Transhumant pastoralism is an important activity in southern Morocco. Migration pattern of transhumant pastoralists can be affected by physical factors (e.g. droughts and diseases) or socioeconomic factors (e.g. schoo...Transhumant pastoralism is an important activity in southern Morocco. Migration pattern of transhumant pastoralists can be affected by physical factors (e.g. droughts and diseases) or socioeconomic factors (e.g. schooling options for children and migration costs). We studied the spatio-temporal rangeland usage of the three tribes Ait Mgoun, Ait Zekri, and Ait Toumert in the south-central Atlas region with a two-fold approach. First, we tracked the migration movements of one representative transhumant herd using the Advanced Research and Global Observation Satellite (ARGOS) collars, which record coordinates from satellite signals. Second, we interviewed herders to obtain information about general grazing practices of the respective tribe and to gain more direct information on motivations underlying decisions. For each tribe we observed small-, medium- and large-scale movements. We found that the most important drivers of migration decisions were seasonal fodder availability and weather conditions in combination with herd-specific risk and cost assessment, as well as personal factors. In conclusion, general migration patterns vary in time, both between and within the tribes, but according to a regulatory framework. Moreover, it appears that both the customary rules and its flexible adaptation to physical constraints are generally beneficial in terms of conservation of the arid and semiarid rangeland resources.展开更多
An entomological survey of Phlebotomine sand flies （Diptera： Psychodidae） was carried out in three sectors of Foum Jamgta region （province of Azilal, Morocco） during the year 2010. Morphological identification wa...An entomological survey of Phlebotomine sand flies （Diptera： Psychodidae） was carried out in three sectors of Foum Jamgta region （province of Azilal, Morocco） during the year 2010. Morphological identification was performed on a total of 1,152 sand flies （23% females and 77% males） collected by sticky paper traps. 80% of the total collected flies were identified as Phlebotomus （Paraphlebotomus） sergenti （Parrot） （57%） and Phlebotomus （Larroussius） longicuspis （Nitzulescu） （23%）. In addition to these dominant species, four other species were found, Phlebotomus （Phlebotomus） papatasi （Scopoli）, Sergentomyia （Sergentomyia） minuta （Rondani）, Phlebotomus （Larroussius） perniciosus （Newstead） and Phlebotomus （Paraphlebotomus） chabaudi （Croset）. Overall, the population dynamics show a yearly bimodal pattern related to rainfall and temperature, and with high density around human dwellings. The spatiotemporal distribution of sand fly species was helpful to discuss strategies that might be useful in controlling cutaneous leishmaniasis transmission in this endemic focus.展开更多
Quadratic discriminant analysis is a classical and popular classification tool,but it fails to work in high-dimensional situations where the dimension p is larger than the sample size n.To address this issue,the autho...Quadratic discriminant analysis is a classical and popular classification tool,but it fails to work in high-dimensional situations where the dimension p is larger than the sample size n.To address this issue,the authors propose a ridge-forward quadratic discriminant(RFQD) analysis method via screening relevant predictors in a successive manner to reduce misclassification rate.The authors use extended Bayesian information criterion to determine the final model and prove that RFQD is selection consistent.Monte Carlo simulations are conducted to examine its performance.展开更多
基金funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education (Grant no. 01 LC 0601A)
文摘Transhumant pastoralism is an important activity in southern Morocco. Migration pattern of transhumant pastoralists can be affected by physical factors (e.g. droughts and diseases) or socioeconomic factors (e.g. schooling options for children and migration costs). We studied the spatio-temporal rangeland usage of the three tribes Ait Mgoun, Ait Zekri, and Ait Toumert in the south-central Atlas region with a two-fold approach. First, we tracked the migration movements of one representative transhumant herd using the Advanced Research and Global Observation Satellite (ARGOS) collars, which record coordinates from satellite signals. Second, we interviewed herders to obtain information about general grazing practices of the respective tribe and to gain more direct information on motivations underlying decisions. For each tribe we observed small-, medium- and large-scale movements. We found that the most important drivers of migration decisions were seasonal fodder availability and weather conditions in combination with herd-specific risk and cost assessment, as well as personal factors. In conclusion, general migration patterns vary in time, both between and within the tribes, but according to a regulatory framework. Moreover, it appears that both the customary rules and its flexible adaptation to physical constraints are generally beneficial in terms of conservation of the arid and semiarid rangeland resources.
文摘An entomological survey of Phlebotomine sand flies （Diptera： Psychodidae） was carried out in three sectors of Foum Jamgta region （province of Azilal, Morocco） during the year 2010. Morphological identification was performed on a total of 1,152 sand flies （23% females and 77% males） collected by sticky paper traps. 80% of the total collected flies were identified as Phlebotomus （Paraphlebotomus） sergenti （Parrot） （57%） and Phlebotomus （Larroussius） longicuspis （Nitzulescu） （23%）. In addition to these dominant species, four other species were found, Phlebotomus （Phlebotomus） papatasi （Scopoli）, Sergentomyia （Sergentomyia） minuta （Rondani）, Phlebotomus （Larroussius） perniciosus （Newstead） and Phlebotomus （Paraphlebotomus） chabaudi （Croset）. Overall, the population dynamics show a yearly bimodal pattern related to rainfall and temperature, and with high density around human dwellings. The spatiotemporal distribution of sand fly species was helpful to discuss strategies that might be useful in controlling cutaneous leishmaniasis transmission in this endemic focus.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No.11401391
文摘Quadratic discriminant analysis is a classical and popular classification tool,but it fails to work in high-dimensional situations where the dimension p is larger than the sample size n.To address this issue,the authors propose a ridge-forward quadratic discriminant(RFQD) analysis method via screening relevant predictors in a successive manner to reduce misclassification rate.The authors use extended Bayesian information criterion to determine the final model and prove that RFQD is selection consistent.Monte Carlo simulations are conducted to examine its performance.
