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The Current Crisis In Western Europe Is Not Yet Resolved
The Dutch city of Utrecht will not be welcoming Santa Claus this year. Because he tested positive for the virus COVID-19, the ceremonial leader of the Carnival celebrations in Cologne, Germany, was forced to retire. It's also being considered in Austria to quarantine people who haven't had their vaccinations.
A pandemic that has killed more than 5 million people worldwide has returned to areas of Western Europe, a place with relatively high vaccination rates and well-developed health care institutions, but where lockdown measures are nearly two years in the making.
Last week, an official with the World Health Organization said that Europe has returned to its original position as "the epicenter of the epidemic" after the region experienced a 10% increase in coronavirus mortality. Countries in Western Europe, including Germany and the UK, report some of the highest new case counts globally, even though outbreaks occurring in Russia and Eastern Europe have contributed considerably to the global increase in new cases.
Western Europe's vaccination rates are all above 60%, although a considerable portion of the population remains unvaccinated. This is true even in countries like Portugal and Spain, which have vaccination rates that are even higher than 60%.
A senior clinical lecturer at Exeter University's College of Medicine and Health, Dr. Bharat Pankhania, says that vaccination rates are on the rise. Unvaccinated persons, coupled with a return to socializing following the lockdown and the minor reduction in immunity for those who received their vaccinations months ago, are pushing increasing infection rates, he says.
Many Western European hospitals still have to cope with a rising number of COVID patients and backlogs of tests and procedures despite the immunization campaign's efforts to alleviate some of the load. According to Johns Hopkins University data, even in countries with the most severe outbreaks in the region, fewer people died per person in the last four weeks than in the United States.
What's at stake now is whether governments can slow this newest growth without resorting to harsh shutdowns that have wreaked havoc on economies, delayed education, and negatively harmed mental health. However, authorities can't avoid all restrictions and must improve immunization rates as a result.
Experts at Edinburgh University believe that keeping people up in their residences is over because we now have techniques to control COVID screenings, vaccines, and treatments, Devi Sridhar tells the Edinburgh Evening Times. People are expected to do things like put on a mask as a result, and he hopes that they will.
A COVID pass is currently required in many European nations as confirmation of complete immunization, recovery from the virus, or a negative test result to gain access to facilities such as pubs and restaurants. It is possible for those who have been fully vaccinated to still become sick despite the fact that their chances of dying or being seriously unwell are much decreased, according to Pankhania.


Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee chief Bhupesh Baghel will undertake a 'Motorcycle Yatra' through the Maoist belt of Bastar next month.
Yoga guru Ramdev has embarked on a new project: writing his autobiography titled Being Baba Ramdev. To be published by Penguin next year, the book is expected to provide an insight into his entrepreneurial and political travels — from his days with the Anna Hazare movement to his present hobnobbing with the BJP.
Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee chief Bhupesh Baghel will undertake a 'Motorcycle Yatra' through the Maoist belt of Bastar next month. On Friday, he and other state Congress leaders met Rahul Gandhi in Delhi. As part of Rahul's tribal-Dalit outreach, the Chhattisgarh Congress is planning a trip for him through the forested area of the state. Rahul is expected to take up dilution of the Forest Rights Act during the trip. While the state Congress wants it to take place mid-November, the central leadership is uncertain about the dates as Rahul is likely to be busy with the winter session of Parliament next month.
While the Parliamentary Committee on Defence was Friday briefed on the surgical strikes after some initial reluctance, the subject is also listed at a meeting of the panel on External Affairs on October 18. The panel on Defence is headed by BJP's B C Khanduri, while the other one is headed by Shashi Tharoor. The foreign secretary, home secretary, defence secretary and DGMO will brief the panel on External Affairs on the "Indo-Pak relations with specific reference to surgical strikes across the LoC". A Rajya Sabha panel on Home Affairs also discussed ways to augment border security on Friday.
A fortnight after four state chiefs of the JD(U) were suspended for questioning the nomination of Nitish Kumar as party president, the Bihar Chief Minister is set to get the endorsement of the party's new national council and national executive at a party convention in the state. Notwithstanding the dissenting murmurs, the new bodies will meet on Monday in Rajgir, Bihar and approve the April election, when Kumar had replaced Sharad Yadav as party president.


