Fish assemblages associated with three types of artificial reefs: density of assemblages and possible impacts on adjacent fish abundance

We evaluated the effectiveness of wooden artificial reefs (ARs) as fish habitat. Three types of ARs, made of cedar logs, broadleaf tree logs, and PVC pipes, respectively, were deployed in triplicate at 8-m depth off Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture, Sea of Japan, in May 2004. Fish assemblages associated with each of the nine ARs were observed by using SCUBA twice a month for four years. Fish assemblages in the adjacent habitat were also monitored for two years before and four years after reef deployment. In the surveyed areas (ca. 10 m2) associated with each of the cedar, broadleaf, and PVC ARs, the average number of fish species was 4.14, 3.49, and 3.00, and the average number of individuals was 40.7, 27.9, and 20.3, respectively. The estimated biomass was also more greater when associated with the cedar ARs than with other ARs. Visual censuses of the habitat adjacent to the ARs revealed that the number of fish species and the density of individuals were not affected by the deployment of the ARs. Our results support the superiority of cedar as an AR material and indicate that deployment of wooden ARs causes no reduction of fish abundance in adjacent natural reefs

Design and Implementation of a DMARC Verification Result Notification System

Damages caused by spoofed e-mails as sent from a bank, a public organization and so on become serious social problems. In such e-mails attackers forge the sender address to defraud receivers of their personal and/or secret information. As a countermeasure against spoofed e-mails, sender domain authentication methods such as SPF and DKIM are frequently utilized. However, since most spoofed e-mails do not include DKIM signature in their e-mail header, those e-mails cannot be authenticated by the conventional system. Additionally DKIM has a problem that cannot determine whether the attached signature is legitimate. In this paper, we propose a method to detect spoofed e-mails and alert the user without DKIM signature by utilizing DMARC and implement a system that sends DMARC verification results to receivers. By utilizing this system, the users can obtain alerts for spoofed e-mails that the existing systems cannot warn

Formation mechanism of plateau, rapid fall and tail in phosphorus diffusion profile in silicon based on the pair diffusion models of vacancy mechanism and interstitial mechanism

P diffuses predominantly by the interstitial mechanism in Si. Assuming that there is a strong binding energy between P and I, therefore, the basic process of P diffusion is the diffusion of (PI), where I and (PI) represent self-interstitials and P-I pairs, respectively. In the high-P-concentration region, excess I is generated by the dissociation of (PI) and the limiting process of P diffusion depends on whether or not excess I is controlled. That is, if the concentration of excess I decreases relatively to the equilibrium I concentration due to the effect of the decrease in quasi self-interstitial formation energy, or if excess I is removed by the recombination with vacancies, P diffuses fast and the plateau is formed; if not, P diffuses slowly and the rapid fall is formed. In the tail region, the P concentration is low and the limiting process of P diffusion is the basic process of P diffusion, that is, the diffusion of (PI). Excess I generated in the high-P-concentration region diffuses into the low-P-concentration region, and I is supersaturated there. Therefore, the concentration of (PI) increases, resulting in the fast diffusion of P and the formation of the tail

RNA Interference – A Powerful Functional Analysis Tool for Studying Tick Biology and its Control

Ticks (Acari: Ixodida) are blood-sucking arthropods globally recognized as vectors of numerous diseases. They are primarily responsible for the transmission of various pathogens, including viruses, rickettsiae, and blood parasites of animals. Ticks are second to mosquitoes in terms of disease transmission to humans. The continuous emergence of tick-borne diseases and acaricide resistance of ticks necessitates the development of new and more effective control agents and strategies; therefore, understanding of different aspects of tick biology and their interaction with pathogens is very crucial in developing effective control strategies. RNA interference (RNAi) has been widely used in the area of tick research as a versatile reverse genetic tool to elucidate the functions of various tick proteins. During the past decade, numerous studies on ticks utilized RNAi to evaluate potentially key tick proteins involved in blood feeding, reproduction, evasion of host immune response, interaction with pathogens, and pathogen transmission that may be targeted for tick and pathogen control. This chapter reviewed the application of RNAi in tick research over the past decade, focusing on the impact of this technique in the advancement of knowledge on tick and pathogen biology