Critical phenomena from the two-particle irreducible 1/N expansion

The 1/N expansion of the two-particle irreducible (2PI) effective action is employed to compute universal properties at the second-order phase transition of an O(N)-symmetric N-vector model directly in three dimensions. At next-to-leading order the approach cures the spurious small-N divergence of the standard (1PI) 1/N expansion for a computation of the critical anomalous dimension eta(N), and leads to improved estimates already for moderate values of N.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figure

Collaborative working to overcome barriers to active transport: Learning from a living lab

Christine teaches sustainable transport to Resource and Environmental Planning students and supervises postgraduate research on a range of sustainability topics related to transport. As a local government specialist, she is particularly interested in planning for and implementation of sustainability by local government and grasping the nettle of integration of land-use and transport planning. This has stimulated her interest in fostering a new approach to collaborative working by council planners and university researchers. ‘Co-production’ of research has been the focus of the Massey University Living Lab in which she has been involved for several years with Palmerston North City Council planners.fals

Collaborative working to overcome barriers to active transport: Learning from a living lab

Innovative research on barriers to active transport in Palmerston North set out to “disrupt” conventional approaches to research in a number of ways. First, council managers and planners worked collaboratively with university researchers to determine the focus of research and the approach that was taken. Second, the two organisations (council and university) chose to focus on their own staff in order to be able to demonstrate leadership in the community in addressing the challenge of promoting active transport. An online questionnaire was developed and administered to staff of both organisations. Third, recognising the need to have a long-term approach, both organisations have continued to collaborate in carrying out follow-up research and implementing the findings. This paper outlines the background to the research that was initiated in 2014 and discusses the importance of the long-term relationships between planners, policy advisors and active transport researchers. It shares insights for local government, district health boards and other key agencies about working collaboratively to co-create research about and implement solutions to increase participation in active transport

Barriers to active transport in Palmerston North

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Between Christianity and secularity:Counselling and psychotherapy provision in Scotland

Counselling and psychotherapy services have become increasingly prominent within modern urban welfare. Although often perceived to be intrinsically secular, since psychoanalytic thinking and practice arrived in Scotland it has been shaped by the Christian culture it encountered. Early Scottish-born contributors to psychoanalytic theory, including Ian Suttie and W.R.D. Fairbairn, reframed Freud’s ideas in ways that incorporated Scottish Presbyterian understandings of what it is to be human. A form of Christian psychotherapy, supported by the Presbyterian, Catholic and Episcopal churches was being offered to members of the general public by the 1940s. Counselling provision expanded rapidly from the mid-1960s, with active church involvement. Tracing these developments via documentary sources and oral history testimony, I argue that counselling and psychotherapy in Scotland have never been secular. I illustrate evidence for “postsecular rapprochment” operating since the 1960s, characterised by faith-by-praxis and collaboration between those with and without religious faith. I explore the interplay between religious and secular spaces in the development of this element of modern urban welfare

Speech Communication

Contains table of contents for Part V, table of contents for Section 1, reports on six research projects and a list of publications.C.J. Lebel FellowshipDennis Klatt Memorial FundNational Institutes of Health Grant R01-DC00075National Institutes of Health Grant R01-DC01291National Institutes of Health Grant R01-DC01925National Institutes of Health Grant R01-DC02125National Institutes of Health Grant R01-DC02978National Institutes of Health Grant R01-DC03007National Institutes of Health Grant R29-DC02525National Institutes of Health Grant F32-DC00194National Institutes of Health Grant F32-DC00205National Institutes of Health Grant T32-DC00038National Science Foundation Grant IRI 89-05249National Science Foundation Grant IRI 93-14967National Science Foundation Grant INT 94-2114

Age related decline in female lar gibbon great call performance suggests that call features correlate with physical condition

Background: White-handed gibbons (Hylobates lar) are small Asian apes known for living in stable territories and producing loud, elaborate vocalizations (songs), often in well-coordinated male/female duets. The female great call, the most conspicuous phrase of the repertoire, has been hypothesized to function in intra-sexual territorial defense. We therefore predicted that characteristics of the great call would correlate with a caller’s physical condition, and thus might honestly reflect resource holding potential (RHP). Because measurement of RHP is virtually impossible for wild animals, we used age as a proxy, hypothesizing that great call climaxes are difficult to produce and maintain over time, and that older adults will therefore perform lower quality great calls than young adults. To test this we analyzed the great call climaxes of 15 wild lar gibbon females at Khao Yai National Park, Thailand and 2 captive females at Leo Conservation Center, Greenwich, CT. Results: Findings show that call climaxes correlate with female age, as young animals (n = 8, mean age: 12.9 years) produced climaxes with a higher frequency range (delta F0), maximum F0 frequency and duty cycle than old animals (n = 9, mean age: 29.6 years). A permuted discriminant function analysis also correctly classified calls by age group. During long song bouts the maximum F0 frequency of great call climaxes’ also decreased. Additional data support the hypothesis that short high notes, associated with rapid inhalation as an individual catches its breath, reflect increased caller effort. Older females produced more high notes than younger females, but the difference only approached statistical significance, suggesting that calling effort may be similar across different ages. Finally, for the first time in this species, we measured peak intensity of calls in captive females. They were capable of producing climaxes in excess of 100 dB at close range (2.7 m). Conclusions: Age and within-bout differences in the lar gibbon great call climax suggest that call features correlate with physical condition and thus the call may have evolved as an honest signal in the context of intra-sexual territorial defense and possibly also in male mate choice via sexual selection, although further testing of these hypotheses is necessary. Results: Findings show that call climaxes correlate with female age, as young animals (n = 8, mean age: 12.9 years) produced climaxes with a higher frequency range (delta F0), maximum F0 frequency and duty cycle than old animals (n = 9, mean age: 29.6 years). A permuted discriminant function analysis also correctly classified calls by age group. During long song bouts the maximum F0 frequency of great call climaxes’ also decreased. Additional data support the hypothesis that short high notes, associated with rapid inhalation as an individual catches its breath, reflect increased caller effort. Older females produced more high notes than younger females, but the difference only approached statistical significance, suggesting that calling effort may be similar across different ages. Finally, for the first time in this species, we measured peak intensity of calls in captive females. They were capable of producing climaxes in excess of 100 dB at close range (2.7 m). Conclusions: Age and within-bout differences in the lar gibbon great call climax suggest that call features correlate with physical condition and thus the call may have evolved as an honest signal in the context of intra-sexual territorial defense and possibly also in male mate choice via sexual selection, although further testing of these hypotheses is necessary

