Why humans kill animals and why we cannot avoid it

Killing animals has been a ubiquitous human behaviour throughout history, yet it is becoming increasingly controversial and criticised in some parts of contemporary human society. Here we review 10 primary reasons why humans kill animals, discuss the necessity (or not) of these forms of killing, and describe the global ecological context for human killing of animals. Humans historically and currently kill animals either directly or indirectly for the following reasons: (1) wild harvest or food acquisition, (2) human health and safety, (3) agriculture and aquaculture, (4) urbanisation and industrialisation, (5) invasive, overabundant or nuisance wildlife control, (6) threatened species conservation, (7) recreation, sport or entertainment, (8) mercy or compassion, (9) cultural and religious practice, and (10) research,education and testing. While the necessity of some forms of animal killing is debatable and further depends on individual values, we emphasise that several of these forms of animal killing are a necessary component of our inescapable involvement in a single, functioning, finite, global food web. We conclude that humans (and all other animals) cannot live in a way that does not require animal killing either directly or indirectly, but humans can modify some of these killing behaviours in ways that improve the welfare of animals while they are alive, or to reduce animal suffering whenever they must be killed. We encourage a constructive dialogue that (1) accepts and permits human participation in one enormous global food web dependent on animal killing and (2) focuses on animal welfare and environmental sustainability. Doing so will improve the lives of both wild and domestic animals to a greater extent than efforts to avoid, prohibit or vilify human animal-killing behaviour. Animal ethics Conservation biology Culling Factory farmingpublishedVersio

Why humans kill animals and why we cannot avoid it

Killing animals has been a ubiquitous human behaviour throughout history, yet it is becoming increasingly controversial and criticised in some parts of contemporary human society. Here we review 10 primary reasons why humans kill animals, discuss the necessity (or not) of these forms of killing, and describe the global ecological context for human killing of animals. Humans historically and currently kill animals either directly or indirectly for the following reasons: (1) wild harvest or food acquisition, (2) human health and safety, (3) agriculture and aquaculture, (4) urbanisation and industrialisation, (5) invasive, overabundant or nuisance wildlife control, (6) threatened species conservation, (7) recreation, sport or entertainment, (8) mercy or compassion, (9) cultural and religious practice, and (10) research,education and testing. While the necessity of some forms of animal killing is debatable and further depends on individual values, we emphasise that several of these forms of animal killing are a necessary component of our inescapable involvement in a single, functioning, finite, global food web. We conclude that humans (and all other animals) cannot live in a way that does not require animal killing either directly or indirectly, but humans can modify some of these killing behaviours in ways that improve the welfare of animals while they are alive, or to reduce animal suffering whenever they must be killed. We encourage a constructive dialogue that (1) accepts and permits human participation in one enormous global food web dependent on animal killing and (2) focuses on animal welfare and environmental sustainability. Doing so will improve the lives of both wild and domestic animals to a greater extent than efforts to avoid, prohibit or vilify human animal-killing behaviour. Animal ethics Conservation biology Culling Factory farmingpublishedVersio

Dynamical stability of infinite homogeneous self-gravitating systems: application of the Nyquist method

We complete classical investigations concerning the dynamical stability of an infinite homogeneous gaseous medium described by the Euler-Poisson system or an infinite homogeneous stellar system described by the Vlasov-Poisson system (Jeans problem). To determine the stability of an infinite homogeneous stellar system with respect to a perturbation of wavenumber k, we apply the Nyquist method. We first consider the case of single-humped distributions and show that, for infinite homogeneous systems, the onset of instability is the same in a stellar system and in the corresponding barotropic gas, contrary to the case of inhomogeneous systems. We show that this result is true for any symmetric single-humped velocity distribution, not only for the Maxwellian. If we specialize on isothermal and polytropic distributions, analytical expressions for the growth rate, damping rate and pulsation period of the perturbation can be given. Then, we consider the Vlasov stability of symmetric and asymmetric double-humped distributions (two-stream stellar systems) and determine the stability diagrams depending on the degree of asymmetry. We compare these results with the Euler stability of two self-gravitating gaseous streams. Finally, we determine the corresponding stability diagrams in the case of plasmas and compare the results with self-gravitating systems

Gauge-ready formulation of the cosmological kinetic theory in generalized gravity theories

We present cosmological perturbations of kinetic components based on relativistic Boltzmann equations in the context of generalized gravity theories. Our general theory considers an arbitrary number of scalar fields generally coupled with the gravity, an arbitrary number of mutually interacting hydrodynamic fluids, and components described by the relativistic Boltzmann equations like massive/massless collisionless particles and the photon with the accompanying polarizations. We also include direct interactions among fluids and fields. The background FLRW model includes the general spatial curvature and the cosmological constant. We consider three different types of perturbations, and all the scalar-type perturbation equations are arranged in a gauge-ready form so that one can implement easily the convenient gauge conditions depending on the situation. In the numerical calculation of the Boltzmann equations we have implemented four different gauge conditions in a gauge-ready manner where two of them are new. By comparing solutions solved separately in different gauge conditions we can naturally check the numerical accuracy.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures, revised thoroughly, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Why humans kill animals and why we cannot avoid it

