Landscape Genetics of Salamander Populations at Mammoth Cave National Park

Habitat connectivity affects the distribution of genetic diversity among populations by influencing the movements of individuals and the resulting pattern of gene flow across landscapes. It has become evident that amphibians are experiencing a period of worldwide population declines brought about by environmental change. An understanding of the effects of habitat structure on landscape connectivity is important for developing effective amphibian conservation strategies. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of landscape characteristics on gene flow and population structure of the marbled salamander (Ambystoma opacum) in Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, USA. Salamander larvae were sampled from 50 ponds and screened at eight microsatellite loci to estimate genetic population structure. We used the R package ResistanceGA to build and evaluate models of landscape resistance using five different habitat categories: coniferous forest, dry deciduous forest, wet deciduous forest, human influence, and surface water. Our data reveal strong support for an ‘isolation by distance’ model in which interpond distances are a reliable predictor of the pattern of gene flow observed

Neither Sad nor Strange: Recovering the Logic of Anticruelty Organizations in Gilded Age America

In 1877, the American Humane Association ( AHA ) incorporated as one of the first national organizations dedicated to the protection of animals. Nine years later, it amended its constitution to include the protection of children in its chartered mission. By 1908, there were 354 anticruelty organizations in the United States, 185 of which were, like the AHA, humane societies invested in the welfare of both animals and children (pp. 2-3). As primary source documents reveal, Gilded Age humanitarians viewed the joint pursuit of child and animal protection as entirely sensible (p. 5). One of the Illinois Humane Society\u27s founding directors, for example, professed that the prevention of cruelty to children and to dumb beasts, are part and parcel of the same work .... By midcentury, however, the logic informing Gilded Age anticruelty reform had been lost, and child welfare professionals began to criticize the mergence of child protection with animal protection as an illogical ordering of welfare priorities (p. 5). It is a sad commentary, wrote Dr. Vincent J. Fontana, founder of the Vincent J. Fontana Center for Child Protection in New York City, that it took a society for the prevention of cruelty to animals to protect the first recorded case of a maltreated child. In The Rights of the Defenseless: Protecting Animals and Children in Gilded Age America, Professor Susan J. Pearson5 sets herself the task ofrecovering the now-forgotten logic of anticruelty reform and the development of humane societies in Gilded Age America. Her resulting history demonstrates that the union of child and animal protection was neither sad nor strange, but was instead tightly bound to the crosshatched threads of sentimentalism and liberalism (p. 20). Specifically, Pearson argues that Gilded Age anticruelty reform was a hybrid movement-simultaneously derivative and constitutive of the American state. Drawing on anticruelty reform publications, popular literature, and histories of antebellum and postbellum America, she shows how the rhetorical and institutional innovations of anticruelty reform both shaped and were shaped by an ideology of what she terms sentimental liberalism. By [s]peaking a language of sympathy while deploying legal power, Pearson explains, anticruelty reformers transformed not only sentimentalism, but also the reach and role of the state (p. 13). Although Pearson tags Rights of the Defenseless as an intellectual and cultural history (p. 8), it should also be recognized as a legal history-and an important one at that. Indeed, Rights of the Defenseless is, in many ways, more a history of the transformation of American legal liberalism (albeit one told though the voices and actions of Gilded Age humanitarians) than it is a history of Gilded Age anticruelty reform. Accordingly, this Notice engages Rights of the Defenseless on those terms-that is, as a history of American legal liberalism

Neither Sad nor Strange: Recovering the Logic of Anticruelty Organizations in Gilded Age America

