WorldWideScience

Sample records for animal rights movement

  1. What's Wrong with "Animal Rights"?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morrison, Adrian R.

    1992-01-01

    School leaders must withstand the pressures of the animal rights movement to disrupt the science curriculum. It would be tragic if this movement succeeded in turning a large number of students against the legitimate use of animals and, ultimately, against biomedical research. (MLF)

  2. Animal rights and animal experimentation. Implications for physicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gelpi, A. P.

    1991-01-01

    Practicing physicians are just becoming aware of the animal rights movement, which during the 1980s spawned numerous acts of violence against research facilities throughout the United States. The animal rightists are challenging physicians to show moral justification for the human exploitation of nature and the world of subhuman species. They have aroused public interest in animal welfare, sparked protective legislation for experimental animals, and indirectly encouraged the creation of committees to oversee the conduct of animal experimentation and the conditions of animal confinement. This controversy has necessitated a closer look at the questions of animal experimentation and animal rights against the backdrop of human experimentation and human rights. Physicians and specialists in animal care seek to alleviate suffering and anxiety, and, as moderates, they may be able to bring both sides of the animal rights controversy together in a spirit of mutual tolerance and in the common cause of promoting both human and animal welfare. PMID:1949772

  3. Current status of animal welfare and animal rights in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Jiaqi; Bayne, Kathryn; Wang, Jianfei

    2013-11-01

    In the past few years, new social passions have sparked on the Chinese mainland. At the centre of these burgeoning passions is a focus on animal welfare, animal treatment, and even animal rights, by the public and academic sectors. With China's rapid economic changes and greater access to information from around the world, societal awareness of animal issues is rising very fast. Hastening this paradigm shift were several highly public incidents involving animal cruelty, including exposés on bear bile harvesting for traditional Chinese medicine, the thousands of dogs rescued from China's meat trade, and the call to boycott shark fin soup and bird nest soup. This article outlines the current status of campaigning by animal advocates in China (specifically the animal rights movement) from three interlinked perspectives: wildlife conservation, companion animal protection, and laboratory animal protection. By reviewing this campaigning, we attempt to present not only the political and social impact of the concept of animal rights, but also the perceptions of, and challenges to, animal rights activities in China. 2013 FRAME.

  4. Spatial memory and animal movement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fagan, William F; Lewis, Mark A; Auger-Méthé, Marie; Avgar, Tal; Benhamou, Simon; Breed, Greg; LaDage, Lara; Schlägel, Ulrike E; Tang, Wen-wu; Papastamatiou, Yannis P; Forester, James; Mueller, Thomas

    2013-10-01

    Memory is critical to understanding animal movement but has proven challenging to study. Advances in animal tracking technology, theoretical movement models and cognitive sciences have facilitated research in each of these fields, but also created a need for synthetic examination of the linkages between memory and animal movement. Here, we draw together research from several disciplines to understand the relationship between animal memory and movement processes. First, we frame the problem in terms of the characteristics, costs and benefits of memory as outlined in psychology and neuroscience. Next, we provide an overview of the theories and conceptual frameworks that have emerged from behavioural ecology and animal cognition. Third, we turn to movement ecology and summarise recent, rapid developments in the types and quantities of available movement data, and in the statistical measures applicable to such data. Fourth, we discuss the advantages and interrelationships of diverse modelling approaches that have been used to explore the memory-movement interface. Finally, we outline key research challenges for the memory and movement communities, focusing on data needs and mathematical and computational challenges. We conclude with a roadmap for future work in this area, outlining axes along which focused research should yield rapid progress. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

  5. Biomedical Research and the Animal Rights Movement: A Contrast in Values.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morrison, Adrian R.

    1993-01-01

    This article explains how animals are used in research in an effort to counteract animal rights literature. Reveals how medical professionals and others trained in scholarship have misquoted the scientific literature to bolster their claims against the utility of animal research. (PR)

  6. Modelling group dynamic animal movement

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Langrock, Roland; Hopcraft, J. Grant C.; Blackwell, Paul G.

    2014-01-01

    makes its movement decisions relative to the group centroid. The basic idea is framed within the flexible class of hidden Markov models, extending previous work on modelling animal movement by means of multi-state random walks. While in simulation experiments parameter estimators exhibit some bias......, to date, practical statistical methods which can include group dynamics in animal movement models have been lacking. We consider a flexible modelling framework that distinguishes a group-level model, describing the movement of the group's centre, and an individual-level model, such that each individual......Group dynamic movement is a fundamental aspect of many species' movements. The need to adequately model individuals' interactions with other group members has been recognised, particularly in order to differentiate the role of social forces in individual movement from environmental factors. However...

  7. Analyzing animal movements using Brownian bridges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horne, Jon S; Garton, Edward O; Krone, Stephen M; Lewis, Jesse S

    2007-09-01

    By studying animal movements, researchers can gain insight into many of the ecological characteristics and processes important for understanding population-level dynamics. We developed a Brownian bridge movement model (BBMM) for estimating the expected movement path of an animal, using discrete location data obtained at relatively short time intervals. The BBMM is based on the properties of a conditional random walk between successive pairs of locations, dependent on the time between locations, the distance between locations, and the Brownian motion variance that is related to the animal's mobility. We describe two critical developments that enable widespread use of the BBMM, including a derivation of the model when location data are measured with error and a maximum likelihood approach for estimating the Brownian motion variance. After the BBMM is fitted to location data, an estimate of the animal's probability of occurrence can be generated for an area during the time of observation. To illustrate potential applications, we provide three examples: estimating animal home ranges, estimating animal migration routes, and evaluating the influence of fine-scale resource selection on animal movement patterns.

  8. Deriving Animal Movement Behaviors Using Movement Parameters Extracted from Location Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maryam Teimouri

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available We present a methodology for distinguishing between three types of animal movement behavior (foraging, resting, and walking based on high-frequency tracking data. For each animal we quantify an individual movement path. A movement path is a temporal sequence consisting of the steps through space taken by an animal. By selecting a set of appropriate movement parameters, we develop a method to assess movement behavioral states, reflected by changes in the movement parameters. The two fundamental tasks of our study are segmentation and clustering. By segmentation, we mean the partitioning of the trajectory into segments, which are homogeneous in terms of their movement parameters. By clustering, we mean grouping similar segments together according to their estimated movement parameters. The proposed method is evaluated using field observations (done by humans of movement behavior. We found that on average, our method agreed with the observational data (ground truth at a level of 80.75% ± 5.9% (SE.

  9. Energy landscapes shape animal movement ecology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shepard, Emily L C; Wilson, Rory P; Rees, W Gareth; Grundy, Edward; Lambertucci, Sergio A; Vosper, Simon B

    2013-09-01

    The metabolic costs of animal movement have been studied extensively under laboratory conditions, although frequently these are a poor approximation of the costs of operating in the natural, heterogeneous environment. Construction of "energy landscapes," which relate animal locality to the cost of transport, can clarify whether, to what extent, and how movement properties are attributable to environmental heterogeneity. Although behavioral responses to aspects of the energy landscape are well documented in some fields (notably, the selection of tailwinds by aerial migrants) and scales (typically large), the principles of the energy landscape extend across habitat types and spatial scales. We provide a brief synthesis of the mechanisms by which environmentally driven changes in the cost of transport can modulate the behavioral ecology of animal movement in different media, develop example cost functions for movement in heterogeneous environments, present methods for visualizing these energy landscapes, and derive specific predictions of expected outcomes from individual- to population- and species-level processes. Animals modulate a suite of movement parameters (e.g., route, speed, timing of movement, and tortuosity) in relation to the energy landscape, with the nature of their response being related to the energy savings available. Overall, variation in movement costs influences the quality of habitat patches and causes nonrandom movement of individuals between them. This can provide spatial and/or temporal structure to a range of population- and species-level processes, ultimately including gene flow. Advances in animal-attached technology and geographic information systems are opening up new avenues for measuring and mapping energy landscapes that are likely to provide new insight into their influence in animal ecology.

  10. Bioethical Problems: Animal Welfare, Animal Rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    March, B. E.

    1984-01-01

    Discusses various bioethical issues and problems related to animal welfare and animal rights. Areas examined include: Aristotelian views; animal welfare legislation; Darwin and evolutionary theory; animal and human behavior; and vegetarianism. A 14-point universal declaration of the rights of animals is included. (JN)

  11. Partial differential equation techniques for analysing animal movement: A comparison of different methods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yi-Shan; Potts, Jonathan R

    2017-03-07

    Recent advances in animal tracking have allowed us to uncover the drivers of movement in unprecedented detail. This has enabled modellers to construct ever more realistic models of animal movement, which aid in uncovering detailed patterns of space use in animal populations. Partial differential equations (PDEs) provide a popular tool for mathematically analysing such models. However, their construction often relies on simplifying assumptions which may greatly affect the model outcomes. Here, we analyse the effect of various PDE approximations on the analysis of some simple movement models, including a biased random walk, central-place foraging processes and movement in heterogeneous landscapes. Perhaps the most commonly-used PDE method dates back to a seminal paper of Patlak from 1953. However, our results show that this can be a very poor approximation in even quite simple models. On the other hand, more recent methods, based on transport equation formalisms, can provide more accurate results, as long as the kernel describing the animal's movement is sufficiently smooth. When the movement kernel is not smooth, we show that both the older and newer methods can lead to quantitatively misleading results. Our detailed analysis will aid future researchers in the appropriate choice of PDE approximation for analysing models of animal movement. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Framing the Issue: Religion, Secular Ethics and the Case of Animal Rights Mobilization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mika, Marie

    2006-01-01

    This article addresses social movement framing, generally, and within contemporary animal rights movements specifically by conducting focus group analyses of a non-activist population. This contrasts with previous studies of recruitment that have examined the conversion process retroactively, culling data from those already involved in a cause. By…

  13. Humanizing the Non-Human Animal: the Framing Analysis of Dogs' Rights Movement in Indonesia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Prisilia Resolute

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available                                                                                                AbstrakKonsumsi daging anjing merupakan sebuah kebiasaan umum dalam beberapa dekade terakhir dan telah menjadi simbol bagi beberapa kelompok masyarakat di seluruh dunia. Dogs Are Not Food (DANF adalah sebuah gerakan sosial yang ditujukan untuk menghapuskan konsumsi daging anjing. Gerakan ini diinisiasi oleh beberapa organisasi hak asasi satwa di Indonesia. Kampanye tersebut menjadi kontradiksi tersendiri: mengapa organisasi-organisasi tersebut melarang konsumsi daging anjing namun tetap mengonsumsi daging satwa lain? Bertolak dari konsep analisis framing, tulisan ini menggunakan observasi partisipatoris dan wawancara mendalam dengan informan-informan yang mengidentifikasi dirinya sebagai aktivis satwa dan/atau pendukung gerakan DANF. Berbeda dengan studi-studi sebelumnya yang cenderung mengkritik gerakan DANF, tulisan ini memberikan sebuah penjelasan sosiologis mengenai fungsi anjing dalam masyarakat dan menganalisis framing gerakan DANF. Tulisan ini berargumen bahwa framing yang digunakan oleh gerakan DANF bertujuan untuk “memanusiakan” satwa. Oleh karena itu, pelarangan konsumsi daging anjing menjadi tujuan gerakan DANF.                                                                                               AbstractThe consumption of dog meat has been a common practice in the past few decades and a symbol for certain groups all around the world. Dogs Are Not Food (DANF is a new social movement aimed to ban dog meat consumption, initiated by several animal rights organizations in Indonesia. The campaign seems to be self-contradictory: why ban the consumption of dog meat while still allowing the consumption of meat from other animals? Drawing on framing

  14. Reflected stochastic differential equation models for constrained animal movement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanks, Ephraim M.; Johnson, Devin S.; Hooten, Mevin B.

    2017-01-01

    Movement for many animal species is constrained in space by barriers such as rivers, shorelines, or impassable cliffs. We develop an approach for modeling animal movement constrained in space by considering a class of constrained stochastic processes, reflected stochastic differential equations. Our approach generalizes existing methods for modeling unconstrained animal movement. We present methods for simulation and inference based on augmenting the constrained movement path with a latent unconstrained path and illustrate this augmentation with a simulation example and an analysis of telemetry data from a Steller sea lion (Eumatopias jubatus) in southeast Alaska.

  15. What is the animal doing? Tools for exploring behavioural structure in animal movements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gurarie, Eliezer; Bracis, Chloe; Delgado, Maria; Meckley, Trevor D; Kojola, Ilpo; Wagner, C Michael

    2016-01-01

    Movement data provide a window - often our only window - into the cognitive, social and biological processes that underlie the behavioural ecology of animals in the wild. Robust methods for identifying and interpreting distinct modes of movement behaviour are of great importance, but complicated by the fact that movement data are complex, multivariate and dependent. Many different approaches to exploratory analysis of movement have been developed to answer similar questions, and practitioners are often at a loss for how to choose an appropriate tool for a specific question. We apply and compare four methodological approaches: first passage time (FPT), Bayesian partitioning of Markov models (BPMM), behavioural change point analysis (BCPA) and a fitted multistate random walk (MRW) to three simulated tracks and two animal trajectories - a sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) tracked for 12 h and a wolf (Canis lupus) tracked for 1 year. The simulations - in which, respectively, velocity, tortuosity and spatial bias change - highlight the sensitivity of all methods to model misspecification. Methods that do not account for autocorrelation in the movement variables lead to spurious change points, while methods that do not account for spatial bias completely miss changes in orientation. When applied to the animal data, the methods broadly agree on the structure of the movement behaviours. Important discrepancies, however, reflect differences in the assumptions and nature of the outputs. Important trade-offs are between the strength of the a priori assumptions (low in BCPA, high in MRW), complexity of output (high in the BCPA, low in the BPMM and MRW) and explanatory potential (highest in the MRW). The animal track analysis suggests some general principles for the exploratory analysis of movement data, including ways to exploit the strengths of the various methods. We argue for close and detailed exploratory analysis of movement before fitting complex movement models. © 2015

  16. Building the bridge between animal movement and population dynamics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morales, Juan M; Moorcroft, Paul R; Matthiopoulos, Jason; Frair, Jacqueline L; Kie, John G; Powell, Roger A; Merrill, Evelyn H; Haydon, Daniel T

    2010-07-27

    While the mechanistic links between animal movement and population dynamics are ecologically obvious, it is much less clear when knowledge of animal movement is a prerequisite for understanding and predicting population dynamics. GPS and other technologies enable detailed tracking of animal location concurrently with acquisition of landscape data and information on individual physiology. These tools can be used to refine our understanding of the mechanistic links between behaviour and individual condition through 'spatially informed' movement models where time allocation to different behaviours affects individual survival and reproduction. For some species, socially informed models that address the movements and average fitness of differently sized groups and how they are affected by fission-fusion processes at relevant temporal scales are required. Furthermore, as most animals revisit some places and avoid others based on their previous experiences, we foresee the incorporation of long-term memory and intention in movement models. The way animals move has important consequences for the degree of mixing that we expect to find both within a population and between individuals of different species. The mixing rate dictates the level of detail required by models to capture the influence of heterogeneity and the dynamics of intra- and interspecific interaction.

  17. Coupling movement and landscape ecology for animal conservation in production landscapes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doherty, Tim S; Driscoll, Don A

    2018-01-10

    Habitat conversion in production landscapes is among the greatest threats to biodiversity, not least because it can disrupt animal movement. Using the movement ecology framework, we review animal movement in production landscapes, including areas managed for agriculture and forestry. We consider internal and external drivers of altered animal movement and how this affects navigation and motion capacities and population dynamics. Conventional management approaches in fragmented landscapes focus on promoting connectivity using structural changes in the landscape. However, a movement ecology perspective emphasizes that manipulating the internal motivations or navigation capacity of animals represents untapped opportunities to improve movement and the effectiveness of structural connectivity investments. Integrating movement and landscape ecology opens new opportunities for conservation management in production landscapes. © 2018 The Authors.

  18. International Animal Protection Society Leadership: The Right People for the Right Issues.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sinclair, Michelle; Phillips, Clive J C

    2018-06-07

    As the increasing body of scientific information about the experiences of other species and their ability to suffer becomes available to those working within the field of animal welfare, the amount of potential issues to address also increases. Carefully choosing issues to address, and indeed leaders to drive the cause forward, has the potential to significantly increase the efficacy of the international animal welfare movement. Within this study 15 leaders of major international animal welfare organizations were interviewed about their experiences, thoughts and strategies, which have been primarily acquired through long-term exposure to the movement, and endeavors of trial and error. After thematic analysis, key themes are presented, along with strategies and cautions that may be beneficial to the animal welfare movement. Animal welfare leaders suggested a focus on issues that fitted well with their organizations' remit and were not too broad, to avoid spreading resources and expertise too thin. A utilitarian framework was also considered important, aiming to improve the lives of as many animals as possible for the resources deployed. Good leaders were believed to have passion for their cause, not just for animals, and an ability to build and lead good teams, hence good interpersonal human skills were also perceived as essential. It is concluded that establishing what makes a good animal welfare leader could offer useful direction for future engagement of successful leaders in this field.

  19. A dynamic Brownian bridge movement model to estimate utilization distributions for heterogeneous animal movement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kranstauber, Bart; Kays, Roland; Lapoint, Scott D; Wikelski, Martin; Safi, Kamran

    2012-07-01

    1. The recently developed Brownian bridge movement model (BBMM) has advantages over traditional methods because it quantifies the utilization distribution of an animal based on its movement path rather than individual points and accounts for temporal autocorrelation and high data volumes. However, the BBMM assumes unrealistic homogeneous movement behaviour across all data. 2. Accurate quantification of the utilization distribution is important for identifying the way animals use the landscape. 3. We improve the BBMM by allowing for changes in behaviour, using likelihood statistics to determine change points along the animal's movement path. 4. This novel extension, outperforms the current BBMM as indicated by simulations and examples of a territorial mammal and a migratory bird. The unique ability of our model to work with tracks that are not sampled regularly is especially important for GPS tags that have frequent failed fixes or dynamic sampling schedules. Moreover, our model extension provides a useful one-dimensional measure of behavioural change along animal tracks. 5. This new method provides a more accurate utilization distribution that better describes the space use of realistic, behaviourally heterogeneous tracks. © 2012 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2012 British Ecological Society.

  20. Predicting oscillatory dynamics in the movement of territorial animals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giuggioli, L; Potts, J R; Harris, S

    2012-07-07

    Understanding ecological processes relies upon the knowledge of the dynamics of each individual component. In the context of animal population ecology, the way animals move and interact is of fundamental importance in explaining a variety of observed patterns. Here, we present a theoretical investigation on the movement dynamics of interacting scent-marking animals. We study how the movement statistics of territorial animals is responsible for the appearance of damped oscillations in the mean square displacement (MSD) of the animals. This non-monotonicity is shown to depend on one dimensionless parameter, given by the ratio of the correlation distance between successive steps to the size of the territory. As that parameter increases, the time dependence of the animal's MSD displays a transition from monotonic, characteristic of Brownian walks, to non-monotonic, characteristic of highly correlated walks. The results presented here represent a novel way of determining the degree of persistence in animal movement processes within confined regions.

  1. Exploratory Visual Analysis for Animal Movement Ecology

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Slingsby, A.; van Loon, E.

    2016-01-01

    Movement ecologists study animals' movement to help understand their behaviours and interactions with each other and the environment. Data from GPS loggers are increasingly important for this. These data need to be processed, segmented and summarised for further visual and statistical analysis,

  2. Crossing regimes of temperature dependence in animal movement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gibert, Jean P; Chelini, Marie-Claire; Rosenthal, Malcolm F; DeLong, John P

    2016-05-01

    A pressing challenge in ecology is to understand the effects of changing global temperatures on food web structure and dynamics. The stability of these complex ecological networks largely depends on how predator-prey interactions may respond to temperature changes. Because predators and prey rely on their velocities to catch food or avoid being eaten, understanding how temperatures may affect animal movement is central to this quest. Despite our efforts, we still lack a mechanistic understanding of how the effect of temperature on metabolic processes scales up to animal movement and beyond. Here, we merge a biomechanical approach, the Metabolic Theory of Ecology and empirical data to show that animal movement displays multiple regimes of temperature dependence. We also show that crossing these regimes has important consequences for population dynamics and stability, which depend on the parameters controlling predator-prey interactions. We argue that this dependence upon interaction parameters may help explain why experimental work on the temperature dependence of interaction strengths has so far yielded conflicting results. More importantly, these changes in the temperature dependence of animal movement can have consequences that go well beyond ecological interactions and affect, for example, animal communication, mating, sensory detection, and any behavioral modality dependent on the movement of limbs. Finally, by not taking into account the changes in temperature dependence reported here we might not be able to properly forecast the impact of global warming on ecological processes and propose appropriate mitigation action when needed. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  3. Maximum-entropy description of animal movement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fleming, Chris H; Subaşı, Yiğit; Calabrese, Justin M

    2015-03-01

    We introduce a class of maximum-entropy states that naturally includes within it all of the major continuous-time stochastic processes that have been applied to animal movement, including Brownian motion, Ornstein-Uhlenbeck motion, integrated Ornstein-Uhlenbeck motion, a recently discovered hybrid of the previous models, and a new model that describes central-place foraging. We are also able to predict a further hierarchy of new models that will emerge as data quality improves to better resolve the underlying continuity of animal movement. Finally, we also show that Langevin equations must obey a fluctuation-dissipation theorem to generate processes that fall from this class of maximum-entropy distributions when the constraints are purely kinematic.

  4. Animal rights and environmemntal rights in Brazilian Supreme Court

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernando Cesar Costa Xavier

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The subject. The article analyzes the arguments of the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil, used in the consideration of disputes concerning animal rights, in comparison with the developments of theorists in this field.The purpose of the article is to justify the necessity of respect for the rights of animals and the “animal dignity” by the courts.The methodology includes formal-legal analysis of courts’ decisions, comparative-legal analysis and synthesis as well as formal-logical analysis of scientific researches in the field of animal rights.The main results and scope of application. It is wrong to claim that the Brazilian Supreme Court decision in “Vaquejada” case (or even in “Farra do Boi” or cockfights cases would be an increase in the process of a supposed recognition of animal rights in the Brazilian constitutional jurisdiction. In such cases, most of the Judges who participated in the trial pondered and reinforced the prevalence of environmental law, including it wildlife protection (and non-submission of the animals to cruelty, pursuant to Art. 225, § 1, VII, of the Brazilian Constitution. In this way, it would have been disregarded the categorical difference between environmental law and animal rights. The Constitution itself encourages confusion between those categories when dealing with the prohibition of animal cruelty in a chapter on the environment (chap. VI. This article argues that the focus on the statement of environmental law, the Supreme Court allows them to be strengthened arguments considered as obstacles to the defenders of animal rights, particularly the anthropocentric argument that the balanced environment is important to make possible to human beings more quality of life. Analyzing the decisions, especially in of Vaquejada and Farra do Boi cases, it appears that points many important analyzed in the theoretical debate about animal rights, such as the notions of “animal dignity” and “flourishing life

  5. Animal rights, animal minds, and human mindreading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mameli, M; Bortolotti, L

    2006-02-01

    Do non-human animals have rights? The answer to this question depends on whether animals have morally relevant mental properties. Mindreading is the human activity of ascribing mental states to other organisms. Current knowledge about the evolution and cognitive structure of mindreading indicates that human ascriptions of mental states to non-human animals are very inaccurate. The accuracy of human mindreading can be improved with the help of scientific studies of animal minds. However, the scientific studies do not by themselves solve the problem of how to map psychological similarities (and differences) between humans and animals onto a distinction between morally relevant and morally irrelevant mental properties. The current limitations of human mindreading-whether scientifically aided or not-have practical consequences for the rational justification of claims about which rights (if any) non-human animals should be accorded.

  6. Animal Rights Groups Target High School Dissection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trotter, Andrew

    1992-01-01

    Two groups leading the charge against dissection are People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Student Action Corps for Animals (SACA). Protests by student and community members remain the movement's strongest weapon. (MLF)

  7. Crisis planning to manage risks posed by animal rights extremists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bailey, Matthew R; Rich, Barbara A; Bennett, B Taylor

    2010-01-01

    Among the multitude of crises that US research institutions may face are those caused by animal rights activists. While most activists opposed to animal research use peaceful and lawful means of expressing their opinions, some extremists resort to illegal methods. Arson, break-ins, and theft with significant property damage at US animal research facilities began in the 1980s. The most troubling trend to develop in the past decade is the targeting of individuals associated with animal research, whether directly or indirectly, and the use of violent scare tactics to intimidate researchers and their families. The National Association for Biomedical Research has a 30-year history of monitoring the animal rights movement and assisting member institutions with crisis situations. In this article we discuss attacks on researchers at their homes, cyber crimes, exploitation of new media formats, infiltration of research facilities, and the targeting of external research stakeholders and business partners. We describe the need for a well-conceived crisis management plan and strong leadership to mitigate crisis situations. Institutions with well-informed leaders and crisis management teams ready to take timely action are best equipped to protect staff, laboratory animals, and research programs. They act on early warnings, provide support for targeted staff, seek legal remedies, thoughtfully control access to research facilities, and identify and enlist new research supporters. We underscore the importance of up-to-date crisis planning so that institutions are not only aware of ongoing risks posed by animal rights extremists but also better prepared to take preemptive action and able to manage those risks successfully.

  8. Estimating animal movement contacts between holdings of different production types.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindström, Tom; Sisson, Scott A; Lewerin, Susanna Stenberg; Wennergren, Uno

    2010-06-01

    Animal movement poses a great risk for disease transmission between holdings. Heterogeneous contact patterns are known to influence the dynamics of disease transmission and should be included in modeling. Using pig movement data from Sweden as an example, we present a method for quantification of between holding contact probabilities based on different production types. The data contained seven production types: Sow pool center, Sow pool satellite, Farrow-to-finish, Nucleus herd, Piglet producer, Multiplying herd and Fattening herd. The method also estimates how much different production types will determine the contact pattern of holdings that have more than one type. The method is based on Bayesian analysis and uses data from central databases of animal movement. Holdings with different production types are estimated to vary in the frequency of contacts as well as in what type of holding they have contact with, and the direction of the contacts. Movements from Multiplying herds to Sow pool centers, Nucleus herds to other Nucleus herds, Sow pool centers to Sow pool satellites, Sow pool satellites to Sow pool centers and Nucleus herds to Multiplying herds were estimated to be most common relative to the abundance of the production types. We show with a simulation study that these contact patterns may also be expected to result in substantial differences in disease transmission via animal movements, depending on the index holding. Simulating transmission for a 1 year period showed that the median number of infected holdings was 1 (i.e. only the index holding infected) if the infection started at a Fattening herd and 2161 if the infection started on a Nucleus herd. We conclude that it is valuable to include production types in models of disease transmission and the method presented in this paper may be used for such models when appropriate data is available. We also argue that keeping records of production types is of great value since it may be helpful in risk

  9. Animal Rights Activism Threatens Dissection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holden, Constance

    1990-01-01

    Discussed is the movement against the use of dissections in science laboratories. Examples of protests across the United States are included. Compared is the plight of using animals in a biology classroom and the demise of the teaching of evolution in some areas. (KR)

  10. Understanding the dynamical control of animal movement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edwards, Donald

    2008-03-01

    Over the last 50 years, neurophysiologists have described many neural circuits that transform sensory input into motor commands, while biomechanicians and behavioral biologists have described many patterns of animal movement that occur in response to sensory input. Attempts to link these two have been frustrated by our technical inability to record from the necessary neurons in a freely behaving animal. As a result, we don't know how these neural circuits function in the closed loop context of free behavior, where the sensory and motor context changes on a millisecond time-scale. To address this problem, we have developed a software package, AnimatLab (www.AnimatLab.com), that enables users to reconstruct an animal's body and its relevant neural circuits, to link them at the sensory and motor ends, and through simulation, to test their ability to reproduce appropriate patterns of the animal's movements in a simulated Newtonian world. A Windows-based program, AnimatLab consists of a neural editor, a body editor, a world editor, stimulus and recording facilities, neural and physics engines, and an interactive 3-D graphical display. We have used AnimatLab to study three patterns of behavior: the grasshopper jump, crayfish escape, and crayfish leg movements used in postural control, walking, reaching and grasping. In each instance, the simulation helped identify constraints on both nervous function and biomechanical performance that have provided the basis for new experiments. Colleagues elsewhere have begun to use AnimatLab to study control of paw movements in cats and postural control in humans. We have also used AnimatLab simulations to guide the development of an autonomous hexapod robot in which the neural control circuitry is downloaded to the robot from the test computer.

  11. Animal movement in the absence of predation: environmental drivers of movement strategies in a partial migration system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bastille-Rousseau, Guillaume; Gibbs, James P.; Yackulic, Charles B.; Frair, Jacqueline L.; Cabrera, Fredy; Rousseau, Louis-Philippe

    2016-01-01

    Animal movement strategies including migration, dispersal, nomadism, and residency are shaped by broad-scale spatial-temporal structuring of the environment, including factors such as the degrees of spatial variation, seasonality and inter-annual predictability. Animal movement strategies, in turn, interact with the characteristics of individuals and the local distribution of resources to determine local patterns of resource selection with complex and poorly understood implications for animal fitness. Here we present a multi-scale investigation of animal movement strategies and resource selection. We consider the degree to which spatial variation, seasonality, and inter-annual predictability in resources drive migration patterns among different taxa and how movement strategies in turn shape local resource selection patterns. We focus on adult Galapagos giant tortoises Chelonoidis spp. as a model system since they display many movement strategies and evolved in the absence of predators of adults. Specifically, our analysis is based on 63 individuals among four taxa tracked on three islands over six years and almost 106 tortoise re-locations. Tortoises displayed a continuum of movement strategies from migration to sedentarism that were linked to the spatio-temporal scale and predictability of resource distributions. Movement strategies shaped patterns of resource selection. Specifically, migratory individuals displayed stronger selection toward areas where resources were more predictable among years than did non-migratory individuals, which indicates a selective advantage for migrants in seasonally structured, more predictable environments. Our analytical framework combines large-scale predictions for movement strategies, based on environmental structuring, with finer-scale analysis of space-use. Integrating different organizational levels of analysis provides a deeper understanding of the eco-evolutionary dynamics at play in the emergence and maintenance of

  12. Applying Movement Ecology to Marine Animals with Complex Life Cycles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Richard M.; Metaxas, Anna; Snelgrove, Paul V. R.

    2018-01-01

    Marine animals with complex life cycles may move passively or actively for fertilization, dispersal, predator avoidance, resource acquisition, and migration, and over scales from micrometers to thousands of kilometers. This diversity has catalyzed idiosyncratic and unfocused research, creating unsound paradigms regarding the role of movement in ecology and evolution. The emerging movement ecology paradigm offers a framework to consolidate movement research independent of taxon, life-history stage, scale, or discipline. This review applies the framework to movement among life-history stages in marine animals with complex life cycles to consolidate marine movement research and offer insights for scientists working in aquatic and terrestrial realms. Irrespective of data collection or simulation strategy, breaking each life-history stage down into the fundamental units of movement allows each unit to be studied independently or interactively with other units. Understanding these underlying mechanisms of movement within each life-history stage can then be used to construct lifetime movement paths. These paths can allow further investigation of the relative contributions and interdependencies of steps and phases across a lifetime and how these paths influence larger research topics, such as population-level movements.

  13. [Thoughts on the concept of animal rights].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chapouthier, Georges

    2013-01-01

    The human species, granting rights to abstract entities such as businesses, can easily grant such rights to animals, provided that they are clearly defined in relation to human rights. If it is accepted that laws and regulations already afford protection to animals, it may then be said that we already have "animal rights". Such "rights" are thus seen as the opposite of duties and constraints for animal welfare as imposed on humans by humans through laws. Such rights or restrictions should then be extended. From a philosophical point of view, a subtle definition of these rights will lead to the development of a practical and gradual moral stance, granting human rights their rightful position.

  14. Grounding Animal Rights in Mutual Advantage Contractarianism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthew Taylor

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Contrary to critics and advocates of contractarianism alike, I argue that mutual advantage contractarianism entails rights and protections for animals. In section one I outline the criteria that must be met in order for an individual to qualify for moral rights on the contractarian view. I then introduce an alternative form of ‘rights,’ which I call ‘protectorate status,’ from which an individual can receive protections indirectly. In section two I suggest guidelines for assigning animal rights based on two ways of categorizing animals. On the basis of the categorization according to benefit derived, I argue that animals used for companionship, security, hunting assistance, transportation, entertainment, medical service, nourishment, or clothing will tend to qualify for basic rights against starvation, predation, and disease. On the basis of the categorization according to species, I argue that, on top of the basic rights above, dogs tend to qualify for rights against abuse, and against frivolous medical experimentation, as well as further negotiated rights. Cows have the basic rights against starvation, predation, and disease, but squirrels and bears have no rights. In section three I argue that some animals qualify for protectorate status, which would establish various protections for different animals, but would also generally prohibit cruelty towards animals.

  15. A Hidden Markov Movement Model for rapidly identifying behavioral states from animal tracks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Whoriskey, Kim; Auger-Méthé, Marie; Albertsen, Christoffer Moesgaard

    2017-01-01

    by fitting it to real tracks from a grey seal, lake trout, and blue shark, as well as to simulated data. 4. The HMMM is a fast and reliable tool for making meaningful inference from animal movement data that is ideally suited for ecologists who want to use the popular DCRWS implementation for highly accurate......1. Electronic telemetry is frequently used to document animal movement through time. Methods that can identify underlying behaviors driving specific movement patterns can help us understand how and why animals use available space, thereby aiding conservation and management efforts. For aquatic...... animal tracking data with significant measurement error, a Bayesian state-space model called the first-Difference Correlated Random Walk with Switching (DCRWS) has often been used for this purpose. However, for aquatic animals, highly accurate tracking data of animal movement are now becoming more common...

  16. Advancing research on animal-transported subsidies by integrating animal movement and ecosystem modelling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Earl, Julia E; Zollner, Patrick A

    2017-09-01

    Connections between ecosystems via animals (active subsidies) support ecosystem services and contribute to numerous ecological effects. Thus, the ability to predict the spatial distribution of active subsidies would be useful for ecology and conservation. Previous work modelling active subsidies focused on implicit space or static distributions, which treat passive and active subsidies similarly. Active subsidies are fundamentally different from passive subsidies, because animals can respond to the process of subsidy deposition and ecosystem changes caused by subsidy deposition. We propose addressing this disparity by integrating animal movement and ecosystem ecology to advance active subsidy investigations, make more accurate predictions of subsidy spatial distributions, and enable a mechanistic understanding of subsidy spatial distributions. We review selected quantitative techniques that could be used to accomplish integration and lead to novel insights. The ultimate objective for these types of studies is predictions of subsidy spatial distributions from characteristics of the subsidy and the movement strategy employed by animals that transport subsidies. These advances will be critical in informing the management of ecosystem services, species conservation and ecosystem degradation related to active subsidies. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2017 British Ecological Society.

  17. Integrating animal movement with habitat suitability for estimating dynamic landscape connectivity

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Toor, Mariëlle L.; Kranstauber, Bart; Newman, Scott H.; Prosser, Diann J.; Takekawa, John Y.; Technitis, Georgios; Weibel, Robert; Wikelski, Martin; Safi, Kamran

    2018-01-01

    Context High-resolution animal movement data are becoming increasingly available, yet having a multitude of empirical trajectories alone does not allow us to easily predict animal movement. To answer ecological and evolutionary questions at a population level, quantitative estimates of a species’ potential to link patches or populations are of importance. Objectives We introduce an approach that combines movement-informed simulated trajectories with an environment-informed estimate of the trajectories’ plausibility to derive connectivity. Using the example of bar-headed geese we estimated migratory connectivity at a landscape level throughout the annual cycle in their native range. Methods We used tracking data of bar-headed geese to develop a multi-state movement model and to estimate temporally explicit habitat suitability within the species’ range. We simulated migratory movements between range fragments, and calculated a measure we called route viability. The results are compared to expectations derived from published literature. Results Simulated migrations matched empirical trajectories in key characteristics such as stopover duration. The viability of the simulated trajectories was similar to that of the empirical trajectories. We found that, overall, the migratory connectivity was higher within the breeding than in wintering areas, corroborating previous findings for this species. Conclusions We show how empirical tracking data and environmental information can be fused for meaningful predictions of animal movements throughout the year and even outside the spatial range of the available data. Beyond predicting migratory connectivity, our framework will prove useful for modelling ecological processes facilitated by animal movement, such as seed dispersal or disease ecology.

  18. The rights of man and animal experimentation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, J

    1990-01-01

    Since emotions give contradictory signals about animal experimentation in medical science, man's relationship to animals must be based upon reason. Thomas Aquinas argues that man is essentially different from animals because man's intellectual processes show evidence of an abstract mechanism not possessed by animals. Man's rights arise in association with this essential difference. The consequence is that only man possesses true rights by Aquinas's definition; animals have them only by analogy. However, cruelty to animals is illicit and they should be protected, principally not because they have rights, but because he who is cruel to animals is more likely to be cruel to his fellowman. If there is a need for animal experimentation in science for the good of man, this approach gives philosophical justification for experimentation, since man's well-being must come before that of animals because of his unique possession of rights. However, those experiments should be carried out in the kindest way possible, to promote kindness towards man. To see man as solely part of a biological continuum in competition for rights with those beings close to him biologically, detracts from man's dignity. PMID:2135948

  19. Classification of Animal Movement Behavior through Residence in Space and Time.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres, Leigh G; Orben, Rachael A; Tolkova, Irina; Thompson, David R

    2017-01-01

    Identification and classification of behavior states in animal movement data can be complex, temporally biased, time-intensive, scale-dependent, and unstandardized across studies and taxa. Large movement datasets are increasingly common and there is a need for efficient methods of data exploration that adjust to the individual variability of each track. We present the Residence in Space and Time (RST) method to classify behavior patterns in movement data based on the concept that behavior states can be partitioned by the amount of space and time occupied in an area of constant scale. Using normalized values of Residence Time and Residence Distance within a constant search radius, RST is able to differentiate behavior patterns that are time-intensive (e.g., rest), time & distance-intensive (e.g., area restricted search), and transit (short time and distance). We use grey-headed albatross (Thalassarche chrysostoma) GPS tracks to demonstrate RST's ability to classify behavior patterns and adjust to the inherent scale and individuality of each track. Next, we evaluate RST's ability to discriminate between behavior states relative to other classical movement metrics. We then temporally sub-sample albatross track data to illustrate RST's response to less resolved data. Finally, we evaluate RST's performance using datasets from four taxa with diverse ecology, functional scales, ecosystems, and data-types. We conclude that RST is a robust, rapid, and flexible method for detailed exploratory analysis and meta-analyses of behavioral states in animal movement data based on its ability to integrate distance and time measurements into one descriptive metric of behavior groupings. Given the increasing amount of animal movement data collected, it is timely and useful to implement a consistent metric of behavior classification to enable efficient and comparative analyses. Overall, the application of RST to objectively explore and compare behavior patterns in movement data can

  20. The Ecologist's View of Animal Rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howard, Walter E.

    1994-01-01

    Provides insights on the controversial issue of animal rights. Four factors are considered: (1) animals' rights; (2) research; (3) hunting and fishing; and (4) agriculture. Contends that it is imperative that the public knows all the facts before casting their vote on the issue. (ZWH)

  1. The rights of man and animal experimentation.

    OpenAIRE

    Martin, J

    1990-01-01

    Since emotions give contradictory signals about animal experimentation in medical science, man's relationship to animals must be based upon reason. Thomas Aquinas argues that man is essentially different from animals because man's intellectual processes show evidence of an abstract mechanism not possessed by animals. Man's rights arise in association with this essential difference. The consequence is that only man possesses true rights by Aquinas's definition; animals have them only by analog...

  2. Building an archive of Arctic-Boreal animal movements and links to remote sensing data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bohrer, G.; Handler, M.; Davidson, S. C.; Boelman, N.

    2017-12-01

    Climate is changing in the Arctic and Boreal regions of North America more quickly than anywhere else on the planet. The impact of climate changes on wildlife in the region is difficult to assess, as they occur over decades, while wildlife monitoring programs have been in place for relatively short periods, have used a variety of data collection methods, and are not integrated across studies and governmental agencies. Further, linking wildlife movements to measures of weather and climate is impeded by the challenge of accessing environmental data products and differences in spatiotemporal scale. To analyze the impact of long-term changes in weather and habitat conditions on wildlife movements, we built an archive of avian, predator and ungulate movements throughout the Arctic-Boreal region. The archive is compiled and hosted in Movebank, a free, web-based service for managing animal movement data. Using Movebank allows us to securely manage data within a single database while supporting project-specific terms of use and access rights. By importing the data to the Movebank database, they are converted to a standard data format, reviewed for quality and completeness, and made easily accessible for analysis through the R package 'move'. In addition, the Env-DATA System in Movebank allows easy annotation of these and related time-location records with hundreds of environmental variables provided by global remote sensing and weather data products, including MODIS Land, Snow and Ice products, the ECMWF and NARR weather reanalyses, and others. The ABoVE Animal Movement Archive includes 6.6 million locations of over 3,000 animals collected by 50 programs and studies, contributed by over 25 collaborating institutions, with data extending from 1988 to the present. Organizing the data on Movebank has enabled collaboration and metaanalysis and has also improved their quality and completeness. The ABoVE Animal Movement Archive provides a platform actively used by data

  3. Carl Cohen's 'kind' arguments for animal rights and against human rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nobis, Nathan

    2004-01-01

    Carl Cohen's arguments against animal rights are shown to be unsound. His strategy entails that animals have rights, that humans do not, the negations of those conclusions, and other false and inconsistent implications. His main premise seems to imply that one can fail all tests and assignments in a class and yet easily pass if one's peers are passing and that one can become a convicted criminal merely by setting foot in a prison. However, since his moral principles imply that nearly all exploitive uses of animals are wrong anyway, foes of animal rights are advised to seek philosophical consolations elsewhere. I note that some other philosophers' arguments are subject to similar objections.

  4. The lesbian rights movement and feminism in South Korea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park-Kim, Soo Jin; Lee-Kim, Soo Youn; Kwon-Lee, Eun Jung

    2006-01-01

    The lesbians' rights movement in South Korea has undertaken various projects for solidarity with feminist movement groups for over 10 years. In spite of these efforts, lesbian issues have been blatantly excluded from all the agendas of women's rights. The same thing has happened in Women's Studies. Some feminists express homophobic thoughts without understanding the reality of lesbians, and other young scholars take on a lesbian identity temporarily as a sign of being progressive and liberated; in neither situation are they committed to dealing with the oppression of lesbians or seeing lesbian rights as a feminist concern. In order to further lesbian rights there are two strategies possible: forming a movement only for lesbians or forming solidarity with feminists. In the latter case, a concern about lesbian rights will help achieve the goals of a true feminism as patriarchy is built upon heterosexism. doi:10.1300/J155v10n03_11.

  5. Memory Effects on Movement Behavior in Animal Foraging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bracis, Chloe; Gurarie, Eliezer; Van Moorter, Bram; Goodwin, R Andrew

    2015-01-01

    An individual's choices are shaped by its experience, a fundamental property of behavior important to understanding complex processes. Learning and memory are observed across many taxa and can drive behaviors, including foraging behavior. To explore the conditions under which memory provides an advantage, we present a continuous-space, continuous-time model of animal movement that incorporates learning and memory. Using simulation models, we evaluate the benefit memory provides across several types of landscapes with variable-quality resources and compare the memory model within a nested hierarchy of simpler models (behavioral switching and random walk). We find that memory almost always leads to improved foraging success, but that this effect is most marked in landscapes containing sparse, contiguous patches of high-value resources that regenerate relatively fast and are located in an otherwise devoid landscape. In these cases, there is a large payoff for finding a resource patch, due to size, value, or locational difficulty. While memory-informed search is difficult to differentiate from other factors using solely movement data, our results suggest that disproportionate spatial use of higher value areas, higher consumption rates, and consumption variability all point to memory influencing the movement direction of animals in certain ecosystems.

  6. From global discourse to local action: the makings of a sexual rights movement?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonathan Garcia

    Full Text Available This paper focuses on the development of discourses around sexual rights, linking tendencies in official global dialogues with national and local realities. Recognizing some of the factors that have facilitated or impeded discourses and action to promote sexual rights around the world, we explore the principles and processes of framing sexual rights and sexual citizenship. We consider political opportunity and the mobilization of resources as important as cultural and emotional interpretations of sexual rights in conceptualizing a "sexual rights movement". Throughout the paper we question whether a movement based on solidarity can be forged between different social movements (i.e., feminist movements, HIV/AIDS movements, LGBT movements, etc. that are advocating for distinct sexual rights. While theoretically sexual rights range from protection from sexual violation to the celebration of sexual pleasure, in reality the agendas of sexual rights movements are still largely fragmented, heteronormative, and focused on negative rights.

  7. Mapping behavioral landscapes for animal movement: a finite mixture modeling approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tracey, Jeff A.; Zhu, Jun; Boydston, Erin E.; Lyren, Lisa M.; Fisher, Robert N.; Crooks, Kevin R.

    2013-01-01

    Because of its role in many ecological processes, movement of animals in response to landscape features is an important subject in ecology and conservation biology. In this paper, we develop models of animal movement in relation to objects or fields in a landscape. We take a finite mixture modeling approach in which the component densities are conceptually related to different choices for movement in response to a landscape feature, and the mixing proportions are related to the probability of selecting each response as a function of one or more covariates. We combine particle swarm optimization and an Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm to obtain maximum likelihood estimates of the model parameters. We use this approach to analyze data for movement of three bobcats in relation to urban areas in southern California, USA. A behavioral interpretation of the models revealed similarities and differences in bobcat movement response to urbanization. All three bobcats avoided urbanization by moving either parallel to urban boundaries or toward less urban areas as the proportion of urban land cover in the surrounding area increased. However, one bobcat, a male with a dispersal-like large-scale movement pattern, avoided urbanization at lower densities and responded strictly by moving parallel to the urban edge. The other two bobcats, which were both residents and occupied similar geographic areas, avoided urban areas using a combination of movements parallel to the urban edge and movement toward areas of less urbanization. However, the resident female appeared to exhibit greater repulsion at lower levels of urbanization than the resident male, consistent with empirical observations of bobcats in southern California. Using the parameterized finite mixture models, we mapped behavioral states to geographic space, creating a representation of a behavioral landscape. This approach can provide guidance for conservation planning based on analysis of animal movement data using

  8. Weighing Animal Lives : A Critical Assessment of Justification and Prioritization in Animal-Rights Theories

    OpenAIRE

    Karlsson, Fredrik

    2009-01-01

    The project underlying this dissertation aims at analyzing three pro-animal-rights theories, evaluating the theories, and outlining an alternative theoretical account of animal rights. The analytical categories are justification and function of animal rights, the definition of the right holder, and the resolution approach to rights conflict. The categories are applied to a naturalist, a theocentric, and a contractarian approach to defend animal rights. The evaluation is substantiated by the a...

  9. Animal movement constraints improve resource selection inference in the presence of telemetry error

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brost, Brian M.; Hooten, Mevin B.; Hanks, Ephraim M.; Small, Robert J.

    2016-01-01

    Multiple factors complicate the analysis of animal telemetry location data. Recent advancements address issues such as temporal autocorrelation and telemetry measurement error, but additional challenges remain. Difficulties introduced by complicated error structures or barriers to animal movement can weaken inference. We propose an approach for obtaining resource selection inference from animal location data that accounts for complicated error structures, movement constraints, and temporally autocorrelated observations. We specify a model for telemetry data observed with error conditional on unobserved true locations that reflects prior knowledge about constraints in the animal movement process. The observed telemetry data are modeled using a flexible distribution that accommodates extreme errors and complicated error structures. Although constraints to movement are often viewed as a nuisance, we use constraints to simultaneously estimate and account for telemetry error. We apply the model to simulated data, showing that it outperforms common ad hoc approaches used when confronted with measurement error and movement constraints. We then apply our framework to an Argos satellite telemetry data set on harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) in the Gulf of Alaska, a species that is constrained to move within the marine environment and adjacent coastlines.

  10. Rights, solidarity and the animal welfare state

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Harfeld, Jes

    2016-01-01

    This article argues that aspects of the animal rights view can be constructively modulated through a communitarian approach and come to promote animal welfare through the social contexts of expanded caring communities. The Nordic welfare state is presented as a conceivable caring community within...... which animals could be viewed and treated appropriately as co-citizens with solidarity based rights and duties....

  11. Animal rights and environmental terrorism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Steve Cooke

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Many paradigmatic forms of animal rights and environmental activism have been classed as terrorism both in popular discourse and in law. This paper argues that the labelling of many violent forms of direct action carried out in the name of animal rights or environmentalism as ‘terrorism’ is incorrect. Furthermore, the claim is also made that even those acts which are correctly termed as terrorism are not necessarily wrongful acts. The result of this analysis is to call into question the terms of public debate and the legitimacy of anti-terrorism laws targeting and punishing radical activism.

  12. Memory Effects on Movement Behavior in Animal Foraging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bracis, Chloe; Gurarie, Eliezer; Van Moorter, Bram; Goodwin, R. Andrew

    2015-01-01

    An individual’s choices are shaped by its experience, a fundamental property of behavior important to understanding complex processes. Learning and memory are observed across many taxa and can drive behaviors, including foraging behavior. To explore the conditions under which memory provides an advantage, we present a continuous-space, continuous-time model of animal movement that incorporates learning and memory. Using simulation models, we evaluate the benefit memory provides across several types of landscapes with variable-quality resources and compare the memory model within a nested hierarchy of simpler models (behavioral switching and random walk). We find that memory almost always leads to improved foraging success, but that this effect is most marked in landscapes containing sparse, contiguous patches of high-value resources that regenerate relatively fast and are located in an otherwise devoid landscape. In these cases, there is a large payoff for finding a resource patch, due to size, value, or locational difficulty. While memory-informed search is difficult to differentiate from other factors using solely movement data, our results suggest that disproportionate spatial use of higher value areas, higher consumption rates, and consumption variability all point to memory influencing the movement direction of animals in certain ecosystems. PMID:26288228

  13. 9 CFR 78.2 - Handling of certificates, permits, and “S” brand permits for interstate movement of animals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... âSâ brand permits for interstate movement of animals. 78.2 Section 78.2 Animals and Animal Products... certificates, permits, and “S” brand permits for interstate movement of animals. (a) Any certificate, permit, or “S” brand permit required by this part for the interstate movement of animals shall be delivered...

  14. The right to life movement: sources, development, and strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cassidy, K

    1995-01-01

    This article considers the history of the anti-abortion movement by first reviewing and assessing current images and interpretations of the movement, including the negative images used by the mass media as well as the interpretation which categorizes the movement as one of moral and political conservatism and that set out by Kristin Luker which sees the conflict between anti-abortion and pro-choice women as being between women who have lived radically different lives. The second section of the essay sets forth an explanation of the social sources and context of the pro-life movement, which is diverse and complex because it is embraced by those who see abortion as a civil rights question, as a family values issues, as a class/cultural issue, as a Church-related issue, as a gender issue, as a right-to-life issue embracing euthanasia, or as a movement of political conservatives. The institutional origins and development of the movement are explored in the next section. The next two section are devoted to two phases of the movement's search for a strategy. The first phase involved an attempt to use educational materials designed to reveal the reality rather than the abstract aspects of abortion. After Roe vs. Wade, attaching a "Human Life Amendment" to the constitution became a strategic goal. The second phase involved attempting to reverse the Roe decision by gaining the appointment of pro-life jurists to the Supreme Court. The pro-life movement entered national politics through the efforts of Catholic Bishops, the emergence of the New Right, and its own increasing political sophistication. The final section of the essay considers the situation after the Supreme Court's decision in Webster vs. Reproductive Health Services, which allowed states to restrict abortion. This decision precipitated a decline in support for the anti-abortion forces because the American public would rather have completely free access to abortion than a complete ban. The movement continues to

  15. Fragmenting citizenship: dynamics of cooperation and conflict in France's immigrant rights movement

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nicholls, W.J.

    2013-01-01

    This paper examines the contradictory relational dynamics of immigrant rights movement through a close examination of the French case during the 1990s. Through this movement, we find a network made up of different groups of immigrants and well-established rights organizations. As the movement

  16. How Big Data Fast Tracked Human Mobility Research and the Lessons for Animal Movement Ecology

    KAUST Repository

    Thums, Michele; Ferná ndez-Gracia, Juan; Sequeira, Ana M. M.; Eguí luz, Ví ctor M.; Duarte, Carlos M.; Meekan, Mark G.

    2018-01-01

    The rise of the internet coupled with technological innovations such as smartphones have generated massive volumes of geo-referenced data (big data) on human mobility. This has allowed the number of studies of human mobility to rapidly overtake those of animal movement. Today, telemetry studies of animals are also approaching big data status. Here, we review recent advances in studies of human mobility and identify the opportunities they present for advancing our understanding of animal movement. We describe key analytical techniques, potential bottlenecks and a roadmap for progress toward a synthesis of movement patterns of wild animals.

  17. How Big Data Fast Tracked Human Mobility Research and the Lessons for Animal Movement Ecology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michele Thums

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available The rise of the internet coupled with technological innovations such as smartphones have generated massive volumes of geo-referenced data (big data on human mobility. This has allowed the number of studies of human mobility to rapidly overtake those of animal movement. Today, telemetry studies of animals are also approaching big data status. Here, we review recent advances in studies of human mobility and identify the opportunities they present for advancing our understanding of animal movement. We describe key analytical techniques, potential bottlenecks and a roadmap for progress toward a synthesis of movement patterns of wild animals.

  18. How Big Data Fast Tracked Human Mobility Research and the Lessons for Animal Movement Ecology

    KAUST Repository

    Thums, Michele

    2018-02-13

    The rise of the internet coupled with technological innovations such as smartphones have generated massive volumes of geo-referenced data (big data) on human mobility. This has allowed the number of studies of human mobility to rapidly overtake those of animal movement. Today, telemetry studies of animals are also approaching big data status. Here, we review recent advances in studies of human mobility and identify the opportunities they present for advancing our understanding of animal movement. We describe key analytical techniques, potential bottlenecks and a roadmap for progress toward a synthesis of movement patterns of wild animals.

  19. Ocean Tracking Network (OTN): Development of Oceanographic Data Integration with Animal Movement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bajona, L.

    2016-02-01

    OTN is a $168-million ocean research and technology development platform headquartered at Dalhousie University, Canada. Using acoustic and satellite telemetry to globally document the movements and survival of aquatic animals, and their environmental correlates. The OTN Mission: to foster conservation and sustainability of valued species by generating knowledge on the movement patterns of aquatic species in their changing environment. OTN's ever-expanding global network of acoustic receivers listening for over 90 different key animal species is providing for the data needed in working in collaboration with researchers for the development of oceanographic data integration with animal movement. Presented here is Data Management's work to date, status and challenges in OTN's move towards a community standard to enable sharing between projects nationally and internationally; permitting inter-operability with other large national (e.g. CHONe, ArcticNET) and international (IOOS, IMOS) networks. This work includes co-development of Animal Acoustic Telemetry (AAT) metadata standard and implementation using an ERDDAP data server (NOAA, Environmental Research Division's Data Access Program) facilitating ingestion for modelers (eg. netcdf).

  20. 9 CFR 80.4 - Segregation of animals positive to an official Johne's disease test during interstate movement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... official Johne's disease test during interstate movement. 80.4 Section 80.4 Animals and Animal Products... animals positive to an official Johne's disease test during interstate movement. Animals that are positive... from the animals positive to an official Johne's disease test to the healthy animals in the vehicle. ...

  1. The case against animal rights : a literary intervention

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vugts, Adrianus Johanna

    2015-01-01

    This thesis aims at thinking through the ethical position of animals in a way that differs radically from the manner in wich this ethical position is thought within contemporary animal rights discourse. The reason for this alternative approach is that today's animal rights discourse is characterized

  2. Fragmenting citizenship: dynamics of cooperation and conflict in France's immigrant rights movement

    OpenAIRE

    Nicholls, W.J.

    2013-01-01

    This paper examines the contradictory relational dynamics of immigrant rights movement through a close examination of the French case during the 1990s. Through this movement, we find a network made up of different groups of immigrants and well-established rights organizations. As the movement intensified over the months, powerful cleavages developed between groups of undocumented immigrants (e.g. families, single men, etc.) and between certain immigrants and rights organizations. The same dis...

  3. The political approach of animal rights from the perspective of the rights theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Luis Rey Pérez

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Traditionally, discussions about animal rights have focused on defending, in different ways, abolitionist or regulatory approaches. Recently, there has been a political change in the way of understanding these rights, which fits better a legal approach that considers that rights –in addition to having a moral dimension- are also effectiveness-oriented legal institutions. This leads to considering that the range of animal rights must be extended to rights linked to the condition of citizenship, such as social rights and particularly the right to healthcare and labour rights.

  4. The political approach of animal rights from the perspective of the rights theory

    OpenAIRE

    José Luis Rey Pérez

    2017-01-01

    Traditionally, discussions about animal rights have focused on defending, in different ways, abolitionist or regulatory approaches. Recently, there has been a political change in the way of understanding these rights, which fits better a legal approach that considers that rights –in addition to having a moral dimension- are also effectiveness-oriented legal institutions. This leads to considering that the range of animal rights must be extended to rights linked to the condition of citizenship...

  5. A miniaturized threshold-triggered acceleration data-logger for recording burst movements of aquatic animals

    OpenAIRE

    Huveneers, Charlie; Matsuo, Ayane; Kawabe, Ryo; Watanabe, Yuuki; Nishiumi, Nozomi; Payne, Nicholas; Kawabata, Yuuki

    2017-01-01

    Animal-borne accelerometers are effective tools for quantifying the kinematics of animal behaviors, such as swimming, running, and flying, under natural conditions. However, quantifying burst movements of small and agile aquatic animals (e.g., small teleost fish), such as during predatory behavior, or while fleeing, remains challenging. To capture the details of burst movements, accelerometers need to sample at a very high frequency, which will inevitably shorten the duration of the recording...

  6. The Importance of Social Movements in the Fight for the Women's Rights From the Incorporation of Speech of Human Rights

    OpenAIRE

    Souza, Luciana Correa

    2016-01-01

    This article aims to analyze the role of social movements in the struggle for women's rights. Initially, the historical origin of the gender term and its concept will be analyzed. Subsequently, the role of social movements for the development of international protection of human rights instruments will be reviewed. Finally, the role of social movements will be analyzed in the fight for women's rights in Brazil. From this study was concluded by the importance of social movements in the fight f...

  7. Difficult Decisions: Animal Rights--Do We Have the Right to Do Research on Animals?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parakh, Jal S.; Slesnick, Irwin L.

    1989-01-01

    Discusses who has the right to determine the use of animals in scientific research which includes medical experimentation and the toxicity testing of compounds, ranging from pesticides to cosmetics. Provides a list of questions for consideration and discussion. (RT)

  8. Classification of right-hand grasp movement based on EMOTIV Epoc+

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tobing, T. A. M. L.; Prawito, Wijaya, S. K.

    2017-07-01

    Combinations of BCT elements for right-hand grasp movement have been obtained, providing the average value of their classification accuracy. The aim of this study is to find a suitable combination for best classification accuracy of right-hand grasp movement based on EEG headset, EMOTIV Epoc+. There are three movement classifications: grasping hand, relax, and opening hand. These classifications take advantage of Event-Related Desynchronization (ERD) phenomenon that makes it possible to differ relaxation, imagery, and movement state from each other. The combinations of elements are the usage of Independent Component Analysis (ICA), spectrum analysis by Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), maximum mu and beta power with their frequency as features, and also classifier Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN) and Radial Basis Function (RBF). The average values of classification accuracy are ± 83% for training and ± 57% for testing. To have a better understanding of the signal quality recorded by EMOTIV Epoc+, the result of classification accuracy of left or right-hand grasping movement EEG signal (provided by Physionet) also be given, i.e.± 85% for training and ± 70% for testing. The comparison of accuracy value from each combination, experiment condition, and external EEG data are provided for the purpose of value analysis of classification accuracy.

