Global Management Effectiveness Study: Integrated Social and Ecological Report for Non-node and Node Sites

The purpose of this study is to provide a critical assessment of the implementation, impact, and performance of Marine Managed Area (MMA) projects to serve as a basis for improved planning and implementation of new MMA projects worldwide. The specific objectives of the study are (1) to determine the socioeconomic, governance and ecological effects of MMAs; (2) to determine the critical factors influencing MMA effects, as well as the impact of the timing of those factors on the effects of the MMA; and (3) to provide tools for predicting MMA effects based on ecological, socioeconomic and governance variable

Oceanographic drivers of deep-sea coral species distribution and community assembly on seamounts, islands, atolls, and reefs within the Phoenix Islands Protected Area

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Auscavitch, S. R., Deere, M. C., Keller, A. G., Rotjan, R. D., Shank, T. M., & Cordes, E. E. Oceanographic drivers of deep-sea coral species distribution and community assembly on seamounts, islands, atolls, and reefs within the Phoenix Islands Protected Area. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7, (2020): 42, doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.00042.The Phoenix Islands Protected Area, in the central Pacific waters of the Republic of Kiribati, is a model for large marine protected area (MPA) development and maintenance, but baseline records of the protected biodiversity in its largest environment, the deep sea (>200 m), have not yet been determined. In general, the equatorial central Pacific lacks biogeographic perspective on deep-sea benthic communities compared to more well-studied regions of the North and South Pacific Ocean. In 2017, explorations by the NOAA ship Okeanos Explorer and R/V Falkor were among the first to document the diversity and distribution of deep-water benthic megafauna on numerous seamounts, islands, shallow coral reef banks, and atolls in the region. Here, we present baseline deep-sea coral species distribution and community assembly patterns within the Scleractinia, Octocorallia, Antipatharia, and Zoantharia with respect to different seafloor features and abiotic environmental variables across bathyal depths (200–2500 m). Remotely operated vehicle (ROV) transects were performed on 17 features throughout the Phoenix Islands and Tokelau Ridge Seamounts resulting in the observation of 12,828 deep-water corals and 167 identifiable morphospecies. Anthozoan assemblages were largely octocoral-dominated consisting of 78% of all observations with seamounts having a greater number of observed morphospecies compared to other feature types. Overlying water masses were observed to have significant effects on community assembly across bathyal depths. Revised species inventories further suggest that the protected area it is an area of biogeographic overlap for Pacific deep-water corals, containing species observed across bathyal provinces in the North Pacific, Southwest Pacific, and Western Pacific. These results underscore significant geographic and environmental complexity associated with deep-sea coral communities that remain in under-characterized in the equatorial central Pacific, but also highlight the additional efforts that need to be brought forth to effectively establish baseline ecological metrics in data deficient bathyal provinces.Funding for this work was provided by NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (Grant No. NA17OAR0110083) to RR, EC, TS, and David Gruber

Corpus-Based Approaches to Figurative Language: Metaphor and Austerity

Austerity is a by-product of the ongoing financial crisis. As Kitson et al (2001) explain, what was a \u201cNICE\u201d (\u2018non-inflationary consistent expansion\u2019) economy has turned \u201cVILE\u201d (\u2018volatile inflation, little expansion\u2019), and the economic and social fall-out is now becoming visible. Unemployment, redundancy, inflation, recession, insecurity, and poverty all loom, causing governments, businesses and individuals to reevaluate their priorities. A changing world changes attitudes, and the earliest manifestations of such change can often be found in figurative language. Political rhetoric attempts to sweeten the bitter pill that nations have no choice but to swallow; all are invited to share the pain, make sacrifices for the common good, and weather the storm. But more sinister undertones can also be perceived. In times of social and financial dire straits, scapegoats are sought and mercilessly pursued in the press. The elderly, unemployed, and disabled are under fire for \u201csponging off the state\u201d; and as jobs become scarcer and the tax bill rises, migrant populations and asylum seekers are viewed with increasing suspicion and resentment. Calls for a \u201cbig society\u201d fall on deaf ears. Society, it seems, is shrinking as self-preservation takes hold. Austerity is a timely area of study: although austerity measures have been implemented in the past, most of the contributions here address the current political and economic situation, which means that some of the studies reported are work in progress while others look at particular \u201cwindows\u201d of language output from the recent past. Whichever their focus, the papers presented here feature up-to-the-minute research into the metaphors being used to comment upon our current socioeconomic situation. The picture of austerity that emerges from these snapshots is a complex one, and one which is likely to be developed further and more widely in the coming future

Measurement Of Quasiparticle Transport In Aluminum Films Using Tungsten Transition-Edge Sensors

