Matthew Marshall

COMPARATIVE SEASONAL FECUNDITY OF FOUR NEOTROPICAL MIGRANTS IN MIDDLE APPALACHIA

Abstract We estimated daily rates of nest predation and Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) parasitism as well as nesting success for the Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus), Blue-headed Vireo (V. solitarius alticola), Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina), and Worm-eating Warbler (Helmitheros vermivorus) at two study sites in the middle Appalachian mountains from 1995–1998. These daily rates were then used in combination with species-specific life history parameters to estimate seasonal fecundity. Although daily predation rates were similar across species and sites, parasitism rates and nesting success differed within species between sites and among species within a site. The vireos generally experienced the highest rates of parasitism and subsequently the lowest estimates of seasonal fecundity. However, differences in parasitism and nesting success were not always an accurate predictor of seasonal fecundity. Despite significantly different estimates of nesting success, the Red-eyed Vireo and Blue-headed Vireo had similar estimates of seasonal fecundity. In contrast, estimates of nesting success for the Worm-eating Warbler and Wood Thrush were similar yet there were differences in seasonal fecundity. Life history attributes such as season length, ability to produce additional broods, and ability to raise a host young with a cowbird young were important in determining seasonal fecundity among species. We show the importance of including multiple species within a study framework and illustrate how predation and parasitism differentially affect these species with respect to seasonal fecundity.

Does Nonrandom Nest Placement Imply Nonrandom Nest Predation?: a Reply

In response to the critique by Schmidt and Whelan (1999), we find that the relationship between nest success and tree selectivity is dependent upon inclusion or exclusion of particular tree species, whether or not years are pooled, and the selectivity index used. We question their use of point estimates of nest success with extremely high variances, defend our index, question the application of the Chesson (1983) index to our data, and explain the need to analyze years separately. Bottomland hardwood forest systems are extremely variable; hydroperiods alter the suitability of nesting substrates, availability of alternative food, and behavior of predators and their prey. Given these features, actively searching for Acadian Flycatcher (Empidonax virescens) nests is seldom an efficient predator foraging strategy. Therefore, these predation events are best described as random; nests are principally encountered opportunistically by generalist predators while searching for other prey.

Reflexive practices for the future of design education:an exercise in ethno-empathy

Abstract This paper responds to the growing body of literature that calls for more candour in discussing practical, social, and ethical problems that inevitably arise throughout the lifespan of research projects. We begin by describing our use of critical and anarchist pedagogies to inform the design of a recent academic workshop. The workshop emerged iteratively and led to the core activity: our building of a totemic “city of ethical conundrums”. This collaborative artefact allowed us to discuss why and how we negotiate ethical issues in vivo, and how this matches up with the formal institutional ethics process. We uncovered what we called “ethno-empathy”: a concept that helped us understand, and give language to the circumstances, requirements and implications for our mutually shared experience of crafting a metaphorical city of ethical conundrums.

FPGA Implementation of an Asynchronous Processor with Both Online and Offline Testing Capabilities

Due to aggressive technology scaling VLSI circuits have become more susceptible to transient errors. The associated reduction in supply voltages has decreased noise margins, causing system reliability to be reduced increasingly at a time when electronic systems are being used in ldquosafety criticalrdquo applications. Clock distribution issues as well as the demands for low power circuits have exposed the limitations of the synchronous design paradigm. Asynchronous circuits appear to be an alternative, offering low power and low EMI. However the design complexity involved, the lack of CAD tools and the issues of testability have made this class of circuits unfavourable with digital designers. In this paper an asynchronous RISC based processor is introduced with both online and offline testing capabilities, thus offering a solution to the testability problem. The processor uses a Concurrent Error Detection (CED) scheme to identify transient errors. Detection of hard errors is done using an embedded asynchronous functional tester, where the asynchronous Device Under Test (DUT) is able to control the tester rather than being dictated by the clock in synchronous ATE. The processor and the equivalent test circuitry have been implemented on a Xilinx Virtex2 1000 FPGA.

Untold Stories: Working with Third Sector Organisations

We aim to bring together a number of researchers to share their stories and discuss opportunities for improvement in research practice with Third Sector Organisations such as charities, NGOs, and other not-for-profit organisations. Through these discussions, we will develop a framework for good practice, providing guidance on conducting research with these organisations, their staff, and their beneficiaries through ethical methodologies and methods. We will do this by discussing three ways in which working with TSOs impact the work we do: (1) the ways in which this kind of work impacts the third sector; (2) the ways in which it impacts the research itself; and (3) the ways in which it impacts us as researchers and people.

Accountability Work: Examining the Values, Technologies and Work Practices that Facilitate Transparency in Charities

Charities are subject to stringent transparency and accountability requirements from government and funders to ensure that they are conducting work and spending money appropriately. Charities are increasingly important to civic life and have unique characteristics as organisations. This provides a rich space in which HCI research may learn from and affect both held notions of transparency and accountability, and the relationships between these organisations and their stakeholders. We conducted ethnographic fieldwork and workshops over a seven month period at a charity. We aimed to understand how the transparency obligations of a charity manifest through work and how the workers of a charity reason about transparency and accountability as an everyday practice. Our findings highlight how organisations engage in presenting different accounts of their work; how workers view their legal transparency obligations in contrast with their accountability to their everyday community; and how their labour does not translate well to outcome measures or metrics. We discuss implications for the design of future systems that support organisations to produce accounts of their work as part of everyday practice.support organisations to produce accounts of their work as part of everyday practice.