Defense Articles

apan and the United States agreed Monday to set up a defense coordination mechanism to cope with ”instability and uncertainty” in the Asia-Pacific region.

Agreed at the so-called ”two-plus-two” meeting of defense and foreign ministers, the mechanism calls for establishing four joint groups to coordinate operations in dealing with armed attacks on Japan or emergencies in unspecified ”areas surrounding Japan.”

Foreign Minister Yohei Kono and Defense Agency Director General Kazuo Torashima from Japan, and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Defense Secretary William Cohen from the U.S. also said they agreed to take steps to curb environmental hazards caused by the U.S. military in Japan.

The two sides signed a new five-year accord, effectively through March 31, 2006, on Japan’s host-nation financial support for U.S. military facilities, making official an earlier announced accord to trim Tokyo’s annual 180 billion yen in obligations by some 3.3 billion yen a year.

In a joint statement, they noted for the first time that the Japanese side ”took up issues regarding the return and relocation” of the U.S. Marine Corps Futemma Air Station in Okinawa, alluding to a request from Okinawa to impose a 15-year limit on military use of a planned facility to host the helicopter operations of the base.

The statement did not give Washington’s position on the issue.

Both Kono and Torashima made reference to Okinawa’s request during the meeting, a Japanese official said, noting the two sides also agreed to resume meetings of a joint expert-level ”Futemma Implementation Group” to discuss construction methods and other details of the proposed heliport facility in Nago, Okinawa.

Cohen, speaking at a joint press conference after the two-hour meeting, said the two sides agreed to consult with each other in line with the ‘’security situation in a given time.”

Cohen, who has said he is opposed to making ”any artificial deadline,” did not respond on the 15-year issue at the news conference.

The ministers issued four statements after the meeting — the joint statement plus three documents detailing the coordination mechanism, the environment accord and the new host-nation agreement.

In the joint statement, the two sides said ”instability and uncertainty persist” in the Asia-Pacific region but expressed hope for further easing of tensions on the Korean peninsula following the historic inter-Korean summit in June.

The two sides ”reaffirmed the vital role the U.S.-Japan security alliance plays in preserving the peace and stability of the region,” the joint statement said.

The ministers also reconfirmed the need to continue policy coordination among Japan, South Korea and the U.S. which they said is of ”vital importance” for enhancing the prospects of positive developments on the Korean peninsula.

Speaking at the press conference, Albright said, ”We are committed to exploring ways to encourage North Korea’s emergence from its long period of isolation, while addressing concerns of the international community about its nuclear and long-range missile programs.”

The four ministers invited China to play ”a positive and construction role” in the Asia-Pacific region, saying it is ”extremely important” for the stability and prosperity of the region.

The statement reaffirms U.S and Japanese commitments to continue joint technical research on a theater missile defense (TMD) system, aimed at protecting U.S. troops and its allies in Asia from missile attacks.

At the press conference, Torashima said North Korea is still believed to have deployed Rodong ballistic missiles capable of striking all of Japan.

Kono said Japan has yet to confirm Pyongyang’s real intention over its recently reported offer to abandon missile development should other nations help it launch space satellites.

According to the documents, the four defense coordination groups will involve two high-level committees of directors general of related ministries and agencies to oversee a working-level task force and a coordination post between the U.S. military and Japan’s Self-Defense Force.

The mechanism completes the operational preparations by the two nations to implement the 1997 defense cooperation guidelines under which Japan is committed to provide logistical support to the U.S. military in case of emergencies in ”areas surrounding Japan.”

The environment measures feature establishing a working group to discuss problems, cooperate on information disclosure and provide appropriate access for joint monitoring and assessment.

St. Francis Larry Harris found an explosive power forward in Charlie Villanueva, and he secured a capable backup point guard in Steve Blake in trades earlier this summer.

But the Milwaukee Bucks’ general manager desperately needed a veteran small forward, preferably a hard-nosed defender who could back up Bobby Simmons and start if needed.

Ruben Patterson arrived at the Bucks’ Cousins Center training facility on Tuesday and proclaimed himself to be willing and able to fill that role.

“When they see me working hard, it’s going to get them (teammates) motivated to do the same thing,” said Patterson, acquired last week in the trade with Denver that sent power forward Joe Smith to the Nuggets.

