Assessment of the excretion time of electronic capsules placed in the intestinal lumen of cows with cecal dilatation-dislocation, healthy control cows, and cows with left displacement of the abomasum

OBJECTIVE To analyze the transit time from various locations in the intestines of cows with cecal dilatation-dislocation (CDD), healthy control cows, and cows with left displacement of the abomasum (LDA). ANIMALS 15 cows with naturally occurring CDD (group 1), 14 healthy control cows (group 2), and 18 cows with LDA (group 3). PROCEDURES 5 electronic transmitters were encased in capsules and placed in the lumen of the ileum, cecum, proximal portion of the colon, and 2 locations in the spiral colon (colon 1 and colon 2) and used to measure the transit time (ie, time between placement in the lumen and excretion of the capsules from the rectum). Excretion time of the capsules from each intestinal segment was compared among groups. RESULTS Cows recovered well from surgery, except for 1 cow with relapse of CDD 4 days after surgery and 2 cows with incisional infection. High variability in capsule excretion times was observed for all examined intestinal segments in all groups. Significant differences were detected for the excretion time from the colon (greater in cows with CDD than in healthy control cows) and cecum (less in cows with LDA than in cows of the other 2 groups). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE The technique developed to measure excretion time of capsules from bovine intestines was safe and reliable; however, the large variability observed for all intestinal segments and all groups would appear to be a limitation for its use in assessment of intestinal transit time of cattle in future studies.

There is more than "more is up": Hand and foot responses reverse the vertical association of number magnitudes

Recent research in cognitive sciences shows a growing interest in spatial-numerical associations. The horizontal SNARC (spatial-numerical association of response codes) effect is defined by faster left-sided responses to small numbers and faster right-sided responses to large numbers in a parity judgment task. In this study we investigated whether there is also a SNARC effect for upper and lower responses. The grounded cognition approach suggests that the universal experience of "more is up" serves as a robust frame of reference for vertical number representation. In line with this view, lower hand responses to small numbers were faster than to large numbers (Experiment 1). Interestingly, the vertical SNARC effect reversed when the lower responses were given by foot instead of the hand (Experiments 2, 3, and 4). We found faster upper (hand) responses to small numbers and faster lower (foot) responses to large numbers. Additional experiments showed that spatial factors cannot account for the reversal of the vertical SNARC effect (Experiments 4 and 5). Our results question the view of "more is up" as a robust frame of reference for spatial-numerical associations. We discuss our results within a hierarchical framework of numerical cognition and point to a possible link between effectors and number representation.

On vertical electric fields at lunar magnetic anomalies

We study the interaction between a magnetic dipole mimicking the Gerasimovich magnetic anomaly on the lunar surface and the solar wind in a self-consistent 3-D quasi-neutral hybrid simulation where ions are modeled as particles and electrons as a charge-neutralizing fluid. Especially, we consider the origin of the recently observed electric potentials at lunar magnetic anomalies. An antimoonward Hall electric field forms in our simulation resulting in a potential difference of <300V on the lunar surface, in which the value is similar to observations. Since the hybrid model assumes charge neutrality, our results suggest that the electric potentials at lunar magnetic anomalies can be formed by decoupling of ion and electron motion even without charge separation.

Reading performance is not affected by a prism induced increase of horizontal and vertical vergence demand

PURPOSE Dyslexia is the most common developmental reading disorder that affects language skills. Latent strabismus (heterophoria) has been suspected to be causally involved. Even though phoria correction in dyslexic children is commonly applied, the evidence in support of a benefit is poor. In order to provide experimental evidence on this issue, we simulated phoria in healthy readers by modifying the vergence tone required to maintain binocular alignment. METHODS Vergence tone was altered with prisms that were placed in front of one eye in 16 healthy subjects to induce exophoria, esophoria, or vertical phoria. Subjects were to read one paragraph for each condition, from which reading speed was determined. Text comprehension was tested with a forced multiple choice test. Eye movements were recorded during reading and subsequently analyzed for saccadic amplitudes, saccades per 10 letters, percentage of regressive (backward) saccades, average fixation duration, first fixation duration on a word, and gaze duration. RESULTS Acute change of horizontal and vertical vergence tone does neither significantly affect reading performance nor reading associated eye movements. CONCLUSION Prisms in healthy subjects fail to induce a significant change of reading performance. This finding is not compatible with a role of phoria in dyslexia. Our results contrast the proposal for correcting small angle heterophorias in dyslexic children.

