的生态环境特点和农牧业发展现状,选择生态环境恢复重建的3种典型模式——同步发展模式（A模式）、逐步调整模式（B模式）和现状发展模式（C模式）进行仿真研究,预测3种模式2000～2080年的土壤侵蚀、土地利用的发展动态以及农林牧业和生态环境演化趋势。仿真结果表明：土地利用与农、林、牧业持续发展密切相关,坡耕地和草场退化是制约农林牧业发展的主要因素。合理调整土地利用结构和加速治理侵蚀,可促进生态环境逐步恢复和农林牧业持续发展。同步发展模式（A模式）是该区生态修复和环境重建的3个仿真模式中的最优策略,它可促进农林牧协调发展和生态一经济趋向良性循环,并提出该区生态修复与环境重建的对策措施。该SD模型结构合理,运行功能良好,能较真实的模拟具有多变量、非线性变量的复杂生态系统的动态行为,为生态修复研究提供一种有效工具。     

雪灾对草地畜牧业影响的评价模型及方法研究--以新疆阿勒泰地区为例

根据草地畜牧业的特点,建立了以草地、家畜、饲料储备和牧区人文经济为主体的四类三级雪灾评价指标体系。通过格栅获取法和模糊Borda数分析法,确定了指标体系各因素的权重,建立了雪灾对草地畜牧业影响的定量评价和雪灾损失计算模型。提出了以载畜量、受灾面积、积雪与牧草高度之比和气候为变量因子的不同等级雪灾损失指数模型。用模糊评价和德尔菲法相结合的方法,综合评价了雪灾对草地畜牧业的影响。结果表明：雪灾对草地畜牧业的有利影响度为0．481,不利影响度为6．8。以新疆阿勒泰地区为例,估算了该区2000年雪灾对草地畜牧业影响的综合评价值和损失率,取得了较好的效果。     

The Development of a Novel Form of Mouse Cage Enrichment

This article describes the design and testing of a novel form of mouse cage enrichment. A cage insert was designed and developed to fulfill a number of enrichment goals pertaining to its effectiveness and practicality (i.e., to improve the environment of mice in laboratories while causing the minimum of interference to the husbandry and care procedures carried out by animal care staff). Behavioral and physical parameters were used over an 8-week period to assess effectiveness, with subjective opinions of cage cleaning staff and physical examinations of the inserts after cleaning being used to assess practicality. Results show that the insert was both a practical and effective form of mouse enrichment which produced a number of enriching effects without adversely affecting the animals, their environment, or the husbandry and care procedures.     

The Development of a Novel Form of Mouse Cage Enrichment

This article describes the design and testing of a novel form of mouse cage enrichment. A cage insert was designed and developed to fulfill a number of enrichment goals pertaining to its effectiveness and practicality (i.e., to improve the environment of mice in laboratories while causing the minimum of interference to the husbandry and care procedures carried out by animal care staff). Behavioral and physical parameters were used over an 8-week period to assess effectiveness, with subjective opinions of cage cleaning staff and physical examinations of the inserts after cleaning being used to assess practicality. Results show that the insert was both a practical and effective form of mouse enrichment which produced a number of enriching effects without adversely affecting the animals, their environment, or the husbandry and care procedures.     

Thirty years later: enrichment practices for captive mammals

Environmental enrichment of captive mammals has been steadily evolving over the past thirty years. For this process to continue, it is first necessary to define current enrichment practices and then identify the factors that limit enhancing the quality and quantity of enrichment, as well as the evaluation of its effectiveness. With the objective of obtaining this information, an international multi‐institutional questionnaire survey was conducted with individuals working with zoo‐housed mammals. Results of the survey showed that regardless of how important different types of enrichment were perceived to be, if providing them was particularly time‐consuming, they were not made available to captive mammals as frequently as those requiring less staff time and effort. The groups of mammals provided with enrichment most frequently received it on average fewer than four times per day, resulting in less than two hours per day spent by each animal care staff member on tasks related to enrichment. The time required for staff to complete other husbandry tasks was the factor most limiting the implementation and evaluation of enrichment. The majority of survey respondents agreed that they would provide more enrichment and carry out more evaluation of enrichment if it was manageable to do so. The results of this study support the need for greater quantity, variety, frequency, and evaluation of enrichment provided to captive mammals housed in zoos without impinging on available staff time. Zoo Biol 29:303–316, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Climate change and livestock parasites: integrated management of sheep blowfly strike in a warmer environment

