Identifying fisheries regions in New Zealand: Some conceptual difficulties

The importance of fisheries to nations is reflected in the production and employment statistics of the country. It is also reflected in socio-cultural symbols (for instance songs, tales), and in socio-political hegemonies. Just as these may vary from one nation to another, they may also vary from region to region within a nation. Several nations speak openly in terms of 'fisheries regions' and there have been a number of attempts to identify such regions in the social science literature. An understanding of these regions is seen as step towards defining appropriate policies for the sustainable management of their resources. In 1986, New Zealand established an innovative fishery management system based on individually transferable quota (ITQ), and subsequently removed the (never-implemented) region-based, fishery management planning structure from the statutes. These changes might be indicative of a loss of geography, a flattening of the nation's "fishing topography", and might be expected to result in significant changes to the nature and location of fisheries regions. This paper outlines the changes in the management structure of New Zealand's fisheries. We then attempt a preliminary analysis of fisheries regions in New Zealand as the basis for a "new regional" geography of New Zealand's fisheries. In the process we discuss various criteria for defining fishery regions and present our initial categorisation of New Zealand into those regions. The relationship between these regions and related institutional structures is then discussed. This raises a number of additional questions regarding the concept of a fisheries region, especially in the context of a resurgent indigenous (Maaori) culture, the emergence of new fishing peoples in New Zealand, and the respective size of recreational and commercial fishing sectors

Fluid and electrolyte losses associated with working/exercising for prolonged periods in thermally stressful environments

Fluid and electrolyte disturbances, prompted by high sweat losses, can occur when a person is exposed to harsh environmental conditions for prolonged periods. In the endurance athlete this will have detrimental effects on performance, while in manual labourers the consequent neural and muscular deficits will place an individual’s health at risk as well as increasing the risk of workplace accidents. This research will seek to further explore fluid and electrolyte losses in these two ‘at risk’ populations enabling more appropriate guidelines for replacement to be made

Extending the double ramification cycle using Jacobians

We prove that the extension of the double ramification cycle defined by the first-named author (using modifications of the stack of stable curves) coincides with that defined by the last-two named authors (using an extended Brill-Noether locus on suitable compactified universal Jacobians). In particular, in the untwisted case we deduce that both of these extensions coincide with that constructed by Li and Graber-Vakil using a virtual fundamental class on a space of rubber maps.Comment: 13 pages. Supersedes the published version. 3 small changes: (1) we correct a minus sign error in what are now Formulas 19 and 21, (2) we correct the definition of [DR] in Section 2.1, and (3) we add a citation to Dudin for Lemma 8. European Journal of Mathematics (2018

Why is Social Protection Gender?blind? The Politics of Gender and Social Protection

Social protection may be high on the policy agenda in international development circles, but the way it plays out in practice at national and local level is deeply political, especially so when viewed through a gender lens. While there is a robust body of evidence on the gendered patterning of poverty and vulnerability, this is seldom reflected in a systematic way in social protection strategies, policies or programmes. This article therefore explores the political economy of social protection and its effects on gender relations to increase understanding about why social protection debates and approaches have been largely gender?blind

Estimating empirical codon hidden Markov models

Empirical codon models (ECMs) estimated from a large number of globular protein families outperformed mechanistic codon models in their description of the general process of protein evolution. Among other factors, ECMs implicitly model the influence of amino acid properties and multiple nucleotide substitutions (MNS). However, the estimation of ECMs requires large quantities of data, and until recently, only few suitable data sets were available. Here, we take advantage of several new Drosophila species genomes to estimate codon models from genome-wide data. The availability of large numbers of genomes over varying phylogenetic depths in the Drosophila genus allows us to explore various divergence levels. In consequence, we can use these data to determine the appropriate level of divergence for the estimation of ECMs, avoiding overestimation of MNS rates caused by saturation. To account for variation in evolutionary rates along the genome, we develop new empirical codon hidden Markov models (ecHMMs). These models significantly outperform previous ones with respect to maximum likelihood values, suggesting that they provide a better fit to the evolutionary process. Using ECMs and ecHMMs derived from genome-wide data sets, we devise new likelihood ratio tests (LRTs) of positive selection. We found classical LRTs very sensitive to the presence of MNSs, showing high false-positive rates, especially with small phylogenies. The new LRTs are more conservative than the classical ones, having acceptable false-positive rates and reduced power.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Organic-Conventional Dairy Systems Trial in New Zealand: Four Years’ Results

