From STEM to PAVAM: A unified arts strategy for innovation, industrial and regional policy

The potential of the arts and sciences for economic and social development is under conceptualized. However, the recent development of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), justifying increased support for training in the sciences, shows a parallel pathway forward for the arts. The arts are increasingly relevant to the economy, amenable to policy influence as well as an area of human activity in their own right. The authors posit a unified arts framework: PAVAM (performing arts, visual arts, and music), complementing STEM as the basis for a strategy of arts-based interdisciplinary “industrial” policy making. The growing salience of the arts as an industrial sector in the UK and USA is shown. By identifying sources and pathways of value creation from the arts, clear entry points for policy action become identifiable to promote innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic development. Comparative case studies suggest a typology of the arts’ potential as sources of creativity, innovation, and regional economic development

Symmetric Grothendieck polynomials, skew Cauchy identities, and dual filtered Young graphs

Symmetric Grothendieck polynomials are analogues of Schur polynomials in the K-theory of Grassmannians. We build dual families of symmetric Grothendieck polynomials using Schur operators. With this approach we prove skew Cauchy identity and then derive various applications: skew Pieri rules, dual filtrations of Young's lattice, generating series and enumerative identities. We also give a new explanation of the finite expansion property for products of Grothendieck polynomials

Modelling the functional connectivity of landscapes for greater horseshoe bats Rhinolophus ferrumequinum at a local scale

Context: The importance of habitat connectivity for wildlife is widely recognised. However, assessing the movement of species tends to rely on radio-tracking or GPS evidence, which is difficult and costly to gather. Objectives: To examine functional connectivity of greater horseshoe bats (GHS, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) at a local scale using Circuitscape software; comparing our results against expert opinion ‘fly ways’. Methods: Expert opinions were used to rank and score five environmental layers influencing GHS movement, generating resistance scores. The slope and resistance scores of these layers were varied, and validated against independent ground truthed GHS activity data, until a unimodal peak in correlation was identified for each layer. The layers were combined into a multivariate model and re-evaluated. Radiotracking studies were used to further validate the model, and the transferability was tested at other roost locations. Results: Functional connectivity models could be created using bat activity data. Models had the ability to be transferred between roost locations, although site-specific validation is strongly recommended. For all other bat species recorded, markedly more (125%) bat passes occurred in the top quartile of functional connectivity compared to any of the lower three quartiles. Conclusion: The model predictions identify areas of key conservation importance to habitat connectivity for GHS that are not recognised by expert opinion. By highlighting landscape features that act as barriers to movement, this approach can be used by decision-makers as a tool to inform local management strategies

Genetic structure and diversity of a rare woodland bat, Myotis bechsteinii: comparison of continental Europe and Britain

The Bechstein’s bat (Myotis bechsteinii) is a rare sedentary bat considered to be highly reliant on the presence of ancient woodland. Understanding the genetic connectivity and population structure of such elusive mammals is important for assessing their conservation status. In this study, we report the genetic diversity and structure of M. bechsteinii across Britain and Europe. Assessments were made using 14 microsatellite markers and a 747 bp region of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. Nuclear DNA (microsatellites) showed high levels of genetic diversity and little inbreeding across the species range, though genetic diversity was slightly lower in Britain than in mainland Europe. Bayesian and spatial PCA analysis showed a clear separation between the British and European sites. Within Europe, the Italian population south of the Alps was isolated from the other sites. In Britain, there was genetic structuring between the northern and southern part of the geographical range. Despite there being little genetic divergence in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences throughout most of Europe, the mtDNA patterns in Britain confirmed this separation of northern and southern populations. Such genetic structuring within Britain—in the absence of any obvious physical barriers—suggests that other factors such as land-use may limit gene-flow

Diets of European polecat Mustela putorius in Great Britain during fifty years of population recovery

