Field studies of Pan troglodytes reviewed and comprehensively mapped, focussing on Japan's contribution to cultural primatology.

PubMed

McGrew, William C

2017-01-01

Field studies done over decades of wild chimpanzees in East, Central and West Africa have yielded impressive, cumulative findings in cultural primatology. Japanese primatologists have been involved in this advance from the outset, over a wide variety of topics. Here I review the origins and development of field studies of Pan troglodytes, then assess their progress based on analogy between cultural primatology and cultural anthropology, through four stages: natural history, ethnography, ethnology, and intuition. Then, I focus on six topics that continue to yield informative debate: technology, universals, nuanced variation, archaeology, applied primatology, and ecology. Finally, I offer a map of sites of field study of wild chimpanzees. It is clear that Japanese primatologists have made a significant contribution to East-West scientific exchange, especially at the field sites of Bossou and Mahale.

Spatial Construction Skills of Chimpanzees ("Pan Troglodytes") and Young Human Children ("Homo Sapiens Sapiens")

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poti, Patrizia; Hayashi, Misato; Matsuzawa, Tetsuro

2009-01-01

Spatial construction tasks are basic tests of visual-spatial processing. Two studies have assessed spatial construction skills in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and young children (Homo sapiens sapiens) with a block modelling task. Study 1a subjects were three young chimpanzees and five adult chimpanzees. Study 1b subjects were 30 human children…

Occlusal relief changes with molar wear in Pan troglodytes troglodytes and Gorilla gorilla gorilla.

PubMed

M'kirera, Francis; Ungar, Peter S

2003-06-01

Most research on primate tooth form-function relationships has focused on unworn teeth. This study presents a morphological comparison of variably worn lower second molars (M(2)s) of lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla; n=47) and common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes; n=54) using dental topographic analysis. High-resolution replicas of occlusal surfaces were prepared and scanned in 3D by laser scanning. The resulting elevation data were used to create a geographic information system (GIS) for each tooth. Occlusal relief, defined as the ratio of 3D surface area to 2D planometric area of the occlusal table, was calculated and compared between wear stages, taxa, and sexes. The results failed to show a difference in occlusal relief between males and females of a given taxon, but did evince differences between wear stages and between taxa. A lack of significant interaction between wear stage and taxon factors suggests that differences in occlusal relief between chimpanzees and gorillas are maintained throughout the wear sequence. These results add to a growing body of information on how molar teeth change with wear, and how differences between primate species are maintained at comparable points throughout the wear sequence. Such studies provide new insights into form-function relationships, which will allow us to infer certain aspects of diet in fossils with worn teeth.

Comparing maternal styles in bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

De Lathouwers, Mieke; Van Elsacker, Linda

2004-12-01

Studies on Cercopithecine primate maternal styles, using factor analysis on a set of maternal behaviors, commonly render two factors that describe separate dimensions of maternal behavior: protectiveness and rejection. The aims of this study were to 1) investigate whether this method for determining maternal styles in Cercopithecine species can be applied to bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), 2) determine whether they follow the same pattern, and 3) assess whether species differences in maternal style are apparent. We performed a factor analysis on nine maternal behaviors using data on eight mother-infant pairs of each species. This resulted in three factors: protectiveness, distance, and refusal. Protectiveness is positively correlated with time spent in ventral contact, making contact, approaching, and restraining. Distance is positively related with breaking contact and leaving. Refusal is positively correlated with rejecting and nipple-rejecting. The pattern of protectiveness corresponds with the pattern found in Cercopithecine species, suggesting a high consistency of this dimension across species and higher taxa. The retention of the other two factors indicates that in the Pan species, breaking contact and leaving represent another dimension, apart from rejecting and nipple-rejecting, which usually fall under one dimension in Cercopithecine species. An interspecific comparison of the factor scores for each dimension of maternal behavior reveals that, on average, bonobos and chimpanzees score equally on protectiveness. Scores on distance increase positively with infant age in chimpanzees, and negatively in bonobos, and on average bonobos have higher scores on refusal. These interspecies differences in maternal style are discussed in the light of interspecies differences in infant development, infant vulnerability to aggression, interbirth intervals, and female sociality. Copyright 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The Sampling Scheme Matters: Pan troglodytes troglodytes and P. t. schweinfurthii Are Characterized by Clinal Genetic Variation Rather Than a Strong Subspecies Break

PubMed Central

Fünfstück, Tillmann; Arandjelovic, Mimi; Morgan, David B.; Sanz, Crickette; Reed, Patricia; Olson, Sarah H.; Cameron, Ken; Ondzie, Alain; Peeters, Martine; Vigilant, Linda

2015-01-01

Populations of an organism living in marked geographical or evolutionary isolation from other populations of the same species are often termed subspecies and expected to show some degree of genetic distinctiveness. The common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is currently described as four geographically delimited subspecies: the western (P. t. verus), the nigerian-cameroonian (P. t. ellioti), the central (P. t. troglodytes) and the eastern (P. t. schweinfurthii) chimpanzees. Although these taxa would be expected to be reciprocally monophyletic, studies have not always consistently resolved the central and eastern chimpanzee taxa. Most studies, however, used data from individuals of unknown or approximate geographic provenance. Thus, genetic data from samples of known origin may shed light on the evolutionary relationship of these subspecies. We generated microsatellite genotypes from noninvasively collected fecal samples of 185 central chimpanzees that were sampled across large parts of their range and analyzed them together with 283 published eastern chimpanzee genotypes from known localities. We observed a clear signal of isolation by distance across both subspecies. Further, we found that a large proportion of comparisons between groups taken from the same subspecies showed higher genetic differentiation than the least differentiated between-subspecies comparison. This proportion decreased substantially when we simulated a more clumped sampling scheme by including fewer groups. Our results support the general concept that the distribution of the sampled individuals can dramatically affect the inference of genetic population structure. With regard to chimpanzees, our results emphasize the close relationship of equatorial chimpanzees from central and eastern equatorial Africa and the difficult nature of subspecies definitions. PMID:25330245

Functional ecology and evolution of hominoid molar enamel thickness: Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii and Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii.

PubMed

Vogel, Erin R; van Woerden, Janneke T; Lucas, Peter W; Utami Atmoko, Sri S; van Schaik, Carel P; Dominy, Nathaniel J

2008-07-01

The divergent molar characteristics of Pan troglodytes and Pongo pygmaeus provide an instructive paradigm for examining the adaptive form-function relationship between molar enamel thickness and food hardness. Although both species exhibit a categorical preference for ripe fruit over other food objects, the thick enamel and crenulated occlusal surface of Pongo molar teeth predict a diet that is more resistant to deformation (hard) and fracture (tough) than the diet of Pan. We confirm these predictions with behavioral observations of Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii and Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii in the wild and describe the mechanical properties of foods utilized during periods when preferred foods are scarce. Such fallback foods may have exerted a selective pressure on tooth evolution, particularly molar enamel thinness, which is interpreted as a functional adaptation to seasonal folivory and a derived character trait within the hominoid clade. The thick enamel and crenulated occlusal surface of Pongo molars is interpreted as a functional adaptation to the routine consumption of relatively tough and hard foods. We discuss the implications of these interpretations for inferring the diet of hominin species, which possessed varying degrees of thick molar enamel. These data, which are among the first reported for hominoid primates, fill an important empirical void for evaluating the mechanical plausibility of putative hominin food objects.

The sampling scheme matters: Pan troglodytes troglodytes and P. t. schweinfurthii are characterized by clinal genetic variation rather than a strong subspecies break.

PubMed

Fünfstück, Tillmann; Arandjelovic, Mimi; Morgan, David B; Sanz, Crickette; Reed, Patricia; Olson, Sarah H; Cameron, Ken; Ondzie, Alain; Peeters, Martine; Vigilant, Linda

2015-02-01

Populations of an organism living in marked geographical or evolutionary isolation from other populations of the same species are often termed subspecies and expected to show some degree of genetic distinctiveness. The common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is currently described as four geographically delimited subspecies: the western (P. t. verus), the nigerian-cameroonian (P. t. ellioti), the central (P. t. troglodytes) and the eastern (P. t. schweinfurthii) chimpanzees. Although these taxa would be expected to be reciprocally monophyletic, studies have not always consistently resolved the central and eastern chimpanzee taxa. Most studies, however, used data from individuals of unknown or approximate geographic provenance. Thus, genetic data from samples of known origin may shed light on the evolutionary relationship of these subspecies. We generated microsatellite genotypes from noninvasively collected fecal samples of 185 central chimpanzees that were sampled across large parts of their range and analyzed them together with 283 published eastern chimpanzee genotypes from known localities. We observed a clear signal of isolation by distance across both subspecies. Further, we found that a large proportion of comparisons between groups taken from the same subspecies showed higher genetic differentiation than the least differentiated between-subspecies comparison. This proportion decreased substantially when we simulated a more clumped sampling scheme by including fewer groups. Our results support the general concept that the distribution of the sampled individuals can dramatically affect the inference of genetic population structure. With regard to chimpanzees, our results emphasize the close relationship of equatorial chimpanzees from central and eastern equatorial Africa and the difficult nature of subspecies definitions. Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Does early care affect joint attention in great apes (Pan troglodytes, Pan paniscus, Pongo abelii, Pongo pygmaeus, Gorilla gorilla)?

PubMed

Pitman, Caisie A; Shumaker, Robert W

2009-08-01

The ability to share attention with another is the foundation on which other theory of mind skills are formed. The quality of care received during infancy has been correlated with increased joint attention in humans. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of care style (responsive or basic) and caregiver type (ape or human) during the first 6 months on joint attention in 4 great ape species (Pan troglodytes, Gorilla gorilla, Pongo spp., and Pan pansicus). Great apes engaged in joint attention with conspecifics and humans regardless of the style of early care they experienced from either a great ape mother or human caregiver. This finding suggests that joint attention is a robust ability in great apes that is resilient against at least some differences in early care. Future studies using additional measures of early care quality are recommended. Copyright 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

Public Information Use in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and Children (Homo sapiens)

PubMed Central

Vale, Gill L.; Flynn, Emma G.; Lambeth, Susan P.; Schapiro, Steven J.; Kendal, Rachel L.

2014-01-01

The discernment of resource quality is pertinent to many daily decisions faced by animals. Public information is a critical information source that promotes quality assessments, attained by monitoring others’ performance. Here we provide the first evidence, to our knowledge, that chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) use public information to guide resource selection. Thirty-two chimpanzees were presented with two simultaneous video demonstrations depicting a conspecific acquiring resources at a fast (resource-rich) or slow (resource-poor) rate. Subsequently, subjects selected the resource-rich site above chance expectation. As a comparison, we report evidence of public information use in young children. Investigation of public information use in primates is pertinent, as it can enhance foraging success and potentially facilitate payoff-biased social learning. PMID:24060244

Etiology of Triarchic Psychopathy Dimensions in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

PubMed Central

Latzman, Robert D.; Patrick, Christopher J.; Freeman, Hani J.; Schapiro, Steven J.; Hopkins, William D.

2016-01-01

The current study undertook analyses of genealogical data from a sample of 178 socially-housed chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) with well-documented pedigrees, to clarify the etiologic bases of triarchic psychopathy dimensions and the influence of early social rearing experiences. Whereas biometric analyses for the full sample indicated significant heritability for the boldness dimension of psychopathy only, heritability estimates varied by early rearing, with all three triarchic dimensions showing significant heritabilities among mother-reared but not nursery-reared apes. For mother-reared apes, both genes and environment contributed to covariance between meanness and disinhibition, whereas environment contributed mainly to covariation between these dimensions and boldness. Results indicate contributions of both genes and environment to psychopathic tendencies, with an important role for early-rearing in their relative contributions to distinct phenotypic subdimensions. In conjunction with findings from human studies, results provide valuable insights into core biobehavioral processes relevant to psychological illness and health. PMID:28503367

Gravity and solidity in four great ape species (Gorilla gorilla, Pongo pygmaeus, Pan troglodytes, Pan paniscus): vertical and horizontal variations of the table task.

PubMed

Cacchione, Trix; Call, Josep; Zingg, Robert

2009-05-01

Three experiments modeled after infant studies were run on four great ape species (Gorilla gorilla, Pongo pygmaeus, Pan troglodytes, Pan paniscus) to investigate their reasoning about solidity and gravity constraints. The aims were: (a) to find out if great apes are subject to gravity biased search or display sensitivity for object solidity, (b) to check for species differences, and (c) to assess if a gravity hypothesis or more parsimonious explanations best account for failures observed. Results indicate that great apes, unlike monkeys, show no reliable gravity bias, that ape species slightly differ in terms of their performance, and that the errors made are best explained by a gravity account. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

Permanent tooth mineralization in bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (P. troglodytes).

PubMed

Boughner, Julia C; Dean, M Christopher; Wilgenbusch, Chelsea S

2012-12-01

The timing of tooth mineralization in bonobos (Pan paniscus) is virtually uncharacterized. Analysis of these developmental features in bonobos and the possible differences with its sister species, the chimpanzee (P. troglodytes), is important to properly quantify the normal ranges of dental growth variation in closely related primate species. Understanding this variation among bonobo, chimpanzee and modern human dental development is necessary to better contextualize the life histories of extinct hominins. This study tests whether bonobos and chimpanzees are distinguished from each other by covariance among the relative timing and sequences of tooth crown initiation, mineralization, root extension, and completion. Using multivariate statistical analyses, we compared the relative timing of permanent tooth crypt formation, crown mineralization, and root extension between 34 P. paniscus and 80 P. troglodytes mandibles radiographed in lateral and occlusal views. Covariance among our 12 assigned dental scores failed to statistically distinguish between bonobos and chimpanzees. Rather than clustering by species, individuals clustered by age group (infant, younger or older juvenile, and adult). Dental scores covaried similarly between the incisors, as well as between both premolars. Conversely, covariance among dental scores distinguished the canine and each of the three molars not only from each other, but also from the rest of the anterior teeth. Our study showed no significant differences in the relative timing of permanent tooth crown and root formation between bonobos and chimpanzees. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Genomic Tools for Evolution and Conservation in the Chimpanzee: Pan troglodytes ellioti Is a Genetically Distinct Population

PubMed Central

Myers, Simon; Hellenthal, Garrett; Nerrienet, Eric; Bontrop, Ronald E.; Freeman, Colin; Donnelly, Peter; Mundy, Nicholas I.

2012-01-01

In spite of its evolutionary significance and conservation importance, the population structure of the common chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes, is still poorly understood. An issue of particular controversy is whether the proposed fourth subspecies of chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes ellioti, from parts of Nigeria and Cameroon, is genetically distinct. Although modern high-throughput SNP genotyping has had a major impact on our understanding of human population structure and demographic history, its application to ecological, demographic, or conservation questions in non-human species has been extremely limited. Here we apply these tools to chimpanzee population structure, using ∼700 autosomal SNPs derived from chimpanzee genomic data and a further ∼100 SNPs from targeted re-sequencing. We demonstrate conclusively the existence of P. t. ellioti as a genetically distinct subgroup. We show that there is clear differentiation between the verus, troglodytes, and ellioti populations at the SNP and haplotype level, on a scale that is greater than that separating continental human populations. Further, we show that only a small set of SNPs (10–20) is needed to successfully assign individuals to these populations. Tellingly, use of only mitochondrial DNA variation to classify individuals is erroneous in 4 of 54 cases, reinforcing the dangers of basing demographic inference on a single locus and implying that the demographic history of the species is more complicated than that suggested analyses based solely on mtDNA. In this study we demonstrate the feasibility of developing economical and robust tests of individual chimpanzee origin as well as in-depth studies of population structure. These findings have important implications for conservation strategies and our understanding of the evolution of chimpanzees. They also act as a proof-of-principle for the use of cheap high-throughput genomic methods for ecological questions. PMID:22396655

Genomic tools for evolution and conservation in the chimpanzee: Pan troglodytes ellioti is a genetically distinct population.

PubMed

Bowden, Rory; MacFie, Tammie S; Myers, Simon; Hellenthal, Garrett; Nerrienet, Eric; Bontrop, Ronald E; Freeman, Colin; Donnelly, Peter; Mundy, Nicholas I

2012-01-01

In spite of its evolutionary significance and conservation importance, the population structure of the common chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes, is still poorly understood. An issue of particular controversy is whether the proposed fourth subspecies of chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes ellioti, from parts of Nigeria and Cameroon, is genetically distinct. Although modern high-throughput SNP genotyping has had a major impact on our understanding of human population structure and demographic history, its application to ecological, demographic, or conservation questions in non-human species has been extremely limited. Here we apply these tools to chimpanzee population structure, using ∼700 autosomal SNPs derived from chimpanzee genomic data and a further ∼100 SNPs from targeted re-sequencing. We demonstrate conclusively the existence of P. t. ellioti as a genetically distinct subgroup. We show that there is clear differentiation between the verus, troglodytes, and ellioti populations at the SNP and haplotype level, on a scale that is greater than that separating continental human populations. Further, we show that only a small set of SNPs (10-20) is needed to successfully assign individuals to these populations. Tellingly, use of only mitochondrial DNA variation to classify individuals is erroneous in 4 of 54 cases, reinforcing the dangers of basing demographic inference on a single locus and implying that the demographic history of the species is more complicated than that suggested analyses based solely on mtDNA. In this study we demonstrate the feasibility of developing economical and robust tests of individual chimpanzee origin as well as in-depth studies of population structure. These findings have important implications for conservation strategies and our understanding of the evolution of chimpanzees. They also act as a proof-of-principle for the use of cheap high-throughput genomic methods for ecological questions.

How Young Children and Chimpanzees ("Pan Troglodytes") Perceive Objects in a 2D Display: Putting an Assumption to the Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leighty, Katherine A.; Menzel, Charles R.; Fragaszy, Dorothy M.

2008-01-01

Object recognition research is typically conducted using 2D stimuli in lieu of 3D objects. This study investigated the amount and complexity of knowledge gained from 2D stimuli in adult chimpanzees ("Pan troglodytes") and young children (aged 3 and 4 years) using a titrated series of cross-dimensional search tasks. Results indicate that 3-year-old…

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Are Predominantly Right-Handed: Replication in Three Populations of Apes

PubMed Central

Hopkins, William D.; Wesley, Michael J.; Izard, M. Kay; Hook, Michelle; Schapiro, Steven J.

2007-01-01

Population-level right-handedness has historically been considered a hallmark of human evolution. Even though recent studies in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have demonstrated population-level right-handedness for certain behaviors, some have questioned the validity and consistency of these findings by arguing that reported laterality effects are specific to certain colonies of apes and to those chimpanzees reared by humans. The authors report evidence of population-level right-handedness in 3 separate colonies of chimpanzees. Moreover, handedness in the 3 colonies was unrelated to the proportion of subjects that were raised by humans. This is the strongest evidence to date that population-level handedness is evident in chimpanzees and is not an artifact of human rearing. PMID:15174946

Token transfers among great apes (Gorilla gorilla, Pongo pygmaeus, Pan paniscus, and Pan troglodytes): species differences, gestural requests, and reciprocal exchange.

PubMed

Pelé, Marie; Dufour, Valérie; Thierry, Bernard; Call, Josep

2009-11-01

Great apes appear to be the nonhuman primates most capable of recognizing trading opportunities and engaging in transfers of commodities with conspecifics. Spontaneous exchange of goods between them has not yet been reported. We tested gorillas (Gorilla gorilla), orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), bonobos (Pan paniscus), and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in a token-exchange task involving two conspecifics and a human experimenter. Tested in pairs, subjects had to exchange tokens with a partner to obtain food from the experimenter. We observed 4, 5, 264, and 328 transfers of tokens in gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, and bonobos, respectively. Most gifts were indirect in gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos, whereas most were direct in orangutans. The analysis showed no evidence of calculated reciprocity in interactions. A main finding of the study was the high rate of repeated gifts and begging gestures recorded in orangutans. This raises the question of the meaning of pointing in great apes and their ability to understand the communicative intent of others.

Endocranial shape asymmetries in Pan paniscus, Pan troglodytes and Gorilla gorilla assessed via skull based landmark analysis.

PubMed

Balzeau, Antoine; Gilissen, Emmanuel

2010-07-01

Brain shape asymmetries or petalias consist of the extension of one cerebral hemisphere beyond the other. A larger frontal or caudal projection is usually coupled with a larger lateral extent of the more projecting hemisphere relative to the other. The concurrence of these petalial components is characteristic of hominins. Studies aimed at quantifying petalial asymmetries in human and great ape endocasts rely on the definition of the midline of the endocranial surface. Studies of brain material show that, at least in humans, most of the medial surface of the left occipital lobe distorts along the midline and protrudes on to the right side, making it difficult for midline and corresponding left and right reference point identification. In order to accurately quantify and compare brain shape asymmetries in extant hominid species, we propose here a new protocol based on the objective definition of cranial landmarks. We describe and quantify for the first time in three dimensions the positions of frontal and occipital protrusions in large samples of Pan paniscus, Pan troglodytes and Gorilla gorilla. This study confirms the existence of frontal and occipital petalias in African apes. Moreover, the detailed analysis of the 3D structure of these petalias reveals shared features, as well as features that are unique to the different great ape species.

Comparing infant and juvenile behavior in bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): a preliminary study.

PubMed

De Lathouwers, Mieke; Van Elsacker, Linda

2006-10-01

The dichotomy between the two Pan species, the bonobo (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) has been strongly emphasized until very recently. Given that most studies were primarily based on adult individuals, we shifted the "continuity versus discontinuity" discussion to the infant and juvenile stage. Our aim was to test quantitatively, some conflicting statements made in literature considering species differences between immature bonobos and chimpanzees. On one hand it is suggested that infant bonobos show retardation in motor and social development when compared with chimpanzees. Additionally it is expected that the weaning process is more traumatic to chimpanzee than bonobo infants. But on the other hand the development of behaviors is expected to be very similar in both species. We observed eight mother-infant pairs of each species in several European zoos. Our preliminary research partially confirms that immature chimpanzees seem spatially more independent, spending more time at a larger distance from their mother than immature bonobos. However, the other data do not seem to support the hypothesis that bonobo infants show retardation of motor or social development. The development of solitary play, environmental exploration, social play, non-copulatory mounts and aggressive interactions do not differ between the species. Bonobo infants in general even groom other group members more than chimpanzee infants. We also found that older bonobo infants have more nipple contact than same aged chimpanzees and that the weaning process seems to end later for bonobos than for immature chimpanzee. Additionally, although immature bonobos show in general more signs of distress, our data suggest that the weaning period itself is more traumatic for chimpanzees.

Sequence Diversity of Pan troglodytes Subspecies and the Impact of WFDC6 Selective Constraints in Reproductive Immunity

PubMed Central

Ferreira, Zélia; Hurle, Belen; Andrés, Aida M.; Kretzschmar, Warren W.; Mullikin, James C.; Cherukuri, Praveen F.; Cruz, Pedro; Gonder, Mary Katherine; Stone, Anne C.; Tishkoff, Sarah; Swanson, Willie J.; Green, Eric D.; Clark, Andrew G.; Seixas, Susana

2013-01-01

Recent efforts have attempted to describe the population structure of common chimpanzee, focusing on four subspecies: Pan troglodytes verus, P. t. ellioti, P. t. troglodytes, and P. t. schweinfurthii. However, few studies have pursued the effects of natural selection in shaping their response to pathogens and reproduction. Whey acidic protein (WAP) four-disulfide core domain (WFDC) genes and neighboring semenogelin (SEMG) genes encode proteins with combined roles in immunity and fertility. They display a strikingly high rate of amino acid replacement (dN/dS), indicative of adaptive pressures during primate evolution. In human populations, three signals of selection at the WFDC locus were described, possibly influencing the proteolytic profile and antimicrobial activities of the male reproductive tract. To evaluate the patterns of genomic variation and selection at the WFDC locus in chimpanzees, we sequenced 17 WFDC genes and 47 autosomal pseudogenes in 68 chimpanzees (15 P. t. troglodytes, 22 P. t. verus, and 31 P. t. ellioti). We found a clear differentiation of P. t. verus and estimated the divergence of P. t. troglodytes and P. t. ellioti subspecies in 0.173 Myr; further, at the WFDC locus we identified a signature of strong selective constraints common to the three subspecies in WFDC6—a recent paralog of the epididymal protease inhibitor EPPIN. Overall, chimpanzees and humans do not display similar footprints of selection across the WFDC locus, possibly due to different selective pressures between the two species related to immune response and reproductive biology. PMID:24356879

Exploring the Relationship Between Cerebellar Asymmetry and Handedness in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and Capuchins (Cebus apella)

PubMed Central

Phillips, Kimberley A.; Hopkins, William D.

2007-01-01

A comparative study of chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and capuchin monkey (Cebus apella) cerebellar asymmetry and its relationship to handedness was conducted. Magnetic resonance images of the brain and behavioral data on a coordinated bimanual task were obtained from 16 chimpanzees and 11 capuchins. Chimpanzees displayed a greater rightward bias of the posterior cerebellum and capuchins displayed a greater leftward bias of the anterior cerebellum. Cerebellar asymmetries were significantly associated with handedness in capuchins but not chimpanzees, and this effect was most pronounced in right-handed capuchins. PMID:17382360

Intentionality as Measured in the Persistence and Elaboration of Communication by Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

PubMed Central

Leavens, David A.; Russell, Jamie L.; Hopkins, William D.

2007-01-01

In human infancy, 2 criteria for intentional communication are (a) persistence in and (b) elaboration of communication when initial attempts to communicate fail. Twenty-nine chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) were presented with both desirable (a banana) and undesirable food (commercial primate chow). Three conditions were administered: (a) the banana was delivered (successful communication), (b) half of the banana was delivered (partially successful communication), and (c) the chow was delivered (failed communication). The chimpanzees exhibited persistence in and elaboration of their communication in every condition except when the banana was delivered. Thus, their communication was about a specific item, demonstrating that both intentionality and nonverbal reference are capacities shared by humans with our nearest living relatives, the great apes. PMID:15693773

The influence of ecology on chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) cultural behavior: a case study of five Ugandan chimpanzee communities.

PubMed

Gruber, Thibaud; Potts, Kevin B; Krupenye, Christopher; Byrne, Maisie-Rose; Mackworth-Young, Constance; McGrew, William C; Reynolds, Vernon; Zuberbühler, Klaus

2012-11-01

The influence of ecology on the development of behavioral traditions in animals is controversial, particularly for chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), for which it is difficult to rule out environmental influences as a cause of widely observed community-specific behavioral differences. Here, we investigated 3 potential scenarios that could explain the natural variation in a key extractive tool behavior, "fluid-dip," among several communities of chimpanzees of the Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii subspecies in Uganda. We compared data from previous behavioral ecological studies, field experiments, and long-term records of chimpanzee tool-using behavior. We focused on the quality of the available food, dietary preferences, and tool sets of 5 different communities, and carried out a standardized field experiment to test systematically for the presence of fluid-dip in 4 of these communities. Our results revealed major differences in habitat, available diet, and tool use behavior between geographically close communities. However, these differences in ecology and feeding behavior failed to explain the differences in tool use across communities. We conclude that ecological variables may lead both to innovation and loss of behavioral traditions, while contributing little to their transmission within the community. Instead, as soon as a behavioral tradition is established, sociocognitive factors likely play a key maintenance role as long as the ecological conditions do not change sufficiently for the tradition to be abandoned.

Placentophagy in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) at Bossou, Guinea.

PubMed

Fujisawa, Michiko; Hockings, Kimberley J; Soumah, Aly Gaspard; Matsuzawa, Tetsuro

2016-04-01

Despite intensive observation of nonhuman great apes during long-term field studies, observations of great ape births in the wild are rare. Research on wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) at Bossou in the Republic of Guinea has been ongoing for 35 years, yet chimpanzee parturitions have been observed on only two occasions. Here we provide information regarding both chimpanzee births, with detailed information from the close observation of one. During this birth, the mother built a day nest in a tree before parturition. After giving birth, the mother consumed the placenta, and the other chimpanzees in her party gathered near her and her neonate. However, she did not share the placenta, and consumed it all herself. In the second observation, the mother also built a nest in a tree and subsequently gave birth. Thereafter, she shared the placenta with some individuals and consumed part of the placenta herself. Although maternal placentophagy is a ubiquitous behavior among the majority of non-human primates, observations of placenta sharing by wild primates are infrequent, and the proximate and ultimate explanations for the behavior remain unclear.

Responses to a simple barter task in chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes.

PubMed

Brosnan, Sarah F; de Waal, Frans B M

2005-07-01

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) frequently participate in social exchange involving multiple goods and services of variable value, yet they have not been tested in a formalized situation to see whether they can barter using multiple tokens and rewards. We set up a simple barter economy with two tokens and two associated rewards and tested chimpanzees on their ability to obtain rewards by returning the matching token in situations in which their access to tokens was unlimited or limited. Chimpanzees easily learned to associate value with the tokens, as expected, and did barter, but followed a simple strategy of favoring the higher-value token, regardless of the reward proffered, instead of a more complex but more effective strategy of returning the token that matched the reward. This response is similar to that shown by capuchin monkeys in our previous study. We speculate that this response, while not ideal, may be sufficient to allow for stability of the social exchange system in these primates, and that the importance of social barter to both species may have led to this convergence of strategies.

Referential understanding of videos in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), and children (Homo sapiens).

PubMed

Poss, Sarah R; Rochat, Philippe

2003-12-01

Performance on identical search tasks based on cues directly perceived or indirectly perceived through video were compared among a group of 4 adult chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), a group of 2 adult orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), and a group of 36 children (between 2 and 3 years of age). Children comprehended directly perceived cues but had difficulty with video cues. In contrast, chimpanzees and 1 orangutan were successful in using video to guide their search for a hidden object. Two follow-up studies with 3-year-old children demonstrated the importance of more distinct perceptual and verbal cues in aiding children's understanding of video as referring to real-world events.

Share your sweets: Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and bonobo (Pan paniscus) willingness to share highly attractive, monopolizable food sources.

PubMed

Byrnit, Jill T; Høgh-Olesen, Henrik; Makransky, Guido

2015-08-01

All over the world, humans (Homo sapiens) display resource-sharing behavior, and common patterns of sharing seem to exist across cultures. Humans are not the only primates to share, and observations from the wild have long documented food sharing behavior in our closest phylogenetic relatives, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus). However, few controlled studies have been made in which groups of Pan are introduced to food items that may be shared or monopolized by a first food possessor, and very few studies have examined what happens to these sharing patterns if the food in question is a highly attractive, monopolizable food source. The one study to date to include food quality as the independent variable used different types of food as high- and low-value items, making differences in food divisibility and size potentially confounding factors. It was the aim of the present study to examine the sharing behavior of groups of captive chimpanzees and bonobos when introducing the same type of food (branches) manipulated to be of 2 different degrees of desirability (with or without syrup). Results showed that the large majority of food transfers in both species came about as sharing in which group members were allowed to cofeed or remove food from the stock of the food possessor, and the introduction of high-value food resulted in more sharing, not less. Food sharing behavior differed between species in that chimpanzees displayed significantly more begging behavior than bonobos. Bonobos, instead, engaged in sexual invitations, which the chimpanzees never did. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Fatal arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy in 2 related subadult chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Tong, L J; Flach, E J; Sheppard, M N; Pocknell, A; Banerjee, A A; Boswood, A; Bouts, T; Routh, A; Feltrer, Y

2014-07-01

Cardiovascular disease is increasingly recognized as an important cause of morbidity and mortality in captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). This report records 2 cases of sudden cardiac death in closely related subadult captive chimpanzees with marked replacement fibrosis and adipocyte infiltration of the myocardium, which resemble specific atypical forms of the familial human disease arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy. Changes were consistent with left-dominant and biventricular subtypes, which are both phenotypic variants found within human families with familial arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy. Previously reported fibrosing cardiomyopathies in chimpanzees were characterized by nonspecific interstitial fibrosis, in contrast to the replacement fibrofatty infiltration with predilection for the outer myocardium seen in these 2 cases. To the authors' knowledge, this case report is the first to describe cardiomyopathy resembling arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy in nonhuman primates and the first to describe left-dominant arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy-type lesions in an animal. © The Author(s) 2013.

Eco-geographical diversification of bitter taste receptor genes (TAS2Rs) among subspecies of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Hayakawa, Takashi; Sugawara, Tohru; Go, Yasuhiro; Udono, Toshifumi; Hirai, Hirohisa; Imai, Hiroo

2012-01-01

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have region-specific difference in dietary repertoires from East to West across tropical Africa. Such differences may result from different genetic backgrounds in addition to cultural variations. We analyzed the sequences of all bitter taste receptor genes (cTAS2Rs) in a total of 59 chimpanzees, including 4 putative subspecies. We identified genetic variations including single-nucleotide variations (SNVs), insertions and deletions (indels), gene-conversion variations, and copy-number variations (CNVs) in cTAS2Rs. Approximately two-thirds of all cTAS2R haplotypes in the amino acid sequence were unique to each subspecies. We analyzed the evolutionary backgrounds of natural selection behind such diversification. Our previous study concluded that diversification of cTAS2Rs in western chimpanzees (P. t. verus) may have resulted from balancing selection. In contrast, the present study found that purifying selection dominates as the evolutionary form of diversification of the so-called human cluster of cTAS2Rs in eastern chimpanzees (P. t. schweinfurthii) and that the other cTAS2Rs were under no obvious selection as a whole. Such marked diversification of cTAS2Rs with different evolutionary backgrounds among subspecies of chimpanzees probably reflects their subspecies-specific dietary repertoires.

Eco-Geographical Diversification of Bitter Taste Receptor Genes (TAS2Rs) among Subspecies of Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

PubMed Central

Hayakawa, Takashi; Sugawara, Tohru; Go, Yasuhiro; Udono, Toshifumi; Hirai, Hirohisa; Imai, Hiroo

2012-01-01

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have region-specific difference in dietary repertoires from East to West across tropical Africa. Such differences may result from different genetic backgrounds in addition to cultural variations. We analyzed the sequences of all bitter taste receptor genes (cTAS2Rs) in a total of 59 chimpanzees, including 4 putative subspecies. We identified genetic variations including single-nucleotide variations (SNVs), insertions and deletions (indels), gene-conversion variations, and copy-number variations (CNVs) in cTAS2Rs. Approximately two-thirds of all cTAS2R haplotypes in the amino acid sequence were unique to each subspecies. We analyzed the evolutionary backgrounds of natural selection behind such diversification. Our previous study concluded that diversification of cTAS2Rs in western chimpanzees (P. t. verus) may have resulted from balancing selection. In contrast, the present study found that purifying selection dominates as the evolutionary form of diversification of the so-called human cluster of cTAS2Rs in eastern chimpanzees (P. t. schweinfurthii) and that the other cTAS2Rs were under no obvious selection as a whole. Such marked diversification of cTAS2Rs with different evolutionary backgrounds among subspecies of chimpanzees probably reflects their subspecies-specific dietary repertoires. PMID:22916235

Tracking the displacement of objects: a series of tasks with great apes (Pan troglodytes, Pan paniscus, Gorilla gorilla, and Pongo pygmaeus) and young children (Homo sapiens).

PubMed

Barth, Jochen; Call, Josep

2006-07-01

The authors administered a series of object displacement tasks to 24 great apes and 24 30-month-old children (Homo sapiens). Objects were placed under 1 or 2 of 3 cups by visible or invisible displacements. The series included 6 tasks: delayed response, inhibition test, A not B, rotations, transpositions, and object permanence. Apes and children solved most tasks performing at comparable levels except in the transposition task, in which apes performed better than children. Ape species performed at comparable levels in all tasks except in single transpositions, in which chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus) performed better than gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) and orangutans (Pongo pygmeaus). All species found nonadjacent trials and rotations especially difficult. The number of elements that changed locations, the type of displacement, and having to inhibit predominant reaching responses were factors that negatively affected the subjects' performance.

The limits of endowment effects in great apes (Pan paniscus, Pan troglodytes, Gorilla gorilla, Pongo pygmaeus).

PubMed

Kanngiesser, Patricia; Santos, Laurie R; Hood, Bruce M; Call, Josep

2011-11-01

The endowment effect describes the bias that people often value things that they possess more than things they do not possess. Thus, they are often reluctant to trade items in their possession for items of equivalent value. Some nonhuman primates appear to share this bias with humans, but it remains an open question whether they show endowment effects to the same extent as humans do. We investigated endowment effects in all four great ape species (Pan paniscus, Pan troglodytes, Gorilla gorilla, Pongo pygmaeus) by varying whether apes were endowed with food items (Experiment 1, N = 22) or tools that were instrumental in retrieving food (Experiment 2, N = 23). We first assessed apes' preferences for items of a pair and their willingness to trade items in their possession. We then endowed apes with one item of a pair and offered them to trade for the other item. Apes showed endowment effects for food, but not for tools. In Experiment 3, we endowed bonobos (N = 4) and orangutans (N = 5) with either one or 12 food items. Endowment effects did not differ between species and were not influenced by the number of endowed food items. Our findings suggest that endowment effects in great apes are restricted to immediate food gratification and remain unaffected by the quantity of food rewards. However, endowment effects do not seem to extend to other, nonconsumable possessions even when they are instrumental in retrieving food. In general, apes do not show endowment effects across a range of different commodities as humans typically do.

Shape of the piriform aperture in Gorilla gorilla, Pan troglodytes, and modern Homo sapiens: characterization and polymorphism analysis.

PubMed

Schmittbuhl, M; Le Minor, J M; Allenbach, B; Schaaf, A

1998-07-01

By using new methodologies based on automatic image analysis, the shape of the piriform aperture was analyzed in Gorilla gorilla (33 males, 13 females), Pan troglodytes (35 males, 22 females), and modern Homo sapiens (30 males, 12 females). The determination of the piriform aperture index (breadth/height) allowed the authors to demonstrate a marked elongation of the aperture in Homo compared with Gorilla and Pan. Individual characterization of the shape was possible with great precision and without ambiguity by using Fourier analysis. An absolute, interspecific partition between Gorilla, Pan, and Homo resulted from the canonical discriminant analysis of the Fourier descriptors. However, a closeness of shape between some individuals in Pan and some in Gorilla and Homo was observed, demonstrating a morphological continuum of the shape of the piriform aperture in hominoids: Pan was in intermediate position between Gorilla and Homo. Interspecific differences between Homo and the group Pan-Gorilla were explained principally by the differences in elongation (amplitude of the second harmonic) and pentagonality (amplitude of the fifth harmonic) and by differences in orientation of quadrangularity (phase of the fourth harmonic). Differences in the shape of the piriform aperture between Pan and Gorilla were explained by differences in orientation of elongation (phase of the second harmonic) and by differences in the component of triangularity (amplitude of the third harmonic). In Gorilla and Pan, the little, elongated, and relatively trapezoidal piriform aperture seems to be a shared primitive feature (plesiomorphic), whereas an elongated piriform aperture seems to be a characteristic and derived feature (apomorphic) of modern Homo sapiens.

Moving shadows contribute to the corridor illusion in a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Imura, Tomoko; Tomonaga, Masaki

2009-08-01

Previous studies have reported that backgrounds depicting linear perspective and texture gradients influence relative size discrimination in nonhuman animals (known as the "corridor illusion"), but research has not yet identified the other kinds of depth cues contributing to the corridor illusion. This study examined the effects of linear perspective and shadows on the responses of a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) to the corridor illusion. The performance of the chimpanzee was worse when a smaller object was presented at the farther position on a background reflecting a linear perspective, implying that the corridor illusion was replicated in the chimpanzee (Imura, Tomonaga, & Yagi, 2008). The extent of the illusion changed as a function of the position of the shadows cast by the objects only when the shadows were moving in synchrony with the objects. These findings suggest that moving shadows and linear perspective contributed to the corridor illusion in a chimpanzee. Copyright 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

Age-related decline in ovarian follicle stocks differ between chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and humans.

PubMed

Cloutier, Christina T; Coxworth, James E; Hawkes, Kristen

2015-02-01

Similarity in oldest parturitions in humans and great apes suggests that we maintain ancestral rates of ovarian aging. Consistent with that hypothesis, previous counts of primordial follicles in postmortem ovarian sections from chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) showed follicle stock decline at the same rate that human stocks decline across the same ages. Here, we correct that finding with a chimpanzee sample more than three times larger than the previous one, which also allows comparison into older ages. Analyses show depletion rates similar until about age 35, but after 35, the human counts continue to fall with age, while the change is much less steep in chimpanzees. This difference implicates likely effects on ovarian dynamics from other physiological systems that are senescing at different rates, and, potentially, different perimenopausal experience for chimpanzees and humans.

Expression of myosin heavy chain isoforms mRNA transcripts in the temporalis muscle of common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Ciurana, Neus; Artells, Rosa; Muñoz, Carmen; Arias-Martorell, Júlia; Bello-Hellegouarch, Gaëlle; Casado, Aroa; Cuesta, Elisabeth; Pérez-Pérez, Alejandro; Pastor, Juan Francisco; Potau, Josep Maria

2017-11-01

The common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is the primate that is phylogenetically most closely related to humans (Homo sapiens). In order to shed light on the anatomy and function of the temporalis muscle in the chimpanzee, we have analyzed the expression patterns of the mRNA transcripts of the myosin heavy chain (MyHC) isoforms in different parts of the muscle. We dissected the superficial, deep and sphenomandibularis portions of the temporalis muscle in five adult P. troglodytes and quantified the expression of the mRNA transcripts of the MyHC isoforms in each portion using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. We observed significant differences in the patterns of expression of the mRNA transcripts of the MyHC-IIM isoform between the sphenomandibularis portion and the anterior superficial temporalis (33.6% vs 47.0%; P=0.032) and between the sphenomandibularis portion and the anterior deep temporalis (33.6% vs 43.0; P=0.016). We also observed non-significant differences between the patterns of expression in the anterior and posterior superficial temporalis. The differential expression patterns of the mRNA transcripts of the MyHC isoforms in the temporalis muscle in P. troglodytes may be related to the functional differences that have been observed in electromyographic studies in other species of primates. Our findings can be applicable to the fields of comparative anatomy, evolutionary anatomy, and anthropology. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Object permanence in orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), and children (Homo sapiens).

PubMed

Call, J

2001-06-01

Juvenile and adult orangutans (n = 5; Pongo pygmaeus), chimpanzees (n = 7; Pan troglodytes), and 19- and 26-month-old children (n = 24; Homo sapiens) received visible and invisible displacements. Three containers were presented forming a straight line, and a small box was used to displace a reward under them. Subjects received 3 types of displacement: single (the box visited 1 container), double adjacent (the box visited 2 contiguous containers), and double nonadjacent (the box visited 2 noncontiguous containers). All species performed at comparable levels, solving all problems except the invisible nonadjacent displacements. Visible displacements were easier than invisible, and single were easier than double displacements. In a 2nd experiment, subjects saw the baiting of either 2 adjacent or 2 nonadjacent containers with no displacements. All species selected the empty container more often when the baited containers were nonadjacent than when they were adjacent. It is hypothesized that a response bias and inhibition problem were responsible for the poor performance in nonadjacent displacements.

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) use markers to monitor the movement of a hidden item.

PubMed

Beran, Michael J; Beran, Mary M; Menzel, Charles R

2005-10-01

Four chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) monitored the movement of hidden items in arrays of opaque cups. A chocolate candy was hidden in an array of four cups and temporarily presented paper markers indicated the location of the candy (which otherwise was not visible). These markers were either non-symbolic or symbolic (lexigram) stimuli that in other contexts acted as a label for the hidden candy, and the array was either rotated 180 degrees after the marker was removed or the array remained in the same location. For three of four chimpanzees, performance was better than chance in all conditions and there was no effect of the type of marker. These experiments indicate that chimpanzees can track the movement of a hidden item in an array of identical cups even when they never see the item itself, but only see a temporarily presented marker for the location of that item. However, there was no benefit to the use of symbolic as opposed to non-symbolic stimuli in this performance.

A Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) Model of Triarchic Psychopathy Constructs: Development and Initial Validation

PubMed Central

Latzman, Robert D.; Drislane, Laura E.; Hecht, Lisa K.; Brislin, Sarah J.; Patrick, Christopher J.; Lilienfeld, Scott O.; Freeman, Hani J.; Schapiro, Steven J.; Hopkins, William D.

2015-01-01

The current work sought to operationalize constructs of the triarchic model of psychopathy in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), a species well-suited for investigations of basic biobehavioral dispositions relevant to psychopathology. Across three studies, we generated validity evidence for scale measures of the triarchic model constructs in a large sample (N=238) of socially-housed chimpanzees. Using a consensus-based rating approach, we first identified candidate items for the chimpanzee triarchic (CHMP-Tri) scales from an existing primate personality instrument and refined these into scales. In Study 2, we collected data for these scales from human informants (N=301), and examined their convergent and divergent relations with scales from another triarchic inventory developed for human use. In Study 3, we undertook validation work examining associations between CHMP-Tri scales and task measures of approach-avoidance behavior (N=73) and ability to delay gratification (N=55). Current findings provide support for a chimpanzee model of core dispositions relevant to psychopathy and other forms of psychopathology. PMID:26779396

Shape of the orbital opening: individual characterization and analysis of variability in modern humans, Gorilla gorilla, and Pan troglodytes.

PubMed

Schmittbuhl, M; Le Minor, J M; Allenbach, B; Schaaf, A

1999-05-01

The description of the human orbital shape is principally qualitative in the classical literature, and characterised by adjectives such as circular, rectangular or quadrangular. In order to provide a precise quantification and interpretation of this shape, a study based on automatic image analysis and Fourier analysis was carried out on 45 human skulls (30 males, 15 females), and for comparison on 61 skulls of Gorilla gorilla (40 males, 21 females), and 34 skulls of Pan troglodytes (20 males, 14 females). Sexual dimorphism in the shape of the orbital opening was not demonstrated. Its dominant morphological features could be characterized by Fourier analysis; elliptical elongation and quadrangularity were dominant morphological features of the shape of the orbital opening in the three species. Elliptical elongation was more marked in humans and Pan, whereas quadrangularity was particularly emphasized in Gorilla. An intraspecific variability of the shape of the orbital opening existed in humans, Gorilla and Pan, and seemed close in the three species. Interspecific partition between humans, Gorilla and Pan was demonstrated despite the variability observed in the three species studied. Interspecific differences between Gorilla and the Pan-humans group were principally explained by the differences in quadrangularity, and by differences in orientation of triangularity and pentagonality. Differences in the shape of the orbital opening between humans and Pan were principally explained by differences in hexagonality, and by differences in orientation of quadrangularity. A closeness of shape between some humans and some individuals in Pan and, to a lesser degree, with some individuals in Gorilla was observed, demonstrating the existence of a morphological continuum of the shape of the orbital opening in hominoids.

Do chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and 2-year-old children (Homo sapiens) understand double invisible displacement?

PubMed

Collier-Baker, Emma; Suddendorf, Thomas

2006-05-01

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and young children (Homo sapiens) have difficulty with double invisible displacements in which an object is hidden in two nonadjacent boxes in a linear array. Experiment 1 eliminated the possibility that chimpanzees' previous poor performance was due to the hiding direction of the displacement device. As in Call (2001), subjects failed double nonadjacent displacements, showing a tendency to select adjacent boxes. In Experiments 2 and 3, chimpanzees and 24-month-old children were tested on a new adaptation of the task in which four hiding boxes were presented in a diamond-shaped array on a vertical plane. Both species performed above chance on double invisible displacements using this format, suggesting that previous poor performance was due to a response bias or inhibition problem rather than a fundamental limitation in representational capacity. Copyright 2006 APA, all rights reserved.

Video-task acquisition in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): a comparative analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hopkins, W. D.; Washburn, D. A.; Hyatt, C. W.; Rumbaugh, D. M. (Principal Investigator)

1996-01-01

This study describes video-task acquisition in two nonhuman primate species. The subjects were seven rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) and seven chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). All subjects were trained to manipulate a joystick which controlled a cursor displayed on a computer monitor. Two criterion levels were used: one based on conceptual knowledge of the task and one based on motor performance. Chimpanzees and rhesus monkeys attained criterion in a comparable number of trials using a conceptually based criterion. However, using a criterion based on motor performance, chimpanzees reached criterion significantly faster than rhesus monkeys. Analysis of error patterns and latency indicated that the rhesus monkeys had a larger asymmetry in response bias and were significantly slower in responding than the chimpanzees. The results are discussed in terms of the relation between object manipulation skills and video-task acquisition.

Cladistic analyses of behavioural variation in wild Pan troglodytes: exploring the chimpanzee culture hypothesis.

PubMed

Lycett, Stephen J; Collard, Mark; McGrew, William C

2009-10-01

Long-term field studies have revealed considerable behavioural differences among groups of wild Pan troglodytes. Here, we report three sets of cladistic analyses that were designed to shed light on issues relating to this interpopulation variation that are of particular relevance to palaeoanthropology. In the first set of analyses, we focused on the proximate cause of the variation. Some researchers have argued that it is cultural, while others have suggested that it is the result of genetic differences. Because the eastern and western subspecies of P. troglodytes are well differentiated genetically while groups within the subspecies are not, we reasoned that if the genetic hypothesis is correct, the phylogenetic signal should be stronger when data from the eastern and western subspecies are analysed together compared to when data from only the eastern subspecies are analysed. Using randomisation procedures, we found that the phylogenetic signal was substantially stronger with in a single subspecies rather than with two. The results of the first sets of analyses, therefore, were inconsistent with the predictions of the genetic hypothesis. The other two sets of analyses built on the results of the first and assumed that the intergroup behavioural variation is cultural in nature. Recent work has shown that, contrary to what anthropologists and archaeologists have long believed, vertical intergroup transmission is often more important than horizontal intergroup transmission in human cultural evolution. In the second set of analyses, we sought to determine how important vertical transmission has been in the evolution of chimpanzee cultural diversity. The first analysis we carried out indicated that the intergroup similarities and differences in behaviour are consistent with the divergence of the western and eastern subspecies, which is what would be expected if vertical intergroup transmission has been the dominant process. In the second analysis, we found that the

Stable nitrogen isotope analysis of dentine serial sections elucidate sex differences in weaning patterns of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Fahy, Geraldine E; Richards, Michael P; Fuller, Benjamin T; Deschner, Tobias; Hublin, Jean-Jacques; Boesch, Christophe

2014-04-01

Offspring provisioning is one of the most energetically demanding aspects of reproduction for female mammals. Variation in lactation length and weaning strategies between chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), our closest living relative, and modern human societies have been reported. When and why these changes occurred is frequently debated. Our study used stable nitrogen isotope data of tooth root dentine from wild Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire, to quantify weaning in these chimpanzees and explore if infant sex plays a role in maternal investment. We analyzed serial sections of deciduous lateral incisor root dentine from four Taï chimpanzees to establish the δ(15) N signal of nursing infants; we then analyzed serial sections of first permanent mandibular molar root dentine from 12 Taï chimpanzees to provide quantitative δ(15) N data on weaning in this population. Up to 2 years of age both sexes exhibited dentine δ(15) N values ≈2-3‰ higher than adult female Taï chimpanzees, consistent with a nursing signal. Thereafter a steady decrease in δ(15) N values consistent with the onset, and progression, of weaning, was visible. Sex differences were also evident, where male δ(15) N values decreased at a significantly slower rate compared to females. Confirmation of sex differences in maternal investment among Taï chimpanzees, demonstrates the viability of using isotope analysis to investigate weaning in non-human primates. Additionally, assuming that behaviors observed in the Taï chimpanzees are illustrative of the ancestral pattern, our results provide a platform to enable the trajectory of weaning in human evolution to be further explored. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Maternal Behavior and Physiological Stress Levels in Wild Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii).

PubMed

Stanton, Margaret A; Heintz, Matthew R; Lonsdorf, Elizabeth V; Santymire, Rachel M; Lipende, Iddi; Murray, Carson M

2015-06-01

Individual differences in maternal behavior toward, and investment in, offspring can have lasting consequences, particularly among primate taxa characterized by prolonged periods of development over which mothers can exert substantial influence. Given the role of the neuroendocrine system in the expression of behavior, researchers are increasingly interested in understanding the hormonal correlates of maternal behavior. Here, we examined the relationship between maternal behavior and physiological stress levels, as quantified by fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (FGM) concentrations, in lactating chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii , at Gombe National Park, Tanzania. After accounting for temporal variation in FGM concentrations, we found that mothers interacted socially (groomed and played) with and nursed their infants more on days when FGM concentrations were elevated compared to days when FGM concentrations were within the range expected given the time of year. However, the proportion of time mothers and infants spent in contact did not differ based on FGM concentrations. These results generally agree with the suggestion that elevated GC concentrations are related to maternal motivation and responsivity to infant cues and are the first evidence of a hormonal correlate of maternal behavior in a wild great ape.

Chimpanzee Malaria Parasites Related to Plasmodium ovale in Africa

PubMed Central

Duval, Linda; Nerrienet, Eric; Rousset, Dominique; Sadeuh Mba, Serge Alain; Houze, Sandrine; Fourment, Mathieu; Le Bras, Jacques; Robert, Vincent; Ariey, Frederic

2009-01-01

Since the 1970's, the diversity of Plasmodium parasites in African great apes has been neglected. Surprisingly, P. reichenowi, a chimpanzee parasite, is the only such parasite to have been molecularly characterized. This parasite is closely phylogenetically related to P. falciparum, the principal cause of the greatest malaria burden in humans. Studies of malaria parasites from anthropoid primates may provide relevant phylogenetic information, improving our understanding of the origin and evolutionary history of human malaria species. In this study, we screened 130 DNA samples from chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) from Cameroon for Plasmodium infection, using cytochrome b molecular tools. Two chimpanzees from the subspecies Pan t. troglodytes presented single infections with Plasmodium strains molecularly related to the human malaria parasite P. ovale. These chimpanzee parasites and 13 human strains of P. ovale originated from a various sites in Africa and Asia were characterized using cytochrome b and cytochrome c oxidase 1 mitochondrial partial genes and nuclear ldh partial gene. Consistent with previous findings, two genetically distinct types of P. ovale, classical and variant, were observed in the human population from a variety of geographical locations. One chimpanzee Plasmodium strain was genetically identical, on all three markers tested, to variant P. ovale type. The other chimpanzee Plasmodium strain was different from P. ovale strains isolated from humans. This study provides the first evidence of possibility of natural cross-species exchange of P. ovale between humans and chimpanzees of the subspecies Pan t. troglodytes. PMID:19436742

Morphology of chimpanzee pinworms, Enterobius (Enterobius) anthropopitheci (Gedoelst, 1916) (Nematoda: Oxyuridae), collected from chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, on Rubondo Island, Tanzania.

PubMed

Hasegawa, Hideo; Ikeda, Yatsukaho; Fujisaki, Akiko; Moscovice, Liza R; Petrzelkova, Klara J; Kaur, Taranjit; Huffman, Michael A

2005-12-01

The chimpanzee pinworm, Enterobius (Enterobius) anthropopitheci (Gedoelst, 1916) (Nematoda: Oxyuridae), is redescribed based on light and scanning electron microscopy of both sexes collected from the feces of chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, of an introduced population on Rubondo Island, Tanzania. Enterobius (E.) anthropopitheci is characterized by having a small body (males 1.13-1.83 mm long, females 3.33-4.73 mm long), a rather straight spicule with a ventral membranous formation in males, double-crested lateral alae in females, small eggs (53-58 by 24-28 microm), and a smooth eggshell with 3 longitudinal thickenings. Morphological comparison is made between the present and previous descriptions.

All great ape species (Gorilla gorilla, Pan paniscus, Pan troglodytes, Pongo abelii) and two-and-a-half-year-old children (Homo sapiens) discriminate appearance from reality.

PubMed

Karg, Katja; Schmelz, Martin; Call, Josep; Tomasello, Michael

2014-11-01

Nonhuman great apes and human children were tested for an understanding that appearance does not always correspond to reality. Subjects were 29 great apes (bonobos [Pan paniscus], chimpanzees [Pan troglodytes], gorillas [Gorilla gorilla], and orangutans [Pongo abelii]) and 24 2½-year-old children. In our task, we occluded portions of 1 large and 1 small food stick such that the size relations seemed reversed. Subjects could then choose which one they wanted. There was 1 control condition and 2 experimental conditions (administered within subjects). In the control condition subjects saw only the apparent stick sizes, whereas in the 2 experimental conditions they saw the true stick sizes as well (the difference between them being what the subjects saw first: the apparent or the real stick sizes). All great ape species and children successfully identified the bigger stick, despite its smaller appearance, in the experimental conditions, but not in the control. We discuss these results in relation to the understanding of object permanence and conservation, and exclude reversed reward contingency learning as an explanation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Morphometric variables related to metabolic profile in captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Andrade, Marcia C R; Higgins, Paul B; Mattern, Vicki L; De La Garza, Melissa A; Brasky, Kathleen M; Voruganti, V Saroja; Comuzzie, Anthony G

2011-10-01

Obesity is a risk factor for several diseases including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to compare the relationships of waist circumference and body weight with circulating markers of metabolic, cardiovascular, and hepatic function in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). After a 12-h fast, blood was collected from 39 adult captive chimpanzees for measurement of serum glucose, BUN, creatinine, albumin, cholesterol, ALT, AST, ALP, total and direct bilirubin, triglyceride, and insulin, and waist circumference and body weight were measured. Waist circumference was positively correlated with systolic and diastolic blood pressure, glucose, insulin resistance as estimated by the homeostatic model assessment method, and albumin in female chimpanzees and with triglyceride in female and male chimpanzees. Body weight was correlated significantly with systolic and diastolic blood pressure in female chimpanzees and triglyceride in male chimpanzees. Male chimpanzees were heavier and had lower diastolic blood pressure, greater creatinine, albumin, AST, ALP, total bilirubin, and direct bilirubin values than did female chimpanzees. The relationships between waist circumference and blood pressure and triglyceride are consistent with those reported in humans and other primate species. In conclusion, our study is the first work to demonstrate a relationship between waist circumference and metabolic risk factors in chimpanzees. Results demonstrated that waist circumference was associated with more metabolic risk factors than was body weight, particularly in female chimpanzees.

Morphometric Variables Related to Metabolic Profile in Captive Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

PubMed Central

Andrade, Marcia CR; Higgins, Paul B; Mattern, Vicki L; Garza, Melissa A De La; Brasky, Kathleen M; Voruganti, V Saroja; Comuzzie, Anthony G

2011-01-01

Obesity is a risk factor for several diseases including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to compare the relationships of waist circumference and body weight with circulating markers of metabolic, cardiovascular, and hepatic function in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). After a 12-h fast, blood was collected from 39 adult captive chimpanzees for measurement of serum glucose, BUN, creatinine, albumin, cholesterol, ALT, AST, ALP, total and direct bilirubin, triglyceride, and insulin, and waist circumference and body weight were measured. Waist circumference was positively correlated with systolic and diastolic blood pressure, glucose, insulin resistance as estimated by the homeostatic model assessment method, and albumin in female chimpanzees and with triglyceride in female and male chimpanzees. Body weight was correlated significantly with systolic and diastolic blood pressure in female chimpanzees and triglyceride in male chimpanzees. Male chimpanzees were heavier and had lower diastolic blood pressure, greater creatinine, albumin, AST, ALP, total bilirubin, and direct bilirubin values than did female chimpanzees. The relationships between waist circumference and blood pressure and triglyceride are consistent with those reported in humans and other primate species. In conclusion, our study is the first work to demonstrate a relationship between waist circumference and metabolic risk factors in chimpanzees. Results demonstrated that waist circumference was associated with more metabolic risk factors than was body weight, particularly in female chimpanzees. PMID:22330355

Trading Up: Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Show Self-Control Through Their Exchange Behavior

PubMed Central

Beran, Michael J.; Rossettie, Mattea S.; Parrish, Audrey E.

2015-01-01

Self-control is defined as the ability or capacity to obtain an objectively more valuable outcome rather than an objectively less valuable outcome though tolerating a longer delay or a greater effort requirement (or both) in obtaining that more valuable outcome. A number of tests have been devised to assess self-control in nonhuman animals, including exchange tasks. In this study, three chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) participated in a delay of gratification task that required food exchange as the behavioral response that reflected self-control. The chimpanzees were offered opportunities to inhibit eating and instead exchange a currently possessed food item for a different (and sometimes better) item, often needing to exchange several food items before obtaining the highest-valued reward. We manipulated reward type, reward size, reward visibility, delay to exchange, and location of the highest-valued reward in the sequence of exchange events to compare performance within the same individuals. The chimpanzees successfully traded until obtaining the best item in most cases, although there were individual differences among participants in some variations of the test. These results support the idea that self-control is robust in chimpanzees even in contexts in which they perhaps anticipate future rewards and sustain delay of gratification until they can obtain the ultimately most-valuable item. PMID:26325355

Trading up: chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) show self-control through their exchange behavior.

PubMed

Beran, Michael J; Rossettie, Mattea S; Parrish, Audrey E

2016-01-01

Self-control is defined as the ability or capacity to obtain an objectively more valuable outcome rather than an objectively less valuable outcome though tolerating a longer delay or a greater effort requirement (or both) in obtaining that more valuable outcome. A number of tests have been devised to assess self-control in non-human animals, including exchange tasks. In this study, three chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) participated in a delay of gratification task that required food exchange as the behavioral response that reflected self-control. The chimpanzees were offered opportunities to inhibit eating and instead exchange a currently possessed food item for a different (and sometimes better) item, often needing to exchange several food items before obtaining the highest valued reward. We manipulated reward type, reward size, reward visibility, delay to exchange, and location of the highest valued reward in the sequence of exchange events to compare performance within the same individuals. The chimpanzees successfully traded until obtaining the best item in most cases, although there were individual differences among participants in some variations of the test. These results support the idea that self-control is robust in chimpanzees even in contexts in which they perhaps anticipate future rewards and sustain delay of gratification until they can obtain the ultimately most valuable item.

Inference of purifying and positive selection in three subspecies of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) from exome sequencing.

PubMed

Bataillon, Thomas; Duan, Jinjie; Hvilsom, Christina; Jin, Xin; Li, Yingrui; Skov, Laurits; Glemin, Sylvain; Munch, Kasper; Jiang, Tao; Qian, Yu; Hobolth, Asger; Wang, Jun; Mailund, Thomas; Siegismund, Hans R; Schierup, Mikkel H

2015-03-30

We study genome-wide nucleotide diversity in three subspecies of extant chimpanzees using exome capture. After strict filtering, Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms and indels were called and genotyped for greater than 50% of exons at a mean coverage of 35× per individual. Central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) are the most polymorphic (nucleotide diversity, θw = 0.0023 per site) followed by Eastern (P. t. schweinfurthii) chimpanzees (θw = 0.0016) and Western (P. t. verus) chimpanzees (θw = 0.0008). A demographic scenario of divergence without gene flow fits the patterns of autosomal synonymous nucleotide diversity well except for a signal of recent gene flow from Western into Eastern chimpanzees. The striking contrast in X-linked versus autosomal polymorphism and divergence previously reported in Central chimpanzees is also found in Eastern and Western chimpanzees. We show that the direction of selection statistic exhibits a strong nonmonotonic relationship with the strength of purifying selection S, making it inappropriate for estimating S. We instead use counts in synonymous versus nonsynonymous frequency classes to infer the distribution of S coefficients acting on nonsynonymous mutations in each subspecies. The strength of purifying selection we infer is congruent with the differences in effective sizes of each subspecies: Central chimpanzees are undergoing the strongest purifying selection followed by Eastern and Western chimpanzees. Coding indels show stronger selection against indels changing the reading frame than observed in human populations. © The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

Echocardiography parameters of clinically normal adult captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Sleeper, Meg M; Drobatz, Ken; Lee, D Richard; Lammey, Michael L

2014-04-15

To generate reference ranges for echocardiographic variables in clinically normal adult chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Retrospective cohort study. 88 clinically normal adult chimpanzees. Echocardiographic data obtained between 2002 and 2011 from chimpanzees at the Alamogordo Primate Facility were reviewed (263 echocardiograms obtained from 158 individuals). Data from clinically normal individuals (33 females and 55 males) were analyzed. Basic cardiac parameters measured in all individuals included aortic root diameter and left atrial diameter in the short and long axis during diastole. Left ventricular measurements included left ventricular internal diameter in systole and diastole and diastolic septal and posterior wall thickness. The E point to septal separation was also measured. Spectral Doppler measurements included the peak flow velocity of the pulmonary artery and aorta and diastolic transmitral flow. The presence of arrhythmias was also noted. Standard echocardiographic findings for a large group of adult female and male chimpanzees were obtained. Female and male chimpanzees were grouped by age in 10-year blocks, and echocardiographic findings were analyzed statistically by 10-year block. In male chimpanzees, cardiac arrhythmias were noted to increase with age. Cardiovascular disease is an important cause of morbidity and death in captive chimpanzees; however, basic echocardiographic measurements from a large cohort of clinically normal animals have not previously been reported. The number of animals in the present study was insufficient to generate reference ranges; however, data from a large cohort of clinically normal animals are presented. This information will be useful for veterinarians working in clinical and research settings with this species.

Electrocardiogram reference intervals for clinically normal wild-born chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Atencia, Rebeca; Revuelta, Luis; Somauroo, John D; Shave, Robert E

2015-08-01

To generate reference intervals for ECG variables in clinically normal chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). 100 clinically normal (51 young [< 10 years old] and 49 adult [≥ 10 years old]) wild-born chimpanzees. Electrocardiograms collected between 2009 and 2013 at the Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Centre were assessed to determine heart rate, PR interval, QRS duration, QT interval, QRS axis, P axis, and T axis. Electrocardiographic characteristics for left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and morphology of the ST segment, T wave, and QRS complex were identified. Reference intervals for young and old animals were calculated as mean ± 1.96•SD for normally distributed data and as 5th to 95th percentiles for data not normally distributed. Differences between age groups were assessed by use of unpaired Student t tests. RESULTS Reference intervals were generated for young and adult wild-born chimpanzees. Most animals had sinus rhythm with small or normal P wave morphology; 24 of 51 (47%) young chimpanzees and 30 of 49 (61%) adult chimpanzees had evidence of LVH as determined on the basis of criteria for humans. Cardiac disease has been implicated as the major cause of death in captive chimpanzees. Species-specific ECG reference intervals for chimpanzees may aid in the diagnosis and treatment of animals with, or at risk of developing, heart disease. Chimpanzees with ECG characteristics outside of these intervals should be considered for follow-up assessment and regular cardiac monitoring.

Savanna chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) nesting ecology at Bagnomba (Kedougou, Senegal).

PubMed

Badji, L; Ndiaye, P I; Lindshield, S M; Ba, C T; Pruetz, J D

2018-05-01

We studied the nesting behavior of the critically endangered West African chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus). We assumed that the nesting data stemmed from a single, unhabituated community at the Bagnomba hill site in the savanna-woodlands of southeastern Senegal. The aim of this study was to examine chimpanzees' nesting habits in terms of the tree species utilized and sleeping nest heights. We recorded a total of 550 chimpanzee nests at Bagnomba between January 2015 and December 2015. The chimpanzees here made nests in particular tree species more often than others. The majority of nests (63%) were in two tree species: Diospyros mespiliformis and Pterocarpus erinaceus. The average height of nesting trees was 10.54 m (SD 3.91, range, 0.0-29.0 m) and average nest height was 7.90 m (SD 3.62, range, 0.0-25.0 m). The result of a linear regression analysis (r = 0.7874; n = 550; p < 0.05) is consistent with a preference for nesting at a particular height. Bagnomba chimpanzees rarely made ground nests (0.36% of nests), but the presence of any ground nesting was unexpected, given that at least one leopard (Panthera pardus) also occupied the hill. This knowledge will enable stakeholders involved in the protection of chimpanzees specifically and of biodiversity in general to better understand chimpanzee ecology and inform a conservation action plan in Senegal where the survival of this species is threatened.

Genetic Factors and Orofacial Motor Learning Selectively Influence Variability in Central Sulcus Morphology in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

PubMed Central

Autrey, Michelle; Mahovetz, Lindsay; Pope, Sarah; Mareno, Mary Catherine; Schapiro, Steven J.

2017-01-01

Captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have been shown to learn the use of novel attention-getting (AG) sounds to capture the attention of humans as a means of requesting or drawing their attention to a desired object or food. There are significant individual differences in the use of AG sounds by chimpanzees and, here, we examined whether changes in cortical organization of the central sulcus (CS) were associated with AG sound production. MRI scans were collected from 240 chimpanzees, including 122 that reliably produced AG sounds and 118 that did not. For each subject, the depth of CS was quantified along the superior–inferior plane with specific interest in the inferior portion corresponding to the region of the motor cortex where the mouth and orofacial movements are controlled. Results indicated that CS depth in the inferior, but not superior, portion was significantly greater in chimpanzees that reliably produced AG sounds compared with those who did not. Quantitative genetic analyses indicated that overall CS surface area and depth were significantly heritable, particularly in the superior regions, but less so in the inferior and central portions. Further, heritability in CS depth was altered as a function of acquisition of AG sounds. The collective results suggest that learning to produce AG sounds resulted in region-specific cortical reorganization within the inferior portion of the CS, a finding previously undocumented in chimpanzees or any nonhuman primate. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Recent studies in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have shown that some can learn to produce novel sounds by configuring different orofacial movement patterns and these sounds are used in communicatively relevant contexts. Here, we examined the neuromorphological correlates in the production of these sounds in chimpanzees. We show that chimpanzees that have learned to produce these sounds show significant differences in central sulcus (CS) morphology, particularly in the inferior

Genetic Factors and Orofacial Motor Learning Selectively Influence Variability in Central Sulcus Morphology in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Hopkins, William D; Coulon, Oliver; Meguerditchian, Adrien; Autrey, Michelle; Davidek, Kendall; Mahovetz, Lindsay; Pope, Sarah; Mareno, Mary Catherine; Schapiro, Steven J

2017-05-31

Captive chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ) have been shown to learn the use of novel attention-getting (AG) sounds to capture the attention of humans as a means of requesting or drawing their attention to a desired object or food. There are significant individual differences in the use of AG sounds by chimpanzees and, here, we examined whether changes in cortical organization of the central sulcus (CS) were associated with AG sound production. MRI scans were collected from 240 chimpanzees, including 122 that reliably produced AG sounds and 118 that did not. For each subject, the depth of CS was quantified along the superior-inferior plane with specific interest in the inferior portion corresponding to the region of the motor cortex where the mouth and orofacial movements are controlled. Results indicated that CS depth in the inferior, but not superior, portion was significantly greater in chimpanzees that reliably produced AG sounds compared with those who did not. Quantitative genetic analyses indicated that overall CS surface area and depth were significantly heritable, particularly in the superior regions, but less so in the inferior and central portions. Further, heritability in CS depth was altered as a function of acquisition of AG sounds. The collective results suggest that learning to produce AG sounds resulted in region-specific cortical reorganization within the inferior portion of the CS, a finding previously undocumented in chimpanzees or any nonhuman primate. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Recent studies in chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ) have shown that some can learn to produce novel sounds by configuring different orofacial movement patterns and these sounds are used in communicatively relevant contexts. Here, we examined the neuromorphological correlates in the production of these sounds in chimpanzees. We show that chimpanzees that have learned to produce these sounds show significant differences in central sulcus (CS) morphology, particularly in the

Processes of social learning in the tool use of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and human children (Homo sapiens).

PubMed

Nagell, K; Olguin, R S; Tomasello, M

1993-06-01

Common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and 2-year-old human children (Homo sapiens) were presented with a rakelike tool and a desirable but out-of-reach object. One group of subjects observed a human demonstrator use the tool in one way, and another group observed a demonstrator use the tool in another way. Children in both cases did what the model did. Chimpanzee subjects, however, behaved identically in the 2 model conditions. Both groups performed better than subjects who saw no demonstration. This pattern of results suggest that the chimpanzees were paying attention to the general functional relations in the task and to the results obtained by the demonstrator but not to the actual methods of tool use demonstrated. Human children were focused on the demonstrator's actual methods of tool use (her behavior). The different social learning processes used by the 2 species have implications for their different forms of social organization.

Distinguishing intentional from accidental actions in orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), and human children (Homo sapiens).

PubMed

Call, J; Tomasello, M

1998-06-01

This study investigates the understanding of others' intentions in 2- and 3-year-old children, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), and orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus). During training, subjects learned to use a discriminative cue to select a baited box. During testing, the experimenter placed a marker on top of the baited box to inform the subject of the reward's location. However, the experimenter also accidentally dropped the marker on top of an unbaited box, so that during any given trial the experimenter marked 2 boxes, 1 intentionally and 1 accidentally. All 3 species preferentially selected the box the experimenter had marked intentionally (especially during the initial trials), with 3-year-old children presenting the most robust results. These findings suggest that subjects understood something about the experimenter's intentions. The authors speculate that understanding of others' intentions may precede the understanding of others' beliefs both at the ontogenetic and phylogenetic levels.

