Reading Prehistoric Human Tracks

This Open Access book explains that after long periods of prehistoric research in which the importance of the archaeological as well as the natural context of rock art has been constantly underestimated, research has now begun to take this context into focus for documentation, analysis, interpretation and understanding. Human footprints are prominent among the long-time under-researched features of the context in caves with rock art. In order to compensate for this neglect an innovative research program has been established several years ago that focuses on the merging of indigenous knowledge and western archaeological science for the benefit of both sides. The book gathers first the methodological diversity in the analysis of human tracks. Here major representatives of anthropological, statistical and traditional approaches feature the multi-layered methods available for the analysis of human tracks. Second it compiles case studies from around the globe of prehistoric human tracks. For the first time, the most important sites which have been found worldwide are published in a single publication. The third focus of this book is on firsthand experiences of researchers with indigenous tracking experts from around the globe, expounding on how archaeological sciencecan benefit from the ancestral knowledge. This book will be of interest to professional archaeologists, graduate students, ecologists, cultural anthropologists and laypeople, especially those focussing on hunting-gathering and pastoralist communities and who appreciate indigenous knowledge

Incomes, functionings and capabilities: the well-being of disabled people in Britain

The central objective of this thesis is to explore whether the capability approach can be operationalised, using the well-being of disabled people in Britain as a case study. The capability approach proposes a shift away from measuring utility and income poverty towards identifying functionings (the states of being and activities which individuals achieve), and capabilities (the different combinations of functionings which individuals have the opportunity to achieve). To date there have been few empirical applications and many concerns about the usefulness of the approach remain. Disabled people are an interesting case study for the capability approach because of the challenge to conventional measures of well-being issued by the social model of disability: that we should move away from measuring individual deficits towards focusing on the barriers individuals with impairments experience in attempting to lead the lives they want to lead. The capability approach has the potential, in theory, to meet this challenge. In addition to providing in-depth analysis of the position of disabled people in society, the thesis makes three contributions, one theoretical and two methodological. The theoretical development is the distinction between capability as opportunity and capability as autonomy, that is, the distinction between an approach which treats preferences as exogenous and one which takes seriously the problem of conditioned expectations. The innovative methodologies are, firstly, the extension of techniques of equivalisation of income to take account of variations in needs due to disability, and, secondly, quantifying whether a particular functioning is within an individual's capability set. The thesis concludes that relatively straightforward adjustments to conventional poverty measures improve their validity. For fuller application of the capability approach, although there is a trade-off between conceptual soundness and complexity of data requirements, informative measures of opportunity and autonomy can be derived from existing survey data

Using MapReduce Streaming for Distributed Life Simulation on the Cloud

Distributed software simulations are indispensable in the study of large-scale life models but often require the use of technically complex lower-level distributed computing frameworks, such as MPI. We propose to overcome the complexity challenge by applying the emerging MapReduce (MR) model to distributed life simulations and by running such simulations on the cloud. Technically, we design optimized MR streaming algorithms for discrete and continuous versions of Conway’s life according to a general MR streaming pattern. We chose life because it is simple enough as a testbed for MR’s applicability to a-life simulations and general enough to make our results applicable to various lattice-based a-life models. We implement and empirically evaluate our algorithms’ performance on Amazon’s Elastic MR cloud. Our experiments demonstrate that a single MR optimization technique called strip partitioning can reduce the execution time of continuous life simulations by 64%. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to propose and evaluate MR streaming algorithms for lattice-based simulations. Our algorithms can serve as prototypes in the development of novel MR simulation algorithms for large-scale lattice-based a-life models.https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/scs_books/1014/thumbnail.jp

