Importance of self-efficacy in psychoendocrine responses to competition and performance in women

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An Estimate of Nest Loss in Canada Due to Industrial Forestry Operations

Annual loss of nests by industrial (nonwoodlot) forest harvesting in Canada was estimated using two avian point-count data sources: (1) the Boreal Avian Monitoring Project (BAM) dataset for provinces operating in this biome and (2) available data summarized for the major (nonboreal) forest regions of British Columbia. Accounting for uncertainty in the proportion of harvest occurring during the breeding season and in avian nesting densities, our estimate ranges from 616 thousand to 2.09 million nests. Estimates of the impact on numbers of individuals recruited into the adult breeding population were made based on the application of survivorship estimates at various stages of the life cycle. Future improvements to this estimate are expected as better and more extensive avian breeding pair density estimates become available and as provincial forestry statistics become more refined, spatially and temporally. The effect of incidental take due to forestry is not uniform and is disproportionately centered in the southern boreal. Those species whose ranges occur primarily in these regions are most at risk for industrial forestry in general and for incidental take in particular. Refinements to the nest loss estimate for industrial forestry in Canada will be achieved primarily through the provision of more accurate estimates of the area of forest harvested annually during the breeding season stratified by forest type and Bird Conservation Region (BCR). A better understanding of survivorship among life-history stages for forest birds would also allow for better modeling of the effect of nest loss on adult recruitment. Finally, models are needed to project legacy effects of forest harvesting on avian populations that take into account forest succession and accompanying cumulative effects of landscape change.

Integration of Space and In Situ Observations to Study Global Climate Change

The currently available model-based global data sets of atmospheric circulation are a by-product of the daily requirement of producing initial conditions for numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. These data sets have been quite useful for studying fundamental dynamical and physical processes, and for describing the nature of the general circulation of the atmosphere. However, due to limitations in the early data assimilation systems and inconsistencies caused by numerous model changes, the available model-based global data sets may not be suitable for studying global climate change. A comprehensive analysis of global observations based on a four-dimensional data assimilation system with a realistic physical model should be undertaken to integrate space and in situ observations to produce internally consistent, homogeneous, multivariate data sets for the earth's climate system. The concept is equally applicable for producing data sets for the atmosphere, the oceans, and the biosphere, and such data sets will be quite useful for studying global climate change.

Performance analysis of MIMO MRC in 3D mobile-to-mobile double-correlated channels

In this paper, we consider multiple-input multiple- output (MIMO) maximal ratio combining (MRC) systems and assess the system performance in terms of average symbol error probability (SEP), outage probability and ergodic capacity in double-correlated Rayleigh-and-Lognormal fading channels. In order to derive the receive and transmit correlation functions needed for the performance analysis, a three-dimensional (3D) MIMO mobile-to-mobile (M-to-M) channel model, which takes into account the effects of fast fading and shadowing is used. Numerical results are provided to show the effects of system parameters, such as maximum elevation angle of scatterers, orientation angle of antenna array in the x-y plane, angle between x-y plane and the antenna array orientation, and degree of scattering in the x-y plane, on the system performance.

Experiencing Science in Action: The Use of Exhibition Techniques in Guided Tours to a Scientific Laboratory

The current paper presents a study conducted at CERN, Switzerland, to investigate visitors' and tour guides' use and appreciation of existing panels at visit itinerary points. The results were used to develop a set of recommendations for constructing optimal panels to assist the guides' explanation.

The importance of human FcyRI in mediating protection to malaria

The success of passive immunization suggests that antibody-based therapies will be effective at controlling malaria. We describe the development of fully human antibodies specific for Plasmodium falciparum by antibody repertoire cloning from phage display libraries generated from immune Gambian adults. Although these novel reagents bind with strong affinity to malaria parasites, it remains unclear if in vitro assays are predictive of functional immunity in humans, due to the lack of suitable animal models permissive for P. falciparum. A potentially useful solution described herein allows the antimalarial efficacy of human antibodies to be determined using rodent malaria parasites transgenic for P. falciparum antigens in mice also transgenic for human Fc-receptors. These human IgG1s cured animals of an otherwise lethal malaria infection, and protection was crucially dependent on human FcγRI. This important finding documents the capacity of FcγRI to mediate potent antimalaria immunity and supports the development of FcγRI-directed therapy for human malaria.

Estimating the increasing cost of commercial buildings in Australia due to greenhouse emissions trading

The ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by most industrial nations will result in an international greenhouse emissions trading market by or before 2008. Calculating the quantity of embodied energy in commercial buildings has therefore taken on added significance because it is in the creation of energy that most greenhouse gas that causes global warming is released. For energy efficient commercial buildings in Australia, the embodied energy can typically represent between 10 and 20 years of operational energy. When greenhouse emissions trading is introduced in Australia the cost of energy will rise significantly, particularly electricity which relies primarily on burning fossil fuels for generation. This will affect not only the operating energy costs of buildings (light, power & heating/cooling) but also the cost of building materials and construction. Early estimates of the potential cost of future greenhouse emission permits in Australia vary between $IO/tonne to $180Itonne. This cost would be imposed primarily on the producers of energy and passed on by them to consumers via higher energy costs. For a typical commercial building this could lead to an increase in the total procurement cost of buildings of up to 20% due to the energy embodied during the construction or refurbishment of the building. To assist in evaluating these potential cost increases McKean & Park, Sinclair Knight Merz and Deakin University have developed a web-based Carbon Cost Calculator for commercial buildings.

Deployment of DGT units in marine waters to assess the environmental risk from a deep sea tailings outfall

Measurements of total, filterable and DGT-labile concentrations of nine metals (Al, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Pb, Mn, Ni and Zn) have been made at five sites up to 4.2km from a deep sea tailings outfall operated by Lihir Gold Ltd. at Lihir Island, Papua New Guinea. At each site, pairs of DGT units (one containing a 0.4mm and the other a 0.8mm diffusive gel layer) were deployed at three depths (50–70; 105–130; 135–155m) for 4–7 days. Comparison of predicted water column DGT-labile metal concentrations in field deployments showed the 0.8mm DGT units were relatively enriched in metals, with the effect being greatest closer to the outfall for Pb and Mn and least for Fe, Cr, Ni and Zn. The most likely explanation for this is that in addition to simple ion diffusion, kinetic factors associated with ageing or desorption processes govern release of metals from iron and aluminium oxyhydroxide colloids which diffuse through the gels. The thicker gels have a longer residence time over which metals can be released for adsorption. This model explains why enrichment is most pronounced near the outfall; more distant sites have lower colloid concentrations because of the longer time for coagulation to increase particle sizes to the extent they cannot enter the gels. Total and filterable metal (FM) concentrations were frequently below the limits of detection (LOD) achievable by conventional ICP-AES (1–52gL^−1) and this limited their usefulness for assessing environmental risk and for metal speciation determination. Because of its pre-concentration step DGT gave metal concentrations above their LODs and these decreased exponentially with distance from the outfall. Concentrations of DGT–labile metal fell below Australian water quality guidelines for protection of 99% of marine organisms within 0.13km of the outfall for Cd, Cr and Ni and below that for protection of 95% of marine organisms within 0.4, 0.7 and 3.6km for lead, zinc and copper, respectively.

Mediators of dietary patterns in an intervention to improve early childhood nutrition

This thesis assessed the effect of a novel health promotion intervention on early childhood nutrition. It found that improved maternal nutrition knowledge and reduced maternal use of rewards in child feeding were important contributors to improving child dietary patterns.