  9. A Pathfinder for Animal Research and Animal Rights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, David C.

    1992-01-01

    This pathfinder was originally prepared for "Biomedical Research and Animal Rights," a session sponsored by the Veterinary Medical Libraries and Research Libraries Sections of the Medical Library Association. Current resources are described, from bibliographies to electronic bulletin boards, which relate to the issue of laboratory animal…

  10. Animal perception of seasonal thresholds: changes in elephant movement in relation to rainfall patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Birkett, Patricia J; Vanak, Abi T; Muggeo, Vito M R; Ferreira, Salamon M; Slotow, Rob

    2012-01-01

    The identification of temporal thresholds or shifts in animal movement informs ecologists of changes in an animal's behaviour, which contributes to an understanding of species' responses in different environments. In African savannas, rainfall, temperature and primary productivity influence the movements of large herbivores and drive changes at different scales. Here, we developed a novel approach to define seasonal shifts in movement behaviour by examining the movements of a highly mobile herbivore (elephant; Loxodonta africana), in relation to local and regional rainfall patterns. We used speed to determine movement changes of between 8 and 14 GPS-collared elephant cows, grouped into five spatial clusters, in Kruger National Park, South Africa. To detect broad-scale patterns of movement, we ran a three-year daily time-series model for each individual (2007-2009). Piecewise regression models provided the best fit for elephant movement, which exhibited a segmented, waveform pattern over time. Major breakpoints in speed occurred at the end of the dry and wet seasons of each year. During the dry season, female elephant are constrained by limited forage and thus the distances they cover are shorter and less variable. Despite the inter-annual variability of rainfall, speed breakpoints were strongly correlated with both local and regional rainfall breakpoints across all three years. Thus, at a multi-year scale, rainfall patterns significantly affect the movements of elephant. The variability of both speed and rainfall breakpoints across different years highlights the need for an objective definition of seasonal boundaries. By using objective criteria to determine behavioural shifts, we identified a biologically meaningful indicator of major changes in animal behaviour in different years. We recommend the use of such criteria, from an animal's perspective, for delineating seasons or other extrinsic shifts in ecological studies, rather than arbitrarily fixed definitions

  11. Animal perception of seasonal thresholds: changes in elephant movement in relation to rainfall patterns.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Patricia J Birkett

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The identification of temporal thresholds or shifts in animal movement informs ecologists of changes in an animal's behaviour, which contributes to an understanding of species' responses in different environments. In African savannas, rainfall, temperature and primary productivity influence the movements of large herbivores and drive changes at different scales. Here, we developed a novel approach to define seasonal shifts in movement behaviour by examining the movements of a highly mobile herbivore (elephant; Loxodonta africana, in relation to local and regional rainfall patterns. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We used speed to determine movement changes of between 8 and 14 GPS-collared elephant cows, grouped into five spatial clusters, in Kruger National Park, South Africa. To detect broad-scale patterns of movement, we ran a three-year daily time-series model for each individual (2007-2009. Piecewise regression models provided the best fit for elephant movement, which exhibited a segmented, waveform pattern over time. Major breakpoints in speed occurred at the end of the dry and wet seasons of each year. During the dry season, female elephant are constrained by limited forage and thus the distances they cover are shorter and less variable. Despite the inter-annual variability of rainfall, speed breakpoints were strongly correlated with both local and regional rainfall breakpoints across all three years. Thus, at a multi-year scale, rainfall patterns significantly affect the movements of elephant. The variability of both speed and rainfall breakpoints across different years highlights the need for an objective definition of seasonal boundaries. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: By using objective criteria to determine behavioural shifts, we identified a biologically meaningful indicator of major changes in animal behaviour in different years. We recommend the use of such criteria, from an animal's perspective, for delineating seasons or

  12. Navigational efficiency in a biased and correlated random walk model of individual animal movement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bailey, Joseph D; Wallis, Jamie; Codling, Edward A

    2018-01-01

    Understanding how an individual animal is able to navigate through its environment is a key question in movement ecology that can give insight into observed movement patterns and the mechanisms behind them. Efficiency of navigation is important for behavioral processes at a range of different spatio-temporal scales, including foraging and migration. Random walk models provide a standard framework for modeling individual animal movement and navigation. Here we consider a vector-weighted biased and correlated random walk (BCRW) model for directed movement (taxis), where external navigation cues are balanced with forward persistence. We derive a mathematical approximation of the expected navigational efficiency for any BCRW of this form and confirm the model predictions using simulations. We demonstrate how the navigational efficiency is related to the weighting given to forward persistence and external navigation cues, and highlight the counter-intuitive result that for low (but realistic) levels of error on forward persistence, a higher navigational efficiency is achieved by giving more weighting to this indirect navigation cue rather than direct navigational cues. We discuss and interpret the relevance of these results for understanding animal movement and navigation strategies. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

  13. [Transposition errors during learning to reproduce a sequence by the right- and the left-hand movements: simulation of positional and movement coding].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liakhovetskiĭ, V A; Bobrova, E V; Skopin, G N

    2012-01-01

    Transposition errors during the reproduction of a hand movement sequence make it possible to receive important information on the internal representation of this sequence in the motor working memory. Analysis of such errors showed that learning to reproduce sequences of the left-hand movements improves the system of positional coding (coding ofpositions), while learning of the right-hand movements improves the system of vector coding (coding of movements). Learning of the right-hand movements after the left-hand performance involved the system of positional coding "imposed" by the left hand. Learning of the left-hand movements after the right-hand performance activated the system of vector coding. Transposition errors during learning to reproduce movement sequences can be explained by neural network using either vector coding or both vector and positional coding.

  14. Professionalizing a Global Social Movement: Universities and Human Rights

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suarez, David; Bromley, Patricia

    2012-01-01

    Research on the human rights movement emphasizes direct changes in nation-states, focusing on the efficacy of treaties and the role of advocacy in mitigating immediate violations. However, more than 140 universities in 59 countries established academic chairs, research centers, and programs for human rights from 1968-2000, a development that…

  15. A new method for discovering behavior patterns among animal movements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Y.; Luo, Ze; Takekawa, John Y.; Prosser, Diann J.; Xiong, Y.; Newman, S.; Xiao, X.; Batbayar, N.; Spragens, Kyle A.; Balachandran, S.; Yan, B.

    2016-01-01

    Advanced satellite tracking technologies enable biologists to track animal movements at fine spatial and temporal scales. The resultant data present opportunities and challenges for understanding animal behavioral mechanisms. In this paper, we develop a new method to elucidate animal movement patterns from tracking data. Here, we propose the notion of continuous behavior patterns as a concise representation of popular migration routes and underlying sequential behaviors during migration. Each stage in the pattern is characterized in terms of space (i.e., the places traversed during movements) and time (i.e. the time spent in those places); that is, the behavioral state corresponding to a stage is inferred according to the spatiotemporal and sequential context. Hence, the pattern may be interpreted predictably. We develop a candidate generation and refinement framework to derive all continuous behavior patterns from raw trajectories. In the framework, we first define the representative spots to denote the underlying potential behavioral states that are extracted from individual trajectories according to the similarity of relaxed continuous locations in certain distinct time intervals. We determine the common behaviors of multiple individuals according to the spatiotemporal proximity of representative spots and apply a projection-based extension approach to generate candidate sequential behavior sequences as candidate patterns. Finally, the candidate generation procedure is combined with a refinement procedure to derive continuous behavior patterns. We apply an ordered processing strategy to accelerate candidate refinement. The proposed patterns and discovery framework are evaluated through conceptual experiments on both real GPS-tracking and large synthetic datasets.

  16. A random walk description of individual animal movement accounting for periods of rest

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tilles, Paulo F. C.; Petrovskii, Sergei V.; Natti, Paulo L.

    2016-11-01

    Animals do not move all the time but alternate the period of actual movement (foraging) with periods of rest (e.g. eating or sleeping). Although the existence of rest times is widely acknowledged in the literature and has even become a focus of increased attention recently, the theoretical approaches to describe animal movement by calculating the dispersal kernel and/or the mean squared displacement (MSD) rarely take rests into account. In this study, we aim to bridge this gap. We consider a composite stochastic process where the periods of active dispersal or `bouts' (described by a certain baseline probability density function (pdf) of animal dispersal) alternate with periods of immobility. For this process, we derive a general equation that determines the pdf of this composite movement. The equation is analysed in detail in two special but important cases such as the standard Brownian motion described by a Gaussian kernel and the Levy flight described by a Cauchy distribution. For the Brownian motion, we show that in the large-time asymptotics the effect of rests results in a rescaling of the diffusion coefficient. The movement occurs as a subdiffusive transition between the two diffusive asymptotics. Interestingly, the Levy flight case shows similar properties, which indicates a certain universality of our findings.

  17. Rights and Justice and the Social Web Movement (Latin America ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Rights and Justice and the Social Web Movement (Latin America) ... mounted to raise public awareness of the importance of privacy as a human right on the Internet. ... conference of McGill's Institute for the Study of International Development.

  18. Animal Rights as a Mainstream Phenomenon

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bernard E. Rollin

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Businesses and professions must stay in accord with social ethics, or risk losing their autonomy.A major social ethical issue that has emerged in the past four decades is the treatment of animals in various areas of human use. Society’s moral concern has outgrown the traditional ethic of animal cruelty that began in biblical times and is encoded in the laws of all civilized societies. There are five major reasons for this new social concern, most importantly, the replacement of husbandry-based agriculture with industrial agriculture. This loss of husbandry to industry has threatened the traditional fair contract between humans and animals, and resulted in significant amounts of animal suffering arising on four different fronts. Because such suffering is not occasioned by cruelty, a new ethic for animals was required to express social concerns. Since ethics proceed from preexisting ethics rather than ex nihilo, society has looked to its ethic for humans, appropriately modified, to find moral categories applicable to animals. This concept of legally encoded rights for animals has emerged as a plausible vehicle for reform.

  19. Animal Rights as a Mainstream Phenomenon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rollin, Bernard E

    2011-01-19

    Businesses and professions must stay in accord with social ethics, or risk losing their autonomy.A major social ethical issue that has emerged in the past four decades is the treatment of animals in various areas of human use. Society's moral concern has outgrown the traditional ethic of animal cruelty that began in biblical times and is encoded in the laws of all civilized societies. There are five major reasons for this new social concern, most importantly, the replacement of husbandry-based agriculture with industrial agriculture. This loss of husbandry to industry has threatened the traditional fair contract between humans and animals, and resulted in significant amounts of animal suffering arising on four different fronts. Because such suffering is not occasioned by cruelty, a new ethic for animals was required to express social concerns. Since ethics proceed from preexisting ethics rather than ex nihilo, society has looked to its ethic for humans, appropriately modified, to find moral categories applicable to animals. This concept of legally encoded rights for animals has emerged as a plausible vehicle for reform.

  20. Movement of regulatory RNA between animal cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jose, Antony M

    2015-07-01

    Recent studies suggest that RNA can move from one cell to another and regulate genes through specific base-pairing. Mechanisms that modify or select RNA for secretion from a cell are unclear. Secreted RNA can be stable enough to be detected in the extracellular environment and can enter the cytosol of distant cells to regulate genes. Mechanisms that import RNA into the cytosol of an animal cell can enable uptake of RNA from many sources including other organisms. This role of RNA is akin to that of steroid hormones, which cross cell membranes to regulate genes. The potential diagnostic use of RNA in human extracellular fluids has ignited interest in understanding mechanisms that enable the movement of RNA between animal cells. Genetic model systems will be essential to gain more confidence in proposed mechanisms of RNA transport and to connect an extracellular RNA with a specific biological function. Studies in the worm C. elegans and in other animals have begun to reveal parts of this novel mechanism of cell-to-cell communication. Here, I summarize the current state of this nascent field, highlight the many unknowns, and suggest future directions. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  1. 9 CFR 71.17 - Interstate movement of dead poultry or other animals prohibited in same car with live poultry or...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Interstate movement of dead poultry or other animals prohibited in same car with live poultry or other animals. 71.17 Section 71.17 Animals and... TRANSPORTATION OF ANIMALS (INCLUDING POULTRY) AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS GENERAL PROVISIONS § 71.17 Interstate movement...

  2. The Impact of Animal Rights on the Use of Animals for Biomedical Research, Product Testing and Evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baier, Stephen W.

    1993-01-01

    Clarifies the issues of animal rights as they effect animal use in research and education through an examination of the current use of animals, a historical look at animal use, and a consideration of the philosophical underpinnings of the animal rights and pro-use viewpoints. (PR)

  3. Legal Protection to Watchdogs in South of Brazil: a question of empathy born of Non-Human Animal Protection Movements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Letícia Albuquerque

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available The recognition of animal rights is an ongoing process. The Brazilian Federal Constitution prohibits cruel practices against non-human animals. However, it has become a common business practice the rental of dogs for asset security. Renting watchdogs offends the principle of the dignity of life. The animals were kept in degrading situation. Different actors were protagonists of the movement to protect watchdogs and joined each other in the fight to ban the rental of guard dogs for property security. The issue mobilized society through a social network, the basic emergency action packed emotions, empathy, and processes of political tolerance and of reciprocity.

  4. From global discourse to local action: the makings of a sexual rights movement?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonathan Garcia

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper focuses on the development of discourses around sexual rights, linking tendencies in official global dialogues with national and local realities. Recognizing some of the factors that have facilitated or impeded discourses and action to promote sexual rights around the world, we explore the principles and processes of framing sexual rights and sexual citizenship. We consider political opportunity and the mobilization of resources as important as cultural and emotional interpretations of sexual rights in conceptualizing a "sexual rights movement". Throughout the paper we question whether a movement based on solidarity can be forged between different social movements (i.e., feminist movements, HIV/AIDS movements, LGBT movements, etc. that are advocating for distinct sexual rights. While theoretically sexual rights range from protection from sexual violation to the celebration of sexual pleasure, in reality the agendas of sexual rights movements are still largely fragmented, heteronormative, and focused on negative rights.Este artigo enfoca o desenvolvimento de discursos que circundam os direitos sexuais juntando tendências em diálogos globais oficiais com realidades nacionais e locais. Reconhecendo alguns fatores que têm facilitado ou impedido discursos e ações que promovam direitos sexuais ao redor do mundo, nós exploramos os princípios e processos onde se enquadram os direitos sexuais e a cidadania sexual. Nós consideramos que as oportunidades políticas e a mobilização de recursos são tão importantes para a conceitualização de um movimento pelos direitos sexuais quanto as interpretações culturais e emocionais dos direitos sexuais. Ao longo deste artigo, nós questionamos se um movimento baseado na solidariedade pode ser forjado entre movimentos diferentes (por exemplo, movimentos feministas, HIV/Aids, movimentos GLBT, etc. que estão reivindicando direitos sexuais distintos. Enquanto teoricamente os direitos sexuais v

  5. Teaching animal welfare in the land grant universities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Friend, T H

    1990-10-01

    Colleges and universities have an obligation to teach the basis of animal husbandry and welfare and must prepare students so that they can respond effectively to challenges by proponents of the animal welfare and animal rights movements. Veterinary curricula must now contain formal instruction in professional ethics and humane stewardship of animals for accreditation by the American Veterinary Medical Association. It is helpful if students have an understanding of farm animal behavior, stress physiology and methods of assessing welfare prior to learning about the animal welfare/rights movement's philosophies and issues. A review of early judicial practices, "classical" Judeo-Christian philosophy, the philosophy of Rene Descartes, Jeremy Bentham, Albert Schweitzer, and current philosophers and the entertainment media places the movements in perspective. Students should be familiar with such concepts as the mind-body controversy, equality of suffering, self-awareness or intelligence, and speciesism. After acquiring an appreciation of the basics, a knowledge of the issues facing animal agriculture and the arguments for and against each issue are necessary. Graduates of colleges of agriculture need to realize the potential effects the movements can have and take the initiative to improve the image of animal agriculture.

  6. Iranian Democratization Part II: The Green Movement - Revolution or Civil Rights Movement?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Victor H. Sundquist

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The fundamental question of whether or not the Green Movement’s opposition leaders were successful in their attempts to change the political landscape in Iran first lies in understanding the premise behind the organization and secondly recognizing the actual goals of the leadership. Consequently, this article analyzes these questions as a framework for developing a comparative analysis between revolutions and civil rights movements as a means to understand both the intent and outcomes of the Green Movement. From this analysis, lessons learned are put forth as a means to establish a series of recommendations for future Western political engagements with Iran. In doing so, the hope is that a political dialogue will emerge between Western governments that both alleviate the current tensions while also addressing security concerns in the region.

  7. Right to Place: A Political Theory of Animal Rights in Harmony with Environmental and Ecological Principles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eleni Panagiotarakou

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The focus of this paper is on the “right to place” as a political theory of wild animal rights. Out of the debate between terrestrial cosmopolitans inspired by Kant and Arendt and rooted cosmopolitan animal right theorists, the right to place emerges from the fold of rooted cosmopolitanism in tandem with environmental and ecological principles. Contrary to terrestrial cosmopolitans—who favour extending citizenship rights to wild animals and advocate at the same time large-scale humanitarian interventions and unrestricted geographical mobility—I argue that the well-being of wild animals is best served by the right to place theory on account of its sovereignty model. The right to place theory advocates human non-interference in wildlife communities, opposing even humanitarian interventions, which carry the risk of unintended consequences. The right to place theory, with its emphasis on territorial sovereignty, bases its opposition to unrestricted geographical mobility on two considerations: (a the non-generalist nature of many species and (b the potential for abuse via human encroachment. In a broader context, the advantage of the right to place theory lies in its implicit environmental demands: human population control and sustainable lifestyles.

  8. "The Civil Rights Movement of the 1990s?": The anti-abortion movement and the struggle for racial justice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hughes, Richard L

    2006-01-01

    In 1964, Claude and Jeanne Nolen, who were white, joined an interracial NAACP team intent on desegregating local restaurants in Austin, Texas as a test of the recently passed Civil Rights ACt. Twenty-five years later, the Nolens pleaded "no contest" in a courtroom for their continued social activism. This time the issue was not racial segregation, but rather criminal trespassing for blockading abortion clinics with Operation Rescue. The Nolens served prison sentences for direct action protests that they believe stemmed from the same commitment to Christianity and social justice as the civil rights movements. Despite its relationship to political and cultural conservatism, the anti-abortion movement since Roe v. Wade (1973) was also a product of the progressive social movements of the turbulent sixties. Utilizing oral history interviews and organizational literature, the article explores the historical context of the anti-abortion movement, specifically how the lengthy struggle for racial justice shaped the rhetoric, tactics, and ideology of the anti-abortion activists. Even after political conservatives dominated the movement in the 1980s, the successes and failures of the sixties provided a cultural lens through which grassroots anti-abortion activists forged what was arguably the largest movement of civil disobedience in American history.

  9. Optimal orientation in flows : Providing a benchmark for animal movement strategies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    McLaren, James D.; Shamoun-Baranes, Judy; Dokter, Adriaan M.; Klaassen, Raymond H. G.; Bouten, Willem

    2014-01-01

    Animal movements in air and water can be strongly affected by experienced flow. While various flow-orientation strategies have been proposed and observed, their performance in variable flow conditions remains unclear. We apply control theory to establish a benchmark for time-minimizing (optimal)

  10. Animal Rights: Selected Resources and Suggestions for Further Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davidoff, Donald J.

    1989-01-01

    Presents an annotated list of selected resources intended to serve as a guide to the growing amount of material on animal rights. Suggestions to aid in additional research include subject headings used to find books, indexes used to locate periodical articles, sources for locating organizations, and a selected list of animal rights organizations.…

  11. Improving interactions between animal rights groups and conservation biologists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perry, Dan; Perry, Gad

    2008-02-01

    Invasive species are often considered to be a major threat to biodiversity, leading conservation biologists to often recommend their complete eradication. Animal rights groups typically categorically oppose killing animals, and their opposition has brought eradication attempts of gray squirrels in northern Italy (Europe) and mute swans in Vermont to a halt. As a result native red squirrels may disappear from Europe and ecosystem-wide impacts are expected to be caused by the swan. In contrast, cooperation between managers and animal rights groups has resulted in a successful control program for feral pigs in Fort Worth, Texas (U.S.A.). The philosophical differences between animal rights and conservation biologists' views make cooperation seem unlikely, yet documented cases of cooperation have been beneficial for both groups. We recommend that managers dealing with invasive species should consult with social scientists and ethicists to gain a better understanding of the implications of some of their policy decisions. In addition, we recommend that animal rights groups do more to support alternatives to lethal control, which are often excluded by economic limitations. Prevention of arrival of invasive species via application of the precautionary principle may be an especially productive avenue for such collaboration because it fits the goals and values of both groups.

  12. [Influence of "prehistory" of sequential movements of the right and the left hand on reproduction: coding of positions, movements and sequence structure].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bobrova, E V; Liakhovetskiĭ, V A; Borshchevskaia, E R

    2011-01-01

    The dependence of errors during reproduction of a sequence of hand movements without visual feedback on the previous right- and left-hand performance ("prehistory") and on positions in space of sequence elements (random or ordered by the explicit rule) was analyzed. It was shown that the preceding information about the ordered positions of the sequence elements was used during right-hand movements, whereas left-hand movements were performed with involvement of the information about the random sequence. The data testify to a central mechanism of the analysis of spatial structure of sequence elements. This mechanism activates movement coding specific for the left hemisphere (vector coding) in case of an ordered sequence structure and positional coding specific for the right hemisphere in case of a random sequence structure.

  13. Relationship of trade patterns of the Danish swine industry animal movements network to potential disease spread

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bigras-Poulin, Michel; Barfod, Kristen; Mortensen, Sten

    2007-01-01

    homogeneity in farm-to-farm relationship should only be used for large-scale interpretation and for epidemic preparedness. The network approach, based on graph theory, can be used efficiently to express more precisely, on a local scale (premise), the heterogeneity of animal movements. This approach...... number of pigs was 24. The largest percentage of movements was from farm to abattoir (82.5%); the median number of pigs per movement was 24 and the maximum number was 2018. For the whole period the median and maximum Euclidean distances observed in farm-to-farm movements were 22 km and 289 km...... respectively, while in the farm-to-abattoir movements, they were 36.2 km and 285 km. The network related to one specific premise showed that the median number of premises was mainly away from slaughter pig farms (3) or breeder farms (26) and mainly to an abattoir (1535). The assumption that animal movements...

  14. Are Some Animals More Equal than Others? Animal Rights and Deep Ecology in Environmental Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kopnina, Helen; Gjerris, Mickey

    2015-01-01

    This article focuses on the role of ethical perspectives such as deep ecology and animal rights in relation to environmental education, arguing that such perspectives are well-placed to reposition students as responsible planetary citizens. We focus on the linkage between non-consequentialism, animal rights, and deep ecology in an educational…

  15. The Global Movement for Human Rights Education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nancy Flowers

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available An overview of the global movement for human rights education (HRE, its impetus, challenges, and contrasting developments in different regions of the world, focusing especially on Latin America, the Philippines, South Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. Seeks to put HRE in the USA into an international perspective, as well as to show the variety of goals that inspire HRE and how methodologies have evolved to meet specific regional and political cultures and needs.

  16. 9 CFR 80.3 - Movement of domestic animals that are positive to an official Johne's disease test.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... positive to an official Johne's disease test. 80.3 Section 80.3 Animals and Animal Products ANIMAL AND... animals that are positive to an official Johne's disease test. (a) Movement of domestic animals for slaughter. Domestic animals that are positive to an official Johne's disease test may be moved interstate...

  17. The Freedom Schools, the Civil Rights Movement, and Refocusing the Goals of American Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hale, Jon N.

    2011-01-01

    This article examines the history of the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Schools to illustrate how integrating the Civil Rights Movement into the social studies curriculum refocuses the aims of American education on participatory democracy. Teaching the Civil Rights Movement and employing the teaching strategies used in the Freedom Schools leads to the…

  18. [Pigeon sport and animal rights].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Warzecha, M

    2007-03-01

    To begin, a short overview of the organization and the realization of the racing pigeon sport. Some physiological facts, relevant to racing pigeons, will be touched on. Lastly, a focus on the flights, their completion and the problems involved with the, in some cases, high number of lost pigeons. The German Club of Pigeon Breeders, has made improvements but, it is certainly not enough. The topic of "City Pigeons" will be briefed. The final part deals with pertinent animal rights issues, causes of mishaps, and some rectifying possibilities, which are available to the government veterinarian. Special emphasis will be placed on the international uniformity of this issue. The lecture should prove that there is a need for every government veterinarian to become actively involved, because the described problematic has a major effect on a very large number of animals.

  19. Animal movement network analysis as a tool to map farms serving as contamination source in cattle cysticercosis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Samuel C. Aragão

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT: Bovine cysticercosis is a problem distributed worldwide that result in economic losses mainly due to the condemnation of infected carcasses. One of the difficulties in applying control measures is the identification of the source of infection, especially because cattle are typically acquired from multiple farms. Here, we tested the utility of an animal movement network constructed with data from a farm that acquires cattle from several other different farms to map the major contributors of cysticercosis propagation. Additionally, based on the results of the network analysis, we deployed a sanitary management and drug treatment scheme to decrease cysticercosis’ occurrence in the farm. Six farms that had commercial trades were identified by the animal movement network and characterized as the main contributors to the occurrence of cysticercosis in the studied farm. The identification of farms with a putative risk of Taenia saginata infection using the animal movement network along with the proper sanitary management and drug treatment resulted in a gradual decrease in cysticercosis prevalence, from 25% in 2010 to 3.7% in 2011 and 1.8% in 2012. These results suggest that the animal movement network can contribute towards controlling bovine cysticercosis, thus minimizing economic losses and preventing human taeniasis.

  20. Applying network theory to animal movements to identify properties of landscape space use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bastille-Rousseau, Guillaume; Douglas-Hamilton, Iain; Blake, Stephen; Northrup, Joseph M; Wittemyer, George

    2018-04-01

    Network (graph) theory is a popular analytical framework to characterize the structure and dynamics among discrete objects and is particularly effective at identifying critical hubs and patterns of connectivity. The identification of such attributes is a fundamental objective of animal movement research, yet network theory has rarely been applied directly to animal relocation data. We develop an approach that allows the analysis of movement data using network theory by defining occupied pixels as nodes and connection among these pixels as edges. We first quantify node-level (local) metrics and graph-level (system) metrics on simulated movement trajectories to assess the ability of these metrics to pull out known properties in movement paths. We then apply our framework to empirical data from African elephants (Loxodonta africana), giant Galapagos tortoises (Chelonoidis spp.), and mule deer (Odocoileous hemionus). Our results indicate that certain node-level metrics, namely degree, weight, and betweenness, perform well in capturing local patterns of space use, such as the definition of core areas and paths used for inter-patch movement. These metrics were generally applicable across data sets, indicating their robustness to assumptions structuring analysis or strategies of movement. Other metrics capture local patterns effectively, but were sensitive to specified graph properties, indicating case specific applications. Our analysis indicates that graph-level metrics are unlikely to outperform other approaches for the categorization of general movement strategies (central place foraging, migration, nomadism). By identifying critical nodes, our approach provides a robust quantitative framework to identify local properties of space use that can be used to evaluate the effect of the loss of specific nodes on range wide connectivity. Our network approach is intuitive, and can be implemented across imperfectly sampled or large-scale data sets efficiently, providing a

  1. Optimizing surveillance for livestock disease spreading through animal movements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bajardi, Paolo; Barrat, Alain; Savini, Lara; Colizza, Vittoria

    2012-01-01

    The spatial propagation of many livestock infectious diseases critically depends on the animal movements among premises; so the knowledge of movement data may help us to detect, manage and control an outbreak. The identification of robust spreading features of the system is however hampered by the temporal dimension characterizing population interactions through movements. Traditional centrality measures do not provide relevant information as results strongly fluctuate in time and outbreak properties heavily depend on geotemporal initial conditions. By focusing on the case study of cattle displacements in Italy, we aim at characterizing livestock epidemics in terms of robust features useful for planning and control, to deal with temporal fluctuations, sensitivity to initial conditions and missing information during an outbreak. Through spatial disease simulations, we detect spreading paths that are stable across different initial conditions, allowing the clustering of the seeds and reducing the epidemic variability. Paths also allow us to identify premises, called sentinels, having a large probability of being infected and providing critical information on the outbreak origin, as encoded in the clusters. This novel procedure provides a general framework that can be applied to specific diseases, for aiding risk assessment analysis and informing the design of optimal surveillance systems. PMID:22728387

  2. Islamic movement and human rights: Pertubuhan Jamaah Islah Malaysia’s involvement in the “Abolish Internal Security Act Movement,” 2000-2012

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maszlee Malik

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Human rights has been acknowledged as one of the essential characteristics of good governance. Abuse of human rights is strongly associated with bad governance, which is believed by many to be a serious impediment to development and sustainable growth. Despite the active participations of Islamic movements in many parts of the political world, very little is known of their involvement in advocating human rights issues as part of their struggle for power. Nevertheless, as an Islamic movement and an Islamic revivalism actor in Malaysia, Pertubuhan Jamaah Islah Malaysia (JIM has shown otherwise. JIM has resembled a different attitude towards the issue of human rights that they believe as an integrated and pertinent composition of good governance. By scrutinising their political activities and discourse since 2000, it becomes clear that JIM has been actively engaged in good governance and human rights issues, especially those that relate to the political rights of citizens through its involvement in the Abolish Internal Security Act (ISA Movement (Gerakan Mansuhkan ISA. This paper examines JIM’s involvement in human rights issues with a special focus on its active and leading role in calling for the abolishment of the Internal Security Act (ISA.

  3. Low relative error in consumer-grade GPS units make them ideal for measuring small-scale animal movement patterns

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Greg A. Breed

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Consumer-grade GPS units are a staple of modern field ecology, but the relatively large error radii reported by manufacturers (up to 10 m ostensibly precludes their utility in measuring fine-scale movement of small animals such as insects. Here we demonstrate that for data collected at fine spatio-temporal scales, these devices can produce exceptionally accurate data on step-length and movement patterns of small animals. With an understanding of the properties of GPS error and how it arises, it is possible, using a simple field protocol, to use consumer grade GPS units to collect step-length data for the movement of small animals that introduces a median error as small as 11 cm. These small error rates were measured in controlled observations of real butterfly movement. Similar conclusions were reached using a ground-truth test track prepared with a field tape and compass and subsequently measured 20 times using the same methodology as the butterfly tracking. Median error in the ground-truth track was slightly higher than the field data, mostly between 20 and 30 cm, but even for the smallest ground-truth step (70 cm, this is still a signal-to-noise ratio of 3:1, and for steps of 3 m or more, the ratio is greater than 10:1. Such small errors relative to the movements being measured make these inexpensive units useful for measuring insect and other small animal movements on small to intermediate scales with budgets orders of magnitude lower than survey-grade units used in past studies. As an additional advantage, these units are simpler to operate, and insect or other small animal trackways can be collected more quickly than either survey-grade units or more traditional ruler/gird approaches.

  4. The Use of Passive Resistance During the Civil Rights Movement: an Interpretation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karatzas Konstantinos D.

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available The roots of nonviolent direct action and the development into a powerful method of persuasion and coercion will be explored in an attempt to explain its distinctive role in the Civil Rights Movement. The paper will focus on the participation of the three actions, the political, the legal and the passive, in the victorious moments of the Movement.

  5. Scale-free animal movement patterns: Levy walks outperform fractional Brownian motions and fractional Levy motions in random search scenarios

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reynolds, A M

    2009-01-01

    The movement patterns of a diverse range of animals have scale-free characteristics. These characteristics provide necessary but not sufficient conditions for the presence of movement patterns that can be approximated by Levy walks. Nevertheless, it has been widely assumed that the occurrence of scale-free animal movements can indeed be attributed to the presence of Levy walks. This is, in part, because it is known that the super-diffusive properties of Levy walks can be advantageous in random search scenarios when searchers have little or no prior knowledge of target locations. However, fractional Brownian motions (fBms) and fractional Levy motions (fLms) are both scale-free and super-diffusive, and so it is possible that these motions rather than Levy walks underlie some or all occurrences of scale-free animal movement patterns. Here this possibility is examined in numerical simulations through a determination of the searching efficiencies of fBm and fLm searches. It is shown that these searches are less efficient than Levy walk searches. This finding does not rule out the possibility that some animals with scale-free movement patterns are executing fBm and fLm searches, but it does make Levy walk searches the more likely possibility.

  6. Movement of the Organized Blind in India: From Passive Recipients of Services to Active Advocates of Their Rights

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chander, Jagdish

    2012-01-01

    In recent years, the subject of the newborn disability rights movement in India has been attracting the attention of researchers, but there has been very little effort to document the movement of blind people in India for their rights, which preceded the broader disability rights movement. I therefore conducted a qualitative study of this movement…

  7. On modeling animal movements using Brownian motion with measurement error.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pozdnyakov, Vladimir; Meyer, Thomas; Wang, Yu-Bo; Yan, Jun

    2014-02-01

    Modeling animal movements with Brownian motion (or more generally by a Gaussian process) has a long tradition in ecological studies. The recent Brownian bridge movement model (BBMM), which incorporates measurement errors, has been quickly adopted by ecologists because of its simplicity and tractability. We discuss some nontrivial properties of the discrete-time stochastic process that results from observing a Brownian motion with added normal noise at discrete times. In particular, we demonstrate that the observed sequence of random variables is not Markov. Consequently the expected occupation time between two successively observed locations does not depend on just those two observations; the whole path must be taken into account. Nonetheless, the exact likelihood function of the observed time series remains tractable; it requires only sparse matrix computations. The likelihood-based estimation procedure is described in detail and compared to the BBMM estimation.

  8. Stop staring facial modeling and animation done right

    CERN Document Server

    Osipa, Jason

    2010-01-01

    The de facto official source on facial animation—now updated!. If you want to do character facial modeling and animation at the high levels achieved in today's films and games, Stop Staring: Facial Modeling and Animation Done Right, Third Edition , is for you. While thoroughly covering the basics such as squash and stretch, lip syncs, and much more, this new edition has been thoroughly updated to capture the very newest professional design techniques, as well as changes in software, including using Python to automate tasks.: Shows you how to create facial animation for movies, games, and more;

  9. Women's Rights Movements in the Nineteenth Century: Conflict and Progress

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gilbert, Janet

    1978-01-01

    Historical review of the function of social conflict in the nineteenth century women's rights movements. Considers whether suffrage and a move toward equality could have been accomplished without major philosophical differences. Differences between the Stanton and Anthony suffrage group and the Stone and Blackwell suffrage group are discussed.…

  10. Rig it right! Maya animation rigging concepts

    CERN Document Server

    O'Hailey, Tina

    2013-01-01

    Rigging a character can be a complicated undertaking. Move from a bi-pedal character to a quad- or poly-pedal and, well, things just got real. Where do you begin? Unlike all of those button-pushing manuals out there, Rig it Right! breaks down rigging so that you can achieve a fundamental understanding of the concept, allowing you to rig more intuitively in your own work. Veteran animation professor Tina O'Hailey will get you up and rigging in a matter of hours with step-by-step tutorials covering multiple animation control types, connection methods, interactive skinning, Blend

  11. From moral rights to constitutional rights: beyond élitist and electiv speciesism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sônia T. Felipe

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available Animal rights movement and the laws it have propounded since the 19 th Century are critically analyzed in this article under the perspective of the elitist and elective speciesism that constitute both the foundation of anthropocentric and non-anthropocentric ethics. Moral tradition considers non human animal species as inferior to the human species since non human animals lack any characteristic for being morally considerable. This is conceived here as elitist speciesism. On the other hand, animal protection movements consider certain kinds of animals as morally considerable while ignoring thesuffering and pain of all others; this represents another kind of speciesism called in this article elective speciesism. The history of animal protection laws shows that even in England and in the United States of America the first laws evidenced elective speciesism. The same kind of bias is typicalfor Brazilian animal protection laws. I hope to contribute to the notion that if we really want to protect animals, not only a certain kind of them, we have to give up our emotional preferences and predilections for some animals and move toward a complete abolition of both institutionalized and particular forms of animal use, abuse and murder.

  12. Impact of Bisphosphonate on Orthodontic tooth movement and osteoclastic count: An Animal Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Venkataramana, V; Chidambaram, S; Reddy, B Vishnuvardhan; Goud, E V Soma Shekara; Arafath, Mohammed; Krishnan6, Santhana

    2014-04-01

    Background : The aim of the current study is to examine the effect of systemically administered BP-Pamidronate, on Orthodontic Tooth Movement (OTM) along with osteoclastic quantification in New Zealand white rabbits. Materials & Methods : Twenty rabbits used in the study, were equally divided into 2 groups ; Group-1 as Control & Group-2 as Experimental. A sentalloy NITI closed coil spring (GAC International, USA) of 100 gram force, ligated between the lower first molar and the anterior most incisors of the rabbit has served as orthodontic force element. The BP- Pamidronate was administered at the dosage of 1.5 mg/kg body intra-peritonially, on the 1st, 7th and 14th day of the experiment. On the 21st day both group of animals were sacrificed, mandibles were dissected. The formed diastema between the 1st and 2nd molar was measured on the dissected mandibles using standard metric scale, which is considered as the OTM in the mesial direction. Next, the alveolar bone regions along with intact mesial surfaces were processed for histological investigation (osteoclastic count). Results : The student 't' test has been done to compare the mean values of molar tooth movement and osteoclastic count. Parameter :1 molar tooth movement has shown a significant difference between the control (3.750 ± 0.548 mm) and the experimental group (3.050 ± 0.556 mm) with calculated 'p' value (p-value <0.05) is significant at 0.0110 level. Parameter : 2 osteoclastic count has shown a significant difference between the control (13.335000 ± 0.735856 per square mm.) and the experimental group (11.426900 ± 1.49369 per square mm) calculated 'p' value (p-value <0.05) is significant at 0.003 level. Conclusion : The molar tooth movement and the osteoclastic count were significantly reduced in BP - Pamidronate administered animals than non-drug recipients. How to cite the article: Venkataramana V, Chidambaram S, Reddy BV, Goud EV, Arafath M, Krishnan S. Impact of Bisphosphonate on Orthodontic tooth

  13. Joint estimation over multiple individuals improves behavioural state inference from animal movement data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jonsen, Ian

    2016-02-08

    State-space models provide a powerful way to scale up inference of movement behaviours from individuals to populations when the inference is made across multiple individuals. Here, I show how a joint estimation approach that assumes individuals share identical movement parameters can lead to improved inference of behavioural states associated with different movement processes. I use simulated movement paths with known behavioural states to compare estimation error between nonhierarchical and joint estimation formulations of an otherwise identical state-space model. Behavioural state estimation error was strongly affected by the degree of similarity between movement patterns characterising the behavioural states, with less error when movements were strongly dissimilar between states. The joint estimation model improved behavioural state estimation relative to the nonhierarchical model for simulated data with heavy-tailed Argos location errors. When applied to Argos telemetry datasets from 10 Weddell seals, the nonhierarchical model estimated highly uncertain behavioural state switching probabilities for most individuals whereas the joint estimation model yielded substantially less uncertainty. The joint estimation model better resolved the behavioural state sequences across all seals. Hierarchical or joint estimation models should be the preferred choice for estimating behavioural states from animal movement data, especially when location data are error-prone.

  14. Free movement of workers and rights that can be derived

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cremers, Jan

    2012-01-01

    In this contribution a non-exhaustive overview is provided of several aspects of free movement of workers in the EU. The author has been (and is) involved in several research projects on the posting of workers, the coordination of social security and workers rights in a cross-border context; this

  15. Accounting for animal movement in estimation of resource selection functions: sampling and data analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forester, James D; Im, Hae Kyung; Rathouz, Paul J

    2009-12-01

    Patterns of resource selection by animal populations emerge as a result of the behavior of many individuals. Statistical models that describe these population-level patterns of habitat use can miss important interactions between individual animals and characteristics of their local environment; however, identifying these interactions is difficult. One approach to this problem is to incorporate models of individual movement into resource selection models. To do this, we propose a model for step selection functions (SSF) that is composed of a resource-independent movement kernel and a resource selection function (RSF). We show that standard case-control logistic regression may be used to fit the SSF; however, the sampling scheme used to generate control points (i.e., the definition of availability) must be accommodated. We used three sampling schemes to analyze simulated movement data and found that ignoring sampling and the resource-independent movement kernel yielded biased estimates of selection. The level of bias depended on the method used to generate control locations, the strength of selection, and the spatial scale of the resource map. Using empirical or parametric methods to sample control locations produced biased estimates under stronger selection; however, we show that the addition of a distance function to the analysis substantially reduced that bias. Assuming a uniform availability within a fixed buffer yielded strongly biased selection estimates that could be corrected by including the distance function but remained inefficient relative to the empirical and parametric sampling methods. As a case study, we used location data collected from elk in Yellowstone National Park, USA, to show that selection and bias may be temporally variable. Because under constant selection the amount of bias depends on the scale at which a resource is distributed in the landscape, we suggest that distance always be included as a covariate in SSF analyses. This approach to

  16. Improved animal welfare, the right technology and increased business.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Støier, S; Larsen, H D; Aaslyng, M D; Lykke, L

    2016-10-01

    Animal welfare is receiving increasing attention from the authorities, the public and NGOs. For this reason, the improvement of animal welfare and animal handling systems is of the utmost importance for the meat industry. Technological developments have led to more animal friendly systems that handle animals on the day of slaughter, and these developments will be even more important as consideration for animal welfare and sustainability is no longer just a trend but a licence to operate. Improvement of animal welfare also leads to a higher value of the carcasses due to higher product quality, less cut-off caused by fewer injuries, and reduced working load, which leads to increased business opportunities. Therefore, good animal welfare is good business, and the development and implementation of new technology is the way to obtain improved animal welfare. These subjects will be addressed using examples and cases from the pork and broiler production industry. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Bayesian estimation of animal movement from archival and satellite tags.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael D Sumner

    Full Text Available The reliable estimation of animal location, and its associated error is fundamental to animal ecology. There are many existing techniques for handling location error, but these are often ad hoc or are used in isolation from each other. In this study we present a Bayesian framework for determining location that uses all the data available, is flexible to all tagging techniques, and provides location estimates with built-in measures of uncertainty. Bayesian methods allow the contributions of multiple data sources to be decomposed into manageable components. We illustrate with two examples for two different location methods: satellite tracking and light level geo-location. We show that many of the problems with uncertainty involved are reduced and quantified by our approach. This approach can use any available information, such as existing knowledge of the animal's potential range, light levels or direct location estimates, auxiliary data, and movement models. The approach provides a substantial contribution to the handling uncertainty in archival tag and satellite tracking data using readily available tools.

  18. 10 Hz rTMS over right parietal cortex alters sense of agency during self-generated movements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anina eRitterband-Rosenbaum

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available A large body of fMRI and lesion-literature has provided evidence that the Inferior Parietal Cortex (IPC is important for sensorimotor integration and sense of agency (SoA. We used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS to explore the role of the IPC during a validated SoA detection task. 12 healthy, right-handed adults were included. The effects of rTMS on subjects’ SoA during self-generated movements were explored. The experiment consisted of 1/3 self-generated movements and 2/3 computer manipulated movements that introduced uncertainty as to whether the subjects were agents of an observed movement. Subjects completed three sessions, in which subjects received online rTMS over the right IPC (active condition, over the vertex (CZ (sham condition or no TMS but a sound-matched control. We found that rTMS over right IPC significantly altered SoA of the non-perturbed movements. Following IPC stimulation subjects were more likely to experience self-generated movements as being externally perturbed compared to the control site (P=0.002 and the stimulation-free control (P=0.042. The data support the importance of IPC activation during sensorimotor comparison in order to correctly determine the agent of movements.

  19. Integrative modelling of animal movement: incorporating in situ habitat and behavioural information for a migratory marine predator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bestley, Sophie; Jonsen, Ian D; Hindell, Mark A; Guinet, Christophe; Charrassin, Jean-Benoît

    2013-01-07

    A fundamental goal in animal ecology is to quantify how environmental (and other) factors influence individual movement, as this is key to understanding responsiveness of populations to future change. However, quantitative interpretation of individual-based telemetry data is hampered by the complexity of, and error within, these multi-dimensional data. Here, we present an integrative hierarchical Bayesian state-space modelling approach where, for the first time, the mechanistic process model for the movement state of animals directly incorporates both environmental and other behavioural information, and observation and process model parameters are estimated within a single model. When applied to a migratory marine predator, the southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina), we find the switch from directed to resident movement state was associated with colder water temperatures, relatively short dive bottom time and rapid descent rates. The approach presented here can have widespread utility for quantifying movement-behaviour (diving or other)-environment relationships across species and systems.

  20. Dystonia and paroxysmal dyskinesias: under-recognized movement disorders in domestic animals? A comparison with human dystonia/paroxysmal dyskinesias.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Angelika eRichter

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Dystonia is defined as a neurological syndrome characterized by involuntary sustained or intermittent muscle contractions causing twisting, often repetitive movements and postures. Paroxysmal dyskinesias are episodic movement disorders encompassing dystonia, chorea, athetosis and ballism in conscious individuals. Several decades of research have enhanced the understanding of the etiology of human dystonia and dyskinesias that are associated with dystonia, but the pathophysiology remains largely unknown. The spontaneous occurrence of hereditary dystonia and paroxysmal dyskinesia is well documented in rodents used as animal models in basic dystonia research. Several hyperkinetic movement disorders, described in dogs, horses and cattle, show similarities to these human movement disorders. Although dystonia is regarded as the third most common movement disorder in humans, it is often misdiagnosed because of the heterogeneity of etiology and clinical presentation. Since these conditions are poorly known in veterinary practice, their prevalence may be underestimated in veterinary medicine. In order to attract attention to these movement disorders, i.e. dystonia and paroxysmal dyskinesias associated with dystonia, and to enhance interest in translational research, this review gives a brief overview of the current literature regarding dystonia/paroxysmal dyskinesia in humans, and summarizes similar hereditary movement disorders reported in domestic animals.

  1. Impact of Bisphosphonate on Orthodontic tooth movement and osteoclastic count: An Animal Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Venkataramana, V; Chidambaram, S; Reddy, B Vishnuvardhan; Goud, E V Soma Shekara; Arafath, Mohammed; Krishnan, Santhana

    2014-01-01

    Background : The aim of the current study is to examine the effect of systemically administered BP-Pamidronate, on Orthodontic Tooth Movement (OTM) along with osteoclastic quantification in New Zealand white rabbits. Materials & Methods : Twenty rabbits used in the study, were equally divided into 2 groups ; Group-1 as Control & Group-2 as Experimental. A sentalloy NITI closed coil spring (GAC International, USA) of 100 gram force, ligated between the lower first molar and the anterior most incisors of the rabbit has served as orthodontic force element. The BP- Pamidronate was administered at the dosage of 1.5 mg/kg body intra-peritonially, on the 1st, 7th and 14th day of the experiment. On the 21st day both group of animals were sacrificed, mandibles were dissected. The formed diastema between the 1st and 2nd molar was measured on the dissected mandibles using standard metric scale, which is considered as the OTM in the mesial direction. Next, the alveolar bone regions along with intact mesial surfaces were processed for histological investigation (osteoclastic count). Results : The student ‘t’ test has been done to compare the mean values of molar tooth movement and osteoclastic count. Parameter :1 molar tooth movement has shown a significant difference between the control (3.750 ± 0.548 mm) and the experimental group (3.050 ± 0.556 mm) with calculated ‘p’ value (p-value S, Reddy BV, Goud EV, Arafath M, Krishnan S. Impact of Bisphosphonate on Orthodontic tooth movement and olsteoclastic count: An Animal Study. J Int Oral Health 2014;6(2):1-8. PMID:24876695

  2. Emerging Network-Based Tools in Movement Ecology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacoby, David M P; Freeman, Robin

    2016-04-01

    New technologies have vastly increased the available data on animal movement and behaviour. Consequently, new methods deciphering the spatial and temporal interactions between individuals and their environments are vital. Network analyses offer a powerful suite of tools to disentangle the complexity within these dynamic systems, and we review these tools, their application, and how they have generated new ecological and behavioural insights. We suggest that network theory can be used to model and predict the influence of ecological and environmental parameters on animal movement, focusing on spatial and social connectivity, with fundamental implications for conservation. Refining how we construct and randomise spatial networks at different temporal scales will help to establish network theory as a prominent, hypothesis-generating tool in movement ecology. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Fortune favours the brave: Movement responses shape demographic dynamics in strongly competing populations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Potts, Jonathan R; Petrovskii, Sergei V

    2017-05-07

    Animal movement is a key mechanism for shaping population dynamics. The effect of interactions between competing animals on a population's survival has been studied for many decades. However, interactions also affect an animal's subsequent movement decisions. Despite this, the indirect effect of these decisions on animal survival is much less well-understood. Here, we incorporate movement responses to foreign animals into a model of two competing populations, where inter-specific competition is greater than intra-specific competition. When movement is diffusive, the travelling wave moves from the stronger population to the weaker. However, by incorporating behaviourally induced directed movement towards the stronger population, the weaker one can slow the travelling wave down, even reversing its direction. Hence movement responses can switch the predictions of traditional mechanistic models. Furthermore, when environmental heterogeneity is combined with aggressive movement strategies, it is possible for spatially segregated co-existence to emerge. In this situation, the spatial patterns of the competing populations have the unusual feature that they are slightly out-of-phase with the environmental patterns. Finally, incorporating dynamic movement responses can also enable stable co-existence in a homogeneous environment, giving a new mechanism for spatially segregated co-existence. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Cytokines and VEGF Induction in Orthodontic Movement in Animal Models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Di Domenico

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Orthodontics is a branch of dentistry that aims at the resolution of dental malocclusions. The specialist carries out the treatment using intraoral or extraoral orthodontic appliances that require forces of a given load level to obtain a tooth movement in a certain direction in dental arches. Orthodontic tooth movement is dependent on efficient remodeling of periodontal ligament and alveolar bone, correlated with several biological and mechanical responses of the tissues surrounding the teeth. A periodontal ligament placed under pressure will result in bone resorption whereas a periodontal ligament under tension results in bone formation. In the primary stage of the application of orthodontic forces, an acute inflammation occurs in periodontium. Several proinflammatory cytokines are produced by immune-competent cells migrating by means of dilated capillaries. In this paper we summarize, also through the utilization of animal models, the role of some of these molecules, namely, interleukin-1β and vascular endothelial growth factor, that are some proliferation markers of osteoclasts and osteoblasts, and the macrophage colony stimulating factor.

  5. Minimally Invasive Techniques to Accelerate the Orthodontic Tooth Movement: A Systematic Review of Animal Studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irfan Qamruddin

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective. To evaluate various noninvasive and minimally invasive procedures for the enhancement of orthodontic tooth movement in animals. Materials and Methods. Literature was searched using NCBI (PubMed, PubMed Central, and PubMed Health, MedPilot (Medline, Catalogue ZB MED, Catalogue Medicine Health, and Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE, and Google Scholar from January 2009 till 31 December 2014. We included original articles related to noninvasive and minimally invasive procedures to enhance orthodontic tooth movement in animals. Extraction of data and quality assessments were carried out by two observers independently. Results. The total number of hits was 9195 out of which just 11 fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Nine articles were good and 5 articles were moderate in quality. Low level laser therapy (LLLT was among the most common noninvasive techniques whereas flapless corticision using various instruments was among the commonest minimally invasive procedures to enhance velocity of tooth movement. Conclusions. LLLT, low intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS, mechanical vibration, and flapless corticision are emerging noninvasive and minimally invasive techniques which need further researches to establish protocols to use them clinically with conviction.

  6. 9 CFR 92.3 - Movement restrictions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Movement restrictions. 92.3 Section 92... ANIMAL PRODUCTS: PROCEDURES FOR REQUESTING RECOGNITION OF REGIONS § 92.3 Movement restrictions. Whenever... exist and the EC imposes prohibitions or other restrictions on the movement of animals or animal...

  7. Dynamics of animal movement in an ecological context: dragonfly wing damage reduces flight performance and predation success.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Combes, S A; Crall, J D; Mukherjee, S

    2010-06-23

    Much of our understanding of the control and dynamics of animal movement derives from controlled laboratory experiments. While many aspects of animal movement can be probed only in these settings, a more complete understanding of animal locomotion may be gained by linking experiments on relatively simple motions in the laboratory to studies of more complex behaviours in natural settings. To demonstrate the utility of this approach, we examined the effects of wing damage on dragonfly flight performance in both a laboratory drop-escape response and the more natural context of aerial predation. The laboratory experiment shows that hindwing area loss reduces vertical acceleration and average flight velocity, and the predation experiment demonstrates that this type of wing damage results in a significant decline in capture success. Taken together, these results suggest that wing damage may take a serious toll on wild dragonflies, potentially reducing both reproductive success and survival.

  8. Democratising Democracy, Humanising Human Rights. European Decolonial Movements and the “Alternative Thinking of Alternatives"

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Suárez-Krabbe, Julia

    2013-01-01

    des Indigènes de la République (PIR) in France, the Dutch Black Movement, the Islamic Human Rights Commission in the UK, and the Studies Group of the Andalusian Workers' Union (Grupo de Estudios - Sindicato Andaluz de Trabajadores; GE-SAT). These movements all point to two fundamental crises of longue...

  9. Key Questions in Marine Megafauna Movement Ecology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hays, Graeme C; Ferreira, Luciana C; Sequeira, Ana M M; Meekan, Mark G; Duarte, Carlos M; Bailey, Helen; Bailleul, Fred; Bowen, W Don; Caley, M Julian; Costa, Daniel P; Eguíluz, Victor M; Fossette, Sabrina; Friedlaender, Ari S; Gales, Nick; Gleiss, Adrian C; Gunn, John; Harcourt, Rob; Hazen, Elliott L; Heithaus, Michael R; Heupel, Michelle; Holland, Kim; Horning, Markus; Jonsen, Ian; Kooyman, Gerald L; Lowe, Christopher G; Madsen, Peter T; Marsh, Helene; Phillips, Richard A; Righton, David; Ropert-Coudert, Yan; Sato, Katsufumi; Shaffer, Scott A; Simpfendorfer, Colin A; Sims, David W; Skomal, Gregory; Takahashi, Akinori; Trathan, Philip N; Wikelski, Martin; Womble, Jamie N; Thums, Michele

    2016-06-01

    It is a golden age for animal movement studies and so an opportune time to assess priorities for future work. We assembled 40 experts to identify key questions in this field, focussing on marine megafauna, which include a broad range of birds, mammals, reptiles, and fish. Research on these taxa has both underpinned many of the recent technical developments and led to fundamental discoveries in the field. We show that the questions have broad applicability to other taxa, including terrestrial animals, flying insects, and swimming invertebrates, and, as such, this exercise provides a useful roadmap for targeted deployments and data syntheses that should advance the field of movement ecology. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Glorious Burdens: Teaching Obama's History and the Long Civil Rights Movement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slate, Nico

    2011-01-01

    As a young child, Barack Obama learned about the civil rights movement from his mother. Obama's mother strove to instill in her multiracial son pride in being more than just literally African American. There is much to learn from Obama's history, understood both as the story of his life and as what Obama himself has said about his past and the…

  11. Estimating abundance of an open population with an N-mixture model using auxiliary data on animal movements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ketz, Alison C; Johnson, Therese L; Monello, Ryan J; Mack, John A; George, Janet L; Kraft, Benjamin R; Wild, Margaret A; Hooten, Mevin B; Hobbs, N Thompson

    2018-04-01

    Accurate assessment of abundance forms a central challenge in population ecology and wildlife management. Many statistical techniques have been developed to estimate population sizes because populations change over time and space and to correct for the bias resulting from animals that are present in a study area but not observed. The mobility of individuals makes it difficult to design sampling procedures that account for movement into and out of areas with fixed jurisdictional boundaries. Aerial surveys are the gold standard used to obtain data of large mobile species in geographic regions with harsh terrain, but these surveys can be prohibitively expensive and dangerous. Estimating abundance with ground-based census methods have practical advantages, but it can be difficult to simultaneously account for temporary emigration and observer error to avoid biased results. Contemporary research in population ecology increasingly relies on telemetry observations of the states and locations of individuals to gain insight on vital rates, animal movements, and population abundance. Analytical models that use observations of movements to improve estimates of abundance have not been developed. Here we build upon existing multi-state mark-recapture methods using a hierarchical N-mixture model with multiple sources of data, including telemetry data on locations of individuals, to improve estimates of population sizes. We used a state-space approach to model animal movements to approximate the number of marked animals present within the study area at any observation period, thereby accounting for a frequently changing number of marked individuals. We illustrate the approach using data on a population of elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni) in Northern Colorado, USA. We demonstrate substantial improvement compared to existing abundance estimation methods and corroborate our results from the ground based surveys with estimates from aerial surveys during the same seasons. We develop a

  12. Uniting statistical and individual-based approaches for animal movement modelling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Latombe, Guillaume; Parrott, Lael; Basille, Mathieu; Fortin, Daniel

    2014-01-01

    The dynamic nature of their internal states and the environment directly shape animals' spatial behaviours and give rise to emergent properties at broader scales in natural systems. However, integrating these dynamic features into habitat selection studies remains challenging, due to practically impossible field work to access internal states and the inability of current statistical models to produce dynamic outputs. To address these issues, we developed a robust method, which combines statistical and individual-based modelling. Using a statistical technique for forward modelling of the IBM has the advantage of being faster for parameterization than a pure inverse modelling technique and allows for robust selection of parameters. Using GPS locations from caribou monitored in Québec, caribou movements were modelled based on generative mechanisms accounting for dynamic variables at a low level of emergence. These variables were accessed by replicating real individuals' movements in parallel sub-models, and movement parameters were then empirically parameterized using Step Selection Functions. The final IBM model was validated using both k-fold cross-validation and emergent patterns validation and was tested for two different scenarios, with varying hardwood encroachment. Our results highlighted a functional response in habitat selection, which suggests that our method was able to capture the complexity of the natural system, and adequately provided projections on future possible states of the system in response to different management plans. This is especially relevant for testing the long-term impact of scenarios corresponding to environmental configurations that have yet to be observed in real systems.

  13. Co-speech hand movements during narrations: What is the impact of right vs. left hemisphere brain damage?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hogrefe, Katharina; Rein, Robert; Skomroch, Harald; Lausberg, Hedda

    2016-12-01

    Persons with brain damage show deviant patterns of co-speech hand movement behaviour in comparison to healthy speakers. It has been claimed by several authors that gesture and speech rely on a single production mechanism that depends on the same neurological substrate while others claim that both modalities are closely related but separate production channels. Thus, findings so far are contradictory and there is a lack of studies that systematically analyse the full range of hand movements that accompany speech in the condition of brain damage. In the present study, we aimed to fill this gap by comparing hand movement behaviour in persons with unilateral brain damage to the left and the right hemisphere and a matched control group of healthy persons. For hand movement coding, we applied Module I of NEUROGES, an objective and reliable analysis system that enables to analyse the full repertoire of hand movements independent of speech, which makes it specifically suited for the examination of persons with aphasia. The main results of our study show a decreased use of communicative conceptual gestures in persons with damage to the right hemisphere and an increased use of these gestures in persons with left brain damage and aphasia. These results not only suggest that the production of gesture and speech do not rely on the same neurological substrate but also underline the important role of right hemisphere functioning for gesture production. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Experimental evidence for inherent Lévy search behaviour in foraging animals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kölzsch, Andrea; Alzate, Adriana; Bartumeus, Frederic; de Jager, Monique; Weerman, Ellen J; Hengeveld, Geerten M; Naguib, Marc; Nolet, Bart A; van de Koppel, Johan

    2015-05-22

    Recently, Lévy walks have been put forward as a new paradigm for animal search and many cases have been made for its presence in nature. However, it remains debated whether Lévy walks are an inherent behavioural strategy or emerge from the animal reacting to its habitat. Here, we demonstrate signatures of Lévy behaviour in the search movement of mud snails (Hydrobia ulvae) based on a novel, direct assessment of movement properties in an experimental set-up using different food distributions. Our experimental data uncovered clusters of small movement steps alternating with long moves independent of food encounter and landscape complexity. Moreover, size distributions of these clusters followed truncated power laws. These two findings are characteristic signatures of mechanisms underlying inherent Lévy-like movement. Thus, our study provides clear experimental evidence that such multi-scale movement is an inherent behaviour rather than resulting from the animal interacting with its environment. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

  15. Declaration of the rights of animal and plant life

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jacobs, M.

    1977-01-01

    i Each living creature on earth has the right to exist, independent of its usefulness to humans. ii Every effort should be made to preserve all species of animal and plant life from premature extinction. Special protection should be afforded to those species whose survival is already threatened.

  16. [Alternatives to animal experimentation v.s. animal rights terrorism].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurosawa, Tsutomu Miki

    2008-05-01

    Systematic modern animal experimentation was established by Bernard Claude who wrote "An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine" in 1865. At this point, the public was already asking that the pain and distress of experimental animals be reduced. For this, scientists, William Russell and Rex Burch in 1959 proposed the principles of alternatives to animal experimentation, the "3Rs". Since that time, animal welfare advocates have promoted the 3Rs concept in biomedical research communities. However, cruel animal experiments have continued and there are reports of radical extremists showing their opposition by invasion, arson, theft and even bombing of institutions involved, resulting in killing of the animals. SHAC, one extremist group believed to be animal welfare activitists was recognized as a terrorist group after the 9.11 tragedy in USA and the government viewed their activities very seriously. In 2001, British animal extremists invaded Japanese universities and stole laboratory resources; one individual was arrested and sentenced to prison for three years; Japanese who assisted in the incident were arrested and one was sentenced for one year. In 2006, SHAC USA members were prosecuted and sentenced for up to 6 years for their terrorism activities including arson. We need to consider the background of these activities which are financially supported by animal welfare advocates. The way we, as scientists who conduct such experiments can respond is by promoting alternatives to this experimentation. In Japan, the animal welfare law was revised in 2005 stressing the importance of 3Rs in scientific activities with animals. The promotion of 3Rs should be strengthened in the pharmaceutical community.

