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Knowledge of the survival rates of ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) chicks during the predispersal period is necessary for effective population management. We marked 76 ruffed grouse chicks using 2 radiotransmitter attachment procedures to determine the chick survival rate. Chick survival from near hatching (9-14 Jun) to fall dispersal (7 Sep) was 0.285 (SE = 0.098) in 1996 and 0.318 (SE = 0.087) in 1997. These rates were considerably lower than previous survival estimates for ruffed grouse chicks. Suturing transmitters externally was preferred over implanting them. Avian predators were the leading cause of chick mortality. Therefore, managers should consider the densities of avian predators when defining objectives for ruffed grouse recruitment.

Although point sampling has been used for more than 30 years to quantify leaf area index (LAI), this field technique has not been rigorously evaluated in sagebrush steppe plant communities. Leaf area index estimates obtained using different sampling pin inclinations or combinations of pin inclinations were evaluated in Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt. ssp. wyomingensis Beetle and Young), low sagebrush (Artemisia arbuscula Nutt.), and mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt. ssp. vaseyana [Rydb.] Beetle) communities within the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed near Boise, Ida. Leaf area index values determined by clipping and processing green foliage through a leaf area meter were used as evaluation standards. Pins inclined at 13 degrees from the horizontal, used alone or in combination with pins of 52 degrees and/or 90 degrees inclinations, performed poorly for estimating LAI in the Wyoming big sagebrush and low sagebrush communities. Estimating total LAI with either the combination of 52 degrees and 90 degrees angle pins or with 52 degrees or 90 degrees pins alone explained at least 96% of the variability in LAI standard values from the Wyoming big sagebrush and mountain big sagebrush communities. Using 52 degrees angle pins alone produced model fits similar to those obtained when the combination of 52 degrees and 90 degrees angle pins were used to estimate shrub, graminoid, and forb LAI across all 3 communities (P > 0.1). Collecting point data using 52 degrees angle pins often provided better or similar model fits with LAI standards compared to other pin angles but using 90 degrees angle pins offers a better compromise between practicality, efficiency, and accuracy. DOI:10.2458/azu_jrm_v54i5_clark

Rangeland plant communities of the Intermountain West differ in their ecology and management requirements. Successful management of extensive areas at plant community-level resolution first requires an efficient, cost-effective means of plant community classification and mapping. We evaluated the influence of image acquisition date and satellite imaging system on the accuracy of plant community maps created from multispectral satellite imagery of Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed (RCEW) (234 km2) in southwestern Idaho. Maps delineating 6 native and 2 non-native Intermountain plant communities were created from Landsat 5 TM and SPOT 3 HRV data using a maximum likelihood classification procedure. Map accuracy was assessed using ground reference points. Maps created from satellite data acquired during dry-down (early August) had higher overall accuracy (average = 70.5%) than from data acquired during peak growth (early June) (average = 54.4%). Overall accuracy of maps generated by Landsat (average = 60.1%) and SPOT (average = 65.5%) were statistically similar. Given their broad spatial coverages (3,600 to 31,450 km2 scene(-1), respectively), moderate resolutions (20 to 30 m pixels, respectively), and potential to provide high classification accuracies, the SPOT 3 HRV and Landsat 5 TM satellite systems were well-suited for classifying plant communities in the Reynolds Creek Watershed and similar areas of the Intermountain West. Practical procedures for plant community classification and map accuracy assessment are presented for use by natural resource managers. DOI:10.2458/azu_jrm_v54i2_clark

Carefully-managed livestock grazing has been offered as a tool to improve the forage quality of graminoids on big game winter range. Formal testing of this theory has thus far been done using hand clippers rather than livestock grazing. We report winter standing reproductive culm, crude protein, in vitro dry matter digestibility, and standing crop responses of bluebunch wheatgrass (Agropyron spicatum [Pursh] Scribn. &Smith), Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis Elmer), and elk sedge (Carex geyeri Boott) to late-spring domestic sheep grazing. The study was conducted in 1993 and 1994 on a big game winter range in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon. Sheep grazing and exclusion treatments were applied to 20-ha plots at 3 sites on the study area Targeted utilization for grazed plots was 50% graminoid standing crop removal during the boot stage of bluebunch wheatgrass. Grazing did not influence the number of standing reproductive culms per plant in bluebunch wheatgrass. Crude protein and in vitro dry matter digestibility of bluebunch wheatgrass in grazed plots increased by 1.0 and 4.3 percentage points, respectively over ungrazed plots. Grazing reduced the standing crop of bluebunch wheatgrass by 116.9 kg ha-1 DM. Standing Idaho fescue reproductive culms decreased by 0.7 culms plant-1 under grazing. Crude protein of Idaho fescue in grazed plots was 1.3 percentage points greater than in unglazed plots. Crude protein and in vitro dry matter digestibility responses of elk sedge were inconsistent between years and may be related to utilization or growth differences between years. The levels of forage quality improvement in bluebunch wheatgrass and Idaho fescue obtained in this study could benefit the nutritional status of wintering Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni Bailey). More research is needed regarding the effects of grazing on the winter forage quality of elk sedge. DOI:10.2458/azu_jrm_v53i1_clark

