Phytotherapy in zoo animals

Phytotherapy is one of the oldest medical disciplines and was traditionally based on empiricism (Reichling et al., 2008). Nowadays, its use as an additional integral component of evidence based medicine is well accepted in human medicine (Finkelmann, 2009). Herbal remedies are generally characterised by a broad therapeutic index. They consist of multicomponent mixtures and act as multi-target drugs with pleiotropic effects. In Switzerland, veterinary phytotherapy has been relaunched in 2006 as a subunit of the Swiss Medical Society for Phytotherapy (SMGP-vet). Since 2012, the certificate of qualification in veterinary phytotherapy has been approved by the Swiss Veterinary Association (GST/SVS). Historically, one of the common approaches to gain insight into the medical effects of plants was self-medication. In non-human animals, self medication remains a controversial subject, because evidence is mostly anecdotal. A few experimentally verified cases of self-medication support the theoretical expectation that animals can and do make specific foraging decisions that function specifically to remediate illness (Huffman and Caton, 2001; Villalba et al., 2006; Singer et al., 2009). In zoological medicine, this concept has first been implemented by primate keeping institutions. Permanent access to selected medicinal plants suggested self medication and helped maintain the health of certain primate species (Cousins, 2006)

Letter from Arthur Hoby to H. B. Kirk, 1904 Feb 13.

Telephone [Miss?] Kirk P[illegible]e St & get information or see Y. W Kirk Esq. Dept. of Agriculture[letterhead]PUKAKI HOTEL,Pukaki, 13 Feb, 1904Dear Mr. KirkThe bearer Mr. Muir a Botanist from California is anxious to possess a copy of your Father\u27s Flora & I thought you could put him on the right track. He is a most interesting man whose acquaintance would be worth making We are on our way to Mount CookYours faithfullyArthur Hoby0621

Economic Policy and Multinational Corporations in Development: The Measurable Impacts in Cross-National Persepective

In this article we report the main findings of a research project at the University of Zurich on Multinational Corporations, Economic Policy and National Development in the World System. For reasons of space the focus is on cross-national empirical findings rather than on theoretical discussion. Dimensions of economic policy against multinational corporations are established and operationalized. A combination of these dimensions is the basis of a typology of economic policy. The article presents the distribution of 73 countries according to different types of economic policy for the period 1960 to 1975. Analyses of the determinants and concomitants of economic policies are reported as well as their effect on foreign capital and development. Results are presented in the context of cross-national findings of how multinational corporations affect development. These findings relate to the impact of multinational corporations on subsequent economic growth and on social inequalit

Comment marquer sa présence dans une tâche collaborative à distance ? Le cas des stratégies d'étudiants malgaches dans un dispositif soumis à de fortes contraintes technologique et logistique

Colloque Échanger Pour Apprendre en Ligne (EPAL2011), Université Stendhal Grenoble 3, du 23 au 25 juin 2011.International audienceNotre communication a pour objectif d'étudier les stratégies déployées par des apprenants malgaches pour marquer leur présence dans des sessions de clavardage lors de la réalisation d'une macro-tâche collaborative. La particularité de l'étude se situe dans la situation dans laquelle les étudiants ont travaillé. En effet, cette situation de collaboration était fortement contrainte sur les plans technologique, logistique et individuel mais les Malgaches ont fait preuve de créativité pour s'adapter à ces contraintes pour atteindre leur objectif

Comment les usages réels d'un dispositif d'apprentissage de l'anglais à distance sont-ils perçus par les concepteurs-animateurs du dispositif ?

