Measurement of Wildlife Value Orientations Among Diverse Audiences: A Multigroup Confirmatory Factor Analysis Among Hispanic and Non-Hispanic White Communities

Wildlife value orientations (WVOs) are increasingly being used to describe broad societal shifts that are altering the way people perceive wildlife. Concurrent with these shifts is a diversification of cultural heritages that complicate comparisons of WVOs across cultures. Yet, when measuring WVOs across cultures, differences in WVOs may be genuine variations between the populations, or may be artifacts of the measurement instrument. Therefore, there is a need to determine if various cultures interact with the instrument uniformly. Three multiple group confirmatory factor analyses (MGCFA) examined how ethnicity, acculturation, and language spoken are related to a WVO scale’s performance within Hispanic and non-Hispanic white communities. Results of each MGCFA support the cross-cultural stability of the WVO factor structure. Additional cross-cultural WVO research is needed to expand the construct and assist natural resource practitioners in understanding diverse constituencies, but conducting a MGCFA analysis should be a necessary precondition when comparing WVOs across cultures.     

Predicting Acceptability of Jaguars and Pumas in the Atlantic Forest,Brazil

Jaguars and pumas are threatened species in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, especially at the borders of protected areas. This article assessed the influence of emotions, attitudes, existence value, and agency credibility on acceptability of big cats among rural residents living adjacent to two protected areas in this forest. Data from self-administrated questionnaires (n = 326) indicated those with positive attitudes toward big cats (β = .28, p < .001), those who valued the existence of big cats (β = .14, p < .05), those who would feel sorrow if big cats disappeared (β = .21, p < .001), and those who considered the managing agency as credible (β = .16, p = .002) were more accepting of big cats. The model provided theoretical and practical insights into large carnivore conservation. For example, given the significance of agency credibility, a positive relationship between park authorities and residents is crucial for big cat conservation.     

Effect of micronized pea seeds (Pisum sativum L.) as a substitute of soybean meal on tissue fatty acid composition and quality of broiler chicken meat

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of micronized pea seeds introduced into feed mixes for broilers on the slaughter yield, blood lipid parameters, content of fatty acids in selected tissues, and meat quality. The studies involved 150 1‐day‐old Ross 308 chicks split into three groups (for 42 days). The feed rations differed in terms of the source of proteins: in the control group (C), it was post‐extraction soybean meal (SBM) 100%; in group I, SBM 50% and micronized peas 50%; and in group II, micronized peas only, 100%. Irradiated pea seeds added to the feed ration for chicks reduced the fattening grade of carcasses (P < 0.05). Additionally, significant improvement of blood lipid indices was recorded. The share of the irradiated pea seeds in feed mixes decreased the share of saturated fatty acids in the muscles and abdominal fat and had a positive effect on the n‐6/n‐3 ratio, hypocholesterolemic / hypercholesterolemic ratio, as well as the atherogenic and thrombogenic indices (P < 0.05).     

Influence of imported sport horses on the genetic evaluation of Swedish Warmblood stallions

There is substantial international influence on the Swedish Warmblood (SWB) sport horse population. The SWB Association suspects that imported horses are pre-selected based on their anticipated performance level, which could lead to biased estimated breeding values (EBVs) for stallions. This study examined different strategies to handle records for imported horses in the genetic evaluation. The stallions were evaluated for 10 traits using 3 different EBV estimation methods that were compared based on ranking comparisons of stallions, accuracy, correlations and absolute differences between EBVs. The results showed that the stallions’ EBVs were affected by imported offspring which, as a group, had higher average scores than horses born in Sweden. Sire EBVs differed by up to 0.6 genetic standard deviation of the trait between methods for stallions with >50% imported offspring. Excluding imported offspring lowered the accuracies and caused larger re-ranking compared with including a fixed effect of origin in the model.     

收获期对玉米茎秸产量和营养价值的影响

研究适于云南亚热带地区的玉米品种.结果表明:玉米青秸产量以蜡熟期最高,干秸产量以完熟期最高;粗蛋白质产量和产奶净能量(NEL)均以蜡熟期最高;专用青贮玉米、粮饲玉米和普通玉米蜡熟期鲜秸产量分别为108.9、111.7和127.5 t/hm2,干秸产量为33.4、36.4和40.7 t/hm2,粗蛋白质产量为2.7、2.9和3.4 t/hm2,产奶净能量为49825.8、57789.4和64430.3 Mcal/t/hm2;高产优质玉米品种为京科9号、樱红和路单4号.     

粮食营养价值的缺陷与对策

文章详细了粮食营养价值的缺陷，如蛋白质的质量，氨基酸的比例等，重点介绍了改善这种状况的三种方法。     

不同供磷水平小麦苗期根系特征与其相对产量的关系

研究了缺磷条件下不同基因型小麦苗期根系形态学及生理学适应特征 ,结果表明 :在缺磷环境中 ,小麦根轴数量和侧根长度明显减小 ,同化物向根部的分配比例增加 ,根轴长度、侧根数量和根系长度等均是显著提高。供试基因型小麦的根轴数量及其长度的差异在每个供磷水平及不同供磷水平之间均是显著的 ,说明这两种性状的差异是由基因型和环境因素共同决定的 ;而侧根特征的差异只在不同供磷水平之间是显著的 ,表明侧根性状主要是受环境因素控制的。对 6种基因型小麦的研究表明 ,高磷水平的小麦种子根的生长角度明显低于低磷处理的小麦 ,根角之间存在着显著的基因型差异。在缺磷条件下 ,6种基因型小麦完整根系分泌的酸性磷酸酶活性、根轴数量、根轴长度、根生长角度和根系长度之间均存在着显著的基因型差异。相关分析表明 ,缺磷条件下的小麦苗期根系形态指标和根系分泌的酸性磷酸酶活性的交互作用与小麦的相对产量之间具有显著的线性关系 ,这种关系说明以上 5种性状均可作为早期有效地筛选磷高效小麦品种的指标     

The Shortcoming and Improvement of the Project Break-Even Analysis Method

This paper points out the shortcoming of the existing project break-even analysis method. A new improved method-the dynamic project break-even analysis method has been put forward.     

Nonlinear Characteristic Modeling of Servo Value on Hydraulic Bending Roll System''s Dynamic Characteristic

Nonlinear characteristic of servo value is the important factor influencing hydraulic system, the model of electro-hydraulic servo pressure control system is designed. In this model, flux-equation of servo valve is specially applied and some non-linear characteristics are considered. Furthermore, SIMULINK toolbox of MATLAB language software is applied to solve mathematic model and simulation curves of some variables are obtained. The calculation results are in good agreement with the experimental results.