  17. Limitations and pitfalls in measurements of right ventricular stroke volume in an animal model of right heart failure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vildbrad, Mads Dam; Andersen, Asger; Andersen, Thomas Krarup; Axelgaard, Sofie; Holmboe, Sarah; Andersen, Stine; Nielsen-Kudsk, Jens Erik; Ringgaard, Steffen

    2015-01-01

    Right heart failure occurs in various heart and pulmonary vascular diseases and may be fatal. We aimed to identify limitations in non-invasive measurements of right ventricular stroke volume in an animal model of right ventricular failure. Data from previous studies randomising rats to pulmonary trunk banding (PTB, n = 33) causing pressure-overload right ventricular failure or sham operation (n = 16) was evaluated retrospectively. We measured right ventricular stroke volume by high frequency echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We found correlation between right ventricular stroke volume measured by echocardiography and MRI in the sham animals (r = 0.677, p = 0.004) but not in the PTB group. Echocardiography overestimated the stroke volume compared to MRI in both groups. Intra- and inter-observer variation did not explain the difference. Technical, physiological and anatomical issues in the pulmonary artery might explain why echocardiography over-estimates stroke volume. Flow acceleration close to the pulmonary artery banding can cause uncertainties in the PTB model and might explain the lack of correlation. In conclusion, we found a correlation in right ventricular stroke volume measured by echocardiography versus MRI in the sham group but not the PTB group. Echocardiography overestimated right ventricular stroke volume compared to MRI. (paper)

  18. A Heterogeneous Wireless Identification Network for the Localization of Animals Based on Stochastic Movements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivana Raos

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available The improvement in the transmission range in wireless applications without the use of batteries remains a significant challenge in identification applications. In this paper, we describe a heterogeneous wireless identification network mostly powered by kinetic energy, which allows the localization of animals in open environments. The system relies on radio communications and a global positioning system. It is made up of primary and secondary nodes. Secondary nodes are kinetic-powered and take advantage of animal movements to activate the node and transmit a specific identifier, reducing the number of batteries of the system. Primary nodes are battery-powered and gather secondary-node transmitted information to provide it, along with position and time data, to a final base station in charge of the animal monitoring. The system allows tracking based on contextual information obtained from statistical data.

  19. The Tale of Two Civil Societies: Comparing disability rights movements in Nicaragua and Uruguay

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stephen Meyers

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The UNCRPD is unique amongst international rights instruments because it empowers civil society organizations to represent the rights-bearers themselves—persons with disabilities. As such, DPOs in the Global South have become a major concern for UN agencies and international NGOs who believe that grassroots disability associations need political advocacy training in order to take up their role as rights advocates. These expectations contain implicit assumptions regarding civil society-state relations and the existence of governmental capacity. The authors, however, hypothesize that not all civil societies will fit the rights advocacy model due to the political culture and public resources available within their respective, local communities. Disability movements in Nicaragua and Uruguay are compared and contrasted. In Nicaragua, a disability rights coalition dismisses many international expectations in favor for continuing to follow traditional civil society expectations to provide services. In Uruguay, a long history of high levels of social spending and disability organizing enabled DPOs to successfully advocate for progressive laws. The deaf community, however, decided to implement their own, separate advocacy strategies to ensure a fairer distribution of public resources. The authors conclude that rather than top-down civil society training, the international movement should allow local organizations set their own priorities.

  20. Movement to curtail animal dissections in zoology curriculum: review of the Indian experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akbarsha, Mohammad Abdulkader

    2007-01-01

    Animal dissections have been dropped from the curriculum in several developed countries, and virtual laboratories are taking their place, or at least the concept of the "three R's" is becoming accepted. Yet, the scenario in the developing countries in this regard has been dismal. However, recently, a movement has started in India in this area, thanks to the aggressive approach of PfA, I-CARE and InterNICHE, supported by a few zoology educators and policy makers, who joined this movement as freelancers. The aggressive campaigners against animal dissections put up convincing arguments to the orthodox zoology educators and higher education planners with such veracity that the arguments cannot be ignored. The arguments, to be presented in detail at the conference, and the campaign have been rewarded with success such that a few universities and autonomous colleges have revamped their zoology curricula so as to dispense with or reduce animal dissections. The Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India, has been the trendsetter, evolving what is known as the "Bharathidasan University Model". A memorandum from I-CARE and PfA to the University Grants Commission, Government of India, New Delhi, was sent out by the UGC to the universities with a request to consider the points positively. However, there is still a need to bring about an attitudinal change in the zoology educators and higher education planners such that they participate willingly in this endeavour. The role-players at all levels are identified and approached with a language that is understandable to each and are adequately supported by hands-on training in the alternative methods. Ultimately, the responsibility in this regard lies with the educators themselves, since they are the ones who, working in the academic committees that design the curricula, can cut down on the requirement for dissections.

  1. A method to quantify movement activity of groups of animals using automated image analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Jianyu; Yu, Haizhen; Liu, Ying

    2009-07-01

    Most physiological and environmental changes are capable of inducing variations in animal behavior. The behavioral parameters have the possibility to be measured continuously in-situ by a non-invasive and non-contact approach, and have the potential to be used in the actual productions to predict stress conditions. Most vertebrates tend to live in groups, herds, flocks, shoals, bands, packs of conspecific individuals. Under culture conditions, the livestock or fish are in groups and interact on each other, so the aggregate behavior of the group should be studied rather than that of individuals. This paper presents a method to calculate the movement speed of a group of animal in a enclosure or a tank denoted by body length speed that correspond to group activity using computer vision technique. Frame sequences captured at special time interval were subtracted in pairs after image segmentation and identification. By labeling components caused by object movement in difference frame, the projected area caused by the movement of every object in the capture interval was calculated; this projected area was divided by the projected area of every object in the later frame to get body length moving distance of each object, and further could obtain the relative body length speed. The average speed of all object can well respond to the activity of the group. The group activity of a tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) school to high (2.65 mg/L) levels of unionized ammonia (UIA) concentration were quantified based on these methods. High UIA level condition elicited a marked increase in school activity at the first hour (P<0.05) exhibiting an avoidance reaction (trying to flee from high UIA condition), and then decreased gradually.

  2. Teaching Young Children about the Civil Rights Movement: Applying Effective & Developmentally Appropriate Strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foster, Janet E.; Root, Tonja L.; Lee, Seungyoun

    2015-01-01

    Considering the importance of the Civil Rights Movement, children need to be introduced to the related concepts early in their school experiences, and teachers need to consider students' developmental needs and curriculum standards in order to provide appropriate content and methods of instruction. The purpose of this article is to introduce a…

  3. Understanding movement data and movement processes: current and emerging directions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schick, Robert S; Loarie, Scott R; Colchero, Fernando; Best, Benjamin D; Boustany, Andre; Conde, Dalia A; Halpin, Patrick N; Joppa, Lucas N; McClellan, Catherine M; Clark, James S

    2008-12-01

    Animal movement has been the focus on much theoretical and empirical work in ecology over the last 25 years. By studying the causes and consequences of individual movement, ecologists have gained greater insight into the behavior of individuals and the spatial dynamics of populations at increasingly higher levels of organization. In particular, ecologists have focused on the interaction between individuals and their environment in an effort to understand future impacts from habitat loss and climate change. Tools to examine this interaction have included: fractal analysis, first passage time, Lévy flights, multi-behavioral analysis, hidden markov models, and state-space models. Concurrent with the development of movement models has been an increase in the sophistication and availability of hierarchical bayesian models. In this review we bring these two threads together by using hierarchical structures as a framework for reviewing individual models. We synthesize emerging themes in movement ecology, and propose a new hierarchical model for animal movement that builds on these emerging themes. This model moves away from traditional random walks, and instead focuses inference on how moving animals with complex behavior interact with their landscape and make choices about its suitability.

  4. [Analysis and research of brain-computer interface experiments for imaging left-right hands movement].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Yazhou; He, Qinghua; Huang, Hua; Zhang, Ling; Zhuo, Yu; Xie, Qi; Wu, Baoming

    2008-10-01

    This is a research carried out to explore a pragmatic way of BCI based imaging movement, i. e. to extract the feature of EEG for reflecting different thinking by searching suitable methods of signal extraction and recognition algorithm processing, to boost the recognition rate of communication for BCI system, and finally to establish a substantial theory and experimental support for BCI application. In this paper, different mental tasks for imaging left-right hands movement from 6 subjects were studied in three different time sections (hint keying at 2s, 1s and 0s after appearance of arrow). Then we used wavelet analysis and Feed-forward Back-propagation Neural Network (BP-NN) method for processing and analyzing the experimental data of off-line. Delay time delta t2, delta t1 and delta t0 for all subjects in the three different time sections were analyzed. There was significant difference between delta to and delta t2 or delta t1 (P0.05). The average results of recognition rate were 65%, 86.67% and 72%, respectively. There were obviously different features for imaging left-right hands movement about 0.5-1s before actual movement; these features displayed significant difference. We got higher recognition rate of communication under the hint keying at about 1s after the appearance of arrow. These showed the feasibility of using the feature signals extracted from the project as the external control signals for BCI system, and demon strated that the project provided new ideas and methods for feature extraction and classification of mental tasks for BCI.

  5. Single motor unit firing behaviour in the right trapezius muscle during rapid movement of right or left index finger.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karen eSøgaard

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Computer work is associated with low level sustained activity in the trapezius muscle that may cause myalgia. The activity may be attention related or part of a general multijoint motor program providing stabilization of the shoulder girdle for precise finger manipulation. This study examines single motor unit (MU firing pattern in the right trapezius muscle during fast movements of ipsi or contralateral index finger. Modulated firing rate would support a general multi joint motor program, while a generally increased and continuous firing rate would support attention related activation. 12 healthy female subjects were seated at a computer work place with elbows and forearms supported. Ten double clicks (DC were performed with right and left index finger on a computer mouse instrumented with a trigger.Surface EMG was recorded from right and left trapezius muscle. Intramuscular EMG was recorded with a quadripolar wire electrode in the right trapezius.Surface EMG was analysed as %MVE. The intramuscular EMG was decomposed into individual MU action potential trains. Instantaneous firing rate (IFR was calculated from inter-spike interval with ISI shorter than 20 ms defined as doublets. IFR was averaged across 10 DC to show IFR modulation.Surface EMG in both right and left trapezius was 1.8-2.5%MVE. During right hand DC a total of 32 MUs were identified. Four subjects showed no activity. Four showed MU activity with weak or no variations related to the timing of DC. Four subjects showed large modulation in IFR with temporal relation to DC. During left hand DC 15 MUs were identified in 4 subjects, for two of the subjects with IFR modulations related to DC. Doublets was found as an integrated part of MU activation in the trapezius muscle and for one subject temporarily related to DC. In conclusion, DC with ipsi- and contralateral fast movements of the index finger was found to evoke biomechanically as well as attention related activity pattern in the

  6. Energy generation for an ad hoc wireless sensor network-based monitoring system using animal head movement

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    S. Nadimi, Esmaeil; Blanes-Vidal, Victoria; Jørgensen, Rasmus Nyholm

    2011-01-01

    are not easily accessible. Therefore, exploring novel sources of energy generation rather than operating electronics only on limited power supplies such as batteries is a major challenge. Monitoring free-ranging animal behavior is an application in which the entities (animals) within the MANET are not readily...... that the amount of energy generated by the vertical neck–head movement of sheep during grazing can be converted to useful electrical power adequate to provide power for operation of wireless sensor nodes on a continuous basis within a MANET-based animal behavior monitoring system.......The supply of energy to electronics is an imperative constraining factor to be considered during the design process of mobile ad hoc wireless sensor networks (MANETs). This influence is especially important when the MANET is deployed unattended or the wireless modules within the MANET...

  7. “For the right to be mother and student”: childhood education in the student’s movement agenda

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ligia Maria Leão de Aquino

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available The Childhood Education University Units, formerly called “daycare centers”, have their origin in the women workers' university workers movement, in the 1970-1980s, in Brazil. This movement was part of the scenario of social and political initiatives led by women workers, feminists, and unions, who called for childcare in kindergartens and pre-schools during women’s labor journey. Institution-building is associated with workers and feminist demands, but, by incorporating the idea of children as subjects of rights, child education is defined as an educational device and one of its rights. At the beginning of the 21st century there is a new clash, this time carried out by women university students who have claimed "daycare" for their children as a right to conciliate motherhood and academic life.

  8. Discussing Animal Rights and Animal Research in the Classroom.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herzog, Harold A.

    1990-01-01

    Reviews two prominent philosophical justifications for animal liberation and describes a simulation that facilitates class discussion of animal research issues. Students reported that the exercise increased their awareness of the issues and of the complexity of making ethical decisions. (DB)

  9. General Considerations Regarding the Restrictions, Exemptions and Limitations on the Right of Free Movement of Persons

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vasilica Negrut

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available This paper addresses a current problem, not only for the legal research, but also for the practical activity. Through this study we resume a subject that was analyzed by other authors as well, however, we highlighted, based on the analysis and observation, certain features on the free movement of persons. In the current context of globalization, the free movement of persons has new nuances. Based on the historical perspective of the approach of this principle, we examined the restrictions, exceptions and limitations on free movement of persons. From the analysis of the European legislation and jurisprudence it results that the exceptions on the free movement of persons must be interpreted strictly, the limits and the purpose of the restrictions being consistent with the general principles of European Union law (non-discrimination principle, proportionality and fundamental rights protection.

  10. Intersecting Spaces and Species: Women´s Bodies and the Domestic Sphere in Animal Rights Activism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claudia Alonso Recarte

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The object of this article is to explore how current animal rights activism draws on images of women-animal corporeal hybrids to articulate a plight for animals, and how the domestic setting used in such campaigns is strategically conveyed to either instill sympathy or abhorrence at the ‘miscegenation’ of species within a single bodily space. I begin with a few observations on the matter of animal ontology in accordance with the muchdebated notion of commonness with humans (and in particular women. I then make a comparative analysis between video campaigns by two major animal rights organizations, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA to evaluate how their rhetoric of species hybridism conveys different assumptions regarding womanhood, and how domestic settings serve as instrumental tools through which to strengthen their rhetoric of animal liberation.

  11. A review of ecogeochemistry approaches to estimating movements of marine animals

    KAUST Repository

    McMahon, Kelton W.; Ling Hamady, Li; Thorrold, Simon R.

    2013-01-01

    Ecogeochemistry—the application of geochemical techniques to fundamental questions in population and community ecology—has been used in animal migration studies in terrestrial environments for several decades; however, the approach has received far less attention in marine systems. This review includes comprehensive meta-analyses of organic zooplankton δ13C and δ15N values at the base of the food web, dissolved inorganic carbon δ13C values, and seawater δ18O values to create, for the first time, robust isoscapes for the Atlantic Ocean. These isoscapes present far greater geographic variability in multiple geochemical tracers than was previously thought, thus forming the foundation for reconstructions of habitat use and migration patterns of marine organisms. We review several additional tracers, including trace-element-to-calcium ratios and heavy element stable isotopes, to examine anadromous migrations. We highlight the value of the ecogeochemistry approach by examining case studies on three components of connectivity: dispersal and natal homing, functional connectivity, and migratory connectivity. We also discuss recent advances in compound-specific stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses for tracking animal movement. A better understanding of isotopic routing and fractionation factors, particularly of individual compound classes, is necessary to realize the full potential of ecogeochemistry.

  12. A review of ecogeochemistry approaches to estimating movements of marine animals

    KAUST Repository

    McMahon, Kelton W.

    2013-03-22

    Ecogeochemistry—the application of geochemical techniques to fundamental questions in population and community ecology—has been used in animal migration studies in terrestrial environments for several decades; however, the approach has received far less attention in marine systems. This review includes comprehensive meta-analyses of organic zooplankton δ13C and δ15N values at the base of the food web, dissolved inorganic carbon δ13C values, and seawater δ18O values to create, for the first time, robust isoscapes for the Atlantic Ocean. These isoscapes present far greater geographic variability in multiple geochemical tracers than was previously thought, thus forming the foundation for reconstructions of habitat use and migration patterns of marine organisms. We review several additional tracers, including trace-element-to-calcium ratios and heavy element stable isotopes, to examine anadromous migrations. We highlight the value of the ecogeochemistry approach by examining case studies on three components of connectivity: dispersal and natal homing, functional connectivity, and migratory connectivity. We also discuss recent advances in compound-specific stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses for tracking animal movement. A better understanding of isotopic routing and fractionation factors, particularly of individual compound classes, is necessary to realize the full potential of ecogeochemistry.

  13. Influence of uncontrolled diabetes mellitus on periodontal tissues during orthodontic tooth movement: a systematic review of animal studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shariq Najeeb

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Diabetes mellitus (DM may adversely affect periodontal tissues during orthodontic tooth movement (OTM. The aim of this review is to systematically analyze and review animal studies investigating the effect of DM on periodontal tissues during OTM. An electronic search was conducted via PubMed/Medline, Google Scholar, Embase, ISI Web of Knowledge, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CONTROL using the keywords “diabetes,” “orthodontics,” and “tooth movement” for studies published between January 2000 and August 2016. After elimination of duplicate items, the primary search resulted in 89 articles. After exclusion of irrelevant articles on the basis of abstract and title, full texts of 25 articles were read to exclude additional irrelevant studies. Seven animal studies were included in this review for qualitative analysis. When compared to healthy animals, more bone resorption and diminished bone remodeling were observed in diabetic animals in all studies. Furthermore, DM decreased the rate of OTM in one study, but in another study, DM accelerated OTM. DM may adversely affect bone remodeling and tooth movement during application of orthodontic forces. However, a number of potential sources of bias and deficiencies in methodology are present in studies investigating the association between OTM and DM. Hence, more long-term and well-designed studies are required before the exact mechanism and impact of DM on outcomes of orthodontic treatment is understood.

  14. Group navigation and the "many-wrongs principle" in models of animal movement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Codling, E A; Pitchford, J W; Simpson, S D

    2007-07-01

    Traditional studies of animal navigation over both long and short distances have usually considered the orientation ability of the individual only, without reference to the implications of group membership. However, recent work has suggested that being in a group can significantly improve the ability of an individual to align toward and reach a target direction or point, even when all group members have limited navigational ability and there are no leaders. This effect is known as the "many-wrongs principle" since the large number of individual navigational errors across the group are suppressed by interactions and group cohesion. In this paper, we simulate the many-wrongs principle using a simple individual-based model of movement based on a biased random walk that includes group interactions. We study the ability of the group as a whole to reach a target given different levels of individual navigation error, group size, interaction radius, and environmental turbulence. In scenarios with low levels of environmental turbulence, simulation results demonstrate a navigational benefit from group membership, particularly for small group sizes. In contrast, when movement takes place in a highly turbulent environment, simulation results suggest that the best strategy is to navigate as individuals rather than as a group.

  15. A generalized master equation approach to modelling anomalous transport in animal movement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Giuggioli, Luca; Sevilla, Francisco J; Kenkre, V M

    2009-01-01

    We present some models of random walks with internal degrees of freedom that have the potential to find application in the context of animal movement and stochastic search. The formalism we use is based on the generalized master equation which is particularly convenient here because of its inherent coarse-graining procedure whereby a random walker position is averaged over the internal degrees of freedom. We show some instances in which non-local jump probabilities emerge from the coupling of the motion to the internal degrees of freedom, and how the tuning of one parameter can give rise to sub-, super- and normal diffusion at long times. Remarks on the relation between the generalized master equation, continuous time random walks and fractional diffusion equations are also presented.

  16. Velocity-based movement modeling for individual and population level inference.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ephraim M Hanks

    Full Text Available Understanding animal movement and resource selection provides important information about the ecology of the animal, but an animal's movement and behavior are not typically constant in time. We present a velocity-based approach for modeling animal movement in space and time that allows for temporal heterogeneity in an animal's response to the environment, allows for temporal irregularity in telemetry data, and accounts for the uncertainty in the location information. Population-level inference on movement patterns and resource selection can then be made through cluster analysis of the parameters related to movement and behavior. We illustrate this approach through a study of northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus movement in the Bering Sea, Alaska, USA. Results show sex differentiation, with female northern fur seals exhibiting stronger response to environmental variables.

  17. Trackable life: Data, sequence, and organism in movement ecology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benson, Etienne S

    2016-06-01

    Over the past decade an increasing number of ecologists have begun to frame their work as a contribution to the emerging research field of movement ecology. This field's primary object of research is the movement track, which is usually operationalized as a series of discrete "steps and stops" that represent a portion of an animal's "lifetime track." Its practitioners understand their field as dependent on recent technical advances in tracking organisms and analyzing their movements. By making movement their primary object of research, rather than simply an expression of deeper biological phenomena, movement ecologists are able to generalize across the movement patterns of a wide variety of species and to draw on statistical techniques developed to model the movements of non-living things. Although it can trace its roots back to a long tradition of statistical models of movement, the field relies heavily on metaphors from genomics; in particular, movement tracks have been seen as similar to DNA sequences. Though this has helped movement ecology consolidate around a shared understanding of movement, the field may need to broaden its understanding of movement beyond the sequence if it is to realize its potential to address urgent concerns such as biodiversity loss. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. How animals move along? Exactly solvable model of superdiffusive spread resulting from animal's decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tilles, Paulo F C; Petrovskii, Sergei V

    2016-07-01

    Patterns of individual animal movement have been a focus of considerable attention recently. Of particular interest is a question how different macroscopic properties of animal dispersal result from the stochastic processes occurring on the microscale of the individual behavior. In this paper, we perform a comprehensive analytical study of a model where the animal changes the movement velocity as a result of its behavioral response to environmental stochasticity. The stochasticity is assumed to manifest itself through certain signals, and the animal modifies its velocity as a response to the signals. We consider two different cases, i.e. where the change in the velocity is or is not correlated to its current value. We show that in both cases the early, transient stage of the animal movement is super-diffusive, i.e. ballistic. The large-time asymptotic behavior appears to be diffusive in the uncorrelated case but super-ballistic in the correlated case. We also calculate analytically the dispersal kernel of the movement and show that, whilst it converge to a normal distribution in the large-time limit, it possesses a fatter tail during the transient stage, i.e. at early and intermediate time. Since the transients are known to be highly relevant in ecology, our findings may indicate that the fat tails and superdiffusive spread that are sometimes observed in the movement data may be a feature of the transitional dynamics rather than an inherent property of the animal movement.

  19. Bioluminescent system for dynamic imaging of cell and animal behavior

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hara-Miyauchi, Chikako [Department of Physiology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo 160-8582 (Japan); Laboratory for Cell Function Dynamics, Brain Science Institute, RIKEN, Saitama 351-0198 (Japan); Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry, Graduate School of Health Care Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 113-8510 (Japan); Tsuji, Osahiko [Department of Physiology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo 160-8582 (Japan); Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo 160-8582 (Japan); Hanyu, Aki [Division of Biochemistry, The Cancer Institute of the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, Tokyo 135-8550 (Japan); Okada, Seiji [Department of Advanced Medical Initiatives, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8582 (Japan); Yasuda, Akimasa [Department of Physiology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo 160-8582 (Japan); Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo 160-8582 (Japan); Fukano, Takashi [Laboratory for Cell Function Dynamics, Brain Science Institute, RIKEN, Saitama 351-0198 (Japan); Akazawa, Chihiro [Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry, Graduate School of Health Care Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 113-8510 (Japan); Nakamura, Masaya [Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo 160-8582 (Japan); Imamura, Takeshi [Department of Molecular Medicine for Pathogenesis, Ehime University Graduate School of Medicine, Toon, Ehime 791-0295 (Japan); Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology, The Japan Science and Technology Corporation, Tokyo 135-8550 (Japan); Matsuzaki, Yumi [Department of Physiology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo 160-8582 (Japan); Okano, Hirotaka James, E-mail: hjokano@jikei.ac.jp [Department of Physiology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo 160-8582 (Japan); Division of Regenerative Medicine Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo 150-8461 (Japan); and others

    2012-03-09

    Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We combined a yellow variant of GFP and firefly luciferase to make ffLuc-cp156. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer ffLuc-cp156 showed improved photon yield in cultured cells and transgenic mice. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer ffLuc-cp156 enabled video-rate bioluminescence imaging of freely-moving animals. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer ffLuc-cp156 mice enabled tracking real-time drug delivery in conscious animals. -- Abstract: The current utility of bioluminescence imaging is constrained by a low photon yield that limits temporal sensitivity. Here, we describe an imaging method that uses a chemiluminescent/fluorescent protein, ffLuc-cp156, which consists of a yellow variant of Aequorea GFP and firefly luciferase. We report an improvement in photon yield by over three orders of magnitude over current bioluminescent systems. We imaged cellular movement at high resolution including neuronal growth cones and microglial cell protrusions. Transgenic ffLuc-cp156 mice enabled video-rate bioluminescence imaging of freely moving animals, which may provide a reliable assay for drug distribution in behaving animals for pre-clinical studies.

  20. 9 CFR 93.410 - Movement from conveyances to quarantine station.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Movement from conveyances to... PRODUCTS; REQUIREMENTS FOR MEANS OF CONVEYANCE AND SHIPPING CONTAINERS Ruminants § 93.410 Movement from... transportation of animals or their fresh products. When movement of the aforesaid ruminants upon or across a...

  1. Effects of carbonated soft drink consumption on orthodontic tooth movements in rats.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hossein Agha Aghili

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this animal study was to evaluate the possible effects of Carbonated Soft Drink consumption on the rate of orthodontic tooth movement in rats.Thirty-six adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into two experimental groups and one control group. In the experimental groups (A&B, the water in the dietary regimen was replaced with soft drinks (Fanta® in group A and Cola® in group B two weeks before placement of orthodontic appliances. Then 5-mm nickel-titanium closed-coil springs were placed between the maxillary right first molars and first incisors under general anesthesia. This regimen continued for two weeks more and animals drank soft drink ad libitum. At the end of the experimental period, the rats were sacrificed, and interproximal tooth movements were measured.The mean amounts of tooth movement were 0.19mm in group A, 0.22mm in group B and 0.37mm in group C. Statistical analysis with analysis of variance (ANOVA test showed significant differences between all groups. The least movement occurred in group A that had received Fanta® drink.CSDs consumption decreases the rate of orthodontic tooth movement. The role of soft drinks in decreasing tooth movement might be related to its effects on bone metabolism.

  2. Segmenting Trajectories by Movement States

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Buchin, M.; Kruckenberg, H.; Kölzsch, A.; Timpf, S.; Laube, P.

    2013-01-01

    Dividing movement trajectories according to different movement states of animals has become a challenge in movement ecology, as well as in algorithm development. In this study, we revisit and extend a framework for trajectory segmentation based on spatio-temporal criteria for this purpose. We adapt

  3. Seeing left- or right-asymmetric tail wagging produces different emotional responses in dogs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siniscalchi, Marcello; Lusito, Rita; Vallortigara, Giorgio; Quaranta, Angelo

    2013-11-18

    Left-right asymmetries in behavior associated with asymmetries in the brain are widespread in the animal kingdom, and the hypothesis has been put forward that they may be linked to animals' social behavior. Dogs show asymmetric tail-wagging responses to different emotive stimuli-the outcome of different activation of left and right brain structures controlling tail movements to the right and left side of the body. A crucial question, however, is whether or not dogs detect this asymmetry. Here we report that dogs looking at moving video images of conspecifics exhibiting prevalent left- or right-asymmetric tail wagging showed higher cardiac activity and higher scores of anxious behavior when observing left- rather than right-biased tail wagging. The finding that dogs are sensitive to the asymmetric tail expressions of other dogs supports the hypothesis of a link between brain asymmetry and social behavior and may prove useful to canine animal welfare theory and practice. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Left-right asymmetry in plants and animals: a gold mine for research

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schilthuizen, M.; Gravendeel, B.

    2012-01-01

    Left-right asymmetry patterns in the body shapes of animals and plants have been a continuous source of interest among biologists. Recently, inroads have been made to developing a coherent research programme that makes use of the unique fact that chiral patterns may be studied (and generalities

  5. 9 CFR 85.4 - Interstate movement of livestock.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Interstate movement of livestock. 85.4... Interstate movement of livestock. (a) Livestock showing clinical evidence of pseudorabies shall not be moved interstate. (b) Livestock that have been exposed to an animal showing clinical evidence of pseudorabies shall...

  6. The right-to-life resurgence: recent victories push a struggling movement back to the forefront of the abortion battle.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diconsiglio, J M

    1992-01-01

    The anti-abortion movement operates in many different capacities, but its leaders are careful not to present a unified image for fear of federal investigation for conspiracy. Randall Terry is an ex-used car sales representative who runs Operation Rescue (OR). OR is easily the most visible part and also has the biggest image clinics and harass clinic staff and patients. Wanda Franz head the National Right-to-Life Committee which is the political part of the machine. They lobby in Washington to gain any political advantage they can. They supported Reagan and Bush, and they pressured them to appoint many anti-abortion federal and Supreme Court judges. Other groups operate over 2,000 bogus clinics that present themselves as being places where women can get abortions. When the women come, they are coerced into continuing their unwanted pregnancies. Other groups like Virginia's American Life League and Christian Action Council openly admit opposition to contraception and sex-education as well as abortion. The antiabortion groups have been accused of funding anti-abortion groups and they have openly been helping activists in other countries. World wide the anti-abortion movement is clearly stemming from America. The upholding of the gag rule, and the failure of Congress to override the president's veto of legislation that would have overruled it combined with the Webster decision have given the movement a big boost. However, the majority of Americans still support a woman's right to choose. Unfortunately for women, only the anti-abortion movement is willing to do something about it. The pro-choice movement is large, but it was caught off guard after Roe. It did not realize the winning Roe was just another battle in the war. Getting abortion rights was 1 thing, keeping them is another. The pro-choice movement has managed to get a number of anti-abortion politicians out of office, and the numbers are on their side. Now they just have to motivate the majority of people who

  7. Salvem el Cabanyal: Urban movements and their claim for the “Right to the City”

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luz Navarro Eslava

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available In the last 15 years a network of urban social movements has sprouted around Valencia under the name of the ‘Salvem’ [Let’s save]. The main objective of these is to protect their territory from what they consider an external threat. Focusing on the case of Salvem el Cabanyal [Save Cabanyal], this article shows that when a mayor urban renewal plan threatens to erase a consolidated neighborhood, urban conflict can be used by a well-organized community to empower themselves, confront the urban plan and claim their Right to the City, which is the right to live, create, use and take part in the decisions that affect their neighborhood. The most intriguing platform that Salvem has used to channel their protests and engage critical resistance against the plan is the art workshop ‘Portes Obertes’ [Open Door], a way of using art and vernacular architecture to reinforce neighbors’ claim in their struggle. However, if the conflict is beautified focusing merely on the historical and cultural value of the neighborhood, hence forgetting the real causes that underlay behind it, the movement might stop the plan, but it will lose the transformative opportunity.

  8. Key Questions in Marine Megafauna Movement Ecology

    KAUST Repository

    Hays, Graeme C.; Ferreira, Luciana C.; Sequeira, Ana M.M.; Meekan, Mark G.; Duarte, Carlos M.; Bailey, Helen; Bailleul, Fred; Bowen, W. Don; Caley, M. Julian; Costa, Daniel P.; Eguí luz, Victor M.; Fossette, Sabrina; Friedlaender, Ari S.; Gales, Nick; Gleiss, Adrian C.; Gunn, John; Harcourt, Rob; Hazen, Elliott L.; Heithaus, Michael R.; Heupel, Michelle; Holland, Kim; Horning, Markus; Jonsen, Ian; Kooyman, Gerald L.; Lowe, Christopher G.; Madsen, Peter T.; Marsh, Helene; Phillips, Richard A.; Righton, David; Ropert-Coudert, Yan; Sato, Katsufumi; Shaffer, Scott A.; Simpfendorfer, Colin A.; Sims, David W.; Skomal, Gregory; Takahashi, Akinori; Trathan, Philip N.; Wikelski, Martin; Womble, Jamie N.; Thums, Michele

    2016-01-01

    It is a golden age for animal movement studies and so an opportune time to assess priorities for future work. We assembled 40 experts to identify key questions in this field, focussing on marine megafauna, which include a broad range of birds, mammals, reptiles, and fish. Research on these taxa has both underpinned many of the recent technical developments and led to fundamental discoveries in the field. We show that the questions have broad applicability to other taxa, including terrestrial animals, flying insects, and swimming invertebrates, and, as such, this exercise provides a useful roadmap for targeted deployments and data syntheses that should advance the field of movement ecology. Technical advances make this an exciting time for animal movement studies, with a range of small, reliable data-loggers and transmitters that can record horizontal and vertical movements as well as aspects of physiology and reproductive biology.Forty experts identified key questions in the field of movement ecology.Questions have broad applicability across species, habitats, and spatial scales, and apply to animals in both marine and terrestrial habitats as well as both vertebrates and invertebrates, including birds, mammals, reptiles, fish, insects, and plankton. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd.

  9. Key Questions in Marine Megafauna Movement Ecology

    KAUST Repository

    Hays, Graeme C.

    2016-03-12

    It is a golden age for animal movement studies and so an opportune time to assess priorities for future work. We assembled 40 experts to identify key questions in this field, focussing on marine megafauna, which include a broad range of birds, mammals, reptiles, and fish. Research on these taxa has both underpinned many of the recent technical developments and led to fundamental discoveries in the field. We show that the questions have broad applicability to other taxa, including terrestrial animals, flying insects, and swimming invertebrates, and, as such, this exercise provides a useful roadmap for targeted deployments and data syntheses that should advance the field of movement ecology. Technical advances make this an exciting time for animal movement studies, with a range of small, reliable data-loggers and transmitters that can record horizontal and vertical movements as well as aspects of physiology and reproductive biology.Forty experts identified key questions in the field of movement ecology.Questions have broad applicability across species, habitats, and spatial scales, and apply to animals in both marine and terrestrial habitats as well as both vertebrates and invertebrates, including birds, mammals, reptiles, fish, insects, and plankton. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd.

  10. Mechanistic movement models to understand epidemic spread.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fofana, Abdou Moutalab; Hurford, Amy

    2017-05-05

    An overlooked aspect of disease ecology is considering how and why animals come into contact with one and other resulting in disease transmission. Mathematical models of disease spread frequently assume mass-action transmission, justified by stating that susceptible and infectious hosts mix readily, and foregoing any detailed description of host movement. Numerous recent studies have recorded, analysed and modelled animal movement. These movement models describe how animals move with respect to resources, conspecifics and previous movement directions and have been used to understand the conditions for the occurrence and the spread of infectious diseases when hosts perform a type of movement. Here, we summarize the effect of the different types of movement on the threshold conditions for disease spread. We identify gaps in the literature and suggest several promising directions for future research. The mechanistic inclusion of movement in epidemic models may be beneficial for the following two reasons. Firstly, the estimation of the transmission coefficient in an epidemic model is possible because animal movement data can be used to estimate the rate of contacts between conspecifics. Secondly, unsuccessful transmission events, where a susceptible host contacts an infectious host but does not become infected can be quantified. Following an outbreak, this enables disease ecologists to identify 'near misses' and to explore possible alternative epidemic outcomes given shifts in ecological or immunological parameters.This article is part of the themed issue 'Opening the black box: re-examining the ecology and evolution of parasite transmission'. © 2017 The Author(s).

  11. Right-Left Approach and Reaching Arm Movements of 4-Month Infants in Free and Constrained Conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morange-Majoux, Francoise; Dellatolas, Georges

    2010-01-01

    Recent theories on the evolution of language (e.g. Corballis, 2009) emphazise the interest of early manifestations of manual laterality and manual specialization in human infants. In the present study, left- and right-hand movements towards a midline object were observed in 24 infants aged 4 months in a constrained condition, in which the hands…

  12. Moving in the Anthropocene: Global reductions in terrestrial mammalian movements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tucker, Marlee A.; Böhning-Gaese, Katrin; Fagan, William F.; Fryxell, John; Van Moorter, Bram; Alberts, Susan C; Ali, Abdullahi H.; Allen, Andrew M.; Attias, Nina; Avgar, Tal; Bartlam-Brooks, Hattie; Bayarbaatar, Buuveibaatar; Belant, Jerrold L.; Bertassoni, Alessandra; Beyer, Dean; Bidner, Laura; M. van Beest, Floris; Blake, Stephen; Blaum, Niels; Bracis, Chloe; Brown, Danielle; Nico de Bruyn, P. J.; Cagnacci, Francesca; Calabrese, J.M.; Camilo-Alves, Constança; Chamaillé-Jammes, Simon; Chiaradia, Andre; Davidson, Sarah C.; Dennis, Todd; DeStefano, Stephen; Diefenbach, Duane R.; Douglas-Hamilton, Iain; Fennessy, Julian; Fichtel, Claudia; Fiedler, Wolfgang; Fischer, Christina; Fischhoff, Ilya; Fleming, Christen H.; Ford, Adam T.; Fritz, Susanne A.; Gehr, Benedikt; Goheen, Jacob R.; Gurarie, Eliezer; Hebblewhite, Mark; Heurich, Marco; Mark Hewison, A.J.; Hof, Christian; Hurme, Edward; Isbell, Lynne A.; Janssen, René; Jeltsch, Florian; Kaczensky, Petra; Kane, Adam; Kappeler, Peter M.; Kauffman, Matthew J.; Kays, Roland; Kimuyu, Duncan; Koch, Flavia; Kranstauber, Bart; LaPoint, Scott; Leimgruber, Peter; Linnell, John D. C.; López-López, Pascual; Markham, A. Catherine; Mattisson, Jenny; Medici, Emilia Patricia; Mellone, Ugo; Merrill, E.; de Miranda Mourão, Guilherme; Morato, Ronaldo G.; Morellet, Nicolas; Morrison, Thomas A.; Díaz-Muñoz, Samuel L.; Mysterud, Atle; Nandintsetseg, Dejid; Nathan, Ran; Niamir, Aidin; Odden, John; O'Hara, Robert B.; Oliveira-Santos, Luiz G. R.; Olson, Kirk A.; Patterson, Bruce D.; Cunha de Paula, Rogerio; Pedrotti, Luca; Reineking, Björn; Rimmler, Martin; Rogers, T.L.; Rolandsen, Christer Moe; Rosenberry, Christopher S.; Rubenstein, Daniel I.; Safi, Kamran; Saïd, Sonia; Sapir, Nir; Sawyer, Hall; Schmidt, Niels Martin; Selva, Nuria; Sergiel, Agnieszka; Shiilegdamba, Enkhtuvshin; Silva, João Paulo; Singh, N.; Solberg, Erling J.; Spiegel, Orr; Strand, Olav; Sundaresan, S.R.; Ullmann, Wiebke; Voigt, Ulrich; Wall, J.; Wattles, David W.; Wikelski, Martin; Wilmers, Christopher C.; Wilson, Jon W.; Wittemyer, George; Zięba, Filip; Zwijacz-Kozica, Tomasz; Mueller, Thomas

    2018-01-01

    Animal movement is fundamental for ecosystem functioning and species survival, yet the effects of the anthropogenic footprint on animal movements have not been estimated across species. Using a unique GPS-tracking database of 803 individuals across 57 species, we found that movements of mammals in areas with a comparatively high human footprint were on average one-half to one-third the extent of their movements in areas with a low human footprint. We attribute this reduction to behavioral changes of individual animals and to the exclusion of species with long-range movements from areas with higher human impact. Global loss of vagility alters a key ecological trait of animals that affects not only population persistence but also ecosystem processes such as predator-prey interactions, nutrient cycling, and disease transmission.

  13. [The respect of the right to freedom of movement, an indicator of good quality patient management].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pothain, Alexandre

    Freedom of movement is at the centre of contradictory challenges for the different people working in psychiatry, faced with a society demanding social regulation and safety, and the desire of institutions to provide high quality care. This freedom, and more globally the respect of patients' civil rights, are an indicator of the expected quality of care. Taking these rights into consideration does not mean neglecting safety, but attempts to put it into perspective. This article presents the clinical case of a patient. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

  14. The Magnus-Rademaker Scientific Film Collection: Ethical Issues on Animal Experimentation (1908-1940).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koehler, Peter J; Lameris, Bregt

    2016-01-01

    The Magnus-Rademaker scientific film collection (1908-1940) deals with the physiology of body posture by the equilibrium of reflex musculature contractions for which experimental studies were carried out with animals (e.g., labyrinthectomies, cerebellectomies, and brain stem sections) as well as observations done on patients. The films were made for demonstrations at congresses as well as educational objectives and film stills were published in their books. The purpose of the present study is to position these films and their makers within the contemporary discourse on ethical issues and animal rights in the Netherlands and the earlier international debates. Following an introduction on animal rights and antivivisection movements, we describe what Magnus and Rademaker thought about these issues. Their publications did not provide much information in this respect, probably reflecting their adherence to implicit ethical codes that did not need explicit mentioning in publications. Newspaper articles, however, revealed interesting information. Unnecessary suffering of an animal never found mercy in Magnus' opinion. The use of cinematography was expanded to the reduction of animal experimentation in student education, at least in the case of Rademaker, who in the 1930s was involved in a governmental committee for the regulation of vivisection and cooperated with the antivivisection movement. This resulted not only in a propaganda film for the movement but also in films that demonstrate physiological experiments for students with the purpose to avert repetition and to improve the teaching of experiments. We were able to identify the pertinent films in the Magnus-Rademaker film collection. The production of vivisection films with this purpose appears to have been common, as is shown in news messages in European medical journals of the period.

  15. Therapy or human right? The meaning of recreation for children and youth with disabilities in the "Krembo Wings" youth movement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soffer, Michal; Almog-Bar, Michal

    2016-07-01

    Research shows that leisure or recreation promotes health, quality of life and wellbeing. Participation in leisure is also a fundamental right of people with disabilities. Studies report disparities in leisure participation between children and youth with and without disabilities. Youth movements are a form of leisure activity, and are of particular importance in Israeli society. In this study we set out to explore how the youth movement Krembo Wings (KW) outlines the meanings of recreation for children and youth with disabilities. Our theoretical framework centers on the critical perspective of a disability study committed to disability rights. We conducted a qualitative study of KW. Data were drawn from multiple sources: published and unpublished documents, website materials, and semi-structured interviews with various key people in the movement. Data were analyzed through directed content analysis and were categorized into either the biomedical model or the social model of disability. Most of our findings show that KW adopts a biomedical understanding of disability. Nonetheless, indicators of the social model, though few, were also evident. Although the biomedical model was found to be dominant in Israel, there are promising indicators of change. Our somewhat mixed findings might suggest that KW is at a transitional phase between biomedical thinking and a more rights-based approach. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Modeling animal movements using stochastic differential equations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haiganoush K. Preisler; Alan A. Ager; Bruce K. Johnson; John G. Kie

    2004-01-01

    We describe the use of bivariate stochastic differential equations (SDE) for modeling movements of 216 radiocollared female Rocky Mountain elk at the Starkey Experimental Forest and Range in northeastern Oregon. Spatially and temporally explicit vector fields were estimated using approximating difference equations and nonparametric regression techniques. Estimated...

  17. Welfare aspects of the long distance transportation of animals — the Animal Transportation Association

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tim Harris

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available The international and long distance movement of animals is a far larger business than most people imagine. Some reasons are outlined in this paper, along with the history of the AATA (Animal [Air] Transportation Association. This trade association has been involved for over 30 years in developing standards and procedures for the movement of all types of animals. The competence of animal handlers is of paramount importance. Competence of flying grooms is assessed by the AATA. This paper is written from the viewpoint of someone who has been a member since the Association's inception. The subject will be of interest to airlines, transporters, veterinarians, farmers, animal relocators, zoological establishments and legislators.

  18. Analysis of Transforming Growth Factor- β1 Expression in Resorptive Lacunae following Orthodontic Tooth Movement in An Animal Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seifi, Massoud; Kazemi, Bahram; Kabiri, Sattar; Badiee, Mohammadreza

    2017-01-01

    Objective Root resorption is a complication of orthodontic treatment and till date, there is a dearth of information regarding this issue. The aim of this study was to determine whether the expression of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1, an inflammatory cytokine) is related to orthodontic force. Moreover, if associated, the expression level may be helpful in differential diagnosis, control and ultimate treatment of the disease. Materials and Methods In this experimental study, a total of 24 eight-week-old male Wistar rats were selected randomly. On day 0, an orthodontic appliance, which consisted of a closed coil spring, was ligated to the upper right first molar and incisor. The upper left first molar in these animals was not placed under orthodontic force, thus serving as the control group. On day 21, after anesthesia, the animals were sacrificed. The rats were then divided into two equal groups where the first group was subjected to histological evaluation and the second group to reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Orthodontic tooth movement was measured in both groups to determine the influence of the applied force. Results Statistical analysis of data showed a significant root resorption between the experimental group and control group (Porthodontic force and orthodontic induced inflammatory root resorption. In addition, no relationship is likely to exist between root resorption and TGF-β1 expression in the resorptive lacunae. PMID:28670520

  19. The detection of contingency and animacy from simple animations in the human brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blakemore, S-J; Boyer, P; Pachot-Clouard, M; Meltzoff, A; Segebarth, C; Decety, J

    2003-08-01

    Contingencies between objects and people can be mechanical or intentional-social in nature. In this fMRI study we used simplified stimuli to investigate brain regions involved in the detection of mechanical and intentional contingencies. Using a factorial design we manipulated the 'animacy' and 'contingency' of stimulus movement, and the subject's attention to the contingencies. The detection of mechanical contingency between shapes whose movement was inanimate engaged the middle temporal gyrus and right intraparietal sulcus. The detection of intentional contingency between shapes whose movement was animate activated superior parietal networks bilaterally. These activations were unaffected by attention to contingency. Additional regions, the right middle frontal gyrus and left superior temporal sulcus, became activated by the animate-contingent stimuli when subjects specifically attended to the contingent nature of the stimuli. Our results help to clarify neural networks previously associated with 'theory of mind' and agency detection. In particular, the results suggest that low-level perception of agency in terms of objects reacting to other objects at a distance is processed by parietal networks. In contrast, the activation of brain regions traditionally associated with theory of mind tasks appears to require attention to be directed towards agency and contingency.

  20. 9 CFR 93.509 - Movement from conveyances to quarantine station.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Movement from conveyances to... PRODUCTS; REQUIREMENTS FOR MEANS OF CONVEYANCE AND SHIPPING CONTAINERS Swine § 93.509 Movement from... fresh products. When movement of the aforesaid swine upon or across a public highway is unavoidable, it...

  1. Resistance to toxic plants: The right animal in the right pasture at the right time

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neurotoxic poisonous plants negatively impact livestock on many western rangelands, which results in annual economic losses of millions of dollars from animal deaths, increased management and treatment costs, and if animals are deferred from grazing, the underutilization of otherwise highly nutritio...

  2. Flying cheap : modelling the passive movement of plants and animals

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Treep, H.J.

    2018-01-01

    Movement of organisms is a key process in ecology, as it enables colonization and gene flow. The ongoing worldwide decline of biodiversity and the increasing pressures of climate change and habitat fragmentation, stress the importance of movement ecology research. There is rapid progress in

  3. From Sensor Data to Animal Behaviour: An Oystercatcher Example

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Shamoun-Baranes, J.; Bom, R.; van Loon, E.E.; Ens, B.J.; Oosterbeek, K.; Bouten, W.

    2012-01-01

    Animal-borne sensors enable researchers to remotely track animals, their physiological state and body movements. Accelerometers, for example, have been used in several studies to measure body movement, posture, and energy expenditure, although predominantly in marine animals. In many studies,

  4. From sensor data to animal behaviour: an oystercatcher example

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Shamoun-Baranes, J.; Bom, R.; van Loon, E.E.; Ens, B.J.; Oosterbeek, K.; Bouten, W.

    2012-01-01

    Animal-borne sensors enable researchers to remotely track animals, their physiological state and body movements. Accelerometers, for example, have been used in several studies to measure body movement, posture, and energy expenditure, although predominantly in marine animals. In many studies,

  5. Beyond multispecies ethnography: Engaging with violence and animal rights in anthropology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kopnina, Helen

    2017-09-01

    Anthropologists have mediated between discriminated communities and outsiders, helping to influence public opinion through advocacy work. But can anthropological advocacy be applied to the case of violence against nonhumans? Ethical inquiries in anthropology also engage with the manifold ways through which human and nonhuman lives are entangled and emplaced within wider ecological relationships, converging in the so-called multispecies ethnography, but failing to account for exploitation. Reflecting on this omission, this article discusses the applicability of engaged anthropology to the range of issues from the use of nonhumans in medical experimentation and food production industry, to habitat destruction, and in broader contexts involving violence against nonhumans. Concluding that the existing forms of anthropological engagement are inadequate in dealing with the massive scale of nonhuman abuse, this article will suggest directions for a radical anthropology that engages with deep ecology, animal rights, animal welfare, and ecological justice.

  6. Beyond multispecies ethnography: Engaging with violence and animal rights in anthropology

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-01-01

    Anthropologists have mediated between discriminated communities and outsiders, helping to influence public opinion through advocacy work. But can anthropological advocacy be applied to the case of violence against nonhumans? Ethical inquiries in anthropology also engage with the manifold ways through which human and nonhuman lives are entangled and emplaced within wider ecological relationships, converging in the so-called multispecies ethnography, but failing to account for exploitation. Reflecting on this omission, this article discusses the applicability of engaged anthropology to the range of issues from the use of nonhumans in medical experimentation and food production industry, to habitat destruction, and in broader contexts involving violence against nonhumans. Concluding that the existing forms of anthropological engagement are inadequate in dealing with the massive scale of nonhuman abuse, this article will suggest directions for a radical anthropology that engages with deep ecology, animal rights, animal welfare, and ecological justice. PMID:29081571

  7. Movement Structure in Young and Elderly Adults during Goal-Directed Movements of the Left and Right Arm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poston, Brach; Van Gemmert, Arend W. A.; Barduson, Beth; Stelmach, George E.

    2009-01-01

    Elderly adults often exhibit performance deficits during goal-directed movements of the dominant arm compared with young adults. Recent studies involving hemispheric lateralization have provided evidence that the dominant and non-dominant hemisphere-arm systems are specialized for controlling different movement parameters and that hemispheric…

  8. Effect of Pedestrians on the Saturation Flow Rate of Right Turn Movements at Signalized Intersection - Case Study from Rasht City

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roshani, Mostafa; Bargegol, Iraj

    2017-10-01

    Saturation flow rate is one of the important items in the analysis of the capacity of signalized intersections that are affected by some factors. Pedestrian crossing on signalized intersection is one of the factors which influence the vehicles flow. In addition, the released researches determined that the greatest impact of pedestrian on the saturation flow occurred in the Conflict zone where the highest chance of the encounter of pedestrians and vehicles has in turning movements. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the saturation flow rate considering the effect of a pedestrian on right turn movements of the signalized intersections in Rasht city. For this goal, 6 signalized intersections with 90 cycles of reviews were selected for the estimation of saturation flow rate by the microscopic method and also 3 right turn lanes containing radius differences with 70 cycles of reviews were collected for the investigation of the pedestrians’ effects. Each phase of right turn lanes cycle was divided in the pieces of 10-second period which was totally 476 sample volumes of considered pedestrians and vehicles at that period. Only 101 samples of those were ranged as saturated conditions. Finally, using different regression models, the best relationship between pedestrian’s volume and right turning vehicles flow parameters was evaluated. The results indicate that there is a primarily linear relationship between pedestrian volume and right turning vehicles flow with R2=0.6261. According to this regression model with the increase in pedestrians, saturation flow rate will be reduced. In addition, by comparing the adjustment factor obtained in the present study and other studies, it was found that the effect of pedestrians on the right-turn movements in Rasht city is less than the rest of the world.

  9. Global frameworks, local strategies: Women's rights, health, and the tobacco control movement in Argentina.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muñoz Martínez, Hepzibah; Pederson, Ann

    2018-02-23

    The article examines how civil society organisations in Argentina used the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) to frame the country's failure to enact strong national tobacco control legislation as a violation of women's rights in the late 2000s. We analyze this case study through the politics of scale, namely the social processes that produce, reproduce, and contest the boundaries of policies and socio-economic relations. This approach understands how multiple scales overlap and connect to obstruct or enhance the right to health in Latin America. In Argentina, the global organisation of tobacco companies, the reach of international financial institutions and the national dynamics of economic austerity and export-orientation promoted the local production and use of tobacco (leaf and cigarettes) and reproduced health inequalities in the country throughout the 1990s and the early 2000s. Yet, the visible legacy of local and national human rights struggles in the adoption of international human rights treaties into Argentina's national constitution allowed the tobacco control movement to link the scale of women's bodies to the right to health through the use of CEDAW to change national legislation, tackling the social determinants of the tobacco epidemic.

  10. Research on virtual actor action editing and movement control

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Wenhu QIN; Yuhui WU; Zhengxu ZHAO

    2008-01-01

    To directly use a virtual surface model for action editing and movement control, a general method for creating virtual actor skeleton models and controlling movement is presented. The method includes judging borderlines of the block virtual surface model, calculat-ing the joints, confirming the above block, and using the block hierarchical layout to create the skeleton model. Then, according to the virtual actor model and move-ment restriction, the study focuses on the generation of movement animation using the key frame technique and smoothing movement technique by automatically adding animation and adjusting the actor's pose by different weights on movement amplitude. Finally, movement control of the actor in the virtual environment is implemented by real-time control and path point control, which achieve a good result.

  11. Collective movement in ecology: from emerging technologies to conservation and management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Westley, Peter A H; Berdahl, Andrew M; Torney, Colin J; Biro, Dora

    2018-05-19

    Recent advances in technology and quantitative methods have led to the emergence of a new field of study that stands to link insights of researchers from two closely related, but often disconnected disciplines: movement ecology and collective animal behaviour. To date, the field of movement ecology has focused on elucidating the internal and external drivers of animal movement and the influence of movement on broader ecological processes. Typically, tracking and/or remote sensing technology is employed to study individual animals in natural conditions. By contrast, the field of collective behaviour has quantified the significant role social interactions play in the decision-making of animals within groups and, to date, has predominantly relied on controlled laboratory-based studies and theoretical models owing to the constraints of studying interacting animals in the field. This themed issue is intended to formalize the burgeoning field of collective movement ecology which integrates research from both movement ecology and collective behaviour. In this introductory paper, we set the stage for the issue by briefly examining the approaches and current status of research in these areas. Next, we outline the structure of the theme issue and describe the obstacles collective movement researchers face, from data acquisition in the field to analysis and problems of scale, and highlight the key contributions of the assembled papers. We finish by presenting research that links individual and broad-scale ecological and evolutionary processes to collective movement, and finally relate these concepts to emerging challenges for the management and conservation of animals on the move in a world that is increasingly impacted by human activity.This article is part of the theme issue 'Collective movement ecology'. © 2018 The Author(s).

  12. Moving in the Anthropocene: Global reductions in terrestrial mammalian movements

    OpenAIRE

    Boehning-Gaese, Katrin; Fagan, William F.; Fryxell, John M.; Van Moorter, Bram; Alberts, Susan C.; Ali, Abdullahi H.; Allen, Andrew M.; Attias, Nina; Avgar, Tal; Bartlam-Brooks, Hattie; Bayarbaatar, Buuveibaatar; Belant, Jerrold L.; Bertassoni, Alessandra; Beyer, Dean; Bidner, Laura

    2018-01-01

    Animal movement is fundamental for ecosystem functioning and species survival, yet the effects of the anthropogenic footprint on animal movements have not been estimated across species. Using a unique GPS-tracking database of 803 individuals across 57 species, we found that movements of mammals in areas with a comparatively high human footprint were on average one-half to one-third the extent of their movements in areas with a low human footprint. We attribute this reduction to behavioral cha...

  13. Computer-animated model of accommodation and presbyopia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldberg, Daniel B

    2015-02-01

    To understand, demonstrate, and further research the mechanisms of accommodation and presbyopia. Private practice, Little Silver, New Jersey, USA. Experimental study. The CAMA 2.0 computer-animated model of accommodation and presbyopia was produced in collaboration with an experienced medical animator using Autodesk Maya animation software and Adobe After Effects. The computer-animated model demonstrates the configuration and synchronous movements of all accommodative elements. A new classification of the zonular apparatus based on structure and function is proposed. There are 3 divisions of zonular fibers; that is, anterior, crossing, and posterior. The crossing zonular fibers form a scaffolding to support the lens; the anterior and posterior zonular fibers work reciprocally to achieve focused vision. The model demonstrates the important support function of Weiger ligament. Dynamic movement of the ora serrata demonstrates that the forces of ciliary muscle contraction store energy for disaccommodation in the elastic choroid. The flow of aqueous and vitreous provides strong evidence for our understanding of the hydrodynamic interactions during the accommodative cycle. The interaction may result from the elastic stretch in the choroid transmitted to the vitreous rather than from vitreous pressue. The model supports the concept that presbyopia results from loss of elasticity and increasing ocular rigidity in both the lenticular and extralenticular structures. The computer-animated model demonstrates the structures of accommodation moving in synchrony and might enhance understanding of the mechanisms of accommodation and presbyopia. Dr. Goldberg is a consultant to Acevision, Inc., and Bausch & Lomb. Copyright © 2015 ASCRS and ESCRS. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Movements, Countermovements and Policy Adoption: The Case of Right-to-Work Activism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dixon, Marc

    2008-01-01

    Research on social movements and public policy has expanded tremendously in recent years, yet little of this work considers the role of movement opponents in the political process or how the movement-countermovement dynamic is influential in contests over policy. This historical study begins to fill this void by analyzing the contestation between…

  15. Rights and duties under the law of nature:contractarianism and the Moral Status of Animals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    William Bull

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available This is a philosophical inquiry into the moral status of animals, focusing on which ethical principle should guide us in our relationship with animals. The author examines the case for applying contractarian theory to animals other than human beings by looking in particular at the issues of rationality and trusteeship. From the law of nature and by way of a contractarian approach the author arrives at the principle of humility, which he advances as the ideal basis for our behaviour in respect of animals. He then tests certain prevailing philosophical positions in this area, including those of Singer and Regan, exploring utilitarian and rights conceptions. Finally, the author considers the significance of the principle of humility in practical terms in order to evaluate its utility as a moral judgment.

  16. The impact of animation on the length of stay and radius of movement of the excursion-recreational tourism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dimitrić Dragana

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The basic hypothesis from which we started in the paper is the claim that animation of visitors has a direct impact on the length and radius of excursion-recreational tourism. The main objective of the research is to define the role of animation in the choice of tourist destination and length of staying. In the area of the City of Belgrade, there are more protected natural areas and one of them is the Great War Island located at the confluence of the River Sava in River Danube. This area has three protected zones. Temporary population that was the subject of the interview, as well as the Association of Tourist Guides of Serbia occupate one of these zones. We concluded that one of the biggest advantages of developing tourism of the Great War Island is the possibility of developing certain forms of tourism, and one of these forms, the excursion-recreational tourism has multiple positive effects on the population. The paper concluded that the animation proportionally affects the length of stay of tourists, as well as the radius of their movement.