Predicting biodiversity loss in insular neotropical forest habitat patches

Neotropical forests have experienced high rates of biodiversity loss as a result of burgeoning land-use changes. Habitat conversion into cropland, pastures, and more recently hydroelectric lakes, are leading drivers of forest loss and fragmentation of pristine forests in the world’s most biodiverse region. This thesis aims to improve our understanding of the impacts of habitat fragmentation on biodiversity loss in Neotropical forests by evaluating the patterns of floristic changes and vertebrate extinctions in forest patches. Two approaches at different scales were conducted. First, a systematic literature review was carried out on the effects of fragmentation on Neotropical primates at a continental-scale. Second, biodiversity inventories were conducted on medium and large bodied vertebrates (including mammals, birds and tortoises) and trees ≥10 cm diameter at breast height at 37 islands and three continuous forest sites within the Balbina Hydroelectric Reservoir in Brazilian Amazonia. Patch area was a key driver of species persistence for all study taxa, yet other factors were also important. Hunting pressure exerted a strong influence on patterns of primate persistence within 760 fragments, and edge effects, including edge-related ground-fires, were the main predictors of floristic transitions using data from 87 quarter hectare forest-plots at Balbina. Additionally, matrix composition and species life-history traits played a key role in explaining patterns of species persistence. This study therefore highlights the importance of considering anthropogenic stressors in assessing the effects of land-use change to explain patterns of species persistence in forest patches, aside from including parameters related to the matrix and ecological life history traits of focal species. As conservation recommendations, prioritising large (>100 ha) patches, increasing their protection, and enhancing connectivity of surrounding habitats becomes clearly important. For future Amazonian dams, it is recommended that engineers should consider the overall topography of planned reservoirs to maximise landscape connectivity and/or reject plans targeting unfavourable river basins

Muscle activation patterns in shoulder impingement patients

Introduction: Shoulder impingement is one of the most common presentations of shoulder joint problems 1. It appears to be caused by a reduction in the sub-acromial space as the humerus abducts between 60o -120o – the 'painful arc'. Structures between the humeral head and the acromion are thus pinched causing pain and further pathology 2. Shoulder muscle activity can influence this joint space but it is unclear whether this is a cause or effect in impingement patients. This study aimed to observe muscle activation patterns in normal and impingement shoulder patients and determine if there were any significant differences. Method: 19 adult subjects were asked to perform shoulder abduction in their symptomatic arm and non-symptomatic. 10 of these subjects (age 47.9 ± 11.2) were screened for shoulder impingement, and 9 subjects (age 38.9 ± 14.3) had no history of shoulder pathology. Surface EMG was used to collect data for 6 shoulder muscles (Upper, middle and lower trapezius, serratus anterior, infraspinatus, middle deltoids) which was then filtered and fully rectified. Subjects performed 3 smooth unilateral abduction movements at a cadence of 16 beats of a metronome set at 60bpm, and the mean of their results was recorded. T-tests were used to indicate any statistical significance in the data sets. Significance was set at P<0.05. Results: There was a significant difference in muscle activation with serratus anterior in particular showing a very low level of activation throughout the range when compared to normal shoulder activation patterns (<30%). Middle deltoid recruitment was significantly reduced between 60-90o in the impingement group (30:58%).Trends were noted in other muscles with upper trapezius and infraspinatus activating more rapidly and erratically (63:25%; 60:27% respectively), and lower trapezius with less recruitment (13:30%) in the patient group, although these did not quite reach significance. Conclusion: There appears to be some interesting alterations in muscle recruitment patterns in impingement shoulder patients when compared against their own unaffected shoulders and the control group. In particular changes in scapula control (serratus anterior and trapezius) and lateral rotation (infraspinatus), which have direct influence on the sub-acromial space, should be noted. It is still not clear whether these alterations are causative or reactionary, but this finding gives a clear indication to the importance of addressing muscle reeducation as part of a rehabilitation programme in shoulder impingement patients

Beyond Enlightenment: The Evolution of Agency and the Modularity of the Mind in a Post-Darwinian World

Working out of the social and philosophical revolutions from the Enlightenment, contemporary action theory has unwittingly inherited several Cartesian ideas regarding the human mind: that it is unified, rational, and transparent. As a result, we have for too long conceived of action as intimately bound up with reason such that to act at all is to act for a reason, leaving us with theoretical difficulties in accounting for the behavior of non-human animals as well as irrational behavior in human beings. But rather than propose that such difficulties can be resolved by retreating to a pre-Enlightenment view of human nature, the solution is to make the philosophical turn and embrace the insights that have been secured by Charles Darwin. It is a post-Darwinian evolutionary worldview that can shed some new light on these traditional problems. Two such innovations from the theory of evolution have been evolutionary explanations, which attempt to understand the functions of organisms as having developed in response to environmental pressures, and modular theory, which views organisms as composed of parts with highly specialized functions. Taking these evolutionary ideas together along with the assumption of biological continuity—that there is a developmental history shared by living organisms—we can begin to conceive of more robust theories of action, mind, and human nature. Contrary to Enlightenment conceptions, reason emerges as just one mental process alongside many, the mind appears anything but Cartesian, and agency begins far earlier along the spectrum of life than we have been supposing

