Long-term drivers of catch variability in south-eastern Australia's largest portunid fishery

Portunid crab fisheries are socially and economically valuable yet are characterised by high inter-annual variability. Competing hypotheses about factors contributing to this variability concern the environment, climate, and fisher behaviour. Here, we investigate variability in commercial catch, through a case study of the most heavily exploited estuary in southeastern Australia (Wallis Lake). Four main hypotheses were identified based on the broader portunid published literature: 1) Freshwater flow may cause poor recruitment due to increased offshore spawning and unfavourable dispersal of larvae, 2) Winter and spring harvesting may impact the following summer harvest by removing the spawning stock biomass (recruit overfishing); 3) Environmental factors including sea surface temperature and onshore winds may influence supply-side processes and recruitment success, contributing to catch fluctuations; and 4) Climatic indices such as the Inter Pacific Oscillation and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) may correlate with longer-term fluctuations in the fishery. We find evidence in support of hypotheses 2 and 4, with winter harvest negatively impacting the following January - April harvest and the PDO being positively correlated with January - April catch rates. Harvesting in June – November disproportionally impacts large females, and it may be possible to incorporate controls on winter fishing effort through co-management arrangements to achieve the best economic, environmental and social outcomes from the fishery. Such controls may lead to improved summer catch rates by protecting unspawned eggs during the winter months. The hypotheses explored here may provide insight in the variability observed in portunid fisheries around the world

Sports/energy drinks consumption among young athletes in Kano, Nigeria

Little is known about the prevalence and motives of sport drinks use among adolescents and young adult athletes who exercise on regular basis in most football and other games pitches. Therefore, the current study was performed to assess information regarding the use of sport drinks among 440 athletes (23.5±4.62 years of age) in Kano Nigeria. Data were collected using a selfadministered, structured and pretested  questionnaire. The results indicated that the frequency of sport drinks  consumption was higher among male athletes and in those who did not have breakfast on a regular basis, ever smoked cigarettes and drank alcoholic beverages compared with their female counterparts. Athletes who had ‘ever’ tried a sport drink were significantly higher (p<0.05) than those who had ‘never’ tasted the drink. Main reasons for using such drinks for regular users varied across the selected groups of athletes and included obtaining energy and boosting performance while doing sport. Most athletes claimed to be aware of the ingredients of sport drinks or their potential hazardous health effects, and that they could distinguish between sport and energy drinks. This study discovered that energy drinks were consumed by the athletes rather than sport drinks and that sport drinks are still alien to the study community as they are not commonly available in the market. This stands in strong contrast to the assumption that  athletes consumed sport drinks. Therefore, increased awareness among the athletes of the discrepancies, ingredients and potential health hazards of both sport and energy drinks should be sustained.Keywords: Sport drinks, consumption, adolescents, young adults, athlete

Vertically Resolved Pelagic Particle Biomass and Size Structure Across a Continental Shelf Under the Influence of a Western Boundary Current

Continental shelves are key to societal interactions with the oceans, supporting >90% of the world's fisheries through highly productive ecosystems. Previous research has shown that phytoplankton biomass is generally higher on the inner continental shelves, often due to increased nutrient inputs from upwelling or coastal run-off. However, consistency in observed vertical and horizontal gradients (in abundance, biomass or size) of larger particulates, including zooplankton, on continental shelves has not been established. Using an optical plankton counter and CTD mounted on an undulating towed body, we present high-resolution vertically resolved profiles of pelagic particle size structure across a continental shelf. Biomass was highest inshore, declining with distance from shore and with depth in the top 100 m of the water column, although the presence of frontal zones can alter this pattern. In the region adjacent to the East Australian Current (EAC), uplift generated by either the EAC interacting with the continental slope or upwelling-favorable winds, correlated with smaller geometric mean sizes and steeper size spectrum slopes, particularly in the presence of frontal features. South of the EAC separation, the continental shelf water mass was more homogenous but still displayed the same horizontal and vertical patterns in particulate biomass and mean size. By combining our observations in a global comparison, we demonstrate consistent particulate distributions on continental shelves where the inner shelf has higher biomass with a steeper size spectrum slope compared to offshore. The highly productive inner shelf supports zooplankton communities vital to temperate ecosystems and coastal fisheries, through their consistently high biomass

