Research into the feasibility of thin metal and oxide film capacitors Interim scientific report

Feasibility of thin metal and oxide film capacitor

Research into the feasibility of thin metal and oxide film capacitors

Feasibility of thin metal and oxide film capacitor

Post-Release Survival of Sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus) Captured on Commercial Pelagic Longline Gear in the Southern Gulf of Mexico

To estimate post-release survival of sailfish caught incidentally to regular commercial pelagic longline fishing operations in the southern Gulf of Mexico targeting mixed swordfish and tunas, ten pop-up satellite archival tags were deployed for ten days on incidentally captured animals. All ten tags transmitted following the full deployment period, transmitting 25-82% of the archived data. Repeated, short-duration movements at depth and horizontal displacement data from were consistent with survival of those nine of the ten animals for the ten-day deployment period. The results of this study indicate that sailfish can survive the trauma resulting from interaction with pelagic longline gear and that management measures promoting the release of sailfish from the pelagic longline fishery will reduce fishing mortality on the Atlantic sailfish stocks

Survival of White Marlin (Tetrapturus albidus) Released from Commercial Pelagic Longline Gear in the Western North Atlantic

To estimate postrelease survival of white marlin (Tetrapturus albidus) caught incidentally in regular commercial pelagic longline fishing operations targeting swordfish and tunas, short-duration popup satellite archival tags (PSATs) were deployed on captured animals for periods of 5-43 days. Twenty (71.4%) of 28 tags transmitted data at the preprogrammed time, including one tag that separated from the fish shortly after release and was omitted from subsequent analyses. Transmitted data from 17 of 19 tags were consistent with survival of those animals for the duration of the tag deployment. Postrelease survival estimates ranged from 63.0% (assuming all nontransmitting tags were evidence of mortality) to 89.5% (excluding nontransmitting tags from the analysis). These results indicate that white marlin can survive the trauma resulting from interaction with pelagic longline gear, and indicate that current domestic and international management measures requiring the release of live white marlin from this fishery will reduce fishing mortality on the Atlantic-wide stock

Effects of Circle Versus J-style Hooks on Target and Non-Target Species in a Pelagic Longline Fishery

The U.S. Atlantic coastal pelagic longline fishery that targets tunas and swordfish also interacts with a wide range of non-target species including billfishes and sea turtles. Preliminary studies indicate that a change in terminal gear from J-style hooks to circle hooks may reduce bycatch mortality, but the effects of this change on catch rates of target species are unclear. To evaluate this, we monitored catch composition, catch rates, hooking location, and number of fish alive at haulback during 85 sets in the fall and spring seasonal fisheries from a commercial vessel operating in the western North Atlantic. Circle (size 16/0, 0° offset) and J-style (size 9/0, 10° offset) hooks were deployed in an alternating fashion. Hook–time recorders were used to assess time at hooking and temperature–depth recorders to measure gear behavior. Catch rates for most species categories were not significantly different between hook types (P \u3c 0.05), although circle hooks generally had higher tuna catch rates in the fall and lower swordfish catch rates in the spring. In the fall, both total catches and catches of pelagic rays were significantly higher on J-style hooks. Yellowfin tuna in the fall and dolphinfish in the spring caught on circle hooks were significantly larger than those caught on J-style hooks. In both seasonal fisheries, circle hooks caught fishes in the mouth more frequently than J-style hooks, which hooked more often in the throat or gut, although these differences between hook types were not statistically significant. Yellowfin tuna in the fall fishery were over four times more likely to be hooked in the mouth with circle hooks than with J-style hooks. Several target and bycatch species showed higher rates of survival at haulback with circle hooks, although only for dolphinfish in the fall fishery was this difference statistically significant. Our results suggest that the use of 0° offset circle hooks in the coastal pelagic longline fishery will increase the survival of bycatch species at haulback with minimal effects on the catches of target species

Millisecond accuracy video display using OpenGL under Linux

To measure people’s reaction times to the nearest millisecond, it is necessary to know exactly when a stimulus is displayed. This article describes how to display stimuli with millisecond accuracy on a normal CRT monitor, using a PC running Linux. A simple C program is presented to illustrate how this may be done within X Windows using the OpenGL rendering system. A test of this system is reported that demonstrates that stimuli may be consistently displayed with millisecond accuracy. An algorithm is presented that allows the exact time of stimulus presentation to be deduced, even if there are relatively large errors in measuring the display time

Habitat Preferences and Diving Behavior of White Marlin (Tetrapturus albidus) Released from the Recreational Rod-and-Reel and Commercial Pelagic Longline Fisheries in the Western North Atlantic Ocean: Implications for Habitat-Based Stock Assessment Models

To improve billfish assessments, researchers have applied habitat-based models that incorporate behavioral and oceanographic parameters to standardize historical catch-per-uniteffort time -series data, accounting for significant gear changes over time. However, there has been little behavioral data from Atlantic billfishes to support these models. We provide information on habitat preferences of white marlin released from recreational and commercial fisheries in the western North Atlantic. White marlin were tagged with pop-up satellite archival tags (PSATs) from recreational rod and reel (n=22) and commercial pelagic longline (n=2) fisheries between May-November 2002. Our data indicate that each surviving white marlin spent the majority of time at depths of 10m or less, with all fish displaying repetitive short duration diving behavior (less than 30 minutes) to depths of 60-100m. These dives were presumably related to foraging activities. Furthermore, the depths of many of the repetitive dives were within the range of deep-set pelagic longline gear. Longline sets targeting bigeye tuna may actually increase white marlin by-catch by placing baits at depths where this species may be highly motivated to feed. Until billfish feeding motivation is better understood, it may be premature to apply habitat-based stock assessment models to billfishes in the Atlantic Ocean

Sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus) Habitat Utilization in the Southern Gulf of Mexico and Florida Straits with Implications on Vulnerability to Shallow-Set Pelagic Longline Gear

A total of 19 pop-up satellite archival tags (PSATs) were deployed on sailfish in the southern Gulf of Mexico between 2005 and 2007 aboard a commercial pelagic longline vessel (n = 18) and a recreational rod-and-reel vessel (n = 1). All PSATs were programmed to collect pressure (depth), temperature, and light-level data for 10 days at approximately 90-second intervals. These point-level data were not summarized prior to transmission, allowing the reconstruction of vertical movement patterns. Three tags suggested mortality events and were excluded from subsequent analyses. We present the preliminary data analyses from the remaining 16 PSATs. Sailfish are primarily associated with the upper surface waters at 20 m or less depth. However, sailfish also exhibited numerous repeated short-duration vertical movements below the local thermocline to depths of 50-150 m. The depth utilization from these tagged fish coincide with the actively fished depths of shallow-set pelagic longline gear, yet appear to be shallower than the depths of settled deep-set gear used to target bigeye tuna

The Peak Brightness and Spatial Distribution of AGB Stars Near the Nucleus of M32

The bright stellar content near the center of the Local Group elliptical galaxy M32 is investigated with 0.12 arcsec FWHM H and K images obtained with the Gemini Mauna Kea telescope. Stars with K = 15.5, which are likely evolving near the tip of the asymptotic giant branch (AGB), are resolved to within 2 arcsec of the nucleus, and it is concluded that the peak stellar brightness near the center of M32 is similar to that in the outer regions of the galaxy. Moreover, the projected density of bright AGB stars follows the visible light profile to within 2 arcsec of the nucleus, indicating that the brightest stars are well mixed throughout the galaxy. Thus, there is no evidence for an age gradient, and the radial variations in spectroscopic indices and ultraviolet colors that have been detected previously must be due to metallicity and/or some other parameter. We suggest that either the bright AGB stars formed as part of a highly uniform and coherent galaxy-wide episode of star formation, or they originated in a separate system that merged with M32.Comment: 9 pages of text, 3 figures. ApJ (Letters) in pres