Spring livestock grazing has been suggested as a tool to improve winter forage quality of bluebunch wheatgrass (Agropyron spicatum [Pursh] Scribn. &Smith). Impacts on plant vigor and survival are important concerns associated with spring grazing. We report basal area change and mortality responses of bluebunch wheatgrass to 3 spring, 1 winter, and 3 spring + winter defoliation treatments. The study was conducted in l993 and 1994 at 2 sites in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon. Basal area of individual plants was measured shortly after application of the spring treatments and again approximately 1 year after treatment. Clipping the entire basal area of bluebunch wheatgrass plants to a 7.6-cm stubble height during the mid-boot phenological stage and during the inflorescence emergence stage produced 7.0 and 7.8% declines in live basal area, respectively. Unclipped control plants and plants having only one-half their basal area clipped to a 7.6-cm stubble height during the mid-boot stage exhibited 5.2 and 18.6% increases in live basal area, respectively. Combining the mid-boot/half-plant treatment with an early winter clipping to a 2.5-cm stubble height reduced the positive live basal area response to 6.0%. No additional declines in live basal area relative to the spring-only treatments were detected for combinations of the early winter treatment with the mid-boot/whole plant treatment and the inflorescence emergence treatment. Experiment-wide plant mortality was only 0.2%. If managed for a moderate level of defoliation where a portion of the basal and of each bunchgrass plant is left undefoliated, livestock grazing during the boot stage should have little negative impact on the vigor and survival of bluebunch wheatgrass under environmental conditions similar to northeastern Oregon.

The winter forage quality of bluebunch wheatgrass (Agropyron spicatum [Pursh] Scribn. &Smith) is generally inadequate for maintenance of wintering Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni Bailey). Previous attempts to improve the winter forage quality of bluebunch wheatgrass by clipping and livestock grazing have achieved mixed results. We report crude protein (CP), (in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD), and dry matter (DM) yield responses of bluebunch wheatgrass to 3 phenological stage/defoliation intensity treatment combinations. The study was conducted in 1993 and 1994 at 2 sites in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon. Bluebunch wheatgrass was hand clipped 1 to a 7.6-cm stubble height in early June under 1 of 3 treatment combinations: 1) mid-boot/whole-plant clipped, 2) mid-boot/one-half of the plant's basal area clipped, and 3) inflorescence emergence/whole-plant clipped. Early November levels of CP and IVDMD were greater under all 3 treatments compared to an unclipped control. Mean forage quality improvement over the control was greatest in the inflorescence emergence treatment with an improvement of 1.3 percentage points for CP and 5.8 percentage points for IVDMD. Dry matter yield of the control exceeded that of all clipping treatments. Increases in forage quality resulting from forage conditioning treatments may be important to the viability of elk populations wintering on rangelands where forage quality, rather than quantity, is limiting.

Change-readiness is the ability of an information systems (IS) organization to deliver strategic IT applications within short development cycle times by utilizing a highly skilled internal IS workforce. This paper examines two important questions: What are the design elements of a change-ready IS organization? How can transformations to such designs be effectively managed? Insights to these questions are generated through a case study of the conceptualization and implementation of an innovative organization design within a large IS unit at Bell Atlantic, a Regional Bell Operating Company. First, a rich description is provided of the components (strategy, structure, processes, people skills, reward systems) of a centers of excellence (CoE) design that has yielded measurable gains in IS performance. Then, an analysis of the two-year implementation of this CoE design is provided in terms of anticipated and unanticipated change actions, as well as a summary of "lessons learned." The conclusion describes the design as a model worthy of consideration by other IS managers for developing change-readiness IT capabilities. Comparisons with other models for the IS organization are then drawn.

1. Monitoring programmes that assess ecosystem changes depend on indicator species or assemblages. Indicators should be sensitive and their response easily measured. This study assessed the suitability of adult male Odonata as indicators of biotope quality along the Sabie River in the Kruger National Park (KNP). 2. Odonate diversity was investigated at 25 sites along the Sabie River using univariate statistical procedures. The KNP supports 81 species, 59 recorded during this study (16 for the first time). 3. Sampling sites were classified by Two Way INdicator SPecies Analysis (TWINSPAN) and ordinated by DEtrended CORrespondence ANAlysis (DECORANA), based on the abundance of adult male Odonata. A predictive model relating Odonate species-groups to biotope variables, was formulated. 4. Classification led to the recognition of 10 ecologically meaningful biotope groups, each with an indicator species and a characteristic assemblage of associated species. 5. Multiple Discriminant Analysis (MDA) indicated that shade cover, permanency and flow rate could discriminate between biotope types defined by TWINSPAN. Variation in site membership between MDA and TWINSPAN suggests interaction between variables in determining species membership. 6. Biotope variables were incorporated into a model which predicted the membership of 82% of sites to the TWINSPAN groups; shade cover alone correctly predicted 44% of the sites. 7. The suitability of the Odonata as indicators of biotope quality, and its consequences for management are discussed.

