In a state of uncertainty? Mogadishu water supply

Following twenty years of conflict, the context of stabilization and early recovery in Mogadishu has supported a strategic water supply assessment. Traditionally supplied by shallow wells, at the outbreak of civil war the program of reticulated supply development collapsed, and the town has since reverted to an un-centralized network of wells, small scale reticulated distribution systems and vendors, with limited water treatment options. Access to sufficient safe affordable water is biased disproportionately against the poorest. The trend of well expansion driven by diaspora/national investment and humanitarian/aid programs continues. Although a planning framework is coming into place to address rehabilitation of a centrally regulated system required in the future, taking account of uncertainty, purposive research has produced an inference-based analysis. A fresh problem statement underpinning national efforts to improve prospects for sustainable water supply development for Mogadishu has been framed

Incognito in Ticino: a novel species of lizard among the Swiss herpetofauna

National species lists, especially red lists, must account for the latest taxonomic updates in order to best protect newly discovered biodiversity. Here we demonstrate the cryptic presence of a new species for the Swiss herpetofauna: Carnie’s lizard Zootoca carniolica, an oviparous form of the viviparous common lizard Z. vivipara, which was recently elevated to species rank given their complete reproductive isolation. A few years ago, a range-wide phylogeographic study have genetically barcoded this subalpine species in Val Morrobia (Ticino), just a few hundred meters from the Italian border, but this finding has subsequently remained unnoticed. According to fine-scale distribution data, this population is presumably isolated, and the closest populations in Graubünden and northern Ticino all likely correspond to Z. vivipara. Since Val Morrobia is the only swiss record of Z. carniolica, the species rises as the most endangered reptile of the country. We confirmed the persistence of this population as of summer 2021 and call for immediate actions to document the geographic extent and life history of Z. carniolica in Switzerland, in order to implement conservation measures

Effect of testosterone on immunocompetence, parasite load, and metabolism in the common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis)

Testosterone can benefit individual fitness by increasing ornament colour, aggressiveness, and sperm quality, but it can also impose both metabolic and immunological costs. However, evidence that testosterone causes immuno suppression in freely living populations is scant. We studied the effects of testosterone on one component of the immune system (i.e., the cell-mediated response to phytohaemagglutinin), parasite load, and metabolic rate in the common wall lizard, Podarcis muralis (Laurenti, 1768). For analyses of immunocompetence and parasitism, male lizards were implanted at the end of the breeding season with either empty or testosterone implants and were returned to their site of capture for 5-6 weeks before recapture. For analyses of the effects of testosterone on metabolic rate, male lizards were captured and implanted before hibernation and were held in the laboratory for 1 week prior to calorimetry. Experimental treatment with testosterone decreased the cell-mediated response to the T-cell mitogen phytohemagglutinin and increased mean metabolic rate. No effects of testosterone on the number of ectoparasites, hemoparasites, and resting metabolic rate could be detected. These results are discussed in the framework of the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis and the immuno-redistribution process hypothesis. [Authors]]]> eng oai:serval.unil.ch:BIB_1EFEB547AA13 2022-02-19T02:15:40Z <oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd"> https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_1EFEB547AA13 Critical Political Economy: Complexity, Rationality, and the Logic of Post-Orthodox Pluralism urn:isbn:978-041556937-8 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/isbn/978-041556937-8 Arnsperger, C. info:eu-repo/semantics/book book 2008 oai:serval.unil.ch:BIB_1EFFEE565399 2022-02-19T02:15:40Z <oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd"> https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_1EFFEE565399 Hemispheric disconnection: callosotomy and hemispherotomy info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/10997197 Villemure, J. G. Vernet, O. Delalande, O. info:eu-repo/semantics/article article 2000 Advances and Technical Standards in Neurosurgery, vol. 26, pp. 25-78 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pissn/0095-4829 Adolescent Adult Brain/*surgery Child Child, Preschool Corpus Callosum/*surgery Female Follow-Up Studies Humans Infant Male Neurosurgical Procedures/*methods Seizures/*surgery oai:serval.unil.ch:BIB_1F00D918A7B6 2022-02-19T02:15:40Z <oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd"> https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_1F00D918A7B6 The Reliability of Facial Recognition of Deceased Persons on Photographs. info:doi:10.1111/1556-4029.13396 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1111/1556-4029.13396 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/28205214 Caplova, Z. Obertova, Z. Gibelli, D.M. Mazzarelli, D. Fracasso, T. Vanezis, P. Sforza, C. Cattaneo, C. info:eu-repo/semantics/article article 2017-09 Journal of forensic sciences, vol. 62, no. 5, pp. 1286-1291 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/eissn/1556-4029 urn:issn:0022-1198 <![CDATA[In humanitarian emergencies, such as the current deceased migrants in the Mediterranean, antemortem documentation needed for identification may be limited. The use of visual identification has been previously reported in cases of mass disasters such as Thai tsunami. This pilot study explores the ability of observers to match unfamiliar faces of living and dead persons and whether facial morphology can be used for identification. A questionnaire was given to 41 students and five professionals in the field of forensic identification with the task to choose whether a facial photograph corresponds to one of the five photographs in a lineup and to identify the most useful features used for recognition. Although the overall recognition score did not significantly differ between professionals and students, the median scores of 78.1% and 80.0%, respectively, were too low to consider this method as a reliable identification method and thus needs to be supported by other means

Census of swift colonies in medium-large cities: seven cases from N-Italy

Given worldwide rapid human population growth, resulting in loss of natural habitats and increase of urban areas, it is important to understand how anthropogenic factors affect species presence, and consequently how well species tolerate or adapt to human altered environments. Several swift species utilize cavities in buildings, towers, churches and other anthropic constructions as nesting sites. However, swifts are facing pressures related to the recent tendency to close all the holes to hamper their use by pigeons or to reduce thermic dispersions of buildings. To achieve a good management and conservation of urban populations of swift, detailed maps of building positions and the holes utilized is required. In 2018-2019 we compared the census methods and the effort required to map swift colonies (Common, Pallid and Alpine swifts) in medium-large cities of NW-Italy. Five medium size cities (Asti, Bergamo, Biella, Novara, Vercelli: 40-120.000 inhabitants) were inspected by small teams (1-3 (8) persons), with walking transects in the historical centre. Each transect was repeated three times during the breeding season. Buildings identified were then mapped drawing on pictures the cavities utilized by swifts (at least three 2-hours sampling in different days). The method allowed the precise localization of an average 31 constructions utilized by swifts (range 17-59). Two large cities (Bologna, Milano: 400-1.400.000 inhabitants) were inspected in a selected portion of the historical centre. In Milano 3 professionals and 10 volunteers of a citizen project were employed, and 60 colonies were localized in a 17 km² area. In Bologna, inspections (1 person) were spent to map hole positions on 5 historical building. The working examples here reported for N-Italy show the feasibility of censusing medium-size cities (and part of large cities as well) by small research teams or citizen science projects. The data collected will be essential to hamper future negative management of swift nesting sites