The incidence of parasite‐mediated livestock disease is the result of a complex interaction of factors such as parasite and host abundance, host susceptibility, climate and, critically, farmer husbandry and intervention strategies, all of which change seasonally in space and time. Given the complexity of the interacting factors, the effects of environment changes on disease incidence are hard to predict, as accordingly are the optimal husbandry responses required to ameliorate any effects. Here a model system is used to explore these issues. Cutaneous myiasis (blowfly strike) is common disease of livestock and would be expected to be highly sensitive to even small changes in climate; it provides a good model for highlighting the problems inherent in attempting to predict the effect of climate change on livestock disease incidence. For this, a stochastic simulation model is used to examine the changes in the seasonal incidence of ovine cutaneous myiasis on farms in the United Kingdom and the likely effects of changes in husbandry and control strategies. The simulations show that the range of elevated temperatures predicted by current climate change scenarios result in an elongated blowfly season with earlier spring emergence and a higher cumulative incidence of strike. Overall, higher temperatures increased strike incidence disproportionately in ewes in early summer, but had relatively less direct effect on the pattern of lamb strike incidence; a +3 °C increase in average temperature approximately doubles the cumulative incidence of strike in lambs but results in four times more strikes in ewes. A range of strike management options is examined and the models show that changes in husbandry practices are also likely to have an important effect in reducing early season ewe strike incidences. The simulations suggest that integrated changes in husbandry practices are likely to be able to manage expected increases in strike, given the range of climate changes currently predicted.     

Balance of a multijoint biomechanical system in natural and artificial environments: a simulation model

The paper is devoted to a neurobionic simulation model for controlling balance in a biomechanical pendulum. The model is realized by a complex of fuzzy regulators and an artificial neural network. Fuzzy regulators are used for simulating the physiological characteristics of the motor system and the functions of the sensory systems. The second level of control is the central integrator. It is realized as an artificial neural network (ANN), which simulates a real process of analysis and synthesis of afferent signals, formation of the model of action, etc.Equilibrium control in a multijoint biomechanical object is a specific example of a self-developing multilevel system of movement control. In the course of elaboration of the model and further examination of its behavior we have received model results which revealed correspondence with the results demonstrated by real subjects in stabilographic tests performed after long-term space flights. We concluded that the model permits us to simulate the peculiarities of human movement control and can be used for creating individual plans of recovery and rehabilitation of patients after long-term motionless or learning movement control in unknown environments.     

Social and environmental impacts on sleep in captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus)

Modern zoos strive to improve standards of animal management, husbandry and welfare of their animals as part of a continual evaluation process. Elephants (Elephantidae) have received particular attention in recent years due to the challenge of providing environments which promote natural behavior and opportunities for social interaction. A number of measures have been proposed to measure wellbeing, with sleep quality increasingly being used. Sleep is a vital aspect of life for cell replenishment as well as optimal development of young. Sleep deprivation can lead to immunosuppression and illness; therefore animal managers have a responsibility to ensure they reduce the potential for disturbance through noise, light, or other environmental factors. The social environment also plays an essential role in wellbeing, particularly for species that live in multi-generational family units. In this study the nocturnal behavior of a multi-generational captive herd was observed to determine impacts of husbandry changes on sleep duration and bout length (measured as recumbent rest). As expected, average total duration of sleep was higher in younger elephants and rates were comparable to those reported in other studies of Asian elephants. Overnight access to an outdoor paddock in warmer weather increased overall average bout length of sleep in the herd. Average total duration of sleep also increased for the herd following the movement of an unrelated adult female who had previously shown weak bonds with other herd members. This indicates that social compatibility is a vital component of elephant welfare, impacting not only behavioral interactions but sleep quality and duration.     

