Vocal communication of wild bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata)

Field observations and spectrographic analyses of sound recordings of South Indian bonnet macaques revealed a vocal repertoire of at least 25 basic patterns. The repertoire consists of well separated sound classes and acoustic categories connected by structural intergradation. Besides structural variations within and between different elements of the repertoire, the vocal system ofMacaca radiata is characterized by regular combinations of particular basic patterns. These combinations occurred not only between calls of similar structure and function but also between calls usually emitted in entirely different social contexts. According to the qualitative analysis, sex-specific asymmetries of the vocal behaviour were less pronounced than age-dependent characteristics. The comparison of clear call vocalizations ofMacaca radiata andM. fuscata revealed significant species-specific differences on the structural and the behavioural level. Evaluations of the structural features of alarm calls of various macaque species imply marked differences between members of thefascicularis group andsinica group on one hand and thesilenus group andarctoides

Reducing the babel in plant volatile communication: using the forest to see the trees

While plants of a single species emit a diversity of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to attract or repel interacting organisms, these specific messages may be lost in the midst of the hundreds of VOCs produced by sympatric plants of different species, many of which may have no signal content. Receivers must be able to reduce the babel or noise in these VOCs in order to correctly identify the message. For chemical ecologists faced with vast amounts of data on volatile signatures of plants in different ecological contexts, it is imperative to employ accurate methods of classifying messages, so that suitable bioassays may then be designed to understand message content. We demonstrate the utility of `Random Forests' (RF), a machine-learning algorithm, for the task of classifying volatile signatures and choosing the minimum set of volatiles for accurate discrimination, using datam from sympatric Ficus species as a case study. We demonstrate the advantages of RF over conventional classification methods such as principal component analysis (PCA), as well as data-mining algorithms such as support vector machines (SVM), diagonal linear discriminant analysis (DLDA) and k-nearest neighbour (KNN) analysis. We show why a tree-building method such as RF, which is increasingly being used by the bioinformatics, food technology and medical community, is particularly advantageous for the study of plant communication using volatiles, dealing, as it must, with abundant noise.

Communication: Evidence of dynamic heterogeneity in glassy polymer monolayers from interface microrheology measurements

We have developed a novel nanoparticle tracking based interface microrheology technique to perform in situ studies on confined complex fluids. To demonstrate the power of this technique, we show, for the first time, how in situ glass formation in polymers confined at air-water interface can be directly probed by monitoring variation of the mean square displacement of embedded nanoparticles as a function of surface density. We have further quantified the appearance of dynamic heterogeneity and hence vitrification in polymethyl methacrylate monolayers above a certain surface density, through the variation of non-Gaussian parameter of the probes. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3471584].

Why Don't Students Talk? Causes of Foreign Language Communication Apprehension in English Classes: A Comparison of High Apprehensive and Low Apprehensive Upper Secondary Students.

