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Mid-Flight Prey Switching in the Fringed-Lipped Bat (Trachops cirrhosus)
No full textWhile foraging, eavesdropping predators home in on the signals of their prey. Many prey signal from aggregations, however, and predators already en route to attack one individual often encounter the signals of other prey. Few studies have examined whether eavesdropping predators update their foraging decisions by switching to target these more recently signaling prey. Switching could result in reduced localization errors and more current estimates of prey location. Conversely, assessing new cues while already in pursuit of another target might confuse or distract a predator. We tested whether fringed-lipped bats (Trachops cirrhosus) switch prey targets when presented with new cues mid-approach and examined how switching and the distance between simulated prey influence attack accuracy, latency, and prey capture success. During nearly 80% of attack flights, bats switched between túngara frog (Engystomops pustulosus) calls spaced 1 m apart, and switching resulted in lower localization errors. The switching rate was reduced, and the localization advantage disappeared for calls separated by 3 m. Regardless of whether bats switched targets, attacks were less accurate, took longer, and were less often successful when calls were spaced at larger distances, indicating a distraction effect. These results reveal that fringed-lipped bats attend to cues from non-targeted prey during attack flights and that the distance between prey alters the effectiveness of attacks, regardless of whether a bat switches targets. Understanding how eavesdropping predators integrate new signals from neighboring prey into their foraging decisions will lead to a fuller picture of the ways unintended receivers shape the evolution of signaling behavior
Streamlined Subglacial Bedform Sensitivity to Bed Characteristics Across the Deglaciated Northern Hemisphere
Get PDFStreamlined subglacial bedforms observed in deglaciated landscapes provide the opportunity to assess the sensitivity of glacier dynamics to bed characteristics across broader spatiotemporal scales than is possible for contemporary glacial systems. While many studies of streamlined subglacial bedforms rely on manual mapping and qualitative (i.e., visual) assessment, we semi-automatically identify 11,628 sedimentary and bedrock bedforms, created during and following the Last Glacial Maximum across nine geologically and topographically diverse deglaciated sites in the Northern Hemisphere. Using this large dataset of landforms and associated morphometrics, we empirically test the importance of subglacial terrain on bedform morphology and ice-flow behavior. A minimum bedform length–width ratio threshold provides a constraint on minimum morphometrics needed for streamlined bedforms to develop. Similarities in bedform metric distribution regardless of bed properties indicate that all bed types may support similar distributions of warm-based ice flow conditions. Ice flow within valleys with easily erodible beds host the most elongate bedforms yet the widest range in bedform elongation and bedform surface relief. The presence of these highly elongate bedforms suggest high ice-flow velocities occur within valley settings despite spatially heterogeneous landform-generating processes. In contrast, lithified sedimentary beds within regions not constrained by topography on the scale of 1–102 km contain bedforms with high density and packing, low change in surface relief and low elongation, indicating spatially uniform and organized interactions at the ice–bed interface and consistency in ice-flow velocity. Regardless of genesis, we find a sensitivity of bedform elongation (i.e., used to interpret ice-flow speed or persistence) to topographic conditions on the scale of 1–102 km, while bedform density is sensitive to bed lithology. The findings presented in this study provide analogues for processes of subglacial erosion and deposition, ice–bed interactions and warm-based ice flow within contemporary glacial systems
Evaluating Performance of an Untargeted Urban Food Security Scheme in India
No full textPurpose
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficiency of the relative performances of Mother’s canteen across the regions of Tamil Nadu and find out the determinants of inefficiencies in the scheme. Design/methodology/approach
An untargeted food security scheme called Amma (Mother\u27s) canteen was started in Tamil Nadu, India, with an aim to provide the urban poor with hygienic and healthy food at an affordable price. Along with secondary data, interviews were conducted to understand the operational details of Mother\u27s canteen. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used to find the relative efficiency of the scheme operated by nine corporations. Findings
Based on the daily expenditure, number of meals served and revenue, seven of nine corporations were found to be inefficient. Further, sensitivity analyses found that among six procurement variables, procurement (quantity and price) of black gram and cooking oil were determinants of inefficiency. Research limitations/implications
As an untargeted scheme, the cost of delivering service-based evaluation was used for performance evaluation. Policymakers could use centralized procurement instead of open market procurement at the corporation level and standardized ingredients\u27 usage (quantity) to further reduce the cost of the food security scheme. Practical implications
The proposed DEA model may be used by policymakers to empirically evaluate the food security scheme\u27s delivery effectiveness across various corporations in a region. Inefficient branches are identified here with empirical support for further performance improvement changes. Originality/value
There are limited number of studies evaluating untargeted schemes. This paper presents the challenges of evaluating an untargeted scheme which allows self-selection of beneficiaries. The outcome of this study will help in identifying inefficient corporations, and further, improve the performance and cost of delivering untargeted food security scheme
