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Conservation of predators requires a comprehensive understanding of their life history and ecology, including the delineation of temporal and spatial dietary habits. Gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus), Willow Ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus), and Rock Ptarmigan (L. muta) are Arctic specialists, strongly linked in a dynamic predator-prey relationship, and facing similar conservation threats. We studied Gyrfalcon predation of ptarmigan on Alaska's Seward Peninsula and investigated whether species-specific contributions to diet reflected preferential selection or exploitation of the more abundant prey species. Additionally, we examined how the sex ratios of ptarmigan in Gyrfalcon diet varied throughout the breeding season. We collected ptarmigan prey remains from in and around occupied Gyrfalcon nesting sites in 2017, and identified species and sex by molecular techniques. We compared proportions of the two ptarmigan species in Gyrfalcon diet to proportions of the Rock and Willow Ptarmigans' preferred habitat around Gyrfalcon nesting sites (n = 205 skeletal remains from 12 nests), and compared sex ratios of ptarmigan prey remains temporally (n = 252 skeletal remains from 12 nests). We found that prey remains were more likely to be Rock Ptarmigan when areas around Gyrfalcon sites had greater slope and higher elevation (i.e., they better matched the habitat preferences of Rock Ptarmigan), which may suggest Gyrfalcon diet tracked ptarmigan availability without preference for species. Ptarmigan remains were biased toward male birds during June, when most female ptarmigan are incubating on concealed nests. Although we recommend additional analysis of these topics, our findings further our understanding of Gyrfalcon and ptarmigan ecology as the Arctic faces rapid changes to its climate and landscape.

La identificacion del habitat reproductivo es esencial para la implementacion de esfuerzos de conservacion en especies amenazadas. Usando siete variables naturales y antropogenicas y basados en 27 intentos de anidacion a lo largo de 17 anos, creamos un modelo de distribucion de especies para el habitat de cria de Harpia harpyja a traves de 5636 km2 en la Region del Pacifico de la Provincia de Darien, Panama. El habitat mas adecuado tuvo una alta cobertura de bosque, una baja altitud y una proximidad relativamente cercana a rios. Identificamos asociaciones de habitat reproductivo especificas para H. harpyja y encontramos que el 34% del area analizada incluyo habitat reproductivo muy adecuado. A escala regional, el habitat mas adecuado fue encontrado predominantemente en las cuatro cuencas presentes en la porcion norte del area de estudio y tambien a lo largo de la costa del Pacifico. La cuenca del Jurado, en el sur, presento relativamente poco habitat adecuado, debido a una alta cantidad de terreno montanoso. De las tres areas protegidas en la region, el Parque Nacional Darien incluyo una cantidad similar de habitat comparada con las vecinas y relativamente menores Reserva Forestal Chepigana y Corredor Biologico Serrania de Bagre. Esto resalta la importancia de los bosques del norte para la conservacion de H. harpyja en Darien. En terminos generales, las areas con mayor cantidad de influencia humana estuvieron asociadas con mayor perdida de bosque y menos habitat adecuado. Por ende, proponemos la necesidad de estrategias comunitarias para la gestion sostenible de los recursos y mitigar los niveles de disturbios forestales en areas donde H. harpyja coexiste con humanos. Considerando la gran importancia del habitat reproductivo para H. harpyja en el Corredor Biologico Serrania de Bagre y la Reserva Forestal Chepigana, recomendamos una revision de la legislacion que gobierna el uso extractivo de los recursos naturales en estas dos areas protegidas. [Traduccion de los autores editada]

Parasitic nest flies Philornis spp. are a driving force threatening the extinction of bird species endemic to Neotropical islands such as the Galapagos, where introduced Philornis downsi negatively impacts reproductive success of naive avian hosts. Elsewhere in the Neotropics, such as in the Caribbean region where Philornis nest flies are native, effects of Philornis on host productivity are poorly known. We manipulated parasitism by the native Hispaniolan nest fly Philornis pici on a critically endangered endemic host, Ridgway's hawk Buteo ridgwayi, to study the impact of nest fly myiasis on hawk breeding success with the goal of providing a management option for endangered species until broad‐scale solutions can be found. Our treatment protocol was enough to reduce P. pici abundance by 89% and increase probability of fledging by 179% for treated nestlings. Our results indicate that parasitism by nest flies decreases survival and fledging success of nestling Ridgway's hawks and is a possible factor in the decline of the species. To the best of our knowledge, this work represents the first quantitative evidence of nest fly impact on survival or productivity in a non‐passerine host.

