Population biology of grey gurnard (Eutrigla gurnardus L.; Triglidae) in the coastal waters of Northwest Wales

The grey gurnard Eutrigla gurnardus (L.) has been identified by ICES as a potential commercial species in the NE Atlantic with recommendations made to derive information on population biology for stock assessment purposes. However, data on the population biology of this species is limited. In this study, data on the age, growth and maturity of grey gurnard were collected by otter trawling in the coastal waters of northwest Wales and Eastern Anglesey. Total length (TL) of fish sampled ranged between 2.1–33.0 cm (male) and 1.9–36.9 cm (female) with the majority of female (70.8%) fish between 11 and 20 cm TL and male fish (70.5%) between 11 and 18 cm TL. The percentage of fish >20 cm TL was larger for females (30.4%) compared to males (17.6%). Total weight (TW) for female and male grey gurnard in the stratified subsample ranged from 1.9 to 499.9 g for females and 2.1–390.0 g for males, with the majority of female (66.3%) and male (76.1%) fish between 10 and 60 g. TL/TW relations for male and female fish and both sexes combined were: TW = 0.006TL3.07, TW = 0.007TL3.03 and TW = 0.007TL3.05 respectively. Age structure (based on otolith reading) ranged between 0.5 and 7.5 years old for females and 0.5 to 5.5 years old for male with the majority of female (41.7%) and male (46.0%) fish aged as 1.5 years old. The age structure of female and male grey gurnards was significantly different with the majority of older fish (>2.5 years) being female. The von Bertalanffy growth functions were calculated as Lt = 32.4[1 − e−0.24(t + 1.41)] for males, Lt = 45.9[1 − e−0.16(t + 1.37)] for females and Lt = 44.0[1 − e−0.18(t + 1.20)] for both sexes combined. Instantaneous rates of total mortality were similar for males and females and the combined Z value 1.00 year−1 with the natural mortality rate estimated as 0.33 year−1. The size at 50% maturity (L50) was estimated to be 25.3 cm TL for males, females and for both sexes combined. Age at 50% maturity (A50) was 3.2 years for both males and females. The results of this study provide the first information on the population biology of E. gurnardus in the Irish Sea, the first detailed study in the NE Atlantic since 1985 and helps to address the data gap identified by ICES in knowledge of the population biology of this species

Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia:Integrating Genetics into Clinical Practice

Purpose of Review: Advances in molecular genetics have improved our understanding of primary ciliary dyskinesia. The purpose of this review is to describe the integration of genetics into clinical practice.Recent Findings: This review describes > 50 genes which have been identified to cause multiple motile ciliopathies. Known genotype–phenotype relationships are explored, including genes associated with worse prognosis (CCDC39, CCDC40, CCNO). Features which indicate referral for genetic testing such as a family history, situs defects and lifelong chronic upper and lower respiratory tract disease are described along with how genetics fits into current guidelines for diagnostic algorithms, and the potential challenges and advantages.Summary: As we move forward, the growing genomic knowledge about primary ciliary dyskinesia will aid diagnosis, understanding of prognosis and the establishment of future therapeutic trials

Transient demographic approaches can drastically expand the toolbox of coral reef science

This work was supported by a NERC DTP scholarship to JC and a NERC Independent Research Fellowship (NE/M018458/1) to RS-G.Coral communities are threatened by an increasing plethora of abiotic and biotic disturbances. Preventing the ensuing loss of coral coverage and diversity calls for a mechanistic understanding of resilience across coral species and populations that is currently lacking in coral reef science. Assessments into the dynamics of coral populations typically focus on their long-term (i.e. asymptotic) characteristics, tacitly assuming stable environments in which populations can attain their long-term characteristics. Instead, we argue that greater focus is needed on investigating the transient (i.e. short-term) dynamics of coral populations to describe and predict their characteristics and trajectories within unstable environments. Applying transient demographic approaches to evaluating and forecasting the responses of coral populations to disturbance holds promise for expediting our capacity to predict and manage the resilience of coral populations, species, and communities.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia:Integrating Genetics into Clinical Practice

Purpose of Review: Advances in molecular genetics have improved our understanding of primary ciliary dyskinesia. The purpose of this review is to describe the integration of genetics into clinical practice.Recent Findings: This review describes > 50 genes which have been identified to cause multiple motile ciliopathies. Known genotype–phenotype relationships are explored, including genes associated with worse prognosis (CCDC39, CCDC40, CCNO). Features which indicate referral for genetic testing such as a family history, situs defects and lifelong chronic upper and lower respiratory tract disease are described along with how genetics fits into current guidelines for diagnostic algorithms, and the potential challenges and advantages.Summary: As we move forward, the growing genomic knowledge about primary ciliary dyskinesia will aid diagnosis, understanding of prognosis and the establishment of future therapeutic trials

Coral community demographics: the variation between tropical and subtropical assemblages

