Assessing animal welfare in a captive primate: an analysis of stress related behaviour in Mandrillus sphinx

The study of stress in captive animals maintained in zoos allows to consider elements that play a main role for the welfare of these species. Among these elements there are the zoo visitors, recently found in the scientific literature as negatively influencing the animals especially when these are primates. At Chester Zoo (UK), a group of six mandrills was investigated after having shown signs of stereotypical behaviour comprised of hair plucking. Through the application of ethology, notably the procedure of all-animal scan sampling, a series of variables was collected. From the data it was tested whether the public's density and the noise produced were responsible for the occurrence of visitor-directed aggression and stereotypies. These data were statistically analysed through mixed effects linear models. This statistical treatment provides a powerful way of testing of data with a degree of interdependency (such as scan samples of a particular individual). Such data are often yielded in studies with low numbers of individuals, as is often the case under captive conditions. The results collected from the zoo visitors found that they used to stay for longer in proximity of the enclosure producing a louder noise when the animals were found in the in-door enclosure and in proximity of the glass window dividing the public. The analysis of the animal behaviour showed that a correlation exists between the visitors’ density and noise and the occurrence of aggressive related displays towards the public by the animals. The visitors' density was also found to be responsible for the higher occurrence of stereotypical bouts of hair plucking. It was hypothesised that the latter was an indirect relationship and resulted from the fact that aggressive behaviours towards visitors did not have the effect anticipated by the mandrills leading to frustration and subsequent hair plucking

Multiplier Decomposition, Poverty and Inequality in Income Distribution in a SAM Framework: the Vietnamese Case

The aim of this paper is to show how and why is possible to assess both direct and indirect effects of exogenous income injections on mean income of different household groups using a new approach based on the decomposition of SAM-based multipliers. The approach we propose in this paper allows analyzing the level of inequality in the distribution of income linking the formation of individual/family income to the features of each country’s productive structure and it can be used both for structural analysis and for simulations of redistributive and antipoverty policies. The first step in order to link changes in the level of poverty and inequality to policy measures will be to derive the “accounting price multipliers matrix”, which allows considering the effects of policies affecting the labour market, thus changing the level of wages for different workers ‘categories. Using the traditional Pyatt and Round’s multiplicative decomposition method, we will be then able to disentangle the transfer, the open-loop and the closed-loop effects of a change in the income of exogenous SAM’s accounts. The second step will be to use a new technique introduced by Pyatt and Round (2006) to further decompose each element of the total multiplier matrix in order to enlighten in “microscopic detail” the linkages between each household group’s income of and other accounts whose income has been exogenously injected (i.e. Activities account and Factors account). Moreover, this new approach allows assessing the linkages between each household endowment in terms of factors and the features of the productive system and shading light on the most powerful links among different components of the economic system affecting the distribution of income. The empirical results obtained using the Vietnamese SAM for year 2000 show that the highest direct effects are related to exogenous injections to the agricultural sector and to less skilled labour force and that these effects involved not only on rural male headed but also other household groups. At the same time, the new type of multiplier decomposition shows which are the sectors and factors of production whose increase in income will have the greater indirect effects, increasing also the level of income of all household types. For example, investing in the sector of food processing and on female labour force will benefit the most all household groups, thus representing a policy option good for aggregate growth and for improving the distribution of income.Income distribution, social accounting matrix, multiplier decomposition, growth, labour market, structure of production

A contribution on the nerve terminations in neuro-tendinous end-organs

No Abstract.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/50111/1/910100204_ftp.pd

Notas taxonómicas y biogeográficas sobre las esponjas del Estrecho de Magallanes

The sponge material from the Straits of Magellan collected by the research vessels Cariboo in 1991 and Victor Hensen in 1994, and by a shallow water diving team, were studied. Most of the investigated bottoms were soft or detritic and true rocky shores were seldom surveyed. However, alternative hard substrata are the holdfasts of dead laminarians, very abundant in the Straits, which represent a sort of microenvironment suitable for settling of sponges and other benthic organisms. Out of a total of more than 150 specimens, 44 demosponge species were identified. The resulting taxonomic pattern suggests a very heterogeneous sponge assemblage, partly related to the variety of the surveyed stations. Sponge communities are characterized by a patchy distribution, a high specific diversity and a low biomass. Most of the recorded species are of austral origin and distribution, confirming the Subantarctic character of the demosponge fauna of the Magellan Straits and its close affinity (14 species in common) with the fauna of the Antarctic continent. Twenty species identified in this study had never been recorded before from the Straits.El material objeto de este estudio se recogió durante las campañas del N/O “Cariboo” en 1991 y del “Victor Hensen” en 1994 en la zona del Estrecho de Magallanes. En el segundo periodo un grupo de buzos tomó muestras también en la zona litoral. La mayor parte de los muestreos se realizaron en fondos blandos y detríticos, los verdaderos fondos duros son raros. Estos fondos están remplazados por rizoides de laminarias muertas, muy abundantes en la zona del estrecho, que constituyen una especie de micro-ambiente, apto para la instalación de esponjas y otros organismos bentónicos. De un total de más de 150 ejemplares examinados se identificaron 44 especies de demospongias. El cuadro taxonómico sugiere una comunidad heterogénea de esponjas, debida, en parte, a la variedad de las estaciones muestreadas. La comunidad se caracteriza por una distribución agregada, por una diversidad específica elevada y por una biomasa reducida. La mayor parte de las especies encontradas son de origen y distribución austral. Se confirma asi el carácter sub-antártico de la fauna de demospongias del Estrecho de Magallanes y su estrecha afinidad (14 especies en común) con la fauna antártica continental. De las especies identificadas en este estudio 20 no habían sido, hasta ahora, encontradas en el Estrecho de Magallanes

