scholarly journals Dung Beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) Attracted toLagothrix lagotricha(Humboldt) andAlouatta seniculus(Linnaeus) (Primates: Atelidae) Dung in a Colombian Amazon Forest

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Ari Noriega

Dung beetles are among the most important insects in the Neotropics. Some species use a wide range of food sources, whereas other species are highly specialized. This study compares the use of two-primate excrement by an assemblage of dung beetles in a tropical forest in Colombia. Dung ofLagothrix lagotrichaandAlouatta seniculuswas used to attract beetles. A total of 32 species (47.7% of the species recorded for the area) were found on the two types of excrement studied, demonstrating that primate excrement is an important resource. The niche overlap between both feces is 27.03%, which indicates a high degree of resource specialization. Although these two primate species are found in the same areas, their diets vary greatly to permit a high degree of differentiation in beetle species. A study that includes dung of others primates would create a more complete panorama of resource overlap in the assemblage.

Author(s):  
B. Sands ◽  
N. Mgidiswa ◽  
S. Curson ◽  
C. Nyamukondiwa ◽  
R. Wall

Abstract Dung beetles provide important ecosystem functions in semiarid environments, improving the physiochemical characteristics of the soil through tunnelling and burying nutrient-rich dung. In sub-Saharan Africa, diverse indigenous mammal communities support highly abundant dung beetle populations in savannah ecosystems. However, the conversion of landscapes to livestock agriculture may result in changes in the abundance and diversity of wild mammal species. This is likely to have significant impacts on dung beetle communities, particularly because domestic livestock dung may be contaminated with toxic residues of veterinary parasiticides. The environmental impact is likely to be affected by the degree of niche overlap between the beetle communities that colonize cattle dung and those that colonize the dung of wild mammals. We compared dung beetle communities between a pristine national park habitat dominated by large wild herbivores, and a pastoral farming community dominated by domestic livestock. Diurnal dung beetles were attracted to cattle dung in greater abundance and diversity compared to elephant, zebra or giraffe dung. Nocturnal/crepuscular dung beetles were attracted to non-ruminant dung (elephant and zebra) in higher abundance compared to ruminant dung (cattle and giraffe). Although there were no clear trophic specializations, three diurnal species showed an association with cattle dung, whereas eight nocturnal/crepuscular species showed an association with non-ruminant (elephant and zebra) dung. Diurnal species may be at greater risk from the toxic effects of residues of veterinary parasiticides in domestic livestock dung. Although many species showed trophic associations with wild herbivore dung, these beetles can utilize a wide range of dung and will readily colonize cattle dung in the absence of other options. As more land is converted to livestock agriculture, the contamination of dung with toxic residues from veterinary parasiticides could therefore negatively impact the majority of dung beetle species.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucian Chan ◽  
Garrett Morris ◽  
Geoffrey Hutchison

The calculation of the entropy of flexible molecules can be challenging, since the number of possible conformers grows exponentially with molecule size and many low-energy conformers may be thermally accessible. Different methods have been proposed to approximate the contribution of conformational entropy to the molecular standard entropy, including performing thermochemistry calculations with all possible stable conformations, and developing empirical corrections from experimental data. We have performed conformer sampling on over 120,000 small molecules generating some 12 million conformers, to develop models to predict conformational entropy across a wide range of molecules. Using insight into the nature of conformational disorder, our cross-validated physically-motivated statistical model can outperform common machine learning and deep learning methods, with a mean absolute error ≈4.8 J/mol•K, or under 0.4 kcal/mol at 300 K. Beyond predicting molecular entropies and free energies, the model implies a high degree of correlation between torsions in most molecules, often as- sumed to be independent. While individual dihedral rotations may have low energetic barriers, the shape and chemical functionality of most molecules necessarily correlate their torsional degrees of freedom, and hence restrict the number of low-energy conformations immensely. Our simple models capture these correlations, and advance our understanding of small molecule conformational entropy.


2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (05) ◽  
pp. 362-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federica Sullo ◽  
Agata Polizzi ◽  
Stefano Catanzaro ◽  
Selene Mantegna ◽  
Francesco Lacarrubba ◽  
...  

Cerebellotrigeminal dermal (CTD) dysplasia is a rare neurocutaneous disorder characterized by a triad of symptoms: bilateral parieto-occipital alopecia, facial anesthesia in the trigeminal area, and rhombencephalosynapsis (RES), confirmed by cranial magnetic resonance imaging. CTD dysplasia is also known as Gómez-López-Hernández syndrome. So far, only 35 cases have been described with varying symptomatology. The etiology remains unknown. Either spontaneous dominant mutations or de novo chromosomal rearrangements have been proposed as possible explanations. In addition to its clinical triad of RES, parietal alopecia, and trigeminal anesthesia, CTD dysplasia is associated with a wide range of phenotypic and neurodevelopmental abnormalities.Treatment is symptomatic and includes physical rehabilitation, special education, dental care, and ocular protection against self-induced corneal trauma that causes ulcers and, later, corneal opacification. The prognosis is correlated to the mental development, motor handicap, corneal–facial anesthesia, and visual problems. Follow-up on a large number of patients with CTD dysplasia has never been reported and experience is limited to few cases to date. High degree of suspicion in a child presenting with characteristic alopecia and RES has a great importance in diagnosis of this syndrome.


Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 715
Author(s):  
Alexander Schäfer ◽  
Gerd Reis ◽  
Didier Stricker

Virtual Reality (VR) technology offers users the possibility to immerse and freely navigate through virtual worlds. An important component for achieving a high degree of immersion in VR is locomotion. Often discussed in the literature, a natural and effective way of controlling locomotion is still a general problem which needs to be solved. Recently, VR headset manufacturers have been integrating more sensors, allowing hand or eye tracking without any additional required equipment. This enables a wide range of application scenarios with natural freehand interaction techniques where no additional hardware is required. This paper focuses on techniques to control teleportation-based locomotion with hand gestures, where users are able to move around in VR using their hands only. With the help of a comprehensive study involving 21 participants, four different techniques are evaluated. The effectiveness and efficiency as well as user preferences of the presented techniques are determined. Two two-handed and two one-handed techniques are evaluated, revealing that it is possible to move comfortable and effectively through virtual worlds with a single hand only.


1965 ◽  
Vol 209 (4) ◽  
pp. 705-710 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Klein ◽  
Lawrence S. Cohen ◽  
Richard Gorlin

Myocardial blood flow in human subjects was assessed by comparative simultaneous measurement of krypton 85 radioactive decay from coronary sinus and precordial scintillation. Empirical correction of postclearance background from precordial curves yielded a high degree of correlation between flows derived from the two sampling sites (r = .889, P < .001). Comparison of left and right coronary flows in nine subjects revealed similarity in flow through the two vessels over a wide range of actual flow values (r = .945, P < .001).


Author(s):  
Peter Turchin

Many historical processes are dynamic. Populations grow and decline. Empires expand and collapse. Religions spread and wither. Natural scientists have made great strides in understanding dynamical processes in the physical and biological worlds using a synthetic approach that combines mathematical modeling with statistical analyses. Taking up the problem of territorial dynamics—why some polities at certain times expand and at other times contract—this book shows that a similar research program can advance our understanding of dynamical processes in history. The book develops hypotheses from a wide range of social, political, economic, and demographic factors: geopolitics, factors affecting collective solidarity, dynamics of ethnic assimilation/religious conversion, and the interaction between population dynamics and sociopolitical stability. It then translates these into a spectrum of mathematical models, investigates the dynamics predicted by the models, and contrasts model predictions with empirical patterns. The book's highly instructive empirical tests demonstrate that certain models predict empirical patterns with a very high degree of accuracy. For instance, one model accounts for the recurrent waves of state breakdown in medieval and early modern Europe. And historical data confirm that ethno-nationalist solidarity produces an aggressively expansive state under certain conditions (such as in locations where imperial frontiers coincide with religious divides). The strength of the book's results suggests that the synthetic approach advocated can significantly improve our understanding of historical dynamics.


2021 ◽  
pp. 38-55
Author(s):  
A. V. Vlasenko ◽  
E. A. Evdokimov ◽  
E. P. Rodionov

The paper summarizes data on modern approaches to the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of severe acute parenchymal respiratory failure of various origins, including ARDS due to bacterial viral pneumonia. The work is based on the data of modern well-organized studies, analysis of international clinical guidelines with a high degree of evidence, as well as the results of our own long-term experimental studies and clinical observations of the treatment of patients with ARDS of various origins, including viral pneumonia of 2009, 2016, 2020. Scientifically grounded algorithms for prevention, differential diagnosis and personalized therapy of severe acute respiratory failure using innovative medical technologies and a wide range of respiratory and adjuvant treatment methods have been formulated. The authors tried to adapt as much as possible the existing current recommendations for the daily clinical practice of anesthesiologists and resuscitators.


2011 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcondes Lima da Costa ◽  
Gaspar Morcote Rios ◽  
Mônia Maria Carvalho da Silva ◽  
Glayce Jholy da Silva ◽  
Uliana Molano-Valdes

Several Archaeological Dark Earth (ADE) sites have been already found in the Colombian Amazon forest showing high content of archaeological ceramic fragments similarly to those in the Brazilian Amazon represented by Quebrada Tacana site. Their fragments are yellow to grey colour, display a burned clayey matrix which involves fragments of cariapé and coal and ash particles, besides grains of quartz and micas. The clay matrix is made of metakaolinite, quartz, and some mica flakes, chlorite and sepiolite. Cariapé and cauixi spicules are constituted of cristobalite, which is also the main mineral component of the coal and ashes. Although not detected by X-ray diffraction, the phosphate minerals should be present, since the contents of phosphor reach up to 2.90 Wt.% P2O5. Possibly it occurs as aluminium-phosphate, since Ca contents fall below 0.1 Wt.%. These mineralogical and chemical characteristics allow to correlate these ceramic fragments with those found in the ADE in Brazil and reinforce phosphor as an important chemical component, which indicates human activity by the daily use of pottery all over the Amazon region.


The mathematical theory of small elastic deformations has been developed to a high degree of sophistication on certain fundamental assumptions regarding the stress-strain relationships which are obeyed by the materials considered. The relationships taken are, in effect, a generalization of Hooke’s law— ut tensio, sic vis . The justification for these assumptions lies in the widespread agreement of experiment with the predictions of the theory and in the interpretation of the elastic behaviour of the materials in terms of their known structure. The same factors have contributed to our appreciation of the limitations of these assumptions. The principal problems, which the theory seeks to solve, are the determination of the deformation which a body undergoes and the distribution of stresses in it, when certain forces are applied to it, and when certain points of the body are subjected to specified displacements. These problems are always dealt with on the assumption that the generalization of Hooke’s law is obeyed by the material of the body and that the deformation is small, i.e. the change of length, in any linear element in the material, is small compared with the length of the element in the undeformed state. Apart from the fact that the generalization of Hooke’s law is obeyed accurately by a very wide range of materials, under a considerable variety of stress and strain conditions, it has the further advantage that it leads to a mathematically tractable theory.


1980 ◽  
Vol 61 (7) ◽  
pp. 394-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Rich

The essential nature of family therapy, the role of the therapist in the therapeutic process, and the need for family therapists to possess a high degree of differentiation of self are examined. As a prerequisite to conducting successful family systems therapy, therapists must examine their own family of origin.


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