“I can tell you there are guys in the East who don’t like playing against me. Richard Hamilton (Detroit Pistons guard) is one of them. He just don’t like it when I guard him. Guys like that who can score, you’ve got to play physical and don’t let them touch the basketball.”

The 31-year-old Patterson’s defensive prowess and versatility appealed to Harris, who is seeking to improve a Bucks defense that finished 24th among 30 teams in opponents’ field goal percentage last season, at 46.6%.

The 6-foot-5, 224-pound Patterson said he was comfortable defending point guards, shooting guards, small forwards and power forwards.

“Coming from Cincinnati, you’ve got to be a tough son-of-you- know-what to play for Bob Huggins,” Patterson said of his two seasons playing in college for the Bearcats.

“Look at guys like me and Kenyon Martin. I’m here to help this team and help these guys get better defensively, and we can be a lockup team.”

Patterson played four-plus seasons in Portland before being dealt to Denver in a four-team deal at the February trade deadline. He averaged 12.1 points and 3.4 rebounds in 71 games last season, and had higher numbers (13.2 and 3.5) in 26 games with the Nuggets.

Patterson will be paid $7.83 million in the final year of his contract, and the Nuggets also received a player in the final year of his contract in Smith.

Patterson has experienced his share of problems off the court, and he pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault in 2001. He sat out the first five games of the 2001-’02 season under an NBA- mandated suspension stemming from that incident.

He was convicted of misdemeanor assault related to an incident outside a Cleveland nightclub in 2001.

“The past is the past; I’ve moved on with it,” Patterson said. “It’s over with.”

Mano a mano: Yao Ming scored 21 points to lead China to a 63-61 tune-up victory over Australia on Thursday, as both teams continued preparations for the FIBA World Championship.

The Bucks’ Andrew Bogut scored 20 points for Australia but he missed a crucial free throw in the final minute, and Yao eventually scored the winning basket.

Court dates: The Bucks unveiled their new practice court at the Cousins Center, a pure maple hardwood floor featuring the team’s red, green and silver color scheme.

Greg Koller, president of ProStar Inc., said the same floor design would be installed in the Bradley Center, although that court must be a portable one.

Cincinnati The Green Bay Packers won’t often face a quarterback the caliber of Carson Palmer this season, but the way their supposedly revamped secondary played Monday night against Cincinnati, they will make far less talented players look almost as good.

The worst part of a night on which the Packers’ defense allowed Palmer to produce three touchdowns and a field goal in four series his first action since blowing out his left knee in the playoffs Jan. 8 was that free agent veterans Charles Woodson and Marquand Manuel added next to nothing to a secondary that wasn’t any good last year.

If it weren’t for cornerback Al Harris locking up receiver Chad Johnson, the whole unit would have been worthy of being on the list of players cut loose today when rosters must be trimmed to 75 at 3 p.m. No one was immune from the whipping Palmer and his teammates gave the Packers in both teams’ third exhibition game, traditionally the best judge of a team’s ability because of the length of time the starters play.

In a 48-17 loss at Paul Brown Stadium, the starters should have stayed home.

“It was all us,” Woodson said.

Woodson, the free agent whom the Packers signed to a seven-year, $39 million contract, was a step behind on everything and gave up two of the three touchdowns Palmer threw. Palmer completed four passes for 85 yards against Woodson, three of them to No. 2 receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

Palmer had a lot of time to throw and there appeared to be a few breakdowns in coverage elsewhere, but Woodson was signed to be a stopper and he looked overmatched against the Bengals’ precision passing game.

“It’s not good,” Woodson said. “No one likes to put bad film out there, no one likes to go out there and have a game like that for your teammates. It’s pre-season and I’m glad it was. Now we can just keep working toward the regular season.”

Manuel, whose lack of speed was clearly evident, also struggled. He has battled a calf injury all of training camp and was making his first start of the exhibition season. He slipped on a completion in front of him and appeared to be the man beaten on Palmer’s first touchdown completion, a 6-yard pass to receiver Tab Perry, and was not in position to make a tackle on one of the touchdowns Woodson gave up.

“It was just communication, and they capitalized on our mistakes,” Manuel said. “When we failed to execute they capitalized. It happened a couple times. They kept drives going on third down.”

