A catch-free stock assessment model with application to goliath grouper (Epinephelus itajara) off southern Florida

Many modern stock assessment methods provide the machinery for determining the status of a stock in relation to certain reference points and for estimating how quickly a stock can be rebuilt. However, these methods typically require catch data, which are not always available. We introduce a model-based framework for estimating reference points, stock status, and recovery times in situations where catch data and other measures of absolute abundance are unavailable. The specif ic estimator developed is essentially an age-structured production model recast in terms relative to pre-exploitation levels. A Bayesian estimation scheme is adopted to allow the incorporation of pertinent auxiliary information such as might be obtained from meta-analyses of similar stocks or anecdotal observations. The approach is applied to the population of goliath grouper (Epinephelus itajara) off southern Florida, for which there are three indices of relative abundance but no reliable catch data. The results confirm anecdotal accounts of a marked decline in abundance during the 1980s followed by a substantial increase after the harvest of goliath grouper was banned in 1990. The ban appears to have reduced fishing pressure to between 10% and 50% of the levels observed during the 1980s. Nevertheless, the predicted fishing mortality rate under the ban appears to remain substantial, perhaps owing to illegal harvest and depth-related release mortality. As a result, the base model predicts that there is less than a 40% chance that the spawning biomass will recover to a level that would produce a 50% spawning potential ratio

Patient autonomy and choice in healthcare: Self-testing devices as a case in point

This paper aims to critique the phenomenon of advanced patient autonomy and choice in healthcare within the specific context of self-testing devices. A growing number of self-testing medical devices are currently available for home use. The premise underpinning many of these devices is that they assist individuals to be more autonomous in the assessment and management of their health. Increased patient autonomy is assumed to be a good thing. We take issue with this assumption and argue that self-testing provides a specific example how increased patient autonomy and choice within healthcare might not best serve the patient population. We propose that current interpretations of autonomy in healthcare are based on negative accounts of liberty to the detriment of a more relational understanding. We also propose that Kantian philosophy is often applied to the healthcare arena in an inappropriate manner. We draw on the philosophical literature and examples from the self-testing process to support these claims. We conclude by offering an alternative account of autonomy based on the interrelated concepts of relationality, care and responsibility

Urban green space: the incorporation of environmental values in a decision support system.

This paper provides an overview of work undertaken on measuring the environmental values of green spaces, coupled with spatial analysis tools for aiding decision relating to the planning of urban green spaces. The work involved a complex array of data collection and analysis packages, including a case study inventory, public participation, methodological design, visualisation, and the analysis of survey results. A central aspect of the research aimed at providing the decision maker with data that combined the visualisation of open public green space with environmental economics. As part of a methodology using contingent rating which aimed to establish the values placed on specific green space sites, three dimensional computer models were used to produce visualisations of particular environmental conditions. The study demonstrates that visualisation tools are appropriate to represent a range of attributes for inclusion within environmental economic surveys, and that the resulting datasets can be used within GIS-based decision support models to indicate levels of preference and patterns of use. The focus of this paper is on the integration of the visualisations of green spaces, a contingent rating survey and the compilation of an open space inventory, as part of a GIS-based decision support system. Results from the study and its potential implications for future study and practice are discussed

The application of visual environmental economics in the study of public preference and urban greenspace.

Urban greenspace has consistently been argued to be of great importance to the wellbeing, health, and daily lives of residents and users. This paper reports results from a study which combined the visualisation of public greenspace with environmental economics, and which aimed to develop a method by which realistic computer models of sites could be used within preference studies. As part of a methodology which employed contingent rating to establish the values placed on specific greenspace sites, three-dimensional computer models were used to produce visualisations of particular environmental conditions. Of particular importance to the study was the influence of variables including lighting, season, time of day and weather on the perception of respondents. This study followed previous work that established a suitable approach to the modelling and testing of entirely moveable physical variables within the built environment. As such, the study has firmly established that computer-generated visualisations are appropriate for use within environmental economic surveys, and that there is potential for a holistic range of attributes to be included in such studies

