Holographic optical elements in dichromated gelatin

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Mount Elgon\u27s Elephants Are in Peril

The elephants at Mount Elgon National Park (MENP) are unique and exceptional. They are the only elephants known to excavate for salt in underground caves. Data on the ecology of elephants at MENP were collected over a period of seven years with a total of 130 days of field observations. Methods employed included: direct observations, spoor, photographs, and sound recording. Elephants visited the caves singly or in groups of up to 19 individuals; visits lasted up to 6 hours in Kitum and Makingeny Caves. Most visits began around dusk, but occasionally they entered in daytime or later at night. The frequency of visits by elephants to the caves seemed to increase as the rainfall decreased. Also observed at the caves were bats, ungulates, monkeys, rodents, carnivores, birds, and insects. Plants, rocks, and water samples are being analyzed. It appears that the formation of these caves resulted from the combined efforts of salt mining and/or eating activities over millions of years by elephants and other animals and also by pastoral African tribes. In the early 1970\u27s the elephant population in MENP was estimated to be 1,200 ± 100; today perhaps only 50-130 are left. This decline of 10- to 26-fold is mostly due to ivory poaching, which increased dramatically since 1986. If this trend continues, Mount Elgon\u27s already depleted elephant population will become extinct. This would also mean the end of the unprecedented mining behavior - a potential tourist attraction comparable to Rwanda\u27s mountain gorillas in its appeal to tourists. Recommendations and proposals for action include publicity and fund-raising in order to better equip and enlarge anti-poacher patrols, to encourage controlled tourism, and to define research and conservation work related to Mount Elgon\u27s ecosystem

Culture of Sargassum in Korea: Techniques and Potential for Culture in the U.S.

In an effort to develop suitable culture techniques for macroalgae in the Northeast, this guide reviews the current knowledge of Sargassum biology and reports on culture techniques learned during a research exchange between the United States (NOAA Sea Grant) and South Korea (National Fisheries Research and Development Institute)

The Last Stand of the Gorilla: Environmental Crime and Conflict in the Congo Basin

This report discusses the status of gorillas in the Greater Congo River Basin. The report looks at challenges such as poaching and habitat loss

An electrophysiological signal that precisely tracks the emergence of error awareness

Recent electrophysiological research has sought to elucidate the neural mechanisms necessary for the conscious awareness of action errors. Much of this work has focused on the error positivity (Pe), a neural signal that is specifically elicited by errors that have been consciously perceived. While awareness appears to be an essential prerequisite for eliciting the Pe, the precise functional role of this component has not been identified. Twenty-nine participants performed a novel variant of the Go/No-go Error Awareness Task (EAT) in which awareness of commission errors was indicated via a separate speeded manual response. Independent component analysis (ICA) was used to isolate the Pe from other stimulus- and response-evoked signals. Single-trial analysis revealed that Pe peak latency was highly correlated with the latency at which awareness was indicated. Furthermore, the Pe was more closely related to the timing of awareness than it was to the initial erroneous response. This finding was confirmed in a separate study which derived IC weights from a control condition in which no indication of awareness was required, thus ruling out motor confounds. A receiver-operating-characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the Pe could reliably predict whether an error would be consciously perceived up to 400 ms before the average awareness response. Finally, Pe latency and amplitude were found to be significantly correlated with overall error awareness levels between subjects. Our data show for the first time that the temporal dynamics of the Pe trace the emergence of error awareness. These findings have important implications for interpreting the results of clinical EEG studies of error processing

Culture of Sea Cucumbers in Korea: A Guide to Korean Methods and the Local Sea Cucumber in the Northeast U.S.

In an effort to develop suitable culture techniques for sea cucumber (Cucumaria frondosa) in the Northeast, this guide reviews the current knowledge of C. frondosa biology and reports on techniques for the hatchery culture of the Japanese sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus learned during a research exchange between the United States (NOAA Sea Grant) and South Korea (National Fisheries Research and Development Institute). The final portion of the guide discusses the potential adoption of the culture techniques for A. japonicus for use with C. frondosa