Movement patterns of cheetahs ( Acinonyx jubatus ) in farmlands in Botswana

Botswana has the second highest population of cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) with most living outside protected areas. As a result, many cheetahs are found in farming areas which occasionally results in human-wildlife conflict. This study aimed to look at movement patterns of cheetahs in farming environments to determine whether cheetahs have adapted their movements in these human-dominated landscapes. We fitted high-time resolution GPS collars to cheetahs in the Ghanzi farmlands of Botswana. GPS locations were used to calculate home range sizes as well as number and duration of visits to landscape features using a time-based local convex hull method. Cheetahs had medium-sized home ranges compared to previously studied cheetah in similar farming environments. Results showed that cheetahs actively visited scent marking trees and avoided visiting homesteads. A slight preference for visiting game farms over cattle farms was found, but there was no difference in duration of visits between farm types. We conclude that cheetahs selected for areas that are important for their dietary and social needs and prefer to avoid human-occupied areas. Improved knowledge of how cheetahs use farmlands can allow farmers to make informed decisions when developing management practices and can be an important tool for reducing human-wildlife conflict

Religion and religious education : comparing and contrasting pupils’ and teachers’ views in an English school

This publication builds on and develops the English findings of the qualitative study of European teenagers’ perspectives on religion and religious education (Knauth et al. 2008), part of ‘Religion in Education: A contribution to dialogue or a factor of conflict in transforming societies of European countries?’ (REDCo) project. It uses data gathered from 27 pupils, aged 15-16, from a school in a multicultural Northern town in England and compares those findings with data gathered from ten teachers in the humanities faculty of the same school, collected during research for the Warwick REDCo Community of Practice. Comparisons are drawn between the teachers’ and their pupils’ attitudes and values using the same structure as the European study: personal views and experiences of religion, the social dimension of religion, and religious education in school. The discussion offers an analysis of the similarities and differences in worldviews and beliefs which emerged. These include religious commitment/observance differences between the mainly Muslim-heritage pupils and their mainly non-practising Christian-heritage teachers. The research should inform the ways in which the statutory duties to promote community cohesion and equalities can be implemented in schools. It should also facilitate intercultural and interreligious understanding between teachers and the pupils from different ethnic and religious backgrounds

Synthesis and Incorporation of Unnatural Amino Acids To Probe and Optimize Protein Bioconjugations

The utilization of unnatural amino acids (UAAs) in bioconjugations is ideal due to their ability to confer a degree of bioorthogonality and specificity. In order to elucidate optimal conditions for the preparation of bioconjugates with UAAs, we synthesized 9 UAAs with variable methylene tethers (2-4) and either an azide, alkyne, or halide functional group. All 9 UAAs were then incorporated into green fluorescent protein (GFP) using a promiscuous aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase. The different bioconjugations were then analyzed for optimal tether length via reaction with either a fluorophore or a derivatized resin. Interestingly, the optimal tether length was found to be dependent on the type of reaction. Overall, these findings provide a better understanding of various parameters that can be optimized for the efficient preparation of bioconjugates

Quantum Chessboards in the Deuterium Molecular Ion

We present a new algorithm for vibrational control in deuterium molecules that is feasible with current experimental technology. A pump mechanism is used to create a coherent superposition of the D2+ vibrations. A short, intense infrared control pulse is applied after a chosen delay time to create selective interferences. A `chessboard' pattern of states can be realized in which a set of even- or odd-numbered vibrational states can be selectively annihilated or enhanced. A technique is proposed for experimental realization and observation of this effect using 5 fs pulses of 790 nm radiation, with intermediate intensity (5e13 W/cm2)Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure

Scenicness assessment of onshore wind sites with geotagged photographs and impacts on approval and cost-efficiency

