Conditions experienced during early life can have large impacts on individual fitness. An important source of these early life effects is variation in pre- and postnatal maternal care - hence 'maternal effects', defined as the influence of a mother's phenotype on the phenotype of her offspring over and above the direct effect of genes inherited from her. Variation in maternal effects can be large, at least as large as that due to influences of the environment or of an individual's own genes. However, there are strikingly few investigations of these effects in natural as opposed to laboratory or farm populations and so their importance and evolutionary consequences have not been fully assessed; if these maternal effects are genetic in origin, they could be a major source of constraint in evolution. In this study we will investigate the causes and consequences of maternal effects in the individually-monitored red deer of the Isle of Rum, Scotland. This is a particularly appropriate study population as males play no part in parental care, whilst females produce many calves over long lifetimes. Maternal effects on offspring traits are known to be large in this population; combined with complete pedigree information, high density genotyping data and life history data, this system is an excellent candidate for characterising the magnitude, direction and genomic location of maternal genetic effects on offspring phenotype. Our aims are first, to estimate the variation in a range of traits such as birth weight and juvenile survival that is explained by different kinds of maternal effects: permanent environment effects such as those due to a mother's own rearing conditions and those due to additive genetic variation between mothers (i.e. genetic variation that can respond to directional selection). Second, we will determine the extent to which these maternal effects vary (interact) with the sex of the calf, the reproductive status of the mother, environmental conditions during pregnancy and the mother's age. Generally we expect maternal effects variance to increase as the investment required gets greater (sons more costly than daughters) or the conditions get tougher, but the reverse is also possible. Third, we will use new phenotypes obtained during the project for early milk quality, parasite load and antibody production, estimated non-invasively from faecal and neonatal blood samples, to investigate the extent to which we can explain the maternal effects documented earlier. Fourth, we will use genomic information to investigate the genomic location of maternal genetic effects, first by considering each chromosome in turn (chromosome partitioning), then by considering smaller regions of each chromosome (regional heritability, genome-wide association). The final and ultimate aim of our proposal is to address a major puzzle in evolutionary research. In most cases where it has been measured, natural selection favours larger body size, and most body size traits are heritable, and yet species do not change body size over time. One hypothesis explaining this stasis is that there are constraints arising from the genetics of and selection on mothers. Thus, a mother's genes may affect offspring body size independently of the offspring's genes (maternal additive genetic effect) and there may be a negative genetic correlation between the maternal genetic effect and the offspring's own genetic effect on a trait. Whether this genetic correlation acts as an evolutionary constraint depends critically on the strength and direction of selection on both the offspring trait and maternal performance for this trait. We intend to measure all the parameters required to test the prediction of evolutionary constraint for the first time in a free-living population.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Nanostructures such as carbon nanotubes and ZnO nano-particles are already being used in commercialproducts such as tyres and sunscreens. However, despite progress in understanding the mechanical andoptical properties of nano-materials we are still at the dawn of the fields of nano-optoelectronics andnano-photonics. Advances in understanding the fundamental materials science of these nano-materials todaywill therefore have a major impact on a wide range of commercial products over the next 30 years. One of thedifficulties with developing nano-optoelectronic components is the complexity of measuring their electricalproperties. Traditionally, new materials and devices have been tested via electrical transport measurements.Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to make electrical contacts on a 30nm diameter nano-wire or anano-particle. Indeed even if the contacts are made it is then difficult to separate the properties of thenano-material from those of the contact. Additionally, such measurements are plagued by reproducibilityproblems. Thus there is a pressing need for techniques that can quickly and reliably extract the electricalproperties of nano-structured materials. The availability of such techniques would greatly accelerate thedevelopment of new materials and allow devices based on these materials to be brought to the market sooner.We propose to solve these problems by applying the technique of optical pump terahertz probe spectroscopy(OPTPS) to semiconductor nano-wires, and by developing refined models to extract the most importantdevice-specific electrical properties from the measured data. The knowledge we gain will help us develop newoptoelectronic devices based on semiconductor nano-wires.

