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Eagle’s syndrome is a condition caused by elongation of the styloid process or ossification of the styloid ligament resulting in non-specific symptoms related to pressure on vital blood vessels of the neck, the internal carotid artery, internal jugular vein, and nerves; the glossopharyngeal and vagus nerves. Eagle’s syndrome may have varied presentations with numerous symptoms: Pain in the throat/neck radiating to the ear and pharynx, foreign body sensation in the throat, dysphagia, otalgia, trismus, and intense facial pain. A high index of suspicion with a prompt resort to a three-dimensional CT skull could be helpful to give a quick diagnosis of Eagle’s syndrome amid numerous differential diagnoses. We present a 59-year-old male with an 18-month history of left-sided neck pain, cheek pain, and the feeling of a foreign body in the throat. He had pain relievers and other drugs to no avail. A three-dimensional CT scan of his skull revealed features of Eagle’s syndrome. The excision of the styloid process through the extraoral route relieves his symptoms. The second patient is a 42-year-old female with symptoms of peptic ulcer disease, dysphagia, pain in the throat, and sometimes fainting attacks when she moves her neck swiftly to the left side. A three-dimensional CT skull scan confirmed features of an elongated styloid process bilaterally suggestive of Eagle’s syndrome. Treatment offered to her was conservative, with a diclofenac suppository only because she refused surgery. Restricted and limited neck movement relieved her of syncope attacks.

Habitat loss and habitat fragmentation usually occur together, at the same time and place. However, while there is consensus that habitat loss is the preeminent threat to biodiversity, the effects of fragmentation are contentious. Some argue that habitat fragmentation is not bad for biodiversity, and even that it is good. Generally, the studies that find no harm or positive outcomes of fragmentation invariably assume that it is independent of habitat loss. However, dissociating the effects of habitat fragmentation from habitat loss is questionable because of the two are essentially coupled. Accordingly, we evaluated how forest area and fragmentation (via edge effects) influenced dung beetles per se, and through their effects on the abundance of mammals, using structural equation modeling (SEM). Dung beetles are very sensitive to forest habitat loss and fragmentation, and to changes in the abundance of mammals on which they depend for dung. Our study area was in the Tana River, Kenya, where forest fragments are depauperate of mammals except for two endemic species of monkeys. We mapped 12 forests, counted the resident monkeys, and sampled 113,959 beetles from 288 plots. Most of the 87 species of beetles were small, affirming the endemic monkeys as the main source of dung. After implementing a fully latent Structural Regression SEM, the optimal model explained a significant 26% of the variance in abundance, and 89% of diversity. The main drivers of beetle abundance were positive, direct, effects of forest area and number of monkeys, and negative edge effects. The main drivers of diversity were the direct effects of the beetle abundance, indirect effects of forest area and abundance of mammals, and indirect negative edge effects. Thus forest area, fragmentation (via edge effects) and the number of monkeys jointly influenced the abundance and diversity of the beetles directly and indirectly.

By processing quantities of dung to eat, dung beetles provide important services in forest ecosystems. But, forest destruction and associated loss of mammals put these beetles at risk. Accordingly, we evaluated the combined effects of forest area, edge effects and the abundance of mammals, on the abundance and diversity of dung beetles in forest fragments using Structural Equation Modelling. We aimed to contribute to the understanding of how changes in forest habitats influence these insects and to the bigger concern about insects declines worldwide. Our study was located in forest fragments in Tana River Kenya, where two endemic monkeys were the main source of dung. Our optimal model explained a statistically significant 26% of the variance in the abundance of the beetles, and 89% of the variance in their diversity. Forest area and abundance of mammals influenced beetle abundance positively, but edge effects had a negative influence on the abundance. In turn, beetle abundance influenced diversity directly and positively. Further, forest area and abundance of mammals influenced beetle diversity positively, but these effects were indirect. Similarly, edge effects influenced the diversity indirectly, but the effects were negative. These findings imply that primates are crucial to maintaining the dung beetles in forest fragments and the forests themselves because of the essential services beetles provide there. We recommend that future studies investigate the factors, other than forest area, edge effects and the abundance of mammals, which drive the abundance of the beetles.

