Cats and Humans 12,000-Year-Old Commensal Relationship

The modern cat (Felis silvestris catus) is descended from one or more of four or five separate wild cats: the Sardinian wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica), the European wildcat (F. s. silvestris), the Central Asian wildcat (F.s. ornata), the sub-Saharan African wildcat (F.s. cafra), and (perhaps) the Chinese desert cat (F.s. bieti). Each of these species is a distinctive subspecies of F. silvestris, but F.s. lybica was ultimately domesticated and is an ancestor of all modern domesticated cats. Genetic analysis suggests that all domestic cats derive from at least five founder cats from the Fertile Crescent region, from where they (or rather their descendants) were transported around the world. Researchers analyzing cat mitochondrial DNA  have identified evidence that F.s. lybica was distributed across Anatolia from the early Holocene (ca. 11,600 years ago) at the latest. The cats found their way into southeastern Europe before the onset of farming in the Neolithic. They suggest that cat domestication was a complex long-term process, because people took cats with them on overland and ship-board trade facilitating admixture events between geographically separated F.s. lybica and other wild subspecies like F.S. ornata at different times. How Do You Make a Domestic Cat? There are two difficulties inherent in determining when and how cats were domesticated: one is that domesticated cats can and do interbreed with their feral cousins; the other is that the primary indicator of cat domestication is their sociability or docility, traits not easily identified in the archaeological record. Instead, archaeologists rely on the size of animal bones found in archaeological sites (domesticated cats are smaller than feral cats), by their presence outside of their normal range, if they are given burials or have collars or the like, and if there is evidence that they have established a commensal relationship with the humans. Commensal Relationships Commensal behavior is the scientific name for hanging around with humans: the word commensal comes from Latin com meaning sharing and mensa meaning table. As applied to different animal species, true commensals live entirely in houses with us, occasional commensals move between houses and outdoor habitats, and obligate commensals are those that can only survive in an area because of their ability to occupy houses. Not all commensal relationships are friendly ones: some consume crops, steal food, or harbor disease. Further, commensal does not necessarily mean invited in: microscopic pathogens and bacteria, insects, and rats have commensal relationships with humans. Black rats in northern Europe are obligate commensals, which is one of the reasons the medieval bubonic plague was so effective at killing people. Cat History and Archaeology The oldest archaeological evidence for cats living with humans is from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, where several animal species including cats were introduced by 7500 B.C. The earliest known purposeful cat burial is at the Neolithic site of Shillourokambos. This burial was of a cat buried next to a human between 9500-9200 years ago. The archaeological deposits of Shillourokambos also included the sculpted head of what looks like a combined human-cat being. There are a few ceramic figurines found in the 6th millennium B.C. site of Haà §ilar, Turkey, in the shape of women carrying cats or catlike figures in their arms, but there is some debate about the identification of these creatures as cats. The first unquestioned evidence of cats smaller in size than the wildcat is from Tell Sheikh Hassan al Rai, an Uruk period (5500-5000 calendar years ago [cal BP]) Mesopotamian site in Lebanon. Cats in Egypt Up until very recently, most sources believed that domesticated cats became widespread only after the Egyptian civilization took its part in the domestication process. Several strands of data indicate that cats were present in Egypt as early as the predynastic period, nearly 6,000 years ago. A cat skeleton discovered in a predynastic tomb (ca. 3700 BC) at Hierakonpolis may be evidence for commensalism. The cat, apparently a young male, had a broken left humerus and right femur, both of which had healed prior to the cats death and burial. Reanalysis of this cat has identified the species as the jungle or reed cat (Felis chaus), rather than F. silvestris, but the commensal nature of the relation is unquestioned. Continued excavations at the same cemetery at Hierakonpolis (Van Neer and colleagues) have found a simultaneous burial of six cats, an adult male and female and four kittens belonging to two different litters. The adults are F. silvestris  and fall within or near the size ranges for domesticated cats. They were buried during the Naqada IC-IIB period (ca. 5800–5600 cal BP). The first illustration of a cat with a collar appears on an Egyptian tomb in Saqqara, dated to the 5th dynasty Old Kingdom, ca 2500-2350 BC. By the 12th dynasty (Middle Kingdom, ca 1976-1793 BC), cats are definitely domesticated, and the animals are frequently illustrated in Egyptian art paintings and as mummies. Cats are the most frequently mummified animal in Egypt.   