Life in a warm deep sea: routine activity and burst swimming performance of the shrimp Acanthephyra eximia in the abyssal Mediterranean

Measurements of routine swimming speed, "tail-flip'' escape responses, and oxygen consumptions were made of the deep-sea shrimp Acanthephyra eximia using autonomous landers in the Rhodos Basin at depths of up to 4,400 m and temperatures of 13 - 14.5 degrees C. Routine swimming speeds at 4,200 m averaged 0.18 m s(-1) or 3.09 body lengths s(-1), approximately double those of functionally similar oceanic scavengers. During escape responses peak accelerations of 23 m s(-2) or 630.6 body lengths s(-2) were recorded, with animals reaching speeds of 1.61 m s(-1) or 34.8 body lengths s(-2). When compared to shallow-water decapods at similar temperatures these values are low for a lightly calcified shrimp such as A. eximia despite a maximum muscle mass specific power output of 90.0 W kg(-1). A preliminary oxygen consumption measurement indicated similar rates to those of oceanic crustacean scavengers and shallower-living Mediterranean crustaceans once size and temperature had been taken into account. These animals appear to have high routine swimming speeds but low burst muscle performances. This suite of traits can be accounted for by high competition for limited resources in the eastern Mediterranean, but low selective pressure for burst swimming due to reductions in predator pressure

High-throughput, quantitative analyses of genetic interactions in E. coli.

Large-scale genetic interaction studies provide the basis for defining gene function and pathway architecture. Recent advances in the ability to generate double mutants en masse in Saccharomyces cerevisiae have dramatically accelerated the acquisition of genetic interaction information and the biological inferences that follow. Here we describe a method based on F factor-driven conjugation, which allows for high-throughput generation of double mutants in Escherichia coli. This method, termed genetic interaction analysis technology for E. coli (GIANT-coli), permits us to systematically generate and array double-mutant cells on solid media in high-density arrays. We show that colony size provides a robust and quantitative output of cellular fitness and that GIANT-coli can recapitulate known synthetic interactions and identify previously unidentified negative (synthetic sickness or lethality) and positive (suppressive or epistatic) relationships. Finally, we describe a complementary strategy for genome-wide suppressor-mutant identification. Together, these methods permit rapid, large-scale genetic interaction studies in E. coli

Using Cumulative Impact Mapping to Prioritize Marine Conservation Efforts in Equatorial Guinea

This is the final version. Available on open access from Frontiers Media via the DOI in this recordData Availability Statement Ensemble ecological niche models (EENMs) and threat maps (anthropogenic footprint, cumulative impact, and cumulative utilization and impact) for each species (Atlantic humpback dolphin Sousa teuszii; bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus; humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae; leatherback Dermochelys coriacea; and olive ridley sea turtle Lepidochelys olivacea) are available from the Dryad Digital Repository doi: 10.5061/dryad.v6wwpzgr9 (Trew et al., 2019).Marine biodiversity is under extreme pressure from anthropogenic activity globally, leading to calls to protect at least 10% of the world’s oceans within marine protected areas (MPAs) and other effective area-based conservation measures. Fulfilling such commitments, however, requires a detailed understanding of the distribution of potentially detrimental human activities, and their predicted impacts. One such approach that is being increasingly used to strengthen our understanding of human impacts is cumulative impact mapping; as it can help identify economic sectors with the greatest potential impact on species and ecosystems in order to prioritize conservation management strategies, providing clear direction for intervention. In this paper, we present the first local cumulative utilization impact mapping exercise for the Bioko-Corisco-Continental area of Equatorial Guinea’s Exclusive Economic Zone – situated in the Gulf of Guinea, one of the most important and least studied marine regions in the Eastern Central Atlantic. This study examines the potential impact of ten direct anthropogenic activities on a suite of key marine megafauna species and reveals that the most suitable habitats for these species, located on the continental shelf, are subject to the highest threat scores. However, in some coastal areas, the persistence of highly suitable habitat subject to lower threat scores suggests that there are still several strategic areas that are less impacted by human activity that may be suitable sites for protected area expansion. Highlighting both the areas with potentially the highest impact, and those with lower impact levels, as well as particularly damaging activities can inform the direction of future conservation initiatives in the region.Waitt FoundationWildlife Conservation SocietyDarwin InitiativeDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)Waterloo FoundationNatural Environment Research Council (NERC)Marine Turtle Conservation Fund (United States Fish and Wildlife Service, United States Department of the Interior)Vaalco EnergyHarvest Natural ResourcesSea World and Busch Gardens Conservation FundTullow OilOld Dominion UniversityWWFWildlife Conservation SocietyUniversity of Exete

Collaboration between home care staff, leaders and care partners of older people with mental health problems: A focus on personhood

Aim: To explore home care staff and leaders’ experiences of collaborating with care partners of older people with mental health problems through a personhood perspective.Background: Collaboration with care partners is a political aim in recent white papers in Norway and internationally. Home care services regularly work closely with care partners, but there are many indications that the collaboration does not work satisfactorily.Methods: The study had a qualitative design and comprised eight health professionals in two focus groups and in-depth interviews with three leaders in one home care district. The data were analysed using a thematic framework analysis building on previous research on personhood. COREQ reporting guidelines were used to ensure comprehensive reporting.Results: Four themes were identified in the analysis: ‘Non-negotiated relationships’, Contradictory agendas’, ‘Weak paternalism’ and ‘Moral compromise’.Conclusion: There seems to be a lack of facilitation of collaborative relationships through all levels of the home care organisation. The interactions between care partners and home care staff sometimes appear to produce low or negative levels of emotional energy, and situations where the personhood of neither of them is respected occurs. Paying attention to the four modes of being as a framework for understanding personhood, creates the foundation for a person-centred approach that enhances the potential of creating stronger partnership in care relationships.https://doi.org/10.1111/scs.1271434pubpub

Threshold FlipThem:when the winner does not need to take all

We examine a FlipIt game in which there are multiple resources which a monolithic attacker is trying to compromise. This extension to FlipIt was considered in a paper in GameSec 2014, and was there called FlipThem. Our analysis of such a situation is focused on the situation where the attacker’s goal is to compromise a threshold of the resources. We use our game theoretic model to enable a defender to choose the correct configuration of resources (number of resources and the threshold) so as to ensure that it makes no sense for a rational adversary to try to attack the system. This selection is made on the basis of the relative costs of the attacker and the defender

Inclusive double-quarkonium production at the Large Hadron Collider

Based on the nonrelativistic QCD (NRQCD) factorization formalism, we investigate inclusive productions of two spin-triplet S-wave quarkonia pp->2J/psi+X, 2Upsilon+X, and J/psi+Upsilon+X at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The total production rates integrated over the rapidity (y) and transverse-momentum (p_T) ranges |y|<2.4 and p_T<50 GGeV are predicted to be sigma[pp->2J/psi+X] = 22 (35) nb, sigma[pp->2Upsilon+X] = 24 (49) pb, and sigma[pp->J/psi+Upsilon+X] = 7 (13) pb at the center-of-momentum energy sqrt{s} = 7 (14) TeV. In order to provide predictions that can be useful in both small- and large-p_T regions, we do not employ the fragmentation approximation and we include the spin-triplet S-wave color-singlet and color-octet channels for each quarkonium final state at leading order in the strong coupling. The p_T distributions of pp->2J/psi+X and 2Upsilon+X in the low-p_T region are dominated by the color-singlet contributions. At leading order in the strong coupling, the color-singlet channel is absent for pp->J/psi+Upsilon+X. Therefore, the process pp->J/psi+Upsilon+X may provide a useful probe to the color-octet mechanism of NRQCD.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables, version published in JHE

Libyan cochlear implant programme: achievements, difficulties, and future goals

Cochlear implantation has become established worldwide as a safe and effective method of auditory rehabilitation of selected severely and profound deaf children and adults. Over 100,000 patients have received cochlear implants worldwide with the paediatric population proving to be the main beneficiaries. The Libyan cochlear implant programme was set up in 2004. Data relating to the patients who received cochlear implantation at Tripoli Medical Centre between October 2007 and February 2010 were analysed. Implant operations were performed on 37 patients. All patients received Med-El SONATATI100 devices. Thirty-four (91.9%) of these patients were children, whilst three (8.1%) were adults. Combined, congenital hearing loss (56.8%) and perinatal/neonatal (29.7%) were the two main aetiological factors in children. Seventeen patients (45.9%) had a positive family history of deafness. Sixteen patients (43.2%) were born to blood-related parents. The overall rate of minor and major complications was 16.2%, which is comparable to previous studies

Undrained expansion of a cylindrical cavity in clays with fabric anisotropy: theoretical solution

This paper presents a novel, exact, semi-analytical solution for the quasi-static undrained expansion of a cylindrical cavity in soft soils with fabric anisotropy. This is the first theoretical solution of the undrained expansion of a cylindrical cavity under plane strain conditions for soft soils with anisotropic behaviour of plastic nature. The solution is rigorously developed in detail, introducing a new stress invariant to deal with the soil fabric. The semianalytical solution requires numerical evaluation of a system of six first-order ordinary differential equations. The results agree with finite element analyses and show the influence of anisotropic plastic behaviour. The effective stresses at critical state are constant, and they may be analytically related to the undrained shear strength. The initial vertical cross-anisotropy caused by soil deposition changes towards a radial cross-anisotropy after cavity expansion. The analysis of the stress paths shows that proper modelling of anisotropic plastic behaviour involves modelling not only the initial fabric anisotropy but also its evolution with plastic straining.The research was initiated as part of GEO-INSTALL (Modelling Installation Effects in Geotechnical Engineering, PIAP-GA-2009-230638) and CREEP (Creep of Geomaterials, PIAP-GA-2011-286397) projects supported by the European Community through the programme Marie Curie Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways (IAPP) under the 7th Framework Programme

Effects of tutor-related behaviours on the process of problem-based learning

Tutors in a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) curriculum are thought to play active roles in guiding students to develop frameworks for use in the construction of knowledge. This implies that both subject-matter expertise and the ability of tutors to facilitate the learning process must be important in helping students learn. This study examines the behavioural effects of tutors in terms of subject-matter expertise, social congruence and cognitive congruence on students’ learning process and on their final achievement. The extent of students’ learning at each PBL phase was estimated by tracking the number of relevant concepts recalled at the end of each learning phase, while student achievement was based on students’ ability to describe and elaborate upon the relationship between relevant concepts learned. By using Analysis of Covariance, social congruence of the tutor was found to have a significant influence on learning in each PBL phase while all of the tutor-related behaviours had a significant impact on student achievement. The results suggest that the ability of tutors to communicate informally with students and hence create a less threatening learning environment that promotes a free flow exchange of ideas, has a greater impact on learning at each of the PBL phases as compared to tutors’ subject-matter expertise and their ability to explain concepts in a way that is easily understood by students. The data presented indicates that these tutor-related behaviours are determinants of learning in a PBL curriculum, with social congruence having a greater influence on learning in the different PBL phases