This paper proposes a modified perturb and observe (P&O) maximum power point tracking (MPPT) technique under partial shading conditions for a photovoltaic (PV) system. Two algorithms proposed in the literature are combined and modified for this work. The advantages of the modified technique include accuracy and simplicity of implementation. The idea behind the modification is the combination of an adjustable step size algorithm and inspection algorithm which determines the global maximum power point (MPP) by comparing all multiple MPPs. A simulation was carried out in MATLAB/Simulink to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed improved technique.

Rethinking the logic of institutional environments aiming to facilitate agroforestry smallholders in economic development, this paper compares smallholder input supply systems for crop and tree seeds in Sub-Saharan Africa and reflects on two basic challenges: (i) how to develop a large number of relevant tree crops for different agroecologies; (ii) how to reach smallholders in rural areas. Policy options for improving agroforestry input supply systems are discussed, whereby our article concludes with suggestions how sectoral approaches for crop seed systems can be modified to agroforestry seed-seedling systems. Biophysical differences have practical implications for how the logic of the ‘African green revolution’ would be translated into a corresponding revolution for agroforestry. Rethinking the logic of institutional environments aiming to facilitate agroforestry smallholders in economic development, this paper compares smallholder input supply systems for crop and tree seeds in Sub-Saharan Africa and reflects on two basic challenges: (i) how to develop a large number of relevant tree crops for different agroecologies; (ii) how to reach smallholders in rural areas. Policy options for improving agroforestry input supply systems are discussed, whereby our article concludes with suggestions how sectoral approaches for crop seed systems can be modified to agroforestry seed-seedling systems. Biophysical differences have practical implications for how the logic of the ‘African green revolution’ would be translated into a corresponding revolution for agroforestry.

The biological traits of different species usually predispose them to dissimilar levels of extinction risk. Accordingly, we analysed genetic variation and population genetic structure of two endangered forest monkeys to determine how they were influenced by habitat change. The Tana River red colobus and mangabey are of similar body size, are sympatric and endemic to forests in Kenya. The mangabey is frugivorous, terrestrial and exhibits female philopatry but the colobus is folivorous, arboreal and both sexes exhibit natal dispersal. We predicted that both species would have low genetic variation due to high genetic drift, and possible inbreeding, because their populations are relatively small and subdivided in forest fragments. Nevertheless, we expected the mangabeys to have a higher genetic variation because they have a larger population, and their higher vagility would enhance gene flow. Thus, we expected a stronger population genetic structure in the colobus because lower vagility would constrain dispersal and increase genetic differentiation. Finally, we expected both species to exhibit isolation by distance due to greater gene flow among populations in close geographic proximity. We genotyped 146 colobus and 76 mangabeys with nine microsatellite markers and found that both species had relatively high heterozygosities but low allelic richness. Furthermore, allelic richness, heterozygosity and genetic differentiation were all higher in the mangabey and only the mangabey exhibited isolation by distance. Taken together, our results suggest that species with divergent behavioral ecologies may exhibit differential vulnerabilities to genetic erosion due to habitat change.

