The Dutch policy objective of a fully sustainable livestock sector without mutilations by 2023 is not compatible with the routine practice of tail docking to minimize the risk of tail biting. To examine farmer attitudes towards docking, a telephone survey was conducted among 487 conventional and 33 organic Dutch pig farmers. “Biting” (of tails, ears, or limbs) was identified by the farmers as a main welfare problem in pig farming. About half of the farmers reported to have no tail biting (...) problems in their own herd. When farmers did report problems, they most often reported figures between 1 and 5 % of the animals. High incidences of tail biting were anticipated when trying to keep undocked pigs. Enrichment materials used in the conventional sector included mainly chains (52–63 % of the farms) and hanging rubber or plastic balls (22–30 %). Straw, sawdust, or wood shavings was hardly provided in conventional pig farming (2–3 %), in contrast to organic farming (88–100 % of farms). Conventional pig farmers feel a curly tail is not very important for sustainable pig farming. They consider enrichment to be less effective and tail docking to be less stressful for them and their piglets than their organic colleagues do. Pig farmers identified climate as a main risk factor for tail biting as opposed to enrichment. The objective of reducing routine tail docking requires solutions for dealing with tail biting problems at the farm level. In this process, transfer of scientific knowledge about enrichment materials and other measures to prevent and cure tail biting is critical, as is a change in farmer attitudes and awareness of the moral issues involved. (shrink)

Voici le texte de la circulaire que les organisateurs de cette manifestation viennent de lancer. Nous prions ceux de nos lecteurs qui désirent de plus amples renseignements de s'adresser aux secrétaires, MM. Ch. Perelman et A. De Waehens .Monsieur et cher collègue, La Société belge de philosophie et la Société philosophique de Louvain organisent de concert cette année, à Bruxelles et Louvain, le.

In their environment, plants are continuously submitted to natural stimuli such as wind, rain, temperature changes, wounding, etc. These signals induce a cascade of events which lead to metabolic and morphogenetic responses. In this paper the different steps are described and discussed starting from the reception of the signal by a plant organ to the final morphogenetic response. In our laboratory two plants are studied: Bryonia dioica for which rubbing the internode results in reduced elongation and enhanced radial expansion and (...) Bidens pilosa for which the response occurs at distance, hence pricking the cotyledon of a plantlet induces the growth inhibition of both the hypocotyl and the axillary bud of the pricked cotyledon. Reception of the signal and transmission of the message. In Bryonia the signal is received by epidermal cells while in Bidens they are the cells adjacent to the midrib of the cotyledon which receive the mechanical signal. In both plants the message is transmitted via a wave of electric depolarization. This latter is composed of an action potential associated with a slow wave whose transmission rates are respectively 1cm s−1 and 1 mm s−1. Recent results have shown the involvement of Ca2+ in the triggering of the slow wave and the role of the H+ pump during the slow wave. Transient and fast biochemical responses. An entry of extraceilular Ca2+ into the cells and a transient increase in IP3 occur within seconds following the mechanical stimulus. At the same time, the membrane becomes more fluid, correlated with qualitative changes in phospholipids. The rapid increase in the concentration of peroxidated lipids may be correlated with ethylene biosynthesis which is stimulated after rubbing. Other parameters such as cytoplasmic pH, relative water content, hydric potential, membrane potential and modifications of K+, Mg2+-ATPase and Ca2+-ATPase activities, play a key role in the early responses induced by the traumatisms. Irreversible-biochemical responses. The mechanical stimulus performed on a Bryonia internode induces an acceleration of: i) enzymatic activities related to the lignification, ii) esterification of phenolic acids in the cell wall. Consequently the lignification process is accelerated. Storage of the information. After being received by the target cells the information can be stored during several days before being expressed. At the level of cotyledonary bud, the first message, previously stored, can be expressed or not by a second treatment. Bidens thus behaves as if it was able to “store” and to “retrieve” morphogenetic messages, using a sort of rudimentary memory. The nuclei of the bud cells of the pricked cotyledon show that these cells, initially in G2 phase, divide and then remain in the G1 phase. In Bryonia, calli derived from young stimulated internodes, keep thigmomorphogenetic characteristics during several weeks. In the last part of this paper the particularity of our plant model which permits a study of the transmission and storage of the message, is underlined. The links between the different steps induced by the stimulus are discussed. Special attention is devoted to second messengers and to the amplification of the message. (shrink)

