Stocking strategies for a pre-alpine whitefish population under temperature stress

Cold-water fish stocks are increasingly affected by steadily increasing water temperatures. The question arises whether stock management can be adapted to mitigate the consequences of this climatic change. Here, we estimate the effects of increasing water temperatures on fisheries yield and population dynamics of whitefish, a typical cold-water fish species. Using a process-based population model calibrated on an empirical long-term data set for the whitefish population (Coregons lavaretus (L.) species complex) of the pre-alpine Lake Irrsee, Austria, we project density-dependent and temperature-dependent population growth and compare established stock enhancement strategies to alternative stocking strategies under the aspect of increasing water temperatures and cost neutrality. Additionally, we contrast the results obtained from the process-based model to the results from simple regression models and argue that the latter show qualitative inadequacies in projecting catch with rising temperatures. Our results indicate that increasing water temperatures reduce population biomass between 2.6% and 7.9% and catch by the fishery between 24% and 48%, depending on temperature scenario and natural mortality calculation. These reductions are caused by accelerated growth, smaller asymptotic size and lower annual survival of whitefish. Regarding stocking strategies under constant temperatures, we find that stocking mostly whitefish larvae, produces higher population biomass than stocking mostly one-summer-old whitefish, while catch remains almost constant. With increasing temperatures, stocking one-summer-old fish is more beneficial for the angling fishery. Adaption to climate change by changing stocking strategies cannot, however, prevent an overall reduction in catch and population size of this cold-water fish species

Diluted and Undiluted Mercox Severely Destroy Unfixed Endothelial Cells. A Light and Electron Microscopic Study Using Cultured Endothelial Cells and Tadpole Tail Fin Vessels

Mercox is a methylmethacrylate-based resin which is widely used for vascular corrosion casting with subsequent scanning electron microscopic analysis. In the present study the effect of undiluted and diluted Mercox (4+1; volume + volume; Mercox: monomeric methylmethacrylate (MMA); 0.02 g catalyst MA/ml Mercox) and methylmethacrylate with and without catalyst MA (0.625 g/10 ml MMA) on fixed and unfixed endothelial cells was studied. Light microscopy (LM) of cultured capillary endothelial cells (ECs), which were replicated with diluted or undiluted Mercox shows degranulation and membrane perturbation of ECs, while no morphological changes occur in glutaraldehyde-prefixed ECs. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of replicas ( = resin blocks) polymerized on prefixed ECs reveals unchanged ECs and replicas show many details. Unfixed ECs are destroyed and replicas reveal aberrant features. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of prefixed and unfixed ECs (cultured endothelial cells, endothelial cells of perfusion prefixed and of unfixed tadpole tail fin vessels) substantiates LM and SEM findings. Prefixed ECs resist Mercox without fine structural changes, while unfixed cells undergo destruction. It is recommended to fix vessels prior to casting. Extravasations in microvessels are considered to be caused by focal chemical destruction of endothelial cells

Freshwater Ecosystems: From Models to Applications

Freshwater ecosystems—lakes and streams—are being endangered by agricultural, urban, and industrial pollution; hydraulic engineering; and overexploitation, which threaten their capacity to provide important services (recreation and supply of food and clean water, among others). Ecological modeling may be employed to estimate impacts and analyze mitigation strategies. Toy models are easy to construct, but applying them to real-world problems is often challenging. Here, we show in two case studies how the connection from model to application can be made. The first study analyzes whether and how the impact of climatic change on a mostly recreational fishery in an Alpine lake can be mitigated, while the second looks at restoring biodiversity after cleaning up pollution in a Korean river system, using aquatic insects, which play an essential functional role in aquatic food-webs and are very sensitive to water quality, as indicators of ecosystem health. These studies highlight the ability of process-based eco-evolutionary models to generate testable hypotheses and contribute solutions to real-world problems

A scanning target profile monitor for the slow extracted beam at the AGS

The purpose of this new instrument is for probing beam halo and obtaining beam profiles of the resonant extracted beam at the AGS. The device described here is a prototype version, to obtain data and prepare for a more permanent device. The goals of the permanent device are to allow emittances of low current, but high intensity slowly extracted beams to be accurately measured and to have a diagnostic for probing the wings of the beam distribution. The device works on secondary emission from thin targets as well as scattering into two scintillator telescopes. The targets are movable over the entire aperture at the device. The performance of this new device has exceeded expectations. The authors were very concerned about singles rates in the area, since the telescopes were located inside the beam enclosure and had effectively no shielding. The singles rates were not insignificant, as high as 1 MHz, but the triple coincidence circuitry had no problems contending with these rates

Analysis of major milk whey proteins by immunoaffinity capillary electrophoresis coupled with MALDI-MS