Climate change is exposing coral reefs worldwide to increasingly recurrent disturbances. However, with current knowledge of coral population dynamics focused on long-term (i.e., asymptotic) characteristics, our capacity to forecast the resilience of coral communities, specifically, their resistance and recovery following disturbances, is restricted. Recurrent disturbances ensure that populations never achieve a stable equilibrium and will thus never attain their asymptotic trajectories. Instead, it is imperative that we quantify the performance of coral populations within non-stationary environments using their transient (i.e., short-term) dynamics, and evaluate the determinants of variation across these transient dynamics as conditions change. Here, I utilise state-structured demographic approaches and transient demographic theory to explore the association between abiotic variation and measures of demographic resilience. I illustrate how patterns in demographic resilience across animal and plant populations do not correlate with gradients in their exposure to abiotic variability, and thus recent experience of variable environments does not guarantee resilience to future climate variability. Next, I explore these insights in the context of resistance and recovery in coral populations to enhance understanding of coral community resilience. Using an Integral Projection Model framework, I show how, despite enduring more variable seasonal climates, subtropical coral communities remain vulnerable to future recurrent thermal stress. I also demonstrate how spatial variation in the transient dynamics of acroporid coral populations in southern Japan underpins the establishment of populations at higher latitudes. Finally, to further explore the mechanisms facilitating the establishment of subtropical coral populations, I evaluate spatial patterns in the impact of environmental variability on the long-term performance and transient dynamics of coral populations across coral taxa. Overall, this research represents a crucial step in quantifying the transient dynamics of coral populations, an approach which requires greater commitment if we are to anticipate the future resilience, viability, and condition of global coral communities

A typology of artificial intelligence data work

This article provides a new typology for understanding human labour integrated into the production of artificial intelligence systems through data preparation and model evaluation. We call these forms of labour ‘AI data work’ and show how they are an important and necessary element of the artificial intelligence production process. We draw on fieldwork with an artificial intelligence data business process outsourcing centre specialising in computer vision data, alongside a decade of fieldwork with microwork platforms, business process outsourcing, and artificial intelligence companies to help dispel confusion around the multiple concepts and frames that encompass artificial intelligence data work including ‘ghost work’, ‘microwork’, ‘crowdwork’ and ‘cloudwork’. We argue that these different frames of reference obscure important differences between how this labour is organised in different contexts. The article provides a conceptual division between the different types of artificial intelligence data work institutions and the different stages of what we call the artificial intelligence data pipeline. This article thus contributes to our understanding of how the practices of workers become a valuable commodity integrated into global artificial intelligence production networks

The development of the SS-20: a case study of Soviet defence decision making during the Brezhnev era

The latter part of 1976 witnessed the initial deployment of a new Soviet missile which was codenamed "SS-20" by the United States. The SS-20 was an intermediate-range ballistic missile which could deliver each of its three nuclear warheads to within 400 metres of their designated targets throughout Western Europe from launch sites deep within Soviet territory. In addition the S8-20 was a fully mobile system which reduced significantly the likelihood of its detection and destruction by enemy forces. This, in conjunction with its accuracy and reliability, ensured that the SS-20 added a significant new dimension to Soviet nuclear forces within the European theatre. The Soviet Union's deployment of this new weapon system presaged a new era of uncertainty and tensions in East-West relations. Its initial service history coincided with the beginning of the end of detente and within a few years it had come to hold a position of pre-eminence as a focal point for superpower competition. Along with its Western counterparts - Cruise and Pershing II - the SS-20 became a name familiar to the wider public and served as an effective litmus test of superpower relations. Throughout the Cold War era a host of analytical models were promulgated with the stated aim of rationalising, explaining and, ultimately, predicting the nature of state weaponry procurement policy. Such models displayed a marked diversity of character and were the cause of conjecture and debate among their various proponents. The Action-Reaction model sought to explain weaponry procurement as a response to the activities of a potential adversary. By contrast both the National Leadership and Interest Group models stressed the importance of studying internal political factors in the pursuit of an explanation of such activities. A further alternative - the Military Mission model - contended that weaponry production was predicated upon the operational demands of specific and predetermined defence requirements. A variant which was applied with increasing frequency during the period of the SS-20's deployment was the Military Superiority model. It interpreted the development of the Soviet nuclear arsenal as evidence of her desire to establish political dominance through military power. Given both its undoubted military significance and the political symbolism it came to hold it is surprising that the development and deployment of the SS-20 was never employed as a case study through which to test the veracity and applicability of the hypotheses. New evidence gleaned during the course of this study from interviews with former high-ranking Soviet officers and officials and from restricted-access sources has necessitated a significant revision of the history of the SS-20's development and deployment. Consequently evolving Soviet theatre strategy and the United States' persistent refusal to include Forward Based Systems - medium-range aircraft and missiles capable of carrying nuclear ordnance - within the constraints of the SALT treaties are both reaffirmed as factors which did incline the Soviet Union towards the pursuit of a new missile system for the European theatre of operations. Significantly however neither factor seems to have possessed the overt influence upon the development of the SS-20 that so many past analyses have accorded them. The accepted course of the SS-20's technical development, its institutional origins and its links with other ballistic missile systems are now subject to radical re-evaluation in the light of the evidence which has emerged. Similarly the course and nature of this weaponry system's development is shown to have been subject to the vagaries and complexities of inter-elite relations to an extent previously unsuspected by all but a handful of analysts. The predominance of such bureaucratic interaction was a recurring theme in Soviet weaponry procurement throughout the period of the SS-20's developmental cycle. Analysts face considerable challenges when seeking to model a policy which was so heavily reliant upon the complexities of personal relationships and bureaucratic rivalries