Scholars have advocated for the inclusion of metacognition in our understanding of the ethical decision making process and in support of moral learning. An instrument to measure metacognition as a domain-specific capacity related to ethical decision making is not found in the current literature. This research describes the development and validation of the 20-item Moral Metacognition Scale. Psychometric properties of the scale were assessed by exploration and confirmation of the factor structure, and the demonstration of convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity. (...) Moral metacognition, as measured by the MMS, was significantly correlated with ethical awareness and ethical judgment. Limitations of our research, suggestions for future exploration, and practical implications are discussed. (shrink)

A 10 kHz pulsed X-ray generator utilising a hot-cathode triode in conjunction with a new type of grid control device for controlling X-ray duration is described. The energy-storage condenser was charged up to 70 kV by a power supply, and the electric charges in the condenser were discharged to the X-ray tube repetitively by the grid control device. The maximum values of the grid voltage, the tube voltage, and the tube current were −1.5 kV, 70 kV, and 0.4 A, respectively. (...) The duration of the flash X-ray pulse was primarily determined by the time constant of the grid control device and the cut-off voltage of thermoelectrons. The X-ray duration was controlled within a region of less than 1 ms; the X-ray intensity with a pulse width of 0.27 ms, a charged voltage of 70 kV, and a peak tube current of 0.4 A was 0.92 μC kg −1 at 0.5 m per pulse. The maximum repetition rate was about 10 kHz, and the size of the focal spot was about 3.5×3.5 mm. (shrink)

In response to an increasing amount of policy papers stressing the need for integrating social and ethical aspects in Research and Development (R&D) practices, science studies scholars have conducted integrative research and experiments with science and innovation actors. One widely employed integration method is Midstream Modulation (MM), in which an ‘embedded humanist’ interacts in regular meetings with researchers to engage them with the social and ethical aspects of their work. While the possibility of using MM to enhance critical reflection has (...) been demonstrated in academic settings, few attempts have been made to examine its appropriateness in industry. This paper describes the outcomes of a case study aiming to find out firstly whether MM can effectively be deployed to encourage and facilitate researchers to actively include social and ethical aspects in their daily R&D practice, and secondly to what extent the integration activities could form an integral part of the engaged industrial researchers’ professional activities. Our data show that after MM, researchers display increased reflexive awareness on the social and ethical aspects of their work and acknowledge the relevance and utility of such aspects on their daily practice. Also, all participants considered actively reflecting on social and ethical aspects to be part of their work. Future research on the role of MM in industrial settings could focus on how to embed social and ethical integration as a regular part of innovation practice. We suggest that one possibility would be through aligning social and ethical aspects with innovation Key Performance Indicators. (shrink)

In response to an increasing amount of policy papers stressing the need for integrating social and ethical aspects in Research and Development (R&D) practices, science studies scholars have conducted integrative research and experiments with science and innovation actors. One widely employed integration method is Midstream Modulation (MM), in which an ‘embedded humanist’ interacts in regular meetings with researchers to engage them with the social and ethical aspects of their work. While the possibility of using MM to enhance critical reflection has (...) been demonstrated in academic settings, few attempts have been made to examine its appropriateness in industry. This paper describes the outcomes of a case study aiming to find out firstly whether MM can effectively be deployed to encourage and facilitate researchers to actively include social and ethical aspects in their daily R&D practice, and secondly to what extent the integration activities could form an integral part of the engaged industrial researchers’ professional activities. Our data show that after MM, researchers display increased reflexive awareness on the social and ethical aspects of their work and acknowledge the relevance and utility of such aspects on their daily practice. Also, all participants considered actively reflecting on social and ethical aspects to be part of their work. Future research on the role of MM in industrial settings could focus on how to embed social and ethical integration as a regular part of innovation practice. We suggest that one possibility would be through aligning social and ethical aspects with innovation Key Performance Indicators. (shrink)

The Furniture from Tumulus MM: The Gordion Wooden Objects, vol. 1. 2 vols. By Elizabeth Simpson. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East, vol. 32. Leiden: Brill, 2011. Pp. xl + 285, xxv + 158 plates, CD-ROM. $373.

