17,171 research outputs found
Song post exposure, song features, and predation risk
No full textMale birds use song to attract mates and deter other males, but in doing so, they also attract the attention of predators and parasites. Such viability costs are inherent in reliable signals, potentially causing females to prefer mates that display from the most exposed sites. However, viability costs of sexual signals may be ameliorated by affecting the choice of microhabitat, which in turn may affect the design of song features that are most efficiently transmitted in this microhabitat. We estimated the exposure of song posts (microsites used by males when singing) used by passerine birds in relation to prey selection by the sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus, by calculating the proportion of males that sang from song posts that were at the maximum level of the vegetation, in an attempt to quantify the costs of sexual selection. We quantified prey susceptibility to predation as the difference between the log-transformed observed number of prey minus the log-transformed expected number of prey in the environment. This prey susceptibility index increased with increasing song post exposure similarly in sexually dichromatic and monochromatic species, although the prey susceptibility index was related to sexual dichromatism. Song post exposure was dependent on habitat, but comparative models controlling for the potentially confounding effects of habitat, sexual dichromatism, hole nesting, coloniality, body mass, cognitive capacities, and flying abilities indicated that the relationship between the prey susceptibility index and song post exposure is strong. Path analyses of the relationship between song post exposure, sexual dichromatism, and prey susceptibility index revealed that selection acting on sexual dichromatism and song post exposure has secondary impact on prey susceptibility index. The opposite causal mechanisms by which predation affects sexual traits are less likely. These models suggest that female preference for high song posts or dichromatic plumage increases predation risk on an evolutionary time scale. Copyright 2006.birds; costs of sexual selection; prey selection; sound transmission
Sexually size dimorphic brains and song complexity in passerine birds
No full textNeural correlates of bird song involve the volume of particular song nuclei in the brain that govern song development, production, and perception. Intra- and interspecific variation in the volume of these song nuclei are associated with overall brain size, suggesting that the integration of complex songs into the brain requires general neural augmentation. In a comparative study of passerine birds based on generalized least square models, we tested this hypothesis by exploring the interspecific relationship between overall brain size and repertoire size. We found no significant association between song complexity of males and brain size adjusted for body size. However, species in which males produced complex songs tended to have sex differences in overall brain size. This pattern became stronger when we controlled statistically for female song complexity by using sex differences in song complexity. In species with large differences in song complexity, females evolved smaller brains than did males. Our results suggest no role for the evolution of extended neural space, as reflected by total brain size, owing to song complexity. However, factors associated with sexual selection mirrored by sex differences in song complexity were related to sexual dimorphism in overall brain size
Growing out of Poverty: Trends and Patterns of Urban Poverty in China 1988–2002
No full textThis paper estimates trends in absolute poverty in urban China from 1988 to 2002 using the Chinese Household Income Project (CHIP) surveys. Poverty incidence curves are plotted, showing that poverty has fallen markedly during the period regardless of the exact location of the poverty line. Income inequality rose from 1988 to 1995 but has been fairly constant thereafter. Models of the determination of income and poverty reveal widening differentials by education, sex and party membership. Income from government anti-poverty programs has little impact on poverty, which has fallen almost entirely due to overall economic growth rather than redistribution.poverty, inequality, economic growth, welfare, public policy, China
Growing out of poverty: trends and patterns of urban poverty in China 1988–2002
No full textThis paper estimates trends in absolute poverty in urban China from 1988 to 2002 using the Chinese Household Income Project (CHIP) surveys. Poverty incidence curves are plotted, showing that poverty has fallen markedly during the period regardless of the exact location of the poverty line. Income inequality rose from 1988 to 1995 but has been fairly constant thereafter. Models of the determination of income and poverty reveal widening differentials by education, sex and party membership. Income from government anti-poverty programs has little impact on poverty, which has fallen almost entirely due to overall economic growth rather than redistribution.poverty, inequality, economic growth, welfare, public policy, China
Immune challenge mediates vocal communication in a passerine bird: an experiment
No full textSecondary sexual characters may have evolved in part to signal resistance to parasites. Avian song has been hypothesized to be involved in this process, but the role of parasites in modulating acoustic communication systems in birds remains largely unknown, owing to lack of experiments. We studied the relationship between parasitism, testosterone, song performance, and mating success in male collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis) by experimentally challenging their immune system with a novel antigen. We predicted that a challenge of the immune system would reduce song performance, and that this reduction would be conditional on the size of a visual sexual signal, the forehead patch that was previously found to reflect resistance. An antagonistic linkage between testosterone and immune function would predict that a challenge of the immune system should suppress testosterone level. An immunological treatment by sheep red blood cells (SRBCs) triggered a decrease in body mass, testosterone level, and song rate, but other song traits were not significantly affected by the antigen challenge. Initial testosterone level was associated with forehead patch size and all song traits except song rate. SRBC injection caused stronger reduction in song rate among males with smaller forehead patches, and the change in song rate was also predictable by song features such as strophe complexity and length. We show that song rate and other song characteristics may be important cues in male-male competition and female choice. These results suggest that parasite-mediated sexual selection has contributed in shaping a complex acoustic communication system in the collared flycatcher, and that testosterone may play an important role in this process. Parasitism may drive a multiple signaling mechanism involving acoustic and visual traits with different signal function. Copyright 2004.bird song; collared flycatcher; immunocompetence; parasites; secondary sexual characters; testosterone
STYLE IN SONG LYRICS BERKELANA KE UJUNG DUNIA BY SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO (STYLISTICS ANALYSIS)
No full textAbstrack. Style of language can be interpreted as an individual way of expressing ideas or characteristics of how individuals communicate. A politician has his own style, even the head of state, community leaders and even writers. The essence is that nothing is really the same in someone's style, both when speaking and writing. In stylistic studies it is often referred to as a linguistic approach to literature, because literature is inseparable from the medium of language. This paper will discuss the style of language in the lyrics of the song Berkelana ke Ujung Dunia by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Song lyrics are considered to be the same as poetry, so the study of song lyrics is right using stylistic studies with the method of content analysis. The purpose of this study is to describe: (1) the style of words in the song Berkelana ke Ujung Dunia; (2) The sentence style in the song Berkelana ke Ujung Dunia; (3) Figure of speech in the song Berkelana ke Ujung Dunia
Multiple ornaments – multiple signaling functions? The importance of song and UV plumage coloration in female Superb Fairy wrens (Malurus cyaneus)
No full textShowy ornaments are considered as outcomes of sexual selection processes. They provide a badge of status to impress conspecific rivals or potential mating partners. Single ornaments may signal attractiveness or individual quality, yet many species display multiple ornaments. There are several hypotheses that explain the existence of multiple ornaments, suggesting that different ornaments serve as different information sources. They may provide either additive or redundant information on the same quality traits, or are simply evolutionary leftovers with no further relevant information. Although females of many species display elaborated traits, most studies regarding multiple ornaments focus on males. However, given that in many species females also display multiple ornaments, the question about their functional significance arises. To understand the existence of female multiple ornaments we investigated ornamental features of female Superb Fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus), focusing on song and variation in plumage characteristics. Female Superb Fairy-wrens produce complex solo songs, for territorial defense, and have bright blue tail feathers. We examined the relationships between song and plumage coloration characteristics in relation to female quality parameters to investigate whether, and to what extent existing hypotheses on multiple ornaments in males may also apply to females. Based on song recordings and spectrometric measurements of UV-coloration of tail feathers, we derived a series of different song and plumage parameters. Our results indicate interrelationships between the song length (total number of elements in female song) and female body size, but not UV-coloration. Interestingly, song complexity (number of different elements in female song) did not correlate with morphological parameters, UV-Chroma and song length respectively. This suggests that i) song and plumage characteristics evolved independently and ii) even within one trait, namely song, multiple signalling should be considered. To our knowledge, this is the first study investigating multiple traits in female songbirds, raising the idea that multiple signalling of sexually selected traits is not restricted to males only
Development of law of the sea by UNCLOS dispute settlement procedures: towards a coherent jurisprudence?
No full textThe creation of the UNCLOS dispute settlement procedures is undoubtedly one of the most significant achievements in international dispute settlement. It crafted a unique system of compulsory jurisdiction that provides flexibility for State parties to choose one or more of four different procedures for the settlement of UNCLOS disputes. Yet, the multiplicity of courts and tribunals inevitably entails risks of problematic divergences in UNCLOS jurisprudence, which could destroy the core value of predictability that is essential for the functioning of any dispute settlement system. Such concern is increasingly relevant for assessing the ever-growing jurisprudence from UNCLOS dispute settlement procedures.
With this background, it is pertinent to ask a number of related questions; is the legitimacy of UNCLOS dispute settlement procedures threatened by divergent judicial pronouncements? If so, what are suitable solutions for ameliorating problematic divergences that have emerged or crystallised in practice?
This thesis initially situates the establishment of the UNCLOS dispute settlement procedures within the broader context of the proliferation of international courts and tribunals. It also scrutinises how drafters at the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea constructed the complex system of compulsory jurisdiction under UNCLOS by combining a choice of forum with a default mechanism of arbitration. One significant feature is that such institutional design aims to prioritise the flexibility on choices of judicial fora, designs of procedural rules, and compositions of adjudicators. Meanwhile, designed as an important element in the constitutional nature of UNCLOS, the UNCLOS dispute settlement procedures are expected to play an important role in preserving the balance and holding the complex legal relationships altogether within one treaty system. Coherent jurisprudence is essential for effectively clarifying and developing the negotiated text of UNCLOS. That has inevitably left the UNCLOS dispute settlement procedures oscillating between the desire of preserving flexibility of dispute settlement procedures and achieving the functional objective of producing coherent jurisprudence. This thesis then comprehensively analyses the case law of UNCLOS court and tribunals in order to identify the extent to which a consistent jurisprudence has emerged through jurisprudential debates, as well as to pinpoint issues where serious jurisprudential divergences still exist. It is argued that the existence of judicial incoherence on key points of UNCLOS interpretation signals an urgent task for UNCLOS dispute settlement procedures if the legitimacy of the system is to bemaintained.
No system could endure in stagnation. This thesis proactively suggests potential routes for future operations of UNCLOS dispute settlement procedures. To ensure that the objective of judicial coherence is maintained over time, innovative institutional cross-fertilisations, dedicated balancing exercises underpinning competing judicial procedures, and reconciliations of institutional dynamics through international mechanisms are vital. This thesis seeks to orchestrate balancing exercises involving maintaining institutional flexibility and achieving judicial coherence of UNCLOS dispute settlement procedures. From a broader institutional perspective, this thesis proposes potential institutional mechanisms designed for reconciling competing interpretative powers between State parties and UNCLOS Tribunals, as well as balancing judicial accountability and independence of UNCLOS dispute settlement procedures
Song Describer Dataset
No full text<h2>The Song Describer Dataset: a Corpus of Audio Captions for Music-and-Language Evaluation</h2><blockquote><p><i>A retro-futurist drum machine groove drenched in bubbly synthetic sound effects and a hint of an acid bassline.</i></p></blockquote><p>The Song Describer Dataset (SDD) contains ~1.1k captions for 706 permissively licensed music recordings. It is designed for use in evaluation of models that address music-and-language (M&L) tasks such as music captioning, text-to-music generation and music-language retrieval. More information about the data, collection method and validation is provided in the paper describing the dataset.</p><p>If you use this dataset, please cite <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.10057">our paper</a>:</p><p>The Song Describer Dataset: a Corpus of Audio Captions for Music-and-Language Evaluation, Manco, Ilaria and Weck, Benno and Doh, Seungheon and Won, Minz and Zhang, Yixiao and Bogdanov, Dmitry and Wu, Yusong and Chen, Ke and Tovstogan, Philip and Benetos, Emmanouil and Quinton, Elio and Fazekas, György and Nam, Juhan, Machine Learning for Audio Workshop at NeurIPS 2023, 2023</p>
Song Chunfang lun ju. Di 3 ji
No full text宋春舫著.附: 同名異娶 / 王爾德.本電子書乃根據《香港版權條例(第528章)》而複製, 並只可在大學圖書館系統內的獨立電子書系統上使用.Song Chunfang zhu.Ben dian zi shu nai gen ju "Xianggang ban quan tiao li (Di 528 zhang)" er fu zhi, bing zhi ke zai da xue tu shu guan xi tong nei de du li dian zi shu xi tong shang shi yong.Fu: Tong ming yi qu / Wang Erde
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