Survival and recruitment estimates are important for predicting population viability and the efficacy of translocations. This information requires intensive monitoring postrelease, which is often economically or logistically infeasible. Since 2009, juveniles of the critically endangered Ridgway's Hawk (Buteo ridgwayi) have been translocated from Los Haitises National Park to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Here, we use multistate capture–recapture models to estimate survival and recruitment of translocated Ridgway's Hawks. We further examine whether survival or recruitment differed between sexes or translocation status (translocated vs. wild-reared birds in Los Haitises). Survival was relatively high for breeders, nonbreeders, and juveniles, and did not differ by translocation status or sex. Translocated juveniles were recruited into the breeding population at Punta Cana at more than double the rate of wild-reared juveniles in Los Haitises—likely because more unoccupied territories were available...

Research quality can be evaluated from citations or from the prestige of journals publishing the research. We relate salary of tenured University of California (UC) economists to their lifetime publications of 5,500 articles and to the 140,000 citations to these articles. Citations hardly affect salary, especially in top-ranked UC departments where impacts of citations are less than one-tenth those of journals. In lower ranked departments, and when journal quality is less comprehensively measured, effects of citations on salary increase. If journal quality is just measured by counting articles in journal tiers, apparent effects of citations are overstated. (JEL A14, J44)

Nest collapse has been documented in many bird species, with little discussion of adult behavior following collapse. We present evidence of a partial collapse of a Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus) nest during the nestling period and the subsequent adult response. A nest camera captured the nest collapse and showed one adult Gyrfalcon holding a live nestling in its beak before leaving the nest. Later, we found the surviving nestling alive in an alternate nest 5 m from the original nest, presumably transported there by the adult. We believe this is the first report of an adult Gyrfalcon moving a nestling to a new location following nest disturbance. We place this observation into a context of Gyrfalcon nesting behavior described in published sources. The continued use of nest cameras may provide additional documentation and insight into this behavior and its prevalence in birds.

A welcome to the inaugural edition of the August Wilson Journal, written by the managing editor.

This article focuses on the stability of rankings of academics by research productivity in the context of short-term decision-making. In particular, the growing use of national research assessment exercises (NRAE) has increased interest in identifying the contributions of individual researchers to an assessment unit’s output and ranking. The article concentrates on the assessment of individuals using plausible journal ranking schemes. We find that despite statistical evidence of a high degree of stability across journal ranking schemes as indicated by rank correlation coefficients, the particular ranking scheme used is of great importance to individual researchers. This applies with particular force to academics working within a NRAE environment based on individual assessment such as New Zealand’s PBRF.

There are currently four world bird lists referenced by different stakeholders including governments, academic journals, museums and citizen scientists. Consolidation of these lists is a conservation and research priority. In reconciling lists, care must be taken to ensure agreement in taxonomic concepts—the actual groups of individual organisms circumscribed by a given scientific epithet. Here, we compare species-level taxonomic concepts for raptors across the four lists, highlighting areas of disagreement. Of the 665 species-level raptor taxa observed at least once among the four lists, only 453 (68%) were consistent across all four lists. The Howard and Moore Checklist of the Birds of the World contains the fewest raptor species (528), whereas the International Ornithological Community World Bird List contains the most (580) and these two lists are in the most disagreement. Of the disagreements, 67% involved owls, and Indonesia was the country containing the most disagreed upon species (169). Finally, we calculated the amount of species-level agreement across lists for each avian order and found raptor orders spread throughout the rankings of agreement. Our results emphasize the need to reconcile the four world bird lists for all avian orders, highlight broad disagreements across lists and identify hotspots of disagreement for raptors, in particular.

The peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) and the gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus) are top avian predators of Arctic ecosystems. Although existing monitoring efforts are well established for both species, collaboration of activities among Arctic scientists actively involved in research of large falcons in the Nearctic and Palearctic has been poorly coordinated. Here we provide the first overview of Arctic falcon monitoring sites, present trends for long-term occupancy and productivity, and summarize information describing abundance, distribution, phenology, and health of the two species. We summarize data for 24 falcon monitoring sites across the Arctic, and identify gaps in coverage for eastern Russia, the Arctic Archipelago of Canada, and East Greenland. Our results indicate that peregrine falcon and gyrfalcon populations are generally stable, and assuming that these patterns hold beyond the temporal and spatial extents of the monitoring sites, it is reasonable to suggest that breeding populations at broader scales are similarly stable. We have highlighted several challenges that preclude direct comparisons of Focal Ecosystem Components (FEC) attributes among monitoring sites, and we acknowledge that methodological problems cannot be corrected retrospectively, but could be accounted for in future monitoring. Despite these drawbacks, ample opportunity exists to establish a coordinated monitoring program for Arctic-nesting raptor species that supports CBMP goals. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-019-01300-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

This paper compares the rate of citation-capture across the social sciences, sciences, business school disciplines and economics. It also explores differences in the rate of citation-capture between leading journals in economics and a representative science category, and between higher and lower ranked economics journals. Short-term citation counting as used in impact factors and journal ranking schemes is shown to favour sciences over social sciences. In addition, within economics, short-term impact factors are systematically biased towards lower ranked journals. Our results imply that the use of leading multidisciplinary journal rankings as a proxy for direct citations introduces an unreported bias in research assessment. Such biases are in addition to those attributable to the well-known differences in the total number of cites received by papers across various disciplines.

Summary 1. The availability of reliable information on tree climbing methods is critical for the development of canopy science and for the safety of workers accessing the forest canopy. 2. To assess the breadth and quality of information contained in published climbing information, we performed searches in Web of Science and Google Scholar and evaluated 54 published sources on 10 predetermined criteria related to safety. 3. We found a high incidence of unsafe recommendations that, if followed, could result in serious injury or death. Common errors included recommendations for equipment not suitable for tree climbing, advocating methods suitable for rock climbing but that can result in falls and trauma in tree climbing, and outdated information that no longer reflects best practices. 4. We conclude by providing safety recommendations and a short review of tree climbing methods. This article thus serves as a guide for finding and interpreting best sources of methods for canopy access.

Populations of Red-throated Caracaras (Ibycter americanus) have been extirpated or are in serious decline throughout Middle America. We describe the first nest outside South America and provide only the third nest description for the species. We observed four adults and one immature Red-throated Caracara provide cooperative care to a single nestling at a nest in a region dominated by pine-oak forest in departamento (dpto.) de Olancho, Honduras. The nest was a bowl-shaped structure of branches and pine needles located at the mid-canopy level of a pine tree (Pinus oocarpa), and is the first nest described in an ecosystem other than humid broadleaf forest. We report the first observation of adult Red-throated Caracaras using a nest as a short-term food cache, as well as the first observation of Red-throated Caracara taking fledgling birds as prey. Although Red-throated Caracaras are considered a resident of humid broadleaf forest, we suggest that pine-oak forests may be an important habitat for the ...

