Using Thermography to Determine Mechanisms of Heat Loss in the Southern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys Volans)

Climate change is one of the biggest factors currently affecting the health and energetics of animals. Species evolve to operate optimally under certain environmental conditions and changes in those conditions can be detrimental to the species. Previous studies have shown increased evaporative cooling in flying squirrels at higher temperatures but not much is known about their ability to use other avenues of heat loss such as thermal windows; areas of the body that exchange heat with the environment via convection. For example, the patagium of southern flying squirrels may also serve as a thermal window to aid in heat dissipation. To determine the heat loss mechanisms that southern flying squirrels use to cope high environmental temperatures, I caught wild southern flying squirrels at the University of Maine’s Demeritt Forest in Old Town, Maine, USA, exposed individuals to ambient temperatures near or above the upper limits of their thermoneutral zone, and photographed them using a FLIR thermal camera. Thermal imaging was used to identify areas of body areas used to dissipate heat. Subcutaneous body temperatures were simultaneously logged using a thermally-sensitive Passive Integrated Transponders (PIT tag). Contrary to my predictions, there was little to no evidence of the patagium being a thermal window as observed in the thermal images. Other body regions such as the tail and paws provided evidence of thermal conductance with physical behaviors such as self-urination and sprawling being observed as well. Further studies should aim at how the vasculature in the observed areas works to dissipate heat. Thermometric measurements and a larger sample size may aid in supporting my initial hypothesis

Japanese Monetary Policy: The Effectiveness of Quantitative Easing

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of Japanese monetary policy from 2001-2010. In 2001 the Bank of Japan, Japan’s central bank, began using an unconventional monetary policy tool known as quantitative easing. The desired effect of quantitative easing is to inject money directly into the country’s money supply. This is accomplished through the purchasing of commercial and private financial assets, mainly bonds, by the central bank of the participating country. This paper tests the hypothesis that when the value of the Japanese yen (JPY) is lowered versus the United States Dollar (USD) that the number of Japanese goods purchased by the United States from Japan would increase. This hypothesis is based on The Law of Demand, which states that if all other factors remain equal, the higher the price of the good, the lower the quantity of demand. Japanese leaders’ manipulation of the yen over recent years has generated a favorable exchange rate for exporters, according to some economists. Economic statistics such as the Bank of Japan’s annual bond purchasing (quantitative easing), the USD versus the JPY exchange rate, and Japan’s net exports to the United States are analyzed using correlation and regression analyses in this paper, as a means of testing the hypothesis stated above

The decline and end of the lead mining industry in the northern Pennines 1865 - 1914: a socio-economic comparison between Wensleydale, Swaledale and Teesdale

In 1865, the United Kingdom began importing more lead metal than it exported and by 1885 the domestic lead mining industry had halved. This industry had been in the vanguard of the Industrial Revolution but was also at the forefront of industrial decline. Lead was cheaper as a foreign import, with the supply easily outstripped the rising demand, forcing the price of lead to fall and contributing to the fall of the industry. This thesis examines and contrasts the contributing factors that caused the decline and end of the industry in the three valleys and the effects this had on the local community. The lead mines in Wensleydale and Swaledale had already exhausted the lead deposits. The mines in Wensleydale closed down but Swaledale was under the control of a local landowner and mining company entrepreneur, Sir George Denys, who wasted money on ventures. Lead mining dominated Swaledale and the fall of the industry decimated the valley causing a large drop in population. Wensleydale had an agricultural economic base, with smaller industries providing employment, so the end of the mining industry had less effect. Teesdale was also dominated by lead mining. The main employer was the London (Quaker) Lead Company. There were still mineral resources to be exploited and the company made efforts to improve efficiency before finally being liquidated in 1905. The company invested in mining and improvements, trained its staff, provided career opportunities and had a social policy for the well being of the community, all contrasting strongly with Swaledale. In 1865, there was no alternative employment to lead mining but, when the company folded, other minerals were being extracted, quarrying and the building of reservoirs provided other sources of employment in the locality, so there was less effect than in Swaledale

Chimpanzee choice rates in competitive games match equilibrium game theory predictions

