scholarly journals Little dragons prefer flowers to maidens: a lizard that laps nectar and pollinates trees

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Sazima ◽  
Cristina Sazima ◽  
Marlies Sazima
Keyword(s):  
Water Content ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
The Body ◽  
Northeast Brazil ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Flower Nectar ◽  
Fernando De Noronha ◽  
Island Habitats

Lizards rarely visit and pollinate flowers, the few recent records being mostly restricted to island habitats. We report here on the Noronha skink (Euprepis atlanticus) seeking nectar in the flowers of the leguminous mulungu tree (Erythrina velutina) at Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, off northeast Brazil. The mulungu tree blooms during the dry season, and each flower secretes copious and diluted nectar throughout the day. The Noronha skink climbs up to the inflorescences and laps the nectar accumulated in the flowers' base. While exploiting the flowers and crawling over the inflorescences, the body parts of the skink contact the anthers and stigmas and pollen adheres to the lizard's scales. The lizard visits inflorescences from the same and different trees, which renders it a potential pollinator. As the mulungu tree blooms during the dry season and the island has little or no natural freshwater supply during drought periods, we suggest that the Noronha skink seeks flower nectar both for its energetic, diluted sugars and the water content.

Three new species of Cancellariidae (Gastropoda: Neogastropoda) from northeast Brazil with first record of Gergovia for the Atlantic ocean

Zootaxa ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 1387 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-68
Author(s):  
JOSÉ C.N. DE BARROS ◽  
SILVIO F.B. DE LIMA
Keyword(s):  
Atlantic Ocean ◽  
First Record ◽  
The State ◽  
The Body ◽  
Northeast Brazil ◽  
Deep Waters ◽  
Fernando De Noronha ◽  
Three New Species ◽  
Body Whorl ◽  
First Time

Brocchinia verheckeni n. sp. and Brocchinia harasewychi n. sp. are described from several stations from 340 to 720m on the Continental Slope off Northeast Brazil. Brocchinia verheckeni occurred from the states of Ceará to Sergipe, and B. harasewychi was collected from the states of Pernambuco to Alagoas. Both species are considered endemic to these regions. This is the second record of the genus Brocchinia Jousseaume, 1887 in deep waters off Brazil. Brocchinia harasewychi has a protoconch with 1 ¼ whorls, which is more inflated in comparison to B. verheckeni, the body whorl has 3 spiral cords, the uppermost bordering the suture and the other 2 near mid-whorl. The body whorl of Brocchinia verheckeni has 3 strongly nodulose spiral cords and an outer lip with 5 to 6 internal denticles, while that of B. harasewychi has a smooth outer lip. The genus Gergovia Cossmann, 1899 is recorded for the first time in the Atlantic Ocean with the description of Gergovia petiti n. sp., known only from the oceanic region from Northeast Brazil, occurring from the state of Ceará to the state of Bahia, as well as in the Fernando de Noronha archipelago, probably living in the muddy substrate at depths of between 206 and 720 meters.

Daily patterns in aerial activity by spinner dolphins in Fernando de Noronha

2017 ◽  
Vol 98 (5) ◽  
pp. 1151-1157 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.C. De Carli ◽  
F.J.L. Silva ◽  
J.M. Silva
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Variations ◽  
Rainy Season ◽  
Relative Frequency ◽  
National Park ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Fernando De Noronha ◽  
Spinner Dolphins ◽  
Daily Patterns

Activities displayed by animals are usually cyclic, and fluctuations in behavioural repertoires can be observed on a daily or seasonal timescale. The present study describes daily and seasonal variations in the aerial events – such as leaps, spins and slaps with body parts – by spinner dolphins in Baía dos Golfinhos, Fernando de Noronha Marine National Park, in Brazil. To measure aerial events by dolphins, we compiled and analysed data collected from January 2006 to December 2010. A total of 113,027 aerial events were recorded during 1431 days of land-based daytime observations. Our results show that the frequency of aerial events was positively correlated with the number of dolphins in the bay. The relative frequency of aerial events was higher in the rainy season, when compared with the dry season. Aerial activities also varied throughout the day, with dolphins being more active in the morning, specifically from 8:00 a.m. to 8:59 a.m., regardless of the season.

