Fast Electroweak Symmetry Breaking and Cold Electroweak Baryogenesis

We construct a model for delayed electroweak symmetry breaking that takes place in a cold Universe with T<<100 GeV and which proceeds by a fast quench rather than by a conventional, slow, phase transition. This is achieved by coupling the Standard Model Higgs to an additional scalar field. We show that the quench transition can be made fast enough for successful Cold Electroweak Baryogenesis, while leaving known electroweak physics unchanged.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures. Section and extra checks added, conclusions unchanged. Published versio

Evolution of trust and trustworthiness: social awareness favours personality differences

Interest in the evolution and maintenance of personality is burgeoning. Individuals of diverse animal species differ in their aggressiveness, fearfulness, sociability and activity. Strong trade-offs, mutation–selection balance, spatio-temporal fluctuations in selection, frequency dependence and good-genes mate choice are invoked to explain heritable personality variation, yet for continuous behavioural traits, it remains unclear which selective force is likely to maintain distinct polymorphisms. Using a model of trust and cooperation, we show how allowing individuals to monitor each other's cooperative tendencies, at a cost, can select for heritable polymorphisms in trustworthiness. This variation, in turn, favours costly ‘social awareness’ in some individuals. Feedback of this sort can explain the individual differences in trust and trustworthiness so often documented by economists in experimental public goods games across a range of cultures. Our work adds to growing evidence that evolutionary game theorists can no longer afford to ignore the importance of real world inter-individual variation in their models

Red deer exhibit spatial and temporal responses to hiking activity

Funding: This project is funded through a joint James Hutton Institute & University of St Andrews collaborative PhD Studentship, the Carnegie Trust and the British Deer Society.Outdoor recreation has the potential to impact the spatial and temporal distribution of animals. We explore interactions between red deer Cervus elaphus and hikers along a popular hiking path in the Scottish Highlands. We placed camera traps in transects at different distances (25, 75 and 150 m) from the path to study whether distance from hiker activity influences the number of deer detected. We compared this with the detection of red deer in an additional, spatially isolated area (one km away from any other transects and the hiking path). We collected count data on hikers at the start of the path and explored hourly (red deer detection during daytime), daily, diurnal (day versus night) and monthly spatial distributions of red deer. Using generalized linear mixed models with forward model selection, we found that the distribution of deer changed with the hiking activity. We found that fewer red deer were detected during busy hourly hiking periods. We found that during daytime, more red deer were detected at 150 m than at 25 m. Moreover, during the day, red deer were detected at a greater rate in the isolated area than around the transects close to the path and more likely to be found close to the path at night. This suggests that avoidance of hikers by red deer, in this study area, takes place over distances greater than 75 m and that red deer are displaced into less disturbed areas when the hiking path is busy. Our results suggest that the impact of hikers is short-term, as deer return to the disturbed areas during the night.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Red deer behavioural response to hiking activity : a study using camera traps

With increasing levels of outdoor recreation activities, consequences for wildlife through interactions with recreationists are highly variable. Behavioural changes in wildlife are one potential consequence of interactions with outdoor recreationists. In ungulate populations, vigilance and flight responses are well-known antipredator behaviours, and an increase in their level indicates a more intense stress level which, ultimately, can have consequences for animal fitness. In Scotland, the geographical distribution of red deer (Cervus elaphus) overlaps greatly with areas used for popular outdoor activities such as hill walking. In this piece of research, we studied red deer time allocation, vigilance, and flight behaviours near a popular hiking path using camera traps. We positioned the cameras in transects at different distances (25, 75, and 150 m) from the path and recorded hiking activity using an automated people counter. Red deer behaviour was categorized from photo analysis as (1) no response (e.g. feeding and resting), (2) vigilant (i.e. upright head position), and (3) flight response. We also investigated demographic variables (group size and sex) and the direction of red deer movement relative to the trail. We used generalised linear mixed models to analyse behaviour in relation to the distance from the hiking track, hiking activity, time of the day, demographic, and environmental variables. We did not find an increase in vigilance or flight behaviour in relation to the distance from the hiking path or the hiking activity. These results suggest that red deer, in our study area, are habituated to the presence of hikers and may spatially avoid areas close to the hiking path instead of displaying cost-intensive behaviour (i.e. flight or vigilance behaviour).Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The Importance of Direct and Indirect Trophic Interactions in Determining the Presence of a Locally Rare Day-Flying Moth