Primate gastrointestinal microbial communities are becoming increasingly appreciated for their relevance to comparative medicine and conservation, but the factors that structure primate “microbiomes” remain controversial. This study examined a community of primates in Kibale National Park, Uganda, to assess the relative importance of host species and location in structuring gastrointestinal microbiomes. Fecal samples were collected from primates in intact forest and from primates in highly disturbed forest fragments. People and livestock living nearby were also included, as was a geographically distant population of related red colobus in Kenya. A culture-free microbial community fingerprinting technique was used to analyze fecal microbiomes from 124 individual red colobus (Procolobus rufomitratus), 100 individual black-and-white colobus (Colobus guereza), 111 individual red-tailed guenons (Cercopithecus ascanius), 578 human volunteers, and 364 domestic animals, including cattle (Bos indicus and B. indicus × B. taurus crosses), goats (Caprus hircus), sheep (Ovis aries), and pigs (Sus scrofa). Microbiomes sorted strongly by host species, and forest fragmentation did not alter this pattern. Microbiomes of Kenyan red colobus sorted distinctly from microbiomes of Ugandan red colobus, but microbiomes from these two red colobus populations clustered more closely with each other than with any other species. Microbiomes from red colobus and black-and-white colobus were more differentiated than would be predicted by the phylogenetic relatedness of these two species, perhaps reflecting heretofore underappreciated differences in digestive physiology between the species. Within Kibale, social group membership influenced intra-specific variation among microbiomes. However, intra-specific variation was higher among primates in forest fragments than among primates in intact forest, perhaps reflecting the physical separation of fragments. These results suggest that, in this system, species-specific processes such as gastrointestinal physiology strongly structure microbial communities, and that primate microbiomes are relatively resistant to perturbation, even across large geographic distances or in the face of habitat disturbance.

We used mtDNA sequence data from the Tana River red colobus and mangabey to determine how their population genetic structure was influenced by dispersal and habitat fragmentation. The colobus and mangabey are critically endangered primates endemic to gallery forests in eastern Kenya. The forests are a Pliocene-Pleistocene refugium that has recently undergone significant habitat loss and fragmentation due to human activities. We expected both primates to exhibit low levels of genetic diversity due to elevated genetic drift in their small populations, and to show a strong correspondence between genetic and geographic distance due to disruption of gene flow between forests by habitat fragmentation. Additionally, because mangabey females are philopatric, we expected their mtDNA variation to be homogeneous within forest patches but to be heterogeneous between patches. In contrast, colobus have a female-biased dispersal and so we expected their mtDNA variation to be homogeneous within and between forest patches. We found high levels of haplotype and nucleotide diversity as well as high levels of sequence divergence between haplotype groups in both species. The red colobus had significantly higher genetic variation than the mangabey did. Most of the genetic variation in both primates was found within forest fragments. Although both species showed strong inter-forest patch genetic structure we found no correspondence between genetic and geographic distances for the two primates. We attributed the high genetic diversity to recent high effective population size, and high sequence divergence and strong genetic structures to long-term habitat changes in the landscape.

We investigated the effects of anthropogenic habitat degradation on group size, ranging, fecundity, and parasite dynamics in four groups of the Tana River mangabey (Cercocebus galeritus). Two groups occupied a forest disturbed by human activities, while the other two occupied a forest with no human disturbance. We predicted that the groups in the disturbed forest would be smaller, travel longer distances daily, and have larger home ranges due to low food tree abundance. Consequently, these groups would have lower fecundity and higher parasite prevalence and richness (number of parasite species). We measured the abundance of food trees and anthropogenic activity in the forests, the groups' daily travel distances and home range sizes, and censused social groups over 12 months. We also analyzed fecal samples for gastrointestinal parasites from three of the groups. The disturbed forest had a lower abundance of food trees, and groups in this forest traveled longer distances, had larger home range sizes, were smaller, and had lower fecundity. The groups in the disturbed forest had higher, although not statistically significant, parasite prevalence and richness. This study contributes to a better understanding of how anthropogenic habitat change influences fecundity and parasite infections in primates. Our results also emphasize the strong influence of habitat quality in determining daily travel distance and home range size in primates.

From first paragraph: Here we report on the fourth iteration of the biennial listing of a consensus of 25 primate species considered to be amongst the most endangered worldwide and the most in need of urgent conservation measures. The first was drawn up in 2000 by the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group, together with Conservation International (Mittermeier et al. 2000). The list was subsequently reviewed and updated in 2002 during an open meeting held during the 19th Congress of the International Primatological Society (IPS) in Beijing, China (Mittermeier et al. 2002). That occasion provided for debate among primatologists working in the field who had first-hand knowledge of the causes of threats to primates, both in general and in particular with the species or communities they study.

