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Full-Text Articles in Animal Sciences

Environmental Controls On The Spatial Distribution Of Greenfin Darters And Biodiversity In The Blue Ridge Mountains, Dri Tattersfield Jan 2021

Environmental Controls On The Spatial Distribution Of Greenfin Darters And Biodiversity In The Blue Ridge Mountains, Dri Tattersfield

CMC Senior Theses

Disproportionate concentrations of biodiversity in mountains worldwide suggest linkages between geologic processes and biodiversity that are not yet well understood. The Tennessee River Basin in the Blue Ridge Mountains of the southeastern U.S. is a global hotspot for freshwater fish biodiversity. To investigate drivers of biodiversity in the Tennessee River Basin, and explore links to geologic processes, I study the Greenfin Darter (Nothonotus chlorobranchius), a small fish endemic to the upper Tennessee River Basin. I use generalized linear models (GLMs) to evaluate the influence of topography, lithology, climate and land use on the distribution of the Greenfin Darter, …


Will There Be Changes In Sexually Differentiated Behaviors In Mice Manipulated For The Sry Gene As They Mature Into Adultood?, Subin Joo Jan 2021

Will There Be Changes In Sexually Differentiated Behaviors In Mice Manipulated For The Sry Gene As They Mature Into Adultood?, Subin Joo

CMC Senior Theses

Sexually differentiated behavior has been shown to be affected by both genes and hormones. The discovery of the SRY gene, which codes for the development of testes, lead to the development of the Four Core Genotypes model of mice, and the separation of sex chromosomes and its resulting gonadal hormones. Using the FCG model, this study aims to look at the development of sexually differentiated behavior in mice, and track how it changes throughout their life. FCG mice will be divided into individual and social housing, and repeated experiments carried out to test their reaction to both intact female and …


Advancing Applied Research In Conservation Criminology Through The Evaluation Of Corruption Prevention, Enhancing Compliance, And Reducing Recidivism, Jessica S. Kahler, Joseph W. Rivera, Zachary T. Steele, Pilar Morales-Giner, Christian J. Rivera, Carol F. Ahossin, Ashpreet Kaur, Diane J. Episcopio-Sturgeon Jan 2021

Advancing Applied Research In Conservation Criminology Through The Evaluation Of Corruption Prevention, Enhancing Compliance, And Reducing Recidivism, Jessica S. Kahler, Joseph W. Rivera, Zachary T. Steele, Pilar Morales-Giner, Christian J. Rivera, Carol F. Ahossin, Ashpreet Kaur, Diane J. Episcopio-Sturgeon

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Concomitant with an increase in the global illegal wildlife trade has been a substantial increase in research within traditional conservation-based sciences and conservation and green criminology. While the integration of criminological theories and methods into the wildlife conservation context has advanced our understanding of and practical responses to illegal wildlife trade, there remain discrepancies between the number of empirical vs. conceptual studies and a disproportionate focus on a few select theories, geographical contexts, and taxonomic groups. We present three understudied or novel applications of criminology and criminal justice research within the fields of fisheries, forestry, and wildlife conservation. First, we …


Geometric Morphometric Analyses Define Riverine And Lacustrine Species Flocks Of Himalayan Snowtrout (Cyprinidae: Schizothorax) In Nepal, Binod Regmi, Marlis R. Douglas, David R. Edds, Michael E. Douglas Jan 2021

Geometric Morphometric Analyses Define Riverine And Lacustrine Species Flocks Of Himalayan Snowtrout (Cyprinidae: Schizothorax) In Nepal, Binod Regmi, Marlis R. Douglas, David R. Edds, Michael E. Douglas

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Freshwater fishes in the river and lake systems in the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau are morphologically diverged but the evolutionary relationship of putative subspecies separated in these freshwater systems has not been explored. Snowtrout (Schizothorax spp.) are minnows (Cyprinidae) broadly distributed in Asia. Body shapes of 3 Lake Rara (northwest Nepal) endemics (S. macrophthalmus, S. nepalensis, S. raraensis) and 2 widely distributed riverine species (S. progastus, S. richardsonii) across 3 drainages in Nepal (i.e. Karnali, Gandaki, and Koshi Rivers) were studied using geometric morphometry. Data were derived from museum voucher specimens/tissues collected …


Contents, Discovery Editors Jan 2021

Contents, Discovery Editors

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.