The ranking of an academic journal is important to authors, universities, journal publishers, and research funders. Rankings are gaining prominence as countries adopt regular research assessment exercises that especially reward publication in high-impact journals. Yet even within a rankings-oriented discipline like economics there is no agreement on how aggressively lower-ranked journals are down-weighted and in how wide is the universe of journals considered. Moreover, since it is typically less costly for authors to cite superfluous references, whether of their own volition or prompted by editors, than it is to ignore relevant ones, rankings based on citations may be easily manipulated. In contrast, when the merits of publication in one journal or another are debated during hiring, promotion, and salary decisions, the evaluators are choosing over actions with costly consequences. We therefore look to the academic labor market, using data on economists in the University of California system to relate their lifetime publications in 700 different academic journals to salary. We test amongst various sets of journal rankings, and publication discount rates, to see which are most congruent with the returns implied by the academic labor market. (JEL A14, I23, J44)

Species considered raptors are subjects of monitoring programs, textbooks, scientific societies, legislation, and multinational agreements. Yet no standard definition for the synonymous terms “raptor” or “bird of prey” exists. Groups, including owls, vultures, corvids, and shrikes are variably considered raptors based on morphological, ecological, and taxonomic criteria, depending on the authors. We review various criteria previously used to define raptors and we present an updated definition that incorporates current understanding of bird phylogeny. For example, hunting live vertebrates has been largely accepted as an ecological trait of raptorial birds, yet not all species considered raptors are raptorial (e.g., Palm-nut Vulture [Gypohierax angolensis]), and not all raptorial birds are considered raptors (e.g., skuas [Stercorariidae]). Acute vision, a hooked bill, and sharp talons are the most commonly used morphological characters for delineating raptors; however, using those characters as criteria may cause confusion because they can be vague and exceptions are sometimes made. Old World vultures, for example, are in the family Accipitridae along with hawks and eagles, and thus are usually considered raptors despite their lack of sharp talons. We define raptors as species within orders that evolved from raptorial landbirds (Telluraves) in which most species maintained raptorial lifestyles. Raptors are therefore all species within Accipitriformes, Cathartiformes, Falconiformes, and Strigiformes. Importantly, we believe that seriemas (Cariamiformes) should also be considered raptors. Our definition combines phylogeny with morphology and ecology, and avoids ambiguity associated with owls, vultures, and shrikes. Establishing a common definition of raptors should improve interpretability across studies and lessen ambiguity of research and management recommendations.

Climate and landscape change are expected to affect species' distributions and interactions, with potentially harmful consequences for specialist predators. Availability of optimal prey can affect reproductive success in raptors, especially in the Arctic, where dramatic differences in prey availability occur both within and between years. However, behavioral responses of dietary specialist, resident predators such as Gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus) to changes in prey availability remain poorly understood. To improve understanding of how climate-driven changes in prey availability may affect diet of avian predators in the Arctic, we characterized Gyrfalcon diet on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, in 2014 and 2015 from images representing 2008 prey items obtained by motion-activated cameras at 20 nests. We documented two important dietary shifts: the proportion of ptarmigan (Willow Ptarmigan [Lagopus lagopus] and Rock Ptarmigan [L. muta]) in the diet declined throughout the brood-rearing period in both years, and also differed between years. In both cases, ptarmigan were replaced by Arctic ground squirrels (Urocitellus parryii) in the diet. Despite shifts in prey composition, dietary breadth did not change, which revealed a facultative shift in prey use in which Gyrfalcons relied on prey of large size rather than prey of a particular taxon. We describe previously undocumented prey-use patterns during Gyrfalcon breeding, specifically an interchange between two prey species that are keystones in tundra ecology. These results are important for informing predictive models of climate change and adaptive species management plans. Further study of the interchange between prey types described in this study can strengthen insight into key ecosystem processes, and the cause and effect of potential decoupling of predator-prey interactions.

This article presents an annotated listing of 117 previously uncatalogued short stories that Hemingway may have read at Windemere, the family cottage, during the summers of his formative years. It also presents speculation regarding a now obscure literary figure named Brander Matthews, who may have edited or otherwise exerted influence in the selection of works included in these twenty volumes, thus influencing Hemingway indirectly. Matthews’s ideas about the principles and aesthetics of the short story genre, which square in some ways with Hemingway’s own, may have exerted a more direct influence, as Hemingway owned Matthews’s book on the subject.