The diet of open-habitat chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in the Issa valley, western Tanzania.

PubMed

Piel, Alex K; Strampelli, Paolo; Greathead, Emily; Hernandez-Aguilar, R Adriana; Moore, Jim; Stewart, Fiona A

2017-11-01

Comparative data on the diets of extant primates inform hypotheses about hominin resource use. Historically, data describing chimpanzee diets stem primarily from forest-dwelling communities, and we lack comparative data from chimpanzees that live in mosaic habitats that more closely resemble those reconstructed for Plio-Pleistocene hominins. We present data on the diet of a partially-habituated community of open habitat chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) from the Issa valley, western Tanzania, collected over a four-year period. Based mostly on macroscopic faecal analysis, Issa chimpanzees consumed a minimum of 69 plant species. There was no relationship between plant consumption and either fruit availability or feeding tree density; the most frequently consumed plant species were found in riverine forests, with woodland species consumed more frequently during the late dry season. We conclude by contextualising these findings with those of other open-habitat chimpanzee sites, and also by discussing how our results contribute towards reconstructions of early hominin exploitation of mosaic landscapes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Geometric distortions affect face recognition in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and monkeys (Macaca mulatta).

PubMed

Taubert, Jessica; Parr, Lisa A

2011-01-01

All primates can recognize faces and do so by analyzing the subtle variation that exists between faces. Through a series of three experiments, we attempted to clarify the nature of second-order information processing in nonhuman primates. Experiment one showed that both chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) tolerate geometric distortions along the vertical axis, suggesting that information about absolute position of features does not contribute to accurate face recognition. Chimpanzees differed from monkeys, however, in that they were more sensitive to distortions along the horizontal axis, suggesting that when building a global representation of facial identity, horizontal relations between features are more diagnostic of identity than vertical relations. Two further experiments were performed to determine whether the monkeys were simply less sensitive to horizontal relations compared to chimpanzees or were instead relying on local features. The results of these experiments confirm that monkeys can utilize a holistic strategy when discriminating between faces regardless of familiarity. In contrast, our data show that chimpanzees, like humans, use a combination of holistic and local features when the faces are unfamiliar, but primarily holistic information when the faces become familiar. We argue that our comparative approach to the study of face recognition reveals the impact that individual experience and social organization has on visual cognition.

Comparative Assessment of Handedness for a Coordinated Bimanual Task in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), Gorillas (Gorilla gorilla), and Orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus)

PubMed Central

Hopkins, William D.; Stoinski, Tara S.; Lukas, Kristen E.; Ross, Stephen R.; Wesley, Michael J.

2007-01-01

Hand preferences for a coordinated bimanual task were assessed in a sample of 31 captive gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) and 19 captive orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) and were compared with chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) hand preferences in subjects that were matched on the basis of age, sex, and rearing history. The task required that the apes remove food from the inside edges of a symmetrical polyvinyl chloride pipe presented to them in their home cages. The results indicate significant species differences with chimpanzees showing population-level right-handedness and orangutans showing population-level left-handedness. The gorillas showed a nonsignificant trend toward right-handedness. The results are discussed in terms of possible ecological or biomechanical factors that may influence hand preferences in different ape species. PMID:14498806

How chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) perform in a modified emotional Stroop task.

PubMed

Allritz, Matthias; Call, Josep; Borkenau, Peter

2016-05-01

The emotional Stroop task is an experimental paradigm developed to study the relationship between emotion and cognition. Human participants required to identify the color of words typically respond more slowly to negative than to neutral words (emotional Stroop effect). Here we investigated whether chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) would show a comparable effect. Using a touch screen, eight chimpanzees were trained to choose between two simultaneously presented stimuli based on color (two identical images with differently colored frames). In Experiment 1, the images within the color frames were shapes that were either of the same color as the surrounding frame or of the alternative color. Subjects made fewer errors and responded faster when shapes were of the same color as the frame surrounding them than when they were not, evidencing that embedded images affected target selection. Experiment 2, a modified version of the emotional Stroop task, presented subjects with four different categories of novel images: three categories of pictures of humans (veterinarian, caretaker, and stranger), and control stimuli showing a white square. Because visits by the veterinarian that include anaesthetization can be stressful for subjects, we expected impaired performance in trials presenting images of the veterinarian. For the first session, we found correct responses to be indeed slower in trials of this category. This effect was more pronounced for subjects whose last anaesthetization experience was more recent, indicating that emotional valence caused the slowdown. We propose our modified emotional Stroop task as a simple method to explore which emotional stimuli affect cognitive performance in nonhuman primates.

Is music enriching for group-housed captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)?

PubMed

Wallace, Emma K; Altschul, Drew; Körfer, Karoline; Benti, Benjamin; Kaeser, Amanda; Lambeth, Susan; Waller, Bridget M; Slocombe, Katie E

2017-01-01

Many facilities that house captive primates play music for animal enrichment or for caregiver enjoyment. However, the impact on primates is unknown as previous studies have been inconclusive. We conducted three studies with zoo-housed chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and one with group-housed chimpanzees at the National Centre for Chimpanzee Care to investigate the effects of classical and pop/rock music on various variables that may be indicative of increased welfare. Study one compared the behaviour and use of space of 18 animals when silence, classical or pop/rock music was played into one of several indoor areas. Overall, chimpanzees did not actively avoid the area when music was playing but were more likely to exit the area when songs with higher beats per minute were broadcast. Chimpanzees showed significantly fewer active social behaviours when music, rather than silence, was playing. They also tended to be more active and engage in less abnormal behaviour during the music but there was no change to either self-grooming or aggression between music and silent conditions. The genre of music had no differential effects on the chimpanzees' use of space and behaviour. In the second study, continuous focal observations were carried out on three individuals with relatively high levels of abnormal behaviour. No differences in behaviour between music and silence periods were found in any of the individuals. The final two studies used devices that allowed chimpanzees to choose if they wanted to listen to music of various types or silence. Both studies showed that there were no persistent preferences for any type of music or silence. When taken together, our results do not suggest music is enriching for group-housed captive chimpanzees, but they also do not suggest that music has a negative effect on welfare.

Is music enriching for group-housed captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)?

PubMed Central

Wallace, Emma K.; Altschul, Drew; Körfer, Karoline; Benti, Benjamin; Kaeser, Amanda; Lambeth, Susan; Waller, Bridget M.; Slocombe, Katie E.

2017-01-01

Many facilities that house captive primates play music for animal enrichment or for caregiver enjoyment. However, the impact on primates is unknown as previous studies have been inconclusive. We conducted three studies with zoo-housed chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and one with group-housed chimpanzees at the National Centre for Chimpanzee Care to investigate the effects of classical and pop/rock music on various variables that may be indicative of increased welfare. Study one compared the behaviour and use of space of 18 animals when silence, classical or pop/rock music was played into one of several indoor areas. Overall, chimpanzees did not actively avoid the area when music was playing but were more likely to exit the area when songs with higher beats per minute were broadcast. Chimpanzees showed significantly fewer active social behaviours when music, rather than silence, was playing. They also tended to be more active and engage in less abnormal behaviour during the music but there was no change to either self-grooming or aggression between music and silent conditions. The genre of music had no differential effects on the chimpanzees’ use of space and behaviour. In the second study, continuous focal observations were carried out on three individuals with relatively high levels of abnormal behaviour. No differences in behaviour between music and silence periods were found in any of the individuals. The final two studies used devices that allowed chimpanzees to choose if they wanted to listen to music of various types or silence. Both studies showed that there were no persistent preferences for any type of music or silence. When taken together, our results do not suggest music is enriching for group-housed captive chimpanzees, but they also do not suggest that music has a negative effect on welfare. PMID:28355212

Learning from others' mistakes? limits on understanding a trap-tube task by young chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and children (Homo sapiens).

PubMed

Horner, Victoria; Whiten, Andrew

2007-02-01

A trap-tube task was used to determine whether chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and children (Homo sapiens) who observed a model's errors and successes could master the task in fewer trials than those who saw only successes. Two- to 7-year-old chimpanzees and 3- to 4-year-old children did not benefit from observing errors and found the task difficult. Two of the 6 chimpanzees developed a successful anticipatory strategy but showed no evidence of representing the core causal relations involved in trapping. Three- to 4-year-old children showed a similar limitation and tended to copy the actions of the demonstrator, irrespective of their causal relevance. Five- to 6-year-old children were able to master the task but did not appear to be influenced by social learning or benefit from observing errors.

Reproductive state and rank influence patterns of meat consumption in wild female chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii).

PubMed

O'Malley, Robert C; Stanton, Margaret A; Gilby, Ian C; Lonsdorf, Elizabeth V; Pusey, Anne; Markham, A Catherine; Murray, Carson M

2016-01-01

An increase in faunivory is a consistent component of human evolutionary models. Animal matter is energy- and nutrient-dense and can provide macronutrients, minerals, and vitamins that are limited or absent in plant foods. For female humans and other omnivorous primates, faunivory may be of particular importance during the costly periods of pregnancy and early lactation. Yet, because animal prey is often monopolizable, access to fauna among group-living primates may be mediated by social factors such as rank. Wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) across Africa habitually consume insects and/or vertebrates. However, no published studies have examined patterns of female chimpanzee faunivory during pregnancy and early lactation relative to non-reproductive periods, or by females of different rank. In this study, we assessed the influence of reproductive state and dominance rank on the consumption of fauna (meat and insects) by female chimpanzees of Gombe National Park, Tanzania. Using observational data collected over 38 years, we tested (a) whether faunivory varied by reproductive state, and (b) if high-ranking females spent more time consuming fauna than lower-ranking females. In single-factor models, pregnant females consumed more meat than lactating and baseline (meaning not pregnant and not in early lactation) females, and high-ranking females consumed more meat than lower-ranking females. A two-factor analysis of a subset of well-sampled females identified an interaction between rank and reproductive state: lower-ranking females consumed more meat during pregnancy than lower-ranking lactating and baseline females did. High-ranking females did not significantly differ in meat consumption between reproductive states. We found no relationships between rank or reproductive state with insectivory. We conclude that, unlike insectivory, meat consumption by female chimpanzees is mediated by both reproductive state and social rank. We outline possible mechanisms for these

Reproductive State and Rank Influence Patterns of Meat Consumption in Wild Female Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii)

PubMed Central

Stanton, Margaret A.; Gilby, Ian C.; Lonsdorf, Elizabeth V.; Pusey, Anne; Markham, A. Catherine; Murray, Carson M.

2015-01-01

An increase in faunivory is a consistent component of human evolutionary models. Animal matter is energy- and nutrient-dense and can provide macronutrients, minerals, and vitamins that are limited or absent in plant foods. For female humans and other omnivorous primates, faunivory may be of particular importance during the costly periods of pregnancy and early lactation. Yet, because animal prey is often monopolizable, access to fauna among group-living primates may be mediated by social factors such as rank. Wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) across Africa habitually consume insects and/or vertebrates. However, no published studies have examined patterns of female chimpanzee faunivory during pregnancy and early lactation relative to non-reproductive periods, or by females of different rank. In this study, we assessed the influence of reproductive state and dominance rank on the consumption of fauna (meat and insects) by female chimpanzees of Gombe National Park, Tanzania. Using observational data collected over 38 years, we tested (a) whether faunivory varied by reproductive state, and (b) if high-ranking females spent more time consuming fauna than lower-ranking females. In single-factor models, pregnant females consumed more meat than lactating and baseline (meaning not pregnant and not in early lactation) females, and high-ranking females consumed more meat than lower-ranking females. A two-factor analysis of a subset of well-sampled females identified an interaction between rank and reproductive state: lower-ranking females consumed more meat during pregnancy than lower-ranking lactating and baseline females did. High-ranking females did not significantly differ in meat consumption between reproductive states. We found no relationships between rank or reproductive state with insectivory. We conclude that, unlike insectivory, meat consumption by female chimpanzees is mediated by both reproductive state and social rank. We outline several possible mechanisms for

Perceived differences between chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and human (Homo sapiens) facial expressions are related to emotional interpretation.

PubMed

Waller, Bridget M; Bard, Kim A; Vick, Sarah-Jane; Smith Pasqualini, Marcia C

2007-11-01

Human face perception is a finely tuned, specialized process. When comparing faces between species, therefore, it is essential to consider how people make these observational judgments. Comparing facial expressions may be particularly problematic, given that people tend to consider them categorically as emotional signals, which may affect how accurately specific details are processed. The bared-teeth display (BT), observed in most primates, has been proposed as a homologue of the human smile (J. A. R. A. M. van Hooff, 1972). In this study, judgments of similarity between BT displays of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and human smiles varied in relation to perceived emotional valence. When a chimpanzee BT was interpreted as fearful, observers tended to underestimate the magnitude of the relationship between certain features (the extent of lip corner raise) and human smiles. These judgments may reflect the combined effects of categorical emotional perception, configural face processing, and perceptual organization in mental imagery and may demonstrate the advantages of using standardized observational methods in comparative facial expression research. Copyright 2007 APA.

The contribution of genetics and early rearing experiences to hierarchical personality dimensions in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Latzman, Robert D; Freeman, Hani D; Schapiro, Steven J; Hopkins, William D

2015-11-01

A reliable literature finds that traits are related to each other in an organized hierarchy encompassing various conceptualizations of personality (e.g., Big Three, five-factor model). Recent work suggests the potential of a similar organization among our closest nonhuman relative, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), with significant links to neurobiology suggesting an evolutionarily and neurobiologically based hierarchical structure of personality. The current study investigated this hierarchical structure, the heritability of the various personality dimensions across levels of the hierarchy, and associations with early social rearing experience in a large sample (N = 238) of socially housed, captive chimpanzees residing in 2 independent colonies of apes. Results provide support for a hierarchical structure of personality in chimpanzees with significant associations with early rearing experiences. Further, heritabilities of the various dimensions varied by early rearing, with affective dimensions found to be significantly heritable among mother-reared apes, whereas personality dimensions were largely independent of relatedness among the nursery-reared apes. Taken together, these findings provide evidence for the influence of both genetic and environmental factors on personality profiles across levels of the hierarchy, supporting the importance of considering environmental variation in models of quantitative trait evolution. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

The contribution of genetics and early rearing experiences to hierarchical personality dimensions in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

PubMed Central

Latzman, Robert D.; Freeman, Hani D.; Schapiro, Steven J.; Hopkins, William D.

2015-01-01

A reliable literature finds that traits are related to each other in an organized hierarchy encompassing various conceptualizations of personality (e.g., Big Three, Five Factor Model). Recent work suggests the potential of a similar organization among our closest nonhuman relative, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), with significant links to neurobiology suggesting an evolutionarily- and neurobiologically-based hierarchical structure of personality. The current study investigated this hierarchical structure, the heritability of the various personality dimensions across levels of the hierarchy, and associations with early social rearing experience in a large sample (N = 238) of socially-housed, captive chimpanzees residing in two independent colonies of apes. Results provide support for a hierarchical structure of personality in chimpanzees with significant associations with early rearing experiences. Further, heritabilities of the various dimensions varied by early rearing, with affective dimensions found to be significantly heritable among mother-reared apes, while personality dimensions were largely independent of relatedness among the nursery-reared apes. Taken together, these findings provide evidence for the influence of both genetic and environmental factors on personality profiles across levels of the hierarchy, supporting the importance of considering environmental variation in models of quantitative trait evolution. PMID:25915132

Maternal Behavior by Birth Order in Wild Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): Increased Investment by First-Time Mothers.

PubMed

Stanton, Margaret A; Lonsdorf, Elizabeth V; Pusey, Anne E; Goodall, Jane; Murray, Carson M

2014-08-01

Parental investment theory predicts that maternal resources are finite and allocated among offspring based on factors including maternal age and condition, and offspring sex and parity. Among humans, firstborn children are often considered to have an advantage and receive greater investment than their younger siblings. However, conflicting evidence for this "firstborn advantage" between modern and hunter-gatherer societies raises questions about the evolutionary history of differential parental investment and birth order. In contrast to humans, most non-human primate firstborns belong to young, inexperienced mothers and exhibit higher mortality than laterborns. In this study, we investigated differences in maternal investment and offspring outcomes based on birth order (firstborn vs. later-born) among wild chimpanzees ( Pan troglodyte schweinfurthii ). During the critical first year of life, primiparous mothers nursed, groomed, and played with their infants more than did multiparous mothers. Furthermore, this pattern of increased investment in firstborns appeared to be compensatory, as probability of survival did not differ by birth order. Our study did not find evidence for a firstborn advantage as observed in modern humans but does suggest that unlike many other primates, differences in maternal behavior help afford chimpanzee first-borns an equal chance of survival.

An evaluation of the efficacy of video displays for use with chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Hopper, Lydia M; Lambeth, Susan P; Schapiro, Steven J

2012-05-01

Video displays for behavioral research lend themselves particularly well to studies with chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), as their vision is comparable to humans', yet there has been no formal test of the efficacy of video displays as a form of social information for chimpanzees. To address this, we compared the learning success of chimpanzees shown video footage of a conspecific compared to chimpanzees shown a live conspecific performing the same novel task. Footage of an unfamiliar chimpanzee operating a bidirectional apparatus was presented to 24 chimpanzees (12 males, 12 females), and their responses were compared to those of a further 12 chimpanzees given the same task but with no form of information. Secondly, we also compared the responses of the chimpanzees in the video display condition to responses of eight chimpanzees from a previously published study of ours, in which chimpanzees observed live models. Chimpanzees shown a video display were more successful than those in the control condition and showed comparable success to those that saw a live model. Regarding fine-grained copying (i.e. the direction that the door was pushed), only chimpanzees that observed a live model showed significant matching to the model's methods with their first response. Yet, when all the responses made by the chimpanzees were considered, comparable levels of matching were shown by chimpanzees in both the live and video conditions. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The default mode network in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) is similar to that of humans.

PubMed

Barks, Sarah K; Parr, Lisa A; Rilling, James K

2015-02-01

The human default mode network (DMN), comprising medial prefrontal cortex, precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, lateral parietal cortex, and medial temporal cortex, is highly metabolically active at rest but deactivates during most focused cognitive tasks. The DMN and social cognitive networks overlap significantly in humans. We previously demonstrated that chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) show highest resting metabolic brain activity in the cortical midline areas of the human DMN. Human DMN is defined by task-induced deactivations, not absolute resting metabolic levels; ergo, resting activity is insufficient to define a DMN in chimpanzees. Here, we assessed the chimpanzee DMN's deactivations relative to rest during cognitive tasks and the effect of social content on these areas' activity. Chimpanzees performed a match-to-sample task with conspecific behavioral stimuli of varying sociality. Using [(18)F]-FDG PET, brain activity during these tasks was compared with activity during a nonsocial task and at rest. Cortical midline areas in chimpanzees deactivated in these tasks relative to rest, suggesting a chimpanzee DMN anatomically and functionally similar to humans. Furthermore, when chimpanzees make social discriminations, these same areas (particularly precuneus) are highly active relative to nonsocial tasks, suggesting that, as in humans, the chimpanzee DMN may play a role in social cognition. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

An Evaluation of the Efficacy of Video Displays for Use With Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

PubMed Central

HOPPER, LYDIA M.; LAMBETH, SUSAN P.; SCHAPIRO, STEVEN J.

2013-01-01

Video displays for behavioral research lend themselves particularly well to studies with chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), as their vision is comparable to humans’, yet there has been no formal test of the efficacy of video displays as a form of social information for chimpanzees. To address this, we compared the learning success of chimpanzees shown video footage of a conspecific compared to chimpanzees shown a live conspecific performing the same novel task. Footage of an unfamiliar chimpanzee operating a bidirectional apparatus was presented to 24 chimpanzees (12 males, 12 females), and their responses were compared to those of a further 12 chimpanzees given the same task but with no form of information. Secondly, we also compared the responses of the chimpanzees in the video display condition to responses of eight chimpanzees from a previously published study of ours, in which chimpanzees observed live models. Chimpanzees shown a video display were more successful than those in the control condition and showed comparable success to those that saw a live model. Regarding fine-grained copying (i.e. the direction that the door was pushed), only chimpanzees that observed a live model showed significant matching to the model’s methods with their first response. Yet, when all the responses made by the chimpanzees were considered, comparable levels of matching were shown by chimpanzees in both the live and video conditions. PMID:22318867

Limited evidence for third-party affiliation during development in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii).

PubMed

Miller, Jordan A; Stanton, Margaret A; Lonsdorf, Elizabeth V; Wellens, Kaitlin R; Markham, A Catherine; Murray, Carson M

2017-09-01

Examining the ontogeny of conflict-mitigating behaviours in our closest living relatives is an important component of understanding the evolutionary origins of cooperation in our species. In this study, we used 26 years of data to investigate the emergence of third-party affiliation (TPA), defined as affiliative contact given to recipients of aggression by uninvolved bystanders (regardless of initiation), in wild immature eastern chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii ) of Gombe National Park, Tanzania. We also characterized TPA by mothers in the same dataset as an adult benchmark for interpreting immature TPA patterns. In summary, we found that immatures did not express TPA as measured by grooming between the ages of 1.5 and 12.0 years, and that there was limited evidence that immatures expressed TPA via play. We also found that mothers did express TPA to offspring, although mothers did not show TPA towards non-offspring. Cases of TPA by mothers to other adults were too few to analyse separately. These results contrast with findings from captive studies which found that chimpanzees as young as 6 years of age demonstrated TPA. We argue that within-species variation in the expression of TPA, both in immatures and adulthood, provides evidence that the conflict management behaviours of young chimpanzees may be heavily influenced by social, ecological and demographic factors.

Limited evidence for third-party affiliation during development in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii)

PubMed Central

Stanton, Margaret A.; Lonsdorf, Elizabeth V.; Wellens, Kaitlin R.

2017-01-01

Examining the ontogeny of conflict-mitigating behaviours in our closest living relatives is an important component of understanding the evolutionary origins of cooperation in our species. In this study, we used 26 years of data to investigate the emergence of third-party affiliation (TPA), defined as affiliative contact given to recipients of aggression by uninvolved bystanders (regardless of initiation), in wild immature eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) of Gombe National Park, Tanzania. We also characterized TPA by mothers in the same dataset as an adult benchmark for interpreting immature TPA patterns. In summary, we found that immatures did not express TPA as measured by grooming between the ages of 1.5 and 12.0 years, and that there was limited evidence that immatures expressed TPA via play. We also found that mothers did express TPA to offspring, although mothers did not show TPA towards non-offspring. Cases of TPA by mothers to other adults were too few to analyse separately. These results contrast with findings from captive studies which found that chimpanzees as young as 6 years of age demonstrated TPA. We argue that within-species variation in the expression of TPA, both in immatures and adulthood, provides evidence that the conflict management behaviours of young chimpanzees may be heavily influenced by social, ecological and demographic factors. PMID:28989757

Changes in Frontoparietotemporal Connectivity following Do-As-I-Do Imitation Training in Chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Pope, Sarah M; Taglialatela, Jared P; Skiba, Sara A; Hopkins, William D

2018-03-01

Human imitation is supported by an underlying "mirror system" principally composed of inferior frontal, inferior parietal, and superior temporal cortical regions. Across primate species, differences in frontoparietotemporal connectivity have been hypothesized to explain phylogenetic variation in imitative abilities. However, if and to what extent these regions are involved in imitation in nonhuman primates is unknown. We hypothesized that "Do As I Do" (DAID) imitation training would enhance white matter integrity within and between frontoparietotemporal regions. To this end, four captive chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes) were trained to reproduce 23 demonstrated actions, and four age-/sex-matched controls were trained to produce basic husbandry behaviors in response to manual cues. Diffusion tensor images were acquired before and after 600 min of training over an average of 112 days. Bilateral and asymmetrical changes in frontoparietotemporal white matter integrity were compared between DAID trained subjects and controls. We found that imitation trained subjects exhibited leftward shifts in both mean fractional anisotropy and tract strength asymmetry measures in brain regions within the mirror system. This is the first report of training-induced changes in white matter integrity in chimpanzees and suggests that frontoparietotemporal connectivity, particularly in the left hemisphere, may have facilitated the emergence of increasingly complex imitation learning abilities.

Differential Use of Vocal and Gestural Communication by Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in Response to the Attentional Status of a Human (Homo sapiens)

PubMed Central

Hostetter, Autumn B.; Cantero, Monica; Hopkins, William D.

2007-01-01

This study examined the communicative behavior of 49 captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), particularly their use of vocalizations, manual gestures, and other auditory- or tactile-based behaviors as a means of gaining an inattentive audience’s attention. A human (Homo sapiens) experimenter held a banana while oriented either toward or away from the chimpanzee. The chimpanzees’ behavior was recorded for 60 s. Chimpanzees emitted vocalizations faster and were more likely to produce vocalizations as their 1st communicative behavior when a human was oriented away from them. Chimpanzees used manual gestures more frequently and faster when the human was oriented toward them. These results replicate the findings of earlier studies on chimpanzee gestural communication and provide new information about the intentional and functional use of their vocalizations. PMID:11824896

Morphometrics and inertial properties in the body segments of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

PubMed Central

Schoonaert, Kirsten; D’Août, Kristiaan; Aerts, Peter

2007-01-01

Inertial characteristics and dimensions of the body and body segments form an integral part of a biomechanical analysis of motion. In primate studies, however, segment inertial parameters of non-human hominoids are scarce and often obtained using varying techniques. Therefore, the principal aim of this study was to expand the existing chimpanzee inertial property data set using a non-invasive measuring technique. We also considered age- and sex-related differences within our sample. By means of a geometric model based on Crompton et al. (1996); Am J Phys Anthropol 99, 547–570) we generated inertial properties using external segment length and diameter measurements of 53 anaesthetized chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). We report absolute inertial parameters for immature and mature subjects and for males and females separately. Proportional data were computed to allow the comparison between age classes and sex classes. In addition, we calculated whole limb inertial properties and we discuss their potential biomechanical consequences. We found no significant differences between the age classes in the proportional data except for hand and foot measures where juveniles exhibit relatively longer and heavier distal segments than adults. Furthermore, most sex-related differences can be directly attributed to the higher absolute segment masses in male chimpanzees resulting in higher moments of inertia. Additionally, males tend to have longer upper limbs than females. However, regarding proportional data we discuss the general inertial properties of the chimpanzee. The described segment inertial parameters of males and females, and of the two age classes, represent a valuable data set ready for use in a range of biomechanical locomotor models. These models offer great potential for improving our understanding of early hominin locomotor patterns. PMID:17451529

A Longitudinal Assessment of Vocabulary Retention in Symbol-Competent Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

PubMed Central

Beran, Michael J.; Heimbauer, Lisa A.

2015-01-01

A number of studies from the 1960s to 1990s assessed the symbolic competence of great apes and other animals. These studies provided varying forms of evidence that some species were capable of symbolically representing their worlds, both through productive symbol use and comprehension of symbolic stimuli. One such project at the Language Research Center involved training chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) to use lexigram symbols (geometric visual stimuli that represented objects, actions, locations, and individuals). Those studies now are more than 40 years old, and only a few of the apes involved in those studies are still alive. Three of these chimpanzees (and a fourth, control chimpanzee) were assessed across a 10-year period from 1999 to 2008 for their continued knowledge of lexigram symbols and, in the case of one chimpanzee, the continued ability to comprehend human speech. This article describes that longitudinal assessment and outlines the degree to which symbol competence was retained by these chimpanzees across that decade-long period. All chimpanzees showed retention of lexigram vocabularies, although there were differences in the number of words that were retained across the individuals. One chimpanzee also showed continual retention of human speech perception. These retained vocabularies largely consisted of food item names, but also names of inedible objects, locations, individuals, and some actions. Many of these retained words were for things that are not common in the daily lives of the chimpanzees and for things that are rarely requested by the chimpanzees. Thus, the early experiences of these chimpanzees in symbol-rich environments have produced long-lasting memories for symbol meaning, and those competencies have benefited research in a variety of topics in comparative cognition. PMID:25706561

A longitudinal assessment of vocabulary retention in symbol-competent chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Beran, Michael J; Heimbauer, Lisa A

2015-01-01

A number of studies from the 1960s to 1990s assessed the symbolic competence of great apes and other animals. These studies provided varying forms of evidence that some species were capable of symbolically representing their worlds, both through productive symbol use and comprehension of symbolic stimuli. One such project at the Language Research Center involved training chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) to use lexigram symbols (geometric visual stimuli that represented objects, actions, locations, and individuals). Those studies now are more than 40 years old, and only a few of the apes involved in those studies are still alive. Three of these chimpanzees (and a fourth, control chimpanzee) were assessed across a 10-year period from 1999 to 2008 for their continued knowledge of lexigram symbols and, in the case of one chimpanzee, the continued ability to comprehend human speech. This article describes that longitudinal assessment and outlines the degree to which symbol competence was retained by these chimpanzees across that decade-long period. All chimpanzees showed retention of lexigram vocabularies, although there were differences in the number of words that were retained across the individuals. One chimpanzee also showed continual retention of human speech perception. These retained vocabularies largely consisted of food item names, but also names of inedible objects, locations, individuals, and some actions. Many of these retained words were for things that are not common in the daily lives of the chimpanzees and for things that are rarely requested by the chimpanzees. Thus, the early experiences of these chimpanzees in symbol-rich environments have produced long-lasting memories for symbol meaning, and those competencies have benefited research in a variety of topics in comparative cognition.

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Flexibly Use Introduced Species for Nesting and Bark Feeding in a Human-Dominated Habitat.

PubMed

McCarthy, Maureen S; Lester, Jack D; Stanford, Craig B

2017-01-01

As habitat loss and fragmentation place growing pressure on endangered nonhuman primate populations, researchers find increasing evidence for novel responses in behavior. In western Uganda between the Budongo and Bugoma Forests, chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii ) inhabit a mosaic landscape comprising forest fragments, human settlements, and agricultural land. We recorded nests and feeding evidence of unhabituated chimpanzees in this region over a 12-mo period. We found extensive evidence of nesting in introduced tree species, including eucalyptus ( Eucalyptus grandis ), guava ( Psidium guajava ), cocoa ( Theobroma cacao ), and Caribbean pine ( Pinus caribaea ). In addition, we found instances of ground nesting, nest reuse, and composite nests constructed from branches of multiple trees. This evidence may indicate a lack of suitable nesting trees or attempts by chimpanzees to nest in areas of riparian forest that allow them to avoid human detection. We also found new evidence for eucalyptus bark feeding by chimpanzees. Such evidence suggests chimpanzees respond flexibly to mitigate anthropogenic pressures in human-dominated landscapes. The limits of such flexibility remain unknown. Further research is needed to examine systematically the factors influencing the use of such resources and to understand better the extent to which chimpanzees can persist while relying on them.

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) display limited behavioural flexibility when faced with a changing foraging task requiring tool use

PubMed Central

Harrison, Rachel A.

2018-01-01

Behavioural flexibility, the ability to alter behaviour in response to environmental feedback, and to relinquish previously successful solutions to problems, is a crucial ability in allowing organisms to adapt to novel environments and environmental change; it is essential to cumulative cultural change. To explore this ability in chimpanzees, 18 individuals (Pan troglodytes) were presented with an artificial foraging task consisting of a tube partially filled with juice that could be reached by hand or retrieved using tool materials to hand. Effective solutions were then restricted in the second phase of the study by narrowing the diameter of the tube, necessitating the abandonment of previously successful solutions. Chimpanzees showed limited behavioural flexibility in comparison to some previous studies, increasing their use of effective techniques, but also continuing to attempt solutions that had been rendered ineffective. This adds to a literature reporting divergent evidence for flexibility (the ability to alter behaviour in response to environmental feedback, and to relinquish previously successful solutions to problems) versus conservatism (a reluctance or inability to explore or adopt novel solutions to problems when a solution is already known) in apes. PMID:29479495

Robust representations of individual faces in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) but not monkeys (Macaca mulatta).

PubMed

Taubert, Jessica; Weldon, Kimberly B; Parr, Lisa A

2017-03-01

Being able to recognize the faces of our friends and family members no matter where we see them represents a substantial challenge for the visual system because the retinal image of a face can be degraded by both changes in the person (age, expression, pose, hairstyle, etc.) and changes in the viewing conditions (direction and degree of illumination). Yet most of us are able to recognize familiar people effortlessly. A popular theory for how face recognition is achieved has argued that the brain stabilizes facial appearance by building average representations that enhance diagnostic features that reliably vary between people while diluting features that vary between instances of the same person. This explains why people find it easier to recognize average images of people, created by averaging multiple images of the same person together, than single instances (i.e. photographs). Although this theory is gathering momentum in the psychological and computer sciences, there is no evidence of whether this mechanism represents a unique specialization for individual recognition in humans. Here we tested two species, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta), to determine whether average images of different familiar individuals were easier to discriminate than photographs of familiar individuals. Using a two-alternative forced-choice, match-to-sample procedure, we report a behaviour response profile that suggests chimpanzees encode the faces of conspecifics differently than rhesus monkeys and in a manner similar to humans.

Different early rearing experiences have long term effects on cortical organization in captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

PubMed Central

Bogart, Stephanie L.; Bennett, Allyson J.; Schapiro, Steven J.; Reamer, Lisa A.; Hopkins, William D.

2014-01-01

Consequences of rearing history in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have been explored in relation to behavioral abnormalities and cognition, however, little is known about the effects of rearing conditions on anatomical brain development. Human studies have revealed that experiences of maltreatment and neglect during infancy and childhood can have detrimental effects on brain development and cognition. In this study, we evaluated the effects of early rearing experience on brain morphology in 92 captive chimpanzees (ages 11-43) who were either reared by their mothers (n = 46) or in a nursery (n = 46) with age-group peers. Magnetic resonance brain images were analyzed with a processing program (BrainVISA) that extracts cortical sulci. We obtained various measurements from 11 sulci located throughout the brain, as well as whole brain gyrification and white and grey matter volumes. We found that mother-reared chimpanzees have greater global white-to-grey matter volume, more cortical folding and thinner grey matter within the cortical folds than nursery-reared animals. The findings reported here are the first to demonstrate that differences in early rearing conditions have significant consequences on brain morphology in chimpanzees and suggests potential differences in the development of white matter expansion and myelination. PMID:24206013

When Less is More: Like Humans, Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Misperceive Food Amounts Based on Plate Size

PubMed Central

Parrish, Audrey E.; Beran, Michael J.

2013-01-01

We investigated whether chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) misperceived food portion sizes depending upon the context in which they were presented, something that often affects how much humans serve themselves and subsequently consume. Chimpanzees judged same-sized and smaller food portions to be larger in amount when presented on a small plate compared to an equal or larger food portion presented on a large plate, and did so despite clearly being able to tell the difference in portions when plate size was identical. These results are consistent with data from the human literature in which people misperceive food portion sizes as a function of plate size. This misperception is attributed to the Delboeuf illusion which occurs when the size of a central item is misperceived on the basis of its surrounding context. These results demonstrate a cross-species shared visual misperception of portion size that affects choice behavior, here in a nonhuman species for which there is little experience with tests that involve choosing between food amounts on dinnerware. The biases resulting in this form of misperception of food portions appear to have a deep-rooted evolutionary history which we share with, at minimum, our closest living nonhuman relative, the chimpanzee. PMID:23949698

Different early rearing experiences have long-term effects on cortical organization in captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Bogart, Stephanie L; Bennett, Allyson J; Schapiro, Steven J; Reamer, Lisa A; Hopkins, William D

2014-03-01

Consequences of rearing history in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have been explored in relation to behavioral abnormalities and cognition; however, little is known about the effects of rearing conditions on anatomical brain development. Human studies have revealed that experiences of maltreatment and neglect during infancy and childhood can have detrimental effects on brain development and cognition. In this study, we evaluated the effects of early rearing experience on brain morphology in 92 captive chimpanzees (ages 11-43) who were either reared by their mothers (n = 46) or in a nursery (n = 46) with age-group peers. Magnetic resonance brain images were analyzed with a processing program (BrainVISA) that extracts cortical sulci. We obtained various measurements from 11 sulci located throughout the brain, as well as whole brain gyrification and white and grey matter volumes. We found that mother-reared chimpanzees have greater global white-to-grey matter volume, more cortical folding and thinner grey matter within the cortical folds than nursery-reared animals. The findings reported here are the first to demonstrate that differences in early rearing conditions have significant consequences on brain morphology in chimpanzees and suggests potential differences in the development of white matter expansion and myelination. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The saliva microbiome of Pan and Homo

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background It is increasingly recognized that the bacteria that live in and on the human body (the microbiome) can play an important role in health and disease. The composition of the microbiome is potentially influenced by both internal factors (such as phylogeny and host physiology) and external factors (such as diet and local environment), and interspecific comparisons can aid in understanding the importance of these factors. Results To gain insights into the relative importance of these factors on saliva microbiome diversity, we here analyze the saliva microbiomes of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus) from two sanctuaries in Africa, and from human workers at each sanctuary. The saliva microbiomes of the two Pan species are more similar to one another, and the saliva microbiomes of the two human groups are more similar to one another, than are the saliva microbiomes of human workers and apes from the same sanctuary. We also looked for the existence of a core microbiome and find no evidence for a taxon-based core saliva microbiome for Homo or Pan. In addition, we studied the saliva microbiome from apes from the Leipzig Zoo, and found an extraordinary diversity in the zoo ape saliva microbiomes that is not found in the saliva microbiomes of the sanctuary animals. Conclusions The greater similarity of the saliva microbiomes of the two Pan species to one another, and of the two human groups to one another, are in accordance with both the phylogenetic relationships of the hosts as well as with host physiology. Moreover, the results from the zoo animals suggest that novel environments can have a large impact on the microbiome, and that microbiome analyses based on captive animals should be viewed with caution as they may not reflect the microbiome of animals in the wild. PMID:24025115

Arboreal nesting as anti-predator adaptation by savanna chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in southeastern Senegal.

PubMed

Pruetz, J D; Fulton, S J; Marchant, L F; McGrew, W C; Schiel, M; Waller, M

2008-04-01

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) make nests for resting and sleeping, which is unusual for anthropoid primates but common to all great apes. Arboreal nesting has been linked to predation pressure, but few studies have tested the adaptive nature of this behavior. We collected data at two chimpanzee study sites in southeastern Senegal that differed in predator presence to test the hypothesis that elevated sleeping platforms are adaptations for predator defense. At Assirik in the Parc National du Niokolo-Koba, chimpanzees face four species of large carnivore, whereas at Fongoli, outside national park boundaries, humans have exterminated almost all natural predators. We quantified the availability of vegetation at the two sites to test the alternative hypothesis that differences in nesting reflect differences in habitat structure. We also examined possible sex differences in nesting behavior, community demographic differences, seasonality and nest age differences as variables also potentially affecting nest characteristics and nesting behavior between the two sites. Chimpanzees at Fongoli nested at lower heights and farther apart than did chimpanzees at Assirik and sometimes made nests on the ground. The absence of predators outside of the national park may account for the differences in nest characteristics at the two sites, given the similarities in habitat structure between Fongoli and Assirik. However, Fongoli chimpanzees regularly build arboreal nests for sleeping, even under minimal predation pressure, and this requires explanation.

A previously undiscovered group of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) is observed living in the Tonkolili district of Sierra Leone.

PubMed

Halloran, Andrew R; Cloutier, Christina T; Sesay, Papanie Bai

2013-06-01

A previously undocumented group of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) was recently discovered along the Pampana River in the Tonkolili District of Sierra Leone. Based on interviews from local residents (N = 6), we estimate the group size to be approximately 30 individuals. Though this population does not show up in the most recent census of chimpanzees in Sierra Leone, it concurs with findings that indicate most of the chimpanzees in Sierra Leone live scattered throughout the country alongside villages, rather than in protected areas. During a three-week observation in the area, two chimpanzees were hunted and killed. The reason for these deaths, along with other reported instances of hunting in the area, are primarily due to crop-raiding and competition for resources between chimpanzees and humans. We conclude that this is a heavily imperiled population. Based on the ecology of the area and composition of local villages, we propose a number of conservation strategies that will promote a symbiotic relationship between the chimpanzees and human populations residing in the area. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

How the great apes (Pan troglodytes, Pongo pygmaeus, Pan paniscus, Gorilla gorilla) perform on the reversed reward contingency task II: transfer to new quantities, long-term retention, and the impact of quantity ratios.

PubMed

Uher, Jana; Call, Josep

2008-05-01

We tested 6 chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), 3 orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), 4 bonobos (Pan paniscus), and 2 gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) in the reversed reward contingency task. Individuals were presented with pairs of quantities ranging between 0 and 6 food items. Prior to testing, some experienced apes had solved this task using 2 quantities while others were totally naïve. Experienced apes transferred their ability to multiple-novel pairs after 6 to 19 months had elapsed since their initial testing. Two out of 6 naïve apes (1 chimpanzee, 1 bonobo) solved the task--a proportion comparable to that of a previous study using 2 pairs of quantities. Their acquisition speed was also comparable to the successful subjects from that study. The ratio between quantities explained a large portion of the variance but affected naïve and experienced individuals differently. For smaller ratios, naïve individuals were well below 50% correct and experienced ones were well above 50%, yet both groups tended to converge toward 50% for larger ratios. Thus, some apes require no procedural modifications to overcome their strong bias for selecting the larger of 2 quantities. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved.

Nut Cracking Tools Used by Captive Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and Their Comparison with Early Stone Age Percussive Artefacts from Olduvai Gorge.

PubMed

Arroyo, Adrián; Hirata, Satoshi; Matsuzawa, Tetsuro; de la Torre, Ignacio

2016-01-01

We present the results of a series of experiments at the Kumamoto Sanctuary in Japan, in which captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) performed several nut cracking sessions using raw materials from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. We examined captive chimpanzee pounding tools using a combination of technological analysis, use-wear distribution, and micro-wear analysis. Our results show specific patterns of use-wear distribution across the active surfaces of pounding tools, which reveal some similarities with traces on archaeological percussive objects from the Early Stone Age, and are consistent with traces on other experimental pounding tools used by modern humans. The approach used in this study may help to stablish a framework with which to interpret archaeological assemblages and improve understanding of use-wear formation processes on pounding tools used by chimpanzees. This study represents the first direct comparison of chimpanzee pounding tools and archaeological material, and thus may contribute to a better understanding of hominin percussive activities.

Nut Cracking Tools Used by Captive Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and Their Comparison with Early Stone Age Percussive Artefacts from Olduvai Gorge

PubMed Central

Arroyo, Adrián; Hirata, Satoshi; Matsuzawa, Tetsuro; de la Torre, Ignacio

2016-01-01

We present the results of a series of experiments at the Kumamoto Sanctuary in Japan, in which captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) performed several nut cracking sessions using raw materials from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. We examined captive chimpanzee pounding tools using a combination of technological analysis, use-wear distribution, and micro-wear analysis. Our results show specific patterns of use-wear distribution across the active surfaces of pounding tools, which reveal some similarities with traces on archaeological percussive objects from the Early Stone Age, and are consistent with traces on other experimental pounding tools used by modern humans. The approach used in this study may help to stablish a framework with which to interpret archaeological assemblages and improve understanding of use-wear formation processes on pounding tools used by chimpanzees. This study represents the first direct comparison of chimpanzee pounding tools and archaeological material, and thus may contribute to a better understanding of hominin percussive activities. PMID:27870877

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and human children (Homo sapiens) know when they are ignorant about the location of food.

PubMed

Neldner, Karri; Collier-Baker, Emma; Nielsen, Mark

2015-05-01

Over the last decade, the metacognitive abilities of nonhuman primates and the developmental emergence of metacognition in children have become topics of increasing research interest. In the current study, the performance of three adult chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes; Experiment 1) and forty-four 3.5- and 5.5-year-old human children (Experiment 2) was assessed on a behavioral search paradigm designed to assess metacognition. Subjects either directly observed the baiting of a large reward into one cup among an array of four, or had the baiting occluded from their view. In half of the trials, subjects were also presented with an additional distinctive cup that was always visibly baited with a small reward. This cup allowed subjects the opportunity to escape from making a guess about the location of the bigger reward. All three chimpanzees and both age groups of children selected the escape cup more often when the baiting of the large reward was concealed, compared to when it was visible. This demonstrates that both species can selectively choose a guaranteed smaller reward when they do not know the location of a larger reward and provides insight into the development of metacognition.

Social environment elicits lateralized behaviors in gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Quaresmini, Caterina; Forrester, Gillian S; Spiezio, Caterina; Vallortigara, Giorgio

2014-08-01

The influence of the social environment on lateralized behaviors has now been investigated across a wide variety of animal species. New evidence suggests that the social environment can modulate behavior. Currently, there is a paucity of data relating to how primates navigate their environmental space, and investigations that consider the naturalistic context of the individual are few and fragmented. Moreover, there are competing theories about whether only the right or rather both cerebral hemispheres are involved in the processing of social stimuli, especially in emotion processing. Here we provide the first report of lateralized social behaviors elicited by great apes. We employed a continuous focal animal sampling method to record the spontaneous interactions of a captive zoo-living colony of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and a biological family group of peer-reared western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). We specifically focused on which side of the body (i.e., front, rear, left, right) the focal individual preferred to keep conspecifics. Utilizing a newly developed quantitative corpus-coding scheme, analysis revealed both chimpanzees and gorillas demonstrated a significant group-level preference for focal individuals to keep conspecifics positioned to the front of them compared with behind them. More interestingly, both groups also manifested a population-level bias to keep conspecifics on their left side compared with their right side. Our findings suggest a social processing dominance of the right hemisphere for context-specific social environments. Results are discussed in light of the evolutionary adaptive value of social stimulus as a triggering factor for the manifestation of group-level lateralized behaviors.

The effectiveness of using carbonate isotope measurements of body tissues to infer diet in human evolution: Evidence from wild western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus).

PubMed

Fahy, Geraldine E; Boesch, Christophe; Hublin, Jean-Jacques; Richards, Michael P

2015-11-01

Changes in diet throughout hominin evolution have been linked with important evolutionary changes. Stable carbon isotope analysis of inorganic apatite carbonate is the main isotopic method used to reconstruct fossil hominin diets; to test its effectiveness as a paleodietary indicator we present bone and enamel carbonate carbon isotope data from a well-studied population of modern wild western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) of known sex and age from Taï, Cote d'Ivoire. We found a significant effect of age class on bone carbonate values, with adult chimpanzees being more (13)C- and (18)O-depleted compared to juveniles. Further, to investigate habitat effects, we compared our data to existing apatite data on eastern chimpanzees (P. troglodytes schweinfurthii) and found that the Taï chimpanzees are significantly more depleted in enamel δ(13)Cap and δ(18)Oap compared to their eastern counterparts. Our data are the first to present a range of tissue-specific isotope data from the same group of wild western chimpanzees and, as such, add new data to the growing number of modern non-human primate comparative isotope datasets providing valuable information for the interpretation of diet throughout hominin evolution. By comparing our data to published isotope data on fossil hominins we found that our modern chimpanzee bone and enamel data support hypotheses that the trend towards increased consumption of C4 foods after 4 Ma (millions of years ago) is unique to hominins. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

How did bonobos come to range south of the congo river? Reconsideration of the divergence of Pan paniscus from other Pan populations.

PubMed

Takemoto, Hiroyuki; Kawamoto, Yoshi; Furuichi, Takeshi

2015-01-01

While investigating the genetic structure in wild bonobos,(1) we realized that the widely accepted scenario positing that the Pleistocene appearance of the Congo River separated the common ancestor of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (P. paniscus) into two species is not supported by recent geographical knowledge about the formation of the Congo River. We explored the origin of bonobos using a broader biogeographical perspective by examining local faunas in the central African region. The submarine Congo River sediments and paleotopography of central Africa show that the Congo River has functioned as a geographical barrier for the last 34 million years. This evidence allows us to hypothesize that when the river was first formed, the ancestor of bonobos did not inhabit the current range of the species on the left bank of the Congo River but that, during rare times when the Congo River discharge decreased during the Pleistocene, one or more founder populations of ancestral Pan paniscus crossed the river to its left bank. The proposed scenario for formation of the Congo River and the corridor hypothesis for an ancestral bonobo population is key to understanding the distribution of great apes and their evolution. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Within- and between-task consistency in hand use as a means of characterizing hand preferences in captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Hopkins, William D; Gardner, Molly; Mingle, Morgan; Reamer, Lisa; Schapiro, Steven J

2013-11-01

There remain considerable questions regarding the evidence for population-level handedness in nonhuman primates when compared with humans. One challenge in comparing human and nonhuman primate handedness involves the procedures used to characterize individual handedness. Studies of human handedness use consistency in hand use within and between tasks as a basis for hand preference classification. In contrast, studies of handedness in nonhuman primates use statistical criteria for classifying handedness. In this study, we examined within- and between-task consistency in hand use as a means of characterizing individual handedness in a sample of 300 captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Chimpanzees showed population-level right-handedness for both within- and between-tasks consistency, though the proportion of right-handed chimpanzees was lower than what has typically been reported for humans. We further found that there were small, but significant, associations in hand use between measures. There were no significant sex or colony effects on the distribution of handedness. The results are discussed in the context of theories on the evolution of handedness in nonhuman primates.

Within- and Between-Task Consistency in Hand Use as a Means of Characterizing Hand Preferences in Captive Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

PubMed Central

Hopkins, William D.; Gardner, Molly; Mingle, Morgan; Reamer, Lisa; Schapiro, Steven J.

2013-01-01

There remain considerable questions regarding the evidence for population-level handedness in nonhuman primates when compared with humans. One challenge in comparing human and nonhuman primate handedness involves the procedures used to characterize individual handedness. Studies of human handedness use consistency in hand use within and between tasks as a basis for hand preference classification. In contrast, studies of handedness in nonhuman primates use statistical criteria for classifying handedness. In this study, we examined within- and between-task consistency in hand use as a means of characterizing individual handedness in a sample of 300 captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Chimpanzees showed population-level right-handedness for both within- and between-tasks consistency, though the proportion of right-handed chimpanzees was lower than what has typically been reported for humans. We further found that there were small, but significant, associations in hand use between measures. There were no significant sex or colony effects on the distribution of handedness. The results are discussed in the context of theories on the evolution of handedness in nonhuman primates. PMID:23356440

High levels of Y-chromosome nucleotide diversity in the genus Pan

PubMed Central

Stone, Anne C.; Griffiths, Robert C.; Zegura, Stephen L.; Hammer, Michael F.

2002-01-01

Although some mitochondrial, X chromosome, and autosomal sequence diversity data are available for our closest relatives, Pan troglodytes and Pan paniscus, data from the nonrecombining portion of the Y chromosome (NRY) are more limited. We examined ≈3 kb of NRY DNA from 101 chimpanzees, seven bonobos, and 42 humans to investigate: (i) relative levels of intraspecific diversity; (ii) the degree of paternal lineage sorting among species and subspecies of the genus Pan; and (iii) the date of the chimpanzee/bonobo divergence. We identified 10 informative sequence-tagged sites associated with 23 polymorphisms on the NRY from the genus Pan. Nucleotide diversity was significantly higher on the NRY of chimpanzees and bonobos than on the human NRY. Similar to mtDNA, but unlike X-linked and autosomal loci, lineages defined by mutations on the NRY were not shared among subspecies of P. troglodytes. Comparisons with mtDNA ND2 sequences from some of the same individuals revealed a larger female versus male effective population size for chimpanzees. The NRY-based divergence time between chimpanzees and bonobos was estimated at ≈1.8 million years ago. In contrast to human populations who appear to have had a low effective size and a recent origin with subsequent population growth, some taxa within the genus Pan may be characterized by large populations of relatively constant size, more ancient origins, and high levels of subdivision. PMID:11756656

Terrestrial nest-building by wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): implications for the tree-to-ground sleep transition in early hominins.

PubMed

Koops, Kathelijne; McGrew, William C; Matsuzawa, Tetsuro; Knapp, Leslie A

2012-07-01

Nest-building is a great ape universal and arboreal nesting in chimpanzees and bonobos suggests that the common ancestor of Pan and Homo also nested in trees. It has been proposed that arboreal nest-building remained the prevailing pattern until Homo erectus, a fully terrestrial biped, emerged. We investigated the unusual occurrence of ground-nesting in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), which may inform on factors influencing the tree-to-ground sleep transition in the hominin lineage. We used a novel genetic approach to examine ground-nesting in unhabituated chimpanzees at Seringbara in the Nimba Mountains, Guinea. Previous research showed that ground-nesting at Seringbara was not ecologically determined. Here, we tested a possible mate-guarding function of ground-nesting by analyzing DNA from shed hairs collected from ground nests and tree nests found in close proximity. We examined whether or not ground-nesting was a group-level behavioral pattern and whether or not it occurred in more than one community. We used multiple genetic markers to identify sex and to examine variation in mitochondrial DNA control region (HV1, HV2) sequences. Ground-nesting was a male-biased behavior and males constructed more elaborate ("night") nests than simple ("day") nests on the ground. The mate-guarding hypothesis was not supported, as ground and associated tree nests were built either by maternally-related males or possibly by the same individuals. Ground-nesting was widespread and likely habitual in two communities. We suggest that terrestrial nest-building may have already occurred in arboreally-adapted early hominins before the emergence of H. erectus. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Three-dimensional moment arms and architecture of chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) leg musculature

PubMed Central

Holowka, Nicholas B; O'Neill, Matthew C

2013-01-01

The muscular and skeletal morphology of the chimpanzee ankle and foot differs from that of humans in many important respects. However, little information is available on the moment arms and architecture of the muscles that function around chimpanzee ankle and foot joints. The main goals of this study were to determine the influence of changes in leg and foot position on the moment arms of these muscle–tendon units (MTUs), and provide new measurements of their architecture. Three-dimensional moment arm data were collected from two adult, cadaveric Pan troglodytes specimens for 11 MTUs that cross the ankle and foot joints. Tendon-excursion measurements were made throughout the full range of plantarflexion–dorsiflexion (PF–DF) and eversion–inversion (EV–IN), including repeated measurements for mm. gastrocnemius at 0 °, 45 °, 90 ° and 135 ° of knee flexion. The total range of motion was calculated from three-dimensional joint motion data while ensuring that foot movement was restricted to a single plane. Measurements of muscle mass, fascicle length, pennation angle and physiological cross-sectional area were then collected for each MTU. Our results demonstrate that joint position has a significant effect on moment arm lengths, and that in some cases this effect is counterintuitive. These new data contribute to filling a significant gap in previously published chimpanzee moment arm data, providing a comprehensive characterization of the MTUs that move the chimpanzee ankle and foot joints. They also provide empirical support to the notion that chimpanzees have larger ranges of motion at these joints than humans. Comparison of osteometric estimates of moment arm lengths to direct tendon-excursion measures provides some guidance for the use of skeletal features in estimations of PF–DF moment arms. Finally, muscle architecture data are consistent with the findings of previous studies, and increase the sample size of the chimpanzee data that are currently

What Meaning Means for Same and Different: Analogical Reasoning in Humans (Homo sapiens), Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), and Rhesus Monkeys (Macaca mulatta)

PubMed Central

Flemming, Timothy M.; Beran, Michael J.; Thompson, Roger K. R.; Kleider, Heather M.; Washburn, David A.

2013-01-01

Thus far, language- and token-trained apes (e.g., D. Premack, 1976; R. K. R. Thompson, D. L. Oden, & S. T. Boysen, 1997) have provided the best evidence that nonhuman animals can solve, complete, and construct analogies, thus implicating symbolic representation as the mechanism enabling the phenomenon. In this study, the authors examined the role of stimulus meaning in the analogical reasoning abilities of three different primate species. Humans (Homo sapiens), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), and rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) completed the same relational matching-to-sample (RMTS) tasks with both meaningful and nonmeaningful stimuli. This discrimination of relations-between-relations serves as the basis for analogical reasoning. Meaningfulness facilitated the acquisition of analogical matching for human participants, whereas individual differences among the chimpanzees suggest that meaning can either enable or hinder their ability to complete analogies. Rhesus monkeys did not succeed in the RMTS task regardless of stimulus meaning, suggesting that their ability to reason analogically, if present at all, may be dependent on a dimension other than the representational value of stimuli. PMID:18489233

[Comparison of the Latissimus dorsi insertions on the iliac crest in chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and in man].

PubMed

Vacher, C; Ben Hadj Yahia, S; Braun, M; Journeau, P

2014-03-01

Comparing to other primates, one of the most important specificities of the human anatomy are consequences of bipedalism. Although bone consequences are well known (lumbar lordosis, horizontal position of the foramen magnum, lengthening of the lower limbs, reduction of the pelvis, specialization of the foot), consequences of our locomotion on the Latissimus dorsi are still unclear. One dissection of a chimpanzee Latissimus dorsi (Pan troglodytes) has been performed and compared to 30 human Latissimus dorsi dissections (10 fresh cadavers and 20 formoled cadavers). In each dissection, the existence of direct muscular insertions on the iliac crest has been investigated and the constitution of the thoracolumbar fascia has been described. In chimpanzee dissection, a muscular direct insertion of the Latissimus dorsi was present on the iliac crest of 9 cm long. The TLF was made of the superficial and the deep fascias of the Latissimus dorsi and the superficial fascia of the erector spinae muscles which was deeper. In man, there was no direct muscular insertion of the Latissimus dorsi in 90 % of cases, the TLF was constituted the same way. This study suggests that the Latissimus dorsi has been separated from the iliac crest in man during the evolution because of the permanent bipedalism and that it stayed inserted on the iliac crest in chimpanzee because of the brachiation. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Displacement behaviors in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): A neurogenomics investigation of the RDoC Negative Valence Systems domain.

PubMed

Latzman, Robert D; Young, Larry J; Hopkins, William D

2016-03-01

The current study aimed to systematically investigate genetic and neuroanatomical correlates of individual variation in scratching behaviors, a well-validated animal-behavioral indicator of negative emotional states with clear links to the NIMH Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) response to potential harm ("anxiety") construct within the Negative Valence Systems domain. Utilizing data from a sample of 76 captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), we (a) examined the association between scratching and presence or absence of the RS3-containing DupB element in the AVPR1A 5' flanking region, (b) utilized voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to identify gray matter (GM) voxel clusters that differentiated AVPR1A genotype, and (c) conducted a VBM-guided voxel-of-interest analysis to examine the association between GM intensity and scratching. AVPR1A evidenced sexually dimorphic associations with scratching. VBM analyses revealed significant differences in GM by genotype across twelve clusters largely in the frontal cortex. Regions differentiating AVPR1A genotype showed sex-specific associations with scratching. Results suggest that sexually dimorphic associations between AVPR1A and scratching may be explained by genotype-specific neuroanatomical variation. The current study provides an example of the way in which chimpanzee research is uniquely poised for multilevel, systematic investigations of psychopathology-relevant constructs within the context of the RDoC framework. © 2016 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Mating behavior of adolescent male chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) at Ngogo, Kibale National Park, Uganda.

PubMed

Watts, David P

2015-04-01

Male mating tactics vary extensively in many primates. Some variation occurs because adolescent males often are sexually active but cannot invest heavily in mating effort because of their limited ability to compete directly with adults and because they are still investing in growth; consequently, most of their mating attempts may be surreptitious and/or with females whose fecundity is low. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have a complex mating system: most copulations occur between estrous females with full sexual swelling and multiple males in group settings where the potential for sperm competition is high, but males sometimes mate-guard females, and sometimes male-female pairs mate exclusively with each other while avoiding other males during "consortships." Among other factors, dominance ranks, coalition formation, and variation in male-female association influence male mating and reproductive success. Mating effort increases from adolescence into prime adulthood. At Gombe and Mahale, adolescent males copulated more with nulliparous than with parous females, and mostly when females were unlikely to be ovulating, partly because of low adult male interest in nulliparous females and partly because of aggression from or avoidance of adult males. Adolescents thus had low probabilities of siring infants. However, adolescents are known to have gained some paternity at Gombe and in other populations, and their mating behavior deserves more study. I present data on mating by adolescent males in an unusually large chimpanzee community at Ngogo, Kibale National Park, Uganda. Adolescents at Ngogo also copulated more with nulliparous than parous females and mostly copulated outside of periovulatory periods. Also, they directed less aggression at estrous females than did adult males. However, they gained lower shares of copulations than reported for Gombe and Mahale, regardless of female parity, and received more aggression from adult males. These differences might partly

Problem solving in the presence of others: how rank and relationship quality impact resource acquisition in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Cronin, Katherine A; Pieper, Bridget A; van Leeuwen, Edwin J C; Mundry, Roger; Haun, Daniel B M

2014-01-01

In the wild, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are often faced with clumped food resources that they may know how to access but abstain from doing so due to social pressures. To better understand how social settings influence resource acquisition, we tested fifteen semi-wild chimpanzees from two social groups alone and in the presence of others. We investigated how resource acquisition was affected by relative social dominance, whether collaborative problem solving or (active or passive) sharing occurred amongst any of the dyads, and whether these outcomes were related to relationship quality as determined from six months of observational data. Results indicated that chimpanzees obtained fewer rewards when tested in the presence of others compared to when they were tested alone, and this loss tended to be greater when paired with a higher ranked individual. Individuals demonstrated behavioral inhibition; chimpanzees who showed proficient skill when alone often abstained from solving the task when in the presence of others. Finally, individuals with close social relationships spent more time together in the problem solving space, but collaboration and sharing were infrequent and sessions in which collaboration or sharing did occur contained more instances of aggression. Group living provides benefits and imposes costs, and these findings highlight that one cost of group living may be diminishing productive individual behaviors.

Complete genome sequence of Streptococcus troglodytae TKU31 isolated from the oral cavity of a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Okamoto, Masaaki; Naito, Mariko; Miyanohara, Mayu; Imai, Susumu; Nomura, Yoshiaki; Saito, Wataru; Momoi, Yasuko; Takada, Kazuko; Miyabe-Nishiwaki, Takako; Tomonaga, Masaki; Hanada, Nobuhiro

2016-12-01

Streptococcus troglodytae TKU31 was isolated from the oral cavity of a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and was found to be the most closely related species of the mutans group streptococci to Streptococcus mutans. The complete sequence of TKU31 genome consists of a single circular chromosome that is 2,097,874 base pairs long and has a G + C content of 37.18%. It possesses 2082 coding sequences (CDSs), 65 tRNAs and five rRNA operons (15 rRNAs). Two clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, six insertion sequences and two predicted prophage elements were identified. The genome of TKU31 harbors some putative virulence associated genes, including gtfB, gtfC and gtfD genes encoding glucosyltransferase and gbpA, gbpB, gbpC and gbpD genes encoding glucan-binding cell wall-anchored protein. The deduced amino acid identity of the rhamnose-glucose polysaccharide F gene (rgpF), which is one of the serotype determinants, is 91% identical with that of S. mutans LJ23 (serotype k) strain. However, two other virulence-associated genes cnm and cbm, which encode the collagen-binding proteins, were not found in the TKU31 genome. The complete genome sequence of S. troglodytae TKU31 has been deposited at DDBJ/European Nucleotide Archive/GenBank under the accession no. AP014612. © 2016 The Societies and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Three-dimensional kinematics of the pelvis and hind limbs in chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and human bipedal walking.

PubMed

O'Neill, Matthew C; Lee, Leng-Feng; Demes, Brigitte; Thompson, Nathan E; Larson, Susan G; Stern, Jack T; Umberger, Brian R

2015-09-01

The common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is a facultative biped and our closest living relative. As such, the musculoskeletal anatomies of their pelvis and hind limbs have long provided a comparative context for studies of human and fossil hominin locomotion. Yet, how the chimpanzee pelvis and hind limb actually move during bipedal walking is still not well defined. Here, we describe the three-dimensional (3-D) kinematics of the pelvis, hip, knee and ankle during bipedal walking and compare those values to humans walking at the same dimensionless and dimensional velocities. The stride-to-stride and intraspecific variations in 3-D kinematics were calculated using the adjusted coefficient of multiple correlation. Our results indicate that humans walk with a more stable pelvis than chimpanzees, especially in tilt and rotation. Both species exhibit similar magnitudes of pelvis list, but with segment motion that is opposite in phasing. In the hind limb, chimpanzees walk with a more flexed and abducted limb posture, and substantially exceed humans in the magnitude of hip rotation during a stride. The average stride-to-stride variation in joint and segment motion was greater in chimpanzees than humans, while the intraspecific variation was similar on average. These results demonstrate substantial differences between human and chimpanzee bipedal walking, in both the sagittal and non-sagittal planes. These new 3-D kinematic data are fundamental to a comprehensive understanding of the mechanics, energetics and control of chimpanzee bipedalism. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Patterns of mandibular variation in Pan and Gorilla and implications for African ape taxonomy.

PubMed

Taylor, Andrea B; Groves, Colin P

2003-05-01

Pan and Gorilla taxonomy is currently in a state of flux, with the number of existing species and subspecies of common chimpanzee and gorilla having been recently challenged. While Pan and Gorilla systematics have been evaluated on the basis of craniometric and odontometric data, only a handful of studies have evaluated multivariate craniometric variation within P. troglodytes, and none have evaluated in detail mandibular variation in either P. troglodytes or Gorilla gorilla. In this paper, we examine ontogenetic and adult mandibular variation in Pan and Gorilla. We test the hypothesis that patterns and degrees of mandibular variation in Pan and Gorilla closely correspond to those derived from previous analyses of craniometric variation. We then use these data to address some current issues surrounding Pan and Gorilla taxonomy. Specifically, we evaluate the purported distinctiveness of P.t. verus from the other two subspecies of Pan troglodytes, and the recent proposals to recognize Nigerian gorillas as a distinct subspecies, Gorilla gorilla diehli, and to acknowledge mountain and lowland gorillas as two separate species. Overall, patterns and degrees of multivariate mandibular differentiation parallel those obtained previously for the cranium and dentition. Thus, differences among the three conventionally recognized gorilla subspecies are somewhat greater than among subspecies of common chimpanzees, but differences between P. paniscus and P. troglodytes are greater than those observed between any gorilla subspecies. In this regard, the mandible does not appear to be more variable, or of less taxonomic value, than the face and other parts of the cranium. There are, however, some finer differences in the pattern and degree of morphological differentiation in Pan and Gorilla, both with respect to cranial and dental morphology, and in terms of the application and manner of size adjustment. Mandibular differentiation supports the conventional separation of bonobos from

Delay of gratification is associated with white matter connectivity in the dorsal prefrontal cortex: a diffusion tensor imaging study in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Latzman, Robert D; Taglialatela, Jared P; Hopkins, William D

2015-06-22

Individual variability in delay of gratification (DG) is associated with a number of important outcomes in both non-human and human primates. Using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), this study describes the relationship between probabilistic estimates of white matter tracts projecting from the caudate to the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and DG abilities in a sample of 49 captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). After accounting for time between collection of DTI scans and DG measurement, age and sex, higher white matter connectivity between the caudate and right dorsal PFC was found to be significantly associated with the acquisition (i.e. training phase) but not the maintenance of DG abilities. No other associations were found to be significant. The integrity of white matter connectivity between regions of the striatum and the PFC appear to be associated with inhibitory control in chimpanzees, with perturbations on this circuit potentially leading to a variety of maladaptive outcomes. Additionally, results have potential translational implications for understanding the pathophysiology of a number of psychiatric and clinical outcomes in humans. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Delay of gratification is associated with white matter connectivity in the dorsal prefrontal cortex: a diffusion tensor imaging study in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

PubMed Central

Latzman, Robert D.; Taglialatela, Jared P.; Hopkins, William D.

2015-01-01

Individual variability in delay of gratification (DG) is associated with a number of important outcomes in both non-human and human primates. Using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), this study describes the relationship between probabilistic estimates of white matter tracts projecting from the caudate to the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and DG abilities in a sample of 49 captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). After accounting for time between collection of DTI scans and DG measurement, age and sex, higher white matter connectivity between the caudate and right dorsal PFC was found to be significantly associated with the acquisition (i.e. training phase) but not the maintenance of DG abilities. No other associations were found to be significant. The integrity of white matter connectivity between regions of the striatum and the PFC appear to be associated with inhibitory control in chimpanzees, with perturbations on this circuit potentially leading to a variety of maladaptive outcomes. Additionally, results have potential translational implications for understanding the pathophysiology of a number of psychiatric and clinical outcomes in humans. PMID:26041344

Social, contextual, and individual factors affecting the occurrence and acoustic structure of drumming bouts in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Babiszewska, Magdalena; Schel, Anne Marijke; Wilke, Claudia; Slocombe, Katie E

2015-01-01

The production of structured and repetitive sounds by striking objects is a behavior found not only in humans, but also in a variety of animal species, including chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). In this study we examined individual and social factors that may influence the frequency with which individuals engage in drumming behavior when producing long distance pant hoot vocalizations, and analyzed the temporal structure of those drumming bouts. Male chimpanzees from Budongo Forest, Uganda, drummed significantly more frequently during travel than feeding or resting and older individuals were significantly more likely to produce drumming bouts than younger ones. In contrast, we found no evidence that the presence of estrus females, high ranking males and preferred social partners in the caller's vicinty had an effect on the frequency with which an individual accompanied their pant hoot vocalization with drumming. Through acoustic analyses, we demonstrated that drumming sequences produced with pant hoots may have contained information on individual identity and that qualitatively, there was individual variation in the complexity of the temporal patterns produced. We conclude that drumming patterns may act as individually distinctive long-distance signals that, together with pant hoot vocalizations, function to coordinate the movement and spacing of dispersed individuals within a community, rather than as signals to group members in the immediate audience. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Problem Solving in the Presence of Others: How Rank and Relationship Quality Impact Resource Acquisition in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

PubMed Central

Cronin, Katherine A.; Pieper, Bridget A.; van Leeuwen, Edwin J. C.; Mundry, Roger; Haun, Daniel B. M.

2014-01-01

In the wild, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are often faced with clumped food resources that they may know how to access but abstain from doing so due to social pressures. To better understand how social settings influence resource acquisition, we tested fifteen semi-wild chimpanzees from two social groups alone and in the presence of others. We investigated how resource acquisition was affected by relative social dominance, whether collaborative problem solving or (active or passive) sharing occurred amongst any of the dyads, and whether these outcomes were related to relationship quality as determined from six months of observational data. Results indicated that chimpanzees obtained fewer rewards when tested in the presence of others compared to when they were tested alone, and this loss tended to be greater when paired with a higher ranked individual. Individuals demonstrated behavioral inhibition; chimpanzees who showed proficient skill when alone often abstained from solving the task when in the presence of others. Finally, individuals with close social relationships spent more time together in the problem solving space, but collaboration and sharing were infrequent and sessions in which collaboration or sharing did occur contained more instances of aggression. Group living provides benefits and imposes costs, and these findings highlight that one cost of group living may be diminishing productive individual behaviors. PMID:24695486

Relative quantity judgments between discrete spatial arrays by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and New Zealand robins (Petroica longipes).

PubMed

Garland, Alexis; Beran, Michael J; McIntyre, Joseph; Low, Jason

2014-08-01

Quantity discrimination for items spread across spatial arrays was investigated in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and North Island New Zealand robins (Petroica longipes), with the aim of examining the role of spatial separation on the ability of these 2 species to sum and compare nonvisible quantities which are both temporally and spatially separated, and to assess the likely mechanism supporting such summation performance. Birds and chimpanzees compared 2 sets of discrete quantities of items that differed in number. Six quantity comparisons were presented to both species: 1v2, 1v3, 1v5, 2v3, 2v4, and 2v5. Each was distributed 1 at a time across 2 7-location arrays. Every individual item was viewed 1 at a time and hidden, with no more than a single item in each location of an array, in contrast to a format where all items were placed together into 2 single locations. Subjects responded by selecting 1 of the 2 arrays and received the entire quantity of food items hidden within that array. Both species performed better than chance levels. The ratio of items between sets was a significant predictor of performance in the chimpanzees, but it was not significant for robins. Instead, the absolute value of the smaller quantity of items presented was the significant factor in robin responses. These results suggest a species difference for this task when considering various dimensions such as ratio or total number of items in quantity comparisons distributed across discrete 7-location arrays.

Environmental variables across Pan troglodytes study sites correspond with the carbon, but not the nitrogen, stable isotope ratios of chimpanzee hair.