Motorcycle riding is one of the transportation modalities especially in many rural communities in Nigeria. Many people have lost their lives through road traffic accidents (RTA) involving motorcycles especially when riding without a helmet. Motorcycle riding without headlight at night is a criminal offense and can result to RTA. We report a case of unique foreign body; plastic cover with its spring of two-cell touch light in the pharynx of a 45year old farmer who held touch light in his mouth as a source of light while riding motorcycle in the night. The Foreign body of this nature has not been reported in the literature.

We conducted fecal egg counts of gastrointestinal parasites of 2 critically endangered primates endemic to the forest of Tana River, Kenya. We aimed to use the fecal egg counts as proxies to quantify the prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites between the 2 primates. The Tana River red colobus (Procolobus rufomitratus) and crested mangabey (Cercocebus galeritus) are of similar body size, but their behavioral ecology is very different. We predicted that mangabeys would have a higher prevalence of parasites because they are mostly terrestrial omnivores, live in larger social groups, and therefore range widely. We detected 10 nematodes and 3 protozoans in mangabeys and 7 nematodes and 2 protozoans in colobus. We detected a higher number of different parasite species in individual mangabeys, and 4 of the 5 nematodes requiring intermediate hosts were found in mangabeys. The overall prevalence of parasites was higher for mangabeys, but this difference was not statistically significant. For colobus, we found a trend whereby the number of different parasite species in individual monkeys was higher in males and in lactating females. However, there was no difference in the prevalence of parasites between the sexes or between lactating and nonlactating females.

We determined the importance of unprotected forest habitat outside the Tana River Primate National Reserve (TRPNR), Kenya, in conserving the critically endangered Tana red colobus. We compared colobus and forest attributes inside and outside the reserve and found no significant difference in colobus density or mean group size, although absolute values for both measures were higher outside the reserve. Forests outside TRPNR had a higher basal area of trees, basal area per tree, and basal area of stumps from human use. We also compared data on group size and composition collected inside and outside TRPNR during the period of reserve establishment (1978), 10 years after establishment (1988) and over 20 years after establishment (2000). Mean group size declined by nearly 50% since the reserve was established across all age classes both inside and outside TRPNR. Since the red colobus population is in decline and forests outside TRPNR are as suitable as those inside as colobus habitat, we recommend adopting a community-based conservation strategy of sustainable forest management and use outside TRPNR to enhance conservation goals.

Evidence suggests that habitat heterogeneity, disturbance, disease, predation and food resources influence primate population abundance. However, few studies have focused on what habitat factors determine the probability that a primate species will occur in a habitat fragment. We analysed forest habitat and colobus population attributes to determine factors that influenced occurrence and abundance of the critically endangered Tana River red colobus. The probability of colobus inhabiting forests was positively related to the relative amount of habitat edge and canopy tree species composition. Most of the variance in the density of colobus monkeys was explained by basal area of food trees (per ha), basal area per food tree, density of food trees, and basal area per tree for all trees. We conclude that effective conservation of primates in fragmented habitats may require strategies that consider factors that influence both the occurrence of a species and its relative abundance.

Sexual consortship in primates was originally defined by Carpenter [1942] as an adult male and an ovulating female forming an association with a high degree of reciprocal interaction and rapport, embedded in a multi-male, multi-female primate group. Subsequently, it has been recognized that some species, notably chimpanzee [Goodall, 1986] and muriquis

