The biology and ecology of epinephilidae speciea and their implications to fisheries management

This thesis examines the biological and ecological aspects of members of the globally exploited Epinephilidae with reference to fisheries management and in particular the use of closures. The leopard coralgrouper Plectropomus leopardus is a common reef fish throughout the Indo-Pacific region and a major target of both commercial and recreational fisheries. There has been limited research on this species in the eastern Indian Ocean, where there are only two populations. An examination of the species found a number of significant biological differences to their eastern Australian con-specifics. Most noticeable was the strong size-related cue over their protogynous sex change. The lack of the typical social mechanisms regulating sex change for this family ultimately resulted on a spatially explicit pattern in spawning omission. After an assessment of a number of anthropogenic and environmental parameters, fishing pressure was found to be the likely cause behind spawning omission. Spawning was restricted to areas where fishing pressure was light (i.e. within protected areas), and fish were able to attain a size where they could become male. The strong link between spawning sites and males, coupled with historical samples of spawning fish at locations where current extensive sampling revealed none, re-affirms the hypothesis of fishing pressure causing spawning omission. Histology, underwater visual census and acoustic tracking were used to determine the spawning aggregation dynamics of leopard coralgrouper at some of these spawning sites. Results yielded interesting differences from the GBR population and a number of other epinephelids. At the Abrolhos Islands, spawning was not limited to the new moon, but also encompassed the full moon, with a distinct difference between male and female attendances at aggregation sites. Females only attended aggregations during these lunar phases, while males moved to the aggregations almost daily during the spawning season. The formation of aggregations in the morning and their cessation by the afternoon provided a major departure from almost all other examples of spawning aggregations in Epinephelidae, which are considered to undertake a dusk spawning. Acoustic telemetry of leopard coralgrouper at the Abrolhos Islands indicated the species is generally sedentary, which is consistent with the suite of epinephelids that were tracked at Ningaloo Reef. Twenty fish from six species of Epinephelidae were tracked for up to two years revealing highly sedentary, habitat attached movement patterns. There was limited movement between habitats, with channels bisecting the reef slope, providing a natural barrier to fish movement. The findings of the thesis are all discussed with reference to fisheries management and in particular spatial and temporal closures. They all provide evidence toward a common finding that management measures must take into account local species-specific biological and ecological characteristics

State Trends in Premiums and Deductibles, 2003-2009: How Building on the Affordable Care Act Will Help Stem the Tide of Rising Costs and Eroding Benefits

Examines 2003-09 state trends in family coverage premiums and deductibles for private employers. Looks at projected savings on premiums if the 2010 healthcare reform succeeds in slowing growth by 1 percentage point annually and weighs policy implications

Physicochemical properties of nanostructured lipid carriers as colloidal carrier system stabilized with polysorbate 20 and polysorbate 80

Nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC), a colloidal carrier system offer many advantages as drug carrier. Incorporation of liquid lipid can improve the loading capacity of drugs in the NLCs. The NLC20 and NLC80 were produced by high-pressure homogenization technique, stabilized with polysorbate 20 and polysorbate 80, respectively. Transmission electron microscopy showed that these NLCs were spherical. Photon correlation spectroscopy showed that the average size of NLC80 and NLC20 were102.8 ± 0.1 and 261.63 ± 8.56 nm, respectively, and their zeta potentials were -23.93 ± 0.75 and -30.57 ±0.06 mV, respectively. The results suggest that NLC80 is a more stable formulation. X-ray diffractometryand differential scanning calorimetry showed that NCLs were less crystalline than the bulk lipid. The melting point depression of NLC80 was 5.71°C below bulk lipid’s melting point (61.56°C), while NLC20 exhibited two melting points at 54.80 and 59.10°C. These findings suggest that polysorbate 80 was a better dispersing agent for NLC than polysorbate 20. The physicochemistry properties of the NLCs are greatly influenced by the type of surfactant used. The small size and superior particle surface to volume ratio would increase loading efficiency and bioavailability of drugs, thus making NLC a promising drug delivery system.Key words: Nanostructured lipid carriers, colloidal delivery system,   polysorbate 80, polysorbate 20, highpressure homogenization,   physicochemical properties

Planning Data for Small Scale Commercial Vegetable and Strawberry Production in New York