Evaluating estuarine nursery use and life history patterns of Pomatomus saltatrix in eastern Australia

Estuaries provide important nursery habitats for juvenile fish, but many species move between estuarine and coastal habitats throughout their life. We used otolith chemistry to evaluate the use of estuaries and the coastal marine environment by juvenile Pomatomus saltatrix in eastern Australia. Otolith chemical signatures of juveniles from 12 estuaries, spanning 10° of latitude, were characterised using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Based upon multivariate otolith elemental signatures, fish collected from most estuaries could not be successfully discriminated from one another. This was attributed to the varying influence of marine water on otolith elemental composition in fish from all estuaries. Using a reduced number of estuarine groups, the multivariate juvenile otolith elemental signatures and univariate Sr:Ca ratio suggest that between 24 and 52% of adult P. saltatrix had a juvenile period influenced by the marine environment. Elemental profiles across adult (age-1) otoliths highlighted a variety of life history patterns, not all consistent with a juvenile estuarine phase. Furthermore, the presence of age-0 juveniles in coastal waters was confirmed from historical length-frequency data from coastal trawls. Combining multiple lines of evidence suggests considerable plasticity in juvenile life history for P. saltatrix in eastern Australia through their utilisation of both estuarine and coastal nurseries. Knowledge of juvenile life history is important for the management of coastal species of commercial and recreational importance such as P. saltatrix.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Entrainment and development of larval fish assemblages in two contrasting cold core eddies of the East Australian Current system

Cyclonic eddies are diverse in their size, age, upwelling and behaviour, which has significant implications for fisheries production and connectivity when they interact with the continental shelf. To ascertain coastal entrainment by eddies, we compared the larval fish community of 2 contrasting cyclonic eddies in 3 depth strata (0-5, 5-50, 50-100 m), and with the adjacent shelf community. The frontal cyclonic eddy was smaller and younger than the mesoscale cyclonic eddy. A larval fish entrainment index, based on the ratio of coastal to oceanic taxa, revealed the relative abundance of coastal larvae entrained into the upper mixed layer of the frontal eddy, consistent with published numerical modelling studies of similar eddies. The frontal eddy had a high abundance of commercially important coastal taxa entrained from the inner shelf. However, the adjacent inner shelf water and putative location for frontal eddy formation had recently been displaced by the East Australian Current, resulting in the larval fish community being dominated by oceanic taxa. The spatial and temporal dynamics of coastal entrainment into the larger, older cyclonic eddy and the adjacent shelf region were revealed by mixtures of coastal and oceanic taxa in each of the depth strata. The larger cyclonic eddy had a higher biomass of zooplankton, indicating the cumulative effects of eddy age and production. Eddies which interact with the shelf en able cross-shelf mixing and may contribute to coastal fisheries

Low-fidelity fabrication: Speeding up design iteration of 3D objects

Low-fidelity fabrication systems speed up rapid prototyping by printing intermediate versions of a prototype as fast, low-fidelity previews. Only the final version is fabricated as a full high-fidelity 3D print. This allows designers to iterate more quickly-achieving a better design in less time. Depending on what is currently being tested, low-fidelity fabrication is implemented in different ways: (1) faBrickator allows for a modular approach by substituting sub-volumes of the 3D model with building blocks. (2) WirePrint allows for quickly testing the shape of an object, such as the ergonomic fit, by printing wireframe structures. (3) Platener preserves the technical function by substituting 3D print with laser-cut plates of the same size and thickness. At our CHI'15 interactivity booth, we give a combined live demo of all three low-fidelity fabrication systems- putting special focus on our new low-fidelity fabrication system Platener (paper at CHI'15)

Hardness characterisation of grey cast iron and its tribological performance in a contact lubricated with soybean oil

