Ministry of Advanced Education

Based on the phenol–carbamate dynamic bond, we designed a strategy to regulate the rearrangement kinetics of the dynamic covalent network in polyurethanes by adjusting the chemical structure of aliphatic isocyanates.

We documented parental behaviour and paternity of eastern kingbirds (Tyrannus tyrannus) to test the predictions that paternal care would decline with increasing loss of paternity, increasing nesting density (a proxy for probability of paternity loss), male quality, and number of fertile females available in the population. Extra-pair young were found in 58% of 45 nests for which behaviour was recorded and a higher proportion of young were extra-pair as nesting density increased. Male feeding rate declined with increasing nesting density and male quality, but neither feeding rate nor a composite measure of paternal behaviour varied with number of fertile females or paternity. Although alternative explanations exist, one interpretation of the reduced paternal care at high nesting density was that it was a response to perceived threats of paternity loss. The ultimate basis for the lower paternal effort of higher quality males is unclear but we discuss several possible explanations.

Human "knowledge work" is increasingly shaped by the introduction of the computer into the workplace and, more recently, by the merging of computers with telecommunications. The impact of this communication revolution is explored by examining the case of an online educational research workshop in which a computer conferencing system facilitated scholarly collaboration among 20 researchers, located in three countries, over a period of two and one-half months. This article examines factors related to the use of a shared information space, such as design issues, the effect of communications technology on group interaction, issues in supporting distributed groups, and the implications of computer communications for scholarly collaboration.