Competitive dressage’s social licence to operate is in jeopardy due to ethical concerns surrounding the use of horses for dressage. There is limited research that contributes to our understanding of Canadian equestrian perspectives on the use of horses in dressage. The objectives of this study were to: (1) explore the cultural context of the Canadian dressage industry, including how horse well-being is integrated within the culture; and (2) investigate coaches’ and riders’ perceptions and experiences with the use of horses for dressage. An ethnographic case study approach was employed, where MR spent 2–6 weeks with each of the four participating Equestrian Canada Certified dressage coaches and their riders (at least four riders per coach for a total of 19 riders). Data collection included direct observation, recording field notes and conducting at least one in-depth interview with each coach and rider. Interviews and field notes were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis leading to the development of three themes: (1) the systems that participants operate within; (2) how these systems foster a culture of contradiction in the industry; and (3) the ‘equestrian dilemma’ highlighting how participants navigate their love for horses with their horses’ well-being amid the sport’s demands. The three themes portray that the issues faced by the dressage industry may be rooted in systemic problems and could be described as a ‘wicked problem’. These results aim to inform future research initiatives that promote a holistic understanding of the challenges faced by the dressage industry and promote systems thinking solutions.

Horse obesity is a growing concern that can result in negative welfare. The role horse owners play in horse weight management is not well understood. This study aimed to: (1) explore the attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions of owners with overweight or obese horses regarding their horses’ weight; and (2) understand the motivators and barriers for owners to implement, improve and maintain weight management-related strategies. A semi-structured interview guide based on the Theoretical Domains Framework was developed. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 24 owners in Prince Edward Island, Canada whose horse(s) were previously classified as overweight or obese by a veterinarian. Interviews were analysed using template analysis, organising patterns in the data into a codebook and overarching themes. Owners believed horse weight management was important, however, their perceived complexity of the issue made the implementation of the weight management practices difficult. Owners held conflicting perceptions, viewing overweight horses as well cared for, yet recognised these horses were at increased risk for negative health outcomes. Ultimately, participants felt emotionally torn about compromising their horse’s mental well-being to address weight issues. Owners considered the practicality of weight-management strategies, the strategies’ effectiveness, and whether recommended strategies aligned with their beliefs regarding good horse care practices. Knowledge was embedded into owners’ understanding of horse weight, however, some highlighted that traditional knowledge dominates the equine industry hindering systemic industry change. Increased understanding of the effectiveness and impacts of weight management strategies on horses and fostering a society that recognises and accepts horses within a healthy weight range are warranted.

Optical isolators, devices that only allow unidirectional light propagation, constitute an essential building block for photonic integrated circuits. For near-infrared communications wavelengths, most current isolator designs rely on the incorporation of magneto-optical (MO) materials to break time-reversal symmetry, such as iron garnets or magnetically substituted semiconductors. MO garnets form the backbone of traditional bulk isolators, but suffer from large lattice and thermal mismatch with common semiconductor substrates, which has significantly impeded their integration into on-chip optical isolators. Materials innovations over the past few years have overcome these barriers and enabled monolithic deposition of MO oxide thin films on silicon using techniques such as pulsed laser deposition and magnetron sputtering. On-chip optical isolator devices with polarization diversity in the telecommunication band have been demonstrated based on these materials. This article reviews the latest technological breakthroughs in MO oxide material growth as well as device design and integration strategies toward practical implementation of on-chip optical isolation.

The Language in Africa Special Interest Group (LiASIG) of the British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL) is a forum for applied linguistic research in Africa, and invites studies with both a micro and a macro focus. Researchers are concerned with how political, social and educational contexts affect the valuation and use of languages in Africa where multilingualism is the norm. Papers are presented at the SIG annual meeting and in the LiA track at BAAL conferences. The present review covers papers presented between 2012 and 2014 that focus on the interplay of policy and practice, particularly in education.

Crop-raiding by primates and bushpigs Potamochoerus porcus is a major cause of human–wildlife conflict around Budongo Forest Reserve, Uganda. In 2006–2007 a project was initiated, with farmer participation, to investigate the efficacy of on-farm techniques to reduce crop-raiding, including guarding and early-warning techniques, fences, plant barriers, trenches, lights and nets. Here, farmers' perceptions of the effectiveness and sustainability of these deterrents were evaluated using semi-structured interviews and direct observations. Factors important to farmers in effective, sustainable and locally appropriate crop-raiding mitigation are that deterrents be cost-effective, easily manipulated, improve guarding efficiency and require minimal labour inputs. Farmers reported paid guards, guard dogs, wire fences, lights and bells/alarms as most effective. This differs from observations that farmers independently maintained certain deterrents that they presumably considered valuable, namely wire fences, guard dogs, bells/alarms, trenches, lights and nets. This evaluation demonstrates the importance of farmers' participation and perceptions in the viability and uptake of crop-raiding deterrents, and the importance of assessing conflict mitigation trials over the long term.

The Neotropics house two guilds of large arboreal vertebrate seed predators: parrots and the pitheciin primates. Both have diets dominated by immature fruits. The possibility of members of the Pitheciinae (genera Cacajao, Chiropotes and Pithecia) acting as occasional seed dispersers has been mooted, but not experimentally shown. We combined primate behavioural data and seed germination data from three separate field studies in the Brazilian states of Amazonas and Pará to analyse patterns of post-consumption seed survivorship for seeds discarded by three pitheciin species (Cacajao melanocephalus ouakary, Chiropotes chiropotes and Chiropotes albinasus). We then calculated the frequency of dispersal events for four species eaten by C. m. ouakary. All three primate species dropped intact seeds while feeding, and 30.7% of 674 dropped seeds germinated ex situ. Undamaged seeds from unripe and ripe samples germinated (29.3% and 42.7%, respectively), and all three primate species carried some fruits up to 20 m from the parent tree before consuming them. Potential seed-dispersal events varied from 1 (Macrolobium acaciifolium) per fruiting cycle to more than 6500 (Duroia velutina), suggesting that there are differences in dispersal potential. In summary, although they are highly specialized seed predators, these primates may also act as important dispersers for some plant species, and effective dispersal is not restricted to ripe fruits, as immature fruits removed from a tree may continue to mature and the seeds later germinate, a much-neglected aspect of dispersal ecology. The possibility that similar events occur in parrots should be experimentally investigated.

The cognitive profile of early onset Parkinson’s disease (EOPD) has not been clearly defined. Mutations in the parkin gene are the most common genetic risk factor for EOPD and may offer information about the neuropsychological pattern of performance in both symptomatic and asymptomatic mutation carriers. EOPD probands and their first-degree relatives who did not have Parkinson’s disease (PD) were genotyped for mutations in the parkin gene and administered a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. Performance was compared between EOPD probands with (N = 43) and without (N = 52) parkin mutations. The same neuropsychological battery was administered to 217 first-degree relatives to assess neuropsychological function in individuals who carry parkin mutations but do not have PD. No significant differences in neuropsychological test performance were found between parkin carrier and noncarrier probands. Performance also did not differ between EOPD noncarriers and carrier subgroups (i.e., heterozygotes, compound heterozygotes/homozygotes). Similarly, no differences were found among unaffected family members across genotypes. Mean neuropsychological test performance was within normal range in all probands and relatives. Carriers of parkin mutations, whether or not they have PD, do not perform differently on neuropsychological measures as compared to noncarriers. The cognitive functioning of parkin carriers over time warrants further study. (JINS, 2011, 17, 1–10)

We use data from large surveys of the local universe (SDSS+Galaxy Zoo) to show that the galaxy–black hole connection is linked to host morphology at a fundamental level. The fraction of early-type galaxies with actively growing black holes, and therefore the AGN duty cycle, declines significantly with increasing black hole mass. Late-type galaxies exhibit the opposite trend: the fraction of actively growing black holes increases with black hole mass.

Magnetic entropy change and refrigerant capacity have been determined for a field change of 20 kOe around the second-order magnetic transition of austenite in as-quenched Ni51.1Mn31.2In17.7 alloy ribbons produced by melt spinning technique. Samples crystallize in a single-phase austenite with the highly ordered L21-type crystal structure and a Curie temperature of 275 K. The material shows a maximum magnetic entropy change of ΔSMmax= - 1.7 Jkg-1K-1, an useful working temperature range of 78 K (δTFWHM) and a refrigerant capacity of RC=132 Jkg-1 (RC= │ΔSMmax│ x δTFWHM). The considerable RC value obtained together with the fabrication via a single-step process make austenitic Ni-Mn-In ribbons of potential interest as magnetic refrigerants for room temperature magnetic refrigeration.

We report on the crystalline structure, morphology and thermomagnetic properties of glass-coated magnetic microwires with Cu56Ga28Mn16 composition, as well as the thermal annealing influence on its magneto-structural properties. As-cast CuMnGa microwires exhibit a majority cubic B2 phase, and upon annealing at temperatures up to 573 K a new hexagonal phase appears coexisting with the cubic B2 major phase. Thermal annealing treatments also shift the Curie temperature about 150 K with respect to the one for the as-cast microwire. Furthermore, the signature of a structural phase transition is observed for the microwire annealed at 523 K

One of the most widely studied types of magnetic nanostructure is that used in devices based on the giant magnetoresistance (GMR) or tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) phenomena. In order to understand the behaviour of these materials it is important to be able to follow their magnetisation reversal mechanism, and one of the techniques enabling micromagnetic studies at the sub-micron scale is transmission electron microscopy. Two techniques can be used: Lorentz transmission electron microscopy and off-axis electron holography, both of which allow the magnetic domain structure of a ferromagnetic material to be investigated dynamically in real-time with a resolution of a few nanometres. These techniques have been used in combination with in situ magnetizing experiments, to carry out qualitative and quantitative studies of magnetization reversal in a range of materials including spin-tunnel junctions, patterned thin film elements and magnetic antidot arrays. Quantitative analysis of the Lorentz TEM data has been carried out using the transport of intensity equation (TIE) approach.

The study aim was to quantify melatonin-associated improvement in sleep by means of a parent-completed sleep diary during routine outpatient activity. An investigation into sleep disturbance was made at neurology outpatient appointments. Those parents who identified a problem were asked to complete a sleep diary, after which treatment was initiated. The first week of the diary was completed before treatment, the second when established on the maximum dose of melatonin required. Forty-nine patients (26 males, 23 females) aged from one to 13 years, were treated between 1997 and 1998: 28 of these returned interpretable diaries. In a further 18 patients, an assessment could be made of the usefulness of the treatment. Patients were fairly typical of those attending a tertiary centre, the most common primary diagnosis being epilepsy (n=26). Only seven patients were visually impaired. Of the 46 patients who were assessed, 34 showed an improvement. No adverse effects were attributed to the treatment.