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Bird Conservation International
An analysis of monthly home range size in the critically...
An analysis of monthly home range size in the critically endangered California Condor Gymnogyps californianus
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 March 2014
JAMES W. RIVERS ,
J. MATTHEW JOHNSON ,
SUSAN M. HAIG ,
CARL. J. SCHWARZ ,
L. JOSEPH BURNETT ,
JOSEPH BRANDT ,
DANIEL GEORGE and
JESSE GRANTHAM
JAMES W. RIVERS
Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, 321 Richardson Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA.
J. MATTHEW JOHNSON
U.S. Geological Survey Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, 3200 SW Jefferson Way, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA.
SUSAN M. HAIG
CARL. J. SCHWARZ
Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6.
L. JOSEPH BURNETT
Ventana Wildlife Society, 19045 Portola Dr. Suite F1, Salinas, CA 93908, USA.
JOSEPH BRANDT
California Condor Recovery Program, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ventura, CA 93003, USA.
DANIEL GEORGE
Pinnacles National Monument, National Park Service, Paicines, CA 95043, USA.
jim.rivers@oregonstate.edu
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Condors and vultures comprise the only group of terrestrial vertebrates in the world that are obligate scavengers, and these species move widely to locate ephemeral, unpredictable, and patchily-distributed food resources. In this study, we used high-resolution GPS location data to quantify monthly home range size of the critically endangered California Condor Gymnogyps californianus throughout the annual cycle in California. We assessed whether individual-level characteristics (age, sex and breeding status) and factors related to endangered species recovery program efforts (rearing method, release site) were linked to variation in monthly home range size. We found that monthly home range size varied across the annual cycle, with the largest monthly home ranges observed during late summer and early fall (July–October), a pattern that may be linked to seasonal changes in thermals that facilitate movement. Monthly home ranges of adults were significantly larger than those of immatures, but males and females used monthly home ranges of similar size throughout the year and breeding adults did not differ from non-breeding adults in their average monthly home range size. Individuals from each of three release sites differed significantly in the size of their monthly home ranges, and no differences in monthly home range size were detected between condors reared under captive conditions relative to those reared in the wild. Our study provides an important foundation for understanding the movement ecology of the California Condor and it highlights the importance of seasonal variation in space use for effective conservation planning for this critically endangered species.
Bird Conservation International , Volume 24 , Issue 4 , December 2014 , pp. 492 - 504
Copyright © BirdLife International 2014
Carrion is common in all ecosystems, occurring as a resource that is patchily distributed over large spatial scales and highly ephemeral in its availability as a food resource (Janzen Reference Janzen1977, Houston Reference Houston1985). Obligate scavengers feed exclusively on carrion, a foraging strategy that is rare among terrestrial vertebrates. Indeed, only a subset of the world's vultures and condors can be classified as true obligate scavengers (Ruxton and Houston Reference Ruxton and Houston2004) although carrion is used by a wide range of animals with carnivorous diets (DeVault et al. Reference DeVault, Rhodes and Shivik2003, Wilson and Wolkovich Reference Wilson and Wolkovich2011; but see Moreno-Opo and Margalida Reference Moreno-Opo and Margalida2013). As obligate scavengers, vultures and condors exhibit specialised traits that allow them to move across large spatial scales to locate and consume carrion before it becomes inedible or is consumed by other scavengers (Janzen Reference Janzen1977, Shivik Reference Shivik2006). They are thought to have excellent eyesight and, in Cathartes vultures, well-developed olfaction (Houston Reference Houston1986), both of which aid them in detecting carrion from considerable distances (Mundy et al. Reference Mundy, Butchart, Ledger and Piper1992, Snyder and Schmitt Reference Snyder, Schmitt, Poole and Gill2002). In addition, their large wingspans allow for use of energetically inexpensive soaring flight to move between widely separated foraging locations (Pennycuick Reference Pennycuick1969, Snyder and Schmitt Reference Snyder, Schmitt, Poole and Gill2002). By locating carrion quickly and efficiently, these species have been able to specialise on a food resource to a degree that is not possible for non-volant animals (DeVault et al. Reference DeVault, Rhodes and Shivik2003, Ruxton and Houston Reference Ruxton and Houston2004, Shivik Reference Shivik2006). Nevertheless, obligate scavengers are one of the most imperilled avian functional groups in the world with many species formally listed as threatened or endangered due to a variety of factors (Sekercioglu et al. Reference Sekercioglu, Daily and Ehrlich2004, Gilbert et al. Reference Gilbert, Watson, Ahmed, Asim and Johnson2007, Pain et al. Reference Pain, Bowden, Cunningham, Cuthbert, Das, Gilbert, Jakati, Jhala, Khan, Naidoo, Oaks, Parry-Jones, Prakash, Rahmani, Ranade, Sagar Baral, Senacha, Saravanan, Shah, Swan, Swarup, Taggart, Watson, Virani, Wolter and Green2008, Margalida et al. Reference Margalida, Donázar, Carrete and Sánchez-Zapata2010, Ogada et al. Reference Ogada, Keesing and Virani2012). Therefore, understanding the spatial ecology of these species, especially which factors are linked to space use, is of critical importance for conservation efforts.
Many species of condors and vultures have highly evolved social structures, and some do not hold territories to defend food resources. Instead, they move over large areas and overlap substantially with conspecifics in their use of space throughout the annual cycle, although exceptions do occur during breeding (Mundy et al. Reference Mundy, Butchart, Ledger and Piper1992, Hertl Reference Hertl1994). Thus, quantifying space use by condors and vultures necessarily focuses on measuring the home range of individuals, which we define here as the spatial boundaries within which an individual normally spends its time (see Seaman and Powell Reference Seaman and Powell1996, Powell and Mitchell Reference Powell and Mitchell2012). Home ranges are ultimately determined by resource requirements, so accurate delineation of home ranges can provide insight into how home ranges fluctuate with the availability of resources throughout the year, how critical resources are distributed across the landscape, and the extent to which resource distribution constrains the number of individuals occupying a particular area (i.e. local carrying capacity; see Margalida et al. Reference Margalida, Colomer and Sanuy2011, Margalida and Colomer Reference Margalida and Colomer2012). Furthermore, home ranges may be influenced by other factors that pertain to intrinsic characteristics of animals such as the age, sex, or social class of an individual. Thus, a comprehensive assessment of an animal's home range requires not only delineating the spatial boundaries of the home range in which an animal spends its time, but also documenting how these boundaries change over the annual cycle and how they are linked to factors that vary among individuals.
The California Condor Gymnogyps californianus (hereafter condor) is one of the most critically endangered birds in the world (Snyder and Schmitt Reference Snyder, Schmitt, Poole and Gill2002), with a current population of c.400 individuals of which approximately half live as free-flying individuals in the wild (USFWS unpubl. data). The condor population underwent a severe decline due to several factors (e.g. shooting and poisoning; Snyder and Schmitt Reference Snyder, Schmitt, Poole and Gill2002) that led to all individuals being taken into captivity by 1987. However, since the early 1990s condors have been released into the wild with increasing frequency in three distinct areas: California, Arizona, and Baja, Mexico. As an obligate scavenger and the largest North American landbird (c.8.2 kg; Snyder and Schmitt Reference Snyder, Schmitt, Poole and Gill2002) with a wingspan that reaches 2.8 m, condors move over huge expanses of remote, rugged landscapes as they search for carrion (Meretsky and Snyder Reference Meretsky and Snyder1992, Snyder and Schmitt Reference Snyder, Schmitt, Poole and Gill2002). Much of what is known about condor home ranges comes from previous studies that used re-sighting and radio telemetry data to delineate the movement of individuals (Snyder and Johnson Reference Snyder and Johnson1985, Meretsky and Snyder Reference Meretsky and Snyder1992, Snyder and Schmitt Reference Snyder, Schmitt, Poole and Gill2002).These studies were restricted in the extent and resolution of the spatial information they provided because they relied on visual observations, radio tracking of individuals, or both, leading to limited insights regarding the size of home ranges (see Meretsky and Snyder Reference Meretsky and Snyder1992). In contrast to earlier times, recent advances in global positioning system (GPS) technology now allow researchers to track animal movements in near real-time and at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution (Tomkiewicz et al. Reference Tomkiewicz, Fuller, Kie and Bates2010). In this study, our objective was to use high-resolution GPS satellite telemetry data to quantify condor monthly home range characteristics in southern and central California to assess how individual characteristics (age, sex, and breeding status) and factors related to endangered species recovery program efforts (rearing method, release site) may be linked to variation in monthly home range size across the annual cycle. Because this knowledge is lacking in condors, the results from this investigation will serve as an important foundation for conservation and management decisions for this critically endangered species well into the future.
Study area and species
From July 2003 to December 2010 we studied the movements of California Condors that originated from three release sites located in the range of primary concern in California according the 1984 California Condor Recovery Plan (USFWS 1996) that encompassed habitats ranging from open grassland and desert scrubland to montane coniferous forests (Figure 1). The three release sites were: (1) Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge Complex (34°28′N, 118°51′W), located in south-western California and operated by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (hereafter Hopper Mountain); (2) Pinnacles National Monument (36°29′N, 121°12′W), located in inland central California and operated by the National Park Service (hereafter Pinnacles), and (3) the Big Sur release site (36°17′N, 121°50′W), located in coastal central California and operated by the Ventana Wildlife Society (hereafter Big Sur). Although two of the release sites were established in previous years, individual condors with GPS transmitters were first released at Big Sur in 2003 and at Pinnacles and Hopper Mountain in 2004. The number of condors with GPS transmitters that originated from these release sites has increased over time as the population of free-flying individuals increased, from a low of two individuals in 2003 to a high of 50 individuals in 2010.
Figure 1. Map showing the range of primary concern (hatched area) according the 1984 California Condor Recovery Plan (USFWS 1996) and release sites (filled circles) in California used in this study. Note that Bitter Creek NWR and Hopper Mountain NWR are combined for analysis because both comprise the Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge Complex.
Condors exemplify one extreme along the slow-fast life history continuum. Breeding females lay a single egg clutch in a sheltered location (typically an elevated cave or tree cavity), and both sexes provide similar parental care (Snyder and Schmitt Reference Snyder, Schmitt, Poole and Gill2002). Incubation lasts nearly two months, and offspring leave the nest after 5–6 months, even though they require additional care for at least four additional months after fledging. Thus, breeding pairs typically do not raise young in successive years unless they initiate nesting early in the first year of two successive breeding seasons. Condors retain immature plumage until six years of age, which coincides with the earliest age of breeding in the wild (Snyder and Schmitt Reference Snyder, Schmitt, Poole and Gill2002). To maintain the health of free-ranging individuals and to facilitate the transition of captive-reared condors to the wild, personnel at all three release sites regularly proffered lead-free carcasses throughout the year (Walters et al. Reference Walters, Derrickson, Fry, Haig, Marzluff and Wunderle2010). Although this important and necessary management tool has the potential to influence condor movement patterns, it was of critical importance for the recovery goals of this highly imperilled species. Unfortunately, data on the quantity and quality of proffered food is lacking and unavailable for incorporation in studies of condor spatial ecology and movement. Nevertheless, proffered food was available throughout the year and at all three release sites and therefore represented part of the food resource base that was available to free-ranging condors in the California population during this study.
GPS tracking data and estimation of monthly home ranges
We used GPS transmitters (Argos/GPS PTT-100; Microwave Telemetry, Inc., Columbia, Maryland) to collect condor location data at hourly intervals from 05h00 to 20h00 PST each day. We were granted permits to capture and handle condors by appropriate institutional, state, and federal agencies, and our work was conducted in conformance with all applicable laws. Although management needs necessitated that we non-randomly assigned GPS transmitters to individuals, we attempted to assign them to different sexes and age classes in as balanced a manner as possible. Lead exposure is an important threat to free-ranging condors (Finkelstein et al. Reference Finkelstein, Doak, George, Burnett, Brandt, Church, Grantham and Smith2012, Rideout et al. Reference Rideout, Stalis, Papendick, Pessier, Puschner, Finkelstein, Smith, Johnson, Mace, Stroud, Brandt, Burnett, Parish, Petterson, Witte, Stringfield, Orr, Zuba, Wallace and Grantham2012), so individuals were regularly recaptured and blood-sampled to assess plasma lead levels. Condors with elevated lead levels were held in captivity for treatment, which led to gaps in movement data for some individuals. Therefore, we only estimated monthly home ranges of individuals for which we had a minimum of 100 GPS transmitter locations in each month, although the great majority of monthly home range estimates (1196/1378; 87%) were based on ≥ 200 GPS locations.
We estimated monthly home ranges using 99% fixed kernel density analysis (Silverman Reference Silverman1986, Horne and Garton Reference Horne and Garton2006). We initially evaluated two commonly used smoothing parameters to quantify condor monthly home ranges: the least squares cross-validation method (h lscv) and the reference method (h ref, Worton Reference Worton1989, Kernohan et al. Reference Kernohan, Gitzen, Millspaugh, Millspaugh and Marzluff2001). During our initial analysis we found that the algorithm used for h lscv failed because it was unable to minimise the mean integrated squared error function during the fixed-kernel density estimation procedure due to discretisation errors. We attempted to overcome this issue by (1) randomly shifting overlapping points by 100–300 m and (2) deleting overlapping points prior to running the algorithm. We found neither approach was successful, probably because condors are highly faithful in their use of perching and roosting sites throughout the annual cycle which leads to clustered GPS fixes at such locations. We therefore calculated monthly home range size by first estimating h ref with the Home Range Tools for ArcGIS (Rodgers et al. Reference Rodgers, Carr, Smith and Kie2005) and then using Hawth's Analysis Tools for ArcGIS (Beyer Reference Beyer2005) to calculate 99% fixed-kernel monthly home ranges with a grid cell size of 100 m. We elected to use an ad hoc parameter (h adhoc) to choose the smallest increment of href that resulted in a contiguous 99% kernel polygon (i.e. 0.3*h ref = h adhoc) which can be used previously as an alternative method to h lscv which often fails with clustered GPS location data (Berger and Gese Reference Berger and Gese2007, Cline and Haig Reference Cline and Haig2011).
We used repeated-measures mixed linear modelling to examine the relationship between monthly home range size and age (two levels), sex (two levels), and breeding status of adults (two levels). We classified individuals as immature (comprising both juveniles [0-2 years] and sub-adults [3-5 years]) or adult (≥ 6 years) because breeding in the wild is rare for individuals before six years of age (Snyder and Schmitt Reference Snyder, Schmitt, Poole and Gill2002). We classified adults as breeding only if they inhabited a nesting site and were found to have laid an egg. We also investigated the influence of two management-based characteristics on monthly home range size: release site (three levels) and rearing method (two levels; wild vs. captive reared). We initially examined age as a continuous variable, but we do not include those results here because most age-related variation was due to differences between immature and adult birds (Rivers et al. unpubl. data). We used the PROC MIXED modeling function in SAS/STAT version 9.2 for Windows to account for the repeated nature of our measurements, with monthly home range sizes (on the logarithmic scale) as the repeated measure; age, sex, breeding status, release site, and rearing method as fixed categorical effects; and individual bird as a random effect. In our initial analysis we found that an autoregressive covariance structure outperformed a compound symmetrical covariance structure, so we retained the autoregressive covariance structure for all subsequent models and used the Kenward-Rogers method to calculate degrees of freedom for contrasts and estimates. Because of our unbalanced data, we obtained least-squares marginal means (LSMEANS) for effect sizes, with a Tukey-Kramer adjustment for all multiple comparisons. We report least squares marginal means and associated 95% confidence intervals (CIs) unless otherwise noted, with the alpha level for all tests set at P < 0.05.
