Above and below the water: Social/ecological transformation in northwest Newfoundland

Marine fisheries and fishing societies develop around the resources provided by a particular ecosystem. As they exploit these resources, fisheries transform the ecosystem, which pushes fishery and society to adapt in turn. This process is illustrated by fisheries, ecological and social data tracking dramatic changes on Newfoundland\u27s Northern Peninsula and its adjacent marine ecosystem, the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence. There a longstanding fishery for cod and other groundfish collapsed in the 1990s, and was replaced by fisheries targeting invertebrates. The new invertebrate fisheries have different socioeconomic characteristics than the former groundfish fisheries. The shift in target species reflects deep ecological changes that were underway at least a decade before official recognition of the crisis. Our analysis of biological data reveals that the main ecological changes occurred during “the glory years” of the 1980s, when Newfoundland\u27s domestic fisheries were at their peak. Overfishing and interactions with adverse climatic conditions drove the changes. As the ecosystem transformed, human population declined due to outmigration, and social indicators show signs of distress. Accounts by outport residents paint a generational picture of social change

A dual maximum principle for discrete-time linear systems with economic applications,

working pape

Ethnic identity and aspirations among rural Alaska youth

The villages of rural Alaska comprise one of the most exceptional, yet least visible, sociocultural environments in the United States They are geographically remote, and set off from the mainstream also by their unique Eskimo, Indian or Aleut cultures. At the same time many economic, legal and cultural connections pull these villages toward the dominant U.S. society, impelling continual and rapid social change. Our research focuses on adolescents growing up in this culturally complex and changing environment. We employ survey data from adolescents in 19 rural schools to explore relationships between ethnic identity and students\u27 expectations about moving away or attending college. Many students describe their ethnic identity as mixed, both Native and non-Native. On some key variables, the responses of mixed-identity students fall between those of Natives and non-Natives, supporting a theoretical conception of ethnicity as a matter of degree rather than category. Migration and college expectations vary with ethnic identity, but the college expectations/identity relationship fades when we adjust for other variables. Ethnicity affects expectations for the most part indirectly, through “cultural tool kit” variables including family role models and support. Gender differences in expectations, on the other hand, remain substantial even after adjusting for other variables

A study of resistojet systems directed to the space station/base Final report

Biowaste resistojet subsystem for integrated environmental control and life support of space statio

EEG–fMRI mapping of asymmetrical delta activity in a patient with refractory epilepsy is concordant with the epileptogenic region determined by intracranial EEG

We studied a patient with refractory focal epilepsy using continuous EEG-correlated fMRI. Seizures were characterized by head turning to the left and clonic jerking of the left arm, suggesting a right frontal epileptogenic region. Interictal EEG showed occasional runs of independent nonlateralized slow activity in the delta band with right frontocentral dominance and had no lateralizing value. Ictal scalp EEG had no lateralizing value. Ictal scalp EEG suggested right-sided central slow activity preceding some seizures. Structural 3-T MRI showed no abnormality. There was no clear epileptiform abnormality during simultaneous EEG–fMRI. We therefore modeled asymmetrical EEG delta activity at 1–3 Hz near frontocentral electrode positions. Significant blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal changes in the right superior frontal gyrus correlated with right frontal oscillations at 1–3 Hz but not at 4–7 Hz and with neither of the two frequency bands when derived from contralateral or posterior electrode positions, which served as controls. Motor fMRI activations with a finger-tapping paradigm were asymmetrical: they were more anterior for the left hand compared with the right and were near the aforementioned EEG-correlated signal changes. A right frontocentral perirolandic seizure onset was identified with a subdural grid recording, and electric stimulation of the adjacent contact produced motor responses in the left arm and after discharges. The fMRI localization of the left hand motor and the detected BOLD activation associated with modeled slow activity suggest a role for localization of the epileptogenic region with EEG–fMRI even in the absence of clear interictal discharges

Achieving Good Angular Resolution in 3D Arc Diagrams

We study a three-dimensional analogue to the well-known graph visualization approach known as arc diagrams. We provide several algorithms that achieve good angular resolution for 3D arc diagrams, even for cases when the arcs must project to a given 2D straight-line drawing of the input graph. Our methods make use of various graph coloring algorithms, including an algorithm for a new coloring problem, which we call localized edge coloring.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures; to appear at the 21st International Symposium on Graph Drawing (GD 2013

Soluble undercoating facilitates removal of foamed-in-place insulation

Foamed-in-place insulation can be removed and reused by coating the surface with a soluble peel coat before applying the foam mixture. Removal of the insulation is effected by slitting it and pouring a solvent in the slit to dissolve the peel coat. The insulation can then be stripped off intact

Risk factors for failure of outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy (OPAT) in infective endocarditis

Objectives: To identify risk factors for failure of outpatient antibiotic therapy (OPAT) in infective endocarditis (IE). Patients and methods: We identified IE cases managed at a single centre over 12 years from a prospectively maintained database. ‘OPAT failure’ was defined as unplanned readmission or antibiotic switch due to adverse drug reaction or antibiotic resistance. We analysed patient and disease-related risk factors for OPAT failure by univariate and multivariate logistic regression. We also retrospectively collected follow-up data on adverse disease outcome (defined as IE-related death or relapse) and performed Kaplan–Meier survival analysis up to 36 months following OPAT. Results: We identified 80 episodes of OPAT in IE. Failure occurred in 25/80 episodes (31.3%). On multivariate analysis, cardiac or renal failure [pooled OR 7.39 (95% CI 1.84–29.66), P = 0.005] and teicoplanin therapy [OR 8.69 (95% CI 2.01–37.47), P = 0.004] were independently associated with increased OPAT failure. OPAT failure with teicoplanin occurred despite therapeutic plasma levels. OPAT failure predicted adverse disease outcome up to 36 months (P = 0.016 log-rank test). Conclusions: These data caution against selecting patients with endocarditis for OPAT in the presence of cardiac or renal failure and suggest teicoplanin therapy may be associated with suboptimal OPAT outcomes. Alternative regimens to teicoplanin in the OPAT setting should be further investigated

An X-Ray Jet from a White Dwarf - Detection of the Collimated Outflow from CH Cygni with Chandra

Most symbiotic stars consist of a white dwarf accreting material from the wind of a red giant. An increasing number of these objects have been found to produce jets. Analysis of archival Chandra data of the symbiotic system CH Cygni reveals faint extended emission to the south, aligned with the optical and radio jets seen in earlier HST and VLA observations. CH Cygni thus contains only the second known white dwarf with an X-ray jet, after R Aquarii. The X-rays from symbiotic-star jets appear to be produced when jet material is shock-heated following collision with surrounding gas, as with the outflows from some protostellar objects and bipolar planetary nebulae.Comment: 4 & a bit pages, 4 figures, accepted by ApJL; uses emulateapj.cls and revtex4. Minor changes following referees report, & shortened to meet page limi