Environmental and fishing effects on the dynamic of brown tiger prawn (Penaeus esculentus) in Moreton Bay (Australia)

This analysis of the variations of brown tiger prawn (Penaeus esculentus) catch in the Moreton Bay multispecies trawl fishery estimated catchability using a delay difference model. It integrated several factors responsible for variations in catchability: targeting of fishing effort, increasing fishing power and changing availability. An analysis of covariance was used to define fishing events targeted at brown tiger prawns. A general linear model estimated inter-annual variations of fishing power. Temperature induced changes in prawn behaviour played an important role in the dynamic of this fishery. Maximum likelihood estimates of targeted catchability ($3.92 \pm 0.40 \ 10^{-4}$ boat-days$^{-1}$) were twice as large as non-targeted catchability ($1.91 \pm 0.24 \ 10^{-4}$ boat-days$^{-1}$). The causes of recent decline in fishing effort in this fishery were discussed.Comment: revised manuscript following reviewers comments + adding data and code for reader

Improved self-gain in deep submicrometer strained silicon-germanium pMOSFETs with HfSiOx/TiSiN gate stacks

The self-gain of surface channel compressively strained SiGe pMOSFETs with HfSiOx/TiSiN gate stacks is investigated for a range of gate lengths down to 55 nm. There is 125% and 700% enhancement in the self-gain of SiGe pMOSFETs compared with the Si control at 100 nm and 55 nm lithographic gate lengths, respectively. This improvement in the self-gain of the SiGe devices is due to 80% hole mobility enhancement compared with the Si control and improved electrostatic integrity in the SiGe devices due to less boron diffusion into the channel. At 55 nm gate length, the SiGe pMOSFETs show 50% less drain induced barrier lowering compared with the Si control devices. Electrical measurements show that the SiGe devices have larger effective channel lengths. It is shown that the enhancement in the self-gain of the SiGe devices compared with the Si control increases as the gate length is reduced thereby making SiGe pMOSFETs with HfSiOx/TiSiN gate stacks an excellent candidate for analog/mixed-signal applications

Measuring Productivity Change and Efficiency on Irish Farms.

End of Project ReportThis report investigates technical change and levels of technical efficiency on Irish farms using National Farm Survey (N.F.S.) data. It also examines whether levels of technical efficiency are influenced by contact with the extension service. The study utilises a stochastic production frontier approach to measure productivity growth and the technical efficiency of a panel of Irish farms over the period 1984 to 1998. This sample was used to calculate (a) technical change over time as measured by best practice farms and (b) technical efficiency levels of all farms over this period. It, therefore, provides disaggregated estimates of technical change by farming system as well as quantifying the average level of technical efficiency. The project also examines the factors associated with differences in technical efficiency between farms and the impact of extension service contact on farm-level technical efficiency. Mean technical change (i.e. changes in best practice) continued, albeit at a declining rate, throughout the period studied. Significant differences were revealed in the rate of technical change on farms of different types. For example technical change on dairy and crop farms averaged nearly 2 per cent per annum while technical regress occurred on beef and sheep farms. In addition to examining technical change, farm efficiency relative to best practice within each farming system was also measured. Results indicate that farms achieved, on average, approximately 65 per cent of the efficiency level of best practice farms. The average level of farm efficiency has been decreasing by 0.4 per cent per annum indicating that the gap between best practice farms and all farms has been increasing by this amount over time. Thirty one percent of the most efficient farms were dairy farms while 23 per cent were arable farms. Approximately 52 per cent of the least efficient farms were cattle farms while a further 31 per cent were sheep farms. Average efficiency over the period was 34.2 per cent in the least efficient quintile of farms. This compared to almost 90 per cent for the most efficient quintile of farms. A positive relationship between age and efficiency was found up to the age of 49 years after which the relationship between age and efficiency becomes negative. The farm debt to assets ratio was positively related to efficiency while farm size and location in the West of Ireland was negatively related to efficiency. Farms in contact with the extension service were found to be on average 6.5 per cent more efficient than farms without contact. Contact farms with a lower than average dependency on direct payments were a further 6.6 per cent than contact farms with an average dependency on direct payments. Contact farms with a higher than average dependence on direct payments were 1.9 per cent less efficient than the same group of contact farms. However, efficiency on these farms with a high dependence on direct payments was still, on average, higher than on farms with no extension contact.Teagasc Walsh Fellowshi

The impact of self-heating and SiGe strain-relaxed buffer thickness on the analog performance of strained Si nMOSFETs

The impact of the thickness of the silicon–germanium strain-relaxed buffer (SiGe SRB) on the analog performance of strained Si nMOSFETs is investigated. The negative drain conductance caused by self-heating at high power levels leads to negative self-gain which can cause anomalous circuit behavior like non-linear phase shifts. Using AC and DC measurements, it is shown that reducing the SRB thickness improves the analog design space and performance by minimizing self-heating. The range of terminal voltages that leverage positive self-gain in 0.1 μm strained Si MOSFETs fabricated on 425 nm SiGe SRBs is increased by over 100% compared with strained Si devices fabricated on conventional SiGe SRBs 4 μm thick. Strained Si nMOSFETs fabricated on thin SiGe SRBs also show 45% improvement in the self-gain compared with the Si control as well as 25% enhancement in the on-state performance compared with the strained Si nMOSFETs on the 4 μm SiGe SRB. The extracted thermal resistance is 50% lower in the strained Si device on the thin SiGe SRB corresponding to a 30% reduction in the temperature rise compared with the device fabricated on the 4 μm SiGe SRB. Comparisons between the maximum drain voltages for positive self-gain in the strained Si devices and the ITRS projections of supply-voltage scaling show that reducing the thickness of the SiGe SRB would be necessary for future technology nodes