The Royal Society possesses three long-focus simple lenses of diameters 195, 210 and 230 mm, all inscribed with the signature ‘C. Huygens’ and various dates in the year 1686. These prove to have been made by Constantine Huygens, the elder brother of the famous Christiaan Huygens. All three lenses have been examined by a variety of physical and chemical methods, both to define their optical characteristics and to establish the composition of dated samples of late-seventeenth-century Continental glass. The focal lengths (...) of 37·9, 50·1 and 65·2 metres found by combination agree with Huygens' own values of 122, 170 and 210 feet respectively, and are so great that practical employment of the lenses in aerial telescopes has rarely been achieved. All are made from the same very poor glass—a heterogeneous and discoloured potash-rich ‘forest glass’—with a refractive index of 1·516, a costringence of 60, and a density of 2·5 g cm−3. The three lenses were ground with just two concave laps, of radii of curvature 27·11 and 71·15 metres, one lens being plano-convex to a high degree of accuracy. A claim by previous investigators that one lens was a ‘light flint’ glass has been disproved. (shrink)

Gil R, Arroyo-Anllo EM, Ingrand P, Gil M, Neau JP, Ornon C, Bonnaud V. Self-consciousness and Alzheimer’s disease. Acta Neurol Scand 2001: 104: 296–300. # Munksgaard 2001. Objectives – To propose a neuropsychological study of the various aspects of self-consciousness (SC) in Alzheimer’s disease. Methods – Forty-five patients with probable mild or moderate AD were included in the study. Severity of their dementia was assessed by the Mini Mental State (MMS). Fourteen questions were prepared to evaluate SC. Results – No (...) significant correlations were found between SC score and educational level, age, and duration of disease. A significant correlation was found between SC score and the severity of dementia, whereas frontal disturbances were just short of the significance threshold. The various aspects of SC were not impaired to the same degree. The most disturbed ones were awareness of cognitive deficiencies, moral judgements and prospective memory. The least disturbed aspects were awareness of identity and of mental representation of the body. Items relating to anosognosia and moral judgements were significantly correlated with the MMS score, whereas affective state, body representation disorders, prospective memory, and capacities for introspection were not related to the severity of the dementia. Consciousness of identity was sound, regardless of MMS score. Conclusions – AD clearly induces an heterogeneous impairment of SC. SC requires a convergence of many neural networks. In AD, neuronal alterations involve many cortical areas and information sent to the associative frontal cortex from memory, language and visuospatial areas is lacking or disturbed. Thus, the sequential order of successive stimuli cannot be maintained by the heteromodal associative cortex (dorsal convexity of the prefrontal cortex), and the supramodal associative cortex (located rostrally in the frontal lobes) is unable to provide reliable monitoring and assessment of simultaneous neural cognitive networks carrying insufficient and inadequate input. The core deficiency in AD patients might be impaired SC equated with the disability to maintain sequential and simultaneous ‘‘attention to life’’. The Self-Consciousness Questionnaire, a clinical scale providing multidimensional measurement, indicates that different aspects of consciousness are not correlated with overall cognitive deficiency as determined by the MMSE. (shrink)

Epilepsy surgery is the most effective therapeutic approach for children with drug resistant epilepsy. Recent advances in neurosurgery, such as the Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy, improved the safety and non-invasiveness of this method. Electric and magnetic source imaging plays critical role in the delineation of the epileptogenic focus during the presurgical evaluation of children with DRE. Yet, they are currently underutilized even in tertiary epilepsy centers. Here, we present a case of an adolescent who suffered from DRE for 16 years (...) and underwent surgery at Cook Children's Medical Center. The patient was previously evaluated in a level 4 epilepsy center and treated with multiple antiseizure medications for several years. Presurgical evaluation at CCMC included long-term video electroencephalography, magnetoencephalography with simultaneous conventional EEG and high-density EEG in two consecutive sessions, MRI, and fluorodeoxyglucose - positron emission tomography. Video long-term EEG captured nine focal-onset clinical seizures with a maximal evolution over the right frontal/frontal midline areas. MRI was initially interpreted as non-lesional. FDG-PET revealed a small region of hypometabolism at the anterior right superior temporal gyrus. ESI and MSI performed with dipole clustering showed a tight cluster of dipoles in the right anterior insula. The patient underwent intracranial EEG which indicated the right anterior insular as seizure onset zone. Eventually LITT rendered the patient seizure free. Retrospective analysis of ESI and MSI clustered dipoles found a mean distance of dipoles from the ablated volume ranging from 10 to 25 mm. Our findings highlight the importance of recent technological advances in the presurgical evaluation and surgical treatment of children with DRE, and the underutilization of epilepsy surgery in children with DRE. (shrink)