  17. Transient and Partial Nuclear Lamina Disruption Promotes Chromosome Movement in Early Meiotic Prophase.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Link, Jana; Paouneskou, Dimitra; Velkova, Maria; Daryabeigi, Anahita; Laos, Triin; Labella, Sara; Barroso, Consuelo; Pacheco Piñol, Sarai; Montoya, Alex; Kramer, Holger; Woglar, Alexander; Baudrimont, Antoine; Markert, Sebastian Mathias; Stigloher, Christian; Martinez-Perez, Enrique; Dammermann, Alexander; Alsheimer, Manfred; Zetka, Monique; Jantsch, Verena

    2018-04-23

    Meiotic chromosome movement is important for the pairwise alignment of homologous chromosomes, which is required for correct chromosome segregation. Movement is driven by cytoplasmic forces, transmitted to chromosome ends by nuclear membrane-spanning proteins. In animal cells, lamins form a prominent scaffold at the nuclear periphery, yet the role lamins play in meiotic chromosome movement is unclear. We show that chromosome movement correlates with reduced lamin association with the nuclear rim, which requires lamin phosphorylation at sites analogous to those that open lamina network crosslinks in mitosis. Failure to remodel the lamina results in delayed meiotic entry, altered chromatin organization, unpaired or interlocked chromosomes, and slowed chromosome movement. The remodeling kinases are delivered to lamins via chromosome ends coupled to the nuclear envelope, potentially enabling crosstalk between the lamina and chromosomal events. Thus, opening the lamina network plays a role in modulating contacts between chromosomes and the nuclear periphery during meiosis. Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Importance of human right inferior frontoparietal network connected by inferior branch of superior longitudinal fasciculus tract in corporeal awareness of kinesthetic illusory movement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amemiya, Kaoru; Naito, Eiichi

    2016-05-01

    It is generally believed that the human right cerebral hemisphere plays a dominant role in corporeal awareness, which is highly associated with conscious experience of the physical self. Prompted by our previous findings, we examined whether the right frontoparietal activations often observed when people experience kinesthetic illusory limb movement are supported by a large-scale brain network connected by a specific branch of the superior longitudinal fasciculus fiber tracts (SLF I, II, and III). We scanned brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) while nineteen blindfolded healthy volunteers experienced illusory movement of the right stationary hand elicited by tendon vibration, which was replicated after the scanning. We also scanned brain activity when they executed and imagined right hand movement, and identified the active brain regions during illusion, execution, and imagery in relation to the SLF fiber tracts. We found that illusion predominantly activated the right inferior frontoparietal regions connected by SLF III, which were not substantially recruited during execution and imagery. Among these regions, activities in the right inferior parietal cortices and inferior frontal cortices showed right-side dominance and correlated well with the amount of illusion (kinesthetic illusory awareness) experienced by the participants. The results illustrated the predominant involvement of the right inferior frontoparietal network connected by SLF III when people recognize postural changes of their limb. We assume that the network bears a series of functions, specifically, monitoring the current status of the musculoskeletal system, and building-up and updating our postural model (body schema), which could be a basis for the conscious experience of the physical self. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  19. Moving in the Anthropocene: Global reductions in terrestrial mammalian movements

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tucker, Marlee A.; Böhning-Gaese, Katrin; Fagan, William F.

    2018-01-01

    Until the past century or so, the movement of wild animals was relatively unrestricted, and their travels contributed substantially to ecological processes. As humans have increasingly altered natural habitats, natural animal movements have been restricted. Tucker et al. examined GPS locations...

  20. Analysis of pig movements across eastern Indonesia, 2009-2010.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leslie, Edwina E C; Christley, Robert M; Geong, Maria; Ward, Michael P; Toribio, Jenny-Ann L M L

    2015-03-01

    Knowledge of live animal movement through markets and from farm-to-farm is needed to inform strategies for control of trans-boundary animal diseases (TADs) in south-east Asia, particularly due to consumer preference for fresh meat. In eastern Indonesia a TAD of principal interest for control is classical swine fever (CSF) due to its impacts on smallholder farmers. Pig movement is considered a contributor to failure of current CSF control efforts but pig movement patterns are not well understood. This study investigated movement of live pigs in West Timor, Flores and Sumba islands during 2009-2010, with the aim of informing CSF control policies for Nusa Tenggara Timor province. A market survey of 292 pig sellers and 281 pig buyers across nine live pig markets and a farmer survey across 18 villages with 289 smallholder farmers were conducted and information collected on pig movements. The data obtained was used for social network analysis (SNA) on formal (via a market) and informal (village-to-village) movements using information on trading practices, source and destination locations, and the number of pigs being moved. Both inter- and intra-island movements were identified, however inter-island movement was only observed between Flores and Sumba islands. West Timor and Sumba had highly connected networks where large numbers of villages were directly and indirectly linked through pig movement. Further for West Timor, both formal and informal pig movements linked the capital Kupang, on the eastern end of the island to the western districts bordering East Timor connecting all five districts and demonstrating that informal movement transports pigs over distances similar to formal movement on this island. Sumba had a higher potential for pigs to move to a greater number of sequential locations across the entire island. Flores was found to have a more fragmented network, with pig movements concentrated in its eastern or western regions, influenced by terrain. Markets were

  1. Homogenization of a Directed Dispersal Model for Animal Movement in a Heterogeneous Environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yurk, Brian P

    2016-10-01

    The dispersal patterns of animals moving through heterogeneous environments have important ecological and epidemiological consequences. In this work, we apply the method of homogenization to analyze an advection-diffusion (AD) model of directed movement in a one-dimensional environment in which the scale of the heterogeneity is small relative to the spatial scale of interest. We show that the large (slow) scale behavior is described by a constant-coefficient diffusion equation under certain assumptions about the fast-scale advection velocity, and we determine a formula for the slow-scale diffusion coefficient in terms of the fast-scale parameters. We extend the homogenization result to predict invasion speeds for an advection-diffusion-reaction (ADR) model with directed dispersal. For periodic environments, the homogenization approximation of the solution of the AD model compares favorably with numerical simulations. Invasion speed approximations for the ADR model also compare favorably with numerical simulations when the spatial period is sufficiently small.

  2. 'Her choice of course': Negotiating legitimacy of 'choice' in abortion rights deliberations during the 'Repeal the Eighth' movement in Ireland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sambaraju, Rahul; Sammon, Myles; Harnett, Frank; Douglas, Emma

    2018-02-01

    Discourses of 'choice' are routinely involved in sexual and reproductive rights' advocacy. In this article, we offer a discursive psychological examination of how 'choice' is oriented to, in online deliberations on the ongoing movement for abortion rights in Ireland. Comment posters treated 'choice' as involving outcomes of and motives for choosing, in negotiating legitimacy of women's rights to choose. These accompanied alternative versions of women, either as independent or as intimately bound up with pregnancy/motherhood, which were flexibly used in negotiation legitimacy of women's rights to 'choice' in abortion practices. Choice advocacy is then situated in particular discursive practices.

  3. The Underappreciated Doctors of The American Civil Rights Movement. Part I: Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard, MD.

    Science.gov (United States)

    deShazo, Richard D; Parker, Sara B

    2017-07-01

    During the fight to end segregation in the United States, most of the 25 or so black physicians who had not already left Mississippi took risks to become active in civil rights locally and nationally. One of the first was T.R.M. Howard, MD, whose life story is both an encouragement and warning for today's physicians. Howard, the protégé of a white Adventist physician, became active in civil rights during medical school. While serving as chief surgeon of the all-black hospital in Mississippi, he formed his own civil rights organization in 1951 and worked to solve the shootings of 2 of its members, George Lee and Gus Courts, and the murder of Emmett Till in 1955. His reports of these events and collaborations with other civil rights icons helped trigger the modern civil rights movement. At the same time, he became a nationally known proponent of abortion rights and then fled to Chicago in 1956, after arming his Delta mansion with long guns and a Thompson machine gun. Howard will be remembered for many things, including his activism for the social determinants of health as president of the National Medical Association. Copyright © 2017 Southern Society for Clinical Investigation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. In God's Name: Jewish Religious and Traditional Peace and Human Rights Movements in Israel and in the Occupied Territories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristiana Calabrese

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available The peace-building activities of several dozens peace and human rights activists from Israeli-Jewish religious and traditional milieus has not received enough attention either from the Israeli and international media or in the academia. Actually, following the Six-day war and the beginning of the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, a certain number of Orthodox Israelis committed to peace and justice founded a Jewish religious peace movement called ‘Oz Ve Shalom’ (‘Strength and Peace’. A few years later, another peace movement called ‘Netivot Shalom’ (‘Paths of Peace’ was founded by Israeli yeshiva students and young new immigrants from the United States. At the end of the 1980s, in the wake of the first Intifada, a small circle of religious and traditional Israeli rabbis committed to the respect of human rights came to the fore and, more recently, a group of Hasidic settlers inspired by the teachings of Rabbi Menahem Froman has created a peace group called ‘Eretz Shalom’ (‘Land of Peace’. This essay, mainly based on primary sources such as periodicals, bulletins, newsletters, monographs, leaflets and other diverse material published by these movements, and on oral testimonies collected by the Author, retraces the history of these religious peace groups in a cohesive framework.

  5. Socio-cultural animation in hospitals and the right to access culture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dušana Findeisen

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Socio-cultural animation has a long tradition in French hospitals. It started in most probability with a theatre performance staged by Marquis de Sade between 1800-1810, while he was patient of a Parisian hospital. The theatrical performance was attended by ”le Tout Paris” – all notables of the city. In 1999, a convention of ”Culture and Health” was signed and culture has been moving to hospitals ever since, transforming them into open institutions, with patients and staff having acquired a different perspective on body and culture. Moreover, Slovenian Third Age University has been educating and training cultural mediators (its students for transmitting culture and knowledge gained at the U3A to patients, patients’ relatives and staff within the University Clinical Centre Ljubljana. In this article, author sets a frame of mind for examining the importance and implications of a fundamental universal right – the right to culture.

  6. Triangles, tricks and tics: Hyper-mentalizing in response to animated shapes in Tourette syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eddy, Clare M; Cavanna, Andrea E

    2015-10-01

    Tourette syndrome (TS) can feature complex tics involving socially inappropriate behaviours. Adults with TS can also demonstrate differences to healthy controls when reasoning about mental states. This study investigated spontaneous mentalizing in TS. Twenty adults with TS and twenty healthy controls completed the animations task. Participants were asked to watch short ambiguous animations involving two triangles and describe what was happening. Some animations featured random movement of the triangles, while others depicted social interactions that were simple (e.g., dancing) or more complex (e.g., one triangle tricking the other). Measures were taken of executive functions, alexithymia and clinical symptoms. Individuals with TS responded similarly to controls when viewing animations featuring simple and complex interactions, demonstrating intact mentalizing ability. However, significant group differences were apparent for the random movement animations. TS was associated with a greater tendency to attribute mental states during this condition, and to describe random movements as motivated actions guided by the intentions of the triangles. There were no group differences for the alexithymia scale, but TS was associated with mild executive deficits. No relationships were apparent between animation responses and other measures. Our findings suggest that TS is associated with a propensity to adopt the intentional stance. Hyper-mentalizing in TS could be linked to both dopamine dysfunction and altered social behaviour, whereby amplified salience of social cues could contribute to the complex interplay between environmental context and tic expression. These observations may offer further insight into the potential effects of dopamine dysfunction on social cognition. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. How social movements influence policies : Advocacy, framing, emotions and outcomes among reproductive rights coalitions in Peru.

    OpenAIRE

    Coe, Anna-Britt

    2010-01-01

    With its origins in the early 1990s, feminist advocacy directed at influencing public policies is a relatively new phenomenon in Latin America that is commonly studied at the national level. The aim of this thesis was to study feminist advocacy on reproductive rights at the sub-national level in Peru. Specifically, it explored two research questions: how do feminist movements carry out advocacy to intervene with government agencies and what effects does their advocacy have on policies. This a...

  8. Deriving movement properties and the effect of the environment from the Brownian bridge movement model in monkeys and birds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buchin, Kevin; Sijben, Stef; van Loon, E Emiel; Sapir, Nir; Mercier, Stéphanie; Marie Arseneau, T Jean; Willems, Erik P

    2015-01-01

    The Brownian bridge movement model (BBMM) provides a biologically sound approximation of the movement path of an animal based on discrete location data, and is a powerful method to quantify utilization distributions. Computing the utilization distribution based on the BBMM while calculating movement parameters directly from the location data, may result in inconsistent and misleading results. We show how the BBMM can be extended to also calculate derived movement parameters. Furthermore we demonstrate how to integrate environmental context into a BBMM-based analysis. We develop a computational framework to analyze animal movement based on the BBMM. In particular, we demonstrate how a derived movement parameter (relative speed) and its spatial distribution can be calculated in the BBMM. We show how to integrate our framework with the conceptual framework of the movement ecology paradigm in two related but acutely different ways, focusing on the influence that the environment has on animal movement. First, we demonstrate an a posteriori approach, in which the spatial distribution of average relative movement speed as obtained from a "contextually naïve" model is related to the local vegetation structure within the monthly ranging area of a group of wild vervet monkeys. Without a model like the BBMM it would not be possible to estimate such a spatial distribution of a parameter in a sound way. Second, we introduce an a priori approach in which atmospheric information is used to calculate a crucial parameter of the BBMM to investigate flight properties of migrating bee-eaters. This analysis shows significant differences in the characteristics of flight modes, which would have not been detected without using the BBMM. Our algorithm is the first of its kind to allow BBMM-based computation of movement parameters beyond the utilization distribution, and we present two case studies that demonstrate two fundamentally different ways in which our algorithm can be applied to

  9. Evaluation of acoustic telemetry grids for determining aquatic animal movement and survival

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kraus, Richard T.; Holbrook, Christopher; Vandergoot, Christopher; Stewart, Taylor R.; Faust, Matthew D.; Watkinson, Douglas A.; Charles, Colin; Pegg, Mark; Enders, Eva C.; Krueger, Charles C.

    2018-01-01

    Acoustic telemetry studies have frequently prioritized linear configurations of hydrophone receivers, such as perpendicular from shorelines or across rivers, to detect the presence of tagged aquatic animals. This approach introduces unknown bias when receivers are stationed for convenience at geographic bottlenecks (e.g., at the mouth of an embayment or between islands) as opposed to deployments following a statistical sampling design.We evaluated two-dimensional acoustic receiver arrays (grids: receivers spread uniformly across space) as an alternative approach to provide estimates of survival, movement, and habitat use. Performance of variably-spaced receiver grids (5–25 km spacing) was evaluated by simulating (1) animal tracks as correlated random walks (speed: 0.1–0.9 m/s; turning angle standard deviation: 5–30 degrees); (2) variable tag transmission intervals along each track (nominal delay: 15–300 seconds); and (3) probability of detection of each transmission based on logistic detection range curves (midpoint: 200–1500 m). From simulations, we quantified i) time between successive detections on any receiver (detection time), ii) time between successive detections on different receivers (transit time), and iii) distance between successive detections on different receivers (transit distance).In the most restrictive detection range scenario (200 m), the 95th percentile of transit time was 3.2 days at 5 km grid spacing, 5.7 days at 7 km, and 15.2 days at 25 km; for the 1500 m detection range scenario, it was 0.1 days at 5 km, 0.5 days at 7 km, and 10.8 days at 25 km. These values represented upper bounds on the expected maximum time that an animal could go undetected. Comparison of the simulations with pilot studies on three fishes (walleye Sander vitreus, common carp Cyprinus carpio, and channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus) from two independent large lake ecosystems (lakes Erie and Winnipeg) revealed shorter detection and transit times than what

  10. A neural command circuit for grooming movement control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hampel, Stefanie; Franconville, Romain; Simpson, Julie H; Seeds, Andrew M

    2015-09-07

    Animals perform many stereotyped movements, but how nervous systems are organized for controlling specific movements remains unclear. Here we use anatomical, optogenetic, behavioral, and physiological techniques to identify a circuit in Drosophila melanogaster that can elicit stereotyped leg movements that groom the antennae. Mechanosensory chordotonal neurons detect displacements of the antennae and excite three different classes of functionally connected interneurons, which include two classes of brain interneurons and different parallel descending neurons. This multilayered circuit is organized such that neurons within each layer are sufficient to specifically elicit antennal grooming. However, we find differences in the durations of antennal grooming elicited by neurons in the different layers, suggesting that the circuit is organized to both command antennal grooming and control its duration. As similar features underlie stimulus-induced movements in other animals, we infer the possibility of a common circuit organization for movement control that can be dissected in Drosophila.

  11. Deriving movement properties and the effect of the environment from the Brownian bridge movement model in monkeys and birds

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Buchin, K.; Sijben, S.; van Loon, E.E.; Sapir, N.; Mercier, S.; Arseneau, T.J.M.; Willems, E.P.

    2015-01-01

    Background: The Brownian bridge movement model (BBMM) provides a biologically sound approximation of the movement path of an animal based on discrete location data, and is a powerful method to quantify utilization distributions. Computing the utilization distribution based on the BBMM while

  12. Cross-Border Movements, Female Migration and Human Rights : a ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    This project will examine the relationship between migration, prostitution and trafficking with respect to cross-border movement of women between three South Asian countries: Bangladesh, India and Nepal. Researchers will. conduct an extensive review of the literature on female migration in the three countries;; examine ...

  13. Movement response patterns of livestock to rainfall variability in the ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Livestock movement patterns indicated that forage is the motivation for winter movements and water is the motivation for summer. The movement followed a predictable ... The latter can be considered as a 'key resource' area to sustain animal numbers through critical periods of low rainfall. Overall, seasonal movement ...

  14. Death with "dignity": the wedge that divides the disability rights movement from the right to die movement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Behuniak, Susan M

    2011-01-01

    Much of the American debate over physician assisted death (PAD) is framed as an ideological split between conservatives and liberals, pro life and pro choice advocates, and those who emphasize morality versus personal autonomy. Less examined, but no less relevant, is a split within the ranks of progressives--one that divides those supporting a right to die in the name of human rights from disability rights activists who invoke human rights to vehemently oppose euthanasia. This paper reviews how "dignity" serves both as a divisive wedge in this debate but also as a value that can span the divide between groups and open the way to productive discourse. Supporters of legalized euthanasia use "dignity" to express their position that some deaths might indeed be accelerated. At the same time, opponents adopt the concept to argue that physician assisted suicide stigmatizes life with a disability. To bridge this divide, the worldviews of two groups, Compassion & Choices and Not Dead Yet, are studied. The analysis concludes that the two organizations are more parallel than contrary--a finding that offers opportunities for dialogue and perhaps even advances in public policy.

  15. Large-scale movements in European badgers: has the tail of the movement kernel been underestimated?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Byrne, Andrew W; Quinn, John L; O'Keeffe, James J; Green, Stuart; Sleeman, D Paddy; Martin, S Wayne; Davenport, John

    2014-07-01

    Characterizing patterns of animal movement is a major aim in population ecology, and yet doing so at an appropriate spatial scale remains a major challenge. Estimating the frequency and distances of movements is of particular importance when species are implicated in the transmission of zoonotic diseases. European badgers (Meles meles) are classically viewed as exhibiting limited dispersal, and yet their movements bring them into conflict with farmers due to their potential to spread bovine tuberculosis in parts of their range. Considerable uncertainty surrounds the movement potential of badgers, and this may be related to the spatial scale of previous empirical studies. We conducted a large-scale mark-recapture study (755 km(2); 2008-2012; 1935 capture events; 963 badgers) to investigate movement patterns in badgers, and undertook a comparative meta-analysis using published data from 15 European populations. The dispersal movement (>1 km) kernel followed an inverse power-law function, with a substantial 'tail' indicating the occurrence of rare long-distance dispersal attempts during the study period. The mean recorded distance from this distribution was 2.6 km, the 95 percentile was 7.3 km and the longest recorded was 22.1 km. Dispersal frequency distributions were significantly different between genders; males dispersed more frequently than females, but females made proportionally more long-distance dispersal attempts than males. We used a subsampling approach to demonstrate that the appropriate minimum spatial scale to characterize badger movements in our study population was 80 km(2), substantially larger than many previous badger studies. Furthermore, the meta-analysis indicated a significant association between maximum movement distance and study area size, while controlling for population density. Maximum long-distance movements were often only recorded by chance beyond the boundaries of study areas. These findings suggest that the tail of the badger

  16. Ethics and Animal Experimentation in the Laboratory. A Critical Analysis of the Arguments for"Animal Rights"and"Animal Equality"

    OpenAIRE

    Tagha, Yuninui Eric

    2005-01-01

    Growing up as a child, we had a Dog. To us, it was like a means to an end. That is, hunting other animals for food and for protection, with no special care and treatment given to this animal. Butas days passed by I began to witness a wind of change against such actions. I was made to understand that we were committing two crimes-: using the Dog as a means to an end (for hunting and for eating animals). Today almost every newspaper has something to say about the treatment of animals by humans,...

  17. Urban Policy, Social Movements and the Right to the City in Brazil

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Friendly, Abigail

    2017-01-01

    Brazilian urban social movements have played a key role in bringing about change in urban policy since the 1980s and in light of the widespread protests across the country in June 2013. This insurgency and the urban reform movement of the 1980s and 1990s exemplify waves of mobilization and

  18. 9 CFR 329.5 - Movement of article or livestock detained; removal of official marks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Movement of article or livestock...; CRIMINAL OFFENSES § 329.5 Movement of article or livestock detained; removal of official marks. (a) No... it is located when so detained, for refrigeration, freezing, or storage purposes if such movement has...

  19. Simple models for studying complex spatiotemporal patterns of animal behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tyutyunov, Yuri V.; Titova, Lyudmila I.

    2017-06-01

    Minimal mathematical models able to explain complex patterns of animal behavior are essential parts of simulation systems describing large-scale spatiotemporal dynamics of trophic communities, particularly those with wide-ranging species, such as occur in pelagic environments. We present results obtained with three different modelling approaches: (i) an individual-based model of animal spatial behavior; (ii) a continuous taxis-diffusion-reaction system of partial-difference equations; (iii) a 'hybrid' approach combining the individual-based algorithm of organism movements with explicit description of decay and diffusion of the movement stimuli. Though the models are based on extremely simple rules, they all allow description of spatial movements of animals in a predator-prey system within a closed habitat, reproducing some typical patterns of the pursuit-evasion behavior observed in natural populations. In all three models, at each spatial position the animal movements are determined by local conditions only, so the pattern of collective behavior emerges due to self-organization. The movement velocities of animals are proportional to the density gradients of specific cues emitted by individuals of the antagonistic species (pheromones, exometabolites or mechanical waves of the media, e.g., sound). These cues play a role of taxis stimuli: prey attract predators, while predators repel prey. Depending on the nature and the properties of the movement stimulus we propose using either a simplified individual-based model, a continuous taxis pursuit-evasion system, or a little more detailed 'hybrid' approach that combines simulation of the individual movements with the continuous model describing diffusion and decay of the stimuli in an explicit way. These can be used to improve movement models for many species, including large marine predators.

  20. A right-handed signalling pathway drives heart looping in vertebrates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ocaña, Oscar H.; Coskun, Hakan; Minguillón, Carolina; Murawala, Prayag; Tanaka, Elly M.; Galcerán, Joan; Muñoz-Chapuli, Ramón; Nieto, M. Angela

    2017-01-01

    The majority of animals show external bilateral symmetry, precluding the observation of multiple internal left-right (L/R) asymmetries that are fundamental for organ packaging and function1,2. In vertebrates, left identity is mediated by the left-specific Nodal-Pitx2 axis that is repressed on the right-hand side by the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) inducer Snail13,4. Despite some existing evidence3,5, it remains unclear whether an equivalent instructive pathway provides right-hand specific information to the embryo. Here we show that in zebrafish, BMP mediates the L/R asymmetric activation of another EMT inducer, Prrx1a, in the lateral plate mesoderm (LPM) with higher levels on the right. Prrx1a drives L/R differential cell movements towards the midline leading to a leftward displacement of the cardiac posterior pole through an actomyosin-dependent mechanism. Downregulation of Prrx1a prevents heart looping and leads to mesocardia. Two parallel and mutually repressed pathways, respectively driven by Nodal and BMP on the left and right LPM, converge on the asymmetric activation of Pitx2 and Prrx1, two transcription factors that integrate left and right information to govern heart morphogenesis. This mechanism is conserved in the chicken embryo and, in the mouse, Snail1 fulfills the role played by Prrx1 in fish and chick. Thus, a differential L/R EMT produces asymmetric cell movements and forces, more prominent from the right, that drive heart laterality in vertebrates. PMID:28880281

  1. Real-time animation software for customized training to use motor prosthetic systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davoodi, Rahman; Loeb, Gerald E

    2012-03-01

    Research on control of human movement and development of tools for restoration and rehabilitation of movement after spinal cord injury and amputation can benefit greatly from software tools for creating precisely timed animation sequences of human movement. Despite their ability to create sophisticated animation and high quality rendering, existing animation software are not adapted for application to neural prostheses and rehabilitation of human movement. We have developed a software tool known as MSMS (MusculoSkeletal Modeling Software) that can be used to develop models of human or prosthetic limbs and the objects with which they interact and to animate their movement using motion data from a variety of offline and online sources. The motion data can be read from a motion file containing synthesized motion data or recordings from a motion capture system. Alternatively, motion data can be streamed online from a real-time motion capture system, a physics-based simulation program, or any program that can produce real-time motion data. Further, animation sequences of daily life activities can be constructed using the intuitive user interface of Microsoft's PowerPoint software. The latter allows expert and nonexpert users alike to assemble primitive movements into a complex motion sequence with precise timing by simply arranging the order of the slides and editing their properties in PowerPoint. The resulting motion sequence can be played back in an open-loop manner for demonstration and training or in closed-loop virtual reality environments where the timing and speed of animation depends on user inputs. These versatile animation utilities can be used in any application that requires precisely timed animations but they are particularly suited for research and rehabilitation of movement disorders. MSMS's modeling and animation tools are routinely used in a number of research laboratories around the country to study the control of movement and to develop and test

  2. Should I stay or should I go? A habitat-dependent dispersal kernel improves prediction of movement.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabrice Vinatier

    Full Text Available The analysis of animal movement within different landscapes may increase our understanding of how landscape features affect the perceptual range of animals. Perceptual range is linked to movement probability of an animal via a dispersal kernel, the latter being generally considered as spatially invariant but could be spatially affected. We hypothesize that spatial plasticity of an animal's dispersal kernel could greatly modify its distribution in time and space. After radio tracking the movements of walking insects (Cosmopolites sordidus in banana plantations, we considered the movements of individuals as states of a Markov chain whose transition probabilities depended on the habitat characteristics of current and target locations. Combining a likelihood procedure and pattern-oriented modelling, we tested the hypothesis that dispersal kernel depended on habitat features. Our results were consistent with the concept that animal dispersal kernel depends on habitat features. Recognizing the plasticity of animal movement probabilities will provide insight into landscape-level ecological processes.

  3. Should I stay or should I go? A habitat-dependent dispersal kernel improves prediction of movement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vinatier, Fabrice; Lescourret, Françoise; Duyck, Pierre-François; Martin, Olivier; Senoussi, Rachid; Tixier, Philippe

    2011-01-01

    The analysis of animal movement within different landscapes may increase our understanding of how landscape features affect the perceptual range of animals. Perceptual range is linked to movement probability of an animal via a dispersal kernel, the latter being generally considered as spatially invariant but could be spatially affected. We hypothesize that spatial plasticity of an animal's dispersal kernel could greatly modify its distribution in time and space. After radio tracking the movements of walking insects (Cosmopolites sordidus) in banana plantations, we considered the movements of individuals as states of a Markov chain whose transition probabilities depended on the habitat characteristics of current and target locations. Combining a likelihood procedure and pattern-oriented modelling, we tested the hypothesis that dispersal kernel depended on habitat features. Our results were consistent with the concept that animal dispersal kernel depends on habitat features. Recognizing the plasticity of animal movement probabilities will provide insight into landscape-level ecological processes.

  4. Movement initiation in groups of feral horses

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Krueger, Konstanze; Flauger, Birgit; Farmer, Kate; Hemelrijk, Charlotte

    Herds of ungulates, flocks of birds, swarms of insects and schools of fish move in coordinated groups. Computer models show that only one or very few animals are needed to initiate and direct movement. To investigate initiation mechanisms further, we studied two ways in which movement can be

  5. A functional model for characterizing long-distance movement behaviour

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buderman, Frances E.; Hooten, Mevin B.; Ivan, Jacob S.; Shenk, Tanya M.

    2016-01-01

    Advancements in wildlife telemetry techniques have made it possible to collect large data sets of highly accurate animal locations at a fine temporal resolution. These data sets have prompted the development of a number of statistical methodologies for modelling animal movement.Telemetry data sets are often collected for purposes other than fine-scale movement analysis. These data sets may differ substantially from those that are collected with technologies suitable for fine-scale movement modelling and may consist of locations that are irregular in time, are temporally coarse or have large measurement error. These data sets are time-consuming and costly to collect but may still provide valuable information about movement behaviour.We developed a Bayesian movement model that accounts for error from multiple data sources as well as movement behaviour at different temporal scales. The Bayesian framework allows us to calculate derived quantities that describe temporally varying movement behaviour, such as residence time, speed and persistence in direction. The model is flexible, easy to implement and computationally efficient.We apply this model to data from Colorado Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) and use derived quantities to identify changes in movement behaviour.

  6. Understanding Animal Detection of Precursor Earthquake Sounds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garstang, Michael; Kelley, Michael C

    2017-08-31

    We use recent research to provide an explanation of how animals might detect earthquakes before they occur. While the intrinsic value of such warnings is immense, we show that the complexity of the process may result in inconsistent responses of animals to the possible precursor signal. Using the results of our research, we describe a logical but complex sequence of geophysical events triggered by precursor earthquake crustal movements that ultimately result in a sound signal detectable by animals. The sound heard by animals occurs only when metal or other surfaces (glass) respond to vibrations produced by electric currents induced by distortions of the earth's electric fields caused by the crustal movements. A combination of existing measurement systems combined with more careful monitoring of animal response could nevertheless be of value, particularly in remote locations.

  7. Developing Educational Computer Animation Based on Human Personality Types

    Science.gov (United States)

    Musa, Sajid; Ziatdinov, Rushan; Sozcu, Omer Faruk; Griffiths, Carol

    2015-01-01

    Computer animation in the past decade has become one of the most noticeable features of technology-based learning environments. By its definition, it refers to simulated motion pictures showing movement of drawn objects, and is often defined as the art in movement. Its educational application known as educational computer animation is considered…

  8. Cost assessment of the movement restriction policy in France during the 2006 bluetongue virus episode (BTV-8).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tago, Damian; Hammitt, James K; Thomas, Alban; Raboisson, Didier

    2014-12-01

    shows the farmer's vulnerability to animal movement restrictions and quantifies the costs of the standstill. These results should assist decision-makers who seek to calculate adequate subsidies/aid or to efficiently allocate resources to prevent future outbreaks. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Large animal model of acute right ventricular failure with functional tricuspid regurgitation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malinowski, Marcin; Proudfoot, Alistair G; Eberhart, Lenora; Schubert, Hans; Wodarek, Jeremy; Langholz, David; Rausch, Manuel K; Timek, Tomasz A

    2018-08-01

    Functional tricuspid regurgitation (FTR) commonly arises secondary to conditions affecting the left heart and is associated with right ventricular dysfunction and tricuspid annular dilatation. We set out to establish an animal model of acute RV failure (RVF) with FTR resembling the clinical features. Ten adult sheep had pressure sensors placed in the LV, RV, and right atrium while sonomicrometry crystals were implanted around tricuspid annulus and on the RV. Animals were studied open-chest to assess for RV function and FTR after: (1) volume infusion, (2) pulmonary artery constriction, (3) 5 min posterior descending artery occlusion, and (4) combination of all interventions. Hemodynamic, echocardiographic, and sonomicrometry data were collected at baseline and after every intervention. RV dimensions, RV strain, and annular area, perimeter, and size were calculated from crystal coordinates. The model was validated in six additional sheep studied only before and after combined interventions. Neither volume infusion, pulmonary hypertension, nor ischemia were associated with RVF or clinically significant TR when applied separately but combined resulted in RVF and greater than moderate FTR. In the validation group, maximal RV volume increased (62 ± 14 vs 70 ± 16 ml, p = 0.006), contractility decreased (20 ± 6 vs 12 ± 2%, p = 0.02), and strain increased. FTR increased from 0.4 ± 0.5 to 2.5 ± 0.8 (p < 0.001) and annular area from 652 ± 87 mm 2 to 739 ± 87 mm 2 (p = 0.005). The developed ovine model of acute RVF was associated with significant annular and RV enlargement and FTR. This novel and clinically pertinent research platform offers insight into the acute RVF pathophysiology and can be utilized to evaluate treatment interventions. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Clear-cutting affects habitat connectivity for a forest amphibian by decreasing permeability to juvenile movements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Popescu, Viorel D; Hunter, Malcolm L

    2011-06-01

    Conservation of forest amphibians is dependent on finding the right balance between management for timber production and meeting species' habitat requirements. For many pond-breeding amphibians, successful dispersal of the juvenile stage is essential for long-term population persistence. We investigated the influence of timber-harvesting practices on the movements of juvenile wood frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus). We used a chronosequence of stands produced by clear-cutting to evaluate how stand age affects habitat permeability to movements. We conducted experimental releases of juveniles in 2008 (n = 350) and 2009 (n = 528) in unidirectional runways in four treatments: mature forest, recent clearcut, 11-year-old, and 20-year-old regeneration. The runways were 50 x 2.5-m enclosures extending into each treatment, perpendicular to a distinct edge, with four tracking stations at 10, 20, 30, and 40 m from the edge. We recorded the number of animals reaching each tracking station, and the proportion of animals changing their direction of movement at each distance. We found that the mature forest was 3.1 and 3.7 times more permeable than the 11-year-old regeneration and the recent clearcut, respectively. Animals actively avoided open-canopy habitats and sharp edges; significantly more animals returned toward the closed-canopy forest at 0 m and 10 m in the less permeable treatments. There were no significant differences in habitat permeability between the mature forest and the 20-year-old regeneration. Our study is the first to directly assess habitat permeability to juvenile amphibian movement in relation to various forestry practices. We argue that habitat permeability at this scale is largely driven by the behavior of animals in relation to habitat disturbance and that caution needs to be used when using spatial modeling and expert-derived permeability values to assess connectivity of amphibian populations. The effects of clear-cutting on the migratory success of juvenile

  11. Effects of capture-related injury on postcapture movement of white-tailed deer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dechen Quinn, Amy C; Williams, David M; Porter, William F; Fitzgerald, Scott D; Hynes, Kevin

    2014-04-01

    Capture-related injuries or deaths of wildlife study subjects pose concerns to researchers, from considerations for animal welfare to inflated project costs and biased data. Capture myopathy (CM) is an injury that can affect an animal's survival ≤ 30 days postrelease, but is often difficult to detect without close monitoring and immediate necropsy. We evaluated the influence of capture and handling on postcapture movement in an attempt to characterize movement rates of animals suffering from CM. We captured and global positioning system-collared 95 white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in central and northern New York during 2006-2008. Six juveniles died within 30 days postrelease, and necropsy reports indicated that two suffered CM (2%). We compared postcapture movement rates for juveniles that survived >30 days with those that died ≤ 30 days postcapture. Survivor movement rates (43.74 m/hr, SD = 3.53, n = 28) were significantly higher than rates for deer that died within 30 days (17.70 m/hr, SD = 1.57, n = 6) (Pheart rate, respiration rate) during handling between survivors and juveniles that died within 30 days postcapture but observed that survivors were in better body condition at capture. These results suggest that deer likely to die within the 30-day CM window can be identified soon after capture, provided that intensive movement data are collected. Further, even if necropsy reports are unavailable, these animals should be censored from analysis because their behavior is not representative of movements of surviving animals.

  12. Path Tortuosity and the Permeability of Roads and Trails to Wolf Movement

    OpenAIRE

    Jesse Whittington; Colleen Cassady St. Clair; George Mercer

    2004-01-01

    Few studies have examined the effects of human development on fine-scale movement behavior, yet understanding animal movement through increasingly human-dominated landscapes is essential for the persistence of many wild populations, especially wary species. In mountainous areas, roads and trails may be particularly deserving of study because they are concentrated in the valley bottoms where they can impede animal movement both across and between valleys. In this study, we tracked wolf (Canis ...

  13. The movement ecology of seagrasses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McMahon, Kathryn; van Dijk, Kor-Jent; Ruiz-Montoya, Leonardo; Kendrick, Gary A; Krauss, Siegfried L; Waycott, Michelle; Verduin, Jennifer; Lowe, Ryan; Statton, John; Brown, Eloise; Duarte, Carlos

    2014-11-22

    A movement ecology framework is applied to enhance our understanding of the causes, mechanisms and consequences of movement in seagrasses: marine, clonal, flowering plants. Four life-history stages of seagrasses can move: pollen, sexual propagules, vegetative fragments and the spread of individuals through clonal growth. Movement occurs on the water surface, in the water column, on or in the sediment, via animal vectors and through spreading clones. A capacity for long-distance dispersal and demographic connectivity over multiple timeframes is the novel feature of the movement ecology of seagrasses with significant evolutionary and ecological consequences. The space-time movement footprint of different life-history stages varies. For example, the distance moved by reproductive propagules and vegetative expansion via clonal growth is similar, but the timescales range exponentially, from hours to months or centuries to millennia, respectively. Consequently, environmental factors and key traits that interact to influence movement also operate on vastly different spatial and temporal scales. Six key future research areas have been identified.

  14. PEGIDA : fearful patriots or right-wing radicals?

    OpenAIRE

    Glasmeier, Ruth Katharina

    2016-01-01

    Right-wing movements have become more popular in recent years. This shows in the increase of right-wing populist or right-wing radical parties in different European governments. Despite this European wide trend, Germany did not have a successful right-wing movement. This changed with the creation of PEGIDA and the AfD. Since this type of movement is relatively new in Germany, this thesis aims to understand PEGIDA. The thesis aims to answer the question of Who are PEGIDA? To do so, it will...

  15. 78 FR 8987 - Interstate Movement of Sharwil Avocados From Hawaii

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-02-07

    .... APHIS-2012-0008] RIN 0579-AD70 Interstate Movement of Sharwil Avocados From Hawaii AGENCY: Animal and... Hawaii quarantine regulations to allow the interstate movement of untreated Sharwil avocados from Hawaii into the continental United States. As a condition of movement, Sharwil avocados from Hawaii would have...

  16. Assessing Expressive Movement: Measuring Student Learning Outcomes in the General Music Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Butke, Marla A.

    2014-01-01

    Expressive movement, created by students to demonstrate musical elements and artistry, provides a valid assessment opportunity for general music teachers. This purposeful movement, "plastique animée", was developed by Swiss composer, Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, in the early 20th century. "Plastique animée" can serve as a useful…

  17. Enclosure for small animals during awake animal imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goddard, Jr., James S

    2013-11-26

    An enclosure or burrow restrains an awake animal during an imaging procedure. A tubular body, made from a radiolucent material that does not attenuate x-rays or gamma rays, accepts an awake animal. A proximal end of the body includes an attachment surface that corresponds to an attachment surface of an optically transparent and optically uniform window. An anti-reflective coating may be applied to an inner surface, an outer surface, or both surfaces of the window. Since the window is a separate element of the enclosure and it is not integrally formed as part of the body, it can be made with optically uniform thickness properties for improved motion tracking of markers on the animal with a camera during the imaging procedure. The motion tracking information is then used to compensate for animal movement in the image.

  18. Nearly automatic motion capture system for tracking octopus arm movements in 3D space.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zelman, Ido; Galun, Meirav; Akselrod-Ballin, Ayelet; Yekutieli, Yoram; Hochner, Binyamin; Flash, Tamar

    2009-08-30

    Tracking animal movements in 3D space is an essential part of many biomechanical studies. The most popular technique for human motion capture uses markers placed on the skin which are tracked by a dedicated system. However, this technique may be inadequate for tracking animal movements, especially when it is impossible to attach markers to the animal's body either because of its size or shape or because of the environment in which the animal performs its movements. Attaching markers to an animal's body may also alter its behavior. Here we present a nearly automatic markerless motion capture system that overcomes these problems and successfully tracks octopus arm movements in 3D space. The system is based on three successive tracking and processing stages. The first stage uses a recently presented segmentation algorithm to detect the movement in a pair of video sequences recorded by two calibrated cameras. In the second stage, the results of the first stage are processed to produce 2D skeletal representations of the moving arm. Finally, the 2D skeletons are used to reconstruct the octopus arm movement as a sequence of 3D curves varying in time. Motion tracking, segmentation and reconstruction are especially difficult problems in the case of octopus arm movements because of the deformable, non-rigid structure of the octopus arm and the underwater environment in which it moves. Our successful results suggest that the motion-tracking system presented here may be used for tracking other elongated objects.

  19. History and challenges of Brazilian social movements for the achievement of the right to adequate food.

    Science.gov (United States)

    da Silva, Ana Carolina Feldenheimer; Recine, Elisabetta; Johns, Paula; Gomes, Fabio da Silva; Ferraz, Mariana de Araújo; Faerstein, Eduardo

    2018-03-01

    The historical struggles that Brazil faced to overcome malnutrition coincided with the empowerment of civil society and social movements which played a crucial role in the affirmation of health and food as social rights. After two decades under military dictatorship, Brazil went through a redemocratization process in the 1980s when activism emerged to demand spaces to participate in policy-making regarding the social agenda, including food and nutrition security (FNS). From 1988 onward institutional structures were established: the National Council of FNS (CONSEA) convenes government and civil society sectors to develop and monitor the implementation of policies, systems and actions. Social participation has been at the heart of structural changes achieved since then. Nevertheless, the country faces multiple challenges regarding FNS such as the double burden of disease, increasing use of pesticides and genetically modified seeds, weak regulation of ultra-processed products, and marketing practices that affect the environment, population health, and food sovereignty. This article aims at examining the development of the participatory political system and the role played by Brazilian social movements in the country's policies on FNS, in addition to outlining challenges faced by those policies.

  20. Animal research

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olsson, I.A.S.; Sandøe, Peter

    2012-01-01

    This article presents the ethical issues in animal research using a combined approach of ethical theory and analysis of scientific findings with bearing on the ethical analysis. The article opens with a general discussion of the moral acceptability of animal use in research. The use of animals...... in research is analyzed from the viewpoint of three distinct ethical approaches: contractarianism, utilitarianism, and animal rights view. On a contractarian view, research on animals is only an ethical issue to the extent that other humans as parties to the social contract care about how research animals...... are faring. From the utilitarian perspective, the use of sentient animals in research that may harm them is an ethical issue, but harm done to animals can be balanced by benefit generated for humans and other animals. The animal rights view, when thoroughgoing, is abolitionist as regards the use of animals...

  1. Bringing a Time-Depth Perspective to Collective Animal Behaviour.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biro, Dora; Sasaki, Takao; Portugal, Steven J

    2016-07-01

    The field of collective animal behaviour examines how relatively simple, local interactions between individuals in groups combine to produce global-level outcomes. Existing mathematical models and empirical work have identified candidate mechanisms for numerous collective phenomena but have typically focused on one-off or short-term performance. We argue that feedback between collective performance and learning - giving the former the capacity to become an adaptive, and potentially cumulative, process - is a currently poorly explored but crucial mechanism in understanding collective systems. We synthesise material ranging from swarm intelligence in social insects through collective movements in vertebrates to collective decision making in animal and human groups, to propose avenues for future research to identify the potential for changes in these systems to accumulate over time. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Bioethics Symposium: The ethical food movement: What does it mean for the role of science and scientists in current debates about animal agriculture?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Croney, C C; Apley, M; Capper, J L; Mench, J A; Priest, S

    2012-05-01

    Contemporary animal agriculture is increasingly criticized on ethical grounds. Consequently, current policy and legislative discussions have become highly controversial as decision makers attempt to reconcile concerns about the impacts of animal production on animal welfare, the environment, and on the efficacy of antibiotics required to ensure human health with demands for abundant, affordable, safe food. Clearly, the broad implications for US animal agriculture of what appears to be a burgeoning movement relative to ethical food production must be understood by animal agriculture stakeholders. The potential effects of such developments on animal agricultural practices, corporate marketing strategies, and public perceptions of the ethics of animal production must also be clarified. To that end, it is essential to acknowledge that people's beliefs about which food production practices are appropriate are tied to diverse, latent value systems. Thus, relying solely on scientific information as a means to resolve current debates about animal agriculture is unlikely to be effective. The problem is compounded when scientific information is used inappropriately or strategically to advance a political agenda. Examples of the interface between science and ethics in regards to addressing currently contentious aspects of food animal production (animal welfare, antimicrobial use, and impacts of animal production practices on the environment) are reviewed. The roles of scientists and science in public debates about animal agricultural practices are also examined. It is suggested that scientists have a duty to contribute to the development of sound policy by providing clear and objectively presented information, by clarifying misinterpretations of science, and by recognizing the differences between presenting data vs. promoting their own value judgments in regard to how and which data should be used to establish policy. Finally, the role of the media in shaping public opinions

  3. Animation & Neurocinematics*

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Carpe Pérez, Inmaculada Concepción

    2015-01-01

    , indeed, can be considered a social/ emotional learning media, which goes beyond the limitations of live action movies. This is due to the diversity of techniques, and its visual plasticity that constructs the impossible. Animators are not real actors but more like the midwife who brings the anima...... into aliveness, which requires knowing how emotions work. Ed Hooks as an expert in training animators and actors, always remarks: “emotions tend to lead to action”. In this paper we want to argue that by producing animated films, as we watch them, cause a stronger effect, not only in our brains, but also in our...... bodies. By using animation as a learning tool we can explore the world of emotions and question beliefs, feelings and actions in order to express our voices and enhance our communication, and well-being, both, internally and with others. Animation can be the visual expression of the emotions in movement...

  4. Elucidating the significance of spatial memory on movement decisions by African savannah elephants using state-space models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Polansky, Leo; Kilian, Werner; Wittemyer, George

    2015-04-22

    Spatial memory facilitates resource acquisition where resources are patchy, but how it influences movement behaviour of wide-ranging species remains to be resolved. We examined African elephant spatial memory reflected in movement decisions regarding access to perennial waterholes. State-space models of movement data revealed a rapid, highly directional movement behaviour almost exclusively associated with visiting perennial water. Behavioural change point (BCP) analyses demonstrated that these goal-oriented movements were initiated on average 4.59 km, and up to 49.97 km, from the visited waterhole, with the closest waterhole accessed 90% of the time. Distances of decision points increased when switching to different waterholes, during the dry season, or for female groups relative to males, while selection of the closest waterhole decreased when switching. Overall, our analyses indicated detailed spatial knowledge over large scales, enabling elephants to minimize travel distance through highly directional movement when accessing water. We discuss the likely cognitive and socioecological mechanisms driving these spatially precise movements that are most consistent with our findings. By applying modern analytic techniques to high-resolution movement data, this study illustrates emerging approaches for studying how cognition structures animal movement behaviour in different ecological and social contexts. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

  5. White Involvement in the Civil Rights Movement: Motivation and Sacrifices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, J. Spencer

    2009-01-01

    In 1964, the Freedom Summer Project brought nearly one thousand volunteers to the South, most of which were northern white students, to facilitate Black voter registration. Allowing northern Whites to take part in the Movement created a tension within the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) as "two principal concerns were whether they…

  6. Ictal SPECT in patients with rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayer, Geert; Bitterlich, Marion; Kuwert, Torsten; Ritt, Philipp; Stefan, Hermann

    2015-05-01

    Rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder is a rapid eye movement parasomnia clinically characterized by acting out dreams due to disinhibition of muscle tone in rapid eye movement sleep. Up to 80-90% of the patients with rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder develop neurodegenerative disorders within 10-15 years after symptom onset. The disorder is reported in 45-60% of all narcoleptic patients. Whether rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder is also a predictor for neurodegeneration in narcolepsy is not known. Although the pathophysiology causing the disinhibition of muscle tone in rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder has been studied extensively in animals, little is known about the mechanisms in humans. Most of the human data are from imaging or post-mortem studies. Recent studies show altered functional connectivity between substantia nigra and striatum in patients with rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder. We were interested to study which regions are activated in rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder during actual episodes by performing ictal single photon emission tomography. We studied one patient with idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder, one with Parkinson's disease and rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder, and two patients with narcolepsy and rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder. All patients underwent extended video polysomnography. The tracer was injected after at least 10 s of consecutive rapid eye movement sleep and 10 s of disinhibited muscle tone accompanied by movements registered by an experienced sleep technician. Ictal single photon emission tomography displayed the same activation in the bilateral premotor areas, the interhemispheric cleft, the periaqueductal area, the dorsal and ventral pons and the anterior lobe of the cerebellum in all patients. Our study shows that in patients with Parkinson's disease and rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder-in contrast to wakefulness

  7. Distribution of cow-calf producers' beliefs regarding gathering and holding their cattle and observing animal movement restrictions during an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delgado, Amy H; Norby, Bo; Scott, H Morgan; Dean, Wesley; McIntosh, W Alex; Bush, Eric

    2014-12-01

    The voluntary cooperation of producers with disease control measures such as movement restrictions and gathering cattle for testing, vaccination, or depopulation is critical to the success of many disease control programs. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Texas in order to determine the distribution of key beliefs about obeying movement restrictions and gathering and holding cattle for disease control purposes. Two questionnaires were developed and distributed to separate representative samples of Texas cow-calf producers, respectively. The context for each behavior was provided through the use of scenarios in the questionnaire. Belief strength was measured using a 7-point Likert-like scale. Producers surveyed were unsure about the possible negative consequences of gathering and holding their cattle when requested by authorities, suggesting a key need for communication in this area during an outbreak. Respondents identified a lack of manpower and/or financial resources to gather and hold cattle as barriers to their cooperation with orders to gather and hold cattle. Producers also expressed uncertainty about the efficacy of movement restrictions to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease and concern about possible feed shortages or animal suffering. However, there are emotional benefits to complying with movement restrictions and strong social expectations of cooperation with any movement bans put in place. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  8. Mining continuous activity patterns from animal trajectory data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Y.; Luo, Ze; Baoping, Yan; Takekawa, John Y.; Prosser, Diann J.; Newman, Scott H.

    2014-01-01

    The increasing availability of animal tracking data brings us opportunities and challenges to intuitively understand the mechanisms of animal activities. In this paper, we aim to discover animal movement patterns from animal trajectory data. In particular, we propose a notion of continuous activity pattern as the concise representation of underlying similar spatio-temporal movements, and develop an extension and refinement framework to discover the patterns. We first preprocess the trajectories into significant semantic locations with time property. Then, we apply a projection-based approach to generate candidate patterns and refine them to generate true patterns. A sequence graph structure and a simple and effective processing strategy is further developed to reduce the computational overhead. The proposed approaches are extensively validated on both real GPS datasets and large synthetic datasets.

  9. From Disability Rights to the Rights of the Dying (and Back Again

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Harold Braswell

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This article argues for civil rights for dying people. The creation of such rights should be understood as complementary to, but distinct from, existing initiatives to provide dying people with social benefits. A basis for rights for terminally ill people can be found in the disability rights movement. Through an ethnographic case study of two dying individuals, I argue that terminally ill people can be subjected to disability discrimination as it is understood within the dominant theoretical framework of disability rights: the social model of disability. Nevertheless, while disability rights provides a theoretical basis for understanding discrimination against people who are dying, existing U.S. disability rights legislation largely does not recognize, nor address this discrimination. For this reason, it is necessary to develop a separate set of rights of the dying. I conclude by arguing that such “dying rights” are a logical extension of disability rights, and will bring ancillary benefits to both disabled people and the disability rights movement itself. There is thus a strong foundation for a legal and political alliance between disability rights advocates and advocates for people who are dying.

  10. Normal movement selectivity in autism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dinstein, Ilan; Thomas, Cibu; Humphreys, Kate; Minshew, Nancy; Behrmann, Marlene; Heeger, David J

    2010-05-13

    It has been proposed that individuals with autism have difficulties understanding the goals and intentions of others because of a fundamental dysfunction in the mirror neuron system. Here, however, we show that individuals with autism exhibited not only normal fMRI responses in mirror system areas during observation and execution of hand movements but also exhibited typical movement-selective adaptation (repetition suppression) when observing or executing the same movement repeatedly. Movement selectivity is a defining characteristic of neurons involved in movement perception, including mirror neurons, and, as such, these findings argue against a mirror system dysfunction in autism. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Octopus movement: push right, go left.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hooper, Scott L

    2015-05-04

    Octopus arms have essentially infinite degrees of freedom. New research shows that, despite this potentially great complexity, to locomote octopuses simply elongate one or more arms, thus pushing the body in the opposite direction, and do so without activating the arms in an ordered pattern. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. 9 CFR 85.10 - Interstate movement of swine semen and swine embryos for insemination of or implantation into swine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Interstate movement of swine semen and... ANIMALS (INCLUDING POULTRY) AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS PSEUDORABIES § 85.10 Interstate movement of swine semen and swine embryos for insemination of or implantation into swine. Swine semen and swine embryos moved...

  13. Task demands modulate decision and eye movement responses in the chimeric face test: examining the right hemisphere processing account

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jason eCoronel

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available A large and growing body of work, conducted in both brain-intact and brain-damaged populations, has used the free viewing chimeric face test as a measure of hemispheric dominance for the extraction of emotional information from faces. These studies generally show that normal right-handed individuals tend to perceive chimeric faces as more emotional if the emotional expression is presented on the half of the face to the viewer’s left (left hemiface. However, the mechanisms underlying this lateralized bias remain unclear. Here, we examine the extent to which this bias is driven by right hemisphere processing advantages versus default scanning biases in a unique way -- by changing task demands. In particular, we compare the original task with one in which right-hemisphere-biased processing cannot provide a decision advantage. Our behavioral and eye-movement data are inconsistent with the predictions of a default scanning bias account and support the idea that the left hemiface bias found in the chimeric face test is largely due to strategic use of right hemisphere processing mechanisms.

  14. Linking animal population dynamics to alterations in foraging behaviour

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nabe-Nielsen, Jacob; Sibly, Richard; Tougaard, Jakob

    Background/Question/Methods The survival of animal populations is strongly influenced by the individuals’ ability to forage efficiently, yet there are few studies of how populations respond when disturbances cause animals to deviate from their natural foraging behavior. Animals that respond...... that are increasingly exposed to noise from ships, wind turbines, etc. In the present study we investigate how the dynamics of the harbor porpoise population (Phocoena phocoena) in the inner Danish waters is influenced by disturbances using an agent- based simulation model. In the model animal movement, and hence...... the animals’ ability to forage efficiently and to sustain their energy intake, is influenced by noise emitted from wind turbines and ships. The energy levels in turn affect their survival. The fine-scale movements of the simulated animals was governed by a spatial memory, which allowed the model to produce...

  15. Computer Animation Based on Particle Methods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rafal Wcislo

    1999-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents the main issues of a computer animation of a set of elastic macroscopic objects based on the particle method. The main assumption of the generated animations is to achieve very realistic movements in a scene observed on the computer display. The objects (solid bodies interact mechanically with each other, The movements and deformations of solids are calculated using the particle method. Phenomena connected with the behaviour of solids in the gravitational field, their defomtations caused by collisions and interactions with the optional liquid medium are simulated. The simulation ofthe liquid is performed using the cellular automata method. The paper presents both simulation schemes (particle method and cellular automata rules an the method of combining them in the single animation program. ln order to speed up the execution of the program the parallel version based on the network of workstation was developed. The paper describes the methods of the parallelization and it considers problems of load-balancing, collision detection, process synchronization and distributed control of the animation.

  16. Effect of forest canopy on GPS-based movement data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nicholas J. DeCesare; John R. Squires; Jay A. Kolbe

    2005-01-01

    The advancing role of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology in ecology has made studies of animal movement possible for larger and more vagile species. A simple field test revealed that lengths of GPS-based movement data were strongly biased (Pof forest canopy. Global Positioning System error added an average of 27.5% additional...

  17. [Mirror movement due to the medial frontal lobe lesion].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takahashi, N; Kawamura, M; Hirayama, K

    1995-01-01

    We reported a case with acquired mirror movement in upper limbs due to the lesion of right medial frontal lobe including supplementary motor area, and also discussed a possible mechanism underlying it. A 59-year-old right-handed woman developed left hemiparesis caused by cerebral hemorrhage in the right frontoparietal lobe, on April 5, 1981. She had right hemiparesis and right hemianopsia due to cerebral hemorrhage in the left parieto-occipital lobe, 13 days later. As the patient was recovering from paresis, mirror movement appeared on upper limbs. The features of the mirror movement of this case are summarized as follows: (1) it appeared when using both proximal and distal region of upper limbs; (2) it appeared on left upper limb when the patient intended to move right upper limb or on right upper limb when intended to move left upper limb, while it appeared predominantly in the former; and (3) it was more remarkably found in habitual movement using gesture and pantomimic movement for the use of objects, and it was found in lower degree when actual object was used or when the patient tried to imitate the gesture of the examiner. The lesions in MRI were found in medial region of right frontal lobe (supplementary motor area, medial region of motor area, and cingulate gyrus), right medial parietal lobe, posterior region of right occipital lobe, and medial regions of left parietal and occipital lobes. There was no apparent abnormality in corpus callosum.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

  18. Saccadic Movement Strategy in Common Cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Helmer, Desiree; Geurten, Bart R H; Dehnhardt, Guido; Hanke, Frederike D

    2016-01-01

    Most moving animals segregate their locomotion trajectories in short burst like rotations and prolonged translations, to enhance distance information from optic flow, as only translational, but not rotational optic flow holds distance information. Underwater, optic flow is a valuable source of information as it is in the terrestrial habitat, however, so far, it has gained only little attention. To extend the knowledge on underwater optic flow perception and use, we filmed the movement pattern of six common cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) with a high speed camera in this study. In the subsequent analysis, the center of mass of the cuttlefish body was manually traced to gain thrust, slip, and yaw of the cuttlefish movements over time. Cuttlefish indeed performed short rotations, saccades, with rotational velocities up to 343°/s. They clearly separated rotations from translations in line with the saccadic movement strategy documented for animals inhabiting the terrestrial habitat as well as for the semiaquatic harbor seals before. However, this separation only occurred during fin motion. In contrast, during jet propelled swimming, the separation between rotational and translational movements and thus probably distance estimation on the basis of the optic flow field is abolished in favor of high movement velocities. In conclusion, this study provides first evidence that an aquatic invertebrate, the cuttlefish, adopts a saccadic movement strategy depending on the behavioral context that could enhance the information gained from optic flow.

  19. Movement-related neuromagnetic fields in preschool age children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheyne, Douglas; Jobst, Cecilia; Tesan, Graciela; Crain, Stephen; Johnson, Blake

    2014-09-01

    We examined sensorimotor brain activity associated with voluntary movements in preschool children using a customized pediatric magnetoencephalographic system. A videogame-like task was used to generate self-initiated right or left index finger movements in 17 healthy right-handed subjects (8 females, ages 3.2-4.8 years). We successfully identified spatiotemporal patterns of movement-related brain activity in 15/17 children using beamformer source analysis and surrogate MRI spatial normalization. Readiness fields in the contralateral sensorimotor cortex began ∼0.5 s prior to movement onset (motor field, MF), followed by transient movement-evoked fields (MEFs), similar to that observed during self-paced movements in adults, but slightly delayed and with inverted source polarities. We also observed modulation of mu (8-12 Hz) and beta (15-30 Hz) oscillations in sensorimotor cortex with movement, but with different timing and a stronger frequency band coupling compared to that observed in adults. Adult-like high-frequency (70-80 Hz) gamma bursts were detected at movement onset. All children showed activation of the right superior temporal gyrus that was independent of the side of movement, a response that has not been reported in adults. These results provide new insights into the development of movement-related brain function, for an age group in which no previous data exist. The results show that children under 5 years of age have markedly different patterns of movement-related brain activity in comparison to older children and adults, and indicate that significant maturational changes occur in the sensorimotor system between the preschool years and later childhood. Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  20. Swim speed, behavior, and movement of North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis in coastal waters of northeastern Florida, USA.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James H W Hain

    Full Text Available In a portion of the coastal waters of northeastern Florida, North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis occur close to shore from December through March. These waters are included within the designated critical habitat for right whales. Data on swim speed, behavior, and direction of movement--with photo-identification of individual whales--were gathered by a volunteer sighting network working alongside experienced scientists and supplemented by aerial observations. In seven years (2001-2007, 109 tracking periods or "follows" were conducted on right whales during 600 hours of observation from shore-based observers. The whales were categorized as mother-calf pairs, singles and non-mother-calf pairs, and groups of 3 or more individuals. Sample size and amount of information obtained was largest for mother-calf pairs. Swim speeds varied within and across observation periods, individuals, and categories. One category, singles and non mother-calf pairs, was significantly different from the other two--and had the largest variability and the fastest swim speeds. Median swim speed for all categories was 1.3 km/h (0.7 kn, with examples that suggest swim speeds differ between within-habitat movement and migration-mode travel. Within-habitat right whales often travel back-and-forth in a north-south, along-coast, direction, which may cause an individual to pass by a given point on several occasions, potentially increasing anthropogenic risk exposure (e.g., vessel collision, fishing gear entanglement, harassment. At times, mothers and calves engaged in lengthy stationary periods (up to 7.5 h that included rest, nursing, and play. These mother-calf interactions have implications for communication, learning, and survival. Overall, these behaviors are relevant to population status, distribution, calving success, correlation to environmental parameters, survey efficacy, and human-impacts mitigation. These observations contribute important parameters to

  1. Interactive effects of periodontitis and orthodontic tooth movement on dental root resorption, tooth movement velocity and alveolar bone loss in a rat model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirschneck, Christian; Fanghänel, Jochen; Wahlmann, Ulrich; Wolf, Michael; Roldán, J Camilo; Proff, Peter

    2017-03-01

    Many adult orthodontic patients suffer from chronic periodontitis with recurrent episodes of active periodontal inflammation. As their number is steadily increasing, orthodontists are more and more frequently challenged by respective treatment considerations. However, little is currently known regarding interactive effects on undesired dental root resorption (DRR), tooth movement velocity, periodontal bone loss and the underlying cellular and tissue reactions. A total of 63 male Fischer344 rats were used in three consecutive experiments employing 21 animals each (A/B/C), randomly assigned to 3 experimental groups (n=7, 1/2/3), respectively: (A) CBCT; (B) histology/serology; (C) RT-qPCR-(1) control; (2) orthodontic tooth movement (OTM) of the first/second upper left molars (NiTi coil spring, 0.25N); (3) OTM with experimentally induced periodontitis (cervical silk ligature). After 14days of OTM, we quantified blood leukocyte level, DRR, osteoclast activity and relative gene expression of inflammatory and osteoclast marker genes within the dental-periodontal tissue as well as tooth movement velocity and periodontal bone loss after 14 and 28 days. The experimentally induced periodontal bone loss was significantly increased by concurrent orthodontic force application. Periodontal inflammation during OTM on the other hand significantly augmented the extent of DRR, relative expression of inflammatory/osteoclast marker genes, blood leukocyte level and periodontal osteoclast activity. In addition, contrary to previous studies, we observed a significant increase in tooth movement velocity. Although accelerated tooth movement would be favourable for orthodontic treatment, our results suggest that orthodontic interventions should only be performed after successful systematic periodontal therapy and paused in case of recurrent active inflammation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

  2. Safety evaluation of driver cognitive failures and driving errors on right-turn filtering movement at signalized road intersections based on Fuzzy Cellular Automata (FCA) model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chai, Chen; Wong, Yiik Diew; Wang, Xuesong

    2017-07-01

    This paper proposes a simulation-based approach to estimate safety impact of driver cognitive failures and driving errors. Fuzzy Logic, which involves linguistic terms and uncertainty, is incorporated with Cellular Automata model to simulate decision-making process of right-turn filtering movement at signalized intersections. Simulation experiments are conducted to estimate the relationships between cognitive failures and driving errors with safety performance. Simulation results show Different types of cognitive failures are found to have varied relationship with driving errors and safety performance. For right-turn filtering movement, cognitive failures are more likely to result in driving errors with denser conflicting traffic stream. Moreover, different driving errors are found to have different safety impacts. The study serves to provide a novel approach to linguistically assess cognitions and replicate decision-making procedures of the individual driver. Compare to crash analysis, the proposed FCA model allows quantitative estimation of particular cognitive failures, and the impact of cognitions on driving errors and safety performance. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Spatiotemporal modelling of marine movement data using Template Model Builder (TMB)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Auger-Méthé, Marie; Albertsen, Christoffer Moesgaard; Jonsen, Ian D.

