Motility

On 10th October 2014 (at Beursschouwburg in Brussels), a political scientist and sociologist Patrick Le Gales gave a talk 'Global Minds, Roots in the City' on his recently finished research project in which Alberta Andreotti, Francisco Javier Moreno Fuentes and himself explored the mobility practices of European urban upper-middle classes. In his talk, Le Gales presented new empirical qualitative data collected through a comparative research of 480 professionals and managers in 16 neighbourhoods in 4 cities (Paris, Lyon, Madrid, Milan + background data on London and Manchester). This data reveals the upper middle class is transnational only to a limited degree (and substantially less than speculated by some social theorists), mostly adopting partial exit strategies – thus refuting simplistic arguments about the rise of mobility, new barbarians (Agnell) and rootedness of European Bourgeoisie. However, despite expressing strong criticism of simplistic understanding of mobility patterns, gentrification and disembeddedness in Europe, Le Gales himself made some bold statements and generalising interpretations that lead to misleading conclusions.

The relationship between slow waves and peristaltic reflexes has not been well analyzed. In this study, we have recorded the electrical activity of slow waves together with that generated by spontaneous peristaltic contractions at 240 extracellular sites simultaneously. Recordings were made from five isolated tubular and six sheet segments of feline duodenum superfused in vitro. In all preparations, slow waves propagated as broad wave fronts along the longitudinal axis of the preparation in either the aborad or the orad direction. Electrical potentials recorded during peristalsis (peristaltic waves) also propagated as broad wave fronts in either directions. Peristaltic waves often spontaneously stopped conducting (46%), in contrast to slow waves that never did. Peristaltic waves propagated at a lower velocity than the slow waves (0.98 +/- 0.25 and 1.29 +/- 0.28 cm/s, respectively; P < 0.001; n = 24) and in a direction independent of the preceding slow wave direction (64% in the s...

The present study was aimed to evaluate the anti-diarrhoeal activity of friedelin isolated from
leaves of Azima tetracantha Lam. The anti-diarrhoeal effect of friedelin was studied by using
castor oil-induced diarrhoea, gastrointestinal motility test, magnesium sulphate-induced diarrhea
and castor oil-induced enteropooling in rats. Friedelin (20 mg/kg) showed significant
(P < 0.0001) reduction of intestinal transit and gastric emptying which were similar to the anti-
motility activity as known compound atropine (0.1 mg/kg). Friedelin (20 mg/kg) also exerted
significant anti-enteropooling effects, against castor oil-induced enteropooling in rats. The
defaecation frequencies and the faecal droppings wetness were significantly (P < 0.0001) reduced.
Additionally, friedelin (20 mg/kg) revealed significant (P < 0.0001) inhibition (89.64%)
of castor oil-induced diarrhea. The overall results elucidated that the anti-diarrhoeal activity
of friedelin may be due to its anti-secretory and anti-motility properties, which consequently
provide evidence for the traditional claim.

Trabajo Final de Graduación para optar por el grado de Maestro en Movilidad Urbana, Transporte y Territorio por la Universidad de Guadalajara, México. El objetivo de la investigación es analizar las características de las motilidades realizadas por vecinos y vecinas de Barrio Luján y Barrio Escalante en el Casco Central de la Ciudad de San José, Costa Rica. Se realiza una reconstrucción del los estudios sobre la movilidad urbana en el país, y se invita a utilizar el concepto de motilidad (capacidad para desplazarse o no en el espacio social y geográfico) como herramienta teórico-metodológica para el análisis de zonas geográficas específicas. El alcance del trabajo es descriptivo, y busca ser una invitación para generar investigaciones de la movilidad urbana en Costa Rica desde las ciencias sociales.

Quai du Grognon, Quai des Chasseurs Ardennais, Quai de Meuse, à Namur. Amarrées à ces quais, des péniches : le Mary, l’Orly ou le Nana. Jadis, elles ont rallié Liège à Charleroi, les cales chargées de sable ou de houblon. A présent, elles demeurent amarrées à leur emplacement de prédilection, habitées par des gens-d’à-terre, comme les appellent les bateliers. Car ces nouveaux propriétaires ne sont pas nés à bord, au contraire d’Alice et Ernest par exemple, dont le Queen Potamos a également cessé sa course. Quels rapports ces personnes entretiennent-elles à leur bateau, à son lieu d’amarrage et aux autres ? Ce sont ces questions qui ont animé mon travail de terrain ainsi que la présente monographie.

This chapter aims at discussing the socialist international truck drivers during the Cold
War as a liminal group, stemming from two basic considerations: The first one is that
roads and borders, which constitute the essence of the international truck drivers’
identity, practices and status, should be considered as classical liminal spaces; and the
second is that the notion of liminality should be used as an independent analytical
concept, not directly related to the ritual context. Drawing on state archival docu-
ments and interviews with former Bulgarian international truck drivers, the chapter
conceptualizes the road system as a liminal space, then outlines the Bulgarian policies
and practices governing border activity during the Cold War, within which Bulgarian
international truck drivers emerged as a group. Further, the truckers are presented as
crossing state and ideological borders, as oscillating between different official and
non-official practices related to the ambivalent characteristics of Cold War relations,
as possessing boundary and thus contradicting identities, and as existing in between
different social statuses. This analysis of the liminal status and activities of the truck
drivers allows for the grasping of the ambivalence of the Cold War as simultaneously a
global conflict and an everyday experience, as a time of seclusion and intensive con-
tacts, and allows us to look at the Cold War processes not just from below, from the
standpoint of people of a lower-class position, such as the truckers, but from inside—
from the interstitial space of the transnational road network, which both epitomized
the ambivalence of the Cold War, but also was shaped by it.

