Proof of concept for an innovative pump fishway design to move fish upstream over dams

Reversing worldwide declines in freshwater fish while making sustainable use of water resources will require effective and economical fishways to restore fish migrations. Mitigation of barrier effects at dams and weirs is too often impeded by poor fishway performance and high costs, so that many fish migrations continue to be obstructed. Improved and less-costly designs are urgently needed. Our innovative pump fishway concept combines fish-behaviour insights, proved fishways techniques and aquaculture’s pumping methods for safe upstream transport of living fish. We ran a series of experimental trials using several scale-model fishway designs with young, hatchery-bred fish. Our horizontal-cylinder design successfully combined volitional-passage functions of existing fishways with non-volitional transport in a conduit carrying pumped water. Several key principles of fish behaviour in fishways led to design improvements: disturbed fish often seek refuge at depth; fishes’ escape reactions strongly motivate swimming into flows; and curved structures aid passage by reducing delays. Replicated trials finally produced an average of 98% successful passage, within brief cycling periods. The pump fishway concept offers potential for effective upstream fish passage at new and existing sites \u3e~2m high, with low construction and maintenance costs and highly adaptable operation in variable flow regimes. Development beyond the concept-trial phase is now a priority

Deep Ensemble Analysis for Imaging X-ray Polarimetry

We present a method for enhancing the sensitivity of X-ray telescopic observations with imaging polarimeters, with a focus on the gas pixel detectors (GPDs) to be flown on the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). Our analysis determines photoelectron directions, X-ray absorption points and X-ray energies for 1-9 keV event tracks, with estimates for both the statistical and model (reconstruction) uncertainties. We use a weighted maximum likelihood combination of predictions from a deep ensemble of ResNet convolutional neural networks, trained on Monte Carlo event simulations. We define a figure of merit to compare the polarization bias-variance trade-off in track reconstruction algorithms. For power-law source spectra, our method improves on the current planned IXPE analysis (and previous deep learning approaches), providing ~45% increase in effective exposure times. For individual energies, our method produces 20-30% absolute improvements in modulation factor for simulated 100% polarized events, while keeping residual systematic modulation within 1 sigma of the finite sample minimum. Absorption point location and photon energy estimates are also significantly improved. We have validated our method with sample data from real GPD detectors.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures. Accepted to Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A, Sep 202

Biola Hour Highlights, 1976 - 01

Essentials of Prayer by Al Sanders Titles of the Savior by Richard Chase Historic Reality and Prophetic Promise by Charles Feinberg Celebrating \u27Xmas\u27 by Samuel Sutherland A Unique Christmas by Glenn O\u27Neal Christmas Comparisons from John 12 by Ron Hafer Mary, the Mother of Jesus by Ernie Peirson My Peace I Give to You by Curtis Mitchell Mary by Lloyd Anderson Revelation by Lloyd Anderson Panel Discussion by Richard Chase, Charles Feinberg, and Samuel Sutherlandhttps://digitalcommons.biola.edu/bhhs/1023/thumbnail.jp

Biola Hour Highlights, 1976 - 12

Daniel by Lloyd Anderson I Thessalonians by Lehman Strauss II Thessalonians by Lehman Strauss Faithfulness of God by Lehman Strauss Psalm 131 by Al Sanders Panel Discussion by Richard Chase, Charles Feinberg, and Samuel Sutherlandhttps://digitalcommons.biola.edu/bhhs/1034/thumbnail.jp

Biola Hour Highlights, 1976 - 01

Essentials of Prayer by Al Sanders Titles of the Savior by Richard Chase Historic Reality and Prophetic Promise by Charles Feinberg Celebrating \u27Xmas\u27 by Samuel Sutherland A Unique Christmas by Glenn O\u27Neal Christmas Comparisons from John 12 by Ron Hafer Mary, the Mother of Jesus by Ernie Peirson My Peace I Give to You by Curtis Mitchell Mary by Lloyd Anderson Revelation by Lloyd Anderson Panel Discussion by Richard Chase, Charles Feinberg, and Samuel Sutherlandhttps://digitalcommons.biola.edu/bhhs/1023/thumbnail.jp

Structure and dielectric properties of yttrium-doped Ca0.28Ba0.72Nb2O6 ceramics

An unfilled tungsten bronze-structured ferroelectric ceramic, Ca0.28Ba0.72Nb2O6 (CBN28), has been doped with Y3+ to produce ceramics with a nominal composition, (Ca0.28Ba0.72)1–3w/2YwNb2O6 [0 ≤ w ≤ 0.05]. The substitution of Y3+ for Ca2+/Ba2+, and consequent additional vacancy formation, is assumed to occur on the A1/A2 sites. This resulted in a minor reduction of the c lattice parameter, and unit cell volume. For undoped CBN28, there was a slightly diffuse relative permittivity-temperature (εr-T) peak at 268 ⁰C. The peak became much broader for sample compositions w = 0.04 and 0.05 and the peak temperature showed a level of frequency dependence consistent with weak relaxor behaviour. The polarisation-electric field loops became narrower for samples w = 0.04 and 0.05, corresponding to a reduction in remnant polarisation value, from 2.4 to 0.8 µC cm−2 (30 kV cm−1). The Y doped ceramics exhibited stable relative permittivity over a wide temperature range, the variation being within± 15% of the median value from 36 ⁰C to 218 ⁰C for w = 0.05, when measured at 1 kHz. Consequently, we suggest that A site donor-doping and aliovalent B site doping of CBN holds potential for industry standard, temperature stable, high temperature dielectrics (ɛr ≥ 500 ± 15% from - 55–250 + ⁰C)

The evolution of irradiance detection: melanopsin and the non-visual opsins

Circadian rhythms are endogenous 24 h cycles that persist in the absence of external time cues. These rhythms provide an internal representation of day length and optimize physiology and behaviour to the varying demands of the solar cycle. These clocks require daily adjustment to local time and the primary time cue (zeitgeber) used by most vertebrates is the daily change in the amount of environmental light (irradiance) at dawn and dusk, a process termed photoentrainment. Attempts to understand the photoreceptor mechanisms mediating non-image-forming responses to light, such as photoentrainment, have resulted in the discovery of a remarkable array of different photoreceptors and photopigment families, all of which appear to use a basic opsin/vitamin A-based photopigment biochemistry. In non-mammalian vertebrates, specialized photoreceptors are located within the pineal complex, deep brain and dermal melanophores. There is also strong evidence in fish and amphibians for the direct photic regulation of circadian clocks in multiple tissues. By contrast, mammals possess only ocular photoreceptors. However, in addition to the image-forming rods and cones of the retina, there exists a third photoreceptor system based on a subset of melanopsin-expressing photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (pRGCs). In this review, we discuss the range of vertebrate photoreceptors and their opsin photopigments, describe the melanopsin/pRGC system in some detail and then finally consider the molecular evolution and sensory ecology of these non-image-forming photoreceptor systems

Corrigendum to “Structure and dielectric properties of yttrium-doped Ca0.28Ba0.72Nb2O6 ceramics” [J. Alloys Compd. 950 (2023) 169891]

The authors regret the oversight resulting in an incomplete list of contributing authors. The following text provides the missing authorial recognition for Dr. Thomas E. Hooperc. c Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S1 3JD, UK. The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused

Phylogenetics and taxonomy of the N ew W orld leafy spurges, E uphorbia section T ithymalus ( E uphorbiaceae)

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107503/1/boj12167-sup-0002-fs2.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107503/2/boj12167-sup-0003-fs3.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107503/3/boj12167-sup-0004-fs4.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107503/4/boj12167.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107503/5/boj12167-sup-0001-fs1.pd

Amplification efficiency: linking baseline and bias in the analysis of quantitative PCR data

Despite the central role of quantitative PCR (qPCR) in the quantification of mRNA transcripts, most analyses of qPCR data are still delegated to the software that comes with the qPCR apparatus. This is especially true for the handling of the fluorescence baseline. This article shows that baseline estimation errors are directly reflected in the observed PCR efficiency values and are thus propagated exponentially in the estimated starting concentrations as well as ‘fold-difference’ results. Because of the unknown origin and kinetics of the baseline fluorescence, the fluorescence values monitored in the initial cycles of the PCR reaction cannot be used to estimate a useful baseline value. An algorithm that estimates the baseline by reconstructing the log-linear phase downward from the early plateau phase of the PCR reaction was developed and shown to lead to very reproducible PCR efficiency values. PCR efficiency values were determined per sample by fitting a regression line to a subset of data points in the log-linear phase. The variability, as well as the bias, in qPCR results was significantly reduced when the mean of these PCR efficiencies per amplicon was used in the calculation of an estimate of the starting concentration per sample