Funding Information: We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of D. Schlund, who carried out some of the wind analysis whilst a Student Assistant at KIT, as well as C. Moutard, on whose Master’s Thesis at DTU this article builds (Assessing the ‘acceptable’ onshore wind potential in the UK, 2019, https://findit.dtu.dk/en/catalog/2451029061). M. D’Andrea, K. Paidis and T. Jaenicke supported the preparation of early versions of the manuscript whilst Student Assistants at DTU. I.M. gratefully acknowledges financial support from Kraks Fond, Copenhagen ([email protected]). T.P. and H.S.M. are grateful for support from The Alan Turing Institute under the EPSRC grant EP/N510129/1 (including awards TU/B/000006 and TU/B/000008).Peer reviewedPostprin

Soft X-ray harmonic comb from relativistic electron spikes

We demonstrate a new high-order harmonic generation mechanism reaching the `water window' spectral region in experiments with multi-terawatt femtosecond lasers irradiating gas jets. A few hundred harmonic orders are resolved, giving uJ/sr pulses. Harmonics are collectively emitted by an oscillating electron spike formed at the joint of the boundaries of a cavity and bow wave created by a relativistically self-focusing laser in underdense plasma. The spike sharpness and stability are explained by catastrophe theory. The mechanism is corroborated by particle-in-cell simulations

Survey study on energy use in UK homes during Covid-19

To contain the spread of Covid-19, governments across the world imposed partial or complete lockdowns. National energy demand decreased in periods of lockdowns; however, as people spent more time at home, residential energy use likely increased. This paper reports the results of a UK survey study (N = 1016 participants) about their energy-use practices during the first lockdown in March 2020. The results indicated that self-reported heating behaviours did not substantially change during lockdown. Regarding appliance use, in particular the duration of usage for televisions and computing equipment has increased and has spread more over the day. Being less able to manage financially was correlated with a greater usage of the smart meter in-home display and a greater attempt to save energy was positively correlated with greater usage of the in-home display, though correlations were small. In summary, the results indicate that home energy-use behaviours, in particular around heating, did not change as much as might have been expected, which might at least partly be explained by the comparatively warm weather during the first lockdown. Corroborating the survey findings with actual energy data is the next essential step to understand findings in more detail

Topological effects in ring polymers: A computer simulation study

Unconcatenated, unknotted polymer rings in the melt are subject to strong interactions with neighboring chains due to the presence of topological constraints. We study this by computer simulation using the bond-fluctuation algorithm for chains with up to N=512 statistical segments at a volume fraction \Phi=0.5 and show that rings in the melt are more compact than gaussian chains. A careful finite size analysis of the average ring size R \propto N^{\nu} yields an exponent \nu \approx 0.39 \pm 0.03 in agreement with a Flory-like argument for the topologica interactions. We show (using the same algorithm) that the dynamics of molten rings is similar to that of linear chains of the same mass, confirming recent experimental findings. The diffusion constant varies effectively as D_{N} \propto N^{-1.22(3) and is slightly higher than that of corresponding linear chains. For the ring sizes considered (up to 256 statistical segments) we find only one characteristic time scale \tau_{ee} \propto N^{2.0(2); this is shown by the collapse of several mean-square displacements and correlation functions onto corresponding master curves. Because of the shrunken state of the chain, this scaling is not compatible with simple Rouse motion. It applies for all sizes of ring studied and no sign of a crossover to any entangled regime is found.Comment: 20 Pages,11 eps figures, Late

Attention deficits in childhood-onset schizophrenia: reaction time studies

The hypothesis of continuity between childhood-onset and adult schizophrenia was tested by comparing the performance of 15 patients with childhood-onset schizophrenia and 52 age-matched controls on 2 reaction time paradigms that have been used to study adult schizophrenia. On simple reaction time to tones with regular and irregular preparatory intervals of 2, 4, and 8 s, patients showed greater effects of the length of the preparatory interval in the regular condition and greater effects of the preparatory interval (girls only) and the preceding preparatory interval in the irregular series. On simple reaction time to random lights and tones, patients were faster on ipsimodal sequences than cross-modal sequences compared with controls. Overall, patients were much slower than controls in both paradigms. The results suggest similar attention dysfunction as is found in adult schizophrenia and thus are consistent with the continuity hypothesis