We collected 444,808 GPS locations from 74 unique free-ranging condors (43 males, 31 females; 43 individuals assessed during immature stage, 45 individuals assessed during adult stage), allowing us to quantify a total of 1,357 monthly home ranges. Of the monitored individuals, 53% were released from Hopper Mountain, 27% from Big Sur, and 20% from Pinnacles. The mean number of monthly home ranges estimated per individual was 18 (range: 1–72 months) and the mean number of location fixes per month across all birds was 328(range: 100–517 fixes; see Table 1).
Figure 2. Median (± 95% CI) monthly home range size of immature (filled circles) and adult California Condors (open circles) across the annual cycle.
Table 1. Summary of GPS tracking data for 74 California Condors originating from three release sites with the recent historic condor range in California.
Mean monthly home range was significantly larger for adults (56,269 ha: 95% CI 42,719–74,124 ha) than for immatures (41,308 ha: 95% CI 30,019–56,835 ha; F 1,249 = 4.41, P = 0.037), and it varied significantly across the annual cycle (F 11, 1109 = 12.00, P < 0.001; Figure 2). However, we did not detect a significant difference in mean monthly home range size between sexes (males: 43,844ha: 95% CI 32,219–59,671 ha; females 53,013ha: 95% CI 39,478–71,190ha; F 1, 248 = 1.52, P = 0.219), nor did we find evidence of a month*sex interaction (F 11,1106 = 0.95, P = 0.492), an age*sex interaction (F 1, 257 = 3.26, P = 0.072), or a month*age interaction (F 11,1112 = 1.32, P = 0.208). Breeding adults (44,033 ha: 95% CI 31,518–61,519 ha) had mean monthly home ranges that were similar in size to non-breeding adults (52,786 ha: 95% CI 40,974–68,003 ha; F 1, 263 = 1.58, P = 0.209; Figure 3), and there were no breeder*sex (F 1, 323 = 2.47, P = 0.117) or breeder*month interactions (F 11,1109 = 0.57, P = 0.857). We found no difference in mean monthly home range size between condors reared in captivity (49,966 ha: 95% CI 42,100–59,302 ha; n = 67) and wild individuals (46,518ha: 95% CI 29,074–74,436 ha; n = 7; F 1, 215 = 0.09, P = 0.769; Figure 4). However, there were large differences in mean monthly home range size among the three release sites (Hopper Mountain: 89,581ha: 95% CI 70,130–114,429 ha; Pinnacles: 49,777ha; 95% CI 35,137–70,523 ha; Big Sur: 25,130ha; 95% CI 17,245–36,622 ha; F 2, 225 = 25.83, P < 0.001; Figure5).In addition, we found no evidence of a release site*age interaction (F 2, 253 = 0.79, P < 0.453) nor a release site*sex interaction (F 2, 214 = 1.44, P < 0.238).
Figure 3. Median (± 95% CI) monthly home range size of adult female and male California Condors relative to breeding status.
Figure 4. Median (± 95% CI) monthly home range size of California Condors that were raised in the wild by their genetic parents or reared in captivity.
Figure 5. Median (± 95% CI) monthly home range size of California Condors from the three release sites in southern and central California (i.e., FWS = Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge Complex) and central California (i.e., PNM = Pinnacles National Monument, VWS = Ventana Wildlife Society).
Relationship between monthly home range size and age class
We found that mean monthly home range size of adult condors was significantly larger than that of immature birds, and this pattern persisted throughout most of the annual cycle. Our results are in accordance with previous work that found immature condors typically spend the first two years of life near natal areas even after achieving independence from their parents (Snyder and Schmitt Reference Snyder, Schmitt, Poole and Gill2002). As they age, condors gradually increase the size of their monthly home ranges, ultimately travelling throughout historic foraging ranges by the time they reach sexual maturity (Snyder and Schmitt Reference Snyder, Schmitt, Poole and Gill2002). Thus, it may be that increasing monthly home range size of immature condors as they age is due to learning from adults about historic foraging ranges either directly, when parents guide offspring to new areas during the course of post-fledging care, or indirectly, when independent immature birds follow older condors to foraging sites (indirect facilitation; see Houston Reference Houston1974, Jackson et al. Reference Jackson, Ruxton and Houston2008). If true, this highlights the importance of having experienced adults available to mentor younger birds in the wild population, a factor that has been shown to be a critically important tool for teaching appropriate social behaviour to young birds prior to their release into the wild (Utt et al. Reference Utt, Harvey, Hayes and Carter2008, Walters et al. Reference Walters, Derrickson, Fry, Haig, Marzluff and Wunderle2010). Of note, condors that are raised in captivity and then released into the wild as juveniles often appear dependent on proffered food in their first year after release (Burnett and Brandt pers. obs.), so this factor may also contribute to the smaller monthly home ranges of immature individuals. Unlike our results with California Condors, Bamford et al. (2007) reported that home range size of adults in the Cape Vulture Gyps coprotheres in Namibia was an order of magnitude smaller than that of immature individuals throughout the year. Although their sample sizes were modest and their analysis was considered over various temporal scales, these authors attributed the difference to strong competition for food between adult and immature birds, a result also reported by Mundy et al. (Reference Mundy, Butchart, Ledger and Piper1992) for the same species; a similar result was found for Cape Vultures in southern Africa (Phipps et al. Reference Phipps, Wolter, Michael, MacTavish and Yarnell2013). These studies represent an interesting contrast with the California Condor, as individual condors compete for food resources at the site of carcasses (Snyder and Schmitt Reference Snyder, Schmitt, Poole and Gill2002). Unfortunately, comparative data from other vultures are unavailable, so care should be taken when trying to generalise about age-dependent variation in home range size among obligate vertebrate scavengers.
Variation in monthly home range size across the annual cycle
We found clear differences in mean monthly home range size across the annual cycle, as monthly home range sizes during the late autumn and early winter (November–March) were up to 5–6 times smaller than monthly home range sizes observed during the late summer and early autumn months (July–October). Condors exhibited smaller monthly home ranges during the breeding season, when adults are potentially restricted in their movements because of parental duties (egg incubation and chick feeding). Nevertheless, variation in monthly home range size does not appear to be linked to breeding behaviour because we observed similar variation in immature birds which do not exhibit breeding behaviour, and because breeding and non-breeding adults did not differ in monthly home range size. If breeding status did not drive variation in monthly home range size over the course of the annual cycle, which factor(s) might have done so?
Temporal variation in atmospheric conditions across the landscape is one factor that likely mediates variation in condor monthly home range size during the annual cycle, as these conditions vary in both space and time. Condors, like other vultures, use soaring and gliding flight when searching for food and making long-distance movements (Pennycuick Reference Pennycuick1972, Hedenstrom Reference Hedenstrom1993, Ruxton and Houston Reference Ruxton and Houston2004, Duerr et al. Reference Duerr, Miller, Lanzone, Brandes, Cooper, O'Malley, Maisonneuve, Tremblay and Katzner2012). Soaring and gliding flight necessitates the use of buoyant, vertically-moving air currents via (1) convective thermals that form during the day when the earth's surface is heated by solar radiation (thermal soaring; Pennycuick and Scholey Reference Pennycuick and Scholey1984, Spaar and Bruderer Reference Spaar and Bruderer1996, Pennycuick Reference Pennycuick1998) and (2) vertical lift that is created when horizontal winds rise vertically when forced over pronounced landscape features (slope soaring; Bildstein et al. Reference Bildstein, Bechard, Farmer and Newcomb2009, Mandel et al. Reference Mandel, Bohrer, Winkler, Barber, Houston and Bildstein2011, Bohrer et al. Reference Bohrer, Brandes, Mandel, Bildstein, Miller, Lanzone, Katzner, Maisonneuve and Tremblay2012). Several factors can influence the suitability of convective thermals used for soaring flight (Leshem and Yom-Tov 1996, Shamoun-Baranes et al. Reference Shamoun-Baranes, Leshem, Yom-Tov and Liechti2003, Mandel et al. Reference Mandel, Bildstein, Bohrer and Winkler2008, Bohrer et al. Reference Bohrer, Brandes, Mandel, Bildstein, Miller, Lanzone, Katzner, Maisonneuve and Tremblay2012), including variation in the amount of solar radiation hitting the earth's surface (Stull Reference Stull1988). Thus, the lower levels of solar radiation in the winter months of November–March likely reduced thermal strength and, in turn, condor monthly home range size compared to late summer and early fall months, when atmospheric conditions were more favourable for thermal production (Stull Reference Stull1988).
In addition to atmospheric properties, variation in monthly home range size also may be linked to changes in photoperiod across the annual cycle. Photoperiod in our study area is reduced during the winter months by c.5 hours and reduces the time available for condors to undertake long-distance movements relative to summer months. Food availability may also play a role in influencing condor monthly home range throughout the annual cycle as it does in other obligate scavengers (Houston Reference Houston1990, Olea and Mateo-Tomás Reference Olea and Mateo-Tomás2009), as such changes may reflect the need for individuals to travel greater distances in search of food resources during certain portions of the year. In particular, the autumn deer hunting season is likely to provide additional food resources to condors in the form of offal and unretrieved animals (Mateo-Tomás and Olea Reference Mateo-Tomás and Olea2010). The relative role of each of these resources in shaping condor spatial ecology is unknown, but ongoing research is currently examining the importance of atmospheric conditions and food availability in relation to condor space use (Rivers et al. unpubl. data, D'Elia et al. unpubl. data). Nevertheless, large gaps remain in our understanding of how spatial and temporal variation in these and other resources influence condor behaviour patterns, so additional research examining condor resource selection throughout the annual cycle are warranted.
Variation in monthly home range size as a function of release site
Monthly home range sizes varied among the three release sites: the largest mean monthly home range size was observed in individuals released from Hopper Mountain, followed by individuals released from Pinnacles, with the smallest monthly home range occurring in condors released from Big Sur. In addition to obvious differences that arise among sites due to their geographic location, a more proximate explanation for this pattern is that food availability in Southern California may differ relative to the other two release sites, both of which are located in the central part of the state. Condors in Southern California are currently restricted to terrestrial sources for carrion, which include both domestic and wild vertebrates (Snyder and Schmitt Reference Snyder, Schmitt, Poole and Gill2002, Chamberlain et al. Reference Chamberlain, Waldbauer, Fox-Dobbs, Newsome, Koch, Smith, Church, Chamberlain, Sorenson and Risebrough2005). In contrast, condors in central California have both terrestrial and marine resources available to them, and individuals from both central California release sites have been observed foraging on carcasses of whales, seals, and sea lions (Burnett et al. Reference Burnett, Sorenson, Brandt, Sandhaus, Ciani, Clark, David, Theule, Kasielke and Risebrough2013). Indeed, use of marine resources by condors may be extensive because there is now evidence that condors are exposed to persistent environmental contaminants that bio-accumulate in marine mammals (Burnett et al Reference Burnett, Sorenson, Brandt, Sandhaus, Ciani, Clark, David, Theule, Kasielke and Risebrough2013). However, quantitative information about food availability among the California release sites is currently lacking and is an important factor that is being examined with ongoing studies (D'Elia pers. comm.).
The use of proffered food at release sites for condors is similar to "vulture restaurants" that are common in many areas and serve as an important means by which uncontaminated carrion can be obtained by imperilled vultures (Gilbert et al. Reference Gilbert, Watson, Ahmed, Asim and Johnson2007, Deygout et al. Reference Deygout, Gault, Sarrazin and Bessa-Gomes2009, Cortés-Avizanda et al. Reference Cortés-Avizanda, Carrete and Donázar2010). Recent work has found that space use of the White-rumped Vulture Gyps bengalensis was shaped by human-provisioned food at such sites; satellite-derived home range estimates decreased by 23–59% during a period of experimental food supplementation (Gilbert et al. Reference Gilbert, Watson, Ahmed, Asim and Johnson2007). Those data were collected from male vultures only and it is unclear how representative these results are of the population, but they do support idea that supplemental food can alter movement patterns and space use of obligate scavenging birds. Additional evidence of how feeding is linked to space use comes from an introduced population of the Eurasian Griffon Vulture Gyps fulvus in France. Despite the presence of feeding stations, vultures were found to maintain natural foraging on unpredictable resources (Monsarrat et al. Reference Monsarrat, Benhamou, Sarrazin, Bessa-Gomes, Bouten and Duriez2013), especially when natural food abundance was high in the landscape. This is also true for condors, which use natural food sources regularly (Finkelstein et al. Reference Finkelstein, Doak, George, Burnett, Brandt, Church, Grantham and Smith2012, Burnett et al. Reference Burnett, Sorenson, Brandt, Sandhaus, Ciani, Clark, David, Theule, Kasielke and Risebrough2013), so careful documentation of the amount and consistency of supplemental feeding at condor release sites will allow for understanding how condors make use of natural and proffered food items and how human-provided food may influence space use by condors.
Factors not linked to variation in monthly home range size
Our analysis found that several factors were not associated with variation in condor monthly home range size including the sex, breeding status, and rearing style of individuals. It is not surprising that monthly home range size would not differ between males and females, as the two sexes are similar in body mass and parental roles (Snyder and Schmitt Reference Snyder, Schmitt, Poole and Gill2002) and likely have similar energetic needs. Similarly, Carrete and Donázar (Reference Carrete and Donázar2005) found no sex-related differences in the home range size of the Cinereous Vulture Aegypius monachus when measured during both the breeding and non-breeding seasons. These authors also reported that home ranges of breeding Cinereous Vultures were larger than home ranges of non-breeding individuals (Carrete and Donázar Reference Carrete and Donázar2005), which contrasts with our finding that monthly home range size was similar in breeding and non-breeding condors. A clear distinction between these two species is that Cinereous Vultures breed in colonies of 45–100 pairs whereas condors select nest sites that are far from other condor nests and defend these sites from conspecifics (Snyder and Schmitt Reference Snyder, Schmitt, Poole and Gill2002). We also did not detect any difference in monthly home range size between captive and wild-reared condors suggesting that the current captive rearing programme does not appear to impact the spatial movements of young birds, at least in terms of monthly home range size. However, there are a limited number of wild-reared birds in the population so additional study of this topic is needed as the number of wild-reared condors continues to increase.
Ours is the first detailed study of monthly home range size of the critically endangered California Condor, and we found that several factors (age, release site, and month of the annual cycle) were linked to changes in monthly home range size, whereas others were not (sex, breeding status, and rearing style). Because the home range is a fundamental concept in the study of resource selection and space use, our findings should be useful for future studies that are focused on understanding movement ecology and resource selection of condors and other obligate vertebrate scavengers. Furthermore, our results can also be used to investigate topics such as how condors use space in locations which are of interest for wind energy development (Walters et al. Reference Walters, Derrickson, Fry, Haig, Marzluff and Wunderle2010) and how movement patterns of individuals may lead to variation in contaminant exposure (Rideout et al. Reference Rideout, Stalis, Papendick, Pessier, Puschner, Finkelstein, Smith, Johnson, Mace, Stroud, Brandt, Burnett, Parish, Petterson, Witte, Stringfield, Orr, Zuba, Wallace and Grantham2012, Finkelstein et al. Reference Finkelstein, Doak, George, Burnett, Brandt, Church, Grantham and Smith2012), two important pressures currently facing condors in California. In particular, additional studies are necessary to fill remaining gaps in our knowledge of condor spatial ecology which, in turn, should provide information that is vital for future conservation and management decisions regarding this critically imperilled species.
We thank the Bureau of Land Management; California Department of Fish and Game; National Parks Service, Pinnacles National Monument; USFWS, Condor Recovery Program; USFWS, Ventura Field Office; USGS Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center; and Ventana Wildlife Society for financial and logistical support. H. Beyer, J. Glendenning, P. Haggarty, D. Howard, K. Jenkins, J. Kern, B. Kertson, B. Massey, J. Marzluff, C. Phillips, A. Rodgers, N. Snyder, D. Wiens, and S. Wilbur provided for logistical support and feedback, and E. Forsman and A. Margalida provided helpful comments on the manuscript. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
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An analysis of monthly home range size in the critically endangered California Condor Gymnogyps californianus – CORRIGENDUM
JAMES W. RIVERS, J. MATTHEW JOHNSON, SUSAN M. HAIG, CARL J. SCHWARZ, L. JOSEPH BURNETT, JOSEPH BRANDT, DANIEL GEORGE and JESSE GRANTHAM
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JAMES W. RIVERS (a1), J. MATTHEW JOHNSON (a2), SUSAN M. HAIG (a2), CARL. J. SCHWARZ (a3), L. JOSEPH BURNETT (a4), JOSEPH BRANDT (a5), DANIEL GEORGE (a6) and JESSE GRANTHAM (a5)