The feline goddesses Mafdet, Mehit, and Bastet all appear in the Egyptian pantheon by the Early Dynastic period—although Bastet is not associated with domesticated cats until later. Cats in China In 2014, Hu and colleagues reported evidence for early cat-human interactions during the Middle-Late Yangshao (early Neolithic, 7,000-5,000 cal BP) period at the site of Quanhucun, in Shaanxi province, China. Eight F. silvestris cat bones were recovered from three ashy pits containing animal bones, pottery sherds, bone and stone tools. Two of the cat jaw bones were radiocarbon dated between 5560-5280 cal BP. The size range of these cats falls within that of modern domesticated cats. The archaeological site of Wuzhuangguoliang contained a nearly complete felid skeleton laid on its left side and dated to 5267-4871 cal BP; and a third site, Xiawanggang, contained cat bones as well. All of these cats were from Shaanxi province, and all were originally identified as F. silvestris. The presence of F. silvestris in Neolithic China supports the growing evidence of complex trade and exchange routes connecting western Asia to northern China perhaps as long ago as 5,000 years. However, Vigne et al. (2016) examined the evidence and believe that all the Chinese Neolithic period cats are not F. silvestris but rather leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis). Vigne et al. suggest that the leopard cat became a commensal species beginning in the mid-sixth millennium BP, evidence of a separate cat domestication event. Breeds and Varieties and Tabbies Today there are between 40 and 50 recognized cat breeds, which humans created by artificial selection for aesthetic traits they preferred, such as body and facial forms, beginning about 150 years ago. The traits selected by cat breeders include coat color, behavior, and morphology—and many of those traits are shared across breeds, meaning they were descended from the same cats. Some of the traits are also associated with deleterious genetic traits such as osteochondrodysplasia affecting the development of cartilage in Scottish Fold cats and taillessness in Manx cats. The Persian or Longhair cat has an extremely short muzzle with large round eyes and small ears, a long, dense coat, and a round body. Bertolini and colleagues recently found that candidate genes for the facial morphology may be associated with behavioral disorders, susceptibility to infections, and breathing issues. Wildcats exhibit a striped coat coloration pattern referred to as mackerel, which in many cats appears to have been modified to the blotched pattern known as tabby. Tabby colorations are common in many different modern domestic breeds. Ottoni and colleagues note that striped cats are commonly illustrated from the Egyptian New Kingdom through the Middle Ages. By the 18th century AD, the blotched tabby markings were common enough for Linnaeus to include them with his descriptions of the domestic cat. Scottish Wildcat The Scottish wildcat is a large tabby cat with a bushy black ringed tail that is native to Scotland. There are only about 400 left and are thus among the most endangered species in the United Kingdom. As with other endangered species, threats to the wildcats survival include habitat fragmentation and loss, illegal killing, and the presence of feral domestic cats in wild Scottish landscapes. This last leads to interbreeding and natural selection resulting in the loss of some of the characteristics which define the species. Species-based conservation of the Scottish wildcat has included removing them from the wild and placing them into zoos and wildlife sanctuaries for captive breeding, as well as the targeted destruction of feral domestic and hybrid cats in the wild. But that reduces the number of wild animals even further. Fredriksen )2016) has argued that the pursuit of native Scottish biodiversity by attempting to stamp out non-native feral cats and the hybrids reduces the benefits of natural selection. It may be that the best chance the Scottish wildcat has of surviving in the face of a changing environment is to breed with domestic cats who are better adapted to it. Sources Bar-Oz G, Weissbrod L, and Tsahar E. 2014. Cats in recent Chinese study on cat domestication are commensal, not domesticated. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111(10):E876.Bertolini F, Gandolfi B, Kim ES, Haase B, Lyons LA, and Rothschild MF. 2016. Evidence of selection signatures that shape the Persian cat breed. Mammalian Genome 27(3):144-155.Dodson J, and Dong G. 2016. What do we know about domestication in eastern Asia? Quaternary International in press.Fredriksen A. 2016. Of wildcats and wild cats: Troubling species-based conservation in the Anthropocene. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 34(4):689-705.Galvan M, and Vonk J. 2016. Man’s other best friend: domestic cats (F. silvestris catus) and their discrimination of human emotion cues. Animal Cognition 19(1):193-205. Hu Y, Hu S, Wang W, Wu X, Marshall FB, Chen X, Hou L, and Wang C. 2014. Earliest evidence for commensal processes of cat domestication. Proceedings of the National Academy of Scien ces 111(1):116-120.Hulme-Beaman A, Dobney K, Cucchi T, and Searle JB. 2016. An Ecological and Evolutionary Framework for Commensalism in Anthropogenic Environments. Trends in Ecology Evolution 31(8):633-645.Kurushima JD, Ikram S, Knudsen J, Bleiberg E, Grahn RA, and Lyons LA. 2012. Cats of the pharaohs: genetic comparison of Egyptian cat mummies to their feline contemporaries. Journal of Archaeological Science 39(10):3217-3223.Li G, Hillier LW, Grahn RA, Zimin AV, David VA, Menotti-Raymond M, Middleton R, Hannah S, Hendrickson S, Makunin A et al. 2016. A High-Resolution SNP Array-Based Linkage Map Anchors a New Domestic Cat Draft Genome Assembly and Provides Detailed Patterns of Recombination. G3: Genes Genomes Genetics 6(6):1607-1616.Mattucci F, Oliveira R, Lyons LA, Alves PC, and Randi E. 2016. European wildcat populations are subdivided into five main biogeographic groups: consequences of Pleistocene climate changes or recent anthropogenic fragmentation? Ecology and Evolution 6( 1):3-22.Montague MJ, Li G, Gandolfi B, Khan R, Aken BL, Searle SMJ, Minx P, Hillier LW, Koboldt DC, Davis BW et al. 2014. Comparative analysis of the domestic cat genome reveals genetic signatures underlying feline biology and domestication. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111(48):17230-17235.Ottoni C, van Neer W, De Cupere B, Daligault J, Guimaraes S, Peters J, Spassov N, Pendergast ME, Boivin N, Morales-Muniz A et al. 2016. Of cats and men: the paleogenetic history of the dispersal of cats in the ancient world. bioRxiv 10.1101/080028. Owens JL, Olsen M, Fontaine A, Kloth C, Kershenbaum A, and Waller S. 2016. Visual classification of feral cat Felis silvestris catus vocalizations. Current Zoology. doi: 10.1093/cz/zox013Platz S, Hertwig ST, Jetschke G, Krà ¼ger M, and Fischer MS. 2011. Comparative morphometric study of the Slovakian wildcat population (Felis silvestris silvestris): Evidence for a low rate of introgression? Mammalian Biology - Zeitschrift fà ¼r Sà ¤ugetierkunde 76(2):222-233.Van Neer W, Linseele V, Friedman R, and De Cupere B. 2014. More evidence for cat taming at the Predynastic elite cemetery of Hierakonpolis (Upper Egypt). Journal of Archaeological Science 45:103-111.Vigne J-D, Evin A, Cucchi T, Dai L, Yu C, Hu S, Soulages N, Wang W, Sun Z, Gao J et al. 2016. Earliest â€Å"Domestic† Cats in China Identified as Leopard Cat ( PLoS ONE 11(1):e0147295.Prionailurus bengalensis).

A Jury Of Her Peers By Susan Glaspell - 1674 Words

Austin Jones English 230-1195 February 14, 2015 Short Fiction and Essay Writing: First Draft During the 19th many men exercised a sexist perspective towards women. During that time many women were not allowed to seek an education, career, any form of independence and were merely seen as caretakers. In â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† Charlotte Gilman Illustrates the controlling behavior that men had exercises on their wives, and the lack of freedom women had to make independent decisions. In â€Å"A Jury of Her Peers† Susan Glaspell illustrates how men exercised prejudice against women by focusing on the sexist perspective of two men during a lawful investigation which rendered them incapable of understanding what actually occurred. Analyzing the work†¦show more content†¦Some women did not even have a choice in marriage and had their marriages arranged by the father. At this point we can establish that during the 19th century that many women lacked control of their own lives and were expected to conform to what they were told without question. Charlotte G ilman wrote a short story by the name of â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† where she thoughtfully illustrates the inequality in of the marriage arrangement, and the controlling nature men had on their wives. Sadly, the reason why it is such a good illustration is because Gilman took the inspiration for this story from her own life. After the birth of her first child Gilman entered a state of postpartum depression and was treated rather poorly for it. Seeking treatment, she was referred to Dr. S. Weir Mitchell who at the time was a prominent specialist on nervous disorders. Dr. Mitchell thought that postpartum depression in women was caused by the absence of household chores and prescribed her a â€Å"rest cure.† This cure involved a constant state of inactivity. Gilman was essentially told she was from there on out, until cured, she was prohibited from undertaking anything whatsoever. However, the cure did not work and further complicated the symptoms of her depression that lead her to eventually leave her husband and child for the sake of her mental health. In â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† Gilman is able to clearly indicate the women is being

IFIP Networking Conference System †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the IFIP Networking Conference System. Answer: Introduction Information Security is very much important for securing any kind of data. Though there are various ways to secure the data but still there lies some loopholes which can lead to leaking of data. The following report discusses about how firewalls can help in securing the data. Advantages Uses the current network routers for the filtering of packets Due to this, security becomes more transparent for the end users. It is quite easy when it comes to installation As it generally works on the current network system therefore implementing the packet security filter on the system becomes less complicated than any other method. It is also quite fast than any other firewall technologies present as in this, very few evaluations are performed therefore it becomes quite easy to maintain and handle too. Disadvantages These do not generally understand the protocols for application layer. It does not offer any value added features like the URL filtering. These are