Les objectifs généraux de la recherche sont les suivants : analyser de manière qualitative les usages que font les apprenants de dispositifs d'apprentissage d'une langue à distance ; mesurer leur adéquation aux modèles d'usages des enseignants-concepteurs; formuler des recommandations pour la conception de dispositifs efficaces en termes d'apprentissage des langues étrangères ; concevoir pour un public particulier d'étudiants malgachophones un module d'apprentissage du FLU à distance. Nous nous intéressons particulièrement, dans cet article, à une étape intermédiaire de la recherche qui consiste à cerner la compréhension qu'ont les enseignants-concepteurs du dispositif des pratiques des apprenants. Nous considérons en effet, que les usages satisfaisants d'un dispositif à distance, c'est-à-dire efficaces en termes d'apprentissage dépendent non seulement de la pertinence des modèles d'usages mis en oeuvre, mais aussi de l'adéquation à ces modèles des moyens et techniques mis à disposition des apprenants dans le but d'atteindre les objectifs pédagogiques fixés

Fine-grained Locality-aware Parallel Scheme for Anisotropic Mesh Adaptation

AbstractIn this paper, we provide a fine-grained parallel scheme for anisotropic mesh adaptation on NUMA11Non-Uniform Memory Access architectures.Data dependencies are expressed by a graph for each kernel, and concurrency is extracted through fine-grained graph coloring. Tasks are structured into bulk-synchronous steps to avoid data races and to aggregate shared-data accesses.To ensure performance prediction, time cost and load imbalance are theoretically characterized.The devised scheme was evaluated on a 4 NUMA node (2-socket) machine, and a mean efficiency of 70% was reached on 32 cores for 3 kernels out of 4. The impact of irregular degree distribution and data layout on scalability is highlighted

A Feasibility Study on Using Gfrp Composites Bar in Rc Flexural Member

Steel reinforcements are commonly used for Reinforced Concrete (RC) beams all around the world to take flexural tension. But, the durability of the structure is reduced due to reinforcement steel corrosion. Avoiding reinforcement corrosion and finding alternative material to take flexural tension is the contemporary research work in the field of structural engineering. In the present study, RC beams are reinforced with Glass Fibre Reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites bar at tension zone and flexural test was carried out to determine the bending moment resistance of the beam. GFRP bars were prepared in the industry with the help of pultruded U-section box formwork. GFRP bars were coated with sand using epoxy resin to increase the bond between bars and the RC beam. Three GFRP reinforced concrete beam specimens of size 700 mm × 200 mm × 200 mm were prepared. Also, same size of normal steel reinforced cement concrete beam member was prepared. After 28 days curing, three point bending test was carried out for all the four beams. Flexural capacity of beams with GFRP bars were compared with RC beam with steel bars. The results revealed that the flexural capacity of RC beams with GFRP bars is more than that of RC beam with steel bars. Also, theoretical analysis was carried out to determine the flexural strength of RC beam with steel and GFRP bars and compared with experimental results

Analyses des usages d'un dispositif hybride d’apprentissage du français et éléments pour un appui à la conception de dispositifs en contexte malgache

