175 research outputs found
Quo vadis, CIUTI?
No full textLe présent article retrace le cheminement de la CIUTI depuis 50 ans, c’est-à-dire son développement en une organisation réputée ayant à son actif 40 membres en Europe et dans le monde. À ses débuts, la CIUTI avait certes comme but essentiel la promotion de la coopération entre ses membres (mobilité des étudiants et des enseignants, échange de connaissances), mais son autre objectif était de promouvoir la traductologie dans les universités en tant que discipline à part entière. L’auteur affirme qu’être membre de la CIUTI a une valeur symbolique qui confère, de ce fait, un capital social valorisant, sur les plans national et international, notamment en ce qui concerne le classement des instituts. En 1994, la CIUTI est devenue une association internationale régie par la loi belge ; en tant que telle, la CIUTI a voulu jouer son rôle en matière de formation afin d’influencer la politique langagière et traductionnelle européenne, en collaboration avec d’autres organisations internationales. Ses actions ont été facilitées par le fait que la CIUTI a aussi été déclarée ONG à Genève en 2003. Cependant, selon l’auteur, le développement interne de la CIUTI n’a pas suivi le même rythme que le rayonnement externe, indéniable, que cette association a connu et connaît encore en tant qu’important acteur international. Aussi, des modifications de la structure décisionnelle seront nécessaires, ainsi que la mise à disposition de moyens financiers liée à l’attribution de plus de pouvoir au Conseil de la CIUTI, de manière à permettre la mise en place d’une gestion professionnelle et efficace des affaires publiques. Une décision délicate incombe à la CIUTI : soit continuer à suivre le chemin déjà tracé et éviter toute forme de risque, soit prendre une voie nouvelle et accepter son rôle en tant qu’acteur clé dans notre ère de mondialisation.This article shows that within 50 years CIUTI has developed into a reputable organization now with 40 member institutes both within and outside of Europe. In the beginning CIUTI was devoted to promoting the cooperation between its members (mobility of students and trainers; exchange of knowledge), but was also anxious to anchor translation studies at universities as a scientific discipline in its own right. The author shows that CIUTI membership is of symbolic value and provides important social capital thus being of advantage to its members in their national and international ranking. In 1994, CIUTI became an international association (association internationale) under Belgian law and then began to play a role in education matters to influence European language and translation politics in collaboration with other international organizations. This was made easier by the fact that CIUTI was registered as a NGO in Geneva in 2003. However, according to the author of this article, the internal development of CIUTI has not kept pace with the external requirements of becoming a global player. That will require changes in its decision making structure and in the disposal of its financial resources by giving the Board (Conseil) more power to implement an appropriately efficient and professional public affairs strategy. CIUTI has a difficult decision to make, either to stay on the beaten track and avoid any risks or to forge a new future for itself and accept its role as a major global player
Benefits from a risky life for fallow deer bucks (Dama dama) aspiring to patrol a lek territory
No full textLittle is known about the relation between male ungulates' ability to adopt a successful mating strategy during the rut and certain foraging strategies before the rut. In highly polygynous species such as many cervids, males are regarded as pure capital breeders, in that they allocate the energy stored in spring and summer to reproduction. According to the predation risk hypothesis, best foraging strategies adopted before the rut may imply a risk because, in order to invest in body size, males exploit the best feeding areas, even though characterized by higher predation risk. We performed a 9-year research through monitoring 31 fallow bucks in the lekking population of San Rossore, Italy. Among the mating strategies adopted by males, defence of the lek territory was repeatedly shown to be the most successful one. A sector of the study area was characterized by the highest meadow productivity and the highest predation risk. We showed that only those males that exploited the best feeding and yet risky areas before the rut to a greater extent, hereby investing in body size, were subsequently more likely to defend a lek territory. Males that during their life reduced the use of best feeding areas before the rut, were less likely to defend a lek territory during the rut. Among territorial males, which adopted the same spatial and foraging strategies before the rut, only few achieved a high mating success during the rut, suggesting that many other factors (phenotype, experience from previous mating seasons, and that gained as subadult males) along with foraging strategies may simultaneously contribute to explain the variability of mating success among territorial males in a lek
Back-reaction effects of quantum vacuum in cavity quantum electrodynamics
No full textAn optical system is theoretically studied in which the back reaction of quantum vacuum manifests itself as a sizable suppression of the absorption by a three-level emitter embedded in an optical cavity. Within this work, an original theoretical model including the nonrotating-wave terms of the light-matter interaction Hamiltonian is developed to describe the conversion of zero-point fluctuations into observable radiation, i.e. the analog of a dynamical Casimir emission, as well as the back reaction of the quantum vacuum onto the emitter. Drawing an analogy with the conventional dynamical Casimir effect, these peaks can be interpreted as due to the optical analog of the mechanical friction force exerted by the quantum vacuum onto a nonuniformly accelerated mirror
Data from: Forecasting the response to global warming in a heat-sensitive species
No full textAvoiding hyperthermia entails considerable metabolic costs for endotherms. Such costs increase in warm conditions, when endotherms may trade food intake for cooler areas to avoid heat stress and maximize their energy balance. The need to reduce heat stress may involve the adoption of tactics affecting space use and foraging behaviour, which are important to understand and predict the effects of climate change and inform conservation. We used resource selection models to examine the behavioural response to heat stress in the Alpine ibex (Capra ibex), a cold-adapted endotherm particularly prone to overheating. Ibex avoided heat stress by selecting the space based on the maximum daily temperature rather than moving hourly to ‘surf the heat wave’, which minimised movement costs but prevented optimal foraging. By integrating these findings with new climate forecasts, we predict that rising temperatures will force mountain ungulates to move upward and overcrowd thermal refugia with reduced carrying capacity. Our approach helps in identifying priority areas for the conservation of mountain species
Effects of hunting with hounds on a non-target species living on the edge of a protected area
