Discard survival in Trammel net and Danish seine

European plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) is a key species for Danish commercial and recreational fishing. A discard ban in the reformed European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy includes the possibility of exempting from the landing obligation “species for which scientific evidence demonstrates high survival rates”. Although smaller coastal fishing vessels make up a substantial part of the commercial Danish fishing fleet, discard survival in plaice from these vessels is not well studied. To address this issue, a study on discard survival in plaice from trammel net and Danish Seine was established as a cooperation between Aalborg University, Copenhagen University and Foreningen for Skånsomt Kystfiskeri. Methodology was developed to collect, assess and observe discard survival in plaice from trammel net and Danish Seine. Experiments were conducted in 2017 and 2018 from three commercial coastal fishing vessels. Livewells were designed to house captured individuals for up to 11 days for observation of short-term survival rate. Catch-damage-index (CDI) and Reflex Action Mortality Predictor (RAMP) were used to assess fish condition immediately after capture and at the end of the observation periods. Results showed 100% survival rate in plaice from trammel net and 87% survival rate in plaice from Danish Seine. For the majority of fish assessed after capture, reflex impairments were absent and injuries were primarily minor bruises, fin fraying, and net marks. Assessments of injuries and reflex impairments after observation showed the condition of the fish generally did not worsen during the observation periods. The project is financed by the European Fisheries Fund and the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark

Semi-empirical relationships to assess the seismic performance of slopes from an updated version of the Italian seismic database

Funder: Dipartimento della Protezione Civile, Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100012783; Grant(s): ReLUIS research project - Working Pachage 16: Geotechnical Engineering - Task Group 2: Slope stabilityAbstractSeismic performance of slopes can be assessed through displacement-based procedures where earthquake-induced displacements are usually computed following Newmark-type calculations. These can be adopted to perform a parametric integration of earthquake records to evaluate permanent displacements for different slope characteristics and seismic input properties. Several semi-empirical relationships can be obtained for different purposes: obtaining site-specific displacement hazard curves following a fully-probabilistic approach, to assess the seismic risk associated with the slope; providing semi-empirical models within a deterministic framework, where the seismic-induced permanent displacement is compared with threshold values related to different levels of seismic performance; calibrating the seismic coefficient to be used in pseudo-static calculations, where a safety factor against limit conditions is computed. In this paper, semi-empirical relationships are obtained as a result of a parametric integration of an updated version of the Italian strong-motion database, that, in turn, is described and compared to older versions of the database and to well-known ground motion prediction equations. Permanent displacement is expressed as a function of either ground motion parameters, for a given yield seismic coefficient of the slope, or of both ground motion parameters and the seismic coefficient. The first are meant to be used as a tool to develop site-specific displacement hazard curves, while the last can be used to evaluate earthquake-induced slope displacements, as well as to calibrate the seismic coefficient to be used in a pseudo-static analysis. Influence of the vertical component of seismic motion on these semi-empirical relationships is also assessed.</jats:p

Microarray profiling for differential gene expression in PMSG-hCG stimulated preovulatory ovarian follicles of Chinese Taihu and Large White sows

