One Last Chance: The Economic Case for a New Approach to Fisheries Management in New England

Documents the decline of the New England fishing industry as a result of mismanagement, presents examples of successful and sustainable fisheries, and examines the viability of proposed community-based, fishermen-run cooperatives as a solution

The social sciences and humanities in scientific and technical education

Issued as Progress report and Final report, Project no. G-43-502 (includes subprojects E-20-548; E-25-531; G-34-511; G-36-515; M-50-516; E-21-524; and D-48-519

Civil Engineering/ Graduate Students/ Johnston & Jeffryes/ University of Minnesota/ 2012

From the University of Minnesota, this case study describes the seven modules that comprise their data information literacy program for students in Civil Engineering. The modules include: data management, organization and documentation, data access and ownership, data sharing and re-use, and preservation. Materials include a book chapter describing the case study, the syllabus for the program, a template for developing a data management plan and the evaluation forms that were used

Do possible worlds compromise God’s beauty? A reply to Mark Ian Thomas Robson

In a recent article Mark Ian Thomas Robson argues that there is a clear contradiction between the view that possible worlds are a part of God's nature and the theologically pivotal, but philosophically neglected, claim that God is perfectly beautiful. In this article I show that Robson's argument depends on several key assumptions that he fails to justify and as such that there is reason to doubt the soundness of his argument. I also demonstrate that if Robson's argument were sound then this would be a problem for all classical theists and not just those who hold the possible worlds view

National Indigenous Palliative Care Needs Study

This study involved extensive consultation with the community to identify the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in palliative care

Broadband Records of Earthquakes in Deep Gold Mines and a Comparison with Results from SAFOD, California

For one week during September 2007, we deployed a temporary network of field recorders and accelerometers at four sites within two deep, seismically active mines. The ground-motion data, recorded at 200 samples/sec, are well suited to determining source and ground-motion parameters for the mining-induced earthquakes within and adjacent to our network. Four earthquakes with magnitudes close to 2 were recorded with high signal/noise at all four sites. Analysis of seismic moments and peak velocities, in conjunction with the results of laboratory stick-slip friction experiments, were used to estimate source processes that are key to understanding source physics and to assessing underground seismic hazard. The maximum displacements on the rupture surfaces can be estimated from the parameter Rv, where v is the peak ground velocity at a given recording site, and R is the hypocentral distance. For each earthquake, the maximum slip and seismic moment can be combined with results from laboratory friction experiments to estimate the maximum slip rate within the rupture zone. Analysis of the four M 2 earthquakes recorded during our deployment and one of special interest recorded by the in-mine seismic network in 2004 revealed maximum slips ranging from 4 to 27 mm and maximum slip rates from 1.1 to 6:3 m=sec. Applying the same analyses to an M 2.1 earthquake within a cluster of repeating earthquakes near the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth site, California, yielded similar results for maximum slip and slip rate, 14 mm and 4:0 m=sec

How effective is public health policy in Scotland on vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy?

Objective:To evaluate the uptake of universal vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy, its effectiveness in preventing vitamin D deficiency and the factors associated with these.Design:The regional public health organisation in Ayrshire, Scotland has a policy of universal provision of vitamin D supplements (10 µg/d) to all pregnant women for the duration of their pregnancy. Pregnant women in this area were recruited at their 12-week antenatal appointment. Blood samples were collected at the 12-week and 34-week appointments. To account for the seasonal variation, women were recruited in two cohorts: summer and winter. Telephone interviews were conducted at 34 weeks to assess the uptake of vitamin D supplements during pregnancy. Other variables were obtained from medical records.Setting:The study was conducted in the NHS Ayrshire and Arran Health Board in Scotland.Participants:612 pregnant women (aged 15–44 years) living in Ayrshire (latitude 55°), Scotland.Results:Sixty-six percentage took supplementation as recommended. Consumption of supplementation was significantly associated with a higher median serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations at 34 weeks. Despite this at 34 weeks, 33 % of the summer cohort had insufficient or deficient vitamin D status, while 15 % of the winter cohort had insufficient or deficient status. In multivariable analysis, only adherence and season were independent predictors of vitamin D status.Conclusions:While supplementation improved and maintained vitamin D status during pregnancy, it was not adequate to ensure all those insufficient at 12 weeks achieved sufficient status at the end of pregnancy.</div

A polygenic basis for birth weight in a wild population of red deer ( Cervus elaphus )

The genetic architecture of traits under selection has important consequences for the response to selection and potentially for population viability. Early QTL mapping studies in wild populations have reported loci with large effect on trait variation. However, these results are contradicted by more recent genome-wide association analyses, which strongly support the idea that most quantitative traits have a polygenic basis. This study aims to re-evaluate the genetic architecture of a key morphological trait, birth weight, in a wild population of red deer (Cervus elaphus), using genomic approaches. A previous study using 93 microsatellite and allozyme markers and linkage mapping on a kindred of 364 deer detected a pronounced QTL on chromosome 21 explaining 29% of the variance in birth weight, suggesting that this trait is partly controlled by genes with large effects. Here, we used data for more than 2,300 calves genotyped at >39,000 SNP markers and two approaches to characterise the genetic architecture of birth weight. First, we performed a genome-wide association (GWA) analysis, using a genomic relatedness matrix to account for population structure. We found no SNPs significantly associated with birth weight. Second, we used genomic prediction to estimate the proportion of variance explained by each SNP and chromosome. This analysis confirmed that most genetic variance in birth weight was explained by loci with very small effect sizes. Third, we found that the proportion of variance explained by each chromosome was slightly positively correlated with its size. These three findings highlight a highly polygenic architecture for birth weight, which contradicts the previous QTL study. These results are probably explained by the differences in how associations are modelled between QTL mapping and GWA. Our study suggests that models of polygenic adaptation are the most appropriate to study the evolutionary trajectory of this trait