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Before Passing Chief David Beautiful Bald Eagle Remembers His Ancestors
by smagni | Dec 3, 2016 | OF INTEREST | 0 comments
Remembers His Ancestors
Donovin Sprague
Facebook/Richard Bullock
Cheyenne River Sioux Chief David Beautiful Bald Eagle, Waniyetu Opi, walked on July 22 surrounded by family. He spoke to Donovin Sprague in April about the ancestors they share.
When Cheyenne River Sioux Chief David Beautiful Bald Eagle walked on, his family asked the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe's Cultural Preservation Office to help with tipis, and they asked me to film the traditional services at their ranch on July 25 and the final burial services on July 29 at the Black Hills National Cemetery. He was placed on a burial scaffold at the ranch for four days and then taken to the Black Hills for burial.
RELATED: On a Scaffold to His Ancestors: Chief David Beautiful Bald Eagle Walks On
I visited David and conducted an interview with him about three months before his death at the ranch on April 13, 2016. I provided information and documents to him about early Lakota leaders in our families.
Chief David Beautiful Bald Eagle, who passed away at age 97, was a grandson of White Bull. Both David and his grandfather White Bull were illustrious characters. They enjoyed their traditional culture and the modern world of traveling. Both were involved in many activities outside the reservation, but the Cheyenne River Reservation was their homeland. David was born in a tipi near Cherry Creek, South Dakota on the Cheyenne River on April 8, 1919. His parents were Taylor Bald Eagle and Zola White Feather, and as a young boy he lived with his grandfather White Feather. He first married Penny Rathburn, but sadly she walked on. In 1958, he married Josie Kesteman, a young Belgian actress he met while being a bronc rider and riding bulls in Casey Tibbs' Wild West Show at the World's Fair in Belgium.
White Bull fought at the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn and David was a colorful participant in Lakota regalia during the Days of '76 parade held in Deadwood, South Dakota, which he attended for nearly 80 years. David remembered his family camp at the creek while attending the first Days of '76 event.
White Bull and One Bull were nephews of the Hunkpapa medicine man, Sitting Bull. A daughter of Sitting Bull, Good Feather married Makes Room For Him/Makes Room and he was a Minnicoujou. White Bull and One Bull, along with Jake White Bull, were sons of Makes Room and Good Feather. White Bull was born in 1843 and died in 1947. Their mother was a Hunkpapa Lakota so the sons are sometimes listed as Hunkpapa.
Following the death of Sitting Bull, many of his family moved away from Standing Rock Reservation. White Bull and One Bull moved to Cherry Creek on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation just south of Standing Rock Reservation. White Bull was later known as Joseph White Bull and Joseph Lazy White Bull. He had at least 15 wives throughout his lifetime. His brothers returned to the Hunkpapa with their mother.
Fort Meade was established as a military base and is located near Sturgis, South Dakota, and not far from Deadwood and the sacred Mato Paha or Bear Butte, near the location of White Bull's birth. Fort Meade became home to Comanche, Captain Keogh's horse at the Little Bighorn and the only survivor from the battle with Custer in 1876. Remnants of Custer's 7th cavalry were also assigned to Fort Meade. David recalled riding as part of the Fort Meade horse cavalry in 1939. In 1906 Utes left their reservation in Utah and troops from Fort Meade intercepted them in Wyoming and peacefully brought them to Fort Meade. White Bull traveled with the soldiers to assist in the negotiations. The Utes would soon be transferred to the Cheyenne River Reservation and White Bull took one of the Ute women as a wife.
Chief David Bald Eagle, as he became known, was proud of his military service. White Bull was also a celebrated veteran of the Indian wars. In World War II, David was at Angio Beach, Italy and at Normandy on D-Day. White Bull fought bravely at the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn.
David Bald Eagle appeared in movies with Errol Flynn and John Wayne and even danced with Marilyn Monroe. He also appeared in "Dances with Wolves," "Lakota Woman," "Skins," "Imprint," and the newly-released "Neither Wolf nor Dog." White Bull was often interviewed and photographed.
RELATED: 'Dances With Wolves' Actor Chief David Beautiful Bald Eagle Walks on at 97
White Bull recorded a manuscript and winter count history of events in his life and related this to author Stanley Vestal in the book "Warpath" published in 1932. In his book White Bull stated his first war party raid as a youngster was under the leadership of Hump, my great, great grandfather. White Bull and Hump were interviewed about their participation at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. White Bull also preserved Lakota language.
Some of our family later married into the White Bull family and David Beautiful Bald Eagle was connected to the Little Crow family. Little Crow and Hump were brothers, and Little Crow also participated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. All surrendered and came to Cherry Creek.
Through their travels White Bull and grandson David Bald Eagle met many people from all walks of life and enhanced American Indian/non-Indian relations. Both had long lives, White Bull lived to the age 104 and Dave to the age of 97. White Bull is buried in Cherry Creek and David is buried in the Black Hills.
Donovin Sprague is a tribal archivist, university instructor, author, and historian. He is Minnicoujou Lakota from the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation where he was born and raised, at Dupree, South Dakota. Author of 10 books and several published articles worldwide, he has done contract work for the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. for tribal historical research and a Smithsonian book publication. He has worked full-time at Black Hills State University, but now he is an adjunct instructor in the American Indian Studies Department. He is a family descendant of the leaders Hump and Crazy Horse.
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/09/11/passing-chief-david-beautiful-bald-eagle-remembers-his-ancestors-165719


text:
Appreciation: How 'Cheers' stars Kirstie Alley and Ted Danson made one of TV's most iconic pairings
Many television series have lost and gained characters across their lifetime, but when Kirstie Alley took over from Shelley Long as the female lead of "Cheers" in 1987, it was something epochal, almost a reboot, a new lease on life. Long's Diane Chambers was a runaway bride, cerebral, willowy, blond, mathematically fated to be mated with Ted Danson's bartender-proprietor Sam Malone — and they were indeed together off and on through her five seasons.
As Rebecca Howe, who came into the series as Sam's new boss — he had sold the bar to a conglomerate — Alley, who starred in the next six seasons, was something entirely different: dark, solid, physical, throaty, with a gift for slapstick and the license to go big where Long had been contained, and — to his endless frustration — not interested in Sam at all.
I have never seen any of the three "Look Who's Talking" films that Alley, who died Monday at age 71, made with John Travolta during and just after the run of "Cheers," but I can only assume that she's great in them, because I never saw her otherwise, even in shows and parts that were less deserving of her presence, less supportive of her talent. "Cheers" is one of the best written comedies in television history, however, and the combination of actor and role created the part for which she is rightly best remembered.
Actor Kirstie Alley dies at 71 of cancer that was 'only recently discovered'
Actor Kirstie Alley, of 'Cheers' fame, died of cancer that was recently diagnosed, according to a statement issued Monday evening by her family.
Rebecca's main theme was thwarted ambition, professional and romantic — the two were mixed up in her head — limited by her own situational blindness and the corporate glass ceiling. (Sexual harassment and power relationships are repeatedly portrayed, if not exactly explored.) Watching the show now, its attitudes feel transitional: Sam is a dinosaur, whose sexual obsessiveness the series half celebrates, half critiques.
But there's something especially interesting about his relationship with Rebecca. There's no romance between them. His interest in her is entirely sexual — or psychosexual, driven by her lack of reciprocation — which leads ultimately to a complicated, often affecting, half-platonic friendship that had, and has, no parallel in television.
If Rebecca's character runs a little too much to desperation in later seasons, when it comes to Landing a Man, it may have been in part that Alley was so obviously good at playing that kind of comedy, so engaging breaking down.
If thwarted ambition, physical comedy and the ability to cry funny put Alley in a line descended from Lucille Ball, she also had something of the strength and vulnerability, the rough-hewn intelligence and emotional appeal, of the great women of screwball comedy — Rosalind Russell, Barbara Stanwyck. (And like some of those stars, she could be acid on the subject of her industry, "the most suppressive business on the planet." Asked how one remained a "hot property," she replied, "You pour boiling water on yourself every morning.")
She was primarily a comic actor, though she won her second Emmy, after "Cheers," in a drama, the 1994 TV movie "David's Mother," as the mother of an autistic teenager, and I first saw her as Saavik, Spock's protege in the 1982 film "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," her screen debut. (Not counting three episodes as a contestant on "Match Game.") With her striking looks — green wide-set eyes and a superabundant head of hair, which she used as an expressive accessory — she was memorable from first glance, and unforgettable once she began to act.
'Cheers' co-stars toast Kirstie Alley: 'Grateful for all the times she made me laugh'
'Cheers' stars Ted Danson, Kelsey Grammer and Rhea Perlman fondly remember their late castmate Kirstie Alley, who died of cancer at age 71.
Subsequent series did not bother to domesticate her. In the very good "Veronica's Closet," created by Marta Kauffman and David Crane of "Friends" fame, which ran from 1997 to 2000, she played the entrepreneurial success of Rebecca Howe's dreams, the head of a lingerie company. In the less good, short-lived "Kirstie," she starred as a Broadway star reunited uneasily with the unglamorous child she gave up for adoption decades earlier. And in the self-reflexive, semi-improvised "Fat Actress," from 2005, she played a version of herself, trying to restart her career in the face of tabloid obsession with her weight.
Alley, who was also a regular in the second season of Ryan Murphy's "Scream Queens," continued to work in guest roles and on reality shows — this year's edition of "The Masked Singer" was her last screen appearance. But there never was another "Cheers" or another "Look Who's Talking" in her life, and there was never as much work as she should have had.
"What I want to do for the rest of my life is to work," she told journalist Clive James in the 1989 British documentary "Postcard From Hollywood." "And I think if you were like some bimbo, you know, that was like a flash in the dark that you probably would not have an opportunity to work for very long. But I don't think I'm real bimbo-esque. If I get old and fat then I'll do old, fat character roles, I don't care. It's fun."