This paper concerns the relationship between the assessment of the research of individual academics by peer or expert review teams with a variety of bibliometric schemes based on journal quality weights. Specifically, for a common group of economists from New Zealand departments of economics the relationship between Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF) Research Output measures for those submitting new research portfolios in 2006 are compared with evaluations of journal-based research over the 2000–2005 assessment period. This comparison identifies the journal weighting schemes that appear most similar to PBRF peer evaluations. The paper provides an indication of the ‘power or aggressiveness’ of PBRF evaluations in terms of the weighting given to quality. The implied views of PBRF peer review teams are also useful in assessing common assumptions made in evaluating journal based research.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relevance of the citation-based ‘h’ and ‘g’ indexes as a means for measuring research output in economics. This study is unique in that it is the first to utilize the ‘h’ and ‘g’ indexes in the context of a time limited evaluation period and to provide comprehensive coverage of all academic economists in all university-based economics departments within a nation state. For illustration purposes we have selected New Zealand’s Performance Based Research Fund (PBRF) as our evaluation scheme. In order to provide a frame of reference for ‘h’ and ‘g’ index output measures, we have also estimated research output using a number of journal-based weighting schemes. In general, our findings suggest that ‘h’ and ‘g’ index scores are strongly associated with low-powered journal ranking schemes and weakly associated with high powered journal weighting schemes. More specifically, we found the ‘h’ and ‘g’ indexes to suffer from a lack of differentiation: for example, 52 percent of all participants received a score of zero under both measures, and 92 and 89 percent received scores of two or less under ‘h’ and ‘g’, respectively. Overall, our findings suggest that ‘h’ and ‘g’ indexes should not be incorporated into a PBRF-like framework. (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

New Zealand's academic research assessment scheme, the Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF), was launched in 2002 with the stated objective of increasing average research quality in the nation's universities. Evaluation rounds were conducted in 2003, 2006 and 2012. In this article, we use 22 different journal weighting schemes to generate output estimates of refereed journal article and page production for three 6-year periods (1994--9; 2000--5 and 2006--11). These periods reflect a pre-PBRF environment, a mixed assessment period, and a pure PBRF research environment, respectively. Our findings indicate that, on average, research productivity, defined in either article or page terms, has increased since the introduction of the PBRF. However, this outcome is due to a major increase in the quantity of articles and pages produced per capita that has more than off-set a decline in the quality of published outputs since the introduction of the PBRF. In other words, our findings suggest that the PBRF has failed to achieve its stated goal of increasing average research quality, but it has resulted in substantial gains in productivity achieved via large increases in the quantity of refereed journal articles. Copyright The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com, Oxford University Press.

The Gauertal incident in “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” employs elements of an archetypal hospitality plot involving aid for a pursued man, a plot previously employed by Jack London, Joseph Conrad, Robert Louis Stevenson, Victor Hugo, Homer, and others as well as by Hemingway himself. The essay locates these influences in short story collections recently found in the library of the Hemingway family’s Windemere Cottage. Elucidation of the hospitality plot in Harry’s reminiscences, particularly those of the secretaries in the snow, the attack on the Austrian officers’ leave train, and the death of Williamson, aids in interpretation of the story’s essential conundrums, the frozen leopard carcass and Harry’s death flight to Kilimanjaro’s summit.

Powdered, thawed composited, and fresh frozen fish tissues were analyzed for Hg, Se, As, and Br. Experiments were designed to measure or estimate upper limits of long-term storage, drying, and instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) irradiation-related analyte losses. Tissue was analyzed as received (dried, if necessary, for INAA) and treated with l -cysteine to determine if such treatment reduces analyte loss, especially for Hg. Untreated tissues experienced large (23–49%) volatile Hg losses during irradiation. l -Cysteine treatment followed by freeze drying reduced Hg losses to 0.9–3.5%. Desiccation over Mg(ClO 4 ) 2 and oven drying at 40 °C of treated tissues were less successful at reducing Hg irradiation loss. Irradiation losses for volatile Se, As, and Br species were smaller, ranging from 0.06–0.4%, l -cysteine treatment enhanced Se drying loss. There was little evidence of element loss during long-term storage at −80 °C, except for an 8% loss from Hg in desiccator dried, l -cysteine treated powdered fish protein.

Anticoincidence instrumental neutron activation analysis was used to analyze three portions each of five fresh-weight FDA Total Diet Study seafoods from 3 Market Basket collections for fiscal years 2006–2008. Portions were treated with l-cysteine solutions to enhance retention of Hg during irradiation then dried at room temperature over magnesium perchlorate. Results or limits of detection were obtained for 33 elements. In general, results agreed with those available from FDA’s Kansas city field laboratory (KAN-DO). Of three shrimp composites analyzed, one showed mass fractions of Ag, Fe, rare earths, U, Th, and Mo significantly higher (up to a factor of 10) than the other two shrimp composites. The same shrimp composite showed a lower Hg result (about 50 % after accounting for any irradiation loss) compared to the KAN-DO value. This may represent a drying loss. There were other indications of Hg loss during the drying process. SRM 1947 Lake Michigan Fish Tissue, run as a control, yielded an INAA Hg mass fraction 20 % lower (corrected for irradiation losses) than the certified value, similar to the difference between the INAA (0.171 mg/kg Hg) and KAN-DO (0.211 mg/kg Hg) results for a TDS canned tuna composite. Because previous studies showed that l-cysteine effectively sequesters inorganic Hg, these discrepancies likely represent methyl mercury loss. INAA results for As, Fe, Rb, and Se were in good agreement with SRM 1947 certified values.

U. S. Food and Drug Administration in-house reference material (RM) Cocoa Powder and National Institute of Standards and Technology Standard RMs (SRMs) 1515 apple leaves, 1547 peach leaves, 1571 orchard leaves, 1566a oyster tissue, and 1568a rice flour were co-irradiated together with polyethylene blanks and analyzed for Hg and Se by anticoincidence instrumental neutron activation analysis. The three botanical SRM portions showed a combined Hg recovery of 70 % while the other portions showed a combined Hg recovery of 169 %, indicating that volatile Hg was lost from botanical SRMs and absorbed by the other irradiated portions. Total Hg recovery for all portions was 82 %. Se results showed no evidence of cross-contamination and all results agreed with certified and known values. National Research Council of Canada Certified RMs DOLT-3 dogfish liver, TORT-2 lobster hepatopancreas, and DORM-3 fish protein were separately analyzed either with no treatment or after treatment with l-cysteine solutions followed by drying over magnesium perchlorate. Each set of portions was co-irradiated with polyethylene and treated filter blanks. Analysis of all components of each treated portion irradiation package showed that essentially all Hg was retained within the package. Treated DOLT-3 portions (inorganic Hg content 53 %) showed a tenfold improvement with 99 % Hg retention. Hg retention for DORM-3 (7 % inorganic Hg) was 85 % (a twofold improvement) while retention for TORT-2 (44 % inorganic Hg), was 94 %, similar to that for untreated portions (96 %). Small irradiation losses (≤0.5 %) of volatile species of Se, As, and Br were observed.

This paper utilises a human-capital approach for ranking the research productivity of academic departments. Our approach provides rankings in terms of residual research output after controlling for the key characteristics of each department's academic staff. More specifically, we estimate residual research output rankings for all of New Zealand's economics departments based on their publication performance over the 2000 to 2006 period. We do so after taking into account the following characteristics of each department's academic staff: gender, experience, seniority, academic credentials and academic rank. The paper demonstrates that the rankings generated by the residual research approach and those generated by traditional approaches to research rankings may be significantly different for some departments. These differences are important in determining the likely efficiency impact of research assessment exercises.