Disease-associated modulation of adult hippocampal neurogenesis

Adult neurogenesis has been the focus of over 1500 articles in the past 10 years. Evidence for the continuous production of new neurons in the adult brain has raised hopes for new therapeutic approaches. On the other hand, the generation of new neurons is modulated in several neurological diseases and disorders, suggesting the involvement of the adult neurogenesis in their pathogenesis. Therefore, a better understanding of the disease-associated modulation of adult neurogenesis is essential for determining the most effective therapeutic strategy. The purpose of this doctoral project was to investigate long-term adult hippocampal neurogenesis changes in two disease models. BrdU labeling in combination with various cellular markers, and genetic fate-mapping approach were used to reach this goal. In the first experiment, the impact of the BeAN strain of the Theiler’s virus on hippocampal cell proliferation and neuronal progenitors was evaluated in two mouse strains which differ in the disease course. It was shown that Theiler’s murine encephalomyelitis virus can exert delayed effects on the hippocampal neurogenesis with long-term changes evident 90 days following the infection. The hippocampal changes proved to depend on strain susceptibility and might have been affected by microglial cells. In the second experiment, hippocampal neurogenesis was analyzed based on genetic fate mapping of transgenic animals in the amygdala-kindling model of epilepsy. The number of new granule neurons added to the dentate gyrus was increased in kindled animals. A prior seizure history proved to be sufficient to induce a long-term net effect on neuron addition and an ongoing occurrence of seizures did not further increase the number of new neurons. Hypertrophic astrocytes were observed in the kindled animals suggesting that seizures result in structural changes of astrocytes that could be detected long after the termination of the insults. The results of the experiments indicated the importance of methodological considerations in chronic studies of neurogenesis

Foetal programming of brain function and behaviour : A behavioural and molecular characterisation of a murine placental imprinted gene deletion model

Foetal programming describes the process whereby exposure to environmental stimuli or insults during early development can lead to enduring change in structure and function in later life. This concept has found much support in terms of altered metabolic and cardiovascular function from a range of epidemiological and animal studies, but more recent work is highlighting the role that poor foetal nutrition may have on the development of behavioural and psychiatric problems. The biological mechanisms underlying nutritional programming remain uncertain, however compromised placental deficiency and/or foetal endocrine systems (particularly the IGF axis), have been considered to be of paramount importance at the nexus of this foetal-environmental interplay. In the present study, two knockout mouse models of the imprinted Igf2 gene were used to investigate the effects of placental deficiency and foetal growth restriction on brain development and behaviour in later life. Total deletion of the Igf2 gene (7g/2-Null KO) leads to complete ablation of Igf2 expression from all foetal and placental tissue, severe growth deficiency of both the foetus and placenta, and a mouse that is born small (50% of normal size) and remains small for life. However, the Igf2-0 knockout (Igf2-P0 KO) model, where Igf2 expression is only suppressed in the placenta (deletion of the P0 promoter) results in moderate foetal and placental growth retardation and an adult of equivalent size of normal. Intrauterine growth restricted mice from both Igf2 knockout models were tested on a wide range of behavioural batteries, and performance compared with that of wild-type littermates. Since epidemiological studies of humans have commonly demonstrated linkage between nutritional compromise in early life, and ADHD symptoms and anxiety disorders in later life, behavioural tasks sensitive to these behavioural phenotypes were selected for the purpose of present experiments. 7g/2-P0 KO mice displayed heightened levels of stress and anxiety, as indicated by greater startle responses and a marked increase in avoidance behaviour on several conflict-based tests of anxiety. Mice from both Igf2 knockout models exhibited heightened discriminative accuracy in the 5-choice serial reaction time task, but Tg/2-PO KO mice also showed enhanced impulse control. Real-time qPCR revealed differential expression of both GABA- and 5-HT-ergic receptor subtypes in the hippocampus of Igf2-Q KO mice, which may correlate with the observed stress and anxiety related phenotypes. Moreover, alternate splicing of the 5-HT2C receptor in the striatum could underlie the increased impulse control shown by ig/2-P0 KO mice. While the findings of elevated anxiety levels among the Igf2-P0 KO mice are in line with previous work on humans and animals, the heightened attentional performance and impulse control is entirely novel and highlight the importance of further research on the relationship between early life adversities and later ADHD risk