    2017-01-01

    Tracking of marine animals has increased exponentially in the past decade, and the resulting data could lead to an in-depth understanding of the causes and consequences of movement in the ocean. However, most common marine tracking systems are associated with large measurement errors. Accounting...... tool for modelling marine movement data. We discuss how TMB’s potential reaches beyond marine movement studies...

  4. Magnetoencephalographic study on facial movements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kensaku eMiki

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available In this review, we introduced our three studies that focused on facial movements. In the first study, we examined the temporal characteristics of neural responses elicited by viewing mouth movements, and assessed differences between the responses to mouth opening and closing movements and an averting eyes condition. Our results showed that the occipitotemporal area, the human MT/V5 homologue, was active in the perception of both mouth and eye motions. Viewing mouth and eye movements did not elicit significantly different activity in the occipitotemporal area, which indicated that perception of the movement of facial parts may be processed in the same manner, and this is different from motion in general. In the second study, we investigated whether early activity in the occipitotemporal region evoked by eye movements was influenced by a face contour and/or features such as the mouth. Our results revealed specific information processing for eye movements in the occipitotemporal region, and this activity was significantly influenced by whether movements appeared with the facial contour and/or features, in other words, whether the eyes moved, even if the movement itself was the same. In the third study, we examined the effects of inverting the facial contour (hair and chin and features (eyes, nose, and mouth on processing for static and dynamic face perception. Our results showed the following: (1 In static face perception, activity in the right fusiform area was affected more by the inversion of features while that in the left fusiform area was affected more by a disruption in the spatial relationship between the contour and features, and (2 In dynamic face perception, activity in the right occipitotemporal area was affected by the inversion of the facial contour.

  5. Os direitos da mulher à terra e os movimentos sociais rurais na reforma agrária brasileira Women's land rights and rural social movements in the Brazilian agrarian reform

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carmen Diana Deere

    2004-04-01

    Full Text Available Este artigo examina a evolução da reivindicação dos direitos da mulher à terra na reforma agrária brasileira sob o prisma dos três principais movimentos sociais rurais: o Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST, os sindicatos rurais e o movimento autônomo de mulheres rurais. O mérito maior por levantar a questão dos direitos da mulher à terra é das mulheres dentro dos sindicatos rurais. Os direitos formais das mulheres à terra foram conseguidos na reforma constitucional de 1988, e em grande medida isso foi um subproduto do esforço para acabar com a discriminação contra as mulheres em todos as suas dimensões. A conquista das igualdades formais, contudo, não levou a um aumento na parcela de mulheres beneficiárias da reforma, a qual permaneceu baixa até a metade da década de 1990. Isso aconteceu principalmente porque garantir na prática os direitos da mulher à terra não estava entre as prioridades dos movimentos sociais rurais. Além disso, o principal movimento social a determinar o passo da reforma agrária, o (MST, considerava classe e gênero questões incompatíveis. Próximo ao final da década de 1990, entretanto, havia uma consciência crescente de que deixar de reconhecer os direitos da mulher à terra era prejudicial ao desenvolvimento e à consolidação dos assentamentos da reforma agrária e, portanto, para o movimento. O crescente consenso, entre todos os movimentos sociais rurais, sobre a importância em assegurar o direito da mulher à terra, junto com um lobby efetivo, encorajou o Estado em 2001 a adotar mecanismos específicos para a inclusão de mulheres na reforma agrária.This article examines the evolution of the demand for women's land rights in the Brazilian agrarian reform through the prism of the three main rural social movements: the landless movement, the rural unions and the autonomous rural women's movement. Most of the credit for raising the issue of women's land rights rests with

  6. White Women Wanted? An Analysis of Gender Diversity in Social Justice Magazines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Corey Lee Wrenn

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available The role of media in collective action repertoires has been extensively studied, but media as an agent of socialization in social movement identity is less understood. It could be that social movement media is normalizing a particular activist identity to the exclusion of other demographics. For instance, Harper has identified white-centrism in anti-speciesist media produced by the Nonhuman Animal rights movement and supposes that this lack of diversity stunts movement potential. Using the lesser-studied Nonhuman Animal rights movement as a starting point, this study investigates two prominent Nonhuman Animal rights magazines. We compare those findings with an analysis of comparable leftist movements also known to exhibit diversity strains. A content analysis of Nonhuman Animal rights, women’s rights, and gay rights magazine covers spanning from 2000 to 2012 was undertaken to determine the manifestation of gender, race, body type, and sexualization. We find that the Nonhuman Animal rights media in our sample overwhelmingly portrays white women with a tendency toward thinness, but with low levels of sexualization as comparable to that of the other movements. All three movement samples unevenly depicted gender, overrepresented whites, and underrepresented non-thin body types.

  7. Population consequences of aggregative movement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peter Turchin

    1989-01-01

    Gregarious behaviour is an important factor influencing survival and reproduction of animals, as well as population interactions. In this paper I develop a model of movement with attraction or repulsion between conspecifics. To facilitate its use in empirical studies, the model is based on experimentally measurable features of individual behaviour.

  8. Learning potentials and pitfalls working with animation aesthetics as leisure-time pedagogues

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ringskou, Lea Thomsen; Ahm, Jacob Noer

    of ethnographic participant observations, accompanied by qualitative semi-structured focus group interviews.Findings:Aesthetic animation learning processes involve more playful and creative learning processes, acknowledging both sound, pictures, body and movement as signs of learning. Especially movement......, as a central part of animations aesthetics, offers both potentials and pittfalls when it comes to the learning processes of the children and calls for pedagogical attention. Overall, the research project constructs knowledge about the pedagogy emerging when working with the learning processes of animation...

  9. A general scaling law reveals why the largest animals are not the fastest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirt, Myriam R; Jetz, Walter; Rall, Björn C; Brose, Ulrich

    2017-08-01

    Speed is the fundamental constraint on animal movement, yet there is no general consensus on the determinants of maximum speed itself. Here, we provide a general scaling model of maximum speed with body mass, which holds across locomotion modes, ecosystem types and taxonomic groups. In contrast to traditional power-law scaling, we predict a hump-shaped relationship resulting from a finite acceleration time for animals, which explains why the largest animals are not the fastest. This model is strongly supported by extensive empirical data (474 species, with body masses ranging from 30 μg to 100 tonnes) from terrestrial as well as aquatic ecosystems. Our approach unravels a fundamental constraint on the upper limit of animal movement, thus enabling a better understanding of realized movement patterns in nature and their multifold ecological consequences.

  10. Studying the movement behaviour of benthic macroinvertebrates with automated video tracking

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Augusiak, J.A.; Brink, van den P.J.

    2015-01-01

    Quantifying and understanding movement is critical for a wide range of questions in basic and applied ecology. Movement ecology is also fostered by technological advances that allow automated tracking for a wide range of animal species. However, for aquatic macroinvertebrates, such detailed methods

  11. Using Machine Learning to Predict Swine Movements within a Regional Program to Improve Control of Infectious Diseases in the US.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valdes-Donoso, Pablo; VanderWaal, Kimberly; Jarvis, Lovell S; Wayne, Spencer R; Perez, Andres M

    2017-01-01

    Between-farm animal movement is one of the most important factors influencing the spread of infectious diseases in food animals, including in the US swine industry. Understanding the structural network of contacts in a food animal industry is prerequisite to planning for efficient production strategies and for effective disease control measures. Unfortunately, data regarding between-farm animal movements in the US are not systematically collected and thus, such information is often unavailable. In this paper, we develop a procedure to replicate the structure of a network, making use of partial data available, and subsequently use the model developed to predict animal movements among sites in 34 Minnesota counties. First, we summarized two networks of swine producing facilities in Minnesota, then we used a machine learning technique referred to as random forest, an ensemble of independent classification trees, to estimate the probability of pig movements between farms and/or markets sites located in two counties in Minnesota. The model was calibrated and tested by comparing predicted data and observed data in those two counties for which data were available. Finally, the model was used to predict animal movements in sites located across 34 Minnesota counties. Variables that were important in predicting pig movements included between-site distance, ownership, and production type of the sending and receiving farms and/or markets. Using a weighted-kernel approach to describe spatial variation in the centrality measures of the predicted network, we showed that the south-central region of the study area exhibited high aggregation of predicted pig movements. Our results show an overlap with the distribution of outbreaks of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, which is believed to be transmitted, at least in part, though animal movements. While the correspondence of movements and disease is not a causal test, it suggests that the predicted network may approximate

  12. Movement is the glue connecting home ranges and habitat selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Moorter, Bram; Rolandsen, Christer M; Basille, Mathieu; Gaillard, Jean-Michel

    2016-01-01

    Animal space use has been studied by focusing either on geographic (e.g. home ranges, species' distribution) or on environmental (e.g. habitat use and selection) space. However, all patterns of space use emerge from individual movements, which are the primary means by which animals change their environment. Individuals increase their use of a given area by adjusting two key movement components: the duration of their visit and/or the frequency of revisits. Thus, in spatially heterogeneous environments, animals exploit known, high-quality resource areas by increasing their residence time (RT) in and/or decreasing their time to return (TtoR) to these areas. We expected that spatial variation in these two movement properties should lead to observed patterns of space use in both geographic and environmental spaces. We derived a set of nine predictions linking spatial distribution of movement properties to emerging space-use patterns. We predicted that, at a given scale, high variation in RT and TtoR among habitats leads to strong habitat selection and that long RT and short TtoR result in a small home range size. We tested these predictions using moose (Alces alces) GPS tracking data. We first modelled the relationship between landscape characteristics and movement properties. Then, we investigated how the spatial distribution of predicted movement properties (i.e. spatial autocorrelation, mean, and variance of RT and TtoR) influences home range size and hierarchical habitat selection. In landscapes with high spatial autocorrelation of RT and TtoR, a high variation in both RT and TtoR occurred in home ranges. As expected, home range location was highly selective in such landscapes (i.e. second-order habitat selection); RT was higher and TtoR lower within the selected home range than outside, and moose home ranges were small. Within home ranges, a higher variation in both RT and TtoR was associated with higher selectivity among habitat types (i.e. third-order habitat

  13. DynAOI: a tool for matching eye-movement data with dynamic areas of interest in animations and movies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papenmeier, Frank; Huff, Markus

    2010-02-01

    Analyzing gaze behavior with dynamic stimulus material is of growing importance in experimental psychology; however, there is still a lack of efficient analysis tools that are able to handle dynamically changing areas of interest. In this article, we present DynAOI, an open-source tool that allows for the definition of dynamic areas of interest. It works automatically with animations that are based on virtual three-dimensional models. When one is working with videos of real-world scenes, a three-dimensional model of the relevant content needs to be created first. The recorded eye-movement data are matched with the static and dynamic objects in the model underlying the video content, thus creating static and dynamic areas of interest. A validation study asking participants to track particular objects demonstrated that DynAOI is an efficient tool for handling dynamic areas of interest.

  14. The Paralympic Movement: using sports to promote health, disability rights, and social integration for athletes with disabilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blauwet, Cheri; Willick, Stuart E

    2012-11-01

    Competitive sports for people with disabilities has grown rapidly over the past several decades, and opportunities for participation are increasingly available throughout the spectrum from developmental to elite. The Paralympic Games, seen as the pinnacle sporting event that represents the broader Paralympic Movement, has provided a platform to showcase the abilities of people with disabilities while also serving as a catalyst for disability rights through ensuring integration, equality of opportunity, and accessibility of the built environment. Concurrently, media coverage of the Paralympic Games has led to an increased awareness of opportunities for sport participation for individuals with disabilities and, with it, the adjustment of norms regarding expectations for exercise as a component of preventive health. In addition, there is evidence of the power of sports to stimulate confidence, self-efficacy, and a self-perceived high quality of life for individuals with disabilities above and beyond the basic benefits to cardiometabolic fitness. When taken together, the promotion of health, disability rights, and social integration through sports has the power to transform the lives of those who participate and to further stimulate the expansion of opportunities available to the next generation of athletes with disabilities. Copyright © 2012 American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Implications of movement for species distribution models - Rethinking environmental data tools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruneel, Stijn; Gobeyn, Sacha; Verhelst, Pieterjan; Reubens, Jan; Moens, Tom; Goethals, Peter

    2018-07-01

    Movement is considered an essential process in shaping the distributions of species. Nevertheless, most species distribution models (SDMs) still focus solely on environment-species relationships to predict the occurrence of species. Furthermore, the currently used indirect estimates of movement allow to assess habitat accessibility, but do not provide an accurate description of movement. Better proxies of movement are needed to assess the dispersal potential of individual species and to gain a more practical insight in the interconnectivity of communities. Telemetry techniques are rapidly evolving and highly capable to provide explicit descriptions of movement, but their usefulness for SDMs will mainly depend on the ability of these models to deal with hitherto unconsidered ecological processes. More specifically, the integration of movement is likely to affect the environmental data requirements as the connection between environmental and biological data is crucial to provide reliable results. Mobility implies the occupancy of a continuum of space, hence an adequate representation of both geographical and environmental space is paramount to study mobile species distributions. In this context, environmental models, remote sensing techniques and animal-borne environmental sensors are discussed as potential techniques to obtain suitable environmental data. In order to provide an in-depth review of the aforementioned methods, we have chosen to use the modelling of fish distributions as a case study. The high mobility of fish and the often highly variable nature of the aquatic environment generally complicate model development, making it an adequate subject for research. Furthermore, insight into the distribution of fish is of great interest for fish stock assessments and water management worldwide, underlining its practical relevance. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Multi-hierarchical movements in self-avoiding walks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sakiyama, Tomoko; Gunji, Yukio-Pegio

    2017-07-01

    A self-avoiding walk (SAW) is a series of moves on a lattice that visit the same place only once. Several studies reported that repellent reactions of foragers to previously visited sites induced power-law tailed SAWs in animals. In this paper, we show that modelling the agent's multi-avoidance reactions to its trails enables it to show ballistic movements which result in heavy-tailed movements. There is no literature showing emergent ballistic movements in SAWs. While following SAWs, the agent in my model changed its reactions to marked patches (visited sites) by considering global trail patterns based on local trail patterns when the agent was surrounded by previously visited sites. As a result, we succeeded in producing ballistic walks by the agents which exhibited emergent power-law tailed movements.

  17. Paraneoplastic autoimmune movement disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lim, Thien Thien

    2017-11-01

    To provide an overview of paraneoplastic autoimmune disorders presenting with various movement disorders. The spectrum of paraneoplastic autoimmune disorders has been expanding with the discovery of new antibodies against cell surface and intracellular antigens. Many of these paraneoplastic autoimmune disorders manifest as a form of movement disorder. With the discovery of new neuronal antibodies, an increasing number of idiopathic or neurodegenerative movement disorders are now being reclassified as immune-mediated movement disorders. These include anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis which may present with orolingual facial dyskinesia and stereotyped movements, CRMP-5 IgG presenting with chorea, anti-Yo paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration presenting with ataxia, anti-VGKC complex (Caspr2 antibodies) neuromyotonia, opsoclonus-myoclonus-ataxia syndrome, and muscle rigidity and episodic spasms (amphiphysin, glutamic acid decarboxylase, glycine receptor, GABA(A)-receptor associated protein antibodies) in stiff-person syndrome. Movement disorders may be a presentation for paraneoplastic autoimmune disorders. Recognition of these disorders and their common phenomenology is important because it may lead to the discovery of an occult malignancy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Quantitative analysis of the TMJ movement with a new mandibular movement tracking and simulation system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Dae Seung; Hwang, Soon Jung; Choi, Soon Chul; Lee, Sam Sun; Heo, Min Suk; Heo, Kyung Hoe; Yi, Won Jin

    2008-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to develop a system for the measurement and simulation of the TMJ movement and to analyze the mandibular movement quantitatively. We devised patient-specific splints and a registration body for the TMJ movement tracking. The mandibular movements of the 12 subjects with facial deformity and 3 controls were obtained by using an optical tracking system and the patient-specific splints. The mandibular part was manually segmented from the CT volume data of a patient. Three-dimensional surface models of the maxilla and the mandible were constructed using the segmented data. The continuous movement of the mandible with respect to the maxilla could be simulated by applying the recorded positions sequentially. Trajectories of the selected reference points were calculated during simulation and analyzed. The selected points were the most superior point of bilateral condyle, lower incisor point, and pogonion. There were significant differences (P<0.05) between control group and pre-surgical group in the maximum displacement of left superior condyle, lower incisor, and pogonion in vertical direction. Differences in the maximum lengths of the right and the left condyle were 0.59 ± 0.30 mm in pre-surgical group and 2.69 ± 2.63 mm in control group, which showed a significant difference (P<0.005). The maximum of differences between lengths of the right and the left calculated during one cycle also showed a significant difference between two groups (P<0.05). Significant differences in mandibular movements between the groups implies that facial deformity have an effect on the movement asymmetry of the mandible.

  19. Binocular eye movement control and motion perception: What is being tracked?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    J. van der Steen (Hans); J. Dits (Joyce)

    2012-01-01

    textabstractPURPOSE. We investigated under what conditions humans can make independent slow phase eye movements. The ability to make independent movements of the two eyes generally is attributed to few specialized lateral eyed animal species, for example chameleons. In our study, we showed that

  20. Age effect on orthodontic tooth movement

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ren, Yijin

    2003-01-01

    This study was performed to investigate the effect of age on the efficiency of orthodontic tooth movement based on critical literature reviews, studies on a standardized orthodontic animal model and a non-invasive clinical investigation. A systematic review was performed on the optimum force for

  1. Animal Deliberation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Driessen, C.P.G.

    2014-01-01

    While much has been written on environmental politics on the one hand, and animal ethics and welfare on the other, animal politics, as the interface of the two, is underexamined. There are key political implications in the increase of animal protection laws, the rights of nature, and political

  2. Human Rights: The Essential Reference.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Devine, Carol; Hansen, Carol Rae; Wilde, Ralph; Bronkhorst, Daan; Moritz, Frederic A.; Rolle, Baptiste; Sherman, Rebecca; Southard, Jo Lynn; Wilkinson, Robert; Poole, Hilary, Ed.

    This reference work documents the history of human rights theory, explains each article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, explores the contemporary human rights movement, and examines the major human rights issues facing the world today. This book is the first to combine historical and contemporary perspectives on these critical…

  3. Automated high-throughput measurement of body movements and cardiac activity of Xenopus tropicalis tadpoles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kay Eckelt

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Xenopus tadpoles are an emerging model for developmental, genetic and behavioral studies. A small size, optical accessibility of most of their organs, together with a close genetic and structural relationship to humans make them a convenient experimental model. However, there is only a limited toolset available to measure behavior and organ function of these animals at medium or high-throughput. Herein, we describe an imaging-based platform to quantify body and autonomic movements of Xenopus tropicalis tadpoles of advanced developmental stages. Animals alternate periods of quiescence and locomotor movements and display buccal pumping for oxygen uptake from water and rhythmic cardiac movements. We imaged up to 24 animals in parallel and automatically tracked and quantified their movements by using image analysis software. Animal trajectories, moved distances, activity time, buccal pumping rates and heart beat rates were calculated and used to characterize the effects of test compounds. We evaluated the effects of propranolol and atropine, observing a dose-dependent bradycardia and tachycardia, respectively. This imaging and analysis platform is a simple, cost-effective high-throughput in vivo assay system for genetic, toxicological or pharmacological characterizations.

  4. Pre-movement planning processes in people with congenital mirror movements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franz, E A; Fu, Y

    2017-10-01

    Pre-movement processes were investigated in people with Congenital mirrormovement (CMM), a rare disorder in which bilateral movement (mirroring) occurs in the upper distal extremities (primarily the hands and fingers) during intended unilateral movements. Abnormal density of ipsilateral corticospinal projections is an established hallmark of CMM. This study tested whether the Lateralised Readiness Potential (LRP), which reflects movement planning and readiness, is also abnormal in people with CMM. Twenty-eight neurologically-normal controls and 8 people with CMM were tested on a unimanual Go/No-go task while electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded to assess the LRP. No significant group differences were found in reaction time (RT). However, significantly smaller LRP amplitudes were found, on average, in the CMM group compared to Controls at central-motor (C3,C4) sites in stimulus-locked and response-locked epochs; similar group differences were also found at further frontal sites (F3,F4) during response-locked epochs. Abnormal brain activity in pre-movement processes associated with response planning and preparation is present in people with CMM. Aberrant bilateral activity during pre-movement processes is clearly implicated; whether part of the etiology of CMM, or as a mechanism of neuro-compensation, is not yet known. Copyright © 2017 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Hidden Markov modelling of movement data from fish

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Martin Wæver

    Movement data from marine animals tagged with electronic tags are becoming increasingly diverse and plentiful. This trend entails a need for statistical methods that are able to filter the observations to extract the ecologically relevant content. This dissertation focuses on the development...... the behaviour of the animal. With the extended model can migratory and resident movement behaviour be related to geographical regions. For population inference multiple individual state-space analyses can be interconnected using mixed effects modelling. This framework provides parameter estimates...... approximated. This furthermore enables accurate probability densities of location to be computed. Finally, the performance of the HMM approach in analysing nonlinear state space models is compared with two alternatives: the AD Model Builder framework and BUGS, which relies on Markov chain Monte Carlo...

  6. Movement and personality development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aida M. Aylamazyan

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The paper discusses the role of the movement in the process of shaping the personality, its importance as a mechanism for personality development is considered. The issue of the movement has always occupied a central place in Russian psychology. However, subsequently the movement began to be considered primarily as an executive action in human life. The role of movement in personality development can vary depending on the level it occupies in the hierarchical structure of activity, and also on the type of movement, its character, and the way it is constructed. Under certain conditions, the movement can express the attitude of the subject to the surrounding world and people. Many foreign and Russian psychologists point to a special place of the postural tonic component of the motor movement, the posture in personal regulation. The posture reflects his/her personal attitudes, the system of relationships, and, above all, the emotional attitude or emotional assessment of the current situation, the interest in the actions performed. Mastering the tonic level of motor management is based on the emotional regulation, so the ability to regulate one’s own pose is an important stage in the personality development. Posture tonic regulation of motor movements in humans reveals a qualitatively different character than in animals, this being due to the person’s facing the task of mastering his’her posture, arbitrary retention of the body in one or another position. Maintaining a vertical posture requires constant activity at an arbitrary and involuntary level of mental regulation. Mastering the posture of an unstable equilibrium presupposes the emergence of the «I» and is the last stage of the development. The way a person solves the motor task of maintaining the vertical position of the body reflects his/her specific personal strategy or attitude.

  7. Inferring ecological and behavioral drivers of African elephant movement using a linear filtering approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boettiger, Alistair N; Wittemyer, George; Starfield, Richard; Volrath, Fritz; Douglas-Hamilton, Iain; Getz, Wayne M

    2011-08-01

    Understanding the environmental factors influencing animal movements is fundamental to theoretical and applied research in the field of movement ecology. Studies relating fine-scale movement paths to spatiotemporally structured landscape data, such as vegetation productivity or human activity, are particularly lacking despite the obvious importance of such information to understanding drivers of animal movement. In part, this may be because few approaches provide the sophistication to characterize the complexity of movement behavior and relate it to diverse, varying environmental stimuli. We overcame this hurdle by applying, for the first time to an ecological question, a finite impulse-response signal-filtering approach to identify human and natural environmental drivers of movements of 13 free-ranging African elephants (Loxodonta africana) from distinct social groups collected over seven years. A minimum mean-square error (MMSE) estimation criterion allowed comparison of the predictive power of landscape and ecological model inputs. We showed that a filter combining vegetation dynamics, human and physical landscape features, and previous movement outperformed simpler filter structures, indicating the importance of both dynamic and static landscape features, as well as habit, on movement decisions taken by elephants. Elephant responses to vegetation productivity indices were not uniform in time or space, indicating that elephant foraging strategies are more complex than simply gravitation toward areas of high productivity. Predictions were most frequently inaccurate outside protected area boundaries near human settlements, suggesting that human activity disrupts typical elephant movement behavior. Successful management strategies at the human-elephant interface, therefore, are likely to be context specific and dynamic. Signal processing provides a promising approach for elucidating environmental factors that drive animal movements over large time and spatial

  8. How superdiffusion gets arrested: ecological encounters explain shift from Lévy to Brownian movement

    OpenAIRE

    de Jager, Monique; Bartumeus, Frederic; Kölzsch, Andrea; Weissing, Franz J.; Hengeveld, Geerten M.; Nolet, Bart A.; Herman, Peter M. J.; van de Koppel, Johan

    2014-01-01

    Ecological theory uses Brownian motion as a default template for describing ecological movement, despite limited mechanistic underpinning. The generality of Brownian motion has recently been challenged by empirical studies that highlight alternative movement patterns of animals, especially when foraging in resource-poor environments. Yet, empirical studies reveal animals moving in a Brownian fashion when resources are abundant. We demonstrate that Einstein’s original theory ...

  9. Estimating animal behaviour and residency from movement data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Martin Wæver; Patterson, Toby Alexander; Thygesen, Uffe Høgsbro

    2011-01-01

    probability distribution of location and behavior at each point in time. With this, the behavioral state of the animal can be associated to regions in space, thus revealing migration corridors and residence areas. We demonstrate the inferential potential of the method by analyzing satellite-linked archival...... tag data from a southern bluefin tuna Thunnus maccoyii where longitudinal coordinates inferred from daylight are supplemented by latitudinal information in recorded sea surface temperatures....

  10. Plasma iron levels appraised 15 days after spinal cord injury in a limb movement animal model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reis, F M; Esteves, A M; Tufik, S; de Mello, M T

    2011-03-01

    Experimental, controlled trial. The purpose of this study was to evaluate plasma iron and transferrin levels in a limb movement animal model with spinal cord injury (SCI). Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Departamento de Psicobiologia. In all, 72 male Wistar rats aged 90 days were divided into four groups: (1) acute SCI (1 day, SCI1), (2) 3 days post-SCI (SCI3), (3) 7 days post-SCI (SCI7) and (4) 15 days post-SCI (SCI15). Each of these groups had corresponding control (CTRL) and SHAM groups. Plasma iron and transferrin levels of the different groups were analyzed using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey's test. We found a significant reduction in iron plasma levels after SCI compared with the CTRL group: SCI1 (CTRL: 175±10.58 μg dl(-1); SCI: 108.28±11.7 μg dl(-1)), SCI3 (CTRL: 195.5±11.00 μg dl(-1); SCI: 127.88±12.63 μg dl(-1)), SCI7 (CTRL: 186±2.97 μg dl(-1); SCI: 89.2±15.39 μg dl(-1)) and SCI15 (CTRL: 163±5.48 μg dl(-1); SCI: 124.44±10.30 μg dl(-1)) (P<0.05; ANOVA). The SHAM1 group demonstrated a reduction in iron plasma after acute SCI (CTRL: 175±10.58 μg dl(-1); SHAM: 114.60±7.81 μg dl(-1)) (P<0.05; ANOVA). Reduced iron metabolism after SCI may be one of the mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of sleep-related movement disorders.

  11. When zoo became nature. Copenhagen zoo and perceptions of animals and nature around 1900. I: Tidsskrift for Kulturforskning (NORSK)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gjerløff, Anne Katrine

    2010-01-01

    This article points out central historical themes in the debates and arguments given by the directors of Copenhagen Zoo for the zoo as an alternative to nature. When Copenhagen Zoo was founded in 1859, itsn purpose was divided equally between entertainment, enlightenment and symbolizing the glory...... of the Danish capital. During this period though, it also became possible for the Zoo to stage itself as a kinder place for animals, than "real" nature. In the early 20th century, the Zoo attracted attention from animal rights movements, wherefore the debates came to be structured around two radically different...

  12. Analysis of radionuclide concentrations and movement patterns of Hanford-site mule deer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eberhardt, L.E.; Hanson, E.E.; Cadwell, L.L.

    1982-10-01

    From 1980 through 1982, the movements of 37 radio-collared mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) were monitored for periods of 3 to 17 months on the Handord Site in southcentral Washington. The objectives were to compare radionuclide concentrations in deer residing near the 200 Area waste management sites with concentrations in deer occupying areas remote from waste management sites and to document movement patterns of Hanford Site deer with particular emphasis on offsite movements. Cesium-137 in deer muscle and liver and 90 Sr concentrations in deer bone were statistically higher in deer living near the 200 Area than in control animals. During this study, the highest concentrations of 137 Cs and 90 Sr in 200 Area deer were in those individuals residing in or immediately adjacent to radiation zones. Cesium-137 and 90 Sr concentrations were more variable in deer residing near the 200 Area than in control animals, where only background (fallout) levels were observed. Movement patterns of Hanford site deer were analyzed to determine home range size and usage. The average home range was 0.39 +- 27 km 2 . In addition, ten (27%) of the monitored deer made offsite movements during the study period. While most of these movements were made in the spring and summer, some fall and winter movements were noted. It was estimated that approximately 8% (95% confidence interval is from 0 to 21%) of the Hanford deer herd is harvested each year. As a result of the low harvest rate, the Hanford deer herd appears to have a disproportionate number of older animals, with 24% of the 17 examined deer older than 10.5 years

  13. Animal welfare: an animal science approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koknaroglu, H; Akunal, T

    2013-12-01

    Increasing world population and demand for animal-derived protein puts pressure on animal production to meet this demand. For this purpose animal breeding efforts were conducted to obtain the maximum yield that the genetic makeup of the animals permits. Under the influence of economics which is the driving force behind animal production, animal farming became more concentrated and controlled which resulted in rearing animals under confinement. Since more attention was given on economics and yield per animal, animal welfare and behavior were neglected. Animal welfare which can be defined as providing environmental conditions in which animals can display all their natural behaviors in nature started gaining importance in recent years. This does not necessarily mean that animals provided with good management practices would have better welfare conditions as some animals may be distressed even though they are in good environmental conditions. Consumers are willing to pay more for welfare-friendly products (e.g.: free range vs caged egg) and this will change the animal production practices in the future. Thus animal scientists will have to adapt themselves for the changing animal welfare rules and regulations that differ for farm animal species and countries. In this review paper, animal welfare is discussed from an animal science standpoint. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Animal transportation networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perna, Andrea; Latty, Tanya

    2014-01-01

    Many group-living animals construct transportation networks of trails, galleries and burrows by modifying the environment to facilitate faster, safer or more efficient movement. Animal transportation networks can have direct influences on the fitness of individuals, whereas the shape and structure of transportation networks can influence community dynamics by facilitating contacts between different individuals and species. In this review, we discuss three key areas in the study of animal transportation networks: the topological properties of networks, network morphogenesis and growth, and the behaviour of network users. We present a brief primer on elements of network theory, and then discuss the different ways in which animal groups deal with the fundamental trade-off between the competing network properties of travel efficiency, robustness and infrastructure cost. We consider how the behaviour of network users can impact network efficiency, and call for studies that integrate both network topology and user behaviour. We finish with a prospectus for future research. PMID:25165598

  15. Functional connectivity experiments reflect routine movement behavior of a tropical hummingbird species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Volpe, Noelia L; Hadley, Adam S; Robinson, W Douglas; Betts, Matthew G

    Translocation experiments, in which researchers displace animals and then monitor their movements to return home, are commonly used as tools to assess functional connectivity of fragmented landscapes. Such experiments are purported to have important advantages of being time efficient and of standardizing “motivation” to move across individuals. Yet, we lack tests of whether movement behavior of translocated birds reflects natural behavior of unmanipulated birds. We compared the routine movement behavior of a tropical hummingbird, the Green Hermit (Phaethornis guy), to that of experimentally translocated individuals. We tested for differences in site selection patterns during movement at two spatial scales (point and path levels). We also compared movement rates between treatments. Behaviors documented during translocation experiments reflected those observed during routine movements. At the point level, both translocated and non-translocated birds showed similar levels of preference for mature tropical forest. At the path level, step selection functions showed both translocated and non-translocated hummingbirds avoiding movement across non-forested matrix and selecting streams as movement corridors. Movement rates were generally higher during translocation experiments. However, the negative influence of forest cover on movement rates was proportionately similar in translocation and routine movement treatments. We report the first evidence showing that movement behavior of birds during translocation experiments is similar to their natural movement behavior. Therefore, translocation experiments may be reliable tools to address effects of landscape structure on animal movement. We observed consistent selection of landscape elements between translocated and non-translocated birds, indicating that both routine and translocation movement studies lead to similar conclusions regarding the effect of landscape structure and forest composition on functional connectivity

  16. General Principles for the welfare of animals in production systems: the underlying science and its application.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fraser, David; Duncan, Ian J H; Edwards, Sandra A; Grandin, Temple; Gregory, Neville G; Guyonnet, Vincent; Hemsworth, Paul H; Huertas, Stella M; Huzzey, Juliana M; Mellor, David J; Mench, Joy A; Spinka, Marek; Whay, H Rebecca

    2013-10-01

    In 2012, the World Organisation for Animal Health adopted 10 'General Principles for the Welfare of Animals in Livestock Production Systems' to guide the development of animal welfare standards. The General Principles draw on half a century of scientific research relevant to animal welfare: (1) how genetic selection affects animal health, behaviour and temperament; (2) how the environment influences injuries and the transmission of diseases and parasites; (3) how the environment affects resting, movement and the performance of natural behaviour; (4) the management of groups to minimize conflict and allow positive social contact; (5) the effects of air quality, temperature and humidity on animal health and comfort; (6) ensuring access to feed and water suited to the animals' needs and adaptations; (7) prevention and control of diseases and parasites, with humane euthanasia if treatment is not feasible or recovery is unlikely; (8) prevention and management of pain; (9) creation of positive human-animal relationships; and (10) ensuring adequate skill and knowledge among animal handlers. Research directed at animal welfare, drawing on animal behaviour, stress physiology, veterinary epidemiology and other fields, complements more established fields of animal and veterinary science and helps to create a more comprehensive scientific basis for animal care and management. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Phase separation driven by density-dependent movement: A novel mechanism for ecological patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Quan-Xing; Rietkerk, Max; Herman, Peter M J; Piersma, Theunis; Fryxell, John M; van de Koppel, Johan

    2016-12-01

    Many ecosystems develop strikingly regular spatial patterns because of small-scale interactions between organisms, a process generally referred to as spatial self-organization. Self-organized spatial patterns are important determinants of the functioning of ecosystems, promoting the growth and survival of the involved organisms, and affecting the capacity of the organisms to cope with changing environmental conditions. The predominant explanation for self-organized pattern formation is spatial heterogeneity in establishment, growth and mortality, resulting from the self-organization processes. A number of recent studies, however, have revealed that movement of organisms can be an important driving process creating extensive spatial patterning in many ecosystems. Here, we review studies that detail movement-based pattern formation in contrasting ecological settings. Our review highlights that a common principle, where movement of organisms is density-dependent, explains observed spatial regular patterns in all of these studies. This principle, well known to physics as the Cahn-Hilliard principle of phase separation, has so-far remained unrecognized as a general mechanism for self-organized complexity in ecology. Using the examples presented in this paper, we explain how this movement principle can be discerned in ecological settings, and clarify how to test this mechanism experimentally. Our study highlights that animal movement, both in isolation and in unison with other processes, is an important mechanism for regular pattern formation in ecosystems. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. The Paradox of the Female Participation in Fundamentalist Movements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luca Ozzano

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Throughout the world, religiously-oriented conservative political movements are well known for their defence of ‘traditional models’ in terms of both family conception and gender roles. Therefore, one should expect to find a limited social and political mobilization of women within them as well as in right-wing religiously conservative parties. However, many significant movements have built strong female branches in which militants usually perform roles apparently contradicting the religious conservative ideologies the movements support. This paper will show these dynamics in three case studies: the US Christian Right in the USA, the Hindu national religious movement (sangh parivar in India, and the Islamist movement in Turkey. Its final section will compare the three cases, trying to find common patterns and to understand the reasons behind this apparent paradox.

  19. Orthodontic tooth movement and root resorption in ovariectomized rats treated by systemic administration of zoledronic acid.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sirisoontorn, Irin; Hotokezaka, Hitoshi; Hashimoto, Megumi; Gonzales, Carmen; Luppanapornlarp, Suwannee; Darendeliler, M Ali; Yoshida, Noriaki

    2012-05-01

    The effect of zoledronic acid, a potent and novel bisphosphonate, on tooth movement and orthodontically induced root resorption in osteoporotic animals systemically treated with zoledronic acid as similarly used in postmenopausal patients has not been elucidated. Therefore, this study was undertaken. Fifteen 10-week-old female Wistar rats were divided into 3 groups: ovariectomy, ovariectomy + zoledronic acid, and control. Only the ovariectomy and ovariectomy + zoledronic acid groups underwent ovariectomies. Two weeks after the ovariectomy, zoledronic acid was administered only to the ovariectomy + zoledronic acid group. Four weeks after the ovariectomy, 25-g nickel-titanium closed-coil springs were applied to observe tooth movement and orthodontically induced root resorption. There were significant differences in the amounts of tooth movement and orthodontically induced root resorption between the ovariectomy and the control groups, and also between the ovariectomy and the ovariectomy + zoledronic acid groups. There was no statistically significant difference in tooth movement and orthodontically induced root resorption between the ovariectomy + zoledronic acid and the control groups. Zoledronic acid inhibited significantly more tooth movement and significantly reduced the severity of orthodontically induced root resorption in the ovariectomized rats. The ovariectomy + zoledronic acid group showed almost the same results as did the control group in both tooth movement and orthodontically induced root resorption. Zoledronic acid inhibits excessive orthodontic tooth movement and also reduces the risk of severe orthodontically induced root resorption in ovariectomized rats. Copyright © 2012 American Association of Orthodontists. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Fish movement ecology in high gradient headwater streams: Its relevance to fish passage restoration through stream culvert barriers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoffman, Robert L.; Dunham, Jason B.

    2007-01-01

    Restoration of fish passage through culvert barriers has emerged as a major issue in the Pacific Northwest and nationwide, in part, because of their potential influence on fish movement. Movement is an essential mechanism by which mobile animals acquire the resources necessary for the successful completion of their life-cycles. In this report, we provide a brief review of some essential characteristics of animal movement and examples from a focal group of fishes in Washington State: salmon, trout, and char. We begin by outlining some basic characteristics of animal movement and then apply that foundation to the case of salmonid fishes. Next we consider the consequences of disrupting fish movement with human-constructed barriers, such as culverts. Finally, this body of evidence is summarized, and we propose a short list of what we view as high priority information needs to support more effective restoration of fish passage through culverts.

  1. How superdiffusion gets arrested: ecological encounters explain shift from Levy to Brownian movement

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Jager, M.; Bartumeus, F.; Kölzsch, A.; Weissing, F.J.; Hengeveld, G.M.; Nolet, B.A.; Herman, P.M.J.; de Koppel, J.

    2014-01-01

    Ecological theory uses Brownian motion as a default template for describing ecological movement, despite limited mechanistic underpinning. The generality of Brownian motion has recently been challenged by empirical studies that highlight alternative movement patterns of animals, especially when

  2. How superdiffusion gets arrested : ecological encounters explain shift from Levy to Brownian movement

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Jager, Monique; Bartumeus, Frederic; Kolzsch, Andrea; Weissing, Franz J.; Hengeveld, Geerten M.; Nolet, Bart A.; Herman, Peter M. J.; de Koppel, Johan van

    2014-01-01

    Ecological theory uses Brownian motion as a default template for describing ecological movement, despite limited mechanistic underpinning. The generality of Brownian motion has recently been challenged by empirical studies that highlight alternative movement patterns of animals, especially when

  3. How superdiffusion gets arrested : Ecological encounters explain shift from Levy to Brownian movement

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Jager, Monique; Bartumeus, Frederic; Kölzsch, Andrea; Weissing, Franz J.; Hengeveld, Geerten M.; Nolet, Bart A.; Herman, Peter M.J.; van de Koppel, Johan

    2014-01-01

    Ecological theory uses Brownian motion as a default template for describing ecological movement, despite limited mechanistic underpinning. The generality of Brownian motion has recently been challenged by empirical studies that highlight alternative movement patterns of animals, especially when

  4. Camouflage during movement in the European cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Josef, Noam; Berenshtein, Igal; Fiorito, Graziano; Sykes, António V; Shashar, Nadav

    2015-11-01

    A moving object is considered conspicuous because of the movement itself. When moving from one background to another, even dynamic camouflage experts such as cephalopods should sacrifice their extraordinary camouflage. Therefore, minimizing detection at this stage is crucial and highly beneficial. In this study, we describe a background-matching mechanism during movement, which aids the cuttlefish to downplay its presence throughout movement. In situ behavioural experiments using video and image analysis, revealed a delayed, sigmoidal, colour-changing mechanism during movement of Sepia officinalis across uniform black and grey backgrounds. This is a first important step in understanding dynamic camouflage during movement, and this new behavioural mechanism may be incorporated and applied to any dynamic camouflaging animal or man-made system on the move. © 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

  5. Sheep movement networks and the transmission of infectious diseases.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Victoriya V Volkova

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Various approaches have been used to investigate how properties of farm contact networks impact on the transmission of infectious diseases. The potential for transmission of an infection through a contact network can be evaluated in terms of the basic reproduction number, R(0. The magnitude of R(0 is related to the mean contact rate of a host, in this case a farm, and is further influenced by heterogeneities in contact rates of individual hosts. The latter can be evaluated as the second order moments of the contact matrix (variances in contact rates, and co-variance between contacts to and from individual hosts. Here we calculate these quantities for the farms in a country-wide livestock network: >15,000 Scottish sheep farms in each of 4 years from July 2003 to June 2007. The analysis is relevant to endemic and chronic infections with prolonged periods of infectivity of affected animals, and uses different weightings of contacts to address disease scenarios of low, intermediate and high animal-level prevalence.Analysis of networks of Scottish farms via sheep movements from July 2003 to June 2007 suggests that heterogeneities in movement patterns (variances and covariances of rates of movement on and off the farms make a substantial contribution to the potential for the transmission of infectious diseases, quantified as R(0, within the farm population. A small percentage of farms (80% and these farms could be efficiently targeted by interventions aimed at reducing spread of diseases via animal movement.

  6. Right dorsal colon ultrasonography in normal adult ponies and miniature horses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zak, Agnieszka; Baron, Monika; Cylna, Marta; Borowicz, Hieronim

    2017-01-01

    The aim of this study was to determine the normal location, wall thickness and motility of the right dorsal colon in adult ponies and miniature horses. The abdominal ultrasonography examination was performed in a study group consisting of 23 ponies and miniature horses and in a control group comprising ten Thoroughbred horses. The procedure was performed in unsedated standing animals. The location and the thickness of the right dorsal colonic wall was examined on the right side of the abdomen between the 10th and the 14th intercostal space. The contractility was recorded in the 12th intercostal space. A comparative analysis between the study group and control group was carried out using the Student’s t-test. Pearson’s linear correlation coefficient was used to calculate the correlation between the thickness of the colonic wall as well as the number of peristaltic movements and age, wither height and body mass of the animals. The right dorsal colon was identified in all the horses in the 12th intercostal space. In all the intercostal spaces the mean ± standard deviation (SD) wall thickness of the right dorsal colon was 0.27 ± 0.03 cm in the horses from the study group and 0.37 ± 0.03 cm in the control horses. The mean number of peristaltic contractions was 4.05 ± 1.07 per minute in the animals from the study group and 1.7 ± 0.46 contractions per minute in the control group. The values of the ultrasonographic wall thickness and peristaltic motility in small breed horses in the present study were different from the values obtained for large breed horses. The study also found that the right dorsal colon in small breed horses is physiologically located in the 12th intercostal space. This suggests that different reference values should be used in small horse breeds when performing an ultrasound examination. PMID:29065146

  7. MEG-compatible pneumatic stimulator to elicit passive finger and toe movements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piitulainen, Harri; Bourguignon, Mathieu; Hari, Riitta; Jousmäki, Veikko

    2015-05-15

    Magnetoencephalographic (MEG) signals recorded from the primary sensorimotor (SM1) cortex are coherent with kinematics of both active and passive finger movements. The coherence mainly reflects movement-related proprioceptive afference to the cortex. Here we describe a novel MEG-compatible stimulator to generate computer-controlled passive finger and toe movements that can be used as stimuli in functional brain-imaging experiments. The movements are produced by pneumatic artificial muscle (PAM), elastic actuator that shortens with increasing air pressure. To test the applicability of the stimulator to functional brain-imaging, 4-min trains of passive repetitive 5-mm flexion-extension movements of the right and left index finger and the right hallux were produced at 3Hz while the subject's brain activity was measured with whole-scalp MEG and finger or toe kinematics with an accelerometer. In all ten subjects studied, statistically significant coherence (up to 0.78) occurred between the accelerometer and MEG signals at the movement frequency or its first harmonic. Sources of coherent activity were in the contralateral hand or foot SM1 cortices. Movement-evoked fields elicited with intermittent movements of the right index finger (once every 3.2-4.0s; mean±SD peak response latency 88±25ms) were co-located with the respective coherent sources. We further moved the right index finger at 3, 6, and 12Hz (movement ranges 5, 3, and 2mm, respectively), and analyzed the first 1, 2, and 4-min epochs of data. One minute of data was sufficient to locate the left hand area of the SM1 cortex at all movement frequencies. Sound-induced spurious coherence was reliably ruled out in a control experiment. Our novel movement stimulator thus provides a robust and reliable tool to track proprioceptive afference to the cortex and to locate the SM1 cortex. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Rapid eye movements during sleep in mice: High trait-like stability qualifies rapid eye movement density for characterization of phenotypic variation in sleep patterns of rodents

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fulda Stephany

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In humans, rapid eye movements (REM density during REM sleep plays a prominent role in psychiatric diseases. Especially in depression, an increased REM density is a vulnerability marker for depression. In clinical practice and research measurement of REM density is highly standardized. In basic animal research, almost no tools are available to obtain and systematically evaluate eye movement data, although, this would create increased comparability between human and animal sleep studies. Methods We obtained standardized electroencephalographic (EEG, electromyographic (EMG and electrooculographic (EOG signals from freely behaving mice. EOG electrodes were bilaterally and chronically implanted with placement of the electrodes directly between the musculus rectus superior and musculus rectus lateralis. After recovery, EEG, EMG and EOG signals were obtained for four days. Subsequent to the implantation process, we developed and validated an Eye Movement scoring in Mice Algorithm (EMMA to detect REM as singularities of the EOG signal, based on wavelet methodology. Results The distribution of wakefulness, non-REM (NREM sleep and rapid eye movement (REM sleep was typical of nocturnal rodents with small amounts of wakefulness and large amounts of NREM sleep during the light period and reversed proportions during the dark period. REM sleep was distributed correspondingly. REM density was significantly higher during REM sleep than NREM sleep. REM bursts were detected more often at the end of the dark period than the beginning of the light period. During REM sleep REM density showed an ultradian course, and during NREM sleep REM density peaked at the beginning of the dark period. Concerning individual eye movements, REM duration was longer and amplitude was lower during REM sleep than NREM sleep. The majority of single REM and REM bursts were associated with micro-arousals during NREM sleep, but not during REM sleep. Conclusions Sleep

  9. Head and pelvic movement asymmetry during lungeing in horses with symmetrical movement on the straight.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rhodin, M; Roepstorff, L; French, A; Keegan, K G; Pfau, T; Egenvall, A

    2016-05-01

    Lungeing is commonly used as part of standard lameness examinations in horses. Knowledge of how lungeing influences motion symmetry in sound horses is needed. The aim of this study was to objectively evaluate the symmetry of vertical head and pelvic motion during lungeing in a large number of horses with symmetric motion during straight line evaluation. Cross-sectional prospective study. A pool of 201 riding horses, all functioning well and considered sound by their owners, were evaluated in trot on a straight line and during lungeing to the left and right. From this pool, horses with symmetric vertical head and pelvic movement during the straight line trot (n = 94) were retained for analysis. Vertical head and pelvic movements were measured with body mounted uniaxial accelerometers. Differences between vertical maximum and minimum head (HDmax, HDmin) and pelvic (PDmax, PDmin) heights between left and right forelimb and hindlimb stances were compared between straight line trot and lungeing in either direction. Vertical head and pelvic movements during lungeing were more asymmetric than during trot on a straight line. Common asymmetric patterns seen in the head were more upward movement during push-off of the outside forelimb and less downward movement during impact of the inside limb. Common asymmetric patterns seen in the pelvis were less upward movement during push-off of the outside hindlimb and less downward movement of the pelvis during impact of the inside hindlimb. Asymmetric patterns in one lunge direction were frequently not the same as in the opposite direction. Lungeing induces systematic asymmetries in vertical head and pelvic motion patterns in horses that may not be the same in both directions. These asymmetries may mask or mimic fore- or hindlimb lameness. © 2015 The Authors. Equine Veterinary Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of EVJ Ltd.

  10. 32 CFR 636.23 - Turning movements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY (CONTINUED) LAW ENFORCEMENT AND CRIMINAL... movements. (a) U-turns are prohibited on all streets in the cantonment area. (b) Right-turns will be made from a position as close to the right edge or right curb of the roadway as possible. (c) Left-turns...

  11. The influence of emotional picture thematic content on exploratory eye movements

    OpenAIRE

    Carniglia, Elena; Caputi, Marcella; Manfredi, Valentina; Zambarbieri, Daniela; Pessa, Eliano

    2012-01-01

    In picture viewing, emotional vs. neutral stimuli could play a different role in eye movement parameters and in the spatial progression of the scanpath. The aim of this paper is to investigate exploratory behaviour of normal subjects during the vision of emotional vs. non-emotional stimuli, by considering to what extent the thematic content (animate vs. inanimate) is likely to influence the observer’s eye movements. Sixty-five subjects’ eye movement patterns were measured while looking to emo...

  12. Fabrication of a small animal restraint for synchrotron biomedical imaging using a rapid prototyper

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhu Ying; Zhang Honglin; McCrea, Richard; Bewer, Brian; Wiebe, Sheldon; Nichol, Helen; Ryan, Christopher; Wysokinski, Tomasz; Chapman, Dean

    2007-01-01

    Biomedical research at synchrotron facilities may involve imaging live animals that must remain motionless for extended periods of time to obtain quality images. Even breathing movements reduce image quality but on the other hand excessive restraint of animals increases morbidity and mortality. We describe a humane animal restraint designed to eliminate head movements while promoting animal survival. This paper describes how an animal restraint that conforms to the shape of an animal's head was fabricated by a 3D prototyper. The method used to translate medical computed tomography (CT) data to a 3D stereolithography format is described and images of its use at the Canadian Light Source (CLS) are shown. This type of restraint holds great promise in improving image quality and repeatability while reducing stress on experimental animals

  13. Octopus arm movements under constrained conditions: adaptation, modification and plasticity of motor primitives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richter, Jonas N; Hochner, Binyamin; Kuba, Michael J

    2015-04-01

    The motor control of the eight highly flexible arms of the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) has been the focus of several recent studies. Our study is the first to manage to introduce a physical constraint to an octopus arm and investigate the adaptability of stereotypical bend propagation in reaching movements and the pseudo-limb articulation during fetching. Subjects (N=6) were placed inside a transparent Perspex box with a hole at the center that allowed the insertion of a single arm. Animals had to reach out through the hole toward a target, to retrieve a food reward and fetch it. All subjects successfully adjusted their movements to the constraint without an adaptation phase. During reaching tasks, the animals showed two movement strategies: stereotypical bend propagation reachings, which were established at the hole of the Perspex box and variant waving-like movements that showed no bend propagations. During fetching movements, no complete pseudo-joint fetching was observed outside the box and subjects pulled their arms through the hole in a pull-in like movement. Our findings show that there is some flexibility in the octopus motor system to adapt to a novel situation. However, at present, it seems that these changes are more an effect of random choices between different alternative motor programs, without showing clear learning effects in the choice between the alternatives. Interestingly, animals were able to adapt the fetching movements to the physical constraint, or as an alternative explanation, they could switch the motor primitive fetching to a different motor primitive 'arm pulling'. © 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

  14. Convergence of marine megafauna movement patterns in coastal and open oceans

    KAUST Repository

    Sequeira, A. M. M.; Rodrí guez, J. P.; Eguí luz, V. M.; Harcourt, R.; Hindell, M.; Sims, D. W.; Duarte, C. M.; Costa, D. P.; Ferná ndez-Gracia, J.; Ferreira, L. C.; Hays, G. C.; Heupel, M. R.; Meekan, M. G.; Aven, A.; Bailleul, F.; Baylis, A. M. M.; Berumen, Michael L.; Braun, C. D.; Burns, J.; Caley, M. J.; Campbell, R.; Carmichael, R. H.; Clua, E.; Einoder, L. D.; Friedlaender, Ari; Goebel, M. E.; Goldsworthy, S. D.; Guinet, C.; Gunn, J.; Hamer, D.; Hammerschlag, N.; Hammill, M.; Hü ckstä dt, L. A.; Humphries, N. E.; Lea, M.-A.; Lowther, A.; Mackay, A.; McHuron, E.; McKenzie, J.; McLeay, L.; McMahon, C. R.; Mengersen, K.; Muelbert, M. M. C.; Pagano, A. M.; Page, B.; Queiroz, N.; Robinson, P. W.; Shaffer, S. A.; Shivji, M.; Skomal, G. B.; Thorrold, S. R.; Villegas-Amtmann, S.; Weise, M.; Wells, R.; Wetherbee, B.; Wiebkin, A.; Wienecke, B.; Thums, M.

    2018-01-01

    The extent of increasing anthropogenic impacts on large marine vertebrates partly depends on the animals' movement patterns. Effective conservation requires identification of the key drivers of movement including intrinsic properties and extrinsic constraints associated with the dynamic nature of the environments the animals inhabit. However, the relative importance of intrinsic versus extrinsic factors remains elusive. We analyze a global dataset of ∼2.8 million locations from >2,600 tracked individuals across 50 marine vertebrates evolutionarily separated by millions of years and using different locomotion modes (fly, swim, walk/paddle). Strikingly, movement patterns show a remarkable convergence, being strongly conserved across species and independent of body length and mass, despite these traits ranging over 10 orders of magnitude among the species studied. This represents a fundamental difference between marine and terrestrial vertebrates not previously identified, likely linked to the reduced costs of locomotion in water. Movement patterns were primarily explained by the interaction between species-specific traits and the habitat(s) they move through, resulting in complex movement patterns when moving close to coasts compared with more predictable patterns when moving in open oceans. This distinct difference may be associated with greater complexity within coastal microhabitats, highlighting a critical role of preferred habitat in shaping marine vertebrate global movements. Efforts to develop understanding of the characteristics of vertebrate movement should consider the habitat(s) through which they move to identify how movement patterns will alter with forecasted severe ocean changes, such as reduced Arctic sea ice cover, sea level rise, and declining oxygen content.

  15. Convergence of marine megafauna movement patterns in coastal and open oceans

    KAUST Repository

    Sequeira, A. M. M.

    2018-02-26

    The extent of increasing anthropogenic impacts on large marine vertebrates partly depends on the animals\\' movement patterns. Effective conservation requires identification of the key drivers of movement including intrinsic properties and extrinsic constraints associated with the dynamic nature of the environments the animals inhabit. However, the relative importance of intrinsic versus extrinsic factors remains elusive. We analyze a global dataset of ∼2.8 million locations from >2,600 tracked individuals across 50 marine vertebrates evolutionarily separated by millions of years and using different locomotion modes (fly, swim, walk/paddle). Strikingly, movement patterns show a remarkable convergence, being strongly conserved across species and independent of body length and mass, despite these traits ranging over 10 orders of magnitude among the species studied. This represents a fundamental difference between marine and terrestrial vertebrates not previously identified, likely linked to the reduced costs of locomotion in water. Movement patterns were primarily explained by the interaction between species-specific traits and the habitat(s) they move through, resulting in complex movement patterns when moving close to coasts compared with more predictable patterns when moving in open oceans. This distinct difference may be associated with greater complexity within coastal microhabitats, highlighting a critical role of preferred habitat in shaping marine vertebrate global movements. Efforts to develop understanding of the characteristics of vertebrate movement should consider the habitat(s) through which they move to identify how movement patterns will alter with forecasted severe ocean changes, such as reduced Arctic sea ice cover, sea level rise, and declining oxygen content.

  16. Movement of the diaphragm during radiation treatment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nishioka, Masayuki; Fujioka, Tomio; Sakurai, Makoto; Nakajima, Toshifumi; Onoyama, Yasuto.

    1991-01-01

    Movement of the target volume during the exposure to radiation results in decreased accuracy in radiotherapy. We carried out the quantitative evaluation of the movement of the diaphragm during the radiation therapy. Seventy seven patients, who received radiation therapy for lung cancer from December 1988 to February 1990 at the Osaka-prefectural Habikino Hospital, were studied. The movement was recorded with a sonoprinter at the time of treatment planning for radiotherapy, and the length of movement was evaluated at 6 points on the diaphragm. In a study of 402 points in 77 patients, the average movement was 12 mm, and the maximum movement was 40 mm. At the 17% of the points, the movement exceeded 20 mm. The largest movement was observed at the outer point of the right lung. Movement was greater in men than in women. Performance status was not related to the degree of movement. We concluded that in chest and abdominal irradiation, movement caused by respiration is not negligible, and synchronized radiotherapy should be developed in the future. (author)

  17. Brazilian Citizens' Opinions and Attitudes about Farm Animal Production Systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yunes, Maria C; von Keyserlingk, Marina A G; Hötzel, Maria J

    2017-09-28

    The inclusion of societal input is needed for food animal production industries to retain their "social license to operate"; failure to engage with the public on this topic risks the long-term sustainability of these industries. The primary aim of this study was to explore the beliefs and attitudes of Brazilians citizens not associated with livestock production towards farm animal production. A related secondary aim was to identify the specific beliefs and attitudes towards systems that are associated with restriction of movement. Each participant was shown pictures representing two of five possible major food animal industries (laying hens, beef cattle, pregnant sows, lactating sows, and poultry meat). Participants were presented a six pages survey that included demographic questions plus two sets of two pictures and a series of questions pertaining to the pictures. Each set of pictures represented a particular industry where one picture represented a housing type that is associated with behavioural restrictions and the other picture represented a system that allowed for a greater degree of movement. Participants were asked their perceptions on the prevalence of each system in Brazil, then their preference of one picture vs. the other, and the reasons justifying their preference. Immediately following, the participant repeated the same exercise with the second set of two pictures representing another industry followed by the same series of questions as described above. Quantitative data were analysed with mixed effects logistic regression, and qualitative responses were coded into themes. The proportion of participants that believed animals are reared in confinement varied by animal production type: 23% (beef cattle), 82% (poultry), 81% (laying hens), and 60% (swine). A large majority (79%) stated that farm animals are not well-treated in Brazil. Overall, participants preferred systems that were not associated with behavioural restriction. The preference for free

  18. Role of norepinephrine in the regulation of rapid eye movement sleep

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Sleep and wakefulness are instinctive behaviours that are present across the animal species. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is a unique biological phenomenon expressed during sleep. It evolved about 300 million years ago and is noticed in the more evolved animal species. Although it has been objectively identified ...