Systematic diagonal and vertical errors in antisaccades and memory-guided saccades

Studies of memory-guided saccades in monkeys show an upward bias, while studies of antisaccades in humans show a diagonal effect, a deviation of endpoints toward the 45° diagonal. To determine if these two different spatial biases are specific to different types of saccades, we studied prosaccades, antisaccades and memory-guided saccades in humans. The diagonal effect occurred not with prosaccades but with antisaccades and memory-guided saccades with long intervals, consistent with hypotheses that it originates in computations of goal location under conditions of uncertainty. There was a small upward bias for memory-guided saccades but not prosaccades or antisaccades. Thus this bias is not a general effect of target uncertainty but a property specific to memory-guided saccades.

Ethnography of a Land-Deal. Local Perceptions and Vertical Perspectives of a Large Scale Land Acquisition Project in Northern Sierra Leone

In the aftermath of the devastating civil war, the Sierra Leonean government created favourable conditions for foreign investors willing to lease large areas of land to bring development to the country. A team of anthropologists and geographers did extensive fieldwork on the Addax Bioenergy Project in order to a) document the project affected people’s (PAP) perceptions and interests on a horizontal level and b) identify the different actors that are necessary for the implementation of such a project on the vertical level. Findings indicate that the project triggers a number of processes: Cultural and linguistic differences between PAP and company, their diverse understanding of development and the stance of local elites led to misunderstandings concerning each other’s responsibilities and created a lot of frustration on both sides. Further, the loss of natural resources that comes along with the land lease affects mostly women and other vulnerable groups.

Ethnography of a Land-Deal. Local Perceptions and Vertical Perspectives of a Large Scale Land Acquisition Project in Northern Sierra Leone

Despite an increased scientific interest in the relatively new phenomenon of large-scale land acquisition (LSLA), data on processes on the local level remain sparse and superficial. However, knowledge about the concrete implementation of LSLA projects and the different impacts they have on the heterogeneous group of project affected people is indispensable for a deepened understanding of the phenomenon. In order to address this research gap, a team of two anthropologists and a human geographer conducted in-depth fieldwork on the LSLA project of Swiss based Addax Bioenergy in Sierra Leone. After the devastating civil war, the Sierra Leonean government created favourable conditions for foreign investors willing to lease large areas of land and to bring “development” to the country. Being one of the numerous investing companies, Addax Bioenergy has leased 57’000 hectares of land to develop a sugarcane plantation and an ethanol factory to produce biofuel for the export to the European market. Based on participatory observation, qualitative interview techniques and a network analysis, the research team aimed a) at identifying the different actors that were necessary for the implementation of this project on a vertical level and b) exploring various impacts of the project in the local context of two villages on a horizontal level. The network analysis reveals a complex pattern of companies, institutions, nongovernmental organisations and prominent personalities acting within a shifting technological and discursive framework linking global scales to a unique local context. Findings from the latter indicate that affected people initially welcomed the project but now remain frustrated since many promises and expectations have not been fulfilled. Although some local people are able to benefit from the project, the loss of natural resources that comes along with the land lease affects livelihoods of vulnerable groups – especially women and land users – considerably. However, this research doesn’t only disclose impacts on local people’s previous lives but also addresses strategies they adopt in the newly created situation that has opened up alternative spaces for renegotiations of power and legitimatisation. Therewith, this explorative study reveals new aspects of LSLA that have not been considered adequately by the investing company nor by the general academic discourse on LSLA.

Placing Displacement: Place-making in a World of Movement

Over the last two decades, there has been a radical shift in anthropology from stable, rooted and mappable identities to fluid, transitory and migratory forms of belonging. Displacement has become the new trope through which anthropologists have come to look at the world. As a result, place has received an ambiguous position. Focusing on the life experiences of one Somali refugee woman living in Melbourne and her engagement with place, this article questions the current emphasis on space and boundlessness in anthropological discourses on displacement. It argues that rather than developing theoretical concepts that bypass people's experiences, the zooming in on individuals' lifeworlds allows for a close look at the particularity and everydayness of being-in-place. It shows the need for a more complex and nuanced view of displacement – one that values people's lived experiences and one that takes the placement in displacement more seriously.

