The implications of poaching for giant panda conservation

http://www.elsevier.com/locate/issn/00063207Poaching giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) for their skins is a serious threat to the persistence of wild giant panda populations in China. An individual-based, age-structured stochastic simulation model was constructed to give a quantitative analysis of the effects of poaching. The model takes a total wild population of 1216 individuals divided among 16 ‘patches’. The model treats individual populations as being completely independent, with no dispersal, and density-dependence only enters into the model through local carrying capacity of patches. The model simulates three types of poaching: deterministic (constant) poaching, stochastic poaching with normal distribution and stochastic poaching with observed distribution. Results showed that, with a given initial population, poaching adult females produces lower average population size and higher average percentage extinction than poaching adult males or young. At the same poaching intensity, all three poaching simulations predicted a similar probability of extinction. However, they predicted different average population size and percentage extinction because of differences in the parameters in the three models. These results should therefore be treated with caution when constant poaching simulation or stochastic poaching with assumed normal distribution is used as a simplification of realistic poaching. Nevertheless, the results imply that giant pandas are threatened by any reduction in natural populations. Effective measures are essential to reduce poaching. It is also important to limit the capturing of wild animals for zoos or breeding facilities as this also has a serious effect on the total population

Influences of Entrepreneurs’ Affect and Self-esteem on Escalation of Commitment

The entrepreneurial environment is changing rapidly and uncertain, in which risks and opportunities coexist. Entrepreneurs may gain success, fortune, reputation and status, but also may encounter setback and failure. Sometimes, entrepreneurs will encounter the dilemma of whether to persist to invest to a failing action in entrepreneurial process, and are easy to have the decision-making tendency of escalation of commitment. Escalation of commitment is a typical decision - making and judgment bias occurring in entrepreneurial process, which will directly impact the success and failure of entrepreneurship. In this study, the escalation of commitment is explored from the aspects of entrepreneurs’ affect and self-esteem, for which the experimental methods are adopted to have investigation on entrepreneurs, and the results show that there is significance difference in escalation of commitment among entrepreneurs with high self-esteem level and entrepreneurs with medium self-esteem level, and entrepreneurs with medium self-esteem level are more tend to escalation of commitment than entrepreneurs with high self-esteem level. Keywords: entrepreneurs, affect, self-esteem, escalation of commitmen

Pure-Silica-Zeolite MFI and MEL Low-Dielectric-Constant Films with Fluoro-Organic Functionalization

The synthesis of organic-functionalized pure-silica-zeolites (PSZs) with MFI- and MEL-type structures for low-k applications prepared through a direct-synthesis method by adding a fluorinated silane to the synthesis solution is reported. The added fluorine functionality increases the hydrophobicity of the zeolites, which are characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, 29Si and 19F solid-state NMR spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption, and thermogravimetric analysis. The functionalized zeolite powders have low water content and calcined spin-on films prepared from the functionalized nanoparticle suspensions exhibit higher water contact angles and lower k values (2.1 and 1.8 for the functionalized MFI- and MEL-type zeolites, respectively) than PSZ films. The use of a direct-synthesis method to decrease the moisture adsorption in the films eliminates the extra post-spin-on silylation steps that are traditionally used to render the zeolite films hydrophobic

C-E Translation Strategies of Diplomatic Speech from the Perspective of Skopos Theory

As a necessary part of diplomatic activities, diplomatic speech not only shows the political policy of the speaker’s country, but also expressestheir government’s attitude towards unilateral or multilateral relations. Therefore, there is no doubt that the C-E translation of diplomatic speech is significant. Under the guidance of Skopos theory and with the analysisof diplomatic speeches’ stylistic feature, this paper aims to figure out C-E Translation strategies of diplomatic speechby analyzing the speeches delivered by Xi Jinpingfrom the lexical, syntactical, and discourse level

Glass formation in mechanically interlocked ring polymers: the role of induced chain stiffness

Polymer-related materials exhibit rich glassy behaviors at different length scales due to their various molecular structures and topological constraints. Recent studies have identified transient interpenetration of the long-chain rings contributing to dynamic arrest on the center-of-mass level. Interpenetration of rings is proposed as an approach to facilitate glass formation in polymer melts. In this work, inspired by recent advances in the synthesis of mechanically interlocked polymers, we investigate glass transition on the nanometer-scale segments influenced by permanent interpenetration of rings using molecular dynamics simulations. We find that decreasing chain length in the mechanically interlocked system is equivalent to inducing an effective chain stiffness on the sub-rings. The induced stiffness provides a unified explanation for these unique structural features and transient dynamic arrest in the system of interlocked rings with rather short chains. Further, a crossover is observed in the scaling relation between localization and glassy depth upon cooling. Our work reveals a dynamic transition from weak to strong caging at the crossover temperature. According to the localization model, we demonstrate that the chain stiffness increases the critical temperature and oscillation distance, therefore leads to more fragile dynamics and deeper glassy state. These findings are consistent with the predictions of molecular simulations and theories for polymers with real local stiffness. Our work deepens the understanding of the role of induced stiffness on glass transition, and opens up a new direction to design rich glass materials by manipulating stiffness through mechanical bonds.Comment: 35 pages, 8 figure