Narwhal hunting by Pond Inlet Inuit: An analysis of foraging mode in the floe-edge environment

The harvesting of narwhals by Baffin Island Inuit represents an important relationship in terms of the continuous utilization of an indigenous marine resource. However, research on Inuit hunting with respect to narwhals has been mainly confined to harvest counts despite the major role narwhals play in the local northern Baffin subsistence system. The present research examines Pond Inlet Inuit foraging behaviour for narwhals in the spring floe-edge environment. While sea ice is one of the most dominant features of the arctic marine environment for much of any year, it is in the spring that the dynamism of its physical and biological characteristics is most notable. This was especially evident at the fast ice-open water interface, or floe-edge, where rapid physical change in the condition of the ice is frequent and summer migratory marine mammals and birds are present in large numbers. In this paper, analysis of 14 observed hunts indicates that Inuit utilization of the spring floe edge for narwhal hunting, in contrast to most other hunt types, follows a sit-and-wait mode of foraging. The study also explicates aspects of Pond Inlet hunters traditional ecological knowledge necessary to travel and conduct harvesting operations successfully in this complex environment.La chasse au narval par les Inuit de la Terre de Baffin représente une relation importante en terme d’une utilisation continue d’une ressource marine indigène. Cependant, la recherche portant sur la chasse au narval par les Inuit a surtout été limitée aux dénombrements des récoltes, malgré le rôle majeur que les narvals jouent dans le système local de subsistance. La présente recherche explore le comportement alimentaire des Inuit face aux narvals dans l’environnement printanier de la lisière des banquises (floe-edge). Tandis que la glace marine est l’aspect dominant de l’environnement arctique marin pendant la majeure partie de l’année, c’est au printemps que le dynamisme de ses caractéristiques physiques et biologiques est le plus notable. Ceci est particulièrement évident à l’interface rapide de la glace et des eaux dégagées, nommément la lisière des banquises, où le changement physique rapide dans la condition de la glace est fréquent et où les mammifères marins et les oiseaux migrateurs estivaux sont présents en grand nombre. Dans cet article, une analyse de 14 voyages observés indique que l’utilisation par les Inuit de la lisière des banquises au printemps pour chasser le narval, comparativement aux autres types de chasse, suit un mode de chasse à l’affût (sit-and-wait). Cette étude expose les aspects du savoir écologique traditionnel appartenant aux Inuit de Pond Inlet, nécessaire pour voyager et conduire les opérations de chasse avec succès dans cet environnement complexe

Factorization of e+e- Event Shape Distributions with Hadronic Final States in Soft Collinear Effective Theory

We present a new analysis of two-jet event shape distributions in soft collinear effective theory. Extending previous results, we observe that a large class of such distributions can be expressed in terms of vacuum matrix elements of operators in the effective theory. We match these matrix elements to the full theory in the two-jet limit without assuming factorization of the complete set of hadronic final states into independent sums over partonic collinear and soft states. We also briefly discuss the relationship of this approach to diagrammatic factorization in the full theory.Comment: 21 pages. Journal version. Defined an explicit thrust axis operator; clarified meaning of a delta function operato

ERISA: A Co-Fiduciary Has No Right to Contribution and Indemnity

Because retirement plans involve large amounts of money, large numbers of people, and fiduciaries with conflicts of interests, Congress designed ERISA to differ from traditional trust law to meet these specific needs and important policy concerns. Before ERISA, fiduciaries and employers often manipulated lack of oversight and conflict of interests to the detriment of the beneficiaries. ERISA raised the standards owed by fiduciaries and established a policing system that required professional fiduciaries to monitor non-professional fiduciaries, thereby forcing non-professional fiduciaries to leave the field or seek expert advice. These provisions created co-fiduciary liability by imputing the liability of the co-fiduciary to an innocent fiduciary and in general creating an atmosphere of transparency and security. Congress considered the possibility of contribution and indemnity in two limited applications. First, exculpation provisions under ERISA generally banned indemnity except in limited circumstances. Second, insurance provisions allowed a type of contribution, if the plan paid the premiums. The Supreme Court has remained true to the Congressional scheme and denied court implied contribution and indemnity. Parties to private pension plans have the power to specify the plan terms as set forth in ERISA and may allocate liabilities amongst themselves. If they choose not to change the terms, then the intent and purpose of ERISA should control the interpretation of the plan and the fiduciaries responsibilities of the plan

Stochastic Volterra equations with singular kernels

Existence, uniqueness and continuity properties of solutions of stochastic Volterra equations with singular integral kernels (driven by Brownian motion) are proven. © 1995

The Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Easter Island Research

This issue of RNJ contains a third portion of the papers presented at the third international conference on Easter Island research, the Rapa Nui Rendezvous, held in Laramie, Wyoming, August 3-6, 1993. The conference was sponsored by the University of Wyoming, and was the first of the Easter Island conferences to be hosted in the United States. Sixty papers were presented by researcher from 18 countries. Over 250 participants attended the conference which was held in recognition of the contributions to Easter Island research made by the late William T. Mulloy, Wyoming anthropologist, and his colleagues of the 1955-56 Norwegian Expedition.</p

A Selection of important strong motion earthquake records

This report is a condensed collection of 45 strong and/or historically important earthquake-generated ground and building motions. These data are presented as accelerogram and integrated velocity and displacement time histories. Linear, absolute acceleration, relative velocity and relative displacement response spectra are given for all the ground motions presented. As a major aim of this report was to allow comparisons of different ground motions, the time history and response spectra plots were plotted, wherever possible, to fixed vertical and horizontal scales. A short introduction is given to earthquake recording instruments and recording networks using these devices. The sources from which the data in this report were drawn are identified and information given to enable one to obtain printed copies or magnetic tape copies of these data or any of the other earthquake data recorded in the U.S

Academic Achievement Differences by Student Mobility: An Analysis of Texas Grade 8 Student Performance

Differences in reading mathematics and science achievement of Grade 8 students as a function of mobility were examined with and without controls for economic status in this investigation Data were obtained from the Texas Education Agency Public Education Information Management System for the 2003-2004 through the 2007-2008 school years Statistically significant differences were revealed in reading mathematics and science test scores as a function of student mobility both when controlling for and not controlling for economic status Mobile students had statistically significantly lower reading and mathematics test scores than did non-mobile students for all 6 school years Science scores were statistically significantly lower for all three years for which data were available Implications for policy and practice and suggestions for future research were mad

Continuous N-alkylation reactions of amino alcohols using γ-Al2O3 and supercritical CO2: unexpected formation of cyclic ureas and urethanes by reaction with CO2

The use of γ-Al2O3 as a heterogeneous catalyst in scCO2, has be successfully applied to the amination of alcohols for the synthesis of N-alkylated heterocycles. The optimal reaction conditions (temperature and substrate flow rate) were determined using an automated self-optimising reactor, resulting in moderate to high yields of the target products. Carrying out the reaction in scCO2 was shown to be beneficial, as higher yields were obtained in the presence of CO2 than in its absence. A surprising discovery is that, in addition to cyclic amines, cyclic ureas and urethanes could be synthesised by incorporation of CO2 from the supercritical solvent into the product