The Behavioral Ecology of the Tibetan Macaque

This open access book summarizes the multi-disciplinary results of one of China’s main primatological research projects on the endemic Tibetan macaque (Macaca thibetana), which had continued for over 30 years, but which had never been reported on systematically. Dedicated to this exceptional Old World monkey, this book makes the work of Chinese primatologists on the social behavior, cooperation, culture, cognition, group dynamics, and emerging technologies in primate research accessible to the international scientific community

Spacious Minds, Empty Selves: Coping and Resilience in the Tibetan Exile Community

Mental health in the Tibetan refugee community has been studied extensively; but like most research on political violence, these studies focus almost exclusively on trauma. We know little about those who manage to thrive and what kinds of sociocultural practices enhance their resilience. This dissertation, "Spacious Minds, Empty Selves: Coping and Resilience in the Tibetan Exile Community" investigates how Buddhism and other sociocultural factors support coping and resilience among Tibetan refugees living in Dharamsala, India. In contrast to other work that focuses exclusively on trauma, the aim of this project was to examine the broad range of reactions to political violence, exploring how people thrive in the face of adversity. Drawing on 14 months of extended participant observation and 80 in-depth interviews conducted in the Tibetan language, this project investigates how communities through social processes cope in the context of political violence and resettlement. The study draws upon and aims to extend theory in three distinct but overlapping areas: 1) trauma and resilience; 2) the anthropology of memory and temporality; and 3) the transferability of interventions across cultures. The dissertation argues that the Tibetan concept of resilience is more an active process than a personality attribute. Seeing emotions as impermanent and changing, Tibetans living in exile are reticent to dwell on distress, which seems only to stagnate or prolong suffering. Rather than processing the details of traumatic events, members of this community attempt to transform distress through cultural practices that emphasize compassion and impermanence. Many forms of coping in Dharamsala work to create a greater sense of spaciousness, openness and flexibility within the mind--qualities associated with resilience and wellbeing. In practicing flexibility, the durability of negative emotions is diminished, such that the encoding of trauma is derailed and disrupted. The contribution I make involves using a "resilience imaginary" as a fruitful site for pushing the boundaries of how we understand human freedom and agency

The Behavioral Ecology of the Tibetan Macaque

This open access book summarizes the multi-disciplinary results of one of China’s main primatological research projects on the endemic Tibetan macaque (Macaca thibetana), which had continued for over 30 years, but which had never been reported on systematically. Dedicated to this exceptional Old World monkey, this book makes the work of Chinese primatologists on the social behavior, cooperation, culture, cognition, group dynamics, and emerging technologies in primate research accessible to the international scientific community. One of the most impressive Asian monkeys, and the largest member of its genus, the Tibetan macaque deserves to be better known. This volume goes a long way towards bringing this species into the spotlight with many excellent behavioral analyses from the field. - Frans de Waal, Professor of Psychology, Emory University, USA. Macaques matter. To understand primate patterns and trends, and to gain important insight into humanity, we need to augment and expand our engagement with the most successful and widespread primate genus aside from Homo. This volume focuses on the Tibetan macaque, a fascinating species with much to tell us about social behavior, physiology, complexity and the macaque knack for interfacing with humans. This book is doubly important for primatology in that beyond containing core information on this macaque species, it also reflects an effective integrated collaboration between Chinese scholars and a range of international colleagues—exactly the type of collaborative engagement primatology needs. This volume is a critical contribution to a global primatology. - Agustín Fuentes, Professor of Anthropology, University of Notre Dame, USA. I have many fond memories of my association with Mt. Huangshan research beginning in 1983, when together with Professor Qishan Wang we established this site. It is such a beautiful place and I miss it. It is gratifying to see how far research has progressed since we began work there, becoming more internationalized and very much a collaborative endeavor under the long-term direction of Professor Jin-Hua Li and colleagues. This book highlights the increased interest in this species, representing a variety of disciplines ranging from macro aspects of behavior, cognition and sociality, to micro aspects of microbes, parasites and disease, authored by a group of renowned Chinese and international primatologists. I applaud their efforts and expect more interesting work to come from this site in the years ahead. - Kazuo Wada, Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University, Japan

