Seasonal fish community variation in headwater mangrove creeks in the southwestern Everglades: an examination of their role as dry-down refuges

The connectivity between the fish community of estuarine mangroves and that of freshwater habitats upstream remains poorly understood. In the Florida Everglades, mangrove-lined creeks link freshwater marshes to estuarine habitats downstream and may act as dry-season refuges for freshwater fishes. We examined seasonal dynamics in the fish community of ecotonal creeks in the southwestern region of Everglades National Park, specifically Rookery Branch and the North and watson rivers. Twelve low-order creeks were sampled via electrofishing, gill nets, and minnow traps during the wet season, transition period, and dry season in 2004-2005. Catches were greater in Rookery Branch than in the North and watson rivers, particularly during the transition period. Community composition varied seasonally in Rookery Branch, and to a greater extent for the larger species, reflecting a pulse of freshwater taxa into creeks as marshes upstream dried periodically. The pulse was short-lived, a later sample showed substantial decreases in freshwater fish numbers. No evidence of a similar influx was seen in the North and watson rivers, which drain shorter hydroperiod marshes and exhibit higher salinities. These results suggest that head-water creeks can serve as important dry-season refugia. Increased freshwater flow resulting from Everglades restoration may enhance this connectivity

Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) in Practice: Understanding Tests of Heterogeneity in Metaanalysis

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73071/1/j.1572-0241.2005.50452.x.pd

Is That a Finger in My Chili: Using Affective Advertising for Postcrisis Brand Repair

A study of the effects of reconstructive memory points the way to dealing with the damage to a business’s reputation that follows an instance of negative publicity. The study contradicts the commonly held myth that it is best to avoid communicating for a time and let consumers “forget” an unfortunate incident. Instead, given what is now known about reconstructive memory processes, the crisis situation can be used as a means to reestablish a relationship with consumers. This research investigation proposes that postcrisis communication efforts should be focused on emotionally connecting with consumers via autobiographical-referencing advertising. Moreover, although the study focuses on crisis management, the lessons of reconstructive memory can be applied to all phases of brand management

Antipredator Responses by Native Mosquitofish to Non-Native Cichlids: An Examination of the Role of Prey Naiveté

The strong impact of non-native predators in aquatic systems is thought to relate to the evolutionary naiveté of prey. Due to isolation and limited dispersal, this naiveté may be relatively high in freshwater systems. In this study, we tested this notion by examining the antipredator response of native mosquitofish, Gambusia holbrooki, to two non-native predators found in the Everglades, the African jewelfish, Hemichromis letourneuxi, and the Mayan cichlid, Cichlasoma urophthalmus. We manipulated prey naiveté by using two mosquitofish populations that varied in their experience with the recent invader, the African jewelfish, but had similar levels of experience with the longer-established Mayan cichlid. Specifically, we tested these predictions: (1) predator hunting modes differed between the two predators, (2) predation rates would be higher by the novel jewelfish predator, (3) particularly on the naive population living where jewelfish have not invaded yet, (4) antipredator responses would be stronger to Mayan cichlids due to greater experience and weaker and/or ineffective to jewelfish, and (5) especially weakest by the naive population. We assayed prey and predator behavior, and prey mortality in lab aquaria where both predators and prey were free-ranging. Predator hunting modes and habitat domains differed, with jewelfish being more active search predators that used slightly higher parts of the water column and less of the habitat structure relative to Mayan cichlids. In disagreement with our predictions, predation rates were similar between the two predators, antipredator responses were stronger to African jewelfish (except for predator inspections), and there was no difference in response between jewelfish-savvy and jewelfish-naive populations. These results suggest that despite the novelty of introduced predators, prey may be able to respond appropriately if non-native predator archetypes are similar enough to those of native predators, if prey rely on general antipredator responses or predation cues, and/or show neophobic responses

National Vascular Registry: 2015 Annual Report.

