National Wildlife Refuges and Intensive Management in Alaska: Another Case for Preemption

Developing high quality software is difficult. Traditional software engineering methods emphasizes on structured and linear workflow of activities methods that have been criticized due to their rigid and inflexible nature. Recently, agile software engineering approaches such as Scrum have gained popularity in the software industry. These methods emphasize flexibility, speed, transparency, and teamwork aspects. In this thesis, investigation and comparison of three modern production practices and principles done, these include; Kanban, the 5S workplace organization method and Toyota Production System (TPS). The goal has been to identity features of these production philosophies and analyzed how they might contribute to software engineering processes, particularly to improve Scrum. The study indicates that many principles from these production approaches have been implemented in Scrum. However, the Kanban, 5S and TPS principles of Visibility are just partially implemented in Scrum. Scrum overlooks many aspects of programming that need to be visualized such as code quality aspects (testing) and representations of the actual software structure under development

Alaska: Extraordinary Parks, Extraordinarily Complicated

In many ways, national parks in Alaska face the same difficulties as other parks nationwide: pockets of strong anti-federal sentiment, increasingly high usage rates (at least in a couple of Alaska parks) leading to resource degradation, decreasing funding, and increasing maintenance costs. On the other hand, Alaska parks are completely unique in their circumstances. Many parks in Alaska receive few to no visitors each year, and Alaska parks contain vast tracts of land and resources but are managed by the barest minimum number of employees. Furthermore, Alaska’s national parks operate in a more complex legal environment than most other national parks. While the National Park Service Organic Act (Organic Act) directs all parks, parks in Alaska must also contend with the additional legislative responsibility of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) of 1980. Alaska parks need stronger support in order to fully flex the authority given them by Congress and to meet all of their obligations and mandates. More robust support should take the form of greater access to increased human resources so that the vast natural resources under the NPS’s protection in Alaska can be better understood and managed and enhanced political capital so that the NPS in Alaska is encouraged to defend the natural resources and enforce the legal responsibilities entrusted to them by Congress. National parks often occupy the uncomfortable position of being in the vanguard of resource preservation. They must often implement and enforce laws that are politically unpopular in Alaska. Yet, the lack of popular appeal for these laws among some local populations does not free the NPS from its obligation to execute them fully. These are national lands, the goals assigned to them have been derived from the national population, and the additional assistance and motivation needed to meet those goals may need to come from outside of the state as well

Thermal acclimation to 4 or 10°C imparts minimal benefit on swimming performance in Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua L.)

Thermal acclimation is frequently cited as a means by which ectothermic animals improve their Darwinian fitness, i.e. the beneficial acclimation hypothesis. As the critical swimming speed (U crit) test is often used as a proxy measure of fitness, we acclimated Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) to 4 and 10°C and then assessed their U crit swimming performance at their respective acclimation temperatures and during acute temperature reversal. Because phenotypic differences exist between different populations of cod, we undertook these experiments in two different populations, North Sea cod and North East Arctic cod. Acclimation to 4 or 10°C had a minimal effect on swimming performance or U crit, however test temperature did, with all groups having a 10-17% higher U crit at 10°C. The swimming efficiency was significantly lower in all groups at 4°C arguably due to the compression of the muscle fibre recruitment order. This also led to a reduction in the duration of "kick and glide” swimming at 4°C. No significant differences were seen between the two populations in any of the measured parameters, due possibly to the extended acclimation period. Our data indicate that acclimation imparts little benefit on U crit swimming test in Atlantic cod. Further efforts need to identify the functional consequences of the long-term thermal acclimation proces

Mitochondrial plasticity in brachiopod ( Liothyrella spp.) smooth adductor muscle as a result of season and latitude

Habitat temperature and mitochondrial volume density (Vv(mt,mf)) are negatively correlated in fishes, while seasonal acclimatization may increase Vv(mt,mf) or the surface density of the mitochondrial cristae (Sv(im,mt)). The effect of temperature on invertebrate mitochondria is essentially unknown. A comparison of two articulate brachiopod species, Liothyrella uva collected from Rothera Station, Antarctica in summer 2007, and Liothyrella neozelanica collected from Fiordland, New Zealand in winter 2007 and summer 2008, revealed a higher Vv(mt,mf) in the Antarctic brachiopod. The Sv(im,mt) was, however, significantly lower, indicating the Antarctic brachiopods have more, less reactive mitochondria. L. uva, from the colder environment, had larger adductor muscles in both absolute and relative terms than the temperate L. neozelanica. Furthermore, a seasonal comparison (winter vs. summer) in L. neozelanica showed that the absolute and relative size of the adductor increased in winter, Vv(mt,mf) was unchanged, and Sv(im,mt) was significantly increased. Thus, seasonal acclimatization to the cold resulted in the same number of more reactive mitochondria. L. neozelanica was clearly able to adapt to seasonal changes using a different mechanism, i.e. primarily through regulation of cristae surface area as opposed to mitochondrial volume density. Furthermore, given the evolutionary age of these living fossils (i.e. approximately 550million years), this suggests that mitochondrial plasticity has roots extending far back into evolutionary histor

Ultrastructure of pedal muscle as a function of temperature in nacellid limpets

Temperature and mitochondrial plasticity are well studied in fishes, but little is known about this relationship in invertebrates. The effects of habitat temperature on mitochondrial ultrastructure were examined in three con-familial limpets from the Antarctic (Nacella concinna), New Zealand (Cellana ornata), and Singapore (Cellana radiata). The effects of seasonal changes in temperature were also examined in winter and summer C. ornata. Stereological methods showed that limpet pedal myocytes were 1-2 orders of magnitude smaller in diameter (≈3.5μm) than in vertebrates, and that the diameter did not vary as a function of temperature. Mitochondrial volume density (Vv(mt,f)) was approximately 2-4 times higher in N. concinna (0.024) than in the other species (0.01 and 0.006), which were not significantly different from each other. Mitochondrial cristae surface density (Sv(im,mt)) was significantly lower in summer C. ornata (24.1±0.50μm2μm−3) than both winter C. ornata (32.3±0.95μm2μm−3) and N. concinna (34.3±4.43μm2μm−3). The surface area of mitochondrial cristae per unit fibre volume was significantly higher in N. concinna, due largely to the greater mitochondrial volume density. These results and previous studies indicate that mitochondrial proliferation in the cold is a common, but not universal response by different species from different thermal habitats. Seasonal temperature decreases on the other hand, leading preferentially to an increase in cristae surface density. Stereological measures also showed that energetic reserves, i.e. lipid droplets and glycogen in the pedal muscle changed greatly with season and species. This was most likely related to gametogenesis and spawnin

The effect of seasonal temperature variation on behaviour and metabolism in the freshwater mussel (Unio tumidus)

Temperature plays a critical role in determining the biology of ectotherms. Many animals have evolved mechanisms that allow them to compensate biological rates, i.e. adjust biological rates to overcome thermodynamic effects. For low energy-organisms, such as bivalves, the costs of thermal compensation may be greater than the benefits, and thus prohibitive. To examine this, two experiments were designed to explore thermal compensation in Unio tumidus. Experiment 1 examined seasonal changes in behaviour in U. tumidus throughout a year. Temperature had a clear effect on burrowing rate with no evidence of compensation. Valve closure duration and frequency were also strongly affected by seasonal temperature change, but there was slight evidence of partial compensation. Experiment 2 examined oxygen consumption during burrowing, immediately following valve opening and at rest in summer (24 °C), autumn (14 °C), winter (4 °C), and spring (14 °C) acclimatized U. tumidus. Again, there was little evidence of burrowing rate compensation, but some evidence of partial compensation of valve closure duration and frequency. None of the oxygen compensation rates showed any evidence of thermal compensation. Thus, in general, there was only very limited evidence of thermal compensation of behaviour and no evidence of thermal compensation of oxygen compensation rates. Based upon this evidence, we argue that there is no evolutionary pressure for these bivalves to compensate these biological rates. Any pressure may be to maintain or even lower oxygen consumption as their only defence against predation is to close their valves and wait. An increase in oxygen consumption will be detrimental in this regard so the cost of thermal compensation may outweigh the benefits

Report from the BfR expert hearing on practicability of hormonal measurements: recommendations for experimental design of toxicological studies with integrated hormonal end points

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