Tribute: In Memoriam, Jeheskel Hezy Shoshani

The elephant community has lost one of its great ambassadors, Dr. Jeheskel Hezy Shoshani, at the age of 65. A wave of condolences and testimonials from colleagues and friends around the world followed his death on May 21, 2008

History: The Birth of America in 1882

This article concerns a New York Times story about the birth of the female Asian elephant calf, named America, at the winter headquarters of the Greatest Show on Earth in Bridgeport, Connecticut on February 2, 1882. Phineas T. Barnum, one of the owners of the show, and one prone to self-aggrandizing bluster, claimed that America was the second elephant ever born in captivity. America was born only to months before the arrival in New York of the most famous circus elephant of all time, Jumbo, on Easter Sunday, 1882, and only two years before the origin of a small wagon circus run by the five Ringling (originally, Rüngeling) brothers from Baraboo Wisconsin

Birth Statistics for African (\u3cem\u3eLoxodonta africana\u3c/em\u3e) and Asian (\u3cem\u3eElephas maximus\u3c/em\u3e) Elephants in Human Care: History and Implications for Elephant Welfare

African (Loxodonta africana) and Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) have lived in the care of humans for many years, yet there is no consensus concerning some basic parameters describing their newborn calves. This study provides a broad empirical basis for generalizations about the birth heights, birth weights, birth times and gestation periods of elephant calves born in captivity. I obtained data concerning at least one of these four characteristics for 218 newborn calves from 74 institutions. Over the past 30 years, newborn Asian elephants have been taller and heavier than newborn African elephants. Neonatal African elephants exhibited sex differences in both weight and height, whereas neonatal Asian elephants have exhibited sex differences only in height. Primiparous dams ex situ are at least as old as their in situ counterparts, whereas ex situ sires appear to be younger than sires in range countries. Confirming earlier anecdotal evidence, both African [N= 47] and Asian [N = 91] dams gave birth most often at night

Some Children\u27s Books About Elephants (1987-1997)

Literature review of children\u27s books about elephants from the Indianapolis Public Library

The Spatial Memory of African Elephants (\u3cem\u3eLoxodonta africana\u3c/em\u3e): Durability, Interference, and Response Biases

Women and elephants never forget an injury. -Saki (H. H. Munro), Reginald on besetting sins, in Reginald (1904) I am not sure whether the satirist H. H. Munro believed Saki\u27s claim, although it may well be true (at least with regard to elephants). This chapter will examine some characteristics of elephant memory more systematically than did Saki. In general, it is to an animal\u27s advantage to remember some aspects (usually the stable features) of a situation for long periods and to remember other aspects (usually the unstable features) only temporarily. Consistent with recent arguments questioning the value of cognitive constructs for studying animal behavior (Grau 2002; Staddon 2001a,b; Wright and Watkins 1987), I will use reference memory and working memory (Baddeley and Hitch 1974; Honig 1978) only as descriptive terms indicating formal task requirements. (See Olton, Becker, and Handelmann 1979.) The stable characteristics of the test situation (such as the shape of the spatial array of food sources) are said to involve reference memory; those features that vary across trials (such as the sequence of food sites visited on a trial) are said to involve working memory. My main goal is to demonstrate that elephants can remember which locations they have visited during a spatial memory test similar to the radial maze (Olton and Samuelson 1976). The data will show that elephants rely on memory to solve several spatial problems, rather than relying on their response biases (Dale and Innis 1986) or their excellent olfactory abilities (Rasmussen and Krishnamurthy 2000). In addition, I will describe research showing that performance on the memory task is susceptible to proactive interference and that the retention of reference memory components of the test procedures is durable

An approach to rational approximation of power spectral densities on the unit circle

In this article, we propose a new approach to determining the best rational approximation of a given irrational power spectral density defined on the unit circle such that the approximant has McMillan degree less than or equal to some positive integer $n$. The main result is that we prove the existence of an optimal solution and that this solution can be found by standard methods of optimization

An application of the N-strip method of integral relations for analyzing the flow around a circular cone

The solution of sets of non-linear partial differential equations using the method of integral relations is considered. Emphasis is laid on the derivation of a general N-strip approximation algorithm. In order to check the applicability of this algorithm a program has been written to obtain the solution of the flow field around a circular cone at incidence in supersonic flow. Using the method of Stone, the angle of attack has been taken into account up to the second order. Thus a comparison can be made with the results given by Kopal.\ud \ud The results show that the N-strip algorithm in the case studied is a very attractive method which leads straight-forward to results of high accuracy

MONITORING OF LANDSLIDES WITH MASS MARKET GPS: AN ALTERNATIVE LOW COST SOLUTION

The territory of Italy is seriously afflicted by hydrological risk, with 82% of its area affected by this phenomenon. In recent years, technologies and advanced research have played an important role in realizing complex automatic systems devoted to landslide monitoring and to alerting the population. Sometimes, the cost of these systems (communications network, sensors, software, technologies) prevents their use, and in particular the cost of sensors has a large impact on the final investment. For example, geodetic GNSS receivers are usually employed to conduct landslide monitoring, but they are costly. Nowadays, new technologies make it possible to use small and efficient low cost single frequency GPS receivers, which are able to achieve a centimetrical or better level of accuracy, in static positioning. The rapid development and diffusion of the GNSS network to provide a positioning service has made it possible to use single frequency receivers, thanks to the use of virtual RINEX. This product is generated by a network of permanent stations. In this research, the actual performance of a mass market GPS receiver was tested, with the purpose of verifying if these sensors can be used for landslide monitoring. A special slide was realized, in order to conduct a dedicated test of the detection of displacements. Tests were carried out considering two factors: acquisition time and distance from the Virtual Station. The accuracy and precision of movement determination were evaluated and compared, for each test, considering the different factors. The tests and results are described in this contributio

Antioxidant and antimicrobial potential of artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) extract in beef patties

The antioxidant and antimicrobial potential of artichoke extract (AE) in raw beef patties (RBPs) was evaluated during the storage. The RBPs were prepared with the addition of 500 and 1000 ppm AE. Also, Escherichia coli ATCC25922 and Listeria monocytogenes ATCC19118 were inoculated to each RBP to follow the antimicrobial activity. An evaluation of the instrumental colour, pH, total phenolic content (TPC), 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity, TBARS and microbiological properties was carried out during storage. The evaluation revealed that the a* value decreased significantly, so that the reduction level of the AE500 and AE1000 samples during storage was 35, 57, and 56%, respectively, in the control. AE addition slightly decreased the pH of RBPs, which varied between 5.72 and 5.96. The TPC and DPPH values of samples with added 500 and 1000 ppm AE were 2 to 3-fold and 3 to 7-fold higher than in the control, respectively. Also, the TBARS values were determined as 43 and 54% lower than in the control at the end of storage when 500 and 1000 ppm AE were used. The AE in RBP inhibited the viability of total aerobic psychrophilic bacteria, coliform bacteria and yeast-mould in a concentration-dependent manner. AE prevented the growth of E. coli ATCC25922 and L. monocytogenes ATCC19118 inoculated to the RBPs. In conclusion, 1000 ppm AE was sufficient for antioxidant and antimicrobial activity in RBP. To our knowledge, this is the first study that presents the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of AE used in a food model system. © 2018 Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences. All rights reserved