2,098 research outputs found
Network-level consequences of outgroup threats in banded mongooses: grooming and aggression between the sexes
This is the final version. Available on open access from Wiley via the DOI in this record1) Animal groups are heterogeneous assemblages of individuals with differing fitness interests, which may lead to internal conflict over investment in group territorial defence. Differences between individuals may lead to different behavioural responses to intergroup conflict, particularly between the sexes. These potential impacts have been little studied.
2) We used social network analysis to investigate the impact of simulated intergroup conflicts on social relationships in groups of wild banded mongooses (Mungos mungo), in which intergroup fights are more costly for males than females. We predicted that social cohesion (specifically male-to-male and female-to-male grooming) would increase after conflict, and aggression would decrease, to minimise conflict between the sexes.
3) Simulated intergroup conflicts were performed by exposing banded mongoose groups to scents, “war cry” playbacks, and live intruders from a rival group. All grooming and aggression interactions between individuals were recorded, and grooming and aggression social networks were created for the two days preceding a simulated intergroup conflict (pre-conflict network) and the two days after (post-conflict network).
4) We found no evidence of an increase in social cohesion after simulated conflicts, measured as grooming eigenvector centrality. Male-to-male, male-to-female and female-to-male grooming strength decreased after simulated intrusions compared to female-to-female grooming strength. However, male-female aggression decreased in intrusion trials compared to other interaction types, consistent with the hypothesis that intergroup encounters reduce the level of intragroup conflict between males and females. Males were more affected socially by intergroup encounters than females, which may be because they are investing in defence rather than internal relationships.
5) Focusing on individual relationship changes, using social network analysis, can reveal changes in the directionality of behaviour in response to intergroup encounters, and highlight how individual responses to conflict may scale up to affect social networks and, potentially, group 69 performance. This study highlights the importance of studying both group level behaviours and individual relationships to more fully understand responses to intergroup encounters.Natural Environment Research Council (NERC
After the Ice Age: The Impact of Post-Glacial Dispersal on the Phylogeography of a Small Mammal, Muscardinus avellanarius
We used genetic tools to assess phylogeographic structure of the common dormouse (Muscardinus avellenarius) since the end of the last glacial maximum, to identify post-glacial dispersal routes and to describe population units for conservation. Comparative analysis of mitochondrial genes (Cytochrome b, 704 bp, D-loop, 506 bp) and one nuclear gene (Beta-Fibrinogen, 550 bp) was conducted to reconstruct the recent demographic history within and between UK and continental European populations. Our analysis indicated phylogeographic variation in the UK is similar in magnitude to that found in other regions of continental Europe and suggests a recent population expansion. We present evidence which supports a single post-glacial colonization into the UK. Dispersal time calculations, calibrated with geophysical events, are coincident with the start of the Holocene period, 7.5–11 kya, a time when geological evidence suggests temperatures were stable, woodland habitat was prevalent and a land bridge was present to allow the dispersal of small mammals into the UK. We discuss our findings in the context of the extant geographical genetic structure described here and in relation to conservation management of this threatened species
Some remarks on a new exotic spacetime for time travel by free fall
This work is essentially a review of a new spacetime model with closed causal
curves, recently presented in another paper (Class. Quantum Grav.
\textbf{35}(16) (2018), 165003). The spacetime at issue is topologically
trivial, free of curvature singularities, and even time and space orientable.