Patients fit with cochlear implants commonly indicate at the time of device fitting and for some time after, that the speech signal sounds abnormal. A high pitch or timbre is one component of the abnormal percept. In this project, our aim was to determine whether a number of years of CI use reduced perceived upshifts in frequency spectrum and/or voice fundamental frequency. The participants were five individuals who were deaf in one ear and who had normal hearing in the other (...) ear. The deafened ears had been implanted with a 18.5 mm electrode array which resulted in signal input frequencies being directed to locations in the spiral ganglion that were between one and two octaves higher than the input frequencies. The patients judged the similarity of a clean signal presented to their implanted ear and candidate, implant-like, signals presented to their normal-hearing ear. Matches to implant sound quality were obtained, on average, at 8 months after device activation and at 35 months after activation. At Time 1, the matches to CI sound quality were characterized, most generally, by upshifts in the frequency spectrum and in voice pitch. At Time 2, for four of the five patients, frequency spectrum values remained elevated. For all five patients F0 values remained elevated. Overall, the data offer little support for the proposition that, for patients fit with shorter electrode arrays, cortical plasticity nudges the cortical representation of the CI voice toward more normal, or less upshifted, frequency values between 8 and 35 months after device activation. Cortical plasticity may be limited when there are large differences between frequencies in the input signal and the locations in the SG stimulated by those frequencies. (shrink)

Very little research has attempted to describe normal human variation in female genitalia, and no studies have compared the visual images that women might use in constructing their ideas of average and acceptable genital morphology to see if there are any systematic differences. The objective of the present work was to determine if visual depictions of the vulva differed according to their source so as to alert medical professionals and their patients to how these depictions might capture variation and thus (...) influence perceptions of ‘normality’. A comparative analysis was conducted by measuring (a) published visual materials from human anatomy textbooks in a university library, (b) feminist publications (print and online) depicting vulval morphology and (c) online pornography, focusing on the most visited and freely accessible sites in the UK. Post hoc tests showed that labial protuberance was significantly less (p<0.001, equivalent to approximately 7 mm) in images from online pornography compared to feminist publications. All five measures taken of vulval features were significantly correlated (p<0.001) in the online pornography sample, indicating a less varied range of differences in organ proportions than the other sources where not all measures were correlated. Women and health professionals should be aware that specific sources of imagery may depict different types of genital morphology and may not accurately reflect true variation in the population, and consultations for genital surgeries should include discussion about the actual and perceived range of variation in female genital morphology. (shrink)

Sovetlər dönəmində ictimai elmlər, xüsusən də, daha çox ideolojiləşmiş sahələrdən biri olmuş fəlsəfə, hakim ideologiyanın kursunu tutmağa çalışırdı. Bu cəhət isə, fəlsəfə və fəlsəfə tarixi ilə bağlı aparılan tədqiqatların obyektivliyinə kifayət qədər xələl gətirirdi. XX əsrin Sovet fəlsəfə tarixçisi olan Şeydabəy Məmmədovun (1912-1984) Mirzə Fətəli Axundzadənin ictimai-fəlsəfi görüşlərinin təhlili ilə bağlı tədqiqatları da, bu mənada, ideoloji xarakteri ilə seçilməkdədirlər. Ş.Məmmədov tədqiq etdiyi Axundzadəni görmək istədiyi kimi göstərməyə çalışır. Onun tədqiqatları Axundzadənin irsini araşdırmaqdan daha çox, böyük maarifçini müasirləşdirmək və Sovetlər dönəminin (...) ideoloji formatında təqdim etməyə yönəlmişdir. Ş.Məmmədovun ideoloji örtüklü tədqiqatları təbii ki, Axundzadənin ictimai-fəlsəfi görüşlərinin analizində şişitmələr və təhrifləri də qaçılmaz edir. Onun bütün tədqiqatlarında Axundzadə, Sovetlər dönəminin ruhuna uyğun mübariz materialist və qatı ateist kimi təqdim olunur. Ş.Məmmədov Axundzadənin maarifçiliyini fransız maarifçiliyi ilə əlaqələndirsə də, konkret səbəbləri açıqlamır. O, fransız maarifçilərinin Axundzadənin materialist və ateist kimi formalaşmasında rollarını qeyd etmək ilə kifayətlənir. O, həm də, maarifçilik dövrünün sonrakı inkişaf prosesi və XX əsrdəki tənqidləri haqqında da danışmır. Sovetlər dönəmində Azərbaycan mədəniyyətinin nümayəndələri haqqında aparılmış belə tədqiqatlar müasir dövrdə aktuallıq kəsb edir. Bu mənada, fəlsəfi irsimizin ayrılmaz tərkib hissəsi olan Sovetlər dövrü tədqiqatlarının konstruktiv tənqidi vacibdir. Məqalədə Ş.Məmmədovun Axundzadə haqqında əsərlərinin tədqiqində də, bu metoda müraciət edilmişdir. Konstruktiv tənqid Sovetlər dövründə fəlsəfənin müxtəlif sahələri üzrə aparılan tədqiqatlara yeni aktuallıq qazandırır. (shrink)