Following nineteenth-century declines, polecats Mustela putorius are recolonising Great Britain. Polecat diet relates to two potential risks to recovery. First, rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus, which are important prey for polecats, have experienced extreme population fluctuations, with near extirpation due to myxomatosis in the 1950s, recovery in 1960s–1990s and declines in 1990s–2010s. Second, polecats are secondarily exposed to anticoagulant rodenticides by eating contaminated rodents, and the frequency of polecat exposure to rodenticides is increasing. We analysed stomach contents from 99 polecats collected in 2012–2016 and compared results with earlier studies. Lagomorphs were the most abundant prey (66% frequency of occurrence, 95% confidence interval 53–74%), followed by other mammals (12%, 4–18%), amphibians (10%, 3–16%) and birds (7%, 1–13%). Diet varied seasonally; lagomorph occurrence was highest in spring and summer and lowest in autumn. Dietary niche breadth was greater in the 1960s, when rabbits were scarce, than in other decades, but did not differ between the 1990s and 2010s, indicating that diets have not diversified with recent rabbit declines. This may be because rabbit abundance is not yet low enough to cause dietary diversification or because polecats were collected in areas where rabbits were still abundant. Rodents did not increase in diet between the 1990s and 2010s and still occur with < 10% frequency, indicating that rodents need not contribute much to diet to expose polecats to rodenticides. This potentially limits the effectiveness of management actions designed to minimise polecat exposure to contaminated rodent prey

The first super-Earth Detection from the High Cadence and High Radial Velocity Precision Dharma Planet Survey

The Dharma Planet Survey (DPS) aims to monitor about 150 nearby very bright FGKM dwarfs (within 50 pc) during 2016$-$2020 for low-mass planet detection and characterization using the TOU very high resolution optical spectrograph (R$\approx$100,000, 380-900nm). TOU was initially mounted to the 2-m Automatic Spectroscopic Telescope at Fairborn Observatory in 2013-2015 to conduct a pilot survey, then moved to the dedicated 50-inch automatic telescope on Mt. Lemmon in 2016 to launch the survey. Here we report the first planet detection from DPS, a super-Earth candidate orbiting a bright K dwarf star, HD 26965. It is the second brightest star ($V=4.4$ mag) on the sky with a super-Earth candidate. The planet candidate has a mass of 8.47$\pm0.47M_{\rm Earth}$, period of $42.38\pm0.01$ d, and eccentricity of $0.04^{+0.05}_{-0.03}$. This RV signal was independently detected by Diaz et al. (2018), but they could not confirm if the signal is from a planet or from stellar activity. The orbital period of the planet is close to the rotation period of the star (39$-$44.5 d) measured from stellar activity indicators. Our high precision photometric campaign and line bisector analysis of this star do not find any significant variations at the orbital period. Stellar RV jitters modeled from star spots and convection inhibition are also not strong enough to explain the RV signal detected. After further comparing RV data from the star's active magnetic phase and quiet magnetic phase, we conclude that the RV signal is due to planetary-reflex motion and not stellar activity.Comment: 13 pages, 17 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRA

Twenty-four hour metabolic rate measurements utilized as a reference to evaluate several prediction equations for calculating energy requirements in healthy infants

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To date, only short-duration metabolic rate measurements of less than four hours have been used to evaluate prediction equations for calculating energy requirements in healthy infants. Therefore, the objective of this analysis was to utilize direct 24-hour metabolic rate measurements from a prior study to evaluate the accuracy of several currently used prediction equations for calculating energy expenditure (EE) in healthy infants.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data from 24-hour EE, resting (RMR) and sleeping (SMR) metabolic rates obtained from 10 healthy infants, served as a reference to evaluate 11 length-weight (LWT) and weight (WT) based prediction equations. Six prediction equations have been previously derived from 50 short-term EE measurements in the Enhanced Metabolic Testing Activity Chamber (EMTAC) for assessing 24-hour EE, (EMTACEE-LWT and EMTACEE-WT), RMR (EMTACRMR-LWT and EMTACRMR-WT) and SMR (EMTACSMR-LWT and EMTACSMR-WT). The last five additional prediction equations for calculating RMR consisted of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Schofield (SCH-LWT and SCH-WT) and the Oxford (OXFORD-LWT and OXFORD-WT). Paired t-tests and the Bland & Altman limit analysis were both applied to evaluate the performance of each equation in comparison to the reference data.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>24-hour EE, RMR and SMR calculated with the EMTACEE-WT, EMTACRMR-WT and both the EMTACSMR-LWT and EMTACSMR-WT prediction equations were similar, p = NS, to that obtained from the reference measurements. However, RMR calculated using the WHO, SCH-LWT, SCH-WT, OXFORD-LWT and OXFORD-WT prediction equations were not comparable to the direct 24-hour metabolic measurements (p < 0.05) obtained in the 10 reference infants. Moreover, the EMTACEE-LWT and EMTACRMR-LWT were also not similar (p < 0.05) to direct 24-hour metabolic measurements.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Weight based prediction equations, derived from short-duration EE measurements in the EMTAC, were accurate for calculating EE, RMR and SMR in healthy infants.</p

