The interrelation between temperature regimes and fish size in juvenile Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua): effects on growth and feed conversion efficiency

The present paper describes the growth properties of juvenile Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) reared at 7, 10, 13 and 16 °C, and a group reared under “temperature steps” i.e. with temperature reduced successively from 16 to 13 and 10 °C. Growth rate and feed conversion efficiency of juvenile Atlantic cod were significantly influenced by the interaction of temperature and fish size. Overall growth was highest in the 13 °C and the T-step groups but for different reasons, as the fish at 13 °C had 10% higher overall feeding intake compared to the T-step group, whereas the T-step had 8% higher feeding efficiency. After termination of the laboratory study the fish were reared in sea pens at ambient conditions for 17 months. The groups performed differently when reared at ambient conditions in the sea as the T-step group was 11.6, 11.5, 5.3 and 7.5% larger than 7, 10, 13 and 16 °C, respectively in June 2005. Optimal temperature for growth and feed conversion efficiency decreased with size, indicating an ontogenetic reduction in optimum temperature for growth with increasing size. The results suggest an optimum temperature for growth of juvenile Atlantic cod in the size range 5–50 g dropping from 14.7 °C for 5–10 g juvenile to 12.4 °C for 40–50 g juvenile. Moreover, a broader parabolic regression curve between growth, feed conversion efficiency and temperature as size increases, indicate increased temperature tolerance with size. The study confirms that juvenile cod exhibits ontogenetic variation in temperature optimum, which might partly explain different spatial distribution of juvenile and adult cod in ocean waters. Our study also indicates a physiological mechanism that might be linked to cod migrations as cod may maximize their feeding efficiency by active thermoregulation

Surface oil flow visualization

A brief review of the use of surface oil flow visualization (SOFV) in wind tunnel testing is provided. The first part of the review discusses the concept of flow separation in three-dimensions and the resulting surface topology. This is followed by a review of the SOFV technique and its ability to reveal surface topologies in three-dimensional flow. The discussion is illustrated by examples. The application of modern digital techniques is highlighted

A comprehensive proteomic analysis of totarol induced alterations in Bacillus subtilis by multipronged quantitative proteomics

The rapid emergence of microbial drug resistance indicates the urgent need for development of new antimicrobial agents. Bacterial cell division machinery is considered as a promising antimicrobial target. Totarol is a naturally existing diterpenoid, which has the ability to restrain bacterial growth by perturbing the cell division. The present study was conducted to investigate the proteomic alterations in Bacillus subtilis as a consequence of totarol treatment to decipher its mechanism of action and possible molecular targets. Cellular proteome of the totarol treated B. subtilis AH75 strain was analyzed by using multiple complementary proteomic approaches. After the drug treatment, 12, 38 and 139 differentially expressed (1.5 fold change) proteins were identified using 2-DE, DIGE and iTRAQ analyses, respectively. In silico functional analysis of the identified differentially expressed proteins indicated a possible effect of totarol on the central metabolism for energy production, heme biosynthesis and chemotaxis. Interestingly, the primary dehydrogenases, which play a vital role in generating the reducing equivalent, were found to be repressed after totarol treatment indicating an apparent metabolic shutdown. Consequently, multiple cellular assays including resazurin assay and FAGS analysis of 5-cyano-2,3-ditolyl tetrazolium chloride (CTC) staining confirmed the effect of totarol on respiratory activity and cellular metabolism. Biological significance The exact mechanism of action of totarol is still unclear and further investigations are essential to identify the molecular/cellular targets of this potential antimicrobial agent. The present study demonstrates the application of differential proteome to decipher the mechanism of action and molecular targets of totarol in B. subtilis. Our quantitative proteome analysis revealed that totarol induced alterations in the expression levels of 139 proteins (1.5 fold change and 22 peptides) in B. subtilis. Findings obtained from this study indicate that totarol treatment leads to metabolic shutdown by repressing the major central metabolic dehydrogenases in B. subtilis. In addition, expression levels of universal chaperone proteins, heme biosynthesis, and ribosomal proteins were found to be altered, which caused the filamentation of the bacteria. To the best of our knowledge, this is the foremost inclusive investigation describing totarol induced alterations in B. subtilis proteome and diverse physiological processes. We anticipate that this in depth proteomic study may contribute to a better understanding of the mode of action of totarol and its primary molecular and cellular targets. (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V

Argumentation in Foreign Policy Settings

This is a study of argumentation in three different kinds of high level, confidential, foreign policy settings: a collegial setting, a bureaucratic setting, and a bargaining setting. The causal and value assertions of the participants were coded using the detailed records of these three settings. The data show to be inadequate a defense/ attack model of argumentation in which the participants support their own arguments to make them resistant to attack, while attacking the weak spots in others'stated positions. In fact, there are few assertions which are supported by specific evidence, almost no mutually supported causal arguments, and the assertions which were attacked were no less emphasized than the assertions which were not attacked. More in accord with the data is the novel-arguments approach in which the key factor in persuasive argumentation is the development of arguments which others have not already taken into account.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67391/2/10.1177_002200277702100410.pd