Partial baldness in relation to reproduction in pond bats in the Netherlands

Meervleermuizen (Myotis dasycneme) vertonen vaak opvallende kale plekken op de rug. Aan de hand van data van meer dan 2200 gevangen meervleermuizen tussen 2003 en 2008 hebben we de mogelijke sociale, eologische en fysiologische oorzaken achter dit fenomeen onderzocht. De aanwezigheid van kale plekken is duidelijk gerelateerd aan de zoogperiode van vrouwtjes. We hebben onderzocht hoe recent het door ons waargenomen patroon i

A Comparative Functional Approach to the Host Detection Behaviour of Parasitic Wasps. 1. A Qualitative Study on Eucoilidae and Alysiinae

We studied host detection behaviour in Alysiinae (Braconidae; Ichneumonoidea) and Eucoilidae (Cynipoidea), the larvae of which are endoparasitoids of fly larvae and in- vestigated whether this behaviour is determined by their descent or can be considered an adaptation to different environments. We compared the searching behaviour of fe- males of 32 alysiine and 25 eucoilid species from a variety of microhabitats and from different dipteran hosts by using qualitative behavioural variables. Three main modes of searching were detected: vibrotaxis, ovipositor searching and antennal searching, and the species could be classified according to the role these different modes play in the detection of host larvae. The searching modes are largely dependent upon the taxonomic position of the species. In most cases species belonging to one genus show a similar behaviour pattern. However, we also encountered examples of radiation; closely related species that search differently. The function of the three searching modes has not been elucidated so far. Therefore we cannot say that similar searching modes in unrelated species are examples of adaptive convergence. Especially in Drosophila parasitoids we encountered great differences in searching behaviour be- tween different species living in the same microhabitat. We believe differences at all levels of searching, including host detection behaviour may contribute to niche segre- gation and create possibilites for different parasitoid species to coexist in the same microhabitat, even when they attack the same host species

Attention for Distraction: Modernity, Modernism and Perception

Particularly in the latter half of the nineteenth century sensorial experiences changed at breakneck speed. Social and technological developments of modernity like the industrial revolution, rapid urban expansion, the advance of capitalism and the invention of new technologies transformed the field of the senses. Instead of attentiveness, distraction became prevalent. It is not only Baudelaire who addressed these transformations in his poems, but they can also be recognized in the works of novelist Gustave Flaubert and painter Edward Munch. By means of the work of William James, Walter Benjamin, Siegfried Kracauer and Georg Simmel, the repercussions of this crisis of the senses for subjectivity will be discussed

Woe unto them that lay field to field: Closer settlement in the early Liberal era

This paper undertakes a re-examination of the origins, construction and application of the Land for Settlements legislation in the early Liberal era. The Liberal’s commitment to closer settlement reveals part of the story of highly contested land policy in colonial New Zealand. Land for Settlements legislation of the 1890s, aimed at “bursting up” the great estates, was predominantly the product of settlers’ ideological aspirations and two determined politicians: John Ballance and John McKenzie. When measured against the rhetoric used to promote it, however, the policy was not necessarily effective: it was complicated by practical realities and a narrow vision of New Zealand as a vigorous Arcadian paradise. When contrasted with the treatment of Māori land, yet more of the complexity of the land issue and the frailties of the actors facing it are revealed. The paper concludes by proposing that Liberal policy, while flawed in execution, may have nevertheless contributed something to the consolidation of the concept of New Zealand as an agrarian ideal, a concept that remains largely intact today

Chin-spot as an indicator of age in pond bats

Tijdens ecologisch veldonderzoek is het vaak nuttig om de leeftijd van een dier te kunnen bepalen. Bij de watervleermuis (Myotis daubentonii) kan de verkleuring van de kinvlek gebruikt worden om de leeftijd van het individu te bepalen. In dit artikel onderzoeken we in hoeverre de verkleuring van de kinvlek ook toepasbaar is voor leeftijdsbepaling bij meervleermuizen (Myotis dasyneme). We concluderen dat de kleur van de kinvlek een betrouwbaar kenmerk is om de leeftijd van de meervleermuis te bepale