PubMed

Schoeninger, Margaret J; Most, Corinna A; Moore, Jim J; Somerville, Andrew D

2016-10-01

Diet influences the stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen (δ(13) C and δ(15) N values) in animal tissue; but here we explore the influences of particular aspects of the local environment on those values in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). In this article we present new δ(13) C and δ(15) N values in Gombe chimpanzees using hairs collected from night nests in 1989. Then, we explore the influence of environmental factors by comparing our Gombe data to those from eight additional Pan study sites with previously published stable isotope data. We compare chimpanzee δ(13) Chair and δ(15) Nhar values to specific characteristics of local site ecology (biome and ecoregion) and to local Mean Annual Precipitation (MAP) to test hypotheses based on known effects of these variables on the δ(13) C and δ(15) N values in plant tissues. The comparison shows that hair from chimpanzees living in savanna sites with lower MAP have higher δ(13) Chair values than do chimpanzees living in woodland and forested sites with higher MAP. These results demonstrate the potential of using δ(13) C values in primate tissue to indicate aspects of their local ecology in cases where the ecology is uncertain, such as samples collected early in the last century and in fossil hominins. In contrast to expectations, however, chimpanzee δ(15) Nhair values from some savanna sites with lower MAP are lower, not higher, than those living in more forested areas with higher MAP. It is likely that diet selectivity by chimpanzees affects δ(15) Nhair values to a greater extent than does the influence of precipitation on plants. Am. J. Primatol. 78:1055-1069, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Discovering Africa through Internet-Based Geographic Information Systems: A Pan-African Summit Simulation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Milson, Andrew J.; Gilbert, Kathleen M.; Earle, Brian D.

2007-01-01

In the United States, people get very little news about Africa, and what news they do get is about war or famine, with little historical information or context. In this article, the authors describe how they developed and implemented a Pan-African Summit simulation project in order to give their approximately 100, 9th-grade students (in five World…

Makgadikgadi Salt Pan, Botswana, Africa

NASA Image and Video Library

1992-01-19

STS054-151-015 (13-19 Jan 1993) --- The Makgadikgadi Salt Pan is one of the largest features in Botswana visible from space. Any water that spills out of the Okavango Swamplands flows down to the Makgadikgadi where it evaporates. An ancient beach line can be seen as a smooth line around the west (left) side of the Pan. Orapa diamond mine can be detected due south of the pan as a small rectangle. The large geological feature known as the Great Dike of Zimbabwe can be seen far right. This large panorama shows clouds in southern Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe in the distance.

What is the role of mothers in the acquisition of termite-fishing behaviors in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii)?

PubMed

Lonsdorf, Elizabeth V

2006-01-01

This paper explores the role of maternal influences on the acquisition of a tool-using task in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in order to build on and complement previous work done in captivity. Young chimpanzees show a long period of offspring dependency on mothers and it is during this period that offspring learn several important skills, especially how to and on what to forage. At Gombe National Park, one skill that is acquired during dependency is termite-fishing, a complex behavior that involves inserting a tool made from the surrounding vegetation into a termite mound and extracting the termites that attack and cling to the tool. All chimpanzees observed at Gombe have acquired the termite-fishing skill by the age of 5.5 years. Since the mother is the primary source of information throughout this time period, I investigated the influence of mothers' individual termite-fishing characteristics on their offsprings' speed of acquisition and proficiency at the skill once acquired. Mother's time spent alone or with maternal family members, which is highly correlated to time spent termite-fishing, was positively correlated to offspring's acquisition of critical elements of the skill. I also investigated the specific types of social interactions that occur between mothers and offspring at the termite mound and found that mothers are highly tolerant to offspring, even when the behavior of the offspring may disrupt the termite-fishing attempt. However, no active facilitation by mothers of offsprings' attempts were observed.

Significant differentiation in the apolipoprotein(a)/lipoprotein(a) trait between chimpanzees from Western and Central Africa.

PubMed

Noureen, Asma; Ronke, Claudius; Khalifa, Mahmoud; Halbwax, Michel; Fischer, Anne; André, Claudine; Atencia, Rebeca; Garriga, Rosa; Mugisha, Lawrence; Ceglarek, Uta; Thiery, Joachim; Utermann, Gerd; Schmidt, Konrad

2017-09-01

Elevated Lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) plasma concentrations are a risk factor for cardiovascular disease in humans, largely controlled by the LPA gene encoding apolipoprotein(a) (apo(a)). Lp(a) is composed of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and apo(a) and restricted to Catarrhini. A variable number of kringle IV (KIV) domains in LPA lead to a size polymorphism of apo(a) that is inversely correlated with Lp(a) concentrations. Smaller apo(a) isoforms and higher Lp(a) levels in central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes [PTT]) compared to humans from Europe had been reported. We studied apo(a) isoforms and Lp(a) concentrations in 75 western (Pan troglodytes verus [PTV]) and 112 central chimpanzees, and 12 bonobos (Pan paniscus [PPA]), all wild born and living in sanctuaries in Sierra Leone, Republic of the Congo, and DR Congo, respectively, and 116 humans from Gabon. Lp(a) levels were severalfold higher in western than in central chimpanzees (181.0 ± 6.7 mg/dl vs. 56.5 ± 4.3 mg/dl), whereas bonobos showed intermediate levels (134.8 ± 33.4 mg/dl). Apo(a) isoform sizes differed significantly between subspecies (means 20.9 ± 2.2, 22.9 ± 4.4, and 23.8 ± 3.8 KIV repeats in PTV, PTT, and PPA, respectively). However, far higher isoform-associated Lp(a) concentrations for all isoform sizes in western chimpanzees offered the main explanation for the higher overall Lp(a) levels in this subspecies. Human Lp(a) concentrations (mean 47.9 ± 2.8 mg/dl) were similar to those in central chimpanzees despite larger isoforms (mean 27.1 ± 4.9 KIV). Lp(a) and LDL, apoB-100, and total cholesterol levels only correlated in PTV. This remarkable differentiation between chimpanzees from different African habitats and the trait's similarity in humans and chimpanzees from Central Africa poses the question of a possible impact of an environmental factor that has shaped the genetic architecture of LPA. Overall, studies on the cholesterol

Assessment of behavior and space use before and after forelimb amputation in a zoo-housed chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Ang, Mabel Y L; Shender, Marisa A; Ross, Stephen R

2017-01-01

Primates possess great manual dexterity, and their limbs are integral to many aspects of normal functioning (e.g., climbing, feeding). As such, the loss of a limb carries the risk of significant disability and potentially harmful impairment of species-typical functioning. Limb loss is known to occur in some wild primate populations due to entanglement in hunting snares, but can also occur in captive settings due to injury that necessitates therapeutic amputation. In this study, we conducted a detailed evaluation of the behavior, travel, and space use expressed by a female zoo-housed chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) before and following surgical amputation of her right forelimb. Overall, our results suggest that the injury did not substantively affect her daily activities. She showed no change to her vertical space use, spending equivalent proportions of her time on the ground and high in the enclosure. There was a decrease in the frequency of locomotion on the ground (P = 0.006) but also a significant increase in the overall distance travelled (P = 0.0015) following the removal of the limb. This case study provides evidence that individual chimpanzees are able to successfully adjust to significant anatomical changes when provided adequate environments in which to stay active, and highlights the importance of an effective post-surgical monitoring period-a comprehensive recovery evaluation that includes input from both veterinary and behavioral research staff is likely to provide the most holistic assessment of animal health and long-term wellbeing. Zoo Biol. 36:5-10, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A new Pan African polyspecific antivenom developed in response to the antivenom crisis in Africa.

PubMed

Laing, G D; Renjifo, J M; Ruiz, F; Harrison, R A; Nasidi, A; Gutierrez, J-M; Rowley, P D; Warrell, D A; Theakston, R D G

2003-07-01

Currently there is a crisis in the supply of antivenom for treatment of snake bite in sub-Saharan Africa. Commercial pressures have resulted in the reduction or even cessation of production of antivenom by European manufacturers while continued production of antivenom in Africa has been threatened by the privatisation of the only remaining company based in Africa. As a consequence, there has been an increase in snake bite morbidity and mortality in many African countries. Two Latin American antivenom manufacturers have agreed to produce antivenom suitable for Africa, using venoms from the species which are of the greatest medical importance in sub-Saharan Africa. Preclinical in vivo assays of neutralising potency demonstrated that a new Pan African antivenom produced in Colombia compared favourably with the existing commercial monospecific and polyspecific antivenoms. This new antivenom, and a similar product being manufactured in Costa Rica, are now candidates for clinical testing at an appropriate site in Africa.

Comparison of hand use and forelimb posture during vertical climbing in mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Neufuss, Johanna; Robbins, Martha M; Baeumer, Jana; Humle, Tatyana; Kivell, Tracy L

2017-12-01

Studies on grasping and limb posture during arboreal locomotion in great apes in their natural environment are scarce and thus, attempts to correlate behavioral and habitat differences with variation in morphology are limited. The aim of this study is to compare hand use and forelimb posture during vertical climbing in wild, habituated mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) and semi-free-ranging chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) to assess differences in the climbing styles that may relate to variation in hand or forelimb morphology and body size. We investigated hand use and forelimb posture during both ascent and descent vertical climbing in 15 wild mountain gorillas and eight semi-free-ranging chimpanzees, using video records obtained ad libitum. In both apes, forelimb posture was correlated with substrate size during both ascent and descent climbing. While climbing, both apes used power grips and diagonal power grips, including three different thumb postures. Mountain gorillas showed greater ulnar deviation of the wrist during vertical descent than chimpanzees, and the thumb played an important supportive role when gorillas vertically descended lianas. We found that both apes generally had the same grip preferences and used similar forelimb postures on supports of a similar size, which is consistent with their overall similarity in hard and soft tissue morphology of the hand and forelimb. However, some species-specific differences in morphology appear to elicit slightly different grasping strategies during vertical climbing between mountain gorillas and chimpanzees. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Demographic and Ecological Effects on Patterns of Parasitism in Eastern Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in Gombe National Park, Tanzania

PubMed Central

Gillespie, Thomas R.; Lonsdorf, Elizabeth V.; Canfield, Elizabeth P.; Meyer, Derek J.; Nadler, Yvonne; Raphael, Jane; Pusey, Anne E.; Pond, Joel; Pauley, John; Mlengeya, Titus; Travis, Dominic A.

2014-01-01

From January 2006 to January 2008, we collected 1,045 fecal samples from 90 individually-recognized, free-ranging, eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) inhabiting Gombe National Park, Tanzania to determine how patterns of parasitism are affected by demographic and ecological covariates. Seventeen parasite species were recovered, including eight nematodes (Oesophagostomum sp., Necator sp., Probstmayria gombensis, Strongyloides fulleborni, Ascaris sp., Trichuris sp., Abbreviata caucasica, and an unidentified strongyle), 1 cestode (Bertiella sp.), 1 trematode (Dicrocoeliidae), and 7 protozoa (Entamoeba coli, Entamoeba histolytica/dispar, Iodamoeba bütschlii, Troglodytella abrassarti, Troglocorys cava, Balantidium coli, and an unidentified protozoa). Significant differences were observed in interannual infection prevalence and parasite richness between 2006 and 2007. Intercommunity comparisons demonstrated higher prevalence of parasites for the Mitumba compared with Kasekela chimpanzee community. Prevalence of several parasites was strongly correlated with monthly rainfall patterns for both 2006 and 2007. Subadult chimpanzees had lower prevalence for most parasite species compared with adults in both years and also yielded a lower average parasite species richness. No significant differences were observed between males and females in prevalence in 2006. However, in 2007 the prevalence of S. fulleborni and I. bütschlii were higher in males than in females. Parasite prevalence and richness were substantially higher in this multiyear study compared with previous short-term studies of the gastrointestinal parasites of Gombe chimpanzees. This coupled with the significant interannual and interseasonal variation, demonstrated in this study, emphasizes the importance of multiyear monitoring with adequate sample size to effectively determine patterns of parasitism in wild primate populations. PMID:20623606

Feeding in fear? How adult male western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) adjust to predation and savanna habitat pressures.

PubMed

Lindshield, Stacy; Danielson, Brent J; Rothman, Jessica M; Pruetz, Jill D

2017-07-01

We evaluated risk-sensitive foraging in adult male western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) occupying a savanna environment at Fongoli, Senegal. The aim of this study was to determine how the risks of predation and heat stress influenced their behavior while feeding on a key food, fruit of the baobab tree (Adansonia digitata). Proximity of fruiting baobab trees to anthropogenic landmarks were compared to food intake, feeding rate, and behavioral indicators of fear in adult males (N = 11) at Fongoli. Additionally, we compared foraging to vegetative habitats, baobab ripe fruit nutritive quality, surface water availability, and foraging party composition. Fruit abundance increased with proximity to anthropogenic landmarks, and chimpanzees exhibited higher frequencies of antipredator behaviors as they approached these risky areas. However, predation risk did not deter adult males from visiting these fruiting trees; instead, risky foraging bouts were associated with higher food intakes and longer feeding times. Additionally, higher feeding rates were observed in open-canopy habitats, and this behavior may have minimized their risk of heat stress. Adaptations that minimize predation risk are widespread in mammalian prey species, but these traits are poorly understood in chimpanzees. Great apes encounter few nonhuman predators capable of successfully capturing and killing them; thus, such events are rarely observed. Although people rarely hunt chimpanzees in Senegal, we found that adult males perceived humans as predators and adjusted their behavior while foraging in risky habitats. From an applied perspective, risk-taking behavior is important for understanding and mitigating the problem of crop-feeding in locations where chimpanzees and humans live in sympatry. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Volumetric and Lateralized Differences in Selected Brain Regions of Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and Bonobos (Pan paniscus)

PubMed Central

Hopkins, William D.; Lyn, Heidi; Cantalupo, Claudio

2009-01-01

The two species of Pan, bonobos and common chimpanzees, have been reported to have different social organization, cognitive and linguistic abilities and motor skill, despite their close biological relationship. Here, we examined whether bonobos and chimpanzee differ in selected brain regions that may map to these different social and cognitive abilities. Eight chimpanzees and eight bonobos matched on age, sex and rearing experiences were magnetic resonance images scanned and volumetric measures were obtained for the whole brain, cerebellum, striatum, motor-hand area, hippocampus, inferior frontal gyrus and planum temporale. Chimpanzees had significantly larger cerebellum and borderline significantly larger hippocampus and putamen, after adjusting for brain size, compared with bonobos. Bonobos showed greater leftward asymmetries in the striatum and motor-hand area compared with chimpanzees. No significant differences in either the volume or lateralization for the so-called language homologs were found between species. The results suggest that the two species of Pan are quite similar neurologically, though some volumetric and lateralized differences may reflect inherent differences in social organization, cognition and motor skills. PMID:19760676

Volumetric and lateralized differences in selected brain regions of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus).

PubMed

Hopkins, William D; Lyn, Heidi; Cantalupo, Claudio

2009-12-01

The two species of Pan, bonobos and common chimpanzees, have been reported to have different social organization, cognitive and linguistic abilities and motor skill, despite their close biological relationship. Here, we examined whether bonobos and chimpanzee differ in selected brain regions that may map to these different social and cognitive abilities. Eight chimpanzees and eight bonobos matched on age, sex and rearing experiences were magnetic resonance images scanned and volumetric measures were obtained for the whole brain, cerebellum, striatum, motor-hand area, hippocampus, inferior frontal gyrus and planum temporale. Chimpanzees had significantly larger cerebellum and borderline significantly larger hippocampus and putamen, after adjusting for brain size, compared with bonobos. Bonobos showed greater leftward asymmetries in the striatum and motor-hand area compared with chimpanzees. No significant differences in either the volume or lateralization for the so-called language homologs were found between species. The results suggest that the two species of Pan are quite similar neurologically, though some volumetric and lateralized differences may reflect inherent differences in social organization, cognition and motor skills.

New evidence on the tool-assisted hunting exhibited by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in a savannah habitat at Fongoli, Sénégal.

PubMed

Pruetz, J D; Bertolani, P; Ontl, K Boyer; Lindshield, S; Shelley, M; Wessling, E G

2015-04-01

For anthropologists, meat eating by primates like chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) warrants examination given the emphasis on hunting in human evolutionary history. As referential models, apes provide insight into the evolution of hominin hunting, given their phylogenetic relatedness and challenges reconstructing extinct hominin behaviour from palaeoanthropological evidence. Among chimpanzees, adult males are usually the main hunters, capturing vertebrate prey by hand. Savannah chimpanzees (P. t. verus) at Fongoli, Sénégal are the only known non-human population that systematically hunts vertebrate prey with tools, making them an important source for hypotheses of early hominin behaviour based on analogy. Here, we test the hypothesis that sex and age patterns in tool-assisted hunting (n=308 cases) at Fongoli occur and differ from chimpanzees elsewhere, and we compare tool-assisted hunting to the overall hunting pattern. Males accounted for 70% of all captures but hunted with tools less than expected based on their representation on hunting days. Females accounted for most tool-assisted hunting. We propose that social tolerance at Fongoli, along with the tool-assisted hunting method, permits individuals other than adult males to capture and retain control of prey, which is uncommon for chimpanzees. We assert that tool-assisted hunting could have similarly been important for early hominins.

Age-related alterations of plasma glutathione and oxidation of redox potentials in chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta).

PubMed

Paredes, Jamespaul; Jones, Dean P; Wilson, Mark E; Herndon, James G

2014-04-01

Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) and humans (Homo sapiens) share physiological and genetic characteristics, but have remarkably different life spans, with chimpanzees living 50-60 % and the rhesus living 35-40 % of maximum human survival. Since oxidative processes are associated with aging and longevity, we might expect to see species differences in age-related oxidative processes. Blood and extracellular fluid contain two major thiol redox nodes, glutathione (GSH)/glutathione-disulfide (GSSG) and cysteine (Cys)/cystine (CySS), which are subject to reversible oxidation-reduction reactions and are maintained in a dynamic non-equilibrium state. Disruption of these thiol redox nodes leads to oxidation of their redox potentials (EhGSSG and EhCySS) which affects cellular physiology and is associated with aging and the development of chronic diseases in humans. The purpose of this study was to measure age-related changes in these redox thiols and their corresponding redox potentials (Eh) in chimpanzees and rhesus monkeys. Our results show similar age-related decreases in the concentration of plasma GSH and Total GSH as well as oxidation of the EhGSSG in male and female chimpanzees. Female chimpanzees and female rhesus monkeys also were similar in several outcome measures. For example, similar age-related decreases in the concentration of plasma GSH and Total GSH, as well as age-related oxidation of the EhGSSG were observed. The data collected from chimpanzees and rhesus monkeys corroborates previous reports on oxidative changes in humans and confirms their value as a comparative reference for primate aging.

Production of grooming-associated sounds by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) at Ngogo: variation, social learning, and possible functions.

PubMed

Watts, David P

2016-01-01

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) use some communicative signals flexibly and voluntarily, with use influenced by learning. These signals include some vocalizations and also sounds made using the lips, oral cavity, and/or teeth, but not the vocal tract, such as "attention-getting" sounds directed at humans by captive chimpanzees and lip smacking during social grooming. Chimpanzees at Ngogo, in Kibale National Park, Uganda, make four distinct sounds while grooming others. Here, I present data on two of these ("splutters" and "teeth chomps") and consider whether social learning contributes to variation in their production and whether they serve social functions. Higher congruence in the use of these two sounds between dyads of maternal relatives than dyads of non-relatives implies that social learning occurs and mostly involves vertical transmission, but the results are not conclusive and it is unclear which learning mechanisms may be involved. In grooming between adult males, tooth chomps and splutters were more likely in long than in short bouts; in bouts that were bidirectional rather than unidirectional; in grooming directed toward high-ranking males than toward low-ranking males; and in bouts between allies than in those between non-allies. Males were also more likely to make these sounds while they were grooming other males than while they were grooming females. These results are expected if the sounds promote social bonds and induce tolerance of proximity and of grooming by high-ranking males. However, the alternative hypothesis that the sounds are merely associated with motivation to groom, with no additional social function, cannot be ruled out. Limited data showing that bouts accompanied by teeth chomping or spluttering at their initiation were longer than bouts for which this was not the case point toward a social function, but more data are needed for a definitive test. Comparison to other research sites shows that the possible existence of grooming

Ultrasonographic monitoring of fetal development in unrestrained bonobos (Pan paniscus) at the Milwaukee County Zoo.

PubMed

Drews, Barbara; Harmann, Leanne M; Beehler, Leann L; Bell, Barbara; Drews, Reinhard F; Hildebrandt, Thomas B

2011-01-01

The bonobo, Pan paniscus, is one of the most endangered primate species. In the context of the Bonobo Species Survival Plan(®), the Milwaukee County Zoo established a successful breeding group. Although the bonobo serves as a model species for human evolution, no prenatal growth curves are available. To develop growth graphs, the animals at the Milwaukee County Zoo were trained by positive reinforcement to allow for ultrasound exams without restraint. With this method, the well being of mother and fetus were maintained and ultrasound exams could be performed frequently. The ovulation date of the four animals in the study was determined exactly so that gestational age was known for each examination. Measurements of biparietal diameter (BPD), head circumference (HC), abdominal circumference (AC), and femur length (FL) were used to create growth curves. Prenatal growth of P. paniscus was compared with the data of humans and the common chimpanzee, P. troglodytes. With respect to cranial structures, such as BPD and HC, humans have significant acceleration of growth compared with P. paniscus and P. troglodytes. In P. paniscus, growth of AC was similar to HC throughout pregnancy, whereas in humans AC only reaches the level of HC close to term. Growth rate of FL was similar in humans and the two Pan species until near day 180 post-ovulation. After that, the Pan species FL growth slowed compared with human FL. The newly developed fetal growth curves of P. paniscus will assist in monitoring prenatal development and predicting birth dates of this highly endangered species. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Produce the Same Types of 'Laugh Faces' when They Emit Laughter and when They Are Silent.

PubMed

Davila-Ross, Marina; Jesus, Goncalo; Osborne, Jade; Bard, Kim A

2015-01-01

The ability to flexibly produce facial expressions and vocalizations has a strong impact on the way humans communicate, as it promotes more explicit and versatile forms of communication. Whereas facial expressions and vocalizations are unarguably closely linked in primates, the extent to which these expressions can be produced independently in nonhuman primates is unknown. The present work, thus, examined if chimpanzees produce the same types of facial expressions with and without accompanying vocalizations, as do humans. Forty-six chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) were video-recorded during spontaneous play with conspecifics at the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage. ChimpFACS was applied, a standardized coding system to measure chimpanzee facial movements, based on FACS developed for humans. Data showed that the chimpanzees produced the same 14 configurations of open-mouth faces when laugh sounds were present and when they were absent. Chimpanzees, thus, produce these facial expressions flexibly without being morphologically constrained by the accompanying vocalizations. Furthermore, the data indicated that the facial expression plus vocalization and the facial expression alone were used differently in social play, i.e., when in physical contact with the playmates and when matching the playmates' open-mouth faces. These findings provide empirical evidence that chimpanzees produce distinctive facial expressions independently from a vocalization, and that their multimodal use affects communicative meaning, important traits for a more explicit and versatile way of communication. As it is still uncertain how human laugh faces evolved, the ChimpFACS data were also used to empirically examine the evolutionary relation between open-mouth faces with laugh sounds of chimpanzees and laugh faces of humans. The ChimpFACS results revealed that laugh faces of humans must have gradually emerged from laughing open-mouth faces of ancestral apes. This work examines the main evolutionary

Environmental change in subtropical southern Africa since the Last Glacial Maximum: a case study from Etosha Pan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mauz, Barbara

2014-05-01

Millennial-scale climate shifts described by Heinrich Events and Dansgard-Oeschger Cycles occurred in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres asynchronously. It has been suggested that combined influence of the oceanic bipolar seesaw and the southward displacement of the south hemisphere (SH) westerlies, both linked to northern stadials, allowed the high southern latitudes to warm as a result of melting and collapse of NH ice sheets (Denton et al. 2010). For tropical southern Africa most terrestrial records delivering observational data for such climate scenario are derived from east African rift valley lakes (e.g. Olaka et al., 2010) but further to the west data are sparse. Here we report about a palaeoclimate proxy extracted from Etosha Pan, a vast endorheic plain in southern west Africa. It is situated at the southern border of tropical Africa, at the eastern border of the coastal area influenced by the Benguela current and at the western border of inland Africa influenced by the Indian Ocean. It is therefore supposed to be sensitive to climate change and provides the opportunity to link its lake record with the drastic hydrological changes that occurred in east African rift-valley lakes during deglaciation. Using OSL dating and sediment analysis to constrain lake shorelines of perennial lakes in time and space, we found high lake levels during the late Pleistocene and a drastic drop shortly after 10 ka. This lake water-level reconstruction is not in line with the histories of ITCZ migration and strength of Benguela current upwelling. We confirm that the linkages between the evolution of the Etosha Pan and the climate mechanisms driving hydrological changes in subtropical southwest Africa are poorly resolved and need further investigation. The paper discusses these findings in the context of SH palaeoclimate records.

The scramble for Africa: pan-temperate elements on the African high mountains

PubMed Central

Gehrke, Berit; Linder, H. Peter

2009-01-01

The composition of isolated floras has long been thought to be the result of relatively rare long-distance dispersal events. However, it has recently become apparent that the recruitment of lineages may be relatively easy and that many dispersal events from distant but suitable habitats have occurred, even at an infraspecific level. The evolution of the flora on the high mountains of Africa has been attributed to the recruitment of taxa not only from the African lowland flora or the Cape Floristic Region, but also to a large extent from other areas with temperate climates. We used the species rich, pan-temperate genera Carex, Ranunculus and Alchemilla to explore patterns in the number of recruitment events and region of origin. Molecular phylogenetic analyses, parametric bootstrapping and ancestral area optimizations under parsimony indicate that there has been a high number of colonization events of Carex and Ranunculus into Africa, but only two introductions of Alchemilla. Most of the colonization events have been derived from Holarctic ancestors. Backward dispersal out of Africa seems to be extremely rare. Thus, repeated colonization from the Northern Hemisphere in combination with in situ radiation has played an important role in the composition of the flora of African high mountains. PMID:19403534

The scramble for Africa: pan-temperate elements on the African high mountains.

PubMed

Gehrke, Berit; Linder, H Peter

2009-07-22

The composition of isolated floras has long been thought to be the result of relatively rare long-distance dispersal events. However, it has recently become apparent that the recruitment of lineages may be relatively easy and that many dispersal events from distant but suitable habitats have occurred, even at an infraspecific level. The evolution of the flora on the high mountains of Africa has been attributed to the recruitment of taxa not only from the African lowland flora or the Cape Floristic Region, but also to a large extent from other areas with temperate climates. We used the species rich, pan-temperate genera Carex, Ranunculus and Alchemilla to explore patterns in the number of recruitment events and region of origin. Molecular phylogenetic analyses, parametric bootstrapping and ancestral area optimizations under parsimony indicate that there has been a high number of colonization events of Carex and Ranunculus into Africa, but only two introductions of Alchemilla. Most of the colonization events have been derived from Holarctic ancestors. Backward dispersal out of Africa seems to be extremely rare. Thus, repeated colonization from the Northern Hemisphere in combination with in situ radiation has played an important role in the composition of the flora of African high mountains.

Using cross correlations to investigate how chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) use conspecific gaze cues to extract and exploit information in a foraging competition.

PubMed

Hall, Katie; Oram, Mike W; Campbell, Matthew W; Eppley, Timothy M; Byrne, Richard W; De Waal, Frans B M

2014-10-01

In a dyadic informed forager task, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are known to exploit the knowledge of informed subordinates; however, the behavioral mechanisms they employ are unknown. It is tempting to interpret outcome measures, such as which individual obtained the food, in a cognitively richer way than the outcomes may justify. We employed a different approach from prior research, asking how chimpanzees compete by maneuvering around each other, whether they use gaze cues to acquire information from others, and what information they use in moment-to-moment decision-making. We used cross correlations, which plot the correlation between two variables as a function of time, systematically to examine chimpanzee interactions in a series of dyadic informed forager contests. We used cross correlations as a "proof of concept" so as to determine whether the target actions were contingent on, or occurred in a time-locked pattern relative to, the referent actions. A subordinate individual was given privileged knowledge of food location. As expected, an ignorant dominant followed the informed subordinate's movement in the enclosure. The dominant also followed the subordinate's gaze direction: after she looked at the subordinate, she was more likely to gaze toward this same direction within one second. In contrast, the subordinate only occasionally followed the dominant's movement and gaze. The dominant also changed her own direction of movement to converge on the location to which the subordinate directed her gaze and movement. Cross correlation proves an effective technique for charting contingencies in social interactions, an important step in understanding the use of cognition in natural situations. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Comparison of the anesthetic effects of oral transmucosal versus injectable medetomidine in combination with tiletamine-zolazepam for immobilization of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Naples, Lisa M; Langan, Jennifer N; Kearns, Karen S

2010-03-01

Seventeen adult chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) with an average age of 37 yr were immobilized with a combination of tiletamine-zolazepam (TZ) and medetomidine (MED) by one of two modes of delivery. Group A animals received the drug combination intramuscularly at 3 mg/kg and 0.05 mg/kg, respectively. Animals in group B received MED by oral transmucosal administration, meaning oral delivery with presumptive transmucosal absorption. MED at 0.1 mg/kg was mixed with marshmallow crème, and delivery was followed by 3 mg/kg of TZ intramuscularly. Chimpanzees from both groups were recovered after administration of atipamezole at 0.3 mg/kg intramuscularly. All chimpanzees were compliant with oral transmucosal drug administration, although two chimpanzees preferred oral MED mixed with applesauce. All animals exhibited some anxiety and excitatory behavior associated with darting, but this was reduced in group B, which was premedicated with oral transmucosal MED. The mean time from TZ administration to sedation sufficient for human contact was 16.4 and 14.7 min with and without oral transmucosal premedication, respectively. The mean time for recovery for those chimpanzees given oral transmucosal premedication was 13.8 min, which was significantly shorter than the time of recovery for the group not given oral premedication (P = 0.02). Oral transmucosal administration of MED provided light sedation in 16 of 17 chimpanzees to the level of arousable recumbency and a heavier sedation in one chimpanzee with no adverse side effects. TZ combined with MED by either oral transmucosal or injectable administration provided safe, heavy, long sedation with rapid, smooth, uneventful recoveries.

Spatial cohesion of adult male chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire.

PubMed

Eckhardt, Nadin; Polansky, Leo; Boesch, Christophe

2015-02-01

Group living animals can exhibit fission-fusion behavior whereby individuals temporarily separate to reduce the costs of living in large groups. Primates living in groups with fission-fusion dynamics face numerous challenges in maintaining spatial cohesion, especially in environments with limited visibility. Here we investigated the spatial cohesion of adult male chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) living in Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire, to better understand the mechanisms by which individuals maintain group cohesion during fission-fusion events. Over a 3-year period, we simultaneously tracked the movements of 2-4 males for 4-12 hr on up to 12 consecutive days using handheld GPS devices that recorded locations at one-minute intervals. Analyses of the male's inter-individual distance (IID) showed that the maximum, median, and mean IID values across all observations were 7.2 km, 73 m, and 483 m, respectively. These males (a) had maximum daily IID values below the limits of auditory communication (<1 km) for 63% of the observation time, (b) remained out of visual range (≥100 m) for 46% of observation time, and (c) remained within auditory range for 70% of the time when they were in different parties. We compared the observed distribution of IIDs with a random distribution obtained from permutations of the individuals' travel paths using Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests. Observation IID values were significantly smaller than those generated by the permutation procedure. We conclude that these male chimpanzees actively maintain cohesion when out of sight, and that auditory communication is one likely mechanism by which they do so. We discuss mechanisms by which chimpanzees may maintain the level of cohesion observed. This study provides a first analysis of spatial group cohesion over large distances in forest chimpanzees using high-resolution tracking, and illustrates the utility of such data for quantifying socio-ecological processes in primate ecology. �

Apes (Gorilla gorilla, Pan paniscus, P. troglodytes, Pongo abelii) versus corvids (Corvus corax, C. corone) in a support task: the effect of pattern and functionality.

PubMed

Albiach-Serrano, Anna; Bugnyar, Thomas; Call, Josep

2012-11-01

Apes (Gorilla gorilla, Pan paniscus, P. troglodytes, Pong abelii) and corvids (Corvus corax, C. corone) are among the most proficient and flexible tool users in the animal kingdom. Although it has been proposed that this is the result of convergent evolution, little is known about whether this is limited to behavior or also includes the underlying cognitive mechanisms. We compared several species of apes (bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans) and corvids (carrion crows and common ravens) using exactly the same paradigm: a support task with elements from the classical patterned-string tasks. Corvids proved able to solve at least an easy pattern, whereas apes outperformed corvids with respect to the complexity of the patterns solved, the relative number of subjects solving each problem, and the speed to reach criterion. We addressed the question of whether subjects based their choices purely on perceptual cues or on a more abstract understanding of the problem. This was done by using a perceptually very similar but causally different condition where instead of paper strips there were strip shapes painted on a platform. Corvids' performance did not differ between conditions, whereas apes were able to solve the real but not the painted task. This shows that apes were not basing their choices just on spatial or arbitrary perceptual cues. Instead, and unlike corvids, they must have had some causal knowledge of the task.

HEART RATE AND INDIRECT BLOOD PRESSURE RESPONSES TO FOUR DIFFERENT FIELD ANESTHETIC PROTOCOLS IN WILD-BORN CAPTIVE CHIMPANZEES (PAN TROGLODYTES).

PubMed

Atencia, Rebeca; Stöhr, Eric J; Drane, Aimee L; Stembridge, Mike; Howatson, Glyn; Del Rio, Pablo Rodriguez Lopez; Feltrer, Yedra; Tafon, Babila; Redrobe, Sharon; Peck, Bruce; Eng, Jaclyn; Unwin, Steve; Sanchez, Carlos R; Shave, Rob E

2017-09-01

Limited data are available on hemodynamic responses to anesthetic protocols in wild-born chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Accordingly, this study characterized the heart rate (HR) and blood pressure responses to four anesthetic protocols in 176 clinically healthy, wild-born chimpanzees undergoing routine health assessments. Animals were anesthetized with medetomidine-ketamine (MK) (n = 101), tiletamine-zolazepam (TZ) (n = 30), tiletamine-zolazepam-medetomidine (TZM) (n = 24), or medetomidine-ketamine (maintained with isoflurane) (MKI) (n = 21). During each procedure, HR, systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were regularly recorded. Data were grouped according to anesthetic protocol, and mean HR, SBP, and DBP were calculated. Differences between mean HR, SBP, and DBP for each anesthetic protocol were assessed using the Kruskall-Wallis test and a Dunn multiple comparisons post hoc analysis. To assess the hemodynamic time course response to each anesthetic protocol, group mean data (±95% confidence interval [CI]) were plotted against time postanesthetic induction. Mean HR (beats/min [CI]) was significantly higher in TZ (86 [80-92]) compared to MKI (69 [61-78]) and MK (62 [60-64]) and in TZM (73 [68-78]) compared to MK. The average SBP and DBP values (mm Hg [CI]) were significantly higher in MK (130 [126-134] and 94 [91-97]) compared to TZ (104 [96-112] and 58 [53-93]) and MKI (113 [103-123] and 78 [69-87]) and in TZM (128 [120-135] and 88 [83-93]) compared to TZ. Time course data were markedly different between protocols, with MKI showing the greatest decline over time. Both the anesthetic protocol adopted and the timing of measurement after injection influence hemodynamic recordings in wild-born chimpanzees and need to be considered when monitoring or assessing cardiovascular health.

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Produce the Same Types of ‘Laugh Faces’ when They Emit Laughter and when They Are Silent

PubMed Central

Davila-Ross, Marina; Jesus, Goncalo; Osborne, Jade; Bard, Kim A.

2015-01-01

The ability to flexibly produce facial expressions and vocalizations has a strong impact on the way humans communicate, as it promotes more explicit and versatile forms of communication. Whereas facial expressions and vocalizations are unarguably closely linked in primates, the extent to which these expressions can be produced independently in nonhuman primates is unknown. The present work, thus, examined if chimpanzees produce the same types of facial expressions with and without accompanying vocalizations, as do humans. Forty-six chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) were video-recorded during spontaneous play with conspecifics at the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage. ChimpFACS was applied, a standardized coding system to measure chimpanzee facial movements, based on FACS developed for humans. Data showed that the chimpanzees produced the same 14 configurations of open-mouth faces when laugh sounds were present and when they were absent. Chimpanzees, thus, produce these facial expressions flexibly without being morphologically constrained by the accompanying vocalizations. Furthermore, the data indicated that the facial expression plus vocalization and the facial expression alone were used differently in social play, i.e., when in physical contact with the playmates and when matching the playmates’ open-mouth faces. These findings provide empirical evidence that chimpanzees produce distinctive facial expressions independently from a vocalization, and that their multimodal use affects communicative meaning, important traits for a more explicit and versatile way of communication. As it is still uncertain how human laugh faces evolved, the ChimpFACS data were also used to empirically examine the evolutionary relation between open-mouth faces with laugh sounds of chimpanzees and laugh faces of humans. The ChimpFACS results revealed that laugh faces of humans must have gradually emerged from laughing open-mouth faces of ancestral apes. This work examines the main evolutionary

Leaf swallowing behavior in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): biased learning and the emergence of group level cultural differences.

PubMed

Huffman, Michael A; Spiezio, Caterina; Sgaravatti, Andrea; Leca, Jean-Baptiste

2010-11-01

Demonstrating the ability to 'copy' the behavior of others is an important aspect in determining whether social learning occurs and whether group level differences in a given behavior represent cultural differences or not. Understanding the occurrence of this process in its natural context is essential, but can be a daunting task in the wild. In order to test the social learning hypothesis for the acquisition of leaf swallowing (LS), a self-medicative behavior associated with the expulsion of parasites, we conducted semi-naturalistic experiments on two captive groups of parasite-free, naïve chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Individuals in the group were systematically provided appropriate stimuli (rough hispid leaves) identical to those used by chimpanzees in the wild. Individuals initially responded in a variety of ways, ranging from total aversion to normal chewing and swallowing. Over time, however, the two groups adopted different variants for inserting and folding the leaves in the mouth prior to swallowing them (complete and partial LS), following the specific method spontaneously displayed by the first and primary LS models in their respective groups. These variants were similar to LS displayed by chimpanzees in the wild. Using the option-bias method, we found evidence for social learning leading to group-level biased transmission and group-level stabilization of these two variants. This is the first report on two distinct cultural variants innovated in response to the introduction of natural stimuli that emerged and spread spontaneously and concurrently within two adjacent groups of socially housed primates. These observations support the assertion that LS may reflect a generalized propensity for ingesting rough hispid leaves, which can be socially induced and transmitted within a group. Ingesting an adequate number of these leaves induces increased gut motility, which is responsible for the subsequent expulsion of particular parasite species in the wild

A thermodynamic comparison of arboreal and terrestrial sleeping sites for dry-habitat chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) at the Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve, Uganda.

PubMed

Samson, David R; Hunt, Kevin D

2012-09-01

The nightly construction of an arboreal sleeping platform (SP) has been observed among every chimpanzee's population studied to date. Here, we report on bioclimatic aspects of SP site choice among dry-habitat chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) at the Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve, Uganda. We placed a portable weather monitor within 1 m of chimpanzee SPs and compared the microenvironment of this site with terrestrial monitors placed 10 cm above the ground directly underneath the simultaneously studied SP. We calculated physical "comfort levels" of monitored sites using the RayMan thermophysiological model that we modified to take ape body proportions into account. The RayMan tool gauges energy balance using wind speed, temperature, relative humidity, and heat index in conjunction with the study subject's mass and stature to determine whether the individual is in energy balance or homeostasis. We found that (1) terrestrial microclimates have greater homeostatic potential than arboreal microclimates, and (2) there is a significant positive linear relationship between wind speed and height of SP in the forest canopy. Advantages of terrestrial sites are that they require lesser energetic expenditure to stabilize the body when the SP is under construction and perhaps during use as well. We found that terrestrial sites also had better homeostatic potentials. This combination of advantages explains why SPs are so often sited terrestrially in habitats where predation risk is low. Early hominins must have had technological or social measures to avoid or deter predators that were significantly advanced over those found among chimpanzees before they began sleeping on the ground. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Eastern Chimpanzees, but Not Bonobos, Represent a Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Reservoir

PubMed Central

Li, Yingying; Ndjango, Jean-Bosco; Learn, Gerald H.; Ramirez, Miguel A.; Keele, Brandon F.; Bibollet-Ruche, Frederic; Liu, Weimin; Easlick, Juliet L.; Decker, Julie M.; Rudicell, Rebecca S.; Inogwabini, Bila-Isia; Ahuka-Mundeke, Steve; Leendertz, Fabian H.; Reynolds, Vernon; Muller, Martin N.; Chancellor, Rebecca L.; Rundus, Aaron S.; Simmons, Nicole; Worobey, Michael; Shaw, George M.; Peeters, Martine; Sharp, Paul M.

2012-01-01

Chimpanzees in west central Africa (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) are endemically infected with simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVcpzPtt) that have crossed the species barrier to humans and gorillas on at least five occasions, generating pandemic and nonpandemic forms of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) as well as gorilla SIV (SIVgor). Chimpanzees in east Africa (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) are also infected with SIVcpz; however, their viruses (SIVcpzPts) have never been found in humans. To examine whether this is due to a paucity of natural infections, we used noninvasive methods to screen wild-living eastern chimpanzees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda, and Rwanda. We also screened bonobos (Pan paniscus) in the DRC, a species not previously tested for SIV in the wild. Fecal samples (n = 3,108) were collected at 50 field sites, tested for species and subspecies origin, and screened for SIVcpz antibodies and nucleic acids. Of 2,565 samples from eastern chimpanzees, 323 were antibody positive and 92 contained viral RNA. The antibody-positive samples represented 76 individuals from 19 field sites, all sampled north of the Congo River in an area spanning 250,000 km2. In this region, SIVcpzPts was common and widespread, with seven field sites exhibiting infection rates of 30% or greater. The overall prevalence of SIVcpzPts infection was 13.4% (95% confidence interval, 10.7% to 16.5%). In contrast, none of the 543 bonobo samples from six sites was antibody positive. All newly identified SIVcpzPts strains clustered in strict accordance to their subspecies origin; however, they exhibited considerable genetic diversity, especially in protein domains known to be under strong host selection pressure. Thus, the absence of SIVcpzPts zoonoses cannot be explained by an insufficient primate reservoir. Instead, greater adaptive hurdles may have prevented the successful colonization of humans by P. t. schweinfurthii viruses. PMID:22837215

Feeding ecology of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) inhabiting a forest-mangrove-savanna-agricultural matrix at Caiquene-Cadique, Cantanhez National Park, Guinea-Bissau.

PubMed

Bessa, Joana; Sousa, Cláudia; Hockings, Kimberley J

2015-06-01

With rising conversion of "natural" habitat to other land use such as agriculture, nonhuman primates are increasingly exploiting areas influenced by people and their activities. Despite the conservation importance of understanding the ways in which primates modify their behavior to human pressures, data are lacking, even for well-studied species. Using systematically collected data (fecal samples, feeding traces, and direct observations), we examined the diet and feeding strategies of an unhabituated chimpanzee community (Pan troglodytes verus) at Caiquene-Cadique in Guinea-Bissau that inhabit a forest-savanna-mangrove-agricultural mosaic. The chimpanzees experienced marked seasonal variations in the availability of plant foods, but maintained a high proportion of ripe fruit in the diet across months. Certain wild species were identified as important to this community including oil-palm (Elaeis guineensis) fruit and flower. Honey was frequently consumed but no other insects or vertebrates were confirmed to be eaten by this community. However, we provide indirect evidence of possible smashing and consumption of giant African snails (Achatina sp.) by chimpanzees at this site. Caiquene-Cadique chimpanzees were confirmed to feed on nine different agricultural crops, which represented 13.6% of all plant species consumed. Consumption of fruit and nonfruit crops was regular, but did not increase during periods of wild fruit scarcity. Crop consumption is an increasing and potentially problematic behavior, which can impact local people's tolerance toward wildlife. To maximize the potential success of any human-wildlife coexistence strategy (e.g., to reduce primate crop feeding), knowledge of primate behavior, as well as multifaceted social dimensions of interactions, is critical. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Using cross correlations to investigate how chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) use conspecific gaze cues to extract and exploit information in a foraging competition

PubMed Central

Hall, Katie; Oram, Mike W.; Campbell, Matthew W.; Eppley, Timothy M.; Byrne, Richard W.; de Waal, Frans B.M.

2014-01-01

In a dyadic informed forager task, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are known to exploit the knowledge of informed subordinates; however, the behavioral mechanisms they employ are unknown. It is tempting to interpret outcome measures, such as which individual obtained the food, in a cognitively richer way than the outcomes may justify. We employed a different approach from prior research, asking how chimpanzees compete by maneuvering around each other, whether they use gaze cues to acquire information from others, and what information they use in moment-to-moment decision-making. We used cross correlations, which plot the correlation between two variables as a function of time, systematically to examine chimpanzee interactions in a series of dyadic informed forager contests. We used cross correlations as a “proof of concept” so as to determine whether the target actions were contingent on, or occurred in a time-locked pattern relative to, the referent actions. A subordinate individual was given privileged knowledge of food location. As expected, an ignorant dominant followed the informed subordinate’s movement in the enclosure. The dominant also followed the subordinate’s gaze direction: after she looked at the subordinate, she was more likely to gaze towards this same direction within one second. In contrast, the subordinate only occasionally followed the dominant’s movement and gaze. The dominant also changed her own direction of movement to converge on the location to which the subordinate directed her gaze and movement. Cross correlation proves an effective technique for charting contingencies in social interactions, an important step in understanding the use of cognition in natural situations. PMID:24710756

H3ABioNet, a sustainable pan-African bioinformatics network for human heredity and health in Africa

PubMed Central

Mulder, Nicola J.; Adebiyi, Ezekiel; Alami, Raouf; Benkahla, Alia; Brandful, James; Doumbia, Seydou; Everett, Dean; Fadlelmola, Faisal M.; Gaboun, Fatima; Gaseitsiwe, Simani; Ghazal, Hassan; Hazelhurst, Scott; Hide, Winston; Ibrahimi, Azeddine; Jaufeerally Fakim, Yasmina; Jongeneel, C. Victor; Joubert, Fourie; Kassim, Samar; Kayondo, Jonathan; Kumuthini, Judit; Lyantagaye, Sylvester; Makani, Julie; Mansour Alzohairy, Ahmed; Masiga, Daniel; Moussa, Ahmed; Nash, Oyekanmi; Ouwe Missi Oukem-Boyer, Odile; Owusu-Dabo, Ellis; Panji, Sumir; Patterton, Hugh; Radouani, Fouzia; Sadki, Khalid; Seghrouchni, Fouad; Tastan Bishop, Özlem; Tiffin, Nicki; Ulenga, Nzovu

2016-01-01

The application of genomics technologies to medicine and biomedical research is increasing in popularity, made possible by new high-throughput genotyping and sequencing technologies and improved data analysis capabilities. Some of the greatest genetic diversity among humans, animals, plants, and microbiota occurs in Africa, yet genomic research outputs from the continent are limited. The Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) initiative was established to drive the development of genomic research for human health in Africa, and through recognition of the critical role of bioinformatics in this process, spurred the establishment of H3ABioNet, a pan-African bioinformatics network for H3Africa. The limitations in bioinformatics capacity on the continent have been a major contributory factor to the lack of notable outputs in high-throughput biology research. Although pockets of high-quality bioinformatics teams have existed previously, the majority of research institutions lack experienced faculty who can train and supervise bioinformatics students. H3ABioNet aims to address this dire need, specifically in the area of human genetics and genomics, but knock-on effects are ensuring this extends to other areas of bioinformatics. Here, we describe the emergence of genomics research and the development of bioinformatics in Africa through H3ABioNet. PMID:26627985

Geometric morphometrics in primatology: craniofacial variation in Homo sapiens and Pan troglodytes.

PubMed

Lynch, J M; Wood, C G; Luboga, S A

1996-01-01

Traditionally, morphometric studies have relied on statistical analysis of distances, angles or ratios to investigate morphometric variation among taxa. Recently, geometric techniques have been developed for the direct analysis of landmark data. In this paper, we offer a summary (with examples) of three of these newer techniques, namely shape coordinate, thin-plate spline and relative warp analyses. Shape coordinate analysis detected significant craniofacial variation between 4 modern human populations, with African and Australian Aboriginal specimens being relatively prognathous compared with their Eurasian counterparts. In addition, the Australian specimens exhibited greater basicranial flexion than all other samples. The observed relationships between size and craniofacial shape were weak. The decomposition of shape variation into affine and non-affine components is illustrated via a thin-plate spline analysis of Homo and Pan cranial landmarks. We note differences between Homo and Pan in the degree of prognathism and basicranial flexion and the position and orientation of the foramen magnum. We compare these results with previous studies of these features in higher primates and discuss the utility of geometric morphometrics as a tool in primatology and physical anthropology. We conclude that many studies of morphological variation, both within and between taxa, would benefit from the graphical nature of these techniques.

Transferability of HIV by arthropods supports the hypothesis about transmission of the virus from apes to man

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eigen, Manfred; Kloft, Werner; Brandner, Gerhard

2002-03-01

The primate Pan troglodytes troglodytes, a chimpanzee subspecies, has recently been defined as a natural animal host of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Apes are traditionally hunted in Africa and are offered for sale in open-air meat markets. The bloody carcasses are regularly covered with blood-feeding flies, amongst them possibly the stable fly (Stomoxys calcitrans L.), a cosmopolitically occurring biting fly. This fly is the effective vector for the retrovirus causing equine leukemia. According to laboratory experiments, the infectivity of ingested HIV is not reduced in the regurgitates of this fly. These findings are combined to explain the mechanism for a possible primary transmission of HIV from ape to man.

Accuracy of Human and Veterinary Point-of-Care Glucometers for Use in Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta), Sooty Mangabeys (Cercocebus atys), and Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Clemmons, Elizabeth A; Stovall, Melissa I; Owens, Devon C; Scott, Jessica A; Jones-Wilkes, Amelia C; Kempf, Doty J; Ethun, Kelly F

2016-01-01

Handheld, point-of-care glucometers are commonly used in NHP for clinical and research purposes, but whether these devices are appropriate for use in NHP is unknown. Other animal studies indicate that glucometers should be species-specific, given differences in glucose distribution between RBC and plasma; in addition, Hct and sampling site (venous compared with capillary) influence glucometer readings. Therefore, we compared the accuracy of 2 human and 2 veterinary glucometers at various Hct ranges in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), sooty mangabeys (Cercocebus atys), and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) with that of standard laboratory glucose analysis. Subsequent analyses assessed the effect of hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, and sampling site on glucometer accuracy. The veterinary glucometers overestimated blood glucose (BG) values in all species by 26 to 75 mg/dL. The mean difference between the human glucometers and the laboratory analyzer was 7 mg/dL or less in all species. The human glucometers overestimated BG in hypoglycemic mangabeys by 4 mg/dL and underestimated BG in hyperglycemic mangabeys by 11 mg/dL; similar patterns occurred in rhesus macaques. Hct did not affect glucometer accuracy, but all samples were within the range at which glucometers generally are accurate in humans. BG values were significantly lower in venous than capillary samples. The current findings show that veterinary glucometers intended for companion-animal species are inappropriate for use in the studied NHP species, whereas the human glucometers showed clinically acceptable accuracy in all 3 species. Finally, potential differences between venous and capillary BG values should be considered when comparing and evaluating results.

Do juveniles help or hinder? Influence of juvenile offspring on maternal behavior and reproductive outcomes in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Stanton, Margaret A; Lonsdorf, Elizabeth V; Pusey, Anne E; Murray, Carson M

2017-10-01

Compared to great apes, humans maintain a relatively rapid reproductive pace despite long periods of dependency. This seemingly contradictory set of traits is made possible by weaning offspring before nutritional independence and alloparents who help provide care. In traditional societies, this help may be provided to mothers in part by their juvenile offspring who carry, supervise, or provision younger siblings. In contrast to humans, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are nutritionally independent after weaning, yet juveniles continue to travel with their mother and younger sibling for an additional 4-5 years. This continued association could be costly to the mother if she continues to invest in weaned offspring. Alternately, while juvenile chimpanzees do not typically provision younger siblings, their presence and social interaction with infants may allow mothers to focus on other tasks. In this study, we investigate the costs and benefits to mothers of continued association with juveniles in wild chimpanzees. Using 26 years of long-term behavioral data we examined how maternal activity budgets varied based on the presence of a dependent juvenile offspring. We found that continued social interaction between mothers and juveniles does not influence the mother's time allocated to interacting with the younger infant, her feeding, resting, or travel time, or time socializing with other community members. Instead, mothers may benefit from the additional social interaction and/or relationship with their older offspring. Using 45 years of demographic data we found that those offspring who had an older sibling tended to be more likely to survive each year from birth to 8 years than those without an older sibling. Additionally, interbirth intervals were more likely to end when the female had an older offspring present. A mutually beneficial mother-juvenile dynamic in great apes provides insight into continued association between mothers and offspring after nutritional

Metacarpal head biomechanics: a comparative backscattered electron image analysis of trabecular bone mineral density in Pan troglodytes, Pongo pygmaeus, and Homo sapiens.

PubMed

Zeininger, Angel; Richmond, Brian G; Hartman, Gideon

2011-06-01

Great apes and humans use their hands in fundamentally different ways, but little is known about joint biomechanics and internal bone variation. This study examines the distribution of mineral density in the third metacarpal heads in three hominoid species that differ in their habitual joint postures and loading histories. We test the hypothesis that micro-architectural properties relating to bone mineral density reflect habitual joint use. The third metacarpal heads of Pan troglodytes, Pongo pygmaeus, and Homo sapiens were sectioned in a sagittal plane and imaged using backscattered electron microscopy (BSE-SEM). For each individual, 72 areas of subarticular cortical (subchondral) and trabecular bone were sampled from within 12 consecutive regions of the BSE-SEM images. In each area, gray levels (representing relative mineralization density) were quantified. Results show that chimpanzee, orangutan, and human metacarpal III heads have different gray level distributions. Weighted mean gray levels (WMGLs) in the chimpanzee showed a distinct pattern in which the 'knuckle-walking' regions (dorsal) and 'climbing' regions (palmar) are less mineralized, interpreted to reflect elevated remodeling rates, than the distal regions. Pongo pygmaeus exhibited the lowest WMGLs in the distal region, suggesting elevated remodeling rates in this region, which is loaded during hook grip hand postures associated with suspension and climbing. Differences among regions within metacarpal heads of the chimpanzee and orangutan specimens are significant (Kruskal-Wallis, p < 0.001). In humans, whose hands are used for manipulation as opposed to locomotion, mineralization density is much more uniform throughout the metacarpal head. WMGLs were significantly (p < 0.05) lower in subchondral compared to trabecular regions in all samples except humans. This micro-architectural approach offers a means of investigating joint loading patterns in primates and shows significant differences in

Brief communication: Reaction to fire by savanna chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) at Fongoli, Senegal: Conceptualization of "fire behavior" and the case for a chimpanzee model.

PubMed

Pruetz, Jill D; LaDuke, Thomas C

2010-04-01

The use and control of fire are uniquely human traits thought to have come about fairly late in the evolution of our lineage, and they are hypothesized to correlate with an increase in intellectual complexity. Given the relatively sophisticated cognitive abilities yet small brain size of living apes compared to humans and even early hominins, observations of wild chimpanzees' reactions to naturally occurring fire can help inform hypotheses about the likely responses of early hominins to fire. We use data on the behavior of savanna chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) at Fongoli, Senegal during two encounters with wildfires to illuminate the similarities between great apes and humans regarding their reaction to fire. Chimpanzees' close relatedness to our lineage makes them phylogenetically relevant to the study of hominid evolution, and the open, hot and dry environment at Fongoli, similar to the savanna mosaic thought to characterize much of hominid evolution, makes these apes ecologically important as a living primate model as well. Chimpanzees at Fongoli calmly monitor wildfires and change their behavior in anticipation of the fire's movement. The ability to conceptualize the "behavior" of fire may be a synapomorphic trait characterizing the human-chimpanzee clade. If the cognitive underpinnings of fire conceptualization are a primitive hominid trait, hypotheses concerning the origins of the control and use of fire may need revision. We argue that our findings exemplify the importance of using living chimpanzees as models for better understanding human evolution despite recently published suggestions to the contrary. (c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Demographic History of the Genus Pan Inferred from Whole Mitochondrial Genome Reconstructions

PubMed Central

Tucci, Serena; de Manuel, Marc; Ghirotto, Silvia; Benazzo, Andrea; Prado-Martinez, Javier; Lorente-Galdos, Belen; Nam, Kiwoong; Dabad, Marc; Hernandez-Rodriguez, Jessica; Comas, David; Navarro, Arcadi; Schierup, Mikkel H.; Andres, Aida M.; Barbujani, Guido; Hvilsom, Christina; Marques-Bonet, Tomas

2016-01-01

The genus Pan is the closest genus to our own and it includes two species, Pan paniscus (bonobos) and Pan troglodytes (chimpanzees). The later is constituted by four subspecies, all highly endangered. The study of the Pan genera has been incessantly complicated by the intricate relationship among subspecies and the statistical limitations imposed by the reduced number of samples or genomic markers analyzed. Here, we present a new method to reconstruct complete mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) from whole genome shotgun (WGS) datasets, mtArchitect, showing that its reconstructions are highly accurate and consistent with long-range PCR mitogenomes. We used this approach to build the mitochondrial genomes of 20 newly sequenced samples which, together with available genomes, allowed us to analyze the hitherto most complete Pan mitochondrial genome dataset including 156 chimpanzee and 44 bonobo individuals, with a proportional contribution from all chimpanzee subspecies. We estimated the separation time between chimpanzees and bonobos around 1.15 million years ago (Mya) [0.81–1.49]. Further, we found that under the most probable genealogical model the two clades of chimpanzees, Western + Nigeria-Cameroon and Central + Eastern, separated at 0.59 Mya [0.41–0.78] with further internal separations at 0.32 Mya [0.22–0.43] and 0.16 Mya [0.17–0.34], respectively. Finally, for a subset of our samples, we compared nuclear versus mitochondrial genomes and we found that chimpanzee subspecies have different patterns of nuclear and mitochondrial diversity, which could be a result of either processes affecting the mitochondrial genome, such as hitchhiking or background selection, or a result of population dynamics. PMID:27345955

Pan-ebolavirus and Pan-filovirus Mouse Monoclonal Antibodies: Protection against Ebola and Sudan Viruses.

PubMed

Holtsberg, Frederick W; Shulenin, Sergey; Vu, Hong; Howell, Katie A; Patel, Sonal J; Gunn, Bronwyn; Karim, Marcus; Lai, Jonathan R; Frei, Julia C; Nyakatura, Elisabeth K; Zeitlin, Larry; Douglas, Robin; Fusco, Marnie L; Froude, Jeffrey W; Saphire, Erica Ollmann; Herbert, Andrew S; Wirchnianski, Ariel S; Lear-Rooney, Calli M; Alter, Galit; Dye, John M; Glass, Pamela J; Warfield, Kelly L; Aman, M Javad

2016-01-01

The unprecedented 2014-2015 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa has highlighted the need for effective therapeutics against filoviruses. Monoclonal antibody (MAb) cocktails have shown great potential as EVD therapeutics; however, the existing protective MAbs are virus species specific. Here we report the development of pan-ebolavirus and pan-filovirus antibodies generated by repeated immunization of mice with filovirus glycoproteins engineered to drive the B cell responses toward conserved epitopes. Multiple pan-ebolavirus antibodies were identified that react to the Ebola, Sudan, Bundibugyo, and Reston viruses. A pan-filovirus antibody that was reactive to the receptor binding regions of all filovirus glycoproteins was also identified. Significant postexposure efficacy of several MAbs, including a novel antibody cocktail, was demonstrated. For the first time, we report cross-neutralization and in vivo protection against two highly divergent filovirus species, i.e., Ebola virus and Sudan virus, with a single antibody. Competition studies indicate that this antibody targets a previously unrecognized conserved neutralizing epitope that involves the glycan cap. Mechanistic studies indicated that, besides neutralization, innate immune cell effector functions may play a role in the antiviral activity of the antibodies. Our findings further suggest critical novel epitopes that can be utilized to design effective cocktails for broad protection against multiple filovirus species. Filoviruses represent a major public health threat in Africa and an emerging global concern. Largely driven by the U.S. biodefense funding programs and reinforced by the 2014 outbreaks, current immunotherapeutics are primarily focused on a single filovirus species called Ebola virus (EBOV) (formerly Zaire Ebola virus). However, other filoviruses including Sudan, Bundibugyo, and Marburg viruses have caused human outbreaks with mortality rates as high as 90%. Thus, cross

Geometric morphometric analysis of mandibular shape diversity in Pan.

PubMed

Robinson, Chris

2012-07-01

The aim of this research is to determine whether geometric morphometric (GM) techniques can provide insights into how the shape of the mandibular corpus differs between bonobos and chimpanzees and to explore the potential implications of those results for our understanding of hominin evolution. We focused on this region of the mandible because of the relative frequency with which it has been recovered in the hominin fossil record. In addition, no previous study had explored in-depth three-dimensional (3D) mandibular corpus shape differences between adults of the two Pan species using geometric morphometrics. GM methods enable researchers to quantitatively analyze and visualize 3D shape changes in skeletal elements and provide an important compliment to traditional two-dimensional analyses. Eighteen mandibular landmarks were collected using a Microscribe 3DX portable digitizer. Specimen configurations were superimposed using Generalized Procrustes analysis and the projections of the fitted coordinates to tangent space were analyzed using multivariate statistics. The size-adjusted corpus shapes of Pan paniscus and Pan troglodytes could be assigned to species with approximately 93% accuracy and the Procrustes distance between the two species was significant. Analyses of the residuals from a multivariate linear regression of the data on centroid size suggested that much of the shape difference between the species is size-related. Chimpanzee subspecies and a small sample of Australopithecus specimens could be correctly identified to taxon, at best, only 75% of the time, although the Procrustes distances between these taxa were significant. The shape of the mandibular symphysis was identified as especially useful in differentiating Pan species from one another. This suggests that this region of the mandible has the potential to be informative for taxonomic analyses of fossil hominoids, including hominins. The results also have implications for phylogenetic hypotheses of

Lethal aggression in Pan is better explained by adaptive strategies than human impacts.

PubMed

Wilson, Michael L; Boesch, Christophe; Fruth, Barbara; Furuichi, Takeshi; Gilby, Ian C; Hashimoto, Chie; Hobaiter, Catherine L; Hohmann, Gottfried; Itoh, Noriko; Koops, Kathelijne; Lloyd, Julia N; Matsuzawa, Tetsuro; Mitani, John C; Mjungu, Deus C; Morgan, David; Muller, Martin N; Mundry, Roger; Nakamura, Michio; Pruetz, Jill; Pusey, Anne E; Riedel, Julia; Sanz, Crickette; Schel, Anne M; Simmons, Nicole; Waller, Michel; Watts, David P; White, Frances; Wittig, Roman M; Zuberbühler, Klaus; Wrangham, Richard W

2014-09-18

Observations of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus) provide valuable comparative data for understanding the significance of conspecific killing. Two kinds of hypothesis have been proposed. Lethal violence is sometimes concluded to be the result of adaptive strategies, such that killers ultimately gain fitness benefits by increasing their access to resources such as food or mates. Alternatively, it could be a non-adaptive result of human impacts, such as habitat change or food provisioning. To discriminate between these hypotheses we compiled information from 18 chimpanzee communities and 4 bonobo communities studied over five decades. Our data include 152 killings (n = 58 observed, 41 inferred, and 53 suspected killings) by chimpanzees in 15 communities and one suspected killing by bonobos. We found that males were the most frequent attackers (92% of participants) and victims (73%); most killings (66%) involved intercommunity attacks; and attackers greatly outnumbered their victims (median 8:1 ratio). Variation in killing rates was unrelated to measures of human impacts. Our results are compatible with previously proposed adaptive explanations for killing by chimpanzees, whereas the human impact hypothesis is not supported.

Guns, germs, and trees determine density and distribution of gorillas and chimpanzees in Western Equatorial Africa.

PubMed

Strindberg, Samantha; Maisels, Fiona; Williamson, Elizabeth A; Blake, Stephen; Stokes, Emma J; Aba'a, Rostand; Abitsi, Gaspard; Agbor, Anthony; Ambahe, Ruffin D; Bakabana, Parfait C; Bechem, Martha; Berlemont, Antoine; Bokoto de Semboli, Bruno; Boundja, Patrick R; Bout, Nicolas; Breuer, Thomas; Campbell, Genevieve; De Wachter, Pauwel; Ella Akou, Marc; Esono Mba, Fidel; Feistner, Anna T C; Fosso, Bernard; Fotso, Roger; Greer, David; Inkamba-Nkulu, Clement; Iyenguet, Calixte F; Jeffery, Kathryn J; Kokangoye, Max; Kühl, Hjalmar S; Latour, Stephanie; Madzoke, Bola; Makoumbou, Calixte; Malanda, Guy-Aimé F; Malonga, Richard; Mbolo, Victor; Morgan, David B; Motsaba, Prosper; Moukala, Gabin; Mowawa, Brice S; Murai, Mizuki; Ndzai, Christian; Nishihara, Tomoaki; Nzooh, Zacharie; Pintea, Lilian; Pokempner, Amy; Rainey, Hugo J; Rayden, Tim; Ruffler, Heidi; Sanz, Crickette M; Todd, Angelique; Vanleeuwe, Hilde; Vosper, Ashley; Warren, Ymke; Wilkie, David S

2018-04-01

We present a range-wide assessment of sympatric western lowland gorillas Gorilla gorilla gorilla and central chimpanzees Pan troglodytes troglodytes using the largest survey data set ever assembled for these taxa: 59 sites in five countries surveyed between 2003 and 2013, totaling 61,000 person-days of fieldwork. We used spatial modeling to investigate major drivers of great ape distribution and population trends. We predicted density across each taxon's geographic range, allowing us to estimate overall abundance: 361,900 gorillas and 128,700 chimpanzees in Western Equatorial Africa-substantially higher than previous estimates. These two subspecies represent close to 99% of all gorillas and one-third of all chimpanzees. Annual population decline of gorillas was estimated at 2.7%, maintaining them as Critically Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List. We quantified the threats to each taxon, of which the three greatest were poaching, disease, and habitat degradation. Gorillas and chimpanzees are found at higher densities where forest is intact, wildlife laws are enforced, human influence is low, and disease impacts have been low. Strategic use of the results of these analyses could conserve the majority of gorillas and chimpanzees. With around 80% of both subspecies occurring outside protected areas, their conservation requires reinforcement of anti-poaching efforts both inside and outside protected areas (particularly where habitat quality is high and human impact is low), diligent disease control measures (including training, advocacy, and research into Ebola virus disease), and the preservation of high-quality habitat through integrated land-use planning and implementation of best practices by the extractive and agricultural industries.

No evidence for transmission of SIVwrc from western red colobus monkeys (piliocolobus badius badius) to wild west african chimpanzees (pan troglodytes verus) despite high exposure through hunting

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Simian Immunodeficiency Viruses (SIVs) are the precursors of Human Immunodeficiency Viruses (HIVs) which have lead to the worldwide HIV/AIDS pandemic. By studying SIVs in wild primates we can better understand the circulation of these viruses in their natural hosts and habitat, and perhaps identify factors that influence susceptibility and transmission within and between various host species. We investigated the SIV status of wild West African chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) which frequently hunt and consume the western red colobus monkey (Piliocolobus badius badius), a species known to be infected to a high percentage with its specific SIV strain (SIVwrc). Results Blood and plasma samples from 32 wild chimpanzees were tested with INNO-LIA HIV I/II Score kit to detect cross-reactive antibodies to HIV antigens. Twenty-three of the samples were also tested for antibodies to 43 specific SIV and HIV lineages, including SIVwrc. Tissue samples from all but two chimpanzees were tested for SIV by PCRs using generic SIV primers that detect all known primate lentiviruses as well as primers designed to specifically detect SIVwrc. Seventeen of the chimpanzees showed varying degrees of cross-reactivity to the HIV specific antigens in the INNO-LIA test; however no sample had antibodies to SIV or HIV strain - and lineage specific antigens in the Luminex test. No SIV DNA was found in any of the samples. Conclusions We could not detect any conclusive trace of SIV infection from the red colobus monkeys in the chimpanzees, despite high exposure to this virus through frequent hunting. The results of our study raise interesting questions regarding the host-parasite relationship of SIVwrc and wild chimpanzees in their natural habitat. PMID:21284842

First GIS Analysis of Modern Stone Tools Used by Wild Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in Bossou, Guinea, West Africa

PubMed Central

Arroyo, Adrian; Matsuzawa, Tetsuro; de la Torre, Ignacio

2015-01-01

Stone tool use by wild chimpanzees of West Africa offers a unique opportunity to explore the evolutionary roots of technology during human evolution. However, detailed analyses of chimpanzee stone artifacts are still lacking, thus precluding a comparison with the earliest archaeological record. This paper presents the first systematic study of stone tools used by wild chimpanzees to crack open nuts in Bossou (Guinea-Conakry), and applies pioneering analytical techniques to such artifacts. Automatic morphometric GIS classification enabled to create maps of use wear over the stone tools (anvils, hammers, and hammers/ anvils), which were blind tested with GIS spatial analysis of damage patterns identified visually. Our analysis shows that chimpanzee stone tool use wear can be systematized and specific damage patterns discerned, allowing to discriminate between active and passive pounders in lithic assemblages. In summary, our results demonstrate the heuristic potential of combined suites of GIS techniques for the analysis of battered artifacts, and have enabled creating a referential framework of analysis in which wild chimpanzee battered tools can for the first time be directly compared to the early archaeological record. PMID:25793642

Microbial life in continental salt pan sediments and their response to climate variability in Northern South Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Genderjahn, Steffi; Mangelsdorf, Kai; Alawi, Mashal; Belz, Lukas; Kallmeyer, Jens; Wagner, Dirk

2016-04-01

The environmental history of southwestern African mainland is largely unknown. Since there are no lacustrine systems with constant water coverage in this area, we investigated a continental salt pan as a terrestrial geoarchive with the potential to preserve climate signals. Within the frame of the research project "GeoArchives" (part of the SPACES program, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, BMBF) we aimed to reconstruct climate variabilities during the late Pleistocene to Holocene. The presented study is focused on variations within the microbial community structure and abundance of key organisms in a salt pan with special regards to sediment age and geochemical parameters. A combined approach of a 16S rDNA-based quantification method and lipid biomarker analysis was used to demonstrate the response of the microbial communities with respect to environmental changes. The phospholipid derived fatty acids (PLFAs) in sedimentary deposits are characteristic markers for living Bacteria, whereby their side chain represents a fingerprint of the community structure on a broad taxonomic level. Archaeol and isoprenoid glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (iGDGTs) were used as characteristic makers for Archaea whereas branched GDGTs (brGDGTs) are typical biomarkers for Bacteria. In contrast to PLFAs, they represent dead microbial biomass and thus the past microbial communities in older sediments, since they are already partly degraded. Samples from the Witpan, located in the northwest of South Africa and representing a depths profile from the Late Pleistocene to Holocene, were gathered. Despite the extreme environment with rather low TOC values, restricted availability of water and high salt concentration markers for Bacteria and Archaea were observed. A series of saturated, branched and unsaturated PLFAs were identified. The diversity and concentration of PLFAs were highest in the top layers (up to 30000 ng gsed-1, 0-10 cm) and characteristic

More reliable estimates of divergence times in Pan using complete mtDNA sequences and accounting for population structure.

PubMed

Stone, Anne C; Battistuzzi, Fabia U; Kubatko, Laura S; Perry, George H; Trudeau, Evan; Lin, Hsiuman; Kumar, Sudhir

2010-10-27

Here, we report the sequencing and analysis of eight complete mitochondrial genomes of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) from each of the three established subspecies (P. t. troglodytes, P. t. schweinfurthii and P. t. verus) and the proposed fourth subspecies (P. t. ellioti). Our population genetic analyses are consistent with neutral patterns of evolution that have been shaped by demography. The high levels of mtDNA diversity in western chimpanzees are unlike those seen at nuclear loci, which may reflect a demographic history of greater female to male effective population sizes possibly owing to the characteristics of the founding population. By using relaxed-clock methods, we have inferred a timetree of chimpanzee species and subspecies. The absolute divergence times vary based on the methods and calibration used, but relative divergence times show extensive uniformity. Overall, mtDNA produces consistently older times than those known from nuclear markers, a discrepancy that is reduced significantly by explicitly accounting for chimpanzee population structures in time estimation. Assuming the human-chimpanzee split to be between 7 and 5 Ma, chimpanzee time estimates are 2.1-1.5, 1.1-0.76 and 0.25-0.18 Ma for the chimpanzee/bonobo, western/(eastern + central) and eastern/central chimpanzee divergences, respectively.