The Organic-Conventional Comparative Dairy Systems trial at Massey University began in August 2001, and the organic farmlet achieved certification in August 2003. The trial is unique because it is the only comparative grassland-based open grazing dairy study in the world. The organic and conventional systems are managed individually according to best practice, and both are intensively monitored for production, animal health, and environmental impacts. The systems remained similar for the first two years, but began to diverge in the third and fourth years. Production has been 10-20% lower on the organic farm, but environmental impacts appear to be less than on the conventional unit, and net incomes would be similar given a 20% price premium for the organic product. Animal health issues have been manageable on the organic farmlet, and not too dissimilar from the conventional farmlet. Full results after four years of the trial will be available and presented at the conference

A survey of cancer patients undergoing a radical course of radiotherapy to establish levels of anxiety and depression.

This research aims to establish the prevalence and aetiology of anxiety and depression in cancer patients within their first 2 weeks of a radical course of radiotherapy. Depression followed by anxiety is the two most frequent psychological disorders experienced by cancer patients. However, these two disorders are frequently undiagnosed and untreated in patients undergoing a course of radiotherapy possibly because the treatment side effects often simulate those of anxiety and depression; the consequences of this can be reduced patient prognosis and increased health care costs. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of 100 eligible cancer patients and this yielded a 68% response rate. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) scale was integrated into the questionnaire to accurately establish levels of anxiety and depression in the respondents of the study. The study identified six respondents with clinically significant levels of anxiety (9%) and six with depression (9%); 21% (n ¼ 14) of participants had higher than normal levels of anxiety and 21% for depression (n ¼ 14). Correlations were then identified between levels of psychological distress and the four independent variables; age, diagnosis, adjuvant medication and pain. Four predisposing factors were established—breast cancer diagnosis, age range 40"50 years, the presence of pain and adjuvant chemotherapy regime

Dataset of Escherichia coli O157 : H7 genes enriched in adherence to spinach root tissue

A high-throughput positive-selection approach was taken to generate a dataset of Shigatoxigenic Escherichia coli (STEC) O157:H7 genes enriched in adherence to plant tissue. The approach generates a differential dataset based on BAC clones enriched in the output, after adherence, compared to the inoculum used as the input. A BAC clone library derived from STEC isolate 'Sakai' was used since this isolate is associated with a very large-scale outbreak of human disease from consumption of contaminated fresh produce; white radish sprouts. Spinach was used for the screen since it is associated with STEC outbreaks, and the roots provide a suitable site for bacterial colonisation. Four successive of rounds of Sakai BAC clone selection and amplification were applied for spinach root adherence, in parallel to a non-plant control. Genomic DNA was obtained from a total of 7.17 x 108 cfu/ml of bacteria from the plant treatment and 1.13 x 109 cfu/ml of bacteria from the no-plant control. Relative gene abundance of the output compared to the input pools was obtained using an established E. coli DNA microarray chip for STEC. The dataset enables screening for genes enriched under the treatment condition and informs on genes that may play a role in plant-microbe interactions

Escherichia coli Common Pilus (ECP) Targets Arabinosyl Residues in Plant Cell Walls to Mediate Adhesion to Fresh Produce Plants

International audienceBackground: Bacterial fimbriae mediate binding to host tissue through specific interactions. Results: ECP interacts with arabinosyl residues in pectin and other plant cell wall components. Conclusion: ECP-arabinan interactions facilitate binding of E. coli to plant hosts. Significance: The prevalence of arabinan targets in produce plants together with ECP expression may explain the association of pathogenic bacteria in edible plants