Harris didn’t think communication was a problem.

“I don’t know of any communication errors,” Harris said.

Regardless, there were all kinds of plays given up.

Safety Nick Collins, the second-year pro who is supposed to emerge into a playmaker this year, let Houshmandzadeh catch the ball in front of him and then juke him for a 12-yard catch, and couldn’t catch up with the Bengals receiver on a third-and-12 play on which Palmer was hit by defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins.

In the second half, cornerback Mike Hawkins, making his first exhibition game appearance because of a sore knee, gave up a 25- yard touchdown completion from quarterback Anthony Wright to receiver Bennie Brazell, and rookie safety Tra Boger allowed receiver Reggie McNeal to catch a ball in front of him behind an all- out blitz and scamper the distance for a 28-yard touchdown.

Overall, the pass defense was abysmal, with the defensive line not generating any pressure until late in the half.

Asked if he could sense the team was going to be so flat, perhaps from an extended week of long practices, Woodson said, “I don’t think it’s something you can sense, but I think you could kind of see it once the game got started. Hey, it’s something you have to fight through.”

Of all the positions on defense, the secondary was the one most maligned last season, which is why general manager Ted Thompson went out and signed Woodson and Manuel (five years, $10 million). Even with a game plan aimed at revealing little for the regular season, the Packers should have been able to defend better against a quarterback seeing his first real action in eight months.

But after missing on his only pass on his first series, Palmer went to work. Running no-huddle for much of the half, Palmer hit two of two for 15 yards and a touchdown on the next series, even scrambling 11 yards for a first down to keep the drive alive.

Is this a sign of things to come for the Packers?

“I’m not concerned,” Harris said. “Not at all.”

Then with the Bengals ahead, 24-0, Palmer really let the Packers have it. He completed a pair of 14-yard passes on a 13-play, 90- yard drive that ended in embarrassment for Green Bay. Houshmandzadeh caught a pass in the left flat, broke Woodson’s weak tackling effort and then raced down the left sideline past cornerback Ahmad Carroll and linebacker Nick Barnett, who allowed themselves to be blocked by a single receiver.

When it was over, Houshmandzadeh, who had five catches for 96 yards, was in the end zone with a 33-yard score.

The Great Victory in that bloody war could not have come had the army and navy not had powerful and effective weaponry, and in sufficient amounts. It was a practical test of the effectiveness of State decisions in the running the country’s economy as a whole and its defense industrial complex as its principal component in particular. The credit for this should go, above all, to the defense sectors of industry. The present article is concerned with the general analysis of the evolution and development of the defense industrial complex during the prewar years, the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, and in the postwar period.

The Beginnings of Victory

“We are 50 to 100 years behind the advanced capitalist countries. We have to cover this distance within a space of a decade. Either we do it or we will be crushed.” This was how J. Stalin formulated the country’s economic development strategy in 1931.

This assessment was not at all an exaggeration. As is known, before the (1917) Revolution, Russia was very far behind the advanced states in the production of arms and ammunition. This is why the period between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, when Russia, in W. Churchill’s expression, emerged from a “bast shoe” country into an industrial power, is one of the most significant stages in modern history. Experience shows that, in so doing, the country chose the most rational course of industrialization–i.e., via the advancement of the defense industry, especially since the military threats at the time required its rapid development. As a result, the demand for advanced military technology expedited the development of defense production. At that time, the defense industry became a real “engine” not only for industry but also for the country’s economy as a whole.

The circumstance in which the defense industry was built and developed left their imprint on all the events of the country’s pre-war history, especially since the defense sector gradually emerged as a vast branch of industry that, according to some estimates, accounted for 9 percent to 10 percent of GDP in the late 1920s-early 1930s and up to 30 percent by the late 1930s.

For their part, the high economic growth rates made it possible to put forward increasingly complex and challenging tasks whose fulfillment stimulated the further development of the defense sectors of industry. That helped put in place an effective mechanism for the reproduction of not only advanced technology but also of scientific, design, and engineering cadres.