The spermatozoon of a 'living fossil': Tubiluchus troglodytes (Priapulida).

PubMed

Ferraguti, Marco; Garbelli, Claudio

2006-02-01

The spermatozoon of Tubiluchus troglodytes, the first priapulid formally described from the Mediterranean Sea has a head composed of an acrosome and a nucleus. The acrosome is divided in two branches coiled around the nucleus. The nucleus is basally columnar, but apically generates two rods helically coiled one around the other. The midpiece is formed by an axoneme with 27 accessory microtubules, surrounded by three mitochondria. An annulus separates the midpiece from the tail that contains a 9 + 2 axoneme surrounded by nine accessory microtubules. The spermatozoon of T. troglodytes is similar to that of the other two species known from the genus, and completely different from the 'primitive' one of the other priapulids. Since Tubiluchus is considered the most basal of the extant priapulids, and the only genus with an internal fertilization, it may be that in priapulids the external fertilization is a derived character.

Africa has unique and urgent barriers to cleft care: lessons from practitioners at the Pan-African Congress on Cleft Lip and Palate.

PubMed

Adetayo, Oluwaseun; Ford, Rachel; Martin, Mark

2012-01-01

The goals of this study were to delineate the protocols employed for managing patients with cleft lip and palate deformities, delineate the challenges facing practitioners and patients, and to determine the patient and physician barriers to cleft care delivery in the region. Survey questionnaires were administered to practitioners attending the second Pan-African Congress on Cleft Lip and Palate (PACCLIP), which took place in Ibadan, Nigeria, West Africa from February 4-7, 2007. The conference included 225 participants, representing 17 African countries Protocols for repair of cleft lip and palate deformities were varied, with Millard's and von Langenbeck's techniques being the preferred approach for the management of cleft lip and palate deformities, respectively. A large proportion of providers have limited access to core cleft care supporting teams, especially speech language pathologists, orthodontists, and audiologists. Several challenging barriers to cleft care were also identified at both the institutional and individual levels and are reported. Geographic separation in Africa presents a similar challenge due to isolationism as it does to surgeons in Europe. Specific to Africa are the increased barriers to care, and economic and financial hardship at various levels. A focus on funding, team building, infrastructural support, and patient education appear to be crucial in improving the care and lives of children with facial clefts in Africa.

The Development of Representational Play in Chimpanzees and Bonobos: Evolutionary Implications, Pretense, and the Role of Interspecies Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lyn, Heidi; Greenfield, Patricia; Savage-Rumbaugh, Sue

2006-01-01

This research investigates the development of symbolic or representational play in two species of the genus "Pan", bonobos ("Pan paniscus") and chimpanzees ("Pan troglodytes"). The participants varied not only by species, but also as to whether they had become proficient in communicating with humans via a set of arbitrary visual symbols, called…

Social play in bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): Implications for natural social systems and interindividual relationships.

PubMed

Palagi, Elisabetta

2006-03-01

This study compares adult play behavior in the two Pan species in order to test the effects of phylogenetic closeness and the nature of social systems on play distribution. The social play (both with fertile and immature subjects) performed by adults did not differ between the two species. In contrast, in bonobos, play levels among fertile subjects were higher than in chimpanzees. Findings regarding levels of undecided conflicts (more frequent in bonobos) and formal submission displays (lacking in bonobos) confirm, in the two colonies under study, that bonobos exhibit "egalitarianism" more than chimpanzees. Some authors emphasized the importance of play-fighting for social assessment when relationships among individuals are not codified and structured according to rank-rules. Indeed, adult bonobos played more roughly than chimpanzees. Moreover, adult bonobos displayed the full play-face at a high frequency especially during rough play sessions, whereas in chimpanzees, the frequency of play signals was not affected by roughness of play. The frequency of social play among bonobo females was higher than in any other sex combinations, whereas no difference was found for chimpanzees. As a matter of fact, social play can be viewed as a balance between cooperation and competition. Among bonobo females, characterized by social competence and affiliation, social play might enhance their behavioral flexibility and increase their socially symmetrical relationships which, after all, are the basis for their egalitarian society. (c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

On the Diversity of Malaria Parasites in African Apes and the Origin of Plasmodium falciparum from Bonobos

PubMed Central

Pacheco, M. Andreina; Mugisha, Lawrence; André, Claudine; Halbwax, Michel; Fischer, Anne; Krief, Jean-Michel; Kasenene, John M.; Crandfield, Mike; Cornejo, Omar E.; Chavatte, Jean-Marc; Lin, Clara; Letourneur, Franck; Grüner, Anne Charlotte; McCutchan, Thomas F.; Rénia, Laurent; Snounou, Georges

2010-01-01

The origin of Plasmodium falciparum, the etiological agent of the most dangerous forms of human malaria, remains controversial. Although investigations of homologous parasites in African Apes are crucial to resolve this issue, studies have been restricted to a chimpanzee parasite related to P. falciparum, P. reichenowi, for which a single isolate was available until very recently. Using PCR amplification, we detected Plasmodium parasites in blood samples from 18 of 91 individuals of the genus Pan, including six chimpanzees (three Pan troglodytes troglodytes, three Pan t. schweinfurthii) and twelve bonobos (Pan paniscus). We obtained sequences of the parasites' mitochondrial genomes and/or from two nuclear genes from 14 samples. In addition to P. reichenowi, three other hitherto unknown lineages were found in the chimpanzees. One is related to P. vivax and two to P. falciparum that are likely to belong to distinct species. In the bonobos we found P. falciparum parasites whose mitochondrial genomes indicated that they were distinct from those present in humans, and another parasite lineage related to P. malariae. Phylogenetic analyses based on this diverse set of Plasmodium parasites in African Apes shed new light on the evolutionary history of P. falciparum. The data suggested that P. falciparum did not originate from P. reichenowi of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), but rather evolved in bonobos (Pan paniscus), from which it subsequently colonized humans by a host-switch. Finally, our data and that of others indicated that chimpanzees and bonobos maintain malaria parasites, to which humans are susceptible, a factor of some relevance to the renewed efforts to eradicate malaria. PMID:20169187

Primate archaeology reveals cultural transmission in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus).

PubMed

Luncz, Lydia V; Wittig, Roman M; Boesch, Christophe

2015-11-19

Recovering evidence of past human activities enables us to recreate behaviour where direct observations are missing. Here, we apply archaeological methods to further investigate cultural transmission processes in percussive tool use among neighbouring chimpanzee communities in the Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa. Differences in the selection of nut-cracking tools between neighbouring groups are maintained over time, despite frequent female transfer, which leads to persistent cultural diversity between chimpanzee groups. Through the recovery of used tools in the suggested natal territory of immigrants, we have been able to reconstruct the tool material selection of females prior to migration. In combination with direct observations of tool selection of local residents and immigrants after migration, we uncovered temporal changes in tool selection for immigrating females. After controlling for ecological differences between territories of immigrants and residents our data suggest that immigrants abandoned their previous tool preference and adopted the pattern of their new community, despite previous personal proficiency of the same foraging task. Our study adds to the growing body of knowledge on the importance of conformist tendencies in animals. © 2015 The Author(s).

Rationale and design of the Pan-African Sudden Cardiac Death survey: the Pan-African SCD study.

PubMed

Bonny, Aimé; Ngantcha, Marcus; Amougou, Sylvie Ndongo; Kane, Adama; Marrakchi, Sonia; Okello, Emmy; Taty, Georges; Gehani, Abdulrrazzak; Diakite, Mamadou; Talle, Mohammed A; Lambiase, Pier D; Houenassi, Martin; Chin, Ashley; Otieno, Harun; Temu, Gloria; Owusu, Isaac Koffi; Karaye, Kamilu M; Awad, Abdalla A M; Winkel, Bo Gregers; Priori, Silvia G

2014-01-01

The estimated rate of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in Western countries ranges from 300,000 to 400,000 annually, which represents 0.36 to 1.28 per 1 000 inhabitants in Europe and the United States. The burden of SCD in Africa is unknown. Our aim is to assess the epidemiology of SCD in Africa. The Pan-Africa SCD study is a prospective, multicentre, community-based registry monitoring all cases of cardiac arrest occurring in victims over 15 years old. We will use the definition of SCD as 'witnessed natural death occurring within one hour of the onset of symptoms' or 'unwitnessed natural death within 24 hours of the onset of symptoms'. After approval from institutional boards, we will record demographic, clinical, electrocardiographic and biological variables of SCD victims (including survivors of cardiac arrest) in several African cities. All deaths occurring in residents of districts of interest will be checked for past medical history, circumstances of death, and autopsy report (if possible). We will also analyse the employment of resuscitation attempts during the time frame of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) in various patient populations throughout African countries. This study will provide comprehensive, contemporary data on the epidemiology of SCD in Africa and will help in the development of strategies to prevent and manage cardiac arrest in this region of the world.

Patterns of gastro-intestinal parasites and commensals as an index of population and ecosystem health: the case of sympatric western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) and guinea baboons (Papio hamadryas papio) at Fongoli, Senegal.

PubMed

Howells, Michaela E; Pruetz, Jill; Gillespie, Thomas R

2011-02-01

The exponential decline of great apes over the past 50 years has resulted in an urgent need for data to inform population viability assessment and conservation strategies. Health monitoring of remaining ape populations is an important component of this process. In support of this effort, we examined endoparasitic and commensal prevalence and richness as proxies of population health for western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) and sympatric guinea baboons (Papio hamadryas papio) at Fongoli, Senegal, a site dominated by woodland-savanna at the northwestern extent of chimpanzees' geographic range. The small population size and extreme environmental pressures experienced by Fongoli chimpanzees make them particularly sensitive to the potential impact of pathogens. One hundred thirty-two chimpanzee and seventeen baboon fecal samples were processed using sodium nitrate floatation and fecal sedimentation to isolate helminth eggs, larvae, and protozoal cysts. Six nematodes (Physaloptera sp., Ascaris sp., Stronglyloides fuelleborni, Trichuris sp., an unidentified hookworm, and an unidentified larvated nematode), one cestode (Bertiella sp.), and five protozoans (Iodamoeba buetschlii, Entamoeba coli, Troglodytella abrassarti, Troglocorys cava, and an unidentified ciliate) were detected in chimpanzee fecal samples. Four nematodes (Necator sp., S. fuelleborni, Trichuris sp., and an unidentified hookworm sp.), two trematodes (Shistosoma mansoni and an unidentified fluke), and six protozoans (Entamoeba histolytica/dispar, E. coli, Chilomastix mesnili, Balantidium coli, T. abrassarti, and T. cava) were detected in baboon fecal samples. The low prevalence of pathogenic parasite species and high prevalence of symbiotic protozoa in Fongoli chimpanzees are indicative of good overall population health. However, the high prevalence of pathogenic parasites in baboons, who may serve as transport hosts, highlight the need for ongoing pathogen surveillance of the Fongoli chimpanzee

Intestinal Flora Modification of Arthritis Pattern in Spondyloarthropathy.

PubMed

Rothschild, Bruce M

2015-09-01

The reactive form of spondyloarthropathy appears inducible by exposure to agents of infectious diarrhea, but do those organisms represent the tip of the iceberg, as indicated by renewed interest in gastrointestinal flora? Prevalence of spondyloarthropathy (20% of chimpanzees [Pan] and 28% of gorillas) is independent of subspecies and species, respectively. However, there are major differences in arthritis patterns, a characteristic shared with humans. Do patterns of arthritis correlate with gastrointestinal flora? Could such associated modifications be in the form of disease induction or represent protective effectors (at least against the extent of peripheral arthritis)? The skeletons of 2 chimpanzee subspecies (79 Pan troglodytes troglodytes and 26 Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) and 2 gorilla species (99 Gorilla gorilla and 38 Gorilla beringei) adults were examined, and arthritis pattern noted. Feces of Eastern (P. schweinfurthii and G. beringei) and Western (great apes collected in their normal ranges) apes were assessed for 16S rRNA c and its character. Patterns of arthritis recognized on examination of skeletons showed geographic variation in skeletal distribution. East African apes (P. troglodytes schweinfurthii and G. beringei) had pauciarticular arthritis and frequent sacroiliac disease, whereas West African apes (P. troglodytes troglodytes and G. gorilla) had polyarticular peripheral joint disease with minimal sacroiliac involvement. DNA evidence revealed that Corynebactericeae were prominently represented in great apes with polyarticular disease, whereas Dietzia and Bifidobacterium exposure correlated with reduced peripheral joint arthritis distribution. Suggestions of a protective effect (in this case, limiting extent of peripheral arthritis, but not the disease itself) offered by these organisms are well represented by documented effects in other diseases (eg, tuberculosis) in the zoologic record. Perhaps it is this disease-modifying character that

Chimpanzee pinworm, Enterobius anthropopitheci (Nematoda: Oxyuridae), maintained for more than twenty years in captive chimpanzees in Japan.

PubMed

Hasegawa, Hideo; Udono, Toshifumi

2007-08-01

The chimpanzee pinworm, Enterobius anthropopitheci (Gedoelst, 1916), was found in chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, reared in Kumamoto Primate Research Park, Sanwa Kagaku Kenkyusho Co., Ltd., Kumamoto, Japan, in 2006. Because the chimpanzees in this institution originated from chimpanzees imported from Africa before 1984, it is considered that E. anthropopitheci infection has persisted for more than 20 yr in the chimpanzees. Analysis of pinworm specimens preserved in the institution revealed that transition of predominant pinworm species occurred, responding to the change of anthelmintics used for pinworm treatment. Present dominance of E. anthropopitheci is surmised to be caused by fenbendazole, which has been adopted from 2002. Scarcity of mixed infection with E. anthropopitheci and Enterobius vermicularis suggests interspecific competition between the pinworms.

A Competitive Nonverbal False Belief Task for Children and Apes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krachun, Carla; Carpenter, Malinda; Call, Josep; Tomasello, Michael

2009-01-01

A nonverbal false belief task was administered to children (mean age 5 years) and two great ape species: chimpanzees ("Pan troglodytes") and bonobos ("Pan paniscus"). Because apes typically perform poorly in cooperative contexts, our task was competitive. Two versions were run: in both, a human competitor witnessed an experimenter hide a reward in…

From evaporating pans to transpiring plants (John Dalton Medal Lecture)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roderick, Michael

2013-04-01

The name of the original inventor of irrigated agriculture is lost to antiquity. Nevertheless, one can perhaps imagine an inquisitive desert inhabitant noting the greener vegetation along a watercourse and putting two and two together. Once water was being supplied and food was being produced it would be natural to ask a further question: how much water can we put on? No doubt much experience was gained down through the ages, but again, one can readily imagine someone inverting a rain gauge, filling it with water and measuring how fast the water evaporated. The inverted rain gauge measures the demand for water by the atmosphere. We call it the evaporative demand. I do not know if this is what actually happened but it sure makes an interesting start to a talk. Evaporation pans are basically inverted rain gauges. The rain gauge and evaporation pan measure the supply and demand respectively and these instruments are the workhorses of agricultural meteorology. Rain gauges are well known. Evaporation pans are lesser known but are in widespread use and are a key part of several national standardized meteorological networks. Many more pans are used for things like scheduling irrigation on farms or estimating evaporation from lakes. Analysis of the long records now available from standardized networks has revealed an interesting phenomenon, i.e., pan evaporation has increased in some places and decreased in other but when averaged over large numbers of pans there has been a steady decline. These independent reports from, for example, the US, Russia, China, India, Thailand, are replicated in the southern hemisphere in, for example, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. One often hears the statement that because the earth is expected to warm with increasing greenhouse gas emissions then it follows that water will evaporate faster. The pan evaporation observations show that this widely held expectation is wrong. When expectations disagree with observations, it is the

Evidence for the consumption of arboreal, diurnal primates by bonobos (Pan paniscus).

PubMed

Surbeck, Martin; Fowler, Andrew; Deimel, Caroline; Hohmann, Gottfried

2009-02-01

We present evidence for the consumption of a diurnal, arboreal, group living primate by bonobos. The digit of an immature black mangabey (Lophocebus aterrimus) was found in the fresh feces of a bonobo (Pan paniscus) at the Lui Kotale study site, Democratic Republic of Congo. In close proximity to the fecal sample containing the remains of the digit, we also found a large part of the pelt of a black mangabey. Evidence suggests that the Lui Kotale bonobos consume more meat than other bonobo populations and have greater variation in the mammalian species exploited than previously thought [Hohmann & Fruth, Folia primatologica 79:103-110]. The current finding supports Stanford's argument [Current Anthropology 39:399-420] that some differences in the diet and behavior between chimpanzees (P. troglodytes) and bonobos are an artefact of the limited number of bonobo study populations. If bonobos did obtain the monkey by active hunting, this would challenge current evolutionary models relating the intra-specific aggression and violence seen in chimpanzees and humans to hunting and meat consumption [Wrangham, Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 42:1-30]. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Preparation and use of varied natural tools for extractive foraging by bonobos (Pan Paniscus).

PubMed

Roffman, Itai; Savage-Rumbaugh, Sue; Rubert-Pugh, Elizabeth; Stadler, André; Ronen, Avraham; Nevo, Eviatar

2015-09-01

The tool-assisted extractive foraging capabilities of captive (zoo) and semi-captive (sanctuary) bonobo (Pan paniscus) groups were compared to each other and to those known in wild chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) cultures. The bonobos were provided with natural raw materials and challenged with tasks not previously encountered, in experimental settings simulating natural contexts where resources requiring special retrieval efforts were hidden. They were shown that food was buried underground or inserted into long bone cavities, and left to tackle the tasks without further intervention. The bonobos used modified branches and unmodified antlers or stones to dig under rocks and in the ground or to break bones to retrieve the food. Antlers, short sticks, long sticks, and rocks were effectively used as mattocks, daggers, levers, and shovels, respectively. One bonobo successively struck a long bone with an angular hammer stone, completely bisecting it longitudinally. Another bonobo modified long branches into spears and used them as attack weapons and barriers. Bonobos in the sanctuary, unlike those in the zoo, used tool sets to perform sequential actions. The competent and diverse tool-assisted extractive foraging by the bonobos corroborates and complements the extensive information on similar tool use by chimpanzees, suggesting that such competence is a shared trait. Better performance by the sanctuary bonobos than the zoo group was probably due to differences in their cultural exposure and housing conditions. The bonobos' foraging techniques resembled some of those attributed to Oldowan hominins, implying that they can serve as referential models. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Pan Revealed

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-03-16

These two images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft show how the spacecraft's perspective changed as it passed within 15,300 miles (24,600 kilometers) of Saturn's moon Pan on March 7, 2017. This was Cassini's closest-ever encounter with Pan, improving the level of detail seen on the little moon by a factor of eight over previous observations. The views show the northern and southern hemispheres of Pan, at left and right, respectively. Both views look toward Pan's trailing side, which is the side opposite the moon's direction of motion as it orbits Saturn. Cassini imaging scientists think that Pan formed within Saturn's rings, with ring material accreting onto it and forming the rounded shape of its central mass, when the outer part of the ring system was quite young and the ring system was vertically thicker. Thus, Pan probably has a core of icy material that is denser than the softer mantle around it. The distinctive, thin ridge around Pan's equator is thought to have come after the moon formed and had cleared the gap in the rings in which it resides today. At that point the ring was as thin as it is today, yet there was still ring material accreting onto Pan. However, at the tail end of the process, that material was raining down on the moon solely in (or close to) its equatorial region. Thus, the infalling material formed a tall, narrow ridge of material. On a larger, more massive body, this ridge would not be so tall (relative to the body) because gravity would cause it to flatten out. But Pan's gravity is so feeble that the ring material simply settles onto Pan and builds up. Other dynamical forces keep the ridge from growing indefinitely. The images are presented here at their original size. The views were acquired by the Cassini narrow-angle camera at distances of 15,275 miles or 24,583 kilometers (left view) and 23,199 miles or 37,335 kilometers (right view). Image scale is 482 feet or 147 meters per pixel (left view) and about 735 feet or 224 meters per pixel

PanWeb: A web interface for pan-genomic analysis.

PubMed

Pantoja, Yan; Pinheiro, Kenny; Veras, Allan; Araújo, Fabrício; Lopes de Sousa, Ailton; Guimarães, Luis Carlos; Silva, Artur; Ramos, Rommel T J

2017-01-01

With increased production of genomic data since the advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS), there has been a need to develop new bioinformatics tools and areas, such as comparative genomics. In comparative genomics, the genetic material of an organism is directly compared to that of another organism to better understand biological species. Moreover, the exponentially growing number of deposited prokaryote genomes has enabled the investigation of several genomic characteristics that are intrinsic to certain species. Thus, a new approach to comparative genomics, termed pan-genomics, was developed. In pan-genomics, various organisms of the same species or genus are compared. Currently, there are many tools that can perform pan-genomic analyses, such as PGAP (Pan-Genome Analysis Pipeline), Panseq (Pan-Genome Sequence Analysis Program) and PGAT (Prokaryotic Genome Analysis Tool). Among these software tools, PGAP was developed in the Perl scripting language and its reliance on UNIX platform terminals and its requirement for an extensive parameterized command line can become a problem for users without previous computational knowledge. Thus, the aim of this study was to develop a web application, known as PanWeb, that serves as a graphical interface for PGAP. In addition, using the output files of the PGAP pipeline, the application generates graphics using custom-developed scripts in the R programming language. PanWeb is freely available at http://www.computationalbiology.ufpa.br/panweb.

Apes' and Children's Understanding of Cooperative and Competitive Motives in a Communicative Situation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herrmann, Esther; Tomasello, Michael

2006-01-01

Chimpanzees ("Pan troglodytes") and bonobos ("Pan paniscus") (Study 1) and 18- and 24-month-old human children (Study 2) participated in a novel communicative task. A human experimenter (E) hid food or a toy in one of two opaque containers before gesturing towards the reward's location in one of two ways. In the Informing condition, she attempted…

Anthrax in Western and Central African great apes.

PubMed

Leendertz, Fabian H; Lankester, Felix; Guislain, Patrick; Néel, Cécile; Drori, Ofir; Dupain, Jef; Speede, Sheri; Reed, Patricia; Wolfe, Nathan; Loul, Severin; Mpoudi-Ngole, E; Peeters, Martine; Boesch, Christophe; Pauli, Georg; Ellerbrok, Heinz; Leroy, Eric M

2006-09-01

During the period of December 2004 to January 2005, Bacillus anthracis killed three wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) and one gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in a tropical forest in Cameroon. While this is the second anthrax outbreak in wild chimpanzees, this is the first case of anthrax in gorillas ever reported. The number of great apes in Central Africa is dramatically declining and the populations are seriously threatened by diseases, mainly Ebola. Nevertheless, a considerable number of deaths cannot be attributed to Ebola virus and remained unexplained. Our results show that diseases other than Ebola may also threaten wild great apes, and indicate that the role of anthrax in great ape mortality may have been underestimated. These results suggest that risk identification, assessment, and management for the survival of the last great apes should be performed with an open mind, since various pathogens with distinct characteristics in epidemiology and pathogenicity may impact the populations. An animal mortality monitoring network covering the entire African tropical forest, with the dual aims of preventing both great ape extinction and human disease outbreaks, will create necessary baseline data for such risk assessments and management plans. Copyright 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Differences in evaporation between a floating pan and class a pan on land

USGS Publications Warehouse

Masoner, J.R.; Stannard, D.I.; Christenson, S.C.

2008-01-01

Research was conducted to develop a method for obtaining floating pan evaporation rates in a small (less than 10,000 m2) wetland, lagoon, or pond. Floating pan and land pan evaporation data were collected from March 1 to August 31, 2005, at a small natural wetland located in the alluvium of the Canadian River near Norman, Oklahoma, at the U.S. Geological Survey Norman Landfill Toxic Substances Hydrology Research Site. Floating pan evaporation rates were compared with evaporation rates from a nearby standard Class A evaporation pan on land. Floating pan evaporation rates were significantly less than land pan evaporation rates for the entire period and on a monthly basis. Results indicated that the use of a floating evaporation pan in a small free-water surface better simulates actual physical conditions on the water surface that control evaporation. Floating pan to land pan ratios were 0.82 for March, 0.87 for April, 0.85 for May, 0.85 for June, 0.79 for July, and 0.69 for August. ?? 2008 American Water Resources Association.

PanACEA: a bioinformatics tool for the exploration and visualization of bacterial pan-chromosomes.

PubMed

Clarke, Thomas H; Brinkac, Lauren M; Inman, Jason M; Sutton, Granger; Fouts, Derrick E

2018-06-27

Bacterial pan-genomes, comprised of conserved and variable genes across multiple sequenced bacterial genomes, allow for identification of genomic regions that are phylogenetically discriminating or functionally important. Pan-genomes consist of large amounts of data, which can restrict researchers ability to locate and analyze these regions. Multiple software packages are available to visualize pan-genomes, but currently their ability to address these concerns are limited by using only pre-computed data sets, prioritizing core over variable gene clusters, or by not accounting for pan-chromosome positioning in the viewer. We introduce PanACEA (Pan-genome Atlas with Chromosome Explorer and Analyzer), which utilizes locally-computed interactive web-pages to view ordered pan-genome data. It consists of multi-tiered, hierarchical display pages that extend from pan-chromosomes to both core and variable regions to single genes. Regions and genes are functionally annotated to allow for rapid searching and visual identification of regions of interest with the option that user-supplied genomic phylogenies and metadata can be incorporated. PanACEA's memory and time requirements are within the capacities of standard laptops. The capability of PanACEA as a research tool is demonstrated by highlighting a variable region important in differentiating strains of Enterobacter hormaechei. PanACEA can rapidly translate the results of pan-chromosome programs into an intuitive and interactive visual representation. It will empower researchers to visually explore and identify regions of the pan-chromosome that are most biologically interesting, and to obtain publication quality images of these regions.

77 FR 22181 - Pan American Day and Pan American Week, 2012

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-12

... American Day and Pan American Week, 2012 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation In April of 1890, delegates from countries throughout the Americas gathered in Washington, D.C., united in... democracy and economic opportunity for all our people. During Pan American Day and Pan American Week, we...

Redescription and resurrection of Bertiella satyri (Cestoda, Anoplocephalidae) parasitizing the orangutan (Pongo abelii) in Indonesia.

PubMed

Foitová, Ivona; Mašová, Sárka; Tenora, František; Koubková, Božena; Hodová, Iveta; Vyskočilová, Martina; Baruš, Vlastimil; Nurcahyo, Wisnu

2011-09-01

The tapeworm species Bertiella satyri from a semi-wild Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii: Ponginae) is redescribed and the sequence of its 18S rDNA is presented. The tapeworms parasitizing the genera Pan, Pongo, Homo and Hylobates from Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris and from Muséum d´Histoire Naturelle, Genève are also presented. The validity of B. satyri is confirmed. B. satyri (BSA) differs from the most similar species Bertiella studeri (BSTU) in the following characteristics: (1) testes number, BSTU 300-400; BSA 116-124, (2) genital opening, BSTU regularly alternate; BSA irregularly alternate, (3) Cirrus-sac, BSTU short, 0.250-0.320, does not reach excretory ducts; BSA long, 0.630 × 0.495, reaches excretory ducts, (4) egg size, BSTU 0.053-0.060; BSA 0.030-0.051, (5) host BSTU Pan troglodytes, Africa; BSA Pongo pygmaeus, P. abelii, Indonesia (Borneo, Sumatra). Both species differ according to our material and the name B. satyri (Blanchard, 1891) is resurrected.

Postnatal temporal bone ontogeny in Pan, Gorilla, and Homo, and the implications for temporal bone ontogeny in Australopithecus afarensis.

PubMed

Terhune, Claire E; Kimbel, William H; Lockwood, Charles A

2013-08-01

Assessments of temporal bone morphology have played an important role in taxonomic and phylogenetic evaluations of fossil taxa, and recent three-dimensional analyses of this region have supported the utility of the temporal bone for testing taxonomic and phylogenetic hypotheses. But while clinical analyses have examined aspects of temporal bone ontogeny in humans, the ontogeny of the temporal bone in non-human taxa is less well documented. This study examines ontogenetic allometry of the temporal bone in order to address several research questions related to the pattern and trajectory of temporal bone shape change during ontogeny in the African apes and humans. We further apply these data to a preliminary analysis of temporal bone ontogeny in Australopithecus afarensis. Three-dimensional landmarks were digitized on an ontogenetic series of specimens of Homo sapiens, Pan troglodytes, Pan paniscus, and Gorilla gorilla. Data were analyzed using geometric morphometric methods, and shape changes throughout ontogeny in relation to size were compared. Results of these analyses indicate that, despite broadly similar patterns, African apes and humans show marked differences in development of the mandibular fossa and tympanic portions of the temporal bone. These findings indicate divergent, rather than parallel, postnatal ontogenetic allometric trajectories for temporal bone shape in these taxa. The pattern of temporal bone shape change with size exhibited by A. afarensis showed some affinities to that of humans, but was most similar to extant African apes, particularly Gorilla. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Superficial Velocity Effects on HZ-PAN and AgZ-PAN for Kr/Xe Capture

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Welty, Amy Keil; Garn, Troy Gerry; Greenhalgh, Mitchell Randy

2016-04-01

Nearly all previous testing of HZ-PAN and AgZ-PAN was conducted at the same flow rate in order to maintain consistency among tests. This testing was sufficient for sorbent capacity determinations, but did not ensure that sorbents were capable of functioning under a range of flow regimes. Tests were conducted on both HZ-PAN and AgZ-PAN at superficial velocities between 20 and 700 cm/min. For HZ-PAN, Kr capacity increased from 60 mmol/kg to 110 mmol/kg as superficial velocity increased from 21 to 679 cm/min. Results for AgZ-PAN were similar, with capacity ranging from 72 to 124 mmol/kg over the same range ofmore » superficial. These results are promising for scaling up to process flows, demonstrating flexibility to operate in a broad range of superficial velocities while maintaining sorbent capacity. While preparing for superficial velocity testing it was also discovered that AgZ-PAN Xe capacity, previously observed to diminish over time, could be recovered with increased desorption temperature. Further, a substantial Xe capacity increase was observed. Previous room temperature capacities in the range of 22-25 mmol Xe/kg AgZ-PAN were increased to over 60 mmol Xe/kg AgZ-PAN. While this finding has not yet been fully explored to optimize activation and desorption temperatures, it is encouraging.« less

The Pan-American Center for the WMO Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory and Assessment System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sprigg, W. A.

2013-05-01

A World Meteorological Organization system has been established to coordinate knowledge, data, and information concerning airborne dust, the environmental conditions and storms that generate it, the consequences of it, and the means to mitigate and cope with it. Three nodes, or foci, of collaboration cover the globe: for Asia, administered from the China Meteorological Administration in Beijing; for Africa, Europe and the Middle East, administered from the Barcelona Supercomputing Center; and for Pan-America, administered from Chapman University in Orange, California. Pan-American Center priorities include understanding the sources of windblown dust and particulates, simulating and predicting dust events, and serving the health, safety and environmental communities that may benefit from the WMO system.

Brazil-Africa geological links

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Torquato, Joaquim Raul; Cordani, Umberto G.

1981-04-01

In this work, the main evidence and conclusions regarding geological links between Brazil and Africa are summarized, with emphasis on the geochronological aspects. Taking into account the geographical position, as well as the similarities in the geochronological pattern, the following main provinces of the two continents are correlated: The Imataca and Falawatra complexes in the Guayana Shield and the Liberian Province of West Africa. The Paraguay-Araguaia and the Rockelide Fold Belts. The Sa˜o Luiz and the West African cratonic areas. The Caririan Fold Belt of northeastern Brazil and the Pan-Africa Belt of Nigeria and Cameroon. The JequiéComplex of Bahia, the Ntem Complex of Cameroon and similar rocks of Gabon and Angola. The Ribeira Fold Belt in Brazil and the West Congo and Damara Belts in West and South Africa. In addition, other geological links are considered, such as some of the major linear fault zones which can be traced across the margins of South America and Africa, in the pre-drift reconstructions. Correlations are also made of the tectonic and stratigraphic evolution of the Paranáand Karroo syneclises, and the Brazilian and African marginal basins around the South Atlantic, during their initial stages. Finally, several similarities in the tectonic evolution of South America and Africa, during and after the onset of drifting, are shown to be compatible with a recent origin for the South Atlantic floor, as required by sea-floor spreading and continental drift between South America and Africa.

Functional Analysis and Treatment of Human-Directed Undesirable Behavior Exhibited by a Captive Chimpanzee

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Allison L.; Bloomsmith, Mollie A.; Kelley, Michael E.; Marr, M. Jackson; Maple, Terry L.

2011-01-01

A functional analysis identified the reinforcer maintaining feces throwing and spitting exhibited by a captive adult chimpanzee ("Pan troglodytes"). The implementation of a function-based treatment combining extinction with differential reinforcement of an alternate behavior decreased levels of inappropriate behavior. These findings further…

The Togo-Benin-Nigeria Shield: evidence of crustal aggregation in the Pan-African belt

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ajibade, A. C.; Wright, J. B.

1989-08-01

The importance of "suspect" or "exotic" (i.e. allochthonous) terranes as a major element in collisional orogenic belts is becoming well established. We propose that the southern Pan-African domain in West Africa is an aggregation or " mosaic" of island arcs, interarc (ensimatic) basins and continental fragments. A fracture zone in northwestern Nigeria, already identified as a possible crustal suture, is shown to separate two contrasted basement terranes. Elsewhere in the shield are flat-lying structures characteristic of those associated with crustal convergence, lying within or near to major fractures. Many small ultramafic/mafic bodies occur in the shield and some of them may be remnants of ophiolites caught up in suture zones. An aggregation of allochthonous terranes (island arcs, sedimentary basins and continental blocks) would help to explain: (a) the great width of the Pan-African belt; (b) the spread of ages within the "Pan-African" range (c. 750-450 Ma), also the relict Liberian and Eburnian ages (c. 2700 and 2000 Ma respectively); and the enigmatic Kibaran "event" (c. 1100 Ma); (c) the contrasted volcano-sedimentary characteristics of the different supracrustal belts.

Nut-cracking behaviour in wild-born, rehabilitated bonobos (Pan paniscus): a comprehensive study of hand-preference, hand grips and efficiency.

PubMed

Neufuss, Johanna; Humle, Tatyana; Cremaschi, Andrea; Kivell, Tracy L

2017-02-01

There has been an enduring interest in primate tool-use and manipulative abilities, most often with the goal of providing insight into the evolution of human manual dexterity, right-hand preference, and what behaviours make humans unique. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are arguably the most well-studied tool-users amongst non-human primates, and are particularly well-known for their complex nut-cracking behaviour, which has been documented in several West African populations. However, their sister-taxon, the bonobos (Pan paniscus), rarely engage in even simple tool-use and are not known to nut-crack in the wild. Only a few studies have reported tool-use in captive bonobos, including their ability to crack nuts, but details of this complex tool-use behaviour have not been documented before. Here, we fill this gap with the first comprehensive analysis of bonobo nut-cracking in a natural environment at the Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Eighteen bonobos were studied as they cracked oil palm nuts using stone hammers. Individual bonobos showed exclusive laterality for using the hammerstone and there was a significant group-level right-hand bias. The study revealed 15 hand grips for holding differently sized and weighted hammerstones, 10 of which had not been previously described in the literature. Our findings also demonstrated that bonobos select the most effective hammerstones when nut-cracking. Bonobos are efficient nut-crackers and not that different from the renowned nut-cracking chimpanzees of Bossou, Guinea, which also crack oil palm nuts using stones. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Origin of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum in gorillas

PubMed Central

Liu, Weimin; Li, Yingying; Learn, Gerald H.; Rudicell, Rebecca S.; Robertson, Joel D.; Keele, Brandon F.; Ndjango, Jean-Bosco N.; Sanz, Crickette M.; Morgan, David B.; Locatelli, Sabrina; Gonder, Mary K.; Kranzusch, Philip J.; Walsh, Peter D.; Delaporte, Eric; Mpoudi-Ngole, Eitel; Georgiev, Alexander V.; Muller, Martin N.; Shaw, George M.; Peeters, Martine; Sharp, Paul M.; Rayner, Julian C.; Hahn, Beatrice H.

2010-01-01

Plasmodium falciparum is the most prevalent and lethal of the malaria parasites infecting humans, yet the origin and evolutionary history of this important pathogen remain controversial. Here, we developed a novel polymerase chain reaction based single genome amplification strategy to identify and characterize Plasmodium spp. DNA sequences in fecal samples of wild-living apes. Among nearly 3,000 specimens collected from field sites throughout central Africa, we found Plasmodium infection in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla), but not in eastern gorillas (Gorilla beringei) or bonobos (Pan paniscus). Ape plasmodial infections were highly prevalent, widely distributed, and almost always comprised of mixed parasite species. Analysis of more than 1,100 mitochondrial, apicoplast and nuclear gene sequences from chimpanzees and gorillas revealed that 99% grouped within one of six host-specific lineages representing distinct Plasmodium species within the subgenus Laverania. One of these from western gorillas was comprised of parasites that were nearly identical to P. falciparum. In phylogenetic analyses of full-length mitochondrial sequences, human P. falciparum formed a monophyletic lineage within the gorilla parasite radiation. These findings indicate that P. falciparum is of gorilla and not of chimpanzee, bonobo or ancient human origin. PMID:20864995

Psychological health of orphan bonobos and chimpanzees in African sanctuaries.

PubMed

Wobber, Victoria; Hare, Brian

2011-01-01

Facilities across Africa care for apes orphaned by the trade for "bushmeat." These facilities, called sanctuaries, provide housing for apes such as bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) who have been illegally taken from the wild and sold as pets. Although these circumstances are undoubtedly stressful for the apes, most individuals arrive at the sanctuaries as infants and are subsequently provided with rich physical and social environments that can facilitate the expression of species-typical behaviors. We tested whether bonobo and chimpanzee orphans living in sanctuaries show any behavioral, physiological, or cognitive abnormalities relative to other individuals in captivity as a result of the early-life stress they experience. Orphans showed lower levels of aberrant behaviors, similar levels of average cortisol, and highly similar performances on a broad battery of cognitive tests in comparisons with individuals of the same species who were either living at a zoo or were reared by their mothers at the sanctuaries. Taken together, these results support the rehabilitation strategy used by sanctuaries in the Pan-African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) and suggest that the orphans we examined did not show long-term signs of stress as a result of their capture. Our findings also show that sanctuary apes are as psychologically healthy as apes in other captive settings and thus represent a valuable resource for non-invasive research.

Cardiovascular studies using the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hinds, J. E.; Cothran, L. N.; Hawthorne, E. W.

1977-01-01

Despite the phylogenetic similarities between chimpanzees and man, there exists a paucity of reliable data on normal cardiovascular function and the physiological responses of the system to standard interventions. Totally implanted biotelemetry systems or hardwire analog techniques were used to examine the maximum number of cardiovascular variables which could be simultaneously monitored without significantly altering the system's performance. This was performed in order to acquire base-line data not previously obtained in this species, to determine cardiovascular response to specific forcing functions such as ventricular pacing, drug infusions, and lower body negative pressure. A cardiovascular function profile protocol was developed in order to adjust independently the three major factors which modify ventricular performance, namely, left ventricular performance, left ventricular preload, afterload, and contractility. Cardiac pacing at three levels above the ambient rate was used to adjust end diastolic volume (preload). Three concentrations of angiotensin were infused continuously to evaluate afterload in a stepwide fashion. A continuous infusion of dobutamine was administered to raise the manifest contractile state of the heart.

Causal capture effects in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Matsuno, Toyomi; Tomonaga, Masaki

2017-01-01

Extracting a cause-and-effect structure from the physical world is an important demand for animals living in dynamically changing environments. Human perceptual and cognitive mechanisms are known to be sensitive and tuned to detect and interpret such causal structures. In contrast to rigorous investigations of human causal perception, the phylogenetic roots of this perception are not well understood. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the susceptibility of nonhuman animals to mechanical causality by testing whether chimpanzees perceived an illusion called causal capture (Scholl & Nakayama, 2002). Causal capture is a phenomenon in which a type of bistable visual motion of objects is perceived as causal collision due to a bias from a co-occurring causal event. In our experiments, we assessed the susceptibility of perception of a bistable stream/bounce motion event to a co-occurring causal event in chimpanzees. The results show that, similar to in humans, causal "bounce" percepts were significantly increased in chimpanzees with the addition of a task-irrelevant causal bounce event that was synchronously presented. These outcomes suggest that the perceptual mechanisms behind the visual interpretation of causal structures in the environment are evolutionarily shared between human and nonhuman animals. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Object-based attention in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Ushitani, Tomokazu; Imura, Tomoko; Tomonaga, Masaki

2010-03-17

We conducted three experiments to investigate how object-based components contribute to the attentional processes of chimpanzees and to examine how such processes operate with regard to perceptually structured objects. In Experiment 1, chimpanzees responded to a spatial cueing task that required them to touch a target appearing at either end of two parallel rectangles. We compared the time involved in shifting attention (cost of attentional shift) when the locations of targets were cued and non cued. Results showed that the cost of the attentional shift within one rectangle was smaller than that beyond the object's boundary, demonstrating object-based attention in chimpanzees. The results of Experiment 2, conducted with different stimulus configurations, replicated the results of Experiment 1, supporting that object-based attention operates in chimpanzees. In Experiment 3, the cost of attentional shift within a cued but partly occluded rectangle was shorter than that within a rectangle that was cued but divided in the middle. The results suggest that the attention of chimpanzees is activated not only by an explicit object but also by fragmented patches represented as an object at a higher-order perceptual level. Chimpanzees' object-based attention may be similar to that of humans. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Astronomy Landscape in Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nemaungani, Takalani

2015-01-01

The vision for astronomy in Africa is embedded in the African Space Policy of the African Union in early 2014. The vision is about positioning Africa as an emerging hub for astronomy sciences and facilities. Africa recognized the need to take advantage of its natural resource, the geographical advantage of the clear southern skies and pristine sites for astronomy. The Pan African University (PAU) initiative also presents an opportunity as a post-graduate training and research network of university nodes in five regions of Africa and supported by the African Union. The Southern African node based in South Africa concentrates on space sciences which also includes astronomy. The PAU aims to provide the opportunity for advanced graduate training and postgraduate research to high-performing African students. Objectives also include promoting mobility of students and teachers and harmonizing programs and degrees.A number of astronomy initiatives have burgeoned in the Southern African region and these include the Southern Africa Largest Optical Telescope (SALT), HESS (High Energy Stereoscopic System), the SKA (Square Kilometre Array) and the AVN (African Very Long Baseline Interferometer Network). There is a growing appetite for astronomy sciences in Africa. In East Africa, the astronomy community is well organized and is growing - the East African Astronomical society (EAAS) held its successful fourth annual conference since 2010 on 30 June to 04 July 2014 at the University of Rwanda. Centred around the 'Role of Astronomy in Socio-Economic Transformation,' this conference aimed at strengthening capacity building in Astronomy, Astrophysics and Space Science in general, while providing a forum for astronomers from the region to train young and upcoming scientists.

Reading for All in Africa: Building Communities Where Literacy Thrives.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arua, Arua E., Ed.

This collection of more than 40 papers was selected from more than 150 presentations at the 2nd Pan-African Conference on Reading sponsored by the Reading Association of Nigeria and the International Reading Association's International Development in Africa Committee. The collection is divided into seven sections. Under Section 1--Towards Building…

Gestural acquisition in great apes: the Social Negotiation Hypothesis.

PubMed

Pika, Simone; Fröhlich, Marlen

2018-01-24

Scientific interest in the acquisition of gestural signalling dates back to the heroic figure of Charles Darwin. More than a hundred years later, we still know relatively little about the underlying evolutionary and developmental pathways involved. Here, we shed new light on this topic by providing the first systematic, quantitative comparison of gestural development in two different chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus and Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) subspecies and communities living in their natural environments. We conclude that the three most predominant perspectives on gestural acquisition-Phylogenetic Ritualization, Social Transmission via Imitation, and Ontogenetic Ritualization-do not satisfactorily explain our current findings on gestural interactions in chimpanzees in the wild. In contrast, we argue that the role of interactional experience and social exposure on gestural acquisition and communicative development has been strongly underestimated. We introduce the revised Social Negotiation Hypothesis and conclude with a brief set of empirical desiderata for instigating more research into this intriguing research domain.

The pipes of pan.

PubMed

Chalif, David J

2004-12-01

The pipes of pan is the crowning achievement of Pablo Picasso's neoclassical period of the 1920s. This monumental canvas depicts a mythological Mediterranean scene in which two sculpted classical giants stare out, seemingly across the centuries, toward a distant and lost Arcadia. Picasso was influenced by Greco-Roman art during his travels in Italy, and his neoclassical works typically portray massive, immobile, and pensive figures. Pan and his pipes are taken directly from Greek mythological lore by Picasso and placed directly into 20th century art. He frequently turned to various mythological figures throughout his metamorphosing periods. The Pipes of Pan was also influenced by the painter's infatuation with the beautiful American expatriate Sara Murphy, and the finished masterpiece represents a revision of a previously conceived neoclassical work. The Pipes of Pan now hangs in the Musee Picasso in Paris.

Enculturated Chimpanzees Imitate Rationally

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buttelmann, David; Carpenter, Malinda; Call, Josep; Tomasello, Michael

2007-01-01

Human infants imitate others' actions "rationally": they copy a demonstrator's action when that action is freely chosen, but less when it is forced by some constraint (Gergely, Bekkering & Kiraly, 2002). We investigated whether enculturated chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) also imitate rationally. Using Gergely and colleagues' (2002) basic procedure,…

77 FR 49453 - Endangered Species; Receipt of Applications for Permit

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-16

... (Pan troglodytes) biological samples from Congo for the purpose of enhancement to the survival of the..., for the purpose of enhancement of the survival of the species. This notification covers activities to... purpose of enhancement of the survival of the species. This notification covers activities to be conducted...

Transcriptomic analysis of the venom glands from the scorpion Hadogenes troglodytes revealed unique and extremely high diversity of the venom peptides.

PubMed

Zhong, Jie; Zeng, Xian-Chun; Zeng, Xin; Nie, Yao; Zhang, Lei; Wu, Shifen; Bao, Aorigele

2017-01-06

Hadogenes is a genus of large African scorpions with 18 described species. However, little is known about the venom peptide composition of any species from Hadogenes so far. Here, we fully explored the composition of venom gland peptides from Hadogenes troglodytes using transcriptomic approach. We discovered 121 novel peptides from the scorpion, including 20 new-type peptides cross-linked with one, two, three, four or seven disulfide bridges, respectively, 11 novel K + -channel toxin-like peptides, 2 novel ryanodine receptors-specific toxin-like peptides, a unique peptide containing the cysteine knots of spider toxins, 15 novel La1-like toxins, 3 novel TIL domain-containing peptides, 5 novel peptides with atypical cysteine patterns, 19 novel antimicrobial peptides, 6 novel cysteine-free peptides and 39 new-type cysteine-free peptides. Among them, the new-type peptides are largely dominant; this highlights the unique diversity of the venom gland peptides from H. troglodytes. Some of the new peptides would serve as new molecular probes for the investigations of cellular ion channels and other receptors, or offer new templates for the development of therapeutic drugs for the treatment of ion channel-associated diseases, and infections caused by antibiotics-resistant pathogens. In this study, we fully explored the composition of venom gland peptides from the scorpion Hadogenes troglodytes using transcriptomic approach. We discovered a total of 121 novel peptides from the venom glands of the scorpion, of which new-type peptides are largely dominant. These data highlight the unique diversity of the venom gland peptides from the scorpion H. troglodytes, gain insights into new mechanisms for the scorpion to subdue its prey and predators, and enlarge the protein database of scorpion venom glands. The discovery of a lot of novel peptides provides new templates for the development of therapeutic drugs, and offers new molecular materials for the basic researches of various

Precision Photometry and Astrometry from Pan-STARRS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Magnier, Eugene A.; Pan-STARRS Team

2018-01-01

The Pan-STARRS 3pi Survey has been calibrated with excellent precision for both astrometry and photometry. The Pan-STARRS Data Release 1, opened to the public on 2016 Dec 16, provides photometry in 5 well-calibrated, well-defined bandpasses (grizy) astrometrically registered to the Gaia frame. Comparisons with other surveys illustrate the high quality of the calibration and provide tests of remaining systematic errors in both Pan-STARRS and those external surveys. With photometry and astrometry of roughly 3 billion astronomical objects, the Pan-STARRS DR1 has substantial overlap with Gaia, SDSS, 2MASS and other surveys. I will discuss the astrometric tie between Pan-STARRS DR1 and Gaia and show comparisons between Pan-STARRS and other large-scale surveys.

Guns, germs, and trees determine density and distribution of gorillas and chimpanzees in Western Equatorial Africa

PubMed Central

Blake, Stephen; Stokes, Emma J.; Aba’a, Rostand; Abitsi, Gaspard; Agbor, Anthony; Ambahe, Ruffin D.; Bakabana, Parfait C.; Bechem, Martha; Berlemont, Antoine; Bokoto de Semboli, Bruno; Boundja, Patrick R.; Campbell, Genevieve; De Wachter, Pauwel; Ella Akou, Marc; Esono Mba, Fidel; Feistner, Anna T. C.; Fosso, Bernard; Fotso, Roger; Greer, David; Inkamba-Nkulu, Clement; Iyenguet, Calixte F.; Jeffery, Kathryn J.; Kokangoye, Max; Madzoke, Bola; Makoumbou, Calixte; Malanda, Guy-Aimé F.; Malonga, Richard; Mbolo, Victor; Morgan, David B.; Motsaba, Prosper; Moukala, Gabin; Mowawa, Brice S.; Ndzai, Christian; Nishihara, Tomoaki; Nzooh, Zacharie; Pintea, Lilian; Rainey, Hugo J.; Rayden, Tim; Sanz, Crickette M.; Vanleeuwe, Hilde; Vosper, Ashley; Warren, Ymke; Wilkie, David S.

2018-01-01

We present a range-wide assessment of sympatric western lowland gorillas Gorilla gorilla gorilla and central chimpanzees Pan troglodytes troglodytes using the largest survey data set ever assembled for these taxa: 59 sites in five countries surveyed between 2003 and 2013, totaling 61,000 person-days of fieldwork. We used spatial modeling to investigate major drivers of great ape distribution and population trends. We predicted density across each taxon’s geographic range, allowing us to estimate overall abundance: 361,900 gorillas and 128,700 chimpanzees in Western Equatorial Africa—substantially higher than previous estimates. These two subspecies represent close to 99% of all gorillas and one-third of all chimpanzees. Annual population decline of gorillas was estimated at 2.7%, maintaining them as Critically Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List. We quantified the threats to each taxon, of which the three greatest were poaching, disease, and habitat degradation. Gorillas and chimpanzees are found at higher densities where forest is intact, wildlife laws are enforced, human influence is low, and disease impacts have been low. Strategic use of the results of these analyses could conserve the majority of gorillas and chimpanzees. With around 80% of both subspecies occurring outside protected areas, their conservation requires reinforcement of anti-poaching efforts both inside and outside protected areas (particularly where habitat quality is high and human impact is low), diligent disease control measures (including training, advocacy, and research into Ebola virus disease), and the preservation of high-quality habitat through integrated land-use planning and implementation of best practices by the extractive and agricultural industries. PMID:29707637

A model of the biogeographical journey from Proto-pan to Pan paniscus.

PubMed

Myers Thompson, Jo A

2003-04-01

Pan paniscus is unique in the group of African apes because of its range south of the Congo River. Examination of the bio-geographical journey of the genus Pan to the species P. paniscus is important when discussing the evolution of African apes. This paper is a review of the paleo-geographic events, the zoogeography, and faunal sorting which influenced P. paniscus divergence from the Proto-pan ancestor within the recent Miocene through Pliocene Epochs, approximately 10-2 MYA. Finally, by elucidating modern day evidence of food plant forms in the southern periphery exploited by P. paniscus in the forest/savanna mosaic habitat, we are able to conclude with those extrinsic events that most influenced the occurrence and distribution of P. paniscus.

First records of tool-set use for ant-dipping by Eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in the Kalinzu Forest Reserve, Uganda.

PubMed

Hashimoto, Chie; Isaji, Mina; Koops, Kathelijne; Furuichi, Takeshi

2015-10-01

Chimpanzees at numerous study sites are known to prey on army ants by using a single wand to dip into the ant nest or column. However, in Goualougo (Republic of Congo) in Central Africa, chimpanzees use a different technique, use of a woody sapling to perforate the ant nest, then use of a herb stem as dipping tool to harvest the army ants. Use of a tool set has also been found in Guinea, West Africa: at Seringbara in the Nimba Mountains and at nearby Bossou. There are, however, no reports for chimpanzees in East Africa. We observed use of such a tool set in Kalinzu, Uganda, for the first time by Eastern chimpanzees. This behavior was observed among one group of chimpanzees at Kalinzu (S-group) but not among the adjacent group (M-group) with partly overlapping ranging areas despite the fact that the latter group has been under intensive observation since 1997. In Uganda, ant-dipping has not been observed in the northern three sites (Budongo, Semliki, and Kibale) but has been observed or seems to occur in the southern sites (Kalinzu and Bwindi), which suggests that ant-dipping was invented by and spread from the southern region after the northern and southern forest blocks became separated. Use of a tool-set by only one group at Kalinzu further suggests that this behavior was recently invented and has not yet spread to the other group via migrating females.

Géologie du synclinal de l'Itombwe (Zaïre oriental) et le problème de l'existence d'un sillon plissé pan-africain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Villeneuve, Michel

From the N.S. linear structure of the Itombwe syncline arise some problems in central Africa. Some authors considered it as a Kibarian structure and others as an isolated fold belt of Pan-African orogeny. This ambiguity is the result, in its greatest part, of the scarceness of field work and the lack of dating on the rocks of this syncline. A study on the central area showed the existence of two lithostructural units. The western area is correlated with a Kibarian structure while the eastern area had some similarities with the tectonic Pan-African troughts from NE of Zaïre and west of Uganda. The existence of an area folded during the Pan-African orogeny and in the same environment as the great African lakes area must be considered.

Investigation of needleless electrospun PAN nanofiber mats

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sabantina, Lilia; Mirasol, José Rodríguez; Cordero, Tomás; Finsterbusch, Karin; Ehrmann, Andrea

2018-04-01

Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) can be spun from a nontoxic solvent (DMSO, dimethyl sulfoxide) and is nevertheless waterproof, opposite to the biopolymers which are spinnable from aqueous solutions. This makes PAN an interesting material for electrospinning nanofiber mats which can be used for diverse biotechnological or medical applications, such as filters, cell growth, wound healing or tissue engineering. On the other hand, PAN is a typical base material for producing carbon nanofibers. Nevertheless, electrospinning PAN necessitates convenient spinning parameters to create nanofibers without too many membranes or agglomerations. Thus we have studied the influence of spinning parameters on the needleless electrospinning process of PAN dissolved in DMSO and the resulting nanofiber mats.

Clinical Evaluation of Youth with Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS): Recommendations from the 2013 PANS Consensus Conference

PubMed Central

Frankovich, Jennifer; Cooperstock, Michael; Cunningham, Madeleine W.; Latimer, M. Elizabeth; Murphy, Tanya K.; Pasternack, Mark; Thienemann, Margo; Williams, Kyle; Walter, Jolan; Swedo, Susan E.

2015-01-01

Abstract On May 23 and 24, 2013, the First PANS Consensus Conference was convened at Stanford University, calling together a geographically diverse group of clinicians and researchers from complementary fields of pediatrics: General and developmental pediatrics, infectious diseases, immunology, rheumatology, neurology, and child psychiatry. Participants were academicians with clinical and research interests in pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with streptococcus (PANDAS) in youth, and the larger category of pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS). The goals were to clarify the diagnostic boundaries of PANS, to develop systematic strategies for evaluation of suspected PANS cases, and to set forth the most urgently needed studies in this field. Presented here is a consensus statement proposing recommendations for the diagnostic evaluation of youth presenting with PANS. PMID:25325534

Psychological Health of Orphan Bonobos and Chimpanzees in African Sanctuaries

PubMed Central

Wobber, Victoria; Hare, Brian

2011-01-01

Background Facilities across Africa care for apes orphaned by the trade for “bushmeat.” These facilities, called sanctuaries, provide housing for apes such as bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) who have been illegally taken from the wild and sold as pets. Although these circumstances are undoubtedly stressful for the apes, most individuals arrive at the sanctuaries as infants and are subsequently provided with rich physical and social environments that can facilitate the expression of species-typical behaviors. Methods and Findings We tested whether bonobo and chimpanzee orphans living in sanctuaries show any behavioral, physiological, or cognitive abnormalities relative to other individuals in captivity as a result of the early-life stress they experience. Orphans showed lower levels of aberrant behaviors, similar levels of average cortisol, and highly similar performances on a broad battery of cognitive tests in comparisons with individuals of the same species who were either living at a zoo or were reared by their mothers at the sanctuaries. Conclusion Taken together, these results support the rehabilitation strategy used by sanctuaries in the Pan-African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) and suggest that the orphans we examined did not show long-term signs of stress as a result of their capture. Our findings also show that sanctuary apes are as psychologically healthy as apes in other captive settings and thus represent a valuable resource for non-invasive research. PMID:21666743

Mapping the groundwater vulnerability for pollution at the pan African scale.

PubMed

Ouedraogo, Issoufou; Defourny, Pierre; Vanclooster, Marnik

2016-02-15

We estimated vulnerability and pollution risk of groundwater at the pan-African scale. We therefore compiled the most recent continental scale information on soil, land use, geology, hydrogeology and climate in a Geographical Information System (GIS) at a resolution of 15 km × 15 km and at the scale of 1:60,000,000. The groundwater vulnerability map was constructed by means of the DRASTIC method. The map reveals that groundwater is highly vulnerable in Central and West Africa, where the watertable is very low. In addition, very low vulnerability is found in the large sedimentary basins of the African deserts where groundwater is situated in very deep aquifers. The groundwater pollution risk map is obtained by overlaying the DRASTIC vulnerability map with land use. The northern, central and western part of the African continent is dominated by high pollution risk classes and this is very strongly related to shallow groundwater systems and the development of agricultural activities. Subsequently, we performed a sensitivity analysis to evaluate the relative importance of each parameter on groundwater vulnerability and pollution risk. The sensitivity analysis indicated that the removal of the impact of vadose zone, the depth of the groundwater, the hydraulic conductivity and the net recharge causes a large variation in the mapped vulnerability and pollution risk. The mapping model was validated using nitrate concentration data of groundwater as a proxy of pollution risk. Pan-African concentration data were inferred from a meta-analysis of literature data. Results shows a good match between nitrate concentration and the groundwater pollution risk classes. The pan African assessment of groundwater vulnerability and pollution risk is expected to be of particular value for water policy and for designing groundwater resources management programs. We expect, however, that this assessment can be strongly improved when better pan African monitoring data related to groundwater

How much more would KNM-WT 15000 have grown?

PubMed

Ruff, Christopher B; Burgess, M Loring

2015-03-01

Because of its completeness, the juvenile Homo ergaster/erectus KNM-WT 15000 has played an important role in studies of the evolution of body form in Homo. Early attempts to estimate his adult body size used modern human growth models. However, more recent evidence, particularly from the dentition, suggests that he may have had a more chimpanzee-like growth trajectory. Here we re-estimate his adult stature and body mass using ontogenetic data derived from four African ape taxa: Pan troglodytes troglodytes, Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii, Pan paniscus, and Gorilla gorilla gorilla. The average percentage change in femoral and tibial lengths and femoral head breadth between individuals at the same stage of dental development as KNM-WT 15000 - eruption of M2s but not M3s - and adult individuals with fully fused long bone epiphyses, was determined. Results were then applied to KNM-WT 15000, and his adult size estimated from skeletal dimensions using modern human prediction formulae. Using this approach, adult stature best estimates of 176-180 cm and body mass best estimates of 80-83 kg were obtained. These estimates are close to those estimated directly from longitudinal changes in body length and body mass between 8 and 12 years of age in chimpanzees, the suggested chronological equivalent to KNM-WT 15000's remaining growth period. Thus, even using an African ape growth model, it is likely that KNM-WT 15000 would have attained close to 180 cm in stature (without a slight reduction for his lower cranial height) and 80 kg in body mass as an adult. Other evidence from the East African Early Pleistocene indicates that KNM-WT 15000 was not unusually large-bodied for his time period. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Distribution of a community of mammals in relation to roads and other human disturbances in Gabon, central Africa.

PubMed

Vanthomme, Hadrien; Kolowski, Joseph; Korte, Lisa; Alonso, Alfonso

2013-04-01

We present the first community-level study of the associations of both roads and other human disturbances with the distribution of mammals in Gabon (central Africa). Our study site was in an oil concession within a littoral mosaic landscape. We conducted surveys along 199 line transects and installed camera traps on 99 of these transects to document mammal presence and abundance. We used generalized linear mixed-effect models to document associations between variables related to the ecosystem (land cover, topography, and hydrology), roads (coating, width of rights of way, condition, type of vehicle used on the road, traffic level, affiliation of users, and general type of road), and other human disturbances (urbanization, agriculture, hunting, logging, gathering, and industrial activities) and the abundance or presence of 17 species or groups of mammals including elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis), buffalo (Syncerus caffer), sitatunga (Tragelaphus spekei), red river hog (Potamochoerus porcus), smaller ungulates, gorilla (Gorilla gorilla), chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), side-striped jackal (Canis adustus), carnivores, monkeys, and large rodents. Some types of roads and other human disturbances were negatively associated with the abundance or presence of elephants, buffalos, gorillas, sitatungas, some monkeys, and duikers. The pattern of associations of mammals with roads and other human disturbances was diverse and included positive associations with road presence (red river hog, some monkeys, and duikers), agriculture (sitatunga, small carnivores, and large rodents) and industrial activities (sitatunga, red river hog, red duikers, and side-striped jackal). Our results suggest that the community of mammals we studied was mostly affected by hunting, agriculture, and urbanization, which are facilitated by road presence. We recommend increased regulation of agriculture, hunting, and road building in the area. Conservation Biology © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology No

Pan-Eurasian experiment (PEEX) establishing a process towards high level Pan-Eurasian atmosphere-ecosystem observation networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lappalainen, Hanna K.; Petäjä, Tuukka; Zaytzeva, Nina; Viisanen, Yrjö; Kotlyakov, Vladimir; Kasimov, Nikolay; Bondur, Valery; Matvienko, Gennady; Zilitinkevich, Sergej; Kulmala, Markku

2014-05-01

Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) is a new multidisciplinary research approach aiming at resolving the major uncertainties in the Earth system science and global sustainability questions in the Arctic and boreal Pan-Eurasian regions (Kulmala et al. 2011). The main goal of PEEX Research agenda is to contribute to solving the scientific questions that are specifically important for the Pan-Eurasian region in the coming years, in particular the global climate change and its consequences to nature and human society. Pan Eurasian region represents one the Earth most extensive areas of boreal forest (taiga) and the largest natural wetlands, thus being a significant source area of trace gas emissions, biogenic aerosol particles, and source and sink area for the greenhouse gas (GHG) exchange in a global scale (Guenther et al. 1995, Timkovsky et al. 2010, Tunved et al. 2006, Glagolev et al. 2010). One of the first activities of the PEEX initiative is to establish a process towards high level Pan-Eurasian Observation Networks. Siberian region is currently lacking a coordinated, coherent ground based atmosphere-ecosystem measurement network, which would be crucial component for observing and predicting the effects of climate change in the Northern Pan- Eurasian region The vision of the Pan-Eurasion network will be based on a hierarchical SMEAR-type (Stations Measuring Atmosphere-Ecosystem Interactions) integrated land-atmosphere observation system (Hari et al. 2009). A suite of stations have been selected for the Preliminary Phase of PEEX Observation network. These Preliminary Phase stations includes the SMEAR-type stations in Finland (SMEAR-I-II-II-IV stations), in Estonia (SMEAR-Järviselja) and in China (SMEAR-Nanjing) and selected stations in Russia and ecosystem station network in China. PEEX observation network will fill in the current observational gap in the Siberian region and bring the Siberian observation setup into international context with the with standardized or

Panning artifacts in digital pathology images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Avanaki, Ali R. N.; Lanciault, Christian; Espig, Kathryn S.; Xthona, Albert; Kimpe, Tom R. L.

2017-03-01

In making a pathologic diagnosis, a pathologist uses cognitive processes: perception, attention, memory, and search (Pena and Andrade-Filho, 2009). Typically, this involves focus while panning from one region of a slide to another, using either a microscope in a traditional workflow or software program and display in a digital pathology workflow (DICOM Standard Committee, 2010). We theorize that during panning operation, the pathologist receives information important to diagnosis efficiency and/or correctness. As compared to an optical microscope, panning in a digital pathology image involves some visual artifacts due to the following: (i) the frame rate is finite; (ii) time varying visual signals are reconstructed using imperfect zero-order hold. Specifically, after pixel's digital drive is changed, it takes time for a pixel to emit the expected amount of light. Previous work suggests that 49% of navigation is conducted in low-power/overview with digital pathology (Molin et al., 2015), but the influence of display factors has not been measured. We conducted a reader study to establish a relationship between display frame rate, panel response time, and threshold panning speed (above which the artifacts become noticeable). Our results suggest visual tasks that involve tissue structure are more impacted by the simulated panning artifacts than those that only involve color (e.g., staining intensity estimation), and that the panning artifacts versus normalized panning speed has a peak behavior which is surprising and may change for a diagnostic task. This is work in progress and our final findings should be considered in designing future digital pathology systems.

Performances of malaria P.f/Pan rapid test device Acon® (Pf HRP2/pan aldolase) and malaria Pf rapid test device Acon® (Pf HRP2) for the diagnosis of malaria in adults and children living in Gabon, Central Africa.

PubMed

Bouyou Akotet, Marielle Karine; Mawili-Mboumba, Denise Patricia; Madoungou, Blondel; Kombila, Maryvonne

2013-09-01

The Malaria Pf Rapid Test Device Acon® (Acon Labs) and the pan HRP2/aldolase RDT, Malaria P.f/Pan Rapid Test Device Acon® (Acon Labs), performances were evaluated for malaria species diagnosis in 592 febrile patients living in Gabon using microscopy as gold standard. Sensitivities were equal or above 96.0% for Plasmodium falciparum detection, of 62.5% for non-P. falciparum malaria species detection and higher in younger children (100%). Negative predictive values were greater than 97.0%. Acon®HRP2 had a higher specificity (96.6%) and lower false-positive (FP) rate (9.3%) compared to Acon®Pf/Pan, which had a specificity of 87.3% and a FP rate of 27.1% (P < 0.01). Overall, 32.5% of all Acon® Pf/Pan tests resulted in a "faint band" with only 2 resulted from samples with a parasitemia below 100 p/μL. The accuracy of Acon®HRP2 RDT for the diagnosis of P. falciparum infection is confirmed. However, the high FP rate observed with Acon®Pf/Pan is a limitation for its use. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The extent of cultural variation between adjacent chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) communities; a microecological approach.

PubMed

Luncz, Lydia V; Boesch, Christophe

2015-01-01

Chimpanzees show cultural differences among populations across Africa but also between neighboring communities. The extent of these differences among neighbors, however, remains largely unknown. Comparing three neighboring chimpanzee community in the Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire, we found 27 putative cultural traits, including tool use, foraging, social interaction, communication and hunting behavior, exceeding by far previously known diversity. As foraging behavior is predominantly influenced by the environment, we further compared in detail ecological circumstances underlying insectivore feeding behavior to analyze whether foraging differences on Dorylus ants and Thoracotermes termites seen between neighboring chimpanzee communities were caused by environmental factors. Differences in the prey characteristics of Dorylus ants (aggression level, running speed, and nest structure) that could influence the behavior of chimpanzees were excluded, suggesting that the observed group-specific variation is not ecologically driven. Only one community preyed on Thoracotermes termites despite a similar abundance of termite mounds in all three territories, supporting the idea that this difference is also not shaped by the environment. Therefore, our study suggests that transmission of cultural knowledge plays a role in determining insectivory prey behavior. This behavioral plasticity, independent of ecological conditions, can lead to large numbers of cultural diversification between neighboring chimpanzee communities. These findings not only deepen our understanding of the cultural abilities of chimpanzees in the wild but also open up possible future comparisons of the origin of cultural diversification among humans and chimpanzees. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Systematic reviews in context: highlighting systematic reviews relevant to Africa in the Pan African Medical Journal.

PubMed

Wiysonge, Charles Shey; Kamadjeu, Raoul; Tsague, Landry

2016-01-01

contribute in enhancing the value of research in Africa, the Pan African Medical Journal will start a new regular column that will highlight priority systematic reviews relevant to the continent.

Pan masala advertisements are surrogate for tobacco products.

PubMed

Sushma, C; Sharang, C

2005-01-01

Pan masala is a comparatively recent habit in India and is marketed with and without tobacco. Advertisements of tobacco products have been banned in India since 1st May 2004. The advertisements of plain pan masala, which continue in Indian media, have been suspected to be surrogate for tobacco products bearing the same name. The study was carried out to assess whether these advertisements were for the intended product, or for tobacco products with same brand name. The programme of a popular television Hindi news channel was watched for a 24-h period. Programmes on the same channel and its English counterpart were watched on different days to assess whether the advertisements were repeated. The total duration of telecast of a popular brand of plain pan masala (Pan Parag) was multiplied by the rate charged by the channel to provide the cost of advertisement of this product. The total sale value of the company was multiplied by the proportion of usage of plain pan masala out of gutka plus pan masala habit as observed from a different study, to provide the annual sale value of plain pan masala product under reference. The annual sale value of plain Pan Parag was estimated to be Rs. 67.1 million. The annual cost of the advertisement of the same product on two television channels was estimated at Rs. 244.6 million. The advertisements of plain pan masala seen on Indian television are a surrogate for the tobacco products bearing the same name.

Pan Progress

NASA Image and Video Library

2007-01-18

Pan is seen in this color view as it sweeps through the Encke Gap with its attendant ringlets. As the lemon-shaped little moon orbits Saturn, it always keeps its long axis pointed along a line toward the planet

7 CFR 58.913 - Evaporators and vacuum pans.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Evaporators and vacuum pans. 58.913 Section 58.913....913 Evaporators and vacuum pans. All equipment used in the removal of moisture from milk or milk... Sanitary Standards for Milk and Milk Products Evaporators and Vacuum Pans. ...

7 CFR 58.913 - Evaporators and vacuum pans.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Evaporators and vacuum pans. 58.913 Section 58.913....913 Evaporators and vacuum pans. All equipment used in the removal of moisture from milk or milk... Sanitary Standards for Milk and Milk Products Evaporators and Vacuum Pans. ...

7 CFR 58.913 - Evaporators and vacuum pans.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Evaporators and vacuum pans. 58.913 Section 58.913....913 Evaporators and vacuum pans. All equipment used in the removal of moisture from milk or milk... Sanitary Standards for Milk and Milk Products Evaporators and Vacuum Pans. ...

7 CFR 58.913 - Evaporators and vacuum pans.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 3 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Evaporators and vacuum pans. 58.913 Section 58.913....913 Evaporators and vacuum pans. All equipment used in the removal of moisture from milk or milk... Sanitary Standards for Milk and Milk Products Evaporators and Vacuum Pans. ...

7 CFR 58.913 - Evaporators and vacuum pans.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Evaporators and vacuum pans. 58.913 Section 58.913....913 Evaporators and vacuum pans. All equipment used in the removal of moisture from milk or milk... Sanitary Standards for Milk and Milk Products Evaporators and Vacuum Pans. ...

Overview of ATLAS PanDA Workload Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maeno, T.; De, K.; Wenaus, T.; Nilsson, P.; Stewart, G. A.; Walker, R.; Stradling, A.; Caballero, J.; Potekhin, M.; Smith, D.; ATLAS Collaboration

2011-12-01

The Production and Distributed Analysis System (PanDA) plays a key role in the ATLAS distributed computing infrastructure. All ATLAS Monte-Carlo simulation and data reprocessing jobs pass through the PanDA system. We will describe how PanDA manages job execution on the grid using dynamic resource estimation and data replication together with intelligent brokerage in order to meet the scaling and automation requirements of ATLAS distributed computing. PanDA is also the primary ATLAS system for processing user and group analysis jobs, bringing further requirements for quick, flexible adaptation to the rapidly evolving analysis use cases of the early datataking phase, in addition to the high reliability, robustness and usability needed to provide efficient and transparent utilization of the grid for analysis users. We will describe how PanDA meets ATLAS requirements, the evolution of the system in light of operational experience, how the system has performed during the first LHC data-taking phase and plans for the future.

Overview of ATLAS PanDA Workload Management

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Maeno T.; De K.; Wenaus T.

2011-01-01

The Production and Distributed Analysis System (PanDA) plays a key role in the ATLAS distributed computing infrastructure. All ATLAS Monte-Carlo simulation and data reprocessing jobs pass through the PanDA system. We will describe how PanDA manages job execution on the grid using dynamic resource estimation and data replication together with intelligent brokerage in order to meet the scaling and automation requirements of ATLAS distributed computing. PanDA is also the primary ATLAS system for processing user and group analysis jobs, bringing further requirements for quick, flexible adaptation to the rapidly evolving analysis use cases of the early datataking phase, in additionmore » to the high reliability, robustness and usability needed to provide efficient and transparent utilization of the grid for analysis users. We will describe how PanDA meets ATLAS requirements, the evolution of the system in light of operational experience, how the system has performed during the first LHC data-taking phase and plans for the future.« less

49 CFR 230.69 - Ash pans.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Ash pans. 230.69 Section 230.69 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to Transportation (Continued) FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION STEAM LOCOMOTIVE INSPECTION AND MAINTENANCE STANDARDS Steam Locomotives and Tenders Ash Pans § 230...

Student-Centered Designs of Pan-African Literature Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

M'Baye, Babacar

2010-01-01

A student-centered teaching methodology is an essential ingredient of a successful Pan-African literary course. In this article, the author defines Pan-Africanism and how to go about designing a Pan-African literature course. The author combines reading assignments with journals, film presentations, and lectures in a productive learning…

Vaccination to conserved influenza antigens in mice using a novel Simian adenovirus vector, PanAd3, derived from the bonobo Pan paniscus.

PubMed

Vitelli, Alessandra; Quirion, Mary R; Lo, Chia-Yun; Misplon, Julia A; Grabowska, Agnieszka K; Pierantoni, Angiolo; Ammendola, Virginia; Price, Graeme E; Soboleski, Mark R; Cortese, Riccardo; Colloca, Stefano; Nicosia, Alfredo; Epstein, Suzanne L

2013-01-01

Among approximately 1000 adenoviruses from chimpanzees and bonobos studied recently, the Pan Adenovirus type 3 (PanAd3, isolated from a bonobo, Pan paniscus) has one of the best profiles for a vaccine vector, combining potent transgene immunogenicity with minimal pre-existing immunity in the human population. In this study, we inserted into a replication defective PanAd3 a transgene expressing a fusion protein of conserved influenza antigens nucleoprotein (NP) and matrix 1 (M1). We then studied antibody and T cell responses as well as protection from challenge infection in a mouse model. A single intranasal administration of PanAd3-NPM1 vaccine induced strong antibody and T cell responses, and protected against high dose lethal influenza virus challenge. Thus PanAd3 is a promising candidate vector for vaccines, including universal influenza vaccines.

The Pan-STARRS1 Surveys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chambers, Kenneth C.

2014-01-01

Pan-STARRS1 is approaching the completion of the PS1 Science Mission. Operations of the PS1 System include the Observatory, Telescope, 1.4 Gigapixel Camera, Image Processing Pipeline , PSPS relational database and reduced science product software servers. The Pan-STARRS1 Surveys include: (1) A 3pi Steradian Survey, (2) A Medium Deep survey of 10 PS1 footprints spaced around the sky; (3) A solar system survey optimized for Near Earth Objects, (4) a Stellar Transit Survey; and (5) a Deep Survey of M31. The PS1 3pi Survey has now covered the sky north of dec=-30 with more than 12 visits in five bands: g,r,i,z and y or over ~60 epochs per 0.25 arcsec resolution element on the sky. The performance of the PS1 system, sky coverage, cadence, and data quality of the Pan-STARRS1 Surveys will be presented as well as progress in reprocessing of the data taken to date and the plans for the public release of all Pan-STARRS1 data products in the spring of 2015. The Pan-STARRS1 Surveys (PS1) have been made possible through contributions of the Institute for Astronomy, the University of Hawaii, the Pan-STARRS Project Office, the Max-Planck Society and its participating institutes, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, The Johns Hopkins University, Durham University, the University of Edinburgh, Queen's University Belfast, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network Incorporated, the National Central University of Taiwan, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant No. NNX08AR22G issued through the Planetary Science Division of the NASA Science Mission Directorate, the National Science Foundation under Grant No. AST-1238877, the University of Maryland, and Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE).

Adsorption Isotherms for Xenon and Krypton using INL HZ-PAN and AgZ-PAN Sorbents

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Garn, Troy G.; Greenhalgh, Mitchell; Rutledge, Veronica J.

2014-08-01

The generation of adsorption isotherms compliments the scale-up of off-gas processes used to control the emission of encapsulated radioactive volatile fission and activation products released during Used Nuclear Fuel (UNF) reprocessing activities. A series of experiments were conducted to obtain capacity results for varying Kr and Xe gas concentrations using HZ-PAN and AgZ-PAN engineered form sorbents. Gas compositions for Kr ranged from 150-40,000 ppmv and 250-5020 ppmv for Xe in a helium balance. The experiments were all performed at 220 K at a flowrate of 50 sccm. Acquired capacities were then respectively fit to the Langmuir equation using the Langmuirmore » linear regression method to obtain the equilibrium parameters Qmax and Keq. Generated experimental adsorption isotherms were then plotted with the Langmuir predicted isotherms to illustrate agreement between the two. The Langmuir parameters were provided for input into the OSPREY model to predict breakthrough of single component adsorption of Kr and Xe on HZ-PAN and AgZ-PAN sorbents at the experimental conditions tested. Kr and Xe capacities resulting from model breakthrough predictions were then compared to experimental capacities for model validation.« less

Area-to-point regression kriging for pan-sharpening

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Qunming; Shi, Wenzhong; Atkinson, Peter M.

2016-04-01

Pan-sharpening is a technique to combine the fine spatial resolution panchromatic (PAN) band with the coarse spatial resolution multispectral bands of the same satellite to create a fine spatial resolution multispectral image. In this paper, area-to-point regression kriging (ATPRK) is proposed for pan-sharpening. ATPRK considers the PAN band as the covariate. Moreover, ATPRK is extended with a local approach, called adaptive ATPRK (AATPRK), which fits a regression model using a local, non-stationary scheme such that the regression coefficients change across the image. The two geostatistical approaches, ATPRK and AATPRK, were compared to the 13 state-of-the-art pan-sharpening approaches summarized in Vivone et al. (2015) in experiments on three separate datasets. ATPRK and AATPRK produced more accurate pan-sharpened images than the 13 benchmark algorithms in all three experiments. Unlike the benchmark algorithms, the two geostatistical solutions precisely preserved the spectral properties of the original coarse data. Furthermore, ATPRK can be enhanced by a local scheme in AATRPK, in cases where the residuals from a global regression model are such that their spatial character varies locally.

Bi-cubic interpolation for shift-free pan-sharpening

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aiazzi, Bruno; Baronti, Stefano; Selva, Massimo; Alparone, Luciano

2013-12-01

Most of pan-sharpening techniques require the re-sampling of the multi-spectral (MS) image for matching the size of the panchromatic (Pan) image, before the geometric details of Pan are injected into the MS image. This operation is usually performed in a separable fashion by means of symmetric digital low-pass filtering kernels with odd lengths that utilize piecewise local polynomials, typically implementing linear or cubic interpolation functions. Conversely, constant, i.e. nearest-neighbour, and quadratic kernels, implementing zero and two degree polynomials, respectively, introduce shifts in the magnified images, that are sub-pixel in the case of interpolation by an even factor, as it is the most usual case. However, in standard satellite systems, the point spread functions (PSF) of the MS and Pan instruments are centered in the middle of each pixel. Hence, commercial MS and Pan data products, whose scale ratio is an even number, are relatively shifted by an odd number of half pixels. Filters of even lengths may be exploited to compensate the half-pixel shifts between the MS and Pan sampling grids. In this paper, it is shown that separable polynomial interpolations of odd degrees are feasible with linear-phase kernels of even lengths. The major benefit is that bi-cubic interpolation, which is known to represent the best trade-off between performances and computational complexity, can be applied to commercial MS + Pan datasets, without the need of performing a further half-pixel registration after interpolation, to align the expanded MS with the Pan image.

Handedness in captive bonobos (Pan paniscus).

PubMed

Harrison, Rebecca M; Nystrom, Pia

2008-01-01

Species level right-handedness is often considered to be unique to humans. Handedness is held to be interrelated to our language ability and has been used as a means of tracing the evolution of language. Here we examine handedness in 3 captive groups of bonobos (Pan paniscus) comprising 22 individuals. We found no evidence for species level handedness. Conclusions that can be drawn from these findings are: (1) species level handedness evolved after the divergence of the Pan and Homo lineages; (2) inconsistent preferences may represent precursors to human handedness, and (3) Pan may have language abilities but these cannot be measured using handedness. Copyright 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Morphological Identification of Hair Recovered from Feces for Detection of Cannibalism in Eastern Chimpanzees.

PubMed

Walker, Christopher S; Walker, Kara K; Paulo, Gabo; Pusey, Anne E

2018-01-01

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are primarily frugivorous but consume a variable amount of meat from a variety of organisms, including other chimpanzees. Cannibalism is rare, usually follows lethal aggression, and does not occur following natural deaths. While chimpanzee cannibalism has been documented at multiple sites, many instances of this behavior go unrecorded. Identification of chimpanzee remains in feces, however, can provide indirect evidence of cannibalism. Hair, in particular, typically passes through the gastrointestinal tract undamaged and is commonly used for purposes of identification in wildlife forensics. Here we test the hypothesis that eastern chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) guard hair morphology can be reliably distinguished from the hairs of their most common prey species. Methods and results are presented in the context of a case study involving a suspected chimpanzee infanticide from Gombe, Tanzania. We find that chimpanzee guard hair morphology is unique among tested mammals and that the presence of abundant chimpanzee hair in feces is likely the result of cannibalism and not incidental ingestion from grooming or other means. Accordingly, morphological analysis of guard hairs from feces is a promising, cost-effective tool for the determination of cannibalistic acts in chimpanzees. © 2018 S. Karger AG, Basel.

14. RW Meyer Sugar Mill: 18761889. Sorghum Pan. Manufactured by ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

14. RW Meyer Sugar Mill: 1876-1889. Sorghum Pan. Manufactured by John Nott & Co., Honolulu, Hawaii, 1878. View: In the sorghum pan, heat was applied to the cane juice to clarify it, evaporate its water content, and concentrate the sugar crystals. The pan was set on a slope so that the juice would move through the compartments by gravity. The hand-lever sluice valves in the partition walls between the compartments permitted the sugar boiler to regulate the movement of batches of cane juice flowing through the pan. The metal fins projecting from the bottom of the pan imparted a circuitous route to the juice as it flowed through the pan--this made it flow over a much greater heated surface. The fins also supplemented the pan's heating surface by ... - R. W. Meyer Sugar Mill, State Route 47, Kualapuu, Maui County, HI

Chimpanzees in an anthropogenic landscape: Examining food resources across habitat types at Bossou, Guinea, West Africa.

PubMed

Bryson-Morrison, Nicola; Matsuzawa, Tetsuro; Humle, Tatyana

2016-12-01

Many primate populations occur outside protected areas in fragmented anthropogenic landscapes. Empirical data on the ecological characteristics that define an anthropogenic landscape are urgently required if conservation initiatives in such environments are to succeed. The main objective of our study was to determine the composition and availability of chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) food resources across fine spatial scales in the anthropogenic landscape of Bossou, Guinea, West Africa. We examined food resources in all habitat types available in the chimpanzees' core area. We surveyed resource composition, structure and heterogeneity (20 m × 20 m quadrats, N = 54) and assessed temporal availability of food from phenology trails (total distance 5951 m; 1073 individual trees) over 1 year (2012-2013). Over half of Bossou consists of regenerating forest and is highly diverse in terms of chimpanzee food species; large fruit bearing trees are rare and confined to primary and riverine forest. Moraceae (mulberries and figs) was the dominant family, trees of which produce drupaceous fruits favored by chimpanzees. The oil palm occurs at high densities throughout and is the only species found in all habitat types except primary forest. Our data suggest that the high densities of oil palm and fig trees, along with abundant terrestrial herbaceous vegetation and cultivars, are able to provide the chimpanzees with widely available resources, compensating for the scarcity of large fruit trees. A significant difference was found between habitat types in stem density/ha and basal area m 2 /ha of chimpanzee food species. Secondary, young secondary, and primary forest emerged as the most important habitat types for availability of food tree species. Our study emphasizes the importance of examining ecological characteristics of an anthropogenic landscape as each available habitat type is unlikely to be equally important in terms of spatial and temporal availability

'Africa Alive Corridors': Forging a new future for the people of Africa by the people of Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Felix Toteu, Sadrack; Malcolm Anderson, John; de Wit, Maarten

2010-11-01

' Africa Alive Corridors' (AAC) addresses major stewardship goals in Africa through a selection of 20 heritage Corridors (varying from 1000 to 4000 km in length and 50 to 100 km wide). These include more than 400 heritage nodes (World Heritage Sites, Biosphere Reserves, biodiversity hotspots, Geoparks, etc.). AAC tracks Africa's journey from around 4 billion years ago to the present day through these chronologically sequenced Corridors. And so, the 4-billion-year autobiography of the continent is told. It encompasses the geological, biological and anthropological/cultural history of Africa's 54 nations - a (hi-) story without borders. The wealth of scientific and biographical knowledge archived in this network of Corridors tells the story of continental drift, mega-geohazards, climate variability and change, and the origin and extinction of biodiversity; and includes our human roots, culture and spirituality, our impact on the Earth and our potential to influence its future. In telling this story of Africa, new research avenues will be discovered and new learning methodologies will be experienced and developed and shared. In this way, the AAC provide loci along which the eight UN-Millennium Development Goals may be readily and realistically achieved. In concert, they can form the basis for a new collective endeavour - of Pan African Earth Stewardship Science. In this, the final - 2010 - phase of IYPE (the International Year of Planet Earth), we aim to make a start at bringing the ' Africa Alive Corridors' into real-life context. Whilst the concept of the Corridors has been formulated and presented at various international forums—most recently in Africa at the launch of IYPE in Arusha, Tanzania, in May 2008—here we present in brief their conceptual framework, and summarize the rationale behind the selection of the 20 African Corridors. Then, we describe, for the first time, how the AAC concept might evolve. To achieve the latter, we focus on an exploratory

Distribution of a Community of Mammals in Relation to Roads and Other Human Disturbances in Gabon, Central Africa

PubMed Central

Vanthomme, Hadrien; Kolowski, Joseph; Korte, Lisa; Alonso, Alfonso

2013-01-01

Abstract We present the first community-level study of the associations of both roads and other human disturbances with the distribution of mammals in Gabon (central Africa). Our study site was in an oil concession within a littoral mosaic landscape. We conducted surveys along 199 line transects and installed camera traps on 99 of these transects to document mammal presence and abundance. We used generalized linear mixed-effect models to document associations between variables related to the ecosystem (land cover, topography, and hydrology), roads (coating, width of rights of way, condition, type of vehicle used on the road, traffic level, affiliation of users, and general type of road), and other human disturbances (urbanization, agriculture, hunting, logging, gathering, and industrial activities) and the abundance or presence of 17 species or groups of mammals including elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis), buffalo (Syncerus caffer), sitatunga (Tragelaphus spekei), red river hog (Potamochoerus porcus), smaller ungulates, gorilla (Gorilla gorilla), chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), side-striped jackal (Canis adustus), carnivores, monkeys, and large rodents. Some types of roads and other human disturbances were negatively associated with the abundance or presence of elephants, buffalos, gorillas, sitatungas, some monkeys, and duikers. The pattern of associations of mammals with roads and other human disturbances was diverse and included positive associations with road presence (red river hog, some monkeys, and duikers), agriculture (sitatunga, small carnivores, and large rodents) and industrial activities (sitatunga, red river hog, red duikers, and side-striped jackal). Our results suggest that the community of mammals we studied was mostly affected by hunting, agriculture, and urbanization, which are facilitated by road presence. We recommend increased regulation of agriculture, hunting, and road building in the area. Distribución de una Comunidad de Mamíferos en Relaci

7 CFR 58.217 - Evaporators and/or vacuum pans.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

....217 Evaporators and/or vacuum pans. Evaporators or vacuum pans or both, with open type condensers shall be equipped with an automatic condenser water level control, barometric leg, or so constructed so... Sanitary Standards for Milk and Milk Products Evaporators and Vacuum Pans. When enclosed type condensers...

Multi-Column Xe/Kr Separation with AgZ-PAN and HZ-PAN

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Greenhalgh, Mitchell Randy; Garn, Troy Gerry; Welty, Amy Keil

Previous multi-column xenon/krypton separation tests have demonstrated the capability of separating xenon from krypton in a mixed gas feed stream. The results of this initial testing with AgZ-PAN and HZ-PAN indicated that an excellent separation of xenon from krypton could be achieved. Building upon these initial results, a series of additional multi-column testing were performed in FY-16. The purpose of this testing was to scale up the sorbent beds, test a different composition of feed gas and attempt to improve the accuracy of the analysis of the individual capture columns’ compositions. Two Stirling coolers were installed in series to performmore » this testing. The use of the coolers instead of the cryostat provided two desired improvements, 1) removal of the large dilution due to the internal volume of the cryostat adsorption chamber, and 2) ability to increase the sorbent bed size for scale-up. The AgZ-PAN sorbent, due to its xenon selectivity, was loaded in the first column to capture the xenon while allowing the krypton to flow through and be routed to a second column containing the HZ-PAN for capture and analysis. The gases captured on both columns were sampled with evacuated sample bombs and subsequently analyzed via GC-MS for both krypton and xenon. The results of these tests can be used to develop the scope of future testing and analysis using this test bed for demonstrating the capture and separation of xenon and krypton using sorbents, for demonstrating desorption and regeneration of the sorbents, and for determining compositions of the desorbed gases. They indicate a need for future desorption studies in order to better quantify co-adsorbed species and final krypton purity.« less

Development and evaluation of tailored specific real-time RT-PCR assays for detection of foot-and-mouth disease virus serotypes circulating in East Africa.

PubMed

Bachanek-Bankowska, Katarzyna; Mero, Herieth R; Wadsworth, Jemma; Mioulet, Valerie; Sallu, Raphael; Belsham, Graham J; Kasanga, Christopher J; Knowles, Nick J; King, Donald P

2016-11-01

Rapid, reliable and accurate diagnostic methods provide essential support to programmes that monitor and control foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). While pan-specific molecular tests for FMD virus (FMDV) detection are well established and widely used in endemic and FMD-free countries, current serotyping methods mainly rely either on antigen detection ELISAs or nucleotide sequencing approaches. This report describes the development of a panel of serotype-specific real-time RT-PCR assays (rRT-PCR) tailored to detect FMDV lineages currently circulating in East Africa. These assays target sequences within the VP1-coding region that share high intra-lineage identity, but do not cross-react with FMD viruses from other serotypes that circulate in the region. These serotype-specific assays operate with the same thermal profile as the pan-diagnostic tests making it possible to run them in parallel to produce C T values comparable to the pan-diagnostic test detecting the 3D-coding region. These assays were evaluated alongside the established pan-specific molecular test using field samples and virus isolates collected from Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia that had been previously characterised by nucleotide sequencing. Samples (n=71) representing serotype A (topotype AFRICA, lineage G-I), serotype O (topotypes EA-2 and EA-4), serotype SAT 1 (topotype I (NWZ)) and serotype SAT2 (topotype IV) were correctly identified with these rRT-PCR assays. Furthermore, FMDV RNA from samples that did not contain infectious virus could still be serotyped using these assays. These serotype-specific real-time RT-PCR assays can detect and characterise FMDVs currently circulating in East Africa and hence improve disease control in this region. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pan Air Geometry Management System (PAGMS): A data-base management system for PAN AIR geometry data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hall, J. F.

1981-01-01

A data-base management system called PAGMS was developed to facilitate the data transfer in applications computer programs that create, modify, plot or otherwise manipulate PAN AIR type geometry data in preparation for input to the PAN AIR system of computer programs. PAGMS is composed of a series of FORTRAN callable subroutines which can be accessed directly from applications programs. Currently only a NOS version of PAGMS has been developed.

Pan and Waves

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-07-08

The shepherd moon Pan orbits Saturn in the Encke gap while the A ring surrounding the gap displays wave features created by interactions between the ring particles and Saturnian moons in this image from NASA Cassini spacecraft.

Social grooming among wild bonobos (Pan paniscus) at Wamba in the Luo Scientific Reserve, DR Congo, with special reference to the formation of grooming gatherings.

PubMed

Sakamaki, Tetsuya

2013-10-01

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) groom in gatherings in which many individuals may be connected via multiple chains of grooming and they often exchange partners with each other. They sometimes groom another while receiving grooming; that is, one animal can play two roles (i.e., groomer and groomee) simultaneously. Although this feature of chimpanzees is notable from the viewpoint of the evolution of human sociality, information on our other closest living relative, the bonobo (Pan paniscus), is still lacking. In this study, I describe grooming interactions of bonobos at Wamba in the Luo Scientific Reserve, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), with a particular focus on the formation of grooming gatherings. Like chimpanzees, the bonobos also performed mutual grooming (two individuals grooming each other simultaneously) and polyadic grooming (three or more individuals). However, unlike chimpanzees, these sessions lasted for only a short time. Bonobos rarely groomed another while receiving grooming. Because social grooming occurred not only in trees but also in open spaces, including treefall gaps, the conditions did not necessarily limit the opportunity to make multiple chains of grooming. However, bonobos also engaged in social grooming in different ways from chimpanzees; That is, many individuals were involved simultaneously at a site, in which they separated for dyadic grooming. Some cases clearly showed that bonobos preferred a third party not to join while grooming in a dyad, suggesting that bonobos have a preference for grooming in dyads and that immature individuals formed the preference that was shared among adults while growing up. Most members of the study group ranged together during the majority of the study period. Although bonobos show a fission-fusion grouping pattern, when group members frequently encounter one another on a daily basis, they may not be motivated to form multiple grooming chains at this site, as do chimpanzees.

Mammals consumed by bonobos (Pan paniscus): new data from the Iyondji forest, Tshuapa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

PubMed

Sakamaki, Tetsuya; Maloueki, Ulrich; Bakaa, Batuafe; Bongoli, Lingomo; Kasalevo, Phila; Terada, Saeko; Furuichi, Takeshi

2016-07-01

Findings of regional variations in the behavioral patterns of non-human primates have led to the vigorous study of animal traditions (or culture), which contribute to a biological understanding of diversity in human cultures. Although our knowledge of behavioral variations of the bonobo (Pan paniscus) is limited compared with its sister species, the chimpanzee (P. troglodytes), variations in the prey of this species have been reported across study sites. This study describes evidence of mammals consumed by bonobos in the Iyondji site, which was established in 2010. We found evidence that Iyondji bonobos consumed duikers (Cephalophus dorsalis, C. monticola) and diurnal monkeys (Cercopithecus ascanius), which is notable because only anomalures (Anomalurus spp.) are consumed by bonobos in Wamba, a long-term study site established in 1973, located in an area adjacent to Iyondji. Moreover, bonobos do not transfer between the two populations due to the river between the sites. According to our census of duikers and diurnal monkeys, Iyondji bonobos appeared to encounter diurnal monkeys more frequently than did Wamba bonobos. Although humans have apparently had a more pronounced impact on the habitats in Wamba than on those in Iyondji, it remains unclear how such environmental conditions may have contributed to the differences in the prey consumed by bonobos in different sites. Our findings suggest that additional research at various sites could reveal the nature of the variations in the behavior of bonobos.

Lessons from Africa: A Supplement to Middle School Courses in World Cultures, Global Studies, and World Geography.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Merryfield, Merry M., Ed.

Written by 25 African educators from 15 African nations that make up the African Social Studies Programme (ASSP), a Pan-African organization headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, this document is designed to supplement the sparse material on Africa available in the K-12 curriculum and textbooks in the United States, and these 11 lessons encourage U.S.…

Prospective Memory in a Language-Trained Chimpanzee ("Pan Troglodytes")

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beran, Michael J.; Perdue, Bonnie M.; Bramlett, Jessica L.; Menzel, Charles R.; Evans, Theodore A.

2012-01-01

Prospective memory involves the encoding, retention, and implementation of an intended future action. Although humans show many forms of prospective memory, less is known about the future oriented processes of nonhuman animals, or their ability to use prospective memory. In this experiment, a chimpanzee named Panzee, who had learned to associate…

Task design influences prosociality in captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

House, Bailey R; Silk, Joan B; Lambeth, Susan P; Schapiro, Steven J

2014-01-01

Chimpanzees confer benefits on group members, both in the wild and in captive populations. Experimental studies of how animals allocate resources can provide useful insights about the motivations underlying prosocial behavior, and understanding the relationship between task design and prosocial behavior provides an important foundation for future research exploring these animals' social preferences. A number of studies have been designed to assess chimpanzees' preferences for outcomes that benefit others (prosocial preferences), but these studies vary greatly in both the results obtained and the methods used, and in most cases employ procedures that reduce critical features of naturalistic social interactions, such as partner choice. The focus of the current study is on understanding the link between experimental methodology and prosocial behavior in captive chimpanzees, rather than on describing these animals' social motivations themselves. We introduce a task design that avoids isolating subjects and allows them to freely decide whether to participate in the experiment. We explore key elements of the methods utilized in previous experiments in an effort to evaluate two possibilities that have been offered to explain why different experimental designs produce different results: (a) chimpanzees are less likely to deliver food to others when they obtain food for themselves, and (b) evidence of prosociality may be obscured by more "complex" experimental apparatuses (e.g., those including more components or alternative choices). Our results suggest that the complexity of laboratory tasks may generate observed variation in prosocial behavior in laboratory experiments, and highlights the need for more naturalistic research designs while also providing one example of such a paradigm.

Cortisol analysis of hair of captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Yamanashi, Yumi; Morimura, Naruki; Mori, Yusuke; Hayashi, Misato; Suzuki, Juri

2013-12-01

In addition to behavioral evaluations, stress assessments are also important for measuring animal welfare. Assessments of long-term stress are particularly important given that prolonged stress can affect physical health and reproduction. The use of hair cortisol as a marker of long-term stress has been increasing, but there has not yet been any report on the use of such methods with chimpanzees. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to establish and validate a methodology for analyzing hair cortisol in captive chimpanzees. In the first experiment, hair was removed from the arms of nine chimpanzees living in the Kumamoto Sanctuary (KS) and the regrown hair was sampled 3 months later. Fecal samples were collected periodically during the hair-growth period. The results showed that hair cortisol level was positively correlated with the rate of receiving aggression. Although the correlation between hair and fecal cortisol levels was not significant, the individual with the highest hair cortisol concentration also had the highest fecal cortisol concentration. These results suggest that hair cortisol may reflect long-term stress in chimpanzees. In the second experiment, we investigated the physiological factors affecting hair cortisol concentrations. We cut hair from the arms, sides, and backs of 25 chimpanzees living at the KS and the Primate Research Institute. The results revealed that cortisol varied based on source body part and hair whiteness. Therefore, we recommend that hair should always be collected from the same body part and that white hair should be avoided as much as possible. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Foot use during vertical climbing in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Wunderlich, R E; Ischinger, S B

2017-08-01

Upright bipedalism is a hallmark of hominin locomotion, however debates continue regarding the extent of arboreal locomotion and the nature of bipedalism practiced by early hominins. Pedal form and function play a prominent role in these debates, as the foot is the element that directly interacts with the locomotor substrate. Recent finds have substantially increased the availability of associated foot remains of early hominins and emphasized the enigmatic nature of the early evolution of human bipedalism. New discoveries of associated forefoot remains have afforded the opportunity to assess relative proportions across the forefoot of fossil hominins and illuminated the need for data on relative loading across the forefoot in extant hominoids. In order to provide functional data with which to examine the relationship between bony features and load distribution across the forefoot during climbing, we present the first analysis of plantar pressure distribution across the forefoot of chimpanzees climbing a vertical support. Chimpanzees load the medial metatarsals and first toe disproportionately during vertical climbing. Peak pressures on these elements occur at the end of stance phase during climbing and are higher than on any other elements of the foot. Toe pressures are considerably higher during vertical climbing than during knuckle-walking or movement on horizontal poles, supporting the notion that the plantarly-broad and dorsally-narrow metatarsal heads in chimpanzees and some early hominins are associated with close-packing of the metatarsophalangeal joint during climbing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A group-specific arbitrary tradition in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

van Leeuwen, Edwin J C; Cronin, Katherine A; Haun, Daniel B M

2014-11-01

Social learning in chimpanzees has been studied extensively and it is now widely accepted that chimpanzees have the capacity to learn from conspecifics through a multitude of mechanisms. Very few studies, however, have documented the existence of spontaneously emerged traditions in chimpanzee communities. While the rigour of experimental studies is helpful to investigate social learning mechanisms, documentation of naturally occurring traditions is necessary to understand the relevance of social learning in the real lives of animals. In this study, we report on chimpanzees spontaneously copying a seemingly non-adaptive behaviour ("grass-in-ear behaviour"). The behaviour entailed chimpanzees selecting a stiff, straw-like blade of grass, inserting the grass into one of their own ears, adjusting the position, and then leaving it in their ear during subsequent activities. Using a daily focal follow procedure, over the course of 1 year, we observed 8 (out of 12) group members engaging in this peculiar behaviour. Importantly, in the three neighbouring groups of chimpanzees (n = 82), this behaviour was only observed once, indicating that ecological factors were not determiners of the prevalence of this behaviour. These observations show that chimpanzees have a tendency to copy each other's behaviour, even when the adaptive value of the behaviour is presumably absent.

Conservatism and "copy-if-better" in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

van Leeuwen, Edwin J C; Call, Josep

2017-05-01

Social learning is predicted to evolve in socially living animals provided the learning process is not random but biased by certain socio-ecological factors. One bias of particular interest for the emergence of (cumulative) culture is the tendency to forgo personal behaviour in favour of relatively better variants observed in others, also known as the "copy-if-better" strategy. We investigated whether chimpanzees employ copy-if-better in a simple token-exchange paradigm controlling for individual and random social learning. After being trained on one token-type, subjects were confronted with a conspecific demonstrator who either received the same food reward as the subject (control condition) or a higher value food reward than the subject (test condition) for exchanging another token-type. In general, the chimpanzees persisted in exchanging the token-type they were trained on individually, indicating a form of conservatism consistent with previous studies. However, the chimpanzees were more inclined to copy the demonstrator in the test compared to the control condition, indicating a tendency to employ a copy-if-better strategy. We discuss the validity of our results by considering alternative explanations and relate our findings to the emergence of cumulative culture.

Factors influencing young chimpanzees' (Pan troglodytes) recognition of attention.

PubMed

Povinelli, D J; Eddy, T J

1996-12-01

By 2 1/2 years of age, human infants appear to understand how others are connected to the external world through the mental state of attention and also appear to understand the specific role that the eyes play in deploying this attention. Previous research with chimpanzees suggests that, although they track the gaze of others, they may simultaneously be unaware of the underlying state of attention behind gaze. In a series of 3 experiments, the investigators systematically explored how the presence of eyes, direct eye contact, and head orientation and movement affected young chimpanzees' choice of 2 experimenters from whom to request food. The results indicate that young chimpanzees may be selectively attached to other organisms making direct eye contact with them or engaged in postures or movements that indicate attention, even though they may not appreciate the underlying mentalistic significance of these behaviors.

Development of Face Recognition in Infant Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myowa-Yamakoshi, M.; Yamaguchi, M.K.; Tomonaga, M.; Tanaka, M.; Matsuzawa, T.

2005-01-01

In this paper, we assessed the developmental changes in face recognition by three infant chimpanzees aged 1-18 weeks, using preferential-looking procedures that measured the infants' eye- and head-tracking of moving stimuli. In Experiment 1, we prepared photographs of the mother of each infant and an ''average'' chimpanzee face using…

Efficient search for a face by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Tomonaga, Masaki; Imura, Tomoko

2015-07-16

The face is quite an important stimulus category for human and nonhuman primates in their social lives. Recent advances in comparative-cognitive research clearly indicate that chimpanzees and humans process faces in a special manner; that is, using holistic or configural processing. Both species exhibit the face-inversion effect in which the inverted presentation of a face deteriorates their perception and recognition. Furthermore, recent studies have shown that humans detect human faces among non-facial objects rapidly. We report that chimpanzees detected chimpanzee faces among non-facial objects quite efficiently. This efficient search was not limited to own-species faces. They also found human adult and baby faces--but not monkey faces--efficiently. Additional testing showed that a front-view face was more readily detected than a profile, suggesting the important role of eye-to-eye contact. Chimpanzees also detected a photograph of a banana as efficiently as a face, but a further examination clearly indicated that the banana was detected mainly due to a low-level feature (i.e., color). Efficient face detection was hampered by an inverted presentation, suggesting that configural processing of faces is a critical element of efficient face detection in both species. This conclusion was supported by a simple simulation experiment using the saliency model.

Efficient search for a face by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

PubMed Central

Tomonaga, Masaki; Imura, Tomoko

2015-01-01

The face is quite an important stimulus category for human and nonhuman primates in their social lives. Recent advances in comparative-cognitive research clearly indicate that chimpanzees and humans process faces in a special manner; that is, using holistic or configural processing. Both species exhibit the face-inversion effect in which the inverted presentation of a face deteriorates their perception and recognition. Furthermore, recent studies have shown that humans detect human faces among non-facial objects rapidly. We report that chimpanzees detected chimpanzee faces among non-facial objects quite efficiently. This efficient search was not limited to own-species faces. They also found human adult and baby faces-but not monkey faces-efficiently. Additional testing showed that a front-view face was more readily detected than a profile, suggesting the important role of eye-to-eye contact. Chimpanzees also detected a photograph of a banana as efficiently as a face, but a further examination clearly indicated that the banana was detected mainly due to a low-level feature (i.e., color). Efficient face detection was hampered by an inverted presentation, suggesting that configural processing of faces is a critical element of efficient face detection in both species. This conclusion was supported by a simple simulation experiment using the saliency model. PMID:26180944

Task Design Influences Prosociality in Captive Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

PubMed Central

House, Bailey R.; Silk, Joan B.; Lambeth, Susan P.; Schapiro, Steven J.

2014-01-01

Chimpanzees confer benefits on group members, both in the wild and in captive populations. Experimental studies of how animals allocate resources can provide useful insights about the motivations underlying prosocial behavior, and understanding the relationship between task design and prosocial behavior provides an important foundation for future research exploring these animals' social preferences. A number of studies have been designed to assess chimpanzees' preferences for outcomes that benefit others (prosocial preferences), but these studies vary greatly in both the results obtained and the methods used, and in most cases employ procedures that reduce critical features of naturalistic social interactions, such as partner choice. The focus of the current study is on understanding the link between experimental methodology and prosocial behavior in captive chimpanzees, rather than on describing these animals' social motivations themselves. We introduce a task design that avoids isolating subjects and allows them to freely decide whether to participate in the experiment. We explore key elements of the methods utilized in previous experiments in an effort to evaluate two possibilities that have been offered to explain why different experimental designs produce different results: (a) chimpanzees are less likely to deliver food to others when they obtain food for themselves, and (b) evidence of prosociality may be obscured by more “complex” experimental apparatuses (e.g., those including more components or alternative choices). Our results suggest that the complexity of laboratory tasks may generate observed variation in prosocial behavior in laboratory experiments, and highlights the need for more naturalistic research designs while also providing one example of such a paradigm. PMID:25191860

3. RW Meyer Sugar Mill: 18761889. Sorghum pan and boiling ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

3. RW Meyer Sugar Mill: 1876-1889. Sorghum pan and boiling range flue. Manufactured by John Nott & Co., Honolulu, Hawaii, 1878. View: South side of sorghum pan and boiling range flue. In the sorghum pan heat was applied to the cane juice to clarify it, evaporate its water content, and concentrate the sugar crystals. Hot gasses moved through the flue underneath the entire copper bottom of the sorghum pan from the furnace (east) end to the smokestack (west) end of the boiling range. The sorghum pan sides are of redwood. The flue is built of fire-brick, masonry, and portland cement. - R. W. Meyer Sugar Mill, State Route 47, Kualapuu, Maui County, HI

ATTITUDE OF CLEFT CARE SPECIALISTS IN AFRICA TOWARDS PRESURGICAL ORTHOPAEDICS.

PubMed

Adeyemi, A T; Bankole, O O

2012-12-01

To determine the attitude of cleft care specialists working in Africa towards pre-surgical orthopaedics. A cross sectional study. Pan-African conference on cleft lip and palate in Nigeria. Sixty cleft care specialists working in Africa. The general attitude towards pre-surgicalorthopaedics was positive. Majority of the specialists employ pre-surgical orthopaedics before surgical repair. Fifty four (91%) of the specialists use plaster strapping for cases of bilateral cleft, five (8.3%) use nasoalveolar molding and one (2%) use feeding plate. Half of the specialists (50%) felt that pre-surgical orthopaedics is to be managed by orthodontists alone. There were significant difference in attitude towards pre-surgical orthopaedics between providers (p < 0.05). Orthodontists had a strong positive attitude towards pre-surgical orthopaedics than other specialists. Younger specialists had a more positive attitude towards pre-surgical orthopaedics than older specialists. Cleft care specialists in Africa have a positive attitude towards pre-surgical orthopaedics. Majority of them use plaster strapping technique. Younger specialists have a more favorable attitude towards pre-surgical orthopaedics than older specialists.

UNAIDS director visits Denmark to discuss collaboration on AIDS crisis in Africa.

PubMed

1999-10-18

The executive director of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Peter Piot, visited Denmark to discuss collaboration on the AIDS crisis in sub-Saharan Africa. The discussion focused on the AIDS situation in the country and the need for resources and strategic investments from donor nations to help turn around the crisis. Piot stated that since the beginning of the epidemic, more than 11 million have died of AIDS and another 22 million are infected with HIV in Africa. In his visit, he stated the new international partnership against AIDS in Africa, which comprises African governments, donor countries, pan-African and other international organizations, UNAIDS and its co-sponsors, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector. They will be working together in mobilizing governments, civil societies, and companies worldwide in increasing HIV/AIDS care and prevention strategies. Greater vigilance is stressed on the emergency nature of AIDS in many African countries.

Late Pan-African and early Mesozoic brittle compressions in East and Central Africa: lithospheric deformation within the Congo-Tanzania Cratonic area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Delvaux, D.; Kipata, M. L.; Macheyeki, A. S.

2012-04-01

Tectonic reconstructions leading to the formation of the Central-African part of Gondwana have so far not much taken into account constraints provided by the evolution of brittle structures and related stress field. This is largely because little is known on continental brittle deformation in Equatorial Africa before the onset of the Mesozoic Central-African and Late Cenozoic East-African rifts. We present a synthesis of fault-kinematic data and paleostress inversion results from field surveys covering parts of Tanzania, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is based on investigations along the eastern margin of the Tanzanian craton, in the Ubendian belt between the Tanzanian craton and Bangweulu block, in the Lufilian Arc between the Kalahari and Congo cratons and along the Congo intracratonic basin. Paleostress tensors were computed for a substantial database by interactive stress tensor inversion and data subset separation, and the relative succession of major brittle events established. Two of them appear to be of regional importance and could be traced from one region to the other. The oldest one is the first brittle event recorded after the paroxysm of the Terminal Pan-African event that led to the amalgamation Gondwana at the Precambrian-Cambrian transition. It is related to compressional deformation with horizontal stress trajectories fluctuating from an E-W compression in Central Tanzania to NE-SW in the Ubende belt and Lufilian Arc. The second event is a transpressional inversion with a consistent NW-SE compression that we relate to the far-field effects of the active margin south of Gondwana during the late Triassic - early Jurassic.

Analyses of the soil surface dynamic of South African Kalahari salt pans based on hyperspectral and multitemporal data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Milewski, Robert; Chabrillat, Sabine; Behling, Robert; Mielke, Christian; Schleicher, Anja Maria; Guanter, Luis

2016-04-01

The consequences of climate change represent a major threat to sustainable development and growth in Southern Africa. Understanding the impact on the geo- and biosphere is therefore of great importance in this particular region. In this context the Kalahari salt pans (also known as playas or sabkhas) and their peripheral saline and alkaline habitats are an ecosystem of major interest. They are very sensitive to environmental conditions, and as thus hydrological, mineralogical and ecological responses to climatic variations can be analysed. Up to now the soil composition of salt pans in this area have been only assessed mono-temporally and on a coarse regional scale. Furthermore, the dynamic of the salt pans, especially the formation of evaporites, is still uncertain and poorly understood. High spectral resolution remote sensing can estimate evaporite content and mineralogy of soils based on the analyses of the surface reflectance properties within the Visible-Near InfraRed (VNIR 400-1000 nm) and Short-Wave InfraRed (SWIR 1000-2500 nm) regions. In these wavelength regions major chemical components of the soil interact with the electromagnetic radiation and produce characteristic absorption features that can be used to derive the properties of interest. Although such techniques are well established for the laboratory and field scale, the potential of current (Hyperion) and upcoming spaceborne sensors such as EnMAP for quantitative mineralogical and salt spectral mapping is still to be demonstrated. Combined with hyperspectral methods, multitemporal remote sensing techniques allow us to derive the recent dynamic of these salt pans and link the mineralogical analysis of the pan surface to major physical processes in these dryland environments. In this study we focus on the analyses of the Namibian Omongwa salt pans based on satellite hyperspectral imagery and multispectral time-series data. First, a change detection analysis is applied using the Iterative

Microstructural characterization of PAN based carbon fiber reinforced nylon 6 polymer composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Munirathnamma, L. M.; Ningaraju, S.; Kumar, K. V. Aneesh; Ravikumar, H. B.

2018-04-01

Microstructural characterization of nylon 6/polyacrolonitrile based carbon fibers (PAN-CFs) of 10 to 40 wt% has been performed by positron lifetime technique (PLT). The positron lifetime parameters viz., o-Ps lifetime (τ3), o-Ps intensity (I3) and fractional free volume (Fv) of nylon 6/PAN-CF composites are correlated with the mechanical properties viz., Tensile strength and Young's modulus. The Fv show negative deviation with the reinforcement of 10 to 40 wt% of PAN-CF from the linear additivity relation. The negative deviation in nylon 6/PAN-CF composite suggests the induced molecular packing due to the chemical interaction between the polymeric chains of nylon 6 and PAN-CF. This is evident from Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry (FTIR) studies. The FTIR results suggests that observed negative deviation in PALS results of nylon 6/PAN-CF reinforced polymer composites is due to the induced chemical interaction at N-H-O sites. The improved tensile strength (TS) and Young's modulus (YM) in nylon 6/PAN-CF reinforced polymer composites is due to AS4C (surface treated and epoxy coated) PAN-CF has shown highest adhesion level due to better stress transfer between nylon 6 and PAN-CF.

Test of Continental Drift by Comparison of Radiometric Ages: A pre-drift reconstruction shows matching geologic age provinces in West Africa and Northern Brazil.

PubMed

Hurley, P M; Rand, J R; Pinson, W H; Fairbairn, H W; de Almeida, F F; Melcher, G C; Cordani, U G; Kawashita, K; Vandoros, P

1967-08-04

1) The distribution of age values obtained by potassium-argon determinations and whole-rock rubidium-strontium determinations appears to be almost identical for West African rocks of the pervasive Eburnean Orogenic Cycle and basement rocks at opposite locations in South America. 2) There is also a close correlation, with respect to potassium-argon age determinations on micas, rubidium-strontium determinations on total-rock samples, and the extent to which these two sets of values differ, between rocks of the Pan-African Orogenic Cycle and rocks of the Caririan Orogenic Cycle in Brazil, where these two groups of rocks lie opposite each other in the two continents. 3) When Africa and South America are "fitted together," the sharply defined boundary between the Eburnean and the Pan-African age provinces in West Africa strikes directly toward the corresponding age boundary in northeast Brazil. 4) The transition from the 550-million-year Pan-African age province to the 2000-million-year age province in the Congo Craton in Cameroun-Gabon is matched in the rocks near the corresponding part of the east coast of Brazil. However the geological and age data are insufficient to do more than suggest the possibility of another age-boundary correlation here. 5) The evidence reported here supports the hypothesis of continental drift.

The Pan-STARRS1 Small Area Survey 2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Metcalfe, N.; Farrow, D. J.; Cole, S.; Draper, P. W.; Norberg, P.; Burgett, W. S.; Chambers, K. C.; Denneau, L.; Flewelling, H.; Kaiser, N.; Kudritzki, R.; Magnier, E. A.; Morgan, J. S.; Price, P. A.; Sweeney, W.; Tonry, J. L.; Wainscoat, R. J.; Waters, C.

2013-11-01

The Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System 1 (Pan-STARRS1) survey is acquiring multi-epoch imaging in five bands (gP1, rP1, iP1, zP1, yP1) over the entire sky north of declination -30° (the 3π survey). In 2011 July a test area of about 70 deg2 was observed to the expected final depth of the main survey. In this, the first of a series of papers targeting the galaxy count and clustering properties of the combined multi-epoch test area data, we present a detailed investigation into the depth of the survey and the reliability of the Pan-STARRS1 analysis software. We show that the Pan-STARRS1 reduction software can recover the properties of fake sources, and show good agreement between the magnitudes measured by Pan-STARRS1 and those from Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We also examine the number of false detections apparent in the Pan-STARRS1 data. Our comparisons show that the test area survey is somewhat deeper than the Sloan Digital Sky Survey in all bands, and, in particular, the z band approaches the depth of the stacked Sloan Stripe 82 data.

Forearm articular proportions and the antebrachial index in Homo sapiens, Australopithecus afarensis and the great apes.

PubMed

Williams, Frank L'Engle; Cunningham, Deborah L; Amaral, Lia Q

2015-12-01

When hominin bipedality evolved, the forearms were free to adopt nonlocomotor tasks which may have resulted in changes to the articular surfaces of the ulna and the relative lengths of the forearm bones. Similarly, sex differences in forearm proportions may be more likely to emerge in bipeds than in the great apes given the locomotor constraints in Gorilla, Pan and Pongo. To test these assumptions, ulnar articular proportions and the antebrachial index (radius length/ulna length) in Homo sapiens (n=51), Gorilla gorilla (n=88), Pan troglodytes (n=49), Pongo pygmaeus (n=36) and Australopithecus afarensis A.L. 288-1 and A.L. 438-1 are compared. Intercept-adjusted ratios are used to control for size and minimize the effects of allometry. Canonical scores axes show that the proximally broad and elongated trochlear notch with respect to size in H. sapiens and A. afarensis is largely distinct from G. gorilla, P. troglodytes and P. pygmaeus. A cluster analysis of scaled ulnar articular dimensions groups H. sapiens males with A.L. 438-1 ulna length estimates, while one A.L. 288-1 ulna length estimate groups with Pan and another clusters most closely with H. sapiens, G. gorilla and A.L. 438-1. The relatively low antebrachial index characterizing H. sapiens and non-outlier estimates of A.L. 288-1 and A.L. 438-1 differs from those of the great apes. Unique sex differences in H. sapiens suggest a link between bipedality and forearm functional morphology. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Using TES retrievals to investigate PAN in North American biomass burning plumes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fischer, Emily V.; Zhu, Liye; Payne, Vivienne H.; Worden, John R.; Jiang, Zhe; Kulawik, Susan S.; Brey, Steven; Hecobian, Arsineh; Gombos, Daniel; Cady-Pereira, Karen; Flocke, Frank

2018-04-01

Peroxyacyl nitrate (PAN) is a critical atmospheric reservoir for nitrogen oxide radicals, and plays a lead role in their redistribution in the troposphere. We analyze new Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) PAN observations over North America from July 2006 to July 2009. Using aircraft observations from the Colorado Front Range, we demonstrate that TES can be sensitive to elevated PAN in the boundary layer (˜ 750 hPa) even in the presence of clouds. In situ observations have shown that wildfire emissions can rapidly produce PAN, and PAN decomposition is an important component of ozone production in smoke plumes. We identify smoke-impacted TES PAN retrievals by co-location with NOAA Hazard Mapping System (HMS) smoke plumes. Depending on the year, 15-32 % of cases where elevated PAN is identified in TES observations (retrievals with degrees of freedom (DOF) > 0.6) overlap smoke plumes during July. Of all the retrievals attempted in the July 2006 to July 2009 study period, 18 % is associated with smoke . A case study of smoke transport in July 2007 illustrates that PAN enhancements associated with HMS smoke plumes can be connected to fire complexes, providing evidence that TES is sufficiently sensitive to measure elevated PAN several days downwind of major fires. Using a subset of retrievals with TES 510 hPa carbon monoxide (CO) > 150 ppbv, and multiple estimates of background PAN, we calculate enhancement ratios for tropospheric average PAN relative to CO in smoke-impacted retrievals. Most of the TES-based enhancement ratios fall within the range calculated from in situ measurements.

The Pan-STARRS1 Surveys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chambers, Kenneth; Pan-STARRS Team

2018-01-01

The Pan-STARRS1 Surveys are complete and the first data release, DR1, is available from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) at the Space Telescope Science Institute. The data include a database of measured attributes of 3 billion objects, stacked images, and metadata of the 3pi Steradian Survey. The DR1 contains all stationary objects with mean and stack photometry registered on the GAIA astrometric frame. DR2 is in preparation and will be released this winter with all the individual epoch images and time domain photometry and forced photometry on the individual epoch images. The characteristics of the Pan-STARRS1 Surveys will be presented, including image quality, depth, cadence, and coverage. Measured attributes include PSF model magnitudes, aperture magnitudes, Kron Magnitudes, radial moments, Petrosian magnitudes, DeVaucoulers, Exponential, and Sersic magnitudes for extended objects. Images include total intensity, variance, and masks.An overview of the Pan-STARRS1 Surveys and data releases will be presented together with a brief description of the data collected since the end of the PS1 Science Consortium surveys, and the plans for the upcoming survey with PS1 and PS2 begining in February 2018.

PanCoreGen - Profiling, detecting, annotating protein-coding genes in microbial genomes.

PubMed

Paul, Sandip; Bhardwaj, Archana; Bag, Sumit K; Sokurenko, Evgeni V; Chattopadhyay, Sujay

2015-12-01

A large amount of genomic data, especially from multiple isolates of a single species, has opened new vistas for microbial genomics analysis. Analyzing the pan-genome (i.e. the sum of genetic repertoire) of microbial species is crucial in understanding the dynamics of molecular evolution, where virulence evolution is of major interest. Here we present PanCoreGen - a standalone application for pan- and core-genomic profiling of microbial protein-coding genes. PanCoreGen overcomes key limitations of the existing pan-genomic analysis tools, and develops an integrated annotation-structure for a species-specific pan-genomic profile. It provides important new features for annotating draft genomes/contigs and detecting unidentified genes in annotated genomes. It also generates user-defined group-specific datasets within the pan-genome. Interestingly, analyzing an example-set of Salmonella genomes, we detect potential footprints of adaptive convergence of horizontally transferred genes in two human-restricted pathogenic serovars - Typhi and Paratyphi A. Overall, PanCoreGen represents a state-of-the-art tool for microbial phylogenomics and pathogenomics study. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Preparation of durable flame retardant PAN fabrics based on amidoximation and phosphorylation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yue; Ren, Yuanlin; Liu, Xiaohui; Huo, Tongguo; Qin, Yiwen

2018-01-01

This paper aims to develop a method to impart polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fabric durable flame retadancy. PAN fabric was modified with hydroxylamine hydrochloride (HA) to prepare amidoxime PAN fabric (A-PAN) followed by phosphorylation with phosphoric acid (PA) to obtain flame retardant PAN fabric (P-A-PAN). Thermogravimetric (TG) analysis, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), microscale combustion calorimetry (MCC) and pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) were used to analyze the thermal degradation process and flame retardant mechanisms. The structure of the fabrics was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). The surface morphology of fabrics was observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Moreover, the flame retardancy of fabrics before and after washing was evaluated by Limiting oxygen index (LOI) and horizontal burning test. The results showed that the P-A-PAN possessed an excellent thermal stability with the highest LOI value of 34.1% and the highest char residue of 55.67% at 800 °C. Most importantly, the P-A-PAN possessed a wonderful flame retardant durability with a little decrease of LOI after 20 washing cycles. When they were ignited, the P-A-PAN fabrics before and after washing were both nonflammable due to the char residue formation of modified fabric.

Groundwater recharge in the tropics: a pan-African analysis of observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taylor, R. G.

2015-12-01

Groundwater is a vital source of freshwater in sub-Saharan Africa where rainfall and river discharge are unreliable and per-capita reservoir storage is among the lowest in the world. Groundwater is widely considered a distributed, low-cost and climate-resilient option to meet rapidly growing freshwater demand and alleviate endemic poverty by expanding access to safe water and improving food security through irrigation. Recent research indicates that groundwater storage in Africa is about 100 times greater than annual river discharge yet major uncertainties remain in the magnitude and nature of replenishment through recharge as well as the impacts of land-use and climate change. Here, we present newly compiled, multi-decadal observations of groundwater levels from 5 countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger, Tanzania, Uganda) and paired measurements of stable isotope ratios of O and H in precipitation and groundwater at 11 locations. These data reveal both a distinct bias in groundwater recharge to intensive rainfall and rapid recharge pathways (e.g. focused, macropore flow) that are inconsistent with conventional recharge models assuming pore-matrix flow defined by the Darcy-Richards equation. Further the records highlight the substantial influence of land-use change (e.g. conversion of natural, perennial cover to croplands) on groundwater recharge. The compiled observations also provide, for the first time, a pan-African baseline to evaluate the performance of large-scale hydrological models and Land-Surface Models incorporating groundwater in this region. Our results suggest that the intensification of precipitation brought about by global warming favours groundwater replenishment in sub-Saharan Africa. As such, groundwater may prove to be a climate-resilient source of freshwater in the tropics, enabling adaptive strategies such as groundwater-fed irrigation and sustaining domestic and industrial water supplies.

The Pan-STARRS1 Survey Data Release

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chambers, Kenneth C.; Pan-STARRS Team

2017-01-01

The first Pan-STARRS1 Science Mission is complete and an initial Data Release 1, or DR1, including a database of measured attributes, stacked images, and metadata of the 3PI Survey, will be available from the STScI MAST archive. This release will contain all stationary objects with mean and stack photometry registered on the GAIA astrometric frame.The characteristics of the Pan-STARRS1 Surveys will be presented, including image quality, depth, cadence, and coverage. Measured attributes include PSF model magnitudes, aperture magnitudes, Kron Magnitudes, radial moments, Petrosian magnitudes, DeVaucoulers, Exponential, and Sersic magnitudes for extended objects. Images include total intensity, variance, and masks.An overview of both DR1 and the second data release DR2, to follow in the spring of 2017, will be presented. DR2 will add all time domain data and individual warped images. We will also report on the status of the Pan-STARRS2 Observatory and ongoing science with Pan-STARRS. The science from the PS1 surveys has included results in many t fields of astronomy from Near Earth Objects to cosmology.The Pan-STARRS1 Surveys have been made possible through contributions of the Institute for Astronomy of the University of Hawaii; the Pan-STARRS Project Office; the Max-Planck Society and its participating institutes: the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching; The Johns Hopkins University; Durham University; the University of Edinburgh; Queen's University Belfast; the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network Incorporated; the National Central University of Taiwan; the Space Telescope Science Institute; the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grants No. NNX08AR22G, NNX12AR65G, NNX14AM74G issued through the Planetary Science Division of the NASA Science Mission Directorate; the National Science Foundation under Grant No. AST

INFLUENCE OF PEROXYACETYL NITRATE (PAN) ON WATER STRESS IN BEAN PLANTS

EPA Science Inventory

Bean plants (Phaseolus vulgaris) were exposed to 395 micrograms/cu m (0.08 ppm) peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) for 0.5 hr and subjected to drought stress following exposure. PAN influenced the plant water potential of PAN-sensitive 'Provider' resulting in visible wilting and reduced ...

A Fast Response Ammonia Sensor Based on Coaxial PPy-PAN Nanofiber Yarn.

PubMed

Liu, Penghong; Wu, Shaohua; Zhang, Yue; Zhang, Hongnan; Qin, Xiaohong

2016-06-23

Highly orientated polypyrrole (PPy)-coated polyacrylonitrile (PAN) (PPy-PAN) nanofiber yarn was prepared with an electrospinning technique and in-situ chemical polymerization. The morphology and chemical structure of PPy-PAN nanofiber yarn was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), which indicated that the PPy as the shell layer was homogeneously and uniformly polymerized on the surface of PAN nanofiber. The effects of different concentration of doping acid on the responses of PPy-PAN nanofiber yarn sensor were investigated. The electrical responses of the gas sensor based on the PPy-PAN nanofiber yarn to ammonia were investigated at room temperature. The nanoyarn sensor composed of uniaxially aligned PPy-PAN nanofibers with a one-dimensional structure exhibited a transient response, and the response time was less than 1 s. The excellent sensing properties mentioned above give rise to good potential application prospects in the field of ammonia sensor.

A Portable Burn Pan for the Disposal of Excess Propellants

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-01

of Vegetation in Vacinity of Burn Pan Caused by Radiant Heat ............... 32 Figure 12. Wet Propellant (120 kg) and Dry Propellant (460 kg) Burn...35 Figure 14. Graph of Component Temperatures During an HUTS Burn Pan Test ........................ 37 Figure 15. IR Camera Thermal...detector HUTS Howitzer Unit Training System burn pan IR Infrared JBER Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson (AK) Kg Kilogram m meter mg/kg milligram

Sampling bee communities using pan traps: alternative methods increase sample size

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Monitoring of the status of bee populations and inventories of bee faunas require systematic sampling. Efficiency and ease of implementation has encouraged the use of pan traps to sample bees. Efforts to find an optimal standardized sampling method for pan traps have focused on pan trap color. Th...

The PanCam Instrument for the ExoMars Rover

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coates, A. J.; Jaumann, R.; Griffiths, A. D.; Leff, C. E.; Schmitz, N.; Josset, J.-L.; Paar, G.; Gunn, M.; Hauber, E.; Cousins, C. R.; Cross, R. E.; Grindrod, P.; Bridges, J. C.; Balme, M.; Gupta, S.; Crawford, I. A.; Irwin, P.; Stabbins, R.; Tirsch, D.; Vago, J. L.; Theodorou, T.; Caballo-Perucha, M.; Osinski, G. R.; PanCam Team

2017-07-01

The scientific objectives of the ExoMars rover are designed to answer several key questions in the search for life on Mars. In particular, the unique subsurface drill will address some of these, such as the possible existence and stability of subsurface organics. PanCam will establish the surface geological and morphological context for the mission, working in collaboration with other context instruments. Here, we describe the PanCam scientific objectives in geology, atmospheric science, and 3-D vision. We discuss the design of PanCam, which includes a stereo pair of Wide Angle Cameras (WACs), each of which has an 11-position filter wheel and a High Resolution Camera (HRC) for high-resolution investigations of rock texture at a distance. The cameras and electronics are housed in an optical bench that provides the mechanical interface to the rover mast and a planetary protection barrier. The electronic interface is via the PanCam Interface Unit (PIU), and power conditioning is via a DC-DC converter. PanCam also includes a calibration target mounted on the rover deck for radiometric calibration, fiducial markers for geometric calibration, and a rover inspection mirror.

Experience with ATLAS MySQL PanDA database service

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smirnov, Y.; Wlodek, T.; De, K.; Hover, J.; Ozturk, N.; Smith, J.; Wenaus, T.; Yu, D.

2010-04-01

The PanDA distributed production and analysis system has been in production use for ATLAS data processing and analysis since late 2005 in the US, and globally throughout ATLAS since early 2008. Its core architecture is based on a set of stateless web services served by Apache and backed by a suite of MySQL databases that are the repository for all PanDA information: active and archival job queues, dataset and file catalogs, site configuration information, monitoring information, system control parameters, and so on. This database system is one of the most critical components of PanDA, and has successfully delivered the functional and scaling performance required by PanDA, currently operating at a scale of half a million jobs per week, with much growth still to come. In this paper we describe the design and implementation of the PanDA database system, its architecture of MySQL servers deployed at BNL and CERN, backup strategy and monitoring tools. The system has been developed, thoroughly tested, and brought to production to provide highly reliable, scalable, flexible and available database services for ATLAS Monte Carlo production, reconstruction and physics analysis.

Pan-sharpening via compressed superresolution reconstruction and multidictionary learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Cheng; Liu, Fang; Li, Lingling; Jiao, Licheng; Hao, Hongxia; Shang, Ronghua; Li, Yangyang

2018-01-01

In recent compressed sensing (CS)-based pan-sharpening algorithms, pan-sharpening performance is affected by two key problems. One is that there are always errors between the high-resolution panchromatic (HRP) image and the linear weighted high-resolution multispectral (HRM) image, resulting in spatial and spectral information lost. The other is that the dictionary construction process depends on the nontruth training samples. These problems have limited applications to CS-based pan-sharpening algorithm. To solve these two problems, we propose a pan-sharpening algorithm via compressed superresolution reconstruction and multidictionary learning. Through a two-stage implementation, compressed superresolution reconstruction model reduces the error effectively between the HRP and the linear weighted HRM images. Meanwhile, the multidictionary with ridgelet and curvelet is learned for both the two stages in the superresolution reconstruction process. Since ridgelet and curvelet can better capture the structure and directional characteristics, a better reconstruction result can be obtained. Experiments are done on the QuickBird and IKONOS satellites images. The results indicate that the proposed algorithm is competitive compared with the recent CS-based pan-sharpening methods and other well-known methods.

Ring complexes and related rocks in Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vail, J. R.

Over 625 igneous complexes throughout Africa and Arabia have been selected and classified on the basis of petrographic association and chronology into six broad age groups forming 29 provinces. The groups range from Mid-Proterozoic to Tertiary and include gabbro, granite, syenite, foid syenite and carbonatite plutonic rocks, the majority in the form of ring-dykes, cone-sheets, plugs, circular intrusions, and their associated extrusive phases. Pan-African late or post-orogenic complexes (720-490 Ma) are common in the Arabian-Nubian and Tuareg shields of north Africa originating from subduction zone derived magmatism. Anorogenic complexes in Egypt, NE and central Sudan, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Zaïre-Burundi, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola span 550 to 50 Ma and are dominantly alkali granites and foid syenites. Many groups occur as en-echelon bands within linear arrays, and show migrating centres of intrusion in variable directions. In W. Africa there was a progressive shift of emplacement southwards during early Ordovician to Mid-Cretaceous times. Distribution patterns suggest thatdeep seated features, such as shear zones associated with lithospheric plate movements,controlled melting, and the resultant location of the complexes. Economic mineralization is not widespread in the rocks of the African ring complexes and is mainly restricted to small deposits of Sn, W, F, U and Nb.

22. RW Meyer Sugar Mill: 18761889. Sorghum Pan. Manufactured by ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

22. RW Meyer Sugar Mill: 1876-1889. Sorghum Pan. Manufactured by John Nott & Co., Honolulu, Hawaii, 1878. View: Historical view, 1934, T.T. Waterman Collection, Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association, Oahu, Hawaii. View looking toward east end of sorghum pan and interior of east end of the boiling house. Walls and final compartment of the sorghum pan are still intact. - R. W. Meyer Sugar Mill, State Route 47, Kualapuu, Maui County, HI

Landsat-based Earth Observations and Crowd-sourced Data Provide Near Real-time Monitoring of Chimpanzee Habitat

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nackoney, J.; Pintea, L.; Jantz, S.; Hansen, M.

2015-12-01

The endangered chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is threatened by habitat loss from resource extraction and land conversion, as well as hunting, disease and the illegal pet trade. It has been estimated that more than 70% of chimpanzee's tropical forest habitats in Africa are now threatened by land use change. Recent developments in remote sensing and cloud computing enable the use of satellite observations to provide a synoptic view of chimpanzee habitats at finer spatial and temporal resolutions that are locally relevant and consistent across the entire species' range. We present a practical Decision Support System to be used by the Jane Goodall Institute and partners to annually monitor and forecast chimpanzee habitat health in Africa. The system integrates Earth observations from 30-meter resolution Landsat data with a species-specific habitat model and a model forecasting future land use change, enhanced by crowd-sourced field data collected by local communities and rangers using the Open Data Kit app and Android mobile smartphones and tablets. While coarser-scale and static chimpanzee habitat models have been previously developed, this project is the first to develop a dynamic monitoring system updated annually via Earth observations data that will systematically monitor threats and changes in habitat over time. Since the chimpanzee is an important keystone, flagship and umbrella species, an annual chimpanzee habitat health index would support conservation goals of other species within its large 2.5 million sq. km range and could be an important indicator of overall ecosystem health of tropical forests in Africa.

Multi-component testing using HZ-PAN and AgZ-PAN Sorbents for OSPREY Model validation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Garn, Troy G.; Greenhalgh, Mitchell; Lyon, Kevin L.

2015-04-01

In efforts to further develop the capability of the Off-gas SeParation and RecoverY (OSPREY) model, multi-component tests were completed using both HZ-PAN and AgZ-PAN sorbents. The primary purpose of this effort was to obtain multi-component xenon and krypton capacities for comparison to future OSPREY predicted multi-component capacities using previously acquired Langmuir equilibrium parameters determined from single component isotherms. Experimental capacities were determined for each sorbent using two feed gas compositions of 1000 ppmv xenon and 150 ppmv krypton in either a helium or air balance. Test temperatures were consistently held at 220 K and the gas flowrate was 50 sccm.more » Capacities were calculated from breakthrough curves using TableCurve® 2D software by Jandel Scientific. The HZ-PAN sorbent was tested in the custom designed cryostat while the AgZ-PAN was tested in a newly installed cooling apparatus. Previous modeling validation efforts indicated the OSPREY model can be used to effectively predict single component xenon and krypton capacities for both engineered form sorbents. Results indicated good agreement with the experimental and predicted capacity values for both krypton and xenon on the sorbents. Overall, the model predicted slightly elevated capacities for both gases which can be partially attributed to the estimation of the parameters and the uncertainty associated with the experimental measurements. Currently, OSPREY is configured such that one species adsorbs and one does not (i.e. krypton in helium). Modification of OSPREY code is currently being performed to incorporate multiple adsorbing species and non-ideal interactions of gas phase species with the sorbent and adsorbed phases. Once these modifications are complete, the sorbent capacities determined in the present work will be used to validate OSPREY multicomponent adsorption predictions.« less

PanGEA: identification of allele specific gene expression using the 454 technology.

PubMed

Kofler, Robert; Teixeira Torres, Tatiana; Lelley, Tamas; Schlötterer, Christian

2009-05-14

Next generation sequencing technologies hold great potential for many biological questions. While mainly used for genomic sequencing, they are also very promising for gene expression profiling. Sequencing of cDNA does not only provide an estimate of the absolute expression level, it can also be used for the identification of allele specific gene expression. We developed PanGEA, a tool which enables a fast and user-friendly analysis of allele specific gene expression using the 454 technology. PanGEA allows mapping of 454-ESTs to genes or whole genomes, displaying gene expression profiles, identification of SNPs and the quantification of allele specific gene expression. The intuitive GUI of PanGEA facilitates a flexible and interactive analysis of the data. PanGEA additionally implements a modification of the Smith-Waterman algorithm which deals with incorrect estimates of homopolymer length as occuring in the 454 technology To our knowledge, PanGEA is the first tool which facilitates the identification of allele specific gene expression. PanGEA is distributed under the Mozilla Public License and available at: http://www.kofler.or.at/bioinformatics/PanGEA

PAN and O3 enhancement at Taehwa Research Forest in Korea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gil, J.; Lee, M.; Rhee, H.; Lee, Y.; Park, H.; Kim, S.

2017-12-01

PAN (Peroxyacetyl Nitrate) is one of the most important secondary pollutant produced by the reaction of NOx (= NO + NO2) and oxygenated VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds). It is considered more reliable indicator of photochemical pollution than O3 in urban area. To observe the evolution of biogenic emission being mixed with urban pollutants, measurement was conducted at TRF (Taehwa Research Forest) near SMA (Seoul Metropolitan Area) in Korea during 2012, and 2013. PAN with reactive gases (O3, NOx, CO, SO2) were measured at six heights (4.1, 9.5, 15, 20, 31, 39 m) of a 41m tower along with BVOCs (Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds). PAN was measured using a fast GC-LCD (Gas Chromatography with Luminol-based Chemiluminescence Detection). For PAN and O3, the 5%ile, 50%ile, and 95%ile were 0.12 ppbv, 0.46 ppbv, and 2.09 ppbv, and 18.4 ppbv, 44.7 ppbv, and 66.6 ppbv respectively. PAN was visibly higher during warm seasons (0.69 ppbv) than cold seasons (0.35 ppbv) and their monthly mean concentrations were the highest in June. The PAN maxima (7.78 ppbv) was observed in August 2013 with the elevation of O3 and NOx. It is noteworthy that there were enhancement of PAN and O3 around 6 PM, along with isoprene emission and a sudden increase of NO2 near the time for enhancement. A F0AM (Framework for 0-D Atmospheric Modeling) was used to identify the contribution of BVOCs and NOx to PAN and O3 enhancement.

The future of PanDA in ATLAS distributed computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De, K.; Klimentov, A.; Maeno, T.; Nilsson, P.; Oleynik, D.; Panitkin, S.; Petrosyan, A.; Schovancova, J.; Vaniachine, A.; Wenaus, T.

2015-12-01

Experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) face unprecedented computing challenges. Heterogeneous resources are distributed worldwide at hundreds of sites, thousands of physicists analyse the data remotely, the volume of processed data is beyond the exabyte scale, while data processing requires more than a few billion hours of computing usage per year. The PanDA (Production and Distributed Analysis) system was developed to meet the scale and complexity of LHC distributed computing for the ATLAS experiment. In the process, the old batch job paradigm of locally managed computing in HEP was discarded in favour of a far more automated, flexible and scalable model. The success of PanDA in ATLAS is leading to widespread adoption and testing by other experiments. PanDA is the first exascale workload management system in HEP, already operating at more than a million computing jobs per day, and processing over an exabyte of data in 2013. There are many new challenges that PanDA will face in the near future, in addition to new challenges of scale, heterogeneity and increasing user base. PanDA will need to handle rapidly changing computing infrastructure, will require factorization of code for easier deployment, will need to incorporate additional information sources including network metrics in decision making, be able to control network circuits, handle dynamically sized workload processing, provide improved visualization, and face many other challenges. In this talk we will focus on the new features, planned or recently implemented, that are relevant to the next decade of distributed computing workload management using PanDA.

The heart of Africa: succeeding against the odds.

