Form, function, foam: evolutionary ecology of anuran nests and nesting behaviour.

Amphibians exhibit an incredible diversity of reproductive and life-history strategies, including various forms of nest construction and nesting behaviour. Although anuran amphibians (frogs and toads) are not known for their nests, nesting behaviour in this clade-broadly defined as a location chosen or constructed for eggs and young-is tightly linked to the amphibious lifestyle of this group. Transitions to increasingly terrestrial living have driven reproductive diversity in anurans, including the repeated, independent evolution of nests and nesting. Indeed, a core feature of many notable anuran adaptations-including nesting behaviour-is the maintenance of an aquatic environment for developing offspring. The tight link between increasingly terrestrial reproduction and morphological, physiological and behavioural diversity in anurans provides inroads for studying the evolutionary ecology of nests, their architects and their contents. This review provides an overview of nests and nesting behaviour in anurans, highlighting areas where additional work may be particularly fruitful. I take an intentionally broad view of what constitutes nesting to highlight what we can learn from thinking and researching comparatively across anurans and vertebrates more broadly. This article is part of the theme issue The evolutionary ecology of nests: a cross-taxon approach

Kallawaya, S.A. - la creación de los Kallawaya (1532-2008) : Un acercamiento histórico, relacional y comparativo

The Kallawaya are a Bolivian ethnic group well known for ritualism and naturopathy. This paper explores the ‘making’ of the Kallawaya as a polity emerging, modifying, and adapting over time according to its political and economic needs, at the intersection of local conditions and of global developments. The case of the Kallawaya shows how processes of ethnicization unfold through the interplay of primordialist and of instrumentalist logics. An important vehicle for ethnicization is resilience as expressed by the cultural memory.Los Kallawaya son un grupo étnico que se hizo famoso por su ritualismo y su naturopatía. Este artículo explora el desarrollo de los Kallawaya como una entidad política que, a lo largo del tiempo, se formaba, se modificaba y se adaptaba conforme a sus necesidades políticas y economicas y en la intersección de condiciones locales y de desarrollos globales. El caso de los Kallawaya muestra como los procesos de etnicización se despliegan mediante la interacción de lógicas primordialistas e instrumentalistas. Un importante vehículo para la etnicización es la resiliencia manifestándose en la memoria cultural

The Geography of Knowledge Spillovers between High-Technology Firms in Europe - Evidence from a Spatial Interaction Modelling Perspective

The focus in this paper is on knowledge spillovers between high-technology firms in Europe, as captured by patent citations. High-technology is defined to include the ISIC-sectors aerospace (ISIC 3845), electronics-telecommunication (ISIC 3832), computers and office equipment (ISIC 3825), and pharmaceuticals (ISIC 3522). The European coverage is given by patent applications at the European Patent Office that are assigned to high-technology firms located in the EU-25 member states, the two accession countries Bulgaria and Romania, and Norway and Switzerland. By following the paper trail left by citations between these high-technology patents we adopt a Poisson spatial interaction modelling perspective to identify and measure spatial separation effects to interregional knowledge spillovers. In doing so we control for technological proximity between the regions, as geographical distance could be just proxying for technological proximity. The study produces prima facie evidence that geography matters. First, geographical distance has a significant impact on knowledge spillovers, and this effect is substantial. Second, national border effects are important and dominate geographical distance effects. Knowledge flows within European countries more easily than across. Not only geography, but also technological proximity matters. Interregional knowledge flows are industry specific and occur most often between regions located close to each other in technological space.

Beyond Linear Transition(s) to Justice: Intra-Urban Displacement and Transmission of Memories in Medellin, Colombia

This thesis critically interrogates experiences of violence in relation to forced intra-urban displacement and trans-generational transmission of memories in Medellin, Colombia. By situating spatio-temporal violence – slow violence in Rob Nixon’s terms – at the heart of its analysis, this study contrasts the enduring experiences of serial displacement with time-limited and linear transitions to justice. First, the study reveals the discursive, legal and political detachment of intra-urban displacement from regional displacement as enshrined in the current Colombian transitional justice framework. It demonstrates how the lived experience of violence exceeds the temporality of those transitional mechanisms. Second, this work exposes the ongoing nature of serial displacement as historical injuries in the form of inherited memories of violence. The latter mark certain places as areas of no-return and assigns territorial stigma to identities in the city. The absence of a justice framework that can respond to those experiences results in a feeling of non-belonging. The latter limits the exercise of full citizenship in Hannah Arendt’s terms. Third, the emphasis of current transitional justice debates on limited understandings of what constitutes violence, harm, and transition effectively obscures the complex repercussions of violence and the (re-) construction of justice in the everyday by displaced persons in Medellin. Ultimately, to focus on the continuity of the enduring nature of serial displacement and on the political agency of those that experienced serial displacement reveals transformative projects of systemic justice as urgent in present times

Interrelationship of diet fibre and endoxylanase with bacteria in the chicken gut