Regular Care and Maintenance of a Zebrafish (Danio rerio) Laboratory: An Introduction

This protocol describes regular care and maintenance of a zebrafish laboratory. Zebrafish are now gaining popularity in genetics, pharmacological and behavioural research. As a vertebrate, zebrafish share considerable genetic sequence similarity with humans and are being used as an animal model for various human disease conditions. The advantages of zebrafish in comparison to other common vertebrate models include high fecundity, low maintenance cost, transparent embryos, and rapid development. Due to the spur of interest in zebrafish research, the need to establish and maintain a productive zebrafish housing facility is also increasing. Although literature is available for the maintenance of a zebrafish laboratory, a concise video protocol is lacking. This video illustrates the protocol for regular housing, feeding, breeding and raising of zebrafish larvae. This process will help researchers to understand the natural behaviour and optimal conditions of zebrafish husbandry and hence troubleshoot experimental issues that originate from the fish husbandry conditions. This protocol will be of immense help to researchers planning to establish a zebrafish laboratory, and also to graduate students who are intending to use zebrafish as an animal model.     

Brief threatening events beneficial for captive tamarins?

To evaluate speculation indirectly suggesting that brief arousal may be beneficial to animals, 39 cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) living in 4 large families were observed (a) after normal husbandry procedures that excite them (capture and brief removal of infants or older monkeys), (b) after exposure to an over-flying bird model, and (c) compared with control days in which neither of the above occurred. Both arousal conditions caused a decrease in play and locomotion, and an increase in grooming and contact during the remainder of the day. These behavioral changes are similar to the patterns reported as positive effects of enrichment but are dissimilar to negative effects of long-term stressors reported. The pattern of changes in studies of enrichment and of stress enables more objective evaluation of ambiguous events.     

Heterogeneous process state capture and recovery through Process Introspection

The ability to capture the state of a process and later recover that state in the form of an equivalent running process is the basis for a number of important features in parallel and distributed systems. Adaptive load sharing and fault tolerance are well-known examples. Traditional state capture mechanisms have employed an external agent (such as the operating system kernel) to examine and capture process state. However, the increasing prevalence of heterogeneous cluster and “metacomputing” systems as high-performance computing platforms has prompted investigation of process-internal state capture mechanisms. Perhaps the greatest advantage of the process-internal approach is the ability to support cross-platform state capture and recovery, an important feature in heterogeneous environments. Among the perceived disadvantages of existing process-internal mechanisms are poor performance in multiple respects, and difficulty of use in terms of programmer effort. In this paper we describe a new process-internal state capture and recovery mechanism: Process Introspection. Experiences with this system indicate that the perceived disadvantages associated with process-internal mechanisms can be largely overcome, making this approach to state capture an appropriate one for cluster and metacomputing environments. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Computational protein design is a challenge for implicit solvation models

Increasingly complex schemes for representing solvent effects in an implicit fashion are being used in computational analyses of biological macromolecules. These schemes speed up the calculations by orders of magnitude and are assumed to compromise little on essential features of the solvation phenomenon. In this work we examine this assumption. Five implicit solvation models, a surface area-based empirical model, two models that approximate the generalized Born treatment and a finite difference Poisson-Boltzmann method are challenged in situations differing from those where these models were calibrated. These situations are encountered in automatic protein design procedures, whose job is to select sequences, which stabilize a given protein 3D structure, from a large number of alternatives. To this end we evaluate the energetic cost of burying amino acids in thousands of environments with different solvent exposures belonging, respectively, to decoys built with random sequences and to native protein crystal structures. In addition we perform actual sequence design calculations. Except for the crudest surface area-based procedure, all the tested models tend to favor the burial of polar amino acids in the protein interior over nonpolar ones, a behavior that leads to poor performance in protein design calculations. We show, on the other hand, that three of the examined models are nonetheless capable of discriminating between the native fold and many nonnative alternatives, a test commonly used to validate force fields. It is concluded that protein design is a particularly challenging test for implicit solvation models because it requires accurate estimates of the solvation contribution of individual residues. This contrasts with native recognition, which depends less on solvation and more on other nonbonded contributions.     