The quantification of three-dimensional (3D) flow structures and particle dynamics is crucial for unveiling complex interactions in turbulent flows. This review summarizes recent advances in volumetric particle detection and 3D flow velocimetry involving holography. We introduce the fundamental principle of holography and discuss the debilitating depth-of-focus problem, along with methods that have been implemented to circumvent it. The focus of this review is on recent advances in the development of in-line digital holography in general, and digital holographic microscopy in particular. A mathematical background for the numerical reconstruction of digital holograms is followed by a summary of recently introduced 3D particle tracking and velocity measurement techniques. The review concludes with sample applications, including 3D velocity measurements that fully resolve the flow in the inner part of a turbulent boundary layer, the diffusion of oil droplets in high–Reynolds number tur...

This thesis (http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/5238/) offers a first scientific portrait of the Baka in North-Eastern Gabon, a group of post-foragers living along the River Ivindo, and the way they practice and conceptualise mobility. The inquiry encompasses the long-term historical and the daily or short-term current mobility of this group, elicited through life histories and participant observation. The central premise of this work is that mobility is relational. Relational refers to interaction of movement and fixity, of position and outcome, and to the understanding of mobility as socially produced. The second concept employed is that of motility, the capacity or potential to be mobile. As motility analyses what comes before observable movement, of potential and actualised outcome as mobility or immobility, it takes up the idea of mobility as relational. The Baka living on the Ivindo migrated from Cameroon and Congo into Gabon over the last approximately 60 years. In contrast to established approaches to forest forager mobility, which focus mainly on resource mobility during an annual cycle, this study considers the long-term and larger geographical perspective and shows that the quality of personal relations between Baka and their neighbours is decisive in mobility considerations. Previously these relations were characterised as a structural opposition between two ethnic groups. This analysis demonstrates the heterogeneity of people and their interactions, in the past and the present, to argue, firstly, that relations are more appropriately conceptualised as multilateral, and, secondly, that an inquiry remains incomplete without considering affections and emotions. A principal mobility factor for the Baka is the search for a good life, meaning economic improvement and freedom from violence. This search coincides with a diversification of Baka livelihoods to include subsistence practices as well as working in the gold sites of Gabon. Employing motility shows the aspirations and limitations of Baka personal and group mobility in gold work. Motility is also understood as ‘mobility capital’ and thereby helps document social change, and how gold work is undertaken with reference to Baka egalitarian social organisation to be successful. By including group and individual as well as different temporalities in the analysis, and detailing the impact of social values on mobilities, motility gives depth to the analysis of mobility.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of in vitro supplementation of selenium on fresh and frozen spermatozoa quality of buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) bulls. Five healthy buffalo bulls (5 ejaculates from each bull) were used. Each ejaculate was diluted at 37 ˚C with tris-based extender containing 0 (control), 0.5, 1, 2, 4 and 8 µg mL(-1) sodium selenite and the sperm motility and viability were evaluated at 0 (T0) (immediately after dilution), 60 (T1) and 120 (T2) min after diluting semen. In the second step, semen samples were diluted with tris-egg yolk-glycerol extender containing the same amounts of sodium selenite, cooled to 4 ˚C, equilibrated and semen parameters (motility, viability, membrane integrity and DNA damage) were estimated. Then, the semen was packed in 0.5 mL French straws and frozen in liquid nitrogen. Later, the semen was thawed and analyzed for the same parameters, as well as total antioxidant capacity. Results showed that addition of 1 and 2 µgm...

It is generally accepted that incubation with heparin is required to induce capacitation of ejaculated bovine spermatozoa in vitro. The capacitation process implicates many biochemical events, and is correlated with modified sperm motility and the phosphorylation of specific proteins on tyrosine residues. To better understand the molecular basis of heparin-induced capacitation, bovine spermatozoa were incorporated with a radioactive substrate of protein kinases [gamma32P]-ATP, to observe protein phosphorylation dynamics over time. Sperm motion parameters including the percentage of motile spermatozoa, amplitude of lateral head displacement (ALH) and flagellar beat cross frequency (BCF) were assessed to determine whether the protein phosphorylation patterns induced by heparin also promote changes in motility. Capacitation was confirmed using the chlortetracycline fluorescence assay and the appearance of &#39;pattern B&#39; stained spermatozoa. Evaluation of the different motility par...

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of trehalose and cysteine on sperm motility, viability, mitochondrial activity and acrosome integrity during liquid storage of Merino ram semen. Ejaculates were collected using artificial vaginas from five Merino rams, microscopically evaluated and pooled at 37 °C. The pooled semen samples were diluted in a Tris-based extender, including cysteine (2 mM and 4 mM), trehalose (10 mM and 25 mM) and no antioxidant (control). Diluted semen samples were kept in tubes and cooled from 37 to 5 °C in a cold cabinet, and maintained at 5 °C. Cooled samples were evaluated for sperm motility, viability, mitochondrial activity and acrosome integrity at 0, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h. Extender supplemented with trehalose (10 and 25 mM) and cysteine (2 and 4 mM) led to higher motility in comparison to the control at 24, 48, 72 and 96 h of liquid storage (P < 0.05). Trehalose at the doses of 10 mM, 25 mM and 2 mM cysteine led to higher viability between 24–48–72 h and at 96 h of liquid storage (P < 0.05). Further, 4 mM of cysteine improved sperm viability rates at 24 and 48 h of storage compared to the control group (P < 0.05), and resulted in improved acrosome integrity rates compared to the control group at 72 and 96 h of storage (P < 0.05). Extender supplemented with 10 and 25 mM trehalose at 24 and 72 h and 4 mM cysteine at 24 and 96 h of storage led to higher sperm mitochondrial activity rates when compared to the control group (P < 0.05). In conclusion, the findings of this study show that trehalose and cysteine provided significant protection to ram sperm parameters during liquid storage.