text:
Minergy buoyant on new coal project
Business, Mining
Minergy, the Botswana Stock Exchange listed mining company, has expressed optimism regarding its coal mining project in Masama- 130 kilometres (81 mi) north of Gaborone, saying 2018 coal supply trends and prices show that it is feasible to continue developing the project and start coal mining by July 2018.
In its updated market report, the company's management say there is progress in their license application and expect to be awarded mining rights by the third quarter of 2018.
According to Minergy Director Mokwena Morulane it recently emerged that the envisaged coal mine could produce 100 000 tons of coal per month for sale and production could be expanded to reach 200 000 tons per month. "After awarding of the mining license, Minergy plans to on monthly basis mine 250 000 tons of raw coal for processing through the washing plant by September 2018 and finally produce 100 000 tons per month," said Morulane.
Morulane indicated that data shows that coal prices at international and regional level continue to be favourable and this could encourage expansion in production. "Due to the current favourable coal pricing and product shortages, Minergy has had numerous approaches to enter into off-take agreements with both regional end users and international coal traders which could elevate the required saleable product to in excess of 200 000 tons per month," he said.
Recent figures from the company's updated market report show that the coal project could benefit from increasing coal prices which stood at over 90 percent since 2016. The report stated that during February 2019, physical coal shipments from Richards Bay Coal Terminal in South Africa traded at $US98 per ton, up 90% from the 2016 lows and explained that the increase in prices is driven by the lack of investment in new coal projects, China cutting back some 500 million tons per annum in production and increased demand for coal from new coal fired plants. According to the report, the increasing prices and favorable market conditions could ensure that Minergy coal project in Botswana becomes a sustainable project creating job opportunities and contribute to mining royalties.
Giving an update on the project, Minergy CEO Andre Boje said the process of securing the mining license for the project is at an advanced stage; "The required documentation for the award of the license has been reviewed by the various departments and is awaiting final approval. We have had excellent engagement with and assistance from the Botswana government at all levels and this has given us comfort that the license should be awarded by Q3 2018." He stated that the process to identify and appoint a suitable mining contractor is at an advanced stage and added that after the awarding of the mining license and appointment of mining contractor, mining operations should then commence during July 2018.
Commenting on availability of cash reserves for mining operations, the CEO said capital partners and major partners remain fully committed and supportive of the project and the associated business plan going forward. He indicated that in its bid to raise more money to fund the coal project Minergy is preparing to list in London. "Extensive work and preparation has taken place for a second listing on the London based Alternative Investment Market ("AIM"). The required London based broker has been appointed and we are in the process of appointing the accountants and lawyers. However, a final decision regarding the second listing will only be made once Minergy has formally tested the investment appetite. The listing on AIM is planned for the end of 2018."
The CEO said overall the company is pleased with the progress made regarding the project and is excited about the road ahead and what can be achieved.
Batswana to pay more for food in 2018
New president looks to wean Botswana off dependence on diamonds