Letter From The Faculty Editor, Beth Kegley Jan 2021

Letter From The Faculty Editor, Beth Kegley

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.


Discovery: The Student Journal Of Dale Bumpers College Of Agricultural, Food And Life Sciences - Volume 22 2021, Several Authors Jan 2021

Discovery: The Student Journal Of Dale Bumpers College Of Agricultural, Food And Life Sciences - Volume 22 2021, Several Authors

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.


Featured Faculty Mentor And Student Explore The Dynamics Of This Research Relationship, Alejandro Rojas, Evan Buckner Jan 2021

Featured Faculty Mentor And Student Explore The Dynamics Of This Research Relationship, Alejandro Rojas, Evan Buckner

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.


Willingness-To-Pay For Halal And Branded Poultry In Northern Mozambique, Alison J. Creasey, L. Lanier Nalley Jan 2021

Willingness-To-Pay For Halal And Branded Poultry In Northern Mozambique, Alison J. Creasey, L. Lanier Nalley

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

While price typically drives consumers’ food-purchasing decisions in low-income countries, religious attributes associated with food production and corporate branding could influence buying patterns. In Mozambique, more than 46% of people were living below the poverty line of ($0.31 USD) per day in 2018. That being said, in the Nampula Province (the location of this study), which is the second poorest province in the country, over 25% of the population is Muslim and may be willing-to-pay (WTP) a premium for Halal meat products to uphold Islamic beliefs. Like many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, poultry is the fastest-growing source of protein. Since …


Effects Of A Low Crude Protein Diet With And Without Spirulina Platensis Inclusion On White Blood Cell Profiles In Broilers, Heather Glenn, Garrett J. Mullenix, Gisela F. Erf Jan 2021

Effects Of A Low Crude Protein Diet With And Without Spirulina Platensis Inclusion On White Blood Cell Profiles In Broilers, Heather Glenn, Garrett J. Mullenix, Gisela F. Erf

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Spirulina microalgae is an alternative protein source under consideration for feed formulation in commercial broiler production. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a low crude protein (LCP) diet and a LCP diet formulated with 100 g/kg Spirulina (LCP-SP) on blood cell measurements in broilers. One-day-old Ross 708 male broilers were assigned to three dietary treatments: a standard crude protein (SCP), the LCP, or the LCP-SP diet, with five pens/treatment. When the chickens were 37-days old, blood samples were obtained from 2 birds/pen. Each blood sample was used to determine 1) the concentrations of white blood …


Comparison Of Growth Performance And Meat Quality Traits Of Commercial Cross-Bred Pigs Versus The Large Black Pig Breed, Yongjie Wang, Keshari Thakali, Palika Morse, Sarah Shelby, Jinglong Chen, Jason Apple, Yan Huang Jan 2021

Comparison Of Growth Performance And Meat Quality Traits Of Commercial Cross-Bred Pigs Versus The Large Black Pig Breed, Yongjie Wang, Keshari Thakali, Palika Morse, Sarah Shelby, Jinglong Chen, Jason Apple, Yan Huang

Animal Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The meat quality of different pig breeds is associated with their different muscle tissue physiological processes, which involves a large variety of genes related with muscle fat and energy metabolism. Understanding the differences of biological processes of muscle after slaughter is helpful to reveal the meat quality development of different breeds. Therefore, eight native Large Black pigs (BP), with high fat content in meat, and seven cross-bred commercial pigs (CP), which had a high feed efficiency with high lean meat, were used to investigate the differences in their meat quality and RNA transcriptomes. The average daily gain (ADG) and hot …