Perspectives on Rangeland Management Education and Research in Argentina DOI:10.2458/azu_rangelands_v33i1_anderson

Birds of the forest canopy are an integral component of bird communities of neotropical forests but remain largely unstudied, inhibiting any broad characterization of their assemblages. We present the first description of a canopy-bird assemblage from Middle America and, on the basis of > 11000 detections in lowland rainforests in Honduras and Amazonian Brazil, compare two distant canopy-bird assemblages. The richness of canopy birds at the two sites was similar despite the much higher richness of forest birds in Brazil. Furthermore, abundance distributions differed significantly: in Honduras the assemblage was dominated by a small number of superabundant species and had fewer rare species, whereas in Brazil it had fewer abundant species and was thus more even. Omnivores and insectivores dominated the assemblages in terms of species richness, but omnivores were numerically more abundant. Species of forest edges and open habitats, sometimes considered an important component of forestcanopy avifau...

SummaryThe Honduran Emerald Amazilia luciae is endemic to dry forests of Honduras and currently recognised as ‘Critically Endangered.’ Here we present the first modern assessment of its distribution, ecology, and conservation, based partly on our rediscovery of the species in western Honduras and on our observations in three Honduran departments. We found that dry forests inhabited by the emerald differed in structure and species composition between eastern and western Honduras, where we observed emeralds in open-canopied deciduous thorn forests and closed-canopied semi-deciduous woodlands, respectively. We interpret these differences in light of the geological and anthropogenic origins of dry forests in Honduras, and discuss the implications of such origins for the conservation of dry forests. Although our findings expand the known distribution and population size of the species, its status as ‘Critically Endangered’ is warranted due to its restricted distribution in dry forest fragments and increasing human pressures on this habitat.

Analytical capabilities of a handheld X-ray tube analyzer for analysis of beverages were evaluated. Sets of standard solutions for the elements Hg, As, Pb, and Cd were prepared with mass fractions up to 5000 mg/kg. A thirst quencher beverage was spiked with these elements up to mass fractions of 2500 mg/kg. Portions of these solutions were placed in standard X-ray fluorescence (XRF) cells, as well as the original container, and analyzed by using a field portable Innov-X -6000s XRF tube-type analyzer. Uncorrected analyzer output usually yielded qualitative or semiquantitative results for the spiked beverages in X-ray cells. Average correction factors applied to analyzer output yielded accurate (in terms of z-scores) quantitative results for As above 20 mg/kg and qualitative or semiquantitative results for the other elements. Weighted quadratic fit calibrations provided accurate quantitative or semiquantitative results for all elements at levels above 20 mg/kg. The instrument's preset X-ray overlap correction algorithm worked well for the beverage spiked with all four elements. Spiked beverages analyzed through the wall of the original polyethylene terephthalate container produced accurate results within measurement uncertainties after application of container wall correction factors.

Birds of the forest canopy are important components of tropical forest ecosystems, but difficulty of access or viewing into the canopy complicates their study. If ground methods are biased against canopy birds, as has been suggested, this bias could affect our understanding of forest ecology as well as biological monitoring and conservation practices. This study is the first to quantitatively compare results from ground- and canopy-based methods of censusing canopy birds. I used three methods to assess differences in ground-based and canopy-based methods for detecting forest birds in a 100-ha plot of lowland forest in northern Honduras: (1) point counts from the ground, (2) 22 repeat censuses from two canopy trees, and (3) single censuses from 22 canopy trees. I counted birds for a full annual cycle from April 2006 to April 2007 and recorded 157 species in over 4000 individual detections. Ground methods significantly underestimated species and familial richness as well as abundance of individual...

A field-portable X-ray fluorescence analyzer, factory-calibrated for soil analysis, was used to measure bromine (Br) mass fractions in reference materials, flour, bakery products, malted barley, selected U.S. Food and Drug Administration Total Diet Study foods, and other food products. By using a calibration based on instrumental neutron activation analysis results for Br in reference materials, accurate quantitative results, confirmed by z-scores, could be obtained for mass fractions of about 255 mg/kg. These results confirmed accuracy of results (with larger uncertainties) obtained by applying a simple correction factor to the analyzer's output value. Results showed that very short analysis times (

This paper considers the research productivity of New Zealand based economics departments from 2000 to 2006. It examines journal based research output across departments and individuals using six output measures. We show that the faculty at Otago and Canterbury as of April 2007 performed consistently well over the period, with Otago generally the highest ranked department. The output measures used place different emphasis on ‘quality’ versus ‘quantity’. Which measure is used has a significant influence on the rankings of Auckland, Victoria and Waikato. The inclusion of ‘visitors’ and the influence of research stars are also considered.

