Do brood parasitic Common Cuckoos develop brood patches during the breeding season?

Many birds develop brood patches on their ventral apterium under hormonal regulation to effectively transmit body heat to eggs during incubation.The developed patch has several characteristics,including de-feathering,vascularization,and edema.However,little is known about whether avian brood parasites that do not incubate their eggs exhibit brood patch development during the breeding season.In this study,we measured the size of the ventral apterium in 114 Common Cuckoos(Cuculus canorus)captured in the field throughout the breeding season and examined the appearance of the ventral apterium to confirm the development of brood patches.We also examined whether morphological traits and various factors correlated with the size of the ventral apterium(sternal apterium and abdominal apterium)and how it changed during the breeding season.We found no clear signs of brood patch development in Common Cuckoos captured throughout the breeding season,indicating that they likely did not develop brood patches on the ventral apterium during this period.We also found that ventral apterium size was positively correlated with wing length and body weight.In addition,Common Cuckoos with newly growing feathers on the boundary of the ventral apterium with pteryla were frequently observed as seasons progressed to the end.In conclusion,Common Cuckoos exhibit neither brood patch development nor the vestigial characteristics of ancestral brood patches,except for the growth of feathers on boundary the ventral apterium.Further studies examining brood patches across different groups of avian brood parasites are valuable for enhancing our understanding of the developmental and physiological adaptations of avian brood parasites.

A novel method to collect sperm from brood parasitic cuckoos:Urodeum stimulation(UroS)method

Sperm competition has been studied in numerous species as a representative example of postcopulatory sexual selection,where sampling sperm from male is the most basic and important step.Sperm collection can be tricky in birds,however,because unlike mammals,the genitals of birds are generally latent in the cloacal region and their characteristics vary among species.Various methods to collect sperm from different birds have been tested,such as cloacal massage,feces collection,and electro-stimulation,but their applicability varies depending on species.In this study,we introduced the urodeum stimulation method(UroS method)to collect sperm from Cuculus cuckoos,such as the Common Cuckoo(C.canorus).These species are expected to have interesting patterns of pair bonding and sperm competition because of their unique breeding strategy called brood parasitism;however,it remains unexplored.In this study,we described the application of our new method to expel semen from male common cuckoos,measured the volume of semen collected,checked the presence of sperm in the semen sample,and finally estimated its success rate among 82 males.Samples were successfully collected from 76 cuckoos(approximately 93%)and the colors and volumes of the samples were very diverse.Sperm was present in 43 of these samples(57%),showing a sperm observation rate approximately twice as high as that of the conventional cloacal massage method.We believe that this novel method will contribute to a better understanding of postcopulatory sexual selection in avian brood parasites and facilitate the process of sperm collection and artificial insemination in other medium-sized birds.

Dilute H_2SO_4 solution for copper seed cleaning in electroplating

The effects of surface cleaning to eliminate the surface oxides formed on Cu seed layer with dilute H2SO4 solution were investigated. Cu seed layer formed on Ti/Si（100） wafer by sputter deposition was exposed to air to grow native Cu oxide. Dilute H2SO4 solutions and/or TS-40A alkaline soak cleaner were used to remove the native Cu-oxide. After mainly carbon groups （such as C=O） on surface of Cu seed layer were removed by pretreatment of TS-40A alkaline solution, subsequently, dilute H2SO4 acid solution removed Cu-oxides （Cu20 and CuO） as well as a lot of O=C and Cu（OH）2.

Surface exsolution and local atomic structure of amorphous CeTiO_x

We made precipitated nano-ceria(~5 nm) on the surface of the catalyst by heat treatment of Cesupersaturated amorphous CeTiOxto improve the oxygen storage properties of CeO_2. The catalysts were prepared by sol-gel methods and TiO_2 nanoparticles were preferentially generated as a core material to form selective Ce-supersaturated structure on the catalyst surface. Reaction temperature and amount of doping element are optimized to induce selective crystallization of CeO_2. Cee Ce(2 nd shell)bond around 0.38 nm of Ce L3-edge extended X-ray absorption fine structure is reduced and nanostructure of precipitated ceria on the surface is observed by HREM. The catalyst is present as amorphous with precipitated nano-CeO_2 on the surface. The de-NOxefficiency of the catalyst, which has precipitated CeO_2, improves by ~50% owing to the simultaneous reactions of the nano CeO_2 and the amorphous CeTiO_x.