The sight of an adult brood parasite near the nest is an insufficient cue for a honeyguide host to reject foreign eggs.

Hosts of brood-parasitic birds typically evolve anti-parasitism defences, including mobbing of parasitic intruders at the nest and the ability to recognize and reject foreign eggs from their clutches. The Greater Honeyguide Indicator indicator is a virulent brood parasite that punctures host eggs and kills host young, and accordingly, a common host, the Little Bee-eater Merops pusillus frequently rejects entire clutches that have been parasitized. We predicted that given the high costs of accidentally rejecting an entire clutch, and that the experimental addition of a foreign egg is insufficient to induce this defence, Bee-eaters require the sight of an adult parasite near the nest as an additional cue for parasitism before they reject a clutch. We found that many Little Bee-eater parents mobbed Greater Honeyguide dummies while ignoring barbet control dummies, showing that they recognized them as a threat. Surprisingly, however, neither a dummy Honeyguide nor the presence of a foreign egg, either separately or in combination, was sufficient to stimulate egg rejection.We are grateful for funding from a BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship to CNS, and a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship to NPCH.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Wiley via http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ibi.1225

Optical properties of mesoporous 4H-SiC prepared by anodic electrochemical etching

Porous silicon carbide was fabricated from n-type 4H-SiC substrates via anodic electrochemical etching in HF/ethanol solution and suspended in ethanol after ultrasonication. We observed three photoluminescence bands: two at wavelengths of 303 nm and 345 nm were above the bulk bandgap and one at 455 nm was below the bulk bandgap. These blue-shifted and red-shifted emission processes reveal the interplay between quantum confinement, surface states, and band edge related optical transitions. We propose a model to explain the frequently observed deviation from the quantum confinement in the photoluminesence trends for SiC-derived nanoparticles suspended in solvents. The quantum confined properties of the SiC structures provide a route for optical tunability in the UV-blue spectrum for use in novel photonic and biomedical applications

The relationship of selected prosocial play behaviors in children to moral reasoning, youth sports participation, and perception of sportsmanship

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship of selected prosocial play behaviors in children to moral reasoning, participation in youth sports, and perception of sportsmanship. A prosocial play behavior inventory which utilized teachers' observations of children was developed by the investigator and 16 elementary school teachers. This inventory was used to assess the prosocial play behavior of the children studied. A reliability coefficient of r = .98 was obtained for the inventory using the split-half method for estimating the internal consistency of a test. Assessment of the children's moral reasoning followed the method described by Kohlberg et al. (1976)

Grain sorghum, 1967

Cover title."The bulletin reports on Department of Agronomy research project 351, Sorghum testing ... "--P. [2]

Medical staff working the night shift: can naps help?

The document attached has been archived with permission from the editor of the Medical Journal of Australia (08 January 2008). An external link to the publisher’s copy is includedR Doug McEvoy and Leon L Lac