Phenotypic Plasticity of Rattlesnake Trophic Morphology

The trophic morphology of gape-limited predators constrains the shape and size of prey items they can ingest. Trophic morphology consists of any morphological feature that is involved in the handling and ingestion of food. Diet has a profound effect on the morphology of many gape-limited predators. Identifying how prey type and resource level affect the morphology of different populations is an essential step in understanding the mechanisms contributing to patterns of morphological diversity. Species interactions (Chapter 1) induce plasticity in morphology that can lead to increased fitness, morphological divergence, and eventually speciation. In Chapter 2, a laboratory study tested the effects of defensive strikes on snake trophic morphology. In conjunction with morphological measurements, the metabolic costs of replacing venom were quantified. Control and milked snakes had baseline metabolic rate and morphology quantified before treatment manipulation. Milked snakes showed no significant difference in metabolic rate after expending venom than. Trophic morphology was not significantly different after snakes struck defensively. Venom expenditure does not impose significant increases to metabolic rate or changes in trophic morphology. In Chapter 3, I quantified the effects of starvation on trophic morphology and its allometric relationship with body size. Starvation periods of short (100 days) and long (200 days) intervals were compared to control snakes. Shorter periods of starvation had no effect on morphology or its relationship with body size, but longer periods resulted in a significant shift in the relationship between head and body size. Results showed extended periods of starvation can significantly alter the allometry of trophic morphology in snakes

The disappearing Ghosh test

Matt Hall and Dr Tom Smith write on the recent case of Ivey v. Genting Casinos (UK) Ltd t/a Crockfords [2017] UKSC 6

Towards a Human-Centred International Law: Self-Determination and the Structure of the International Legal System

In recent years a number of scholars (most notably Anne Peters, Christian Tomuschat, Ruti Teitel and Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade) have identified an ongoing process of change in the international legal system’s relationship with individuals and groups of individuals. That change has been referred to as a humanisation of international law. This thesis contributes to that area of study by offering an account of the deep level changes to the foundations of the international legal system, which it argues are both driving and are recursively driven by changes in substantive international law. It finds the explanation for these changes in the idea of the self-determination of the individual, and it argues that this concept has now become a structural principle (a term borrowed from Giddens, 1984) of the international legal system. The thesis takes a twin methodological approach to the question, using both an analysis of the history of ideas and a sociological lens (particularly Giddens’s theory of structuration) to demonstrate that the foundations of the international legal order have changed through time, and that the operation and scope of the system’s basic concepts has altered concomitantly. It argues that the institution of a principle of self-determination as the structural principle of the system is another such change, and one that will produce the kind of changes in the substance and operation of international law that have been identified by Peters and others. Its finding that the interests of individuals and of communities are now embedded in international law at the structural level strongly supports the conclusion that Peters and others have drawn from the examination of substantive international law, that there is a process of humanisation occurring, and that the humanisation process is occurring at all levels within the system

The Changing Financial Structure of the U.S. Farm Sector

Agricultural Finance,

Experimental Synthetic Aperture Radar with Dynamic Metasurfaces

We investigate the use of a dynamic metasurface as the transmitting antenna for a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging system. The dynamic metasurface consists of a one-dimensional microstrip waveguide with complementary electric resonator (cELC) elements patterned into the upper conductor. Integrated into each of the cELCs are two diodes that can be used to shift each cELC resonance out of band with an applied voltage. The aperture is designed to operate at K band frequencies (17.5 to 20.3 GHz), with a bandwidth of 2.8 GHz. We experimentally demonstrate imaging with a fabricated metasurface aperture using existing SAR modalities, showing image quality comparable to traditional antennas. The agility of this aperture allows it to operate in spotlight and stripmap SAR modes, as well as in a third modality inspired by computational imaging strategies. We describe its operation in detail, demonstrate high-quality imaging in both 2D and 3D, and examine various trade-offs governing the integration of dynamic metasurfaces in future SAR imaging platforms

Malaria intervention scale-up in Africa : effectiveness predictions for health programme planning tools, based on dynamic transmission modelling

Scale-up of malaria prevention and treatment needs to continue to further important gains made in the past decade, but national strategies and budget allocations are not always evidence-based. Statistical models were developed summarizing dynamically simulated relations between increases in coverage and intervention impact, to inform a malaria module in the Spectrum health programme planning tool.; The dynamic Plasmodium falciparum transmission model OpenMalaria was used to simulate health effects of scale-up of insecticide-treated net (ITN) usage, indoor residual spraying (IRS), management of uncomplicated malaria cases (CM) and seasonal malaria chemoprophylaxis (SMC) over a 10-year horizon, over a range of settings with stable endemic malaria. Generalized linear regression models (GLMs) were used to summarize determinants of impact across a range of sub-Sahara African settings.; Selected (best) GLMs explained 94-97 % of variation in simulated post-intervention parasite infection prevalence, 86-97 % of variation in case incidence (three age groups, three 3-year horizons), and 74-95 % of variation in malaria mortality. For any given effective population coverage, CM and ITNs were predicted to avert most prevalent infections, cases and deaths, with lower impacts for IRS, and impacts of SMC limited to young children reached. Proportional impacts were larger at lower endemicity, and (except for SMC) largest in low-endemic settings with little seasonality. Incremental health impacts for a given coverage increase started to diminish noticeably at above ~40 % coverage, while in high-endemic settings, CM and ITNs acted in synergy by lowering endemicity. Vector control and CM, by reducing endemicity and acquired immunity, entail a partial rebound in malaria mortality among people above 5 years of age from around 5-7 years following scale-up. SMC does not reduce endemicity, but slightly shifts malaria to older ages by reducing immunity in child cohorts reached.; Health improvements following malaria intervention scale-up vary with endemicity, seasonality, age and time. Statistical models can emulate epidemiological dynamics and inform strategic planning and target setting for malaria control

The star-formation law at GMC scales in M33, the Triangulum Galaxy

We present a high spatial resolution study, on scales of $\sim$100pc, of the relationship between star-formation rate (SFR) and gas content within Local Group galaxy M33. Combining deep SCUBA-2 observations with archival GALEX, SDSS, WISE, Spitzer and submillimetre Herschel data, we are able to model the entire SED from UV to sub-mm wavelengths. We calculate the SFR on a pixel-by-pixel basis using the total infrared luminosity, and find a total SFR of $0.17 \pm 0.06\,\rm{M}_\odot$/yr, somewhat lower than our other two measures of SFR -- combined FUV and 24$\mu$m SFR ($0.25^{+0.10}_{-0.07}\,\rm{M}_\odot$/yr) and SED-fitting tool MAGPHYS ($0.33^{+0.05}_{-0.06}\,\rm{M}_\odot$/yr). We trace the total gas using a combination of the 21cm HI line for atomic hydrogen, and CO($\textit{J}$=2-1) data for molecular hydrogen. We have also traced the total gas using dust masses. We study the star-formation law in terms of molecular gas, total gas, and gas from dust. We perform an analysis of the star-formation law on a variety of pixel scales, from 25$^{\prime\prime}$ to 500$^{\prime\prime}$ (100pc to 2kpc). At kpc scales, we find that a linear Schmidt-type power law index is suitable for molecular gas, but the index appears to be much higher with total gas, and gas from dust. Whilst we find a strong scale dependence on the Schmidt index, the gas depletion timescale is invariant with pixel scale.Comment: 19 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

An extremely low gas-to-dust ratio in the dust-lane lenticular galaxy NGC 5485

Date of Acceptance: 21/07/2014Peer reviewe