Elucidating the diel and seasonal calling behaviour of Elachistocleis matogrosso (Anura: Microhylidae)

ABSTRACT

Acoustic monitoring provides the opportunity to study ecological processes that are difficult to assess with traditional surveys. Elachistocleis matogrosso is an anuran species, described in 2010, for which limited biological information is available. This study investigated the calling activity of the species in the north-eastern portion of the Pantanal, Brazil, a wetland area with marked seasonality between the dry and wet seasons. The calling activity of E. matogrosso was monitored using automated digital recorders in combination with automated signal recognition software over two different annual cycles. The species was vocally active only during the wet season (October – April), with a peak in November-December during the 2013–2014 annual cycle and in February-March during the 2015–2016 annual cycle. The peak calling activity occurred at dusk. This species has nocturnal habits and an explosive breeding activity. The detection of the species was intermittent, which suggests that environmental predictors or site-specific conditions might play an important role in species detection. Moreover, this intermittent occupancy indicated that surveys that employ traditional field techniques would likely fail to detect this species. We describe an effective protocol for detecting E. matogrosso with acoustic monitoring, which requires recording during 20 days in February from 17:01 to 05:00. Our procedure would be easy to adapt to other anuran species, and it could be used for investigating new localities and assessing population changes over time.     

Epistemic benefits of the material theory of induction

C. D. Broad famously labelled the problem of providing our inductive practices with a proper justification “the scandal of philosophy” (Broad, 1952). Recently, John Norton has provided a dissolution of this problem (2014). According to Norton, inductive inference is grounded in particular facts obtaining within particular domains (J. Norton, 2003b, 2010, 2014). Because the material theory does not involve a universal schema of induction, Norton claims it dissolves the problem of induction (which implies that such universal schemas cannot be justified).In this paper, I critically evaluate Norton's dissolution. In particular, I argue that the problem of induction is an epistemological problem, that Norton's material theory entails an externalist epistemology, and that it is a common feature of such epistemologies that they dissolve the problem of induction. The upshot is that the material theory is not unique in its ability to reap the specifically epistemic benefits of dissolving the problem of induction, and thus that the epistemic advantages of the material theory over extant alternatives in this regard are fewer than it may appear at first sight.     

Comparison of breeding biology aspects of Fluvicola nengeta (Aves: Tyrannidae) between two nesting sites

Fluvicola nengeta is an insectivorous bird that belongs to the Tyrannidae family, which lives close to bodies of water and can occur in urban areas as well. It makes use of natural and man-made substrates to build its nests. This study aims at describing the reproductive biology of F. nengeta by comparing nests built on vegetation and man-made structures as to their shapes, nest dimensions, building materials, distance from bodies of water and reproductive success. Forty-four nests were found, where 30 were located in vegetation and 14 on man-made structures. Nests did not exhibit any single pattern and were divided into three distinct shapes: closed/globular/base; closed/ovoid/base (45.5%; n = 5 for both) and low cup/base (9%; n = 1). Nests built on man-made structures exhibited a larger amount of anthropic material, such as plastic and paper, instead of plant-derived materials. Nests on man-made structures were found to be higher up from the ground (459.8 ± 46.9 m) and farther from water (232.9 ± 54.8 m) in comparison to those on vegetation (92.2 ± 28.6 m and 7.3 ± 4.7 m, respectively), aside from exhibiting a higher Mayfield reproductive success (37%) when compared to nests built on vegetation (34%). The estimated values of the daily survival rate (DSR) for vegetation nests were 0.997 for the incubation period and 0.928 for the nestling period. In man-made structure nests, DSRs were 0.968 and 0.964, respectively, during the incubation and nestling periods. The period survival rate (PSR) of nests in vegetation was significantly higher than the PSRs of nests in man-made structures during the incubation period. DSRs did not differ between incubation and nestling periods for either nesting sites.     

Graphene opens pathways to a carbon-neutral cement industry

Global cement production has increased 30 times since 1950 and nearly 4 times since 1990,becoming the third-largest source of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2)...     

8-羟基喹啉铝及其高分子膜的瞬态荧光研究

对有机发光材料８羟基喹啉铝（Ａｌｑ３） 及其高分子复合物薄膜的瞬态荧光特性和跃迁机理进行了研究, 发现复合物薄膜的荧光寿命比Ａｌｑ３ 样品的寿命明显缩短, 认为荧光的产生和对激发光的吸收主要由８羟基喹啉基团引起． 而高分子基质引起的淬灭过程可能是导致复合物薄膜寿命降低的主要原因     

斜置旋耕部件试验分析及耕作质量评价

本文在综合犁耕和旋耕之优点基础上,提出一种新的耕耘方式———斜置旋耕。研究表明：斜置旋耕碎土质量高于正置旋耕机,功耗低于正置旋耕机。斜置旋耕的提出突破了传统旋耕机刀辊与机组前进方向保持为垂直的正置旋耕概念,对我国的农业机械化发展具有重要的意义。     

增益调制型波长转换器的噪声变换特性分析

建立了基于半导体光放大器(SOA)交叉增益调制(XGM)波长转换器的噪声变换理论模型,并进行了数值计算.结果表明,入射的泵浦光功率及入射的探测光功率的大小对噪声变换有直接的影响.在适度的输入功率范围内,噪声得到有效的抑制,提高了转换输出信号的质量.