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : All data associated with this article is available and contained within the article.Killing animals has been a ubiquitous human behaviour throughout history, yet it is becoming increasingly controversial and criticised in some parts of contemporary human society. Here we review 10 primary reasons why humans kill animals, discuss the necessity (or not) of these forms of killing, and describe the global ecological context for human killing of animals. Humans historically and currently kill animals either directly or indirectly for the following reasons: (1) wild harvest or food acquisition, (2) human health and safety, (3) agriculture and aquaculture, (4) urbanisation and industrialisation, (5) invasive, overabundant or nuisance wildlife control, (6) threatened species conservation, (7) recreation, sport or entertainment, (8) mercy or compassion, (9) cultural and religious practice, and (10) research, education and testing. While the necessity of some forms of animal killing is debatable and further depends on individual values, we emphasise that several of these forms of animal killing are a necessary component of our inescapable involvement in a single, functioning, finite, global food web. We conclude that humans (and all other animals) cannot live in a way that does not require animal killing either directly or indirectly, but humans can modify some of these killing behaviours in ways that improve the welfare of animals while they are alive, or to reduce animal suffering whenever they must be killed. We encourage a constructive dialogue that (1) accepts and permits human participation in one enormous global food web dependent on animal killing and (2) focuses on animal welfare and environmental sustainability. Doing so will improve the lives of both wild and domestic animals to a greater extent than efforts to avoid, prohibit or vilify human animal-killing behaviour.A CIB Fellowship by the inter-institutional Centre for Invasion Biology (CIB) Centre of Excellence in South Africa, co-funded principally by the South African Department of Science and Technology through the National Research Foundation (DST-NRF).http://www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenvam2024Mammal Research InstituteZoology and EntomologyNon

Measurements of differential production cross sections for a Z boson in association with jets in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe

Search for the associated production of the Higgs boson with a top-quark pair

A search for the standard model Higgs boson produced in association with a top-quark pair t t ¯ H (tt¯H) is presented, using data samples corresponding to integrated luminosities of up to 5.1 fb −1 and 19.7 fb −1 collected in pp collisions at center-of-mass energies of 7 TeV and 8 TeV respectively. The search is based on the following signatures of the Higgs boson decay: H → hadrons, H → photons, and H → leptons. The results are characterized by an observed t t ¯ H tt¯H signal strength relative to the standard model cross section, μ = σ/σ SM ,under the assumption that the Higgs boson decays as expected in the standard model. The best fit value is μ = 2.8 ± 1.0 for a Higgs boson mass of 125.6 GeV

Measurement of prompt Jψ\psi pair production in pp collisions at \sqrt s = 7 Tev

Production of prompt J/ ψ meson pairs in proton-proton collisions at s s√ = 7 TeV is measured with the CMS experiment at the LHC in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 4.7 fb −1 . The two J/ ψ mesons are fully reconstructed via their decays into μ + μ − pairs. This observation provides for the first time access to the high-transverse-momentum region of J/ ψ pair production where model predictions are not yet established. The total and differential cross sections are measured in a phase space defined by the individual J/ ψ transverse momentum ( p T J/ ψ ) and rapidity (| y J/ ψ |): | y J/ ψ | 6.5 GeV/ c ; 1.2 4.5 GeV/ c . The total cross section, assuming unpolarized prompt J/ ψ pair production is 1.49 ± 0.07 (stat) ±0.13 (syst) nb. Different assumptions about the J/ ψ polarization imply modifications to the cross section ranging from −31% to +27%

Charged-particle nuclear modification factors in PbPb and pPb collisions at √=sNN=5.02 TeV

The spectra of charged particles produced within the pseudorapidity window |η| < 1 at √ sNN = 5.02 TeV are measured using 404 µb −1 of PbPb and 27.4 pb−1 of pp data collected by the CMS detector at the LHC in 2015. The spectra are presented over the transverse momentum ranges spanning 0.5 < pT < 400 GeV in pp and 0.7 < pT < 400 GeV in PbPb collisions. The corresponding nuclear modification factor, RAA, is measured in bins of collision centrality. The RAA in the 5% most central collisions shows a maximal suppression by a factor of 7–8 in the pT region of 6–9 GeV. This dip is followed by an increase, which continues up to the highest pT measured, and approaches unity in the vicinity of pT = 200 GeV. The RAA is compared to theoretical predictions and earlier experimental results at lower collision energies. The newly measured pp spectrum is combined with the pPb spectrum previously published by the CMS collaboration to construct the pPb nuclear modification factor, RpA, up to 120 GeV. For pT > 20 GeV, RpA exhibits weak momentum dependence and shows a moderate enhancement above unity

Synthesis and biological evaluation of substrate-based inhibitors of 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase as potential drugs against African Trypanosomiasis

The synthesis and biological evaluation of three series of 6-phosphogluconate (6PG) analogues is described. (2R)-2-Methyl-4,5-dideoxy, (2R)-2-methyl-4-deoxy and 2,4-dideoxy analogues of 6PG were tested as inhibitors of 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGDH) from sheep liver and also Trypanosoma brucei where the enzyme is a validated drug target. Among the three series of analogues, seven compounds were found to competitively inhibit 6PGDH from T. brucei and sheep liver enzymes at micromolar concentrations. Six inhibitors belong to the (2R)-2-methyl-4-deoxy series (6, 8, 10, 12, 21, 24) and one is a (2R)-2-methyl-4,5-dideoxy analogue (29b). The 2,4-dideoxy analogues of 6PG did not inhibit both enzymes. The trypanocidal effect of the compounds was also evaluated in vitro against T. brucei rhodesiense as well as other related trypanosomatid parasites (i.e., Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania donovani)