In the social sciences, it is common to use datasets in which information for a group of entities is recorded at multiple points in time. This is known as panel data and it forms the basis for longitudinal analysis. As with all statistical models, panel data models rely on assumptions. One common assumption of panel data models is that the residual variation in the data (i.e. that part of the variation in the data that the model cannot explain) is uncorrelated across entities. This is known as cross-sectional independence. However, this assumption is frequently violated in practice. The development of methods to control for cross-sectional dependence (CSD) is an active area of research. CSD can arise through two mechanisms. First, the data may exhibit spatial dependence, such that the behaviour of one entity may depend on the behaviour of its neighbours/peers. This is often called 'local' or 'weak' CSD. Second, the data for all entities may be influenced by one or more common factors. This is 'global' or 'strong' CSD. Often, both mechanisms may be jointly responsible for CSD. However, in practice, models that account for both spatial effects and common factors are rare, and those that do exist are highly stylised. We propose to develop a unifying framework for the estimation of sophisticated and realistic dynamic heterogeneous panel data models that account for spatial dependence and common factors. This project will generate three significant methodological advances. We will: (i) increase the flexibility and realism of spatial dynamic panel data models with common factors by developing techniques that allow for the model parameters to be heterogeneous across individuals, unlike most existing studies that assume parameter homogeneity. (ii) develop methods to exploit the network structure of spatial dynamic panel data models, opening new opportunities to use models of this type to understand the bilateral linkages among entities in the global economy. (iii) extend the methods discussed above from the common case of unilateral (or 2-dimensional) panel data to the more complex case of bilateral (3D) panel data, such as trade and investment flows. We will apply the methodologies that we develop to study three important aspects of globalisation. We will: (i) develop a new model to study the convergence of national business cycles onto a so-called global business cycle. Our model will allow us to separate convergence due to the effect of spatial linkages (e.g. trade and political relations, migration flows etc.) from convergence due to the influence of global factors. This model will help to guide the design of economic stabilisation policy in an interconnected world. (ii) develop a new model to study global trade flows and to separate the influence of spatial linkages (e.g. common borders, membership of free trade areas, common languages etc.) from global factors (e.g. the state of the global business cycle). The development of such models is of strategic importance to the UK, given the trade implications of Brexit. (iii) develop a new hierarchical model of global stock markets, where the performance of a firm may depend on spatial relations (e.g. linkages to other firms in its sector and/or in its geographical region) as well as a range of common factors (e.g. liquidity, investor risk aversion). Models of this type provide new insights into the globalised nature of economic activity and highlight opportunities and obstacles to economic growth for both the public and private sector. In sum, this project will make significant methodological contributions and will leverage these contributions to address pressing contemporary issues facing policymakers and professional economists alike.

The ethical and moral values of cultural organisations have been in the spotlight recently, including for example public debates over the ethics of museums accepting commercial sponsorship from international oil companies whose own business practices have been morally scrutinised, and on the ethical responsibility of arts and cultural organisations to respond and contribute to political issues including Brexit. Museum and library sectors in England both have codes of ethics prescribed by their respective professional bodies the Museums Association and the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. Both codes describe a set of principles that are particular to each sector, including responsibilities to information and its users; stewardship of collections; and individual and institutional integrity. The Museums Association's revised code of ethics published in 2015 was described as its "social contract" with the public. At the same time, there has been growing momentum across the cultural sector behind a more integrated, active role in fulfilling public policy and cross-government agendas by working in collaboration with different organisations and public services. This has been embraced by museum and library sectors, with many examples of collaborative projects making a real difference in terms of outcomes relating to health, wellbeing and other social indicators. What happens to the ethical values and codes of practice of one sector when they collaborate with other professional groups? How does this impact upon their shared collaborative objectives and achievements? These are the type of questions that will be addressed by the 'Instrumental Values' project. Focusing on museums working in health care settings and prison library services, the research will create two case studies on cross-sector communities of practice and their shared values, knowledge, practices and skills. A series of in-depth interviews will be undertaken with museum, library and collaborating professionals to explore the impact of public policy agendas on collaborative professional learning and the outcomes and implications for relevant sectors. Research findings will be shared throughout with participating professional and research communities via various knowledge exchange activities and events, culminating in a published book on professional ethics in collaborative cultural work.