Connectivity between coastal habitats of two oceanic Caribbean islands as inferred from ontogenetic shifts by coral reef fishes

Mangroves and seagrass beds are considered important nursery habitats for juveniles of coral reef fishes. Studies have mostly focused on the fish community of just one habitat, so the connectivity between different coastal habitats is often unclear. In this study, density and size of reef fish were determined using a single sampling technique in four non-estuarine bay habitats and four reef zones in Curaçao and Bonaire (Netherlands Antilles). The data indicate that of the complete reef fish community at least 21 species show ontogenetic crossshelf shifts in habitat utilization. The 21 species mainly utilized shallow-water habitats (mangroves, seagrass beds, channel and shallow reef) as nursery habitats and the deeper coral reef zones (\u3e 5 m depth) as adult lifestage habitats. Fish species utilized 1–3 different nursery habitats simultaneously, but habitat utilization clearly differed between species. Previous studies showed that the dependence on these nursery habitats is very high, based on reduced density or absence of adults on coral reefs where these habitats were absent. The strong connectivity between several coastal habitats during the ontogeny of various commercially important reef fish species is evidence for the inclusion of bay habitats within boundaries of fishery reserves or marine protected areas

Dampening variability by using smoothing replenishment rules.

A major cause of supply chain deficiencies is the bullwhip effect which can be substantial even over a single echelon. This effect refers to the tendency of the variance of the replenishment orders to increase as it moves up a supply chain. Supply chain managers experience this variance amplification in both inventory levels and replenishment orders. As a result, companies face shortages or bloated inventories, run-away transportation and warehousing costs and major production adjustment costs. In this article we analyse a major cause of the bullwhip effect and suggest a remedy. We focus on a smoothing replenishment rule that is able to reduce the bullwhip effect across a single echelon. In general, dampening variability in orders may have a negative impact on customer service due to inventory variance increases. We therefore quantify the variance of the net stock and compute the required safety stock as a function of the smoothing required. Our analysis shows that bullwhip can be satisfactorily managed without unduly increasing stock levels to maintain target fill rates.Bullwhip effect; Companies; Cost; Costs; Impact; Inventory; Managers; Order; Replenishment rule; Rules; Safety stock; Supply chain; Supply chain management; Variability; Variance; Variance reduction;

Smooth is smart: bullwhip, inventory, fill-rates and the golden ratio.

Inventory;

Who learns from whom? Supporting users and developers of a major biodiversity e-infrastructure

Abstract. Support systems play an important role for the communication between users and developers of software. We studied two support systems, an issues tracker and an email service available for Scratchpads, a Web 2.0 social networking tool that enables communities to build, share, manage and publish biodiversity information on the Web. Our aim was to identify co-learning opportunities between users and developers of the Scratchpad system by asking which support system was used by whom and for what type of questions. Our results show that issues tracker and emails cater to different user mentalities as well as different kind of questions and suggest ways to improve the support system as part of the development under the EU funded ViBRANT programme

Are positive changes in potential determinants associated with increased fruit and vegetable intakes among primary schoolchildren? Results of two intervention studies in the Netherlands: The Schoolgruiten Project and the Pro Children Study

Background: To investigate if positive changes or maintenance high scores on potential behavioral determinants of fruit and vegetable (F&V) intake are associated with increased or maintenance favorable levels of F&V intake frequency in the same time lapse or later in time. Data were used from two intervention studies in the Netherlands: the Schoolgruiten Project and the Pro Children Study. Methods: A design with baseline and two follow-up measurements. 344 children of the Dutch Schoolgruiten Project and 258 children of the Pro Children Study completed questionnaires, including questions on general demographics, usual F&V intake frequency, important potential determinants of F&V intake, such as taste preferences of F&V, availability of F&V, knowledge of recommended intake levels of F&V, self-efficacy for eating F&V, and parental influences for eating F&V. Three different associations between changes in determinants of F&V intake and changes in F&V intake frequency were assessed by multilevel multinomial regression analyses. Results: Results of one of the investigated associations indicated that in both studies behavior change (increase in F&V intake frequency) was preceded by changes in the following variables; liking of fruit, parental facilitation of vegetables, family rules for eating vegetables and availability at home of vegetables. Furthermore, changes in F&V intake frequency preceded changes in liking of F&V later in time. Conclusion: In accordance with behavior change theories, the present study provides some evidence that behavior change was preceded by changes in certain potential determinants of F&V intake. Potential determinants of F&V intake that appear to be important to induce behavior change were liking of fruit, parental facilitation of vegetables, family rules for eating vegetables and availability at home of vegetables. Some evidence was also found that behavior changes may precede changes in presumed determinants of F&V intake, such as liking of F&V

