Passive acoustic tracking of the three-dimensional movements and acoustic behaviour of toothed whales in close proximity to static nets

Funding: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK Government (Grant Number(s): ME6052; Grant recipient(s): Jamie Macaulay, Allen Kingston, Simon Northridge, Alexander Coram). University of St Andrews.1. Entanglement in net fisheries (static and drift) is the largest known cause of direct anthropogenic mortality to many small cetacean species, including harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), in UK waters. Despite this, little is known about the behaviour of small cetaceans in proximity to nets. 2. We have developed a passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) system for tracking the fine-scale three-dimensional (3D) movements of echolocating cetaceans around actively fishing nets by localising their acoustic clicks. The system consists of two compact four-channel acoustic recorders with sample-synchronised sensor packages that use 3D motion tracking technology to accurately calculate log orientation, depth, water temperature and ambient light level. Two recorders were used in tandem, with each one attached to and floating above the net floatline. The system can be deployed during normal fishing operations by a trained researcher or experienced fisheries observer. Recordings were analysed in PAMGuard software and the 3D positions of echolocating animals in the vicinity of the system were calculated using an acoustic particle filter-based localisation method. 3. We present findings from four deployments in UK waters (each 1–2 days in duration) in which 12 distinct harbour porpoise encounters yielded a sufficient number of detected clicks to track their movements around the net. The tracks show a variety of behaviours, including multiple instances of animals actively foraging in close proximity to the fishing net. 4. We show that a relatively inexpensive PAM system, which is practical to deploy from active fishing vessels, is capable of providing highly detailed data on harbour porpoise behaviour around nets. As harbour porpoises are the one of the most difficult species to localise, this methodology is likely to be suitable for elucidating the behaviour of many other toothed whale species in a variety of situations.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Experimental Observation of the Thin-Shell Instability in a Collision-less Plasma

We report on the experimental observation of the instability of a plasma shell, which formed during the expansion of a laser-ablated plasma into a rarefied ambient medium. By means of a proton radiography technique, the evolution of the instability is temporally and spatially resolved on a timescale much shorter than the hydrodynamic one. The density of the thin shell exceeds that of the surrounding plasma, which lets electrons diffuse outward. An ambipolar electric field grows on both sides of the thin shell that is antiparallel to the density gradient. Ripples in the thin shell result in a spatially varying balance between the thermal pressure force mediated by this field and the ram pressure force that is exerted on it by the inflowing plasma. This mismatch amplifies the ripples by the same mechanism that drives the hydrodynamic nonlinear thin-shell instability (NTSI). Our results thus constitute the first experimental verification that the NTSI can develop in colliding flows.Funding agencies: EPSRC [EP/I031766/1, EP/K022415/1, EP/I029206/1, SFB-TR18, GRK1203, ENE2013-45661-C2-1-P, PEII-2014-008-P]; Vetenskapsradet [Dnr 2010-4063]; Triangle de la Physique RTRA network (ULIMAC)</p

Perceived product quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction and their relation to brand loyalty

There has been a substansial body of evidence to relate trust as an important component to business trends.The study of trust has been exponentially discussed in various forms and context which expands across broad fields and sciences.This paper aims to provide additional rationale and foundational support for the advancement of knowledge pertaining to trust and its relation to the adoption of open innovation. Based from the literature review, this paper view trust from the light of adoption of innovation studies to better understand how it can best used to measure the readiness to adopt open innovation

Mass spectrometry imaging identifies palmitoylcarnitine as an immunological mediator during Salmonella Typhimurium infection

Salmonella Typhimurium causes a self-limiting gastroenteritis that may lead to systemic disease. Bacteria invade the small intestine, crossing the intestinal epithelium from where they are transported to the mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs) within migrating immune cells. MLNs are an important site at which the innate and adaptive immune responses converge but their architecture and function is severely disrupted during S. Typhimurium infection. To further understand host-pathogen interactions at this site, we used mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) to analyse MLN tissue from a murine model of S. Typhimurium infection. A molecule, identified as palmitoylcarnitine (PalC), was of particular interest due to its high abundance at loci of S. Typhimurium infection and MLN disruption. High levels of PalC localised to sites within the MLNs where B and T cells were absent and where the perimeter of CD169+ sub capsular sinus macrophages was disrupted. MLN cells cultured ex vivo and treated with PalC had reduced CD4+CD25+ T cells and an increased number of B220+CD19+ B cells. The reduction in CD4+CD25+ T cells was likely due to apoptosis driven by increased caspase-3/7 activity. These data indicate that PalC significantly alters the host response in the MLNs, acting as a decisive factor in infection outcome