The war was preceded by the Third Five-Year Plan period (1938 through 1942) that was built on the successfully fulfilled previous plans. This period saw a rapid creation of new research centers and design bureaus with 2,900 new plants, factories, electric power stations, mines, ore fields, and other industrial installations put into operation, including such industry giants as the Novosibirsk V.P. Chkalov Aviation Production Association (at that time known as Plant #153), Uralmash, the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, etc. At the same time, the vast Siberian expanses were being developed intensively; three-quarters of all new blast furnaces were built in the east of the country; metallurgical plants were built in the Trans-Baykal and Ural region and on the Amur; major non-ferrous metallurgic enterprises in Central Asia; heavy industry plants in the Far East, as well as motor assembly and tube rolling enterprises and hydro electric power stations. All of that was geared directly toward the defense industry.

As a result of the amalgamation of existing plants and the building of new ones, the defense industry became a major economic sector. Whereas annual production growth in industry as a whole was on average 13 percent, in the defense sectors of industry it was 39 percent. The most dynamic and intensively developing sectors in the prewar period was the aviation industry, whose aggregate output accounted for more than 40 percent of the gross defense industry product.

Not surprisingly, intensive development of the defense sectors of industry required the establishment of special administration and management agencies. Under the December 4, 1925 resolution of the VSNKh (#164), the Military-Industrial Directorate and the Military Industry Production Association (Voyenprom) were created on the basis of industrial mobilization and demobilization and military procurement committees, designed to exercise general supervision of the military industry. Then, in the mid-1930s, the People’s Commissariat for the Defense Industry was established which was subsequently, under the January 11, 1939 decree of the USSR Supreme Soviet Presidium, divided up into five separate commissariats. Furthermore, the People’s Commissariat for the Machine Building Industry spun off the People’s Commissariat for Medium Machine Building supervising all tank building enterprises.

Thus, after a series of reorganizations, the Soviet military industry entered the Great Patriotic War with branch commissariats whose enterprises, in the prewar period, created many new weapons for the future victory.

The Defense Logistics Agency has recently been designated the executive agent for several critical supply chains within the Department of Defense.

Those chains include bulk petroleum, medical materiel, and subsistence (food or food related supplies to include bottled water) used by all of the military services. The EA designation to DLA for clothing and textiles and construction materiel is in the staffing process and should be signed by Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz in the next several months.

With this designation, DoD recognizes the commercial business practice of establishing supply chain managers as the key element to effective delivery of products and services to its customers. In this case, these customers range across a broad spectrum of activity and geography, from peace-time operations to warfare, in the continental United States and abroad.

DLA has designated specific field activities to fully execute their directed EA responsibilities: bulk petroleum by the Defense Energy Support Center; medical, subsistence, clothing and textiles and construction by the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia. The commanders of these organizations, acting as supply chain managers, are responsible for identifying customer requirements and managing the industrial base to insure product availability, as well as inventory management, storage, distribution, delivery and, ultimately, disposal of the items that fall under their responsibility.

Along with these tasks comes the responsibility for funding these activities. As with any effort this large, DLA must partner both horizontally and vertically with both commercial and government organizations to fulfill its supply chain responsibilities. Both supplier and customer collaboration are cornerstones to achieving high-performance results.

Like their industry counterparts, DLA supply chain managers have entered into strategic partnerships with service providers in the industrial base, transportation industry, U.S. Transportation Command, and others in order to fulfill their EA duties. Additionally, partnerships with military customers are essential in determining the time-phased demand plans to meet operational requirements.

Aggressive planning with both customers and suppliers has allowed DLA to invest in inventories which have enabled logistics managers to support mission requirements throughout the world. These partnerships must be punctuated with service-level agreements specifically delineating performance objectives for each critical part of the supply chain. These objectives reflect routine operations as well as surge requirements for support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“DLA must continue to evolve as DoD’s premier end-to-end supply chain integrator,” DLA Director VADM Keith Lippert said. “We have become a national strategic asset providing ‘factory to foxhole’ management of consumable items, stock positioning and distribution services, reutilization and marketing services, and logistics information to a global deployed and deployable force.

“This environment dictates that we adopt a robust business strategy that will allow DLA to build and deliver integrated, tailored logistics solutions crossing the operational spectrum from peace to war,” he said.

