Efficacy of different cooling methods for capture-induced hyperthermia in antelope

The capture of wild animals is a stressful event which may cause a capture-induced hyperthermia, resulting in morbidity or mortality. We investigated whether various cooling techniques were effective at lowering the body temperature of hyperthermic animals. To achieve this, we implanted miniature temperature-sensitive data loggers into the abdomens of 12 blesbok (Damaliscus pygargus phillipsi ). Five animals were cooled by dousing with water of different temperatures (4°C, 17°C, 28°C) and fanning after dousing with 28°C water. Seven animals were cooled by ice-packs, a fine mist spray of 28°C water, intravenous (IV) infusion of one litre of 4°C saline solution or 28°C water-dousing. The body temperature after capture was significantly elevated to as high as 41°C to 42°C. Water-dousing interventions significantly decreased minimum body temperature but there was no difference in the minimumbody temperature reached or the magnitude of cooling between the different water temperatures or by the addition of fanning. The ice-packs also lowered body temperature, whereas mist spraying did not.The use of ice packs and dousing with water between 4°C and 28°C were the most effective techniques to reduce capture-induced hyperthermia in blesbok.Water-dousing,when done appropriately, is the most practical and effective method to cool an animal with capture-induced hyperthermia.This study was funded by the National Research Foundation, South Africa.http://www.sawma.co.za/am201

Body temperature, activity patterns and hunting in free-living cheetah : biologging reveals new insights

As one of the few felids that is predominantly diurnal, cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) can be exposed to high heat loads in their natural habitat. Little is known about long‐term patterns of body temperature and activity (including hunting) in cheetahs because long‐term concurrent measurements of body temperature and activity have never been reported for cheetahs, or, indeed, for any free‐living felid. We report here body temperature and locomotor activity measured with implanted data loggers over 7 months in 5 free‐living cheetahs in Namibia. Air temperature ranged from a maximum of 39 °C in summer to −2 °C in winter. Cheetahs had higher (∼0.4 °C) maximum 24‐h body temperatures, later acrophase (∼1 h), with larger fluctuations in the range of the 24‐h body temperature rhythm (approximately 0.4 °C) during a hot‐dry period than during a cool‐dry period, but maintained homeothermy irrespective of the climatic conditions. As ambient temperatures increased, the cheetahs shifted from a diurnal to a crepuscular activity pattern, with reduced activity between 900 and 1500 hours and increased nocturnal activity. The timing of hunts followed the general pattern of activity; the cheetahs hunted when they were on the move. Cheetahs hunted if an opportunity presented itself; on occasion they hunted in the midday heat or in total darkness (new moon). Biologging revealed insights into cheetah biology that are not accessible by traditional observer‐based techniques.Supplementary Material: Table S1 Prey identified after 38 successful hunts. Figure S1 An original record of 10‐min recordings of body temperature from a single free‐living female cheetah (female 1, panel B) and the prevailing black globe temperature recorded at a nearby weather station (panel A) over the 7‐month study period (October to May).The National Research Foundation of South Africa and a Carnegie Large Research Grant.https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/17494877hj2020Paraclinical Science

Measurement of the cosmic ray spectrum above 4×10184{\times}10^{18} eV using inclined events detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory

A measurement of the cosmic-ray spectrum for energies exceeding $4{\times}10^{18}$ eV is presented, which is based on the analysis of showers with zenith angles greater than $60^{\circ}$ detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2013. The measured spectrum confirms a flux suppression at the highest energies. Above $5.3{\times}10^{18}$ eV, the "ankle", the flux can be described by a power law $E^{-\gamma}$ with index $\gamma=2.70 \pm 0.02 \,\text{(stat)} \pm 0.1\,\text{(sys)}$ followed by a smooth suppression region. For the energy ($E_\text{s}$) at which the spectral flux has fallen to one-half of its extrapolated value in the absence of suppression, we find $E_\text{s}=(5.12\pm0.25\,\text{(stat)}^{+1.0}_{-1.2}\,\text{(sys)}){\times}10^{19}$ eV.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Energy Estimation of Cosmic Rays with the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) is part of the Pierre Auger Observatory and is used to detect the radio emission of cosmic-ray air showers. These observations are compared to the data of the surface detector stations of the Observatory, which provide well-calibrated information on the cosmic-ray energies and arrival directions. The response of the radio stations in the 30 to 80 MHz regime has been thoroughly calibrated to enable the reconstruction of the incoming electric field. For the latter, the energy deposit per area is determined from the radio pulses at each observer position and is interpolated using a two-dimensional function that takes into account signal asymmetries due to interference between the geomagnetic and charge-excess emission components. The spatial integral over the signal distribution gives a direct measurement of the energy transferred from the primary cosmic ray into radio emission in the AERA frequency range. We measure 15.8 MeV of radiation energy for a 1 EeV air shower arriving perpendicularly to the geomagnetic field. This radiation energy -- corrected for geometrical effects -- is used as a cosmic-ray energy estimator. Performing an absolute energy calibration against the surface-detector information, we observe that this radio-energy estimator scales quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy as expected for coherent emission. We find an energy resolution of the radio reconstruction of 22% for the data set and 17% for a high-quality subset containing only events with at least five radio stations with signal.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Measurement of the Radiation Energy in the Radio Signal of Extensive Air Showers as a Universal Estimator of Cosmic-Ray Energy

We measure the energy emitted by extensive air showers in the form of radio emission in the frequency range from 30 to 80 MHz. Exploiting the accurate energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory, we obtain a radiation energy of 15.8 \pm 0.7 (stat) \pm 6.7 (sys) MeV for cosmic rays with an energy of 1 EeV arriving perpendicularly to a geomagnetic field of 0.24 G, scaling quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy. A comparison with predictions from state-of-the-art first-principle calculations shows agreement with our measurement. The radiation energy provides direct access to the calorimetric energy in the electromagnetic cascade of extensive air showers. Comparison with our result thus allows the direct calibration of any cosmic-ray radio detector against the well-established energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Supplemental material in the ancillary file

Author Correction: Drivers of seedling establishment success in dryland restoration efforts

1 Pág. Correción errata.In the version of this Article originally published, the surname of author Tina Parkhurst was incorrectly written as Schroeder. This has now been corrected.Peer reviewe

Society and materials, a series of regular seminars based on a dialog between soft and hard sciences

An informal community has regularly organized annual conferences in Europe since 2007, on the connection between core commodities like materials and society and societal challenges: they are called SAM (Society and Materials). The approach is trans- and multi-disciplinary. Thus, sociologists, historians, architects, political scientists and policymakers, engineers, material scientists, life cycle community experts, business people and philosophers come together each year in cohorts of about 100 people from Europe, but also Asia, America and Africa, to give 30 to 40 presentations. They are made available on the SOVAMAT website (www.sovamat.org) and are published in journals like Revue de Métallurgie, Metallurgical Research & Technology and Matériaux et Techniques: Many kinds of materials are regularly discussed. Until today, the conferences have produced about 350 communications, many of which have been translated into peer-reviewed papers. These series of conferences were launched in order to address the complexity of technology evolution in the context of societal challenges. The intuition was that purely mono-disciplinary approaches would not be sufficient to address the future and that holistic methods like Life Cycle Analysis were still too narrowly focused to lead seamlessly to what was needed. Inviting separate communities to participate turned out to be quite popular and people have been coming back regularly and have attracted new players. The outcome is a mixture of disciplines speaking together, but also of practical proposals alongside methodological, meta- or ontological ones. With the hindsight of 10 years of practical experience, it is clear that the scientific agenda in terms of methodology, which was set at the beginning of the adventure, has been achieved. The paths followed were somewhat different, more empirical and more imaginative, than the initial vision of the organizers: a cluster of approaches was explored, which turned out to be richer than an improved version of LCA and MFA. Moreover, new issues have been raised, which make it likely that the initiative will continue indefinitely. This experience can probably help others find their way forward