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The dynamics of wild and alternative meat consumption across Gabon, Central Africa
Get PDFLong‐term overharvesting of wild animals for their meat threatens wildlife and the people dependent on wild animal meat for their diets and incomes. Interventions to reduce wild meat consumption must be built upon a complete understanding of the roles of wild meat and its alternatives within food systems. Here, we conduct a national‐scale analysis of how urbanization, market access and price impact the use of wild and alternative meat and fish in Gabon. We obtained data on the acquisition and consumption of wild and alternative meat and fish for >6900 households from the WILDMEAT database, the largest dataset for Gabon to date. We then analysed associations between settlement size, market access, and price with the probability of consuming wild meat, alternatives, or no meat, and how these foodstuffs were acquired by households. We found the probability of consuming wild meat and no meat to be negatively associated with settlement population size, whereas consumption of alternative meats was more likely in larger settlements. In villages, consumption of both wild and alternative meats became more likely as market access increased. Consumption of all meat types was then negatively associated with price, except traded fish products, which were consumed more in villages at higher prices. Acquiring meat through hunting and fishing was more likely in the most isolated and smallest villages and, as population sizes and market access increased, buying meat became more likely. Our results suggest that more isolated, rural households depend on harvesting wild meat and fish from the environment, alongside a narrow range of traded, tinned fish products, as alternatives to hunting and fishing. Conversely, households in larger settlements and high‐market‐access villages can purchase and consume alternative meats and traded wild meat. Policy Implications: In Gabon, settlements >3500 people, where most wild meat is bought and alternatives are usually available, may suit market‐based and behaviour change interventions. Settlements of 900–3500 people may be effective targets of livelihood support projects. Nutritional analyses should be conducted in settlements <900 people, to understand the conditions under which wild meat is essential to nutritional security. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog
Essays in international macro-finance and asset pricing
Get PDFThis thesis consists of three self-contained chapters, the first two of which address topics in international macro-finance, and the last of which turns to asset pricing.
Chapter 1 develops a two-country model with liquidity constraints to study why a decline in one country’s government bond liquidity (or convenience) yield relative to another is typically accompanied by depreciation of the first country’s currency. A shock that makes a country’s bond less saleable triggers substitution across investment types, lowers total investment, and generates a trade surplus, weakening the exchange rate. The same shock simultaneously drives down the bond’s liquidity yield. The mechanism does not depend on any privileged status for U.S. assets.
Chapter 2 analyses loan-to-value ratio macroprudential policy in a two-country setting inspired by the “global saving glut” in the early 2000s, using Germany and Spain as an illustrative pair. The paper considers three policy regimes: internationally cooperative optimisation, a non-cooperative optimisation by national policymakers, and a benchmark of no policy response. The paper compares the policy regimes’ ex-ante welfare implications. While international cooperation predictably dominates, the study finds that the non-cooperative regime can, through competitive policy distortions, deliver even lower welfare than doing nothing. Sensitivity checks identify parameter ranges in which this ranking reverses.
Chapter 3 addresses cryptocurrency valuation, particularly the observed rapid price growth. It proposes a model in which investors are uncertain about eventual adoption demand and update their beliefs based on noisy signals over time. Early uncertainty is met with heavily discounted prices. Subsequently, gradual learning raises the price level and lowers the variance of price growth, matching key empirical patterns
Fast tuning, simulation and characterisation of spin qubits devices using machine learning
Get PDFSemiconducting spin quantum devices present a promising avenue for advancing noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) computers. However, the complexities involved in their tuning and characterisation currently hinder their scaling. This thesis addresses these challenges by harnessing machine-learning-based approaches.
Firstly, I used Gaussian processes to develop a fully automatic tuning algorithm that exclusively used radio-frequency measurements taken on millisecond timescales. Secondly, I employed Bayesian optimisation for charge sensor optimisation and automation. Both algorithms were deployed on depletion mode hole-based Ge/SiGe devices; however, they could easily be applied to other architectures. These automated approaches considerably outperformed manual tuning and represent vital building blocks for algorithms to tune larger quantum dot arrays.
Next, I developed algorithms to find the ground state charge configuration in the constant capacitance model, which was orders of magnitude faster than its predecessors, permitting the simulation of much larger arrays of sixteen dots. This open-source package can be used to gain insights into the charge stability diagrams of large quantum dot arrays and facilitates further tuning algorithm development.