No full textThe impact of hunting on wildlife is a complex phenomenon which varies in space and across time, and yet limited knowledge is available on it. This is especially the case of the indirect effects of hunting on the behaviour of target as well as non-target species. Here we analyze how hunting affected the spatial behaviour of 62 radiocollared roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) in a protected area adjacent to areas where hunting with hounds (target species: wild boar and hares) and stalking with rifles from high seats without dogs (target species: roe deer) were permitted during the hunting season. Our results showed that hunting caused a significant increase in the home range size of monitored deer, as well as a “reserve effect”, whereby roe deer used the protected area as a refuge from hunters. These behavioural responses were significant only at times when hunting with hounds was conducted, even though roe deer was not the target species of this technique. Reactions to the perceived risk of predation varied among age and sex classes, with yearling being more sensitive and using the protected area more than adults. As shown in our study, hunting harassment provoked by drives with hounds significantly affects the behaviour of non-target species. Therefore, the use of long-legged hounds represents a variable that should be carefully evaluated by wildlife managers in their management plans and conservation policies, especially when endangered or vulnerable species are present
A Novel Device for Measuring Forces in Endoluminal Procedures
No full textIn this paper a simple but effective measuring system for endoluminal procedures is presented. The device allows measuring forces during the endoluminal manipulation of tissues with a standard surgical instrument for laparoscopic procedures. The force measurement is performed by recording both the forces applied directly by the surgeon at the instrument handle and the reaction forces on the access port. The measuring system was used to measure the forces necessary for appropriate surgical manipulation of tissues during transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM). Ex-vivo and in-vivo measurements were performed, reported and discussed. The obtained data can be used for developing and appropriately dimensioning novel dedicated instrumentation for TEM procedures
Hunting exacerbates the response to human disturbance in large herbivores while migrating through a road network
No full textMigrations of large ungulates are globally threatened in environments affected by increasing human disturbance, rising large carnivore predation, deteriorating habitat quality, and changing climate. Animals migrating outside of protected areas can be exposed to greater human pressure, and this effect can be stronger when humans are perceived to be a predation risk, such as during hunting seasons. Using four consecutive years of satellite telemetry data (n = 138 migration events), we compared habitat selection, movement, and behavior of a large partially migratory herbivore while migrating through a heterogeneous landscape in spring and fall. We tested the hypothesis that fall hunting exacerbates the response of a large herbivore exposed to human disturbance while migrating through a road network. All elk (Cervus elaphus) selected greater forest cover, reduced movement rates, and avoided roads during fall‐day than in any other season or time of day. Avoidance of roads was reduced during spring at night, for example, the time period of no hunting with fewest people on roads. Elk using stopovers in fall displayed different seasonal and diurnal behaviors between sexes in response to the disturbance. Females used steeper terrain during fall‐day and males did not use this strategy in fall. Male avoidance of roads was much stronger than females during fall‐day and males were less likely to cross a road during fall. Such responses are probably linked to higher hunting pressure on males vs. females. Finally, we found that elk spent more time feeding during spring migration compared to the fall migration and elk vigilance was >3 times higher in the fall hunting season. Our results provide insights into the effect of fear of humans on the ecology of both sexes of a migrating large herbivore when using stopovers. Such changes in behavior and stopover use might affect animal fitness by decreasing foraging, cause displacement from high‐quality habitats, or affect the permeability of migration route stopovers
Fallow deer fawn time budgets
No full text<p>Data collected and used in final year research project “Born to be wild? Exploring early life behaviour in fallow deer.” submitted by Alison Norman as to fulfill requirements for Bachelor of Science Honours Degree in Zoology, UCD. Description of the files is given in the description.pdf within the folder. The data contains focals and time budgets of fallow deer (<em>Dama dama</em>) at 3-6 months of age, collected from September to December 2019 in Phoenix Park, Co.Dublin. Project Supervisor is Dr Simone Ciuti.</p>
Stimulated scattering and lasing of intersubband cavity polaritons
No full textWe present a microscopic theory describing the stimulated scattering of intersubband polariton excitations in a microcavity-embedded two-dimensional electron gas. In particular, we consider the polariton scattering induced by the interaction with longitudinal optical phonons. Our theory demonstrates the possibility of final-state stimulation for the scattering of such composite excitations, accounting for the deviations from ideal bosonicity occurring at high excitation densities. By using GaAs parameters, we predict a quantum degenerate regime and lasing without electronic population inversion in an optical pumping configuration
Lekking in fallow deer (<i>Dama dama</i>): a long walk to territoriality
No full textHere I present results of a long-term study (1996-2010) performed in the lekking fallow deer population of San Rossore, Italy, where data were collected through radio-tracking and direct observations. New results on the behavioural ecology of the fallow deer, with special regard to mating strategies and success were reported. First, I showed that the actual position of the lek is handy with regards to female travel costs and predation risk avoidance, in accordance to the female preference and predator avoidance hypotheses. Second, I showed that males able to adopt risky but best foraging strategies are able to gain an optimal body condition before rut and thus to achieve a high mating success. Third, I showed that for all adult males, despite age and mating success, it is important to reach the lek well before the beginning of the rut to gain positions in the male hierarchy. However, I refused the hypothesis that that sooner a male arrives at the lek, higher will be its mating success. Finally, I refused the hypothesis that subadult males are supposed to leave the lek later than adult males in order to increase their possibility of mating when mating males are exhausted. For the first time, I showed the importance of experiences gained by subadult males in affecting the individual mating success, once they become adult males. The study of subadult males was possible due to the deploy of an hand-made expandable radiocollar created during this study
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