Ecosystem engineers affect other organisms by creating, maintaining or modifying habitats, potentially supporting species of conservation concern. However, it is important to consider these interactions alongside non-engineering trophic pathways. We investigated the relative importance of trophic and non-trophic effects of an ecosystem engineer, red deer, on a locally rare moth, the transparent burnet ( Zygaena purpuralis ). This species requires specific microhabitat conditions, including the foodplant, thyme, and bare soil for egg-laying. The relative importance of grazing (i.e., trophic effect of modifying microhabitat) and trampling (i.e., non-trophic effect of exposing bare soil) by red deer on transparent burnet abundance are unknown. We tested for these effects using a novel method of placing pheromone-baited funnel traps in the field. Imago abundance throughout the flight season was related to plant composition, diversity and structure at various scales around each trap. Indirect effects of red deer activity were accounted for by testing red deer pellet and trail presence against imago abundance. Imago abundance was positively associated with thyme and plant diversity, whilst negatively associated with velvet grass and heather species cover. The presence of red deer pellets and trails were positively associated with imago abundance. The use of these sites by red deer aids the transparent burnet population via appropriate levels of grazing and the provision of a key habitat condition, bare soil, in the form of deer trails. This study shows that understanding how both trophic and non-trophic interactions affect the abundance of a species provides valuable insights regarding conservation objectives

The Status of Ethics in Technology Education

Ethics is not a new concept within technology education. The inclusion of ethics evolved naturally from the progression of technological activity in the latter part of the twentieth century. During this shift to a postindustrial society, people started to look at technology from a more humanistic view than they previously had. To keep pace with these changes, a new ethic was suggested to help advance technological literacy by highlighting the relationship between humans, the environment, and technology (DeVore, 1980, 1991). How far have we come? This chapter reviews the current state of ethics within technology education. In the first two sections, materials for classroom instruction, including textbooks and modular materials, are examined. The third section discusses and recommends resources and practices that appear in professional literature. A survey of international technology education and ethics constitutes the fourth section. The chapter concludes with a look at professional ethics as they relate to technology teachers, teacher educators, and administrators

Ionospheric Simulation System for Satellite Observations and Global Assimilative Model Experiments - ISOGAME

Modeling and imaging the Earth's ionosphere as well as understanding its structures, inhomogeneities, and disturbances is a key part of NASA's Heliophysics Directorate science roadmap. This invention provides a design tool for scientific missions focused on the ionosphere. It is a scientifically important and technologically challenging task to assess the impact of a new observation system quantitatively on our capability of imaging and modeling the ionosphere. This question is often raised whenever a new satellite system is proposed, a new type of data is emerging, or a new modeling technique is developed. The proposed constellation would be part of a new observation system with more low-Earth orbiters tracking more radio occultation signals broadcast by Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) than those offered by the current GPS and COSMIC observation system. A simulation system was developed to fulfill this task. The system is composed of a suite of software that combines the Global Assimilative Ionospheric Model (GAIM) including first-principles and empirical ionospheric models, a multiple- dipole geomagnetic field model, data assimilation modules, observation simulator, visualization software, and orbit design, simulation, and optimization software

Spatial and temporal variations in interspecific interaction : impact of a recreational landscape

Anthropogenic activities, such as outdoor recreation, have the potential to change complex interactions between wildlife and livestock, with further consequences for the management of both animals, the environment, and disease transmission. We present the interaction amongst wildlife, livestock, and outdoor recreationists as a three-way interaction. Little is known about how recreational activities alter the interaction between herbivores in areas extensively used for recreational purposes. We investigate how hiking activity affects spatio-temporal co-occurrence between domestic sheep (Ovis aries) and red deer (Cervus elaphus). We used camera traps to capture the spatio-temporal distribution of red deer and sheep and used the distance from the hiking path as a proxy of hiking activity. We used generalized linear models to investigate the spatial distribution of sheep and deer. We analysed the activity patterns of sheep and deer and then calculated their coefficients of temporal overlap for each camera trap location. We compared these coefficients in relation to the distance from the hiking path. Finally, we used a generalized linear mixed-model to investigate which factors influence the spatio-temporal succession between deer and sheep. We do not find that sheep and red deer spatially avoid each other. The coefficient of temporal overlap varied with distance from the hiking trail, with stronger temporal co-occurrence at greater distances from the hiking trail. Red deer were more likely to be detected further from the path during the day, which increased the temporal overlap with sheep in these areas. This suggests that hiking pressure influences spatio-temporal interactions between sheep and deer, leading to greater temporal overlap in areas further from the hiking path due to red deer spatial avoidance of hikers. This impact of recreationists on the wildlife and livestock interaction can have consequences for the animals’ welfare, the vegetation they graze, their management, and disease transmission.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe