SPARCCS Smart Phone Assisted Rapid Command and Control System (Poster)

Military Wireless Communications (MWC)Military Wireless Communications (MWC

Seafood prices reveal impacts of a major ecological disturbance

Coastal hypoxia (dissolved oxygen ≤ 2 mg/L) is a growing problem worldwide that threatens marine ecosystem services, but little is known about economic effects on fisheries. Here, we provide evidence that hypoxia causes economic impacts on a major fishery. Ecological studies of hypoxia and marine fauna suggest multiple mechanisms through which hypoxia can skew a population’s size distribution toward smaller individuals. These mechanisms produce sharp predictions about changes in seafood markets. Hypoxia is hypothesized to decrease the quantity of large shrimp relative to small shrimp and increase the price of large shrimp relative to small shrimp. We test these hypotheses using time series of size-based prices. Naive quantity-based models using treatment/control comparisons in hypoxic and nonhypoxic areas produce null results, but we find strong evidence of the hypothesized effects in the relative prices: Hypoxia increases the relative price of large shrimp compared with small shrimp. The effects of fuel prices provide supporting evidence. Empirical models of fishing effort and bioeconomic simulations explain why quantifying effects of hypoxia on fisheries using quantity data has been inconclusive. Specifically, spatial-dynamic feedbacks across the natural system (the fish stock) and human system (the mobile fishing fleet) confound “treated” and “control” areas. Consequently, analyses of price data, which rely on a market counterfactual, are able to reveal effects of the ecological disturbance that are obscured in quantity data. Our results are an important step toward quantifying the economic value of reduced upstream nutrient loading in the Mississippi Basin and are broadly applicable to other coupled human-natural systems.publishedVersio

Berücksichtigung des Schutzgutes Boden bei Trassenplanungen

Die Energiewende ist eines der zentralen Themen unserer Zeit. Zu ihrer Umsetzung sind zahlreiche neue Stromtrassen erforderlich, die unterirdisch als Erdkabel geplant und errichtet werden. Der Erdkabelvorrang ist im Bundesbedarfsplangesetz (BBPlG) verankert und ist mit erheblichen Auswirkungen auf den Boden verbunden. Im Vergleich zum Bau einer Freileitung, ist der Boden hierbei durch baubedingte Eingriffe mit dem 10- bis 20fachen Volumen betroffen. In Abhängigkeit von den Bodeneigenschaften können durch eine Erdverkabelung umfangreiche Beeinträchtigungen des Bodens und seiner Bodenfunktionen sowie der Bodennutzung verursacht werden. In Niedersachsen sind v.a. die Trassen SüdLink und A-Nord relevant, die das Land jeweils von der Küste bis zur südlichen Ländergrenze durchqueren. Es erfolgt eine intensive Begleitung der Vorhaben durch zwei niedersächsische ressortübergreifende AGs. Der Bodenschutz ist in beiden Ressort-AGs vertreten. Aufgrund der hohen Betroffenheit der Böden, der Bodenfunktionen und der Bodennutzung ist es aus fachlicher Sicht erforderlich, das Schutzgut Boden frühzeitig und umfassend auf allen Planungsebenen sowie in der Bau- und Nachbauphase zu berücksichtigen. Dabei kommt Maßnahmen zur Vermeidung und Minimierung eine besondere Bedeutung zu. Ein nachhaltiger und schonender Umgang mit dem Boden trägt dem im BBodSchG und BNatSchG verankerten Vorsorgegedanken Rechnung und fördert die Akzeptanz bei den Flächennutzern. Gleichzeitig verringert sich der naturschutzfachliche Kompensationsbedarf in Hinblick auf das Schutzgut Boden und Aufwand und Kosten für Rekultivierung und Entschädigung können reduziert werden. Eine fachgerechte Berücksichtigung des Bodens kann somit zu einer Vereinfachung und Beschleunigung des Verfahrens beitragen. Der Beitrag zeigt die Betroffenheit des Bodens und der Bodenfunktionen bei der Erdverkabelung und die Besonderheiten bei Trassenplanungen in Hinblick auf den Boden auf, stellt die relevanten fachlichen Anforderungen des Bodenschutzes vor und erläutert die Aktivitäten zum Bodenschutz in Niedersachsen bei Trassenplanungen und Trassenbau

Defining the economic scope for ecosystem-based fishery management

Ecosystem-based fisheries management provides a framework for incorporating ecological linkages between fisheries into policymaking. However, relatively little attention has been given to economic linkages between fisheries: If fishers consider multiple fisheries when deciding where, when, and how much to fish, there is potential for management decisions in one fishery to generate spillover impacts in other fisheries. We evaluate changes in participation and economic connectivity of fisheries following the implementation of Alaska�s catch-share programs. Catch shares are increasingly used worldwide and typically implemented and evaluated on a single-fishery basis. We provide evidence that changes beyond the catch-share fishery have occurred, suggesting that spillovers should be considered when designing and evaluating catch-share policies.The emergence of ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) has broadened the policy scope of fisheries management by accounting for the biological and ecological connectivity of fisheries. Less attention, however, has been given to the economic connectivity of fisheries. If fishers consider multiple fisheries when deciding where, when, and how much to fish, then management changes in one fishery can generate spillover impacts in other fisheries. Catch-share programs are a popular fisheries management framework that may be particularly prone to generating spillovers given that they typically change fishers� incentives and their subsequent actions. We use data from Alaska fisheries to examine spillovers from each of the main catch-share programs in Alaska. We evaluate changes in participation�a traditional indicator in fisheries economics�in both the catch-share and non�catch-share fisheries. Using network analysis, we also investigate whether catch-share programs change the economic connectivity of fisheries, which can have implications for the socioeconomic resilience and robustness of the ecosystem, and empirically identify the set of fisheries impacted by each Alaska catch-share program. We find that cross-fishery participation spillovers and changes in economic connectivity coincide with some, but not all, catch-share programs. Our findings suggest that economic connectivity and the potential for cross-fishery spillovers deserve serious consideration, especially when designing and evaluating EBFM policies

Chlamydia trachomatis from Australian Aboriginal people with trachoma are polyphyletic composed of multiple distinctive lineages.

Chlamydia trachomatis causes sexually transmitted infections and the blinding disease trachoma. Current data on C. trachomatis phylogeny show that there is only a single trachoma-causing clade, which is distinct from the lineages causing urogenital tract (UGT) and lymphogranuloma venerum diseases. Here we report the whole-genome sequences of ocular C. trachomatis isolates obtained from young children with clinical signs of trachoma in a trachoma endemic region of northern Australia. The isolates form two lineages that fall outside the classical trachoma lineage, instead being placed within UGT clades of the C. trachomatis phylogenetic tree. The Australian trachoma isolates appear to be recombinants with UGT C. trachomatis genome backbones, in which loci that encode immunodominant surface proteins (ompA and pmpEFGH) have been replaced by those characteristic of classical ocular isolates. This suggests that ocular tropism and association with trachoma are functionally associated with some sequence variants of ompA and pmpEFGH

Employment Services Utilization and Outcomes among Substance Abusing Offenders Participating in California’s Proposition 36 Drug Treatment Initiative

California drug treatment programs may use funds to address barriers to work faced by Proposition 36 offenders, most of whom are not working at treatment entry, but employment services utilization and related behavioral outcomes have never been studied. This study examined primary data collected on 1,453 offenders by 30 programs during 2004 to explore the characteristics, employment services utilization, and outcomes of those who did and did not receive employment services while in drug treatment. One-year outcomes were mostly similar across groups, however, increases in the proportion of offenders employed, receiving income from employment and family or friends, and being paid for work were significantly greater among the received-employment-services group, and a greater proportion of this group also completed drug treatment. Employment services utilization was less likely for persons recruited from outpatient settings and more likely with greater severity of family/social problems and desire for services. Odds of employment one-year post-treatment entry were higher for those of Hispanic race/ethnicity (vs. White) and for those with treatment completion/longer retention but lower for those who were older, lived in specific counties, had greater employment problem severity at intake, and received other income-related services. Strategies for improving employment services utilization and outcomes among Proposition 36 offenders are discussed