Seasonal variation in thermal habitat volume for cold-water fish populations : implications for hydroacoustic survey design and stock assessment

For accurate stock assessment, survey design must consider fish behavior and ecology. Yearlings and older individuals of the commercially exploited cold-water species vendace (Coregonus albula) are found below the metalimnion through periods of thermal stratification. These stratification periods generally last for 3-4 months, from the middle of summer to early autumn. In lakes with heterogeneous distribution of depths, the habitat volume for vendace vary drastically within and across years, which affects the distribution and population densities. Variable thermal habitat volumes, with food and oxygen depletion in the hypolimnion through the period of stratification, may act as a population size-regulating factor.Using hydroacoustics in combination with trawl data and temperature profiles, we examined the distribution of vendace through annual periods of thermal stratification. We found that yearling and older vendace these periods were confined to cold-water habitat volumes representing less than 10 % of the total water volume of Lake Mälaren, the third largest lake in Sweden. By introducing stratification to the design of hydroacoustic surveys supported by midwater trawling, seasonal aggregations of fish in temporally restricted thermal habitat volumes can be used to lower survey effort and improve the precision in estimates of population size. Temporally restricted habitat volumes may induce risks for the populations to over-fishing and sensitivity to environmental changes that potentially may call for directed management

Effects of state of charge on elastic properties of 3D structural battery composites

The effects of state of charge (SOC) on the elastic properties of 3D structural battery composites are studied. An analytical model based on micromechanical models is developed to estimate the effective elastic properties of 3D structural battery composite laminae at different SOC. A parametric study is performed to evaluate how different design parameters such as volume fraction of active materials, stiffness of constituents, type of positive electrode material, etc. affect the moduli of the composite lamina for extremes in SOC. Critical parameters and configurations resulting in large variations in elastic properties due to change in SOC are identified. As the extreme cases are of primary interest in structural design, the effective elastic properties are only estimated for the electrochemical states corresponding to discharged (SOC=0) and fully charged (SOC=1) battery. The change in SOC is simulated by varying the volume and elastic properties of the constituents based on data from literature. Parametric finite element (FE) models for square and hexagonal fibre packing arrangements are also analysed in the commercial FE software COMSOL and used to validate the analytical model. The present study shows that the transverse elastic properties \ua0and \ua0and the in-plane shear modulus \ua0are strongly affected by the SOC while the longitudinal stiffness \ua0is not. Fibre volume fraction and the properties of the coating (such as stiffness and Poisson’s ratio) are identified as critical parameters that have significant impact on the effect of SOC on the effective elastic properties of the composite lamina. For configurations with fibre volume fraction \ua0≥ 0.4 and Young’s modulus of the coating of 1\ua0GPa or higher, the transverse properties \ua0and \ua0change more than 30% between extremes in SOC. Furthermore, for configurations with high volume fractions of electrode materials and coating properties approaching those of rubber the predicted change in transverse stiffness \ua0is as high as +43%. This shows that it is crucial to take effects of SOC on the elastic properties into account when designing 3D structural battery composite components

The effect of simulated unilateral hearing loss on horizontal sound localization accuracy and recognition of speech in spatially separate competing speech

Unilateral hearing loss (UHL) occurs in 25% of cases of congenital sensorineural hearing loss. Due to the unilaterally reduced audibility associated with UHL, everyday demanding listening situations may be disrupted despite normal hearing in one ear. The aim of this study was to quantify acute changes in recognition of speech in spatially separate competing speech and sound localization accuracy, and relate those changes to two levels of temporary induced UHL (UHL 30 and UHL 43 ; suffixes denote the average hearing threshold across 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz) for 8 normal-hearing adults. A within-subject repeated-measures design was used (normal binaural conditions, UHL 30 and UHL 43 ). The main outcome measures were the threshold for 40% correct speech recognition and the overall variance in sound localization accuracy quantified by an Error Index (0 = perfect performance, 1.0 = random performance). Distinct and statistically significant deterioration in speech recognition (2.0 dB increase in threshold, p < 0.01) and sound localization (Error Index increase of 0.16, p < 0.001) occurred in the UHL 30 condition. Speech recognition did not significantly deteriorate further in the UHL 43 condition (1.0 dB increase in speech recognition threshold, p > 0.05), while sound localization was additionally impaired (Error Index increase of 0.33, p < 0.01) with an associated large increase in individual variability. Qualitative analyses on a subject-by-subject basis showed that high-frequency audibility was important for speech recognition, while low-frequency audibility was important for horizontal sound localization accuracy. While the data might not be entirely applicable to individuals with long-standing UHL, the results suggest a need for intervention for mild-to-moderate UHL

A Quantitative Meta-Analysis of Functional Imaging Studies of Social Rejection

Early neuroimaging studies using Cyberball suggested that social rejection activated the pain matrix, as identified in studies of physical pain. However, these early studies were characterized by small sample sizes. Our statistical multi-level kernel density analysis (MKDA) of Cyberball neuroimaging studies with 244 participants fails to support the claim that social rejection operates on the same pain matrix as nociceptive stimuli, questioning whether social pain is more figurative or literal. We also performed an MKDA of the neuroimaging studies of reliving a romantic rejection to test whether the pain matrix was activated if the rejection were more meaningful. Results again failed to support the notion that rejection activates the neural matrix identified in studies of physical pain. Reliving an unwanted rejection by a romantic partner was significantly characterized by activation within and beyond the “Cyberball” brain network, suggesting that the neural correlates of social pain are more complex than previously thought

The global build-up to intrinsic edge localized mode bursts seen in divertor full flux loops in JET

A global signature of the build-up to an intrinsic edge localized mode (ELM) is found in the temporal analytic phase of signals measured in full flux azimuthal loops in the divertor region of JET. Toroidally integrating, full flux loop signals provide a global measurement proportional to the voltage induced by changes in poloidal magnetic flux; they are electromagnetically induced by the dynamics of spatially integrated current density. We perform direct time-domain analysis of the high time-resolution full flux loop signals VLD2 and VLD3. We analyze plasmas where a steady H-mode is sustained over several seconds during which all the observed ELMs are intrinsic; there is no deliberate intent to pace the ELMing process by external means. ELM occurrence times are determined from the Be II emission at the divertor. We previously [Chapman et al., Phys. Plasmas 21, 062302 (2014); Chapman et al., in 41st EPS Conference on Plasma Physics, Europhysics Conference Abstracts (European Physical Society, 2014), Vol. 38F, ISBN 2-914771-90-8] found that the occurrence times of intrinsic ELMs correlate with specific temporal analytic phases of the VLD2 and VLD3 signals. Here, we investigate how the VLD2 and VLD3 temporal analytic phases vary with time in advance of the ELM occurrence time. We identify a build-up to the ELM in which the VLD2 and VLD3 signals progressively align to the temporal analytic phase at which ELMs preferentially occur, on a ∼2−5ms timescale. At the same time, the VLD2 and VLD3 signals become temporally phase synchronized with each other, consistent with the emergence of coherent global dynamics in the integrated current density. In a plasma that remains close to a global magnetic equilibrium, this can reflect bulk displacement or motion of the plasma. This build-up signature to an intrinsic ELM can be extracted from a time interval of data that does not extend beyond the ELM occurrence time, so that these full flux loop signals could assist in ELM prediction or mitigation