This research work is situated at the crossroads of the didactics of Languages and Cultures and CALL (Computer-Assisted Language Learning) via blended learning courseware systems. It focuses on the learners’ usage of computer-mediated learning environments for foreign languages. The premise is that research on usage constitutes a means for course designers to apprehend the ways learners adapt to these tools. Our hypothesis is that there is a discrepancy between the usage prescribed by the teachers and the real usage made by the learners. We believe that it is therefore relevant, from a didactic perspective, to work on these discrepancies so that teacher-designers can improve their practices of these learning systems by adapting their usage models ahead of the implementation of the course setup and by reacting in a more appropriate way during the time the learners are using the tools. This hypothesis raises two main research questions. On the one hand, what use do foreign language learners make of blended learning systems? And, on the other hand, what particular information on usage will help courseware designers in the design or update of their system?The research can be described as experimental action research. This is performed in two research fields: a French context, which is the analytical field and a Malagasy context, which is the field of design and experimentation. These two fields share some common points: a target group of non-specialist language students and specialists of other disciplines enrolled in the first year of their courses and the learning of the target language taking place on a distancelearning platform. Two forms of research data are utilised in both of these fields: invoked data (learners’ traces left on the platform) and raised data (questionnaires completed by the learners and semi-guided interviews of teacher-designers in order to better understand the prescribed uses). The results are of three kinds. At the hermeneutic level, the research enables learners’ usage to be characterised according to their ways of interpreting and adapting to the system. At the praxeological level, it supports the design of courseware systems by giving advice which underlines the role of scenario design and the importance of the strategic use of the tools available to the learner for the tasks proposed. Finally, it helps promote and disseminate the French language to Malagasy students.La recherche se situe au carrefour de la didactique des langues-cultures et de l’ALAO (Apprentissage des Langues Assistée par Ordinateur) via des dispositifs hybrides. Elle porte sur les usages des dispositifs médiatisés d’apprentissage de la langue étrangère par des apprenants non-spécialistes. Le postulat de départ est qu’une recherche sur les usages constitue un moyen pour les concepteurs d’appréhender les manières dont les apprenants s’approprient ces dispositifs. L’hypothèse émise est qu’il y a un décalage entre les usages attendus par les enseignants et les usages réels des apprenants et qu’il est pertinent, d’un point de vue didactique, de travailler sur ces décalages afin, d'une part, que les enseignants concepteurs puissent modifier les modèles d’usages en amont de la mise en œuvre du dispositif d’apprentissage et d'autre part, puissent réagir de manière plus adéquate pendant l’utilisation du dispositif par les apprenants. Cette hypothèse conduit à formuler deux questions de recherche principales. Premièrement, quels usages font les apprenants de langues étrangères des dispositifs hybrides ? Et deuxièmement, sur quels éléments des usages les concepteurs peuvent-ils s’appuyer pour la conception ou pour l’actualisation du dispositif ?La recherche est une recherche-action de type expérimental. Elle s’effectue sur deux terrains particuliers : un terrain en contexte français qui constitue le terrain d’analyse et un terrain en contexte malgache qui est le terrain de conception et d’expérimentation. Ces deux terrains présentent des points communs : public-cible constitué d’étudiants non-spécialistes de la langue et spécialistes d’autres disciplines, inscrit en première année de formation, apprentissage de la langue-cible s’effectuant à distance via une plateforme. Deux formes de données de recherche sont exploitées de ces deux terrains : des données invoquées (traces laissées par les apprenants sur la plateforme), suscitées (des questionnaires en direction des apprenants et des entretiens semi-directifs auprès des enseignants-concepteurs afin de cerner les usages prescrits). Les résultats attendus sont de trois types. Sur le plan herméneutique, la recherche permet de caractériser les usages des apprenants selon leurs modes d’interprétation et d’appropriation du dispositif. Sur le plan praxéologique, elle constitue un appui à la conception de dispositifs hybrides, par le biais de recommandations soulignant le rôle de la scénarisation, l’importance de l’articulation d’un côté, des outils mis à disposition des apprenants avec les tâches proposées et de l’autre côté, du présentiel et du distantiel dansl'hybridation. Enfin, elle participe à la promotion, à la diffusion et à l’apprentissage de la langue française en direction des étudiants malgachophones

Acute hyperkalaemia in a captive Persian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor) immobilised with a ketamine-medetomidine combination

A 12-year-old captive male Persian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor) required general anaesthesia for examination and treatment of a recurrent oral fistula. Medetomidine (0.065 mg/kg) and ketamine (3.6 mg/kg) administered intramuscularly by blowpipe darting effectively immobilised the animal that was maintained under general anaesthesia with inhaled isoflurane. In absence of clinical signs, acute hyperkalaemia (7.26 mmol/l) was incidentally recognised by the end of anaesthesia. Factors that might have played a role in hyperkalaemia development, such as the use of α2-adrenoceptor agonists, stress response, acidosis or dopamine administration, are discussed. Hyperkalaemia should be considered as a potential complication while anaesthetising large non-domestic felids