Nesting behaviour influences species-specific gas exchange across avian eggshells

Carefully controlled gas exchange across the eggshell is essential for the development of the avian embryo. Water vapour conductance (GH2O) across the shell, typically measured as mass loss during incubation, has been demonstrated to optimally ensure the healthy development of the embryo while avoiding desiccation. Accordingly, eggs exposed to sub-optimal gas exchange have reduced hatching success. We tested the association between eggshell GH2O and putative life-history correlates of adult birds, ecological nest parameters and physical characteristics of the egg itself to investigate how variation in GH2O has evolved to maintain optimal water loss across a diverse set of nest environments. We measured gas exchange through eggshell fragments in 151 British breeding bird species and fitted phylogenetically controlled, general linear models to test the relationship between GH2O and potential predictor parameters of each species. Of our 17 life-history traits, only two were retained in the final model: wet-incubating parent and nest type. Eggs of species where the parent habitually returned to the nest with wet plumage had significantly higher GH2O than those of parents that returned to the nest with dry plumage. Eggs of species nesting in ground burrows, cliffs and arboreal cups had significantly higher GH2O than those of species nesting on the ground in open nests or cups, in tree cavities and in shallow arboreal nests. Phylogenetic signal (measured as Pagel's λ) was intermediate in magnitude, suggesting that differences observed in the GH2O are dependent upon a combination of shared ancestry and species-specific life history and ecological traits. Although these data are correlational by nature, they are consistent with the hypothesis that parents constrained to return to the nest with wet plumage will increase the humidity of the nest environment, and the eggs of these species have evolved a higher GH2O to overcome this constraint and still achieve optimal water loss during incubation. We also suggest that eggs laid in cup nests and burrows may require a higher GH2O to overcome the increased humidity as a result from the confined nest microclimate lacking air movements through the nest. Taken together, these comparative data imply that species-specific levels of gas exchange across avian eggshells are variable and evolve in response to ecological and physical variation resulting from parental and nesting behaviours

Safety and efficacy of an oral insulin (Capsulin) in patients with early‐stage type 2 diabetes: a dose‐ranging phase IIb study

Aim This randomised, twelve-week open-label study compared the pharmacodynamic properties of different dose of regular human insulin administered in capsule form twice daily. Methods 100 persons (48 male, 52 female) with type 2 diabetes on metformin completed the study according to protocol. Mean (SD) age 48.5 (6.7) years, BMI 25.7 (2.8) kg/m2, HbA1c 8.10 (0.65) %. Subjects randomised on admission were assigned to one of three groups receiving 75iu BD of formulated regular insulin or 150iu insulin BD, or 300iu BD in enteric-coated capsules. Primary and secondary endpoints were change from baseline in HbA1c and FPG respectively. A total of 100 subjects from 15 different centres completed the study within protocol. Results The study met its primary clinical endpoint of a decrease in HbA1c ≥ 0.5% (least square mean decrease 0.52%; p = 0.004, median decrease 0.6) in the dose group receiving 150iu BD. In a subset of this population, with starting HbA1c values between 9 and 9.5%, an average decrease of 1.575% was seen. In the total population, least square mean decreases in HbA1c for groups 75iu BD and 300iu BD were -0.11% and -0.42% respectively. Mean change in FPG in the 150iu BD dose group was -18.8mg/dL (p = 0.017) and -14.8 and -2.7mg/dL for groups 75iu BD and 300iu BD respectively. A decrease of 20% for triglycerides (-40 mg/dL) was seen in the 150iu BD dose group . No significant increases in body weight were observed, and significant decreases in systolic blood pressure were seen in all groups. No serious treatment-related adverse events were recorded, and no incidence of hypoglycaemia was reported throughout the whole twelve-week study period. Conclusions Capsulin oral insulin administered twice per day at a dose of 150iu per capsule is safe, with no confirmed treatment-linked hypoglycaemic events, and results in significant decreases from baseline in HbA1c, Fasting Plasma Glucose and triglycerides

Ultrabroad-bandwidth multifrequency Raman generation

We report on the modeling of transient stimulated rotational Raman scattering in H2 gas. We predict a multifrequency output, spanning a bandwidth greater than the pump frequency, that may be generated without any significant delay with respect to the pump pulses. The roles of dispersion and transiency are quantified