Setting a new International Poverty Line: a new proposal applied to Vietnam

The poverty line, which has been set by the World Bank in 1990 at 1.08USD/day PPA contains three major errors: it does not refer to a clear definition of poverty; it uses wrong PPA factors converting national poverty lines and it is based on limited data from two countries with the highest poverty incidence. All these errors lead to a systematic underestimate of world poverty. The objective of the paper is be then to evaluate the accuracy of international poverty estimates produced by the World Bank. The case study analyzed in the paper is Vietnam, a country which experiences impressive achievements in term of poverty reduction in the last twenty years. The specific aim of this study is then twofold. Firs, it will construct a new international poverty line using different PPA conversion factors giving more weight to goods consumed by the poorest people. Second, it will design a poverty map for Vietnam using this new poverty threshold. Results indicate that using more accurate PPA conversion factors poverty rates are much higher than the current estimates and this suggest a general revision in the method of setting an international poverty threshold.povertà, disuguaglianza, linee di povertà, poverty map

Practicing Diversity in Higher Education in Geography: Exploring Spaces of Diversity and Their Barriers in a Geography Department in Switzerland

Recent feminist geographic scholarship has urged geographers to distance themselves from androcentric and Eurocentric approaches, and to open up the discipline to diverse perspectives. Whereas numerous studies have focused on diversifying and decolonizing geography through recruitment practices, mentoring, and knowledge production, only a few have analyzed how diversity translates into teaching practices, particularly in contexts where diversity is relatively well-established among staff. Based on a questionnaire survey among the teaching staff, a content analysis of course syllabi, and a quantitative analysis of the department’s employee data, this article explores to what extent diversity within the department leads to diversity in teaching practices. By developing a framework of spaces of diversity, we analyze three spaces that potentially enable practicing diversity in teaching: The department’s academic space promotes free choice of research and teaching topics and flexible working conditions; the department space enables individuals to engage in shaping geographical teaching; and the knowledge space promotes diversity as an ideal. We found, however, that practicing diversity in geography is challenged through traditional and neoliberal university structures and formal and perceived hierarchies. Moreover, there is a need for concrete diversity practices on individual and institutional levels to actively bring diverse perspectives into the classroom

The path towards discovering PMO: an exploratory analysis of the Italian banking sector

Directly acting on Project Management practices, PMO provides companies with help to innovate, reaching competitive advantage and growth in the long run, ceteris paribus, and attempts to reduce uncertainty. Even though PMO is a more consolidated practice in some countries, the phenomenon has lately been introduced in Italy, and it is still evolving. Not all organizations and not all individuals clearly understand the potential of PMO, and its role is often limited to simple Project Management in its strict meaning, while areas for improvement are many and varied. The paper analyses the status of PMO through a survey conducted inside the Italian banking sector, trying to frame the role of PMO, throwing light on its importance for a company as a whole, and not just for a single project. A discussion of the results and future work concludes the paper

The path towards discovering PMO: an exploratory analysis of the Italian banking sector

Directly acting on Project Management practices, PMO provides companies with help to innovate, reaching competitive advantage and growth in the long run, ceteris paribus, and attempts to reduce uncertainty. Even though PMO is a more consolidated practice in some countries, the phenomenon has lately been introduced in Italy, and it is still evolving. Not all organizations and not all individuals clearly understand the potential of PMO, and its role is often limited to simple Project Management in its strict meaning, while areas for improvement are many and varied. The paper analyses the status of PMO through a survey conducted inside the Italian banking sector, trying to frame the role of PMO, throwing light on its importance for a company as a whole, and not just for a single project. A discussion of the results and future work concludes the paper

Spatial Dynamic Modelling of Tax Gap: the Case of Italy

This paper analyses the determinants of regional tax gap in Italy testing if tax evasion is characterised by spatial persistence. The size of spatial correlation in regional tax gaps has been tested and the role of additional determinants of evasion over the period 2001–2011 has been estimated. Using a dynamic spatial panel model, it is shown that regional tax gap is determined by tax evasion in neighbouring regions and is characterised by spatial persistence. Results make it possible to draw a taxonomy of the determinants of regional tax gap: contextual factors and operational factors linked to the relative efficacy of tax evasion contrasting policies and geography