Report on estimating the size of dolphin schools, based on data obtained during a charter cruise of the M/V Gina Anne, October 11 -November 25, 1979

Estimates of dolphin school sizes made by observers and crew members aboard tuna seiners or by observers on ship or aerial surveys are important components of population estimates of dolphins which are involved in the yellowfin tuna fishery in the eastern Pacific. Differences in past estimates made from tuna seiners and research ships and aircraft have been noted by Brazier (1978). To compare various methods of estimating dolphin school sizes a research cruise was undertaken with the following major objectives: 1) compare estimates made by observers aboard a tuna seiner and in the ship's helicopter, from aerial photographs, and from counts made at the backdown channel, 2) compare estimates of observers who are told the count of the school size after making their estimate to the observer who is not aware of the count to determine if observers can learn to estimate more accurately, and 3) obtain movie and still photographs of dolphin schools of known size at various stages of chase, capture and release to be used for observer training. The secondary objectives of the cruise were to: 1) obtain life history specimens and data from any dolphins that were killed incidental to purse seining. These specimens and data were to be analyzed by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service ( NMFS ) , 2) record evasion tactics of dolphin schools by observing them from the helicopter while the seiner approached the school, 3) examine alternative methods for estimating the distance and bearing of schools where they were first sighted, 4) collect the Commission's standard cetacean sighting, set log and daily activity data and expendable bathythermograph data. (PDF contains 31 pages.

Salt-marsh evolution at Northwick and Aust warths, Severn Estuary, UK: a case of constrained autocyclicity.

Historic maps, remote imagery and field surveys reveal that a terraced sequence of four salt marshes has arisen on a decadal-centennial time-scale over a frontage of about 4 km at Northwick and Aust warths exposed to westerly to northerly winds on the east bank of the Severn Estuary, UK. Except for the youngest marsh, at present very immature, each marsh built up through differential sedimentation from a mudflat until the outer zone reached a critical steepness; at that point wave-attack caused erosion that led to the rapid landward retreat of a bold, laterally extensive, marsh-edge cliff. This observed behaviour is consistent with previous models of autocyclic marshes, but evidence suggests that the extrinsic factor of medium-scale changes in wind-wave climate constrained the particular timing of marsh responses

Steam Generator Group Project. Task 6. Channel head decontamination

The Steam Generator Group Project utilizes a retired-from-service pressurized-water-reactor steam generator as a test bed and source of specimens for research. An important preparatory step to primary side research activities was reduction of the radiation field in the steam generator channel head. This task report describes the channel head decontamination activities. Though not a programmatic research objective it was judged beneficial to explore the use of dilute reagent chemical decontamination techniques. These techniques presented potential for reduced personnel exposure and reduced secondary radwaste generation, over currently used abrasive blasting techniques. Two techniques with extensive laboratory research and vendors prepared to offer commercial application were tested, one on either side of the channel head. As indicated in the report, both techniques accomplished similar decontamination objectives. Neither technique damaged the generator channel head or tubing materials, as applied. This report provides details of the decontamination operations. Application system and operating conditions are described

On the gravitational, dilatonic and axionic radiative damping of cosmic strings

We study the radiation reaction on cosmic strings due to the emission of dilatonic, gravitational and axionic waves. After verifying the (on average) conservative nature of the time-symmetric self-interactions, we concentrate on the finite radiation damping force associated with the half-retarded minus half-advanced ``reactive'' fields. We revisit a recent proposal of using a ``local back reaction approximation'' for the reactive fields. Using dimensional continuation as convenient technical tool, we find, contrary to previous claims, that this proposal leads to antidamping in the case of the axionic field, and to zero (integrated) damping in the case of the gravitational field. One gets normal positive damping only in the case of the dilatonic field. We propose to use a suitably modified version of the local dilatonic radiation reaction as a substitute for the exact (non-local) gravitational radiation reaction. The incorporation of such a local approximation to gravitational radiation reaction should allow one to complete, in a computationally non-intensive way, string network simulations and to give better estimates of the amount and spectrum of gravitational radiation emitted by a cosmologically evolving network of massive strings.Comment: 48 pages, RevTex, epsfig, 1 figure; clarification of the domain of validity of the perturbative derivation of the string equations of motion, and of their renormalizabilit