Dietary Organic Acids Modulate Gut Microbiota And Improve Growth Performance Of Nursery Pigs, Xiaoyuan Wei, Kristopher A. Bottoms, Hans H. Stein, Laia Blavi, Casey L. Bradley, Jon Bergstrom, Joshua Knapp, Robert Story, Charles Maxwell, Tsungcheng Tsai, Jiangchao Zhao Jan 2021

Dietary Organic Acids Modulate Gut Microbiota And Improve Growth Performance Of Nursery Pigs, Xiaoyuan Wei, Kristopher A. Bottoms, Hans H. Stein, Laia Blavi, Casey L. Bradley, Jon Bergstrom, Joshua Knapp, Robert Story, Charles Maxwell, Tsungcheng Tsai, Jiangchao Zhao

Animal Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Feed additives have been suggested to improve animal growth performance through modulating the gut microbiota. The hypothesis of this study was that the combination of two organic acids would exert synergistic effects on the growth performance and gut microbiota of weaning pigs. To test this hypothesis, we followed 398 weaning pigs from two university experiment stations (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and University of Arkansas (UA)) to determine the effects of increasing levels (0%, 0.035%, 0.070%, and 0.105%) of sodium butyrate combined with 0.5% benzoic acid on the growth performance of nursery pigs. At the UA, an additional negative …


Diet Analysis Of Kitti’S Hog-Nosed Bat Craseonycteris Thonglongyai Hill, 1974 Using Next Generation Sequencing Technique, Monsicha Wangthongchaicharoen Jan 2021

Diet Analysis Of Kitti’S Hog-Nosed Bat Craseonycteris Thonglongyai Hill, 1974 Using Next Generation Sequencing Technique, Monsicha Wangthongchaicharoen

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Kitti's hog-nosed bat Craseonycteris thonglongyai, Hill 1974 was a vulnerable species in IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2008. However, this species was reassessed to be near threatened species due to roosting caves discovery resulted in the increased total population size. Despite that, disturbance on its roosting and foraging sites from human activities are still occurred. Previous studies proposed that Kitti’s hog-nosed bats forage using familiar flight path within short distance from roosting cave. The foraging bouts were also short. Thus, there is a limitation on food availability in this bat species. Moreover, bats in different sexes and reproductive …


The Effect Of Low Dietary Cation–Anion Difference (Dcad) On Urine Acidification And Acid–Base Balance In Dairy Goats Under Tropical Condition, Dang Khoa Do Nguyen Jan 2021

The Effect Of Low Dietary Cation–Anion Difference (Dcad) On Urine Acidification And Acid–Base Balance In Dairy Goats Under Tropical Condition, Dang Khoa Do Nguyen

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Global warming is characterized by high ambient temperature (HTa). The negative effects of HTa in tropical condition have been well elucidated in dairy goats. The effect of high dietary cation-anion difference (H-DCAD) has been partially elucidated on dairy goats under tropical condition. However, there is scarce information about the low DCAD (L-DCAD) effect on dairy goats under tropical condition. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the potential effect of low DCAD on alleviating HTa effect, urine acidification, and acid-base balance in dairy goats under tropical condition. In total, twelve lactating Saanen goats (n=12) were enrolled and divided into a …


Effects Of Weather On Foraging Success And Hunting Frequency In Winter-Irruptive Snowy Owls (Bubo Scandiacus) In Upstate New York, Russell E. Winter, William M. Shields Jan 2021

Effects Of Weather On Foraging Success And Hunting Frequency In Winter-Irruptive Snowy Owls (Bubo Scandiacus) In Upstate New York, Russell E. Winter, William M. Shields

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The effects of weather on an individual can often alter the population dynamics of a species. Knowledge of how weather influences individual behavior is therefore essential in understanding its full impact in the context of population ecology. Snowy Owls (Bubo scandiacus) exhibit expensive long-distance migrations in winters following population irruptions. During irruptive movements, many owls migrate past the southernmost extent of their traditional wintering grounds, the mechanism for which is still debated. We propose and test the “milder climate” hypothesis; Snowy Owls wintering in lower latitudes are better able to meet their metabolic demands due to higher temperatures …


