Comparative Analysis of Sea Scallop Escapement/Retention and Resulting Economic Impacts

During the months of June and September 1988, gear experiments were conducted aboard the F/V Carolina Dawn and Carolina Capes. The primary objective of the experiments was to assess the technical efficiency and size selectivity of 3.5-inch ring dredges relative to the current commercially-used 3.0-inch ring dredges. Secondary objectives were to analyze the economic and regulatory ramifications of using 3.5-inch ring dredges to control the age-at-capture and enhance the yield-per- recruit

Transport in the static diffusion cloud chamber revisited

The static diffusion chamber (SDC) allows the measurement of critical supersaturation and of nucleation rates and it is a powerful instrument for the vapor nucleation study. Earlier, within the scope of the International Nucleation Workshop Group, nucleation rates of the n-pentanol–helium system have been measured using different experimental techniques. Disagreement of experimental data obtained using the static diffusion chamber and data obtained using other methods, particularly the laminar flow diffusion chamber, can be explained by re-examining the mass and energy transport analysis used to describe static diffusion chamber operation. In the present research we describe the mass and energy transport in the SDC modeled as an effectively open system with mass and energy transport in one direction with a nonzero diffusion flux at the system boundaries. Calculated values for vapor supersaturation are compared with the n-pentanol nucleation rate experimental results of the American–Czech group [M. Rudek, J. L. Katz, I. Y. Vidensky et al., J. Chem. Phys. 111, 3623 (1999)] and with a nucleation rate Reference Equation obtained from an earlier investigation involving the n-pentanol–helium system. From our results one can see that there is a significant difference in the calculated supersaturation for all of the data. The magnitude of this difference is quite large even for the relatively small vapor mass fractions at a nucleation temperature of 260 K. We also note that the calculated nucleation temperatures from our analysis are slightly larger than those reported in the work of Rudek et al.4 We performed our calculations with and without the thermal diffusion term. We observed that the effect of thermal diffusion on the transport process is relativelly small and is not particularly essential to include in this comparison that we are making the effects of the different flux boundary conditions

Dynamics of forest cover conversion in and around Bwindi impenetrable forest, Southwestern Uganda

Forest cover has been converted to agricultural land use in and around the protected areas of Uganda. The objectives of this study were; to examine the dynamics of forest cover change in and around Bwindi impenetrable forest between 1973 and 2010 and to identify the drivers of forest cover change. The trend in forest cover change was assessed by analyzing a series of orthorectified landsat imageries of 1973, 1987 and 2001 using unsupervised and supervised classification. Land use/cover map for 2010 was reconstructed by analyzing 2001 image, validated and/or reconstructed by ground truthing, use of secondary data and key informant interviews. A series of focused group discussions and key informant interviews were also used to identify drivers of land use/cover change. Policies and institutional arrangements that could have affected forest cover change for the studied time period were also identified. Results showed that protected forest and woodlot in unprotected area had declined by 7.8% and 70.7% respectively as small scale farming and tea plantations had increased by 13.9% and 78.3% respectively between 1973 and 2010. The conversions were attributed to land use pressure due to population growth, change in socio-economic conditions and institutional arrangements. The severe loss of woodlot outside the protected area not only poses a potential threat to the protected forest but also calls for intervention measures if efforts to mitigate climate change impacts are to be realized

Benzene at 1GHz. Magnetic field-induced fine structure

The deuterium NMR spectrum of benzene-d6 in a high field spectrometer (1 GHz protons) exhibits a magnetic field-induced deuterium quadrupolar splitting ??. The magnitude of ?? observed for the central resonance is smaller than that observed for the 13C satellite doublets ???. This difference, ?(??) = ??? ? ??, is due to unresolved fine structure contributions to the respective resonances. We determine the origins of and simulate this difference, and report pulse sequences that exploit the connectivity of the peaks in the 13C and 2H spectra to determine the relative signs of the indirect coupling, JCD, and ??. The positive sign found for ?? is consonant with the magnetic field biasing of an isolated benzene molecule—the magnetic energy of the aromatic ring is lowest for configurations where the C6 axis is normal to the field. In the neat liquid the magnitude of ?? is decreased by the pair correlations in this prototypical molecular liquid

Evidence of Limited Recruitment of Pallid Sturgeon in the Lower Missouri River

Pallid Sturgeon Scaphirhynchus albus are endemic to the Missouri and Mississippi river basins and are rare throughout their range. The species was listed as federally endangered with little to no evidence of natural recruitment. Since population augmentation was initiated as a recovery objective in the early 1990s, thousands of hatchery-origin Pallid Sturgeon have been stocked in the lower Missouri River (Gavins Point Dam [river kilometer 1,305.1] to the confluence of the Mississippi River [river kilometer 0.0]). Efforts to discriminate natural reproduction and recruitment of wild-origin Pallid Sturgeon from hatchery-origin fish has been hampered by tag loss in hatchery-origin sturgeon, inconsistent documentation of hatchery parental crosses, and the failure to collect tissue samples for genotyping all broodstock. However, the recent reconstruction of missing parental genotypes from known hatchery-origin progeny and from cryopreserved milt made it possible to examine Pallid Sturgeon recruitment. Therefore, our objectives were to 1) determine the likelihood that unmarked Pallid Sturgeon captured from the lower Missouri River were the result of natural recruitment and 2) examine the length distribution of wild- and hatchery-origin fish to determine if a difference exists by origin and examine the life-stage distribution. Genetic analysis showed that from 2003 to 2015, 358 ‘‘presumptive wild-origin’’ Pallid Sturgeon were captured in the lower Missouri River and the comparison between the length distributions of wild- and hatchery-origin fish did not provide any additional clarification into potential wildorigin fish. Low recruitment may be due to a small breeding population, high mortality of early life stages, hybridization with Shovelnose Sturgeon Scaphirhynchus platorynchus, or transport of drifting free embryos or larvae into inhospitable habitats. Determining what factors are limiting recruitment is the important next step for the recovery of Pallid Sturgeon in the lower Missouri River

