This essay explores monstrosity in two contemporary horror stories: “The Whistlers” by Amity Argot, and “Whitefall” by C.K. Walker, focusing on how the humans in these texts are monstrously transformed. The monsters and monstrosity present in the texts are read against some of the cultural anxieties of postmodernity, and against various monstrous frameworks such as that of the zombie, the terrorist, and the monstrous space and nature. Both texts present monstrous spaces intent on perverting humans by eroding them physically until they reach a state of bare life that mimics zombification and may allegorize socioeconomic inequality, displacement, and the effects of capitalism; as well as by enticing them to commit atrocities against each other and transgress the very moral boundaries that defined them as human, up to and including cannibalism. In this way, these monsters reveal humans as their own annihilators, laying bare an innate human monstrosity that emerges from the traumatic conditions of postmodernity.

Plumage damage (PD) as a result of severe feather pecking (SFP) and skin lesions (SL) due to cannibalism (CA) is serious welfare, performance, and economic problems in commercial layer farms. Genetics, nutrition, and housing conditions are central complexes that contribute to the multifactorial causes of these behavioral disorders. Practical recommendations consider the quality of litter as an important criterion for the prevention of SFP, although systematic longitudinal studies providing evidence-based findings are lacking. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of litter condition on the occurrence of PD and SL in the field using a longitudinal design. Integument scoring (PD and SL; 7 times), litter scoring (structure, cake formation, litter quality, and litter height; 12 times), and laboratory litter analysis (dry matter (DM), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and pH value; 12 times) were performed in 28 laying hen flocks with a median flock size of 12,357 birds, in barn (n = 21) or free-range systems (n = 7), during the first laying period. Binary logistic regression (BLR) models showed the association of housing type and animal age on PD and SL (P < 0.001), and of the hybrid type on PD (P < 0.001). Furthermore, a significant association with PD and SL was observed for several litter traits. An increase in litter height, DM, and P was associated with lower PD (P ≤ 0.022) and SL (P < 0.001). In contrast, a higher N content of the litter was associated with an increase in SL (P = 0.007). Cake formation (P < 0.001) and a low structure (P = 0.025) of the litter showed an association with higher PD. In conclusion, this study identified caked litter with less structure, low height, and low contents of DM and P as risk factors for behavioral disorders in commercial laying flocks.

In this essay I’m exploring the novel The Road (2006) by the American author Cormac McCarthy. My main subject of interest is the thematic presence of consumption in general and meat consumption in particular in the text, and how this theme takes on an extreme form in the described and implied acts of cannibalism. Throughout the history of the Western World cannibalistic acts have been most commonly condemned and the cannibal has been, in a wide range of discourses, a cultural symbol of opposition to the idea of – and identification with – the ”civilized (Western) self”. Within the frames of popular culture cannibalism is generally portrayed along these lines as an expression of primitivism, animalistic behavior, depravity and monstrosity. As a reader of The Road, one may classify this story as a part of this tradition in its depiction of cannibalism. However, my goal is to illustrate how the subject can be viewed in a more diverse way, which potentially leads the reader to recognize the cannibal: Not in the form of the Other but as a part of the Self; not as a telling agent of evil times but as a critical mirror image of our own. I do this by shedding light on how cannibalism can be said to connect with other discourses throughout McCarthy’s text: Meat consumption as mentioned earlier is one of them and by following that trail my reasoning also comes to include industrialized meat and cultural consumerism. The conclusion of this essay is that the occurring cannibalism in The Road can be, and in my opinion should be, read as criticism of our contemporary society and its exploitive relationship to animals.