Lastly, I present a novel application of hidden Markov models to identify and separate the state preparation, measurement and spin-flip errors presented by a pair of hot Loss Divincenzo qubits in a Si-MOS device. This approach not only unravels these error sources but also sheds light on their relationship with various parameters, such as electron temperature, thus contributing a vital understanding to the field of quantum computing
‘Who is the Gael who Would Not Weep?’: The Book of the O’Conor Don, Fearghal Óg Mac an Bhaird, and Late Bardic Poetry of Exile
Get PDFThis article examines how late bardic poetry transforms the condition of exile into a literary mode that reimagines community and tradition. I argue that poetry of lament, blessing and devotion articulates a broader literary consciousness that anticipates modern notions of a national consciousness. The compilation of bardic verse in manuscript form, particularly that of The Book of the O’Conor Don, creates a textual community where diverse voices that were once linked to local patrons and dynasties are reframed as part of a shared tradition. Within this context, elegiac poetry expands from mourning individual figures to envisioning collective memory mediated through the convention of bardic forms, while devotional verse reconfigures displacement through biblical allegory, aligning cultural survival with spiritual restoration. By reading elegiac mourning alongside devotional poetry, exile emerges not merely as a biographical condition but as the occasion for compositions that reimagine both geography and community. By attending to the interplay of form, theology and cultural memory, this article demonstrates how bardic poetry participates, even if unconsciously, in the creation of a national literature before the existence of a political nation
Opioid‐free vs. opioid‐inclusive anaesthesia with or without regional anaesthesia for postoperative pain: a systematic review with network meta‐analysis of randomised controlled trials
Get PDFPlain Language Summary: What we did: We looked at many studies from around the world that compared different ways of giving anaesthesia (the medicine that keeps you asleep during surgery). We compared six types of anaesthesia, including some that used opioids (strong pain medicines) and some that did not. We also looked at whether a special kind of numbing, called regional anaesthesia, was used. We checked how well each method worked for pain after surgery and other outcomes like sickness and time in hospital. Why did we do it: Doctors are worried about the side effects of opioids, so they want to know if people can stay comfortable after surgery without using them. We wanted to find out which combinations of anaesthesia give the best pain control and the fewest problems after surgery. What we found: The best pain control happened when regional anaesthesia was used, no matter what other medicines were given. When regional anaesthesia was already helping, using or avoiding opioids during the operation didn't make much difference to pain afterwards. People who did not get regional anaesthesia had more pain and needed more opioids later. Opioid‐free techniques (especially when combined with regional anaesthesia) led to less sickness and vomiting after surgery. Overall, the results show that regional anaesthesia is the most important part for good pain control. Avoiding opioids during the operation may also help people feel better afterwards, especially when regional anaesthesia is used
Trained Immunity and Cardiovascular Risk: An Immunological Perspective
Get PDFSystemic inflammation is a key driver of atherogenesis and its complications. While anti‐inflammatory therapies targeting pathways such as IL‐1β and IL‐6 have shown promise in established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), potential systemic effects raise concerns about immune suppression and infection, underscoring the need for more precise immunomodulatory approaches. Trained immunity—a form of innate immune memory—has emerged as a potential contributor linking ASCVD risk factors to chronic inflammation and disease progression. In this review, we discuss the evidence for trained immunity in ASCVD, its induction by several known risk factors (e.g., hyperglycaemia, hypercholesterolemia, diet, chronic stress, inflammatory diseases, and infection), and its potential role in sustaining vascular inflammation. Advancing our understanding of the metabolic and epigenetic mechanisms underlying trained immunity, as well as defining shared and cumulative effects across risk factors, will be critical to guide the development of next‐generation targeted therapies for ASCVD prevention and treatment
Conflict archaeology from Vercingetorix to Varus. New perspectives on the Roman wars of conquest
No full textThis paper provides an introduction to recent advances in the archaeology of the Roman conquest for the period roughly dating between Vercingetorix and Varus. We discuss different avenues of approach in terms of sources of evidence and methodologies for their study. Our particular emphasis is on the impact of the Roman wars of conquest on the indigenous populations that were forcibly incorporated into the Roman state. This is exemplified by a number of selected case studies that relate to different sorts of material evidence: massacre deposits (Kessel-Lith); destruction of indigenous strongholds (Monte Bernorio); demographic impact (regional settlement patterns in northern Gaul); looting of indigenous wealth (coin circulation in northern Gaul); and destruction of Roman sites as a result of failed conquest attempts (Waldgirmes). The results illustrate the significant potential of archaeology to contribute to a more holistic understanding of the Roman expansion and its impacts on local populations
Emission of pairs of Minkowski photons through the lens of the Unruh effect
Get PDFWe discuss the emission of pairs of photons by charges with generic worldlines in the Minkowski vacuum from the viewpoint of inertial observers and interpret them from the perspective of Rindler observers. We show that the emission of pairs of Minkowski photons corresponds, in general, to three distinct processes according to Rindler observers: scattering, and emission and absorption of pairs of Rindler photons. In the special case of uniformly accelerated charges, the radiation observed in the inertial frame can be fully described by the scattering channel in the Rindler frame. Therefore, the emission of pairs of Minkowski photons—commonly referred to as Unruh radiation—can be seen as further evidence supporting the Unruh effect
On the paper “Bundle gerbes” by Michael Murray
Get PDFThe article gives a brief survey of Murray's notion of bundle gerbes as introduced in his 1996 paper published in the Journal of the London Mathematical Society, together with some of its applications
AVONICHE: A Global Dataset of Dietary and Foraging Niches for Birds
Get PDFMotivation: The role of each animal species in an ecosystem is largely determined both by the resources it uses and the behaviours through which these resources are obtained. Even in well‐studied vertebrate groups, like birds, quantitative data on the relative use of different food resources in the context of foraging strategies are generally lacking. Most analyses in macroecology, macroevolution and conservation biology are therefore limited to simplified dietary categories, ignoring the specific foraging behaviours and substrates used to access resources. Here we present AVONICHE, a dataset quantifying proportional membership in 32 foraging niches, representing a combination of dietary categories and associated foraging strategies used by all bird species. Main Types of Variables Contained: Species‐level information on the proportional use of foraging niches, each of which is defined as a particular foraging strategy within a specific dietary category (e.g., invertebrate feeding is subdivided into 7 foraging niches based on different foraging behaviors). Spatial Location and Grain: Global. Time Period and Grain: Present. Major Taxa and Level of Measurement: All bird species (Class Aves). To allow integration with global phylogenies and other data resources published in future, we align species‐level niche data with four different taxonomic treatments: BirdTree (9993 species), Clements/eBird (10,661 species), BirdLife International (10,999 species) and the new AviList taxonomy (10,981 species). Software Format: Spreadsheet (.csv)