Why do some fish fight more than others?

Reversible changes in how readily animals fight can be explained in terms of adaptive responses to differences in the costs and benefits of fighting. In contrast, long-term differences in aggressiveness raise a number of questions, including why animals are consistent with respect to this trait, why aggressiveness is often linked to general risk taking, and why aggressive and nonaggressive animals often coexist within a population. In fish, different levels of aggressiveness bring several direct fitness-related consequences, such as when aggressive individuals monopolize a limited food supply and grow fast. They also bring indirect consequences, such as when aggressive fish are more susceptible to predation and when they require a larger respiratory surface to service a higher metabolic rate. Fitness consequences of aggressiveness are often context dependent, with aggressive fish tending to do well in simple, predictable conditions but not in complex, less predictable conditions. The diverse, context-dependent consequences of aggression mean that aggressive and nonaggressive fish flourish in different conditions and explain in general terms why these behavioral phenotypes often coexist. There are a number of candidate evolutionary frameworks for explaining why individual differences in aggressiveness are often, but not always, consistent over time and often, but not always, linked to differences in general risk taking

A hard tweak : TeachNZ criteria and the Smith proposal : a thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Social Policy at Massey University

The Hon. Dr Nick Smith suggested in 1999 and 2003 that 'men' be recruited as primary school teachers through the TeachNZ scheme. This thesis analyses the attendant policy making processes, and the influence of ideology. Six interviews were conducted and are considered against political events over the years 2003-2004. The work of Kingdon (2003) and Matland (1995) proved valuable to the analysis as they provide complementary models for discussion of data

Brief communication. Drought likelihood for East Africa

The East Africa drought in autumn of year 2016 caused malnutrition, illness and death. Close to 16 million people across Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya needed food, water and medical assistance. Many factors influence drought stress and response. However, inevitably the following question is asked: are elevated greenhouse gas concentrations altering extreme rainfall deficit frequency? We investigate this with general circulation models (GCMs). After GCM bias correction to match the climatological mean of the CHIRPS data-based rainfall product, climate models project small decreases in probability of drought with the same (or worse) severity as 2016 ASO (August to October) East African event. This is by the end of the 21st century compared to the probabilities for present day. However, when further adjusting the climatological variability of GCMs to also match CHIRPS data, by additionally bias-correcting for variance, then the probability of drought occurrence will increase slightly over the same period

Complexity and determining dangerous levels of climate impacts

A recent paper (Gerten et al 2013 Environ. Res. Lett. 8 034032) finds very different global warming thresholds of concern between water scarcity and ecosystem changes. This may at first appear surprising, as each process is controlled to some extent by functioning of the land surface. Hence this analysis reflects the fundamentally different character of what constitutes water scarcity among people, compared to water stress for ecosystems. Gerten et al (2013 Environ. Res. Lett. 8 034032) find both responses to warming are highly nonlinear, but in opposite senses. Water scarcity could affect multiple millions of people for even low levels of warming, but that number would almost stabilize should warming continue. In contrast, ecosystem changes become massively more responsive to climate change at higher warming levels. This re-iterates how complex the Earth system is, making it difficult to determine what constitutes overall single thresholds of climate change society may choose to consider avoiding. However, it is argued here that such targets are still much needed, providing a focal point for discussion, and complexity should not be used as an excuse to prevent setting them

High chance that current atmospheric greenhouse concentrations commit to warmings greater than 1.5°C over land

The recent Paris UNFCCC climate meeting discussed the possibility of limiting global warming to 2 °C since pre-industrial times, or possibly even 1.5 °C, which would require major future emissions reductions. However, even if climate is stabilised at current atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations, those warming targets would almost certainly be surpassed in the context of mean temperature increases over land only. The reason for this is two-fold. First, current transient warming lags significantly below equilibrium or “committed” warming. Second, almost all climate models indicate warming rates over land are much higher than those for the oceans. We demonstrate this potential for high eventual temperatures over land, even for contemporary GHG levels, using a large set of climate models and for which climate sensitivities are known. Such additional land warming has implications for impacts on terrestrial ecosystems and human well-being. This suggests that even if massive and near-immediate emissions reductions occur such that atmospheric GHGs increase further by only small amounts, careful planning is needed by society to prepare for higher land temperatures in an eventual equilibrium climatic state

Multi-services agency for the integrated management of mobility and of accessibility to transport services

AGATA (Multi-services agency based on telecommunication centres for the integrated management of mobility and of accessibility to transport services) is an INTERREG III B MEDOCC area project, which began in July 2004 and will last until June 2006. The AGATA consortium of 8 partners from 3 European countries (Italy, Spain and Portugal) and one South Mediterranean country (Morocco), works towards the development of a multi-service agency which coordinates flexible transport and mobility services in urban and rural areas. This agency will be based on modern information and communication technologies, and composed of a network of services facilitating interactions between actors and agency. The project represents an example of transfer from the world of research to public administrations and transport companies, based on IST IV FP projects. AGATA’s goals are: successful undertaking of feasibility studies and pilot projects, the results of which will be widely diffused, exchange of experiences and best practices, identification of a business model for an ICT based telecommunication centre. AGATA was born in a context of growing mobility problems which this paper considers before going on to describe various different actions (studies, pilot actions, experiences exchange, results diffusion and promotion), which are currently being carried out both at a general project level and at a local level by the different partners. The results of these actions should in theory have an impact on the local environment and on the issues of transport and mobility on a wider scale. This paper shows the expected results and evaluation techniques and the possible future of such initiatives in political and financial terms

Effectiveness of slow motion video compared to real time video in improving the accuracy and consistency of subjective gait analysis in dogs

Objective measures of canine gait quality via force plates, pressure mats or kinematic analysis are considered superior to subjective gait assessment (SGA). Despite research demonstrating that SGA does not accurately detect subtle lameness, it remains the most commonly performed diagnostic test for detecting lameness in dogs. This is largely because the financial, temporal and spatial requirements for existing objective gait analysis equipment makes this technology impractical for use in general practice. The utility of slow motion video as a potential tool to augment SGA is currently untested. To evaluate a more accessible way to overcome the limitations of SGA, a slow motion video study was undertaken. Three experienced veterinarians reviewed video footage of 30 dogs, 15 with a diagnosis of primary limb lameness based on history and physical examination, and 15 with no indication of limb lameness based on history and physical examination. Four different videos were made for each dog, demonstrating each dog walking and trotting in real time, and then again walking and trotting in 50% slow motion. For each video, the veterinary raters assessed both the degree of lameness, and which limb(s) they felt represented the source of the lameness. Spearman’s rho, Cramer’s V, and t-tests were performed to determine if slow motion video increased either the accuracy or consistency of raters’ SGA relative to real time video. Raters demonstrated no significant increase in consistency or accuracy in their SGA of slow motion video relative to real time video. Based on these findings, slow motion video does not increase the consistency or accuracy of SGA values. Further research is required to determine if slow motion video will benefit SGA in other ways