Two major milk whey proteins, β-lactoglobulin and α-lactalbumin, are among the main cowmilk allergens and can cause allergy even at a very low concentrations. Therefore, these proteins are interesting targets in food analysis, not only for food quality control but also for highlighting the presence of allergens. Herein, a sensitive analysis for β-lactoglobulin and -lactalbumin was developed using immunoaffinity capillary electrophoresis hyphenated with MALDI-MS.Magnetic beads functionalized with appropriate antibodieswere used for β-lactoglobulin and α-lactalbumin immunocapture inside the capillary. After elution from the beads, analyte focusing and separation were performed by transient isotachophoresis followed by MALDI-MS analysis performed through an automated iontophoretic fraction collection interface. A LOD in the low nanomolar range was attained for both whey proteins. The method developed was further applied to the analysis of different milk samples including fortified soy milk

Decline of Ambient Air Pollution Levels and Improved Respiratory Health in Swiss Children

The causality of observed associations between air pollution and respiratory health in children is still subject to debate. If reduced air pollution exposure resulted in improved respiratory health of children, this would argue in favor of a causal relation. We investigated whether a rather moderate decline of air pollution levels in the 1990s in Switzerland was associated with a reduction in respiratory symptoms and diseases in school children. In nine Swiss communities, 9,591 children participated in cross-sectional health assessments between 1992 and 2001. Their parents completed identical questionnaires on health status and covariates. We assigned to each child an estimate of regional particles with an aerodynamic diameter < 10 μg/m(3) (PM(10)) and determined change in PM(10) since the first survey. Adjusted for socioeconomic, health-related, and indoor factors, declining PM(10) was associated in logistic regression models with declining prevalence of chronic cough [odds ratio (OR) per 10-μg/m(3) decline = 0.65, 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.54–0.79], bronchitis (OR = 0.66; 95% CI, 0.55–0.80), common cold (OR = 0.78; 95% CI, 0.68–0.89), nocturnal dry cough (OR = 0.70; 95% CI, 0.60–0.83), and conjunctivitis symptoms (OR = 0.81; 95% CI, 0.70–0.95). Changes in prevalence of sneezing during pollen season, asthma, and hay fever were not associated with the PM(10) reduction. Our findings show that the reduction of air pollution exposures contributes to improved respiratory health in children. No threshold of adverse effects of PM(10) was apparent because we observed the beneficial effects for relatively small changes of rather moderate air pollution levels. Current air pollution levels in Switzerland still exceed limit values of the Swiss Clean Air Act; thus, children’s health can be improved further

Sturmian morphisms, the braid group B_4, Christoffel words and bases of F_2

We give a presentation by generators and relations of a certain monoid generating a subgroup of index two in the group Aut(F_2) of automorphisms of the rank two free group F_2 and show that it can be realized as a monoid in the group B_4 of braids on four strings. In the second part we use Christoffel words to construct an explicit basis of F_2 lifting any given basis of the free abelian group Z^2. We further give an algorithm allowing to decide whether two elements of F_2 form a basis or not. We also show that, under suitable conditions, a basis has a unique conjugate consisting of two palindromes.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figure

Total serum IgE quantification by microfluidic ELISA using magnetic beads

The present work reports on the quantification of total IgE in human serum using a microanalytical device whose fluidics is driven by gravity and capillary forces only. Thanks to the eight parallel microchannels in each microchip, calibration and sample analysis are performed simultaneously. A mixture of magnetic bead/analyte/second antibody is incubated off-line and then percolated through the channels where magnetic beads are trapped, enabling the separation of the solid phase from the excess reagents. The entire assay is performed in less than 1 h, and thanks to the miniaturized format, only a small volume of serum is required. Non-specific adsorption was first investigated and a blocking agent compatible with this allergy-based test was chosen. Then, the assay was optimized by determining the best magnetic bead and labelled antibody concentrations. After achievement of a calibration curve with a reference material, the protocol was applied to total IgE quantification of a patient serum sample that showed results in good accordance with those obtained by ImmunoCapA (R) and Immunoaffinity capillary electrophoresis measurements. A detection limit of 17.5 ng ml(-1) was achieved and good reproducibility (RSD < 10%) inter- and intra-chip was observed

Polarization transfer in Rayleigh scattering of hard x-rays

Wereport on the first elastic hard x-ray scattering experiment where the linear polarizationcharacteristics of both the incident and the scattered radiation were observed. Rayleigh scattering wasinvestigated in a relativistic regime by using a high-Z target material, namely gold, and a photon energyof 175keV. Although the incident synchrotron radiation was nearly 100% linearly polarized, at ascattering angle of q = 90we observed a strong depolarization for the scattered photonswith adegree of linear polarization of +0.27% 0.12%only. This finding agreeswith second-orderquantum electrodynamics calculations of Rayleigh scattering, when taking into account a smallpolarization impurity of the incident photon beam which was determined to be close to 98%. Thelatter value was obtained independently from the elastic scattering by analyzing photons that wereCompton-scattered in the target. Moreover, our results indicate that when relying on state-of-the-arttheory, Rayleigh scattering could provide a very accurate method to diagnose polarization impuritiesin a broad region of hard x-ray energies