Adopting the commercial business model of supply chain management necessitated some transformation within the agency to include reorganizing into customer and supplier teams, implementing a state-of-the-art enterprise resource plan, concentrating on enterprise process management and process improvements, and establishing supply chain metrics for internal performance and financial accountability. Because of the scope of the transformation, DLA also instituted a change management strategy led by advocates at all levels of management within the organization. Without these process and organizational changes, DLA would not have been able to fulfill its 21st century role as a supply chain manager for DoD.

One of the key strategies that DLA has used in ensuring end-to-end support of its supply chains is the “rock drill.” Rock drills are paper or tabletop exercises, conducted with all key supply chain stakeholders, which map out the entire process flow from customer demand to fulfillment to disposal.

The process will identify overlaps and/ or gaps in the process, allowing the supply chain manager to pinpoint deficiencies in systems, processes or policy. Gaps include information gaps, as well as distribution and delivery gaps. Information flow is an essential element in managing supply chains effectively and is a critical enabler in managing an efficient supply chain with global reach.

At the conclusion of the exercise, gaps are identified and action plans for correction are created and monitored (including funding). Additionally overlaps are minimized to those necessary for planned redundancy. This technique is being applied to all of the EA supply chains for which DLA is responsible and will be the mechanism for identifying and communicating supply chain objectives to all stakeholders. It is also the mechanism to be used for identification of continuous improvement opportunities in the assured delivery of products.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Saturday the United States would back any move by Japan and China to mend their animosity over their World War II past.

”The United States would be very supportive of efforts related to reconciliation between Japan and China” though it is really ”a matter for those two sovereign nations to address,” he said at a high-level forum on Asia-Pacific security in Singapore.

Gates made the remarks in response to a question from Singaporean Ambassador-at-Large Tommy Koh at the three-day annual conference in Singapore known as the Shangri-La Dialogue.

Koh, who was in the audience, had noted that some commentators have said any reconciliation between China and Japan is unlikely to take place without Washington’s blessing.

Earlier in his speech, Gates said the six-party process on the North Korean nuclear weapons issue has had ”a stabilizing effect” and that ”a mechanism is in place to deal with the longstanding problem of North Korea’s behavior and ambitions.”

Pointing to the agreement forged in February among the six — North and South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia — on initial steps for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, he said, ”Although the North Koreans have not yet followed through on their commitments, the fact remains that agreements are now in place that will permit resolution of the issue.”

Gates expressed concern about China’s growing military buildup. ”We are concerned about the opaqueness of Beijing’s military spending and modernization programs,” he said.

The U.S. defense chief said Washington is not neglecting Asia despite its heavy commitments in Afghanistan and Iraq, and even described the United States as an ”Asian power.”

He said the United States is working closely with Asian countries to deal with terrorist threats and making efforts to stem the proliferation of dangerous weapons and secure safer maritime security. Washington is planning to do more to help the region to cope with disasters and epidemics.

Defense ministers and military chiefs from more than 20 countries, including Australia, Britain, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea, are attending the meeting, organized by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

In February, Virginia Gov. Mark Warner (D) announced the formation of the Institute for Defense and Homeland Security , a consortium that brings together university, industry and federal research and development efforts. Its first executive director is Hugh Montgomery , a 30-year veteran of military research and development programs.

Personal Background

I have six patents. I actually worked as an undergraduate at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It’s interesting to be able to have a liaison with them again. I started after graduation from college — I went to a little school called Mississippi College — I started at Dahlgren Naval Surface Warfare Center and my personal background was reactive materials and physical chemistry of reactive materials and weapons R&D. Some of my patents have to do with technologies that later became flame and incendiary weapons. You may have seen the thermobaric weapons that were used in Afghanistan. I have some of the early patents on the work in that area. We didn’t call it thermobarics then, we called it reactive fragmentation, but it’s some of the same basic technologies.

I went to graduate school at the University of Tennessee. And actually, I have a master’s degree. I have two doctoral dissertations, but they’re both classified. So I’ve done all the work for the doctorate, I actually graduated first in my class, but I’m a mister instead of a doctor because they can’t publish the dissertations. … I’ll probably die a mister instead of a doctor because of it though.