Three new species of Cancellariidae (Gastropoda: Neogastropoda) from northeast Brazil with first record of Gergovia for the Atlantic ocean

Zootaxa ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 1387 (1) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
JOSÉ C. N. DE BARROS ◽  
SILVIO F. B. DE LIMA
Keyword(s):  
Atlantic Ocean ◽  
First Record ◽  
The State ◽  
The Body ◽  
Northeast Brazil ◽  
Deep Waters ◽  
Fernando De Noronha ◽  
Three New Species ◽  
Body Whorl ◽  
First Time

Brocchinia verheckeni n. sp. and Brocchinia harasewychi n. sp. are described from several stations from 340 to 720m on the Continental Slope off Northeast Brazil. Brocchinia verheckeni occurred from the states of Ceará to Sergipe, and B. harasewychi was collected from the states of Pernambuco to Alagoas. Both species are considered endemic to these regions. This is the second record of the genus Brocchinia Jousseaume, 1887 in deep waters off Brazil. Brocchinia harasewychi has a protoconch with 1 ¼ whorls, which is more inflated in comparison to B. verheckeni, the body whorl has 3 spiral cords, the uppermost bordering the suture and the other 2 near mid-whorl. The body whorl of Brocchinia verheckeni has 3 strongly nodulose spiral cords and an outer lip with 5 to 6 internal denticles, while that of B. harasewychi has a smooth outer lip. The genus Gergovia Cossmann, 1899 is recorded for the first time in the Atlantic Ocean with the description of Gergovia petiti n. sp., known only from the oceanic region from Northeast Brazil, occurring from the state of Ceará to the state of Bahia, as well as in the Fernando de Noronha archipelago, probably living in the muddy substrate at depths of between 206 and 720 meters.

Formulation, Design and Development of Niosome Based Topical Gel for Skin Cancer

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Skin Cancer ◽  
Drug Release ◽  
Hemorrhagic Cystitis ◽  
The Body ◽  
Cancer Drug ◽  
Inversion Method ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Basal Cells ◽  
Formulation Design ◽  
Topical Gel

Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer in which mostly damaged unpaired DNA starts mutating abnormally and staged an unprecedented proliferation of epithelial skin to form a malignant tumor. In epidemics of skin, pigment-forming melanocytes of basal cells start depleting and form uneven black or brown moles. Melanoma can further spread all over the body parts and could become hard to detect. In USA Melanoma kills an estimated 10,130 people annually. This challenge can be succumbed by using the certain anti-cancer drug. In this study design, cyclophosphamide were used as a model drug. But it has own limitation like mild to moderate use may cause severe cytopenia, hemorrhagic cystitis, neutropenia, alopecia and GI disturbance. This is a promising challenge, which is caused due to the increasing in plasma drug concentration above therapeutic level and due to no rate limiting steps involved in formulation design. In this study, we tried to modify drug release up to threefold and extended the release of drug by preparing and designing niosome based topical gel. In the presence of Dichloromethane, Span60 and cholesterol, the initial niosomes were prepared using vacuum evaporator. The optimum percentage drug entrapment efficacy, zeta potential, particle size was found to be 72.16%, 6.19mV, 1.67µm.Prepared niosomes were further characterized using TEM analyzer. The optimum batch of niosomes was selected and incorporated into topical gel preparation. Cold inversion method and Poloxamer -188 and HPMC as core polymers, were used to prepare cyclophosphamide niosome based topical gel. The formula was designed using Design expert 7.0.0 software and Box-Behnken Design model was selected. Almost all the evaluation parameters were studied and reported. The MTT shows good % cell growth inhibition by prepared niosome based gel against of A375 cell line. The drug release was extended up to 20th hours. Further as per ICH Q1A (R2), guideline 6 month stability studies were performed. The results were satisfactory and indicating a good formulation approach design was achieved for Melanoma treatment.

