Effectiveness of a Rigid Grate for Excluding Pacific Halibut, Hippoglossus stenolepis, From Groundfish Trawl Catches

A rigid grate was installed in a groundfish trawl to test its effectiveness in excluding Pacific halibut, Hippoglossus stenolepis, from commercial flatfish catches in the Gulf of Alaska. The grate was located ahead of the trawl codend to direct halibut toward an escape opening while allowing target species to pass through toward the codend. In an experimental fishery, the escape rate of halibut was estimated at 94%, while 72% of the Dover sole, Microstomas pacificus, 67% of the rex sole, Glyptocephalus zachirus, and 79% of the flathead sole, Hippoglossoides elassodon, were retained

Flatfish herding behavior in response to trawl sweeps: a comparison of diel responses to conventional sweeps and elevated sweeps

Commercial bottom trawls often have sweeps to herd fish into the net. Elevation of the sweeps off the seaf loor may reduce seafloor disturbance, but also reduce herding effectiveness. In both field and laboratory experiments, we examined the behavior of flatfish in response to sweeps. We tested the hypotheses that 1) sweeps are more effective at herding flatfish during the day than at night, when fish are unable to see approaching gear, and that 2) elevation of sweeps off the seafloor reduces herding during the day, but not at night. In sea trials, day catches were greater than night catches for four out of six flatfish species examined. The elevation of sweeps 10 cm significantly decreased catches during the day, but not at night. Laboratory experiments revealed northern rock sole (Lepidopsetta polyxystra) and Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) were more likely to be herded\ud by the sweep in the light, whereas in the dark they tended to pass under or over the sweep. In the light, elevation of the sweep reduced herding, and more fish passed under the sweep. In contrast, in the dark, sweep elevation had little effect upon the number of fish that exhibited herding behavior. The results of both field and laboratory experiments were consistent with the premise that vision is the principle sensory input that controls fish behavior and orientation to trawl gear, and gear performance will differ between conditions where flatfish can see, in contrast to where they cannot see, the approaching gear

An Exploration of How Past, Present, and Anticipated Future Identities Shape the Reading Identities and Practices of Reluctant Male Readers in a Rural Setting

Many factors can attribute to a working-class, rural, male adolescent reluctant reader. This intersection of social factors warrants research to find out the reading attitudes and identity of adolescents with the aforementioned factors. In order to conduct this research, I interviewed six young men, their parents, and their English teacher. I also observed them in their English classroom and in a venue of their choosing. A major component of this research included looking at their past and present reading identities, along with uncovering how they pictured themselves in the future regarding post high school schooling, career, and family

Government-Industry Cooperative Fisheries Research in the North Pacific under the MSFCMA

The National Marine Fisheries Service’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) has a long and successful history of conducting research in cooperation with the fishing industry. Many of the AFSC’s annual resource assessment surveys are carried out aboard chartered commercial vessels and the skill and experience of captains and crew are integral to the success of this work. Fishing companies have been contracted to provide vessels and expertise for many different types of research, including testing and evaluation of survey and commercial fishing gear and development of improved methods for estimating commercial catch quantity and composition. AFSC scientists have also participated in a number of industry-initiated research projects including development of selective fishing gears for bycatch reduction and evaluating and improving observer catch composition sampling. In this paper, we describe the legal and regulatory provisions for these types of cooperative work and present examples to illustrate the process and identify the requirements for successful cooperative research

Clinician‐perceived barriers and facilitators for the provision of actionable processes of care important for persistent or chronic critical illness

Aim: To explore clinician-perceived barriers to and facilitators for the provision of actionable processes of care important for patients with persistent or chronic critical illness. Design: Qualitative descriptive interview study. Methods: Secondary analysis of semi-structured telephone interviews (December 2018 – February 2019) with professionally diverse clinicians working with adults experiencing persistent or chronic critical illness in Canadian intensive care units. We used deductive content analysis informed by the Social-Ecological Model. Results: We recruited 31 participants from intensive care units across nine Canadian provinces. Reported intrapersonal level barriers to the provision of actionable processes of care included lack of training, negative emotions and challenges prioritizing these patients. Facilitators included establishment of positive relations and trust with patients and family. Interpersonal barriers included communication difficulties, limited access to physicians and conflict. Facilitators included communication support, time spent with the patient/family and conflict management. Institutional barriers comprised inappropriate care processes, inadequate resources and disruptive environmental conditions. Facilitators were regular team rounds, appropriate staffing and employment of a primary care (nurse and/or physician) model. Community-level barriers included inappropriate care location and insufficient transition support. Facilitators were accessed to alternate care sites/teams and to formalized transition support. Public policy-level barriers included inadequacy of formal education programs for the care of these patients; knowledge implementation for patient management was identified as a facilitator. Conclusion: Our results highlighted multilevel barriers and facilitators to the delivery of actionable processes important for quality care for patient/family experiencing persistent or chronic critical illness. Impact: Using the Social-Ecological Model, the results of this study provide intra and interpersonal, institutional, community and policy-level barriers to address and facilitators to harness to improve the care of patients/family experiencing persistent or chronic critical illness. Reporting Method: Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative studies. Patient or Public Contribution: No patient or public contribution.</p

