Growth rates of black soldier fly larvae fed on fresh human faeces and their implication for improving sanitation.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the capacity of black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) (Hermetia illucens) to convert fresh human faeces into larval biomass under different feeding regimes, and to determine how effective BSFL are as a means of human faecal waste management. METHODS: Black soldier fly larvae were fed fresh human faeces. The frequency of feeding, number of larvae and feeding ratio were altered to determine their effects on larval growth, prepupal weight, waste reduction, bioconversion and feed conversion rate (FCR). RESULTS: The larvae that were fed a single lump amount of faeces developed into significantly larger larvae and prepupae than those fed incrementally every 2 days; however, the development into pre-pupae took longer. The highest waste reduction was found in the group containing the most larvae, with no difference between feeding regimes. At an estimated 90% pupation rate, the highest bioconversion (16-22%) and lowest, most efficient FCR (2.0-3.3) occurred in groups that contained 10 and 100 larvae, when fed both the lump amount and incremental regime. CONCLUSION: The prepupal weight, bioconversion and FCR results surpass those from previous studies into BSFL management of swine, chicken manure and municipal organic waste. This suggests that the use of BSFL could provide a solution to the health problems associated with poor sanitation and inadequate human waste management in developing countries

The Paradox of Colour Constancy: Plotting the Lower Borders of Perception

This paper resolves a paradox concerning colour constancy. On the one hand, our intuitive, pre-theoretical concept holds that colour constancy involves invariance in the perceived colours of surfaces under changes in illumination. On the other, there is a robust scientific consensus that colour constancy can persist in cerebral achromatopsia, a profound impairment in the ability to perceive colours. The first stage of the solution advocates pluralism about our colour constancy capacities. The second details the close relationship between colour constancy and contrast. The third argues that achromatopsics retain a basic type of colour constancy associated with invariants in contrast processing. The fourth suggests that one person-level, conscious upshot of such processing is the visual awareness of chromatic contrasts ‘at’ the edges of surfaces, implicating the ‘colour for form’ perceptual function. This primitive type of constancy sheds new light on our most basic perceptual capacities, which mark the lower borders of representational mind

Strong, bold, and kind : Self-control and cooperation in social dilemmas

Financial support from the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet), from Formas through the program Human Cooperation to Manage Natural Resources (COMMONS), and the Ideenfonds of the University of Munich is gratefully acknowledged.We develop a model that relates self-control to cooperation patterns in social dilemmas, and we test the model in a laboratory public goods experiment. As predicted, we find a robust association between stronger self-control and higher levels of cooperation, and the association is at its strongest when the decision maker’s risk aversion is low and the cooperation levels of others high. We interpret the pattern as evidence for the notion that individuals may experience an impulse to act in self-interest—and that cooperative behavior benefits from self-control. Free-riders differ from other contributor types only in their tendency not to have identified a self-control conflict in the first place.PostprintPeer reviewe

Dynamic1-Aminocyclopropane-1-Carboxylate-Synthase and -Oxidase Transcript Accumulation Patterns During Pollen-Tube Growth in Nicotiana tabacum Styles

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Shifts in community composition provide a mechanism for maintenance of activity of soil yeasts in the presence of elevated copper levels

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Endothelial function in COPD vs coronary artery disease and healthy controls: An exploratory study

COPD is associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular events and mortality. Endothelial dysfunction is an early event in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases; the gold standard for its measurement is the flow-mediated dilatation (FMD). Aim: To compare endothelial function of patients with COPD, coronary artery disease (CAD) and healthy controls. Methods: 8 male COPD patients and respectively 16 and 14 CAD patients and healthy controls, age and gender matched, were included. We measured: FMD, spirometry and physical activity (PA) using ambulatory monitoring (SenseWear Armband). ANOVAs test were applied to examine differences. Results: As shown in table, compared to the other groups, smoking was more prevalent among COPD. Both patient groups were significantly less PA. Further, after adjustment for smoking and PA, FMD was significantly worse in both patient groups compared to healthy controls. A correlation between number of steps and FMD was found in the whole group (p=0.02, r=44) as well as between METs and FMD in COPD (p=0.01, r=0.89). No correlation was established between FMD and severity of obstruction. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that COPD have an endothelial function worse than healthy subjects but better than CAD patients. These results should now be confirmed in a large study