Compensatory eye movements in mice

This thesis will address the generation of compensatory eye movements in naturally mutated or genetically modified mice. The reason for generating compensatory eye movements is solely related to the requirements for good vision. In a subject moving through its environment the projection of visual surround would slip across the retina and retinal slip of more than only a few degrees per second would cause blurring of the projected image and reduce visual acuity (Westheimer and McKee, 1975). Compensatory eye movements are therefore generated to assure that visual projections on the retina remain at approximately the same retinal coordinates, thereby preserving a stable image despite perturbations due to self-generated or imposed movement of the head. Because of its relative simplicity the oculomotor system, which encompasses the entire transformation from sensory input to the generation of compensatory eye movements, has served as a particularly useful model for physiologists who try to understand how the brain controls movement. The repertoire of possible movements in the oculomotor system is limited to those of the eyeball in its socket, which constitutes a single joint on which three pairs of extra-ocular muscles exert their force. Each pair of muscles affects movement around one of three orthogonal rotational axes and due to a fairly constant mechanical load on the eye muscles no stretch reflex is needed. This relative simplicity of the oculomotor system and the fact that both behavioral output and sensory input can be readily measured makes it amenable to detailed quantitative analysi

Soliton core filling in superfluid Fermi gases with spin-imbalance

In this paper the properties of dark solitons in superfluid Fermi gases with spin-imbalance are studied by means of a recently developed effective field theory [S. N. Klimin, J. Tempere, G. Lombardi, J. T. Devreese, Eur. Phys. J. B 88, 122 (2015)] suitable to describe the BEC-BCS crossover in ultracold gases in an extended range of temperatures as compared to the usual Ginzburg-Landau treatments. The spatial profiles for the total density and for the density of the excess-spin component, and the changes of their properties across the BEC-BCS crossover are examined in different conditions of temperature and imbalance. The presence of population imbalance is shown to strongly affect the structure of the soliton excitation by filling its core with unpaired atoms. This in turn influences the dynamical properties of the soliton since the additional particles in the core have to be dragged along thus altering the effective mass.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

Influence of osmolarity of the growth medium on the outer membrane protein pattern of Escherichia coli

The starting point for this paper is Roland Barthes’ polemical foreword to his Sur Racine (published in April 1963), in which Barthes views Racine as the « degree zero of the critical object » – an expression which should be placed in the context of his many interrogations regarding the « classical » authors of the 19th century. I will attempt to show how this postulate is transformed into a significant epistemic interrogation at the core of the Barthesian theory of language and literature. To achieve this, I will look into the reasons for Barthes’ decision to convey the Racinian language and its tragic universe through a « deliberately closed analysis » of the dramatist’s plays and the reconstitution of a Racinian anthropology, « both structural and analytical », as well as psychoanalitycal. This reflection will be based on the theoretical and critical dialogue which can nowadays be construed between Sur Racine, the modern tragic sense of Berenice, and the contemporary production of this play staged by the Portuguese director Carlos Pimenta (2005)

Dark soliton collisions in superfluid Fermi gases

In this work dark soliton collisions in a one-dimensional superfluid Fermi gas are studied across the BEC-BCS crossover by means of a recently developed finite-temperature effective field theory [S. N. Klimin, J. Tempere, G. Lombardi, J. T. Devreese, Eur. Phys. J. B 88, 122 (2015)] . The evolution of two counter-propagating solitons is simulated numerically based on the theory's nonlinear equation of motion for the pair field. The resulting collisions are observed to introduce a spatial shift into the trajectories of the solitons. The magnitude of this shift is calculated and studied in different conditions of temperature and spin-imbalance. When moving away from the BEC-regime, the collisions are found to become inelastic, emitting the lost energy in the form of small-amplitude density oscillations. This inelasticity is quantified and its behavior analyzed and compared to the results of other works. The dispersion relation of the density oscillations is calculated and is demonstrated to show a good agreement with the spectrum of collective excitations of the superfluid

Why Five Fingers? Evolutionary Constraints on Digit Numbers

Evolutionary changes in the number of digits and other limb elements appear to be severely constrained, probably as a result of a low level of modularity during limb development. Reduced limb structures typically develop through a process of construction followed by destruction and amniotes have evolved many digit-like structures rather than actual extra digits. In amniotes, limb development occurs during the crucial phylotypic stage, when many inductive interactions are occurring throughout the body. As a result, changes in limb development usually engender changes in other body parts. Thus, mutations that change the number of limb bones are expected to have many pleiotropic effects, which severely reduces the chance of such mutations being successful. In amphibians with aquatic larvae, limb development occurs after the phylotypic stage and limb development is decoupled from the interactivity of the phylotypic stage. The constraint of pleiotropic effects is, therefore, expected to be weaker. This expectation agrees with the larger variability in the number of hand and foot structures in amphibians, with frogs even occasionally possessing six toes. These facts once again emphasize the importance of pleiotropic effects as constraints to evolutionary change, including their role in the conservation of body plans