Besides summarizing previous results on causal geodesics, tidal accelerations
and violations of the energy conditions, here redshift/blueshift effects and
the Hawking-Ellis classification of the stress-energy tensor are examined.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures. Submitted as a contribution to the proceedings
of "DOMOSCHOOL - International Alpine School of Mathematics and Physics,
Domodossola 2018". Possible text overlaps with my previous work
arXiv:1803.08214, of which this is essentially a review. Additional results
concerning redshift/blueshift effects and the classification of the
stress-energy tensor are presented her
An Ecological Alternative to Snodgrass & Vanderwart: 360 High Quality Colour Images with Norms for Seven Psycholinguistic Variables
This work presents a new set of 360 high quality colour images belonging to 23 semantic subcategories. Two hundred and thirty-six Spanish speakers named the items and also provided data from seven relevant psycholinguistic variables: age of acquisition, familiarity, manipulability, name agreement, typicality and visual complexity. Furthermore, we also present lexical frequency data derived from Internet search hits. Apart from the high number of variables evaluated, knowing that it affects the processing of stimuli, this new set presents important advantages over other similar image corpi: (a) this corpus presents a broad number of subcategories and images; for example, this will permit researchers to select stimuli of appropriate difficulty as required, (e.g., to deal with problems derived from ceiling effects); (b) the fact of using coloured stimuli provides a more realistic, ecologically-valid, representation of real life objects. In sum, this set of stimuli provides a useful tool for research on visual object-and word- processing, both in neurological patients and in healthy controls
Rhomboid family member 2 regulates cytoskeletal stress-associated Keratin 16.
Keratin 16 (K16) is a cytoskeletal scaffolding protein highly expressed at pressure-bearing sites of the mammalian footpad. It can be induced in hyperproliferative states such as wound healing, inflammation and cancer. Here we show that the inactive rhomboid protease RHBDF2 (iRHOM2) regulates thickening of the footpad epidermis through its interaction with K16. K16 expression is absent in the thinned footpads of irhom2-/- mice compared with irhom2+/+mice, due to reduced keratinocyte proliferation. Gain-of-function mutations in iRHOM2 underlie Tylosis with oesophageal cancer (TOC), characterized by palmoplantar thickening, upregulate K16 with robust downregulation of its type II keratin binding partner, K6. By orchestrating the remodelling and turnover of K16, and uncoupling it from K6, iRHOM2 regulates the epithelial response to physical stress. These findings contribute to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying hyperproliferation of the palmoplantar epidermis in both physiological and disease states, and how this 'stress' keratin is regulated
Electrically controlled long-distance spin transport through an antiferromagnetic insulator
Spintronics uses spins, the intrinsic angular momentum of electrons, as an
alternative for the electron charge. Its long-term goal is in the development
of beyond-Moore low dissipation technology devices. Recent progress
demonstrated the long-distance transport of spin signals across ferromagnetic
insulators. Antiferromagnetically ordered materials are however the most common
class of magnetic materials with several crucial advantages over ferromagnetic
systems. In contrast to the latter, antiferromagnets exhibit no net magnetic
moment, which renders them stable and impervious to external fields. In
addition, they can be operated at THz frequencies. While fundamentally their
properties bode well for spin transport, previous indirect observations
indicate that spin transmission through antiferromagnets is limited to short
distances of a few nanometers. Here we demonstrate the long-distance, over tens
of micrometers, propagation of spin currents through hematite (\alpha-Fe2O3),
the most common antiferromagnetic iron oxide, exploiting the spin Hall effect
for spin injection. We control the spin current flow by the interfacial
spin-bias and by tuning the antiferromagnetic resonance frequency with an
external magnetic field. This simple antiferromagnetic insulator is shown to
convey spin information parallel to the compensated moment (N\'eel order) over
distances exceeding tens of micrometers. This newly-discovered mechanism
transports spin as efficiently as the net magnetic moments in the best-suited
complex ferromagnets. Our results pave the way to ultra-fast, low-power
antiferromagnet-insulator-based spin-logic devices that operate at room
temperature and in the absence of magnetic fields
Theoretical Constraints on the Higgs Effective Couplings
We derive constraints on the sign of couplings in an effective Higgs
Lagrangian using prime principles such as the naturalness principle, global
symmetries, and unitarity. Specifically, we study four dimension-six operators,
O_H, O_y, O_g, and O_gamma, which contribute to the production and decay of the
Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), among other things. Assuming
the Higgs is a fundamental scalar, we find: 1) the coefficient of O_H is
positive except when there are triplet scalars, resulting in a reduction in the
Higgs on-shell coupling from their standard model (SM) expectations if no other
operators contribute, 2) the linear combination of O_H and O_y controlling the
overall Higgs coupling to fermion is always reduced, 3) the sign of O_g induced
by a new colored fermion is such that it interferes destructively with the SM
top contribution in the gluon fusion production of the Higgs, if the new
fermion cancels the top quadratic divergence in the Higgs mass, and 4) the
correlation between naturalness and the sign of O_gamma is similar to that of
O_g, when there is a new set of heavy electroweak gauge bosons. Next
considering a composite scalar for the Higgs, we find the reduction in the
on-shell Higgs couplings persists. If further assuming a collective breaking
mechanism as in little Higgs theories, the coefficient of O_H remains positive
even in the presence of triplet scalars. In the end, we conclude that the gluon
fusion production of the Higgs boson is reduced from the SM rate in all
composite Higgs models. Our study suggests a wealth of information could be
revealed by precise measurements of the Higgs couplings, providing strong
motivations for both improving on measurements at the LHC and building a
precision machine such as the linear collider.Comment: 37 pages, one figure; v2: improved discussion on dispersion relation
and other minor modifications; version accepted for publication
Implications of a Modified Higgs to Diphoton Decay Width
Motivated by recent results from Higgs searches at the Large Hadron Collider,
we consider possibilities to enhance the diphoton decay width of the Higgs
boson over the Standard Model expectation, without modifying either its
production rate or the partial widths in the WW and ZZ channels. Studying
effects of new charged scalars, fermions and vector bosons, we find that
significant variations in the diphoton width may be possible if the new
particles have light masses of the order of a few hundred GeV and sizeable
couplings to the Higgs boson. Such couplings could arise naturally if there is
large mass mixing between two charged particles that is induced by the Higgs
vacuum expectation value. In addition, there is generically also a shift in the
Z + Gamma partial width, which in the case of new vector bosons tends to be of
similar magnitude as the shift in the diphoton partial width, but smaller in
other cases. Therefore simultaneous measurements in these two channels could
reveal properties of new charged particles at the electroweak scale.Comment: 29 pages, 8 figures; v2: updated references and minor improvements in
presentations; v3: sign of the scalar contribution to Z+Gamma amplitudes
fixed. Related figures update
Stable isotope analysis provides new information on winter habitat use of declining avian migrants that is relevant to their conservation
Winter habitat use and the magnitude of migratory connectivity are important parameters when assessing drivers of the marked declines in avian migrants. Such information is unavailable for most species. We use a stable isotope approach to assess these factors for three declining African-Eurasian migrants whose winter ecology is poorly known: wood warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix, house martin Delichon urbicum and common swift Apus apus. Spatially segregated breeding wood warbler populations (sampled across a 800 km transect), house martins and common swifts (sampled across a 3,500 km transect) exhibited statistically identical intra-specific carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in winter grown feathers. Such patterns are compatible with a high degree of migratory connectivity, but could arise if species use isotopically similar resources at different locations. Wood warbler carbon isotope ratios are more depleted than typical for African-Eurasian migrants and are compatible with use of moist lowland forest. The very limited variance in these ratios indicates specialisation on isotopically restricted resources, which may drive the similarity in wood warbler populations' stable isotope ratios and increase susceptibility to environmental change within its wintering grounds. House martins were previously considered to primarily use moist montane forest during the winter, but this seems unlikely given the enriched nature of their carbon isotope ratios. House martins use a narrower isotopic range of resources than the common swift, indicative of increased specialisation or a relatively limited wintering range; both factors could increase house martins' vulnerability to environmental change. The marked variance in isotope ratios within each common swift population contributes to the lack of population specific signatures and indicates that the species is less vulnerable to environmental change in sub-Saharan Africa than our other focal species. Our findings demonstrate how stable isotope research can contribute to understanding avian migrants' winter ecology and conservation status
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