Excessive breeding for brachycephaly (fore-shortened muzzle) has led to increasing problems in pugs related to brachycephalic airway syndrome (BAS). Consequently, the German Pug Club (Deutscher Mopsclub eV; DMC) established a stress test in 2009 that must be passed for breeding and requires normalised heart and respiratory rates 15 min after having covered a distance of 1 km. In this study, 42 pugs underwent the stress test under standardised conditions. Taking into account that this exercise should not be too physically demanding for any healthy dog, the results were surprising: 14 of the pugs failed, ie a failure rate of 33.3%. In addition to the stress test, the pugs were assessed according to their heart and respiratory rates at rest, which we predicted would be associated with BAS, and in this test, 21 out of 42 pugs failed. Thus, 50.0% of the pugs were in a severely compromised physical condition. A further group of seven retropugs, ie a crossbreed of pugs with a slightly longer muzzle, was included in the study to compare brachycephalic problems. All of the retropugs passed the test, even when respiratory and heart rates at rest were considered. However, the findings may not be transferable to all retropugs because of the small sample size, so further research is needed. In summary, this study has enabled the development of recommendations for future implementation of stress tests.

In this article, we argue that landesque capital was integral to the development of complexity in the Maya Lowlands. Such features involved permanent investments in the landscape that supported material and ideological practices, resulting in increased sustainability and well-being. We contend that these developments stemmed from accretional modifications to soils in the Preceramic/Early Preclassic, as well as intentional investments of labor in agricultural features, large public works, and select civic complexes during the Middle Preclassic. Capital improvements were particularly important during the Middle Preclassic, when sedentary occupations and civic life were established. The timing and location of the investments strongly correlate with other aspects of Middle Preclassic lifeways, such as the transition to sedentism, acquisition and control of resources, changes in lithic production, and the emergence of an elite class. We note that some of the largest investments in landscape management during the Middle Preclassic occurred in the Central Karstic Uplands, where substantial cities rose in the Late Preclassic. We conclude that during the Middle Preclassic an ontology of landesque capital developed, based on the synergistic fusing of daily and ritual practices with physical features, which provided a foundation for resilience, sustainability, and well-being in subsequent generations.

The objectives of the present study were to compare the cortisol response caused by ear tagging piglets with the distress caused by other known painful husbandry procedures (e.g. castration and tail docking) and to evaluate the effectiveness of analgesia with meloxicam to reduce the cortisol response caused by these procedures. In total, 210 male piglets were randomised to equal numbers (n=30) into one of seven groups: a control group which was only handled (H), an ear tagged group that received no analgesia (ET), an ear tagged group with analgesia (ETM), a castration group with no analgesia (C), a castration group with analgesia (CM), a tail-docked group with no analgesia (TD) and a tail-docked group with analgesia (TDM). The procedures were carried out on day 3 or 4 after farrowing. Five blood samples were taken from each piglet: 30 min before the respective procedure (baseline value), and 30, 60 min, 4 and 7 h after processing, to assess cortisol concentrations. Means as well as the area under the curve (AUC) value were analysed and the effective sizes of the procedures were established. At 7 h after the experimental treatment, cortisol concentrations had returned to base values in all groups. ET evoked a greater cortisol response than H piglets at 30 min (P<0.001) and 60 min (P=0.001). The cortisol response to ET was lower than C at 30 min (P=0.001) but did not differ significantly at the other sample times. The mean cortisol response was similar between ET and TD piglets over all sample times. Taking both intensity and duration of the cortisol response into account (AUC), ET evoked a greater response than TD. Analgesia (ETM) resulted in significantly lower cortisol levels than ET at 30 and 60 min post-procedure. Castration (C) provoked the highest cortisol response of all procedures; a significant analgesic effect (CM) was shown only at 4 h post-procedure. TD resulted in significantly higher cortisol levels than H piglets only at 30 min; analgesia (TDM) significantly reduced the cortisol response at 30 min. We conclude that ear tagging causes a dramatic increase in cortisol levels compared with handling alone in piglets, which suggests that this procedure causes substantial distress. However, further research is needed to confirm these results.

Surgical site infection (SSI) surveillance methods vary among infection preventionists. An online survey regarding SSI surveillance technique was administered to infection preventionists and linked to superficial and complex colon SSI rates. Higher superficial but not complex SSI rates were reported when more SSI surveillance techniques were used (P <.0001).

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2015;00(0): 1–3

Surgical site infection (SSI) surveillance techniques for colon surgery and hysterectomy among Colorado infection preventionists were characterized through an online survey. Considerable variation was found in SSI surveillance practices, specifically varying use of triggers for SSI review, including laboratory values, healthcare personnel communication, and postoperative visits.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2014;00(0): 1–3

Skin preparation products contribute to surgical site infection (SSI) prevention. In a case-control study, diabetes was associated with increased SSI (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 5.74 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.22–27.0]), while the use of chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) plus isopropyl alcohol versus CHG alone was found to be protective (adjusted OR, 2.64 [95% CI, 1.12–6.20]).

