Food provisioning and growth in the Atlantic puffin fratercular Arctica: an experimental approach

This study provided Puffin chicks with an additional 25g of food per day during the period of maximum growth rate to determine whether: 1) adult puffins can evaluate and respond to the nutritional requirements of their chicks, and 2) whether growth parameters (rate and elevation) of structural body components are flexible in response to variable levels of nutrition. Adult provisioning rates were significantly reduced in response to supplementary feeding, with experimental chicks receiving a mean of 2.1 feeds/d(^-1) compared to control chicks which received 4.7 feeds/d(^-1). There was no difference in the mean weight or energy content of the loads delivered to both groups, suggesting that the adult response to supplementary feeding took the form of a decrease in feeding frequency rather than a decrease m the size or nutritional quality of the load. No significant differences were found between the experimental and control groups in both the growth rate of overall body size and body weight. Neither was there a difference between groups in body mass elevation (mass corrected for age). However, chicks provided with supplementary food grew significantly larger for their age than control chicks. The fact that control birds were smaller but body masses were identical between the two groups suggests that control birds were not energy limited but nutrient limited; supplementary food may have provided the additional nutrients allowing structural tissues of experimental birds to grow larger. Differences in body tissue composition, and thus differences in metabolic energy requirements, may have been indirectly responsible for the similarities in body mass between the two groups. Identical growth rates between the two groups may have been a result of constraints acting at the physiological level, which prevented any further increase in rate once maximum size was reached for a given nutrient intake. In conclusion, variation in the quality or quantity of Puffin nestling diets does effect growth patterns of structural body components. Environmental sources of morphological variation should not be neglected in studies of phenotypic variation in birds

The Forgotten Campaign: Newfoundland at Gallipoli

Gallipoli has no place in the collective memory of most Canadians and even among Newfoundlanders, Gallipoli has not garnered as much attention as the ill-fated attack at Beaumont Hamel. Although largely forgotten, Newfoundland’s expedition to Gallipoli was an important moment in the island’s history, one that helped shape the wartime identity of Newfoundlanders. Like other British Dominions, Newfoundland was linked to the Empire’s world-wide war experience and shared in aspects of that collective imperial identity, although that identity was refracted through a local lens shaped by the island’s unique history. Gallipoli was a brutal baptism of fire which challenged and confirmed popular assumptions about the Great War and laid the foundation of the island’s war mythology. This myth emphasized values of loyalty, sacrifice, and fidelity, affirming rather than reducing the island’s connection to Mother Britain, as was the case in the other Dominions. When in the early 1930s economic depression, financial mismanagement, and political gridlock led the government of Prime Minister Frederick Alderdice to end responsible government in 1934 and return governing authority to the British crown, Newfoundland’s war myth lost much of its meaning. After Confederation with Canada in 1949, Gallipoli was all but forgotten, but it has bled back into Newfoundlanders’ historical consciousness in recent years

Vacancy Reassessed

Since 1950, Philadelphia's population has been declining dramatically, by more than 30 percent. This rapid depopulation has led to the vacancy and abandonment of a large number of unmanaged residential lots and buildings. The future of Philadelphia rests on its ability to manage this decline, and in 1999, efforts were fragmented. This report highlights the barriers that many faced in trying to access vacant property and provides recommendations for a more strategic vision so that the city can create a significant and lasting impact

Study of optical output couplers for submillimeter wavelength backward-wave oscillators (BWO's)

The machining of slow wave structures for high frequency backward-wave oscillators (BWO) is extremely difficult beyond 1 THz. Recently a microfabrication technique using photolithography and ion-beam assisted etching has been used to construct a prototype BWO operating at 200 to 265 GHz. The output coupler for such tubes remains a problem. Waveguides do not exist or are very lossy at the frequencies of interest (300 to 2000 GHz). This paper discusses several scaled experiments of optical output couplers for submillimeter BWOs. Various designs of planar antennas (Vivaldi horns) and lens-feed systems (Hyperhemispherical lens) were constructed and tested between 20 and 100 GHz using a spectrum analyzer. The lens system was also tested at 337 GHz using a CO2 pumped FIR laser

Population, Greenspace, and Development:Conversion Patterns in the Great Lakes Region

In this brief, authors Mark Ducey, Kenneth Johnson, Ethan Belair, and Barbara Cook combine demographic, land-cover, and other spatial data to estimate the incidence and extent of conversion from greenspace (forestland, shrublands, and grasslands) to development in the Great Lakes states. They report that greenspace conversions to developed land are most common in areas where greenspace is already limited. Population density strongly influences the conversion of greenspace to development. Conversions are most likely to occur on the urban periphery and in high-amenity rural areas. This research contributes to a better understanding of the linkages between demographic and land-cover change and provides facts that can inform policy aimed at balancing development and greenspace conservation

An economic analysis of selected sucker control systems for burley tobacco

The primary objective of this analysis was to provide Tennessee hurley tobacco producers with information on physical inputs, yield, quality, total value product (TVP), total factor costs (TFC), and net value product (NVP) associated with selected sucker control systems. The systems selected for this analysis consisted of one conventional system utilizing late topping and six alternative systems utilizing early topping. Paired comparisons were then made with the conventional system utilizing maleic hydrazide (KMH) within a partial budgeting framework. A secondary objective was to compare both agronomic and economic aspects associated with an alternative sucker control system utilizing KMH, machine applied, in conjunction with early topping to other chemical systems utilizing early topping. To obtain data for agronomic and economic comparisons between systems, a field experiment was conducted over three consecutive years from 1983 through 1985 at the University of Tennessee Tobacco Experiment Station near Greeneville, Tennessee. Sucker control systems or treatments were composed of variables such as time of topping, type of sucker control chemical(s) used, sequence and frequency of chemical application, and mode of application. The alternative systems evaluated for comparison with the conventional or control system were chosen with these variables considered most important in selecting an improved system or set of systems that are well within the means of resource availability for typical Tennessee burley tobacco producers. Total value product was determined for each system or treatment from observed yield and price data; price was also used as a proxy variable for quality. Costs directly and indirectly attributed to sucker control were estimated for each treatment and included in a partial budgeting framework along with TVP. Other costs of production were assumed constant across treatments. Net value product as well as added (reduced) NVP of paired comparisons were estimated for each treatment as a measure of net returns to quota, land, and management collectively. Similarly, added (reduced) NVP to each of four separate resources (plus management) and management alone was estimated. Though the results of the three-year experiment were ambiguous in regard to statistical comparisons of the different systems, there was some indication of economic advantages in those systems topped at early flower. Paired mean comparisons revealed that each of the respective early-topped treatments produced results (dollars per acre) greater than the conventional or control treatment in regard to yield, price, and TVP. In addition, costs of production attributed to the control of suckers were less for the early-topped treatments than for the control with the exception of a multi-pass treatment in which Prime + was hand applied. Added NVP to quota, land, and management ranged from a positive difference of $133 to$483 per acre over the control. In a similar view, NVP to manage ment and each of four separate factors of production were greater for the early-topped treatments

The role of languages in organization internationalisation

It has been suggested that British firms may be losing out on valuable export sales because of their lack of language skills. The information presented in the article provides an insight into the role of language training and its relationship to export growth. The authors conclude that an external presence of UK firms is likely to depend to a great extent on strategic planning for language training