Evolutionary responses of marine invertebrates to insular isolation in Galapagos

I examine the natural barriers to distribution and colonization that have shaped the Galapagos marine invertebrate biota. While diversity is high for some groups, such as hydroids and bryozoans, it is low for many others. Porcelain crabs and molluscs are examples with reduced or unbalanced representation in Galapagos, resulting from their dependency on dispersal of relatively short-lived planktonic larvae by ocean currents and on habitat limitations in Galapagos. Because Galapagos shorelines are predominantly rocky, without the wide expanses of silt typical of much of the Ecuadorian mainland that are favored by infaunal bivalves, gastropod diversity in Galapagos far exceeds that of bivalves. Nearly all hermatypic corals in Galapagos are members of the Panamic province; none is endemic to Galapagos. This suggests that colonization occurred by larval dispersal from there. The ahermatypic (azooxanthellate) coral fauna of Galapagos, with 43 species, is richer and more diverse than the hermatypic corals, with 29% of the shallow-water ahermatypes endemic and the remainder with Panamic, Indo-Pacific, and cosmopolitan affinities. The 73 verified species of Galapagos shallow-water echinoderms are dominated by Panamic species, with additional affinities to the Indo-Pacific and the California province; 8% are cosmopolitan and 8% endemic. With species richness roughly equivalent to that of Pacific Colombia, Galapagos echinoderm representation is not depauperate, but is sufficiently distinctive to characterize it as an isolated, insular biota. Hydroids and bryozoans, two groups with high diversity in Galapagos, accomplish long-distance transport mainly as adults on floating debris and hulls of ships, rather than by the free-swimming reproductive stage. Endemism among marine invertebrates averages 18.3 %, but varies widely among major taxa, from 0% for reef corals to 71% for gorgonians. Unlike the Galapagos terrestrial biota, in which endemic genera are common, the absence of endemic genera among marine invertebrates may be attributed to low isolation arising from greater dispersal and gene flow in the marine environment

Ultrabroad-bandwidth multifrequency Raman generation

We report on the modeling of transient stimulated rotational Raman scattering in H2 gas. We predict a multifrequency output, spanning a bandwidth greater than the pump frequency, that may be generated without any significant delay with respect to the pump pulses. The roles of dispersion and transiency are quantified

The Sabar Ways of Knowing:Sustainable ideas towards Educational Ecology

We engage with the significance of aesthetic experience as it is created and conferred in the everyday lives of everyday peoples, in this case, the indigenous Sabar tribes of Jharkhand, India. Through several months of fieldwork, we found that arts and aesthetic practices are integral to Sabar 'ways of knowing, being and doing'. We examine definitions, and identify limitations before introducing the social actors of the study. We illustrate how the arts empower 'voice' by enabling multimodal expressions and access to data that other methods may not elicit. This paper offers discussions on how aesthetic experiences and activities are essential means of being; furthermore, it highlights the relevance of everyday aesthetics for the development of sustainable educational systems and future citizenship

Bulletin No. 5: Estimating the number of heroin users in Australia

Estimating the prevalence of drug use is one of the key focal areas of alcohol and drug epidemiology. Estimation of the extent of alcohol and drug use in the Australian community has primarily been undertaken using surveys of the general population. Nevertheless, it is widely understood that prevalence estimates derived from general population surveys underestimate the true extent of drug use in the community for drugs of low use prevalence (e.g. heroin) because of issues around sampling (e.g. response rates and the extent to which crucial samples such as the homeless are missed in household surveys) and the truthfulness of responses to questions concerning illegal or hidden behaviours. In response, epidemiologists have applied specialised statistical techniques to the analysis of data sources on the extent of drug-related harm (e.g. Opioid overdose deaths) to produce estimates of the extent of problematic drug use in the Australian community. Prevalence estimation using secondary data sources has generally been undertaken only in relation to heroin use in Australia. This work has used a variety of techniques (e.g. capture-recapture, back-projection, multiplier) in accordance with a general consensus that has emerged around the application of such techniques to the estimation of problematic drug use. In applying these methods Australian work has developed multiple estimates using available statistical estimation tools with convergence among estimates used as the source of the most parsimonious estimate (e.g. the median of the estimates derived). While this approach is appealing, the resultant ‘best’ estimates are derived primarily from the application of simple mortality multipliers (e.g. 1% annual mortality rate for heroin users) to the number of opioid overdose deaths occurring in specific Australian jurisdictions (generally NSW). The problem of this multiplier approach is highlighted by the effect of the heroin shortage in Australia. The aim of this component of the DPMP was to develop plausible estimates of the prevalence of heroin use in Melbourne with a view to informing various elements of DPMP projects. The work was also designed to provide a method for estimating the extent of injecting drug use more widely (specifically through application to amphetamines). It was funded by a Travelling Scholarship from the Victorian Premier’s Drug Prevention Council awarded to Paul Dietze

