Heart rate and energy expenditure of incubating wandering albatrosses: basal levels, natural variation, and the effects of human disturbance

We studied the changes in heart rate (HR) associated with metabolic rate of incubating and resting adult wandering albatrosses (Diomedea exulans) on the Crozet Islands. Metabolic rates of resting albatrosses fitted with external HR recorders were measured in a metabolic chamber to calibrate the relationship between HR and oxygen consumption (V̇O2) (V̇O2=0.074×HR+0.019, r2=0.567, P\u3c0.001, where V̇O2 is in ml kg–1 min–1 and HR is in beats min–1). Incubating albatrosses were then fitted with HR recorders to estimate energy expenditure of albatrosses within natural field conditions. We also examined the natural variation in HR and the effects of human disturbance on nesting birds by monitoring the changes in HR. Basal HR was positively related to the mass of the individual. The HR of incubating birds corresponded to a metabolic rate that was 1.5-fold (males) and 1.8-fold (females) lower than basal metabolic rate (BMR) measured in this and a previous study. The difference was probably attributable to birds being stressed while they were held in the metabolic chamber or wearing a mask. Thus, previous measurements of metabolic rate under basal conditions or for incubating wandering albatrosses are likely to be overestimates. Combining the relationship between HR and metabolic rate for both sexes, we estimate that wandering albatrosses expend 147 kJ kg–1 day–1 to incubate their eggs. In addition, the cost of incubation was assumed to vary because (i) HR was higher during the day than at night, and (ii) there was an effect of wind chill (\u3c0°C) on basal HR. The presence of humans in the vicinity of the nest or after a band control was shown to increase HR for extended periods (2–3 h), suggesting that energy expenditure was increased as a result of the disturbance. Lastly, males and females reacted differently to handling in terms of HR response: males reacted more strongly than females before handling, whereas females took longer to recover after being handled

D\ue9scription de l\ue9pidopt\ue8res de Madagascar

Volume: 5Start Page: 373End Page: 37

Foucault and the origins of the disciplined subject : post-subjectivity as a condition for transformation in education

Background: The need for transforming South African education can ultimately be traced to a form of Western subjectivity which dominated Europe since the classical age (1600–1750). The notions of ‘discipline’ and ‘subjectivity’ suggest distinct associations with repressive regimes like apartheid, and the present article will argue that the assumptions behind apartheid education cannot be understood without understanding the still more foundational assumptions – taken as axiom – underlying Western subjectivity. This conception of subjectivity underlies the ‘disciplined society’ and its concomitant ethos of expansion, ranging from its colonial projects to the rise of the human sciences. As a result, it is of considerable value for the South African educational environment to consider Michel Foucault’s unmasking of the interplay between subjectivity, truth and power, and to explore the possibilities offered by Foucault’s own ethic of transgression. Aim: Drawing on Michel Foucault’s genealogy of the modern subject and archaeologies of modern knowledge, it will be demonstrated that the process of transformation of higher education in South Africa not only provides the opportunity to tend to a grave historical injustice, but also to develop a critique of modernist educational practices of the West and thus to cultivate its own educational ethos as a more just and authentic South African alternative. Setting: South African Higher Education in the 21st century. Methods: Foucauldian–Nietzschean genealogy, in the spirit of Foucault’s own use of Nietzsche: ‘The only valid tribute to thought such as Nietzsche’s is precisely to use it, to deform it, to make it groan and protest’. Result: A re-considered and reconfigured notion of educational identity beyond the confines of modernist Western subjectivity. Conclusion: While full justice can never be done to the full horrors of the past, the process of transformation in education may provide an opportunity to not only address injustices in the past, but also to create a new African educational ethic which may contribute something truly new to the world’s educational heritage

Does meaning matter? Nietzsche, Jung and implications for global leadership

The Global Risks 2035 Update by the Atlantic Council, despite its clinical focus on economic, environmental and security challenges, nevertheless suggests that shared global meaning might have a role to play in enabling humanity to set off on a more beneficial trend for its foreseeable global future. The realisation that the complex challenges facing humanity is existential as much as it is pragmatic necessitates trans-disciplinary engagement and collaborative research ventures. This article contributed a trans-disciplinary reflection by bringing philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and psychologist-philosopher Carl Jung in dialogue with critical leadership studies within the broader framework of the science–religion dialogue of this special volume. Pointing to the awareness in leadership studies of how meaning, narrative and shared vision enable greater effectiveness and collaboration, we explore nihilism as cultural problem to be addressed in order to create meaning that fosters global collaborative action. From the viewpoint of the Global Risk 2035 Update and its gloomy strategic foresight of a newly bipolarised world or further descent into chaos, the article brought Nietzsche’s idea of the Last Man into dialogue with Carl Jung’s emphasis on the need for a collective myth to reverse the decline of civilisation and enable humanity to chart a course towards unprecedented global collaboration. CONTRIBUTION : The article contributes from a transdisciplinary perspective to the question of meaning in leadership. Drawing from the contributions of Nietzsche and Jung, it argues that shared myth and shared meaning is vital to address the complex global challenges that leadership is called to address. This philosophical reflection on the crisis of nihilism contributes to the growing awareness in critical leadership studies that meaning-making is critical to effective leadership.http://www.hts.org.zaam2022Business Managemen

Antisolvent crystallization: Effect of ethanol on batch crystallization of α glycine

International audienc

Preserving the structural variability in maize stalk through dry fractionation processes

The composition and the structure of biomass makes it a wonderful source of raw materials for the production of energy or bio based material. As examples, the most inner part (the pith) of corn stalk,an agricultural by-product, shows an alveolar structure, similar to those of expanded polystyrene,responsible of insulating properties [1][2]. On other example are the vascular bundles of the pith and the ring, which also insure, a mechanical support for the plant, making them particularly interesting for reinforcement of composite materials. One of the challenges is to recover each plant part withoutdamaging its structure to preserve the original properties. This can be achieve by dry fractionation processes, which allow to dissociate plant structures at the relevant scale, between 0.5-4mm. Dry fractionation diagram combining grinding (based on shearing solicitation) and separation step (basedon size and density) have been developed at the kilogram scale in order to separate the rind from the pith of maize stem internode while preserving pith alveolar structure. The fractions with particle size higher than 1 mm, contain more than 92 % of pith and represent 41% of the initial pith. In addition, in the finest fractions (particle size < 1mm), the pith vascular bundles are dissociated from parenchyma cells, and a successful isolation of the vascular bunds has been realized using an electrostatic separator. The fractions containing the biggest pith particles were retained to produce thermal insulatingmaterials, which present a thermal conductivity around 0.04 W/mK, close of those of commercial thermal insulating materials