not very secure while using on a large scale. As there is no user based Authentication, it cannot authenticate the information that are coming from various users. Suggestions The technology is acceptable when it is over a small network but when considering a large organization, it is not that safe to use as it cannot track the users from whom the information is coming so it is better not to use. Above all, it allows every data to pass through as it cannot discriminate among the different types of packets (Diekmann et al., 2016). It can be overcome by adding extra features like authentication based system where no one can enter the network without proper authentication. It helps in setting up a standardized environment that is helpful for transparency and securing of the firewalls. It also intercepts between the TCP and UDP connection and later transforms them into SOCKS format. Communication that is possible with SOCKS is restricted within SOCKS clients and its server ("RFC 1928 - SOCKS Protocol Version 5", 1996). Tunneling helps in defining security and also helps in proving authentication as well as confidentiality and integrity. It also helps in combining the possibilities in the circuit level. In order to work properly, the client needs to make modification to the SOCKS ("RFC 1928 - SOCKS Protocol Version 5", 1996). Conclusion From the above discussion, it can be concluded that data security is very much important and a good practice as it helps in securing the data from any kind of theft. There are a few advantages as well as disadvantages on using the firewall as it is mainly used for small networks and in order to use it for any large scale business, it needs to be incorporated with various other features so as to work with more ease. References Diekmann, C., Michaelis, J., Haslbeck, M., Carle, G. (2016, May). Verified iptables firewall analysis. InIFIP Networking Conference (IFIP Networking) and Workshops, 2016(pp. 252-260). IEEE. RFC 1928 - SOCKS Protocol Version 5. (1996). Tools.ietf.org. Retrieved 9 May 2017, from https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1928

is a critique on the top catagory Stephanie Coontz “The Radical Idea of Marrying for Love” Essay Example

is a critique on the top catagory Stephanie Coontz: â€Å"The Radical Idea of Marrying for Love† Essay Date: June 19, 2011 Stephanie Coontz: â€Å"The Radical Idea of Marrying for Love† Introduction According to Coontz on the subject of â€Å"The Radical Idea of Marrying for Love†, she illustrates her ideas that marriage expectations are sometimes unrealistic to many people from different cultures. This idea of marrying for love is also emphasized more by George Bernard Shaw’s theory. According to Shaw, the main purpose of marriage is to bring two people together who are under the effects of passion and only death can separate them. Therefore, Coontz in her article tries to describe the various manners in which different cultures perceive the idea of love and marriage. In her opinion, most people from different cultures get married and fall in love as the days pass by, but they do not get married because they are in love. Love when marrying in some cultures is meaningless, although in other cultures, love is the major purpose why people get into marriage because they perceive it as a necessity according to Coontz. My general expression on this article is that it is informative and interesting since the information provided was of great use to me. Interestingly, I learned that love is not a necessity in different cultures, and some people just get married and then fall in love later. It is quite interesting to learn the main purposes why people get married in different cultures. The article was very informative to me. Love and marriage are considered to go together for an everlasting and strong relationship in different cultures, therefore it is necessary that people respect the way each culture takes on this issue of love and marriage. We will write a custom essay sample on is a critique on the top catagory Stephanie Coontz: â€Å"The Radical Idea of Marrying for Love† specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on is a critique on the top catagory Stephanie Coontz: â€Å"The Radical Idea of Marrying for Love† specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on is a critique on the top catagory Stephanie Coontz: â€Å"The Radical Idea of Marrying for Love† specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Summary The article demonstrates the idea of love and marriage in different cultures. Coontz explains in detail the history of marriage in different cultures worldwide. In addition, she illustrates how marriage has changed from being a necessity just for the community survival to being a basic fulfillment in people’s lives in terms of happiness and excitement. Historically, marriage was viewed as tool to survive things such as affectionate and passion had little or no place in most marriages. According to George Shaw’s theory, people should take marriage seriously by involving the idea of love so that they remain together until death separate them. In some cultures according to history, it was absurd for some to get married with the claim of being in love with the partner. However, that mentality changed in some cultures and currently, most people fall in love, get married and live together forever in love. It is still surprising that in some cultures, it