The National Vascular Registry is commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) to measure the quality and outcomes of care for patients who undergo major vascular surgery in NHS hospitals in England and Wales. It aims to provide comparative information on the performance of NHS vascular units and thereby support local quality improvement as well as inform patients about major vascular interventions delivered in the NHS. As such, all NHS hospitals in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are encouraged to participate in the Registry. The measures used to describe the patterns and outcomes of care are drawn from various national guidelines including: the “Provision of Services for Patients with Vascular Disease” document and the Quality Improvement Frameworks published by the Vascular Society, and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines on stroke and peripheral arterial disease. This report provides a description of the care provided by NHS vascular units, and contains information on the process and outcomes of care for: (i) patients undergoing abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair, (ii) patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy, (iii) patients undergoing a revascularisation procedure (angioplasty/stent or bypass) or major amputation for lower-limb peripheral arterial disease (PAD). In addition, the report presents the findings of an organisational audit conducted in August 2015

Collective excitations in a fermion-fermion mixture with different Fermi surfaces

In this paper, collective excitations in a homogeneous fermion-fermion mixture with different Fermi surfaces are studied. In the Fermi liquid phase, the zero-sound velocity is found to be larger than the largest Fermi velocity. With attractive interactions, the superfluid phase appears below a critical temperature, and the phase mode is the low-energy collective excitation. The velocity of the phase mode is proportional to the geometric mean of the two Fermi velocities. The difference between the two velocities may serve as a tool to detect the superfluid phase.Comment: 4 pages. To be published in Phys. Rev.

National Vascular Registry: 2014 Progress Report.

The National Vascular Registry is commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) to measure the quality and outcomes of care for patients who undergo major vascular surgery in NHS hospitals in England and Wales. It aims to provide comparative information on the performance of NHS hospitals and thereby support local quality improvement as well as inform patients about the care delivered in the NHS. As such, all NHS hospitals in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are encouraged to participate in the Registry. The measures used to describe the patterns and outcomes of care are drawn from various national guidelines including: the “2014 The Provision of Services for Patients with Vascular Disease” and the Quality Improvement Frameworks published by the Vascular Society, and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines on stroke and peripheral arterial disease. In 2014, the Registry published NHS trust and surgeon-level information for elective infrarenal Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) repair and carotid endarterectomy on the Registry website. From 28 October, information on both procedures has been available on the www.vsqip.org.uk website for all UK NHS trusts that currently perform them. For English NHS trusts, the same information was published for individual consultants, as part of NHS England’s “Everyone Counts: Planning for Patients 2013/4” initiative. Consultant-level information was also published for NHS hospitals in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland for consenting surgeons. This progress report aims to complement that information by (1) providing an overview of care delivered by the NHS at a national level, and (2) describing various developments within the National Vascular Registry. The Registry will publish its next annual report on major vascular surgery in November 2015

Ultracold collision properties of metastable alkaline-earth atoms

Ultra-cold collisions of spin-polarized 24Mg,40Ca, and 88Sr in the metastable 3P2 excited state are investigated. We calculate the long-range interaction potentials and estimate the scattering length and the collisional loss rate as a function of magnetic field. The estimates are based on molecular potentials between 3P2 alkaline-earth atoms obtained from ab initio atomic and molecular structure calculations. The scattering lengths show resonance behavior due to the appearance of a molecular bound state in a purely long-range interaction potential and are positive for magnetic fields below 50 mT. A loss-rate model shows that losses should be smallest near zero magnetic field and for fields slightly larger than the resonance field, where the scattering length is also positive.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Orbital Debris: A Chronology

This chronology covers the 37-year history of orbital debris concerns. It tracks orbital debris hazard creation, research, observation, experimentation, management, mitigation, protection, and policy. Included are debris-producing, events; U.N. orbital debris treaties, Space Shuttle and space station orbital debris issues; ASAT tests; milestones in theory and modeling; uncontrolled reentries; detection system development; shielding development; geosynchronous debris issues, including reboost policies: returned surfaces studies, seminar papers reports, conferences, and studies; the increasing effect of space activities on astronomy; and growing international awareness of the near-Earth environment

Orbital debris and near-Earth environmental management: A chronology

This chronology covers the 32-year history of orbital debris and near-Earth environmental concerns. It tracks near-Earth environmental hazard creation, research, observation, experimentation, management, mitigation, protection, and policy-making, with emphasis on the orbital debris problem. Included are the Project West Ford experiments; Soviet ASAT tests and U.S. Delta upper stage explosions; the Ariane V16 explosion, U.N. treaties pertinent to near-Earth environmental problems, the PARCS tests; space nuclear power issues, the SPS/orbital debris link; Space Shuttle and space station orbital debris issues; the Solwind ASAT test; milestones in theory and modeling the Cosmos 954, Salyut 7, and Skylab reentries; the orbital debris/meteoroid research link; detection system development; orbital debris shielding development; popular culture and orbital debris; Solar Max results; LDEF results; orbital debris issues peculiar to geosynchronous orbit, including reboost policies and the stable plane; seminal papers, reports, and studies; the increasing effects of space activities on astronomy; and growing international awareness of the near-Earth environment