OBJECTIVES. Oral foreign language skills are an integral part of one's social, academic and professional competence. This can be problematic for those suffering from foreign language communication apprehension (CA), or a fear of speaking a foreign language. CA manifests itself, for example, through feelings of anxiety and tension, physical arousal and avoidance of foreign language communication situations. According to scholars, foreign language CA may impede the language learning process significantly and have detrimental effects on one's language learning, academic achievement and career prospects. Drawing on upper secondary students' subjective experiences of communication situations in English as a foreign language, this study seeks, first, to describe, analyze and interpret why upper secondary students experience English language communication apprehension in English as a foreign language (EFL) classes. Second, this study seeks to analyse what the most anxiety-arousing oral production tasks in EFL classes are, and which features of different oral production tasks arouse English language communication apprehension and why. The ultimate objectives of the present study are to raise teachers' awareness of foreign language CA and its features, manifestations and impacts in foreign language classes as well as to suggest possible ways to minimize the anxiety-arousing features in foreign language classes. METHODS. The data was collected in two phases by means of six-part Likert-type questionnaires and theme interviews, and analysed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The questionnaire data was collected in spring 2008. The respondents were 122 first-year upper secondary students, 68 % of whom were girls and 31 % of whom were boys. The data was analysed by statistical methods using SPSS software. The theme interviews were conducted in spring 2009. The interviewees were 11 second-year upper secondary students aged 17 to 19, who were chosen by purposeful selection on the basis of their English language CA level measured in the questionnaires. Six interviewees were classified as high apprehensives and five as low apprehensives according to their score in the foreign language CA scale in the questionnaires. The interview data was coded and thematized using the technique of content analysis. The analysis and interpretation of the data drew on a comparison of the self-reports of the highly apprehensive and low apprehensive upper secondary students. RESULTS. The causes of English language CA in EFL classes as reported by the students were both internal and external in nature. The most notable causes were a low self-assessed English proficiency, a concern over errors, a concern over evaluation, and a concern over the impression made on others. Other causes related to a high English language CA were a lack of authentic oral practise in EFL classes, discouraging teachers and negative experiences of learning English, unrealistic internal demands for oral English performance, high external demands and expectations for oral English performance, the conversation partner's higher English proficiency, and the audience's large size and unfamiliarity. The most anxiety-arousing oral production tasks in EFL classes were presentations or speeches with or without notes in front of the class, acting in front of the class, pair debates with the class as audience, expressing thoughts and ideas to the class, presentations or speeches without notes while seated, group debates with the class as audience, and answering to the teacher's questions involuntarily. The main features affecting the anxiety-arousing potential of an oral production task were a high degree of attention, a large audience, a high degree of evaluation, little time for preparation, little linguistic support, and a long duration.

”Waxaa i bartay hooyaday waawa u muhiim naaska caruurta.” Äitini opetti, että rintamaito on tärkeää lapselle. Osallistava tutkimus auktoritatiivisen tiedon omaksumisesta somalikulttuuritaustaisten naisten imetyskäytännöissä.

Suomessa asuvat somalitaustaiset maahanmuuttajaäidit luopuvat imetyksestä ja ruokkivat vauvojaan äidinmaidonkorvikkeella, vaikka somalikulttuurissa arvostetaan imetystä. Tuen ja tiedon puutetta on arveltu syyksi pulloruokinnan yleisyyteen. Tarkoituksenani on tutkia osallistavia menetelmiä käyttäen, minkälaisia imetykseen liittyviä tietojärjestelmiä somaliäidit pitävät auktoritatiivisina eli arvovaltaisina. Tarkastelen tiedon auktoritatiivisuutta etnografisten esimerkkien valossa hyödyntäen Brigitte Jordanin auktoritatiivisen tiedon käsitettä. Tutkin Jean Pierre Olivier de Sardanin teorian avulla, kuinka paikalliset populaarit tietojärjestelmät kohtaavat tieteellis-teknisen tiedon kehityksen kontekstissa. Tutkin myös, kuinka somaliäitien imetystietojärjestelmät kohtaavat suomalaisen terveydenhoitojärjestelmän edustaman imetystiedon. Osallistavien menetelmien tarkoituksena on saada heikkojen ja sorrettujen yhteisöjen ääni kuuluviin. Tutkimukseni tiedonantajina on seitsemäntoista somalimaahanmuuttajaäitiä ja yksi suomalainen äitiys- ja lastenneuvolan terveydenhoitaja. Käytän tiedonkeruumenetelminä puolistrukturoituja teemahaastatteluja, jonka lisäksi teen osallistuvaa havainnointia ja osallistavia menetelmiä kolmessa ryhmähaastattelutilanteessa. Käytän Rapi Rurad Appraisal (RRA) –menetelmiä, kuten Venn-diagrammia ja pisteytystä. Tutkimukseni tulos on, että somaliäitien imetykseen liittyvä tieto koostuu kolmesta tietojärjestelmästä, joita ovat sukuverkostoista tuleva perinteinen tietotaito, islaminuskon terveystieto sekä suomalaisen terveydenhoitojärjestelmän tieto. Näistä eri tietolähteistä tuleva imetystieto ei ole sisällöltään ristiriidassa. Imetykseen liittyvät vaikeudet ovat käytännön ongelmiin, kuten sukuverkoston hajoamiseen ja suomalaisen terveydenhoitojärjestelmän kanssa kommunikointiin liittyviä.