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Rapid increases in urban land use extent across the globe are creating challenges for many wildlife species. Urban landscapes present a novel environment for many species, yet our understanding of wildlife behavioural adaptations to urban environments is still poor. This study compared the vigilance behaviour of a large mammal in response to urbanisation at a landscape level. Here, we investigate urban (n = 12) and non-urban (n = 12) populations of kangaroos in two regions of Australia, and the relationship between kangaroo vigilance and urbanisation. We used a linear modelling approach to determine whether anti-predator vigilance and the number of vigilant acts performed were influenced by land use type (i.e., urban or non-urban), human population densities, kangaroo demographics, and environmental factors. Kangaroo behaviour differed between the two study regions; kangaroo vigilance was higher in urban than non-urban sites in the southern region, which also had the highest human population densities, however no effect of land use was found in the northern region. Season and sex influenced the vigilance levels across both regions, with higher levels seen in winter and female kangaroos. This study is the first to compare urban and non-urban vigilance of large mammals at a landscape level and provide novel insights into behavioural adaptations of large mammals to urban environments.

Drones are often considered an unobtrusive method of monitoring terrestrial wildlife; however research into whether drones disturb wildlife is in its early stages. This research investigated the potential impacts of drone monitoring on a large terrestrial mammal, the eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus), in urban and peri-urban environments. We assessed the response of kangaroos to drone monitoring by analysing kangaroo behaviour prior to and during drone deployments using a linear modelling approach. We also explored factors that influenced kangaroo responses including drone altitude, site characteristics and kangaroo population dynamics and demographics. We showed that drones elicit a vigilance response, but that kangaroos rarely fled from the drone. However, kangaroos were most likely to flee from a drone flown at an altitude of 30 m. This study suggests that drone altitude is a key consideration for minimising disturbance of large terrestrial mammals and that drone flights at an altitude of 60–100 m above ground level will minimise behavioural impacts. It also highlights the need for more research to assess the level of intrusion and other impacts that drone surveys have on the behaviour of wildlife and the accuracy of the data produced.

Context: Urban landscapes present a diverse matrix of structures and habitats containing significant physical and behavioural barriers to terrestrial wildlife dispersal. Yet, our understanding of these barriers for large mammals in the context of genetic connectivity within urbanising landscapes is limited. Objective: We investigated the effects of landscape structures on the genetic differentiation of a large herbivorous macropodid, the Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus), within the Sunshine Coast region of Australia. We tested whether genetic differentiation and gene flow in this rapidly urbanising environment was best explained by landscape structures (Isolation-by-Resistance) or geographical distances (Isolation-by-Distance), at multiple spatial scales. Methods: We simulated ecological succession from genetic (n = 130), and spatial datasets (n = 48) to quantify the strength of the relationship between observed genetic distances and landscape structures. A multiscale design was used to assess spatio-genetic impacts at different spatial scales. Circuit theory methods were used to simulate ecological successions and subsequently infer landscape effects on observed genetic differentiations. Results: Genetic differentiation was explained primarily by vegetation structures, major waterways, roads and built infrastructure. Changes in biophysical variables related to vegetation health and moisture explained gene flow unilaterally in fine-scale scenarios, while built infrastructure best explained broad-scale genetic differences. Influence of landscape structures were scale-dependent, with biophysical and built infrastructures exhibiting the most variability across scales. Conclusion: Our results suggest that gene flow between M. giganteus populations is highly dependent on the structure of the landscape, and influenced by anthropogenic structures. As such, emphasis on gene flow pathways of M. giganteus, and other large mammals, is required in conservation planning. The findings of this study can inform spatially-guided management decisions and long-term conservation strategies for large mammals under growing urban pressures worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2010 collection of autobiographical narratives edited by Janel C. Atlas – They Were Still Born: Personal Stories About Stillbirth – encapsulates the phenomenological experiences of stillbirth and its trauma. This paper analyses these memoirs to unveil the significance of the figurative language used to encapsulate the phenomenology of these bereaved family members. The World Health Organisation defines stillbirth as a baby's death after twenty-eight weeks of pregnancy. It is either intrauterine or during labour death. This ubiquitous event leaves a long-lasting psychological impact on the family. This paper aims to uncover the conceptual systems of metaphor that the parents employ to communicate their lived reality and emotional undercurrents. Further, the paper establishes the connection between their lived reality and the uncanny. The paper draws on Lakoff and Johnson's conceptual theory of metaphors and Jentsch and Freud's notion of the uncanny to demonstrate the enmeshment of experiencing stillbirth with the uncanny as foregrounded by the metaphors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In comparison with other modernist writers, little has been written on the role of animals in H.D.'s works. This article examines the significations – the significances and the signifying – of the peripheral yet reoccurring swallows in her posthumous novel Asphodel, thus exploring their contribution to the meaning of the text. Since most of these swallows signify metaphorically, the widespread skepticism toward metaphor within animal studies is also addressed. Employing a Derridean perspective with a focus on iteration, metaphor, and irreplaceability, the swallows' significations are analyzed in relation to the themes, style, and imagery of Asphodel, demonstrating how they repeatedly turn the direction of the narrative around, while also providing a pattern for stylistic turns. This not only shows the role of swallows in Asphodel, but also indicates the importance of peripheral animals to modernist literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite questions about academic rigor, undergraduates use Wikipedia for opportunistic learning: self-regulated study to learn, relearn, or be introduced to concepts. STEM topics are potentially immune from some of Wikipedia's criticism, as many are based on well-established facts. This article evaluates 28 articles from seven STEM disciplines on four criteria important for undergraduate opportunistic learners. Some articles contained inaccuracies, while common criticisms included poor conceptual development, poor procedural explanations, poor diagrams and failing to utilize internet technologies. Often, the best advice is to read the first paragraph: the rest of the article generally did not enhance opportunistic learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While Ford's The Good Soldier is set in a spa town for heart patients, the only troubles among the text's central characters are metaphorical: the illnesses of Edward Ashburnham and Florence Dowell are entirely feigned as a means of pursuing extra-marital affairs. This chapter explores the relationship of gender, illness and subversion in the text; while Florence uses feminine, passive suffering as a ruse for her 'unfeminine' sexual desires, Ashburnham's appropriately masculine presentation of a 'heart' caused by hard sportsmanship allows him to follow his sentimental longings. Ford's novel is not the only modernist text to make reference to heart diseases, with Woolf and Joyce also incorporating it into their novels. In Ulysses, Paddy Dignam's death of a sudden heart 'breakdown' is in keeping with the hard-drinking, aggressive masculinity of his friends in Dublin, whereas the eponymous heroine of Mrs Dalloway's recent heart trouble has left her white, frail and virginal in convalescence. In Ford's work, I argue, whereas 'true' illness remains in line with gender binaries, the appropriate presentation of fake illness disguises subversive sexual behaviour. However, the price of such manipulation and transgression in this rigidly gendered society is suicide; Florence and Edward are both victims of uncontrolled passions - their metaphorical hearts - rather than their physical health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fragmentation of habitat is a major threat across a wide range of taxa. Subsequent effects include reduced population sizes and isolation of populations. Both can have detrimental consequences for populations as they increase the risk of genetic erosion. While it is critical to prevent and, if required, reverse genetic erosion, we often lack adequate data to assess whether and how much genetic erosion has occurred. Here, we present a genetic monitoring study where we investigated changes in genetic diversity and genetic patterns in a threatened, specialist mammal, the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus). Our study population inhabits an increasingly fragmented landscape and has experienced a sharp decline in population size within the past three decades. We used 1038 single nucleotide polymorphic loci (SNPs) to compare measures of genetic diversity between samples collected in 2018 and in 2006 (two generations prior) and investigated simultaneous changes in the environment. We found a decline in both heterozygosity and effective population size (Ne), and an increase in sub‐structuring, average relatedness, and inbreeding (FIS) alongside an increasingly threatening and more fragmented environment. Given the extent of genetic erosion in only two generations, we urge consideration for the implementation of mitigation measures for this population and for threatened populations in similar conditions. Our study further emphasizes the importance of effective management of at‐risk populations including monitoring of genetic erosion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Good Soldier (1915) is a novel famously preoccupied by disorders of the heart, whether real, invented, or misdiagnosed. This essay examines Ford Madox Ford's magnum opus in light of his own experiences of medical treatment (including in the spa town of Nauheim where the novel is set), showing just how directly it reflects contemporary innovations in the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease. These innovations were a result of the advent of 'the new cardiology,' a movement that sought to disaggregate cardiac and psychiatric diagnoses, bringing to an end a period in which doctors might consider emotions and desires 'matters of the heart' in a more than metaphorical sense. The essay aims, firstly, to illustrate how The Good Soldier captures a crucial moment in heart medicine, and secondly, to model an interdisciplinary approach to representations of affect and the body in modernist fiction that emphasises their enmeshment with early twentieth century medical culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. The eggs of head lice are fixed to the hair of their hosts by means of a persistent glue-like fixative that is not chemically bound to the substrate. Eggshells stuck to hairs after successfully treating the infestation are a cosmetic issue and a source of misunderstanding about whether the infestation is eliminated. Hitherto, no effective treatment to loosen louse eggs and nits has been found. Methods. An extensive screening of surface active compounds, oils, esters, and other cosmetic lubricants used a slip-peel device to measure the forces required to release the grip of the fixative. Promisingly effective compounds were formulated into suitable carriers for further testing. The most effective combination formulation was tested, as a commercial product (Hedrin Stubborn Egg Loosening Lotion), in a usage study of 15 children with nits, in which one half of the head was combed only on damp hair and the other half combed after a 10 min treatment using the product. Results. Laboratory tests of the forces required to remove nits found that pelagonic acid derivatives, particularly isononyl isononanoate, in the presence of a polymeric gelling agent and water, were most effective to reduce the initial grip of the fixative as well as reducing friction as the eggshell is drawn along the hair shaft and that the final product was significantly (p < 0.05) more effective than several other marketed materials. In the usage study significantly (p = 0.01046) more louse eggs and nits were removed after treatment with the gel. Discussion. The product developed through this study is the first with a demonstrable efficacy for loosening the grip of the louse egg fixative from hair. Consequently, until now, and despite the availability of effective pediculicidal treatments, dealing with the eggshells persisting after an infestation has been an onerous task for most households. This type of product can enable families to deal more easily with persistent eggshells and improve self-esteem in affected children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reviews of the novel "The Good Soldier" by Ford Madox Ford, narrative style, and modernism.

This essay explores how far The Good Soldier can be read as a homage to, and critique of, two of Ford's great literary predecessors, Kipling and Henry James. If at all, these three writers are usually linked via Ford's famous rendition in Return to Yesterday of James's hilarious account of the breakdown of Kipling's expensive motor car. The Good Soldier however suggests closer literary ties. The subject matter of the novel (infidelity) is a frequent one in James's work, but also in Kipling's early Indian stories, particularly those set in Simla or dealing with Station life. Ashburnham is a typically Kiplingesque army officer, home 'on sick leave from India'. Like many Kipling characters, he is given little interiority and is mostly knowable by his pet subjects, such as 'the spreading power of number three shot before a charge of number four powder'. By contrast, the apparently timorous, ineffectual American narrator Dowell seems a recognizably Jamesian figure, and the story itself to be told in a distinctly Jamesian manner, characterized by delay, deflection and the minute dissection of detail. Ford gives the reader several nudges about his literary intentions, including Dowell's description of Ashburnham as talking 'like quite a good book'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jean-François Lyotard distinguishes between two versions of modernism. The first laments the inevitable loss of realism and the impossibility of telling the truth in fiction; the second, which Lyotard calls the postmodern, celebrates the liberation this entails and the freedom to keep the reader guessing. Postmodernism gleefully refuses the reassurance promised by realism that the world is just as we thought it was. The Good Soldier creates the illusion that it is a realist novel, but in practice keeps us guessing throughout about exactly what happened and how we should interpret it. As the story unfolds, the novel doubles back on what it has previously encouraged us to assume, inviting readers to reassess the events, the characters and the relationships between them. The narrative voice equivocates. In the process, it promotes reflection on what we take to be the behaviour of the fictional figures, our own assumptions about the world, and the nature of the language that frames both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Urban landscapes are increasing across the globe, causing wildlife to face new challenges and driving behavioural change. Wildlife in these urban landscapes must adapt their behaviour to survive. We investigated vigilance behaviour in urban and non-urban populations of eastern grey kangaroos. We found that the difference in land use alone did not affect their vigilance behaviour, but kangaroos spent more time vigilant in areas of high human population density. Season and sex also influenced the amount of time spent vigilant: more time was spent vigilant in winter and in female kangaroos. This is the first study to compare the vigilance behaviour between urban and non-urban populations of a large mammal across regions, giving the first insight into how kangaroos adapt their behaviour in urban environments. Rapid increases in urban land use extent across the globe are creating challenges for many wildlife species. Urban landscapes present a novel environment for many species, yet our understanding of wildlife behavioural adaptations to urban environments is still poor. This study compared the vigilance behaviour of a large mammal in response to urbanisation at a landscape level. Here, we investigate urban (n = 12) and non-urban (n = 12) populations of kangaroos in two regions of Australia, and the relationship between kangaroo vigilance and urbanisation. We used a linear modelling approach to determine whether anti-predator vigilance and the number of vigilant acts performed were influenced by land use type (i.e., urban or non-urban), human population densities, kangaroo demographics, and environmental factors. Kangaroo behaviour differed between the two study regions; kangaroo vigilance was higher in urban than non-urban sites in the southern region, which also had the highest human population densities, however no effect of land use was found in the northern region. Season and sex influenced the vigilance levels across both regions, with higher levels seen in winter and female kangaroos. This study is the first to compare urban and non-urban vigilance of large mammals at a landscape level and provide novel insights into behavioural adaptations of large mammals to urban environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]