Stochastic Multiscale Characterization of Short-Fiber Reinforced Composites

A framework for stochastic modelling and optimization of materials with engineered microstructures is presented. Numerical methods for solving problems with short-fiber inclusions are discussed. Addition of fiber reinforcement has been shown to improve the performance of various materials in a number of applications. The response of fiber reinforced concrete under tensile stress is dependent upon several properties, including fiber geometry, fiber material properties, fiber length, and orientation of the fibers with respect to the applied load. In a real-world system the distribution of the fibers may be random, with orientation angle and configuration varying locally. Stochastic multiscale methods enable the connection of the scales to analyze the effect of randomly distributed short-fiber inclusions on the global response of the system. Randomly generated characteristic volume elements (CVE) are analyzed using the extended finite element method (XFEM) to capture local material response without the need for a mesh that conforms to the material morphology, ideal for situations with arbitrary fiber distributions. The variation observed in statistically equivalent CVE models is quantified. Correlation is determined between FRC descriptor variables and the tensile response of the composite. It is demonstrated that machine learning can be used to predict composite material properties of FRC to a reasonable degree of accuracy using information about the material microstructur

A Decade Of Starspot Activity On The Eclipsing Short-Period RS Canum Venaticorum Star WY Cancri: 1988-1997

We present optical photometry of the short-period eclipsing RS CVn system WY Cancri for the years 1988–1997. For each light curve, we model the distortion waves in order to study the behavior of starspots in this system. After removing the spot effects f

Preliminary survey of zooxanthellate zoanthids (Cnidaria : Hexacorallia) of the Galapagos, and associated symbiotic dinoflagellates (Symbiodinium spp.)

Despite their presence in almost all marine ecosystems, the zoanthids (Cnidaria: Hexacorallia: Zoantharia) are poorly studied, in large part due to a lack of useful morphological identification characters. Recent research combining morphology with DNA markers has begun to shed new light on diversity and distribution of the order Zoantharia. Here, preliminary findings on the diversity and distribution of zooxanthellate zoanthid species from the genera Zoanthus and Palythoa are presented, documenting these genera in the Galapagos for the first time. A brief description of the species found is provided. Zoanthus and Palythoa appear to be limited in the Galapagos to rocky shores in warm shallow sublittoral and infralittoral waters (minimum temperature >18°C), isolated from the colder water that dominates much of the archipelago. Preliminary results from the internal transcribed spacer region of ribosomal DNA sequences of symbiotic dinoflagellates suggest that both Zoanthus and Palythoa spp. in the Galapagos possess only Symbiodinium clade C. Brief descriptions of the zooxanthellate zoanthid species found in the Galapagos are provided

The Regional Mall’s Persona Wish List: The Hedonist, the Influencer and the Local Champion

This study investigates three consumer archetypes (hedonist, influencer, and local champion) and their potential to influence mall revitalization. Results show that a belief in the importance of the mall leads to a more enjoyable shopping experience, a subsequent willingness to pay more for locally owned stores, a greater propensity to spend more at the mall, and to engage in positive word-of-mouth. Findings suggest that local champions and influencers are vital for bringing patrons back to shopping centers in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is argued that the mall and its tenants will benefit from co-marketing; the mall offering and promoting enjoyable settings and individual stores accentuating their unique experiences

Physicians' and nurses' perspectives on increased family reports of pain in dying hospitalized patients

Many indicators suggest that care of the dying in Oregon has been improving over the past decade. However, results from a recent study suggest that one aspect of care of the dying, pain management, may be worsening. In late 1997, family reports of moderate and severe pain in dying hospitalized patients increased from 33% to 57%. This occurred during a volatile time in the Oregon political climate associated with events surrounding a second vote on physician-assisted suicide. In order to better understand the observed increase better, a statewide sample of physicians and nurses was surveyed to obtain their opinions about factors that may have contributed to the increased family reports of moderate and severe pain in dying hospitalized patients. Seventy-nine percent of respondents endorsed two or more factors as partial explanations. These factors include an increase in family expectations about pain management (endorsed by 96%), decreased physician prescribing (endorsed by 66%), and reduced nurse administration of pain medication (endorsed by 59%). Physicians who thought reduced physician prescribing was a partial factor rated fears of the Board of Medical Examiners and the Drug Enforcement Administration as the most likely explanations for decreased prescribing. More research is needed to better understand family expectations for end-of-life care, fears of investigation, and pain medication practices