Search results for "dance"

Effects of Canopy Gap Disturbance on Forest Birds in Boreal Forests

2013

We studied the effects of small-scale disturbance on breeding, forest passerine birds in an old-growth and managed boreal forests in northern Finland. Small-scale disturbance (< 2 ha) in an old-growth and managed forests originated from wind falls and small clear cuts. Continuous forest without gaps was used as a control for both management types (old-growth and managed forests). Passerines' response to disturbance was examined by estimating species richness and abundance of different ecological groups. Species richness and the total abundance of birds did not differ between gap and non-gap plots, neither did the abundance of most ecological groups. Management type or study year were the mo…

19th Meeting of the Italian Primatological Association

2009

The red tooth hypothesis: A computational model of predator-prey relations, protean escape behavior and sexual reproduction

2009

This paper presents an extension of the Red Queen Hypothesis (hereafter, RQH) that we call the Red Tooth Hypothesis (RTH). This hypothesis suggests that predator-prey relations may play a role in the maintenance of sexual reproduction in many higher animals. RTH is based on an interaction between learning on the part of predators and evolution on the part of prey. We present a simple predator-prey computer simulation that illustrates the effects of this interaction. This simulation suggests that the optimal escape strategy from the prey's standpoint would be to have a small number of highly reflexive, largely innate (and, therefore, very fast) escape patterns, but that would also be unlearn…

Inhibitory avoidance learning in CD1 mice: Effects of chronic social defeat stress

2015

Chronic social defeat stress (CSDS) is an animal model widely used to determine the neurobiological mechanisms of stress and its associated pathologies. In this study, the effects of CSDS on inhibitory avoidance (IA) were evaluated in post-pubertal and adult male CD1 mice, instead of the C57BL/6J strain used in the CSDS standard protocol. CSDS consisted of daily 5-min (experiments 1 and 2) or 10-min (experiment 3) agonistic encounters on 21 consecutive days. Twenty four hours after the last session of CSDS, all the mice were tested for IA. They were also evaluated in an elevated plus-maze, obtaining complementary measures of locomotor activity and emotionality. In experiments 1 and 2, IA le…

Cognitive and behavioural effects induced by social stress plus MDMA administration in mice

2017

Adverse life experiences such as social stress may make an individual more vulnerable to drug addiction and mental disorders associated with drug consumption. The present work aimed to evaluate the effects of stress induced by acute social defeat combined with the administration of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) on depression-like behaviour, memory function and motor response to drug in late adolescent male mice. Two groups of mice were exposed to social defeat (SD) during four encounters with an aggressive co-specific, which took place on alternate days. Immediately after defeat, animals were treated with saline or MDMA 10mg/kg (SD+SAL and SD+MDMA). In control groups, mice were p…

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy of thin films with two mobile charge carriers: effects of the interfacial charging

1999

In the electrochemical systems containing an excess of the background electrolyte, the faradaic process and the interfacial (‘double-layer’) charging are coupled to the fluxes of different charge carriers, the former being related to the diffusional transport of electroactive entities while the latter being realized mostly by ions of the supporting electrolyte. As a result, the interfacial capacitance Cdl may simply be added in parallel to the faradaic impedance specific for each particular system (Randles & Ershler). This simple treatment is not justified in the absence of an indifferent electrolyte, if the same charged species take part in both the electrode reaction and the double layer …

Should all the world be taxed?

1997

Governments are beginning to fear that the establishment of the “information society” will cause their revenue from taxation to shrink: economic activities in the virtual world of the Internet could escape the application of value added tax. Are these fears justified? Would a “bit tax” solve the problem?

Ermeneutica del segno cinetico. Disegno e danza

2016

Le recenti innovazioni scientifiche e gli studi delle scienze cognitive costituiscono un punto di riferimento per la ricerca artistica che, impiegando diversificate metodologie di interpretazione grafica, si apre verso nuove forme della rappresentazione. L’articolo propone alcune riflessioni sulle implicazioni del movimento in relazione allo spazio architettonico con l’obiettivo di riconoscere nella percezione del movimento, configurazioni bidimensionali che misurano lo spazio restituendo nuove informazioni e rapporti grafici: il peso, il colore, la superficie, il disegno. Recent scientific innovations and studies of cognitive science are a reference point for artistic research, which using…

Hospital Wastewater as a Reservoir for Antibiotic Resistance Genes: A Meta-Analysis

2020

Background: The emergence and dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the environment poses a huge global health hazard. Hospital wastewater (HWW), in which a high density of antibiotic residues and antibiotic-resistant bacteria are present, may be a reservoir of ARGs dissemination into the environment. Our meta-analysis comprehensively analyzes the prevalence of ARGs in HWW, as well as the influencing factors in ARGs distribution. Methods: Online databases were used to search for literature using the subject terms: “Drug Resistance” AND “Genes” AND “Hospitals” AND “Wastewater.” Two reviewers independently applied predefined criteria to assess the literature and extract data …

Motor decision and modular control of an hyper-redundant system

2015

This thesis is aimed at better understanding how the Central Nervous System (CNS) plans and controls voluntary movements. When moving, humans must overcome intrinsic (e.g. choosing which muscles to activate) and extrinsic (e.g. choosing where to reach an object) redundancy, requiring selecting one motor solution among several potential ones. To better understand this process, we studied in parallel two important motor control theories: muscular synergies and motor decision. In a first part, we focused on intrinsic redundancy by testing the muscular synergies hypothesis. According to it, the CNS simplifies the control of muscles, in using a limited set of building blocks whose linear combina…