Thiocyanate ranks after perchlorate as a potent inhibitor of iodide uptake by the thyroid but may be more concentrated in some food items such as milk products as to supersede perchlorate as the goitrogen of concern. A column-switching anion-exchange chromatographic method with UV spectral detection was developed to measure and confirm iodide and thiocyanate in powders of dry milk and infant formula. An aqueous solution was subjected to centrifugal ultrafiltration, the ultrafiltrate was cleaned up on a carbon solid-phase extraction column, and an aliquot was transferred to a precolumn for enrichment and subsequent injection onto an analytical column. In infant formula samples, thiocyanate was found at 2.0-5.1 mg/kg in five of seven milk-based products and was not found in the other two nor in three soy-based products tested (0.2 mg/kg LOQ); iodide was found at 0.3-1.3mg/kg (0.04 mg/kg LOQ). In 13 dry milk samples, thiocyanate was found at 27-38 mg/kg (1 mg/kg LOQ), and iodide was found at 1.8-3.2 mg/kg (0.2 mg/kg LOQ).

In the first comprehensive survey of tern colonies in the Honduras Bay Islands, 46 cays were surveyed in 2005 and 2006 and three species of terns were observed nesting in colonies on ten individual cays. Apparent colony turnover was high between years for Least (Sternula antillarum) and Roseate (Sterna dougallii) Terns, from 71% to 100%, respectively. The first nest records of Bridled Tern (Onychoprion anaethetus) for Honduras are documented.

Natural human-like human-robot interaction (NHL-HRI) requires the robot to be skilled both at recognizing and producing many subtle human behaviors, often taken for granted by humans. We suggest a rough division of these requirements for NHL-HRI into three classes of properties: (1) social behaviors, (2) goal-oriented cognition, and (3) robust intelligence, and present the novel DIARC architecture for complex affective robots for human-robot interaction, which aims to meet some of those requirements. We briefly describe the functional properties of DIARC and its implementation in our ADE system. Then we report results from human subject evaluations in the laboratory as well as our experiences with the robot running ADE at the 2005 AAAI Robot Competition in the Open Interaction Event and Robot Exhibition.

This “Interchange” discussion took place online over the course of several months in the fall of 2005. We wanted the “Interchange” to be free flowing; therefore we encouraged participants not only to respond to questions posed by the JAH but also to communicate with each other directly. What follows is an edited version of the very lively online conversation that resulted. We hope JAH readers find it of interest.

Two prompt gamma-ray activation analysis (PGAA) facilities at the NIST Center for Neutron Research have been used routinely to perform elemental analyses of a variety of materials. Results from these analyses are usually expressed as mass fraction values with expanded uncertainties. The expanded uncertainty consists of the combined uncertainty multiplied by the appropriate coverage factor (k) required to achieve a 95% confidence interval. The combined uncertainty includes the uncertainties associated with preparation, irradiation, and γ-ray spectrometry of samples and standards, and corrections for γ-rays from the background or blanks where necessary. To determine the combined uncertainty, each component of uncertainty associated with each variable and constant in the basic measurement equation is evaluated. In this paper we present the PGAA measurement equation, a description of the potential sources of uncertainty for each component of the equation, and three examples of uncertainty evaluation. The examples are for determination of H in standard reference material (SRM) 2454, hydrogen in titanium alloy using the cold neutron PGAA facility, Cd in SRM 2702 Inorganics in Marine Sediment using the original thermal neutron PGAA facility, and N in SRM 3244 Ephedra-Containing Protein Powder using the recently designed thermal neutron PGAA facility.