The capacity for strategic thinking about the payoff-relevant actions of conspecifics is not well understood across species. We use game theory to make predictions about choices and temporal dynamics in three abstract competitive situations with chimpanzee participants. Frequencies of chimpanzee choices are extremely close to equilibrium (accurate-guessing) predictions, and shift as payoffs change, just as equilibrium theory predicts. The chimpanzee choices are also closer to the equilibrium prediction, and more responsive to past history and payoff changes, than two samples of human choices from experiments in which humans were also initially uninformed about opponent payoffs and could not communicate verbally. The results are consistent with a tentative interpretation of game theory as explaining evolved behavior, with the additional hypothesis that chimpanzees may retain or practice a specialized capacity to adjust strategy choice during competition to perform at least as well as, or better than, humans have

Teachers as new speakers of a minority language: identity, speakerness, and ideologies on variation in Irish

Aims and objectives: This article reports the ideologies on linguistic variation among a cohort of new speaker teachers (NSTs) of Irish. It investigates responses to the three main traditional dialects of Irish and a post-traditional variety common among new speakers. Design and methodology: An experimental design was employed. Participants responded to 15-second samples of four speakers, first on adjective items referring to speakers’ characteristics (speaker phase) and second on statements referring specifically to the type of Irish in the samples (speech phase). Background information was also gathered, for example, school type, place of origin, and type of Irish spoken. Data and analysis: We present the responses of a subset of 88 NSTs of Irish, focusing specifically on participants’ responses in the speech phase where they evaluated the type of Irish in the samples. Data were analysed to determine whether there were significant differences in the ratings of samples within different respondent subgroups. Findings and conclusions: Some significant differences were found among subgroups. Teachers working in Irish-medium schools align more closely with established native speaker language ideologies than those in English-medium institutions. Participants did not distinguish significantly between their local Gaeltacht variety and other Gaeltacht areas, but did rate all three Gaeltacht samples more positively than the new speaker variety. Finally, participants who self-identify as speakers of ‘standard’ Irish and those who describe themselves as practising a Gaeltacht variety rated the Gaeltacht samples more positively. Originality: While experimental investigations of linguistic ideologies are central to sociolinguistics, this article is original in its focus on the ideologies of NSTs of Irish. Significance and implications: This research illustrates the robustness of established ideologies in the responses of some participants but shows that others challenge these ideologies. Results speak to the complexities and contradictions of identity and speakerness among NSTs of a minority language

Progressing the care, husbandry and management of ageing mice used in scientific studies

Driven by the longer lifespans of humans, particularly in Westernised societies, and the need to know more about ‘healthy ageing’, ageing mice are being used increasingly in scientific research. Many departments and institutes involved with ageing research have developed their own systems to determine intervention points for potential refinements and to identify humane end points. Several good systems are in use, but variations between them could contribute to poor reproducibility of the science achieved. Working with scientific and regulatory communities in the UK, we have reviewed the clinical signs observed in ageing mice and developed recommendations for enhanced monitoring, behaviour assessment, husbandry and veterinary interventions. We advocate that the default time point for enhanced monitoring should be 15 months of age, unless prior information is available. Importantly, the enhanced monitoring should cause no additional harms to the animals. Where a mouse strain is well characterised, the onset of age-related enhanced monitoring may be modified based on knowledge of the onset of an expected age-related clinical sign. In progeroid models where ageing is accelerated, enhanced monitoring may need to be brought forward. Information on the background strain must be considered, as it influences the onset of age-related clinical signs. The range of ageing models currently used means that there will be no ‘one-size fits all’ solution. Increased awareness of the issues will lead to more refined and consistent husbandry of ageing mice, and application of humane end points will help to reduce the numbers of animals maintained for longer than is scientifically justified

Update on the development of a novel dry cow therapy using a bismuth-based intramammary teat seal in combination with the bacteriocin lacticin 3147

peer-reviewedPublic concerns over the widespread prophylactic use of antibiotics have led to a search for alternatives to dry cow therapy for the prevention of intramammary infections. A popular alternative is to infuse a teat seal at drying-off. The teat seal is a viscous non-antibiotic formulation and when it is infused into the teat canal and the teat sinus it forms an internal seal that provides a physical barrier to invasion by mastitis-causing pathogens. Enhancement of teat seal formulations may be achieved using non-antibiotic additives such as bacteriocins, potent proteins produced by some bacteria that have the ability to kill other microorganisms. This paper traces the history of investigations at Moorepark Research Centre into the efficacy of teat seal plus lacticin 3147, a bacteriocin produced by Lactococcus lactis DPC3147, in the prevention of intramammary infections in dry cows. Indications from on-going investigations are that a dry cow formulation combining the two products has considerable potential as a non-antibiotic prophylactic product