<p>Natural and sexual selection and sexual conflict are forces shaping the evolution of reproductive behaviour, while constrained by factors like environment, physiology and life-history trade-offs. Parental care is costly both in terms of time and energy. In fish, filial cannibalism is a strategy for caring males to compensate for some of the energy loss. Human impact like eutrophication also alters the basics for animals living in that environment. It is fundamental to any species to adjust its behaviour to a changing environment. Studying sand goby males, I found trade-offs both regarding parental care allocations, like ventilation vs. predator defence, and investment in present vs. future reproductive success. Paternal sand gobies exposed to water with low oxygen levels increased their fanning effort but did not compensate by eating more eggs, even though an increased current parental effort should affect future reproductive success negatively. Investigating if patterns of filial cannibalism change with time of season, I found no correlation. Theory predicts that it should pay more to eat eggs early, when future mating potential is higher than late in the season. However, as early hatching fry are likely to gain higher fitness through larger size the next breeding season, this may provide an opposing selection pressure. In species with male care the only way a female can affect the level of post-spawning care is by choosing a good mate. A female preference to spawn in nests that already contain eggs of other females has been interpreted as a means to avoid filial cannibalism through a dilution effect or to decrease the costs of search time. Yet, in my study females did not avoid filial cannibalism by preferring large clutches to small ones. Oxygenation of the eggs might be a key factor, since both large and small females preferred spawning in nests with small clutches. Thus, as in most animals, trade-offs clearly govern the reproductive behaviour of sand gobies.</p>

L’entose est une forme de mort cellulaire non apoptotique caractérisée par l’internalisation d’une cellule cible vivante dans une cellule hôte vivante. Ce processus de cannibalisme cellulaire qui est également connu sous le nom de « cellule dans une cellule » est retrouvé dans de nombreux cancers humains. Au cours de mes travaux de thèse, nous avons développé différents modèles d’entose in vitro et avons débuté l’identification des protéines qui répriment l’entose en combinant un criblage de petits ARN interférants à une approche de microscopie confocale. Nous avons découvert que la protéine suppressive de tumeur TP53 ainsi que son isoforme Δ133TP53 bloquent le processus d’internalisation cellulaire et l’entose. La perte de l’expression de la protéine TP53 ou de Δ133TP53 entraîne une libération extracellulaire d’adénosine triphosphate ainsi que l’activation du récepteur purinergique P2Y2, deux évènements cellulaires qui aboutissent à l’internalisation d’une cellule par une autre cellule. De plus, nous avons constaté que les cellules cannibales deviennent énescentes à la suite de l’induction de la protéine p21WAF1.Mes travaux de recherche révèlent l’existence d’une nouvelle modalité d’induction de la sénescence cellulaire. De façon surprenante, nous avons également observé que l’induction de la sénescence par l’oncogène RasV12ou à la suite de stress (réplicatifouoxydatif) déclenchait le cannibalisme cellulaire, suggérant que le cannibalisme cellulaire est une caractéristique des cellules sénescentes. L’ensemble de mes travaux de recherche souligne le lien étroit qui existe entre le cannibalisme cellulaire et la senescence. / Entosis is a non-apoptotic cell death process of live internalized cell inside the host/cannibal cell. In human cancers, commonly "cell-in-cell" cytological features have been observed over the period of time. In this study we have established in vitro models of entosis and initiated the identification of entotic repressors by developing fluorescent confocal microscopy screening of small interfering RNA. We identified that TP53 and one of its isoform 133TP53 specifically inhibits the cell internalization. Loss of TP53 or 133TP53 expression increases extracellular ATP release and the consequent activation of purinergic P2Y2 receptors, which signal for engulfment. Cannibal cells activate a senescence program through p21WAF1 induction, revealing a new modality of induction of cellular senescence that can occur in the absence of TP53 or 133TP53. Senescence induced by oncogenic RasV12 and by replicative or oxidative stresses also results in cellular cannibalism, suggesting that cannibalism is a common feature of senescent cells. Altogether, our results provide evidence that cellular cannibalism and senescence are tightly linked.

In some species with uniparental care, when the parental individual deserts the offspring or dies, its mate may adopt the parental responsibilities, a behaviour known as flexible compensation of uniparental care. However, for most of the species in which this behavioural response has been reported in the literature, there was no thorough investigation of its effects upon offspring fitness to support it. In the Neotropical harvestman Serracutisoma proximum, a species with female uniparental care, harem-owning males stand on unattended clutches when the egg-tending females desert or die. Here, we investigate if this species constitutes an actual example of flexible compensation of uniparental care by evaluating the effects of ecological (namely climatic conditions and mate availability) and life-history factors (namely male attractiveness, clutch size and filial cannibalism) on males\' behaviour and, ultimately, on offspring survival. We expect unfavourable climatic conditions, as well as low mate availability and male attractiveness, to negatively affect the exhibition of compensatory behaviours, but a positive effect of clutch size. Moreover, we expect an increase in the extent of filial cannibalism to be a strategy that alleviates the costs of compensation. However, males\' behaviour towards unattended offspring has no effect on offspring survival, and other results were inconsistent with our predictions except for climatic conditions affecting the extent of both the presumed behaviour of standing on unattended clutches and filial cannibalism. Our results, therefore, do not support the existence of flexible compensation of uniparental care in S. proximum. Rather than a parental activity, we argue that males&rsquo; behaviour corresponds to a mating tactic that increases fertilization and mating success with the returning egg-tending females or newcomer mates foraging on the unattended offspring. This study demonstrates that for presumed cases of flexible compensation of uniparental care it is necessary to evaluate the effects on offspring fitness since not always an apparent parental behaviour is what it seems to be / Em algumas espécies com cuidado uniparental, quando o individuo parental deserta a prole ou morre, seu parceiro pode adotar as responsabilidades parentais, um comportamento conhecido como compensação flexível do cuidado uniparental. No entanto, para a maioria das espécies em que esta resposta comportamental tem sido relatada na literatura, não houve uma investigação completa de seus efeitos sobre a aptidão da prole para apoiá-lo. No opilião Neotropical Serracutisoma proximum, uma espécie com cuidado uniparental da fêmea, os machos donos de harem ficam sobre desovas desatendidas quando as fêmeas que deveriam cuidar dos ovos desertam ou morrem. Aqui, investigamos se esta espécie constitui um exemplo real de compensação flexível do cuidado uniparental, avaliando os efeitos de fatores ecológicos (condições climáticas e disponibilidade de parceiras) e de história de vida (atratividade do macho, tamanho da desova e canibalismo filial) sobre o comportamento dos machos e, em última instância, sobre a sobrevivência da prole. Esperamos que condições climáticas desfavoráveis, assim como baixa disponibilidade de parceiras e atratividade do macho, afetem negativamente a exibição de comportamentos compensatórios, mas que o tamanho da desova tenha um efeito positivo. Além disso, esperamos que um aumento na intensidade do canibalismo filial seja uma estratégia que alivie os custos da compensação. Entretanto, o comportamento dos machos em relação à prole desatendida não tem efeito sobre a sobrevivência da prole, e os outros resultados foram inconsistentes com nossas previsões, exceto pelas condições climáticas que afetam tanto a intensidade do comportamento dos machos sobre as desovas quanto o canibalismo filial. Nossos resultados, portanto, não apoiam a existência de compensação flexível do cuidado uniparental em S. proximum. Ao invés de uma atividade parental, argumentamos que o comportamento dos machos corresponde a uma tática de acasalamento que aumenta o sucesso de fertilização e de acasalamento com as fêmeas que retornam às suas desovas ou com novas fêmeas que se alimentam dos ovos desprotegidos. Este estudo demonstra que, para os casos em que se pressupõe compensação flexível de cuidado uniparental, é necessário avaliar os efeitos sobre a aptidão prole, uma vez que nem sempre um aparente comportamento parental é o que parece ser

