Distribution and Community Characteristics of Staging Shorebirds on the Northern Coast of Alaska

Avian studies conducted in the 1970s on Alaska’s Arctic Coastal Plain (ACP) indicated that coastal littoral habitats are important to Arctic-breeding shorebirds for staging prior to fall migration. However, relatively little recent, broad-scale, or quantitative information exists on shorebird use of staging areas in this region. To locate possible shorebird concentration areas in the littoral zone of the ACP, we conducted aerial surveys from the southwest end of Kasegaluk Lagoon on the Chukchi Sea to Demarcation Point on the Beaufort Sea during the summers of 2005–07. These surveys identified persistent within- and between-year concentrations of staging shorebirds at Peard Bay, Point Barrow/Elson Lagoon, Cape Simpson, and Smith Bay to Cape Halkett. Among river deltas in the Beaufort Sea, the Sagavanirktok and Kongakut deltas had large concentrations of staging shorebirds. We also collected data on shorebird community characteristics, staging phenology, and habitat use in 2005 and 2006 by conducting land-based surveys at six camps: Kasegaluk Lagoon, Peard Bay, Point Barrow/Elson Lagoon, Colville Delta, Sagavanirktok Delta, and Okpilak Delta. The shorebird community was more even and diverse (evenness E and Shannon Weiner H’) along the Beaufort Sea compared to the Chukchi Sea and in 2005 versus 2006. Staging phenology varied by species and location and differed for several species from that reported in previous studies. Our results suggest the existence of three foraging habitat guilds among the shorebird species observed in this study: gravel beach, mudflat, and salt marsh/pond edge. A comparison to data collected in the mid-1970s suggests that these foraging associations are conserved through time. Results from this research will be useful to land managers for monitoring the effects of changing environmental conditions and human activity on shorebirds and their habitats in Arctic Alaska.Des études aviaires réalisées dans les années 1970 sur la plaine côtière de l’Arctique en Alaska ont permis de constater que les habitats du littoral côtier revêtent de l’importance pour les oiseaux de rivage nicheurs de l’Arctique en halte migratoire avant la migration d’automne. Cependant, relativement peu d’information récente, à grande échelle ou quantitative existe à propos de l’utilisation que font les oiseaux de rivage des haltes migratoires de cette région. Afin de localiser des zones de concentration possibles d’oiseaux de rivage dans la région littorale de la plaine côtière de l’Arctique, nous avons effectué des levés aériens du sud-ouest de la lagune Kasegaluk dans la mer des Tchouktches jusqu’à Demarcation Point dans la mer de Beaufort au cours des étés allant de 2005 à 2007. Ces levés ont permis de repérer des concentrations durables d’oiseaux de rivage en halte migratoire au cours d’une même année ainsi que d’une année à l’autre à la baie Peard, à pointe Barrow et à la lagune Elson, au cap Simpson de même que de la baie Smith jusqu’au cap Halkett. Parmi les deltas de rivières de la mer de Beaufort, les deltas Sagavanirktok et Kongakut comptaient de fortes concentrations d’oiseaux de rivage en halte migratoire. Nous avons également recueilli des données sur les caractéristiques des populations d’oiseaux de rivage, sur la phénologie des haltes migratoires de même que sur l’utilisation des habitats en 2005 et en 2006 au moyen de levés terrestres effectués à six camps, soit celui de la lagune Kasegaluk, de la baie Peard, de la pointe Barrow et de la lagune Elson, du delta Colville, du delta Sagavanirktok et du delta Okpilak. La population d’oiseaux de rivage était plus homogène et diverse (homogénéité E et Shannon Weiner H’) le long de la mer de Beaufort comparativement à la mer des Tchouktches, ainsi qu’en 2005 par rapport à 2006. La phénologie en halte migratoire variait selon les espèces et les emplacements, et différait pour plusieurs espèces de celles signalées dans le cadre d’études ultérieures. Nos résultats laissent croire à l’existence de trois guildes d’habitats de fourrage chez les espèces d’oiseaux de rivage observées dans cette étude : plage de gravier, vasière et marais salant ou bordure d’étang. La comparaison des données recueillies au milieu des années 1970 laisse entendre que ces associations de fourrage se sont conservées au fil du temps. Les résultats découlant de cette recherche seront utiles aux gestionnaires de terres dans le cadre de la surveillance des effets des conditions environnementales changeantes et de l’activité humaine sur les oiseaux de rivage et leurs habitats de l’Arctique alaskien