PubMed

Sliwa, Karen

2016-12-17

South Africa and other areas of sub-Saharan Africa have in the past 20 years undergone rapid demographical changes, largely due to urbanisation and changes in lifestyle. This rapid change has led to a marked increase in specific cardiac conditions, such as hypertensive heart disease and coronary artery disease (with the highest prevalence in the middle-aged population), in conjunction with a range of other heart diseases, which are historically common in Africa-eg, rheumatic heart disease, cardiomyopathies, and unoperated congenital heart disease. The short supply of well-equipped screening facilities, late diagnosis, and inadequate care at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels have led to a large burden of patients with poorly treated heart failure. Excellent progress has been made in the understanding of the epidemiology, sociodemographical factors, effect of urbanisation, and pathophysiology of cardiac conditions, such as peripartum cardiomyopathy, rheumatic heart disease, and tuberculous pericarditis, which are common in sub-Saharan Africa. This progress has been achieved largely through several studies, such as the Heart of Soweto, THESUS, REMEDY, BA-HEF, Abeokuta-HF, and the PAPUCO studies. Studies on the suitable therapeutic management of several heart conditions have also been done or are underway. In this Lecture, I provide a personal perspective on the evolving burden of cardiac disease, as witnessed since my appointment at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, in Soweto, South Africa, in 1992, which was also the year that the referendum to end apartheid in South Africa was held. Subsequently, a network of cardiologists was formed under the umbrella of the Heart of Africa Studies and the Pan African Cardiac Society. Furthermore, I summarise the major gaps in the health-care system dealing with the colliding epidemic of communicable and non-communicable heart diseases, including cardiac diseases common in peripartum women. I also touch on the fantastic

Evolution of the ATLAS PanDA workload management system for exascale computational science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maeno, T.; De, K.; Klimentov, A.; Nilsson, P.; Oleynik, D.; Panitkin, S.; Petrosyan, A.; Schovancova, J.; Vaniachine, A.; Wenaus, T.; Yu, D.; Atlas Collaboration

2014-06-01

An important foundation underlying the impressive success of data processing and analysis in the ATLAS experiment [1] at the LHC [2] is the Production and Distributed Analysis (PanDA) workload management system [3]. PanDA was designed specifically for ATLAS and proved to be highly successful in meeting all the distributed computing needs of the experiment. However, the core design of PanDA is not experiment specific. The PanDA workload management system is capable of meeting the needs of other data intensive scientific applications. Alpha-Magnetic Spectrometer [4], an astro-particle experiment on the International Space Station, and the Compact Muon Solenoid [5], an LHC experiment, have successfully evaluated PanDA and are pursuing its adoption. In this paper, a description of the new program of work to develop a generic version of PanDA will be given, as well as the progress in extending PanDA's capabilities to support supercomputers and clouds and to leverage intelligent networking. PanDA has demonstrated at a very large scale the value of automated dynamic brokering of diverse workloads across distributed computing resources. The next generation of PanDA will allow other data-intensive sciences and a wider exascale community employing a variety of computing platforms to benefit from ATLAS' experience and proven tools.

Unusual behavior in the parental care of a house wren (Troglodytes aedon): Post fledging use of an old nest during cold nights

USGS Publications Warehouse

Scholer, Micah N.

2015-01-01

I report on the unusual behavior of an adult House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) leading recently fledged young back to the nest for two consecutive nights. The ambient temperature reached below 0°C during both nights. Despite disadvantages associated with remaining in the nest, this observation suggests that adult birds may assess trade-offs between perceived risks versus the benefits of engaging in other activities, in this case roosting communally for thermoregulation.

The ATLAS PanDA Monitoring System and its Evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klimentov, A.; Nevski, P.; Potekhin, M.; Wenaus, T.

2011-12-01

The PanDA (Production and Distributed Analysis) Workload Management System is used for ATLAS distributed production and analysis worldwide. The needs of ATLAS global computing imposed challenging requirements on the design of PanDA in areas such as scalability, robustness, automation, diagnostics, and usability for both production shifters and analysis users. Through a system-wide job database, the PanDA monitor provides a comprehensive and coherent view of the system and job execution, from high level summaries to detailed drill-down job diagnostics. It is (like the rest of PanDA) an Apache-based Python application backed by Oracle. The presentation layer is HTML code generated on the fly in the Python application which is also responsible for managing database queries. However, this approach is lacking in user interface flexibility, simplicity of communication with external systems, and ease of maintenance. A decision was therefore made to migrate the PanDA monitor server to Django Web Application Framework and apply JSON/AJAX technology in the browser front end. This allows us to greatly reduce the amount of application code, separate data preparation from presentation, leverage open source for tools such as authentication and authorization mechanisms, and provide a richer and more dynamic user experience. We describe our approach, design and initial experience with the migration process.

The PanCam Instrument for the ExoMars Rover

PubMed Central

Coates, A.J.; Jaumann, R.; Griffiths, A.D.; Leff, C.E.; Schmitz, N.; Josset, J.-L.; Paar, G.; Gunn, M.; Hauber, E.; Cousins, C.R.; Cross, R.E.; Grindrod, P.; Bridges, J.C.; Balme, M.; Gupta, S.; Crawford, I.A.; Irwin, P.; Stabbins, R.; Tirsch, D.; Vago, J.L.; Theodorou, T.; Caballo-Perucha, M.; Osinski, G.R.

2017-01-01

Abstract The scientific objectives of the ExoMars rover are designed to answer several key questions in the search for life on Mars. In particular, the unique subsurface drill will address some of these, such as the possible existence and stability of subsurface organics. PanCam will establish the surface geological and morphological context for the mission, working in collaboration with other context instruments. Here, we describe the PanCam scientific objectives in geology, atmospheric science, and 3-D vision. We discuss the design of PanCam, which includes a stereo pair of Wide Angle Cameras (WACs), each of which has an 11-position filter wheel and a High Resolution Camera (HRC) for high-resolution investigations of rock texture at a distance. The cameras and electronics are housed in an optical bench that provides the mechanical interface to the rover mast and a planetary protection barrier. The electronic interface is via the PanCam Interface Unit (PIU), and power conditioning is via a DC-DC converter. PanCam also includes a calibration target mounted on the rover deck for radiometric calibration, fiducial markers for geometric calibration, and a rover inspection mirror. Key Words: Mars—ExoMars—Instrumentation—Geology—Atmosphere—Exobiology—Context. Astrobiology 17, 511–541.

The Pan-STARRS search for Near-Earth Objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wainscoat, Richard J.; Weryk, Robert; Chambers, Kenneth

2018-01-01

The Pan-STARRS1 telescope on Haleakala, Hawaii has become the leading discovery telescope for Near-Earth Objects (NEOs), and is now responsible for discovering almost half of all new NEOs, more than half of all larger NEOs, and more than half of all new comets. The survey routinely reaches depths of V=22 or fainter (in dark sky conditions) over an area of approximately 1,000 square degrees per night. The survey strategy will be described. The survey will soon be augmented by the addition of the Pan-STARRS2 telescope, which has similar optics and an improved camera, and which will roughly double the survey power. A sample of the important recent solar system discoveries made by the Pan-STARRS survey will be summarized.

Environmental Education in Côte d'Ivoire/West Africa: Extra-Curricular Primary School Teaching Shows Positive Impact on Environmental Knowledge and Attitudes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Borchers, Claudia; Boesch, Christophe; Riedel, Julia; Guilahoux, Hilaire; Ouattara, Dabila; Randler, Christoph

2014-01-01

This paper surveys the consequences of pupils' participation in the extra-curricular environmental education (EE) programme Club P.A.N. (Peoples, Animals and Nature) by monitoring changes in their respective knowledge as well as in their environmental attitudes. The programme was conducted in Côte d'Ivoire in West Africa with the help of the local…

Characterization of low thermal conductivity PAN-based carbon fibers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Katzman, Howard A.; Adams, P. M.; Le, T. D.; Hemminger, Carl S.

1992-01-01

The microstructure and surface chemistry of eight low thermal conductivity (LTC) PAN-based carbon fibers were determined and compared with PAN-based fibers heat treated to higher temperatures. Based on wide-angle x ray diffraction, the LTC PAN fibers all appear to have a similar turbostratic structure with large 002 d-spacings, small crystallite sizes, and moderate preferred orientation. Limited small-angle x ray scattering (SAXS) results indicate that, with the exception of LTC fibers made by BASF, the LTC fibers do not have well developed pores. Transmission electron microscopy shows that the texture of the two LTC PAN-based fibers studied (Amoco T350/23X and /25X) consists of multiple sets of parallel, wavy, bent layers that interweave with each other forming a complex three dimensional network oriented randomly around the fiber axis. X ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis finds correlations between heat treated temperatures and the surface composition chemistry of the carbon fiber samples.

15. RW Meyer Sugar Mill: 18761889. Sorghum pan and boiling ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

15. RW Meyer Sugar Mill: 1876-1889. Sorghum pan and boiling range flue. Manufactured by John Nott & Co., Honolulu, Hawaii, 1878. View: North side of sorghum pan and boiling range flue, with furnace-end in background. In the sorghum pan heat was applied to the cane juice to clarify it, evaporate its water content, and concentrate the sugar crystals. Hot gasses moved through the flue underneath the entire copper bottom of the sorghum pan from the furnace end (in background) to the smokestack end (in foreground). After the hot cane juice moved through the separate compartments until it reached the final compartment (now missing two sides) where it was drawn out from the copper lip in the corner. - R. W. Meyer Sugar Mill, State Route 47, Kualapuu, Maui County, HI

Group Differences in the Mutual Gaze of Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bard, Kim A.; Myowa-Yamakoshi, Masako; Tomonaga, Masaki; Tanaka, Masayuki; Costall, Alan; Matsuzawa, Tetsuro

2005-01-01

A comparative developmental framework was used to determine whether mutual gaze is unique to humans and, if not, whether common mechanisms support the development of mutual gaze in chimpanzees and humans. Mother-infant chimpanzees engaged in approximately 17 instances of mutual gaze per hour. Mutual gaze occurred in positive, nonagonistic…

Numerical judgments by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in a token economy.

PubMed

Beran, Michael J; Evans, Theodore A; Hoyle, Daniel

2011-04-01

We presented four chimpanzees with a series of tasks that involved comparing two token sets or comparing a token set to a quantity of food. Selected tokens could be exchanged for food items on a one-to-one basis. Chimpanzees successfully selected the larger numerical set for comparisons of 1 to 5 items when both sets were visible and when sets were presented through one-by-one addition of tokens into two opaque containers. Two of four chimpanzees used the number of tokens and food items to guide responding in all conditions, rather than relying on token color, size, total amount, or duration of set presentation. These results demonstrate that judgments of simultaneous and sequential sets of stimuli are made by some chimpanzees on the basis of the numerousness of sets rather than other non-numerical dimensions. The tokens were treated as equivalent to food items on the basis of their numerousness, and the chimpanzees maximized reward by choosing the larger number of items in all situations.

Intranasal Oxytocin Failed to Affect Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) Social Behavior

PubMed Central

Calcutt, Sarah E.; Burke, Kimberly; de Waal, Frans B. M.

2017-01-01

Oxytocin has been suggested as a treatment to promote positive social interactions in people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). However, it is difficult to test this effect outside of the laboratory in realistic social situations. One way to resolve this issue is to study behavioral changes in closely related species with complex social relationships, such as chimpanzees. Here, we use captive, socially housed chimpanzees to evaluate the effects of oxytocin in a socially complex environment. After administering intranasal oxytocin or a placebo to an individual chimpanzee (total n = 8), she was returned to her social group. An experimenter blind to the condition measured the subject's social behavior. We failed to find a behavioral difference between conditions. As one of the goals for oxytocin administration as a treatment for ASD is increasing prosocial behaviors during ‘real world’ encounters, it is problematic that we failed to detect behavioral changes in our closest living relatives. However, our null findings may be related to methodological challenges such as determining an effective dose of oxytocin for chimpanzees and how long oxytocin takes to cross the blood-brain barrier. Thus, more research on intranasal oxytocin dosing and uptake are needed to continue exploring whether oxytocin changes social behavior in naturalistic settings and as a treatment for ASD. PMID:28845444

Distal Communication by Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): Evidence for Common Ground?

PubMed

Leavens, David A; Reamer, Lisa A; Mareno, Mary Catherine; Russell, Jamie L; Wilson, Daniel; Schapiro, Steven J; Hopkins, William D

2015-01-01

van der Goot et al. (2014) proposed that distal, deictic communication indexed the appreciation of the psychological state of a common ground between a signaler and a receiver. In their study, great apes did not signal distally, which they construed as evidence for the human uniqueness of a sense of common ground. This study exposed 166 chimpanzees to food and an experimenter, at an angular displacement, to ask, "Do chimpanzees display distal communication?" Apes were categorized as (a) proximal or (b) distal signalers on each of four trials. The number of chimpanzees who communicated proximally did not statistically differ from the number who signaled distally. Therefore, contrary to the claim by van der Goot et al., apes do communicate distally. © 2015 The Authors. Child Development © 2015 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Distal Communication by Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): Evidence for Common Ground?

PubMed Central

Leavens, David A.; Reamer, Lisa A.; Mareno, Mary Catherine; Russell, Jamie L.; Wilson, Daniel; Schapiro, Steven J.; Hopkins, William D.

2015-01-01

van der Goot et al. (2014) proposed that distal, deictic communication indexed the appreciation of the psychological state of a common ground between a signaler and a receiver. In their study, great apes did not signal distally, which they construed as evidence for the human uniqueness of a sense of common ground. This study exposed 166 chimpanzees to food and an experimenter, at an angular displacement, to ask, “Do chimpanzees display distal communication?” Apes were categorized as (a) proximal or (b) distal signalers on each of four trials. The number of chimpanzees who communicated proximally did not statistically differ from the number who signaled distally. Therefore, contrary to the claim by van der Goot et al., apes do communicate distally. PMID:26292996

Untrained Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) Fail to Imitate Novel Actions

PubMed Central

Tennie, Claudio; Call, Josep; Tomasello, Michael

2012-01-01

Background Social learning research in apes has focused on social learning in the technical (problem solving) domain - an approach that confounds action and physical information. Successful subjects in such studies may have been able to perform target actions not as a result of imitation learning but because they had learnt some technical aspect, for example, copying the movements of an apparatus (i.e., different forms of emulation learning). Methods Here we present data on action copying by non-enculturated and untrained chimpanzees when physical information is removed from demonstrations. To date, only one such study (on gesture copying in a begging context) has been conducted – with negative results. Here we have improved this methodology and have also added non-begging test situations (a possible confound of the earlier study). Both familiar and novel actions were used as targets. Prior to testing, a trained conspecific demonstrator was rewarded for performing target actions in view of observers. All but one of the tested chimpanzees already failed to copy familiar actions. When retested with a novel target action, also the previously successful subject failed to copy – and he did so across several contexts. Conclusion Chimpanzees do not seem to copy novel actions, and only some ever copy familiar ones. Due to our having tested only non-enculturated and untrained chimpanzees, the performance of our test subjects speak more than most other studies of the general (dis-)ability of chimpanzees to copy actions, and especially novel actions. PMID:22905102

Brain size growth in wild and captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Cofran, Zachary

2018-05-24

Despite many studies of chimpanzee brain size growth, intraspecific variation is under-explored. Brain size data from chimpanzees of the Taï Forest and the Yerkes Primate Research Center enable a unique glimpse into brain growth variation as age at death is known for individuals, allowing cross-sectional growth curves to be estimated. Because Taï chimpanzees are from the wild but Yerkes apes are captive, potential environmental effects on neural development can also be explored. Previous research has revealed differences in growth and health between wild and captive primates, but such habitat effects have yet to be investigated for brain growth. Here, I use an iterative curve fitting procedure to estimate brain growth and regression parameters for each population, statistically comparing growth models using bootstrapped confidence intervals. Yerkes and Taï brain sizes overlap at all ages, although the sole Taï newborn is at the low end of captive neonatal variation. Growth rate and duration are statistically indistinguishable between the two populations. Resampling the Yerkes sample to match the Taï sample size and age group composition shows that ontogenetic variation in the two groups are remarkably similar despite the latter's limited size. Best fit growth curves for each sample indicate cessation of brain size growth at around 2 years, earlier than has previously been reported. The overall similarity between wild and captive chimpanzees points to the canalization of brain growth in this species. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The ATLAS PanDA Pilot in Operation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nilsson, P.; Caballero, J.; De, K.; Maeno, T.; Stradling, A.; Wenaus, T.; ATLAS Collaboration

2011-12-01

The Production and Distributed Analysis system (PanDA) [1-2] was designed to meet ATLAS [3] requirements for a data-driven workload management system capable of operating at LHC data processing scale. Submitted jobs are executed on worker nodes by pilot jobs sent to the grid sites by pilot factories. This paper provides an overview of the PanDA pilot [4] system and presents major features added in light of recent operational experience, including multi-job processing, advanced job recovery for jobs with output storage failures, gLExec [5-6] based identity switching from the generic pilot to the actual user, and other security measures. The PanDA system serves all ATLAS distributed processing and is the primary system for distributed analysis; it is currently used at over 100 sites worldwide. We analyze the performance of the pilot system in processing real LHC data on the OSG [7], EGI [8] and Nordugrid [9-10] infrastructures used by ATLAS, and describe plans for its evolution.

Sexual dimorphic features within extant great ape faciodental skeletal anatomy and testing the single species hypothesis.

PubMed

Cameron, D W

1997-01-01

This paper examines sexually dimorphic skeletal characters within the face and upper dentition of extant hominids (great ape), not including members of the Hominini. Specimens of Pan paniscus, Pan troglodytes, Gorilla gorilla, and Pongo pygmaeus are used to help identify likely sex specific characters for the Hominidae. The aim of this paper is to identify extant hominid faciodental sexual features which can be used to help sex fossil specimens. A morphometric and skeletal study of sexual variability demonstrates relatively diverse patterns of sexual variability within the extant hominids. In terms of morphometrics, P. paniscus is relatively non-dimorphic, while P. troglodytes, Gorilla and Pongo display a large degree of sexual dimorphism. In their respective skeletal anatomies, however, each has specific characters which tend to differentiate between the sexes. Some faciodental sex features are shown to be common amongst all four taxa and as such are likely to be important criteria for determining the sex of Miocene and Plio-Pleistocene fossil hominid specimens. The construction of extant great ape sexual ranges of variability are also important in helping to test the fossil ape single species hypotheses. The testing of sex and species ranges of variability should employ range based statistics not only because they are sample size independent, (relative to C.V.) but also because they are of low power.

Stable isotope evidence of meat eating and hunting specialization in adult male chimpanzees

PubMed Central

Fahy, Geraldine E.; Richards, Michael; Riedel, Julia; Hublin, Jean-Jacques; Boesch, Christophe

2013-01-01

Observations of hunting and meat eating in our closest living relatives, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), suggest that among primates, regular inclusion of meat in the diet is not a characteristic unique to Homo. Wild chimpanzees are known to consume vertebrate meat, but its actual dietary contribution is, depending on the study population, often either unknown or minimal. Constraints on continual direct observation throughout the entire hunting season mean that behavioral observations are limited in their ability to accurately quantify meat consumption. Here we present direct stable isotope evidence supporting behavioral observations of frequent meat eating among wild adult male chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in Taï National Park, Côte d’Ivoire. Meat eating among some of the male chimpanzees is significant enough to result in a marked isotope signal detectable on a short-term basis in their hair keratin and long-term in their bone collagen. Although both adult males and females and juveniles derive their dietary protein largely from daily fruit and seasonal nut consumption, our data indicate that some adult males also derive a large amount of dietary protein from hunted meat. Our results reinforce behavioral observations of male-dominated hunting and meat eating in adult Taï chimpanzees, suggesting that sex differences in food acquisition and consumption may have persisted throughout hominin evolution, rather than being a recent development in the human lineage. PMID:23530185

Kinematic measurement from panned cinematography.

PubMed

Gervais, P; Bedingfield, E W; Wronko, C; Kollias, I; Marchiori, G; Kuntz, J; Way, N; Kuiper, D

1989-06-01

Traditional 2-D cinematography has used a stationary camera with its optical axis perpendicular to the plane of motion. This method has constrained the size of the object plane or has introduced potential errors from a small subject image size with large object field widths. The purpose of this study was to assess a panning technique that could overcome the inherent limitations of small object field widths, small object image sizes and limited movement samples. The proposed technique used a series of reference targets in the object field that provided the necessary scales and origin translations. A 102 m object field was panned. Comparisons between criterion distances and film measured distances for field widths of 46 m and 22 m resulted in absolute mean differences that were comparable to that of the traditional method.

RPAN: rice pan-genome browser for ∼3000 rice genomes.

PubMed

Sun, Chen; Hu, Zhiqiang; Zheng, Tianqing; Lu, Kuangchen; Zhao, Yue; Wang, Wensheng; Shi, Jianxin; Wang, Chunchao; Lu, Jinyuan; Zhang, Dabing; Li, Zhikang; Wei, Chaochun

2017-01-25

A pan-genome is the union of the gene sets of all the individuals of a clade or a species and it provides a new dimension of genome complexity with the presence/absence variations (PAVs) of genes among these genomes. With the progress of sequencing technologies, pan-genome study is becoming affordable for eukaryotes with large-sized genomes. The Asian cultivated rice, Oryza sativa L., is one of the major food sources for the world and a model organism in plant biology. Recently, the 3000 Rice Genome Project (3K RGP) sequenced more than 3000 rice genomes with a mean sequencing depth of 14.3×, which provided a tremendous resource for rice research. In this paper, we present a genome browser, Rice Pan-genome Browser (RPAN), as a tool to search and visualize the rice pan-genome derived from 3K RGP. RPAN contains a database of the basic information of 3010 rice accessions, including genomic sequences, gene annotations, PAV information and gene expression data of the rice pan-genome. At least 12 000 novel genes absent in the reference genome were included. RPAN also provides multiple search and visualization functions. RPAN can be a rich resource for rice biology and rice breeding. It is available at http://cgm.sjtu.edu.cn/3kricedb/ or http://www.rmbreeding.cn/pan3k. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Disordered eating and food restrictions in children with PANDAS/PANS.

PubMed

Toufexis, Megan D; Hommer, Rebecca; Gerardi, Diana M; Grant, Paul; Rothschild, Leah; D'Souza, Precilla; Williams, Kyle; Leckman, James; Swedo, Susan E; Murphy, Tanya K

2015-02-01

Sudden onset clinically significant eating restrictions are a defining feature of the clinical presentation of some of the cases of pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS). Restrictions in food intake are typically fueled by contamination fears; fears of choking, vomiting, or swallowing; and/or sensory issues, such as texture, taste, or olfactory concerns. However, body image distortions may also be present. We investigate the clinical presentation of PANS disordered eating and compare it with that of other eating disorders. We describe 29 patients who met diagnostic criteria for PANS. Most also exhibited evidence that the symptoms might be sequelae of infections with Group A streptococcal bacteria (the pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with streptococcal infections [PANDAS] subgroup of PANS). The clinical presentations are remarkable for a male predominance (2:1 M:F), young age of the affected children (mean=9 years; range 5-12 years), acuity of symptom onset, and comorbid neuropsychiatric symptoms. The food refusal associated with PANS is compared with symptoms listed for the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed. (DSM-V) diagnosis of avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). Treatment implications are discussed, as well as directions for further research.

GIRAF 2009 - Taking action on geoscience information across Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asch, Kristine

2010-05-01

A workshop in Windhoek Between 16 and 20 March 2009 97 participants from 26 African nations, plus four European countries, and representatives from UNESCO, ICSU and IUGS-CGI, held a workshop at the Namibian Geological Survey in Windhoek. The workshop - GIRAF 2009 - Geoscience InfoRmation In Africa - was organised by the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) and the Geological Survey of Namibia (GSN) at the Namibian Ministry for Mines and Energy and was mainly financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), supported by the IUGS Commission for the Management and Application of Geoscience Information (CGI). The participants came to Namibia to discuss one of the most topical issues in the geological domain - geoscience information and informatics. A prime objective was to set up a pan-African network for exchanging knowledge about geoscience information. GIRAF 2009 builds on the results of a preparatory workshop organised by the CGI and funded by the IUGS, which was held in June 2006 in Maputo at the 21st Colloquium on African Geology - CAG21. This preparatory workshop concentrated on identifying general problems and needs of African geological institutions in discussion with representatives of African geological surveys, universities, private companies and non-governmental organisations. The GIRAF 2009 workshop used the results of this discussion to plan and design its programme Aims In detail the five aims of the GIRAF2009 workshop were: to bring together relevant African authorities, national experts and stakeholders in geoscience information; to initiate the building of a pan-African geoscience information knowledge network to exchange and share geoscience information knowledge and best practice; to integrate the authorities, national experts and experts across Africa into global geoinformation initiatives; to develop a strategic plan for Africa's future in geoscience information; to make Africa a

Early Precambrian gneiss terranes and Pan-African island arcs in Yemen: Crustal accretion of the eastern Arabian Shield

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Windley, Brian F.; Whitehouse, Martin J.; Ba-Bttat, Mahfood A. O.

1996-02-01

Within the Precambrian of Yemen, we have identified four gneiss terranes and two island-arc terranes on the basis of existing literature, mapping, and our own field observations, together with new Sm-Nd isotopic data. The two western gneiss terranes can be correlated with well-documented terranes (Asir and Afif) in Saudi Arabia. To the east of these, the Abas and Al-Mahfid gneiss terranes yield Sm-Nd model ages (tDM) of 1.7 2.3 Ga and 1.3 2.7 Ga, respectively, and cannot be correlated with any documented terranes in Saudi Arabia. These two terranes are separated by a Pan-African island-arc terrane that has been obducted onto one or both of the gneiss terranes, and a second arc bounds the Al-Mahfid gneiss terrane to the east. Our discovery of extensive Proterozoic to late Archean gneisses in Yemen provides important constraints upon the much-discussed tectonic framework of northeast Gondwana and the rate of Pan-African crustal growth. The terranes in Yemen may be correlated with comparable terranes on the eastern margin of the Arabian Shield and in northern Somalia. Thus Yemen provides a link between the arc collage of the Arabian Shield and the gneissic Mozambique belt of East Africa.

Smart Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) Nanofibers with Thermal Energy Storage and Retrieval Functionality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cherry, De'Andre James

Phase change materials (PCMs) are generally substances with a high heat of fusion in the process of solid to liquid phase change. The nature of PCMs make them efficient materials to store and retrieve large amounts of thermal energy. Presently, high efficiency thermal energy storage/retrieval in applications where flexibility and space saving are required, such as smart textiles, still remains as a challenge. In this study, lauric acid (LA) and myristic acid (MA) were combined to prepare a specific binary fatty acid eutectic (LA-MA) with a melting point near the operating body temperature of a human being and then encapsulated in polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers through the electrospinning technique. Functionalized PCM-enhanced PAN nanofibers containing LA-MA at 30%, 50%, 70% and 100% of the weight of the PAN were successfully synthesized. The morphological structures and thermal energy storage capacity of the PCM-enhanced PAN nanofibers were characterized by electron microscopy (EM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The novel PCM-enhanced PAN nanofibers maintained their cylindrical fiber morphology after multiple heating-cooling cycles and retained their latent heat storage functionality. Thus, it is envisioned that the prepared PCM-enhanced PAN nanofibers will find use in applications such as smart textiles where temperature regulation functionality is required.

PanGEA: Identification of allele specific gene expression using the 454 technology

PubMed Central

Kofler, Robert; Teixeira Torres, Tatiana; Lelley, Tamas; Schlötterer, Christian

2009-01-01

Background Next generation sequencing technologies hold great potential for many biological questions. While mainly used for genomic sequencing, they are also very promising for gene expression profiling. Sequencing of cDNA does not only provide an estimate of the absolute expression level, it can also be used for the identification of allele specific gene expression. Results We developed PanGEA, a tool which enables a fast and user-friendly analysis of allele specific gene expression using the 454 technology. PanGEA allows mapping of 454-ESTs to genes or whole genomes, displaying gene expression profiles, identification of SNPs and the quantification of allele specific gene expression. The intuitive GUI of PanGEA facilitates a flexible and interactive analysis of the data. PanGEA additionally implements a modification of the Smith-Waterman algorithm which deals with incorrect estimates of homopolymer length as occuring in the 454 technology Conclusion To our knowledge, PanGEA is the first tool which facilitates the identification of allele specific gene expression. PanGEA is distributed under the Mozilla Public License and available at: PMID:19442283

Tracing the HIMU component within Pan-African lithosphere beneath northeast Africa: Evidence from Late Cretaceous Natash alkaline volcanics, Egypt

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abu El-Rus, M. A.; Chazot, G.; Vannucci, R.; Paquette, J.-L.

2018-02-01

Pan-African lithospheric mantle and the formation of juvenile crust during the Pan-African Orogeny. A two stage evolution model is therefore proposed for volcanism in the Natash area: fluxing of the lithosphere by hydrous fluids during Pan-African Orogeny forming a hybrid lithospheric mantle that in Late Cretaceous underwent thermal erosion and melting in response to upwelling asthenosphere, possibly at the onset of the extensional fracturing preceded the doming of the Afro-Arabian Shield.

Mutagenicity of pan residues and gravy from fried meat.

PubMed

Overvik, E; Nilsson, L; Fredholm, L; Levin, O; Nord, C E; Gustafsson, J A

1987-02-01

Lean pork meat was fried with or without the addition of frying-fat at 200 or 250 degrees C. The pan residues were collected by washing the hot pan with boiling water. When producing thickened gravy the water was substituted by a mixture of water and flour, milk and flour or cream and flour. The basic extracts were tested for mutagenicity in Ames' Salmonella test on strain TA98 with the addition of S9 mix. High amounts of mutagenicity were found in all samples. The amounts of mutagenicity in the pan residues were at a comparable level of the amounts found in the meat crusts. Thickening of the gravy caused only small changes in the mutagenicity.

The Pan Zhichang Incident

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yuchen, Zhu

2007-01-01

This article examines why Pan Zhichang, a well-known professor and Ph.D. candidate supervisor at Nanjing University, has repeatedly been accused of plagiarism. It may not be difficult to check whether he has committed plagiarism, but seeking the deeper social and systemic reasons for a person's repeated "negligence" is indeed a…

PanDA for COMPASS at JINR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrosyan, A. Sh.

2016-09-01

PanDA (Production and Distributed Analysis System) is a workload management system, widely used for data processing at experiments on Large Hadron Collider and others. COMPASS is a high-energy physics experiment at the Super Proton Synchrotron. Data processing for COMPASS runs locally at CERN, on lxbatch, the data itself stored in CASTOR. In 2014 an idea to start running COMPASS production through PanDA arose. Such transformation in experiment's data processing will allow COMPASS community to use not only CERN resources, but also Grid resources worldwide. During the spring and summer of 2015 installation, validation and migration work is being performed at JINR. Details and results of this process are presented in this paper.

An electronic pan/tilt/zoom camera system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zimmermann, Steve; Martin, H. Lee

1991-01-01

A camera system for omnidirectional image viewing applications that provides pan, tilt, zoom, and rotational orientation within a hemispherical field of view (FOV) using no moving parts was developed. The imaging device is based on the effect that from a fisheye lens, which produces a circular image of an entire hemispherical FOV, can be mathematically corrected using high speed electronic circuitry. An incoming fisheye image from any image acquisition source is captured in memory of the device, a transformation is performed for the viewing region of interest and viewing direction, and a corrected image is output as a video image signal for viewing, recording, or analysis. As a result, this device can accomplish the functions of pan, tilt, rotation, and zoom throughout a hemispherical FOV without the need for any mechanical mechanisms. A programmable transformation processor provides flexible control over viewing situations. Multiple images, each with different image magnifications and pan tilt rotation parameters, can be obtained from a single camera. The image transformation device can provide corrected images at frame rates compatible with RS-170 standard video equipment.

Locomotion in bonobos (Pan paniscus): differences and similarities between bipedal and quadrupedal terrestrial walking, and a comparison with other locomotor modes

PubMed Central

D’Août, K; Vereecke, E; Schoonaert, K; De Clercq, D; Van Elsacker, L; Aerts, P

2004-01-01

One of the great ongoing debates in palaeo-anthropology is when, and how, hominids acquired habitual bipedal locomotion. The newly adopted bipedal gait and the ancestral quadrupedal gait are most often considered as very distinct, with each habitual locomotor mode showing corresponding anatomical adaptations. Bonobos (Pan paniscus), along with common chimpanzees (P. troglodytes), are the closest living relatives to humans and their locomotion is valuable for comparison with other primates, and to gain an insight in the acquisition of human bipedalism. Bonobos are habitual quadrupeds, but they also engage in bipedal locomotion, both on terrestrial and in arboreal substrates. In terms of kinematics and dynamics, the contrast between bipedal and quadrupedal walking seems to be more subtle than one might expect. Apart from the trunk being approximately 37° more erect during bipedal locomotion, the leg movements are rather similar. Apart from the heel, plantar pressure distributions show subtle differences between bipedal and quadrupedal locomotion. Regardless, variability is high, and various intermediate forms of locomotion (e.g. tripedal walking) exist both in captivity and in the wild. Moreover, there is overlap between the characteristics of walking and other locomotor modes, as we show with new data of walking on an inclined pole and of vertical squat jumps. We suggest that there is great overlap between the many locomotor modes in bonobos, and that the required polyvalence is reflected in their anatomy. This may hamper the development of one highly specialized gait (i.e. bipedalism), which would constrain performance of the other types of locomotion. PMID:15198700

Locomotion in bonobos (Pan paniscus): differences and similarities between bipedal and quadrupedal terrestrial walking, and a comparison with other locomotor modes.

PubMed

D'Août, K; Vereecke, E; Schoonaert, K; De Clercq, D; Van Elsacker, L; Aerts, P

2004-05-01

One of the great ongoing debates in palaeo-anthropology is when, and how, hominids acquired habitual bipedal locomotion. The newly adopted bipedal gait and the ancestral quadrupedal gait are most often considered as very distinct, with each habitual locomotor mode showing corresponding anatomical adaptations. Bonobos (Pan paniscus), along with common chimpanzees (P. troglodytes), are the closest living relatives to humans and their locomotion is valuable for comparison with other primates, and to gain an insight in the acquisition of human bipedalism. Bonobos are habitual quadrupeds, but they also engage in bipedal locomotion, both on terrestrial and in arboreal substrates. In terms of kinematics and dynamics, the contrast between bipedal and quadrupedal walking seems to be more subtle than one might expect. Apart from the trunk being approximately 37 degrees more erect during bipedal locomotion, the leg movements are rather similar. Apart from the heel, plantar pressure distributions show subtle differences between bipedal and quadrupedal locomotion. Regardless, variability is high, and various intermediate forms of locomotion (e.g. tripedal walking) exist both in captivity and in the wild. Moreover, there is overlap between the characteristics of walking and other locomotor modes, as we show with new data of walking on an inclined pole and of vertical squat jumps. We suggest that there is great overlap between the many locomotor modes in bonobos, and that the required polyvalence is reflected in their anatomy. This may hamper the development of one highly specialized gait (i.e. bipedalism), which would constrain performance of the other types of locomotion.

Photodegradation inhibitors for polyacrylonitrile/Ag (PAN/Ag) films. Annual report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sergides, C.A.; Chughtai, A.R.; Smith, D.M.

1985-09-01

Three types of UV stabilizers have been investigated for the photostabilization of PAN/Ag films. First, the effect of UV-absorber stabilizers, like the hydrohybenzophenone derivatives (UVINUL SERIES, BASF) absorbing UV radiation in the same region as PAN, was studied. Such additives generally had little effect, while in some cases, photodegradation of PAN was enhanced because of photosensitization. Second, the effect of quencher stabilizers like nickel chelate complexes (Irgastab 2002, CIBA-GEIGY) on the photodegradation of PAN/Ag films was examined. They resulted in marked decreases in the photodegradation of the polymer. Thirdly, antioxidant stabilizers, such as 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol derivatives (Irganox 1010, CIBA-GEIGY), were studiedmore » and also found to have a significant inhibiting effect on the photodegradation of PAN. Increasing the concentration of an effective stabilizer was observed to further decrease the photodegradation. The stabilizer concentration was kept generally low, and a combination of 1% wt antioxidant (Irganox 1010) and 0.5% wt quencher (Irgastab 2002) proved to be optimum. Irganox 1010 and Irgastab 2002 in separate preliminary experiments (in the absence of the polymer) were found to be stable to ultraviolet radiation of air mass one (WG 305).« less

Metallogenic evolution of uranium deposits in the Middle East and North Africa deposits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howari, Fares; Goodell, Philip; Salman, Abdulaty

2016-02-01

This paper is briefly involved in classification and distributions of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) uranium deposits. The study of these mineral systems can significantly contribute to our further understanding of the metallogeny of known and poorly explored deposits. This provides contribution to, and further enhancement of, current classifications and metallogenic models of uranium systems, allowing researchers to emphasize on unknown or poorly studied mineral systems found in MENA. The present study identified eight metallogenic types of uranium associated with: 1) the Archean rocks and intra-cratonic basins, 2) the Pan-African granites and rhyolites which are characterized by igneous activity, 3) Phanerozoic (Paleozoic) clastics, these deposits are the sedimentological response to Pan African magmatism, 4) Mesozoic (basal) clastics type e.g. Nubia sandstones which are characterized by uranium minerals, 5) regional sedimentary phosphate deposits which are categorized as geosynclinal, or continental margin deposits, on the shelf of the Tethys Ocean, 6) Cenozoic Intracratonic Felsic Magmatism of the Tibesti and Hoggar, and the sandstone U deposits of adjoining Niger. These are similar to the Pan-African magmatism metallogenic, 7) Calcretes, and 8) Resistate minerals which are often enriched in rare earth elements, sometimes including uranium. They are thus sometimes considered as U resources but poorly explored in the MENA region. These metallogenic types are described and discussed in the current paper.

Wintertime peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) in the megacity Beijing: role of photochemical and meteorological processes.

PubMed

Zhang, Hualong; Xu, Xiaobin; Lin, Weili; Wang, Ying

2014-01-01

Previous measurements of peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) in Asian megacities were scarce and mainly conducted for relative short periods in summer. Here, we present and analyze the measurements of PAN, O3, NO(x), etc., made at an urban site (CMA) in Beijing from 25 January to 22 March 2010. The hourly concentration of PAN averaged 0.70 x 10(-9) mol/mol (0.23 x 10(-9) -3.51 x 10(-9) mol/mol) and was well correlated with that of NO2 but not O3, indicating that the variations of the winter concentrations of PAN and 03 in urban Beijing are decoupled with each other. Wind conditions and transport of air masses exert very significant impacts on O3, PAN, and other species. Air masses arriving at the site originated either from the boundary layer over the highly polluted N-S-W sector or from the free troposphere over the W-N sector. The descending free-tropospheric air was rich in O3, with an average PAN/O3 ratio smaller than 0.031, while the boundary layer air over the polluted sector contained higher levels of PAN and primary pollutants, with an average PAN/O3 ratio of 0.11. These facts related with transport conditions can well explain the observed PAN-O3 decoupling. Photochemical production is important to PAN in the winter over Beijing. The concentration of the peroxyacetyl (PA) radical was estimated to be in the range of 0.0014 x 10(-12) -0.0042 x 10(-12) mol/mol. The contributions of the formation reaction and thermal decomposition to PAN's variation were calculated and found to be significant even in the colder period in air over Beijing, with the production exceeding the decomposition.

Computational pan-genomics: status, promises and challenges.

PubMed

2018-01-01

Many disciplines, from human genetics and oncology to plant breeding, microbiology and virology, commonly face the challenge of analyzing rapidly increasing numbers of genomes. In case of Homo sapiens, the number of sequenced genomes will approach hundreds of thousands in the next few years. Simply scaling up established bioinformatics pipelines will not be sufficient for leveraging the full potential of such rich genomic data sets. Instead, novel, qualitatively different computational methods and paradigms are needed. We will witness the rapid extension of computational pan-genomics, a new sub-area of research in computational biology. In this article, we generalize existing definitions and understand a pan-genome as any collection of genomic sequences to be analyzed jointly or to be used as a reference. We examine already available approaches to construct and use pan-genomes, discuss the potential benefits of future technologies and methodologies and review open challenges from the vantage point of the above-mentioned biological disciplines. As a prominent example for a computational paradigm shift, we particularly highlight the transition from the representation of reference genomes as strings to representations as graphs. We outline how this and other challenges from different application domains translate into common computational problems, point out relevant bioinformatics techniques and identify open problems in computer science. With this review, we aim to increase awareness that a joint approach to computational pan-genomics can help address many of the problems currently faced in various domains. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

Monoclonal antibodies to the equine CD2 T lymphocyte marker, to a pan-granulocyte/monocyte marker and to a unique pan-B lymphocyte marker.

PubMed

Tumas, D B; Brassfield, A L; Travenor, A S; Hines, M T; Davis, W C; McGuire, T C

1994-12-01

Murine monoclonal antibodies, HB88A, B29A and DH59B separately identify the CD2 T lymphocyte molecule, a unique pan-B lymphocyte surface marker and a pan-granulocyte/monocyte surface molecule, respectively, in the horse. Specificity was shown by two-color immunofluorescent flow cytometry and immunofluorescent microscopy. MAb HB88A reacted with a 52 kDa pan-T lymphocyte molecule present on 75% +/- 7 of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) (n = 15 horses). It also reacted with lymphocytes restricted to T lymphocyte dependent areas of lymph node and spleen. Specificity of mAb HB88A to CD2 was demonstrated by its reactivity to COS7 cells which expressed a transfected 1.5 kb equine lymphocyte c-DNA clone having 77.5% overall sequence homology with human CD2 c-DNA. MAb B29A reacted with a pan-B lymphocyte specific cell surface complex, 143, 72, 50, 40, 27 and 14.5 kDa, present on 19% +/- 7 of PBL (n = 15 horses). This complex has not been described in the horse or other species. MAb DH59B reacted with a 96 kDa pan-granulocyte/monocyte specific surface protein and identified macrophages and Kupffer cells in equine tissue sections. Together these mAbs can be used to identify and quantitate the major constituents of equine leukocytes.

The Pan-STARRS PS1 Image Processing Pipeline

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Magnier, E.

The Pan-STARRS PS1 Image Processing Pipeline (IPP) performs the image processing and data analysis tasks needed to enable the scientific use of the images obtained by the Pan-STARRS PS1 prototype telescope. The primary goals of the IPP are to process the science images from the Pan-STARRS telescopes and make the results available to other systems within Pan-STARRS. It also is responsible for combining all of the science images in a given filter into a single representation of the non-variable component of the night sky defined as the "Static Sky". To achieve these goals, the IPP also performs other analysis functions to generate the calibrations needed in the science image processing, and to occasionally use the derived data to generate improved astrometric and photometric reference catalogs. It also provides the infrastructure needed to store the incoming data and the resulting data products. The IPP inherits lessons learned, and in some cases code and prototype code, from several other astronomy image analysis systems, including Imcat (Kaiser), the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (REF), the Elixir system (Magnier & Cuillandre), and Vista (Tonry). Imcat and Vista have a large number of robust image processing functions. SDSS has demonstrated a working analysis pipeline and large-scale databasesystem for a dedicated project. The Elixir system has demonstrated an automatic image processing system and an object database system for operational usage. This talk will present an overview of the IPP architecture, functional flow, code development structure, and selected analysis algorithms. Also discussed is the HW highly parallel HW configuration necessary to support PS1 operational requirements. Finally, results are presented of the processing of images collected during PS1 early commissioning tasks utilizing the Pan-STARRS Test Camera #3.

Regulatory logic of pan-neuronal gene expression in C. elegans

PubMed Central

Stefanakis, Nikolaos; Carrera, Ines; Hobert, Oliver

2015-01-01

While neuronal cell types display an astounding degree of phenotypic diversity, most if not all neuron types share a core panel of terminal features. However, little is known about how pan-neuronal expression patterns are genetically programmed. Through an extensive analysis of the cis-regulatory control regions of a battery of pan-neuronal C.elegans genes, including genes involved in synaptic vesicle biology and neuropeptide signaling, we define a common organizational principle in the regulation of pan-neuronal genes in the form of a surprisingly complex array of seemingly redundant, parallel-acting cis-regulatory modules that direct expression to broad, overlapping domains throughout the nervous system. These parallel-acting cis-regulatory modules are responsive to a multitude of distinct trans-acting factors. Neuronal gene expression programs therefore fall into two fundamentally distinct classes. Neuron type-specific genes are generally controlled by discrete and non-redundantly acting regulatory inputs, while pan-neuronal gene expression is controlled by diverse, coincident and seemingly redundant regulatory inputs. PMID:26291158

Reconstruction of Holocene southern African continental climate using biomarkers from salt pan sediments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belz, Lukas; Schüller, Irka; Wehrmann, Achim; Wilkes, Heinz

2015-04-01

The climate system of southern Africa is strongly influenced by large scale atmospheric and marine circulation processes and, therefore, very sensitive to global climate change. Recent publications provided evidence for strong spatial and temporal climate variability in southern Africa over the Holocene. It is of major importance to understand the mechanisms driving the southern African climate system in order to estimate regional implications of current global change. However, proxy datasets from continental geoarchives especially of the semi-arid western Kalahari region are still scarce. A main problem is the absence of conventional continental climatic archives, due to the lack of lacustrine systems. In this study we are exploring the utility of sediments from western Kalahari salt pans, i.e. local depressions which are flooded temporarily during rainfall events. Besides the analyses of basic geochemical bulk parameters including TOC, δ13Corg, TIC, δ13Ccarb, δ18Ocarb, TN, δ15N, the paleo-climatic approach focuses on reconstruction of local vegetation assemblages to identify changes in the ecosystem. This is pursued using plant biomarkers, particularly leaf wax n-alkanes and n-alcohols and their stable carbon and hydrogen isotopic signatures. Preliminary results show prominent shifts in n-alkane distribution and δ13C values of the C33 homologue during late Pleistocene and early Holocene. These shifts correlate to changes of the TOC content. Our data indicate changes in carbon sources which possibly reflect major environmental changes.

BRDF of Salt Pan Regolith Samples

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Georgiev, Georgi T.; Gatebe, Charles K.; Butler, James J.; King, Michael D.

2008-01-01

Laboratory Bi-directional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) measurements of salt pan regolith samples are presented in this study in an effort to understand the role of spatial and spectral variability of the natural biome. The samples were obtained from Etosha Pan, Namibia (19.20 deg S, 15.93 deg E, alt. 1100 m). It is shown how the BRDF depends on the measurement geometry - incident and scatter angles and on the sample particle sizes. As a demonstration of the application of the results, airborne BRDF measurements acquires with NASA's Cloud Absorption Radiometer (CAR) over the same general site where the regolith samples were collected are compared with the laboratory results. Good agreement between laboratory measured and field measured BRDF is reported.

Measurements of peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) and NO2 at the South Pacific Ocean

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yeon, J.; Song, D.; Lee, J. S.; Rhee, T. S.; Park, K.; Lee, G.

2014-12-01

We measured peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) and NO2 in remote marine boundary area during the SHIPPO (Shipborne Pole to Pole Observation). The measurements were made on the R/V Araon from Christ church, New Zealand to Gwangyang, South Korea along the western Pacific Ocean from March 30th to April 25th, 2014. Both PAN and NO2 were analyzed every 2 minute by a fast chromatograph with luminol-based chemiluminescence detection. In order to improve their detection limits, random noise from PMT has been successfully reduced by ensembled chromatograms with every 30 samples. Additionally, we replaced Nylon membrane surface with reflective aluminum surface and applied the new Luminol solution, which enhanced the signals significantly with detection limits of 6 pptv and 40 ppbv for PAN and NO2, respectively. Average concentrations of PAN and NO2 were 8 pptv for PAN and 80 pptv for NO2 during the experiment. The back trajectory analysis showed that the directly influenced air masses from anthropogenic activities were rare except the latitudes higher than 20°N. Relatively good correlations between PAN and NO2 were consistently observed, while PAN and O3 were not clearly correlated except in the air masses recently originated from land masses.

Contributions of burner, pan, meat and salt to PM emission during grilling.

PubMed

Amouei Torkmahalleh, Mehdi; Ospanova, Saltanat; Baibatyrova, Aknur; Nurbay, Shynggys; Zhanakhmet, Gulaina; Shah, Dhawal

2018-07-01

Grilling ground beef meat was conducted in two locations at Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan. The experiments were designed such that only particles from beef meat were isolated. A similar experimental protocol was applied at both locations. The average particle number and mass emission rates for grilling pure meat itself (excluding particles from pan and burner) were found to be 9.4 × 10 12 (SD = 7.2 × 10 12 particle min -1 and 7.6 × 10 (SD = 6.3 × 10) mg.min -1 , respectively. The PM emissions (number and mass) from the burner were found to be negligible compared to the pan and meat emissions. Ultrafine particle (UFP) concentrations from the heated pan itself were comparable to those of grilled meat. However, the particle mass concentrations from the pan itself were negligible. Approximately an hour of continuous heating resulted in zero emissions from the pan. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Aspartate decarboxylase (PanD) as a new target of pyrazinamide in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

PubMed

Shi, Wanliang; Chen, Jiazhen; Feng, Jie; Cui, Peng; Zhang, Shuo; Weng, Xinhua; Zhang, Wenhong; Zhang, Ying

2014-08-01

Pyrazinamide (PZA) is a frontline anti-tuberculosis drug that plays a crucial role in the treatment of both drug-susceptible and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). PZA is a prodrug that is converted to its active form, pyrazinoic acid (POA), by a nicotinamidase/pyrazinamidase encoded by the pncA gene, the mutation of which is the major cause of PZA resistance. Although RpsA (ribosomal protein S1, involved in trans-translation) has recently been shown to be a target of POA/PZA, whole-genome sequencing has identified mutations in the panD gene encoding aspartate decarboxylase in PZA-resistant strains lacking pncA and rpsA mutations. To gain more insight into a possible new target of PZA, we isolated 30 POA-resistant mutants lacking mutations in pncA and rpsA from M. tuberculosis in vitro, and whole-genome sequencing of 3 mutants identified various mutations in the panD gene. Additionally, sequencing analysis revealed that the remaining 27 POA-resistant mutants all harbored panD mutations affecting the C-terminus of the PanD protein, with PanD M117I being the most frequent mutation (24/30, 80%). Conditional overexpression of panD from M. tuberculosis, M. smegmatis or E. coli, or of M. tuberculosis mutant PanD M117I, all conferred resistance to POA and PZA in M. tuberculosis. β-alanine and pantothenate, which are downstream products of PanD, were found to antagonize the antituberculosis activity of POA. In addition, the activity of the M. tuberculosis PanD enzyme was inhibited by POA at therapeutically relevant concentrations in a concentration-dependent manner but was not inhibited by the prodrug PZA or the control compound nicotinamide. These findings suggest that PanD represents a new target of PZA/POA. These results have implications for a better understanding of this peculiar persister drug and for the design of new drugs targeting M. tuberculosis persisters for improved treatment.

PD2P: PanDA Dynamic Data Placement for ATLAS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Maeno, T.; De, K.; Panitkin, S.

2012-12-13

The PanDA (Production and Distributed Analysis) system plays a key role in the ATLAS distributed computing infrastructure. PanDA is the ATLAS workload management system for processing all Monte-Carlo (MC) simulation and data reprocessing jobs in addition to user and group analysis jobs. The PanDA Dynamic Data Placement (PD2P) system has been developed to cope with difficulties of data placement for ATLAS. We will describe the design of the new system, its performance during the past year of data taking, dramatic improvements it has brought about in the efficient use of storage and processing resources, and plans for the future.

Kepler K2 Campaign 14 search for supernovae using Pan-STARRS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smartt, S. J.; Smith, K. W.; Rest, A.; Garnavich, P. M.; Tucker, B. E.; Margheim, S.; Kasen, D.; Olling, R.; Shaya, E.; Zenteno, A.; Chambers, K. C.; Huber, M. E.; Flewelling, H.; Magnier, E. A.; Schultz, A.; Lowe, T.; Tonry, J.; Waters, C.; Wright, D. E.; Young, D. R.

2017-06-01

12 transients have been discovered as part of the Kepler K2 Campaign 14 search using the Pan-STARRS telescope augmenting the Pan-STARRS Search for Transients (PSST) http://star.pst.qub.ac.uk/ps1threepi/.

Initiation of a pan-genomic research project for Xylella fastidiosa

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Differences in genomic structure and nucleotide polymorphism among strains form the genetic basis for adaptability of a bacterial species. This can be described by a bacterial pan-genome, which is defined as the full complement of genes in all strains of a species. The pan-genome is composed of a "c...

Description of a new species of Potamonautes MacLeay, 1838, from the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa

PubMed Central

Peer, Nasreen; Perissinotto, Renzo; Gouws, Gavin; Miranda, Nelson A.F.

2015-01-01

Abstract A new species of freshwater crab, Potamonautes isimangaliso sp. n., is described from the western shores of False Bay, Hluhluwe, within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa. While bearing a superficial resemblance to Potamonautes lividus, the new species has been found to be genetically distinct, diverging from the former by 7.4–7.8% in mtDNA. Potamonautes isimangaliso most closely resembles Potamonautes lividus, but is distinguished by a unique suite of carapace characters, colouration, and size. The new species also lives in close association with oxygen-poor, fresh ephemeral pans, while the habitat of Potamonautes lividus is well above the surface water line of the closest water body. An updated identification key for the Potamonautes species of South Africa is provided. PMID:26019669

Piagetian conservation of discrete quantities in bonobos (Pan paniscus), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), and orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus).

PubMed

Suda, Chikako; Call, Josep

2005-10-01

This study investigated whether physical discreteness helps apes to understand the concept of Piagetian conservation (i.e. the invariance of quantities). Subjects were four bonobos, three chimpanzees, and five orangutans. Apes were tested on their ability to conserve discrete/continuous quantities in an over-conservation procedure in which two unequal quantities of edible rewards underwent various transformations in front of subjects. Subjects were examined to determine whether they could track the larger quantity of reward after the transformation. Comparison between the two types of conservation revealed that tests with bonobos supported the discreteness hypothesis. Bonobos, but neither chimpanzees nor orangutans, performed significantly better with discrete quantities than with continuous ones. The results suggest that at least bonobos could benefit from the discreteness of stimuli in their acquisition of conservation skills.

An investigation of electrochemomechanical actuation of conductive Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gonzalez, Mark A.; Walter, Wayne W.

2014-03-01

A polymer-based nanofiber composite actuator designed for contractile actuation was fabricated by electrospinning, stimulated by electrolysis, and characterized by electrochemical and mechanical testing to address performance limitations and understand the activation processing effects on actuation performance. Currently, Electroactive polymers (EAPs) have provided uses in sensory and actuation technology, but have either low force output or expand rather than contract, falling short in capturing the natural kinetics and mechanics of muscle needed to provide breakthroughs in the bio-medical and robotic fields. In this study, activated Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers have demonstrated biomimetic functionalities similar to the sarcomere contraction responsible for muscle function. Activated PAN has also been shown to contract and expand by electrolysis when in close vicinity to the anode and cathode, respectively. PAN nanofibers (~500 nm) especially show faster response to changes in environmental pH and improved mechanical properties compared to larger diameter fibers. Tensile testing was conducted to examine changes in mechanical properties between annealing and hydrolysis processing. Voltage driven transient effects of localized pH were examined to address pHdefined actuation thresholds of PAN fibers. Electrochemical contraction rates of the PAN/Graphite composite actuator demonstrated up to 25%/min. Strains of 58.8%, ultimate stresses up to 77.1 MPa, and moduli of 0.21 MPa were achieved with pure PAN nanofiber mats, surpassing mechanical properties of natural muscles. Further improvements, however, to contraction rates and Young's moduli were found essential to capture the function and performance of skeletal muscles appropriately.

PT conditions of metamorphism in the Wami River granulite complex, central coastal Tanzania: implications for Pan-African geotectonics in the Mozambique Belt of eastern Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maboko, M. A. H.

1997-02-01

Solid-solution equilibria for gamet-clinopyroxene pairs in the early Pan-African Wami River granulite complex of central coastal Tanzania indicate metamorphic recrystallization at a temperature of about 700°C and a pressure of 8-9 kb, corresponding to metamorphism at a depth of 30-40 km. This suggests that granulite formation was preceded by an anomalous regional crustal thickening, similar to the crustal doubling that accompanies Phanerozoic continent-continent collisions of the Himalaya type. The analogy prompts the interpretation of the Wami River granulite complex, and possibly the rest of the granulite complexes in the Mozambique Belt, as slices of the underthrusted plate, which were accreted to the present day African plate following a continent-continent collision during early Pan-African time.

Coastal salt pans: strengthening the new emerging role of Maltese shore platforms for geo-tourism with GIS Mapping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gauci, Ritienne; Schembri, John A.; Mizzi, Raphael; Inkpen, Rob

2015-04-01

Salt has been a foremost natural resource for millennia with a wide range of uses from preserving edible foods, and cooking with it, to cleaning, laundry, hygiene, and as a medicinal balm. The Mediterranean, with its long indented coastline, numerous islands and a distinctive climate has been a favourable area for salt production from sea water. It was the source of supply of salt to the Eurasian land mass, and trekking it through to sub-Saharan Africa. With a salinity of around 36 ppt, the Mediterranean is one of the most productive areas in the globe for salt yield per volume of water. In small islands with poor natural resources, the production of salt from sea water, through insolation, aeolian processes and intense human endeavour, offered economic benefits and created a socio-environmental cultural heritage around the sites of production of this staple resource. The Maltese Islands are no exception to this activity with rectangular or oblong pans etched on the softer surface limestone of Malta and Gozo. Located strategically on the foreshore, the rectangular (0.5-1.5 m2), shallow pits (ca 15cm), supplemented by larger reservoirs occupy significant areas as near to the shoreline as possible. There are about 40 artisanal sites along the littoral varying in area from one thousand to 17,000 m2and with their nearest point located between one and ten metres from the water's edge. Some are no longer in use. Their total area around the islands is about 170,000 m2. This aim of this paper is to explore the multiple geographies of still existing salt pans in selected sites on Malta. This research aims to map out the traditional but complex management system present at each selected shore platform site, some of which are considered the best preserved salt pans on the Islands. Consequently, they transform into focal touristic attractions, especially during the summer months when a daily display of soil harvesting work can be witnessed and admired. The mapping and

Influence of peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) on odd nitrogen in the troposphere and lower stratosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Aikin, A. C.; Herman, J. R.; Maier, E. J. R.; Mcquillan, C. J.

1983-01-01

Nonmethane hydrocarbon breakdown in the atmosphere produces aldehydes of which a fraction are transferred into peroxyacetyl nitrates (PAN) in the presence of NO and NO2. Since ethane is destroyed photochemically primarily above 1 km, PAN can be introduced into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere without the need to be transported from the boundary layer where most hydrocarbons are destroyed and where PAN may be lost due to thermal decomposition and heterogeneous loss. Mixing ratios of ethane in the lower troposphere increase by a factor of 4-8 from equatorial to northern mid-latitudes. This difference is directly translatable into a PAN latitude gradient. At mid-latitudes the concentration of PAN below 20 km is 0.1 ppb comparable to and in some instances larger than predicted HO2NO2 mixing ratios. Like HO2NO2 and HNO3, PAN serves as a reservoir for odd nitrogen.

Evaluation of the tablets' surface flow velocities in pan coaters.

PubMed

Dreu, Rok; Toschkoff, Gregor; Funke, Adrian; Altmeyer, Andreas; Knop, Klaus; Khinast, Johannes; Kleinebudde, Peter

2016-09-01

The tablet pan coating process involves various types of transverse tablet bed motions, ranging from rolling to cascading. To preserve satisfactory results in terms of coating quality after scale-up, understanding the dynamics of pan coating process should be achieved. The aim of this study was to establish a methodology of estimating translational surface velocities of the tablets in a pan coater and to assess their dependence on the drum's filling degree, the pan speed, the presence of baffles and the selected tablet properties in a dry bed system and during coating while varying the drum's filling degree and the pan speed. Experiments were conducted on the laboratory scale and on the pilot scale in side-vented pan coaters. Surface movement of biconvex two-layer tablets was assessed before, during and after the process of active coating. In order to determine the tablets' surface flow velocities, a high-speed video of the tablet surface flow was recorded via a borescope inserted into the coating drum and analysed via a cross-correlation algorithm. The obtained tablet velocity data were arranged in a linear fashion as a function of the coating drum's radius and frequency. Velocity data obtained during coating were close to those of dry tablets after coating. The filling degree had little influence on the tablet velocity profile in a coating drum with baffles but clearly affected it in a coating drum without baffles. In most but not all cases, tablets with a lower static angle of repose had tablet velocity profiles with lower slopes than tablets with higher inter-tablet friction. This particular tablet velocity response can be explained by case specific values of tablet bed's dynamic angle of repose. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Stone tool production and utilization by bonobo-chimpanzees (Pan paniscus).

PubMed

Roffman, Itai; Savage-Rumbaugh, Sue; Rubert-Pugh, Elizabeth; Ronen, Avraham; Nevo, Eviatar

2012-09-04

Using direct percussion, language-competent bonobo-chimpanzees Kanzi and Pan-Banisha produced a significantly wider variety of flint tool types than hitherto reported, and used them task-specifically to break wooden logs or to dig underground for food retrieval. For log breaking, small flakes were rotated drill-like or used as scrapers, whereas thick cortical flakes were used as axes or wedges, leaving consistent wear patterns along the glued slits, the weakest areas of the log. For digging underground, a variety of modified stone tools, as well as unmodified flint nodules, were used as shovels. Such tool production and utilization competencies reported here in Pan indicate that present-day Pan exhibits Homo-like technological competencies.

Structural Oil Pan With Integrated Oil Filtration And Cooling System

DOEpatents

Freese, V, Charles Edwin

2000-05-09

An oil pan for an internal combustion engine includes a body defining a reservoir for collecting engine coolant. The reservoir has a bottom and side walls extending upwardly from the bottom to present a flanged lip through which the oil pan may be mounted to the engine. An oil cooler assembly is housed within the body of the oil pan for cooling lubricant received from the engine. The body includes an oil inlet passage formed integrally therewith for receiving lubricant from the engine and delivering lubricant to the oil cooler. In addition, the body also includes an oil pick up passage formed integrally therewith for providing fluid communication between the reservoir and the engine through the flanged lip.

Satellite-derived pan-Arctic melt onset dataset, 2000-2009

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, L.; Derksen, C.; Howell, S.; Wolken, G. J.; Sharp, M. J.; Markus, T.

2009-12-01

The SeaWinds Scatterometer on QuikSCAT (QS) has been in orbit for over a decade since its launch in June 1999. Due to its high sensitivity to the appearance of liquid water in snow and day/night all weather capability, QS data have been successfully used to detect melt onset and melt duration for various elements of the cryosphere. These melt datasets are especially useful in the polar regions where the application of imagery from optical sensors is hindered by polar nights and frequent cloud cover. In this study, we generate a pan-Arctic, pan-cryosphere melt onset dataset by combining estimates from previously published algorithms optimized for individual cryospheric elements and applied to QS and Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) data for the northern high latitude land surface, ice caps, large lakes, and sea ice. Comparisons of melt onset along the boundaries between different components of the cryosphere show that in general the integrated dataset provides consistent and spatially coherent melt onset estimates across the pan-Arctic. We present the climatology and the anomaly patterns in melt onset during 2000-2009, and identify synoptic-scale linkages between atmospheric conditions and the observed patterns. We also investigate the possible trends in melt onset in the pan-Arctic during the 10-year period.

TCGA's Pan-Cancer Efforts and Expansion to Include Whole Genome Sequence - TCGA

Cancer.gov

Carolyn Hutter, Ph.D., Program Director of NHGRI's Division of Genomic Medicine, discusses the expansion of TCGA's Pan-Cancer efforts to include the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PAWG) project.

A Portable Burn Pan for the Disposal of Excess Propellants

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-11-01

pan caused by radiant heat .............................. 39 11 Wet propellant (12-0 kg burn) and dry propellant (460 kg) burn residues...43 13 Graph of component temperatures during an ATU burn pan test ......................................... 45 14 IR Camera thermal...than anticipated. Dr. Packer also fully embraced the concept, requesting background reports and papers as well as test reports from all the

Evaluation of chemopreventive effects of betel leaf on the genotoxicity of pan masala.

PubMed

Trivedi, A H; Patel, R K; Rawal, U M; Adhvaryu, S G; Balar, D B

1994-01-01

The antigenotoxic effect of the aqueous extract of betel leaf (BL-ext.) against the pan masala was tested with the help of cytogenetic endpoints like chromosome aberration (CA) and sister chromatid exchange (SCE) utilizing Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. Compared to the cultures treated with aqueous extract of pan masala alone, a reduction in CA and SCE frequencies in CHO cells was observed following a combined treatment with pan masala (with or without tobacco) extract and BL-ext. The protective effect of BL-ext. against the genomic damage caused by pan masala was statistically significant only after treating the cells for a longer period.

Neutralization Properties of Simian Immunodeficiency Viruses Infecting Chimpanzees and Gorillas

PubMed Central

Barbian, Hannah J.; Decker, Julie M.; Bibollet-Ruche, Frederic; Galimidi, Rachel P.; West, Anthony P.; Learn, Gerald H.; Parrish, Nicholas F.; Iyer, Shilpa S.; Li, Yingying; Pace, Craig S.; Song, Ruijiang; Huang, Yaoxing; Denny, Thomas N.; Mouquet, Hugo; Martin, Loic; Acharya, Priyamvada; Zhang, Baoshan; Kwong, Peter D.; Mascola, John R.; Verrips, C. Theo; Strokappe, Nika M.; Rutten, Lucy; McCoy, Laura E.; Weiss, Robin A.; Brown, Corrine S.; Jackson, Raven; Silvestri, Guido; Connors, Mark; Burton, Dennis R.; Shaw, George M.; Nussenzweig, Michel C.; Bjorkman, Pamela J.; Ho, David D.; Farzan, Michael

2015-01-01

ABSTRACT Broadly cross-reactive neutralizing antibodies (bNabs) represent powerful tools to combat human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection. Here, we examined whether HIV-1-specific bNabs are capable of cross-neutralizing distantly related simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs) infecting central (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) (SIVcpzPtt) and eastern (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) (SIVcpzPts) chimpanzees (n = 11) as well as western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) (SIVgor) (n = 1). We found that bNabs directed against the CD4 binding site (n = 10), peptidoglycans at the base of variable loop 3 (V3) (n = 5), and epitopes at the interface of surface (gp120) and membrane-bound (gp41) envelope glycoproteins (n = 5) failed to neutralize SIVcpz and SIVgor strains. In addition, apex V2-directed bNabs (n = 3) as well as llama-derived (heavy chain only) antibodies (n = 6) recognizing both the CD4 binding site and gp41 epitopes were either completely inactive or neutralized only a fraction of SIVcpzPtt strains. In contrast, one antibody targeting the membrane-proximal external region (MPER) of gp41 (10E8), functional CD4 and CCR5 receptor mimetics (eCD4-Ig, eCD4-Igmim2, CD4-218.3-E51, and CD4-218.3-E51-mim2), as well as mono- and bispecific anti-human CD4 (iMab and LM52) and CCR5 (PRO140, PRO140-10E8) receptor antibodies neutralized >90% of SIVcpz and SIVgor strains with low-nanomolar (0.13 to 8.4 nM) potency. Importantly, the latter antibodies blocked virus entry not only in TZM-bl cells but also in Cf2Th cells expressing chimpanzee CD4 and CCR5 and neutralized SIVcpz in chimpanzee CD4+ T cells, with 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC50s) ranging from 3.6 to 40.5 nM. These findings provide new insight into the protective capacity of anti-HIV-1 bNabs and identify candidates for further development to combat SIVcpz infection. PMID:25900654

Real-Time Penetrating Particle Analyzer (PAN)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, X.; Ambrosi, G.; Bertucci, B.

2018-02-01

The PAN can measure penetrating particles with great precision to study energetic particles, solar activities, and the origin and propagation of cosmic rays. The real-time monitoring of penetrating particles is crucial for deep space human travel.

Developing Pantetheinase-Resistant Pantothenamide Antibacterials: Structural Modification Impacts on PanK Interaction and Mode of Action.

PubMed

Barnard, Leanne; Mostert, Konrad J; van Otterlo, Willem A L; Strauss, Erick

2018-05-11

Pantothenamides (PanAms) are analogues of pantothenate, the biosynthetic precursor of coenzyme A (CoA), and show potent antimicrobial activity against several bacteria and the malaria parasite in vitro. However, pantetheinase enzymes that normally degrade pantetheine in human serum also act on the PanAms, thereby reducing their potency. In this study, we designed analogues of the known antibacterial PanAm N-heptylpantothenamide (N7-Pan) to be resistant to pantetheinase by using three complementary structural modification strategies. We show that, while two of these are effective in imparting resistance, the introduced modifications have an impact on the analogues' interaction with pantothenate kinase (PanK, the first CoA biosynthetic enzyme), which acts as a metabolic activator and/or target of the PanAms. This, in turn, directly affects their mode of action. Importantly, we discover that the phosphorylated version of N7-Pan shows pantetheinase resistance and antistaphylococcal activity, providing a lead for future studies in the ongoing search of PanAm analogues that show in vivo efficacy.

Nomenclature for the KIR of non-human species.

PubMed

Robinson, James; Guethlein, Lisbeth A; Maccari, Giuseppe; Blokhuis, Jeroen; Bimber, Benjamin N; de Groot, Natasja G; Sanderson, Nicholas D; Abi-Rached, Laurent; Walter, Lutz; Bontrop, Ronald E; Hammond, John A; Marsh, Steven G E; Parham, Peter

2018-06-04

The increasing number of Killer Immunoglobulin-like Receptor (KIR) sequences available for non-human primate species and cattle has prompted development of a centralized database, guidelines for a standardized nomenclature, and minimum requirements for database submission. The guidelines and nomenclature are based on those used for human KIR and incorporate modifications made for inclusion of non-human species in the companion IPD-NHKIR database. Included in this first release are the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), orangutan (Pongo abelii and Pongo pygmaeus), and cattle (Bos taurus).

"A Constant Transit of Finding": Fantasy as Realisation in "Pan's Labyrinth"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, Roger; McDonald, Keith

2010-01-01

This article considers Guillermo Del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth" as a text which utilises key codes and conventions of children's literature as a means of encountering the trauma of Fascism. The article begins by placing "Pan's Labyrinth" at a contextual crossroads involving fairy tale and a Spanish cinematic tradition and…

PanDA Pilot Submission using Condor-G: Experience and Improvements

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhao X.; Hover John; Wlodek Tomasz

2011-01-01

PanDA (Production and Distributed Analysis) is the workload management system of the ATLAS experiment, used to run managed production and user analysis jobs on the grid. As a late-binding, pilot-based system, the maintenance of a smooth and steady stream of pilot jobs to all grid sites is critical for PanDA operation. The ATLAS Computing Facility (ACF) at BNL, as the ATLAS Tier1 center in the US, operates the pilot submission systems for the US. This is done using the PanDA 'AutoPilot' scheduler component which submits pilot jobs via Condor-G, a grid job scheduling system developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.more » In this paper, we discuss the operation and performance of the Condor-G pilot submission at BNL, with emphasis on the challenges and issues encountered in the real grid production environment. With the close collaboration of Condor and PanDA teams, the scalability and stability of the overall system has been greatly improved over the last year. We review improvements made to Condor-G resulting from this collaboration, including isolation of site-based issues by running a separate Gridmanager for each remote site, introduction of the 'Nonessential' job attribute to allow Condor to optimize its behavior for the specific character of pilot jobs, better understanding and handling of the Gridmonitor process, as well as better scheduling in the PanDA pilot scheduler component. We will also cover the monitoring of the health of the system.« less

Characterization of a Cardiorenal-like Syndrome in Aged Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Chilton, J; Wilcox, A; Lammey, M; Meyer, D

2016-03-01

Cardiorenal syndrome involves disease and dysfunction of the heart that leads to progressive renal dysfunction. This study investigated the relationship between cardiac and renal disease in 91 aged chimpanzees at the Alamogordo Primate Facility by evaluation of the medical histories, metabolic parameters, functional measurements of the cardiovascular system, clinical pathology, and histopathology focused on the heart and kidney. Cardiac fibrosis was the most frequent microscopic finding in 82 of 91 animals (90%), followed by glomerulosclerosis with tubulointerstitial fibrosis in 63 of 91 (69%). Cardiac fibrosis with attendant glomerulosclerosis and tubulointerstitial fibrosis was observed in 58 of 91 animals (63%); there was a statistically significant association between the 2 conditions. As the severity of cardiac fibrosis increased, there was corresponding increase in severity of glomerulosclerosis with tubulointerstitial fibrosis. Altered metabolic, cardiovascular, and clinical pathology parameters indicative of heart and kidney failure were commonly associated with the moderate to severe microscopic changes, and concurrent heart and kidney failure were considered the cause of death. The constellation of findings in the chimpanzees were similar to cardiorenal syndrome in humans. © The Author(s) 2016.

The development of feeding behavior in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii).