Evaluating the flexibility of a reflex action mortality predictor to determine bycatch mortality rates: A case study of Tanner crab (Chionoecetes bairdi) bycaught in Alaska bottom trawls

AbstractTo quantify total fishing mortality it is necessary to incorporate mortality rates attributed to bycatch, including animals that are discarded and that interact with the gear without being caught. The Reflex Action Mortality Predictor (RAMP) approach has been increasingly used to determine bycatch mortality rates in fisheries. This methodology creates a RAMP that relates reflex impairment to probability of mortality. As the RAMP approach becomes more prevalent it becomes important to evaluate the efficacy of its application. We evaluated the flexibility of this methodology by creating a RAMP for Tanner crab (Chionoecetes bairdi) discarded from the groundfish bottom trawl fishery in the Gulf of Alaska and comparing it to a previously established RAMP for unobserved Tanner crab bycatch (encountered gear and remained on the seafloor) from the bottom trawl fishery in the Bering Sea. The two RAMPs and the overall mortality rates calculated using these predictors were comparable. However, we detected significant differences between RAMPs. While probabilities of mortality were similar between the two studies for crab with all or no reflexes missing, discarded crab with intermediate reflex impairment had lower mortality probabilities than those from the unobserved-bycatch study. Our results indicate that a RAMP may produce more accurate mortality estimates when applied to animals experiencing similar stressors as those evaluated to create the RAMP, through similar methodology

The role of angular momentum in the construction of electromagnetic multipolar fields

Multipolar solutions of Maxwell's equations are used in many practical applications and are essential for the understanding of light-matter interactions at the fundamental level. Unlike the set of plane wave solutions of electromagnetic fields, the multipolar solutions do not share a standard derivation or notation. As a result, expressions originating from different derivations can be difficult to compare. Some of the derivations of the multipolar solutions do not explicitly show their relation to the angular momentum operators, thus hiding important properties of these solutions. In this article, the relation between two of the most common derivations of this set of solutions is explicitly shown and their relation to the angular momentum operators is exposed.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figure

Eliciting patient preferences, priorities and trade-offs for outcomes following kidney transplantation: A pilot best-worst scaling survey

Objectives: Eliciting preferences and trade-offs that patients may make to achieve important outcomes, can assist in developing patient-centred research and care. The pilot study aimed to test the feasibility of a case 2 best-worst scaling survey (BWS) to elicit recipient with kidney transplantation preferences after transplantation. Design: Preferences for graft survival and dying, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, infection and side effects (gastrointestinal, weight-gain and appearance) were assessed in recipients with transplantation using a BWS (20 scenarios of nine outcomes). Participants chose 'best' and 'worst' outcomes. Responses were analysed using a multinomial logit model. Selected participants were interviewed. Outcomes: Attribute coefficients and survey completion error rates. Results: 81 recipients with transplantation were approached, and 39 (48%), mean age 50.5 years, completed the BWS. 4 (10%) surveys were invalid with major errors and of 35 remaining, 7 of 1400 (0.5%) choices were missing. -23 (59%) took >20 min to complete the survey. 1 was unable to finish, and 1 did not understand the survey. 2 (5%) found it very hard and 14 (35%) moderately hard. Most attribute coefficients were significant (p<0.05) and showed face validity. Graft survival was most important with normalised coefficients from 1 (95% CI 0.89 to 1.11) to 0.06 (95% CI -0.03 to 0.16) for 30 and 1 year duration, respectively. Attribute level coefficients decreased with increasing risk of adverse outcomes. Error rates of 20% and 2% were estimated for dominant attributes '100% risk of dying' and '30 years graft survival', respectively. 7 participants were interviewed regarding counterintuitive selection of '100% risk of dying' as a 'best' outcome. Misunderstanding, not linking dying to graft survival and aversion to dialysis were reasons given. Conclusions: Recipients with transplant recipients successfully completed a complex case 2 BWS with attribute coefficients having face validity with respect to duration of graft survival and risk of adverse outcomes. Areas for refinement to reduce complexity in design have been identified

Dynamic deformation of volcanic ejecta from the Toba caldera: Possible relevance to Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary phenomena

Plagioclase and biotite phenocrysts in ignimbrites erupted from the Toba caldera, Sumatra, show microstructures and textures indicative of shock stress levels higher than 10 GPa. Strong dynamic deformation has resulted in intense kinking in biotite and, with increasing shock intensity, the development in plagioclase of planar features, shock mosaicism, incipient recrystallization, and possible partial melting. Microstructures in quartz indicative of strong shock deformation are rare, however, and many shock lamellae, if formed, may have healed during post-shock residence in the hot ignimbrite; they might be preserved in ash falls. Peak shock stresses from explosive silicic volcanism and other endogenous processes may be high and if so would obviate the need for extraterrestrial impacts to produce all dynamically deformed structures, possibly including shock features observed near the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary

Pilbara coastal flora

The Pilbara coastal region is an area which will have increased human pressure both for work and recreation. In recent years, rapid expansion of townsites along the coast has meant that areas which were once stable have come under threat. Conservation measures will be needed to protect the coastline, and to ensure that the beauty of the coastal landscape: an be enjoyed by future generations