A.E. Res. 81-2

Money and Goldstone modes

Why is ``worthless'' fiat money generally accepted as payment for goods and services? In equilibrium theory, the value of money is generally not determined: the number of equations is one less than the number of unknowns, so only relative prices are determined. In the language of mathematics, the equations are ``homogeneous of order one''. Using the language of physics, this represents a continuous ``Goldstone'' symmetry. However, the continuous symmetry is often broken by the dynamics of the system, thus fixing the value of the otherwise undetermined variable. In economics, the value of money is a strategic variable which each agent must determine at each transaction by estimating the effect of future interactions with other agents. This idea is illustrated by a simple network model of monopolistic vendors and buyers, with bounded rationality. We submit that dynamical, spontaneous symmetry breaking is the fundamental principle for fixing the value of money. Perhaps the continuous symmetry representing the lack of restoring force is also the fundamental reason for large fluctuations in stock markets.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Robust control design with real parameter uncertainty using absolute stability theory

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate an extension of mu theory for robust control design by considering systems with linear and nonlinear real parameter uncertainties. In the process, explicit connections are made between mixed mu and absolute stability theory. In particular, it is shown that the upper bounds for mixed mu are a generalization of results from absolute stability theory. Both state space and frequency domain criteria are developed for several nonlinearities and stability multipliers using the wealth of literature on absolute stability theory and the concepts of supply rates and storage functions. The state space conditions are expressed in terms of Riccati equations and parameter-dependent Lyapunov functions. For controller synthesis, these stability conditions are used to form an overbound of the H2 performance objective. A geometric interpretation of the equivalent frequency domain criteria in terms of off-axis circles clarifies the important role of the multiplier and shows that both the magnitude and phase of the uncertainty are considered. A numerical algorithm is developed to design robust controllers that minimize the bound on an H2 cost functional and satisfy an analysis test based on the Popov stability multiplier. The controller and multiplier coefficients are optimized simultaneously, which avoids the iteration and curve-fitting procedures required by the D-K procedure of mu synthesis. Several benchmark problems and experiments on the Middeck Active Control Experiment at M.I.T. demonstrate that these controllers achieve good robust performance and guaranteed stability bounds

A Transdisciplinary Approach to Construct Search and Integration

Human behaviors play a leading role in many critical areas including the adoption of information systems, prevention of many diseases, and educational achievement. There has been explosive growth of research in the behavioral sciences during the past decade. Behavioral science researchers are now recognizing that due to this ever expanding volume of research it is impossible to find and incorporate all appropriate inter-related disciplinary knowledge. Unfortunately, due to inconsistent language and construct proliferation across disciplines, this excellent but disconnected research has not been utilized fully or effectively to address problems of human health or other areas. This paper introduces a newly developed, cutting edge technology, the Inter-Nomological Network (INN) which for the first time provides an integrating tool to behavioral scientists so they may effectively build upon prior research. We expect INN to provide the first step in moving the behavioral sciences into an era of integrated science. INN is based on Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA), a theory of language use with associated automatic computerized text analysis capabilities

PyTrx : a python-based monoscopic terrestrial photogrammetry toolset for glaciology

This work was affiliated with the CRIOS project (Calving Rates and Impact On Sea Level), which was supported by the Conoco Phillips-Lundin Northern Area Program. PH was funded by a NERC Ph.D. studentship (reference number 1396698).Terrestrial time-lapse photogrammetry is a rapidly growing method for deriving measurements from glacial environments because it provides high spatio-temporal resolution records of change. Currently, however, the potential usefulness of time-lapse data is limited by the unavailability of user-friendly photogrammetry toolsets. Such data are used primarily to calculate ice flow velocities or to serve as qualitative records. PyTrx (available at https://github.com/PennyHow/PyTrx) is presented here as a Python-alternative toolset to widen the range of monoscopic photogrammetry (i.e., from a single viewpoint) toolsets on offer to the glaciology community. The toolset holds core photogrammetric functions for template generation, feature-tracking, camea calibration and optimization, image registration, and georectification (using a planar projective transformation model). In addition, PyTrx facilitates areal and line measurements, which can be detected from imagery using either an automated or manual approach. Examples of PyTrx's applications are demonstrated using time-lapse imagery from Kronebreen and Tunabreen, two tidewater glaciers in Svalbard. Products from these applications include ice flow velocities, surface areas of supraglacial lakes and meltwater plumes, and glacier terminus profiles.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe