Ghosts and Things: Agriculture and Animal Life

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Weis
Keyword(s):  
Livestock Production ◽  
Dietary Change ◽  
Animal Life ◽  
Domesticated Animals ◽  
The Core ◽  
Interspecies Relations

This article makes a case for centering animal life in conceptions of environmental, agrarian, and dietary change. It begins with a brief discussion of the extinction spasm and defaunation and suggests that envisaging landscapes of animal “ghosts” might help to evoke the ecological impoverishment this entails. Landscapes of ghosts are then set against the soaring populations of animals in industrial livestock production, stressing both the extensive biophysical implications and the intensive interspecies relations of these systems, in which individual animals can be seen to be reduced to little more than fungible “things.” The core argument is that the fast-changing conditions of both wild and domesticated animals, and their interrelationships, are an important and often underappreciated aspect of global agrarian, and efforts to confront this course are fundamental to prospects for a more sustainable world.

scholarly journals Animals as and on Resource Frontiers

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Tony Weis
Keyword(s):  
Animal Species ◽  
Muscle Power ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Wild Animal ◽  
Animal Life ◽  
Domesticated Animals ◽  
Interspecies Relations

This paper attempts to locate changing interspecies relations in the dynamism and violence of capitalist expansion on a world scale, setting out two primary ways that the rising exploitation of non-human animals contributed to the development of settler-colonial economies, destabilization of indigenous societies, and transformation of ecosystems. One path was set by burgeoning demand essentially turning some wild animal species into increasingly valuable commodities and driving the rising scale and systematization of extraction and trade, which tended to quickly undermine conditions of abundance and make these animal frontiers very mobile. The second way started from the introduction of domesticated animals, with the muscle power and bodily commodities derived from proliferating populations valued not only in the expansion of agricultural landscapes but also in the formation and functioning of other resource frontiers, and ultimately bound up in waves of enclosures and expulsions. This framework seeks to simultaneously pose challenges for historical analysis and provide insights that help to understand the trajectory of animal life today. 

scholarly journals Native Grasslands at the Core: A New Paradigm of Intensification for the Campos of Southern South America to Increase Economic and Environmental Sustainability

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martín Jaurena ◽  
Martín Durante ◽  
Thais Devincenzi ◽  
Jean V. Savian ◽  
Diego Bendersky ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Nutritive Value ◽  
Grazing Intensity ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Southern South America ◽  
The Core ◽  
Native Grasslands ◽  
Trade Offs

Extensive livestock production in southern South America occupies ~0.5 M km2 in central-eastern Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil. These systems have been sustained for more than 300 years by year-long grazing of the highly biodiverse native Campos ecosystems that provides many valuable additional ecosystem services. However, their low productivity (~70 kg liveweight/ha per year), at least relative to values recorded in experiments and by best farmers, has been driving continued land use conversion towards agriculture and forestry. Therefore, there is a pressing need for usable, cost effective technological options based on scientific knowledge that increase profitability while supporting the conservation of native grasslands. In the early 2000s, existing knowledge was synthesized in a path of six sequential steps of increasing intensification. Even though higher productivity underlined that path, it was recognized that trade-offs would occur, with increases in productivity being concomitant to reductions in diversity, resilience to droughts, and a higher exposure to financial risks. Here, we put forward a proposal to shift the current paradigm away from a linear sequence and toward a flexible dashboard of intensification options to be implemented in defined modules within a farm whose aims are (i) to maintain native grasslands as the main feed source, and (ii) ameliorate its two major productive drawbacks: marked seasonality and relatively rapid loss of low nutritive value-hence the title “native grasslands at the core.” At its center, the proposal highlights a key role for optimal grazing management of native grasslands to increase productivity and resilience while maintaining low system wide costs and financial risk, but acknowledges that achieving the required spatio-temporal control of grazing intensity requires using (a portfolio of) complementary, synergistic intensification options. We sum up experimental evidence and case studies supporting the hypothesis that integrating intensification options increases both profitability and environmental sustainability of livestock production in Campos ecosystems.

scholarly journals CHANGES IN THE SCALE AND STRUCTURE OF FARM PRODUCTION IN METROPOLITAN AREAS IN POLAND

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-88
Author(s):  
Tomasz Wojewodzic ◽  
Aleksandra Płonka ◽  
Wojciech Sroka
Keyword(s):  
Metropolitan Areas ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Plant Production ◽  
The Core ◽  
Farm Production ◽  
Functional Zones ◽  
Commercial Farms ◽  
Study Population