PubMed

Bray, Joel; Emery Thompson, Melissa; Muller, Martin N; Wrangham, Richard W; Machanda, Zarin P

2018-01-01

Primates have an extended period of juvenility before adulthood. Although dietary complexity plays a prominent role in hypotheses regarding the evolution of extended juvenility, the development of feeding behavior is still poorly understood. Indeed, few studies have investigated the timing and nature of feeding transitions in apes, including chimpanzees. We describe general patterns of feeding development in wild chimpanzees and evaluate predictions of the needing-to-learn hypothesis. We analyzed 4 years of behavioral data (2010-2013) from 26 immature chimpanzees and 31 adult chimpanzees of the Kanyawara community in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Specifically, we examined milestones of nutritional independence (first consumption of solid food and cessation of suckling) as well as developmental changes in feeding time, diet composition, diet breadth, and ingestion rates. Chimpanzees first fed on solid food at 5.1 months and, on average, suckled until 4.8 years. Daily feeding time of immature individuals reached adult levels between 4 and 6 years, while diet composition showed minor changes with age. By juvenility (5-10 years), individuals had a complete adult diet breadth. Ingestion rates for five ripe fruit species remained below adult levels until juvenility but continued to show absolute increases into adolescence. Chimpanzees acquired adult-like patterns on all feeding measures by infancy or juvenility. These data are inconsistent with the needing-to-learn hypothesis; moreover, where delays exist, alternatives hypotheses make similar predictions but implicate physical constraints rather than learning as causal factors. We outline predictions for how future studies might distinguish between hypotheses for the evolution of extended juvenility. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Malignant Neoplasia of the Sex Skin in 2 Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Beck, Amanda P; Magden, Elizabeth R; Buchl, Stephanie J; Baze, Wallace B

2016-04-01

This report describes 2 cases of spontaneous malignant neoplasia within the sex skin of aged female chimpanzees. In both cases, the initial presentation resembled nonhealing traumatic wounds to the sex skin, with different degrees of infection, ulceration, and tissue necrosis. Histopathology of the lesions confirmed the diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma in one case and of adenocarcinoma with metastasis in the other. Advanced age and previous trauma likely contributed to the development of the neoplasias in both cases; long-term sun exposure may also have contributed to the development of the squamous cell carcinoma. To our knowledge, these 2 cases represent the first reports of sex skin neoplasia in chimpanzees.

Cognitive and physiological markers of emotional awareness in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Parr, L A

2001-11-01

The ability to understand emotion in others is one of the most important factors involved in regulating social interactions in primates. Such emotional awareness functions to coordinate activity among group members, enable the formation of long-lasting individual relationships, and facilitate the pursuit of shared interests. Despite these important evolutionary implications, comparative studies of emotional processing in humans and great apes are practically nonexistent, constituting a major gap in our understanding of the extent to which emotional awareness has played an important role in shaping human behavior and societies. This paper presents the results of two experiments that examine chimpanzees' responses to emotional stimuli. First, changes in peripheral skin temperature were measured while subjects viewed three categories of emotionally negative video scenes; conspecifics being injected with needles (INJ), darts and needles alone (DART), and conspecific directing agonism towards the veterinarians (CHASE). Second, chimpanzees were required to use facial expressions to categorize emotional video scenes, i.e., favorite food and objects and veterinarian procedures, according to their positive and negative valence. With no prior training, subjects spontaneously matched the emotional videos to conspecific facial expressions according to their shared emotional meaning, indicating that chimpanzee facial expressions are processed emotionally, as are human expressions. Decreases in peripheral skin temperature, indicative of negative sympathetic arousal, were significantly lower when subjects viewed the INJ and DART videos, compared to the CHASE videos, indicating greater negative arousal when viewing conspecifics being injected with needles, and needles themselves, than when viewing conspecifics engaged in general agonism.

Male dominance rank and reproductive success in chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii.

PubMed

Wroblewski, Emily E; Murray, Carson M; Keele, Brandon F; Schumacher-Stankey, Joann C; Hahn, Beatrice H; Pusey, Anne E

2009-01-01

Competition for fertile females determines male reproductive success in many species. The priority of access model predicts that male dominance rank determines access to females, but this model has been difficult to test in wild populations, particularly in promiscuous mating systems. Tests of the model have produced variable results, probably because of the differing socioecological circumstances of individual species and populations. We tested the predictions of the priority of access model in the chimpanzees of Gombe National Park, Tanzania. Chimpanzees are an interesting species in which to test the model because of their fission-fusion grouping patterns, promiscuous mating system and alternative male mating strategies. We determined paternity for 34 offspring over a 22-year period and found that the priority of access model was generally predictive of male reproductive success. However, we found that younger males had higher success per male than older males, and low-ranking males sired more offspring than predicted. Low-ranking males sired offspring with younger, less desirable females and by engaging in consortships more often than high-ranking fathers. Although alpha males never sired offspring with related females, inbreeding avoidance of high-ranking male relatives did not completely explain the success of low-ranking males. While our work confirms that male rank typically predicts male chimpanzee reproductive success, other factors are also important; mate choice and alternative male strategies can give low-ranking males access to females more often than would be predicted by the model. Furthermore, the success of younger males suggests that they are more successful in sperm competition.

Acupuncture as an Adjunct Therapy for Osteoarthritis in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

PubMed Central

Magden, Elizabeth R; Haller, Rachel L; Thiele, Erica J; Buchl, Stephanie J; Lambeth, Susan P; Schapiro, Steven J

2013-01-01

Acupuncture is an ancient practice that is currently used to treat disorders ranging from osteoarthritis to cardiomyopathy. Acupuncture involves the insertion of thin, sterile needles into defined acupuncture points that stimulate physiologic processes through neural signaling. Numerous scientific studies have proven the benefits of acupuncture, and given this scientific support, we hypothesized that acupuncture could benefit the nonhuman primates at our facility. As our chimpanzee colony ages, we are observing an increase in osteoarthritis and have focused our initial acupuncture treatments on this condition. We successfully trained 3 chimpanzees, by using positive-reinforcement training techniques, to voluntarily participate in acupuncture treatments for stifle osteoarthritis. We used 3 acupuncture points that correlate with alleviation of stifle pain and inflammation in humans. A mobility scoring system was used to assess improvements in mobility as a function of the acupuncture treatments. The 2 chimpanzees with the most severe osteoarthritis showed significant improvement in mobility after acupuncture treatments. Acupuncture therapy not only resulted in improved mobility, but the training sessions also served as enrichment for the animals, as demonstrated by their voluntary participation in the training and treatment sessions. Acupuncture is an innovative treatment technique that our data show to be safe, inexpensive, and, most importantly, effective for chimpanzees. PMID:23849446

Color preferences in gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Wells, Deborah L; McDonald, Claire L; Ringland, Janice E

2008-05-01

Color plays an important biological role in the lives of many animals, with some species exhibiting preferences for certain colors over others. This study explored the color preferences of two species of ape, which, like humans, possess trichromatic color vision. Six western lowland gorillas, and six chimpanzees, housed in Belfast Zoological Gardens, were exposed to three stimuli (cloths, boxes, sheets of acetate) in red, blue, and green. Six stimuli of the same nature, in each of the three colors, were provided to both species for 5 days per stimulus. The amount of interest that the animals showed toward each stimulus of each color was recorded for 1 hr. Results showed that the apes, both when analyzed as two separate groups, and when assessed collectively, showed significant color preferences, paying significantly less attention to the red-, than to the blue- or green-colored stimuli. The animals' interest in the blue- and green-colored stimuli did not differ significantly. Overall, the findings suggest that gorillas and chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, may harbor color preferences comparable to those of humans and other species. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved.

Grip preference, dermatoglyphics, and hand use in captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Hopkins, William D; Russell, Jamie L; Hostetter, Autumn; Pilcher, Dawn; Dahl, Jeremy F

2005-09-01

This paper examined the association between grip type, hand use, and fingerprint patterns in a sample of captive chimpanzees. Grip type for simple reaching was assessed for the left and right hand and classified as thumb-index, middle-index, or single-digit responses. Fingerprint patterns were characterized as whorls, loops, or arches on each finger. The results indicated that chimpanzees exhibit significantly more thumb-index responses for the right compared to the left hand. In addition, thumb-index responses were more prevalent for subjects that had a whorl compared to a loop or arch on their thumb. The results suggest that fingerprint patterns are associated with individual differences in grasping type in chimpanzees as well as some variation in hand use. (c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Grip Preference, Dermatoglyphics, and Hand Use in Captive Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

PubMed Central

Hopkins, William D.; Russell, Jamie L.; Hostetter, Autumn; Pilcher, Dawn; Dahl, Jeremy F.

2007-01-01

This paper examined the association between grip type, hand use, and fingerprint patterns in a sample of captive chimpanzees. Grip type for simple reaching was assessed for the left and right hand and classified as thumb-index, middle-index, or single-digit responses. Fingerprint patterns were characterized as whorls, loops, or arches on each finger. The results indicated that chimpanzees exhibit significantly more thumb-index responses for the right compared to the left hand. In addition, thumb-index responses were more prevalent for subjects that had a whorl compared to a loop or arch on their thumb. The results suggest that fingerprint patterns are associated with individual differences in grasping type in chimpanzees as well as some variation in hand use. PMID:15761856

Great apes distinguish true from false beliefs in an interactive helping task

PubMed Central

Buttelmann, Frances; Carpenter, Malinda; Call, Josep; Tomasello, Michael

2017-01-01

Understanding the behavior of others in a wide variety of circumstances requires an understanding of their psychological states. Humans’ nearest primate relatives, the great apes, understand many psychological states of others, for example, perceptions, goals, and desires. However, so far there is little evidence that they possess the key marker of advanced human social cognition: an understanding of false beliefs. Here we demonstrate that in a nonverbal (implicit) false-belief test which is passed by human 1-year-old infants, great apes as a group, including chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), bonobos (Pan paniscus), and orangutans (Pongo abelii), distinguish between true and false beliefs in their helping behavior. Great apes thus may possess at least some basic understanding that an agent’s actions are based on her beliefs about reality. Hence, such understanding might not be the exclusive province of the human species. PMID:28379987

Great apes distinguish true from false beliefs in an interactive helping task.

PubMed

Buttelmann, David; Buttelmann, Frances; Carpenter, Malinda; Call, Josep; Tomasello, Michael

2017-01-01

Understanding the behavior of others in a wide variety of circumstances requires an understanding of their psychological states. Humans' nearest primate relatives, the great apes, understand many psychological states of others, for example, perceptions, goals, and desires. However, so far there is little evidence that they possess the key marker of advanced human social cognition: an understanding of false beliefs. Here we demonstrate that in a nonverbal (implicit) false-belief test which is passed by human 1-year-old infants, great apes as a group, including chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), bonobos (Pan paniscus), and orangutans (Pongo abelii), distinguish between true and false beliefs in their helping behavior. Great apes thus may possess at least some basic understanding that an agent's actions are based on her beliefs about reality. Hence, such understanding might not be the exclusive province of the human species.

Multiple extreme environmental conditions of intermittent soda pans in the Carpathian Basin (Central Europe).

PubMed

Boros, Emil; Katalin, V-Balogh; Vörös, Lajos; Horváth, Zsófia

2017-01-01

Soda lakes and pans represent saline ecosystems with unique chemical composition, occurring on all continents. The purpose of this study was to identify and characterise the main environmental gradients and trophic state that prevail in the soda pans (n=84) of the Carpathian Basin in Central Europe. Underwater light conditions, dissolved organic matter, phosphorus and chlorophyll a were investigated in 84 pans during 2009-2010. Besides, water temperature was measured hourly with an automatic sensor throughout one year in a selected pan. The pans were very shallow (median depth: 15 cm), and their extremely high turbidity (Secchi depth median: 3 cm, min: 0.5 cm) was caused by high concentrations of inorganic suspended solids (median: 0.4 g L -1 , max: 16 g L -1 ), which was the dominant (>50%) contributing factor to the vertical attenuation coefficient in 67 pans (80%). All pans were polyhumic (median DOC: 47 mg L -1 ), and total phosphorus concentration was also extremely high (median: 2 mg L -1 , max: 32 mg L -1 ). The daily water temperature maximum (44 °C) and fluctuation maximum (28 °C) were extremely high during summertime. The combination of environmental boundaries: shallowness, daily water temperature fluctuation, intermittent hydroperiod, high turbidity, polyhumic organic carbon concentration, high alkalinity and hypertrophy represent a unique extreme aquatic ecosystem.

Multiple extreme environmental conditions of intermittent soda pans in the Carpathian Basin (Central Europe)

PubMed Central

Boros, Emil; Katalin, V.-Balogh; Vörös, Lajos; Horváth, Zsófia

2017-01-01

Soda lakes and pans represent saline ecosystems with unique chemical composition, occurring on all continents. The purpose of this study was to identify and characterise the main environmental gradients and trophic state that prevail in the soda pans (n=84) of the Carpathian Basin in Central Europe. Underwater light conditions, dissolved organic matter, phosphorus and chlorophyll a were investigated in 84 pans during 2009–2010. Besides, water temperature was measured hourly with an automatic sensor throughout one year in a selected pan. The pans were very shallow (median depth: 15 cm), and their extremely high turbidity (Secchi depth median: 3 cm, min: 0.5 cm) was caused by high concentrations of inorganic suspended solids (median: 0.4 g L–1, max: 16 g L–1), which was the dominant (>50%) contributing factor to the vertical attenuation coefficient in 67 pans (80%). All pans were polyhumic (median DOC: 47 mg L–1), and total phosphorus concentration was also extremely high (median: 2 mg L–1, max: 32 mg L–1). The daily water temperature maximum (44 °C) and fluctuation maximum (28 °C) were extremely high during summertime. The combination of environmental boundaries: shallowness, daily water temperature fluctuation, intermittent hydroperiod, high turbidity, polyhumic organic carbon concentration, high alkalinity and hypertrophy represent a unique extreme aquatic ecosystem. PMID:28572691

Pan-genome and phylogeny of Bacillus cereus sensu lato.

PubMed

Bazinet, Adam L

2017-08-02

Bacillus cereus sensu lato (s. l.) is an ecologically diverse bacterial group of medical and agricultural significance. In this study, I use publicly available genomes and novel bioinformatic workflows to characterize the B. cereus s. l. pan-genome and perform the largest phylogenetic and population genetic analyses of this group to date in terms of the number of genes and taxa included. With these fundamental data in hand, I identify genes associated with particular phenotypic traits (i.e., "pan-GWAS" analysis), and quantify the degree to which taxa sharing common attributes are phylogenetically clustered. A rapid k-mer based approach (Mash) was used to create reduced representations of selected Bacillus genomes, and a fast distance-based phylogenetic analysis of this data (FastME) was performed to determine which species should be included in B. cereus s. l. The complete genomes of eight B. cereus s. l. species were annotated de novo with Prokka, and these annotations were used by Roary to produce the B. cereus s. l. pan-genome. Scoary was used to associate gene presence and absence patterns with various phenotypes. The orthologous protein sequence clusters produced by Roary were filtered and used to build HaMStR databases of gene models that were used in turn to construct phylogenetic data matrices. Phylogenetic analyses used RAxML, DendroPy, ClonalFrameML, PAUP*, and SplitsTree. Bayesian model-based population genetic analysis assigned taxa to clusters using hierBAPS. The genealogical sorting index was used to quantify the phylogenetic clustering of taxa sharing common attributes. The B. cereus s. l. pan-genome currently consists of ≈60,000 genes, ≈600 of which are "core" (common to at least 99% of taxa sampled). Pan-GWAS analysis revealed genes associated with phenotypes such as isolation source, oxygen requirement, and ability to cause diseases such as anthrax or food poisoning. Extensive phylogenetic analyses using an unprecedented amount of data

Innovative uses of GigaPan Technology for Onsite and Distance Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bentley, C.; Schott, R. C.; Piatek, J. L.; Richards, B.

2013-12-01

GigaPans are gigapixel panoramic images that can be viewed at a wide range of magnifications, allowing users to explore them in various degrees of detail from the smallest scale to the full image extent. In addition to panoramic images captured with the GigaPan camera mount ('Dry Falls' - http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/89093), users can also upload annotated images (For example, 'Massanutten sandstone slab with trace fossils (annotated)', http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/124295) and satellite images (For example, 'Geology vs. Topography - State of Connecticut', http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/111265). Panoramas with similar topics have been gathered together on the site in galleries, both user-generated and site-curated (For example, http://www.gigapan.com/galleries?categories=geology&page=1). Further innovations in display technology have also led to the development of improved viewers (for example, the annotations in the image linked above can be explored via paired viewers at http://coursecontent.nic.edu/bdrichards/gigapixelimages/callanview) GigaPan panoramas can be created through use of the GigaPan robotic camera mount and a digital camera (different models of the camera mount are available and work with a wide range of cameras). The camera mount can be used to create high-resolution pans ranging in scale from hand sample to outcrop up to landscape via the stitching software included with the robotic mount. The software can also be used to generate GigaPan images from other sources, such as thin section or satellite images, so these images can also be viewed with the online viewer. GigaPan images are typically viewed via a web-based interface that allows the user to interact with the image from the limits of the image detail up to the full panorama. After uploading, information can be added to panoramas with both text captions and geo-referencing (geo-located panoramas can then be viewed in Google Earth). Users can record specific locations and zoom levels in

Multivalent small molecule pan-RAS inhibitors

PubMed Central

Welsch, Matthew E.; Kaplan, Anna; Chambers, Jennifer M.; Stokes, Michael E.; Bos, Pieter H.; Zask, Arie; Zhang, Yan; Sanchez-Martin, Marta; Badgley, Michael A.; Huang, Christine S.; Tran, Timothy H.; Akkiraju, Hemanth; Brown, Lewis M.; Nandakumar, Renu; Cremers, Serge; Yang, Wan S.; Tong, Liang; Olive, Kenneth P.; Ferrando, Adolfo; Stockwell, Brent R.

2017-01-01

SUMMARY Design of small molecules that disrupt protein-protein interactions, including the interaction of RAS proteins and their effectors, have potential use as chemical probes and therapeutic agents. We describe here the synthesis and testing of potential small molecule pan-RAS ligands, which were designed to interact with adjacent sites on the surface of oncogenic KRAS. One compound, termed 3144, was found to bind to RAS proteins using microscale thermophoresis, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and isothermal titration calorimetry, and to exhibit lethality in cells partially dependent on expression of RAS proteins. This compound was metabolically stable in liver microsomes and displayed anti-tumor activity in xenograft mouse cancer models. These findings suggest that pan-RAS inhibition may be an effective therapeutic strategy for some cancers, and that structure-based design of small molecules targeting multiple adjacent sites to create multivalent inhibitors may be effective for some proteins. PMID:28235199

Technical research aspect of the Pan-Pacific Information Network using satellite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iida, Takashi; Morikawa, Hisashi; Noguchi, Shoichi

The Pan-Pacific Information Network would provide an important new mechanism for education, research, health service, emergency communication, and cultural exchange. The paper discusses the technical research items related to the Pan-Pacific Information Network, reviews small earth-station systems, and considers the system configuration pointed to the network in the Asia/Pacific region.

What School for Africa in the Year 2000? Report of the Proceedings of the Pan-African Conference on Education (Yaounde, Cameroon, April 2-9, 1984).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

World Confederation of Organizations of the Teaching Profession, Morges (Switzerland).

The Pan-African Conference on Education was organized by the World Confederation of Organisations of the Teaching Profession, with the cooperation of UNESCO and many other groups. The conference invited representatives of teacher organizations and education ministries in both English- and French-speaking African countries. Of the 26 African…

Targeting the HER family with Pan-HER effectively overcomes resistance to cetuximab

PubMed Central

Iida, Mari; Bahrar, Harsh; Brand, Toni M; Pearson, Hannah E; Coan, John P; Orbuch, Rachel A; Flanigan, Bailey G; Swick, Adam D; Prabakaran, Prashanth; Lantto, Johan; Horak, Ivan D.; Kragh, Michael; Salgia, Ravi; Kimple, Randy J; Wheeler, Deric L

2016-01-01

Cetuximab, an antibody against the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) has shown efficacy in treating head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), metastatic colorectal cancer and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Despite the clinical success of cetuximab, many patients do not respond to cetuximab. Furthermore, virtually all patients who do initially respond become refractory, highlighting both intrinsic and acquired resistance to cetuximab as significant clinical problems. To understand mechanistically how cancerous cells acquire resistance, we previously developed models of acquired resistance using the H226 NSCLC and UM-SCC1 HNSCC cell lines. Cetuximab-resistant clones showed a robust upregulation and dependency on the HER family receptors EGFR, HER2 and HER3. Here, we examined Pan-HER, a mixture of six antibodies targeting these receptors on cetuximab-resistant clones. In cells exhibiting acquired or intrinsic resistance to cetuximab, Pan-HER treatment decreased all three receptors’ protein levels and down-stream activation of AKT and MAPK. This correlated with decreased cell proliferation in cetuximab-resistant clones. To determine whether Pan-HER had a therapeutic benefit in vivo, we established de novo cetuximab-resistant mouse xenografts and treated resistant tumors with Pan-HER. This regimen resulted in a superior growth delay of cetuximab-resistant xenografts compared to mice continued on cetuximab. Furthermore, intrinsically cetuximab-resistant HNSCC patient-derived xenograft tumors treated with Pan-HER exhibited significant growth delay compared to vehicle/cetuximab controls. These results suggest that targeting HER family receptors simultaneously with Pan-HER is a promising treatment strategy for tumors displaying intrinsic or acquired resistance to cetuximab. PMID:27422810

Characteristics of PAN (Peroxyacetyl Nitrate) in Outflow Plumes Over the Yellow Sea During KORUS-AQ Campaign

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seo, J.; Inae, K.; Lee, M.; Shin, B.; Ryoo, S.; Jung, J.; Kim, S. W.

2017-12-01

Peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) is a secondary atmospheric pollutant which is generated by photochemical reaction of VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) and NOx (NO+NO2). While PAN has been known as an indicator of photochemical smog in urban areas, it serves as a robust tracer for long-range transport in remote regions. Research vessel Gisang 1 explored the Yellow Sea during May and June 2016, measuring reactive gases including PAN, O3, and NOx. The research area covers the region between 31° 38°N and 124° 127°E. PAN was measured using GC-LCD (Gas Chromatography Luminol Chemiluminescence Detection) every 2 minutes. The average mixing ratio of PAN was the highest (1.1 ppbv) in the second shift (May 17-30) and lower in the first (0.92 ppbv) and third (0.48 ppbv) shift. The PAN concentrations higher than the 95th percentile (2.19 ppbv) were observed on May 21 and 22 in air mass passing through Seoul Metropolitan Areas. In contrast, on May 4 and 29, both PAN and O3 were high under influence of Chinese outflows. On May 6 when dust storm passed through the Yellow Sea, both PAN and O3 concentrations were at their minimum levels. It is noteworthy that PAN concentration was higher with low O3 level near the west coast of Korean peninsula, which was likely to be the influence of ship emissions.

PanFP: pangenome-based functional profiles for microbial communities.

PubMed

Jun, Se-Ran; Robeson, Michael S; Hauser, Loren J; Schadt, Christopher W; Gorin, Andrey A

2015-09-26

For decades there has been increasing interest in understanding the relationships between microbial communities and ecosystem functions. Current DNA sequencing technologies allows for the exploration of microbial communities in two principle ways: targeted rRNA gene surveys and shotgun metagenomics. For large study designs, it is often still prohibitively expensive to sequence metagenomes at both the breadth and depth necessary to statistically capture the true functional diversity of a community. Although rRNA gene surveys provide no direct evidence of function, they do provide a reasonable estimation of microbial diversity, while being a very cost-effective way to screen samples of interest for later shotgun metagenomic analyses. However, there is a great deal of 16S rRNA gene survey data currently available from diverse environments, and thus a need for tools to infer functional composition of environmental samples based on 16S rRNA gene survey data. We present a computational method called pangenome-based functional profiles (PanFP), which infers functional profiles of microbial communities from 16S rRNA gene survey data for Bacteria and Archaea. PanFP is based on pangenome reconstruction of a 16S rRNA gene operational taxonomic unit (OTU) from known genes and genomes pooled from the OTU's taxonomic lineage. From this lineage, we derive an OTU functional profile by weighting a pangenome's functional profile with the OTUs abundance observed in a given sample. We validated our method by comparing PanFP to the functional profiles obtained from the direct shotgun metagenomic measurement of 65 diverse communities via Spearman correlation coefficients. These correlations improved with increasing sequencing depth, within the range of 0.8-0.9 for the most deeply sequenced Human Microbiome Project mock community samples. PanFP is very similar in performance to another recently released tool, PICRUSt, for almost all of survey data analysed here. But, our method is unique

Isotopic composition of atmospheric moisture from pan water evaporation measurements.

PubMed

Devi, Pooja; Jain, Ashok Kumar; Rao, M Someshwer; Kumar, Bhishm

2015-01-01

A continuous and reliable time series data of the stable isotopic composition of atmospheric moisture is an important requirement for the wider applicability of isotope mass balance methods in atmospheric and water balance studies. This requires routine sampling of atmospheric moisture by an appropriate technique and analysis of moisture for its isotopic composition. We have, therefore, used a much simpler method based on an isotope mass balance approach to derive the isotopic composition of atmospheric moisture using a class-A drying evaporation pan. We have carried out the study by collecting water samples from a class-A drying evaporation pan and also by collecting atmospheric moisture using the cryogenic trap method at the National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, India, during a pre-monsoon period. We compared the isotopic composition of atmospheric moisture obtained by using the class-A drying evaporation pan method with the cryogenic trap method. The results obtained from the evaporation pan water compare well with the cryogenic based method. Thus, the study establishes a cost-effective means of maintaining time series data of the isotopic composition of atmospheric moisture at meteorological observatories. The conclusions drawn in the present study are based on experiments conducted at Roorkee, India, and may be examined at other regions for its general applicability.

EUPAN enables pan-genome studies of a large number of eukaryotic genomes.

PubMed

Hu, Zhiqiang; Sun, Chen; Lu, Kuang-Chen; Chu, Xixia; Zhao, Yue; Lu, Jinyuan; Shi, Jianxin; Wei, Chaochun

2017-08-01

Pan-genome analyses are routinely carried out for bacteria to interpret the within-species gene presence/absence variations (PAVs). However, pan-genome analyses are rare for eukaryotes due to the large sizes and higher complexities of their genomes. Here we proposed EUPAN, a eukaryotic pan-genome analysis toolkit, enabling automatic large-scale eukaryotic pan-genome analyses and detection of gene PAVs at a relatively low sequencing depth. In the previous studies, we demonstrated the effectiveness and high accuracy of EUPAN in the pan-genome analysis of 453 rice genomes, in which we also revealed widespread gene PAVs among individual rice genomes. Moreover, EUPAN can be directly applied to the current re-sequencing projects primarily focusing on single nucleotide polymorphisms. EUPAN is implemented in Perl, R and C ++. It is supported under Linux and preferred for a computer cluster with LSF and SLURM job scheduling system. EUPAN together with its standard operating procedure (SOP) is freely available for non-commercial use (CC BY-NC 4.0) at http://cgm.sjtu.edu.cn/eupan/index.html . ccwei@sjtu.edu.cn or jianxin.shi@sjtu.edu.cn. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

Form gene clustering method about pan-ethnic-group products based on emotional semantic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Dengkai; Ding, Jingjing; Gao, Minzhuo; Ma, Danping; Liu, Donghui

2016-09-01

The use of pan-ethnic-group products form knowledge primarily depends on a designer's subjective experience without user participation. The majority of studies primarily focus on the detection of the perceptual demands of consumers from the target product category. A pan-ethnic-group products form gene clustering method based on emotional semantic is constructed. Consumers' perceptual images of the pan-ethnic-group products are obtained by means of product form gene extraction and coding and computer aided product form clustering technology. A case of form gene clustering about the typical pan-ethnic-group products is investigated which indicates that the method is feasible. This paper opens up a new direction for the future development of product form design which improves the agility of product design process in the era of Industry 4.0.

Ecological and social correlates of chimpanzee tool use.

PubMed

Sanz, Crickette M; Morgan, David B

2013-11-19

The emergence of technology has been suggested to coincide with scarcity of staple resources that led to innovations in the form of tool-assisted strategies to diversify or augment typical diets. We examined seasonal patterns of several types of tool use exhibited by a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) population residing in central Africa, to determine whether their technical skills provided access to fallback resources when preferred food items were scarce. Chimpanzees in the Goualougo Triangle exhibit a diverse repertoire of tool behaviours, many of which are exhibited throughout the year. Further, they have developed specific tool sets to overcome the issues of accessibility to particular food items. Our conclusion is that these chimpanzees use a sophisticated tool technology to cope with seasonal changes in relative food abundance and gain access to high-quality foods. Subgroup sizes were smaller in tool using contexts than other foraging contexts, suggesting that the size of the social group may not be as important in promoting complex tool traditions as the frequency and type of social interactions. Further, reports from other populations and species showed that tool use may occur more often in response to ecological opportunities and relative profitability of foraging techniques than scarcity of resources.

Dietary responses to fruit scarcity of wild chimpanzees at Bossou, Guinea: possible implications for ecological importance of tool use.

PubMed

Yamakoshi, G

1998-07-01

A 13-month ecological study was conducted at Bossou, Guinea, West Africa, to elucidate how a community of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) deals with the scarcity of main foods. During the study period, fruit availability fluctuated radically. The chimpanzees were confirmed to depend heavily on three "keystone resources" which were available when their main foods (fruit pulp) were scarce. These were fruits of Musanga cecropioides, oil-palm (Elaeis guineensis) nuts, and oil-palm pith. These are abundant in the chimpanzees' home range and their nutritional contents compensate for a decrease in nutritional intake from fruit pulp. The presence of these excellent backup foods may explain the high reproductive performance of Bossou chimpanzees. Here, chimpanzees consumed two of the three keystone foods using two types of tool behavior: nut-cracking for oil-palm nuts and pestle-pounding for oil-palm pith. These tool-using behaviors accounted for 31.9% of the total feeding time spent in June (the month in which the highest frequency occurred) and 10.4% in total for the year. It is suggested that the Bossou chimpanzees depend strongly on tools for their subsistence. This implies a possible function for tool technology in the evolution of our human ancestors.

Ecological and social correlates of chimpanzee tool use

PubMed Central

Sanz, Crickette M.; Morgan, David B.

2013-01-01

The emergence of technology has been suggested to coincide with scarcity of staple resources that led to innovations in the form of tool-assisted strategies to diversify or augment typical diets. We examined seasonal patterns of several types of tool use exhibited by a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) population residing in central Africa, to determine whether their technical skills provided access to fallback resources when preferred food items were scarce. Chimpanzees in the Goualougo Triangle exhibit a diverse repertoire of tool behaviours, many of which are exhibited throughout the year. Further, they have developed specific tool sets to overcome the issues of accessibility to particular food items. Our conclusion is that these chimpanzees use a sophisticated tool technology to cope with seasonal changes in relative food abundance and gain access to high-quality foods. Subgroup sizes were smaller in tool using contexts than other foraging contexts, suggesting that the size of the social group may not be as important in promoting complex tool traditions as the frequency and type of social interactions. Further, reports from other populations and species showed that tool use may occur more often in response to ecological opportunities and relative profitability of foraging techniques than scarcity of resources. PMID:24101626

Great apes (Pan paniscus, Pan troglodytes, Gorilla gorilla, Pongo abelii) follow visual trails to locate hidden food.

PubMed

Völter, Christoph J; Call, Josep

2014-05-01

Whether nonhuman primates understand causal relations beyond mere associations is still a matter of debate. We presented all four species of nonhuman great apes (N = 36) with a choice between 2 opaque, upside down cups after displacing them out of sight from their starting positions. Crucially, 1 of them had left a yogurt trail behind it. Great apes spontaneously used the trail to select the yogurt baited cup. Follow-up experiments demonstrated that chimpanzees distinguished trails based on the temporal order of cause and effect by ignoring trails that were already present before the reward was hidden. Additionally, chimpanzees did not select cups based on the amount of yogurt near them but instead preferred cups that signaled the endpoint of the trail. We conclude that apes' choices reveal sensitivity to a causal relation between cause (reward) and effect (trail) including their temporal order. ©2014 APA, all rights reserved.

A method for installing zero-tension pan and wick lysimeters in soil

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Zero-tension pan lysimeters and passive capillary fiberglass wick lysimeters are useful in determining water quality and volumetric aspects of subsurface water flow. Installation of pan and wick lysimeters beneath undisturbed soil may be complicated by the tendency for the soil to cave-in as the lys...

Rotatable prism for pan and tilt

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ball, W. B.

1980-01-01

Compact, inexpensive, motor-driven prisms change field of view of TV camera. Camera and prism rotate about lens axis to produce pan effect. Rotating prism around axis parallel to lens produces tilt. Size of drive unit and required clearance are little more than size of camera.

Selective insectivory at Toro-Semliki, Uganda: comparative analyses suggest no 'savanna' chimpanzee pattern.

PubMed

Webster, Timothy H; McGrew, William C; Marchant, Linda F; Payne, Charlotte L R; Hunt, Kevin D

2014-06-01

Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) insectivory across Africa is ubiquitous. Insects provide a significant nutritional payoff and may be important for chimpanzees in dry, open habitats with narrow diets. We tested this hypothesis at Semliki, Uganda, a long-term dry study site. We evaluated prospects for insectivory by measuring insect abundance along de novo transects and trails, monitoring social insect colonies, and surveying available raw materials for elementary technology. We determined the frequency and nature of insectivory through behavioral observation and fecal analysis. We then compared our results with those from 15 other long-term chimpanzee study sites using a cluster analysis. We found that Semliki chimpanzees are one of the most insectivorous populations studied to date in terms of frequency of consumption, but they are very selective in their insectivory, regularly consuming only weaver ants (Oecophylla longinoda) and honey and bees from hives of Apis mellifera. This selectivity obtains despite having a full range of typical prey species available in harvestable quantities. We suggest that Semliki chimpanzees may face ecological time constraints and therefore bias their predation toward prey taxa that can be quickly consumed. Geographical proximity correlated with the results of the cluster analysis, while rainfall, a relatively gross measure of environment, did not. Because broad taxonomic groups of insects were used in analyses, prey availability was unlikely to have a strong effect on this pattern. Instead, we suggest that transmission of cultural knowledge may play a role in determining chimpanzee prey selection across Africa. Further study is needed to test these hypotheses. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PAN-811 prevents chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment and preserves neurogenesis in the hippocampus of adult rats

PubMed Central

Winocur, Gordon; Wojtowicz, J. Martin; Shevtsova, Olga; Fuller, Steven; Ghanbari, Hossein A.

2018-01-01

Chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment (CICI) occurs in a substantial proportion of treated cancer patients, with no drug currently available for its therapy. This study investigated whether PAN-811, a ribonucleotide reductase inhibitor, can reduce cognitive impairment and related suppression of neurogenesis following chemotherapy in an animal model. Young adult rats in Chemo and Chemo+PAN-811 groups received 3 intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of methotrexate (MTX) and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), and those in Saline and Saline+PAN-811 groups received equal volumes of physiological saline at 10-day intervals. PAN-811 in saline was delivered through i.p. injection, 10 min following each saline (Saline+PAN-811 group) or MTX/5-FU (Chemo+PAN-811 group) treatment, while equal volumes of saline were delivered to Saline and Chemo groups. Over Days 31–66, rats were administered tests of spatial memory, nonmatching-to-sample rule learning, and discrimination learning, which are sensitive to dysfunction in hippocampus, frontal lobe and striatum, respectively. On Day 97, neurogenesis was immnunohistochemically evaluated by counting doublecortin-positive (DCX+) cells in the dentate gyrus (DG). The results demonstrated that the Chemo group was impaired on the three cognitive tasks, but co-administration of PAN-811 significantly reduced all MTX/5-FU-induced cognitive impairments. In addition, MTX/5-FU reduced DCX+ cells to 67% of that in Saline control rats, an effect that was completely blocked by PAN-811 co-administration. Overall, we present the first evidence that PAN-811 protects cognitive functions and preserves neurogenesis from deleterious effects of MTX/5-FU. The current findings provide a basis for rapid clinical translation to determine the effect of PAN-811 on CICI in human. PMID:29370277

Genetic and antigenic characterization of serotype O FMD viruses from East Africa for the selection of suitable vaccine strain.

PubMed

Lloyd-Jones, Katie; Mahapatra, Mana; Upadhyaya, Sasmita; Paton, David J; Babu, Aravindh; Hutchings, Geoff; Parida, Satya

2017-12-14

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is endemic in Eastern Africa with circulation of multiple serotypes of the virus in the region. Most of the outbreaks are caused by serotype O followed by serotype A. The lack of concerted FMD control programmes in Africa has provided little incentive for vaccine producers to select vaccines that are tailored to circulating regional isolates creating further negative feedback to deter the introduction of vaccine-based control schemes. In this study a total of 80 serotype O FMD viruses (FMDV) isolated from 1993 to 2012 from East and North Africa were characterized by virus neutralisation tests using bovine antisera to three existing (O/KEN/77/78, O/Manisa and O/PanAsia-2) and three putative (O/EA/2002, O/EA/2009 and O/EA/2010) vaccine strains and by capsid sequencing. Genetically, these viruses were grouped as either of East African origin with subdivision into four topotypes (EA-1, 2, 3 and 4) or of Middle-East South Asian (ME-SA) topotype. The ME-SA topotype viruses were mainly detected in Egypt and Libya reflecting the trade links with the Middle East countries. There was good serological cross-reactivity between the vaccine strains and most of the field isolates analysed, indicating that vaccine selection should not be a major constraint for control of serotype O FMD by vaccination, and that both local and internationally available commercial vaccines could be used. The O/KEN/77/78 vaccine, commonly used in the region, exhibited comparatively lower percent in vitro match against the predominant topotypes (EA-2 and EA-3) circulating in the region whereas O/PanAsia-2 and O/Manisa vaccines revealed broader protection against East African serotype O viruses, even though they genetically belong to the ME-SA topotype. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Structure, thermal and luminescence properties of Eu/Tb(BA)3phen/PAN fibers fabricated by electrospinning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Shiwei; Xie, Guangbo; Zhang, Jingjing; Zhang, Sen; Li, Tingju

2018-04-01

Novel high luminescence fibers often exhibit potential applications in the fields of color displays and sensor systems. In this study, Eu(BA)3phen and Tb(BA)3phen powders was successfully synthesized by solvothermal reactions, firstly. Then, three kinds of novel flexible Eu(BA)3phen/PAN, Tb(BA)3phen/PAN and Eu/Tb(BA)3phen/PAN (BA = benzoic acid, phen = phenanthroline, PAN = Polyacrylonitrile) fibers had been successfully prepared by electrospinning technology. The characterizations of the final products have been investigated in detail. It was found that the diameter of the as-prepared fibers were almost uniform with the fabricated complexes doping into PAN successfully. Thermogravimetric analysis indicates that the thermal stability of the pure PAN fiber could be improved by the incorporation of the complex, although only 1 wt % was added. Furthermore, in Eu/Tb(BA)3phen complex, the fluorescence intensity of Eu3+ ions was remarkably increased by adding Tb3+ ions. This is primarily due to an energy transfer from the 5D4 level of Tb (III) to the 5D0 level of Eu (III) ions, where Tb3+ acted as sensitizer. The corresponding luminescent fibers displayed the same regularity as the complexes. Moreover, with the increasing of the incorporation of complexes into PAN, the fluorescence intensities were significantly enhanced and reached its maximum value at 2.5 wt % for Eu(BA)3phen/PAN fibers and 2.0 wt% for Tb(BA)3phen/PAN fibers. The further intensity decreased with the increasing content of the complexes because of typical emission concentration quenching.

Living on the edge: timing of Rand Flora disjunctions congruent with ongoing aridification in Africa.

PubMed

Pokorny, Lisa; Riina, Ricarda; Mairal, Mario; Meseguer, Andrea S; Culshaw, Victoria; Cendoya, Jon; Serrano, Miguel; Carbajal, Rodrigo; Ortiz, Santiago; Heuertz, Myriam; Sanmartín, Isabel

2015-01-01

The Rand Flora is a well-known floristic pattern in which unrelated plant lineages show similar disjunct distributions in the continental margins of Africa and adjacent islands-Macaronesia-northwest Africa, Horn of Africa-Southern Arabia, Eastern Africa, and Southern Africa. These lineages are now separated by environmental barriers such as the arid regions of the Sahara and Kalahari Deserts or the tropical lowlands of Central Africa. Alternative explanations for the Rand Flora pattern range from vicariance and climate-driven extinction of a widespread pan-African flora to independent dispersal events and speciation in situ. To provide a temporal framework for this pattern, we used published data from nuclear and chloroplast DNA to estimate the age of disjunction of 17 lineages that span 12 families and nine orders of angiosperms. We further used these estimates to infer diversification rates for Rand Flora disjunct clades in relation to their higher-level encompassing lineages. Our results indicate that most disjunctions fall within the Miocene and Pliocene periods, coinciding with the onset of a major aridification trend, still ongoing, in Africa. Age of disjunctions seemed to be related to the climatic affinities of each Rand Flora lineage, with sub-humid taxa dated earlier (e.g., Sideroxylon) and those with more xeric affinities (e.g., Campylanthus) diverging later. We did not find support for significant decreases in diversification rates in most groups, with the exception of older subtropical lineages (e.g., Sideroxylon, Hypericum, or Canarina), but some lineages (e.g., Cicer, Campylanthus) showed a long temporal gap between stem and crown ages, suggestive of extinction. In all, the Rand Flora pattern seems to fit the definition of biogeographic pseudocongruence, with the pattern arising at different times in response to the increasing aridity of the African continent, with interspersed periods of humidity allowing range expansions.

Trends in pan evaporation and actual evapotranspiration across the conterminous U.S.: paradoxical or complementary?

Treesearch

Michael T. Hobbins; Jorge A. Ramirez; Thomas C. Brown

2004-01-01

Pan evaporation (ETpan) has decreased at 64% of pans in the conterminous U.S. over the past half-century. Comparing trends in ETpan and water budget-derived actual evapotranspiration (ET*a), we observe the so-called ‘‘Pan Evaporation Paradox,’’ which we confirm is no more than a...

Optimising design and cost-effective implementation of future pan-African dietary studies: a review of existing economic integration and nutritional indicators for scenario-based profiling and clustering of countries.

PubMed

Aglago, Elom K; Landais, Edwige; Zotor, Francis; Nicolas, Genevieve; Gunter, Marc J; Amuna, Paul; Slimani, Nadia

2018-02-01

Most of the African countries are undergoing a complex nutrition and epidemiologic transition associated with a rapid increase in the prevalence of diverse non-communicable diseases. Despite this alarming situation, the still limited and fragmented resources available in Africa impede the implementation of effective action plans to tackle the current and projected diet-disease burden. In order to address these common needs and challenges, the African Union is increasingly supporting continental approaches and strategies as reflected in the launching of the Agenda 2063 and the African regional nutrition strategy 2015-2025, among others. To assure the successful implementation of pan-African nutritional and health initiatives, cost-effective approaches considering similarities/disparities in economy, regional integration, development and nutritional aspects between countries are needed. In the absence of pre-existing models, we reviewed regional economic integration and nutritional indicators (n 13) available in international organisations databases or governmental agencies websites, for fifty-two African countries. These indicators were used to map the countries according to common languages (e.g. Arabic, English, French, Portuguese), development status (e.g. human development index), malnutrition status (e.g. obesity) and diet (e.g. staples predominantly based on either cereals or tubers). The review of the indicators showed that there exist similarities between African countries that can be exploited to benefit the continent with cross-national experiences in order to avoid duplication of efforts in the implementation of future pan-African health studies. In addition, including present and future nutrition surveillance programmes in Africa into national statistical systems might be cost-effective and sustainable in the longer term.

Development of pan-Arctic database for river chemistry

USGS Publications Warehouse

McClelland, J.W.; Holmes, R.M.; Peterson, B.J.; Amon, R.; Brabets, T.; Cooper, L.; Gibson, J.; Gordeev, V.V.; Guay, C.; Milburn, D.; Staples, R.; Raymond, P.A.; Shiklomanov, I.; Striegl, Robert G.; Zhulidov, A.; Gurtovaya, T.; Zimov, S.

2008-01-01

More than 10% of all continental runoff flows into the Arctic Ocean. This runoff is a dominant feature of the Arctic Ocean with respect to water column structure and circulation. Yet understanding of the chemical characteristics of runoff from the pan-Arctic watershed is surprisingly limited. The Pan- Arctic River Transport of Nutrients, Organic Matter, and Suspended Sediments ( PARTNERS) project was initiated in 2002 to help remedy this deficit, and an extraordinary data set has emerged over the past few years as a result of the effort. This data set is publicly available through the Cooperative Arctic Data and Information Service (CADIS) of the Arctic Observing Network (AON). Details about data access are provided below.

3 CFR 8495 - Proclamation 8495 of April 9, 2010. Pan American Day and Pan American Week, 2010

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... United States of America A Proclamation More than 200 years of history and significant current events... Americas. The year 2010 marks the 80th anniversary of the first Pan American Day Proclamation; the..., and Chile. These milestones remind us of our shared histories of independence and interdependence, and...

The effects of 1.5 and 2 degrees of global warming on Africa in the CORDEX ensemble

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nikulin, Grigory; Lennard, Chris; Dosio, Alessandro; Kjellström, Erik; Chen, Youmin; Hänsler, Andreas; Kupiainen, Marco; Laprise, René; Mariotti, Laura; Fox Maule, Cathrine; van Meijgaard, Erik; Panitz, Hans-Jürgen; Scinocca, John F.; Somot, Samuel

2018-06-01

There is a general lack of information about the potential effects of 1.5, 2 or more degrees of global warming on the regional climates within Africa, and most studies that address this use data from coarse resolution global models. Using a large ensemble of CORDEX Africa simulations, we present a pan-African overview of the effects of 1.5 and 2 °C global warming levels (GWLs) on the African climate. The CORDEX simulations, consistent with their driving global models, show a robust regional warming exceeding the mean global one over most of Africa. The highest increase in annual mean temperature is found over the subtropics and the smallest one over many coastal regions. Projected changes in annual mean precipitation have a tendency to wetter conditions in some parts of Africa (e.g. central/eastern Sahel and eastern Africa) at both GWLs, but models’ agreement on the sign of change is low. In contrast to mean precipitation, there is a consistent increase in daily precipitation intensity of wet days over a large fraction of tropical Africa emerging already at 1.5 °C GWL and strengthening at 2 °C. A consistent difference between 2 °C and 1.5 °C warmings is also found for projected changes in annual mean temperature and daily precipitation intensity. Our study indicates that a 0.5 °C further warming (from 1.5 °C–2 °C) can indeed produce a robust change in some aspects of the African climate and its extremes.

Dynamic analysis of pan evaporation variations in the Huai River Basin, a climate transition zone in eastern China.

PubMed

Li, Meng; Chu, Ronghao; Shen, Shuanghe; Islam, Abu Reza Md Towfiqul

2018-06-01

Pan evaporation (E pan ), which we examine in this study to better understand atmospheric evaporation demand, represents a pivotal indicator of the terrestrial ecosystem and hydrological cycle, particularly in the Huai River Basin (HRB) in eastern China, where high potential risks of drought and flooding are commonly observed. In this study, we examine the spatiotemporal trend patterns of climatic factors and E pan by using the Mann-Kendall test and the Theil-Sen estimator based on a daily meteorological dataset from 89 weather stations during 1965-2013 in the HRB. Furthermore, the PenPan model is employed to estimate E pan at a monthly time scale, and a differential equation method is applied to quantify contributions from four meteorological variables to E pan trends. The results show that E pan significantly decreased (P<0.001) at an average rate of -8.119mm·a -2 at annual time scale in the whole HRB, with approximately 90% of stations occupied. Meanwhile, the generally higher E pan values were detected in the northern HRB. The values of the aerodynamic components in the PenPan model were much greater than those of the radiative components, which were responsible for the variations in the E pan trend. The significantly decreasing wind speed (u 2 ) was the most dominant factor that controlled the decreasing E pan trend at each time scale, followed by the notable decreasing net radiation (R n ) at the annual time scale also in growing season and summer. However, the second dominant factor shifted to the mean temperature (T a ) during the spring and winter and the vapor pressure deficit (vpd) during the autumn. These phenomena demonstrated a positive link between the significance of climate variables and their control over the E pan trend. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Trading or coercion? Variation in male mating strategies between two communities of East African chimpanzees.

PubMed

Kaburu, Stefano S K; Newton-Fisher, Nicholas E

2015-06-01

Across taxa, males employ a variety of mating strategies, including sexual coercion and the provision, or trading, of resources. Biological market theory (BMT) predicts that trading of commodities for mating opportunities should exist only when males cannot monopolize access to females and/or obtain mating by force, in situations where power differentials between males are low; both coercion and trading have been reported for chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ). Here, we investigate whether the choice of strategy depends on the variation in male power differentials, using data from two wild communities of East African chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii ): the structurally despotic Sonso community (Budongo, Uganda) and the structurally egalitarian M-group (Mahale, Tanzania). We found evidence of sexual coercion by male Sonso chimpanzees, and of trading-of grooming for mating-by M-group males; females traded sex for neither meat nor protection from male aggression. Our results suggest that the despotism-egalitarian axis influences strategy choice: male chimpanzees appear to pursue sexual coercion when power differentials are large and trading when power differentials are small and coercion consequently ineffective. Our findings demonstrate that trading and coercive strategies are not restricted to particular chimpanzee subspecies; instead, their occurrence is consistent with BMT predictions. Our study raises interesting, and as yet unanswered, questions regarding female chimpanzees' willingness to trade sex for grooming, if doing so represents a compromise to their fundamentally promiscuous mating strategy. It highlights the importance of within-species cross-group comparisons and the need for further study of the relationship between mating strategy and dominance steepness.

ATLAS WORLD-cloud and networking in PanDA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barreiro Megino, F.; De, K.; Di Girolamo, A.; Maeno, T.; Walker, R.; ATLAS Collaboration

2017-10-01

The ATLAS computing model was originally designed as static clouds (usually national or geographical groupings of sites) around the Tier 1 centres, which confined tasks and most of the data traffic. Since those early days, the sites’ network bandwidth has increased at 0(1000) and the difference in functionalities between Tier 1s and Tier 2s has reduced. After years of manual, intermediate solutions, we have now ramped up to full usage of World-cloud, the latest step in the PanDA Workload Management System to increase resource utilization on the ATLAS Grid, for all workflows (MC production, data (re)processing, etc.). We have based the development on two new site concepts. Nuclei sites are the Tier 1s and large Tier 2s, where tasks will be assigned and the output aggregated, and satellites are the sites that will execute the jobs and send the output to their nucleus. PanDA dynamically pairs nuclei and satellite sites for each task based on the input data availability, capability matching, site load and network connectivity. This contribution will introduce the conceptual changes for World-cloud, the development necessary in PanDA, an insight into the network model and the first half-year of operational experience.

Rewriting the Landform History of One of Africa's Three Largest Basins

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilkinson, Justin

2014-01-01

The Kalahari Basin in southern Africa - one of the largest basins in Africa, along with the Congo and Chad basins - has attracted attention since David Livingstone traveled through the area in the 1840s. It is a semiarid desert with a large freshwater swampland known as the Okavango Swamp (150 km radius). This prominent megafan (a fan with radii >100 km), with its fingers of dark green forests projecting into the dun colors of the dunes of the Kalahari semi-desert, has been well photographed by astronauts over the years. The study area in the northern Kalahari basin is centered on the Okavango megafan of northwest Botswana, whose swampland has become well known as an African wildlife preserve of importance to biology and tourism alike. The Okavango River is unusual because it has deposited not one but two megafans along its course: the Okavango megafan and the Cubango megafan. The Okavango megafan is one of only three well-known megafans in Africa. Megafans on Earth were once thought to be rare, but recent research has documented 68 in Africa alone. Eleven megafans, plus three more candidates, have been documented in the area immediately surrounding the Okavango feature. These 11 megafans occupy the flattest and smoothest terrains adjacent to the neighboring upland and stand out as the darkest areas in the roughness map of the area. Megafan terrains occupy at least 200,000 sq km of the study area. The roughness map shown is based on an algorithm used first on Mars to quantify topographic roughness. Research of Earth's flattest terrains is just beginning with the aid of such maps, and it appears that these terrains are analogous to the flattest regions of Mars. Implications: 1. The variability in depositional style in each subbasin may apply Africa-wide: rift megafan length is dominated by rift width, whereas Owambo subbasin megafans are probably controlled by upland basin size; Zambezi subbasin megafans appear more like foreland basin types, with the position of

PAN AIR modeling studies. [higher order panel method for aircraft design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Towne, M. C.; Strande, S. M.; Erickson, L. L.; Kroo, I. M.; Enomoto, F. Y.; Carmichael, R. L.; Mcpherson, K. F.

1983-01-01

PAN AIR is a computer program that predicts subsonic or supersonic linear potential flow about arbitrary configurations. The code's versatility and generality afford numerous possibilities for modeling flow problems. Although this generality provides great flexibility, it also means that studies are required to establish the dos and don'ts of modeling. The purpose of this paper is to describe and evaluate a variety of methods for modeling flows with PAN AIR. The areas discussed are effects of panel density, internal flow modeling, forebody modeling in subsonic flow, propeller slipstream modeling, effect of wake length, wing-tail-wake interaction, effect of trailing-edge paneling on the Kutta condition, well- and ill-posed boundary-value problems, and induced-drag calculations. These nine topics address problems that are of practical interest to the users of PAN AIR.

A Portable Burn Pan for the Disposal of Excess Propellants

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-11-01

project objective for the total mass of the HTU burn pan of less than 120 kg. The bonnet was made more durable while eliminating hazardous sharp edges...remaining in the pan will need to be considered hazardous . The sponsoring facility representatives, Mr. Steve Thurmond and Ms. Ellen Clark, agreed to...Don’t need the door on the bonnet any more – remove from next iteration − Beef up the mounting of the legs on the base After-action Tasks (CRREL

Pan American World Airways flight training: A new direction. Flight operations resource management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Butler, Roy

1987-01-01

The Pan Am Flight Training Department shares the experiences it is having in its attempt to integrate cockpit resource management philosophies into its training programs. A slide-tape presentation on Pan Am's new direction in flight training is presented and briefly discussed.

Integration of PanDA workload management system with Titan supercomputer at OLCF

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De, K.; Klimentov, A.; Oleynik, D.; Panitkin, S.; Petrosyan, A.; Schovancova, J.; Vaniachine, A.; Wenaus, T.

2015-12-01

The PanDA (Production and Distributed Analysis) workload management system (WMS) was developed to meet the scale and complexity of LHC distributed computing for the ATLAS experiment. While PanDA currently distributes jobs to more than 100,000 cores at well over 100 Grid sites, the future LHC data taking runs will require more resources than Grid computing can possibly provide. To alleviate these challenges, ATLAS is engaged in an ambitious program to expand the current computing model to include additional resources such as the opportunistic use of supercomputers. We will describe a project aimed at integration of PanDA WMS with Titan supercomputer at Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF). The current approach utilizes a modified PanDA pilot framework for job submission to Titan's batch queues and local data management, with light-weight MPI wrappers to run single threaded workloads in parallel on Titan's multicore worker nodes. It also gives PanDA new capability to collect, in real time, information about unused worker nodes on Titan, which allows precise definition of the size and duration of jobs submitted to Titan according to available free resources. This capability significantly reduces PanDA job wait time while improving Titan's utilization efficiency. This implementation was tested with a variety of Monte-Carlo workloads on Titan and is being tested on several other supercomputing platforms. Notice: This manuscript has been authored, by employees of Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC02-98CH10886 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The publisher by accepting the manuscript for publication acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes.

Bioenergy and biodiversity: Key lessons from the Pan American region

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kline, Keith L.; Martinelli, Fernanda Silva; Mayer, Audrey L.

Understanding how large-scale bioenergy production can affect biodiversity and ecosystems is important if society is to meet current and future sustainable development goals. A variety of bioenergy production systems have been established within different contexts throughout the Pan American region, with wide-ranging results in terms of documented and projected effects on biodiversity and ecosystems. The Pan American region is home to the majority of commercial bioenergy production and therefore the region offers a broad set of experiences and insights on both conflicts and opportunities for biodiversity and bioenergy. This paper synthesizes lessons learned focusing on experiences in Canada, the Unitedmore » States, and Brazil, regarding the conflicts that can arise between bioenergy production and ecological conservation, and benefits that can be derived when bioenergy policies promote planning and more sustainable land management systems. Lastly, we propose a research agenda to address priority information gaps that are relevant to biodiversity concerns and related policy challenges in the Pan American region.« less

Bioenergy and Biodiversity: Key Lessons from the Pan American Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kline, Keith L.; Martinelli, Fernanda Silva; Mayer, Audrey L.; Medeiros, Rodrigo; Oliveira, Camila Ortolan F.; Sparovek, Gerd; Walter, Arnaldo; Venier, Lisa A.

2015-12-01

Understanding how large-scale bioenergy production can affect biodiversity and ecosystems is important if society is to meet current and future sustainable development goals. A variety of bioenergy production systems have been established within different contexts throughout the Pan American region, with wide-ranging results in terms of documented and projected effects on biodiversity and ecosystems. The Pan American region is home to the majority of commercial bioenergy production and therefore the region offers a broad set of experiences and insights on both conflicts and opportunities for biodiversity and bioenergy. This paper synthesizes lessons learned focusing on experiences in Canada, the United States, and Brazil regarding the conflicts that can arise between bioenergy production and ecological conservation, and benefits that can be derived when bioenergy policies promote planning and more sustainable land-management systems. We propose a research agenda to address priority information gaps that are relevant to biodiversity concerns and related policy challenges in the Pan American region.

Developing pongid dentition and its use for ageing individual crania in comparative cross-sectional growth studies.

PubMed

Dean, M C; Wood, B A

1981-01-01

This study of the developing pongid dentition is based on cross-sectional radiographic data of juvenile Pan troglodytes, Gorilla gorilla, and Pongo pygmaeus skulls. Comparisons with developmental features of the human dentition are made, and possible explanations for the formation of larger teeth within the reduced pongid growth period are discussed. The data presented in this study provide an alternative method for ageing individual pongid crania in comparative cross-sectional growth studies. The advantages of this method are demonstrated by ageing individual Gorilla crania form radiographs and plotting relative dental age against length of the jaw.

Pan Am gets big savings at no cost

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tanz, D.

Pan American World Airways' contract with an energy management control systems distributor enabled the company's terminal and maintenance facilities at JFK airport in New York to shift from housekeeping to major savings without additional cost. Energy savings from a pneumatic control system were split almost equally between Pan Am and Thomas S. Brown Associates (TSBA) Inc., and further savings are expected from a planned computer-controlled system. A full-time energy manager, able to give top priority to energy-consumption problems, was considered crucial to the program's success. Early efforts in light-level reduction and equipment scheduling required extensive persuasion and policing, but successfulmore » energy savings allowed the manager to progress to the more-extensive plants with TSBA.« less

An Investigation of Electrochemomechanical Actuation of Conductive Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) Nanofiber Composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gonzalez, Mark A.

A polymer-based nanofiber composite actuator designed for linear actuation was fabricated by electrospinning, actuated by electrolysis, and characterized by electrical and mechanical testing to address performance limitations and understand the activation processing effects on actuation performance. Currently, Electroactive polymers (EAPs) have provided uses in sensory and actuation technology, but have either low force output or expand rather than contract, falling short in capturing the natural motion and function of muscle desperately needed to provide breakthroughs in the bio-medical and robotic fields. Previous research has shown activated Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers having biomimetic functionalities similar to the sarcomere contraction responsible for muscle function. Activated PAN is also known to contract and expand by electrolysis when in close vicinity to the anode and cathode, respectively. PAN nanofibers especially show faster response to changes in environmental pH and improved mechanical properties over larger diameter fibers. Conductive additives were introduced to the electrospinning solution and activated in an attempt to create composite PAN nanofiber gel actuators with improved conductivity and eliminate the need of stiff electrodes. Tensile testing was conducted to examine changes in mechanical properties between annealing and hydrolysis processing. Introducing conductive additives did not show a significant increase in conductivity and created unusable samples, requiring alternative electrode materials. Electrochemical contraction rates up to 25%/ min were achieved. Strains of 58.8%, ultimate stresses up to 77.1 MPa, and moduli of 0.21 MPa were achieved with pure PAN nanofiber mats, surpassing mechanical properties of natural muscles. Improvements to contraction rates and young's moduli are necessary to capture the function and performance of skeletal muscles properly.

Questionnaire survey of the pan-African trade in lion body parts

PubMed Central

Loveridge, Andrew J.; Newton, David J.; Macdonald, David W.

2017-01-01

The African lion is in decline across its range, and consumptive utilisation and trade of their body parts and skins has been postulated as a cause for concern. We undertook a pan-African questionnaire and literature survey to document informed opinion and evidence for the occurrence of domestic and international trade and consumption in African lion body parts across current and former range states. Sixty-five people from 18 countries participated in the online questionnaire survey (run from July 2014 to May 2015), with information provided for 28 countries (including 20 out of 24 countries believed to have extant populations). Respondents were experts within their professional spheres, and 77% had ≥6 years relevant experience within lion conservation or allied wildlife matters. Their opinions revealed wide sub-regional differences in consumptive use, drivers of trade, and access to lions that impact wild lion populations in different ways. Traditional medicine practices (African and Asian) were perceived to be the main uses to which lion body parts and bones are put domestically and traded internationally, and there is reason for concern about persistent imports from former lion range states (mainly in West Africa) for parts for this purpose. The domestic, rather than international, trade in lion body parts was perceived to be a bigger threat to wild lion populations. Parts such as skin, claws, teeth and bones are thought to be in most demand across the continent. The impact of international trade on wild populations was acknowledged to be largely unknown, but occasionally was judged to be ‘high’, and therefore vigilance is needed to monitor emerging detrimental impacts. Seventeen countries were nominated as priorities for immediate monitoring, including: South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Cameroon. Reasons for their selection include: prevalence of trophy hunting, ‘hot spots’ for poaching, active

Questionnaire survey of the pan-African trade in lion body parts.

PubMed

Williams, Vivienne L; Loveridge, Andrew J; Newton, David J; Macdonald, David W

2017-01-01

The African lion is in decline across its range, and consumptive utilisation and trade of their body parts and skins has been postulated as a cause for concern. We undertook a pan-African questionnaire and literature survey to document informed opinion and evidence for the occurrence of domestic and international trade and consumption in African lion body parts across current and former range states. Sixty-five people from 18 countries participated in the online questionnaire survey (run from July 2014 to May 2015), with information provided for 28 countries (including 20 out of 24 countries believed to have extant populations). Respondents were experts within their professional spheres, and 77% had ≥6 years relevant experience within lion conservation or allied wildlife matters. Their opinions revealed wide sub-regional differences in consumptive use, drivers of trade, and access to lions that impact wild lion populations in different ways. Traditional medicine practices (African and Asian) were perceived to be the main uses to which lion body parts and bones are put domestically and traded internationally, and there is reason for concern about persistent imports from former lion range states (mainly in West Africa) for parts for this purpose. The domestic, rather than international, trade in lion body parts was perceived to be a bigger threat to wild lion populations. Parts such as skin, claws, teeth and bones are thought to be in most demand across the continent. The impact of international trade on wild populations was acknowledged to be largely unknown, but occasionally was judged to be 'high', and therefore vigilance is needed to monitor emerging detrimental impacts. Seventeen countries were nominated as priorities for immediate monitoring, including: South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Cameroon. Reasons for their selection include: prevalence of trophy hunting, 'hot spots' for poaching, active domestic trade

Seasonal variation in pans in relation to limno-chemistry, size, hydroperiod, and river connectivity in a semi-arid subtropical region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nhiwatiwa, Tamuka; Dalu, Tatenda

2017-02-01

Seasonal pans are hydrologically dynamic, with significant changes in water volume and depth in response to high evaporation, infiltration rates and inundation events. Intra-seasonal and inter-seasonal changes in endorheic and floodplain pans in relation to limnology, size, hydroperiod, and river connectivity were studied over two rainfall seasons across 36 pans at the Save Valley Conservancy. In the study region, floodplain pans were identified as pans that had connectivity with the Save River, while the endorheic pans (large and small) were hydrologically isolated basins. Seasonal trends for physico-chemical variables were initial low and gradual increased for both rainfall seasons. Significant inter-seasonal differences for several physico-chemical variables were observed. No significant differences in physico-chemical variables were observed between large and small endorheic pans, with the except for vegetation cover, which was higher in large pans. Floodplain pans differed from the endorheic systems in pH, conductivity, nutrients and suspended solids. Connectivity was found to be insignificant, as connections between these systems were probably too infrequent. Seasonal pans were uniquely distinguished by their morphometric, physico-chemical and hydrological characteristics. Inevitably, they are vulnerable to climate change with the extent of their resilience currently unknown.

The Pan-STARRS data server and integrated data query tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Jhen-Kuei; Chen, Wen-Ping; Lin, Chien-Cheng; Chen, Ying-Tung; Lin, Hsing-Wen

2013-06-01

The Pan-STARRS project is operated by an international consortium. Located in Haleakala, Hawaii, the Pan-STARRS telescope system patrols the entire visible sky several times a month, with an aim to identify and characterize varying celestial objects of phenomena or in brightness (supernovae, novae, variable stars, etc) or in position (comets, asteroids, near-earth objects, X-planet etc.) PS1 science mission has started officially from May, 2010 and expects to end in the end of 2013. As of early 2012, every patch of sky observable from Hawaii has been observed in at least 5 bands (g', r', i', z', y') for 5 to 40 epochs. We have set up a data depository at NCU to serve the users in Taiwan. The massive amounts of Pan-STARRS data are downloaded via Internet from the Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii whenever new observations are obtained and processed. So far we have stored a total of 200 TB worth of data. In addition to star/galaxy catalogs, a postage stamp server provides access to FITS images. The Pan-STARRS Published Science Products Subsystem (PSPS) has recently passed its operational readiness, that provides users to query individual PS1 measurements. Here we present the data query tool to interface with the PS1 catalogs and postage stamp images, together with other complementary databases such as 2MASS and other data at IRSA (NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive).

Pan-STARRS Data Release 1

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flewelling, Heather

2017-01-01

We present an overview of the first and second Pan-STARRS data release (DR1 and DR2), and how to use the Published Science Products Subsystem (PSPS) and the Pan-STARRS Science Interface (PSI) to access the images and the catalogs. The data will be available from the STScI MAST archive. The PSPS is an SQLServer database that can be queried via script or web interface. This database has relative photometry and astrometry and object associations, making it easy to do searches across the entire sky as well as tools to generate lightcurves of individual objects as a function of time. Both releases of data use the 3pi survey, which has 5 filters (g,r,i,z,y), roughly 60 epochs (12 per filter) and covers 3/4 of the sky and everything north of -30 degrees declination. The first release of data (DR1) will contain stack images, mean attribute catalogs and static sky catalogs based off of the stacks. The second release of data (DR2) will contain the time domain data. For the images, this will include single exposures that have been detrended and warped. For the catalogs, this will include catalogs of all exposures as well as forced photometry.

Introduction of a pan-scan protocol for blunt trauma activations: what are the consequences?

PubMed

James, Melissa K; Schubl, Sebastian D; Francois, Michael P; Doughlin, Geoffrey K; Lee, Shi-Wen

2017-01-01

The aim of this study is to determine if the introduction of a pan-scan protocol during the initial assessment for blunt trauma activations would affect missed injuries, incidental findings, treatment times, radiation exposure, and cost. A 6-month prospective study was performed on patients with blunt trauma at a level 1 trauma center. During the last 3 months of the study, a pan-scan protocol was introduced to the trauma assessment. Categorical data were analyzed by Fisher exact test and continuous data were analyzed by Mann-Whitney nonparametric test. There were a total of 220 patients in the pre-pan-scan period and 206 patients during the pan-scan period. There was no significant difference in injury severity or mortality between the groups. Introduction of the pan-scan protocol substantially reduced the incidence of missed injuries from 3.2% to 0.5%, the length of stay in the emergency department by 68.2 minutes (95% confidence interval [CI], -134.4 to -2.1), and the mean time to the first operating room visit by 1465 minutes (95% CI, -2519 to -411). In contrast, fixed computed tomographic scan cost increased by $48.1 (95% CI, 32-64.1) per patient; however, total radiology cost per patient decreased by $50 (95% CI, -271.1 to 171.4). In addition, the rate of incidental findings increased by 14.4% and the average radiation exposure per patient was 8.2 mSv (95% CI, 5.0-11.3) greater during the pan-scan period. Although there are advantages to whole-body computed tomography, elucidation of the appropriate blunt trauma patient population is warranted when implementing a pan-scan protocol. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Application of streptavidin mass spectrometric immunoassay tips for immunoaffinity based antibody phage display panning.

PubMed

Chin, Chai Fung; Ler, Lian Wee; Choong, Yee Siew; Ong, Eugene Boon Beng; Ismail, Asma; Tye, Gee Jun; Lim, Theam Soon

2016-01-01

Antibody phage display panning involves the enrichment of antibodies against specific targets by affinity. In recent years, several new methods for panning have been introduced to accommodate the growing application of antibody phage display. The present work is concerned with the application of streptavidin mass spectrometry immunoassay (MSIA™) Disposable Automation Research Tips (D.A.R.T's®) for antibody phage display. The system was initially designed to isolate antigens by affinity selection for mass spectrometry analysis. The streptavidin MSIA™ D.A.R.T's® system allows for easy attachment of biotinylated target antigens on the solid surface for presentation to the phage library. As proof-of-concept, a domain antibody library was passed through the tips attached with the Hemolysin E antigen. After binding and washing, the bound phages were eluted via standard acid dissociation and the phages were rescued for subsequent panning rounds. Polyclonal enrichment was observed for three rounds of panning with five monoclonal domain antibodies identified. The proposed method allows for a convenient, rapid and semi-automated alternative to conventional antibody panning strategies. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

What do PANs Tell us about VOC-NOx Photochemistry in the Urban/Rural Interface?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roberts, J. M.; Flocke, F. M.; Zheng, W.; Bertman, S.; Marchewka, M.; Williams, E.; Lerner, B.; Kuster, W.; Goldan, P.; Gilman, J.; Sommariva, R.; Trainer, M.; Fehsenfeld, F.

2006-12-01

Peroxycarboxylic Nitric Anhydrides (PANs) are co-products of the VOC-NOx photochemistry that is responsible for O3 and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation in the troposphere. The relative abundance of the various PAN type compounds can provide important diagnostic information as to the contribution of different VOC sources to these processes. Anthropogenic, biogenic and petrochemical VOC sources have shown distinct profiles of PAN, PPN, MPAN, PiBN, and APAN, which can be analyzed using simple numerical models and compared to the results of detailed chemical mechanisms. One result of these studies is that the PAN compounds can be used to better define the contribution of isoprene to O3 production in the urban/rural interface. Another result is that high relative concentrations of APAN are characteristic of high petrochemical source impact. In addition, changes in the relative abundance of PPN and PAN can indicate the aging of a continental photochemical plume. This paper will present selected results from five field experiments and modeling studies from the Nashville 1999 Southern Oxidant Study up through the TexAQS 2006 study, in and around Houston, TX.

Publishing datasets with eSciDoc and panMetaDocs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ulbricht, D.; Klump, J.; Bertelmann, R.

2012-04-01

Currently serveral research institutions worldwide undertake considerable efforts to have their scientific datasets published and to syndicate them to data portals as extensively described objects identified by a persistent identifier. This is done to foster the reuse of data, to make scientific work more transparent, and to create a citable entity that can be referenced unambigously in written publications. GFZ Potsdam established a publishing workflow for file based research datasets. Key software components are an eSciDoc infrastructure [1] and multiple instances of the data curation tool panMetaDocs [2]. The eSciDoc repository holds data objects and their associated metadata in container objects, called eSciDoc items. A key metadata element in this context is the publication status of the referenced data set. PanMetaDocs, which is based on PanMetaWorks [3], is a PHP based web application that allows to describe data with any XML-based metadata schema. The metadata fields can be filled with static or dynamic content to reduce the number of fields that require manual entries to a minimum and make use of contextual information in a project setting. Access rights can be applied to set visibility of datasets to other project members and allow collaboration on and notifying about datasets (RSS) and interaction with the internal messaging system, that was inherited from panMetaWorks. When a dataset is to be published, panMetaDocs allows to change the publication status of the eSciDoc item from status "private" to "submitted" and prepare the dataset for verification by an external reviewer. After quality checks, the item publication status can be changed to "published". This makes the data and metadata available through the internet worldwide. PanMetaDocs is developed as an eSciDoc application. It is an easy to use graphical user interface to eSciDoc items, their data and metadata. It is also an application supporting a DOI publication agent during the process of

Campylobacter in chicken livers and their destruction by pan frying.