Global assessment of sand and dust storms

The specific objectives of the assessment are to: 1) Synthesise and highlight the environmental and socio-economic causes and impacts of SDS, as well as available technical measures for their mitigation, at the local, regional and global levels; 2) Show how the mitigation of SDS can yield multiple sustainable development benefits; 3) Synthesize information on current policy responses for mitigating SDS and 4) Present options for an improved strategy for mitigating SDS at the local, regional and global levels, building on existing institutions and agreements

Themes in cultural psychiatry, an annotated bibliography, 1975-1980

Includes bibliographical references and index.While expanding on the previous compilation, Anthropological and Cross-Cultural Themes in Mental Health: An Annotated Bibliography, 1925-1974, Favazza anthologizes the next five years of literature on cultural psychiatry. The magnitude of material during this time period allowed Favazza to broaden the scope from cultural psychiatric themes in psychiatric and psychological journals to also include anthropological journals, non-English-language journals, and books as well.Introduction -- Journals cited in annotations -- Annotations -- Secondary author index -- Subject index.Digitized at the University of Missouri--Columbia MU Libraries Digitization Lab in 2012. Digitized at 600 dpi with Zeutschel, OS 15000 scanner. Access copy, available in MOspace, is 400 dpi, grayscale

Characterization of pulmonary hypertension status and utilization of multi-omics analyses to discover variants that may inform selection against high mean pulmonary arterial pressure in Angus cattle

2020 Fall.Includes bibliographical references.This multi-part research characterizes pulmonary hypertension (PH) from a physiologic and genetic point of view using the indicator trait mean pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP). Three aims were designed to address the research objective of investigating the genetics underlying PAP for the purposes of variant discovery. The first aim sought to identify different PAP phenotypes based on altitude and diet during the stocker and finishing phases of production. This longitudinal study evaluated steers with a moderate PAP (41-48 mmHg) from yearling age until harvest, collecting PAP and blood gas parameters throughout the study and carcass data at the conclusion. Through this experimental approach, the role of different finishing systems was able to be evaluated and cattle with increased sensitivity to hypoxic conditions were identified. Results from this study indicated that regardless of finishing system, animals exhibited signs of respiratory alkalosis with renal compensation because of hypoxic conditions. The PAP data from this population corroborated that all steers were hypoxic. However, the only carcass quality differences observed were those between cattle that were grain finished compared to those that were grass finished, regardless of altitude. Aim two was to perform next-generation whole genome sequencing for 30 Angus bulls and steers to compare those with high PAP (HPAP) to those with low PAP (LPAP) measures. All cattle sequenced originated from elevations ≥1,500m and were selected based on their pedigree information, as well as PAP observations. The sequence data from these 30 animals were then compared such that sequence from HPAP cattle was compared to that of LPAP cattle. There were 5,543 variants unique to HPAP cattle and 1,690 variants unique to LPAP cattle. Loci across all 30 chromosomes exhibited variation for PAP phenotype. Evaluation of these variants and validation will be necessary to sift through variants that are in linkage or may be less informative. A multi-omics approach was used to perform variant discovery based on the PAP phenotype in aim three. Through combination of RNA sequence with DNA sequence, the list of variants relevant to PAP phenotype was filtered from millions of variants to hundreds of variants. Transcriptome data was compared for each of six tissues between HPAP and LPAP cattle. These variants were then compared to one another to determine which variants were detected in each PAP category across all six tissue types. Those variants were then compared to the DNA sequence from aim two to elucidate concordant variants for HPAP and LPAP cattle respectively. There were three variants that were unique to LPAP cattle and were concordant between DNA and RNA sequence. However, none of these variants were within 1,000bp of a gene recognized in the ARS-UCD1.2 bovine genome assembly and were therefore considered less informative. There were 523 variants unique to HPAP cattle. Within that population there was a subset that was either near or within a gene. There were six genes that were considered informative for further investigation. Three of those genes were uncharacterized genes on chromosome 16. The other three (U6, SIMC1, CDH23), while not well documented in cattle, had functions in humans that would indicate their function could affect PAP phenotype expression. These genes and the variants within them could be useful for selection if validated in a larger population