Academic Performance and Behavioral Patterns

Identifying the factors that influence academic performance is an essential part of educational research. Previous studies have documented the importance of personality traits, class attendance, and social network structure. Because most of these analyses were based on a single behavioral aspect and/or small sample sizes, there is currently no quantification of the interplay of these factors. Here, we study the academic performance among a cohort of 538 undergraduate students forming a single, densely connected social network. Our work is based on data collected using smartphones, which the students used as their primary phones for two years. The availability of multi-channel data from a single population allows us to directly compare the explanatory power of individual and social characteristics. We find that the most informative indicators of performance are based on social ties and that network indicators result in better model performance than individual characteristics (including both personality and class attendance). We confirm earlier findings that class attendance is the most important predictor among individual characteristics. Finally, our results suggest the presence of strong homophily and/or peer effects among university students

Challenges and opportunities for quantifying roots and rhizosphere interactions through imaging and image analysis

The morphology of roots and root systems influences the efficiency by which plants acquire nutrients and water, anchor themselves and provide stability to the surrounding soil. Plant genotype and the biotic and abiotic environment significantly influence root morphology, growth and ultimately crop yield. The challenge for researchers interested in phenotyping root systems is, therefore, not just to measure roots and link their phenotype to the plant genotype, but also to understand how the growth of roots is influenced by their environment. This review discusses progress in quantifying root system parameters (e.g. in terms of size, shape and dynamics) using imaging and image analysis technologies and also discusses their potential for providing a better understanding of root:soil interactions. Significant progress has been made in image acquisition techniques, however trade-offs exist between sample throughput, sample size, image resolution and information gained. All of these factors impact on downstream image analysis processes. While there have been significant advances in computation power, limitations still exist in statistical processes involved in image analysis. Utilizing and combining different imaging systems, integrating measurements and image analysis where possible, and amalgamating data will allow researchers to gain a better understanding of root:soil interactions

Suppression of HIV-Specific and Allogeneic T Cell Activation by Human Regulatory T Cells Is Dependent on the Strength of Signals

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) suppress immune responses against both self and non-self antigens. Tregs require activation through the T cell receptor (TCR) and IL-2 to exert their suppressive functions. However, how strength of TCR signals modulate the potency of Treg-mediated suppression of antigen-specific T cell activation remain unclear. We found that both strength of TCR signals and ratios of Tregs to target cells, either through superantigen, allogeneic antigens or HIV-specific peptides, modified the suppressive ability of Tregs. While human Tregs were able to mediate suppression in the presence of only autologous antigen-presenting cells, this was much less efficient as compared to when Tregs were activated by allogeneic dendritic cells. In another physiologically relevant system, we show that the strength of peptide stimulation, high frequency of responder CD8+ T cells or presence of high IL-2 can override the suppression of HIV-specific CD8+ T cells by Tregs. These findings suggest that ratios and TCR activation of human Tregs, are important parameters to overcome robust immune responses to pathogens or allogeneic antigens. Modulating the strength of T cell signals and selective enhancement or depletion of antigen-specific Tregs thus may have implications for designing potent vaccines and regulating immune responses during allogeneic transplantation and chronic infections

Measurements of the Υ(10860)\Upsilon(10860) and Υ(11020)\Upsilon(11020) resonances via σ(e+e−→Υ(nS)π+π−)\sigma(e^+e^-\rightarrow\Upsilon(n{\rm S})\pi^+\pi^-)

We report new measurements of the total cross sections for $e^+e^-\to \Upsilon(n{\rm S})\pi^+\pi^-$ ($n$ = 1, 2, 3) and $e^+e^-\to b\bar b$ from a high-luminosity fine scan of the region $\sqrt{s} = 10.63$-$11.05$ GeV with the Belle detector. We observe that the $\Upsilon(n{\rm S})\pi^+\pi^-$ spectra have little or no non-resonant component and extract from them the masses and widths of $\Upsilon(10860)$ and $\Upsilon(11020)$ and their relative phase. We find $M_{10860}=(10891.1\pm3.2^{+0.6}_{-1.7})$ MeV/$c^2$ and \Gamma_{10860}=(53.7^{+7.1}_{-5.6}\,^{+1.3}_{-5.4}) MeV and report first measurements M_{11020}=(10987.5^{+6.4}_{-2.5}\,^{+9.0}_{-2.1}) MeV/$c^2$, \Gamma_{11020}=(61^{+9}_{-19}\,^{+2}_{-20}) MeV, and \phi_{\rm 11020}-\phi_{\rm 10860} = (-1.0\pm0.4\,^{+1.4}_{-0.1}) rad.Comment: University of Cincinnati preprint UCHEP-15-01, submitted to Physical Review D - Rapid Communication