Seems fitting that we start one here.
Edit: Why GIF no work here ?
Last edited by twinblade; 03-05-2015, 04:21 AM.
Speaking of unplayable.. swings out, seams in.
That's a ripper of a pill from Anderson. Who is 2nd bowler?
Pub Cricket is where it's at.
I'll have you know that this past season I opened the bat 4 times, even lasted 14 overs one innings. Also got the most not outs in the squad. Took wickets and catches as well. Genuine allrounder thankyou very much.
Wasim Akram can bend time.
Waqar could swing in a mile.
Southee's ball of the world cup.
Steyn's demonstrates the physics behind flying bails and stumps. Perfect.
Most # 10's and 11's have a lot of not outs.
Stark's 3rd ball to McCullum in the WC final was swinging a mile as well.
You're a bit of a Dirk Wellham ring-in Min.
Kohli run out by Dwayne Bravo. Dem reflexes.
Jonathan Trott quits all international cricket.
I'm actually surprised he was allowed back in the England side. When Trescothick had his pack up and go moment, he never played for England again.
Warner b Yadav. Nice cutter.
Last edited by twinblade; 05-05-2015, 08:28 PM.
Or a pint sized Daniel Vettori.


2013-2017 Congqiao (Bella) Yang, Ph.D.
2016 Aman Saini. Fabrics and semi-volatile organic compounds: towards understanding accumulation and release.
2015 Golnoush Abbasi. Stocks and flows of PBDEs in products from use to waste in the U.S. and Canada.
2013 Sri Chaudhuri. Measuring and understanding the indoor fate of, and exposure to phthalate esters.
metal speciation, fate, exposure and ecotoxicity.
2007 Elisabeth Galarneau. Particle-gas partitioning of PAH: analysis and modelling.
2016 Jimmy Truong. Organophosphate Esters (OPEs) as emerging contaminants in the environment: Indoor sources and transport to receiving waters.
2014 Daniela Serodio. Physical-chemical properties and persistence of organic flame retardants.
2014 Anna Krol. Development and evaluation of the Indoor Multimedia Assessment Model.
of Ross Lake, Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada.
2008 Xianming Zhang. Measurement and modelling of indoor concentrations of PCBs and PBDEs.
2007 Lisa Melymuk. The multi-media movement of trace organic contaminants in an urban and urbanizing watershed.
2007 Susan Csiszar. The fate of PCBs and PBDEs in urban areas: application of the Multimedia Urban Model.
2007 Julie Sommerfreund. Evaluation of contaminant fate in the Venice Lagoon using a multi-segment fugacity/aquivalence model and a probabilistic uncertainty analysis.
2006 Roshanak Razavi. Contaminant fate in the Bay of Quinte: a modeling assessment.
2014 - 2016 Clara Thaysen, undergraduate research assistant.
2014 - 2015 Suman Dahl, part-time graduate assistant.


text:
<!-- [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/Prosumma/Guise.svg)](https://travis-ci.org/Prosumma/Guise) -->
![Platforms](https://img.shields.io/cocoapods/p/Parsimonious)
![License](https://img.shields.io/cocoapods/l/Parsimonious)

## Parsers And Parser Combinators? What?

Parsers and parser combinators are means of parsing a stream of some type into some other type. For example, one might start with a string whose contents are a mathematical expression such as `2 + 3`. We want to get from this string to an array of tokens which can then be further processed to evaluate the expression itself or display it with syntax highlighting or for some other purpose.

I can’t do justice to this topic here. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parser_combinator) has the canonical article and your favorite search engine will have lots more information.

For those that already know a bit about parser combinators, a Parsimonious parser is a function with the following type signature:

```swift
typealias Parser<C: Collection, T> = (Context<C>) throws -> T
```

You’ll notice that the type signature includes `Collection`. Parsimonious is not a stream parser. This allows easier backtracking at the expense of not being able to parse _extremely_ large amounts of data. For the vast majority of uses, this will not be a problem.

### Terminology

Look again at the signature of a parser. Its only argument is a `Context<C: Collection>`. We speak of a parser _consuming_ a collection. If the elements of this collection are typed, we speak of the parser _consuming_ a collection of said type. The return type is `T`, but in the case of parsers we speak of a parser _matching_ `T`.

A combinator is a higher-order function that returns a parser. Here's an example:

```swift
func combinator<C: Collection, T>(_ parsers: Parser<C, T>...) -> Parser<C, [T]>
```

A combinator _consumes_ a collection. It _returns_ a parser. It _matches_ an array of `T`. (Technically it returns a parser which matches an array of `T`. But it's tedious to speak this way and obvious from the context what is meant if we elide a bit of it.)

Parsing is begun using the `parse` function:

```swift
func parse<C: Collection, T>(_ input: C, with parser: Parser<C, T>) throws -> T
```

The collection consumed by parsing is known as the _parse input_ or just _input_. This terminology is also used with parsers themselves, but refers to the unconsumed remainder of the _original_ parse input at the time the given parser attempts to parse.

## Why Parsimonious?

### Reason 1: Character Tests

Parsimonious takes a slightly novel approach to parsing text. Most parser combinator frameworks have built-ins like `whitespace` or `newline`. Instead of this, Parsimonious has the concept of _character tests_.

This is easier to demonstrate than to explain, but it’s quite easy to use. Let’s match a sequence of at least one character which may not include whitespace or punctuation characters.

```swift
many1S(all: !\Character.isWhitespace, !\Character.isPunctuation)
```

Let’s parse this parser for a moment. The `S` suffix tells us that this parser parses a string and matches a string. (More on that later.) The `all:` tells us that all of the tests must return `true` for the parser to match. Inside the parentheses, we have two "negated" keypaths. Using the `!` operator with the keypaths reverses the test implied by the keypath.

So what is a character test?

- Any `KeyPath<Character, Bool>`
- Any `Character`
- Any `String` (which automatically implies "one of")
- An instance of `ExplicitCharacterTest`
- Any type which implements the `CharacterTest` protocol

In addition, the `test(any:)` and `test(all:)` functions, which themselves return a character test, can be used to combine tests to dizzying heights:

```swift
char(all: !\Character.isWhitespace, !"07", test(any: \Character.isLetter, \Character.isDigit))
```

The above parser matches a single character, which must not be whitespace and must not be one of "0" or "7". In addition, it must either be a letter or digit. So it will match "9" but not "0". It will match "x" but not " ".

Using this methodology, extremely sophisticated parsers can be created.

### Reason 2: Strings!

In Swift, a `String` is not merely an array of `Character` instances. It is a much more sophisticated type that handles all the many intricacies of the Unicode standard.

The primitive Parsimonious parsers and combinators don’t know anything about strings or characters. They just parse a `Collection` of something or other and either match that something-or-other or an array of it. For example, the `many1` combinator matches one or more instances of a given parser:

```swift
let digits = many1("0123456789")
```

Given "289" as the parse input, `digits` matches an array of `Character` instances, so the match would be `["2", "8", "9"]`. Because this is often inconvenient, Parsimonious has a suite of parsers and combinators that match strings instead of arrays of characters.

The type of a parser which consumes a `String` and matches the same is `Parser<String, String>`. This type is so common that it has a `typealias`: `ParserS`. In addition to `ParserS`, there is `manyS`, `many1S`, and so on. The `S` suffix indicates that we’re dealing with strings, not arrays of characters.

```swift
let digits = many1S("0123456789")
```

The above parser will give us "289" instead of `["2", "8", "9"]`, which is often much more convenient.

### Reason 3: Backtracking

Because Parsimonious is a collection parser rather than a stream parser, backtracking is easy. In fact, _any parser that fails to match **automatically** backtracks_. This makes parsers easier to write and reason about:

```swift
let escape: Character = "\\"
let quote: Character = "\""

let quotation = char(quote) *> manyS(char(all: !escape, !quote) | (char(escape) *> char(any: escape, quote))) <* char(quote)
```

The `quotation` parser matches quoted strings. Quotes themselves can be escaped with a backslash and a backslash must also be escaped with a backslash. Only the text _within_ the quotes is returned as the result of this parser.

If any portion of this parser fails, it will backtrack all the way to the beginning and `throw` a `ParseError`. Whether this `ParseError` terminates parsing depends upon the context in which this parser occurs:

```swift
let quoteOrInteger = quotation | many1S("0123456789") | fail("Expected a quotation or integer")
```

The `|` combinator tries the left-hand parser. If it fails, it swallows the error and tries the right-hand parser. If that fails, then `|` fails and the error propagates up. Since the last failure might not be terribly helpful, we use the `fail` combinator (which always fails) to produce a friendlier error.

### Reason 4: Write Complex Parsers Simply

Let's look again at the type signature of a parser:

```swift
public typealias Parser<C: Collection, T> = (Context<C>) throws -> T
```

Notice the `throws` keyword? This makes Parsimonious "Swifty" and also simplifies the writing of complex parsers. Instead of the constant ceremony of checking return types, we can use a syntax that is more natural to Swift and easier to read:

```swift
func parseDeclaration(_ context: Context<String>) throws -> String {
    return try context.transact {
        try context <- string("DECLARE")
        try context <- many1S(\Character.isWhitespace)
        let decl = try context <- many1S(\Character.isLetter)
        try context <- many1S(\Character.isWhitespace)
        return decl
    }
}
```

The `transact` method is a helper which returns the context's index back to where it started if any of the parsers fails. You should _always_ use this when writing your own parser.

By using `try` instead of some kind of `Result` type, we don't have to continually check the `Result`. This makes parsers easier to write and easier to understand.

Of course, it's much easier to write this particular parser using operators, and you should always do so when possible, as it handles all of these details for you:

```swift
let ws = many1S(\Character.isWhitespace)
let parseDeclaration = string("DECLARE") *> (many1S(\Character.isLetter) <~> ws)
```

## Tips & Tricks

### Look At The Unit Tests!

The unit tests implement a fully-functional JSON parser and a pretty good CSV parser. There’s a lot to parse in them.

### Not Just Strings!

Parsimonious can parse anything which implements `Collection`. It doesn't have to be a string. This is useful if you want to split the parsing up into phases, where the first phase is simple tokenization. You can use Parsimonious to combine the tokens into larger structures.

### Positions

When tokenizing, it's often useful to know where in the original `Collection` the matched token appeared. The `position` combinator can be used to achieve this.

```swift
enum Token {
    case openParens
    case closeParens
    case sep
    case integer(Int)
}

let openParens = char("(")
let closeParens = char(")")
let sep = char(",")
let integer = many1S("0123456789")

let tokens = [openParens, closeParens, sep, integer].map(position)
let token = or(tokens)
```

Notice how the individual token parsers were defined without `position`, which was added later using higher order functions. This makes the parsers more reusable.

So what do you get when you do this? Instead of matching `Token`, the parsers in the above example now match `Position<String, Token>`, which has useful `startIndex`, `endIndex` and `value` properties.

### Peeking

The `peek` combinator matches without consuming any of the underlying `Collection`. It allows one to look ahead at what's next. A good example of its use is in the CSV parser in the unit tests. Consider the parser which produces a `Decimal`:

```swift
let dec = toDecimal <%> many1S(digits) + char(".") + many1S(digits)
```

This is a perfectly good parser, but there are circumstances in a CSV file in which it can cause a false match. Consider:

```
bob,62.135.157.128,4.9
```

Look at `62.135.157.128`. `62.135` happily parses as a decimal, but the CSV parser has no idea what to do with the remaining `.157.128`. It terminates with an error. So we need to teach our parser that in the case of a decimal value, it needs to be followed by the separator, the end of the line or the end of the file:

```swift
func delimited<T>(_ parser: @escaping Parser<String, T>) -> Parser<String, T> {
    return surround(parser, with: ows) <* peek(char(sep) | eol | eofS)
}

let dec = toDecimal <%> delimited(many1S(digits) + char(".") + many1S(digits))
```

The `delimited` combinator returns a parser which says that our passed-in parser is expected to be surrounded by optional white space (`ows`) and followed either by the separator character, the end of the line or the end of the file.

An individual "item" in our CSV file is matched as follows:

```swift
let str = CSValue.string <%> (delimited(quotation) | unquotation)
let item = delimited(dec) | delimited(int) | str
```

With `peek`, the IP address fails to parse as a decimal, so the next possibility, an integer, is tried. It, too, fails, until eventually we get to a parser that succeeds: `unquotation`.

The `peek` combinator is almost always used with the `<*` combinator, which must match its left-hand and right-hand parsers, but discards the value of the right-hand parser.

### Handy Operators

Custom operators are essential to making a parser combinator framework usable and readable. Parsimonious overloads the built-in `|`, `&` and `+` operators. Because the arguments to these operators in Parsimonious are parsers, there is no possibility of conflict with the ordinary uses of these operators. The custom operators are `<*`, `*>`, `<*>`, `<%>`, `<=>`, `<?>`, and `<-`. All of the operators mentioned so far are infix operators. There are in addition two postfix operators, `+` and `*`.

Use of the custom and overloaded operators is entirely optional. _Every Parsimonious operator has a corresponding ordinary function._

Let's go over a few of the operators. For the rest, see the documentation and unit tests.

Perhaps the most common operator is `|` (`or`). This operator attemps the parser on its left-hand side. If it does not match, it attempts the parser on its right-hand side. If both fail, the `ParseError` from the right-hand parser is thrown.

```swift
// Matches "foo" or "bar" or fails.
string("foo") | string("bar")
```

The `<*` (`first`) operator succeeds when its left- and right-hand parsers both succeed, but it only matches the left-hand parser. One can think of it as meaning "followed by".

```swift
string("foo") <* many1S(\Character.isWhitespace)
```

This matches the string "foo" only when it is followed by at least one whitespace character. The whitespace match is discarded but must still succeed.

The inverse of `<*` is of course `*>` (`second`), meaning "preceded by":

```swift
many1S(\Character.isWhitespace) *> string("foo")
```

There is also `<*>` (`surround`), whose meaning should by now be obvious:

```swift
string("foo") <*> many1S(\Character.isWhitespace)
```

The above parser matches the string "foo" but only if it is surrounded on both sides by at least one whitespace character.

The `+` operator is used only on string parsers (i.e., `ParserS`). It takes the matches of its left- and right-hand sides and combines them.

```swift
string("foo") + string("bar")
```

This must first match the string "foo", followed by the string "bar". The matched string returned is "foobar". Contrast this with `string("foo") & string("bar")` which returns an array `["foo", "bar"]`.

As a postfix operator, `+` is the same as `many1`, but its argument must always be a parser, not a character test.

```swift
let foobar = (string("foo") | string("bar")) <*> manyS(\Character.isWhitespace)
foobar+
```

Given a parse input of "foofoo barfoo bar bar " the match of `foobar+` would be `["foo", "foo", "bar", "foo", "bar", "bar"]`.

### Arbitrary State

The `Context` type used in parsing allows arbitrary state to be set and retrieved:

```swift
context["count"] = 1
context["string"] = "ok"
```

Since the `parse` method through which parsing begins does not allow the `Context` object to be accessed directly, the easiest way to set initial state is by creating a "root" parser that does so:

```swift
enum Datum {
    case integer(Int)
    case string(String)
}

func datum(_ context: Context<String>) throws -> Datum {
    func integer(_ context: Context<String>) throws -> Datum {
        return try context.transact {
            let s = try context <- many1S("0123456789")
            guard let i = Int(s) else {
                throw ParseError(message: "'\(s)' out of range for integer.", context: context)
            }
            context["integers"] = (context["integers"]! as! Int) + 1
            return .integer(i)
        }
    }
    let string = Datum.string <%> quotation
    let datum = try context <- integer | string | fail("Expected to match an integer or a quoted string.")
    return datum
}

// Here is our root parser.
func data(_ context: Context<String>) throws -> ([Datum], Int) {
    let ws = manyS(\Character.isWhitespace)
    context["integers"] = 0
    let data = try context <- (many(datum, sepBy: char(",") <*> ws) <*> ws) <* eof
    return (data, context["integers"]! as! Int)
}

let s = "\"ok\", 79, 44, \"never\", 8   "
let (result, integerCount) = try! parse(s, with: data)
```

The value of `integerCount` is 3. This is a very contrived, borderline silly example, but it demonstrates what can be done.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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To have a missionary spirit
Posted on September 10, 2021 by Sacred Heart
Vicar general encourages students to have a missionary spirit
Fr. Steve speaks with students in the SHM recreation room
On Friday, September 10, the formation community at Sacred Heart Monastery welcomed Fr. Stephen Huffstetter, SCJ, to speak about what it means to be a missionary, to have a missionary spirit. Originally from the US Province, Fr. Steve is now vicar general of the Priests of the Sacred Heart (Dehonians) based at our Generalate in Rome. After a year-long delay due to the pandemic, he is finally enjoying a return to North America, taking the opportunity to visit SCJ communities and ministries, as well as his family.
What does it mean to have a missionary spirit? For Fr. Steve, the idea of "encounter" is key. "We learn from others, we see God in others," he said.
Fr. Steve cited three scripture passages when speaking specifically to what it means to be a Dehonian missionary.
"The first is from Luke 9:3," he said. "It basically says, 'Just go.' Take nothing for the journey. Fr. Dehon's first missionaries weren't always well prepared, but Fr. Dehon told them to 'just go,' adding that if they listened to the people, they would learn what they needed to serve them."
Fraters Hubert and Henry
The next passage Fr. Steve cited was Matthew 10:19: "When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say."
"God will give you the words," said Fr. Steve, adding that while it is important to prepare as much as one can, it is also important to be flexible and not be overly worried about how one will be received. Prepare, but trust in God.
And finally, Fr. Steve said that to have a missionary spirit is to be willing – at times – to feel like a "little child." (Matthew 18:3). He spoke of his own experience in Rome, feeling like a frustrated child, struggling to learn a new language (Italian). "It is important to not just do what we are good at, or what we are comfortable with," he said. "We have to be open to going where we are not comfortable so that we can learn and be supportive of others, and respect those who are different than ourselves." The struggle of learning a new language as an adult is something that prompts many to feel like a "little child."
However, having a missionary spirit, emphasized Fr. Steve, doesn't require one to go beyond one's borders.
Our newest candidate, Alfonso, asks a question
"It means going out to be with those who are of a culture different than one's own." He spoke of his experience of working with the physically disabled (and realizing that a part of welcoming people to the Church with a big "C" is making sure that they can actually get into the church with a little "c"), with the homeless at a soup kitchen, with the Lakota Sioux in South Dakota, and with people in a variety of age groups.
"There is no one white culture, no one Black or Hispanic culture," he said. There are many cultures within a larger culture; having a missionary spirit requires one to recognize this and always be open to learning.
Talking about increasing international communities in the congregation, Fr. Steve said that while Dehonians value internationality, there is still much work to do. "We sometimes put people together from a variety of cultures and think they will work it out and be an international community just because they are together."
To make international communities work, they must be intentional, meaning that members of an international community must have a missionary spirit open to learning about and respecting each culture within the community before the community can in turn minister to others.
Fr. Steve's closing advice to the students? "Never stop learning," he said. "The end of initial formation is not the end of formation. Take care of yourself, and continue to be open to and learn from others. Have a spirit of 'Ecce venio,' like Fr. Dehon."
A quick group photo
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