Multi-scale, multivariate community models improve designation of biodiversity hotspots in the Sunda Islands

Species occur in sympatric assemblages, bound together by ecological relationships and interspecific interactions. Borneo and Sumatra host some of the richest assemblages of biota worldwide. The region, however, faces the highest global deforestation rates, which seriously threaten its unique biodiversity. We used a large camera trap dataset that recorded data for 70 terrestrial species of mammals and birds, to explore the drivers of regional species richness patterns. Using a multi-scale, multivariate modelling framework which quantified the main environmental factors associated with patterns of biodiversity, while simultaneously assessing individual relationships of each species, we determined the ecological drivers of sampled biodiversity, and their contributions to community assemblages. We then mapped predicted species richness, evaluated the effectiveness of protected areas in securing biodiversity hotspots, performed gap analysis to highlight biodiverse areas lacking protection and compared our predictions with species richness maps produced by using IUCN range layers. Finally, we investigated the performance of each species as an indicator of sampled biodiversity. We demonstrate that biodiversity in Borneo and Sumatra is primarily affected by gradients of ecological and anthropogenic factors, and only marginally by topographic and spatial factors. In both islands, species are primarily associated with elevational gradients in vegetation and climate, leading to altitudinal zonation in niche separation as a major factor characterizing the islands' biodiversity. Species richness was highest in north-eastern Borneo and in western Sumatra. We found that most predicted biodiversity hotspots are not formally protected in either island; only 9.2 and 18.2% of the modelled species richness occurred within protected areas in Borneo and Sumatra, respectively. We highlighted that our prediction for Borneo performed better than, and differed drastically from, the IUCN species richness layer, while for Sumatra our modelled species richness layer and the IUCN one were similar, and both showed low predictive power. Our analysis suggests that common and generalist carnivores are the most effective indicators of sampled biodiversity and have high potential as focal, umbrella or indicator species to assist multi-species vertebrate conservation planning. Understanding existing drivers and patterns of biodiversity is critical to support the development of effective community conservation strategies in this rapidly changing region

Open-access platform to synthesize knowledge of ape conservation across sites

Despite the large body of literature on ape conservation, much of the data needed for evidence‐based conservation decision‐making is still not readily accessible and standardized, rendering cross‐site comparison difficult. To support knowledge synthesis and to complement the IUCN SSC Ape Populations, Environments and Surveys database, we created the A.P.E.S. Wiki (https://apeswiki.eva.mpg.de), an open‐access platform providing site‐level information on ape conservation status and context. The aim of this Wiki is to provide information and data about geographical ape locations, to curate information on individuals and organizations active in ape research and conservation, and to act as a tool to support collaboration between conservation practitioners, scientists, and other stakeholders. To illustrate the process and benefits of knowledge synthesis, we used the momentum of the update of the conservation action plan for western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) and began with this critically endangered taxon. First, we gathered information on 59 sites in West Africa from scientific publications, reports, and online sources. Information was compiled in a standardized format and can thus be summarized using a web scraping approach. We then asked experts working at those sites to review and complement the information (20 sites have been reviewed to date). We demonstrate the utility of the information available through the Wiki, for example, for studying species distribution. Importantly, as an open‐access platform and based on the well‐known wiki layout, the A.P.E.S. Wiki can contribute to direct and interactive information sharing and promote the efforts invested by the ape research and conservation community. The Section on Great Apes and the Section on Small Apes of the IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group will guide and support the expansion of the platform to all small and great ape taxa. Similar collaborative efforts can contribute to extending knowledge synthesis to all nonhuman primate species

Down from the treetops: Red langur (Presbytis rubicunda) terrestrial behaviour

Using direct observations and camera traps at eight sites across Indonesian Borneo we show how red langurs (Presbytis rubicunda) are more terrestrial than previously believed, regularly coming to the ground. This unusual behavior has been found at six of the eight sites surveyed. We find that red langurs come to the ground more frequently in disturbed forests, specifically ones which have been impacted by logging, fire, and hunting, though more data are needed to confirm this as a direct correlation. We also found a trend towards decreased ground use with increased elevation of the habitat. When on the ground, red langurs are predominantly engaged in feeding (50% direct observations, 61% camera traps) and traveling (29% direct observations, 13% camera traps). Red langurs are found on the ground throughout the day, at similar times to activity periods of the apex predator, the Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi). We suggest that ground use by red langurs could be an adaptation to disturbed forest to exploit additional food sources and to facilitate travel