The effect of hardness of grey cast iron flat specimen on its wear and friction on the contact were characterised with the presence of vegetable oil as biolubricant. Prior to the tribological test, the as - received grey cast iron flat specimen hardness was characterised. Friction and wear tests were then conducted using a ball - on - flat reciprocating sliding contact. The one - way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the significance of friction and wear data with a 95% significance level. The wear scars after the test were then characterised by surface roughness and wear mechanism. The microstructure and elemental analysis we re also reported. The average value of hardness was 210 HV with a large difference between minimum (185 HV) and maximum (250 HV) values. The friction and wear performance of grey cast iron specimens with soybean oil varied with its hardness. The specimens with higher hardness gave lower friction coefficient and greater wear resistance than the lower hardness specimens. The difference in coefficient of friction produced between high hardness specimens (COF = 0.122) and low hardness specimens (COF = 0.140) wa s 17%. In terms of mass loss, the low hardness 2 specimens (mass loss = 50.38 mg) and the high hardness specimens (mass loss = 12.90 mg) produced a difference of 74%. It is shown that, with soybean oil lubricant, the grey cast iron specimen can produce wide range of tribological data especially on mass loss due to its hardness distribution. The influence of soybean oil lubrication in this work is less in improving the wear resistance (about 7%), but greater for friction reduction (about 24%) compared to an un lubricated grey cast iron surface. The hardness of grey cast iron specimen is an important parameter that needs to be specifically measured and controlled on the contact due to wide hardness distribution of grey cast iron may produce variation in tribologi cal data

Room temperature chiral magnetic skyrmion in ultrathin magnetic nanostructures

Magnetic skyrmions are chiral spin structures with a whirling configuration. Their topological properties, nanometer size and the fact that they can be moved by small current densities have opened a new paradigm for the manipulation of magnetisation at the nanoscale. To date, chiral skyrmion structures have been experimentally demonstrated only in bulk materials and in epitaxial ultrathin films and under external magnetic field or at low temperature. Here, we report on the observation of stable skyrmions in sputtered ultrathin Pt/Co/MgO nanostructures, at room temperature and zero applied magnetic field. We use high lateral resolution X-ray magnetic circular dichroism microscopy to image their chiral N\'eel internal structure which we explain as due to the large strength of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction as revealed by spin wave spectroscopy measurements. Our results are substantiated by micromagnetic simulations and numerical models, which allow the identification of the physical mechanisms governing the size and stability of the skyrmions.Comment: Submitted version. Extended version to appear in Nature Nanotechnolog

Endometrial cells sense and react to tissue damage during infection of the bovine endometrium via interleukin 1

Cells generate inflammatory responses to bacteria when pattern recognition receptors bind pathogen-associated molecules such as lipopolysaccharide. Cells may also respond to tissue damage by sensing damage-associated molecules. Postpartum bacterial infections of the bovine uterus cause endometritis but the risk of disease is increased by tissue trauma triggered by dystocia. Animals that suffered dystocia had increased concentrations of inflammatory mediators IL-8, IL-1β and IL-1α in vaginal mucus 3 weeks postpartum, but they also had more bacteria than normal animals. Ex vivo organ cultures of endometrium, endometrial cells and peripheral blood monocytes did not generate inflammatory responses to prototypical damage molecules, HMGB1 or hyaluronan, or to necrotic cells; although they secreted IL-6 and IL-8 in a concentration-dependent manner when treated with IL-1α. However, necrotic endometrial cells did not accumulate intracellular IL-1α or release IL-1α, except when pre-treated with lipopolysaccharide or bacteria. Endometrial cell inflammatory responses to IL-1α were dependent on the cognate receptor IL-1R1, and the receptor adaptor protein MyD88, and the inflammatory response to IL-1α was independent of the response to lipopolysaccharide. Rather than a typical damage-associated molecule, IL-1α acts to scale the inflammatory response in recognition that there is a combination of pathogen challenge followed by endometrial cell damage