Re-imagining Reproduction: Unsettling Metaphors in the History of Imperial Science and Commercial Surrogacy in India

Somatechnics ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalindi Vora
Keyword(s):  
Assisted Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Reproductive Technologies ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Colonial History ◽  
Women's Bodies ◽  
Commercial Surrogacy ◽  
Art Practices ◽  
History Of ◽  
Travel Industry

This paper provides an analysis of how cultural notions of the body and kinship conveyed through Western medical technologies and practices in Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) bring together India's colonial history and its economic development through outsourcing, globalisation and instrumentalised notions of the reproductive body in transnational commercial surrogacy. Essential to this industry is the concept of the disembodied uterus that has arisen in scientific and medical practice, which allows for the logic of the ‘gestational carrier’ as a functional role in ART practices, and therefore in transnational medical fertility travel to India. Highlighting the instrumentalisation of the uterus as an alienable component of a body and subject – and therefore of women's bodies in surrogacy – helps elucidate some of the material and political stakes that accompany the growth of the fertility travel industry in India, where histories of privilege and difference converge. I conclude that the metaphors we use to structure our understanding of bodies and body parts impact how we imagine appropriate roles for people and their bodies in ways that are still deeply entangled with imperial histories of science, and these histories shape the contemporary disparities found in access to medical and legal protections among participants in transnational surrogacy arrangements.

Deadlift Recognition and Application based on Multiple Modalities using Recurrent Neural Network

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (17) ◽  
pp. 2-1-2-6
Author(s):  
Shih-Wei Sun ◽  
Ting-Chen Mou ◽  
Pao-Chi Chang
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Recurrent Neural Network ◽  
Network Structure ◽  
Inertial Sensors ◽  
Body Movement ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Multimodal Sensing ◽  
Multiple Devices ◽  
Neural Network Structure

To improve the workout efficiency and to provide the body movement suggestions to users in a “smart gym” environment, we propose to use a depth camera for capturing a user’s body parts and mount multiple inertial sensors on the body parts of a user to generate deadlift behavior models generated by a recurrent neural network structure. The contribution of this paper is trifold: 1) The multimodal sensing signals obtained from multiple devices are fused for generating the deadlift behavior classifiers, 2) the recurrent neural network structure can analyze the information from the synchronized skeletal and inertial sensing data, and 3) a Vaplab dataset is generated for evaluating the deadlift behaviors recognizing capability in the proposed method.

Our Bodies, Whose Property?

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Labor Markets ◽  
Personal Autonomy ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Complex Issue ◽  
Human Organs ◽  
Property Owners ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Right

No one wants to be treated like an object, regarded as an item of property, or put up for sale. Yet many people frame personal autonomy in terms of self-ownership, representing themselves as property owners with the right to do as they wish with their bodies. Others do not use the language of property, but are similarly insistent on the rights of free individuals to decide for themselves whether to engage in commercial transactions for sex, reproduction, or organ sales. Drawing on analyses of rape, surrogacy, and markets in human organs, this book challenges notions of freedom based on ownership of our bodies and argues against the normalization of markets in bodily services and parts. The book explores the risks associated with metaphors of property and the reasons why the commodification of the body remains problematic. The book asks what is wrong with thinking of oneself as the owner of one's body? What is wrong with making our bodies available for rent or sale? What, if anything, is the difference between markets in sex, reproduction, or human body parts, and the other markets we commonly applaud? The book contends that body markets occupy the outer edges of a continuum that is, in some way, a feature of all labor markets. But it also emphasizes that we all have bodies, and considers the implications of this otherwise banal fact for equality. Bodies remind us of shared vulnerability, alerting us to the common experience of living as embodied beings in the same world. Examining the complex issue of body exceptionalism, the book demonstrates that treating the body as property makes human equality harder to comprehend.

Study on Pramana Shareera in relation to Prakriti

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajendra Pai N. ◽  
U. Govindaraju
Keyword(s):  
Observational Study ◽  
Upper Limb ◽  
Lower Limb ◽  
Characteristic Property ◽  
The Body ◽  
Artificial Limbs ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Unit Of Measurement ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Different Parts

Ayurveda in its principle has given importance to individualistic approach rather than generalize. Application of this examination can be clearly seem like even though two patients suffering from same disease, the treatment modality may change depending upon the results of Dashvidha Pariksha. Prakruti and Pramana both used in Dashvidha Pariksha. Both determine the health of the individual and Bala (strength) of Rogi (Patient). Ayurveda followed Swa-angula Pramana as the unit of measurement for measuring the different parts of the body which is prime step assessing patient before treatment. Sushruta and Charaka had stated different Angula Pramana of each Pratyanga (body parts). Specificity is the characteristic property of Swa-angula Pramana. This can be applicable in present era for example artificial limbs. A scientific research includes collection, compilation, analysis and lastly scrutiny of entire findings to arrive at a conclusion. Study of Pramana and its relation with Prakruti was conducted in 1000 volunteers using Prakruti Parkishan proforma with an objective of evaluation of Anguli Pramana in various Prakriti. It was observed co-relating Pramana in each Prakruti and Granthokta Pramana that there is no vast difference in measurement of head, upper limb and lower limb. The observational study shows closer relation of features with classical texts.

Shakespeare’s Dancing Bodies

2019 ◽  
pp. 172-196
Author(s):  
Brandon Shaw
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Modern Dance ◽  
The Body ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Somatic Psychology ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
Romeo And Juliet ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Early Modern Times

Romeo’s well-known excuse that he cannot dance because he has soles of lead is demonstrative of the autonomous volitional quality Shakespeare ascribes to body parts, his utilization of humoral somatic psychology, and the horizontally divided body according to early modern dance practice and theory. This chapter considers the autonomy of and disagreement between the body parts and the unruliness of the humors within Shakespeare’s dramas, particularly Romeo and Juliet. An understanding of the body as a house of conflicting parts can be applied to the feet of the dancing body in early modern times, as is evinced not only by literary texts, but dance manuals as well. The visuality dominating the dance floor provided opportunity for social advancement as well as ridicule, as contemporary sources document. Dance practice is compared with early modern swordplay in their shared approaches to the training and social significance of bodily proportion and rhythm.

scholarly journals Estimation of Motion and Respiratory Characteristics during the Meditation Practice Based on Video Analysis

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 3771
Author(s):  
Alexey Kashevnik ◽  
Walaa Othman ◽  
Igor Ryabchikov ◽  
Nikolay Shilov
Keyword(s):  
Respiratory Rate ◽  
Evaluation System ◽  
Body Movement ◽  
Absolute Error ◽  
The Body ◽  
Meditation Practice ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Mental Health Training ◽  
Negative Thoughts ◽  
The Mean

Meditation practice is mental health training. It helps people to reduce stress and suppress negative thoughts. In this paper, we propose a camera-based meditation evaluation system, that helps meditators to improve their performance. We rely on two main criteria to measure the focus: the breathing characteristics (respiratory rate, breathing rhythmicity and stability), and the body movement. We introduce a contactless sensor to measure the respiratory rate based on a smartphone camera by detecting the chest keypoint at each frame, using an optical flow based algorithm to calculate the displacement between frames, filtering and de-noising the chest movement signal, and calculating the number of real peaks in this signal. We also present an approach to detecting the movement of different body parts (head, thorax, shoulders, elbows, wrists, stomach and knees). We have collected a non-annotated dataset for meditation practice videos consists of ninety videos and the annotated dataset consists of eight videos. The non-annotated dataset was categorized into beginner and professional meditators and was used for the development of the algorithm and for tuning the parameters. The annotated dataset was used for evaluation and showed that human activity during meditation practice could be correctly estimated by the presented approach and that the mean absolute error for the respiratory rate is around 1.75 BPM, which can be considered tolerable for the meditation application.

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