Conference on Intelligent Robotics in Field, Factory, Service, and Space (CIRFFSS 1994), volume 1

The AIAA/NASA Conference on Intelligent Robotics in Field, Factory, Service, and Space (CIRFFSS '94) was originally proposed because of the strong belief that America's problems of global economic competitiveness and job creation and preservation can partly be solved by the use of intelligent robotics, which are also required for human space exploration missions. Individual sessions addressed nuclear industry, agile manufacturing, security/building monitoring, on-orbit applications, vision and sensing technologies, situated control and low-level control, robotic systems architecture, environmental restoration and waste management, robotic remanufacturing, and healthcare applications

2006-2007 Graduate Catalog

https://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/g_cat/1039/thumbnail.jp

The reproductive processes of a wild population of the European flat oyster Ostrea edulis in the Solent, UK

This thesis presents an investigation into the reproductive processes of a collapsing population of the European flat oyster Ostrea edulis in the Solent, UK. Oyster populations are in decline worldwide. Their ecological and economic importance requires research to address the many uncertainties still existing regarding their reproduction and recruitment, in order to manage or restore populations successfully. The Solent oyster population supported a productive local fishery from 1972 to about 2006, when catch rates started to decline sharply until the fishery became economically unviable in 2011. Recurrent recruitment failures suggested that the collapse might have been caused by a disturbance of the reproductive processes. This study set out to determine if the reproductive processes were indeed inhibited, and if so, at which life history stage. Population fitness was good and gave no reason to assume that the oysters were incapable of successful reproduction due to poor condition. Histological and visual examination of the reproductive status of 362 animals revealed a significant skew towards male phase oysters (chisquare, P 0.001), while gametogenesis as such was normal in each gender. Fecundity was similar to literature values. No relationship was found between the recruitment failures or the sex ratio shift and prevalence of bonamiosis, as only two animals of the 25 examined with a PCR assay were infected. Ostrea edulis larvae were found in the plankton with a peak of 9 larvae 100 l-1 in August 2010. Larval abundance was within the range of previous records for the Solent from 1984-87. Development of Ostrea edulis larvae cultured in the laboratory was found to be normal. No apparent adverse effects of exposure to air with an increased pCO2 of 1500 atm were found either, leading to hope that the long term viability of the species will not be jeopardized by ocean acidification. No spat settlement was observed in this study. Predation pressure from Ocenebra erinacea was found to be low, and hopefully would not jeopardize restoration attempts.Overall this study showed that while there is a lack of females in the Solent oyster population, the reproductive processes as such function well enough to enable regeneration and maintenance of the population. This study demonstrated the importance of investigating the reproductive processes of a population before planning its regeneration, but it also showed that the basic factors of habitat destruction and unsustainable fishing pressure must not be overlooked

Evolutionary genomics : statistical and computational methods

This open access book addresses the challenge of analyzing and understanding the evolutionary dynamics of complex biological systems at the genomic level, and elaborates on some promising strategies that would bring us closer to uncovering of the vital relationships between genotype and phenotype. After a few educational primers, the book continues with sections on sequence homology and alignment, phylogenetic methods to study genome evolution, methodologies for evaluating selective pressures on genomic sequences as well as genomic evolution in light of protein domain architecture and transposable elements, population genomics and other omics, and discussions of current bottlenecks in handling and analyzing genomic data. Written for the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters include the kind of detail and expert implementation advice that lead to the best results. Authoritative and comprehensive, Evolutionary Genomics: Statistical and Computational Methods, Second Edition aims to serve both novices in biology with strong statistics and computational skills, and molecular biologists with a good grasp of standard mathematical concepts, in moving this important field of study forward