was good for a person to get married then develop love later. In Marriage, in case love was accepted then it was only for a short time, such cultures did not encourage the idea that couples should expose their feeling to each other. Analysis of presentation Historically, it looked weird for a person to say that he or she is love. This is because it was seen as a big threat to the community. For instance, falling in love was seen as a social disruption behavior in ancient India. Love was perceived to be a destruction of the mind, which could only be treated through engaging in sexual intercourse. This could be either with the loving partner or just any person of opposite sex. According to Coontz, the fastest way to overcome temptation and desire is to engage in the act immediately, forget it and proceed with other useful issues. The husband could be forced to divorce his wife by his parents if the wife was not behaving as required by the family or if she failed to give birth to a specific child in terms of gender. This can be seen in some communities like China, too much love expressed between married couples was taken to be a threat to unity of the extended family. The husband could be encouraged to marry another wife or even get himself a concubine. Interestingly, if the husband was seen expressing too much to his wife in a romantic manner, the parents could send the wife away from their home. According to studies, love in the Chinese society meant a disapproved relationship. This led to researchers to find for an alternative term that they could replace with the word love, as they knew that such a radical new concept needed a special label. According to researchers, â€Å"marriage is not a real excuse for not loving† meaning that falling in love with a person outside marriage was permitted (Coontz 90). This was the way love was viewed in France during the 12th century. It was declared that if a man loved his wife so much, then he was considered a dull man and therefore no other person could wish to associate with him. People assumed that real love was only portrayed in books but it did not exist in the real world. Nevertheless, with time, the king fell in love although not with their legal partners. This was so because queens were supposed to keep secrets from their husbands, therefore this reveals that even the queens went out of their marriage to seek for love and affection from other men. Currently, there still some societies that do not take love to be the major purpose for their marriage. For instance in northern Cameroon, love is not considered as a legitimate feeling in marriages. â€Å"In many poor families and working-class societies, expression of too much love between married couples is perceived to be a disruptive act because it motivates the couple to isolate themselves for the huge web of dependence that builds the society† (Coontz 90). However, currently few societies have accepted the idea of love and have incorporated it successfully in their marriages and child upbringing. Countries like Western Europe and North America have established the entire process of new values on the manners in which they can plan and organize the issues of marriage, love and sexuality. These values have been proved to be useful thus are being spread all over the world. These values emphasizes that marriages are supposed to meet psychological and social needs more than ever before. There is supposed to be freedom in marriages, more understanding, love, less or no violence, and no gender discriminations as they used to be in the past. Response to the Presentation My general response on this article presentation is that it was an effective article because its ideas are informing and interesting thus of great use to me. Interestingly, I learned that love is not a necessity in marriage to different cultures, and some people just get married and then fall in love later. The author did her best in writing this article because it addressed important issues that are affecting many societies especially love and marriage. She emphasized the need to embrace love in marriages to avoid experiencing divorces and separation within families. The author succeeded in her presentation because her article was detailed well as required thus creates satisfaction to the reader. Conclusion The main purpose of marriage is for two people who are under the influence of passion to come together and share love until death separates them. Coontz in her article described the various ways in which different cultures view the idea of love and marriage. In her opinion, most people from different cultures get married and fall in love as the days pass by, but they do not get married because they are in love. The idea of love in many cultures does not exist; in fact, it is viewed as an abomination for someone to express too much love to his or her married partner. For instance, in Chinese society, any relationship based on love was considered a social threat to the extended family thus; it was not approved by the family. In France, any man seen to fall in love was isolated from others because he was viewed as not an active man in the society. Therefore, Coontz in her article has shown as the radical idea for marrying for love in many different cultures. Works Cited Coontz, Stephanie. Marriage, a history: from obedience to intimacy, or how love conquered marriage. New York, NY: Viking, 2005. Print.