PubMed

Whyte, R; Hudson, J A; Graham, C

2006-12-01

To enumerate Campylobacter spp. on the external surface and internal portions of chicken livers, and to assess the cooking required to inactivate naturally present cells. Of 30 livers tested all yielded Campylobacter spp. on their surfaces and 90% were found to contain the organism in internal tissue. Four (13%) livers contained >10(4) MPN campylobacters, and an additional seven (23%) contained >10(3) MPN campylobacters per liver. The internal temperature of pan-fried livers under the conditions used reached a maximum of 70-80 degrees C, and maintaining this temperature for 2-3 min was necessary to inactivate naturally occurring Campylobacter spp. All isolates identified were either C. jejuni or C. coli. Chicken livers represent a potential source of human campylobacteriosis as they contained >10(4) MPN per liver in 13% of the samples tested. Pan-frying can produce an acceptable product that is safe to eat. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THIS STUDY: The data provided can be used in exposure assessments of Campylobacter in poultry products in terms of both quantitative data and assessing pan-frying and its ability to destroy campylobacters.

Demographics of cleft care providers in Africa and reported experience in training and practice: direct analysis of continent-based practitioners.

PubMed

Adetayo, Oluwaseun A; Martin, Mark C

2012-05-01

To elucidate the impact of several geographic, cultural, and socioeconomic variables on cleft care delivery in Africa, and to investigate the current status of cleft care delivery in Africa. Survey of practitioners attending the second Pan-African Congress on Cleft Lip and Palate (PACCLIP). The annual PACCLIP conference in Ibadan, Nigeria, West Africa, February 2007. To provide an analysis of the demographics and training experience of cleft care providers in Africa by collating information directly from the continent-based practitioners. Plastic surgeons and oral and maxillofacial surgeons provide the majority of cleft care. Most of the participants reported availability of formal training programs in their respective countries. The predominant practice settings were university and government-based. During training, half of the providers had encountered up to 30 cleft cases, and a quarter had managed more than 100 cases. Representation of visiting surgeons were equally distributed between African and non-African countries. This study provides initial and detailed analysis crucial to understanding the underlying framework of cleft care composition teams, demographics of providers, and training and practice experience. This awareness will further enable North American and other non-African plastic surgeons to effectively partner with African cleft care providers to have a further reaching impact in the region.

Evolution of the ATLAS PanDA Production and Distributed Analysis System

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Maeno, T.; De, K.; Wenaus, T.

2012-12-13

Evolution of the ATLAS PanDA Production and Distributed Analysis System T Maeno1,5, K De2, T Wenaus1, P Nilsson2, R Walker3, A Stradling2, V Fine1, M Potekhin1, S Panitkin1 and G Compostella4 Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Volume 396, Part 3 Article PDF References Citations Metrics 101 Total downloads Cited by 8 articles Turn on MathJax Share this article Article information Abstract The PanDA (Production and Distributed Analysis) system has been developed to meet ATLAS production and analysis requirements for a data-driven workload management system capable of operating at LHC data processing scale. PanDAmore » has performed well with high reliability and robustness during the two years of LHC data-taking, while being actively evolved to meet the rapidly changing requirements for analysis use cases. We will present an overview of system evolution including automatic rebrokerage and reattempt for analysis jobs, adaptation for the CernVM File System, support for the multi-cloud model through which Tier-2 sites act as members of multiple clouds, pledged resource management and preferential brokerage, and monitoring improvements. We will also describe results from the analysis of two years of PanDA usage statistics, current issues, and plans for the future.« less

The Intraplate Earthquakes of SE Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fonseca, J. F. B. D.; Domingues, A.

2014-12-01

Southeast Africa is a region of complex tectonic inheritance, combining early Archean cratonic blocks - the Zimbabwe and Kaapvaal cratons - and several collision belts ranging in age from ~2.6Ga (Limpopo Belt) to the Pan-African Orogeny, 800-500 Ma ago (Zambezi Belt, Mozambique Belt). Mesozoic rifting was the last tectonic event to leave an imprint in the lithosphere of the region. Tertiary deformation is mild and related to the extensional regime of the East African Rift System (EARS) further north. Instrumental seismology started in Johannesburg in 1910 (Saunders et al., 2008). Ambraseys and Adams (1991) conducted a reappraisal of the seismicity of Sub-Saharan Africa from 1900 to 1930, and the compilations by Krige and Maree (1948) and Gutenberg and F. Richter (1949) are main sources for the two subsequent decades. The available data can be considered complete since 1900 for magnitudes above M6 (Ambraseys and Adams, 1991), although major epicentral errors are likely to affect the early decades. Earthquakes above this threshold in the region to the south of Lake Malawi and to the east of the Okavango Rift are reported in 1919 (MS6.5, NE South Africa), 1932 (MS6.8, Natal Bay), 1940 (MS6.2, SE Mozambique), 1951 (MS6.0, Central Mozambique), 1957 (M6.0, Central Mozambique), again in 1957 (M6.2, Central Mozambique), 1958 (M6.0, Southern Zimbabwe), 1959 (M6.1, Southern Zambia) and 2006 (M7.0, Central Mozambique). The four M>6 earthquakes from 1957 to 1959 configure a cluster in time, followed by a shutdown (at M>6) that was to last nearly five decades. While a coincidence is unlikely, a causal link is challenged by the large spatial scatter of about 500 km. However, the fact that the four earthquakes occurred on the border of the Zimbabwe craton may provide a clue to the mechanism promoting the clustering. We combine these data with recent seismicity results (Fonseca et al., 2014) to discuss possible factors controlling the seismotectonics of the region.

The ExoMars PanCam Instrument

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Griffiths, Andrew; Coates, Andrew; Muller, Jan-Peter; Jaumann, Ralf; Josset, Jean-Luc; Paar, Gerhard; Barnes, David

2010-05-01

The ExoMars mission has evolved into a joint European-US mission to deliver a trace gas orbiter and a pair of rovers to Mars in 2016 and 2018 respectively. The European rover will carry the Pasteur exobiology payload including the 1.56 kg Panoramic Camera. PanCam will provide multispectral stereo images with 34 deg horizontal field-of-view (580 microrad/pixel) Wide-Angle Cameras (WAC) and (83 microrad/pixel) colour monoscopic "zoom" images with 5 deg horizontal field-of-view High Resolution Camera (HRC). The stereo Wide Angle Cameras (WAC) are based on Beagle 2 Stereo Camera System heritage [1]. Integrated with the WACs and HRC into the PanCam optical bench (which helps the instrument meet its planetary protection requirements) is the PanCam interface unit (PIU); which provides image storage, a Spacewire interface to the rover and DC-DC power conversion. The Panoramic Camera instrument is designed to fulfil the digital terrain mapping requirements of the mission [2] as well as providing multispectral geological imaging, colour and stereo panoramic images and solar images for water vapour abundance and dust optical depth measurements. The High Resolution Camera (HRC) can be used for high resolution imaging of interesting targets detected in the WAC panoramas and of inaccessible locations on crater or valley walls. Additionally HRC will be used to observe retrieved subsurface samples before ingestion into the rest of the Pasteur payload. In short, PanCam provides the overview and context for the ExoMars experiment locations, required to enable the exobiology aims of the mission. In addition to these baseline capabilities further enhancements are possible to PanCam to enhance it's effectiveness for astrobiology and planetary exploration: 1. Rover Inspection Mirror (RIM) 2. Organics Detection by Fluorescence Excitation (ODFE) LEDs [3-6] 3. UVIS broadband UV Flux and Opacity Determination (UVFOD) photodiode This paper will discuss the scientific objectives and resource

Comparison of PAN and Black Carbon Levels in Mexico City: 1997 and 2003

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaffney, J. S.; Marley, N. A.

2004-12-01

Peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) is a secondary oxidant formed by the oxidation of hydrocarbons in the presence of nitrogen dioxide. PAN is a good indicator compound for hydrocarbon reactivity that leads to ozone formation. Black carbon (BC) is formed by incomplete combustion processes such as diesel soot formation and is a good indicator of primary carbonaceous aerosols in urban areas. We used a fast-response luminol method to measure PAN and BC during the Mexico City Metropolitan Area 2003/Mexico City Megacity 2003 field study in April 2003. We compare these results with our previous PAN measurements in Mexico City during February 1997, made with a gas chromatograph-electron capture detector system. The decreased PAN levels observed in 2003 are consistent with the application of emissions controls on spark ignition gasoline-fueled vehicles, leading to lower levels of the nitrogen oxides and reactive volatile hydrocarbons needed to form PAN. Black carbon data for Mexico City in 2003, taken with a seven-channel aethalometer, are compared with data from 1997, estimated from thermal analyses as elemental carbon (EC). The comparison indicates little change in the levels of BC/EC over the six-year period. This observation is consistent with the application of minimal controls to diesel engines, the likely major source of BC in the Mexico City megacity complex during this period. The authors wish to thank the researchers at Centro Nacional de Investigación en Calidad Ambiental (CENICA), Mexico City. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Atmospheric Science Program. We also wish to acknowledge Drs. Mario and Luisa Molina for their help in organizing and directing the Mexico City Metropolitan Area 2003 field study, during which these data were collected.

A pan-African medium-range ensemble flood forecast system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thiemig, Vera; Bisselink, Bernard; Pappenberger, Florian; Thielen, Jutta

2015-04-01

The African Flood Forecasting System (AFFS) is a probabilistic flood forecast system for medium- to large-scale African river basins, with lead times of up to 15 days. The key components are the hydrological model LISFLOOD, the African GIS database, the meteorological ensemble predictions of the ECMWF and critical hydrological thresholds. In this study the predictive capability is investigated, to estimate AFFS' potential as an operational flood forecasting system for the whole of Africa. This is done in a hindcast mode, by reproducing pan-African hydrological predictions for the whole year of 2003 where important flood events were observed. Results were analysed in two ways, each with its individual objective. The first part of the analysis is of paramount importance for the assessment of AFFS as a flood forecasting system, as it focuses on the detection and prediction of flood events. Here, results were verified with reports of various flood archives such as Dartmouth Flood Observatory, the Emergency Event Database, the NASA Earth Observatory and Reliefweb. The number of hits, false alerts and missed alerts as well as the Probability of Detection, False Alarm Rate and Critical Success Index were determined for various conditions (different regions, flood durations, average amount of annual precipitations, size of affected areas and mean annual discharge). The second part of the analysis complements the first by giving a basic insight into the prediction skill of the general streamflow. For this, hydrological predictions were compared against observations at 36 key locations across Africa and the Continuous Rank Probability Skill Score (CRPSS), the limit of predictability and reliability were calculated. Results showed that AFFS detected around 70 % of the reported flood events correctly. In particular, the system showed good performance in predicting riverine flood events of long duration (> 1 week) and large affected areas (> 10 000 km2) well in advance, whereas

SOPanG: online text searching over a pan-genome.

PubMed

Cislak, Aleksander; Grabowski, Szymon; Holub, Jan

2018-06-22

The many thousands of high-quality genomes available nowadays imply a shift from single genome to pan-genomic analyses. A basic algorithmic building brick for such a scenario is online search over a collection of similar texts, a problem with surprisingly few solutions presented so far. We present SOPanG, a simple tool for exact pattern matching over an elastic-degenerate string, a recently proposed simplified model for the pan-genome. Thanks to bit-parallelism, it achieves pattern matching speeds above 400MB/s, more than an order of magnitude higher than of other software. SOPanG is available for free from: https://github.com/MrAlexSee/sopang. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

A new two-Dimensional Physical Basis for the Complementary Relation Between Terrestrial and pan Evaporation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pettijohn, J. C.; Salvucci, G. D.

2008-12-01

Archived global measurements of water loss from evaporation pans constitute an important indirect measure of evaporative flux. Historical data from evaporation pans shows a decreasing trend over the last half century, but the relationship between pan evaporation and moisture-limited terrestrial evaporation is complex, leading to ambiguities in the interpretation of this data. Under energy-limited conditions, pan evaporation (Epan) and moisture-limited terrestrial evaporation (E) increase or decrease together, while in moisture- limited conditions these fluxes form a complementary relation in which increases in one rate accompany decreases in the other. This has lead to debate about the meaning of the observed trends in the context of changing climate. Here a two-dimensional numerical model of a wet pan in a drying landscape is used to demonstrate that, over a wide range of realistic atmospheric and surface conditions, the influence that changes in E have on Epan (1) are complementary and linear, (2) do not depend upon surface wind speed, and (3) are strikingly asymmetrical, in that a unit decrease in E causes approximately a five-fold increase in Epan, as found in a recent analysis of daily evaporation from US grasslands (Kahler and Brutsaert, 2006). Previous attempts to explain the CR have been based on one dimensional diffusion and energy balance arguments, leading to analytic solutions based on Penman-type bulk difference equations. But without acknowledging the spatially complex multidimensional humidity and temperature field around the pan, and specifically how these fields change as the contrast between the wet pan and the drying land surface increases, such integrated bulk difference equations are a priori incomplete (they ignore important divergence terms), and thus these explanations must be considered physically incomplete. Results of the present study improve the theoretical foundation of the CR, thus increasing the reliability with which it can be

Multi-sensor fusion of Landsat 8 thermal infrared (TIR) and panchromatic (PAN) images.

PubMed

Jung, Hyung-Sup; Park, Sung-Whan

2014-12-18

Data fusion is defined as the combination of data from multiple sensors such that the resulting information is better than would be possible when the sensors are used individually. The multi-sensor fusion of panchromatic (PAN) and thermal infrared (TIR) images is a good example of this data fusion. While a PAN image has higher spatial resolution, a TIR one has lower spatial resolution. In this study, we have proposed an efficient method to fuse Landsat 8 PAN and TIR images using an optimal scaling factor in order to control the trade-off between the spatial details and the thermal information. We have compared the fused images created from different scaling factors and then tested the performance of the proposed method at urban and rural test areas. The test results show that the proposed method merges the spatial resolution of PAN image and the temperature information of TIR image efficiently. The proposed method may be applied to detect lava flows of volcanic activity, radioactive exposure of nuclear power plants, and surface temperature change with respect to land-use change.

Theoretical evaluation of a V/STOL fighter model utilizing the PAN AIR code

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Howell, G. A.; Bhateley, I. C.

1982-01-01

The PAN AIR computer code was investigated as a tool for predicting closely coupled aerodynamic and propulsive flowfields of arbitrary configurations. The NASA/Ames V/STOL fighter model, a configuration of complex geometry, was analyzed with the PAN AIR code. A successful solution for this configuration was obtained when the nozzle exit was treated as an impermeable surface and no wakes were included around the nozzle exit. When separated flow was simulated from the end of the nacelle, requiring the use of wake networks emanating from the nozzle exit, a number of problems were encountered. A circular body nacelle model was used to investigate various techniques for simulating the exhaust plume in PAN AIR. Several approaches were tested and eliminated because they could not correctly simulate the interference effects. Only one plume modeling technique gave good results. A PAN AIR computation that used a plume shape and inflow velocities obtained from the Navier-Stokes solution for the plume produced results for the effects of power that compared well with experimental data.

Sensor Package Pan and Tilt Unit on Atlantis during STS-132

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-05-15

S132-E-005110 (15 May 2010) --- While preparing for the routine inspection of Atlantis’ thermal protection system on Flight Day 2, the STS-132 crew discovered a cable was being pinched and preventing the sensor package pan and tilt unit from moving properly. There are alternate sensor packages that do not require the pan and tilt function; and personnel in the Johnson Space Center’s Mission Control Center are evaluating those procedures. Photo credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Robust retention and transfer of tool construction techniques in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Vale, Gill L; Flynn, Emma G; Pender, Lydia; Price, Elizabeth; Whiten, Andrew; Lambeth, Susan P; Schapiro, Steven J; Kendal, Rachel L

2016-02-01

Long-term memory can be critical to a species' survival in environments with seasonal and even longer-term cycles of resource availability. The present, longitudinal study investigated whether complex tool behaviors used to gain an out-of-reach reward, following a hiatus of about 3 years and 7 months since initial experiences with a tool use task, were retained and subsequently executed more quickly by experienced than by naïve chimpanzees. Ten of the 11 retested chimpanzees displayed impressive long-term procedural memory, creating elongated tools using the same methods employed years previously, either combining 2 tools or extending a single tool. The complex tool behaviors were also transferred to a different task context, showing behavioral flexibility. This represents some of the first evidence for appreciable long-term procedural memory, and improvements in the utility of complex tool manufacture in chimpanzees. Such long-term procedural memory and behavioral flexibility have important implications for the longevity and transmission of behavioral traditions. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Molecular identification of Entamoeba species in savanna woodland chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii).

PubMed

Jirků-Pomajbíková, Kateřina; Čepička, Ivan; Kalousová, Barbora; Jirků, Milan; Stewart, Fiona; Levecke, Bruno; Modrý, David; Piel, Alex K; Petrželková, Klára J

2016-05-01

To address the molecular diversity and occurrence of pathogenic species of the genus Entamoeba spp. in wild non-human primates (NHP) we conducted molecular-phylogenetic analyses on Entamoeba from wild chimpanzees living in the Issa Valley, Tanzania. We compared the sensitivity of molecular [using a genus-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR)] and coproscopic detection (merthiolate-iodine-formaldehyde concentration) of Entamoeba spp. We identified Entamoeba spp. in 72 chimpanzee fecal samples (79%) subjected to species-specific PCRs for six Entamoeba species/groups (Entamoeba histolytica, Entamoeba nuttalli, Entamoeba dispar, Entamoeba moshkovskii, Entamoeba coli and Entamoeba polecki ST2). We recorded three Entamoeba species: E. coli (47%), E. dispar (16%), Entamoeba hartmanni (51%). Coproscopically, we could only distinguish the cysts of complex E. histolytica/dispar/moshkovskii/nuttalli and E. coli. Molecular prevalence of entamoebas was higher than the prevalence based on the coproscopic examination. Our molecular phylogenies showed that sequences of E. dispar and E. coli from Issa chimpanzees are closely related to sequences from humans and other NHP from GenBank. The results showed that wild chimpanzees harbour Entamoeba species similar to those occurring in humans; however, no pathogenic species were detected. Molecular-phylogenetic methods are critical to improve diagnostics of entamoebas in wild NHP and for determining an accurate prevalence of Entamoeba species.

Nonlinear acoustics in the pant-hoot vocalization of common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riede, Tobias; Arcadi, Adam Clark; Owren, Michael J.

2003-04-01

Pant-hoots produced by chimpanzees are multi-call vocalizations. While predominantly harmonically structured, pant-hoots can exhibit acoustic complexity that has recently been found to result from inherent nonlinearity in the vocal-fold dynamics. This complexity reflects abrupt shifts between qualitatively distinct vibration patterns (known as modes), which include but are not limited to simple, synchronous movements by the two vocal folds. Studies with humans in particular have shown that as the amplitude and vibration rate increase, vocal-fold action becomes increasingly susceptible to higher-order synchronizations, desynchronized movements, and irregular behavior. We examined the occurrence of these sorts of nonlinear phenomena in pant-hoots, contrasting quieter and lower-pitched introduction components with loud and high-pitched climax calls in the same sounds. Spectrographic evidence revealed four classic kinds of nonlinear phenomena, including discrete frequency jumps, subharmonics, biphonation, and deterministic chaos. While these events were virtually never found in the introduction, they occurred in more than half of the climax calls. Biphonation was by far the most common. Individual callers varied in the degree to which their climax calls exhibited nonlinear phenomena, but we are consistent in showing more biphonation than any of the other forms. These outcomes demonstrate that understanding these calls requisitely requires an understanding of such events.

Delay of Gratification by Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in Working and Waiting Situations

PubMed Central

Beran, Michael J.; Evans, Theodore A.

2009-01-01

We tested four chimpanzees in a self-control task in which food rewards accumulated as long as they were not eaten. In one condition, the chimpanzees had to perform a computer task that directly led to the delivery of the food rewards. In another condition, working on the computerized task was not required and any such work was not linked to the delivery of rewards. The third condition offered no computerized task (chimpanzees simply waited for food rewards to be delivered). Three of four chimpanzees showed no effect of the work scenario on delay of gratification. The one chimpanzee that showed an influence of work scenario on self-control was the overall poorest performing animal. This animal delayed gratification the longest, however, when work was required and reward delivery was directly linked to that work. Therefore, although there is little evidence linking delay of gratification to work requirements in chimpanzees, chimpanzees with lower overall self-control might benefit from having some work available if reward accumulation is contingent on performing that work. PMID:19084581

Perception of the average size of multiple objects in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Imura, Tomoko; Kawakami, Fumito; Shirai, Nobu; Tomonaga, Masaki

2017-08-30

Humans can extract statistical information, such as the average size of a group of objects or the general emotion of faces in a crowd without paying attention to any individual object or face. To determine whether summary perception is unique to humans, we investigated the evolutional origins of this ability by assessing whether chimpanzees, which are closely related to humans, can also determine the average size of multiple visual objects. Five chimpanzees and 18 humans were able to choose the array in which the average size was larger, when presented with a pair of arrays, each containing 12 circles of different or the same sizes. Furthermore, both species were more accurate in judging the average size of arrays consisting of 12 circles of different or the same sizes than they were in judging the average size of arrays consisting of a single circle. Our findings could not be explained by the use of a strategy in which the chimpanzee detected the largest or smallest circle among those in the array. Our study provides the first evidence that chimpanzees can perceive the average size of multiple visual objects. This indicates that the ability to compute the statistical properties of a complex visual scene is not unique to humans, but is shared between both species. © 2017 The Authors.

Perception of the average size of multiple objects in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

PubMed Central

Kawakami, Fumito; Shirai, Nobu; Tomonaga, Masaki

2017-01-01

Humans can extract statistical information, such as the average size of a group of objects or the general emotion of faces in a crowd without paying attention to any individual object or face. To determine whether summary perception is unique to humans, we investigated the evolutional origins of this ability by assessing whether chimpanzees, which are closely related to humans, can also determine the average size of multiple visual objects. Five chimpanzees and 18 humans were able to choose the array in which the average size was larger, when presented with a pair of arrays, each containing 12 circles of different or the same sizes. Furthermore, both species were more accurate in judging the average size of arrays consisting of 12 circles of different or the same sizes than they were in judging the average size of arrays consisting of a single circle. Our findings could not be explained by the use of a strategy in which the chimpanzee detected the largest or smallest circle among those in the array. Our study provides the first evidence that chimpanzees can perceive the average size of multiple visual objects. This indicates that the ability to compute the statistical properties of a complex visual scene is not unique to humans, but is shared between both species. PMID:28835550

The higher the farther: distance-specific referential gestures in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

Gonseth, Chloe; Kawakami, Fumito; Ichino, Etsuko; Tomonaga, Masaki

2017-11-01

Referential signals, such as manual pointing or deictic words, allow individuals to efficiently locate a specific entity in the environment, using distance-specific linguistic and/or gestural units. To explore the evolutionary prerequisites of such deictic ability, the present study investigates the ability of chimpanzees to adjust their communicative signals to the distance of a referent. A food-request paradigm in which the chimpanzees had to request a close or distant piece of food on a table in the presence/absence of an experimenter was employed. Our main finding concerns the chimpanzees adjusting their requesting behaviours to the distance of the food such that higher manual gestures and larger mouth openings were used to request the distant piece of food. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate that chimpanzees are able to use distance-specific gestures. © 2017 The Authors.

Early social deprivation negatively affects social skill acquisition in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

PubMed

van Leeuwen, Edwin J C; Mulenga, Innocent Chitalu; Chidester, Diana Lisensky

2014-03-01

In a highly social species like chimpanzees, the process by which individuals become attuned to their social environment may be of vital importance to their chances of survival. Typically, this socialization process, defined by all acquisition experiences and fine-tuning efforts of social interaction patterns during ontogeny, occurs in large part through parental investment. In this study, we investigated whether maternal presence enhances the socialization process in chimpanzees by comparing the social interactions of orphaned and mother-reared individuals at the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust in Zambia. As response variables, we selected social interactions during which an elaborate level of fine-tuning is assumed to be necessary for sustaining the interaction and preventing escalation: social play. Comparing orphaned (n = 8) to sex- and age-matched mother-reared juvenile chimpanzees (n = 9), we hypothesized that the orphaned juveniles would play less frequently than the mother-reared and would be less equipped for fine-tuning social play (which we assayed by rates of aggression) because of the lack of a safe and facilitating social environment provided by the mother. First, contrary to our hypothesis, results showed that the orphaned juveniles engaged in social play more frequently than the mother-reared juveniles, although for significantly shorter amounts of time. Second, in support of our hypothesis, results showed that social play of the orphaned juveniles more often resulted in aggression than social play of the mother-reared juveniles. In conjunction, these results may indicate that, just like in humans, chimpanzee mothers provide their offspring with adequate social skills that might be of pivotal importance for future challenges like successful group-living and securing competitive fitness advantages.

Robust Retention and Transfer of Tool Construction Techniques in Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

PubMed Central

Vale, Gill L.; Flynn, Emma G.; Pender, Lydia; Price, Elizabeth; Whiten, Andrew; Lambeth, Susan P.; Schapiro, Steven J.; Kendal, Rachel L.

2016-01-01

Long-term memory can be critical to a species’ survival in environments with seasonal and even longer-term cycles of resource availability. The present, longitudinal study investigated whether complex tool behaviors used to gain an out-of-reach reward, following a hiatus of about 3 years and 7 months since initial experiences with a tool use task, were retained and subsequently executed more quickly by experienced than by naïve chimpanzees. Ten of the 11 retested chimpanzees displayed impressive long-term procedural memory, creating elongated tools using the same methods employed years previously, either combining 2 tools or extending a single tool. The complex tool behaviors were also transferred to a different task context, showing behavioral flexibility. This represents some of the first evidence for appreciable long-term procedural memory, and improvements in the utility of complex tool manufacture in chimpanzees. Such long-term procedural memory and behavioral flexibility have important implications for the longevity and transmission of behavioral traditions. PMID:26881941

Forest chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) remember the location of numerous fruit trees.

PubMed

Normand, Emmanuelle; Ban, Simone Dagui; Boesch, Christophe

2009-11-01

It is assumed that spatial memory contributes crucially to animal cognition since animals' habitats entail a large number of dispersed and unpredictable food sources. Spatial memory has been investigated under controlled conditions, with different species showing and different conditions leading to varying performance levels. However, the number of food sources investigated is very low compared to what exists under natural conditions, where food resources are so abundant that it is difficult to precisely identify what is available. By using a detailed botanical map containing over 12,499 trees known to be used by the Taï chimpanzees, we created virtual maps of all productive fruit trees to simulate potential strategies used by wild chimpanzees to reach resources without spatial memory. First, we simulated different assumptions concerning the chimpanzees' preference for a particular tree species, and, second, we varied the detection field to control for the possible use of smell to detect fruiting trees. For all these assumptions, we compared simulated distance travelled, frequencies of trees visited, and revisit rates with what we actually observed in wild chimpanzees. Our results show that chimpanzees visit rare tree species more frequently, travel shorter distances to reach them, and revisit the same trees more often than if they had no spatial memory. In addition, we demonstrate that chimpanzees travel longer distances to reach resources where they will eat for longer periods of time, and revisit resources more frequently where they ate for a long period of time during their first visit. Therefore, this study shows that forest chimpanzees possess a precise spatial memory which allows them to remember the location of numerous resources and use this information to select the most attractive resources.

75 FR 13085 - Pan-Pacific Education and Communications Experiments by Satellite (PEACESAT): Closing Date

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-18

.... 100305127-0127-01] Pan-Pacific Education and Communications Experiments by Satellite (PEACESAT): Closing..., Public Law No. 111-117, the U.S. Department of Commerce announces the solicitation of applications for a grant for the Pan-Pacific Education and Communications Experiments by Satellite (PEACESAT) Program...

Measurements of peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) and peroxypropionyl nitrate (PPN) at selected urban, rural and remote sites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Singh, Hanwant B.; Salas, Louis J.

1989-01-01

PAN and PPN were measured in a series of eight field studies performed at urban, rural and remote locations in the contiguous U.S. during 1983-1985. Seven of the eight studies were performed in the winter/spring period, a period of sparsely available data. Nearly 2000 air samples were analyzed during these studies. Mean PAN and PPN levels in the range of 45-1600 ppt (max. 7.9 ppb) and 5-230 ppt (max. 0.9 ppb), respectively, were measured. Despite a great deal of observed variability, PAN and PPN showed virtually identical behavior at all sites and in all seasons, supporting the view that these nitrogenous compounds are produced and destroyed by very similar mechanisms. On the average PPN concentrations were about 8 percent (range 3-14 percent) of PAN values. It is inferred that PPN/PAN ratio is highest in urban areas and declines as polluted air masses are transported over long distances.

Partially-Averaged Navier-Stokes (PANS) approach for study of fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics in Czochralski melt

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Verma, Sudeep; Dewan, Anupam

2018-01-01

The Partially-Averaged Navier-Stokes (PANS) approach has been applied for the first time to model turbulent flow and heat transfer in an ideal Czochralski set up with the realistic boundary conditions. This method provides variable level of resolution ranging from the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) modelling to Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) based on the filter control parameter. For the present case, a low-Re PANS model has been developed for Czochralski melt flow, which includes the effect of coriolis, centrifugal, buoyant and surface tension induced forces. The aim of the present study is to assess improvement in results on switching to PANS modelling from unsteady RANS (URANS) approach on the same computational mesh. The PANS computed results were found to be in good agreement with the reported experimental, DNS and Large Eddy Simulation (LES) data. A clear improvement in computational accuracy is observed in switching from the URANS approach to the PANS methodology. The computed results further improved with a reduction in the PANS filter width. Further the capability of the PANS model to capture key characteristics of the Czochralski crystal growth is also highlighted. It was observed that the PANS model was able to resolve the three-dimensional turbulent nature of the melt, characteristic flow structures arising due to flow instabilities and generation of thermal plumes and vortices in the Czochralski melt.

Efficiency of malaise traps and colored pan traps for collecting flower visiting insects from three forested ecosystems

Treesearch

Joshua W. Campbell; J.L. Hanula

2007-01-01

Pan and Malaise traps have been used widely to sample insect abundance and diversity, but no studies have compared their performance for sampling pollinators in forested ecosystems. Malaise trap design and color of pan traps are important parameters that influence insect pollinator catches. We compared pan trap (blue, yellow, white, and red) and Malaise trap catches...

Provenance of Austroalpine basement metasediments: tightening up Early Palaeozoic connections between peri-Gondwanan domains of central Europe and Northern Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siegesmund, S.; Oriolo, S.; Heinrichs, T.; Basei, M. A. S.; Nolte, N.; Hüttenrauch, F.; Schulz, B.

2018-03-01

New U-Pb and Lu-Hf detrital zircon data together with whole-rock geochemical and Sm-Nd data were obtained for paragneisses of the Austroalpine basement south of the Tauern Window. Geochemically immature metasediments of the Northern-Defereggen-Petzeck (Ötztal-Bundschuh nappe system) and Defereggen (Drauzug-Gurktal nappe system) groups contain zircon age populations which indicate derivation mainly from Pan-African orogens. Younger, generally mature metasediments of the Gailtal Metamorphic Basement (Drauzug-Gurktal nappe system), Thurntaler Phyllite Group (Drauzug-Gurktal nappe system) and Val Visdende Formation (South Alpine Basement) were possibly derived from more distant sources. Their significantly larger abundances of pre-Pan-African zircons record a more advanced stage of downwearing of the Pan-African belts and erosion of older basement when the Austroalpine terrane was part of the Early Palaeozoic Northern Gondwana passive margin. Most zircon age spectra are dominated by Ediacaran sources, with lesser Cryogenian, Tonian and Stenian contributions and subordinate Paleoproterozoic and Neoarchean ages. These age patterns are similar to those recorded by Cambro-Ordovician sedimentary sequences in northeastern Africa between Libya and Jordan, and in some pre-Variscan basement inliers of Europe (e.g. Dinarides-Hellenides, Alboran microplate). Therefore, the most likely sources seem to be in the northeastern Saharan Metacraton and the Northern Arabian-Nubian Shield (Sinai), further supported by whole-rock Sm-Nd and zircon Lu-Hf data.

PanDA: Exascale Federation of Resources for the ATLAS Experiment at the LHC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barreiro Megino, Fernando; Caballero Bejar, Jose; De, Kaushik; Hover, John; Klimentov, Alexei; Maeno, Tadashi; Nilsson, Paul; Oleynik, Danila; Padolski, Siarhei; Panitkin, Sergey; Petrosyan, Artem; Wenaus, Torre

2016-02-01

After a scheduled maintenance and upgrade period, the world's largest and most powerful machine - the Large Hadron Collider(LHC) - is about to enter its second run at unprecedented energies. In order to exploit the scientific potential of the machine, the experiments at the LHC face computational challenges with enormous data volumes that need to be analysed by thousand of physics users and compared to simulated data. Given diverse funding constraints, the computational resources for the LHC have been deployed in a worldwide mesh of data centres, connected to each other through Grid technologies. The PanDA (Production and Distributed Analysis) system was developed in 2005 for the ATLAS experiment on top of this heterogeneous infrastructure to seamlessly integrate the computational resources and give the users the feeling of a unique system. Since its origins, PanDA has evolved together with upcoming computing paradigms in and outside HEP, such as changes in the networking model, Cloud Computing and HPC. It is currently running steadily up to 200 thousand simultaneous cores (limited by the available resources for ATLAS), up to two million aggregated jobs per day and processes over an exabyte of data per year. The success of PanDA in ATLAS is triggering the widespread adoption and testing by other experiments. In this contribution we will give an overview of the PanDA components and focus on the new features and upcoming challenges that are relevant to the next decade of distributed computing workload management using PanDA.

Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Abnormalities in Children with Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS)

PubMed Central

Gaughan, Thomas; Buckley, Ashura; Hommer, Rebecca; Grant, Paul; Williams, Kyle; Leckman, James F.; Swedo, Susan E.

2016-01-01

Study Objectives: Polysomnographic investigation of sleep architecture in children presenting with pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS). Methods: Fifteen consecutive subjects meeting criteria for PANS (mean age = 7.2 y; range 3–10 y) underwent single-night full polysomnography (PSG) read by a pediatric neurologist. Results: Thirteen of 15 subjects (87%) had abnormalities detected with PSG. Twelve of 15 had evidence of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep motor disinhibition, as characterized by excessive movement, laughing, hand stereotypies, moaning, or the continuation of periodic limb movements during sleep (PLMS) into REM sleep. Conclusions: This study shows various forms of REM sleep motor disinhibition present in a population of children with PANS. Citation: Gaughan T, Buckley A, Hommer R, Grant P; Williams K, Leckman JF, Swedo SE. Rapid eye movement sleep abnormalities in children with pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS). J Clin Sleep Med 2016;12(7):1027–1032. PMID:27166296

Chromato-panning: an efficient new mode of identifying suitable ligands from phage display libraries

PubMed Central

Noppe, Wim; Plieva, Fatima; Galaev, Igor Yu; Pottel, Hans; Deckmyn, Hans; Mattiasson, Bo

2009-01-01

Background Phage Display technology is a well established technique for high throughput screening of affinity ligands. Here we describe a new compact chromato-panning procedure for selection of suitable binders from a phage peptide display library. Results Both phages and E. coli cells pass non-hindered through the interconnected pores of macroporous gel, so called cryogel. After coupling a ligand to a monolithic cryogel column, the phage library was applied on the column and non-bound phages were washed out. The selection of strong phage-binders was achieved already after the first panning cycle due to the efficient separation of phage-binders from phage-non-binders in chromatographic mode rather than in batch mode as in traditional biopanning procedures. E. coli cells were applied on the column for infection with the specifically bound phages. Conclusion Chromato-panning allows combining several steps of the panning procedure resulting in 4–8 fold decrease of total time needed for phage selection. PMID:19292898

Molecular systematics of higher primates: genealogical relations and classification.

PubMed Central

Miyamoto, M M; Koop, B F; Slightom, J L; Goodman, M; Tennant, M R

1988-01-01

We obtained 5' and 3' flanking sequences (5.4 kilobase pairs) from the psi eta-globin gene region of the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) and combined them with available nucleotide data. The completed sequence, representing 10.8 kilobase pairs of contiguous noncoding DNA, was compared to the same orthologous regions available for human (Homo sapiens, as represented by five different alleles), common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), gorilla (Gorilla gorilla), and orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus). The nucleotide sequence for Macaca mulatta provided the outgroup perspective needed to evaluate better the relationships of humans and great apes. Pairwise comparisons and parsimony analysis of these orthologues clearly demonstrated (i) that humans and great apes share a high degree of genetic similarity and (ii) that humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas form a natural monophyletic group. These conclusions strongly favor a genealogical classification for higher primates consisting of a single family (Hominidae) with two subfamilies (Homininae for Homo, Pan, and Gorilla and Ponginae for Pongo). PMID:3174657

The bonobo genome compared with the chimpanzee and human genomes

PubMed Central

Prüfer, Kay; Munch, Kasper; Hellmann, Ines; Akagi, Keiko; Miller, Jason R.; Walenz, Brian; Koren, Sergey; Sutton, Granger; Kodira, Chinnappa; Winer, Roger; Knight, James R.; Mullikin, James C.; Meader, Stephen J.; Ponting, Chris P.; Lunter, Gerton; Higashino, Saneyuki; Hobolth, Asger; Dutheil, Julien; Karakoç, Emre; Alkan, Can; Sajjadian, Saba; Catacchio, Claudia Rita; Ventura, Mario; Marques-Bonet, Tomas; Eichler, Evan E.; André, Claudine; Atencia, Rebeca; Mugisha, Lawrence; Junhold, Jörg; Patterson, Nick; Siebauer, Michael; Good, Jeffrey M.; Fischer, Anne; Ptak, Susan E.; Lachmann, Michael; Symer, David E.; Mailund, Thomas; Schierup, Mikkel H.; Andrés, Aida M.; Kelso, Janet; Pääbo, Svante

2012-01-01

Two African apes are the closest living relatives of humans: the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and the bonobo (Pan paniscus). Although they are similar in many respects, bonobos and chimpanzees differ strikingly in key social and sexual behaviours1–4, and for some of these traits they show more similarity with humans than with each other. Here we report the sequencing and assembly of the bonobo genome to study its evolutionary relationship with the chimpanzee and human genomes. We find that more than three per cent of the human genome is more closely related to either the bonobo or the chimpanzee genome than these are to each other. These regions allow various aspects of the ancestry of the two ape species to be reconstructed. In addition, many of the regions that overlap genes may eventually help us understand the genetic basis of phenotypes that humans share with one of the two apes to the exclusion of the other. PMID:22722832

Phylogenetic relations of humans and African apes from DNA sequences in the Psi eta-globin region

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miyamoto, M.M.; Slightom, J.L.; Goodman, M.

Sequences from the upstream and downstream flanking DNA regions of the Psi eta-globin locus in Pan troglodytes (common chimpanzee), Gorilla gorilla (gorilla), and Pongo pygmaeus (orangutan, the closest living relative to Homo, Pan, and Gorilla) provided further data for evaluating the phylogenetic relations of humans and African apes. These newly sequenced orthologs (an additional 4.9 kilobase pairs (kbp) for each species) were combined with published Psi eta-gene sequences and then compared to the same orthologous stretch (a continuous 7.1-kbp region) available for humans. Phylogenetic analysis of these nucleotide sequences by the parsimony method indicated (i) that human and chimpanzee aremore » more closely related to each other than either is to gorilla and (ii) that the slowdown in the rate of sequence evolution evident in higher primates is especially pronounced in humans. These results indicate that features unique to African apes (but not to humans) are primitive and that even local molecular clocks should be applied with caution.« less

Detection of Termites and Other Insects Consumed by African Great Apes using Molecular Fecal Analysis

PubMed Central

Hamad, Ibrahim; Delaporte, Eric; Raoult, Didier; Bittar, Fadi

2014-01-01

The consumption of insects by apes has previously been reported based on direct observations and/or trail signs in feces. However, DNA-based diet analyses may have the potential to reveal trophic links for these wild species. Herein, we analyzed the insect-diet diversity of 9 feces obtained from three species of African great apes, gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and bonobo (Pan paniscus), using two mitochondrial amplifications for arthropods. A total of 1056 clones were sequenced for Cyt-b and COI gene libraries, which contained 50 and 56 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), respectively. BLAST research revealed that the OTUs belonged to 32 families from 5 orders (Diptera, Isoptera, Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, and Orthoptera). While ants were not detected by this method, the consumption of flies, beetles, moths, mosquitoes and termites was evident in these samples. Our findings indicate that molecular techniques can be used to analyze insect food items in wild animals. PMID:24675424

Size and diet in the evolution of African ape craniodental form.

PubMed

Shea, B T

1983-01-01

Interspecific differences in craniodental morphology among Pan paniscus, Pan troglodytes, and Gorilla gorilla are analyzed. These apes differ in both diet and body size, and thus present an excellent example in which to apply an allometric criterion of subtraction in order to determine morphological differences which might be related to divergent dietary specialization. The use of ontogenetic allometry in particular as a criterion of subtraction is discussed. Bivariate and multivariate results indicate that most of the variation in skull form among the species relates to the extension of a common growth trend to different sizes. Comparative analysis of growth trajectories reveals a number of differences, but none that appear to relate to a reorganization of skull proportions which might correspond to a dietary shift towards increased folivory. The dentition clearly exhibits non-allometric shape changes corresponding to the dietary differences, however. The meaning of these differences between cranial and dental patterns is discussed.

Surface properties of poly(acrylonitrile) (PAN) precipitation polymerized in supercritical CO2 and the influence of the molecular weight.

PubMed

Shen, Qing; Gu, Qing-Feng; Hu, Jian-Feng; Teng, Xin-Rong; Zhu, Yun-Feng

2003-11-15

In this paper, the surface properties, e.g., the total surface free energy and the related Lifshitz-van der Waals and Lewis acid-base components, of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) precipitation polymerized in supercritical CO(2) have been characterized. Moreover, the influence of molecular weight varying has been also investigated. Results show that the surface properties of PAN resulting from supercritical CO(2) are different from those obtained by the conventional method. Of these data, one important finding is that the supercritical CO(2) PAN seems to decrease the surface free energy with the increased molecular weight. Based on previous recorded NMR spectra of this PAN and especially compared to commercial PAN, such phenomena are discussed and ascribed to an increase of the H-bonds and a reduction of the isotacticity in the supercritical CO(2) condition for PAN.

Does pan diameter influence carbon monoxide levels during heating of water to boiling point with a camping stove?

PubMed

Leigh-Smith, Simon; Stevenson, Richard; Watt, Martin; Watt, Ian; McFadyen, Angus; Grant, Stan

2004-01-01

To determine whether pan diameter influences carbon monoxide (CO) concentration during heating of water to boiling point with a camping stove. The hypothesis was that increasing pan diameter increases CO concentration because of greater flame dispersal and a larger flame. This was a randomized, prospective study. A Coleman Dual Fuel 533 stove was used to heat pans of water to boiling point, with CO concentration monitored every 30 seconds for 5 minutes. The stove was inside a partially ventilated 200-L cardboard box model that was inside an environmental chamber at -6 degrees C. Water temperature, water volume, and flame characteristics were all standardized. Ten trials were performed for each of 2 pan diameters (base diameters of 165 mm [small] and 220 mm [large]). There was a significant difference (P = .002) between the pans for CO levels at each measurement interval from 60 seconds onward. These differences were markedly larger after 90 seconds, with a mean difference of 185 ppm (95% CI 115, 276 ppm) for all the results from 120 seconds onwards. This study has shown that there is significantly higher CO production with a large-diameter pan compared with a small-diameter pan. These findings were evident by using a camping stove to heat water to boiling point when a maximum blue flame was present throughout. Thus, in enclosed environments it is recommended that small-diameter pans be used in an attempt to prevent high CO levels.

Strengthening national health laboratories in sub-Saharan Africa: a decade of remarkable progress

PubMed Central

Alemnji, G. A.; Zeh, C.; Yao, K.; Fonjungo, P. N.

2016-01-01

OBJECTIVES Efforts to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic have underscored the fragile and neglected nature of some national health laboratories in Africa. In response, national and international partners and various governments have worked collaboratively over the last several years to build sustainable laboratory capacities within the continent. Key accomplishments reflecting this successful partnership include the establishment of the African-based World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO-AFRO) Stepwise Laboratory Quality Improvement Process Towards Accreditation (SLIPTA); development of the Strengthening Laboratory Management Toward Accreditation (SLMTA) training programme; and launching of a Pan African-based institution, the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM). These platforms continue to serve as the foundations for national health laboratory infrastructure enhancement, capacity development and overall quality system improvement. Further targeted interventions should encourage countries to aim at integrated tiered referral networks, promote quality system improvement and accreditation, develop laboratory policies and strategic plans, enhance training and laboratory workforce development and a retention strategy, create career paths for laboratory professionals and establish public–private partnerships. Maintaining the gains and ensuring sustainability will require concerted action by all stakeholders with strong leadership and funding from African governments and from the African Union. PMID:24506521

Quantifying mental foramen position in extant hominoids and Australopithecus: implications for its use in studies of human evolution.

PubMed

Robinson, Chris A; Williams, Frank L

2010-08-01

The location of the mental foramen on the mandibular corpus has figured prominently in debates concerning the taxonomy of fossil hominins and Gorilla gorilla. In this study we quantify the antero/posterior (A/P) position of the mental foramen across great apes, modern humans and Australopithecus. Contrary to most qualitative assessments, we find significant differences between some extant hominoid species in mental foramen A/P position supporting its potential usefulness as a character for taxonomic and phylogenetic analyses of fossil hominoids. Gorilla gorilla, particularly the eastern subspecies, with a comparatively longer dental arcade and fossil and extant hominins with reduced canines and incisors tend to exhibit more anteriorly positioned mental foramina. Conversely, Pan troglodytes exhibits more posteriorly positioned mental foramina. Variation in this character among Gorilla gorilla subspecies supports recent taxonomic assessments that separate eastern and western populations. In all taxa other than Pan troglodytes the A/P position of the mental foramen is positively allometric with respect to dental arcade length. Thus, within each of these species, specimens with longer dental arcades tend to have more posteriorly positioned mental foramina. Those species with greater sexual dimorphism in canine size and dental arcade length (i.e., Gorilla gorilla and Pongo pygmaeus) exhibit more extreme differences between smaller and larger individuals. Moreover, among great apes those individuals with greater anterior convergence of the dental arcade tend to exhibit more posteriorly positioned mental foramina. Dental arcade length, canine crown area and anterior convergence are all significantly associated with mental foramen A/P position, suggesting that these traits may influence taxonomic variation in the A/P position of the mental foramen. (c) 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Geodynamic model for the development of the Cameroon Hot Line (Equatorial Africa)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nkono, Collin; Féménias, Olivier; Demaiffe, Daniel

2014-12-01

This work proposes a new geodynamic model for the development of the Cameroon Hot Line (CHL) in Equatorial Africa. It is based on the analysis of the distribution of lineaments and of magmatic bodies (Paleogene anorogenic ring-complexes and Neogene volcanic centres). Two successive geodynamic models are proposed to explain the distribution of the Cainozoic to recent magmatic activity. They are both sinistral. The first one, during the Paleogene, developed around the N ∼ 70°E direction while the second one (Neogene) is oriented around the N ∼ 130°E direction. The two periods are separated by a short transition. The emplacement follows the local reactivation of pre-existing (Pan-African) faults in relation to the collision between the Afro-Arabian and Eurasian plates, during the Alpine history.

Gerhart Panning (1900-1944): a German forensic pathologist and his involvement in Nazi crimes during Second World War.

PubMed

Preuss, Johanna; Madea, Burkhard

2009-03-01

Twenty years after the Second World War the public were made aware of War Crimes committed by the German forensic pathologist, Gerhart Panning (1900-1944). From 1942 till 1944, Panning was professor at the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the University of Bonn. Panning died of tuberculosis on 22 March 1944. After the Second World War, Panning's widow tried to obtain denazification for her husband. There were no particularly serious doubts. In 1965, Konrad Graf von Moltke, the son of Helmuth James Graf von Moltke (1907-1944), presented to the court a private letter from his father to his mother. In this letter, written in 1941, Panning's experiments on Soviet prisoners are described. In the so-called Callsen trial in the court of Darmstadt from 1960 to 1968, the experiments were confirmed by witnesses. In 1941, Panning performed experiments in cooperation with the Sicherheitsstaffel (Nazi special police) in the Ukraine to prove that captured ammunition of the soviet infantry violated international law. For this purpose, different parts of the bodies of living Soviets were used as firing targets. He published the results of these experiments in a scientific journal without any evidence of the origin of these observations. In this article, Panning's life and crimes have been described.

The First Pan-Starrs Medium Deep Field Variable Star Catalog

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flewelling, Heather

2013-01-01

We present the first Pan-Starrs 1 Medium Deep Field Variable Star Catalog (PS1-MDF-VSC). The Pan-Starrs 1 (PS1) telescope is a 1.8 meter survey telescope with a 1.4 Gigapixel camera, and is located in Haleakala, Hawaii. The Medium Deep survey, which consists of 10 fields located uniformly across the sky, totalling 70 square degrees, is observed each night, in 2-3 filters per field, with 8 exposures per filter. We have located and classified several hundred periodic variable stars within the Medium Deep fields, and we present the first catalog listing the properties of these variable stars.

Decadal change in PAN & O3 and their precursors levels in Seoul during May and June

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, H.; Rhee, H.; Lee, M.; Lee, G.; Jang, J.; Shin, H. J.

2017-12-01

In Seoul, PAN and O3 concentrations were examined for the two months of May and June, when O3 concentration is the highest of the year. The measurement sets of PAN and O3 are available for 2004, 2005, 2015 and 2016. PAN was measured by a fast GC system coupled with Luminol chemiluminescence. The hourly maximum PAN and O3 concentrations were10 ppbv and 123 ppbv in 2004,8 ppbv and 141 ppbv in 2005, 4.4 ppbv and 143 ppbv in 2015, and 7.5 ppbv and 127 ppbv in 2016, respectively. The total concentrations of NOX and VOCs were evidently decreased but with different proportions in their subclasses. While alkans and aromatics were considerably decreased, biogenic VOC(BVOC) were increased about twice, leading to increased contribution of BVOC to OH reactivity. Although NOX was decreased by 35%, NO2/NOX ratio was increased for the decade. PAN levels were decreased over the years corresponding to decrease in precursor levels. However, the concentration of O3 was increased due to an increase in NO2 / NO ratio and BVOC.

Mineralogy and geochemistry of the sediments of the Etosha Pan Region in northern Namibia: a reconstruction of the depositional environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buch, M. W.; Rose, D.

1996-04-01

The paper presents the results of mineralogical and chemical analyses of the clay fraction (<2 μm) of samples from boreholes in the Etosha Pan and smaller pans of the Owambo-Pans-Plain in the Etosha National Park, northern Namibia. Four mineral associations can be differentiated within the vertical succession of the profiles in the Etosha Pan: I) analcime/K-feldspar and mica association; II) analcime/K-feldspar and sepiolite (loughlinite) association; III) expandable sheet silicate (saponite/stevensite) association; and IV) calcite and dolomite association. These mineral associations are the expression of the seasonal saline-alkaline to calciferous, saline-alkaline environment of the present Etosha Pan. The sedimentological and pedological descriptions, combined with the results of the mineralogical and chemical analyses, show a clear differentiation of the profiles of the Etosha Pan in: i) disintegrated sedimentary rocks of the Andoni Formation (mineral association I); ii) par-autochthonous sediments (mineral associations I and II); and iii) allochthonous sediments (mineral associations III and IV). Based on this vertical mineralogical differentiation, four sedimentological-mineralogical/ chemical zones are defined for the actual floor of the Etosha Pan. The zonation shows that a thin cover of allochthonous sediments is only present along the southern margin of the Etosha Pan, including Fisher's Pan. The results support the hypothesis that the Etosha Pan is an erosional form rather than a palaeolake. In principle, the zonal configuration of the recent allochthonous and parautochthonous sediments identified on the Etosha Pan provides a small-scale depositional environment model for the formation of the Etosha limestone and sediments of the Andoni Formation during the Oligocene and Miocene. Thus, the findings help to reconstruct the depositional environment of the evolution of the extensive depocentre of the Etosha basin during the Late Tertiary.

Pan Sharpening Quality Investigation of Turkish In-Operation Remote Sensing Satellites: Applications with Rasat and GÖKTÜRK-2 Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozendi, Mustafa; Topan, Hüseyin; Cam, Ali; Bayık, Çağlar

2016-10-01

Recently two optical remote sensing satellites, RASAT and GÖKTÜRK-2, launched successfully by the Republic of Turkey. RASAT has 7.5 m panchromatic, and 15 m visible bands whereas GÖKTÜRK-2 has 2.5 m panchromatic and 5 m VNIR (Visible and Near Infrared) bands. These bands with various resolutions can be fused by pan-sharpening methods which is an important application area of optical remote sensing imagery. So that, the high geometric resolution of panchromatic band and the high spectral resolution of VNIR bands can be merged. In the literature there are many pan-sharpening methods. However, there is not a standard framework for quality investigation of pan-sharpened imagery. The aim of this study is to investigate pan-sharpening performance of RASAT and GÖKTÜRK-2 images. For this purpose, pan-sharpened images are generated using most popular pan-sharpening methods IHS, Brovey and PCA at first. This procedure is followed by quantitative evaluation of pan-sharpened images using Correlation Coefficient (CC), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Relative Average Spectral Error (RASE), Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM) and Erreur Relative Globale Adimensionnelle de Synthése (ERGAS) metrics. For generation of pan-sharpened images and computation of metrics SharpQ tool is used which is developed with MATLAB computing language. According to metrics, PCA derived pan-sharpened image is the most similar one to multispectral image for RASAT, and Brovey derived pan-sharpened image is the most similar one to multispectral image for GÖKTÜRK-2. Finally, pan-sharpened images are evaluated qualitatively in terms of object availability and completeness for various land covers (such as urban, forest and flat areas) by a group of operators who are experienced in remote sensing imagery.

The Pan 13th Annual Forum

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-11-01

NOTES 14. ABSTRACT This conference grant supported the Parkinson’s Action Network (PAN)’s 13th Annual Research and Education Forum for...community. PAN’s Research and Education Forum serves as a premier educational program for Parkinson’s physicians, patients, researchers as well...participants will learn about the latest research and discuss creative ideas for new research endeavors. Fundamental to the success of the Forum is the premise

Primate Short-Wavelength Cones Share Molecular Markers with Rods

PubMed Central

Craft, Cheryl M.; Huang, Jing; Possin, Daniel E.; Hendrickson, Anita

2015-01-01

Macaca, Callithrix jacchus marmoset monkey, Pan troglodytes chim- panzee and human retinas were examined to define if short wavelength (S) cones share molecular markers with L&M cone or rod photoreceptors. S cones showed consistent differences in their immunohistochemical staining and expression levels compared to L&M cones for “rod” Arrestin1 (S-Antigen), “cone” Arrestin4, cone alpha transducin, and Calbindin. Our data verify a similar pattern of expression in these primate retinas and provide clues to the structural divergence of rods and S cones versus L&M cones, suggesting S cone retinal function is “intermediate” between them. PMID:24664680

Chimpanzees are vengeful but not spiteful

PubMed Central

Jensen, Keith; Call, Josep; Tomasello, Michael

2007-01-01

People are willing to punish others at a personal cost, and this apparently antisocial tendency can stabilize cooperation. What motivates humans to punish noncooperators is likely a combination of aversion to both unfair outcomes and unfair intentions. Here we report a pair of studies in which captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) did not inflict costs on conspecifics by knocking food away if the outcome alone was personally disadvantageous but did retaliate against conspecifics who actually stole the food from them. Like humans, chimpanzees retaliate against personally harmful actions, but unlike humans, they are indifferent to simply personally disadvantageous outcomes and are therefore not spiteful. PMID:17644612

Evaluation of common methods for sampling invertebrate pollinator assemblages: net sampling out-perform pan traps.

PubMed

Popic, Tony J; Davila, Yvonne C; Wardle, Glenda M

2013-01-01

Methods for sampling ecological assemblages strive to be efficient, repeatable, and representative. Unknowingly, common methods may be limited in terms of revealing species function and so of less value for comparative studies. The global decline in pollination services has stimulated surveys of flower-visiting invertebrates, using pan traps and net sampling. We explore the relative merits of these two methods in terms of species discovery, quantifying abundance, function, and composition, and responses of species to changing floral resources. Using a spatially-nested design we sampled across a 5000 km(2) area of arid grasslands, including 432 hours of net sampling and 1296 pan trap-days, between June 2010 and July 2011. Net sampling yielded 22% more species and 30% higher abundance than pan traps, and better reflected the spatio-temporal variation of floral resources. Species composition differed significantly between methods; from 436 total species, 25% were sampled by both methods, 50% only by nets, and the remaining 25% only by pans. Apart from being less comprehensive, if pan traps do not sample flower-visitors, the link to pollination is questionable. By contrast, net sampling functionally linked species to pollination through behavioural observations of flower-visitation interaction frequency. Netted specimens are also necessary for evidence of pollen transport. Benefits of net-based sampling outweighed minor differences in overall sampling effort. As pan traps and net sampling methods are not equivalent for sampling invertebrate-flower interactions, we recommend net sampling of invertebrate pollinator assemblages, especially if datasets are intended to document declines in pollination and guide measures to retain this important ecosystem service.

gLExec and MyProxy integration in the ATLAS/OSG PanDA workload management system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caballero, J.; Hover, J.; Litmaath, M.; Maeno, T.; Nilsson, P.; Potekhin, M.; Wenaus, T.; Zhao, X.

2010-04-01

Worker nodes on the grid exhibit great diversity, making it difficult to offer uniform processing resources. A pilot job architecture, which probes the environment on the remote worker node before pulling down a payload job, can help. Pilot jobs become smart wrappers, preparing an appropriate environment for job execution and providing logging and monitoring capabilities. PanDA (Production and Distributed Analysis), an ATLAS and OSG workload management system, follows this design. However, in the simplest (and most efficient) pilot submission approach of identical pilots carrying the same identifying grid proxy, end-user accounting by the site can only be done with application-level information (PanDA maintains its own end-user accounting), and end-user jobs run with the identity and privileges of the proxy carried by the pilots, which may be seen as a security risk. To address these issues, we have enabled PanDA to use gLExec, a tool provided by EGEE which runs payload jobs under an end-user's identity. End-user proxies are pre-staged in a credential caching service, MyProxy, and the information needed by the pilots to access them is stored in the PanDA DB. gLExec then extracts from the user's proxy the proper identity under which to run. We describe the deployment, installation, and configuration of gLExec, and how PanDA components have been augmented to use it. We describe how difficulties were overcome, and how security risks have been mitigated. Results are presented from OSG and EGEE Grid environments performing ATLAS analysis using PanDA and gLExec.

Evaluation of Common Methods for Sampling Invertebrate Pollinator Assemblages: Net Sampling Out-Perform Pan Traps

PubMed Central

Popic, Tony J.; Davila, Yvonne C.; Wardle, Glenda M.

2013-01-01

Methods for sampling ecological assemblages strive to be efficient, repeatable, and representative. Unknowingly, common methods may be limited in terms of revealing species function and so of less value for comparative studies. The global decline in pollination services has stimulated surveys of flower-visiting invertebrates, using pan traps and net sampling. We explore the relative merits of these two methods in terms of species discovery, quantifying abundance, function, and composition, and responses of species to changing floral resources. Using a spatially-nested design we sampled across a 5000 km2 area of arid grasslands, including 432 hours of net sampling and 1296 pan trap-days, between June 2010 and July 2011. Net sampling yielded 22% more species and 30% higher abundance than pan traps, and better reflected the spatio-temporal variation of floral resources. Species composition differed significantly between methods; from 436 total species, 25% were sampled by both methods, 50% only by nets, and the remaining 25% only by pans. Apart from being less comprehensive, if pan traps do not sample flower-visitors, the link to pollination is questionable. By contrast, net sampling functionally linked species to pollination through behavioural observations of flower-visitation interaction frequency. Netted specimens are also necessary for evidence of pollen transport. Benefits of net-based sampling outweighed minor differences in overall sampling effort. As pan traps and net sampling methods are not equivalent for sampling invertebrate-flower interactions, we recommend net sampling of invertebrate pollinator assemblages, especially if datasets are intended to document declines in pollination and guide measures to retain this important ecosystem service. PMID:23799127

Ground-nesting by the chimpanzees of the Nimba Mountains, Guinea: environmentally or socially determined?

PubMed

Koops, Kathelijne; Humle, Tatyana; Sterck, Elisabeth H M; Matsuzawa, Tetsuro

2007-04-01

The chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) of the Nimba Mountains, Guinea, West Africa, commonly make both elaborate ("night") and simple ("day") nests on the ground. In this study we investigated which factors might influence ground-nesting in this population, and tested two ecological hypotheses: 1) climatic conditions, such as high wind speeds at high altitudes, may deter chimpanzees from nesting in trees; and 2) a lack of appropriate arboreal nesting opportunities may drive the chimpanzees to nest on the ground. In addition to testing these two hypotheses, we explored whether ground-nesting is a sex-linked behavior. Data were collected monthly between August 2003 and May 2004 along transects and ad libitum. To identify the sex of ground-nesting individuals, we used DNA extracted from hair samples. The results showed that the occurrence and distribution of ground nests were not affected by climatic conditions or a lack of appropriate nest trees. Support was found for the notion that ground-nesting is a sex-linked behavior, as males were responsible for building all of the elaborate ground nests and most of the simple ground nests sampled. Elaborate ground nests occurred mostly in nest groups associated with tree nests, whereas simple ground nests usually occurred without tree nests in their vicinity. These results suggest that ground-nesting may be socially, rather than ecologically, determined.

The mid-face of lower Pleistocene hominins and its bearing on the attribution of SK 847 and StW 53.

PubMed

Williams, Frank L'engle; Schroeder, Lauren; Ackermann, Rebecca Rogers

2012-08-01

SK 847 and StW 53 have often been cited as evidence for early Homo in South Africa. To examine whether midfacial morphology is in agreement with these attributions, we analyze Euclidean distances calculated from 3-D coordinates on the maxillae of SK 847 and StW 53, as well as Australopithecus africanus (Sts 5, Sts 71), Paranthropus robustus (SK 46, SK 48, SK 52, SK 83), early Homo (KNM-ER 1813, KNM-ER 1805, KNM-ER 3733, KNM-WT 15000), P. boisei (KNM-ER 406, KNM-WT 17000, KNM-WT 17400), Gorilla gorilla (n=116), Homo sapiens (n=342), Pan paniscus (n=21) and P. troglodytes (n=65). Multivariate analyses separate extant hominoids suggesting we have captured taxonomic affinity. With the exception of SK 847 and SK 52, South African fossils tend to cluster together. P. robustus differs substantially from East African robust megadonts. SK 847 and StW 53 resemble the East African Homo specimens that are the most australopith-like, such as KNM-WT 15000 and KNM-ER 1813. The resemblance between StW 53 and Homo is driven partly by similarities in maxillary size. When distances are scaled, StW 53 aligns with A. africanus, while SK 847 clusters primarily with early Homo. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Molecular phylogeny of anoplocephalid tapeworms (Cestoda: Anoplocephalidae) infecting humans and non-human primates.

PubMed

Doležalová, Jana; Vallo, Peter; Petrželková, Klára J; Foitová, Ivona; Nurcahyo, Wisnu; Mudakikwa, Antoine; Hashimoto, Chie; Jirků, Milan; Lukeš, Julius; Scholz, Tomáš; Modrý, David

2015-09-01

Anoplocephalid tapeworms of the genus Bertiella Stiles and Hassall, 1902 and Anoplocephala Blanchard, 1848, found in the Asian, African and American non-human primates are presumed to sporadic ape-to-man transmissions. Variable nuclear (5.8S-ITS2; 28S rRNA) and mitochondrial genes (cox1; nad1) of isolates of anoplocephalids originating from different primates (Callicebus oenanthe, Gorilla beringei, Gorilla gorilla, Pan troglodytes and Pongo abelii) and humans from various regions (South America, Africa, South-East Asia) were sequenced. In most analyses, Bertiella formed a monophyletic group within the subfamily Anoplocephalinae, however, the 28S rRNA sequence-based analysis indicated paraphyletic relationship between Bertiella from primates and Australian marsupials and rodents, which should thus be regarded as different taxa. Moreover, isolate determined as Anoplocephala cf. gorillae from mountain gorilla clustered within the Bertiella clade from primates. This either indicates that A. gorillae deserves to be included into the genus Bertiella, or, that an unknown Bertiella species infects also mountain gorillas. The analyses allowed the genetic differentiation of the isolates, albeit with no obvious geographical or host-related patterns. The unexpected genetic diversity of the isolates studied suggests the existence of several Bertiella species in primates and human and calls for revision of the whole group, based both on molecular and morphological data.

Localization and regulation of mouse pantothenate kinase 2 [The PanK2 Genes of Mouse and Human Specify Proteins with Distinct Subcellular Locations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Leonardi, Roberta; Zhang, Yong-Mei; Lykidis, Athanasios

2007-09-07

Coenzyme A (CoA) biosynthesis is initiated by pantothenatekinase (PanK) and CoA levels are controlled through differentialexpression and feedback regulation of PanK isoforms. PanK2 is amitochondrial protein in humans, but comparative genomics revealed thatacquisition of a mitochondrial targeting signal was limited to primates.Human and mouse PanK2 possessed similar biochemical properties, withinhibition by acetylCoA and activation by palmitoylcarnitine. Mouse PanK2localized in the cytosol, and the expression of PanK2 was higher in humanbrain compared to mouse brain. Differences in expression and subcellularlocalization should be considered in developing a mouse model for humanPanK2 deficiency.

Effect of Buttermilk on the Physicochemical, Rheological, and Sensory Qualities of Pan and Pita Bread

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of buttermilk on the physicochemical and sensory attributes of pan and pita breads. Different amounts of buttermilk (30, 60, and 100% of added water) were mixed with other ingredients of pan and pita bread formulations. The doughs and bread were analyzed for rheological, physicochemical, and sensory qualities. The results demonstrated that incorporation of different concentrations of buttermilk in bread formulations progressively enhanced water absorption capacity, dough development time, gelatinization temperature, and peak viscosity, whereas it reduced the dough stability and temperature at peak viscosity. Supplementation of wheat flour with 30% buttermilk significantly (P ≤ 0.05) enhanced the physical properties of pan bread compared to nonsupplemented control. Incorporation of different percentages of buttermilk in bread formulation concomitantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased protein, oil, and ash contents and it reduced the carbohydrate contents of both types of bread. Incorporation of 60 and 100% of buttermilk in bread formula showed low scores of all sensory attributes compared to control and 30% buttermilk containing pan and pita bread. In conclusion, supplementation of bread formulas with 30% buttermilk is recommended for improving the nutritional and sensorial qualities of pan and pita bread. PMID:29318139

PanFP: Pangenome-based functional profiles for microbial communities

DOE PAGES

Jun, Se -Ran; Hauser, Loren John; Schadt, Christopher Warren; ...

2015-09-26

For decades there has been increasing interest in understanding the relationships between microbial communities and ecosystem functions. Current DNA sequencing technologies allows for the exploration of microbial communities in two principle ways: targeted rRNA gene surveys and shotgun metagenomics. For large study designs, it is often still prohibitively expensive to sequence metagenomes at both the breadth and depth necessary to statistically capture the true functional diversity of a community. Although rRNA gene surveys provide no direct evidence of function, they do provide a reasonable estimation of microbial diversity, while being a very cost effective way to screen samples of interestmore » for later shotgun metagenomic analyses. However, there is a great deal of 16S rRNA gene survey data currently available from diverse environments, and thus a need for tools to infer functional composition of environmental samples based on 16S rRNA gene survey data. As a result, we present a computational method called pangenome based functional profiles (PanFP), which infers functional profiles of microbial communities from 16S rRNA gene survey data for Bacteria and Archaea. PanFP is based on pangenome reconstruction of a 16S rRNA gene operational taxonomic unit (OTU) from known genes and genomes pooled from the OTU s taxonomic lineage. From this lineage, we derive an OTU functional profile by weighting a pangenome s functional profile with the OTUs abundance observed in a given sample. We validated our method by comparing PanFP to the functional profiles obtained from the direct shotgun metagenomic measurement of 65 diverse communities via Spearman correlation coefficients. These correlations improved with increasing sequencing depth, within the range of 0.8 0.9 for the most deeply sequenced Human Microbiome Project mock community samples. PanFP is very similar in performance to another recently released tool, PICRUSt, for almost all of survey data analysed here. But

PanDaTox: A tool for accelerated metabolic engineering

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Amitai, Gil; Sorek, Rotem

2012-07-18

Metabolic engineering is often facilitated by cloning of genes encoding enzymes from various heterologous organisms into E. coli. Such engineering efforts are frequently hampered by foreign genes that are toxic to the E. coli host. We have developed PanDaTox (www.weizmann.ac.il/pandatox), a web-based resource that provides experimental toxicity information for more than 1.5 million genes from hundreds of different microbial genomes. The toxicity predictions, which were extensively experimentally verified, are based on serial cloning of genes into E. coli as part of the Sanger whole genome shotgun sequencing process. PanDaTox can accelerate metabolic engineering projects by allowing researchers to exclude toxicmore » genes from the engineering plan and verify the clonability of selected genes before the actual metabolic engineering experiments are conducted.« less

Pan-Continental Droughts in North America over the Last Millennium

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cook, Benjamin I.; Smerdon, Jason E.; Seager, Richard; Cook, Edward R.

2014-01-01

Regional droughts are common in North America, but pan-continental droughts extending across multiple regions, including the 2012 event, are rare relative to single-region events. Here, the tree-ring-derived North American Drought Atlas is used to investigate drought variability in four regions over the last millennium, focusing on pan-continental droughts. During the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA), the central plains (CP), Southwest (SW), and Southeast (SE) regions experienced drier conditions and increased occurrence of droughts and the Northwest (NW) experienced several extended pluvials. Enhanced MCA aridity in the SW and CP manifested as multidecadal megadroughts. Notably, megadroughts in these regions differed in their timing and persistence, suggesting that they represent regional events influenced by local dynamics rather than a unified, continental-scale phenomena. There is no trend in pan-continental drought occurrence, defined as synchronous droughts in three or more regions. SW, CP, and SE (SW+CP+SE) droughts are the most common, occurring in 12 percent of all years and peaking in prevalence during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; patterns involving three other regions occur in about 8 percent of years. Positive values of the Southern Oscillation index (La Nina conditions) are linked to SW, CP, and SE (SW+CP+SE) droughts and SW, CP, and NW (SW+CP+NW) droughts, whereas CP, NW, and SE (CP+NW+SE) droughts are associated with positive values of the Pacific decadal oscillation and Atlantic multidecadal oscillation. While relatively rare, pan-continental droughts are present in the paleo record and are linked to defined modes of climate variability, implying the potential for seasonal predictability. Assuming stable drought teleconnections, these events will remain an important feature of future North American hydroclimate, possibly increasing in their severity in step with other expected hydroclimate responses to increased greenhouse gas forcing.

Southern African continental climate since the late Pleistocene: Insights from biomarker analyses of Kalahari salt pan sediments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belz, Lukas; Schüller, Irka; Wehrmann, Achim; Wilkes, Heinz

2016-04-01

The climate system of sub-tropical southern Africa is mainly controlled by large scale atmospheric and marine circulation processes and, therefore, very sensitive to global climate change. This underlines the importance of paleoenvironmental reconstructions in order to estimate regional implications of current global changes. However, the majority of studies on southern African paleoclimate are based on the investigation of marine sedimentary archives and past climate development especially in continental areas is still poorly understood. This emphasizes the necessity of continental proxy-data from this area. Proxy datasets from local geoarchives especially of the southwestern Kalahari region are still scarce. A main problem is the absence of conventional continental climatic archives, due to the lack of lacustrine systems. In this study we are exploring the utility of sediments from western Kalahari salt pans, i.e. local depressions which are flooded temporarily during rainfall events. An age model based on 14C dating of total organic carbon (TOC) shows evidence that sedimentation predominates over erosional processes with respect to pan formation. Besides the analyses of basic geochemical bulk parameters including TOC, δ13CTOC, total inorganic carbon, δ13CTIC, δ18OTIC, total nitrogen and δ15N, our paleo-climatic approach focuses on reconstruction of local vegetation assemblages to identify changes in the ecosystem. This is pursued using plant biomarkers, particularly leaf wax n-alkanes and n-alcohols and their stable carbon and hydrogen isotopic signatures. Results show prominent shifts in n-alkane and n-alkanol distributions and compound specific carbon isotope values, pointing to changes to a more grass dominated environment during Heinrich Stadial 1 (18.5-14.6 ka BP), while hydrogen isotope values suggest wetter phases during Holocene and LGM. This high variability indicates the local vulnerability to global change.