Initial Focus

It’s hard to focus on [the Department of Homeland Security] at this point because they are forming themselves as we speak. It’s very difficult to take 22 agencies, put them all in together and then have suddenly a well-oiled machine. It doesn’t work that way, particularly the size of that agency. Secretary Ridge has a huge challenge on his hands to be able to bring those disparate groups together in one set of objectives and common goals and common cultures. The cultures for each organization are different. … The Department of Defense is a long-established entity, one that I’ve grown up in and understand well. So my near-term goals will focus on known program opportunities within DOD — not at all ignoring opportunities within DHS.

Gaps in the Federal R&D Infrastructure

One of the things many people are not aware of is that we’ve lost a whole generation of scientific and technological help as people retire from the Vietnam era. … Back in the ’60s, we were in the space race and it was a very patriotic, romantic and any other adjectives you want to add thing to become part of the science and technology community — to put a man on the moon by 1970. After NASA succeeded in its moon race and after Vietnam began to wind down, the federal laboratory infrastructure tended to back off in hiring for about 10 or 15 years.

It wasn’t until Ronald Reagan became president that that began to turn around again. There was then a reset of the hiring practices. There was a large number of people that came in in the Reagan years. And then another change in the paradigm in the ’90s when they began the federal downsizing. That’s continued to this day. Because of that, you have a generation of people that are in their upper 50s that are ready to retire or already retired that are exceptionally talented. CLICK TO HEAR MORE

Filling the Gap

Universities tend to look at science and research far, far out — 10, 15, 20 years. They’re developing science. Businesses — and this could be a shipbuilder, or Intel, or Microsoft — have to satisfy their stockholders and the movement of business opportunities over a very short term, usually two years or less. So that leaves a huge gap between the two-year point where industry takes over things and the 15-year point where academia does science and technology. And traditionally, that’s been done by the federal government.

You have the federal government taking the risks of developing new technology and then handing it off to the private sector to produce. With those people leaving … the paradigm has to change. Because the people are not there. If we’re going to maintain our lead in science and technology internationally, it means that universities have to look in closer, to become more applied. And businesses, industry, will have to take a little bit more risk and look further out. But there will still be a gap. And that’s the role that I see IDHS stepping into to help. As the federal government is less capable of doing that because the people are not there, the institutes like IDHS can come in to help transition research into development and then ultimately into production. So that it becomes a win-win for us, for academia, for business and for the nation. CLICK TO HEAR MORE

The Federal Budget

One of the problems that is not well known with the federal government is that the science and technology portion of the budget, whether it be DOD or other agencies, has dropped steadily since the Vietnam/space race era. I know the budget I was responsible for — the Department of the Navy, which was in the $3+ billion range in the ’60s, in today’s dollars, is down to about $1.2 billion, I think, now. It’s dropped down by about two thirds. … The last budget I was responsible for, the science and technology budget of the Navy, as it came out of my office, dropped on the order of 40-48 percent. While the top line of the department of the Navy went up. So there was more money in the budget, but less money in science and technology.

Abstract -

To determine if the quality of winter diet is related to winter-habitat sexual segregation, Lagopus lagopus L. (Willow Ptarmigan) were collected in three wintering areas of Labrador between December and April 1998-2000 (n = 310). Crop contents were used to evaluate diet differences according to sex, age, and area. The most prominent item in ptarmigan crops was Salix spp. (willow; range 45-89%). The crops of adult females contained approximately 60% more willow, the most nutritious food in their diet, and 45% more calories than those of adult males. All birds collected from western Labrador contained more willow twigs and buds and more calories than those collected in central or eastern Labrador. The Gardarsson hypothesis suggests that males winter adjacent to breeding areas to improve competition for territories, and females choose areas with greater abundance and quality of food to enhance reproductive success. We could not reject this hypothesis since the wintering site with the most female-biased sex ratio was where diets had the greatest mass of willow and total calories.

