Autopia: An AI Collaborator for Live Coding Music Performances

Live coding is “the activity of writing (parts of) a program while it runs” (Ward et al., 2004). One significant application of live coding is in algorithmic music, where the performer modifies the code generating the music in a live context. Utopia is a software tool for collaborative live coding performances, allowing several performers (each with their own laptop producing its own sound) to communicate and share code during a performance. We have made an AI bot, Autopia, which can participate in such performances, communicating with human performers through Utopia. This form of human-AI collaboration allows us to explore the implications of computational creativity from the perspective of live coding

Limits to sustained energy intake XXIX : the case of the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus)

Acknowledgements We thank Violet Berger and Zsuzsanna Szabo for their support and help throughout the project. Student helpers Bianca Benker, Olivia Grünzweil, Anna Mokry, Sarah Postner, Marilies Scheinost, Katherina Schlegel assisted with measurements and golden hamster welfare during the course of the project. Peter Thomson provided valuable technical support for the isotope analysis for the DLW method. We also would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for useful comments and criticisms on an earlier version of our publication. Competing interests The authors declare no competing or financial interests. Funding Our study was funded by a single funded grant to TGV from the Austrian Science Foundation (FWF), P 26 246- B17. JRS was supported by a 1000 talents award from the Chinese Government and a Wolfson merit award from the UK Royal Society.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Thyroid hormones correlate with resting metabolic rate, not daily energy expenditure, in two charadriiform seabirds

K. Woo, M. Le Vaillant, T. van Nus, and especially A. Wesphal, J. Schultner and I. Dorresteijn, assisted with field work, often under unpleasant conditions. K. Wauthier was instrumental in wrestling the gamma counter into submission. P. Redman and C. Hambly conducted the isotopic analyses. K. Scott and K. Campbell provided the FoxBox. K.H.E. benefited from a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Vanier Scholarship, Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies Garfield Weston Northern Studies Award and the Arctic Institute of North America Jennifer Robinson Scholarship. Research support came from Bird Studies Canada/Society of Canadian Ornithologists James Baillie Award, Animal Behavior Society Research Grant, American Ornithologists’ Union Research Grant, Frank Chapman Research Grant, the Waterbird Society Nisbet Grant and NSERC Discovery Grants to J.F.H. and W.G.A. Any use of trade names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the US Government.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Preface : causes of obesity, theories, conjectures and evidence

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Counting calories in cormorants : dynamic body acceleration predicts daily energy expenditure measured in pelagic cormorants

The doubly-labelled water assays and accelerometers were paid for by the authors. Funding to reach Middleton Island was supported through the Animal Behaviour Society Research Grant and the Northern Scientific Training Program of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The relationship of female physical attractiveness to body fatness

Funding This work was supported by NSFC grant 91431102 from the National Science Foundation of China. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Acknowledgements We are grateful to all the participants from all the countries and all the members of Molecular Energetics Group for their help on the investigation and discussion of the results.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Vulnerability to fluctuations in prey and predation landscape in a central place foraging marine predator

IntroductionHuman-induced environmental change is driving a global redistribution of biodiversity, resulting in shifting prey and predation landscapes. These shifting landscapes can lead to changes in behavior, health, and vital rates, with potential implications for population dynamics.MethodsIn the present study, a state-dependent life-history theory model was developed to investigate the individual- and population-level responses of Australian fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) to changes in prey availability and at-sea mortality risk.ResultsRates of pregnancy, pup nursing, and abortion were unaffected by prey availability in the simulated population. Likewise, on-land and at-sea durations were largely unaffected by prey availability, with more pronounced affects for nonreproductive and pregnant females than for lactating females. There was a strong influence of prey availability on the proportion of females that were concurrently pregnant and lactating, largely due to an increase in pup abandonments under low prey availability scenarios. This effect on pup abandonments also had flow on effects for pup recruitment. Increasing at-sea mortality risk resulted in greater offspring losses due to maternal death. The combined impact of prey availability and at-sea mortality risk on the number of simulated female offspring reaching sexual maturity was substantial.DiscussionConsequently, our results suggest high vulnerability of the Australian fur seal population to shifting prey and predation landscapes. These results indicate a need for continued monitoring of Australian fur seal pup production and population dynamics in the face of rapid environmental change

Increased parental effort fails to buffer the cascading effects of warmer seas on common guillemot demographic rates

Research Funding Natural Environment Research Council Award. Grant Number: NE/R016429/1 UK-SCAPE Programme Delivering National Capability Joint Nature Conservation Committee EU ‘The Effect of Large-scale Industrial Fisheries On Non-Target Species’ FP5 Project ‘Interactions between the Marine environment, PREdators and Prey: Implications for Sustainable Sandeel Fisheries’. Grant Numbers: MS21-013, Q5RS-2000-30864 Ministry of Universities-University of ValenciaPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Validation of the doubly labeled water method using off-axis integrated cavity output spectroscopy and isotope ratio mass spectrometry

This work was supported by an NIH Small Business Innovation (SBIR) research Grant (R44 DK093362), as well as support from the Colorado Nutrition and Obesity Research Center (P30 DK048520) and the Colorado Clinical and Translational Science Institute (UL1 RR025780). Dr. Melanson is also supported by resources from the Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center at the Denver VA Medical Center.Peer reviewedPostprin

Community-wide decline in the occurrence of lesser sandeels Ammodytes marinus in seabird chick diets at a North Sea colony

Many pelagic marine ecosystems have a wasp-waist trophic structure characterised by low diversity of mid-trophic species, typically small, shoaling forage fish that are eaten by a wide range of top predators. In the North Sea, this mid-trophic position is occupied by the lesser sandeel Ammodytes marinus. Over the last 30-40 yr, the abundance and length-at-age of sandeels have declined, but information on concurrent changes in the diets of seabird communities is scarce. We used data on chick diet composition, sandeel length-at-age and energy density collected at a colony in the western North Sea from 1973-2015, to test for dietary shifts in this seabird community during a period when a local sandeel fishery opened, operated and was closed. We found a long-term decline in the overall importance (measured as the frequency of occurrence and proportion of biomass in diet samples) of sandeels, particularly 1+ group fish. However, there were species-specific differences such that the overall decline in sandeels was strongest in common guillemots Uria aalge, while the shift from 1+ group to 0 group sandeels was apparent in all species except European shags Phalacrocorax aristotelis. Community-level differences were also apparent in the alternative prey to sandeels, with with common guillemot, razorbill Alca torda, Atlantic puffin Fratercula arctica, and black-legged kittiwake Rissa tridactyla chicks being fed clupeids, predominantly sprat Sprattus sprattus, while shag chicks received a wide range of benthic fish species. There was also evidence for a decline in the quality of sandeels fed to chicks with significant decreases in length-at-age of 0 group and 1+ group. However, there was no significant annual variation in the energy density of sandeels except for 2004, when values were exceptionally low. Neither the opening nor the closing of the sandeel fishery had any detectable effect on chick diet composition, sandeel length or sandeel energy density. Overall, our results suggest marked community-level changes in seabird diet composition over the last 3 decades that may reflect long-term declines in the abundance and quality of their principal prey