Factors Influencing Mare Milk And Foal Gastrointestinal Health, Morgan Brewer Pyles Jan 2021

Factors Influencing Mare Milk And Foal Gastrointestinal Health, Morgan Brewer Pyles

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Foals are born lacking a functional microbial community in their gastrointestinal tract (GIT). However, these microbes quickly colonize after birth. Factors influencing the process of microbial colonization and health of the foal’s gastrointestinal tract, such as milk yield and composition, are not well understood. Milk contains non-lactose carbohydrates termed “oligosaccharides”, which serve as prebiotics in human neonates and may serve a similar function in foals. Three animal studies were conducted to evaluate factors influencing mare milk and digestive health in the foal. In experiment 1, bacteria were enumerated and identified in foal feces and the utilization of different carbohydrates by …


The Effect Of Endophyte-Infected Tall Fescue Seed Consumption On Gut And Satiety Hormones Related To Intake Regulation In Holstein Steers, Mindy Elizabeth King Jan 2021

The Effect Of Endophyte-Infected Tall Fescue Seed Consumption On Gut And Satiety Hormones Related To Intake Regulation In Holstein Steers, Mindy Elizabeth King

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Cattle consuming endophyte-infected tall fescue (E+) typically experience a syndrome termed fescue toxicosis which is thought to be caused by ergot alkaloids produced by the endophyte. The most abundant alkaloid, and considered the most likely cause of the syndrome, is ergovaline (ERV). During fescue toxicosis, a decrease in ADG is observed which is likely due to the decrease in DMI commonly observed in animals consuming E+ compared to animals consuming non-endophyte-infected tall fescue (E-). However, the cause of the decrease in intake is not well elucidated. Many physiological responses control feed intake including, but not limited to, physical, neural, metabolic, …


Isolation Box Test (Ibt) And Dairy Calf Personality Traits Relationship With Performance Through Weaning, Megan Marie Woodrum Setser Jan 2021

Isolation Box Test (Ibt) And Dairy Calf Personality Traits Relationship With Performance Through Weaning, Megan Marie Woodrum Setser

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Personality tests are utilized to characterize individual differences in personality traits across species. Currently, there is no objective personality test that can be implemented on-farm to measure personality in dairy calves. Measuring personality of youngstock in the dairy industry may allow producers to utilize information on individual differences for management decisions and limit the investment in unfit individuals. The isolation box test is a personality test that has potential to be adapted and utilized for dairy calves. The main objective of this thesis is to develop, validate, and utilize an isolation box test for use on-farm in dairy calves. More …


A Sea Turtle Population Assessment For Florida's Big Bend, Northeastern Gulf Of Mexico, Ryan M. Chabot, Ryan C. Welsh, Cody R. Mott, Jeffrey R. Guertin, Brian M. Shamblin, Blair E. Witherington Jan 2021

A Sea Turtle Population Assessment For Florida's Big Bend, Northeastern Gulf Of Mexico, Ryan M. Chabot, Ryan C. Welsh, Cody R. Mott, Jeffrey R. Guertin, Brian M. Shamblin, Blair E. Witherington

Gulf and Caribbean Research

Coastal waters of Florida’s Big Bend, Gulf of Mexico (GOM) once supported one of the largest sea turtle fisheries in the United States. To fill an information gap in this region on abundance and distribution of sea turtles, we used vessel—based distance sampling and active capture methods to characterize current foraging aggregations near the St. Martins Marsh Aquatic Preserve. Over 10 sampling periods between 2012—2018, we completed 513 km of transects and recorded 819 turtles among 4 species—green turtle (Chelonia mydas, n = 624), Kemp’s ridley (Lepidochelys kempii, n = 147), loggerhead (Caretta caretta, …


Scaling The Effects Of Ocean Acidification On Coral Growth And Coral-Coral Competition On Coral Community Recovery, Nicolas R. Evensen, Yves-Marie Bozec, Peter J. Edmunds, Peter J. Mumby Jan 2021