Prospects for galaxy-mass relations from the 6dF Galaxy Survey

We develop new methods to study the properties of galaxy redshift surveys and radial peculiar velocity surveys, both individually and combined. We derive the Fisher information matrix for redshift surveys, including redshift distortions and stochastic bias. We find exact results for estimating the marginalised accuracy of a two-parameter measurement of the amplitude of galaxy clustering, A_g, and the distortion parameter beta. The Fisher matrix is also derived for a radial peculiar velocity survey and we discuss optimisation of these surveys for equal timescales. The Fisher Super-Matrix, combining both surveys, is derived. We apply these results to investigate the 6 degree Field Galaxy Survey (6dFGS), currently underway on the UK Schmidt Telescope (UKST). The survey will consist of approximately 125000 K-band selected galaxies with redshifts and a subset of around 15000 galaxies with radial peculiar velocities. We find for the redshift survey that we can measure the three parameters A_g, Gamma and beta to about 3% accuracy, but will not be able to detect the baryon abundance, or the matter-galaxy correlation coefficient, r_g. The peculiar velocity survey will jointly measure the velocity amplitude A_v and Gamma to around 25% accuracy. A conditional estimate of the amplitude A_v alone, can be made to 5%. When the surveys are combined however, the major degeneracy between beta and r_g is lifted and we are able to measure A_g, Gamma, beta and r_g all to the 2% level, significantly improving on current estimates. Finally we consider scale dependence of r_g and the biassing parameter b. We find that measurements for these averaged over logarithmic passbands can be constrained to the level of a few percent.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures. To be published in MNRA

Impact of culture towards disaster risk reduction

Number of natural disasters has risen sharply worldwide making the risk of disasters a global concern. These disasters have created significant losses and damages to humans, economy and society. Despite the losses and damages created by disasters, some individuals and communities do not attached much significance to natural disasters. Risk perception towards a disaster not only depends on the danger it could create but also the behaviour of the communities and individuals that is governed by their culture. Within this context, this study examines the relationship between culture and disaster risk reduction (DRR). A comprehensive literature review is used for the study to evaluate culture, its components and to analyse a series of case studies related to disaster risk. It was evident from the study that in some situations, culture has become a factor for the survival of the communities from disasters where as in some situations culture has acted as a barrier for effective DRR activities. The study suggests community based DRR activities as a mechanism to integrate with culture to effectively manage disaster risk

Science Communication Demands a Critical Approach That Centers Inclusion, Equity, and Intersectionality

We live in an era of abundant scientific information, yet access to information and to opportunities for substantive public engagement with the processes and outcomes of science are still inequitably distributed. Even with increasing interest in science communication and public engagement with science, historically marginalized and minoritized individuals and communities are largely overlooked and undervalued in these efforts. To address this gap, this paper aims to define inclusive science communication and clarify and amplify the field. We present inclusive science communication as one path forward to redress the systemic problems of inequitable access to and engagement with STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine). We describe the first national Inclusive Science Communication (InclusiveSciComm) Symposium held in the U.S. Based on the experience of organizing the symposium, we discuss recommendations for other convenings to help build a community of practice for inclusive science communication. In both research and practice, we advocate for more experimentation to help make inclusive science communication the future of science communication writ large, in order to engage diverse publics in their multiple ways of knowing and expand a sense of belonging in STEMM

“It’s like my life but more, and better!” - Playing with the Cathaby Shark Girls: MMORPGs, young people and fantasy-based social play

This article is available open access through the publisher’s website at the link below. Copyright @ 2011 A B Academic Publishers.Digital technology has opened up a range of new on-line leisure spaces for young people. Despite their popularity, on-line games and Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games in particular are still a comparatively under-researched area in the fields of both Education and more broadly Youth Studies. Drawing on a Five year ethnographic study, this paper considers the ways that young people use the virtual spaces offered by MMORPGs. This paper suggests that MMORPGs represent significant arenas within which young people act out a range of social narratives through gaming. It argues that MMORPG have become important fantasy spaces which offer young people possibilities to engage in what were formally material practices. Although this form of play is grounded in the everyday it also extends material practices and offers new and unique forms of symbolic experimentation, thus I argue that game-play narratives cannot be divorced from the everyday lives of their participants

Z-to-E isomerization processes in reactions catalyzed by cyclometalated ruthenium alkylidenes

The Z-content of products generated in reactions catalyzed by adamantyl-activated Z-selective metathesis catalysts is at first very high but degrades at higher conversions. The degree to which this undesirable process occurs is dependent on both the substrate and catalyst structure. Studies of Z-to-E isomerization processes and methods of preventing them are explored. Furthermore, an interesting Fischer carbene species was found to affect these isomerization processes

Human Mas-related G protein-coupled receptors-X1 induce chemokine receptor 2 expression in rat dorsal root ganglia neurons and release of chemokine ligand 2 from the human LAD-2 mast cell line

Primate-specific Mas-related G protein-coupled receptors-X1 (MRGPR-X1) are highly enriched in dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons and induce acute pain. Herein, we analyzed effects of MRGPR-X1 on serum response factors (SRF) or nuclear factors of activated T cells (NFAT), which control expression of various markers of chronic pain. Using HEK293, DRG neuron-derived F11 cells and cultured rat DRG neurons recombinantly expressing human MRGPR-X1, we found activation of a SRF reporter gene construct and induction of the early growth response protein-1 via extracellular signal-regulated kinases-1/2 known to play a significant role in the development of inflammatory pain. Furthermore, we observed MRGPR-X1-induced up-regulation of the chemokine receptor 2 (CCR2) via NFAT, which is considered as a key event in the onset of neuropathic pain and, so far, has not yet been described for any endogenous neuropeptide. Up-regulation of CCR2 is often associated with increased release of its endogenous agonist chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2). We also found MRGPR-X1-promoted release of CCL2 in a human connective tissue mast cell line endogenously expressing MRGPR-X1. Thus, we provide first evidence to suggest that MRGPR-X1 induce expression of chronic pain markers in DRG neurons and propose a so far unidentified signaling circuit that enhances chemokine signaling by acting on two distinct yet functionally co-operating cell types. Given the important role of chemokine signaling in pain chronification, we propose that interruption of this signaling circuit might be a promising new strategy to alleviate chemokine-promoted pain

Is a posthumanist bildung possible? Reclaiming the promise of bildung for contemporary higher education

My central argument in this article is that the notion of Bildung may offer conceptual sustenance to those who wish to develop educative practices to supplement or contest the prevalence and privileging of market and economic imperatives in higher education, which configure teaching and learning as an object available to measurement. I pursue this argument by making the case for an ethical posthuman Bildung which recognises the inseparability of knowing and being, the materiality of educative relations, and the need to install an ecology of ethical relations at the centre of educational practice in higher education. Such a re-conceptualisation situates Bildung not purely as an individual goal but as a process of ecologies and relationships. The article explores Bildung as a flexible concept, via three theoretical lenses, and notes that it has always been subject to continuing revision in response to changing social and educational contexts. In proposing the possibility of, and need for, a posthuman Bildung, the articles offers a critical review of the promise of Bildung and outlines some of the radical ways that a posthuman Bildung might reinvigorate conceptualisations of contemporary higher education. Keywords : Bildung; posthumanism; higher education; ethics; ecology

Total synthesis, biological evaluation and biosynthetic re-evaluation of Illicium-derived neolignans

We report the first total syntheses of simonsol F (3), simonsinol (5), fargenin (4), and macranthol (6) in addition to syntheses of simonsol C (2), simonsol G (1), and honokiol (14). The syntheses are based upon a phosphonium ylide-mediated cascade reaction and upon natural product isomerization reactions which proceed through Cope rearrangements of putative biosynthetic dienone intermediates. As a corollary of the natural product isomerization reactions, we propose an alternative biosynthesis of honokiol (14), simonsinol (5), and macranthol (6) which unites the natural products in this family under a single common precursor, chavicol (7). Finally, we demonstrate that simonsol C (2) and simonsol F (3) promote axonal growth in primary mouse cortical neurons