Dynamics of forest cover conversion in and around Bwindi impenetrable forest, Southwestern Uganda

Forest cover has been converted to agricultural land use in and around the protected areas of Uganda. The objectives of this study were; to examine the dynamics of forest cover change in and around Bwindi impenetrable forest between 1973 and 2010 and to identify the drivers of forest cover change. The trend in forest cover change was assessed by analyzing a series of orthorectified landsat imageries of 1973, 1987 and 2001 using unsupervised and supervised classification. Land use/cover map for 2010 was reconstructed by analyzing 2001 image, validated and/or reconstructed by ground truthing, use of secondary data and key informant interviews. A series of focused group discussions and key informant interviews were also used to identify drivers of land use/cover change. Policies and institutional arrangements that could have affected forest cover change for the studied time period were also identified. Results showed that protected forest and woodlot in unprotected area had declined by 7.8% and 70.7% respectively as small scale farming and tea plantations had increased by 13.9% and 78.3% respectively between 1973 and 2010. The conversions were attributed to land use pressure due to population growth, change in socio-economic conditions and institutional arrangements. The severe loss of woodlot outside the protected area not only poses a potential threat to the protected forest but also calls for intervention measures if efforts to mitigate climate change impacts are to be realized

Genetic Heterogeneity in a Cyclical Forest Pest, the Southern Pine Beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis, is Differentiated Into East and West Groups in the Southeastern United States

The southern pine beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmerman (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is an economically important pest species throughout the southeastern United States, Arizona, Mexico, and Central America. Previous research identified population structure among widely distant locations, yet failed to detect population structure among national forests in the state of Mississippi. This study uses microsatellite variation throughout the southeastern United States to compare the southern pine beetle's pattern of population structure to phylogeographic patterns in the region, and to provide information about dispersal. Bayesian clustering identified east and west genetic groups spanning multiple states. The east group had lower heterozygosity, possibly indicating greater habitat fragmentation or a more recent colonization. Significant genetic differentiation (θST = 0.01, p < 0.0001) followed an isolation-by-distance pattern (r = 0.39, p < 0.001) among samples, and a hierarchical AMOVA indicated slightly more differentiation occurred between multi-state groups. The observed population structure matches a previously identified phylogeographic pattern, division of groups along the Appalachian Mountain/Apalachicola River axis. Our results indicate that the species likely occurs as a large, stable metapopulation with considerable gene flow among subpopulations. Also, the relatively low magnitude of genetic differentiation among samples suggests that southern pine beetles may respond similarly to management across their range

A Phase 1b Study of Telisotuzumab Vedotin in Combination With Nivolumab in Patients With NSCLC

Introduction: Telisotuzumab vedotin (Teliso-V) is an anti-c-Met-directed antibody-drug conjugate that has exhibited antitumor activity as monotherapy in NSCLC. Its potential activity combined with programmed cell death protein-1 inhibitors has not been previously evaluated. Methods: In a phase 1b study (NCT02099058), adult patients (≥18 y) with advanced NSCLC received combination therapy with Teliso-V (1.6, 1.9, or 2.2 mg/kg, every 2 wk) plus nivolumab (3 mg/kg, 240 mg, or per locally approved label). The primary objective was to assess safety and tolerability; secondary objectives included the evaluation of antitumor activity. Results: As of January 2020, a total of 37 patients received treatment with Teliso-V (safety population) in combination with nivolumab; 27 patients (efficacy population) were c-Met immunohistochemistry-positive. Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) status was evaluated in the efficacy population (PD-L1-positive [PD-L1+]: n = 15; PD-L1-negative [PD-L1-]: n = 9; PD-L1-unknown: n = 3). The median age was 67 years and 74% (20 of 27) of patients were naive to immune checkpoint inhibitors. The most common any-grade treatment-related adverse events were fatigue (27%) and peripheral sensory neuropathy (19%). The pharmacokinetic profile of Teliso-V plus nivolumab was similar to Teliso-V monotherapy. The objective response rate was 7.4%, with two patients (PD-L1+, c-Met immunohistochemistry H-score 190, n = 1; PD-L1-, c-Met H-score 290, n = 1) having a confirmed partial response. Overall median progression-free survival was 7.2 months (PD-L1+: 7.2 mo; PD-L1-: 4.5 mo; PD-L1-unknown: not reached). Conclusions: Combination therapy with Teliso-V plus nivolumab was well tolerated in patients with c-Met+ NSCLC with limited antitumor activity