Scaling The Effects Of Ocean Acidification On Coral Growth And Coral-Coral Competition On Coral Community Recovery, Nicolas R. Evensen, Yves-Marie Bozec, Peter J. Edmunds, Peter J. Mumby

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Ocean acidification (OA) is negatively affecting calcification in a wide variety of marine organisms. These effects are acute for many tropical scleractinian corals under short-term experimental conditions, but it is unclear how these effects interact with ecological processes, such as competition for space, to impact coral communities over multiple years. This study sought to test the use of individual-based models (IBMs) as a tool to scale up the effects of OA recorded in short-term studies to community-scale impacts, combining data from field surveys and mesocosm experiments to parameterize an IBM of coral community recovery on the fore reef of Moorea, …


Spatiotemporal Interactions Between Deer And Cattle, Sydney Brewer Jan 2021

Spatiotemporal Interactions Between Deer And Cattle, Sydney Brewer

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Mule deer, white-tailed deer, and cattle are sympatric on the landscape throughout many portions of Nebraska and encounter each other in time and space. By considering variation in daily activity patterns and non-random patterns in the timing of passage through specific locations, we can better understand whether animals may be avoiding each other temporally when sharing space. I investigated temporal activity patterns and avoidance/attraction ratios to investigate if deer altered their activity patterns in the presence of cattle and if they exhibited avoidance at a study site near McCook, Nebraska, USA. We collected data from 19 game cameras that were …


Muscle Mass And Immune Function In The Senior Horse, Alisa Christina Herbst Jan 2021

Muscle Mass And Immune Function In The Senior Horse, Alisa Christina Herbst

Theses and Dissertations--Veterinary Science

Senior horses (≥ 15 years) represent up to one-third of the global equine population, and the proportion of old horses (≥ 20 years) in the U.S. has been steadily increasing. Aging is associated with a loss of skeletal muscle mass in horses, and while age-related muscle loss is comparingly well characterized in humans, little is currently known concerning underlying mechanisms, adverse outcomes, or the prevalence of low muscle mass in senior horses. One factor proposed to play a role in the development of age-related muscle atrophy in humans is inflamm-aging, a low-grade inflammation that affects elderly people and that has …


Vole Population Dynamics In Cover Crops Transitioning To Soybeans With Integrated Pest Management By Habitat Modification, Jena L. Nierman Jan 2021

Vole Population Dynamics In Cover Crops Transitioning To Soybeans With Integrated Pest Management By Habitat Modification, Jena L. Nierman

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

The use of cover crops has been a wildly used method in rotational row crop production. Cover crops have minimized soil runoff and aided in maintaining nutrients in agricultural fields. Increased use of cover crops has seen a corresponding increase in the amount of damage done to soybeans by voles. Currently, there are no mitigation methods that successfully decrease vole populations in agricultural fields. The use of habitat manipulation as an integrated pest management solution has not been studied as a practical solution for vole population management. During 2019 and 2020, I tested the impacts of various cover crop termination …


Modeling Energy Flows In Floating In-Pond Raceways Utilizing Solar Power Back-Up, Bo Smith Jan 2021

Modeling Energy Flows In Floating In-Pond Raceways Utilizing Solar Power Back-Up, Bo Smith

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

The In-pond Raceway (IPR) is a novel option for production aquaculture, depending on water moving devices to provide constant flow. Device failure may result in catastrophic fish loss, requiring power backup systems to mitigate risk in case of power outages. Because these systems must be dependable and many suitable locations are remote, off-grid solar photovoltaic (PV) systems with battery storage have been considered since they eliminate need for utility power. Such systems can be hard to size and expensive. This study modeled system requirements using an energy balance to determine whether systems could withstand varying loads based on climatological conditions. …


Distribution And Diversity Of Heliothine And Other Lepidopteran Nudiviruses, Emrah Ozel Jan 2021

Distribution And Diversity Of Heliothine And Other Lepidopteran Nudiviruses, Emrah Ozel