We report new experimental studies to understand the physics of phonon sensors which utilize quasiparticle diffusion in thin aluminum films into tungsten transition-edge-sensors (TESs) operated at 35 mK. We show that basic TES physics and a simple physical model of the overlap region between the W and Al films in our devices enables us to accurately reproduce the experimentally observed pulse shapes from x-rays absorbed in the Al films. We further estimate quasiparticle loss in Al films using a simple diffusion equation approach.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, PRA

Origin of highly rr-process-enhanced stars in a cosmological zoom-in simulation of a Milky Way-like galaxy

The $r$-process-enhanced (RPE) stars provide fossil records of the assembly history of the Milky Way and the nucleosynthesis of the heaviest elements. Observations by the $R$-Process Alliance (RPA) and others have confirmed that many RPE stars are associated with chemo-dynamically tagged groups, which likely came from accreted dwarf galaxies of the Milky Way (MW). However, we do not know how RPE stars are formed. Here, we present the result of a cosmological zoom-in simulation of an MW-like galaxy with $r$-process enrichment, performed with the highest resolution in both time and mass. Thanks to this advancement, unlike previous simulations, we find that most highly RPE ($r$-II; [Eu/Fe] $> +0.7$) stars are formed in low-mass dwarf galaxies that have been enriched in $r$-process elements for [Fe/H] $\,<-2.5$, while those with higher metallicity are formed in situ, in locally enhanced gas clumps that were not necessarily members of dwarf galaxies. This result suggests that low-mass accreted dwarf galaxies are the main formation site of $r$-II stars with [Fe/H] $\,<-2.5$. We also find that most low-metallicity $r$-II stars exhibit halo-like kinematics. Some $r$-II stars formed in the same halo show low dispersions in [Fe/H] and somewhat larger dispersions of [Eu/Fe], similar to the observations. The fraction of simulated $r$-II stars is commensurate with observations from the RPA, and the distribution of the predicted [Eu/Fe] for halo $r$-II stars matches that observed. These results demonstrate that RPE stars can be valuable probes of the accretion of dwarf galaxies in the early stages of their formation.Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures, published in MNRA

Exclusive neuronal expression of SUCLA2 in the human brain

SUCLA2 encodes the ATP-forming subunit (A-SUCL-) of succinyl-CoA ligase, an enzyme of the citric acid cycle. Mutations in SUCLA2 lead to a mitochondrial disorder manifesting as encephalomyopathy with dystonia, deafness and lesions in the basal ganglia. Despite the distinct brain pathology associated with SUCLA2 mutations, the precise localization of SUCLA2 protein has never been investigated. Here we show that immunoreactivity of A-SUCL- in surgical human cortical tissue samples was present exclusively in neurons, identified by their morphology and visualized by double labeling with a fluorescent Nissl dye. A-SUCL- immunoreactivity co-localized >99% with that of the d subunit of the mitochondrial F0-F1 ATP synthase. Specificity of the anti-A-SUCL- antiserum was verified by the absence of labeling in fibroblasts from a patient with a complete deletion of SUCLA2. A-SUCL- immunoreactivity was absent in glial cells, identified by antibodies directed against the glial markers GFAP and S100. Furthermore, in situ hybridization histochemistry demonstrated that SUCLA2 mRNA was present in Nissl-labeled neurons but not glial cells labeled with S100. Immunoreactivity of the GTP-forming subunit (G-SUCL-) encoded by SUCLG2, or in situ hybridization histochemistry for SUCLG2 mRNA could not be demonstrated in either neurons or astrocytes. Western blotting of post mortem brain samples revealed minor G-SUCL- immunoreactivity that was however, not upregulated in samples obtained from diabetic versus non-diabetic patients, as has been described for murine brain. Our work establishes that SUCLA2 is expressed exclusively in neurons in the human cerebral cortex

Spillover of sea scallops from rotational closures in the Mid-Atlantic Bight (United States)

We examined evidence for larval spillover (increased recruitment outside the closures) of Atlantic sea scallops (Placopecten magellanicus) due to rotational closures in the Mid-Atlantic Bight using a 40-year fisheries survey time series and a larval transport model. Since the first closure of the Hudson Canyon South (HCS) area in 1998, mean recruitment in the two areas directly down-current from this closure, Elephant Trunk (ET) and Delmarva (DMV), increased significantly by factors of about 7 and 2, respectively. Stock–recruit plots indicate that low biomasses in HCS were associated with reduced mean recruitment in ET and DMV. Simulations indicate that larvae spawned in HCS often settle in the two downstream areas and that model-estimated settlement (based on gonad biomass in HCS and year-specific larval transport between the areas) is correlated with observed recruitment. This study gives strong evidence that the rotational closure of HCS has induced increased recruitment in down-current areas