Introduction

Most boreal and subarctic bird species migrate to avoid harsh winter conditions (Gill 1995). Lagopus lagopus L. (Willow Ptarmigan, hereafter ptarmigan) also migrate between summer and winter areas, which can vary from 20 km to 160 km apart (Gruys 1993, Hannon et al. 1998). In winter, males and females move to lower elevations and/or latitudes than their breeding areas (Gruys 1993, Hannon et al. 1998, Schwab et al. 2005, Weeden 1964). Adult females, and often juveniles, tend to leave earlier and winter farther from breeding areas than adult males (Gruys 1993, Weeden 1964). Gruys (1993) suggested that winter sexual segregation results from sex-specific reproductive strategies (the reproductive-strategy hypothesis): males winter closer to breeding areas, enabling early selection and defense of breeding territories, and females winter where cover reduces predation. A potential result of habitat segregation is that the quantity and quality of winter food available to males and females is different. Females may select winter habitat to include a greater abundance and quality of food within a general strategy of acquiring and conserving energy. Gardarsson (1988) and Gardarsson and Moss (1970) (working with Lagopus mutus Gmelin IRock Ptarmigan]) suggested that females feed on higher nutritive quality foods than males in winter and prior to egg laying, to offset greater reproductive energy demands (the Gardarsson hypothesis). The reproductive-strategy hypothesis makes no prediction about food quality and female habitat choice, whereas the Gardarsson hypothesis specifically predicts that females select wintering areas with higher food quality.

The difference in quality between willow and other food items allows for the evaluation of the Gardarsson hypothesis. In Alaska, up to 94% of ptarmigan winter food consists of buds and twigs of Salix spp. (willow) (West and Meng 1966). They consume lesser amounts of Betula glandulosa Michx. (dwarf birch), Populus tremuloides Michx. (trembling aspen) (Gasaway 1976, Moss 1973), Empetrum nigrum L. (crowberry), and Vaccinium vitis-idaea L. (partridgeberry) (Weeden 1969). Dwarf birch and trembling aspen have higher lipid content and, therefore, more calories than willow (West and Meng 1966). However, willow is more nutritious because of its lower toxin and lignin content and higher proportion of cellulose, phosphorous, and protein (Bryant and Kuropat 1980, Gardarsson and Moss 1970, Gasaway 1976, Moss 1983). Willow buds are more nutritious than twigs because they contain more crude protein and less lignin, but repeated browsing reduces the amount of buds in the diet, increasing the proportion of twigs (Gasaway 1976).

If Gardarsson’s hypothesis is the mechanism explaining winter-habitat sexual segregation, then ptarmigan crops should contain more total calories and more nutritious food (i.e., willow) in areas with the higher proportion of adult females. We subject this prediction to crop-content data from ptarmigan in Labrador, an area displaying winter sexual segregation (Schwab et al. 2005).

Methods

Ptarmigan were obtained from three areas in Labrador: Western Labrador samples were obtained within 20 km of Javelin Mountain (53°07′N, 67°56′W), elevation = 550 m; central Labrador samples were obtained within 25 km of the Lobsitck hydro control structure (53°54′N, 65°09′W), elevation = 550 m; and eastern Labrador samples were obtained within 30 km of Mokami Hill (53°58′N, 6o°08′W), elevation

Hunters collected ptarmigan between late December and early April (see Schwab et al. 2005). Of 310 samples, 178 were collected during the winters of 1998-99 and 1999-2000 in western Labrador, 97 during the winter of 1999-2000 in central Labrador, and 35 during the winter of 1998-99 in eastern Labrador. Our samples came from areas where hunters had snowmobile or vehicle access, potentially biasing the data to vegetation in such areas. Because there are no field marks that would allow discrimination between ages and sexes in the field, the ptarmigan samples likely represent sex and age ratios in these areas. Sex was determined by necropsy, and age (adult or juvenile) was determined by comparing feather pigmentation on the eighth and ninth primary feathers (Bergerud et al. 1963). Crop contents of each ptarmigan were separated according to plant species and structure (i.e., buds, twigs, leaves, and fruit). Segregated crop contents were oven dried at 80 °C for [asymptotically =] 24 hours, and the dry mass by species-structure were recorded for each sample.

Some corn varieties that arose on the Caribbean island of Antigua defend themselves with chemical attacks that leave insect gut linings in tatters.

When armyworm caterpillars make the mistake of chewing on some of this corn, they don’t grow well, reaching only half the weight of counterparts that consume less gut-wrenching corn, says Dawn S. Luthe of Mississippi State University. Now, she and her colleagues propose at least one reason why.

Corn plants under attack quickly accumulate a cysteine protease–a protein-slicing enzyme–surrounding the location where the caterpillars are chewing. In an upcoming Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers report microscope observations of the sorry state of the innards of insects that had digested enzyme-laced corn tissue.