Design and prototype of a train-to-wayside communication architecture

Telecommunication has become very important in modern society and seems to be almost omnipresent, making daily life easier, more pleasant and connecting people everywhere. It does not only connect people, but also machines, enhancing the efficiency of automated tasks and monitoring automated processes. In this context the IBBT (Interdisciplinary Institute for BroadBand Technology) project TRACK (TRain Applications over an advanced Communication networK), sets the definition and prototyping of an end-to-end train-to-wayside communication architecture as one of the main research goals. The architecture provides networking capabilities for train monitoring, personnel applications and passenger Internet services. In the context of the project a prototype framework was developed to give a complete functioning demonstrator. Every aspect: tunneling and mobility, performance enhancements, and priority and quality of service were taken into consideration. In contrast to other research in this area, which has given mostly high-level overviews, TRACK resulted in a detailed architecture with all different elements present

Differences in fruit and vegetable intake and their determinants among 11-year-old schoolchildren between 2003 and 2009

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Fruit and vegetable (FV) intake in children in the Netherlands is much lower than recommended. Recurrent appraisal of intake levels is important for detecting changes in intake over time and to inform future interventions and policies. The aim of the present study was to investigate differences in fruit and vegetable intake, and whether these could be explained by differences in potential determinants of FV intake in 11-year-old Dutch schoolchildren, by comparing two school samples assessed in 2003 and 2009.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>For 1105 children of the Pro Children study in 2003 and 577 children of the Pro Greens study in 2009 complete data on intake and behavioural determinants were available. The self-administered questionnaire included questions on children's ethnicity, usual fruit and vegetable intake, mother's educational level, and important potential determinants of fruit and vegetable intake.</p> <p>Multiple regression analysis was applied to test for differences in intake and determinants between study samples. Mediation analyses were used to investigate whether the potential mediators explained the differences in intake between the two samples.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In 2009, more children complied with the World Health Organization recommendation of 400 g fruit and vegetables per day (17.0%) than in 2003 (11.8%, p = 0.004). Fruit consumption was significantly higher in the sample of 2009 than in the sample of 2003 (difference = 23.8 (95%CI: 8.1; 39.5) grams/day). This difference was mainly explained by a difference in the parental demand regarding their child's intake (23.6%), followed by the child's knowledge of the fruit recommendation (14.2%) and parental facilitation of consumption (18.5%). Vegetable intake was lower in the 2009 sample than in the 2003 sample (12.3 (95%CI -21.0; -3.6). This difference could not be explained by the assessed mediators.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The findings indicate that fruit intake among 11-year-olds improved somewhat between 2003 and 2009. Vegetable intake, however, appears to have declined somewhat between 2003 and 2009. Since a better knowledge of the recommendation, parental demand and facilitation explained most of the observed fruit consumption difference, future interventions may specifically address these potential mediators. Further, the provision of vegetables in the school setting should be considered in order to increase children's vegetable intake.</p

Apoptotic cell death, detected ex vivo in peripheral blood lymphocytes of HIV-1 infected persons

In HIV-1 infection the ongoing depletion of CD4+ T-lymphocytes is believed, to a large extent, to be due to apoptosis. Until now quantitative information about in vivo apoptosis of lymphocytes in HIV-patients is scarce because of the very nature of the apoptotic process. Successful detection of apoptosis ex vivo requires the recognition of the initial phase of this process, because at a later stage the cells may not remain any longer in the circulation. We measured quantitatively the amount of early apoptotic peripheral blood lymphocytes directly ex vivo in HIV-1 infected patients using a recently described flow cytometric assay. With this method we observed in an unselected heterogenous group of twelve HIV-infected individuals a median percentage of apoptotic lymphocytes to be significantly higher than in ten healthy controls. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report of ex vivo observed increased apoptosis of peripheral blood lymphocytes in HIV-infected persons