Constraint Likelihood analysis for a network of gravitational wave detectors

We propose a coherent method for the detection and reconstruction of gravitational wave signals for a network of interferometric detectors. The method is derived using the likelihood functional for unknown signal waveforms. In the standard approach, the global maximum of the likelihood over the space of waveforms is used as the detection statistic. We identify a problem with this approach. In the case of an aligned pair of detectors, the detection statistic depends on the cross-correlation between the detectors as expected, but this dependence dissappears even for infinitesimally small misalignments. We solve the problem by applying constraints on thelikelihood functional and obtain a new class of statistics. The resulting method can be applied to the data from a network consisting of any number of detectors with arbitrary detector orientations. The method allows us reconstruction of the source coordinates and the waveforms of two polarization components of a gravitational wave. We study the performance of the method with numerical simulation and find the reconstruction of the source coordinates to be more accurate than in the standard approach.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

Exploring the financial and investment implications of the Paris Agreement

A global energy transition is underway. Limiting warming to 2°C (or less), as envisaged in the Paris Agreement, will require a major diversion of scheduled investments in the fossil-fuel industry and other high-carbon capital infrastructure towards renewables, energy efficiency, and other low or negative carbon technologies. The article explores the scale of climate finance and investment needs embodied in the Paris Agreement. It reveals that there is little clarity in the numbers from the plethora of sources (official and otherwise) on climate finance and investment. The article compares the US$100 billion target in the Paris Agreement with a range of other financial metrics, such as investment, incremental investment, energy expenditure, energy subsidies, and welfare losses. While the relatively narrowly defined climate finance included in the US$100 billion figure is a fraction of the broader finance and investment needs of climate-change mitigation and adaptation, it is significant when compared to some estimates of the net incremental costs of decarbonization that take into account capital and operating cost savings. However, even if the annual US$100 billion materializes, achieving the much larger implied shifts in investment will require the enactment of long-term internationally coordinated policies, far more stringent than have yet been introduced.</i

The hydrological regime of a forested tropical Andean catchment.

The hydrology of tropical mountain catchments plays a central role in ecological function, geochemical and biogeochemical cycles, erosion and sediment production, and water supply in globally important environments. There have been few studies quantifying the seasonal and annual water budgets in the montane tropics, particularly in cloud forests. We investigated the water balance and hydrologic regime of the Kosñipata catchment (basin area: 164.4 km2) over the period 2010–2011. The catchment spans over 2500 m in elevation in the eastern Peruvian Andes and is dominated by tropical montane cloud forest with some high-elevation puna grasslands. Catchment-wide rainfall was 3112 ± 414 mm yr−1, calculated by calibrating Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) 3B43 rainfall with rainfall data from nine meteorological stations in the catchment. Cloud water input to streamflow was 316 ± 116 mm yr−1 (9.2% of total inputs), calculated from an isotopic mixing model using deuterium excess (Dxs) and δD of waters. Field streamflow was measured in 2010 by recording height and calibrating to discharge. River run-off was estimated to be 2796 ± 126 mm yr−1. Actual evapotranspiration (AET) was 688 ± 138 mm yr−1, determined using the Priestley and Taylor–Jet Propulsion Laboratory (PT-JPL) model. The overall water budget was balanced within 1.6 ± 13.7%. Relationships between monthly rainfall and river run-off follow an anticlockwise hysteresis through the year, with a persistence of high run-off after the end of the wet season. The size of the soil and shallow groundwater reservoir is most likely insufficient to explain sustained dry-season flow. Thus, the observed hysteresis in rainfall–run-off relationships is best explained by sustained groundwater flow in the dry season, which is consistent with the water isotope results that suggest persistent wet-season sources to streamflow throughout the year. These results demonstrate the importance of transient groundwater storage in stabilising the annual hydrograph in this region of the Andes

Status of the Fermilab Muon (g-2) Experiment

The New Muon $(g-2)$ Collaboration at Fermilab has proposed to measure the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, $a_\mu$, a factor of four better than was done in E821 at the Brookhaven AGS, which obtained $a_\mu = [116 592 089 (63)] \times 10^{-11}$ $\pm 0.54$ ppm. The last digit of $a_{\mu}$ is changed from the published value owing to a new value of the ratio of the muon-to-proton magnetic moment that has become available. At present there appears to be a difference between the Standard-Model value and the measured value, at the $\simeq 3$ standard deviation level when electron-positron annihilation data are used to determine the lowest-order hadronic piece of the Standard Model contribution. The improved experiment, along with further advances in the determination of the hadronic contribution, should clarify this difference. Because of its ability to constrain the interpretation of discoveries made at the LHC, the improved measurement will be of significant value, whatever discoveries may come from the LHC.Comment: Proceedings of the PhiPsi09, Oct. 13-16, 2009, Beijing, China, 4 pages 2 figures. Version 2 includes Fermilab report number, minor corrections and one additional referenc

Forage performance trials in New Hampshire, Station Bulletin, no.505

The Bulletin is a publication of the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station, College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire

Sewage sludge composting in small towns, Station Bulletin, no.508

The Bulletin is a publication of the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station, College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire