Explore the vast range of titles available.

Pastoralism is pervasive and has a long history across the rangelands of Trans-Himalaya. Disturbance associated with pastoralism can influence the behaviour of wild animals; hence, it is important to better understand its effects on wild animal behaviour. We compared the activity budget of the Himalayan marmot (Marmota himalayana) between areas experiencing both high and low levels of pastoralism, in the Upper Mustang region in Nepal. Scan sampling was used to collect diurnal activity budget data on adult marmots, whereas 2 min focal observations were made on foraging marmots to assess vigilance during foraging. Contrary to our prediction, there was no significant difference between areas of high and low pastoralism in terms of foraging behaviour. However, the vigilance activity of marmots was significantly influenced by the extent of disturbances associated with pastoralism. Marmots scanned the surroundings more often while foraging and spent more time scanning in high pastoralism sites as compared to marmots in low pastoralism sites. Although we found no direct negative effects of pastoralism on foraging time, marmots shifted the time of day when they foraged. This study suggests that marmots adjust their vigilance behaviour according to the environmental conditions in which they occur. These findings have important implications for the conservation of marmots in the wake of increasing pastoral activities and consequent increases in human-wildlife conflict in Nepal.

This user-friendly book is aimed at helping students of Mandarin Chinese learn and remember Chinese characters. At last-there is a truly effective and enjoyable way to learn Chinese characters! This book helps students to learn and remember both the meanings and the pronunciations of over 800 characters. This otherwise daunting task is made easier by the use of techniques based on the psychology of leaning and memory. key principles include the use of visual imagery, the visualization of short \"stories,\" and the systematic building up of more complicated characters from basic building blocks. Key features: Specially designed pictures and stories are used in a structured way to make the learning process more enjoyable and effective, reducing the need for rote learning to the absolute minimum. The emphasis throughout is on learning and remembering the meanings and pronunciations of the characters. Tips are also included on learning techniques and how to avoid common problems. Characters are introduced in a logical sequence, which also gives priority to learning the most common characters first. Modern simplified characters are used, with pronunciations given in pinyin. Key information is given for each character, including radical, stroke-count, traditional form, compounds, and guidance on writing the character.

This study examined Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers’ perceptions of the role and application of soft skills content within CTE and students' career planning. This qualitative multiple case study utilized artifact collection, document analysis, and personal interviews of CTE teachers from three high schools in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. Participants had between ten to twenty-three years of teaching experience, either in Business or Technology Education. This study investigated CTE teachers’ perspectives regarding the importance of soft skills within CTE curricula, strategies for soft skills implementation, and examined any differences in the implementation of soft skills in different CTE areas.Research has indicated that employers have difficulty finding workers with appropriate soft skills contributing to a skills gap in the workforce. The findings of this study revealed that the experiential learning component within CTE courses provides a unique opportunity for students to develop soft skills that they can use in college and future careers. Exposing students to soft skills taught in CTE courses can serve as a way to fill the skills gap noted by employers. Soft skills are not always specifically taught as a topic in CTE courses but are often incorporated into the curriculum.Participants effectively implemented soft skills consistently across different CTE areas. They found the soft skills of communication, critical thinking, and creativity to be the most important for their students to demonstrate. The nature of CTE provides teachers with autonomy in lesson planning and teaching. CTE teachers value the ability to demonstrate creativity in the classroom but would benefit from updated CTE curriculum, mandatory CTE courses, and opportunities for more diversity within CTE programs. These findings could be significant for future research focused on the evaluation of soft skills within other CTE areas, CTE student outcomes, CTE curricula and standards development, and the role of CTE within professional organizations.

This book is a quick and easy way to learn basic Chinese Characters.All beginning students of Chinese struggle to memorize and learn to write the Chinese characters. The First 100 Chinese Characters adopts a structural approach which helps students to quickly master the basic characters that are fundamental to this language.The English meanings, pronunciations in hanyu pinyin and alternate forms (if any) for each Chinese character are presented along with a stroke order guide and spaces for writing practice. Printed with gray guidelines, the stroke order guides are designed to be traced over to teach students the standard sequence of strokes used to write the character. Related compounds and phrases are given to assist in vocabulary building. Three indexes at the back allow the characters to be lookedup by their English meanings, hanyu pinyin pronunciations, or radicals. Extra practice sheets are also provided.This book contains: Stepbystep stroke order diagrams show you how to write each character. Special boxes with grid lines help you practice writing them correctly. Compounds and sample sentences provide easy vocabulary building. Hanyu pinyin romanizations identify and help you pronounce every word.