Bu çalışmada klasik eserlerden modern çalışmalara kadar birçok dilsel araştırmaya konu olan dilsel örüntünün son dönem dil çalışmalarına yansıması olan tedâm/ eşdizim olgusunun Arap dilinde cümlenin anlamsal bütünlüğüne katkısı ele alınmıştır. Bu olgu aslı itibariyle tüm dillerde farklı şekillerde bulunan temel örüntünün nasıllığını gözler önüne seren, şekilsel bir olgudur. Dilde iki unsurun bir birini gerektirmesi (istilzâm) veya kesinlikle yan yana gelememesi (tenâfî) gibi durumlar tedâm olgusu bağlamında incelenir. Her fiilin bir fâilinin olması, ism-i mevsûlün bir sıla cümlesine ihtiyaç duyması, sıfat (...) ile mevsuf, mudâf ile mudâufun ileyh birliktelikleri istilzâm kapsamında değerlendirilirken; mudâf olan kelimenin fiil, zamir veya şart edatı olmaması tenâfî bağlantısı bağlamında ele alınır. İstilzâm ve tenâfî bağlantıları tedâm olgusunun temel taşlarını oluştururken art arda gelen kelimelerin cümlenin söz diziminde belirli konuma sahip olmalarını gerekli kılan tevârud /tertipsel bağlantı da tedâm olgusunun ayrılmaz bir bileşenidir. Bu konum göz önüne alınmayıp ihlal edildiğinde, cümlede meydana gelen anlamsal boşluklar sebebiyle cümle, öğrenilmiş dil kalıplarının dışına çıkar. Bu yönüyle cümleyi oluşturan kelimeler arasındaki doğal dizemsel bağlantı ya da cümle içerisinde kelimenin, kendisine eşlik eden diğer kelimelerle uyumlu birlikteliği de tedâm olgusunun kapsamına girmektedir. Ayrıca bazı dilbilimcilerin, tertipsel bağlantıyı “makam” kavramıyla da ilişkilendirilerek tedâm olgusunu nahvî uyumun ötesinde belâği bir üslup bağlamında değerlendirilmeye müsait hale getirmişlerdir. Bu açıdan bakıldığında tedâm olgusuna çağdaş dilcilerin context of stuation/ durumun bağlamı olarak nitelenen bir yön kazandırılmıştır ki bu yönüyle tedâm olgusu cümleye, nahvî örüntüden daha fazla anlamsal katkı sağlamaktadır. Bu çalışma, dildeki doğal örüntüye dikkat çekerek tedâm olgusunun anlaşılmasıyla zihinde netleşen hazif, zikir, istitâr, rütbe ve takdir gibi olguların daha net anlaşılmasına katkı sağlaması açısından önemlidir. Çalışma, tedâm/ eşdizim bağlantısının cümlenin anlamsal bütünlüğüne katkısını ortaya koymaya çalışan nitel bir araştırma olup, çalışmada veri toplama araçlarından belge inceleme aracı kullanılmıştır. Veri çözümleme aşamasında ise doküman analizi ve betimsel analiz teknikleri kullanılmıştır. Çalışma neticesinde, tedâm/ eşdizim bağlantısının alt unsurlarıyla birlikte cümlede anlamsal bütünlüğü sağladığı, bu bağlantıya dikkat edilerek oluşturulan cümlelerin anlamsal açıdan daha uyumlu bir bütünlük oluşturduğu görülmektedir. Cümledeki bu uyumu sağlayan tedâm bağlantısının, alışılagelmiş ve genel kabul görmüş cümle örüntülerinin gramatik kurallara uygun bir şekilde kullanımını içerdiği sonucuna ulaşılmaktadır. Ayrıca bu bağlantı, konuşulan ortamın gereğine uygun söylenmiş lafızların içinde bulunulan makama uygun olarak yorumlanmasını da kapsamaktadır. (shrink)

Greek Heroes in and out of Hades is a study on heroism and mortality from Homer to Plato. Through systematic readings of a wide range of ancient Greek texts, Stamatia Dova offers innovative hermeneutic approaches to heroic character and a comprehensive overview of the theme of descent to the underworld in the Iliad and the Odyssey, Bacchylides 5, Plato's Symposium, and Euripides' Alcestis.

Homer’s Iliad recounts the struggles of the Greek (also: Achaean) army, led by Agamemnon, during the tenth year of their siege of Troy.1 The poem begins with a plague inflicted on the Greek camp by...