Ecological and evolutionary processes at expanding range margins

Many animals are regarded as relatively sedentary and specialized in marginal parts of their geographical distributions. They are expected to be slow at colonizing new habitats. Despite this, the cool margins of many species' distributions have expanded rapidly in association with recent climate warming. We examined four insect species that have expanded their geographical ranges in Britain over the past 20 years. Here we report that two butterfly species have increased the variety of habitat types that they can colonize, and that two bush cricket species show increased fractions of longer-winged (dispersive) individuals in recently founded populations. Both ecological and evolutionary processes are probably responsible for these changes. Increased habitat breadth and dispersal tendencies have resulted in about 3- to 15-fold increases in expansion rates, allowing these insects to cross habitat disjunctions that would have represented major or complete barriers to dispersal before the expansions started. The emergence of dispersive phenotypes will increase the speed at which species invade new environments, and probably underlies the responses of many species to both past and future climate change

Flexibel ohne Absicherung:Arbeitslosigkeit unter Filmschaffenden

Für viele Film- und Fernsehschaffende ist es kaum möglich, Ansprüche auf Arbeitslosengeld I zu erwerben, obwohl sie sozialversicherungspflichtig beschäftigt sind. Ursache dafür ist die besondere Erwerbsstruktur der Branche. Befristete Arbeitsverträge mit kurzen Laufzeiten und die Kombination abhängiger und selbständiger Beschäftigungen sind hier an der Tagesordnung. Eine Situation die auch in anderen Branchen mehr und mehr zum Tragen kommt. Der vorliegende Beitrag nimmt eine empirische Beschreibung der Beschäftigungssituation vor und diskutiert die sich daraus ergebenden Probleme bei der Einbindung in die Arbeitslosenversicherung. Ein Schwerpunkt liegt dabei auf den besonderen Regelungen, die zur besseren Absicherung der Film- und Fernsehschaffenden eingeführt wurden, namentlich der kurzen Anwartschaftszeit und den Arbeitszeitkonten.For many film professionals, it is hardly possible to acquire entitlement to unemployment benefits (ALG I) even though they contribute to the unemployment insurance. This is due to the specific employment patterns of the industry, namely its short term contracts and the combination of dependent and self-employment. These patterns seem to get more and more common in other industries, too. This paper gives an empirical description of the employment situation and discusses the resulting problems concerning the unemployment insurance. Particular attention is paid to two specific regulations, the "kurze Anwartschaftszeit" and the "Arbeitszeitkonto"

Skin cancer of the Angora goat in South Africa

1. Introduction -- 2. The South African Angora goat -- 3. Skin cancer of Angora goats -- 4. Discussion of skin cancer of Angora goats in relation to literature, morphology and pigmentation, classification, predisposition -- 5. Summary and conclusions -- 6. References -- 7. Protocols -- 8. Summary of experiments -- 9. Photographs and photomicrographs.TypescriptIncludes bibliographical referencesThesis (DVSc) - University of South Africa, 1928ab201

Flavor Symmetry for Quarks and Leptons

Present data on neutrino masses and mixing favor the highly symmetric tribimaximal neutrino mixing matrix which suggests an underlying flavor symmetry. A systematic study of non-abelian finite groups of order $g \leq 31$ reveals that tribimaximal mixing can be derived not only from the well known tetrahedral flavor symmetry $T \equiv A_4$, but also by using the binary tetrahedral symmetry $T^{'} \equiv SL_2(F_3)$ which does not contain the tetrahedral group as a subgroup. $T^{'}$ has the further advantage that it can also neatly accommodate the quark masses including a heavy top quark.Comment: 12 pages latex. More typos correcte

Genome-wide and Mendelian randomisation studies of liver MRI yield insights into the pathogenesis of steatohepatitis

Background A non-invasive method to grade the severity of steatohepatitis and liver fibrosis is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) based corrected T1 (cT1). We aimed to identify genetic variants influencing liver cT1 and use genetics to understand mechanisms underlying liver fibroinflammatory disease and its link with other metabolic traits and diseases. Methods First, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in 14,440 Europeans in UK Biobank with liver cT1 measures. Second, we explored the effects of the cT1 variants on liver blood tests, and a range of metabolic traits and diseases. Third, we used Mendelian randomisation to test the causal effects of 24 predominantly metabolic traits on liver cT1 measures. Results We identified six independent genetic variants associated with liver cT1 that reached GWAS significance threshold (p<5x10-8). Four of the variants (rs75935921 in SLC30A10, rs13107325 in SLC39A8, rs58542926 in TM6SF2, rs738409 in PNPLA3) were also associated with elevated transaminases and had variable effects on liver fat and other metabolic traits. Insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver and BMI were causally associated with elevated cT1 whilst favourable adiposity (instrumented by variants associated with higher adiposity but lower risk of cardiometabolic disease and lower liver fat) was found to be protective. Conclusion The association between two metal ion transporters and cT1 indicates an important new mechanism in steatohepatitis. Future studies are needed to determine whether interventions targeting the identified transporters might prevent liver disease in at risk individuals

Die soziale Lage von Film- und Fernsehschauspieler/innen in Deutschland

Der vorliegende Beitrag beschreibt die soziale Lage der Film- und Fernsehschauspieler/innen in Deutschland. Anhand der Daten einer quantitativen Befragung von Mitgliedern des Berufsverbands der Film- und Fernsehschauspieler/innen (BFFS) werden die Beschäftigungs- und Einkommenssituation, die Lebenszufriedenheit und die Einbindung in die Arbeitslosenversicherung analysiert. Vor dem Hintergrund der sich in den Ergebnissen der Analyse abzeichnenden problematischen Einbindung in die Arbeitslosenversicherung wird abschließend die allgemeine Integration der Wissens- und Kreativarbeitenden in das System der gesetzlichen Sozialversicherungen diskutiert.This article describes the social situation of movie and TV actors and actresses. Using data of a survey on members of the German association of film and TV actors and actresses (BFFS) we are analyzing their employment and income situation, their life satisfaction and their integration into the unemployment insurance. The results of the analysis concerning the integration into the unemployment insurance are discussed as an example for the general mismatch between the structure of the German social security system and the employment patterns of knowledge workers and creative professionals

Further observations on the pathology of bluetongue in sheep

From the findings reviewed in this paper it seems clear that the pathological changes in bluetongue concern mainly: (a) the vascular system, (b) the skeletal musculature.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 300dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format

Rinderpest in game : a description of an outbreak and an attempt at limiting its spread by means of a bush fence

1. The history of rinderpest and of measures taken to check its spread in Central East Africa is briefly reviewed. 2. A description is given of a disease, believed to be rinderpest, affecting buffalo, eland and kudu in the Lake Rukwa trough. 3. Attention is drawn to some of the habits of game and the close association often existing between cattle and game in the dry season. 4. Subinoculations from affected buffalo and eland into susceptible young cattle and goats show that these animals suffered from rinderpest. 5. While defensive measures for cattle, namely immunization and control of movement are eminently successful, game still remains the greatest source of danger for spreading and for maintaining rinderpest. Segregation of game on a large scale, possibly with selective destruction in certain restricted areas, is the only weapon we possess at present to counter this danger. The type of bush fencing described is an attempt at evolving a practical, effective and relatively cheap means of achieving this. 6. The need for further research into the diseases of game animals and the necessity for revision of the prevalent attitude toward the game problem in Africa is emphasized.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 300dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format