Volume 12DOI: 10.5334/ijic.946Published on Jun 8, 2012CC BY 4.0

This book is a quick and easy way to learn the first 100 basic Chinese traditional characters.For effective leaning, memorization and practice, each Chinese character is shown separately on a single page, together with its English definitions, hanyu pinyin romanization, alternate form (if any), a stroke order guide and ample space for writing practice. Printed in gray lines, the stroke order guides introduce the student to the standard stroke sequence used in writing the characters, by tracing over them. After learning the correct stroke order, the student can then practice writing the character on their own, thus reinforcing recognition and memorization. Large boxes with grids for correct proportions are provided. Related compounds and phrases containing each character are also included to assist in vocabulary building. Three indexes (alphabetically by the English meanings and the pinyin romanization, and by radicals) are provided at the back of the book for quick and esy reference, along with extra sheets of blank boxes for writing practice. Featured are:The 100 most frequentlyused Chinese charactersFoundation characters for the HSK A level language proficiency testStandard hanyu pinyin romanizationsStepbystep stroke order guides and ample space for writing practiceOver 500 words and phrases containing the basic charactersConcise English definitions

This book is a quick and easy way to learn basic Chinese Characters. All beginning students of Chinese struggle to memorize and learn to write the Chinese characters. The First 100 Chinese Characters adopts a structural approach which helps students to quickly master the basic characters that are fundamental to this language. The English meanings, pronunciations in hanyu pinyin and alternate forms (if any) for each Chinese character are presented along with a stroke order guide and spaces for writing practice. Printed with gray guidelines, the stroke order guides are designed to be traced over to teach students the standard sequence of strokes used to write the character. Related compounds and phrases are given to assist in vocabulary building. Three indexes at the back allow the characters to be looked#150;up by their English meanings, hanyu pinyin pronunciations, or radicals. Extra practice sheets are also provided. This book contains: Step#150;by#150;step stroke order diagrams show you how to write each character. Special boxes with grid lines help you practice writing them correctly. Compounds and sample sentences provide easy vocabulary building. Hanyu pinyin romanizations identify and help you pronounce every word.

Statistical models of species' distributions rely on data on species' occupancy, or use, of sites across space and/or time. For rare or cryptic species, indirect signs, such as dung, may be the only realistic means of determining their occupancy status across broad spatial extents. However, the consequences of sign decay for errors in estimates of occupancy have not previously been considered. If signs decay very rapidly, then false-negative errors may occur because signs at an occupied site have decayed by the time it is surveyed. On the other hand, if signs decay very slowly, false-positive errors may occur because signs remain present at sites that are no longer occupied. We addressed this issue by quantifying, as functions of sign decay and accumulation rates: 1) the false-negative error rate due to sign decay and, 2) the expected time interval prior to a survey within which signs indicate the species was present; as this time interval increases, false-positives become more likely. We then applied this to the specific example of koala Phascolarctos cinereus occupancy derived from faecal pellet surveys using data on faecal pellet decay rates. We show that there is a clear trade-off between false-negative error rates and the potential for false-positive errors. For the koala case study, false-negative errors were low on average and the expected time interval prior to surveys that detected pellets indicate the species was present within less than 2-3 yr. However, these quantities showed quite substantial spatial variation that could lead to biased parameter estimates for distribution models based on faecal pellet surveys. This highlights the importance of observation errors arising from sign decay and we suggest some modifications to existing methods to deal with this issue.

In high-altitude rangeland environments in Nepal and other Himalayan countries, grazing by domestic livestock poses a threat to local wildlife, in terms of competition for resources and other deleterious changes in behaviour. An experimental approach (before-during-after design) was used to investigate the effects of disturbance by livestock and attending herder on the behaviour of the Himalayan marmot ( Marmota himalayana )—a common burrowing animal. When disturbed by livestock and herder, marmots reduced their foraging activities and conversely increased vigilance levels. After livestock and herder had departed from a marmot colony, the marmots mostly returned to their normal behaviour; however, prolonged vigilance activity was observed. Marmots appear to have habituated to livestock and herder to some extent, but still responding to the livestock and herder by modifying their behaviour. Increased vigilance behaviour at the expense of foraging time may have potential consequences in terms of meeting energy budgets for winter hibernation. Therefore, future increases in livestock numbers could have a deleterious effect on marmots and other ground-dwelling wildlife in the region.