Complicated Way (complicated + way)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Climatic responses in spring migration of boreal and arctic birds in relation to wintering area and taxonomy

JOURNAL OF AVIAN BIOLOGY, Issue 5 2006
Kalle Rainio
Large-scale climate fluctuations, such as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), have a marked effect on the timing of spring migration of birds. It has however been suggested that long-distance migrants wintering in Africa could respond less to NAO than short-distance migrants wintering in Europe, making them more vulnerable to climatic changes. We studied whether migratory boreal and arctic bird species returning from different wintering areas show differences in responses to the NAO in the timing of their spring migration. We used data on 75 species from two bird observatories in northern Europe (60°N). By extending the examination to the whole distribution of spring migration and to a taxonomically diverse set of birds, we aimed at finding general patterns of the effects of climate fluctuation on the timing of avian migration. Most species arrived earlier after winters with high NAO index. The degree of NAO-response diminished with the phase of migration: the early part of a species' migratory population responded more strongly than the later part. Early phase waterfowl responded strongest to NAO, but in later phases their response faded to non-significant. This pattern may be related to winter severity and/or ice conditions in the Baltic. In the two other groups, gulls and waders and passerines, all phases of migration responded to NAO and fading with phase was non-significant. The difference between waterfowl and other groups may be related to differences between the phenological development of their respective macrohabitats. Wintering area affected the strength of NAO response in a complicated way. On average medium distance migrants responded most strongly, followed by short-distance migrants and partial migrants. Our results concerning the response of long-distance migrants were difficult to interpret: there is an overall weak yet statistically significant effect, but patterns with phase of migration need further study. Our results highlight the importance of examining the whole distribution of migration and warrant the use of data sets from several sampling sites when studying climatic effects on the timing of avian life-history events. [source]


Managing Impressions Online: Self-Presentation Processes in the Online Dating Environment

JOURNAL OF COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION, Issue 2 2006
Nicole Ellison
This study investigates self-presentation strategies among online dating participants, exploring how participants manage their online presentation of self in order to accomplish the goal of finding a romantic partner. Thirty-four individuals active on a large online dating site participated in telephone interviews about their online dating experiences and perceptions. Qualitative data analysis suggests that participants attended to small cues online, mediated the tension between impression management pressures and the desire to present an authentic sense of self through tactics such as creating a profile that reflected their "ideal self," and attempted to establish the veracity of their identity claims. This study provides empirical support for Social Information Processing theory in a naturalistic context while offering insight into the complicated way in which "honesty" is enacted online. [source]


Electrophysiological identification of antennal pH receptors in the ground beetle Pterostichus oblongopunctatus

PHYSIOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 2 2005
Enno Merivee
Abstract., Electrophysiological responses of antennal taste bristles to 100 mm acetate and phosphate buffers were tested at pH 3,11 in the ground beetle Pterostichus oblongopunctatus (F.) (Coleoptera, Carabidae). Additionally, responses of these sensilla to 10 and 100 mm phosphate buffers were compared with each other. Generally, in response to these stimulating solutions, two sensory cells, classified as a salt cell (cation cell) and a pH cell, respectively, showed action potentials distinguished by differences in their amplitudes and polarity of spikes. The firing rate of the cation cell increased with increasing buffer concentration, and was influenced by buffer pH in a complicated way. The best stimulus for the second cell (pH cell) was pH of the stimulating buffer solution. As the pH of the stimulus solution increased, higher rates of firing were produced by the pH cell. For example, the number of action potentials elicited by 100 mm phosphate buffer at pH 11.1 was approximately 16-fold higher compared with that at pH 8.1, and firing rates during the first second of the response were 27.9 and 1.7 imp/s, respectively. The pH cell did not fire or fired at very low frequency (first second response below 5 imp/s) at pH 3,6. This level of acidity probably represents the pH preferences of this ground beetle in its forest habitat and hibernating sites. By contrast to the cation cell, the pH cell responded to increases in buffer concentration by decreasing its firing rate. [source]


Structure of Ce2RhIn8: an example of complementary use of high-resolution neutron powder diffraction and reciprocal-space mapping to study complex materials

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION B, Issue 2 2006
J. L. Sarrao
The room-temperature crystal structure of the heavy fermion antiferromagnet Ce2RhIn8, dicerium rhodium octaindide, has been studied by a combination of high-resolution synchrotron X-ray reciprocal-space mapping of single crystals and high-resolution time-of-flight neutron powder diffraction. The structure is disordered, exhibiting a complex interplay of non-periodic, partially correlated planar defects, coexistence and segregation of polytypic phases (induced by periodic planar `defects'), mosaicity (i.e. domain misalignment) and non-uniform strain. These effects evolve as a function of temperature in a complicated way, but they remain down to low temperatures. The room-temperature diffraction data are best represented by a complex mixture of two polytypic phases, which are affected by non-periodic, partially correlated planar defects, differ slightly in their tetragonal structures, and exhibit different mosaicities and strain values. Therefore, Ce2RhIn8 approaches the paracrystalline state, rather than the classic crystalline state and thus several of the concepts of conventional single-crystal crystallography are inapplicable. The structural results are discussed in the context of the role of disorder in the heavy-fermion state and in the interplay between superconductivity and magnetism. [source]