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T20:22:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Eliane Knorr de Carvalho.pdf: 2648975 bytes, checksum: 10f45a3674e74206012c7b16162a08a5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-10-23 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Cannibalism is a Western invention. It is applied to indigenous groups and is expressed in different ways according to each society, place, time and context. Among Amerindians in the 16th and 17th centuries, these practices could be identified in warrior and death rites. However, anthropophagy among the indigenous people was also used by the European colonizers as a justification for applying preventive and punitive measures and technologies of subjection. In Western societies, cannibalism is understood in different contexts. Extreme situations, in which cannibalism is the last resource for survival, are currently the only acceptable circumstances for the practice. Cannibalism as a tactic of terror gathers all these other circumstances. Instead of the facts, the effects of cannibalism in the discourse are at stake. The third case analyzed in this dissertation is cannibalism as a crime without a reason, which serves as justification for the psychiatric knowledge and justifies its application. Along with new power technologies of the society of control, and among the so-called crimes without a reason, another possibility of cannibalism in Western society emerges: a cannibalism in which the victim is volunteer. The research seeks to identify the existence of cannibalism through an analysis of discourse, based on Michel Foucault s propositions. It uses as analytical tool the notions and concepts of a few authors, namely Claude Lévi-Strauss, Michel Foucault e Gilles Deleuze / O canibalismo é uma invenção ocidental. Aplicado às sociedades indígenas ele se expressa de diferentes maneiras de acordo com cada sociedade, local, tempo e circunstância. Entre os ameríndios nos séculos XVI e XVII, estas práticas poderiam ser reconhecidas entre os rituais guerreiros e funerários. Mas a antropofagia entre esses índios também foi usada pelos colonizadores europeus como justificativa para a aplicação de medidas preventivas, punitivas e técnicas de sujeição. Nas sociedades ocidentais, o canibalismo é compreendido em circunstâncias distintas. Os casos extremos, em que ele é o último recurso de sobrevivência, atualmente é a única forma aceitável desta prática nestas sociedades. O canibalismo enquanto tática de terror agrega todas estas outras formas de canibalismo. O que está em jogo nesta circunstância não são os fatos propriamente ditos, mas o efeito do canibalismo no discurso. A terceira circunstância analisada nesta dissertação é o canibalismo enquadrado na categoria de crime sem razão. Categoria que serve de justificativa para o saber psiquiátrico, e justifica a aplicação deste saber. Entre esses chamados crimes sem razão, emerge juntamente com novas técnicas e dispositivos de poder próprios de uma sociedade de controle uma outra possibilidade de canibalismo na sociedade ocidental, um canibalismo em que a chamada vítima é voluntária. Procuramos perceber a existência do canibalismo através de uma análise discursiva, com base na proposta de Michel Foucault. Utilizamos como ferramenta de análise, noções e conceitos de alguns autores, especialmente de Claude Lévi-Strauss, Michel Foucault e Gilles Deleuze

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T14:57:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Eliane Knorr de Carvalho.pdf: 2648975 bytes, checksum: 10f45a3674e74206012c7b16162a08a5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-10-23 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Cannibalism is a Western invention. It is applied to indigenous groups and is expressed in different ways according to each society, place, time and context. Among Amerindians in the 16th and 17th centuries, these practices could be identified in warrior and death rites. However, anthropophagy among the indigenous people was also used by the European colonizers as a justification for applying preventive and punitive measures and technologies of subjection. In Western societies, cannibalism is understood in different contexts. Extreme situations, in which cannibalism is the last resource for survival, are currently the only acceptable circumstances for the practice. Cannibalism as a tactic of terror gathers all these other circumstances. Instead of the facts, the effects of cannibalism in the discourse are at stake. The third case analyzed in this dissertation is cannibalism as a crime without a reason, which serves as justification for the psychiatric knowledge and justifies its application. Along with new power technologies of the society of control, and among the so-called crimes without a reason, another possibility of cannibalism in Western society emerges: a cannibalism in which the victim is volunteer. The research seeks to identify the existence of cannibalism through an analysis of discourse, based on Michel Foucault s propositions. It uses as analytical tool the notions and concepts of a few authors, namely Claude Lévi-Strauss, Michel Foucault e Gilles Deleuze / O canibalismo é uma invenção ocidental. Aplicado às sociedades indígenas ele se expressa de diferentes maneiras de acordo com cada sociedade, local, tempo e circunstância. Entre os ameríndios nos séculos XVI e XVII, estas práticas poderiam ser reconhecidas entre os rituais guerreiros e funerários. Mas a antropofagia entre esses índios também foi usada pelos colonizadores europeus como justificativa para a aplicação de medidas preventivas, punitivas e técnicas de sujeição. Nas sociedades ocidentais, o canibalismo é compreendido em circunstâncias distintas. Os casos extremos, em que ele é o último recurso de sobrevivência, atualmente é a única forma aceitável desta prática nestas sociedades. O canibalismo enquanto tática de terror agrega todas estas outras formas de canibalismo. O que está em jogo nesta circunstância não são os fatos propriamente ditos, mas o efeito do canibalismo no discurso. A terceira circunstância analisada nesta dissertação é o canibalismo enquadrado na categoria de crime sem razão. Categoria que serve de justificativa para o saber psiquiátrico, e justifica a aplicação deste saber. Entre esses chamados crimes sem razão, emerge juntamente com novas técnicas e dispositivos de poder próprios de uma sociedade de controle uma outra possibilidade de canibalismo na sociedade ocidental, um canibalismo em que a chamada vítima é voluntária. Procuramos perceber a existência do canibalismo através de uma análise discursiva, com base na proposta de Michel Foucault. Utilizamos como ferramenta de análise, noções e conceitos de alguns autores, especialmente de Claude Lévi-Strauss, Michel Foucault e Gilles Deleuze

Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T16:27:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Vandimar Marques Damas.pdf: 1363068 bytes, checksum: abb34855f1640790d53b08c5f555ebd6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-02-23 / This work is an ethnography of indigenous intercultural degree of UFG, a course which aims to provide higher education for indigenous teachers and teachers already working as such in their villages. Its main focus was to produce a video and a series of photographs in conjunction with indigenous teachers,and from this experience relate ethnographic video with shamanism, witchcraft and cannibalism. To discuss this relationship I insert here two basic concepts that still need development, which are shamanism imagery and cannibal ism imagery, these have been buil twith thread as information obtained during my field work and some ethnographies conducted by other researchers-along-the indigenous peoples who are in Brazil. My main theoret ical references are visual anthropology,theories and concepts of documentary filmmaking,as well as some concepts of ethnology as the Amerindian perspectivism. / Este trabalho é uma etnografia da licenciatura intercultural indígena da UFG, curso que visa fornecer uma formação superior aos professores e professoras indígenas que já atuam como tais em suas aldeias. O seu principal foco foi a produção de um vídeo e uma série de fotografias em conjunto com professores indígenas, e a partir dessa experiência relaciono o vídeo etnográfico com o xamanismo, canibalismo e feitiçaria. Para discutir essa relação insiro aqui dois conceitos básicos, que ainda carecem de desenvolvimento, que são xamanismo imagético e canibalismo imagético, estes foram construídos tendo como fio condutor as informações colhidas durante o meu trabalho de campo e algumas etnografias realizadas - por outros pesquisadores - junto a povos indígenas que estão no Brasil . As minhas principais referências teóricas são a antropologia visual, as teorias e conceitos do cinema documentário, bem como alguns conceitos da etnologia indígena como o perspectivismo ameríndio.

Natural and sexual selection and sexual conflict are forces shaping the evolution of reproductive behaviour, while constrained by factors like environment, physiology and life-history trade-offs. Parental care is costly both in terms of time and energy. In fish, filial cannibalism is a strategy for caring males to compensate for some of the energy loss. Human impact like eutrophication also alters the basics for animals living in that environment. It is fundamental to any species to adjust its behaviour to a changing environment. Studying sand goby males, I found trade-offs both regarding parental care allocations, like ventilation vs. predator defence, and investment in present vs. future reproductive success. Paternal sand gobies exposed to water with low oxygen levels increased their fanning effort but did not compensate by eating more eggs, even though an increased current parental effort should affect future reproductive success negatively. Investigating if patterns of filial cannibalism change with time of season, I found no correlation. Theory predicts that it should pay more to eat eggs early, when future mating potential is higher than late in the season. However, as early hatching fry are likely to gain higher fitness through larger size the next breeding season, this may provide an opposing selection pressure. In species with male care the only way a female can affect the level of post-spawning care is by choosing a good mate. A female preference to spawn in nests that already contain eggs of other females has been interpreted as a means to avoid filial cannibalism through a dilution effect or to decrease the costs of search time. Yet, in my study females did not avoid filial cannibalism by preferring large clutches to small ones. Oxygenation of the eggs might be a key factor, since both large and small females preferred spawning in nests with small clutches. Thus, as in most animals, trade-offs clearly govern the reproductive behaviour of sand gobies.