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2014;35(12):1535–1538

A recent photometric survey in the NGC 3766 cluster led to the detection of stars presenting an unexpected variability. They lie in a region of the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram where no pulsation are theoretically expected, in between the δ Scuti and slowly pulsating B (SPB) star instability domains. Their variability periods, between ~0.1–0.7 d, are outside the expected domains of these well-known pulsators. The NCG 3766 cluster is known to host fast rotating stars. Rotation can significantly affect the pulsation properties of stars and alter their apparent luminosity through gravity darkening. Therefore we inspect if the new variable stars could correspond to fast rotating SPB stars. We carry out instability and visibility analysis of SPB pulsation modes within the frame of the traditional approximation. The effects of gravity darkening on typical SPB models are next studied. We find that at the red border of the SPB instability strip, prograde sectoral (PS) modes are preferentially excited, with periods shifted in the 0.2–0.5 d range due to the Coriolis effect. These modes are best seen when the star is seen equator-on. For such inclinations, low-mass SPB models can appear fainter due to gravity darkening and as if they were located between the δ Scuti and SPB instability strips.

This essay discusses some of the recent trends in the scholarship on Islam and Africa that contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the historical relationship between African Muslims and the global ecumene of believers. Rather than looking at the faith as an insular African phenomenon, this piece examines the links between Africans and the wider community of believers across space and time. Such an approach has important ramifications for our understanding of the dynamics of Islam. However, it also challenges many of the assumptions underpinning the geographic area studies paradigm that has dominated the academy since the Second World War. This essay suggests the adoption of a more fluid approach to scholarly inquiry that reimagines our largely continental attachment to regions in favor of a more intellectually agile methodology where the scope of inquiry is determined less by geographic boundaries and more by the questions we seek to answer.

Especially in OECD countries, the reduction of primary energy consumption is a major taskto avoid further increase in CO2 emissions. Since 37% of the annual energyconsumption is related to the building sector, it is a major challenge for the future todevelop methods for significant improvement of the energy efficiency of building design,construction and operation. It has to be noted that the development of sustainablebuildings addresses both engineering and social aspects. From an engineering viewpointmethods to improve the ecologic efficiency of buildings by increasing the lifetime have tobe provided. From a social viewpoint these new approaches must take the future needs ofsociety into consideration. In addition, also governance structures and the regulatoryframework for the construction and operation of buildings need to be modified in thedirection of sustainability. The article will initially identify the major research topicsfor the development of sustainable design principles for buildings. Afterwards, structuralrequirements will be defined and translated into required property profiles for buildingmaterials. Herein, both mechanical and functional properties are of importance, so thatapproaches will be presented how to combine these properties in composite buildingmaterials. With respect to mechanical properties, new steels will have to be developedwith an improved balance of strength and ductility, so that some promising steel designconcepts will be shown. Additionally, new approaches for the failure assessment of thesenew steel types will be presented to enhance the exploitation of the characteristics ofthe innovative materials.

The Islamic reformist movement known as Salafism is generally portrayed as a relentlessly literalist and rigid school of religious thought. This article pursues a more nuanced picture of a historical Salafism that is less a movement with a single, linear origin than a dynamic intellectual milieu continually shaped by local contexts. Using 1930s Aden as a case study, the article examines how a transregional reformist discourse could be vulnerable to local interpretation and begins to unpack the transformation of Salafi activism from a broad, doctrinaire, and, above all, foreign ideology to an integral part of local religious discourse. It situates reform within an evolving Islamic discursive tradition that in part developed as a result of its own theological logic but was equally shaped by local and historically contingent institutions, social practices, and power structures. It thus explores Salafism as a dynamic tradition that could be adapted by local intellectuals to engage the problems facing their own communities.

We estimate the gas mass fractions for a sample of 39 high-$z$ galaxy clusters using a combination of three different data sets: Chandra X-ray data, OVRO/BIMA centimeter-wave Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect (SZE) data, and published weak gravitational lensing data. The gas mass fraction $f_g$ is calculated in three different ways. The X-ray surface brightness and SZE decrement are used independently to determine the number of baryons in the intracluster gas and subsequently the gas mass; the total mass follows assuming spherical symmetry and hydrostatic equilibrium (HSE). The third, less model-dependent approach is to calculate the projected SZE gas mass along a cylinder and divide by the total mass derived from the lensing data. The goal of this study is to compare the $f_g$ results from the three different methods to investigate systematic uncertainties associated with clumping of the intracluster medium, cluster elongation, and the HSE assumption.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

Treated silica xerogels with controlled porosity and surface area were prepared by the in-situ treatment of hydrogels with hexamethyldisiloxane in the presence of isopropyl alcohol. The resulting hydrogels were hydrophobic and readily transferred to organic solvents allowing their isolation. The surface area and porosity of the xerogel were controlled by varying the pH, time and temperature used to aggregate the hydrogel prior to treatment. The treated xerogels were evaluated as reinforcing fillers in silicone rubber formulations. When the bases were crosslinked with peroxides, silicone elastomers with acceptable mechanical properties were obtained. The relationship between the surface area, porosity and the type and degree of surface treatment of the xerogel, and its reinforcing ability was studied. In general, the mechanical properties of the elastomer increased as the filler structure increased; however, xerogels with higher surface areas were more difficult to incorporate and gave higher plasticity bases.