Aristotle's Peculiarly Human Psychology

For Aristotle, human cognition has a lot in common both with non-human animal cognition and with divine cognition. With non-human animals, humans share a non-rational part of the soul and non-rational cognitive faculties (DA 427b6–14, NE 1102b29 and EE 1219b24–6). With gods, humans share a rational part of the soul and rational cognitive faculties (NE 1177b17– 1178a8). The rational part and the non-rational part of the soul, however, coexist and cooperate only in human souls (NE 1102b26–9, EE 1219b28–31). In this chapter, I show that a study of this cooperation helps to uncover some distinctive aspects of human cognition and desire

Novel real-time PCR species identification assays for British and Irish bats and their application to a non-invasive survey of bat roosts in Ireland

Detection and monitoring of extant bat populations are crucial for conservation success. Non-invasive genetic analysis of bat droppings collected at roosts could be very useful in this respect as a rapid, cost‐efficient monitoring tool. We developed species‐specific real-time PCR assays for 18 British and Irish bat species to enable non‐invasive, large‐scale distribution monitoring, which were then applied to a field survey in Ireland. One hundred and sixty-four DNA samples were collected from 95 bat roosts, of which 73% of samples were identified to species, and the resident bat species were identified at 89% of roosts. However, identification success varied between roost types, ranging from 22% for underground sites to 92% for bat boxes. This panel of DNA tests will be especially useful in cases where roosts contain multiple species, where the number of bats present is small, or bats are otherwise difficult to directly observe. The methodology could be applied to the surveillance of proposed development sites, post development mitigation measures, distribution surveys, bat box schemes and the evaluation of agri-environmental bat box schemes

Marine plastics threaten giant Atlantic Marine Protected Areas.

There has been a recent shift in global perception of plastics in the environment, resulting in a call for greater action. Science and the popular media have highlighted plastic as an increasing stressor [1,2]. Efforts have been made to confer protected status to some remote locations, forming some of the world's largest Marine Protected Areas, including several UK overseas territories. We assessed plastic at these remote Atlantic Marine Protected Areas, surveying the shore, sea surface, water column and seabed, and found drastic changes from 2013-2018. Working from the RRS James Clark Ross at Ascension, St. Helena, Tristan da Cunha, Gough and the Falkland Islands (Figure 1A), we showed that marine debris on beaches has increased more than 10 fold in the past decade. Sea surface plastics have also increased, with in-water plastics occurring at densities of 0.1 items m-3; plastics on seabeds were observed at ≤ 0.01 items m-2. For the first time, beach densities of plastics at remote South Atlantic sites approached those at industrialised North Atlantic sites. This increase even occurs hundreds of meters down on seamounts. We also investigated plastic incidence in 2,243 animals (comprising 26 species) across remote South Atlantic oceanic food webs, ranging from plankton to seabirds. We found that plastics had been ingested by primary consumers (zooplankton) to top predators (seabirds) at high rates. These findings suggest that MPA status will not mitigate the threat of plastic proliferation to this rich, unique and threatened biodiversity