Dependent Types for Pragmatics

This paper proposes the use of dependent types for pragmatic phenomena such as pronoun binding and presupposition resolution as a type-theoretic alternative to formalisms such as Discourse Representation Theory and Dynamic Semantics.Comment: This version updates the paper for publication in LEU

Cosmological Evolution of Global Monopoles

We investigate the cosmological evolution of global monopoles in the radiation dominated (RD) and matter dominated (MD) universes by numerically solving field equations of scalar fields. It is shown that the global monopole network relaxes into the scaling regime, unlike the gauge monopole network. The number density of global monopoles is given by $n(t) \simeq (0.43\pm0.07) / t^{3}$ during the RD era and $n(t) \simeq (0.25\pm0.05) / t^{3}$ during the MD era. Thus, we have confirmed that density fluctuations produced by global monopoles become scale invariant and are given by $\delta \rho \sim 7.2(5.0) \sigma^{2} / t^{2}$ during the RD (MD) era, where $\sigma$ is the breaking scale of the symmetry.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. D (R

Targeting Conservation Investments in Heterogeneous Landscapes: A distance function approach and application to watershed management

To achieve a given level of an environmental amenity at least cost, decision-makers must integrate information about spatially variable biophysical and economic conditions. Although the biophysical attributes that contribute to supplying an environmental amenity are often known, the way in which these attributes interact to produce the amenity is often unknown. Given the difficulty in converting multiple attributes into a unidimensional physical measure of an environmental amenity (e.g., habitat quality), analyses in the academic literature tend to use a single biophysical attribute as a proxy for the environmental amenity (e.g., species richness). A narrow focus on a single attribute, however, fails to consider the full range of biophysical attributes that are critical to the supply of an environmental amenity. Drawing on the production efficiency literature, we introduce an alternative conservation targeting approach that relies on distance functions to cost-efficiently allocate conservation funds across a spatially heterogeneous landscape. An approach based on distance functions has the advantage of not requiring a parametric specification of the amenity function (or cost function), but rather only requiring that the decision-maker identify important biophysical and economic attributes. We apply the distance-function approach empirically to an increasingly common, but little studied, conservation initiative: conservation contracting for water quality objectives. The contract portfolios derived from the distance-function application have many desirable properties, including intuitive appeal, robust performance across plausible parametric amenity measures, and the generation of ranking measures that can be easily used by field practitioners in complex decision-making environments that cannot be completely modeled. Working Paper # 2002-01

Piolhos hematófagos podem disseminar infecção pelo Trypanosoma cruzi em babuínos

Trypanosoma cruzi (Schyzotrypanum, Chagas, 1909), and Chagas disease are endemic in captive-reared baboons at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, San Antonio, Texas. We obtained PCR amplification products from DNA extracted from sucking lice collected from the hair and skin of T. cruzi-infected baboons, with specific nested sets of primers for the protozoan kinetoplast DNA, and nuclear DNA. These products were hybridized to their complementary internal sequences. Selected sequences were cloned and sequencing established the presence of T. cruzi nuclear DNA, and minicircle kDNA. Competitive PCR with a kDNA set of primers determined the quantity of approximately 23.9 ± 18.2 T. cruzi per louse. This finding suggests that the louse may be a vector incidentally contributing to the dissemination of T. cruzi infection in the baboon colony.As infecções pelo Trypanosoma cruzi e a doença de Chagas são endêmicas em babuínos (Papio hamadryas) reproduzidos em cativeiro na Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, em Santo Antonio, Texas. Nós obtivemos produtos de amplificação por PCR do DNA extraído de piolhos colhidos do cabelo e da pele de babuínos chagásicos, com primers aneladores específicos para DNAs nuclear e de cinetoplasto do protozoário. Esses produtos foram hibridizados com suas respectivas seqüências internas complementares. Seqüências selecionadas foram clonadas e o sequenciamento demonstrou a presença de DNA nuclear de T. cruzi, e de minicírculo de kDNA. A PCR competitiva com primers de kDNA determinou a quantidade de aproximadamente 23.9 ± 18.2 T. cruzi por piolho. Este achado sugere que o piolho pode ser um vetor contribuindo para a disseminação de T. cruzi na colônia de babuínos