The poverty of ethical AI: impact sourcing and AI supply chains

Impact sourcing is the practice of employing socio-economically disadvantaged individuals at business process outsourcing centres to reduce poverty and create secure jobs. One of the pioneers of impact sourcing is Sama, a training-data company that focuses on annotating data for artificial intelligence (AI) systems and claims to support an ethical AI supply chain through its business operations. Drawing on fieldwork undertaken at three of Sama’s East African delivery centres in Kenya and Uganda and follow-up online interviews, this article interrogates Sama’s claims regarding the benefits of its impact sourcing model. Our analysis reveals alarming accounts of low wages, insecure work, a tightly disciplined labour management process, gender-based exploitation and harassment and a system designed to extract value from low-paid workers to produce profits for investors. We argue that competitive market-based dynamics generate a powerful force that pushes such companies towards limiting the actual social impact of their business model in favour of ensuring higher profit margins. This force can be resisted, but only through countervailing measures such as pressure from organised workers, civil society, or regulation. These findings have broad implications related to working conditions for low-wage data annotators across the sector and cast doubt on the ethical nature of AI products that rely on this form of AI data work

Decadal demographic shifts and size-dependent disturbance responses of corals in a subtropical warming hotspot

Funding supporting this research was provided by an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award (DE230100141) and a University of Sydney Fellowship to BS, by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CE140100020) to JMP and others, the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CE110001014) and the Winifred Violet Scott Charitable Trust to MB, the Royal Geographical Society’s Ralph Brown Expedition Grant to MB and JC, the Natural Environment Research Council’s Sphere Doctoral Training Partnership to JC and the Natural Environment Research Council’s ONE Planet Doctoral Training Partnership (NE/S007512/1) and the European Commission’s Erasmus Traineeship to LL. This project has further received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant agreement TRIM-DLV-747102 to MB.Long-term demographic studies at biogeographic transition zones can elucidate how body size mediates disturbance responses. Focusing on subtropical reefs in eastern Australia, we examine trends in the size-structure of corals with contrasting life-histories and zoogeographies surrounding the 2016 coral bleaching event (2010–2019) to determine their resilience and recovery capacity. We document demographic shifts, with disproportionate declines in the number of small corals and long-term persistence of larger corals. The incidence of bleaching (Pocillopora, Turbinaria) and partial mortality (Acropora, Pocillopora) increased with coral size, and bleached corals had greater risk of partial mortality. While endemic Pocillopora experienced marked declines, decadal stability of Turbinaria despite bleaching, coupled with abundance increase and bleaching resistance in Acropora indicate remarkable resilience of these taxa in the subtropics. Declines in the number of small corals and variable associations with environmental drivers indicate bottlenecks to recovery mediated by inhibitory effects of thermal extremes for Pocillopora (heat stress) and Acropora (heat and cold stress), and stimulatory effects of chlorophyll-a for Turbinaria. Although our study reveals signs of resilience, it foreshadows the vulnerability of subtropical corals to changing disturbance regimes that include marine heatwaves. Disparity in population dynamics suggest that subtropical reefs are ecologically distinct from tropical coral reefs.Peer reviewe

Unrelated Helpers in a Primitively Eusocial Wasp: Is Helping Tailored Towards Direct Fitness?

The paper wasp Polistes dominulus is unique among the social insects in that nearly one-third of co-foundresses are completely unrelated to the dominant individual whose offspring they help to rear and yet reproductive skew is high. These unrelated subordinates stand to gain direct fitness through nest inheritance, raising the question of whether their behaviour is adaptively tailored towards maximizing inheritance prospects. Unusually, in this species, a wealth of theory and empirical data allows us to predict how unrelated subordinates should behave. Based on these predictions, here we compare helping in subordinates that are unrelated or related to the dominant wasp across an extensive range of field-based behavioural contexts. We find no differences in foraging effort, defense behaviour, aggression or inheritance rank between unrelated helpers and their related counterparts. Our study provides no evidence, across a number of behavioural scenarios, that the behaviour of unrelated subordinates is adaptively modified to promote direct fitness interests