Primate gastrointestinal microbial communities are becoming increasingly appreciated for their relevance to comparative medicine and conservation, but the factors that structure primate "microbiomes" remain controversial. This study examined a community of primates in Kibale National Park, Uganda, to assess the relative importance of host species and location in structuring gastrointestinal microbiomes. Fecal samples were collected from primates in intact forest and from primates in highly disturbed forest fragments. People and livestock living nearby were also included, as was a geographically distant population of related red colobus in Kenya. A culture-free microbial community fingerprinting technique was used to analyze fecal microbiomes from 124 individual red colobus (Procolobus rufomitratus), 100 individual black-and-white colobus (Colobus guereza), 111 individual red-tailed guenons (Cercopithecus ascanius), 578 human volunteers, and 364 domestic animals, including cattle (Bos indicus and B. indicus × B. taurus crosses), goats (Caprus hircus), sheep (Ovis aries), and pigs (Sus scrofa). Microbiomes sorted strongly by host species, and forest fragmentation did not alter this pattern. Microbiomes of Kenyan red colobus sorted distinctly from microbiomes of Ugandan red colobus, but microbiomes from these two red colobus populations clustered more closely with each other than with any other species. Microbiomes from red colobus and black-and-white colobus were more differentiated than would be predicted by the phylogenetic relatedness of these two species, perhaps reflecting heretofore underappreciated differences in digestive physiology between the species. Within Kibale, social group membership influenced intra-specific variation among microbiomes. However, intra-specific variation was higher among primates in forest fragments than among primates in intact forest, perhaps reflecting the physical separation of fragments. These results suggest that, in this system, species-specific processes such as gastrointestinal physiology strongly structure microbial communities, and that primate microbiomes are relatively resistant to perturbation, even across large geographic distances or in the face of habitat disturbance.

The authors claim that unlike most other studies, in which the variability of productivity data was shown to fall within a specific distributional shape, this work has brought into light a distribution which is flexible and yet represents in a simple form most productivity distributions. This was shown in the contrasting distributional shapes of concreting and excavation productivity distributions.

Benchmarking is a relatively new quality concept. It is the systematic search for best practices that leads to superior performance. This paper explores the definitions, scope, types, and applications of benchmarking. Various literature sources have been examined to establish a common understanding. Benchmarking is seen within the context of total quality management (TQM) as an accelerator toward achieving TQM by learning from others who have demonstrated excellence. Furthermore, this paper argues that it is a necessary tool that exposes internal activities of competitive organizations to external organizations, a competitive potential currently not fully used. A wide range of business successes achieved through benchmarking are cited, especially in manufacturing and service industries. These concepts are briefly discussed within the context of the construction industry, with the objective of provoking a debate on the applicability of the concept in construction.

1. Habitat loss and fragmentation are the principal causes of the loss of biological diversity. In addition, parasitic diseases are an emerging threat to many animals. Nevertheless, relatively few studies have tested how habitat loss and fragmentation influence the prevalence and richness of parasites in animals. 2. Several studies of nonhuman primates have shown that measures of human activity and forest fragmentation correlate with parasitism in primates. However, these studies have not tested for the ecological mechanism(s) by which human activities or forest fragmentation influence the prevalence and richness of parasites. 3. We tested the hypothesis that increased host density due to forest fragmentation and loss mediates increases in the prevalence and richness of gastrointestinal parasites in two forest primates, the Tana River red colobus (Procolobus rufomitratus, Peters 1879) and mangabey (Cercocebus galeritus galeritus, Peters 1879). We focused on population density because epidemiological theory states that host density is a key determinant of the prevalence and richness of directly transmitted parasites in animals. 4. The Tana River red colobus and mangabey are endemic to a highly fragmented forest ecosystem in eastern Kenya where habitat changes are caused by a growing human population increasingly dependent on forest resources and on clearing forest for cultivation. 5. We found that the prevalence of parasites in the two monkeys was very high compared to primates elsewhere. Density of monkeys was positively associated with forest area and disturbance in forests. In turn, the prevalence and richness of parasites was significantly associated with monkey density, and attributes indicative of human disturbance in forests. 6. We also found significant differences in the patterns of parasitism between the colobus and the mangabey possibly attributable to differences in their behavioural ecology. Colobus are arboreal folivores while mangabeys are terrestrial habitat generalists.