In 1877, the American Humane Association ( AHA ) incorporated as one of the first national organizations dedicated to the protection of animals. Nine years later, it amended its constitution to include the protection of children in its chartered mission. By 1908, there were 354 anticruelty organizations in the United States, 185 of which were, like the AHA, humane societies invested in the welfare of both animals and children (pp. 2-3). As primary source documents reveal, Gilded Age humanitarians viewed the joint pursuit of child and animal protection as entirely sensible (p. 5). One of the Illinois Humane Society\u27s founding directors, for example, professed that the prevention of cruelty to children and to dumb beasts, are part and parcel of the same work .... By midcentury, however, the logic informing Gilded Age anticruelty reform had been lost, and child welfare professionals began to criticize the mergence of child protection with animal protection as an illogical ordering of welfare priorities (p. 5). It is a sad commentary, wrote Dr. Vincent J. Fontana, founder of the Vincent J. Fontana Center for Child Protection in New York City, that it took a society for the prevention of cruelty to animals to protect the first recorded case of a maltreated child. In The Rights of the Defenseless: Protecting Animals and Children in Gilded Age America, Professor Susan J. Pearson5 sets herself the task ofrecovering the now-forgotten logic of anticruelty reform and the development of humane societies in Gilded Age America. Her resulting history demonstrates that the union of child and animal protection was neither sad nor strange, but was instead tightly bound to the crosshatched threads of sentimentalism and liberalism (p. 20). Specifically, Pearson argues that Gilded Age anticruelty reform was a hybrid movement-simultaneously derivative and constitutive of the American state. Drawing on anticruelty reform publications, popular literature, and histories of antebellum and postbellum America, she shows how the rhetorical and institutional innovations of anticruelty reform both shaped and were shaped by an ideology of what she terms sentimental liberalism. By [s]peaking a language of sympathy while deploying legal power, Pearson explains, anticruelty reformers transformed not only sentimentalism, but also the reach and role of the state (p. 13). Although Pearson tags Rights of the Defenseless as an intellectual and cultural history (p. 8), it should also be recognized as a legal history-and an important one at that. Indeed, Rights of the Defenseless is, in many ways, more a history of the transformation of American legal liberalism (albeit one told though the voices and actions of Gilded Age humanitarians) than it is a history of Gilded Age anticruelty reform. Accordingly, this Notice engages Rights of the Defenseless on those terms-that is, as a history of American legal liberalism

Mestringstro, sykdomspersepsjon og angst- og depresjonssymptomer ved hjertesykdom: En undersøkelse av hjerteopererte pasienter.

Bakgrunn: Depresjon og angst kan være tilleggsbelastninger ved akutt og kronisk somatisk sykdom og ha påvirkning på forløp og utfall. Egen generell mestringstro og sykdoms-persepsjon har begge vist å ha noe å si for hvordan man håndterer livet med alvorlig somatisk sykdom. Denne hovedoppgaven har en helsepsykologisk tilnærming og studerer pasienter som har gjennomgått hjerteoperasjon. Hovedmålet er å undersøke om tro på mestring av egen situasjon er av betydning for disse pasientenes psykiske helse, målt i angst- og depresjonssymptomer. Metode: 432 hjerteopererte pasienter besvarte et spørreskjema om ulike psykologiske, sosiodemografiske og medisinske variabler, sendt til dem 3-15 måneder etter utskrivelse fra Universitetssykehuset i Nord-Norge. Til denne oppgaven er det gjennomført kvantitative analyser av materialet. Resultater: Det var en signifikant korrelasjon mellom de psykologiske variablene generell mestringstro, sykdomspersepsjon og angst/depresjonssymptomer. Høy generell mestringstro var assosiert med positiv sykdomspersepsjon og lite angst/depresjonssymptomer. Negativ sykdomspersepsjon var assosiert med mer angst/depresjonssymptomer. Multippel regresjonsanalyse viste at både generell mestringstro og sykdomspersepsjon hadde sammenheng med angst- og depresjonssymptomer, også når de var korrigert for hverandre. Det var i tillegg en signifikant interaksjon mellom generell mestringstro og sykdomspersepsjon, slik at lav generell mestringstro forsterket sammenhengen mellom negativ sykdomspersepsjon og mer angst/depresjon. Disse sammenhengene var konsistente også når angst/depresjonssymptomer ble delt i to separate avhengige variabler for henholdsvis angst og depresjon. Konklusjon: For hjerteopererte pasienter har generell mestringstro og sykdomspersepsjon sammenheng med angst og depresjon etter operasjonen

Global Biodiversity and Phylogenetic Evaluation of Remipedia (Crustacea)

Remipedia is one of the most recently discovered classes of crustaceans, first described in 1981 from anchialine caves in the Bahamas Archipelago. The class is divided into the order Enantiopoda, represented by two fossil species, and Nectiopoda, which contains all known extant remipedes. Since their discovery, the number of nectiopodan species has increased to 24, half of which were described during the last decade. Nectiopoda exhibit a disjunct global distribution pattern, with the highest abundance and diversity in the Caribbean region, and isolated species in the Canary Islands and in Western Australia. Our review of Remipedia provides an overview of their ecological characteristics, including a detailed list of all anchialine marine caves, from which species have been recorded. We discuss alternative hypotheses of the phylogenetic position of Remipedia within Arthropoda, and present first results of an ongoing molecular-phylogenetic analysis that do not support the monophyly of several nectiopodan taxa. We believe that a taxonomic revision of Remipedia is absolutely essential, and that a comprehensive revision should include a reappraisal of the fossil record

New Upper Cambrian Trilobites

Volume: 103Start Page: 1End Page: 13