Four trials were conducted to assess the influence of non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) from dietary corn (C), wheat (W) and wheat supplemented with endoxylanase (E) on performance, the gastrointestinal tract and on the bacterial population and its fermentation characteristics in broiler chickens. Trial one determined the difference in GIT size, specific culturable intestinal bacteria numbers, and volatile fatty acid (VFA) production at 42 d between C, W and wheat diets supplemented with E either throughout the 42 d or for 0-28 d or 29-42 d. The second trial utilized the same wheat treatments as the first trial, but GIT and VFA measures were taken at 14, 28 and 42 d while bacterial enumeration was only done at 28 and 42 d. This experiment was analyzed as a two-way analysis of variance with age and treatment effects. A third trial evaluated the C, W and E diets for differences in the amounts of total aerobic and anaerobic bacteria cultured at 28 and 42 d. The fourth trial was a two-way analysis of variance evaluating the effect of age and diet (C, W and E) on performance, GIT size, VFA production and residual NSP in the terminal ileum at 7, 14, 21, 28, 35 and 42 d. Performance was measured in all four trials and digesta viscosity was measured in all but the third trial. Results from the first trial showed that E supplementation of wheat diets improved performance. Viscosity was lowest for C diets. Measures of GIT size were all smaller on C versus wheat-based diets. Ileal anaerobes tended to be higher with E than without while caecal anaerobes were higher on unsupplemented wheat diets. VFA production was higher for wheat versus corn fed birds in the ileum. C diets and wheat diets where E was removed at 28 d yielded the highest caecal propionic acid levels. In the second trial, performance was also improved with E supplementation. Viscosity was lower for E supplemented wheat-fed birds than unsupplemented birds, except at 42 d. Full ileal weights were higher for W diets versus all others while caecal weights were lower on this diet. Bacterial data indicated higher levels of ileal anaerobes and some caecal anaerobes on W diets at 28 and 42 d. VFA content of the digesta, at 28 d was higher in the ileum in diets without E and the same tendency was noted for caecal VFA. At 42 d ileal VFA production was higher with E and caecal VFA production was higher without E. The results from the first two trials demonstrate that while certain anaerobic bacteria do increase in the ileum of W diets, others appear to respond to the substrates created by E supplementation in both the ileum and the caecum. Age related adaptation also appears to affect the response of the bacteria to E supplementation. In the third experiment C and E birds performed equally well with W birds having the highest gain to feed ratios after 14 d and overall. E diets resulted in the highest numbers of caecal anaerobes with C birds having the lowest number. At 42 d, birds had higher numbers of caecal anaerobes than at 28 d. At 28 d, caecal aerobes were highest on E diets (

Exploring the Effects of Unequal and Secretive Pay

We experimentally test whether intentional and observable discriminatory pay of symmetric agents in the Winter (2004) game causes low paid agents to reduce effiort. We control for intentionality of wages by either allowing a principal to determine wages or by implementing a random process. Our main observations are that discrimination has no negative effiect on effiorts and principals do not shy away from using discriminatory pay if it is observable. Rather, with experience discrimination enhances efficiency as it facilitates coordination among agents. The only evidence for reciprocity is that subjects receiving a low payment from a principal (discriminatory or not) exert signiï¬cantly less effort

Intra- and Interspecific Variation in Tadpole Lateral Line Cells

Background The lateral line is a sensory system that detects motion and pressure in fish & larval amphibians. The sensory end organs are called neuromasts. A gosner stage describes the 46 stages of tadpole development Hypothesis: We hypothesize that the number of neuromasts will vary more between species than within a species

Effects of person-environment fit of gender-role orientation on burnout, engagement and hair steroids as stress biomarkers among women

Background: Analysis on gender related differences in occupational stress and burnout levels usually reveal higher occupational stress and burnout levels for women compared to men, especially in male-dominated working environments. In opposition to group differentiation, more specific gender-related dimensions feminity and masculinity were used in the study to describe individual and work environment characteristics and analyze their effects. Methods: In a cross-sectional design, survey results were linked to steroid levels in hair samples. Data was collected in a German medical services company with 146 employed women age 22-66 years (M = 40.48, SD = 10.38), 58 of them provided hair samples for steroid detection. Feminity and masculinity were measured by Gender Role Orientation Scale GTS+. Two Person-Environment fit scores in feminity and masculinity were calculated by subtracting individual from environment values. Both fit scores were proved as predictors in hierarchical linear regression models predicting burnout and work engagement as well as hair steroids cortisol, cortisone, DHEA, testosterone and progesterone detected by Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) as stress biomarkers. Bivariate correlations as well as moderator and mediator analysis were implemented. Results: After considering age, role clarity, and work organization, Person-Environment fit in feminity still added significant variance explanation (beta = .23, increment R-2 = .05, p = .003) for burnout. Person-Environment fit in feminity also explained poor variance in work engagement (beta = -.29, R-2 = .09, p < .001). Person-Environment fit in masculinity added considerable variance explanation (beta = .34, increment R-2 = .12, p = 0.018) to cortisol levels after including quantitative demands to the model. Conclusions: Person-Environment fit in feminity might be inspected as a predictor for burnout and work engagement. Person-Environment fit in masculinity can be taken into consideration as a predictor for hair cortisol as stress biomarker. Feminity and masculinity can be used as personality traits as well as characteristics of work environment, thus providing a particular gender-role related method of differentiation within gender groups. Also, specific methods could be derived for stress and burnout prevention and promotion of work engagement. Representative population studies with bigger samples and longitudinal surveys are needed to better explore the benefits and limitations of this approach

Behavioral Plasticity in Response to Environmental Cues in Poison Frog Tadpoles

Behavioral plasticity is the ability of an organism to detect cues in their environment and respond by modifying behavior. In the wild, dyeing poison frog (Dendrobates tinctorius) tadpoles are delivered by their dads to pools that vary in predation risk, resource availability, con-and hetero-specific density. Conspecific density is especially important as these tadpoles are aggressive and often cannibalistic. Behavioral plasticity in response to environmental cues may help tadpoles to compete for resources and survival