This study examines the small-sample properties of generalized method of moments (GMM) and maximum likelihood estimators of nonlinear models of covariance structure. It considers the properties of estimates for a simple factor model, the Hall and Mishkin model of consumption and income, and a simple structural vector autoregression-type error model. This analysis establishes three basic results. First, optimally weighted GMM estimation yields some biased parameter estimates. Second, GMM estimation yields a model-specification test with size substantially greater than the asymptotic size. Third, these problems are mitigated when the number of overidentifying restrictions in a model is reduced.

There were clear differences in our study between the management strategies employed by public agencies and those favored by private agencies. These differences, however, appeared to reflect the realities of financing rather than any fundamental differences in their orientation toward public service. There was no clear evidence that particular management practices affected an agency's performance on measures of financial access or acceptance of referrals from public hospitals. Government regulation and pressure from advocacy groups probably helped to maintain private agencies' focus on these and other public goals. From a public policy perspective, choosing a provider solely on the basis of ownership status is, at best, a naive approach to providing public mental health treatment. Not only is there great variation in process and practices within both private and public groups, but external factors such as competition from private practitioners may also exert a stronger influence on agency behavior than does ownership status. Because most current proposals for health care reform rely heavily on increased competition among providers to achieve their goals, the importance of ownership status as a predictor of conduct or performance may be further diminished. The emphasis on competition could increase differences between urban agencies and those in rural areas where there is less competition and, therefore, require different contracting approaches. As we move toward a health care system based on competition, administrators and policy makers will be forced to abandon their reliance on stereotypical public/private agency behavior as guides for policy decisions. Instead, they will have to consider more carefully the effects of political and market influences as well as agency characteristics when choosing community mental health providers.

Using a dynamical systems approach, we examined the development of intralimb coordination over the first year of independent walking. The segmental motion of the thigh and shank and their intralimb coordinative relationship were modeled dynamically as a system of coupled limit cycles. To test the predictions of such a dynamic model in the development of intralimb coordination, 3 infants were filmed from the onset of their first upright independent walking steps, and weekly for the next month and then every month thereafter until they had been walking for 1 year. 3 adults also were included for comparison. Analysis of the kinematic data derived from the film revealed that at the emergence of walking, the limit cycle system displayed instability in several aspects. With walking experience, however, the limit cycle regime became more attractive, such that by 3 months of walking the infants appeared to have found an adult-like stable coordinative relationship between the 2 segments. This pattern of instability followed by stability is consistent with the transitional behaviors of dynamical systems. Several potential control parameters are discussed that might contribute to the stabilization of the walking behavior. The utility of employing a dynamical systems approach for understanding developing behavioral systems is discussed.

IN THE PAST TWO DECADES, SCHOLARS OF AMERICAN MATERIAL CULTURE, a field now generally defined as the study of society's values, ideals, and assumptions through artifacts, have produced an exciting body of innovative writing. I Focusing their attention on physical objects that range from paintings and buildings to home furnishings, clothing, machines, and landscape, they have expanded the knowledge of the built environment and have created new methodologies for the analysis of a wide variety of artifacts. 2 Scholarship in this field has been a collaborative, interdisciplinary effort, drawing upon the expertise of museum curators, social historians, geographers, anthropologists, art historians, American Studies specialists, and others. Although the interdisciplinary nature of material culture studies has produced innovative scholarship, it also has been a source of problems. Specialists who work in one field, social history for example, are sometimes unaware of the most recent writings in other fields, such as art history.

A herpesvirus isolated from waterfowl dying of duck enteritis (DE) was tentatively designated the Sheridan-83. It was serologically related to the original Holland and Lake Andes (LA) strains of duck enteritis viruses (DEV). Other biological characteristics indicated that the Sheridan-83 was more closely related to the Holland strain than to the LA virus. The Sheridan-83 was nonpathogenic to ducks, and ducks inoculated with this virus developed resistance to challenge with the virulent strain LA.

Missionary groups, including the Jesuits were originally entrusted with civilizing the Native Americans. In the 1830s two Potawatomi villages offer an interesting contrast to the acculturation efforts of the Jesuits. The success of one mission and the failure of the other was the result of a complex mixture of historical, cultural, and ideological variables. The differences between the Christianity first and civilization first approaches used by the Jesuits as well as their attitudes toward Potawatomi culture were also significant in determining the outcome of their efforts.