The sylvatic and synanthropic cycles of Echinococcus SPP., Taenia SPP. and Toxocara SPP. in Portugal : coprologic and molecular diagnosis in canids

Dissertação de Mestrado Integrado em Medicina VeterináriaEchinococcus spp., Taenia spp. and Toxocara spp. are important parasites of domestic and wild canids and neglected zoonotic helminths. Despite their relevance in Public Health, little is known about their prevalence in Portugal. An epidemiological study was conducted to clarify the role of canids in the sylvatic and synanthropic cycles of these pathogens in our country. Fecal samples from dog (n = 51), red fox (n = 62) and Iberian wolf (n = 68) were collected from two regions. Toxocara spp. and taeniid eggs were isolated through a Sieving-flotation technique. Species identification in taeniids was made using Multiplex-PCR followed by sequencing of amplified material; in Toxocara spp. by measuring the eggs. Taenia hydatigena, T. serialis, T. pisiformis, T. polyacantha, Echinococcus canadensis (G7) and Toxocara canis were detected in wolves. This was the first time taeniid species were studied in Portuguese Iberian wolf populations, with the first records of T. polyacantha and E. canadensis in Iberian wolves. T. hydatigena and Toxocara canis were found in both dogs and foxes and T. polyacantha in foxes. Dogs were considered the most important link between domestic and synanthropic cycles but wolves and foxes can be regarded as the most relevant hosts in maintaining the sylvatic and synanthropic cycles of taeniids and Toxocara spp., respectively. Control programs should consider these species as part of their measures, and dogs, since they are more easily reached, should be dewormed more frequently.RESUMO - OS CICLOS SILVÁTICOS E SINANTRÓPICOS DE ECHINOCOCCUS SPP., TAENIA SPP. E TOXOCARA SPP. EM PORTUGAL: DIAGNÓSTICO COPROLÓGICO E MOLECULAR EM CANÍDEOS - Echinococcus spp., Taenia spp. e Toxocara spp. são parasitas importantes de canídeos domésticos e silvestres e agentes de zoonoses negligenciadas. Apesar da sua relevância em Saúde Pública, pouca informação existe acerca da prevalência em Portugal. Foi realizado um estudo epidemiológico para compreender o papel que espécies de canídeos poderiam desempenhar nos ciclos silvático e sinantrópico destes parasitas no nosso país. Foram recolhidas amostras fecais de cão (n =51), raposa (n = 62) e lobo ibérico (n = 68) de duas regiões. Os ovos de Toxocara spp. e de tenídeos foram isolados por uma técnica de Filtração-Flutuação. As espécies de tenídeos foram identificadas por Multiplex-PCR e sequenciação do material amplificado; para Toxocara spp. foram medidos os ovos. Em lobos foram detectadas as espécies Taenia hydatigena, T. serialis, T. pisiformis, T. polyacantha, Echinococcus canadensis (G7) e Toxocara canis, sendo este o primeiro estudo das espécies de tenídeos na população portuguesa de lobo ibérico. T. polyacantha e E. canadensis (G7) foram detectados pela primeira vez em lobo ibérico. T. hydatigena e Toxocara canis foram encontrados em raposas e cães e T. polyacantha apenas nas raposas. Considerou-se que os cães serão o principal elo de ligação entre os ciclos doméstico e sinantrópico, enquanto os lobos e as raposas o serão para os ciclos silvático e sinantrópico de tenideos e Toxocara spp., respectivamente. As medidas dos programas de controlo deverão, por isso, focar-se também nestas espécies, e os cães, por serem mais facilmente manipulados, devem ser desparasitados mais frequentemente