The aim of this analyses was to assess the changes in the organisation and scale of plant production of commercial farms located within varying distances from the core of metropolitan areas. The analysis covered a total of 1,854 commercial farms from Pomorskie, Wielkopolskie, Mazowieckie, Lubelskie, Dolnośląskie and Małopolskie voivodeships that participated in the FADN system over an uninterrupted period between 2004 and 2016. In the study population, entities engaged in production in various functional zones of metropolitan areas (MA) were identified. The study found that in the commercial farms operating in the inner zone of MAs, field cropping and horticulture are gaining importance while livestock production is subject to marginalisation.

scholarly journals Bioethics: a look at animal testing in medicine and cosmetics in the UK

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefane Kabene ◽  
Said Baadel
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Animal Testing ◽  
Animal Life ◽  
Medical Field ◽  
The Core ◽  
Medical Tests ◽  
Experimental Subjects ◽  
Conflicting Interests ◽  
Emotional Conflicts ◽  
The Uk

Using animals for cosmetics and medical tests has contributed towards a debate based on conflicting interests. Despite the efforts in justifying the value of animals in conducting analyses, this study seeks to elaborate whether or not it is rational to use animals as test subjects in medical and cosmetics fields. The value of animal life is at the core of the emotional conflicts that arise when animals become experimental subjects in medical and cosmetics fields. The aim of this study is to determine if there are ethical differences in the use of animal testing in medicine versus cosmetics. The research, through review and content analysis of the existing literature, compares and provides the outcomes of using animals in medical and cosmetics tests by examining studies conducted in the UK. The findings of this research indicated that animal testing is considered acceptable in the medical field only if there are no other alternatives, but is completely unacceptable in the cosmetics field. The study also provides recommendations in the form of alternatives that protect animals from cruelty and may benefit the different stakeholders and the society at large

scholarly journals Toward Livestock Supply Chain Sustainability: A Case Study on Supply Chain Coordination and Sustainable Development in the Pig Sector in China

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (18) ◽  
pp. 3241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ni Zhuo ◽  
Chen Ji
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chain Coordination ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Sustainable Practices ◽  
The Core ◽  
Theoretical Significance ◽  
The Government ◽  
Practical Implications

Stricter environmental regulations on livestock production pollution have changed the sustainable practices of livestock supply chain stakeholders. By adopting three cases in China’s livestock supply chain, this study explores how supply chain coordination facilitates sustainable development of livestock production in China. It is found that close supply chain coordination and the capabilities of the core companies jointly contribute to supply chain sustainability. Thus, this research has theoretical significance in explaining the roles of supply chain coordination and core company capabilities in driving supply chain sustainability, which is not completely understood thus far. This study also has practical implications for livestock supply chain stakeholders and the government in terms of improving supply chain sustainability via closer supply chain coordination and enhancing the capabilities of the core companies involved.

Protecting Insects in Medieval Chinese Buddhism

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Heirman
Keyword(s):  
Human Activities ◽  
Chinese Buddhism ◽  
Animal Life ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
The Core ◽  
Sentient Beings

Buddhist texts generally prohibit the killing of all sentient beings. This is certainly the case in vinaya (disciplinary) texts, which contain strict guidelines on the preservation of all human and animal life. When these vinaya texts were translated into Chinese, they formed the core of Buddhist behavioural codes, influencing both monastic and lay followers. Chinese vinaya masters, such as Daoxuan ?? (596–667) and Yijing ?? (635–713), wrote extensive commentaries and accounts, introducing Indian concepts into the Chinese environment. In this paper, we focus on an often neglected aspect of inflicting harm on sentient beings: namely, the injury that may be caused to some of the world’s smallest animals — insects. Some insects produce economically valuable products, such as silk and honey; others, such as mosquitoes and bedbugs, are annoying or dangerous; and still others are innocent victims of essential human activities, such as earthworms that are killed when farmland is tilled. Yet, all of these are sentient beings that — according to Buddhist principles — should not be harmed or killed. What this implies for Chinese vinaya masters, and especially the highly influential Daoxuan, is the core question of this paper. As we will see, their responses are mixed, but they always attempt to remain true to the basic principles of Buddhism.

What face familiarity feelings say about the lateralization of specific entities within the core system

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guido Gainotti
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Lobe ◽  
Memory System ◽  
Core System ◽  
The Core ◽  
Memory Traces ◽  
Specific Memory ◽  
Target Article ◽  
Temporal Structures ◽  
The Right

Abstract The target article carefully describes the memory system, centered on the temporal lobe that builds specific memory traces. It does not, however, mention the laterality effects that exist within this system. This commentary briefly surveys evidence showing that clear asymmetries exist within the temporal lobe structures subserving the core system and that the right temporal structures mainly underpin face familiarity feelings.

A scanning electron microscopic study on dissolving process of cholesterol gallstones by chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA)

1978 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 522-523
Author(s):  
T. Kanetaka ◽  
M. Cho ◽  
S. Kawamura ◽  
T. Sado ◽  
K. Hara
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Chenodeoxycholic Acid ◽  
Outer Surface ◽  
Electron Microscopic ◽  
Cholesterol Gallstones ◽  
The Core ◽  
Scanning Electron Microscopic Study ◽  
Scanning Electron Microscopic ◽  
Acceleration Voltage ◽  
Scanning Electron

The authors have investigated the dissolution process of human cholesterol gallstones using a scanning electron microscope(SEM). This study was carried out by comparing control gallstones incubated in beagle bile with gallstones obtained from patients who were treated with chenodeoxycholic acid(CDCA).The cholesterol gallstones for this study were obtained from 14 patients. Three control patients were treated without CDCA and eleven patients were treated with CDCA 300-600 mg/day for periods ranging from four to twenty five months. It was confirmed through chemical analysis that these gallstones contained more than 80% cholesterol in both the outer surface and the core.The specimen were obtained from the outer surface and the core of the gallstones. Each specimen was attached to alminum sheet and coated with carbon to 100Å thickness. The SEM observation was made by Hitachi S-550 with 20 kV acceleration voltage and with 60-20, 000X magnification.

The Structure and Development of Microbodies in the Fat Body and other Tissues of an Insect (Calpodes Ethlius)

1970 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 148-149
Author(s):  
M. Locke ◽  
J. T. McMahon
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Liquid Crystals ◽  
Fat Body ◽  
Competitive Inhibitor ◽  
Dense Core ◽  
Urate Oxidase ◽  
Blood Proteins ◽  
Free Base ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Matrix

The fat body of insects has always been compared functionally to the liver of vertebrates. Both synthesize and store glycogen and lipid and are concerned with the formation of blood proteins. The comparison becomes even more apt with the discovery of microbodies and the localization of urate oxidase and catalase in insect fat body.The microbodies are oval to spherical bodies about 1μ across with a depression and dense core on one side. The core is made of coiled tubules together with dense material close to the depressed membrane. The tubules may appear loose or densely packed but always intertwined like liquid crystals, never straight as in solid crystals (Fig. 1). When fat body is reacted with diaminobenzidine free base and H2O2 at pH 9.0 to determine the distribution of catalase, electron microscopy shows the enzyme in the matrix of the microbodies (Fig. 2). The reaction is abolished by 3-amino-1, 2, 4-triazole, a competitive inhibitor of catalase. The fat body is the only tissue which consistantly reacts positively for urate oxidase. The reaction product is sharply localized in granules of about the same size and distribution as the microbodies. The reaction is inhibited by 2, 6, 8-trichloropurine, a competitive inhibitor of urate oxidase.

Exsolution and inversion in pigeonite from the Whin Sill, Northern England

1978 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 474-475
Author(s):  
P.P.K. Smith
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Low Temperature ◽  
Homogeneous Nucleation ◽  
Silicate Mineral ◽  
Antiphase Boundaries ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Primitive Form ◽  
The Core ◽  
Nucleation Mechanisms ◽  
And Inversion

Grains of pigeonite, a calcium-poor silicate mineral of the pyroxene group, from the Whin Sill dolerite have been ion-thinned and examined by TEM. The pigeonite is strongly zoned chemically from the composition Wo8En64FS28 in the core to Wo13En34FS53 at the rim. Two phase transformations have occurred during the cooling of this pigeonite:- exsolution of augite, a more calcic pyroxene, and inversion of the pigeonite from the high- temperature C face-centred form to the low-temperature primitive form, with the formation of antiphase boundaries (APB's). Different sequences of these exsolution and inversion reactions, together with different nucleation mechanisms of the augite, have created three distinct microstructures depending on the position in the grain.In the core of the grains small platelets of augite about 0.02μm thick have farmed parallel to the (001) plane (Fig. 1). These are thought to have exsolved by homogeneous nucleation. Subsequently the inversion of the pigeonite has led to the creation of APB's.

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