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Contemporary practices and future projections in the Built Environment (BE) sector highlight an increasing demand on Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to produce graduates possessing relevant skills aligned to meet workplace demands. This study aims to analyse the key skills influencing BE graduate employability in the United Kingdom (UK) for the benefit of HEIs. This investigation leverages on a critical review of extant literature and an elicitation of the perceptions of targeted macro, meso, and micro level key stakeholders in the BE sector to identify key employability skills. The Total Interpretive Structural Modelling (TISM) technique was used to analyse the contextual interrelationships among the identified skills to develop a hierarchical model that provides HEI with insight for BE curriculum development. Six key employability skillsets hierarchically modelled into four levels were identified as crucial for potential graduates to successfully attract and adapt to contemporary practices in the Built Environment sector. Findings reveal communication and team-working skills as critical, independent skills driving the successful development of the remaining four skillsets. This research extends the literature on employability skills by investigating the interactions of various skills that predominantly predicts graduate employability in the Built Environment sector. The resulting TISM skills model provides hierarchical and logical interdependencies beneficial to assist HEIs to strategically design BE curricular to enhance graduate employability.

Spinal regionalization has important implications for the evolution of vertebrate body plans. We determined the variation in the number and morphology of vertebrae across the vertebral column (i.e., vertebral formula) for 63 snake species representing 13 families using intracolumnar variation in vertebral shape. Vertebral counts were used to determine the position of the heart, pylorus, and left kidney for each species. Across all species we observed a conspicuous midthoracic transition in vertebral shape, indicating four developmental domains of the precloacal vertebral column (cervical, anterior thoracic, posterior thoracic, and lumbar). Using phylogenetic analyses, the boundary between the anterior and posterior thoracic vertebrae was correlated with heart position. No associations were found between shifts in morphology of the vertebral column and either the pylorus or left kidney. We observed that among taxa, the number of preapex and postapex vertebrae could change independently from one another and from changes in the total number of precloacal vertebrae. Ancestral state reconstruction of the preapex and postapex vertebrae illustrated several evolutionary pathways by which diversity in the vertebral column and heart position have been attained. In addition, no conspicuous pattern was observed among the heart, pylorus, or kidney indicating that their relative positions to each other evolve independently. We conclude that snakes exhibit four morphologically distinct regions of the vertebral column. We discuss the implications of the forebody and hindbody vertebral formula on the morphological diversification of snakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been suggested that juveniles have exaggerated morphologies or improved performance to compensate for the disadvantages of being small. As gape-limited predators, juvenile snakes are at a particular disadvantage in terms of prey availability, capture, and ingestion. Prey preference often changes with snake size yet previous studies generally compare only one prey type or relative prey size among age classes. Using Western Ribbon Snakes (Thamnophis proximus (Say in James, 1823)), I investigated the ontogeny of head dimensions and feeding performance on frogs and fish using a range of relative prey sizes. Comparison among snake sizes indicated that smaller individuals had larger relative head sizes than larger conspecifics; however, larger individuals had larger heads. Initial bite position differed between juveniles and adults fed fish but not frogs. Both frogs and fish were generally consumed headfirst by adults and juveniles. Head length did not influence feeding performance in terms of time or pterygoid protractions for snakes fed either fish or frogs. In general, this study suggests that allometry of trophic morphology does not improve feeding performance. On a affirme que les jeunes animaux possedent des morphologies exagerees ou des performances superieures pour compenser leur desavantage d'avoir une petite taille. En temps que predateurs avec une ouverture maximale limitee de la bouche, les jeunes couleuvres sont particulierement desavantagees en qui regarde la disponibilite, la capture et l'ingestion des proies. Les preferences de proies changent souvent en fonction de la taille des couleuvres; neanmoins, les etudes anterieures ne comparent generalement qu'un type de proie ou alors la taille relative des proies en fonction des classes d'age. Des couleuvres minces de l'Ouest (Thamnophis proximus (Say in James, 1823)) ont servi a explorer l'ontogenese des dimensions de la tete et la performance de l'alimentation sur des grenouilles et des poissons pour une gamme de tailles de proies. Une comparaison des tailles des couleuvres indique que les individus plus petits ont des tailles relatives de tete plus importantes que les individus plus grands de meme espece; cependant, les individus plus grands ont de plus grandes tetes. La position initiale de morsure differe entre les jeunes et les adultes lorsqu' ils sont nourris de poissons, mais pas lorsqu' ils le sont de grenouilles. Les grenouilles et les poissons sont tous deux generalement ingeres la tete la premiere par les adultes et les jeunes. La longueur de la tete n' influence pas la performance alimentaire en ce qui a trait au temps et a la protraction des pterygoi'des chez les couleuvres nourries de poissons ou de grenouilles. En general, cette etude indique que l'allometrie de la morphologie trophique n' ameliore pas la performance alimentaire. [Traduit par la Redaction], Introduction Body size can have a profound influence on the ability to perform an ecologically relevant task, such as feeding and defense (Herrel and Gibb 2006). Relative to larger conspecifics, [...]

Floodplain forests are among the most threatened habitats in North America. We used the richness, abundance and diversity of amphibians and reptiles to assess the effects of habitat modifications at the Old Sabine Bottom Wildlife Management Area (OSBWMA) in Smith County, Texas, USA. Amphibians and reptiles were surveyed using artificial cover objects and minnow traps at nine ephemeral pools: three in undisturbed bottomland forest, three in deer food plots and three near active oil pumps. A total of 627 amphibians and reptiles representing 31 species was captured. Undisturbed forest plots sustained a higher amphibian richness compared to food and oil pump plots. Amphibian abundance differed significantly among habitats with food plots having the highest and oil pump plots the lowest. Reptile abundance was not significantly different among habitat types neither was reptile richness following rarefaction correction. Overall, each habitat type had similar Simpson's diversity indices, ranging from 0.852-0.894 for total amphibians and reptiles. The community compositions in the three habitat types were significantly different. In general, the food plots had little impact on the amphibians and reptiles in this floodplain however oil pump plots appeared to be avoided. Overall, species presence varied according to the type of habitat modification which should be considered before implementing management plans., INTRODUCTION Bottomland hardwood forests are high in biodiversity and productivity, yet remain one of the most threatened habitats in the southeastern United States due to habitat alterations (Bayley, 1991, 1995). [...]

Abstract: Organisms may become adapted to disturbances when these disturbances occur periodically and at intermediate intensity. To investigate the effects of flood suppression, this study compared diet and competition of [...]

Abstract. -- Biological surveys provide information important to developing successful management strategies. Monitoring techniques can, however, be biased and studies on the optimal methods to use for different organisms are [...]

An investigation addressed the requirements of telematics system design by evaluating an existing telematics device in the context of its daily use. The system evaluated was the Mobile Data Terminal, a device used by the Sussex Police Force to assist officers in their duties while out on patrol.