Quantitative assessment of the Queensland saucer scallop (Amusium balloti) fishery

In recent years (2015 and 2016) there has been growing concern from members of the fishing industry and the Queensland Government over declining catches of legal-sized saucer scallop. This led to a request in mid-2016 by Fisheries Queensland, the fisheries management service within the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, for an investigative analysis of the status of saucer scallops. The scope of the investigation was limited to a short time frame of three months to urgently analyse the most recent data and undertake a stock assessment. This report provides findings that support the concerns about low abundance of legal-sized scallops. Average catch rates from January 2015 to April 2016 were the lowest in the 39-year record. These recent average catch rates are slightly lower than those in 1996 when the scallop population size fell to low levels and emergency closed areas were implemented by the Government. From these data the model estimates of spawning stock in 2015 are potentially as low as 5-6% of 1977 levels, when the fishery was in its early development

TrackMapper Rises

This project repaired and upgraded non-functional Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) TrackMapper software, to a faster, functional, user-friendly, web-based application that can be directly accessed by researchers, fishery managers and others. TrackMapper is database software that was developed by DAF researchers in 2007 as part of an externally funded Fisheries Research and Development Corporation project (FRDC project 2002/056 Innovative stock assessment and effort mapping using VMS and electronic logbooks). However, over the last 5-6 years, the program has become incompatible with contemporary Windows-based operating platforms, rendering it inoperable. TrackMapper was developed for the Queensland east coast otter trawl fishery, which is the state’s most valuable commercial fishery, harvesting 7000-8000 t of seafood annually valued at $80-90 million. The most useful feature of TrackMapper is that it can produce maps of fishing effort, catch and catch rates for the fishery at a spatial resolution that is 10-50 times that reported using logbook data alone. This information can be used for a range of fisheries management and research tasks, including the assessment of targeted stocks of prawns, scallops, bugs and stout whiting, as well as impacts on the bottom and other non-target bycatch species. This is noteworthy as much of the fishery occurs in waters of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP), which has World Heritage status

Elevated glutamatergic compounds in pregenual anterior cingulate in pediatric autism spectrum disorder demonstrated by 1H MRS and 1H MRSI.

Recent research in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has aroused interest in anterior cingulate cortex and in the neurometabolite glutamate. We report two studies of pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pACC) in pediatric ASD. First, we acquired in vivo single-voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H MRS) in 8 children with ASD and 10 typically developing controls who were well matched for age, but with fewer males and higher IQ. In the ASD group in midline pACC, we found mean 17.7% elevation of glutamate + glutamine (Glx) (p<0.05) and 21.2% (p<0.001) decrement in creatine + phosphocreatine (Cr). We then performed a larger (26 subjects with ASD, 16 controls) follow-up study in samples now matched for age, gender, and IQ using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging ((1)H MRSI). Higher spatial resolution enabled bilateral pACC acquisition. Significant effects were restricted to right pACC where Glx (9.5%, p<0.05), Cr (6.7%, p<0.05), and N-acetyl-aspartate + N-acetyl-aspartyl-glutamate (10.2%, p<0.01) in the ASD sample were elevated above control. These two independent studies suggest hyperglutamatergia and other neurometabolic abnormalities in pACC in ASD, with possible right-lateralization. The hyperglutamatergic state may reflect an imbalance of excitation over inhibition in the brain as proposed in recent neurodevelopmental models of ASD

Forst on Reciprocity of Reasons: a Critique

According to Rainer Forst, (i) moral and political claims must meet a requirement of reciprocal and general acceptability (RGA) while (ii) we are under a duty in engaged discursive practice to justify such claims to others, or be able to do so, on grounds that meet RGA. The paper critically engages this view. I argue that Forst builds a key component of RGA, i.e., reciprocity of reasons, on an idea of the reasonable that undermines both (i) and (ii): if RGA builds on this idea, RGA is viciously regressive and a duty of justification to meet RGA fails to be agent transparent. This negative result opens the door for alternative conceptions of reciprocity and generality. I then suggest that a more promising conception of reciprocity and generality needs to build on an idea of the reasonable that helps to reconcile the emancipatory or protective aspirations of reciprocal and general justification with its egalitarian commitments. But this requires to downgrade RGA in the order of justification and to determine on prior, substantive grounds what level of discursive influence in reciprocal and general justification relevant agents ought to have

A kinematic numerical camera model for the SPOT-1 sensor

A novel method for modelling linear push-broom sensors has been developed. A numerical model which incorporates the satellite attitude and position data is used to compute the absolute orientation. This method makes a break with traditional photogrammetric practice, in that instead of using an approach based on collinearity equations, the absolute orientation is computed iteratively using a numerical multi-variable minimisation scheme. All current implementations of the model use the Powell direction-set method, but in principle, any multivariable minimisation scheme could be substituted. The numerical method has significant advantages over the collinearity approach. The number of ground control points needed to form an accurate model is reduced and the numerical approach offers a superior basis for the development of general purpose multi sensor modelling software. In order to test these assertions, a numerical model of the SPOT-1 sensor was coded and tested against a pre-existing collinearity based model. Exhaustive tests showed the numerical model, using 3 or fewer ground control points, consistendy equaled or bettered the performance of the earlier model, using between 6 and 15 ground control points, on the same test data. A general purpose sensor modelling system was developed using the code developed for the initial SPOT-1 model. Currently this system supports many rigid linear sensors systems including SPOT-1, SPOT-2, FTIR, MISR, MEOSS and ASAS. Further extensions to the system to enable it to model non-rigid linear sensors such as AVHRR and ATM are planned. Work to enable the system to perform relative orientations for a variety of sensor types is also ongoing