The stranding anomaly as population indicator: the case of Harbour Porpoise <i>Phocoena phocoena</i> in North-Western Europe

Ecological indicators for monitoring strategies are expected to combine three major characteristics: ecological significance, statistical credibility, and cost-effectiveness. Strategies based on stranding networks rank highly in cost-effectiveness, but their ecological significance and statistical credibility are disputed. Our present goal is to improve the value of stranding data as population indicator as part of monitoring strategies by constructing the spatial and temporal null hypothesis for strandings. The null hypothesis is defined as: small cetacean distribution and mortality are uniform in space and constant in time. We used a drift model to map stranding probabilities and predict stranding patterns of cetacean carcasses under H-0 across the North Sea, the Channel and the Bay of Biscay, for the period 1990-2009. As the most common cetacean occurring in this area, we chose the harbour porpoise <i>Phocoena phocoena</i> for our modelling. The difference between these strandings expected under H-0 and observed strandings is defined as the stranding anomaly. It constituted the stranding data series corrected for drift conditions. Seasonal decomposition of stranding anomaly suggested that drift conditions did not explain observed seasonal variations of porpoise strandings. Long-term stranding anomalies increased first in the southern North Sea, the Channel and Bay of Biscay coasts, and finally the eastern North Sea. The hypothesis of changes in porpoise distribution was consistent with local visual surveys, mostly SCANS surveys (1994 and 2005). This new indicator could be applied to cetacean populations across the world and more widely to marine megafauna

Driver models to increase the potential of automotive active safety functions

This paper describes how the potential of some automotive active safety functions depend on the used driver model. It is shown that by including a more advanced driver model, it is possible to enhance the use of the signals from different sensor systems to let the active safety function intervene earlier and smoother so that the drivers are disturbed less, and the chance to avoid an accident increases

Arc detector system for extraction switches in LHC CERN

The opening switches, which will be used in case of quenches or other failures in CERN’s future LHC collider to extract the large amounts of energy stored in the magnetic field of the superconducting chains of main dipoles (8 chains with 1350 MJ each) and main quadrupoles (16 chains with about 24 MJ each) consist of an array of series/parallel connected, electro-mechanical D.C. breakers, specifically designed for this particular application. During the opening process the magnet excitation current is transferred from the cluster of breakers to extraction resistors for rapid de-excitation of the magnet chain. An arc detector has been developed in order to facilitate the determination of the need for maintenance interventions on the switches. The paper describes the arc detector and highlight results from operation of the detector with a LHC pilot extraction facility

Nucleotide sequences for the gene junctions of human respiratory syncytial virus reveal distinctive features of intergenic structure and gene order.

Complete sequences for the intergenic regions of the genome of human respiratory syncytial virus were obtained by dideoxynucleotide sequencing using synthetic oligonucleotides. These experiments established that the 10 respiratory syncytial viral genes are arranged, without additional intervening genes, in the order 3' 1C-1B-N-P-M-1A-G-F-22K-L 5'. For the first nine genes, the exact gene boundaries were identified by comparison of the genomic sequences with previously determined mRNA sequences. The intergenic regions varied in length from 1 to 52 nucleotides and lacked any obvious conserved features of primary or secondary structure except that each sequence ended (3' to 5') with an adenosine residue. The exact start site of the 10th gene, the L gene, was not determined. However, RNA blot hybridization using a synthetic oligonucleotide designed from the genomic sequence mapped the L gene to within 54 nucleotides of the end of the penultimate 22K gene. The lack of conservation of chain length and nucleotide sequence for the respiratory syncytial viral intergenic regions, together with the complexity of the genetic map, contrasts with previous observations for other nonsegmented negative-strand viruses