Digging with ‘hands’: observations of food capture in the flying gurnard Dactylopterus volitans (Linnaeus, 1758)

ABSTRACT

Videofilms of a foraging flying gurnard (Dactylopterus volitans) were collected at Itaipu, Niterói, RJ, Brazil. Analysis revealed details of the use of anterior parts of the pectoral fins which act as digging ‘hands’ to access infaunal prey items that are subsequently captured by oral suction feeding. Each pectoral fin has two distinct sections articulated separately on the pectoral girdle. The digging ‘anterior pectoral fin’ mainly consists of segmented and flexible fin rays but has an anterior robust unsegmented ray that provides an edge to the ‘hand’, allowing penetration of the substratum. The huge ‘posterior pectoral fins’ are supported by unsegmented rays. Most digging episodes involved one ‘hand’ and consisted of 1–7 cycles of movement with frequencies 1.15–3.74 cycles s^?1. During a cycle, the ‘hand’ is moved forwards and medially above the substratum, then is twisted medially and simultaneously depressed so that the anterior unsegmented ray impacts and enters the substratum. The hand is then drawn backwards and laterally to disturb the substratum. To prevent upward pitching of the head during digging, the ‘posterior pectoral fins’ are both moved anteriorly and laterally to shift the centre of gravity forwards while the caudal and ?second dorsal fins continue to provide propulsive force.     

系统聚类分析在农村消费水平划分中的应用

中国的经济发展主要存在着“东部”与“西部”的差距，文章利用聚类分析对我国部分省、市、自治区共28个样本进行分类，并加以分析．     

Which survey indicators are useful for monitoring consumption? Evidence from European countries

This paper assesses the information content of two survey indicators for consumption developments in the near future for eight European countries in the period 1985–1998. Empirical work on this topic typically focuses on consumer confidence, the perceptions of buyers of consumption goods. This paper examines whether perceptions of sellers of consumption goods, measured by retail trade surveys, may also improve short‐term monitoring of consumption. We find that both consumer confidence and retailer confidence embody valuable information, when analysed in isolation. For France, Italy and Spain we conclude that adding retail confidence does not improve the indicator model once consumer confidence has been included. For the UK the reverse case is obtained. For the remaining four countries we show that combining consumer sentiment and retail trade confidence into a composite indicator leads to optimal results. Our results suggest that incorporating information from retail trade surveys may offer significant benefits for the analysis of short‐term prospects of consumption. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

我国居民消费水平的中长期预测

根据全国1992－1999年居民消费水平的统计数据，采用灰色系统理论的数据预测及缓冲算子公理，结合定性分析，建立了GM（1，1）模型，预测了我国2000－2005年居民消费水平的发展前景。     

浅析电机节能降耗改进方法

文章介绍了几种对矿山机电设备常用电机进行技术改造的方法，实现了节能降耗，降低成本的目的，对企业具有一定的经济价值。     

节能气动系统数学模型的改进

作者曾提出一种节能近50%的节能气动系统,进行了理论与实验研究。本文重新定义特征时间 T_m~″和有效面积比 a_(?)~″,改进了它的退回阶段Ⅲ的动特性数学模型,使之能更准确地描述系统的真实特性,仿真结果与实验结果更趋一致。     

基于灰色系统与神经网络的航材消耗广义加权函数平均组合预测模型研究

建立了航材消耗的灰色系统预测模型与神经网络预测模型，同时给出了一种新的具有广泛代表性的组合预测模型－－广义加权函数平均组合预测模型及其加权系数的参数估计方法，并利用此方法建立了基于灰色系统与神经网络的航材消耗广义加权函数平均组合预测模型，最后以实例说明了其预测效果。     

快乐、广义消费与和谐社会模式的建构

快乐是人类经济社会发展惟一有惊天动地性的终极目的。而满足人类快乐需要的不仅是人类创造的国民财富，自然环境中的蓝天白云、青山绿水同样构成人类广义消费的基础内容，成为人类无上快乐的源泉。因此，广大科技工作者应确立科学发展观，在失去科学技术进步、实话国家重大工程与技术项目过程中，关注、构造人与自然和谐发展的经济社会模式。这对全面建设小康社会、实现人类快乐具有深远的意义。     

中国城镇居民食品结构与奶业发展

研究了中国城镇居民食品结构及营养平衡状况,分析了奶的生产优势及在食品结构中的重要作用。用数学模型计算出中国城镇居民较合理的食品结构。分析了当前奶业存在的问题及解决办法。表5,参4。     

鲁西北地区农民商业保险消费滞后的原因与解决对策

针对当前经济社会改革过程中农民生活的风险含量不断增大的事实,主要考证农业地区商业保险在农民规避风险中所起的作用,发现商业保险介入农民生活的力度还不强,由此分析其原因,并给出解决的对策。之所以选择鲁西北地区作为研究样本,是因为该地区农民以农业生产为主,属经济欠发达地区,与我国大部分农业地区的经济发展情况大体相当,对研究以农业生产为主的农村地区农民的保险消费情况具有一定的代表性。