  19. Comparative study between two animal models of extrapyramidal movement disorders: prevention and reversion by pecan nut shell aqueous extract.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trevizol, Fabiola; Benvegnú, Dalila M; Barcelos, Raquel C S; Pase, Camila S; Segat, Hecson J; Dias, Verônica Tironi; Dolci, Geisa S; Boufleur, Nardeli; Reckziegel, Patrícia; Bürger, Marilise E

    2011-08-01

    Acute reserpine and subchronic haloperidol are animal models of extrapyramidal disorders often used to study parkinsonism, akinesia and tardive dyskinesia. In humans, these usually irreversible and disabling extrapyramidal disorders are developed by typical antipsychotic treatment, whose pathophysiology has been related to oxidative damages development. So far, there is no treatment to prevent these problems of the psychiatric clinic, and therefore further studies are needed. Here we used the animal models of extrapyramidal disorders cited above, which were performed in two distinct experiments: orofacial dyskinesia (OD)/catalepsy induced by acute reserpine and subchronic haloperidol after (experiment 1) and before (experiment 2) oral treatment with pecan shell aqueous extract (AE), a natural and promissory antioxidant. When administered previously (exp.1), the AE prevented OD and catalepsy induced by both reserpine and haloperidol. When reserpine and haloperidol were administered before the extract (exp.2), the animals developed OD and catalepsy all the same. However, the orofacial parameter (but not catalepsy) in both animal models was reversed after 7 and 14 days of AE treatment. These results indicate that, acute reserpine and subchronic haloperidol administrations induced similar motor disorders, although through different mechanisms, and therefore are important animal models to study the physiopathology of extrapyramidal disorders. Comparatively, the pecan shell AE was able to both prevent and reverse OD but only to prevent catalepsy. These results reinforce the role of oxidative stress and validate the two animal models used here. Our findings also favor the idea of prevention of extrapyramidal disorders, rather than their reversal. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Path Tortuosity and the Permeability of Roads and Trails to Wolf Movement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jesse Whittington

    2004-06-01

    Full Text Available Few studies have examined the effects of human development on fine-scale movement behavior, yet understanding animal movement through increasingly human-dominated landscapes is essential for the persistence of many wild populations, especially wary species. In mountainous areas, roads and trails may be particularly deserving of study because they are concentrated in the valley bottoms where they can impede animal movement both across and between valleys. In this study, we tracked wolf (Canis lupus movement in the snow for two winters in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada to examine how wolves navigate through or around human-use features. We quantified the effects of human development and topography on the tortuosity of wolf paths and then tested the permeability of roads, trails, and a railway line to wolf movement by comparing the frequency with which actual wolf paths and a null model of random paths crossed these features. Wolf path tortuosity increased near high-use trails, within areas of high-trail and road density, near predation sites, and in rugged terrain. Wolves crossed all roads, trails, and the railway line 9.7% less often than expected, but avoided crossing high-use roads more than low-use trails. Surprisingly, trails affected movement behavior of wolves equally, if not more, than roads. These results suggest that although roads and trails in this study were not absolute barriers to wolf movement, they altered wolf movements across their territories.

  1. How superdiffusion gets arrested: Ecological encounters explain shift from Lévy to Brownian movement

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    De Jager, M.; Bartumeus, F.; Kölzsch, A.; Weissing, F.J.; Hengeveld, G.M.; Nolet, B.A.; Herman, P.M.J.; Van de Koppel, J.

    2014-01-01

    Ecological theory uses Brownian motion as a default template for describing ecological movement, despite limited mechanistic underpinning. The generality of Brownian motion has recently been challenged by empirical studies that highlight alternative movement patterns of animals, especially when

  2. How superdiffusion gets arrested: ecological encounters explain shift from Lévy to Brownian movement

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jager, de M.; Bartumeus, F.; Kölzsch, A.; Weissing, F.J.; Hengeveld, G.M.; Nolet, B.A.; Herman, P.M.J.; Koppel, van de J.

    2014-01-01

    Ecological theory uses Brownian motion as a default template for describing ecological movement, despite limited mechanistic underpinning. The generality of Brownian motion has recently been challenged by empirical studies that highlight alternative movement patterns of animals, especially when

  3. 7 CFR 301.89-5 - Movement of regulated articles from regulated areas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Movement of regulated articles from regulated areas. 301.89-5 Section 301.89-5 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) ANIMAL... § 301.89-5 Movement of regulated articles from regulated areas. (a) Any regulated article may be moved...

  4. Dangerous Animals Capture and Maintain Attention in Humans

    OpenAIRE

    Jessica L. Yorzinski; Michael J. Penkunas; Michael L. Platt; Richard G. Coss

    2014-01-01

    Predation is a major source of natural selection on primates and may have shaped attentional processes that allow primates to rapidly detect dangerous animals. Because ancestral humans were subjected to predation, a process that continues at very low frequencies, we examined the visual processes by which men and women detect dangerous animals (snakes and lions). We recorded the eye movements of participants as they detected images of a dangerous animal (target) among arrays of nondangerous an...

  5. Active sensing via movement shapes spatiotemporal patterns of sensory feedback.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stamper, Sarah A; Roth, Eatai; Cowan, Noah J; Fortune, Eric S

    2012-05-01

    Previous work has shown that animals alter their locomotor behavior to increase sensing volumes. However, an animal's own movement also determines the spatial and temporal dynamics of sensory feedback. Because each sensory modality has unique spatiotemporal properties, movement has differential and potentially independent effects on each sensory system. Here we show that weakly electric fish dramatically adjust their locomotor behavior in relation to changes of modality-specific information in a task in which increasing sensory volume is irrelevant. We varied sensory information during a refuge-tracking task by changing illumination (vision) and conductivity (electroreception). The gain between refuge movement stimuli and fish tracking responses was functionally identical across all sensory conditions. However, there was a significant increase in the tracking error in the dark (no visual cues). This was a result of spontaneous whole-body oscillations (0.1 to 1 Hz) produced by the fish. These movements were costly: in the dark, fish swam over three times further when tracking and produced more net positive mechanical work. The magnitudes of these oscillations increased as electrosensory salience was degraded via increases in conductivity. In addition, tail bending (1.5 to 2.35 Hz), which has been reported to enhance electrosensory perception, occurred only during trials in the dark. These data show that both categories of movements - whole-body oscillations and tail bends - actively shape the spatiotemporal dynamics of electrosensory feedback.

  6. Linking live animals and products: traceability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Britt, A G; Bell, C M; Evers, K; Paskin, R

    2013-08-01

    It is rarely possible to successfully contain an outbreak of an infectious animal disease, or to respond effectively to a chemical residue incident, without the use of a system for identifying and tracking animals. The linking of animals at the time they are slaughtered--through the use of identification devices or marks and accompanying movement documentation--with the meat produced from their carcasses, adds further value from the perspective of consumer safety. Over the past decade, animal identification technology has become more sophisticated and affordable. The development of the Internet and mobile communication tools, complemented bythe expanded capacity of computers and associated data management applications, has added a new dimension to the ability of Competent Authorities and industry to track animals and the food they produce for disease control, food safety and commercial purposes.

  7. Animated randomness, avatars, movement, and personalization in risk graphics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Witteman, Holly O; Fuhrel-Forbis, Andrea; Wijeysundera, Harindra C; Exe, Nicole; Dickson, Mark; Holtzman, Lisa; Kahn, Valerie C; Zikmund-Fisher, Brian J

    2014-03-18

    Risk communication involves conveying two inherently difficult concepts about the nature of risk: the underlying random distribution of outcomes and how a population-based proportion applies to an individual. The objective of this study was to test whether 4 design factors in icon arrays-animated random dispersal of risk events, avatars to represent an individual, personalization (operationalized as choosing the avatar's color), and a moving avatar-might help convey randomness and how a given risk applies to an individual, thereby better aligning risk perceptions with risk estimates. A diverse sample of 3630 adults with no previous heart disease or stroke completed an online nested factorial experiment in which they entered personal health data into a risk calculator that estimated 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease based on a robust and validated model. We randomly assigned them to view their results in 1 of 10 risk graphics that used different combinations of the 4 design factors. We measured participants' risk perceptions as our primary outcome, as well as behavioral intentions and recall of the risk estimate. We also assessed subjective numeracy, whether or not participants knew anyone who had died of cardiovascular causes, and whether or not they knew their blood pressure and cholesterol as potential moderators. Animated randomness was associated with better alignment between risk estimates and risk perceptions (F1,3576=6.12, P=.01); however, it also led to lower scores on healthy lifestyle intentions (F1,3572=11.1, P<.001). Using an avatar increased risk perceptions overall (F1,3576=4.61, P=.03) and most significantly increased risk perceptions among those who did not know a particular person who had experienced the grave outcomes of cardiovascular disease (F1,3576=5.88, P=.02). Using an avatar also better aligned actual risk estimates with intentions to see a doctor (F1,3556=6.38, P=.01). No design factors had main effects on recall, but animated

  8. Zero-gravity movement studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Badler, N. I.; Fishwick, P.; Taft, N.; Agrawala, M.

    1985-01-01

    The use of computer graphics to simulate the movement of articulated animals and mechanisms has a number of uses ranging over many fields. Human motion simulation systems can be useful in education, medicine, anatomy, physiology, and dance. In biomechanics, computer displays help to understand and analyze performance. Simulations can be used to help understand the effect of external or internal forces. Similarly, zero-gravity simulation systems should provide a means of designing and exploring the capabilities of hypothetical zero-gravity situations before actually carrying out such actions. The advantage of using a simulation of the motion is that one can experiment with variations of a maneuver before attempting to teach it to an individual. The zero-gravity motion simulation problem can be divided into two broad areas: human movement and behavior in zero-gravity, and simulation of articulated mechanisms.

  9. Perspectives on Reconciliation & Indigenous Rights

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nina Burridge

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper provides an overview of discourses of the movement for national reconciliation prevailing within the Australian socio-political context since the inception of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation in 1991, to the national apology delivered by the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on 13th February 2008. It provides an framework for the various discourses of reconciliation, by exploring and analysing the accrued meanings to such terms such as ‘genuine’, substantive or ‘true’ reconciliation; the Howard’s Government’s ‘practical reconciliation’ and the Rudd government’s great attempt at ‘symbolic’ reconciliation in the national apology to Indigenous Australians. In the changing political context in Australia today this paper revisits the debates on reconciliation, and endeavours to locate the movement solidly within a human rights framework that includes first nation rights. This requires an examination of the roots of the reconciliation movement including community attitudes to reconciliation and the nature of the peoples’ movement as well as the differing perspectives of policy makers, politicians and of course, Indigenous peoples. It asks crucial questions about the progress of reconciliation and the type of reconciliation mainstream Australians will accept. In truth therefore, was the ‘National Apology’ a grand symbolic gesture by mainstream Australia to maintain the status quo and divert our eyes from the more searching questions of the ‘unfinished business’ of ‘substantive’ reconciliation which encompasses first nations rights for Indigenous peoples.

  10. Using Computational and Mechanical Models to Study Animal Locomotion

    OpenAIRE

    Miller, Laura A.; Goldman, Daniel I.; Hedrick, Tyson L.; Tytell, Eric D.; Wang, Z. Jane; Yen, Jeannette; Alben, Silas

    2012-01-01

    Recent advances in computational methods have made realistic large-scale simulations of animal locomotion possible. This has resulted in numerous mathematical and computational studies of animal movement through fluids and over substrates with the purpose of better understanding organisms’ performance and improving the design of vehicles moving through air and water and on land. This work has also motivated the development of improved numerical methods and modeling techniques for animal locom...

  11. Animal interactions and the emergence of territoriality.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luca Giuggioli

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Inferring the role of interactions in territorial animals relies upon accurate recordings of the behaviour of neighbouring individuals. Such accurate recordings are rarely available from field studies. As a result, quantification of the interaction mechanisms has often relied upon theoretical approaches, which hitherto have been limited to comparisons of macroscopic population-level predictions from un-tested interaction models. Here we present a quantitative framework that possesses a microscopic testable hypothesis on the mechanism of conspecific avoidance mediated by olfactory signals in the form of scent marks. We find that the key parameters controlling territoriality are two: the average territory size, i.e. the inverse of the population density, and the time span during which animal scent marks remain active. Since permanent monitoring of a territorial border is not possible, scent marks need to function in the temporary absence of the resident. As chemical signals carried by the scent only last a finite amount of time, each animal needs to revisit territorial boundaries frequently and refresh its own scent marks in order to deter possible intruders. The size of the territory an animal can maintain is thus proportional to the time necessary for an animal to move between its own territorial boundaries. By using an agent-based model to take into account the possible spatio-temporal movement trajectories of individual animals, we show that the emerging territories are the result of a form of collective animal movement where, different to shoaling, flocking or herding, interactions are highly heterogeneous in space and time. The applicability of our hypothesis has been tested with a prototypical territorial animal, the red fox (Vulpes vulpes.

  12. Challenges and solutions for studying collective animal behaviour in the wild.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hughey, Lacey F; Hein, Andrew M; Strandburg-Peshkin, Ariana; Jensen, Frants H

    2018-05-19

    Mobile animal groups provide some of the most compelling examples of self-organization in the natural world. While field observations of songbird flocks wheeling in the sky or anchovy schools fleeing from predators have inspired considerable interest in the mechanics of collective motion, the challenge of simultaneously monitoring multiple animals in the field has historically limited our capacity to study collective behaviour of wild animal groups with precision. However, recent technological advancements now present exciting opportunities to overcome many of these limitations. Here we review existing methods used to collect data on the movements and interactions of multiple animals in a natural setting. We then survey emerging technologies that are poised to revolutionize the study of collective animal behaviour by extending the spatial and temporal scales of inquiry, increasing data volume and quality, and expediting the post-processing of raw data.This article is part of the theme issue 'Collective movement ecology'. © 2018 The Author(s).

  13. Lyndon B. Johnson and the Civil Right Act of 1964

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karatzas Konstantinos D.

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The Civil Rights Movement is deeply intertwined with Lyndon B. Johnson. Throughout his career, Johnson supported the quest of African-Americans for political and civil rights. They found in him an ally whose role was fundamental in fullfilling the goals of Martin Luther King, Jr, and the Civil Rights Movement. This paper will examine the role of the Johnson presidency in the passage of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1964.

  14. Morally relevant differences between animals and human beings justifying the use of animals in biomedical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dennis, J U

    1997-03-01

    I have attempted to show that the differential qualities of animals and human beings indeed to have bearing on moral rules and the derivation of rights, including rights established on the basis of reason and utilitarianism. Special rights for members of our species are not simply a consequence of human domination and self-interest. I also have tried to show that rights arise from values and that the qualities we value most highly often are the ones that distinguish human beings from other species. I maintain that giving more value to human lives over animal lives achieves reflective balance with the commonsense notions that most of us have developed. Because utilitarianism, contractualism, and the classical philosophical methods of Kant and Aristotle all may allow favoring human interests over animal interests, it seems reasonable to suspect that animal rights activists embrace narrow, extremist views. There are many uniquely human experiences to which we ascribe high value-deep interpersonal relationships, achieving a life's goal, enjoying a complex cultural event such as a play or an opera, or authoring a manuscript. Therefore, it would seem improper that social and ethical considerations regarding animals be centered entirely on the notion of a biological continuum, because there are many kinds of human experience-moral, religious, aesthetic, and otherwise-that appear to be outside the realm of biology. Knowledge about the biology of animals is helpful for making moral decisions about our obligations to them. Why, then, is there a substantial population of animal rights activists in Europe, the United States, and throughout the world, who would not agree with my conclusions? Certain habitual ways of thinking may encourage anthropomorphism and equating animal interests with human interests. Certain metaphysical beliefs, such as a belief in reincarnation, also might favor animal rights. It also is possible that a number of people are being deceived and misled by

  15. Animal breeding in organic farming:Discussion paper

    OpenAIRE

    Nauta, Wytze; Baars, Nauta; Groen, Ab; Veerkamp, Roel; Roep, Dirk

    2001-01-01

    It is uncertain whether animals which have been bred for conventional production are capable of optimum performance in organic conditions. In conventional agriculture there is a movement towards maximum control of production conditions in order to optimise animals' yield in intensive production systems. By contrast, organic agriculture is based on natural processes and closed cycles, and takes into account the underlying connections between production factors. Following organic ideology, prod...

  16. Movement behavior preceding autumn mortality for white-tailed deer in central New York

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whitman, Brigham J.; Porter, W. F.; Dechen Quinn, Amy C.; Williams, David M.; Frair, Jacqueline L.; Underwood, Harold; Crawford, Joanne C.

    2018-01-01

    A common yet largely untested assumption in the theory of animal movements is that increased rates and a wider range of movements, such as occurs during breeding, make animals more vulnerable to mortality. We examined mortality among 34 white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) wearing GPS collars during the autumn breeding season of 2006 and 2007 in a heavily hunted, forest-agricultural landscape of central New York state. We evaluated whether individuals having higher rates of movement incurred higher rates of mortality and whether mortality risk was higher when deer were in less familiar areas. We used a Cox proportional hazards model to analyze how mortality risk changes with movement rates measured over 3 time periods: < 1 day, up to 2 weeks prior to death, and 3–4 weeks prior to death. Overall, deer increased their movement rates as autumn progressed, males more so than females. However, deer that died moved at a slower rate relative to surviving deer up to 2 weeks prior to death (ß = -2.22 ± 0.81; 95% confidence interval [CI] = -3.91 to -0.51) and a slower rate on their day of death compared to deer that survived (ß = -1.77 ± 0.73; 95% CI = -3.19 to -0.33). Site familiarity was not significantly related to mortality risk. Deer were equally likely to die within their 50% core use area as elsewhere within their autumn home range. We hypothesize that increased sociality associated with breeding may make animals more vulnerable to harvest mortality. Our findings contradict general assumptions about the influences of movement behavior on mortality risk, suggesting that patterns may be sensitive to the spatiotemporal context of the movement analysis.

  17. 78 FR 34635 - Notice of Request for Extension of Approval of an Information Collection; Interstate Movement of...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-06-10

    ... Collection; Interstate Movement of Certain Land Tortoises AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service... with regulations for the interstate movement of certain land tortoises. DATES: We will consider all... regulations for the interstate movement of certain land tortoises, contact Dr. Christa Speekmann, Import...

  18. Retention time variability as a mechanism for animal mediated long-distance dispersal.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vishwesha Guttal

    Full Text Available Long-distance dispersal (LDD events, although rare for most plant species, can strongly influence population and community dynamics. Animals function as a key biotic vector of seeds and thus, a mechanistic and quantitative understanding of how individual animal behaviors scale to dispersal patterns at different spatial scales is a question of critical importance from both basic and applied perspectives. Using a diffusion-theory based analytical approach for a wide range of animal movement and seed transportation patterns, we show that the scale (a measure of local dispersal of the seed dispersal kernel increases with the organisms' rate of movement and mean seed retention time. We reveal that variations in seed retention time is a key determinant of various measures of LDD such as kurtosis (or shape of the kernel, thinkness of tails and the absolute number of seeds falling beyond a threshold distance. Using empirical data sets of frugivores, we illustrate the importance of variability in retention times for predicting the key disperser species that influence LDD. Our study makes testable predictions linking animal movement behaviors and gut retention times to dispersal patterns and, more generally, highlights the potential importance of animal behavioral variability for the LDD of seeds.

  19. Eye and head movements shape gaze shifts in Indian peafowl.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yorzinski, Jessica L; Patricelli, Gail L; Platt, Michael L; Land, Michael F

    2015-12-01

    Animals selectively direct their visual attention toward relevant aspects of their environments. They can shift their attention using a combination of eye, head and body movements. While we have a growing understanding of eye and head movements in mammals, we know little about these processes in birds. We therefore measured the eye and head movements of freely behaving Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus) using a telemetric eye-tracker. Both eye and head movements contributed to gaze changes in peafowl. When gaze shifts were smaller, eye movements played a larger role than when gaze shifts were larger. The duration and velocity of eye and head movements were positively related to the size of the eye and head movements, respectively. In addition, the coordination of eye and head movements in peafowl differed from that in mammals; peafowl exhibited a near-absence of the vestibulo-ocular reflex, which may partly result from the peafowl's ability to move their heads as quickly as their eyes. © 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

  20. Ethics in Animal-Based Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gross, Dominik; Tolba, René H

    2015-01-01

    In recent years, there have been a number of new demands and regulations which have reignited the discussion on ethics in animal-based research. In the light of this development, the present review first presents an overview of underlying core ethical questions and issues. This is followed by an outline of the current discussion on whether animals (used for experimentation) should have rights ascribed to them and whether animals need to have certain characteristics in order to be the beneficiaries of rights. The discourse on concepts of sentience and the 'sociozoological scale' in particular is mapped out in this regard. There follows an outline of relevant ethical positions and current moral approaches to animal-based research (animal rights position, utilitarianism, 'convergence position', intrinsic cultural value of fundamental research, 'contractarianism', anthropocentrism, principle of the three Rs). 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  1. How superdiffusion gets arrested: ecological encounters explain shift from Lévy to Brownian movement

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Jager, Monique; Bartumeus, Frederic; Kölzsch, Andrea; Weissing, Franz J.; Hengeveld, Geerten M.; Nolet, Bart A.; Herman, Peter M. J.; van de Koppel, Johan

    2014-01-01

    Ecological theory uses Brownian motion as a default template for describing ecological movement, despite limited mechanistic underpinning. The generality of Brownian motion has recently been challenged by empirical studies that highlight alternative movement patterns of animals, especially when foraging in resource-poor environments. Yet, empirical studies reveal animals moving in a Brownian fashion when resources are abundant. We demonstrate that Einstein's original theory of collision-induced Brownian motion in physics provides a parsimonious, mechanistic explanation for these observations. Here, Brownian motion results from frequent encounters between organisms in dense environments. In density-controlled experiments, movement patterns of mussels shifted from Lévy towards Brownian motion with increasing density. When the analysis was restricted to moves not truncated by encounters, this shift did not occur. Using a theoretical argument, we explain that any movement pattern approximates Brownian motion at high-resource densities, provided that movement is interrupted upon encounters. Hence, the observed shift to Brownian motion does not indicate a density-dependent change in movement strategy but rather results from frequent collisions. Our results emphasize the need for a more mechanistic use of Brownian motion in ecology, highlighting that especially in rich environments, Brownian motion emerges from ecological interactions, rather than being a default movement pattern. PMID:24225464

  2. How superdiffusion gets arrested: ecological encounters explain shift from Lévy to Brownian movement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Jager, Monique; Bartumeus, Frederic; Kölzsch, Andrea; Weissing, Franz J; Hengeveld, Geerten M; Nolet, Bart A; Herman, Peter M J; van de Koppel, Johan

    2014-01-07

    Ecological theory uses Brownian motion as a default template for describing ecological movement, despite limited mechanistic underpinning. The generality of Brownian motion has recently been challenged by empirical studies that highlight alternative movement patterns of animals, especially when foraging in resource-poor environments. Yet, empirical studies reveal animals moving in a Brownian fashion when resources are abundant. We demonstrate that Einstein's original theory of collision-induced Brownian motion in physics provides a parsimonious, mechanistic explanation for these observations. Here, Brownian motion results from frequent encounters between organisms in dense environments. In density-controlled experiments, movement patterns of mussels shifted from Lévy towards Brownian motion with increasing density. When the analysis was restricted to moves not truncated by encounters, this shift did not occur. Using a theoretical argument, we explain that any movement pattern approximates Brownian motion at high-resource densities, provided that movement is interrupted upon encounters. Hence, the observed shift to Brownian motion does not indicate a density-dependent change in movement strategy but rather results from frequent collisions. Our results emphasize the need for a more mechanistic use of Brownian motion in ecology, highlighting that especially in rich environments, Brownian motion emerges from ecological interactions, rather than being a default movement pattern.

  3. Olympic Broadcast Rights

    OpenAIRE

    Žižka, Martin

    2014-01-01

    Title: Olympic Broadcast Rights Objectives: The main objective of this thesis is to analyse the revenue derived from the sale of the broadcasting rights to the Olympics by Olympic Movement. In the thesis are analysed the total sum of revenue, selected territory and compared the proportion that belongs to the International Olympic Committee and the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games. The secondary objective is to adapt and calculation of the conversion mechanism for the transfer of amou...

  4. Movements of dams milked for fermented horse milk production in Mongolia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bat-Oyun, Tserenpurev; Ito, Takehiko Y; Purevdorj, Yadamjav; Shinoda, Masato; Ishii, Satomi; Buho, Hoshino; Morinaga, Yuki

    2018-01-01

    Airag, (Fermented horse milk) is a traditional milk product in Mongolia. Herders separate foals from their dams and tie them at a milking site during the daytime to produce airag. To evaluate the effects of horse management on the movement of dams, we tracked three dams in a herd in camp 1 during summer and camp 2 during autumn of 2013 and analyzed their movements during the milking (daytime) and non-milking (nighttime) periods in an area famous for its high-quality airag. Dams were gathered every 1.7 ± 0.0 h between 07.46 and 15.47 hours at the milking sites and milked 4.6 ± 0.2 times/day during the study period (86 days). Daily cumulative and maximum linear distances from the milking sites were longer (P airag production and sustainable pasture use, our results provide insights useful for evaluating the effects of milking management on vegetation and soil in those pastures, for selecting the appropriate milking times and frequency, and for choosing the right timing to shift milking sites. © 2017 Japanese Society of Animal Science.

  5. Motor Planning under Unpredictable Reward: Modulations of Movement Vigor and Primate Striatum Activity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ioan eOpris

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Although reward probability is an important factor that shapes animal behavior, it is not well understood however, how the primate brain translates reward expectation into the vigor of movement (reaction time and speed. To address this question, we trained two monkeys in a reaction time task that required wrist movements in response to vibrotactile and visual stimuli, with a variable reward schedule. Correct performance was rewarded in 75 % of the trials. Monkeys were certain that they would be rewarded only in the trials immediately following withheld rewards. In these trials, the animals responded sooner and moved faster. Single-unit recordings from the dorsal striatum revealed that modulations in striatal neurons reflected such modulations of movement vigor. First, in the trials with certain rewards, striatal neurons modulated their firing rates earlier. Second, magnitudes of changes in neuronal firing rates depended on whether or not monkeys were certain about the reward. Third, these modulations depended on the sensory modality of the cue (visual vs. vibratory and/or movement direction (flexions vs. extensions. We conclude that dorsal striatum may be a part of the mechanism responsible for the modulation of movement vigor in response to changes of reward predictability.

  6. LGBT: equally entitled to human rights and dignity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anne C Richard

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Recognition that LGBT rights are universal rights is gaining ground.The trend, finally, is positive. But greater respect for LGBT rights andinclusion of LGBT people still is not a worldwide movement.

  7. From sensor data to animal behaviour: an oystercatcher example.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Judy Shamoun-Baranes

    Full Text Available Animal-borne sensors enable researchers to remotely track animals, their physiological state and body movements. Accelerometers, for example, have been used in several studies to measure body movement, posture, and energy expenditure, although predominantly in marine animals. In many studies, behaviour is often inferred from expert interpretation of sensor data and not validated with direct observations of the animal. The aim of this study was to derive models that could be used to classify oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus behaviour based on sensor data. We measured the location, speed, and tri-axial acceleration of three oystercatchers using a flexible GPS tracking system and conducted simultaneous visual observations of the behaviour of these birds in their natural environment. We then used these data to develop three supervised classification trees of behaviour and finally applied one of the models to calculate time-activity budgets. The model based on accelerometer data developed to classify three behaviours (fly, terrestrial locomotion, and no movement was much more accurate (cross-validation error = 0.14 than the model based on GPS-speed alone (cross-validation error = 0.35. The most parsimonious acceleration model designed to classify eight behaviours could distinguish five: fly, forage, body care, stand, and sit (cross-validation error = 0.28; other behaviours that were observed, such as aggression or handling of prey, could not be distinguished. Model limitations and potential improvements are discussed. The workflow design presented in this study can facilitate model development, be adapted to a wide range of species, and together with the appropriate measurements, can foster the study of behaviour and habitat use of free living animals throughout their annual routine.

  8. From sensor data to animal behaviour: an oystercatcher example.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shamoun-Baranes, Judy; Bom, Roeland; van Loon, E Emiel; Ens, Bruno J; Oosterbeek, Kees; Bouten, Willem

    2012-01-01

    Animal-borne sensors enable researchers to remotely track animals, their physiological state and body movements. Accelerometers, for example, have been used in several studies to measure body movement, posture, and energy expenditure, although predominantly in marine animals. In many studies, behaviour is often inferred from expert interpretation of sensor data and not validated with direct observations of the animal. The aim of this study was to derive models that could be used to classify oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) behaviour based on sensor data. We measured the location, speed, and tri-axial acceleration of three oystercatchers using a flexible GPS tracking system and conducted simultaneous visual observations of the behaviour of these birds in their natural environment. We then used these data to develop three supervised classification trees of behaviour and finally applied one of the models to calculate time-activity budgets. The model based on accelerometer data developed to classify three behaviours (fly, terrestrial locomotion, and no movement) was much more accurate (cross-validation error = 0.14) than the model based on GPS-speed alone (cross-validation error = 0.35). The most parsimonious acceleration model designed to classify eight behaviours could distinguish five: fly, forage, body care, stand, and sit (cross-validation error = 0.28); other behaviours that were observed, such as aggression or handling of prey, could not be distinguished. Model limitations and potential improvements are discussed. The workflow design presented in this study can facilitate model development, be adapted to a wide range of species, and together with the appropriate measurements, can foster the study of behaviour and habitat use of free living animals throughout their annual routine.

  9. Bridging international law and rights-based litigation: mapping health-related rights through the development of the Global Health and Human Rights Database.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meier, Benjamin Mason; Cabrera, Oscar A; Ayala, Ana; Gostin, Lawrence O

    2012-06-15

    The O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, the World Health Organization, and the Lawyers Collective have come together to develop a searchable Global Health and Human Rights Database that maps the intersection of health and human rights in judgments, international and regional instruments, and national constitutions. Where states long remained unaccountable for violations of health-related human rights, litigation has arisen as a central mechanism in an expanding movement to create rights-based accountability. Facilitated by the incorporation of international human rights standards in national law, this judicial enforcement has supported the implementation of rights-based claims, giving meaning to states' longstanding obligations to realize the highest attainable standard of health. Yet despite these advancements, there has been insufficient awareness of the international and domestic legal instruments enshrining health-related rights and little understanding of the scope and content of litigation upholding these rights. As this accountability movement evolves, the Global Health and Human Rights Database seeks to chart this burgeoning landscape of international instruments, national constitutions, and judgments for health-related rights. Employing international legal research to document and catalogue these three interconnected aspects of human rights for the public's health, the Database's categorization by human rights, health topics, and regional scope provides a comprehensive means of understanding health and human rights law. Through these categorizations, the Global Health and Human Rights Database serves as a basis for analogous legal reasoning across states to serve as precedents for future cases, for comparative legal analysis of similar health claims in different country contexts, and for empirical research to clarify the impact of human rights judgments on public health outcomes. Copyright © 2012 Meier, Nygren

  10. Surface rights

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Regina Célia Corrêa Landim

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available In many cities of Brazil, social inequality is illustrated by violence, poverty, and unemployment located next to luxurious residential towers and armored passenger cars. In the face of this situation, the National Movement of Urban Reform encouraged the inclusion of the social function of property in Brazil's new constitution of 1988. Surface rights represent an urbanistic instrument in the city statute that is best aligned to the constitutional principles and urban policies. The current article compares two laws that govern the principle of surface rights and provides a brief history of the evolution of the state based on illuminism and the consequent change in paradigm affecting individual rights, including property and civil rights, and their interpretation under the Constitution. The article concludes by suggesting the use of land surface rights in a joint operation, matching the ownership of the property with urban planning policies and social interest.

  11. The Right to Inhabit. Reflection on Forced Displacement and Social Movements.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reyna Sánchez Estévez

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper exposes initial data from an investigation into the protests and social struggles against forced displacement of people from Mexico, it is given to know the places where protests are developed, the reasons which originate them and the characteristics of the participant subjects, a first analysis of the resistance objectives is also done and some elements of their repertoires of protest are offered. A reflection on the damage caused by these displacements in human beings and on the notions of risk and vulnerability is made.Keywords: Social movements, evictions, vulnerability

  12. The right look for the job: decoding cognitive processes involved in the task from spatial eye-movement patterns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Król, Magdalena Ewa; Król, Michał

    2018-02-20

    The aim of the study was not only to demonstrate whether eye-movement-based task decoding was possible but also to investigate whether eye-movement patterns can be used to identify cognitive processes behind the tasks. We compared eye-movement patterns elicited under different task conditions, with tasks differing systematically with regard to the types of cognitive processes involved in solving them. We used four tasks, differing along two dimensions: spatial (global vs. local) processing (Navon, Cognit Psychol, 9(3):353-383 1977) and semantic (deep vs. shallow) processing (Craik and Lockhart, J Verbal Learn Verbal Behav, 11(6):671-684 1972). We used eye-movement patterns obtained from two time periods: fixation cross preceding the target stimulus and the target stimulus. We found significant effects of both spatial and semantic processing, but in case of the latter, the effect might be an artefact of insufficient task control. We found above chance task classification accuracy for both time periods: 51.4% for the period of stimulus presentation and 34.8% for the period of fixation cross presentation. Therefore, we show that task can be to some extent decoded from the preparatory eye-movements before the stimulus is displayed. This suggests that anticipatory eye-movements reflect the visual scanning strategy employed for the task at hand. Finally, this study also demonstrates that decoding is possible even from very scant eye-movement data similar to Coco and Keller, J Vis 14(3):11-11 (2014). This means that task decoding is not limited to tasks that naturally take longer to perform and yield multi-second eye-movement recordings.

  13. 7 CFR 330.206 - Permits for plant pest movement associated with National Defense projects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Permits for plant pest movement associated with... (Continued) ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FEDERAL PLANT PEST REGULATIONS; GENERAL; PLANT PESTS; SOIL, STONE, AND QUARRY PRODUCTS; GARBAGE Movement of Plant Pests § 330.206...

  14. Development of prenatal lateralization: evidence from fetal mouth movements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reissland, N; Francis, B; Aydin, E; Mason, J; Exley, K

    2014-05-28

    Human lateralized behaviors relate to the asymmetric development of the brain. Research of the prenatal origins of laterality is equivocal with some studies suggesting that fetuses exhibit lateralized behavior and other not finding such laterality. Given that by around 22weeks of gestation the left cerebral hemisphere compared to the right is significantly larger in both male and female fetuses we expected that the right side of the fetal face would show more movement with increased gestation. This longitudinal study investigated whether fetuses from 24 to 36weeks of gestation showed increasing lateralized behaviors during mouth opening and whether lateralized mouth movements are related to fetal age, gender and maternal self-reported prenatal stress. Following ethical approval, fifteen healthy fetuses (8 girls) of primagravid mothers were scanned four times from 24 to 36-gestation. Two types of mouth opening movements - upper lip raiser and mouth stretch - were coded in 60 scans for 10min. We modeled the proportion of right mouth opening for each fetal scan using a generalized linear mixed model, which takes account of the repeated measures design. There was a significant increase in the proportion of lateralized mouth openings over the period increasing by 11% for each week of gestational age (LRT change in deviance=10.92, 1df; pgender differences were found nor was there any effect of maternally reported stress on fetal lateralized mouth movements. There was also evidence of left lateralization preference in mouth movement, although no evidence of changes in lateralization bias over time. This longitudinal study provides important new insights into the development of lateralized mouth movements from 24 to 36 weeks of gestation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Effects of Land Cover on the Movement of Frugivorous Birds in a Heterogeneous Landscape.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Da Silveira, Natalia Stefanini; Niebuhr, Bernardo Brandão S; Muylaert, Renata de Lara; Ribeiro, Milton Cezar; Pizo, Marco Aurélio

    2016-01-01

    Movement is a key spatiotemporal process that enables interactions between animals and other elements of nature. The understanding of animal trajectories and the mechanisms that influence them at the landscape level can yield insight into ecological processes and potential solutions to specific ecological problems. Based upon optimal foraging models and empirical evidence, we hypothesized that movement by thrushes is highly tortuous (low average movement speeds and homogeneous distribution of turning angles) inside forests, moderately tortuous in urban areas, which present intermediary levels of resources, and minimally tortuous (high movement speeds and turning angles next to 0 radians) in open matrix types (e.g., crops and pasture). We used data on the trajectories of two common thrush species (Turdus rufiventris and Turdus leucomelas) collected by radio telemetry in a fragmented region in Brazil. Using a maximum likelihood model selection approach we fit four probability distribution models to average speed data, considering short-tailed, long-tailed, and scale-free distributions (to represent different regimes of movement variation), and one distribution to relative angle data. Models included land cover type and distance from forest-matrix edges as explanatory variables. Speed was greater farther away from forest edges and increased faster inside forest habitat compared to urban and open matrices. However, turning angle was not influenced by land cover. Thrushes presented a very tortuous trajectory, with many displacements followed by turns near 180 degrees. Thrush trajectories resembled habitat and edge dependent, tortuous random walks, with a well-defined movement scale inside each land cover type. Although thrushes are habitat generalists, they showed a greater preference for forest edges, and thus may be considered edge specialists. Our results reinforce the importance of studying animal movement patterns in order to understand ecological processes such as

  16. Effects of Land Cover on the Movement of Frugivorous Birds in a Heterogeneous Landscape.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Natalia Stefanini Da Silveira

    Full Text Available Movement is a key spatiotemporal process that enables interactions between animals and other elements of nature. The understanding of animal trajectories and the mechanisms that influence them at the landscape level can yield insight into ecological processes and potential solutions to specific ecological problems. Based upon optimal foraging models and empirical evidence, we hypothesized that movement by thrushes is highly tortuous (low average movement speeds and homogeneous distribution of turning angles inside forests, moderately tortuous in urban areas, which present intermediary levels of resources, and minimally tortuous (high movement speeds and turning angles next to 0 radians in open matrix types (e.g., crops and pasture. We used data on the trajectories of two common thrush species (Turdus rufiventris and Turdus leucomelas collected by radio telemetry in a fragmented region in Brazil. Using a maximum likelihood model selection approach we fit four probability distribution models to average speed data, considering short-tailed, long-tailed, and scale-free distributions (to represent different regimes of movement variation, and one distribution to relative angle data. Models included land cover type and distance from forest-matrix edges as explanatory variables. Speed was greater farther away from forest edges and increased faster inside forest habitat compared to urban and open matrices. However, turning angle was not influenced by land cover. Thrushes presented a very tortuous trajectory, with many displacements followed by turns near 180 degrees. Thrush trajectories resembled habitat and edge dependent, tortuous random walks, with a well-defined movement scale inside each land cover type. Although thrushes are habitat generalists, they showed a greater preference for forest edges, and thus may be considered edge specialists. Our results reinforce the importance of studying animal movement patterns in order to understand ecological

  17. Corollary discharge across the animal kingdom.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crapse, Trinity B; Sommer, Marc A

    2008-08-01

    Our movements can hinder our ability to sense the world. Movements can induce sensory input (for example, when you hit something) that is indistinguishable from the input that is caused by external agents (for example, when something hits you). It is critical for nervous systems to be able to differentiate between these two scenarios. A ubiquitous strategy is to route copies of movement commands to sensory structures. These signals, which are referred to as corollary discharge (CD), influence sensory processing in myriad ways. Here we review the CD circuits that have been uncovered by neurophysiological studies and suggest a functional taxonomic classification of CD across the animal kingdom. This broad understanding of CD circuits lays the groundwork for more challenging studies that combine neurophysiology and psychophysics to probe the role of CD in perception.

  18. What makes a movement a gesture?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Novack, Miriam A; Wakefield, Elizabeth M; Goldin-Meadow, Susan

    2016-01-01

    Theories of how adults interpret the actions of others have focused on the goals and intentions of actors engaged in object-directed actions. Recent research has challenged this assumption, and shown that movements are often interpreted as being for their own sake (Schachner & Carey, 2013). Here we postulate a third interpretation of movement-movement that represents action, but does not literally act on objects in the world. These movements are gestures. In this paper, we describe a framework for predicting when movements are likely to be seen as representations. In Study 1, adults described one of three scenes: (1) an actor moving objects, (2) an actor moving her hands in the presence of objects (but not touching them) or (3) an actor moving her hands in the absence of objects. Participants systematically described the movements as depicting an object-directed action when the actor moved objects, and favored describing the movements as depicting movement for its own sake when the actor produced the same movements in the absence of objects. However, participants favored describing the movements as representations when the actor produced the movements near, but not on, the objects. Study 2 explored two additional features-the form of an actor's hands and the presence of speech-like sounds-to test the effect of context on observers' classification of movement as representational. When movements are seen as representations, they have the power to influence communication, learning, and cognition in ways that movement for its own sake does not. By incorporating representational gesture into our framework for movement analysis, we take an important step towards developing a more cohesive understanding of action-interpretation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Linking movement and reproductive history of brook trout to assess habitat connectivity in a heterogeneous stream network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoichiro Kanno; Benjamin H. Letcher; Jason A. Coombs; Keith H. Nislow; Andrew R. Whiteley

    2014-01-01

    Defining functional connectivity between habitats in spatially heterogeneous landscapes is a particular challenge for small-bodied aquatic species. Traditional approaches (e.g. mark-recapture studies) preclude an assessment of animal movement over the life cycle (birth to reproduction), and movement of individuals may not represent the degree of gene movement for...

  20. [Animal ethics in the 19th century and Swiss animal protection law].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bloch, I

    2018-01-01

    The development of animal ethics and animal rights from the antiquity up to modern times is described. The relationship of humans to animals was primarily based on fear and animal cult, developed by the domestication to a partnership. The philosophers of the early modern age denied the animals the reason, what was disadvantageous to the position of the animals in the society and the behavior of humans to the animals. By the end of the 19th century the animal protection concept developed with numerous postulates for legal regulations. With the Swiss animal protection law, which came into force in 1981, most of the postulates could be realised. It is shown, how animal protection has developed since that time.

  1. 36 CFR 4.20 - Right of way.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Right of way. 4.20 Section 4... TRAFFIC SAFETY § 4.20 Right of way. An operator of a motor vehicle shall yield the right of way to pedestrians, saddle and pack animals and vehicles drawn by animals. Failure to yield the right of way is...

  2. Brazilian Citizens’ Opinions and Attitudes about Farm Animal Production Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria C. Yunes

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The inclusion of societal input is needed for food animal production industries to retain their “social license to operate”; failure to engage with the public on this topic risks the long-term sustainability of these industries. The primary aim of this study was to explore the beliefs and attitudes of Brazilians citizens not associated with livestock production towards farm animal production. A related secondary aim was to identify the specific beliefs and attitudes towards systems that are associated with restriction of movement. Each participant was shown pictures representing two of five possible major food animal industries (laying hens, beef cattle, pregnant sows, lactating sows, and poultry meat. Participants were presented a six pages survey that included demographic questions plus two sets of two pictures and a series of questions pertaining to the pictures. Each set of pictures represented a particular industry where one picture represented a housing type that is associated with behavioural restrictions and the other picture represented a system that allowed for a greater degree of movement. Participants were asked their perceptions on the prevalence of each system in Brazil, then their preference of one picture vs. the other, and the reasons justifying their preference. Immediately following, the participant repeated the same exercise with the second set of two pictures representing another industry followed by the same series of questions as described above. Quantitative data were analysed with mixed effects logistic regression, and qualitative responses were coded into themes. The proportion of participants that believed animals are reared in confinement varied by animal production type: 23% (beef cattle, 82% (poultry, 81% (laying hens, and 60% (swine. A large majority (79% stated that farm animals are not well-treated in Brazil. Overall, participants preferred systems that were not associated with behavioural restriction. The

  3. Toward a national animal telemetry network for aquatic observations in the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Block, Barbara A.; Holbrook, Christopher; Simmons, Samantha E; Holland, Kim N; Ault, Jerald S.; Costa, Daniel P.; Mate, Bruce R; Seitz, Andrew C.; Arendt, Michael D.; Payne, John; Mahmoudi, Behzad; Moore, Peter L.; Price, James; J. J. Levenson,; Wilson, Doug; Kochevar, Randall E

    2016-01-01

    Animal telemetry is the science of elucidating the movements and behavior of animals in relation to their environment or habitat. Here, we focus on telemetry of aquatic species (marine mammals, sharks, fish, sea birds and turtles) and so are concerned with animal movements and behavior as they move through and above the world’s oceans, coastal rivers, estuaries and great lakes. Animal telemetry devices (“tags”) yield detailed data regarding animal responses to the coupled ocean–atmosphere and physical environment through which they are moving. Animal telemetry has matured and we describe a developing US Animal Telemetry Network (ATN) observing system that monitors aquatic life on a range of temporal and spatial scales that will yield both short- and long-term benefits, fill oceanographic observing and knowledge gaps and advance many of the U.S. National Ocean Policy Priority Objectives. ATN has the potential to create a huge impact for the ocean observing activities undertaken by the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) and become a model for establishing additional national-level telemetry networks worldwide.

  4. Inferring animal densities from tracking data using Markov chains.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whitehead, Hal; Jonsen, Ian D

    2013-01-01

    The distributions and relative densities of species are keys to ecology. Large amounts of tracking data are being collected on a wide variety of animal species using several methods, especially electronic tags that record location. These tracking data are effectively used for many purposes, but generally provide biased measures of distribution, because the starts of the tracks are not randomly distributed among the locations used by the animals. We introduce a simple Markov-chain method that produces unbiased measures of relative density from tracking data. The density estimates can be over a geographical grid, and/or relative to environmental measures. The method assumes that the tracked animals are a random subset of the population in respect to how they move through the habitat cells, and that the movements of the animals among the habitat cells form a time-homogenous Markov chain. We illustrate the method using simulated data as well as real data on the movements of sperm whales. The simulations illustrate the bias introduced when the initial tracking locations are not randomly distributed, as well as the lack of bias when the Markov method is used. We believe that this method will be important in giving unbiased estimates of density from the growing corpus of animal tracking data.

  5. Inferring animal densities from tracking data using Markov chains.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hal Whitehead

    Full Text Available The distributions and relative densities of species are keys to ecology. Large amounts of tracking data are being collected on a wide variety of animal species using several methods, especially electronic tags that record location. These tracking data are effectively used for many purposes, but generally provide biased measures of distribution, because the starts of the tracks are not randomly distributed among the locations used by the animals. We introduce a simple Markov-chain method that produces unbiased measures of relative density from tracking data. The density estimates can be over a geographical grid, and/or relative to environmental measures. The method assumes that the tracked animals are a random subset of the population in respect to how they move through the habitat cells, and that the movements of the animals among the habitat cells form a time-homogenous Markov chain. We illustrate the method using simulated data as well as real data on the movements of sperm whales. The simulations illustrate the bias introduced when the initial tracking locations are not randomly distributed, as well as the lack of bias when the Markov method is used. We believe that this method will be important in giving unbiased estimates of density from the growing corpus of animal tracking data.

  6. Animal disease outbreak control: the use of crisis management tools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kroschewski, K; Kramer, M; Micklich, A; Staubach, C; Carmanns, R; Conraths, F J

    2006-04-01

    In this era of globalisation the effective control of animal disease outbreaks requires powerful crisis management tools. In the 1990s software packages for different sectors of the government and agricultural industry began to be developed. In 2004, as a special application for tracking the movement of animals and animal products, the European Union developed the Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES) on the basis of its predecessor, the ANImal MOvement (ANIMO) project. The nationwide use of the ANIMO system by the veterinary authorities in Germany marked the beginning of the development in 1993 of a computerised national animal disease reporting system--the TierSeuchenNachrichten (TSN)--using the ANIMO hardware and software components. In addition to TRACES and TSN the third pillar for the management of animal disease outbreaks and crises in Germany is the national cattle and swine database--called Herkunftssicherungs- und Informationssystem für Tiere. A high degree of standardisation is necessary when integrating the different solutions at all levels of government and with the private sector. In this paper, the authors describe the use of these tools on the basis of their experience and in relation to what we can do now and what we should opt for in the future.

  7. An evaluation of interventions for reducing the risk of PRRSV introduction to filtered farms via retrograde air movement through idle fans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alonso, Carmen; Otake, Satoshi; Davies, Peter; Dee, Scott

    2012-06-15

    Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is an economically significant pathogen of pigs that can be transported via the airborne route out to 9.1 km. To reduce this risk, large swine facilities have started to implement systems to filter contaminated incoming air. A proposed means of air filtration failure is the retrograde movement of air (back-drafting) from the external environment into the animal air space through non-filtered points such as idle wall fans; however, this risk has not been validated. Therefore, the purpose of this study was threefold: (1) to prove that PRRSV introduction via retrograde air movement through idle fans is a true risk; (2) to determine the minimum retrograde air velocity necessary to introduce PRRSV to an animal airspace from an external source; and (3) to evaluate the efficacy of different interventions designed to reduce this risk. A retrograde air movement model was used to test a range of velocities and interventions, including a standard plastic shutter, a plastic shutter plus a canvas cover, a nylon air chute, an aluminum shutter plus an air chute and a double shutter system. Results indicated that retrograde air movement is a real risk for PRRSV introduction to a filtered air space; however, it required a velocity of 0.76 m/s. In addition, while all the interventions designed to reduce this risk were superior when compared to a standard plastic shutter, significant differences were detected between treatments. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. Ethics in Animal Experimentation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yusuf Ergun

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Experimental animals are frequently used to obtain information for primarily scientific reasons. In the present review, ethics in animal experimentation is examined. At first, the history of animal experimentation and animal rights is outlined. Thereafter, the terms in relation with the topic are defined. Finally, prominent aspects of 3Rs constituting scientific and ethical basis in animal experimentation are underlined. [Archives Medical Review Journal 2010; 19(4.000: 220-235

  9. Effects of Direction and Index of Difficulty on Aiming Movements after Stroke

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paola Ribeiro Coqueiro

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. Brain hemispheres play different roles in the control of aiming movements that are impaired after unilateral stroke. It is not clear whether those roles are influenced by the direction and the difficulty of the task. Objective. To evaluate the influence of direction and index of difficulty (ID of the task on performance of ipsilesional aiming movements after unilateral stroke. Methods. Ten individuals with right hemisphere stroke, ten with left hemisphere stroke, and ten age- and gender-matched controls performed the aiming movements on a digitizing tablet as fast as possible. Stroke individuals used their ipsilesional arm. The direction (ipsilateral or contralateral, size (0.8 or 1.6 cm, and distance (9 or 18 cm of the targets, presented on a monitor, were manipulated and determined to be of different ID (3.5, 4.5, and 5.5. Results. Individuals with right hemisphere lesion were more sensitive to ID of the task, affecting planning and final position accuracy. Left hemisphere lesion generated slower and less smooth movements and was more influenced by target distance. Contralateral movements and higher ID increased planning demands and hindered movement execution. Conclusion. Right and left hemisphere damages are differentially influenced by task constraints which suggest their complementary roles in the control of aiming movements.

  10. Movement impairment: Focus on the brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adami, Raffaella; Bottai, Daniele

    2016-04-01

    The saying "mens sana in corpore sano" has a particular resonance these days because, for the majority who have a very sedentary occupation, the everyday rhythms of life do not compel us to do much physical exercise. Recently published data indicate that exercise can counteract the effects of neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and have prompted research on the beneficial effects of movement on the brain and brain neurogenesis. This might lead us to hypothesize that the absence or reduction of movements, especially those with antigravity effects, could induce a deterioration of the brain. This Review discusses current knowledge of the relationship between neurogenic capacity and the lack of motor activity in human and animal models. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  11. THE INFLUENCE OF LOWER LIMB MOVEMENT ON UPPER LIMB MOVEMENT SYMMETRY WHILE SWIMMING THE BREASTSTROKE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Jaszczak

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available This study 1 examined the influence of lower limb movement on upper limb movement symmetry, 2 determined the part of the propulsion phase displaying the greatest hand movement asymmetry, 3 diagnosed the range of upper limb propulsion phase which is the most prone to the influence of the lower limbs while swimming the breaststroke. Twenty-four participants took part in two tests. Half of them performed an asymmetrical leg movement. The propulsion in the first test was generated by four limbs while in the second one only by the upper limbs. The pressure differentials exerted by the water on the back and on the palm of the right and left hand were measured. Then, the asymmetry coefficient of the hand movement was determined. No changes in the level of the asymmetry index in participants performing correct (symmetrical lower limb movement were observed. Incorrect (asymmetrical leg motion resulted in an increase of hand asymmetry. It could be concluded that lower limb faults neutralize upper limb performance when swimming on a rectilinear path. However, most asymmetrical arm performance should be identified with the conversion of propulsion into recovery. Nevertheless, its proneness to influence improper leg performance might be expected at the beginning of arm propulsion.

  12. Does systemic administration of casein phosphopeptides affect orthodontic movement and root resorption in rats?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crowther, Lachlan; Shen, Gang; Almuzian, Mohammed; Jones, Allan; Walsh, William; Oliver, Rema; Petocz, Peter; Tarraf, Nour E; Darendeliler, M Ali

    2017-10-01

    To assess the potential effects of casein phosphopeptides (CPPs) on orthodontically induced iatrogenic root resorption (OIIRR) and orthodontic teeth movement. Forty Wistar rats (aged 11 weeks) were randomly divided into experimental group (EG; n = 20) that received a diet supplemented with CPP and control group (CG; n = 20) devoid of diet supplement. A 150 g force was applied using nickel titanium (NiTi) coil that was bonded on maxillary incisors and extended unilaterally to a maxillary first molar. At Day 28, animals in both groups were euthanized. Volumetric assessment of root resorption craters and linear measurement of maxillary first molars movement were blindly examined using a micro-computed tomography scan. Nine rats were excluded from the experiment due to loss during general anesthesia or appliances' failure. Intra-operator reproducibility was high in both volumetric and linear measurements, 92.8 per cent and 98.5-97.6 per cent, respectively. The results reveal that dietary CPP has statistically insignificant effect on the overall OIIRR and orthodontic movement. CPP seems to have statistically insignificant effect on the volume of OIIRR and orthodontic movement in rats. A long-term study with larger sample size using a different concentration of CPP is required to clarify the dentoalveolar effect of CPP. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Orthodontic Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

  13. Lateralization of brain activity pattern during unilateral movement in Parkinson's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Tao; Hou, Yanan; Hallett, Mark; Zhang, Jiarong; Chan, Piu

    2015-05-01

    We investigated the lateralization of brain activity pattern during performance of unilateral movement in drug-naïve Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with only right hemiparkinsonian symptoms. Functional MRI was obtained when the subjects performed strictly unilateral right hand movement. A laterality index was calculated to examine the lateralization. Patients had decreased activity in the left putamen and left supplementary motor area, but had increased activity in the right primary motor cortex, right premotor cortex, left postcentral gyrus, and bilateral cerebellum. The laterality index was significantly decreased in PD patients compared with controls (0.41 ± 0.14 vs. 0.84 ± 0.09). The connectivity from the left putamen to cortical motor regions and cerebellum was decreased, while the interactions between the cortical motor regions, cerebellum, and right putamen were increased. Our study demonstrates that in early PD, the lateralization of brain activity during unilateral movement is significantly reduced. The dysfunction of the striatum-cortical circuit, decreased transcallosal inhibition, and compensatory efforts from cortical motor regions, cerebellum, and the less affected striatum are likely reasons contributing to the reduced motor lateralization. The disruption of the lateralized brain activity pattern might be a reason underlying some motor deficits in PD, like mirror movements or impaired bilateral motor coordination. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  14. Commodifying animals: ethical issues in genetic engineering of animals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Almond, B

    2000-03-01

    The genetic modification of living beings raises special ethical concerns which go beyond general discussion of animal rights or welfare. Although the goals may be similar, biotechnology has accelerated the process of modification of types traditionally carried out by cross-breeding. These changes are discussed in relation to two areas: biomedicine, and animal husbandry. Alternative ethical approaches are reviewed, and it is argued that the teleological thesis underlying virtue ethics has special relevance here. The case for and the case against genetic engineering and patenting of life-forms are examined, and conclusions are drawn which favour regulation, caution and respect for animals and animal species.

  15. International standards: the World Organisation for Animal Health Terrestrial Animal Health Code.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thiermann, A B

    2015-04-01

    This paper provides a description of the international standards contained in the TerrestrialAnimal Health Code of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) that relate to the prevention and control of vector-borne diseases. It identifies the rights and obligations of OIE Member Countries regarding the notification of animal disease occurrences, as well as the recommendations to be followed for a safe and efficient international trade of animals and their products.

  16. Hand movements with a phase structure and gestures that depict action stem from a left hemispheric system of conceptualization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Helmich, I; Lausberg, H

    2014-10-01

    The present study addresses the previously discussed controversy on the contribution of the right and left cerebral hemispheres to the production and conceptualization of spontaneous hand movements and gestures. Although it has been shown that each hemisphere contains the ability to produce hand movements, results of left hemispherically lateralized motor functions challenge the view of a contralateral hand movement production system. To examine hemispheric specialization in hand movement and gesture production, ten right-handed participants were tachistoscopically presented pictures of everyday life actions. The participants were asked to demonstrate with their hands, but without speaking what they had seen on the drawing. Two independent blind raters evaluated the videotaped hand movements and gestures employing the Neuropsychological Gesture Coding System. The results showed that the overall frequency of right- and left-hand movements is equal independent of stimulus lateralization. When hand movements were analyzed considering their Structure, the presentation of the action stimuli to the left hemisphere resulted in more hand movements with a phase structure than the presentation to the right hemisphere. Furthermore, the presentation to the left hemisphere resulted in more right and left-hand movements with a phase structure, whereas the presentation to the right hemisphere only increased contralateral left-hand movements with a phase structure as compared to hand movements without a phase structure. Gestures that depict action were primarily displayed in response to stimuli presented in the right visual field than in the left one. The present study shows that both hemispheres possess the faculty to produce hand movements in response to action stimuli. However, the left hemisphere dominates the production of hand movements with a phase structure and gestures that depict action. We therefore conclude that hand movements with a phase structure and gestures that

  17. Individual-level movement bias leads to the formation of higher-order social structure in a mobile group of baboons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonnell, Tyler R; Clarke, Parry M; Henzi, S Peter; Barrett, Louise

    2017-07-01

    In mobile social groups, influence patterns driving group movement can vary between democratic and despotic. The arrival at any single pattern of influence is thought to be underpinned by both environmental factors and group composition. To identify the specific patterns of influence driving travel decision-making in a chacma baboon troop, we used spatially explicit data to extract patterns of individual movement bias. We scaled these estimates of individual-level bias to the level of the group by constructing an influence network and assessing its emergent structural properties. Our results indicate that there is heterogeneity in movement bias: individual animals respond consistently to particular group members, and higher-ranking animals are more likely to influence the movement of others. This heterogeneity resulted in a group-level network structure that consisted of a single core and two outer shells. Here, the presence of a core suggests that a set of highly interdependent animals drove routine group movements. These results suggest that heterogeneity at the individual level can lead to group-level influence structures, and that movement patterns in mobile social groups can add to the exploration of both how these structures develop (i.e. mechanistic aspects) and what consequences they have for individual- and group-level outcomes (i.e. functional aspects).

  18. Linking movement and reproductive history of brook trout to assess habitat connectivity in a heterogeneous stream network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kanno, Yoichiro; Letcher, Benjamin H.; Coombs, Jason A.; Nislow, Keith H.; Whiteley, Andrew R.

    2013-01-01

    1. Defining functional connectivity between habitats in spatially heterogeneous landscapes is a particular challenge for small-bodied aquatic species. Traditional approaches (e.g. mark–recapture studies) preclude an assessment of animal movement over the life cycle (birth to reproduction), and movement of individuals may not represent the degree of gene movement for fecund species.

  19. A Right’s Story: The Historical Roots of the Right to Work as a Human Right

    OpenAIRE

    Azadeh Al- Sadat Taheri

    2017-01-01

    The right to work has been recognized in many international instruments. According to this right, everybody deserves to enjoy decent and appropriate job opportunities.On the other hand this right includes states’ obligations to provide enough opportunities. This article seeks to explain historical roots of the right to work. The study shows that industrial revolution, workers’ movements, recession in some periods of time and deep changes after the Second World War were the most important fact...

  20. 9 CFR 72.18 - Movement interstate; specification by the Deputy Administrator, Veterinary Services of treatment...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Movement interstate; specification by the Deputy Administrator, Veterinary Services of treatment required when dipping facilities..., Veterinary Services of treatment required when dipping facilities unavailable. (a) Tick-infested cattle...

  1. Right to Basic Education and State Responsibility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Kishore

    2010-01-01

    The right to education is an internationally recognized right. As part of the global movement for Education for All in the past two decades, the right to basic education has emerged in international law, and it carries international obligations--political and legal--on account of collective commitments by the international community for its…

  2. When top predators become prey: Black bears alter movement behaviour in response to hunting pressure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stillfried, Milena; Belant, Jerrold L; Svoboda, Nathan J; Beyer, Dean E; Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie

    2015-11-01

    The trade-off between predator avoidance and foraging is a key decision making factor that shapes an organism's adaptive behaviour and movement patterns. Human hunters act as top predators to influence the behaviour of free-ranging mammals, including large carnivorous species such as black bears (Ursus americanus). Analysing the effects of hunting on animal behavioural patterns is essential for understanding the extent to which animals detect and respond to human-induced disturbances. To this end, we assessed whether black bear movement behaviour changed with varying risk from spatially and temporally heterogeneous human predation. Levels of risk were categorized as either low (disturbance from dog training; n=19 bears) or high (disturbance from hunting activities; n=11 bears). Road types were either paved (risk due to vehicles) or non-paved (risk due to hunters) and were used as proxies for hunting effort and amount of disturbance. We began by testing the null hypothesis that bears' distribution before the onset of human disturbance is spatially random. Next, to test temporal movement adjustment between the low and high risk levels, we measured the distance to the nearest road and the road crossing frequency using mixed effects models with risk level, time of day and sex as predictor variables. As disturbance near non-paved roads increased due to the start of the hunting activity, the mean distances of bears to non-paved roads increased while the mean distances of bears to paved roads decreased, despite the continual risk of vehicle collision. These behavioural responses were observed during day and night, with the frequency of crossing paved roads at night five times greater than in daytime during the hunting season. Our findings demonstrate that black bears are able to detect risky places and adjust their spatial movements accordingly. More specifically, bears can perceive changes in the level of risk from human hunting activities on a fine temporal scale

  3. Ampleness of head movements of children and adolescents with sensorineural hearing loss.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Souza Melo, Renato

    2017-02-01

    Head movements are controlled by the vestibular system. Children with sensorineural hearing loss can present restrictions in ampleness of head movements due to damage in the vestibule-cochlear systems, resulting from injury in the inner ear. To evaluate the ampleness of head movements of children with normal hearing and children with sensorineural hearing loss and compare data between groups. Cross-sectional study that evaluated the ampleness of head movements of 96 students, being 48 with normal hearing and 48 with sensorineural hearing loss, of both sexes, with aged between 7 and 18 years old. The performance of ampleness of head movements was analyzed by a manual goniometric evaluation, according the references proposed by Marques. To the statistical analysis we used the t-Student test in case of normality of the data or the Mann-Whitney test when did not applied the suppositions of normality. Hearing loss children showed less mean in ampleness of all movements of head compared to normal hearing children, pointing difference to movements of flexion (p = 0,001), lateral inclination to the right (p = 0,025) and lateral rotation to the left (p = 0,021). Hearing loss children showed reduction in the ampleness of these head movements: flexion, lateral inclination to the right and lateral rotation to the left compared to normal hearing children. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. A Right’s Story: The Historical Roots of the Right to Work as a Human Right

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Azadeh Al- Sadat Taheri

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The right to work has been recognized in many international instruments. According to this right, everybody deserves to enjoy decent and appropriate job opportunities.On the other hand this right includes states’ obligations to provide enough opportunities. This article seeks to explain historical roots of the right to work. The study shows that industrial revolution, workers’ movements, recession in some periods of time and deep changes after the Second World War were the most important factors in emerging the right, which later was accepted as a welfare right in the context of human rights.

  5. An individual-based model of skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) movement in the tropical Pacific ocean

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scutt Phillips, Joe; Sen Gupta, Alex; Senina, Inna; van Sebille, Erik; Lange, Michael; Lehodey, Patrick; Hampton, John; Nicol, Simon

    2018-05-01

    The distribution of marine species is often modeled using Eulerian approaches, in which changes to population density or abundance are calculated at fixed locations in space. Conversely, Lagrangian, or individual-based, models simulate the movement of individual particles moving in continuous space, with broader-scale patterns such as distribution being an emergent property of many, potentially adaptive, individuals. These models offer advantages in examining dynamics across spatiotemporal scales and making comparisons with observations from individual-scale data. Here, we introduce and describe such a model, the Individual-based Kinesis, Advection and Movement of Ocean ANimAls model (Ikamoana), which we use to replicate the movement processes of an existing Eulerian model for marine predators (the Spatial Ecosystem and Population Dynamics Model, SEAPODYM). Ikamoana simulates the movement of either individual or groups of animals by physical ocean currents, habitat-dependent stochastic movements (kinesis), and taxis movements representing active searching behaviours. Applying our model to Pacific skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis), we show that it accurately replicates the evolution of density distribution simulated by SEAPODYM with low time-mean error and a spatial correlation of density that exceeds 0.96 at all times. We demonstrate how the Lagrangian approach permits easy tracking of individuals' trajectories for examining connectivity between different regions, and show how the model can provide independent estimates of transfer rates between commonly used assessment regions. In particular, we find that retention rates in most assessment regions are considerably smaller (up to a factor of 2) than those estimated by this population of skipjack's primary assessment model. Moreover, these rates are sensitive to ocean state (e.g. El Nino vs La Nina) and so assuming fixed transfer rates between regions may lead to spurious stock estimates. A novel feature of the

  6. Animal Poetry and Empathy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tirza Brüggemann

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available This article discusses how our ideas of empathy are influenced by the dichotomy of mind versus body, also known as Cartesian dualism. Within the aesthetic field, this dichotomy is seen when researchers define narrative empathy as imaginatively reconstructing the fictional character’s thoughts and feelings. Conversely, the empathy aroused by a non-narrative work of art is seen as an unconscious bodily mirroring of movements, postures or moods. Thinking dualistically does not only have consequences for what we consider human nature; it also affects our view on animals. To show the untenability of dualistic thinking, this article focuses on the animal poetry genre. Using the ideas of the French phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty, I analyze two animal poems: “Inventing a Horse” by Meghan O’Rourke and “Spermaceti” by Les Murray. The analysis of these two poems suggests that the presiding ideas about aesthetic empathy and empathy in general need re-evaluation.

  7. Effects of Facial Expressions on Recognizing Emotions in Dance Movements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nao Shikanai

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Effects of facial expressions on recognizing emotions expressed in dance movements were investigated. Dancers expressed three emotions: joy, sadness, and anger through dance movements. We used digital video cameras and a 3D motion capturing system to record and capture the movements. We then created full-video displays with an expressive face, full-video displays with an unexpressive face, stick figure displays (no face, or point-light displays (no face from these data using 3D animation software. To make point-light displays, 13 markers were attached to the body of each dancer. We examined how accurately observers were able to identify the expression that the dancers intended to create through their dance movements. Dance experienced and inexperienced observers participated in the experiment. They watched the movements and rated the compatibility of each emotion with each movement on a 5-point Likert scale. The results indicated that both experienced and inexperienced observers could identify all the emotions that dancers intended to express. Identification scores for dance movements with an expressive face were higher than for other expressions. This finding indicates that facial expressions affect the identification of emotions in dance movements, whereas only bodily expressions provide sufficient information to recognize emotions.

  8. Same-Sex Sexualities and the Globalization of Human Rights Discourse

    OpenAIRE

    Stychin, C.

    2004-01-01

    In the past decade, a “double movement of globalization” has taken place in the realm of gay rights. On the one hand, a globalization of human rights has occurred, whereby human rights have become a key criterion by which the “progress” of nations is evaluated. On the other hand, there has been a globalization of same-sex sexualities as identities. These movements have the potential to conflict with, rather than complement, each other in terms of progressing toward a greater recognition of ga...

  9. Analysis of EEG Related Saccadic Eye Movement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Funase, Arao; Kuno, Yoshiaki; Okuma, Shigeru; Yagi, Tohru

    Our final goal is to establish the model for saccadic eye movement that connects the saccade and the electroencephalogram(EEG). As the first step toward this goal, we recorded and analyzed the saccade-related EEG. In the study recorded in this paper, we tried detecting a certain EEG that is peculiar to the eye movement. In these experiments, each subject was instructed to point their eyes toward visual targets (LEDs) or the direction of the sound sources (buzzers). In the control cases, the EEG was recorded in the case of no eye movemens. As results, in the visual experiments, we found that the potential of EEG changed sharply on the occipital lobe just before eye movement. Furthermore, in the case of the auditory experiments, similar results were observed. In the case of the visual experiments and auditory experiments without eye movement, we could not observed the EEG changed sharply. Moreover, when the subject moved his/her eyes toward a right-side target, a change in EEG potential was found on the right occipital lobe. On the contrary, when the subject moved his/her eyes toward a left-side target, a sharp change in EEG potential was found on the left occipital lobe.

  10. Animal ethics profiling of vegetarians, vegans and meat-eaters

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lund, Thomas Bøker; McKeegan, Dorothy E. F.; Cribbin, Clare

    2016-01-01

    The aims of this study were to identify the animal ethical profile of vegetarians, vegans, and meat-eaters. Using questionnaire data collected in 2013 (n = 356), we measured propensity to subscribe to five different po- sitions within animal ethics based on a novel measure of animal ethical stance......), but predominantly the utilitarian position. Propensity to hold animal rights and re- lational views increased with the number of meat products not consumed by meat-eaters. Vegans and vegetarians revealed more consistent animal ethics viewpoints, especially the vegan group which had a very high propen- sity to hold...... an animal rights position. Vegetarians were also inclined to hold the animal rights position, but additionally had a tendency to draw on utilitarian reasoning. Subscription to animal rights views was a defining char- acteristic of vegans regardless of the number of years they had followed the diet, while...

  11. On being the right size as an animal with plastids

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    C. Rauch (Cessa); P. Jahns (Peter); A.G.M. Tielens (Aloysius); D.B. Gould (Douglas ); W.F. Martin (William F.)

    2017-01-01

    textabstractPlastids typically reside in plant or algal cells—with one notable exception. There is one group of multicellular animals, sea slugs in the order Sacoglossa, members of which feed on siphonaceous algae. The slugs sequester the ingested plastids in the cytosol of cells in their digestive

  12. On Being the Right Size as an Animal with Plastids

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rauch, Cessa; Jahns, Peter; Tielens, Aloysius G M; Gould, Sven B; Martin, William F

    2017-01-01

    Plastids typically reside in plant or algal cells-with one notable exception. There is one group of multicellular animals, sea slugs in the order Sacoglossa, members of which feed on siphonaceous algae. The slugs sequester the ingested plastids in the cytosol of cells in their digestive gland,

  13. Allometric and temporal scaling of movement characteristics in Galapagos tortoises

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bastille-Rousseau, Guillaume; Yackulic, Charles B.; Frair, Jacqueline L.; Cabrera, Freddy; Blake, Stephen

    2016-01-01

    Understanding how individual movement scales with body size is of fundamental importance in predicting ecological relationships for diverse species. One-dimensional movement metrics scale consistently with body size yet vary over different temporal scales. Knowing how temporal scale influences the relationship between animal body size and movement would better inform hypotheses about the efficiency of foraging behaviour, the ontogeny of energy budgets, and numerous life-history trade-offs.We investigated how the temporal scaling of allometric patterns in movement varies over the course of a year, specifically during periods of motivated (directional and fast movement) and unmotivated (stationary and tortuous movement) behaviour. We focused on a recently diverged group of species that displays wide variation in movement behaviour – giant Galapagos tortoises (Chelonoidis spp.) – to test how movement metrics estimated on a monthly basis scaled with body size.We used state-space modelling to estimate seven different movement metrics of Galapagos tortoises. We used log-log regression of the power law to evaluate allometric scaling for these movement metrics and contrasted relationships by species and sex.Allometric scaling of movement was more apparent during motivated periods of movement. During this period, allometry was revealed at multiple temporal intervals (hourly, daily and monthly), with values observed at daily and monthly intervals corresponding most closely to the expected one-fourth scaling coefficient, albeit with wide credible intervals. We further detected differences in the magnitude of scaling among taxa uncoupled from observed differences in the temporal structuring of their movement rates.Our results indicate that the definition of temporal scales is fundamental to the detection of allometry of movement and should be given more attention in movement studies. Our approach not only provides new conceptual insights into temporal attributes in one

  14. Jet set pets: examining the zoonosis risk in animal import and travel across the European Union

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fooks AR

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Anthony R Fooks,1,2 Nicholas Johnson1 1Wildlife Zoonoses and Vector-Borne Diseases Research Group, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Addlestone, Surrey, 2Department of Clinical Infection, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK Abstract: Ownership of companion animals or pets is popular throughout the world. Unfortunately, such animals are susceptible to and potential reservoirs of zoonotic pathogens. Close proximity to and contact with pets can lead to human infections. The distribution of zoonotic diseases associated with companion animals such as dogs and cats is not uniform around the world, and moving animals between regions, countries, and continents carries with it the risk of relocating the pathogens they might harbor. Critical among these zoonotic diseases are rabies, echinococcosis, and leishmania. In addition, the protozoan parasites, Toxoplasma gondii and Giardia duodenalis, are also significant agents for human disease of pet origin. Considerable effort is applied to controlling movements of companion animals, particularly dogs, into the European Union. However, free movement of people and their pets within the European Union is a risk factor for the translocation of diseases and their vectors. This review considers the current distribution of some of these diseases, the risks associated with pet travel, and the controls implemented within Europe to prevent the free movement of zoonotic pathogens. Keywords: zoonosis, companion animal, rabies, alveolar echinococcosis, leishmania

  15. Right Temporoparietal Cortex Activation during Visuo-proprioceptive Conflict

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Balslev, Daniela; Nielsen, Finn Årup; Paulson, Olaf B.

    2005-01-01

    by the two modalities. Subjects felt the passive movement of the right index finger on a rectangular field and watched a cursor moving on a computer screen. Cursor and finger locations either mapped onto each other (congruent condition) or did not (incongruent condition). Monitoring incongruent compared...... with congruent movement activated the premotor area bilaterally and the right temporoparietal junction. These brain areas have previously been associated with shifts in the attended location in the visual space. These findings suggest an interaction between vision and proprioception in orienting to spatial...

  16. Markerless 3D motion capture for animal locomotion studies

    OpenAIRE

    William Irvin Sellers; Eishi Hirasaki

    2014-01-01

    ABSTRACT Obtaining quantitative data describing the movements of animals is an essential step in understanding their locomotor biology. Outside the laboratory, measuring animal locomotion often relies on video-based approaches and analysis is hampered because of difficulties in calibration and often the limited availability of possible camera positions. It is also usually restricted to two dimensions, which is often an undesirable over-simplification given the essentially three-dimensional na...

  17. The impact of movements and animal density on continental scale cattle disease outbreaks in the United States.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael G Buhnerkempe

    Full Text Available Globalization has increased the potential for the introduction and spread of novel pathogens over large spatial scales necessitating continental-scale disease models to guide emergency preparedness. Livestock disease spread models, such as those for the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease (FMD epidemic in the United Kingdom, represent some of the best case studies of large-scale disease spread. However, generalization of these models to explore disease outcomes in other systems, such as the United States's cattle industry, has been hampered by differences in system size and complexity and the absence of suitable livestock movement data. Here, a unique database of US cattle shipments allows estimation of synthetic movement networks that inform a near-continental scale disease model of a potential FMD-like (i.e., rapidly spreading epidemic in US cattle. The largest epidemics may affect over one-third of the US and 120,000 cattle premises, but cattle movement restrictions from infected counties, as opposed to national movement moratoriums, are found to effectively contain outbreaks. Slow detection or weak compliance may necessitate more severe state-level bans for similar control. Such results highlight the role of large-scale disease models in emergency preparedness, particularly for systems lacking comprehensive movement and outbreak data, and the need to rapidly implement multi-scale contingency plans during a potential US outbreak.

  18. Model-Based Synthesis of Visual Speech Movements from 3D Video

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edge JamesD

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available We describe a method for the synthesis of visual speech movements using a hybrid unit selection/model-based approach. Speech lip movements are captured using a 3D stereo face capture system and split up into phonetic units. A dynamic parameterisation of this data is constructed which maintains the relationship between lip shapes and velocities; within this parameterisation a model of how lips move is built and is used in the animation of visual speech movements from speech audio input. The mapping from audio parameters to lip movements is disambiguated by selecting only the most similar stored phonetic units to the target utterance during synthesis. By combining properties of model-based synthesis (e.g., HMMs, neural nets with unit selection we improve the quality of our speech synthesis.

  19. Attention modulates sensory suppression during back movements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Hulle, Lore; Juravle, Georgiana; Spence, Charles; Crombez, Geert; Van Damme, Stefaan

    2013-06-01

    Tactile perception is often impaired during movement. The present study investigated whether such sensory suppression also occurs during back movements, and whether this would be modulated by attention. In two tactile detection experiments, participants simultaneously engaged in a movement task, in which they executed a back-bending movement, and a perceptual task, consisting of the detection of subtle tactile stimuli administered to their upper or lower back. The focus of participants' attention was manipulated by raising the probability that one of the back locations would be stimulated. The results revealed that tactile detection was suppressed during the execution of the back movements. Furthermore, the results of Experiment 2 revealed that when the stimulus was always presented to the attended location, tactile suppression was substantially reduced, suggesting that sensory suppression can be modulated by top-down attentional processes. The potential of this paradigm for studying tactile information processing in clinical populations is discussed. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Animal models of tic disorders: a translational perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Godar, Sean C; Mosher, Laura J; Di Giovanni, Giuseppe; Bortolato, Marco

    2014-12-30

    Tics are repetitive, sudden movements and/or vocalizations, typically enacted as maladaptive responses to intrusive premonitory urges. The most severe tic disorder, Tourette syndrome (TS), is a childhood-onset condition featuring multiple motor and at least one phonic tic for a duration longer than 1 year. The pharmacological treatment of TS is mainly based on antipsychotic agents; while these drugs are often effective in reducing tic severity and frequency, their therapeutic compliance is limited by serious motor and cognitive side effects. The identification of novel therapeutic targets and development of better treatments for tic disorders is conditional on the development of animal models with high translational validity. In addition, these experimental tools can prove extremely useful to test hypotheses on the etiology and neurobiological bases of TS and related conditions. In recent years, the translational value of these animal models has been enhanced, thanks to a significant re-organization of our conceptual framework of neuropsychiatric disorders, with a greater focus on endophenotypes and quantitative indices, rather than qualitative descriptors. Given the complex and multifactorial nature of TS and other tic disorders, the selection of animal models that can appropriately capture specific symptomatic aspects of these conditions can pose significant theoretical and methodological challenges. In this article, we will review the state of the art on the available animal models of tic disorders, based on genetic mutations, environmental interventions as well as pharmacological manipulations. Furthermore, we will outline emerging lines of translational research showing how some of these experimental preparations have led to significant progress in the identification of novel therapeutic targets for tic disorders. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Whole-brain functional magnetic resonance imaging of human brain during voluntary movements of dominant and subdominant hands

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu Wei; Yan Zixu; Ma Xiaohai; Zhang Zhaoqi; Lin Chongyu; Zang Yufeng; Weng Xuchu

    2003-01-01

    Objective: To identify the neural substrates of voluntary movements of dominant and subdominant hands by using the whole-brain functional magnetic resonance imaging. Methods: Seven right-handed healthy volunteers were scanned at a Sonata 1.5 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging scanner (Siemens) while they were performing the visually instructive movement tasks with their right and left index fingers. Image data were co-registered to correct head motion, spatially normalized according to the standard coordinates, and spatially smoothed with isotopic Guassian Kernel. Statistical parametric maps (activation maps) for right and left hands were generated respectively by cross-correlation analysis. Results: Voluntary movements of the right/dominant hand mainly activated contralateral primary motor cortex (MI), bilateral supplementary motor area (SMA), bilateral second motor area (MII), and ipsilateral cerebellum, whereas movements of the left/subdominant hand additionally elicited activation in contralateral premotor area (PMC). Moreover, activation volumes in SMA and MII during movements of the subdominant hand were significantly larger than those during movements of the dominant hand. Conclusion: A large set of structures in the cerebral cortex and cerebellum is involved in voluntary movements, as revealed by whole brain-based fMRI. Movements of the subdominant hand are more dependent on higher control areas, such as SMA and PMC, comparing to movements of the dominant hand

  2. Effect of the animals on the soil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bonilla Correa, Carmen Rosa

    2000-01-01

    Soil is defined here in terms of opposite arbitrary frontiers more than its functions. The animals of the soil are defined in relation to their effect on the soil. The animals that live in the soil and intimately related to they are part of the soil. The animals that live on the soil make him contributions. Many animals are anphi-habitants, that is to say, they live in the soil and a one atmosphere outside of the soil. Animal exopedonics (outside of the soil) and endopedonics (inside the soil) they are considered with regard to twelve activities: blended, accumulation, formation of pores, obstruction of pores, formation and peds destruction, regulation of the erosion of the soil, regulation of the movement of air and the soil, regulation of the liter of plants, regulation of the animal liter, regulation of the cycle of nutritious, regulation of the biota and production of element special. The animals participate in numerous processes of formation of the soil and they affect the use of the same one

  3. From photography to cinematography: recording movement and gait in a neurological context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aubert, Geneviève

    2002-09-01

    The major challenge of photography has been freezing movement, to transform it into a fixed image or series of images. Very soon, photographers became interested in movement itself and tried to use photography as a tool to analyze movement. At the early stages, physicians interested in movement, perhaps surprisingly, made important technical contributions. Mécanisme de la physionomie humaine, by Duchenne, the first book with physiological experiments illustrated by photographs, is a landmark in this historical development. At the Salpêtrière, thanks to Charcot, photography officially entered clinical neurology. Medical journals with photographs were actively developed by Bourneville. Londe established a clinical photographic laboratory and published the first book on medical photography. The study of animal and human movement by Muybridge and Marey in the 1880s led to chronophotography and later cinematography. Clinicians such as Dercum and Richer took advantage of these new techniques to study pathological movement and gait in neurological diseases.

  4. 9 CFR 77.36 - Interstate movement from qualified herds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... date of movement. If a group of captive cervids from a qualified herd is being moved interstate... unclassified herd. (4) Captive cervids being moved interstate for the purpose of exhibition only may be moved... being moved directly from a classified herd, the captive cervid must be isolated from all other animals...

  5. Dangerous animals capture and maintain attention in humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yorzinski, Jessica L; Penkunas, Michael J; Platt, Michael L; Coss, Richard G

    2014-05-28

    Predation is a major source of natural selection on primates and may have shaped attentional processes that allow primates to rapidly detect dangerous animals. Because ancestral humans were subjected to predation, a process that continues at very low frequencies, we examined the visual processes by which men and women detect dangerous animals (snakes and lions). We recorded the eye movements of participants as they detected images of a dangerous animal (target) among arrays of nondangerous animals (distractors) as well as detected images of a nondangerous animal (target) among arrays of dangerous animals (distractors). We found that participants were quicker to locate targets when the targets were dangerous animals compared with nondangerous animals, even when spatial frequency and luminance were controlled. The participants were slower to locate nondangerous targets because they spent more time looking at dangerous distractors, a process known as delayed disengagement, and looked at a larger number of dangerous distractors. These results indicate that dangerous animals capture and maintain attention in humans, suggesting that historical predation has shaped some facets of visual orienting and its underlying neural architecture in modern humans.

  6. Characterizing the width of amphibian movements during postbreeding migration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coster, Stephanie S; Veysey Powell, Jessica S; Babbitt, Kimberly J

    2014-06-01

    Habitat linkages can help maintain connectivity of animal populations in developed landscapes. However, the lack of empirical data on the width of lateral movements (i.e., the zigzagging of individuals as they move from one point to point another) makes determining the width of such linkages challenging. We used radiotracking data from wood frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus) and spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) in a managed forest in Maine (U.S.A.) to characterize movement patterns of populations and thus inform planning for the width of wildlife corridors. For each individual, we calculated the polar coordinates of all locations, estimated the vector sum of the polar coordinates, and measured the distance from each location to the vector sum. By fitting a Gaussian distribution over a histogram of these distances, we created a population-level probability density function and estimated the 50th and 95th percentiles to determine the width of lateral movement as individuals progressed from the pond to upland habitat. For spotted salamanders 50% of lateral movements were ≤13 m wide and 95% of movements were ≤39 m wide. For wood frogs, 50% of lateral movements were ≤17 m wide and 95% of movements were ≤ 51 m wide. For both species, those individuals that traveled the farthest from the pond also displayed the greatest lateral movement. Our results serve as a foundation for spatially explicit conservation planning for pond-breeding amphibians in areas undergoing development. Our technique can also be applied to movement data from other taxa to aid in designing habitat linkages. © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.

  7. Self-motion perception: assessment by real-time computer-generated animations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, D. E.; Phillips, J. O.

    2001-01-01

    We report a new procedure for assessing complex self-motion perception. In three experiments, subjects manipulated a 6 degree-of-freedom magnetic-field tracker which controlled the motion of a virtual avatar so that its motion corresponded to the subjects' perceived self-motion. The real-time animation created by this procedure was stored using a virtual video recorder for subsequent analysis. Combined real and illusory self-motion and vestibulo-ocular reflex eye movements were evoked by cross-coupled angular accelerations produced by roll and pitch head movements during passive yaw rotation in a chair. Contrary to previous reports, illusory self-motion did not correspond to expectations based on semicircular canal stimulation. Illusory pitch head-motion directions were as predicted for only 37% of trials; whereas, slow-phase eye movements were in the predicted direction for 98% of the trials. The real-time computer-generated animations procedure permits use of naive, untrained subjects who lack a vocabulary for reporting motion perception and is applicable to basic self-motion perception studies, evaluation of motion simulators, assessment of balance disorders and so on.

  8. Islamic Puritanism Movements in Indonesia as Transnational Movements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Benny Baskara

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Islamic puritanism movements are the movements compelling to return to the teachings of Quran and Sunnah, as the pure teachings of Islam and abandon even abolish other teachings outside the teachings of Quran and Sunnah. The movements of Islamic puritanism can be considered as transnational movements because they spread their teachings and ideologies, create organizations, networks, and provide financial supports across nations. This paper describes Islamic puritanism movements in Indonesia and their transnational connections. Some Islamic puritanism movements in Indonesia can be considered as part of Islamic transnational movements, in which most of the movements are centered in the Middle East. In Indonesia, Islamic puritanism movements firstly appeared in the beginning of the nineteenth century, called Padri movement in West Sumatra. It was then continued to the emergence of Islamic organizations in the twentieth century. Recently, Islamic puritanism movements in Indonesia mostly take form as Salafism-Wahabism movements.

  9. [The diversity of animal ethics].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vilmer, J B Jeangène

    2013-01-01

    Animal ethics is not a set of rules telling humans how to behave when interacting with animals, but an area for research into the moral responsibility of humans towards animals as individuals. The present article studies the subject by examining a number of dichotomies: French humanism and Anglo-Saxon animal ethics, justice vs. compassion, welfarism and abolitionism, and the divide between proponents of animal rights and those who prefer to speak of "interests".

  10. Are some animals more equal than others?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kopnina, Helen; Gjerris, Mickey

    2015-01-01

    This article focuses on the role of ethical perspectives such as deep ecology and animal rights in relation to environmental education, arguing that such perspectives are well-placed to reposition students as responsible planetary citizens. We focus on the linkage between non-consequentialism, an......This article focuses on the role of ethical perspectives such as deep ecology and animal rights in relation to environmental education, arguing that such perspectives are well-placed to reposition students as responsible planetary citizens. We focus on the linkage between non......-consequentialism, animal rights, and deep ecology in an educational context and discuss the broader issue of ethics in education. Finally, we discuss how the inclusion of deep ecology and animal rights perspectives would improve current environmental education programs by deepening the respect for non......-humans and their inclusion in the ethical community....

  11. Maybe Aesop Was Right, the Tortoise Does Win: A Natural History of the Slow Reading Movement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    W. Jason Niedermeyer

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available In the past decade, there has been a growing recognition that society’s emphasis on speed and efficiency came with some costs: a loss of the ability to appreciate activities and understand their meanings.  Recently, this meta-movement has made its way into the literature on literacy, causing the author to embark on an investigation into the veracity of the claims that slow reading might also mean better reading.  A natural history approach was adopted for the analysis to evaluate whether there was evolutionary justification for the movement, leading to the review of relevant work in the fields of ethology, psychology, cognitive neuroscience, anthropology, sociology, linguistics, and literacy. The findings reveal an evolutionary push toward both speed and understanding, two aims that eventually come to be at odds in expert readers. It is the conclusion of the author that, from an evolutionary perspective, there may be justification for the start of a slow reading movement, but that it must be paired with practices that develop the capacity to read fast.

  12. Real Time 3D Facial Movement Tracking Using a Monocular Camera

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yanchao Dong

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The paper proposes a robust framework for 3D facial movement tracking in real time using a monocular camera. It is designed to estimate the 3D face pose and local facial animation such as eyelid movement and mouth movement. The framework firstly utilizes the Discriminative Shape Regression method to locate the facial feature points on the 2D image and fuses the 2D data with a 3D face model using Extended Kalman Filter to yield 3D facial movement information. An alternating optimizing strategy is adopted to fit to different persons automatically. Experiments show that the proposed framework could track the 3D facial movement across various poses and illumination conditions. Given the real face scale the framework could track the eyelid with an error of 1 mm and mouth with an error of 2 mm. The tracking result is reliable for expression analysis or mental state inference.

  13. Going through the motions: incorporating movement analyses into disease research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dougherty, Eric R; Seidel, Dana P; Carlson, Colin J; Spiegel, Orr; Getz, Wayne M

    2018-04-01

    Though epidemiology dates back to the 1700s, most mathematical representations of epidemics still use transmission rates averaged at the population scale, especially for wildlife diseases. In simplifying the contact process, we ignore the heterogeneities in host movements that complicate the real world, and overlook their impact on spatiotemporal patterns of disease burden. Movement ecology offers a set of tools that help unpack the transmission process, letting researchers more accurately model how animals within a population interact and spread pathogens. Analytical techniques from this growing field can also help expose the reverse process: how infection impacts movement behaviours, and therefore other ecological processes like feeding, reproduction, and dispersal. Here, we synthesise the contributions of movement ecology in disease research, with a particular focus on studies that have successfully used movement-based methods to quantify individual heterogeneity in exposure and transmission risk. Throughout, we highlight the rapid growth of both disease and movement ecology and comment on promising but unexplored avenues for research at their overlap. Ultimately, we suggest, including movement empowers ecologists to pose new questions, expanding our understanding of host-pathogen dynamics and improving our predictive capacity for wildlife and even human diseases. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

  14. Freedom Now! Radical Jazz and Social Movements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Przemysław Pluciński

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Music is obviously not only an aesthetic phenomenon. It is embeddedin a dense network of social relations. However, its social involvementis rather ambiguous, particularly since the second half of the twentiethcentury. On the one hand, music is one of the main elements of culturalcapitalism and a part of the system of domination. On the other hand,music provokes, (coproduces or possibly strengthens and coexists witha number of counterdiscourses and social projects of counterhegemoniccharacter.The main objective of the paper is to examine relationships between both, revolutionary jazz and revolutionary social movements, namely the civil rights movement, but above all radical movements, especially black power movement. The crucial questions I am interested in are problems of selforganization, performative social practices, as well as alternatives elaborated by radical-oriented jazz circles in various social dimensions, for instance economic or symbolic.

  15. How animals distribute themselves in space: variable energy landscapes

    OpenAIRE

    Masello, Juan F.; Kato, Akiko; Sommerfeld, Julia; Mattern, Thomas; Quillfeldt, Petra

    2017-01-01

    Background Foraging efficiency determines whether animals will be able to raise healthy broods, maintain their own condition, avoid predators and ultimately increase their fitness. Using accelerometers and GPS loggers, features of the habitat and the way animals deal with variable conditions can be translated into energetic costs of movement, which, in turn, can be translated to energy landscapes.We investigated energy landscapes in Gentoo Penguins Pygoscelis papua from two colonies at New Is...

  16. Toward the quantification of a conceptual framework for movement ecology using circular statistical modeling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimatani, Ichiro Ken; Yoda, Ken; Katsumata, Nobuhiro; Sato, Katsufumi

    2012-01-01

    To analyze an animal's movement trajectory, a basic model is required that satisfies the following conditions: the model must have an ecological basis and the parameters used in the model must have ecological interpretations, a broad range of movement patterns can be explained by that model, and equations and probability distributions in the model should be mathematically tractable. Random walk models used in previous studies do not necessarily satisfy these requirements, partly because movement trajectories are often more oriented or tortuous than expected from the models. By improving the modeling for turning angles, this study aims to propose a basic movement model. On the basis of the recently developed circular auto-regressive model, we introduced a new movement model and extended its applicability to capture the asymmetric effects of external factors such as wind. The model was applied to GPS trajectories of a seabird (Calonectris leucomelas) to demonstrate its applicability to various movement patterns and to explain how the model parameters are ecologically interpreted under a general conceptual framework for movement ecology. Although it is based on a simple extension of a generalized linear model to circular variables, the proposed model enables us to evaluate the effects of external factors on movement separately from the animal's internal state. For example, maximum likelihood estimates and model selection suggested that in one homing flight section, the seabird intended to fly toward the island, but misjudged its navigation and was driven off-course by strong winds, while in the subsequent flight section, the seabird reset the focal direction, navigated the flight under strong wind conditions, and succeeded in approaching the island.

  17. Covering Ground: Movement Patterns and Random Walk Behavior in Aquilonastra anomala Sea Stars.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lohmann, Amanda C; Evangelista, Dennis; Waldrop, Lindsay D; Mah, Christopher L; Hedrick, Tyson L

    2016-10-01

    The paths animals take while moving through their environments affect their likelihood of encountering food and other resources; thus, models of foraging behavior abound. To collect movement data appropriate for comparison with these models, we used time-lapse photography to track movements of a small, hardy, and easy-to-obtain organism, Aquilonastra anomala sea stars. We recorded the sea stars in a tank over many hours, with and without a food cue. With food present, they covered less distance, as predicted by theory; this strategy would allow them to remain near food. We then compared the paths of the sea stars to three common models of animal movement: Brownian motion, Lévy walks, and correlated random walks; we found that the sea stars' movements most closely resembled a correlated random walk. Additionally, we compared the search performance of models of Brownian motion, a Lévy walk, and a correlated random walk to that of a model based on the sea stars' movements. We found that the behavior of the modeled sea star walk was similar to that of the modeled correlated random walk and the Brownian motion model, but that the sea star walk was slightly more likely than the other walks to find targets at intermediate distances. While organisms are unlikely to follow an idealized random walk in all details, our data suggest that comparing the effectiveness of an organism's paths to those from theory can give insight into the organism's actual movement strategy. Finally, automated optical tracking of invertebrates proved feasible, and A. anomala was revealed to be a tractable, 2D-movement study system.

  18. Associative cortico-cortical plasticity may affect ipsilateral finger opposition movements

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rizzo, V; Bove, M; Naro, A

    2011-01-01

    We have recently demonstrated that cortico-cortical paired associative stimulation (cc-PAS) can modulate interhemispheric inhibition (IHI) in the human brain. Here we further explored the after effects of cc-PAS on fine hand movements. Ten healthy right-handed volunteers received 90 paired...... transcranial stimuli to the right and left primary motor hand area (M1(HAND)) at an interstimulus interval (ISI) of 8 ms. We studied the after effects of cc-PAS on the performance of repetitive finger opposition movements of different complexity on both hands using a sensor-engineered glove. A quantitative...... evaluation of the following parameters was performed: Touch Duration (TD), Inter Tapping Interval (ITI) and Number of Errors (NE). We confirmed previous data by showing that left-to-right and right-to-left cc-PAS attenuated IHI. The new finding is that both left-to-right and right-to-left cc-PAS were able...

  19. Anatomical and spatial matching in imitation: Evidence from left and right brain-damaged patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mengotti, Paola; Ripamonti, Enrico; Pesavento, Valentina; Rumiati, Raffaella Ida

    2015-12-01

    Imitation is a sensorimotor process whereby the visual information present in the model's movement has to be coupled with the activation of the motor system in the observer. This also implies that greater the similarity between the seen and the produced movement, the easier it will be to execute the movement, a process also known as ideomotor compatibility. Two components can influence the degree of similarity between two movements: the anatomical and the spatial component. The anatomical component is present when the model and imitator move the same body part (e.g., the right hand) while the spatial component is present when the movement of the model and that of the imitator occur at the same spatial position. Imitation can be achieved by relying on both components, but typically the model's and imitator's movements are matched either anatomically or spatially. The aim of this study was to ascertain the contribution of the left and right hemisphere to the imitation accomplished either with anatomical or spatial matching (or with both). Patients with unilateral left and right brain damage performed an ideomotor task and a gesture imitation task. Lesions in the left and right hemispheres gave rise to different performance deficits. Patients with lesions in the left hemisphere showed impaired imitation when anatomical matching was required, and patients with lesions in the right hemisphere showed impaired imitation when spatial matching was required. Lesion analysis further revealed a differential involvement of left and right hemispheric regions, such as the parietal opercula, in supporting imitation in the ideomotor task. Similarly, gesture imitation seemed to rely on different regions in the left and right hemisphere, such as parietal regions in the left hemisphere and premotor, somatosensory and subcortical regions in the right hemisphere. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. The Effect of Celecoxib on Orthodontic Tooth Movement and Root Resorption in Rat

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmad Sodagar

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective: Inhibition of prostaglandin (PGs production leads to decrease in orthodontic tooth movement (OTM. It is not known whether inhibition of cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1 or cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2 is the key mechanism for this effect. In this study, the effect of celecoxib, a highly-selective COX-2 inhibitor, was investigated on OTM in rats.Materials and Methods: Four groups of male rats (seven animals in each goup were used in the study. A 5mm-long nickel-titanium closed-coil spring was ligated between the right maxillary incisor and the first molar of each rat to deliver an initial force of 60g. All four groups recieved orthodontic appliances, group 1 received no injections, group 2 received celecoxib injections (0.3 mg in 0.1 ml saline solution, group 3 recieved normal saline injections (0.1 ml saline solution, and group 4 recieved needle penetration without injecting any solution. The local injections were carried out every 3 days for 18 days. All injections were subperiosteal and given in the upper right first molar mucosa. The animals were sacrificed 21 days after appliance insertion and OTM was measured.Results: In the animals treated with celecoxib a statistically significant decrease in OTM was observed compared with the other groups. Histological findings revealed that osteoclast count was significantly lower in group 2 compared with the other groups (P<0.05. The amount of root resorption showed a slight, but nonsignificant decrease in group 3.Conclusion: This study suggests that celecoxib decreases OTM and osteoclast count. This might be the result of COX-2 enzyme inhibition and subsequent decrease in prostaglandin production.

  1. Animal Protection in the Lands of Pacha Mama: The Insufficiency of the Proposed Law Organic Animal Welfare in Ecuador

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Carlos Machado Júnior

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Considering that the Pacha Mama is subject of right in the Ecuadorian Constitution, this project analyzes the rights of animals in Ecuador according to its Civil Code and its proposal for the Animal Welfare Act. For comparison purposes the laws of other countries that recognize the sentience of animals are quoted. The conclusion is that despite the paradigm of the Andean constitutionalism, Equatorian animals are legally considered things, a reality that will not change if approved the Law of Animal Welfare. The deductive method is used with bibliographic research and analysis of foreign law.

  2. Feed-forward motor control of ultrafast, ballistic movements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kagaya, K; Patek, S N

    2016-02-01

    To circumvent the limits of muscle, ultrafast movements achieve high power through the use of springs and latches. The time scale of these movements is too short for control through typical neuromuscular mechanisms, thus ultrafast movements are either invariant or controlled prior to movement. We tested whether mantis shrimp (Stomatopoda: Neogonodactylus bredini) vary their ultrafast smashing strikes and, if so, how this control is achieved prior to movement. We collected high-speed images of strike mechanics and electromyograms of the extensor and flexor muscles that control spring compression and latch release. During spring compression, lateral extensor and flexor units were co-activated. The strike initiated several milliseconds after the flexor units ceased, suggesting that flexor activity prevents spring release and determines the timing of strike initiation. We used linear mixed models and Akaike's information criterion to serially evaluate multiple hypotheses for control mechanisms. We found that variation in spring compression and strike angular velocity were statistically explained by spike activity of the extensor muscle. The results show that mantis shrimp can generate kinematically variable strikes and that their kinematics can be changed through adjustments to motor activity prior to the movement, thus supporting an upstream, central-nervous-system-based control of ultrafast movement. Based on these and other findings, we present a shishiodoshi model that illustrates alternative models of control in biological ballistic systems. The discovery of feed-forward control in mantis shrimp sets the stage for the assessment of targets, strategic variation in kinematics and the role of learning in ultrafast animals. © 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

  3. Knowledge/Power Transforming the Social Landscape: The Case of the Consumer Health Information Movement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huber, Jeffrey T.; Gillaspy, Mary L.

    2011-01-01

    The consumer health information (CHI) movement is the result of various twentieth-century ideologies and is an outgrowth of the broader consumer movement. From a sociocultural and political perspective, the consumer, civil rights, and women's movements and related societal shifts helped pave the way for the consumer health movement, which laid the…

  4. 7 CFR 330.207 - Permits for movement of organisms issued by other agencies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... pests, any further conditions of movement to carry out the purposes of the Plant Protection Act which...) ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FEDERAL PLANT PEST REGULATIONS...

  5. Agent Based Model of Livestock Movements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miron, D. J.; Emelyanova, I. V.; Donald, G. E.; Garner, G. M.

    The modelling of livestock movements within Australia is of national importance for the purposes of the management and control of exotic disease spread, infrastructure development and the economic forecasting of livestock markets. In this paper an agent based model for the forecasting of livestock movements is presented. This models livestock movements from farm to farm through a saleyard. The decision of farmers to sell or buy cattle is often complex and involves many factors such as climate forecast, commodity prices, the type of farm enterprise, the number of animals available and associated off-shore effects. In this model the farm agent's intelligence is implemented using a fuzzy decision tree that utilises two of these factors. These two factors are the livestock price fetched at the last sale and the number of stock on the farm. On each iteration of the model farms choose either to buy, sell or abstain from the market thus creating an artificial supply and demand. The buyers and sellers then congregate at the saleyard where livestock are auctioned using a second price sealed bid. The price time series output by the model exhibits properties similar to those found in real livestock markets.

  6. Animals In Synchrotrons: Overcoming Challenges For High-Resolution, Live, Small-Animal Imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Donnelley, Martin; Parsons, David; Morgan, Kaye; Siu, Karen

    2010-01-01

    Physiological studies in small animals can be complicated, but the complexity is increased dramatically when performing live-animal synchrotron X-ray imaging studies. Our group has extensive experience in high-resolution live-animal imaging at the Japanese SPring-8 synchrotron, primarily examining airways in two-dimensions. These experiments normally image an area of 1.8 mmx1.2 mm at a pixel resolution of 0.45 μm and are performed with live, intact, anaesthetized mice.There are unique challenges in this experimental setting. Importantly, experiments must be performed in an isolated imaging hutch not specifically designed for small-animal imaging. This requires equipment adapted to remotely monitor animals, maintain their anesthesia, and deliver test substances while collecting images. The horizontal synchrotron X-ray beam has a fixed location and orientation that limits experimental flexibility. The extremely high resolution makes locating anatomical regions-of-interest slow and can result in a high radiation dose, and at this level of magnification small animal movements produce motion-artifacts that can render acquired images unusable. Here we describe our experimental techniques and how we have overcome several challenges involved in performing live mouse synchrotron imaging.Experiments have tested different mouse strains, with hairless strains minimizing overlying skin and hair artifacts. Different anesthetics have also be trialed due to the limited choices available at SPring-8. Tracheal-intubation methods have been refined and controlled-ventilation is now possible using a specialized small-animal ventilator. With appropriate animal restraint and respiratory-gating, motion-artifacts have been minimized. The animal orientation (supine vs. head-high) also appears to affect animal physiology, and can alter image quality. Our techniques and image quality at SPring-8 have dramatically improved and in the near future we plan to translate this experience to the

  7. Permeability of roads to movement of scrubland lizards and small mammals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brehme, Cheryl S.; Tracey, Jeff A.; McClenaghan, Leroy R.; Fisher, Robert N.

    2013-01-01

    A primary objective of road ecology is to understand and predict how roads affect connectivity of wildlife populations. Road avoidance behavior can fragment populations, whereas lack of road avoidance can result in high mortality due to wildlife-vehicle collisions. Many small animal species focus their activities to particular microhabitats within their larger habitat. We sought to assess how different types of roads affect the movement of small vertebrates and to explore whether responses to roads may be predictable on the basis of animal life history or microhabitat preferences preferences. We tracked the movements of fluorescently marked animals at 24 sites distributed among 3 road types: low-use dirt, low-use secondary paved, and rural 2-lane highway. Most data we collected were on the San Diego pocket mouse (Chaetodipus fallax), cactus mouse (Peromyscus eremicus), western fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis), orange-throated whiptail (Aspidoscelis hyperythra), Dulzura kangaroo rat (Dipodomys simulans) (dirt, secondary paved), and deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) (highway only). San Diego pocket mice and cactus mice moved onto dirt roads but not onto a low-use paved road of similar width or onto the highway, indicating they avoidpaved road substrate. Both lizard species moved onto the dirt and secondary paved roads but avoided the rural 2-lane rural highway, indicating they may avoid noise, vibration, or visual disturbance from a steady flow of traffic. Kangaroo rats did not avoid the dirt or secondary paved roads. Overall, dirt and secondary roads were more permeable to species that prefer to forage or bask in open areas of their habitat, rather than under the cover of rocks or shrubs. However, all study species avoided the rural 2-lane highway. Our results suggest that microhabitat use preferences and road substrate help predict species responses to low-use roads,but roads with heavy traffic may deter movement of a much wider range of small animal

  8. Fight or flight? Dream content during sleepwalking/sleep terrors vs. rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uguccioni, Ginevra; Golmard, Jean-Louis; de Fontréaux, Alix Noël; Leu-Semenescu, Smaranda; Brion, Agnès; Arnulf, Isabelle

    2013-05-01

    Dreams enacted during sleepwalking or sleep terrors (SW/ST) may differ from those enacted during rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD). Subjects completed aggression, depression, and anxiety questionnaires. The mentations associated with SW/ST and RBD behaviors were collected over their lifetime and on the morning after video polysomnography (PSG). The reports were analyzed for complexity, length, content, setting, bizarreness, and threat. Ninety-one percent of 32 subjects with SW/ST and 87.5% of 24 subjects with RBD remembered an enacted dream (121 dreams in a lifetime and 41 dreams recalled on the morning). These dreams were more complex and less bizarre, with a higher level of aggression in the RBD than in SW/ST subjects. In contrast, we found low aggression, anxiety, and depression scores during the daytime in both groups. As many as 70% of enacted dreams in SW/ST and 60% in RBD involved a threat, but there were more misfortunes and disasters in the SW/ST dreams and more human and animal aggressions in the RBD dreams. The response to these threats differed, as the sleepwalkers mostly fled from a disaster (and 25% fought back when attacked), while 75% of RBD subjects counterattacked when assaulted. The dreams setting included their bedrooms in 42% SW/ST dreams, though this finding was exceptional in the RBD dreams. Different threat simulations and modes of defense seem to play a role during dream-enacted behaviors (e.g., fleeing a disaster during SW/ST, counterattacking a human or animal assault during RBD), paralleling and exacerbating the differences observed between normal dreaming in nonrapid eye movement (NREM) vs rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. “For the right to be mother and student”: childhood education in the student’s movement agenda

    OpenAIRE

    Ligia Maria Leão de Aquino

    2018-01-01

    The Childhood Education University Units, formerly called “daycare centers”, have their origin in the women workers' university workers movement, in the 1970-1980s, in Brazil. This movement was part of the scenario of social and political initiatives led by women workers, feminists, and unions, who called for childcare in kindergartens and pre-schools during women’s labor journey. Institution-building is associated with workers and feminist demands, but, by incorporating the idea of children ...

  10. Harbour porpoise movement strategy affects cumulative number of animals acoustically exposed to underwater explosions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Aarts, Geert; Benda-Beckmann, Von Alexander M.; Lucke, K.; Özkan Sertlek, H.; Bemmelen, Van Rob; Geelhoed, Steve C.V.; Brasseur, Sophie; Scheidat, Meike; Lam, Frans Peter A.; Slabbekoorn, Hans; Kirkwood, Roger

    2016-01-01

    Anthropogenic sound in the marine environment can have negative consequences for marine fauna. Since most sound sources are intermittent or continuous, estimating how many individuals are exposed over time remains challenging, as this depends on the animals' mobility. Here we explored how animal

  11. Does a parent-administrated early motor intervention influence general movements and movement character at 3months of age in infants born preterm?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fjørtoft, Toril; Ustad, Tordis; Follestad, Turid; Kaaresen, Per Ivar; Øberg, Gunn Kristin

    2017-09-01

    Studies of preterm and term-born infants have shown absent fidgety movements and an abnormal movement character to be related to brain lesions and unfavourable neurological outcomes. The present study examines what effect a parent-administered early intervention program applied to preterm infants in a randomised control trial (RCT) between 34 and 36weeks gestational age has on their fidgety movements and overall movement character at three months of age. The study was part of the RCT in an early intervention programme including preterm infants born between 2010 and 2014 at three Norwegian university hospitals. 130 preterm infants participated in the study, with 59 of them in the control group and 71 in the intervention group. Fidgety movements and overall movement character at three months corrected age. No difference was found between the intervention group and the control group in terms of fidgety movements or movement character. Approximately half of the infants in both groups showed an abnormal movement character. No evidence was found in this RCT to suggest that an intervention at 34 to 37weeks gestational age has a significant effect on the fidgety movements or overall movement character of preterm infants. This is in line with the assumption that absent fidgety movements and an abnormal movement character are due to permanent brain injury and are therefore good predictors for later neurological impairments. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Multivariate spectral-analysis of movement-related EEG data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Andrew, C. M.

    1997-01-01

    The univariate method of event-related desynchronization (ERD) analysis, which quantifies the temporal evolution of power within specific frequency bands from electroencephalographic (EEG) data recorded during a task or event, is extended to an event related multivariate spectral analysis method. With this method, time courses of cross-spectra, phase spectra, coherence spectra, band-averaged coherence values (event-related coherence, ERCoh), partial power spectra and partial coherence spectra are estimated from an ensemble of multivariate event-related EEG trials. This provides a means of investigating relationships between EEG signals recorded over different scalp areas during the performance of a task or the occurrence of an event. The multivariate spectral analysis method is applied to EEG data recorded during three different movement-related studies involving discrete right index finger movements. The first study investigates the impact of the EEG derivation type on the temporal evolution of interhemispheric coherence between activity recorded at electrodes overlying the left and right sensorimotor hand areas during cued finger movement. The question results whether changes in coherence necessarily reflect changes in functional coupling of the cortical structures underlying the recording electrodes. The method is applied to data recorded during voluntary finger movement and a hypothesis, based on an existing global/local model of neocortical dynamics, is formulated to explain the coherence results. The third study applies partial spectral analysis too, and investigates phase relationships of, movement-related data recorded from a full head montage, thereby providing further results strengthening the global/local hypothesis. (author)

  13. Right atrium and superior vena cava pressure measurements in a novel animal model to study one and a half ventricle repair as compared to Fontan type procedure

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anil Bhattarai

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Background & Objectives: To evaluate the advantages of the one and a half ventricle repair on maintaining a low pressure in the inferior vena cava district. Also evaluate the competition of flows at the superior vena cava – right pulmonary artery anastomosis site, in order to understand the hemodynamic interaction of a pulsatile flow in combination to a laminar one. Materials & Methods: Adult rabbits (n=30 in terminal anaesthesia with a follow up of 8 h were used, randomly distributed in three experimental groups: Group 1: animals with an anastomosis between superior vena cava and right pulmonary artery, as a model of one and one half ventricle repair; Group 2: animals with the cavopulmonary anastomosis followed by clamping of the right pulmonary artery proximal to the anastomosis; and Group 3: sham animals. Pressures of superior vena cava and pulmonary arteries were afterwards measured, in a resting condition as well as after induced pharmacological stress test.Results: In Group 1, superior vena cava pressure was significantly higher, while venous pressure in the inferior vena cava – right atrium district was constant or lower in comparison with the other groups. After stress test, the pressure in the superior vena cava and the heart rate both increased further, but the right ventricular, right atrial and pulmonary artery pressures remained similar to the values in a resting condition. This proved that the inferior vena cava return was well-preserved, and no venous hypertension was present in the inferior vena cava district even after stress test (good exercise tolerance.Conclusion: One and one half ventricle repair can be considered a good surgical strategy for maintaining a low pressure in the inferior vena cava district with potential for right ventricle growth, restoring the more physiological circulation in borderline or failing right ventricle conditions. The experiment presented a positive finding in favour of one and one half

  14. The Intersections of the CEDAW and CRPD: Putting Women's Rights and Disability Rights into Action in Four Asian Countries

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Alwis, Rangita de Silva

    2010-01-01

    This report examines a new model built on advancing an intersectional human rights platform of action. The four country project in the Asian region provided a powerful locus for an innovative human rights praxis which integrated a dialectical interaction between different social movements, analytical insights and concrete political strategies and…

  15. An Activation Likelihood Estimation Meta-Analysis Study of Simple Motor Movements in Older and Young Adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turesky, Ted K.; Turkeltaub, Peter E.; Eden, Guinevere F.

    2016-01-01

    The functional neuroanatomy of finger movements has been characterized with neuroimaging in young adults. However, less is known about the aging motor system. Several studies have contrasted movement-related activity in older versus young adults, but there is inconsistency among their findings. To address this, we conducted an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis on within-group data from older adults and young adults performing regularly paced right-hand finger movement tasks in response to external stimuli. We hypothesized that older adults would show a greater likelihood of activation in right cortical motor areas (i.e., ipsilateral to the side of movement) compared to young adults. ALE maps were examined for conjunction and between-group differences. Older adults showed overlapping likelihoods of activation with young adults in left primary sensorimotor cortex (SM1), bilateral supplementary motor area, bilateral insula, left thalamus, and right anterior cerebellum. Their ALE map differed from that of the young adults in right SM1 (extending into dorsal premotor cortex), right supramarginal gyrus, medial premotor cortex, and right posterior cerebellum. The finding that older adults uniquely use ipsilateral regions for right-hand finger movements and show age-dependent modulations in regions recruited by both age groups provides a foundation by which to understand age-related motor decline and motor disorders. PMID:27799910

  16. Information transmission via movement behaviour improves decision accuracy in human groups

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Clément, R.J.G.; Wolf, Max; Snijders, Lysanne; Krause, Jens; Kurvers, R.H.J.M.

    2015-01-01

    A major advantage of group living is increased decision accuracy. In animal groups information is often transmitted via movement. For example, an individual quickly moving away from its group may indicate approaching predators. However, individuals also make mistakes which can initiate

  17. Information transmission via movement behaviour improves decision accuracy in human groups

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Clément, Romain J.G.; Wolf, Max; Snijders, Lysanne; Krause, Jens; Kurvers, Ralf H.J.M.

    2015-01-01

    A major advantage of group living is increased decision accuracy. In animal groups information is often transmitted via movement. For example, an individual quickly moving away from its group may indicate approaching predators. However, individuals also make mistakes which can initiate information

  18. Teaching animal habitat selection using wildlife tracking equipment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laskowski, Jessica; Gillespie, Caitlyn R.; Corral, Lucia; Oden, Amy; Fricke, Kent A.; Fontaine, Joseph J.

    2016-01-01

    We present a hands-on outdoor activity coupled with classroom discussion to teach students about wildlife habitat selection, the process by which animals choose where to live. By selecting locations or habitats with many benefits (e.g., food, shelter, mates) and few costs (e.g., predators), animals improve their ability to survive and reproduce. Biologists track animal movement using radio telemetry technology to study habitat selection so they can better provide species with habitats that promote population growth. We present a curriculum in which students locate “animals” (transmitters) using radio telemetry equipment and apply math skills (use of fractions and percentages) to assess their “animal's” habitat selection by comparing the availability of habitat types with the proportion of “animals” they find in each habitat type.

  19. Real-time speech-driven animation of expressive talking faces

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Jia; You, Mingyu; Chen, Chun; Song, Mingli

    2011-05-01

    In this paper, we present a real-time facial animation system in which speech drives mouth movements and facial expressions synchronously. Considering five basic emotions, a hierarchical structure with an upper layer of emotion classification is established. Based on the recognized emotion label, the under-layer classification at sub-phonemic level has been modelled on the relationship between acoustic features of frames and audio labels in phonemes. Using certain constraint, the predicted emotion labels of speech are adjusted to gain the facial expression labels which are combined with sub-phonemic labels. The combinations are mapped into facial action units (FAUs), and audio-visual synchronized animation with mouth movements and facial expressions is generated by morphing between FAUs. The experimental results demonstrate that the two-layer structure succeeds in both emotion and sub-phonemic classifications, and the synthesized facial sequences reach a comparative convincing quality.

  20. Cumulative Effects of Barriers on the Movements of Forest Birds

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marc Bélisle

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available Although there is a consensus of opinion that habitat fragmentation has deleterious effects on animal populations, primarily by inhibiting dispersal among remaining patches, there have been few explicit demonstrations of the ways by which degraded habitats actually constrain individual movement. Two impediments are primarily responsible for this paucity: it is difficult to separate the effects of habitat fragmentation (configuration from habitat loss (composition, and conventional measures of fragmented habitats are assumed to be, but probably are not, isotropic. We addressed these limitations by standardizing differences in forest cover in a clearly anisotropic configuration of habitat fragmentation by conducting a homing experiment with three species of forest birds in the Bow Valley of Banff National Park, Canada. Birds were translocated (1.2-3.5  km either parallel or perpendicular to four/five parallel barriers that are assumed to impede the cross-valley travel of forest-dependent animals. Taken together, individuals exhibited longer return times when they were translocated across these barriers, but differences among species suggest a more complex interpretation. A long-distance migrant (Yellow-rumped Warbler, Dendroica coronata behaved as predicted, but a short-distance migrant (Golden-crowned Kinglet, Regulus satrapa was indifferent to barrier configuration. A resident (Red-breasted Nuthatch, Sitta canadensis exhibited longer return times when it was translocated parallel to the barriers. Our results suggest that an anisotropic arrangement of small, open areas in fragmented landscapes can have a cumulative barrier effect on the movement of forest animals, but that both modelers and managers will have to acknowledge potentially counterintuitive differences among species to predict the effect that these may have on individual movement and, ultimately, dispersal.

  1. Political Communication with Animals

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Meijer, E.

    2013-01-01

    In this article I sketch the outlines of a theory of political human-animal conversations, based on ideas about language that I borrow from Ludwig Wittgenstein’s later work, in particular his notion of language-games. I present this theory as a supplement to the political theory of animal rights Sue

  2. Dangerous Animals Capture and Maintain Attention in Humans

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jessica L. Yorzinski

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Predation is a major source of natural selection on primates and may have shaped attentional processes that allow primates to rapidly detect dangerous animals. Because ancestral humans were subjected to predation, a process that continues at very low frequencies, we examined the visual processes by which men and women detect dangerous animals (snakes and lions. We recorded the eye movements of participants as they detected images of a dangerous animal (target among arrays of nondangerous animals (distractors as well as detected images of a nondangerous animal (target among arrays of dangerous animals (distractors. We found that participants were quicker to locate targets when the targets were dangerous animals compared with nondangerous animals, even when spatial frequency and luminance were controlled. The participants were slower to locate nondangerous targets because they spent more time looking at dangerous distractors, a process known as delayed disengagement, and looked at a larger number of dangerous distractors. These results indicate that dangerous animals capture and maintain attention in humans, suggesting that historical predation has shaped some facets of visual orienting and its underlying neural architecture in modern humans.

  3. Post-exercise cortical depression following repetitive passive finger movement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Otsuka, Ryohei; Sasaki, Ryoki; Tsuiki, Shota; Kojima, Sho; Onishi, Hideaki

    2017-08-24

    This study aimed to clarify the influence of range of repetitive passive finger movement on corticospinal excitability. Thirteen healthy subjects participated in this study. Passive index finger adduction-abduction movements were performed from 15° abduction to 15° adduction, 15° abduction to 0°, 0° to 15° adduction, and 15° adduction to 30° adduction, each at 15°/s for 10min on separate days. Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) elicited by transcranial magnetic stimulation and M- and F-waves were measured before and after each repetitive passive index finger movement protocol to evaluate changes in corticospinal excitability. MEP amplitude significantly decreased after all passive movements, while F-wave amplitude, F-wave persistence, and M-wave amplitude remained stable. These results suggest that cortical excitability decreases after repetitive passive movement. However, the range of repetitive passive movement does not markedly influence the magnitude of cortical depression. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. OBSERV A nONS ON THE MOVEMENT PA TIERNS AND DAILY ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    comprehensive discussion on the distribution and abundance of animals, provide no applicable quantitative information but merely ..... seem to have less significant effects on their regional distribution. Several other species reveal more progressive movement patterns than impala. Nocturnal activities of impala in the Kruger ...

  5. Illusory movement perception improves motor control for prosthetic hands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marasco, Paul D; Hebert, Jacqueline S; Sensinger, Jon W; Shell, Courtney E; Schofield, Jonathon S; Thumser, Zachary C; Nataraj, Raviraj; Beckler, Dylan T; Dawson, Michael R; Blustein, Dan H; Gill, Satinder; Mensh, Brett D; Granja-Vazquez, Rafael; Newcomb, Madeline D; Carey, Jason P; Orzell, Beth M

    2018-03-14

    To effortlessly complete an intentional movement, the brain needs feedback from the body regarding the movement's progress. This largely nonconscious kinesthetic sense helps the brain to learn relationships between motor commands and outcomes to correct movement errors. Prosthetic systems for restoring function have predominantly focused on controlling motorized joint movement. Without the kinesthetic sense, however, these devices do not become intuitively controllable. We report a method for endowing human amputees with a kinesthetic perception of dexterous robotic hands. Vibrating the muscles used for prosthetic control via a neural-machine interface produced the illusory perception of complex grip movements. Within minutes, three amputees integrated this kinesthetic feedback and improved movement control. Combining intent, kinesthesia, and vision instilled participants with a sense of agency over the robotic movements. This feedback approach for closed-loop control opens a pathway to seamless integration of minds and machines. Copyright © 2018 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.

  6. Internationalizing the Right to Know: Conceptualizations of Access to Information in Human Rights Law

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bishop, Cheryl Ann

    2009-01-01

    Currently there exists a global movement promoting institutional transparency and freedom of information legislation. Conceptualizing access to government-held information as a human right is one of the latest developments in this global trend promoting access to information. The purpose of this dissertation is to identify and analyze the various…

  7. Portability of supplementary pension rights in Europe

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Guardiancich, Igor

    2015-01-01

    In its effort to guarantee the free movement of workers, the European Union devised an advanced system of coordination of social security rights. Since 1958, statutory pensions are being aggregated for workers moving across the Member States. However, until mid-2014, the portability of supplement......In its effort to guarantee the free movement of workers, the European Union devised an advanced system of coordination of social security rights. Since 1958, statutory pensions are being aggregated for workers moving across the Member States. However, until mid-2014, the portability...... of supplementary pension rights was not assured, there by undermining the freedom to labor mobility. This impaired the efficient allocation of labor, prevented sound family planning, infringed the fundamental right to social protection and during the Great Recession, hindered the employability of workers across......, as opposed to the coordination of statutory ones, has been neglected and contested for a long time. Second, it illustrates the shortcomings of a patchy coordination- without-portability regime. Third, it enumerates the characteristics of the Portability Directive passed by the European Parliament in April...

  8. Sensory modulation of movement, posture and locomotion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saradjian, A H

    2015-11-01

    During voluntary movement, there exists a well known functional sensory attenuation of afferent inputs, which allows us to discriminate between information related to our own movements and those arising from the external environment. This attenuation or 'gating' prevents some signals from interfering with movement elaboration and production. However, there are situations in which certain task-relevant sensory inputs may not be gated. This review begins by identifying the prevalent findings in the literature with specific regard to the somatosensory modality, and reviews the many cases of classical sensory gating phenomenon accompanying voluntary movement and their neural basis. This review also focuses on the newer axes of research that demonstrate that task-specific sensory information may be disinhibited or even facilitated during engagement in voluntary actions. Finally, a particular emphasis will be placed on postural and/or locomotor tasks involving strong somatosensory demands, especially for the setting of the anticipatory postural adjustments observed prior the initiation of locomotion. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  9. Evaluating camouflage design using eye movement data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Chiuhsiang Joe; Chang, Chi-Chan; Lee, Yung-Hui

    2014-05-01

    This study investigates the characteristics of eye movements during a camouflaged target search task. Camouflaged targets were randomly presented on two natural landscapes. The performance of each camouflage design was assessed by target detection hit rate, detection time, number of fixations on display, first saccade amplitude to target, number of fixations on target, fixation duration on target, and subjective ratings of search task difficulty. The results showed that the camouflage patterns could significantly affect the eye-movement behavior, especially first saccade amplitude and fixation duration, and the findings could be used to increase the sensitivity of the camouflage assessment. We hypothesized that the assessment could be made with regard to the differences in detectability and discriminability of the camouflage patterns. These could explain less efficient search behavior in eye movements. Overall, data obtained from eye movements can be used to significantly enhance the interpretation of the effects of different camouflage design. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

  10. Binocular eye movement control and motion perception: what is being tracked?

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Steen, Johannes; Dits, Joyce

    2012-10-19

    We investigated under what conditions humans can make independent slow phase eye movements. The ability to make independent movements of the two eyes generally is attributed to few specialized lateral eyed animal species, for example chameleons. In our study, we showed that humans also can move the eyes in different directions. To maintain binocular retinal correspondence independent slow phase movements of each eye are produced. We used the scleral search coil method to measure binocular eye movements in response to dichoptically viewed visual stimuli oscillating in orthogonal direction. Correlated stimuli led to orthogonal slow eye movements, while the binocularly perceived motion was the vector sum of the motion presented to each eye. The importance of binocular fusion on independency of the movements of the two eyes was investigated with anti-correlated stimuli. The perceived global motion pattern of anti-correlated dichoptic stimuli was perceived as an oblique oscillatory motion, as well as resulted in a conjugate oblique motion of the eyes. We propose that the ability to make independent slow phase eye movements in humans is used to maintain binocular retinal correspondence. Eye-of-origin and binocular information are used during the processing of binocular visual information, and it is decided at an early stage whether binocular or monocular motion information and independent slow phase eye movements of each eye are produced during binocular tracking.

  11. Modelling non-Euclidean movement and landscape connectivity in highly structured ecological networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sutherland, Christopher; Fuller, Angela K.; Royle, J. Andrew

    2015-01-01

    Movement is influenced by landscape structure, configuration and geometry, but measuring distance as perceived by animals poses technical and logistical challenges. Instead, movement is typically measured using Euclidean distance, irrespective of location or landscape structure, or is based on arbitrary cost surfaces. A recently proposed extension of spatial capture-recapture (SCR) models resolves this issue using spatial encounter histories of individuals to calculate least-cost paths (ecological distance: Ecology, 94, 2013, 287) thereby relaxing the Euclidean assumption. We evaluate the consequences of not accounting for movement heterogeneity when estimating abundance in highly structured landscapes, and demonstrate the value of this approach for estimating biologically realistic space-use patterns and landscape connectivity.

  12. Evidence for intermittency and a truncated power law from highly resolved aphid movement data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mashanova, Alla; Oliver, Tom H; Jansen, Vincent A A

    2010-01-06

    Power laws are increasingly used to describe animal movement. Despite this, the use of power laws has been criticized on both empirical and theoretical grounds, and alternative models based on extensions of conventional random walk theory (Brownian motion) have been suggested. In this paper, we analyse a large volume of data of aphid walking behaviour (65,068 data points), which provides a highly resolved dataset to investigate the pattern of movement. We show that aphid movement is intermittent--with alternations of a slow movement with frequent change of direction and a fast, relatively directed movement--and that the fast movement consists of two phases--a strongly directed phase that gradually changes into an uncorrelated random walk. By measuring the mean-squared displacement and the duration of non-stop movement episodes we found that both spatial and temporal aspects of aphid movement are best described using a truncated power law approach. We suggest that the observed spatial pattern arises from the duration of non-stop movement phases rather than from correlations in turning angles. We discuss the implications of these findings for interpreting movement data, such as distinguishing between movement and non-movement, and the effect of the range of data used in the analysis on the conclusions.

  13. The Individual's Right to Choose

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Scheuer, Steen

    2008-01-01

    in collective agrements. This kind of innovation has been highly controversial in the union movement, but in 2007, the bargaining parties in manufacturing decided to take something of a leap ahead with respect to opportunities of individual choice by employees. The paper will describe the novel employee rights...

  14. Movement-based estimation and visualization of space use in 3D for wildlife ecology and conservation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jeff A Tracey

    Full Text Available Advances in digital biotelemetry technologies are enabling the collection of bigger and more accurate data on the movements of free-ranging wildlife in space and time. Although many biotelemetry devices record 3D location data with x, y, and z coordinates from tracked animals, the third z coordinate is typically not integrated into studies of animal spatial use. Disregarding the vertical component may seriously limit understanding of animal habitat use and niche separation. We present novel movement-based kernel density estimators and computer visualization tools for generating and exploring 3D home ranges based on location data. We use case studies of three wildlife species--giant panda, dugong, and California condor--to demonstrate the ecological insights and conservation management benefits provided by 3D home range estimation and visualization for terrestrial, aquatic, and avian wildlife research.

  15. Movement-based estimation and visualization of space use in 3D for wildlife ecology and conservation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tracey, Jeff A.; Sheppard, James; Zhu, Jun; Wei, Fu-Wen; Swaisgood, Ronald R.; Fisher, Robert N.

    2014-01-01

    Advances in digital biotelemetry technologies are enabling the collection of bigger and more accurate data on the movements of free-ranging wildlife in space and time. Although many biotelemetry devices record 3D location data with x, y, and z coordinates from tracked animals, the third z coordinate is typically not integrated into studies of animal spatial use. Disregarding the vertical component may seriously limit understanding of animal habitat use and niche separation. We present novel movement-based kernel density estimators and computer visualization tools for generating and exploring 3D home ranges based on location data. We use case studies of three wildlife species – giant panda, dugong, and California condor – to demonstrate the ecological insights and conservation management benefits provided by 3D home range estimation and visualization for terrestrial, aquatic, and avian wildlife research.

  16. Movement-based estimation and visualization of space use in 3D for wildlife ecology and conservation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tracey, Jeff A; Sheppard, James; Zhu, Jun; Wei, Fuwen; Swaisgood, Ronald R; Fisher, Robert N

    2014-01-01

    Advances in digital biotelemetry technologies are enabling the collection of bigger and more accurate data on the movements of free-ranging wildlife in space and time. Although many biotelemetry devices record 3D location data with x, y, and z coordinates from tracked animals, the third z coordinate is typically not integrated into studies of animal spatial use. Disregarding the vertical component may seriously limit understanding of animal habitat use and niche separation. We present novel movement-based kernel density estimators and computer visualization tools for generating and exploring 3D home ranges based on location data. We use case studies of three wildlife species--giant panda, dugong, and California condor--to demonstrate the ecological insights and conservation management benefits provided by 3D home range estimation and visualization for terrestrial, aquatic, and avian wildlife research.

  17. BEEtag: A Low-Cost, Image-Based Tracking System for the Study of Animal Behavior and Locomotion.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James D Crall

    Full Text Available A fundamental challenge common to studies of animal movement, behavior, and ecology is the collection of high-quality datasets on spatial positions of animals as they change through space and time. Recent innovations in tracking technology have allowed researchers to collect large and highly accurate datasets on animal spatiotemporal position while vastly decreasing the time and cost of collecting such data. One technique that is of particular relevance to the study of behavioral ecology involves tracking visual tags that can be uniquely identified in separate images or movie frames. These tags can be located within images that are visually complex, making them particularly well suited for longitudinal studies of animal behavior and movement in naturalistic environments. While several software packages have been developed that use computer vision to identify visual tags, these software packages are either (a not optimized for identification of single tags, which is generally of the most interest for biologists, or (b suffer from licensing issues, and therefore their use in the study of animal behavior has been limited. Here, we present BEEtag, an open-source, image-based tracking system in Matlab that allows for unique identification of individual animals or anatomical markers. The primary advantages of this system are that it (a independently identifies animals or marked points in each frame of a video, limiting error propagation, (b performs well in images with complex backgrounds, and (c is low-cost. To validate the use of this tracking system in animal behavior, we mark and track individual bumblebees (Bombus impatiens and recover individual patterns of space use and activity within the nest. Finally, we discuss the advantages and limitations of this software package and its application to the study of animal movement, behavior, and ecology.

  18. Impact of globalization and animal trade on infectious disease ecology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marano, Nina; Arguin, Paul M; Pappaioanou, Marguerite

    2007-12-01

    The articles on rabies and Marburg virus featured in this month's Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) zoonoses issue illustrate common themes. Both discuss zoonotic diseases with serious health implications for humans, and both have a common reservoir, the bat. These articles, and the excitement generated by this year's recognition of World Rabies Day on September 8, also described in this issue, remind us how globalization has had an impact on the worldwide animal trade. This worldwide movement of animals has increased the potential for the translocation of zoonotic diseases, which pose serious risks to human and animal health.

  19. Lateralization of the posterior parietal cortex for internal monitoring of self- versus externally generated movements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ogawa, Kenji; Inui, Toshio

    2007-11-01

    Internal monitoring or state estimation of movements is essential for human motor control to compensate for inherent delays and noise in sensorimotor loops. Two types of internal estimation of movements exist: self-generated movements, and externally generated movements. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate differences in brain activity for internal monitoring of self- versus externally generated movements during visual occlusion. Participants tracked a sinusoidally moving target with a mouse cursor. On some trials, vision of either target (externally generated) or cursor (self-generated) movement was transiently occluded, during which subjects continued tracking by estimating current position of either the invisible target or cursor on screen. Analysis revealed that both occlusion conditions were associated with increased activity in the presupplementary motor area and decreased activity in the right lateral occipital cortex compared to a control condition with no occlusion. Moreover, the right and left posterior parietal cortex (PPC) showed greater activation during occlusion of target and cursor movements, respectively. This study suggests lateralization of the PPC for internal monitoring of internally versus externally generated movements, fully consistent with previously reported clinical findings.

  20. Movement disorders secondary to craniocerebral trauma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krauss, Joachim K

    2015-01-01

    Over the past few decades it has been recognized that traumatic brain injury may result in various movement disorders. In survivors of severe head injury, post-traumatic movement disorders were reported in about 20%, and they persisted in about 10% of patients. The most frequent persisting movement disorder in this population is kinetic cerebellar outflow tremor in about 9%, followed by dystonia in about 4%. While tremor is associated most frequently with cerebellar or mesencephalic lesions, patients with dystonia frequently have basal ganglia or thalamic lesions. Moderate or mild traumatic brain injury only rarely causes persistent post-traumatic movement disorders. It appears that the frequency of post-traumatic movement disorders overall has been declining which most likely is secondary to improved treatment of brain injury. In patients with disabling post-traumatic movement disorders which are refractory to medical treatment, stereotactic neurosurgery can provide long-lasting benefit. While in the past the primary option for severe kinetic tremor was thalamotomy and for dystonia thalamotomy or pallidotomy, today deep brain stimulation has become the preferred treatment. Parkinsonism is a rare consequence of single head injury, but repeated head injury such as seen in boxing can result in chronic encephalopathy with parkinsonian features. While there is still controversy whether or not head injury is a risk factor for the development of Parkinson's disease, recent studies indicate that genetic susceptibility might be relevant. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Impact of Bisphosphonate on Orthodontic tooth movement and osteoclastic count: An Animal Study

    OpenAIRE

    Venkataramana, V; Chidambaram, S; Reddy, B Vishnuvardhan; Goud, E V Soma Shekara; Arafath, Mohammed; Krishnan, Santhana

    2014-01-01

    Background : The aim of the current study is to examine the effect of systemically administered BP-Pamidronate, on Orthodontic Tooth Movement (OTM) along with osteoclastic quantification in New Zealand white rabbits. Materials & Methods : Twenty rabbits used in the study, were equally divided into 2 groups ; Group-1 as Control & Group-2 as Experimental. A sentalloy NITI closed coil spring (GAC International, USA) of 100 gram force, ligated between the lower first mo...

  2. Reforming the politics of animal research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levin, Lisa Hara; Reppy, William A

    2015-07-01

    An unfortunate tension exists between the biomedical research and animal welfare/rights communities. We believe that despite the mistrust between these groups, there are individuals on both sides of the controversy who seek to better understand the other. We recommend an update of institutional policies that will better inform the public about the use of non-human animals in biomedical research and improve a dialogue on such use between concerned individuals who either support or oppose non-human animal-based biomedical research. Such interactions may well determine the longevity of using non-human animals as experimental subjects. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

  3. Virtual reality for freely moving animals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stowers, John R; Hofbauer, Maximilian; Bastien, Renaud; Griessner, Johannes; Higgins, Peter; Farooqui, Sarfarazhussain; Fischer, Ruth M; Nowikovsky, Karin; Haubensak, Wulf; Couzin, Iain D; Tessmar-Raible, Kristin; Straw, Andrew D

    2017-10-01

    Standard animal behavior paradigms incompletely mimic nature and thus limit our understanding of behavior and brain function. Virtual reality (VR) can help, but it poses challenges. Typical VR systems require movement restrictions but disrupt sensorimotor experience, causing neuronal and behavioral alterations. We report the development of FreemoVR, a VR system for freely moving animals. We validate immersive VR for mice, flies, and zebrafish. FreemoVR allows instant, disruption-free environmental reconfigurations and interactions between real organisms and computer-controlled agents. Using the FreemoVR platform, we established a height-aversion assay in mice and studied visuomotor effects in Drosophila and zebrafish. Furthermore, by photorealistically mimicking zebrafish we discovered that effective social influence depends on a prospective leader balancing its internally preferred directional choice with social interaction. FreemoVR technology facilitates detailed investigations into neural function and behavior through the precise manipulation of sensorimotor feedback loops in unrestrained animals.

  4. A combined system for measuring animal motion activities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, M S; Young, C W; Li, Y C

    2000-01-31

    In this study, we have developed a combined animal motion activity measurement system that combines an infrared light matrix subsystem with an ultrasonic phase shift subsystem for animal activity measurement. Accordingly, in conjunction with an IBM PC/AT compatible personal computer, the combined system has the advantages of both infrared and ultrasonic subsystems. That is, it can at once measure and directly analyze detailed changes in animal activity ranging from locomotion to tremor. The main advantages of this combined system are that it features real time data acquisition with the option of animated real time or recorded display/playback of the animal's motion. Additionally, under the multi-task operating condition of IBM PC, it can acquire and process behavior using both IR and ultrasound systems simultaneously. Traditional systems have had to make separate runs for gross and fine movement recording. This combined system can be profitably employed for normative behavioral activity studies and for neurological and pharmacological research.

  5. A background to the feminist movement in Egypt.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoodfar, H

    1992-01-01

    The origins of the feminist movement in Egypt can be traced back to the social restructuring that occurred during the reign of Mohammed Ali (1805-48). At that time, a debate raged over whether female education was essential to national development. Reformers such as Kassim Amin argued in favor of education for all women and condemned polygamy, supporting their arguments with references to the Koran. Women from the upper classes used their wealth, over which Muslim law gives them full control, to found hospitals, schools, and training centers. By 1914, there were 14 magazines devoted to women's issues. Women participated in anticolonial movements and nationalist party activities while continuing to advocate improvements in women's status. In 1924, Egypt became the 1st Islamic country to deveil women without state intervention. The Egyptian Feminist Party was founded in 1923, and the Women's Political Party was established in 1942 to coordinate the fight for women's equality and the revision of family law. Women's full political rights gained recognition when Egypt won independence in 1956, and the 1st female Minister, Hekmat Abu-Zaid, was appointed in 1962. Ironically, the feminist movement stagnated in the 1st few decades after independence as women's organizations became coopted into the state. The movement has been revitalized, however, by Islamic attacks on women's rights.

  6. Conservation physiology of animal migration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lennox, Robert J.; Chapman, Jacqueline M.; Souliere, Christopher M.; Tudorache, Christian; Wikelski, Martin; Metcalfe, Julian D.; Cooke, Steven J.

    2016-01-01

    Migration is a widespread phenomenon among many taxa. This complex behaviour enables animals to exploit many temporally productive and spatially discrete habitats to accrue various fitness benefits (e.g. growth, reproduction, predator avoidance). Human activities and global environmental change represent potential threats to migrating animals (from individuals to species), and research is underway to understand mechanisms that control migration and how migration responds to modern challenges. Focusing on behavioural and physiological aspects of migration can help to provide better understanding, management and conservation of migratory populations. Here, we highlight different physiological, behavioural and biomechanical aspects of animal migration that will help us to understand how migratory animals interact with current and future anthropogenic threats. We are in the early stages of a changing planet, and our understanding of how physiology is linked to the persistence of migratory animals is still developing; therefore, we regard the following questions as being central to the conservation physiology of animal migrations. Will climate change influence the energetic costs of migration? Will shifting temperatures change the annual clocks of migrating animals? Will anthropogenic influences have an effect on orientation during migration? Will increased anthropogenic alteration of migration stopover sites/migration corridors affect the stress physiology of migrating animals? Can physiological knowledge be used to identify strategies for facilitating the movement of animals? Our synthesis reveals that given the inherent challenges of migration, additional stressors derived from altered environments (e.g. climate change, physical habitat alteration, light pollution) or interaction with human infrastructure (e.g. wind or hydrokinetic turbines, dams) or activities (e.g. fisheries) could lead to long-term changes to migratory phenotypes. However, uncertainty remains

  7. Dynamical patterns of cattle trade movements.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paolo Bajardi

    Full Text Available Despite their importance for the spread of zoonotic diseases, our understanding of the dynamical aspects characterizing the movements of farmed animal populations remains limited as these systems are traditionally studied as static objects and through simplified approximations. By leveraging on the network science approach, here we are able for the first time to fully analyze the longitudinal dataset of Italian cattle movements that reports the mobility of individual animals among farms on a daily basis. The complexity and inter-relations between topology, function and dynamical nature of the system are characterized at different spatial and time resolutions, in order to uncover patterns and vulnerabilities fundamental for the definition of targeted prevention and control measures for zoonotic diseases. Results show how the stationarity of statistical distributions coexists with a strong and non-trivial evolutionary dynamics at the node and link levels, on all timescales. Traditional static views of the displacement network hide important patterns of structural changes affecting nodes' centrality and farms' spreading potential, thus limiting the efficiency of interventions based on partial longitudinal information. By fully taking into account the longitudinal dimension, we propose a novel definition of dynamical motifs that is able to uncover the presence of a temporal arrow describing the evolution of the system and the causality patterns of its displacements, shedding light on mechanisms that may play a crucial role in the definition of preventive actions.

  8. Environmental enrichment for aquatic animals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corcoran, Mike

    2015-05-01

    Aquatic animals are the most popular pets in the United States based on the number of owned pets. They are popular display animals and are increasingly used in research settings. Enrichment of captive animals is an important element of zoo and laboratory medicine. The importance of enrichment for aquatic animals has been slower in implementation. For a long time, there was debate over whether or not fish were able to experience pain or form long-term memories. As that debate has reduced and the consciousness of more aquatic animals is accepted, the need to discuss enrichment for these animals has increased. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Incorporating Animation Concepts and Principles in STEM Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harrison, Henry L., III; Hummell, Laura J.

    2010-01-01

    Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of static images that creates the illusion of movement. This optical illusion is often called perception of motion, persistence of vision, illusion of motion, or short-range apparent motion. The phenomenon occurs when the eye is exposed to rapidly changing still images, with each image being changed…

  10. Uncertainty in aiming movements and its association to hand function

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Flávia Priscila de Paiva Silva

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available AbstractThe purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of the uncertainty of target location on the planning and execution of aiming movements performed towards the ipsilateral and contralateral directions by the right and left upper limbs. In addition, the association between the performance of aiming movements and the performance of functional manual tasks was investigated. Two tasks were proposed: with prior knowledge of the movement direction (simple reaction time or not (choice reaction time. The grip strength and manual dexterity were measured. The choice option in response (i.e. uncertainty influenced planning of the aiming movements, but not its execution, while movements performed towards the contralateral direction were worse in execution as compared to the ipsilateral direction. Manual dexterity was significantly correlated with reaction times, while the performance during movement execution was significantly correlated with handgrip/pinch strength.

  11. Acting without seeing: eye movements reveal visual processing without awareness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spering, Miriam; Carrasco, Marisa

    2015-04-01

    Visual perception and eye movements are considered to be tightly linked. Diverse fields, ranging from developmental psychology to computer science, utilize eye tracking to measure visual perception. However, this prevailing view has been challenged by recent behavioral studies. Here, we review converging evidence revealing dissociations between the contents of perceptual awareness and different types of eye movement. Such dissociations reveal situations in which eye movements are sensitive to particular visual features that fail to modulate perceptual reports. We also discuss neurophysiological, neuroimaging, and clinical studies supporting the role of subcortical pathways for visual processing without awareness. Our review links awareness to perceptual-eye movement dissociations and furthers our understanding of the brain pathways underlying vision and movement with and without awareness. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Variables affecting orthodontic tooth movement with clear aligners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chisari, Justin R; McGorray, Susan P; Nair, Madhu; Wheeler, Timothy T

    2014-04-01

    In this study, we examined the impacts of age, sex, root length, bone levels, and bone quality on orthodontic tooth movement. Clear aligners were programmed to move 1 central incisor 1 mm over the course of 8 weeks. Thirty subjects, ages 19 to 64, were enrolled, and measurements were made on digital models (percentage of tooth movement goal achieved). Morphometric features and bone quality were assessed with cone-beam computed tomography. Data from this study were combined with data from 2 similar studies to increase the power for some analyses. The mean percentage of tooth movement goal achieved was 57% overall. Linear regression modeling indicated a cubic relationship between age and tooth movement, with a decreasing rate of movement from ages 18 to 35 years, a slightly increasing rate from ages 35 to 50, and a decreasing rate from ages 50 to 70. The final decreasing trend was not apparent for women. As would be expected, the correlation was significant between the percentage of the goal achieved and the cone-beam computed tomography superimposed linear measures of tooth movement. A significant negative correlation was found between tooth movement and the measurement apex to the center of rotation, but bone quality, as measured by fractal dimension, was not correlated with movement. The relationship between age and tooth movement is complex and might differ for male and female patients. Limited correlations with cone-beam computed tomography morphology and rate of tooth movement were detected. Copyright © 2014 American Association of Orthodontists. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Induction of a chronic myocardial infarction in the laboratory animal - experimental model

    Science.gov (United States)

    POP, IONEL CIPRIAN; GRAD, NICOLAE-OVIDIU; PESTEAN, COSMIN; TAULESCU, MARIAN; MIRCEAN, MIRCEA; MIRONIUC, ION-AUREL

    2013-01-01

    Introduction Ischemic heart disease is a major public health problem in western countries. Appropriate animal experimental models of chronic myocardial infarction is an essential first step in order to investigate and develop new therapeutic interventions. Aim The aim of this study was to find an optimal place for a coronary artery ligation to induce an optimal chronic myocardial infarction and also a new heart approach that will not require oro-tracheal intubation. Material and methods To achieve these goals we used a group of rabbits and after induction of anesthesia and cardiac exposure by rib osteotomy (rib III, IV and V) at the costo-sternal junction level on the right side we performed three different left anterior descending artery (LAD) ligation at different distances (5, 10 and 15 mm) in relation to the apex. Thirty days after the acute myocardial infarction, we correlated laboratory investigations (serology, ECG, cardiac ultrasound) with histopathological findings. Results Heart approach achieved by rib osteotomy (rib III, IV and V) at the costo-sternal junction level on the right side, maintains the integrity of the ribcage, allowing it to take part in respiratory movements and the animal model does not need oro-tracheal intubation. Ligation of LAD at 15 mm from the apex was incompatible with life; ligation of LAD at 5 mm from the apex does not achieved transmural myocardial infarction and ligation of LAD at 10 mm from the apex achieved a transmural myocardial infarction of the left ventricle which also involved the distal part of the interventricular septum. Conclusion Ligation of LAD at 10 mm from the apex achieved a transmural myocardial infarction of the left ventricle, is in an easily accessible area from technical point of view, it is sufficiently expanded to induce hemodynamic effects that can be quantified with paraclinical examination and also it is compatible with the experimental animal life. If the heart is approached by rib III, IV and V

  14. The World War II Era and Human Rights Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waters, Stewart; Russell, William B., III

    2012-01-01

    International revulsion at the violation of human rights during World War II helped spark a global movement to define and protect individual human rights. Starting with the creation of war crimes tribunals after the war, this newfound awareness stimulated a concerted international effort to establish human rights for all, both in periods of war…

  15. Movement Behaviour of Traditionally Managed Cattle in the Eastern Province of Zambia Captured Using Two-Dimensional Motion Sensors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lubaba, Caesar H; Hidano, Arata; Welburn, Susan C; Revie, Crawford W; Eisler, Mark C

    2015-01-01

    Two-dimensional motion sensors use electronic accelerometers to record the lying, standing and walking activity of cattle. Movement behaviour data collected automatically using these sensors over prolonged periods of time could be of use to stakeholders making management and disease control decisions in rural sub-Saharan Africa leading to potential improvements in animal health and production. Motion sensors were used in this study with the aim of monitoring and quantifying the movement behaviour of traditionally managed Angoni cattle in Petauke District in the Eastern Province of Zambia. This study was designed to assess whether motion sensors were suitable for use on traditionally managed cattle in two veterinary camps in Petauke District in the Eastern Province of Zambia. In each veterinary camp, twenty cattle were selected for study. Each animal had a motion sensor placed on its hind leg to continuously measure and record its movement behaviour over a two week period. Analysing the sensor data using principal components analysis (PCA) revealed that the majority of variability in behaviour among studied cattle could be attributed to their behaviour at night and in the morning. The behaviour at night was markedly different between veterinary camps; while differences in the morning appeared to reflect varying behaviour across all animals. The study results validate the use of such motion sensors in the chosen setting and highlight the importance of appropriate data summarisation techniques to adequately describe and compare animal movement behaviours if association to other factors, such as location, breed or health status are to be assessed.

  16. Evaluation of movements of lower limbs in non-professional ballet dancers: hip abduction and flexion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valenti Erica E

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The literature indicated that the majority of professional ballet dancers present static and active dynamic range of motion difference between left and right lower limbs, however, no previous study focused this difference in non-professional ballet dancers. In this study we aimed to evaluate active movements of the hip in non-professional classical dancers. Methods We evaluated 10 non professional ballet dancers (16-23 years old. We measured the active range of motion and flexibility through Well Banks. We compared active range of motion between left and right sides (hip flexion and abduction and performed correlation between active movements and flexibility. Results There was a small difference between the right and left sides of the hip in relation to the movements of flexion and abduction, which suggest the dominant side of the subjects, however, there was no statistical significance. Bank of Wells test revealed statistical difference only between the 1st and the 3rd measurement. There was no correlation between the movements of the hip (abduction and flexion, right and left sides with the three test measurements of the bank of Wells. Conclusion There is no imbalance between the sides of the hip with respect to active abduction and flexion movements in non-professional ballet dancers.

  17. Evaluation of movements of lower limbs in non-professional ballet dancers: hip abduction and flexion

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    Background The literature indicated that the majority of professional ballet dancers present static and active dynamic range of motion difference between left and right lower limbs, however, no previous study focused this difference in non-professional ballet dancers. In this study we aimed to evaluate active movements of the hip in non-professional classical dancers. Methods We evaluated 10 non professional ballet dancers (16-23 years old). We measured the active range of motion and flexibility through Well Banks. We compared active range of motion between left and right sides (hip flexion and abduction) and performed correlation between active movements and flexibility. Results There was a small difference between the right and left sides of the hip in relation to the movements of flexion and abduction, which suggest the dominant side of the subjects, however, there was no statistical significance. Bank of Wells test revealed statistical difference only between the 1st and the 3rd measurement. There was no correlation between the movements of the hip (abduction and flexion, right and left sides) with the three test measurements of the bank of Wells. Conclusion There is no imbalance between the sides of the hip with respect to active abduction and flexion movements in non-professional ballet dancers. PMID:21819566

  18. Realization of masticatory movement by 3-dimensional simulation of the temporomandibular joint and the masticatory muscles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Jong-Tae; Lee, Jae-Gi; Won, Sung-Yoon; Lee, Sang-Hee; Cha, Jung-Yul; Kim, Hee-Jin

    2013-07-01

    Masticatory muscles are closely involved in mastication, pronunciation, and swallowing, and it is therefore important to study the specific functions and dynamics of the mandibular and masticatory muscles. However, the shortness of muscle fibers and the diversity of movement directions make it difficult to study and simplify the dynamics of mastication. The purpose of this study was to use 3-dimensional (3D) simulation to observe the functions and movements of each of the masticatory muscles and the mandible while chewing. To simulate the masticatory movement, computed tomographic images were taken from a single Korean volunteer (30-year-old man), and skull image data were reconstructed in 3D (Mimics; Materialise, Leuven, Belgium). The 3D-reconstructed masticatory muscles were then attached to the 3D skull model. The masticatory movements were animated using Maya (Autodesk, San Rafael, CA) based on the mandibular motion path. During unilateral chewing, the mandible was found to move laterally toward the functional side by contracting the contralateral lateral pterygoid and ipsilateral temporalis muscles. During the initial mouth opening, only hinge movement was observed at the temporomandibular joint. During this period, the entire mandible rotated approximately 13 degrees toward the bicondylar horizontal plane. Continued movement of the mandible to full mouth opening occurred simultaneously with sliding and hinge movements, and the mandible rotated approximately 17 degrees toward the center of the mandibular ramus. The described approach can yield data for use in face animation and other simulation systems and for elucidating the functional components related to contraction and relaxation of muscles during mastication.

  19. Monitoring the progressive increase of the longest episode of spontaneous movements in Guinea pig fetus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sekulić S.

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this work was to determine the changes in the duration of spontaneous movements in the guinea pig fetus after the appearance of its first movements. Every day from the 25th to the 35th gestation day, one fetus from each of twenty pregnant animals was examined by ultrasound. Fetal movements were observed for 5 min. The episode with the longest period of movement was taken into consideration and was recorded as: 3 s. Days 25 and 26 were characterized by episodes lasting 3 s (χ2 = 140.51 p <0.05. Tracking the dynamics of progressive increases in the longest episode of spontaneous movement could be a useful factor in estimating the maturity and condition of a fetus. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 175006/2011

  20. Is leadership a reliable concept in animals? An empirical study in the horse.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bourjade, Marie; Thierry, Bernard; Hausberger, Martine; Petit, Odile

    2015-01-01

    Leadership is commonly invoked when accounting for the coordination of group movements in animals, yet it remains loosely defined. In parallel, there is increased evidence of the sharing of group decisions by animals on the move. How leadership integrates within this recent framework on collective decision-making is unclear. Here, we question the occurrence of leadership in horses, a species in which this concept is of prevalent use. The relevance of the three main definitions of leadership--departing first, walking in front travel position, and eliciting the joining of mates--was tested on the collective movements of two semi-free ranging groups of Przewalski horses (Equus ferus przewalskii). We did not find any leader capable of driving most group movements or recruiting mates more quickly than others. Several group members often displayed pre-departure behaviours at the same time, and the simultaneous departure of several individuals was common. We conclude that the decision-making process was shared by several group members a group movement (i.e., partially shared consensus) and that the leadership concept did not help to depict individual departure and leading behaviour across movements in both study groups. Rather, the different proxies of leadership produced conflicting information about individual contributions to group coordination. This study discusses the implications of these findings for the field of coordination and decision-making research.

  1. Is leadership a reliable concept in animals? An empirical study in the horse.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marie Bourjade

    Full Text Available Leadership is commonly invoked when accounting for the coordination of group movements in animals, yet it remains loosely defined. In parallel, there is increased evidence of the sharing of group decisions by animals on the move. How leadership integrates within this recent framework on collective decision-making is unclear. Here, we question the occurrence of leadership in horses, a species in which this concept is of prevalent use. The relevance of the three main definitions of leadership--departing first, walking in front travel position, and eliciting the joining of mates--was tested on the collective movements of two semi-free ranging groups of Przewalski horses (Equus ferus przewalskii. We did not find any leader capable of driving most group movements or recruiting mates more quickly than others. Several group members often displayed pre-departure behaviours at the same time, and the simultaneous departure of several individuals was common. We conclude that the decision-making process was shared by several group members a group movement (i.e., partially shared consensus and that the leadership concept did not help to depict individual departure and leading behaviour across movements in both study groups. Rather, the different proxies of leadership produced conflicting information about individual contributions to group coordination. This study discusses the implications of these findings for the field of coordination and decision-making research.

  2. Big data analyses reveal patterns and drivers of the movements of southern elephant seals

    KAUST Repository

    Rodrí guez, J. P.; Ferná ndez-Gracia, Juan; Thums, Michele; Hindell, Mark A.; Sequeira, Ana M. M.; Meekan, Mark G.; Costa, Daniel P.; Guinet, Christophe; Harcourt, R.; McMahon, Clive R.; Muelbert, Monica; Duarte, Carlos M.; Eguí luz, V. M.

    2017-01-01

    The growing number of large databases of animal tracking provides an opportunity for analyses of movement patterns at the scales of populations and even species. We used analytical approaches, developed to cope with

  3. Big data analyses reveal patterns and drivers of the movements of southern elephant seals

    KAUST Repository

    Rodríguez, Jorge P.

    2017-03-02

    The growing number of large databases of animal tracking provides an opportunity for analyses of movement patterns at the scales of populations and even species. We used analytical approaches, developed to cope with

  4. Stereotypical reaching movements of the octopus involve both bend propagation and arm elongation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanassy, S; Botvinnik, A; Flash, T; Hochner, B

    2015-05-13

    The bend propagation involved in the stereotypical reaching movement of the octopus arm has been extensively studied. While these studies have analyzed the kinematics of bend propagation along the arm during its extension, possible length changes have been ignored. Here, the elongation profiles of the reaching movements of Octopus vulgaris were assessed using three-dimensional reconstructions. The analysis revealed that, in addition to bend propagation, arm extension movements involve elongation of the proximal part of the arm, i.e., the section from the base of the arm to the propagating bend. The elongations are quite substantial and highly variable, ranging from an average strain along the arm of -0.12 (i.e. shortening) up to 1.8 at the end of the movement (0.57 ± 0.41, n = 64 movements, four animals). Less variability was discovered in an additional set of experiments on reaching movements (0.64 ± 0.28, n = 30 movements, two animals), where target and octopus positions were kept more stationary. Visual observation and subsequent kinematic analysis suggest that the reaching movements can be broadly segregated into two groups. The first group involves bend propagation beginning at the base of the arm and propagating towards the arm tip. In the second, the bend is formed or present more distally and reaching is achieved mainly by elongation and straightening of the segment proximal to the bend. Only in the second type of movements is elongation significantly positively correlated with the distance of the bend from the target. We suggest that reaching towards a target is generated by a combination of both propagation of a bend along the arm and arm elongation. These two motor primitives may be combined to create a broad spectrum of reaching movements. The dynamical model, which recapitulates the biomechanics of the octopus muscular hydrostatic arm, suggests that achieving the observed elongation requires an extremely low ratio of longitudinal to transverse muscle

  5. Left, right, left, right, eyes to the front! Müller-Lyer bias in grasping is not a function of hand used, hand preferred or visual hemifield, but foveation does matter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Kamp, John; de Wit, Matthieu M; Masters, Rich S W

    2012-04-01

    We investigated whether the control of movement of the left hand is more likely to involve the use of allocentric information than movements performed with the right hand. Previous studies (Gonzalez et al. in J Neurophys 95:3496-3501, 2006; De Grave et al. in Exp Br Res 193:421-427, 2009) have reported contradictory findings in this respect. In the present study, right-handed participants (N = 12) and left-handed participants (N = 12) made right- and left-handed grasps to foveated objects and peripheral, non-foveated objects that were located in the right or left visual hemifield and embedded within a Müller-Lyer illusion. They were also asked to judge the size of the object by matching their hand aperture to its length. Hand apertures did not show significant differences in illusory bias as a function of hand used, handedness or visual hemifield. However, the illusory effect was significantly larger for perception than for action, and for the non-foveated compared to foveated objects. No significant illusory biases were found for reach movement times. These findings are consistent with the two-visual system model that holds that the use of allocentric information is more prominent in perception than in movement control. We propose that the increased involvement of allocentric information in movements toward peripheral, non-foveated objects may be a consequence of more awkward, less automatized grasps of nonfoveated than foveated objects. The current study does not support the conjecture that the control of left-handed and right-handed grasps is predicated on different sources of information.

  6. Gaps in US Animal Welfare Law for Laboratory Animals: Perspectives From an Animal Law Attorney.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frasch, Pamela D

    2016-05-01

    The use of animals in biomedical, toxicological, and basic research has been common practice, and a tool for scientists and researchers, for many years. And yet, serious conflict continues to exist between those who believe that the use of animals in research will yield scientific results that benefit humans and those who believe such practices are unethical regardless of use or outcome. High-profile undercover cases have further raised public awareness and have put the entire industry under pressure to be transparent, accountable, and aggressive in its adoption of reduction, refinement, and replacement (3R) principles. Many animal law attorneys are deeply frustrated by what they see as weak US laws that are unevenly enforced, especially when compared with legal advances in other countries and regions. This article (1) explores those gaps in US animal welfare laws with an emphasis on the Animal Welfare Act, (2) argues in favor of stronger laws and rigorous enforcement, and (3) suggests steps to advance these goals. These steps include (1) expanding the definition of "animal" in the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), (2) improving and expanding minimum care requirements in USDA regulations, (3) instituting mandatory reporting requirements, improving Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees, and allowing easier accessibility to laboratory reports and plans, (4) adding a citizen suit provision to the AWA, and (5) continuing education about the emotional and social capacities of animals and a stronger commitment to 3R principles. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  7. Left, right, left, right, eyes to the front! Müller-Lyer bias in grasping is not a function of hand used, hand preferred or visual hemifield, but foveation does matter.

    OpenAIRE

    van der Kamp, J.; de Wit, M.M.; Masters, R.S.W.

    2012-01-01

    We investigated whether the control of movement of the left hand is more likely to involve the use of allocentric information than movements performed with the right hand. Previous studies (Gonzalez et al. in J Neurophys 95:3496-3501, 2006; De Grave et al. in Exp Br Res 193:421-427, 2009) have reported contradictory findings in this respect. In the present study, right-handed participants (N = 12) and left-handed participants (N = 12) made right- and left-handed grasps to foveated objects and...

  8. A movement ecology paradigm for unifying organismal movement research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nathan, Ran; Getz, Wayne M; Revilla, Eloy; Holyoak, Marcel; Kadmon, Ronen; Saltz, David; Smouse, Peter E

    2008-12-09

    Movement of individual organisms is fundamental to life, quilting our planet in a rich tapestry of phenomena with diverse implications for ecosystems and humans. Movement research is both plentiful and insightful, and recent methodological advances facilitate obtaining a detailed view of individual movement. Yet, we lack a general unifying paradigm, derived from first principles, which can place movement studies within a common context and advance the development of a mature scientific discipline. This introductory article to the Movement Ecology Special Feature proposes a paradigm that integrates conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and empirical frameworks for studying movement of all organisms, from microbes to trees to elephants. We introduce a conceptual framework depicting the interplay among four basic mechanistic components of organismal movement: the internal state (why move?), motion (how to move?), and navigation (when and where to move?) capacities of the individual and the external factors affecting movement. We demonstrate how the proposed framework aids the study of various taxa and movement types; promotes the formulation of hypotheses about movement; and complements existing biomechanical, cognitive, random, and optimality paradigms of movement. The proposed framework integrates eclectic research on movement into a structured paradigm and aims at providing a basis for hypothesis generation and a vehicle facilitating the understanding of the causes, mechanisms, and spatiotemporal patterns of movement and their role in various ecological and evolutionary processes. "Now we must consider in general the common reason for moving with any movement whatever." (Aristotle, De Motu Animalium, 4th century B.C.).

  9. Pursuing an understanding of animal consciousness: Implications for animal morality and a creaturely theology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cornel W. du Toit

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The importance of animals in the evolutionary history of homo sapiens comes to the fore in light of an increasingly trans-human techno-scientific environment. New research on consciousness, and animal consciousness in particular, has prompted questions relating to animal rights, animal morality and the emergence of a creaturely theology and theological primatology. The possibility of understanding nonhuman animals is investigated with reference to notions like consciousness, thinking, awareness, language and communication, including the importance of emotion in communication. Special attention is given to the nature of animal communication as it came to the fore in bonobo and other chimpanzee research. Building on the notion of awareness and communication, the article focuses on the notion of animal morality and comments on some aspects of a creaturely theology.

  10. Animal Bodies, Colonial Subjects: (ReLocating Animality in Decolonial Thought

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Billy-Ray Belcourt

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, I argue that animal domestication, speciesism, and other modern human-animal interactions in North America are possible because of and through the erasure of Indigenous bodies and the emptying of Indigenous lands for settler-colonial expansion. That is, we cannot address animal oppression or talk about animal liberation without naming and subsequently dismantling settler colonialism and white supremacy as political machinations that require the simultaneous exploitation and/or erasure of animal and Indigenous bodies. I begin by re-framing animality as a politics of space to suggest that animal bodies are made intelligible in the settler imagination on stolen, colonized, and re-settled Indigenous lands. Thinking through Andrea Smith’s logics of white supremacy, I then re-center anthropocentrism as a racialized and speciesist site of settler coloniality to re-orient decolonial thought toward animality. To critique the ways in which Indigenous bodies and epistemologies are at stake in neoliberal re-figurings of animals as settler citizens, I reject the colonial politics of recognition developed in Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka’s recent monograph, Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights (Oxford University Press 2011 because it militarizes settler-colonial infrastructures of subjecthood and governmentality. I then propose a decolonized animal ethic that finds legitimacy in Indigenous cosmologies to argue that decolonization can only be reified through a totalizing disruption of those power apparatuses (i.e., settler colonialism, anthropocentrism, white supremacy, and neoliberal pluralism that lend the settler state sovereignty, normalcy, and futurity insofar as animality is a settler-colonial particularity.

  11. Finding our way: On the sharing and reuse of animal telemetry data in Australasia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Campbell, Hamish A., E-mail: hamish.campbell@une.edu.au [Department of Ecosystem Management, School of Environment and Rural Sciences, University of New England, Armidale, NSW (Australia); Beyer, Hawthorne L. [ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, Centre for Biodiversity & Conservation Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD (Australia); Dennis, Todd E. [School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland (New Zealand); Dwyer, Ross G. [School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD (Australia); Forester, James D. [Dept. Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN (United States); Fukuda, Yusuke [Department of Land Resource Management, PO Box 496, Palmerston, NT (Australia); Lynch, Catherine [Arid Recovery, PO Box 147, Roxby Downs, SA (Australia); Hindell, Mark A. [University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS (Australia); Menke, Norbert [Queensland Department of Science, Information, Technoloty, Innovation and the Arts, Brisbane, QLD (Australia); Morales, Juan M. [Ecotono, INIBIOMA—CONICET, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Quintral 1250, 8400 Bariloche (Argentina); Richardson, Craig [Ecological Resources Information Network, Department of the Environment, Canberra, ACT (Australia); Rodgers, Essie [School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD (Australia); Taylor, Graeme [Department of Conservation, PO Box 10420, Wellington 6143 (New Zealand); Watts, Matt E. [ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, Centre for Biodiversity & Conservation Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD (Australia); Westcott, David A. [Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, PO Box 780, Atherton, QLD (Australia)

    2015-11-15

    The presence and movements of organisms both reflect and influence the distribution of ecological resources in space and time. The monitoring of animal movement by telemetry devices is being increasingly used to inform management of marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. Here, we brought together academics, and environmental managers to determine the extent of animal movement research in the Australasian region, and assess the opportunities and challenges in the sharing and reuse of these data. This working group was formed under the Australian Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (ACEAS), whose overall aim was to facilitate trans-organisational and transdisciplinary synthesis. We discovered that between 2000 and 2012 at least 501 peer-reviewed scientific papers were published that report animal location data collected by telemetry devices from within the Australasian region. Collectively, this involved the capture and electronic tagging of 12 656 animals. The majority of studies were undertaken to address specific management questions; rarely were these data used beyond their original intent. We estimate that approximately half (~ 500) of all animal telemetry projects undertaken remained unpublished, a similar proportion were not discoverable via online resources, and less than 8.8% of all animals tagged and tracked had their data stored in a discoverable and accessible manner. Animal telemetry data contain a wealth of information about how animals and species interact with each other and the landscapes they inhabit. These data are expensive and difficult to collect and can reduce survivorship of the tagged individuals, which implies an ethical obligation to make the data available to the scientific community. This is the first study to quantify the gap between telemetry devices placed on animals and findings/data published, and presents methods for improvement. Instigation of these strategies will enhance the cost-effectiveness of the research and

  12. Finding our way: On the sharing and reuse of animal telemetry data in Australasia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Campbell, Hamish A.; Beyer, Hawthorne L.; Dennis, Todd E.; Dwyer, Ross G.; Forester, James D.; Fukuda, Yusuke; Lynch, Catherine; Hindell, Mark A.; Menke, Norbert; Morales, Juan M.; Richardson, Craig; Rodgers, Essie; Taylor, Graeme; Watts, Matt E.; Westcott, David A.

    2015-01-01

    The presence and movements of organisms both reflect and influence the distribution of ecological resources in space and time. The monitoring of animal movement by telemetry devices is being increasingly used to inform management of marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. Here, we brought together academics, and environmental managers to determine the extent of animal movement research in the Australasian region, and assess the opportunities and challenges in the sharing and reuse of these data. This working group was formed under the Australian Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (ACEAS), whose overall aim was to facilitate trans-organisational and transdisciplinary synthesis. We discovered that between 2000 and 2012 at least 501 peer-reviewed scientific papers were published that report animal location data collected by telemetry devices from within the Australasian region. Collectively, this involved the capture and electronic tagging of 12 656 animals. The majority of studies were undertaken to address specific management questions; rarely were these data used beyond their original intent. We estimate that approximately half (~ 500) of all animal telemetry projects undertaken remained unpublished, a similar proportion were not discoverable via online resources, and less than 8.8% of all animals tagged and tracked had their data stored in a discoverable and accessible manner. Animal telemetry data contain a wealth of information about how animals and species interact with each other and the landscapes they inhabit. These data are expensive and difficult to collect and can reduce survivorship of the tagged individuals, which implies an ethical obligation to make the data available to the scientific community. This is the first study to quantify the gap between telemetry devices placed on animals and findings/data published, and presents methods for improvement. Instigation of these strategies will enhance the cost-effectiveness of the research and

  13. New Ways of Working and Organization: Alternative Agrifood Movements and Agrifood Researchers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Friedland, William H.

    2010-01-01

    The remarkable growth of alternative agrifood movements--organics, fair trade, localism, Slow Food, farmers' markets, community-supported agriculture, food security, food safety, food sovereignty, anti-genetically modified organisms, animal welfare, and others--and their attraction to younger academic scholars offer a unique opportunity to explore…

  14. Rigorous home range estimation with movement data: a new autocorrelated kernel density estimator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fleming, C H; Fagan, W F; Mueller, T; Olson, K A; Leimgruber, P; Calabrese, J M

    2015-05-01

    Quantifying animals' home ranges is a key problem in ecology and has important conservation and wildlife management applications. Kernel density estimation (KDE) is a workhorse technique for range delineation problems that is both statistically efficient and nonparametric. KDE assumes that the data are independent and identically distributed (IID). However, animal tracking data, which are routinely used as inputs to KDEs, are inherently autocorrelated and violate this key assumption. As we demonstrate, using realistically autocorrelated data in conventional KDEs results in grossly underestimated home ranges. We further show that the performance of conventional KDEs actually degrades as data quality improves, because autocorrelation strength increases as movement paths become more finely resolved. To remedy these flaws with the traditional KDE method, we derive an autocorrelated KDE (AKDE) from first principles to use autocorrelated data, making it perfectly suited for movement data sets. We illustrate the vastly improved performance of AKDE using analytical arguments, relocation data from Mongolian gazelles, and simulations based upon the gazelle's observed movement process. By yielding better minimum area estimates for threatened wildlife populations, we believe that future widespread use of AKDE will have significant impact on ecology and conservation biology.

  15. Permeability of roads to movement of scrubland lizards and small mammals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brehme, Cheryl S; Tracey, Jeff A; McClenaghan, Leroy R; Fisher, Robert N

    2013-08-01

    A primary objective of road ecology is to understand and predict how roads affect connectivity of wildlife populations. Road avoidance behavior can fragment populations, whereas lack of road avoidance can result in high mortality due to wildlife-vehicle collisions. Many small animal species focus their activities to particular microhabitats within their larger habitat. We sought to assess how different types of roads affect the movement of small vertebrates and to explore whether responses to roads may be predictable on the basis of animal life history or microhabitat preferences preferences. We tracked the movements of fluorescently marked animals at 24 sites distributed among 3 road types: low-use dirt, low-use secondary paved, and rural 2-lane highway. Most data we collected were on the San Diego pocket mouse (Chaetodipus fallax), cactus mouse (Peromyscus eremicus), western fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis), orange-throated whiptail (Aspidoscelis hyperythra), Dulzura kangaroo rat (Dipodomys simulans) (dirt, secondary paved), and deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) (highway only). San Diego pocket mice and cactus mice moved onto dirt roads but not onto a low-use paved road of similar width or onto the highway, indicating they avoid paved road substrate. Both lizard species moved onto the dirt and secondary paved roads but avoided the rural 2-lane rural highway, indicating they may avoid noise, vibration, or visual disturbance from a steady flow of traffic. Kangaroo rats did not avoid the dirt or secondary paved roads. Overall, dirt and secondary roads were more permeable to species that prefer to forage or bask in open areas of their habitat, rather than under the cover of rocks or shrubs. However, all study species avoided the rural 2-lane highway. Our results suggest that microhabitat use preferences and road substrate help predict species responses to low-use roads, but roads with heavy traffic may deter movement of a much wider range of small animal

  16. Beyond reward prediction errors: the role of dopamine in movement kinematics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joseph eBarter

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available We recorded activity of dopamine (DA neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta in unrestrained mice while monitoring their movements with video tracking. Our approach allows an unbiased examination of the continuous relationship between single unit activity and behavior. Although DA neurons show characteristic burst firing following cue or reward presentation, as previously reported, their activity can be explained by the representation of actual movement kinematics. Unlike neighboring pars reticulata GABAergic output neurons, which can represent vector components of position, DA neurons represent vector components of velocity or acceleration. We found neurons related to movements in four directions—up, down, left right. For horizontal movements, there is significant lateralization of neurons: the left nigra contains more rightward neurons, whereas the right nigra contains more leftward neurons. The relationship between DA activity and movement kinematics was found on both appetitive trials using sucrose and aversive trials using air puff, showing that these neurons belong to a velocity control circuit that can be used for any number of purposes, whether to seek reward or to avoid harm. In support of this conclusion, mimicry of the phasic activation of DA neurons with selective optogenetic stimulation could also generate movements. Contrary to the popular hypothesis that DA neurons encode reward prediction errors, our results suggest that nigrostriatal DA plays an essential role in controlling the kinematics of voluntary movements. We hypothesize that DA signaling implements gain adjustment for adaptive transition control, and describe a new model of BG in which DA functions to adjust the gain of a transition controller. This model has significant implications for our understanding of movement disorders implicating DA and the BG.

  17. Hidden Markov model analysis reveals the advantage of analytic eye movement patterns in face recognition across cultures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chuk, Tim; Crookes, Kate; Hayward, William G; Chan, Antoni B; Hsiao, Janet H

    2017-12-01

    It remains controversial whether culture modulates eye movement behavior in face recognition. Inconsistent results have been reported regarding whether cultural differences in eye movement patterns exist, whether these differences affect recognition performance, and whether participants use similar eye movement patterns when viewing faces from different ethnicities. These inconsistencies may be due to substantial individual differences in eye movement patterns within a cultural group. Here we addressed this issue by conducting individual-level eye movement data analysis using hidden Markov models (HMMs). Each individual's eye movements were modeled with an HMM. We clustered the individual HMMs according to their similarities and discovered three common patterns in both Asian and Caucasian participants: holistic (looking mostly at the face center), left-eye-biased analytic (looking mostly at the two individual eyes in addition to the face center with a slight bias to the left eye), and right-eye-based analytic (looking mostly at the right eye in addition to the face center). The frequency of participants adopting the three patterns did not differ significantly between Asians and Caucasians, suggesting little modulation from culture. Significantly more participants (75%) showed similar eye movement patterns when viewing own- and other-race faces than different patterns. Most importantly, participants with left-eye-biased analytic patterns performed significantly better than those using either holistic or right-eye-biased analytic patterns. These results suggest that active retrieval of facial feature information through an analytic eye movement pattern may be optimal for face recognition regardless of culture. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. LGBT movement's legal strategies and the christian social movement reaction in Colombia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lina Malagón Penen

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Since 2005 several organizations of the Colombian LGBT movement have been implementing a constitutional impact litigation strategy in order to obtain legal equality. The objective of this paper is to show how the case law from the Constitutional Court, in response to this activity, has on the one hand invigorated public participation in the debate about homosexual couples’ rights but, on the other hand, produced a democratic deficit. In particular, the paper discusses the strengthening of a religious countermovement willing to use human rights law to defend the status quo. The road to democratization was clouded by intransigent and fundamentalist Catholicism taking over one of the most important authorities of the State, the Office of the Inspector General of Colombia (Procuraduría General de la Nación. This situation has resulted in a powerful public authority committing its resources to the goal of avoiding recognition and protection of homosexual couples rights, despite the fact that its mandate is to defend people's fundamental rights and to punish offenses committed by public officers.

  19. Continuity of Business Plans for Animal Disease Outbreaks: Using a Logic Model Approach to Protect Animal Health, Public Health, and Our Food Supply

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heather Allen

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Foreign animal diseases can have a devastating impact on the American economy and agriculture system, while significantly disrupting the food supply chain, and affecting animal health and public health. Continuity of business during an animal disease outbreak aims to mitigate these agriculture-related losses by facilitating normal business operations through the managed movement of non-infected animals and non-contaminated animal products. During a foreign animal disease outbreak, there are competing objectives of trying to control and contain the outbreak while allowing non-infected premises to continue normal business operations to the greatest extent possible. Using a logic model approach, this article discusses the importance of continuity of business planning during an animal disease outbreak, providing a detailed and transparent theoretical framework for continuity of business planning for animal agriculture stakeholders. The logic model provides a basis for continuity of business planning, which is rapidly gaining focus and interest in the animal emergency management community. This unique logic model offers a framework for effective planning and subsequent evaluation of continuity of business plans and processes, by identifying explicit stakeholders, inputs, and activities, alongside the desired outputs and outcomes of such planning.

  20. How innate is locomotion in precocial animals? A study on the early development of spatio-temporal gait variables and gait symmetry in piglets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vanden Hole, Charlotte; Goyens, Jana; Prims, Sara; Fransen, Erik; Ayuso Hernando, Miriam; Van Cruchten, Steven; Aerts, Peter; Van Ginneken, Chris

    2017-08-01

    Locomotion is one of the most important ecological functions in animals. Precocial animals, such as pigs, are capable of independent locomotion shortly after birth. This raises the question whether coordinated movement patterns and the underlying muscular control in these animals is fully innate or whether there still exists a rapid maturation. We addressed this question by studying gait development in neonatal pigs through the analysis of spatio-temporal gait characteristics during locomotion at self-selected speed. To this end, we made video recordings of piglets walking along a corridor at several time points (from 0 h to 96 h). After digitization of the footfalls, we analysed self-selected speed and spatio-temporal characteristics (e.g. stride and step lengths, stride frequency and duty factor) to study dynamic similarity, intralimb coordination and interlimb coordination. To assess the variability of the gait pattern, left-right asymmetry was studied. To distinguish neuromotor maturation from effects caused by growth, both absolute and normalized data (according to the dynamic similarity concept) were included in the analysis. All normalized spatio-temporal variables reached stable values within 4 h of birth, with most of them showing little change after the age of 2 h. Most asymmetry indices showed stable values, hovering around 10%, within 8 h of birth. These results indicate that coordinated movement patterns are not entirely innate, but that a rapid neuromotor maturation, potentially also the result of the rearrangement or recombination of existing motor modules, takes place in these precocial animals. © 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.