Estimating long-term survival temperatures at the assemblage level in the marine environment: towards macrophysiology

Defining ecologically relevant upper temperature limits of species is important in the context of environmental change. The approach used in the present paper estimates the relationship between rates of temperature change and upper temperature limits for survival in order to evaluate the maximum long-term survival temperature (Ts). This new approach integrates both the exposure time and the exposure temperature in the evaluation of temperature limits. Using data previously published for different temperate and Antarctic marine environments, we calculated Ts in each environment, which allowed us to calculate a new index: the Warming Allowance (WA). This index is defined as the maximum environmental temperature increase which an ectotherm in a given environment can tolerate, possibly with a decrease in performance but without endangering survival over seasonal or lifetime time-scales. It is calculated as the difference between maximum long-term survival temperature (Ts) and mean maximum habitat temperature. It provides a measure of how close a species, assemblage or fauna are living to their temperature limits for long-term survival and hence their vulnerability to environmental warming. In contrast to data for terrestrial environments showing that warming tolerance increases with latitude, results here for marine environments show a less clear pattern as the smallest WA value was for the Peru upwelling system. The method applied here, relating upper temperature limits to rate of experimental warming, has potential for wide application in the identification of faunas with little capacity to survive environmental warming.     

Putting it together: the computational complexity of designing robot controllers and environments for distributed construction

Creating target structures through the coordinated efforts of teams of autonomous robots (possibly aided by specific features in their environments) is a very important problem in distributed robotics. Many specific instances of distributed robotic construction teams have been developed manually. An important issue is whether automated controller design algorithms can both quickly produce robot controllers and guarantee that teams using these controllers will build arbitrary requested target structures correctly; this task may also involve specifying features in the environment that can aid the construction process. In this paper, we give the first computational and parameterized complexity analyses of several problems associated with the design of robot controllers and environments for creating target structures. These problems use a simple finite-state robot controller model that moves in a non-continuous deterministic manner in a grid-based environment. Our goal is to establish whether algorithms exist that are both fast and correct for all inputs and if not, under which restrictions such algorithms are possible. We prove that none of these problems are efficiently solvable in general and remain so under a number of plausible restrictions on controllers, environments, and target structures. We also give the first restrictions relative to which these problems are efficiently solvable and discuss what theoretical solvability and unsolvability results derived relative to the problems examined here mean for real-world construction using robot teams.     

Evaluation of the Texas Birth Defects Registry: an active surveillance system

BACKGROUND: Evaluations of surveillance systems are necessary to determine if the goals of the system are being met, how efficiently the surveillance is being implemented, and if resources are being used appropriately. An evaluation of the Texas Birth Defects Registry was conducted to assess the overall quality of data collection and to examine variations across regions of the state. METHODS: The registry was evaluated by using published guidelines for evaluating public health surveillance systems; the evaluation included staff interviews, process observation, and secondary data analysis. RESULTS: The registry monitors >370,000 births/year through active surveillance, with considerable disparities in workload across regions of the state. Because of the geographic size and substantial population of Texas, data collection is complex. However, the estimated sensitivity of the system appears sufficient, and rates for selected defects are highly comparable with other U.S. active birth-defect surveillance systems. Registry staff continually monitor the quality of data collection and provide additional training. Amid unstable funding, the registry staff have demonstrated optimal foresight and flexibility to adapt and continue quality data collection. Timeliness needs to be improved and more consistent quality assurance is needed across regions of the state. Retaining staff and increasing visibility are essential to providing more stability. CONCLUSIONS: Active surveillance for birth defects is labor-intensive but provides invaluable data for its stakeholders. The Texas Birth Defects Registry has proven to be a quality surveillance system and a beneficial resource for Texas.     

Facility design and associated services for the study of amphibians

The role of facilities and associated services for amphibians has recently undergone diversification. Amphibians traditionally used as research models adjust well to captivity and thrive with established husbandry techniques. However, it is now necessary to maintain hundreds of novel amphibian species in captive breeding, conservation research, and biomedical research programs. These diverse species have a very wide range of husbandry requirements, and in many cases the ultimate survival of threatened species will depend on captive populations. Two critical factors have emerged in the maintenance of amphibians, stringent quarantine and high-quality water. Because exotic diseases such as chytridiomycosis have devastated both natural and captive populations of amphibians, facilities must provide stringent quarantine. The provision of high-quality water is also essential to maintain amphibian health and condition due to the intimate physiological relationship of amphibians to their aquatic environment. Fortunately, novel technologies backed by recent advances in the scientific knowledge of amphibian biology and disease management are available to overcome these challenges. For example, automation can increase the reliability of quarantine and maintain water quality, with a corresponding decrease in handling and the associated disease-transfer risk. It is essential to build facilities with appropriate nontoxic waterproof materials and to provide quarantined amphibian rooms for each population. Other spaces and services include live feed rooms, quarantine stations, isolation rooms, laboratory space, technical support systems, reliable energy and water supplies, high-quality feed, and security. Good husbandry techniques must include reliable and species-specific management by trained staff members who receive support from the administration. It is possible to improve husbandry techniques for many species by sharing knowledge through common information systems. Overall, good facility design corresponds to the efficient use of space, personnel, energy, materials, and other resources.     

Staff Scientist Perspectives on Onboarding and Professional Development: A Case Study

Across the United States, the number of staff scientists (master’s- or doctoral-level professionals working in nonfaculty roles) has grown by 35% since 2010, and they play an increasingly important role in research efforts. However, few targeted resources are available, which potentially limits the effectiveness of this group. Launched in 2016, the staff scientist path at Emory has tripled in size over 4 y to 138 staff. The present case study evaluated the perceptions of staff scientists related to onboarding experiences and professional development needs, including those needs arising from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) impacts in the workplace. A survey of Emory staff scientists was conducted from May to June 2019 as part of a program evaluation initiative to assess perceptions of onboarding and professional development opportunities. Interviews with a subset of scientists informed the survey development and identified COVID-19–related impacts on daily work. Results indicated the need for targeted orientation resources specific to staff scientists, accurate and timely information and resources to support scientists’ supervisors, and professional development for scientists in leadership and management-related skills. Remote work associated with COVID-19 accentuated the need for managerial skills, including team development in digital work environments. Findings from this case study can inform policies and practices at Emory and other institutions that employ a similar staff scientist model.     

Pastoral Herding Strategies and Governmental Management Objectives: Predation Compensation as a Risk Buffering Strategy in the Saami Reindeer Husbandry

Previously it has been found that an important risk buffering strategy in the Saami reindeer husbandry in Norway is the accumulation of large herds of reindeer as this increases long-term household viability. Nevertheless, few studies have investigated how official policies, such as economic compensation for livestock losses, can influence pastoral strategies. This study investigated the effect of received predation compensation on individual husbandry units’ future herd size. The main finding in this study is that predation compensation had a positive effect on husbandry units’ future herd size. The effect of predation compensation, however, was nonlinear in some years, indicating that predation compensation had a positive effect on future herd size only up to a certain threshold whereby adding additional predation compensation had little effect on future herd size. More importantly, the effect of predation compensation was positive after controlling for reindeer density, indicating that for a given reindeer density husbandry units receiving more predation compensation performed better (measured as the size of future herds) compared to husbandry units receiving less compensation.     

Breeding fireflies at Tama Zoo: An ecological approach

Techniques to breed the Genji firefly, Luciola cruciata, a lampyrid (firefly) native to Japan, we developed at Tama Zoo, Tokyo. In order to determine captive husbandry procedures, the staff made close observations on the life cycle of this species in nature. It took more than a decade to establish the breathing program in an outdoor water channel at the Tama Zoo. Patterned after a freshwater ecosystem, the channel system enables the insect to undergo the simulated “food-chains” cycle for completing the metamorphic process. Captive-reared larvae, also known as “glowworms”, and knowledge on husbandry have been utilized to reintroduce the species in its former natural ranges.