Kinship analysis using rare nonmetric dental traits in a prehistoric cemetery from Northeastern Brazil

This study evaluates whether three prehistoric burials containing 12 individuals (three adults and nine subadults) could represent family relationships in a small cemetery from a Middle Holocene site in Northeastern Brazil. In the absence of collagen for aDNA analysis, the hypothesis of genetic kinship relationship was verified through the analysis of nonmetric dental traits. Two rare nonmetric dental traits were analyzed: barrel-shaped upper lateral incisors (grades 6 and 7 on UI2 shoveling scale) and premolar odontomes. The relative frequencies of these traits were high in the sample, and statistical interpretation of the data revealed that the co-occurrence of these rare traits is unlikely to happen at random. Thus, their presence in individuals from the burial site of Toca do Enoque suggest plausible intracemetery genetic kin relationships

The distribution, impact and potential management of the introdued vine Passiflora mollissima (Passifloraceae) in Hawai'i

Reports were scanned in black and white at a resolution of 600 dots per inch and were converted to text using Adobe Paper Capture Plug-in.Passiflora mollissima, a weedy vine introduced to Hawai'i, infests significant portions of two of the major islands, Hawai'i and Kaua'i. It grows between 600 and 2200 m elevation in areas where the rainfall does not exceed 5100 mm. The vine is distributed continuously over a total of 190 km² and in more widely scattered populations over an additional 330 km². Man has been the principle agent of introduction for this species. However, intermediate-distance dispersal may be affected by introduced gallincaeous birds and cattle. Locally feral pigs are the major dispersal agent. Passiflora mollissima inhabits many of the major upland vegetation types in Hawaii but is most successful in mesic Acacia koa - Metrosideros polymorpha forests. Although over much of its current range its foliage cover is less than 25%, in some areas it is so dense that it smothers large tracts of native forest. Potential impacts of the infestation on depleted and endangered endemic organisms are also discussed. It is concluded that P. mollissima has become too widespread for successful mechanical or chemical control except in are as of recent local introduction. Prospects for biological control of this species are discussed in the context of current research efforts and practical problems related to a commercially grown congener.U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Cooperative National Parks Reseach Studies Unit, Department of Botany, University of Hawai’i; Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, U.S. Forest Service; Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Resources Management Division; Hawaii Office of the Nature Conservanc

Replication and exploratory analysis of 24 candidate risk polymorphisms for neural tube defects.

BackgroundNeural tube defects (NTDs), which are among the most common congenital malformations, are influenced by environmental and genetic factors. Low maternal folate is the strongest known contributing factor, making variants in genes in the folate metabolic pathway attractive candidates for NTD risk. Multiple studies have identified nominally significant allelic associations with NTDs. We tested whether associations detected in a large Irish cohort could be replicated in an independent population.MethodsReplication tests of 24 nominally significant NTD associations were performed in racially/ethnically matched populations. Family-based tests of fifteen nominally significant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were repeated in a cohort of NTD trios (530 cases and their parents) from the United Kingdom, and case-control tests of nine nominally significant SNPs were repeated in a cohort (190 cases, 941 controls) from New York State (NYS). Secondary hypotheses involved evaluating the latter set of nine SNPs for NTD association using alternate case-control models and NTD groupings in white, African American and Hispanic cohorts from NYS.ResultsOf the 24 SNPs tested for replication, ADA rs452159 and MTR rs10925260 were significantly associated with isolated NTDs. Of the secondary tests performed, ARID1A rs11247593 was associated with NTDs in whites, and ALDH1A2 rs7169289 was associated with isolated NTDs in African Americans.ConclusionsWe report a number of associations between SNP genotypes and neural tube defects. These associations were nominally significant before correction for multiple hypothesis testing. These corrections are highly conservative for association studies of untested hypotheses, and may be too conservative for replication studies. We therefore believe the true effect of these four nominally significant SNPs on NTD risk will be more definitively determined by further study in other populations, and eventual meta-analysis