Violence and Vietnamese Anticolonialism
No full textThe well-known claim that violence marks the end or failure of politics can be misleading. This essay uses the case of Vietnamese anticolonialism to argue that French colonial violence may have marked the failure of politics between colonizer and colonized, but, more interestingly, it also inaugurated two new forms of politics among the colonized: an “exploratory” politics which shifted Vietnamese political thought from monarchist to democratic ideals, and, later, a “committed” politics dedicated to forging fraternity and revolutionary morality. Despite having their own challenges, both forms of politics were ways of channeling indignation from colonial violence toward productive, dignifying ends
Revisiting the Lavender Vote
No full textExisting research suggests that sexual minorities are more likely to vote for parties on the political left, arguably because these parties more closely align with the demands of LGB communities. We add nuance to the Lavender Vote in an analysis of partisan voting behavior in Western Europe. While the leftward pattern of voting holds, we show that sexual minorities are similar to heterosexuals in support for Far Left, Center Left, Liberal, Center Right, and Far Right parties. We find that Greens draw disproportionate levels of support from sexual minorities when compared to their competition on the left and right, suggestive of Greens’ appeals to LGB communities. Furthermore, comparable proportions of Far Left, Center Left, Liberal, Center Right, and Far Right voters are sexual minorities. Sexual minorities from across the political spectrum are coming out. Overall, our results raise important questions about the appeal of the political left among sexual minorities
Reflections from Pioneering Women in Psychology
Get PDFThis volume traces the life journeys of a cohort of influential and transformative women in psychology, now in or nearing retirement, who have changed the discipline and the broader world of academia in significant ways. The 26 reflective essays record how these scholars thrived in an academic landscape that was often, at best, unwelcoming, and, at worst, hostile, toward them. They explicitly and implicitly acknowledge that their paths were inextricably linked with the evolution of women\u27s roles in society; they highlight and celebrate their achievements as much as they acknowledge and recognize the obstacles, barriers, and hurdles they overcame. They tell their stories with candor and humor, resulting in a compilation of inspiring essays. The end result of these individual narratives is a volume that provides a unique resource for current and future academics to help them navigate through the crossroads, curves, and challenges of their own careers in academia.https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/books/1188/thumbnail.jp
America in the French Imaginary, 1789-1914: Music, Revolution and Race
No full textFollowing the American Revolution, French authors often viewed the United States as a laboratory for the forging of new practices of liberté and égalité, in affinity with France\u27s own Revolutionary ideals but in competition with lingering anti-American depictions of an inferior, untamed New World.The volume examines French imagining of America through musical/theatrical portrayals of the American Revolution and Republic, soundscapes of the Statue of Liberty, homages to Washington, Franklin and Lafayette and negotiations of Francophone identity in New Orleans. The subject of race features prominently in paradoxical depictions of slavery, freedom, and revolution in the United States and French Caribbean colonies of \u27Amérique\u27 and in varied interpretations of American music and gendered identity. Essays consider French constructions of the Indigenous American and Black American \u27exotic\u27 that intersect with tropes of noble, pastoral savagery, menacing barbarism and the \u27civilising\u27 potency of French culture. Such French constructions reveal both a revulsion of racial alterity and an attraction to the expressive, even subversive, freedom of Americanness. Investigations of French conceptions of America extend to critiques of American orchestral music, Gottschalk\u27s Louisianan-Caribbean Creole works, Buffalo Bill\u27s spectacles and the cakewalk in Paris. With scholarly contributions on music, dance, theatre and opera, the volume will be essential reading for students and scholars of these disciplines.https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/books/1189/thumbnail.jp
Are California Venture Capitalists the Best Venture Capitalists?
Get PDFWe test if California VCs significantly outperform VCs from other US states. We additionally test in which instances California VCs outperform the other VC concentrated states of Massachusetts and New York. We find that VCs from California, Massachusetts, and New York have significantly greater probabilities of successfully exiting their investments than VCs from other states. Additionally, we show that California VCs are even more adept than VCs from Massachusetts and New York at 1. Early-stage investments, 2. Helping their entrepreneurial firms receive future rounds of financing, and 3. Helping their backed entrepreneurial firms receive higher IPO valuations and achieve superior post-IPO accounting ratios. Additional results suggest that VCs from California, Massachusetts, and New York are not only adept at selecting firms in which they invest in and continue to invest in, but they also enhance the value of the firms they select by means of monitoring their investments
Alzheimer\u27s Disease
Get PDFAn overview of the background, etiology, pathophysiology, clinical features, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of Alzheimer\u27s disease
APPC Minutes – September 20, 2022
No full textMinutes of the Academic Policy and Program Committee Meeting, September 20, 2022