“That’s pretty novel,” comments Clarence Ryan of Washington State University in Pullman, another specialist in built-in plant weaponry. Although chemical defenses are common in the plant world, Ryan says he hadn’t heard of an enzyme of this particular class being deployed that way.

Luthe explains that the toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), now widely engineered into commercial crops, also attack insect guts. But Bt toxins do their damage differently. She says that the new enzyme doesn’t knock out insects fast enough to substitute for Bt toxins. However, she speculates that combining the protease with other defenses could make a pesticide to which it would be hard for insects to develop resistance.

Corn breeders have long known about the caterpillar-stunting power of the Antigua lineages. These plants don’t express the enzyme in their kernels. A coauthor of the new paper, W. Paul Williams of a U.S. Department of Agriculture laboratory at Mississippi State, has used the corn in traditional, nontransgenic corn-breeding projects.

To see what causes the stunting, Luthe, Williams, and their colleagues studied the chemicals released by the Antigua corn varieties when caterpillars start chewing on them. Other corn-defense chemicals typically show up in 8 hours, but the cysteine protease surges in about an hour and remains at high concentrations for at least a week.

They identified the gene that encodes this enzyme and inserted it into another corn variety. They grew masses of the transgenic corn tissue, called callus, which they then fed to armyworm caterpillars. Under a scanning electron microscope, the guts of caterpillars that ate enzyme-enhanced callus had many little rips. Innards of caterpillars that ate nontransgenic callus looked smooth.

Another scientist who studies plants defenses, Gary Felton of Pennsylvania State University in State College, calls the work “an elegant demonstration of this new mechanism.”

Men who get circumcised reduce their risk of acquiring HIV, the AIDS virus, by more than half, a clinical trial in South Africa shows.

Many previous studies have suggested such a benefit from male circumcision (SN: 4/3/04, p. 212). But this trial and two ongoing trials in Uganda and Kenya are the first ones to investigate the procedure’s effect on HIV risk to men. It did so by randomly assigning some men and not others to be circumcised, says physician Bertran Auvert of INSERM, the French national research agency, in Saint-Maurice.

Auvert and an international team of researchers recruited 3,274 uncircumcised heterosexual men, ages 18 to 24, from an area near Johannesburg.

All wanted to be circumcised and agreed to get the operation either at the start or at the end of the planned 21-month study. After the volunteers were randomly divided, physicians circumcised half the men and instructed them to abstain from sex for 6 weeks to allow full healing. Men in both groups were counseled on safe sex practices and checked for HIV infection three times during the study.

After 18 months, an oversight panel of scientists halted the project because the data were clear–49 of the uncircumcised men but only 20 of those who were circumcised had acquired HIV. The researchers report the findings in the November PLoS Medicine.

“There can no longer be a shadow of doubt that male circumcision gives a man major protection against HIV infection,” says physiologist Roger V. Short of the University of Melbourne in Carlton, Australia, who wasn’t involved in the South African study.

Auvert says that although circumcision reduced HIV risk by 60 percent, some men might mistakenly interpret this benefit as full protection. The circumcised men in the trial reported having sex 18 percent more often than the uncircumcised men did. The reason for the difference is unclear, he says.

Shortly after circumcision, men are at high risk of contracting the disease from sex partners because of the surgical wounds. But Auvert notes there was no jump in HIV infections among recently circumcised men in this study.

Uncircumcised men have soft foreskin around the head of the penis containing many cells that are easily infected by HIV, according to epidemiologist Robert C. Bailey of the University of Illinois at Chicago. These cells, called Langerhans’ cells, “tend to be close to the surface,” he says. Once infected, he adds, “they carry the virus deeper,” to the immune system T cells that HIV most commonly infects.

Circumcision removes the foreskin. During healing after the procedure, the protein keratin toughens the skin of the penis, which reduces HIV penetration there, Bailey says.

If circumcision offers protection for young-adult men, then it would be at least as valuable–or even more so–if done earlier in life, says Bailey, who is leading the study in Kenya.

The new data support a policy of early circumcision, Short concurs. “The later in life a man is circumcised, the more likely he is to be already infected with HIV.”