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Helicoverpa zea nudivirus 2 (HzNV-2) is the only known sterilizing and sexually-transmitted insect virus and causes pathological symptoms in H. zea reproductive tissues. HzNV-2 has features that make it a candidate as a H. zea (corn earworm) control agent, such as the ability to cause asymptomatic (latent) and symptomatic (lytic) infections and the ability to influence mating behavior of its host to favor virus spread. HzNV pathology has been studied and its genome sequenced, however, its prevalence in natural populations is largely unknown. In this study, we developed and used a low-cost PCR-based molecular survey to investigate HzNV-2 prevalence and …


Black Grouper (Mycteroperca Bonaci) Neurocranium, Celeste Jaworski, David W. Kerstetter Jan 2021

Black Grouper (Mycteroperca Bonaci) Neurocranium, Celeste Jaworski, David W. Kerstetter

All Scans: Kerstetter Fisheries and Avian Ecology 3D Scan Series

Neurocranium from 7.5 cm total length. Black Grouper (Mycteroperca bonaci), collected from Denny's Seafood Market on 15/10/2021 by Celeste Jaworski.


Gafftopsail Catfish Neurocranium, Allison J. Soucier Jan 2021

Gafftopsail Catfish Neurocranium, Allison J. Soucier

All Scans: Kerstetter Fisheries and Avian Ecology 3D Scan Series

Gafftopsail Catfish (Bagre marinus), neurocranium length: 11.5 cm, collected from Keewaydin Island in Marco Florida on 15/9/2021 by Allison Soucier.


Developing Whey Protein Encapsulated Probiotics And Evaluating Environmental Listeria Using Whole-Genome Sequencing, Shayanti Minj Jan 2021

Developing Whey Protein Encapsulated Probiotics And Evaluating Environmental Listeria Using Whole-Genome Sequencing, Shayanti Minj

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this study, a novel value-added dairy-based health formulation was developed using whey protein hydrolysate and probiotic organisms. In the first part of the study, different forms of whey proteins, concentrate WPC80, isolate WPI90, and hydrolysates WPH10, WPH15 and WPH20 were screened for bioactivities (antimicrobial, antioxidant, and antihypertensive activity). Hydrolysate WPH10, exhibiting the highest bioactivities was conjugated with maltodextrin. A batch of 2L conjugated solution was spray dried in a Niro drier with an inlet and outlet temperature of 200⁰C and 90⁰C, and alternatively, freeze dried at −80 °C under 50 mTorr vacuum. The bioactivities of the conjugated samples were …


An Exploration Of The Effects Of An Early Postpartum Intravenous Infusion With Carnosic Acid On Physiological Responses Of Transition Dairy Cows, Tainara Michelotti Jan 2021

An Exploration Of The Effects Of An Early Postpartum Intravenous Infusion With Carnosic Acid On Physiological Responses Of Transition Dairy Cows, Tainara Michelotti

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The transition period is commonly defined as the last 3 wk before parturition to 3 wk after parturition. It is the most critical stage of the lactation cycle of high-producing dairy cows. The period consists of a complex interplay of metabolic and hormonal adaptations, inflammation, and immune activation. During the transition period, dairy cows commonly face oxidative stress, an underlying factor for dysfunctional immune response and enhanced inflammation, which can further increase the susceptibility of dairy cattle to health disorders and decrease productivity. In the last few decades, there has been an increased interest in studying alternative natural compounds with …


Search For New Fertility Markers In Bull Sperm, Saulo Menegatti Zoca Jan 2021

Search For New Fertility Markers In Bull Sperm, Saulo Menegatti Zoca

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sperm are stored for extended periods of time in the epididymis, but upon ejaculation motility is increased and lifespan is decreased. After insemination, sperm must traverse the female barriers and undergo capacitation to complete fertilization; however, there are differences in fertility even among bulls that successfully pass a breeding soundness exam. For any potential marker of fertility, there must be variability expressed among animals. The series of studies in this dissertation had the objective 1) to evaluate differences between epididymal and ejaculated sperm and respective fluids proteins to understand increased longevity of epididymal sperm; 2) to evaluate the potential of …