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Chinese Taihu is one of the most prolific pig breeds in the world, which farrows at least five more piglets per litter than Western pig breeds partly due to a greater ovulation rate. Variation of ovulation rate maybe associated with the differences in the transcriptome of Chinese Taihu and Large White ovaries. In order to understand the molecular basis of the greater ovulation rate of Chinese Taihu sows, expression profiling experiments were conducted to identify differentially expressed genes in ovarian follicles at the preovulatory stage of a PMSG-hCG stimulated estrous cycle from 3 Chinese Taihu and 3 Large White cycling sows by using the Affymetrix Porcine Genechip™.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>One hundred and thirty-three differentially expressed genes were identified between Chinese Taihu and Large White sows by using Affymetrix porcine GeneChip (<it>p </it>≤ 0.05, Fold change ≥ 2 or ≤ 0.5). Gene Ontology (GO) analysis revealed that these genes belonged to the class of genes that participated in regulation of cellular process, regulation of biological process, biological regulation, developmental process, cell communication and signal transduction and so on. Significant differential expression of 6 genes including <it>WNT10B </it>and <it>DKK2 </it>in the WNT signaling pathway was detected. Real-time RT-PCR confirmed the expression pattern in seven of eight selected genes. A search of chromosomal location revealed that 92 differentially expressed transcripts located to the intervals of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for reproduction traits. Furthermore, SNPs of two differentially expressed genes- <it>BAX </it>and <it>BMPR1B </it>were showed to be associated with litter size traits in Large White pigs and Chinese DIV line pigs (<it>p </it>≤ 0.1 or <it>p </it>≤ 0.05).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study detected many genes that showed differential expression between ovary follicles of two divergent breeds of pigs. Genes involved with regulation of cellular process, regulation of biological process, in addition to several genes not previously associated with ovarian physiology or with unknown function, were differentially expressed between two breeds. The suggestive or significant associations of <it>BAX </it>and <it>BMPR1B </it>gene with litter size indicated these genetic markers had the potentials to be used in pig industry after further validation of their genetic effects. Taken together, this study reveals many potential avenues of investigation for seeking new insights into ovarian physiology and the genetic control of reproduction.</p

Persistent Place-Making in Prehistory: the Creation, Maintenance, and Transformation of an Epipalaeolithic Landscape

Most archaeological projects today integrate, at least to some degree, how past people engaged with their surroundings, including both how they strategized resource use, organized technological production, or scheduled movements within a physical environment, as well as how they constructed cosmologies around or created symbolic connections to places in the landscape. However, there are a multitude of ways in which archaeologists approach the creation, maintenance, and transformation of human-landscape interrelationships. This paper explores some of these approaches for reconstructing the Epipalaeolithic (ca. 23,000–11,500&nbsp;years BP) landscape of Southwest Asia, using macro- and microscale geoarchaeological approaches to examine how everyday practices leave traces of human-landscape interactions in northern and eastern Jordan. The case studies presented here demonstrate that these Epipalaeolithic groups engaged in complex and far-reaching social landscapes. Examination of the Early and Middle Epipalaeolithic (EP) highlights that the notion of “Neolithization” is somewhat misleading as many of the features we use to define this transition were already well-established patterns of behavior by the Neolithic. Instead, these features and practices were enacted within a hunter-gatherer world and worldview

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic

Understanding collective behaviour is an important aspect of managing the pandemic response. Here the authors show in a large global study that participants that reported identifying more strongly with their nation reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies in the context of the pandemic.Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020). Respondents who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies. Results were similar for representative and non-representative national samples. Study 2 (N = 42 countries) conceptually replicated the central finding using aggregate indices of national identity (obtained using the World Values Survey) and a measure of actual behaviour change during the pandemic (obtained from Google mobility reports). Higher levels of national identification prior to the pandemic predicted lower mobility during the early stage of the pandemic (r = -0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics

Dynamic numerical analysis of the Mazar concrete faced rockfill dam in Ecuador – south america

The catastrophic effects of earthquakes that frequently hit the West coast of South America has motivated this research. The country of Ecuador, situated on the subduction border of the South American and Nazca tectonic plates, has a high seismic exposure. Since the Mw = 7.8 earthquake that occurred on April 16th, 2016, the assessment of stability conditions of dams has become a high priority for the Ecuadorian government. The concrete faced rockfill dam (CFRD) of Mazar, an essential structure for the country, is classified as a large dam by the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD). In this research, the numerical seismic analysis of Mazar dam was carried out, including the generation of artificial earthquakes based on acceleration spectra established by Ecuadorian standards. Other aspects related to the dam behavior were also investigated, such as the static and pseudo static stability conditions and the maximum permanent displacements determined by simplified methods. An important conclusion from the 2D numerical analysis is the influence of topographic amplification, which is not taken into account when simplified methods based on 1D wave propagation are used.Turi