Local Perceptions and Vertical Perspectives of a Large Scale Land Acquisition Project in Northern Sierra Leone

Despite increased scientific interest in the phenomenon of large-scale land acquisitions (LSLA), accurate data on implementation processes remain sparse. This paper aims at filling this gap by providing empirical in-depth knowledge on the case of the Swiss-based Addax Bioenergy Ltd. in Sierra Leone. Extensive fieldwork allowed the interdisciplinary research team 1) the identification of different actors that are necessary for the implementation on a vertical level and 2) the documentation of the heterogeneous group of project affected people’s perceptions and strategies on a horizontal level. Findings reveal that even a project labeled as best-practice example by UN agencies triggers a number of problematic processes for affected communities. The loss of natural resources that comes along with the land lease and the lack of employment possibilities mostly affects already vulnerable groups. On the other hand, strategies and resistance of local people also affect the project implementation. This shows that the horizontal and vertical levels are not separate entities. They are linked by social networks, social interactions, and means of communication and both levels take part in shaping the project’s impacts.

Vertical mobility in the Swiss Alps. The alpine pass Schnidejoch and indications of early pastoralism.

Since 2003 a melting ice field on the Schnidejoch pass (2756 a.s.l) delivered several hundred objects from the Neolithic, the Bronze and Iron Age as well as from Roman and Early Medieval times. The oldest finds date to the beginning 5th millennium BC, the youngest ones date around 1000 AD. Most of the objects stem from the Neolithic and the Bronze Age and are of organic origin. A series of more than 70 radiocarbon dates confirms that the Schnidejoch pass, linking the Bernese Highlands with the River Rhone valley, was in use at least from 4800–4500 BC on. The accessibility of the pass was easy when the glaciers descending from the nearby Wildhorn mountain range (peak on 3248 a.s.l) were in a retreating phase. In contrary glacier advances closed the way to the pass. In 2010 a palaeoecological study of sediment cores researched nearby Lake Iffig (2065 m a.s.l.). The results show clear indications of early human impact in this alpine area. Linking archaeological finds from Schnidejoch pass and River Rhone valley with the palaeoecological data can be interpreted as early indications of alpine pastoralism and transhumance. The combined archaeological and paleoecolical research allows to explain vertical mobility in the Swiss Alps.

Vertical and Horizontal Vegetation Structure across Natural and Modified Habitat Types at Mount Kilimanjaro

In most habitats, vegetation provides the main structure of the environment. This complexity can facilitate biodiversity and ecosystem services. Therefore, measures of vegetation structure can serve as indicators in ecosystem management. However, many structural measures are laborious and require expert knowledge. Here, we used consistent and convenient measures to assess vegetation structure over an exceptionally broad elevation gradient of 866–4550m above sea level at Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Additionally, we compared (human)-modified habitats, including maize fields, traditionally managed home gardens, grasslands, commercial coffee farms and logged and burned forests with natural habitats along this elevation gradient. We distinguished vertical and horizontal vegetation structure to account for habitat complexity and heterogeneity. Vertical vegetation structure (assessed as number, width and density of vegetation layers, maximum canopy height, leaf area index and vegetation cover) displayed a unimodal elevation pattern, peaking at intermediate elevations in montane forests, whereas horizontal structure (assessed as coefficient of variation of number, width and density of vegetation layers, maximum canopy height, leaf area index and vegetation cover) was lowest at intermediate altitudes. Overall, vertical structure was consistently lower in modified than in natural habitat types, whereas horizontal structure was inconsistently different in modified than in natural habitat types, depending on the specific structural measure and habitat type. Our study shows how vertical and horizontal vegetation structure can be assessed efficiently in various habitat types in tropical mountain regions, and we suggest to apply this as a tool for informing future biodiversity and ecosystem service studies.

Induction of root-resistance by leaf-herbivory follows a vertical gradient

Leaf-herbivory can lead to systemic changes in root metabolism and resistance. As yet, it is unknown if these changes affect the whole root system, or if they are more pronounced in the upper root parts, which are closer to the actual site of attack. As this spatial aspect may be an important determinant of the interactions that can be expected to occur within the rhizosphere, we investigated if leaf-herbivore induced root resistance differs between upper and lower roots of maize. We also tested if the density of leaf-herbivores correlates with intensity of the root response. The systemic increase in resistance was found to be more pronounced in the upper than the lower roots and was independent of leaf herbivore density. The results suggest that there is a vertical gradient in the strength of the root response following leaf-herbivory, and that soil organisms living closer to the surface may be more affected by leaf-attack than the ones living in deeper soil layers.