Deep reef fish surveys by submersible on Alderdice, McGrail, and Sonnier Banks in the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico

Submersible surveys at numerous reefs and banks in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico (NWGOM) were conducted as part of the Sustainable Seas Expedition (SSE) during July/August 2002 to identify reef fish communities, characterize benthic habitats, and identify deep coral reef ecosystems. To identify the spatial extent of hard bottom reef communities, the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) mapped approximately 2000 km2 of the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico (NWGOM) continental shelf during June 2002 with high-resolution multibeam bathymetry. Previous investigations conducted on the features of interest (with the exceptions of East and West Flower Garden and Sonnier Banks, accessible by SCUBA) had not been conducted since the 1970s and 1980s, and did not have the use of high-resolution maps to target survey sites. The base maps were instrumental in navigating submersibles to specific features at each study site during the Sustainable Seas Expedition (SSE)—a submersible effort culminating from a partnership between the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA) and the National Geographic Society (NGS). We report the initial findings of our submersible surveys, including habitat and reef fish diversity at McGrail, Alderdice, and Sonnier Banks. A total of 120 species and 40,724 individuals were identified from video surveys at the three banks. Planktivorous fishes constituted over 87% by number for the three banks, ranging from 81.4% at Sonnier Banks to 94.3% at Alderdice Bank, indicating a direct link to pelagic prey communities, particularly in the deep reef zones. High numbers of groupers, snappers, jacks, and other fishery species were observed on all three features. These sites were nominated as Habitat Areas of Particular Concern (HAPC) by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Council in March 2004. Data obtained during this project will contribute to benthic habitat characterization and assessment of the associated fish communities through future SCUBA, ROV, and submersible missions, and allow comparisons to other deep reef ecosystems found throughout the Gulf of Mexico and western Atlantic Ocean

Development, modeling, testing and evaluation of vibration attenuating gloves

Gloves that attenuate vibration above approximately 25 Hz and that exceed the characteristics of standard viscous-elastic, neoprene based gloves have been developed using an air bladder system in the palm and fingers of a gLove Testing was performed on a variety of viscous-elastic gloves currently marketed to obtain the ratio of energy leaving the handle of a vibrating device and the energy entering the hand. Several, simple rectangular air bladders of varying thickness were developed and tested for their vibration attenuating characteristics. A four degree-of-freedom, lumped-parameter model of the vibration response of the human hand and bladder was developed using measured hand and bladder parameters. This model, along with subjective criteria, was used to design and fabricate two prototype bladder-glove units. These units were tested and found to exceed adopted standard requirements and the characteristics of standard viscous-elastic gloves. The prototypes in this study will be further developed, adapted and marketed for practical applications

Assessing the Impact of a Summer Jobs Program on Youths’ Perceptions of Their Employability

In this study, regression analyses were conducted to ascertain predictors of employment-specific confidence and motivation of youth participating in a summer employment program. The study’s findings indicated that participants’ perceptions of several programmatic features, including their level of preparedness emanating from the program’s pre-employment session, were associated with greater confidence and motivation. Furthermore, male participants reported higher levels of employment-specific confidence than did the female participants, thus suggesting the need for programmatic changes. The implications of the study are considered in light of a new policy paradigm that emphasizes investing in education and skills training, particularly for youth

Dust and the intrinsic spectral index of quasar variations : hints of finite stress at the innermost stable circular orbit

Funding: The Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) is funded by the Danish National Research Foundation under grant No. 140. J.W. acknowledges support from the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant funding scheme (project ConTExt, grant No. 648179), and from the University of St Andrews Undergraduate Research Assistant Scheme. K.H. acknowledges support from STFC grant ST/R000824/1.We present a study of 9242 spectroscopically-confirmed quasars with multi-epoch ugriz photometry from the SDSS Southern Survey. By fitting a separable linear model to each quasar's spectral variations, we decompose their five-band spectral energy distributions into variable (disc) and non-variable (host galaxy) components. In modelling the disc spectra, we include attenuation by dust on the line of sight through the host galaxy to its nucleus. We consider five commonly used attenuation laws, and find that the best description is by dust similar to that of the Small Magellanic Cloud, inferring a lack of carbonaceous grains from the relatively weak 2175 Å absorption feature. We go on to construct a composite spectrum for the quasar variations spanning 700 to 8000 Å. By varying the assumed power-law Lv ∝ va spectral slope, we find a best-fit value = 0:71 ±  0:02, excluding at high confidence the canonical Lv ∝ v1/3 prediction for a steady-state accretion disc with a T ∝ r-3/4 temperature profile. The bluer spectral index of the observed quasar variations instead supports the model of Mummery & Balbus in which a steeper temperature profile, T ∝ r-7/8, develops as a result of finite magnetically-induced stress at the innermost stable circular orbit extracting energy and angular momentum from the black hole spin.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Bandwidth and density for block graphs

The bandwidth of a graph G is the minimum of the maximum difference between adjacent labels when the vertices have distinct integer labels. We provide a polynomial algorithm to produce an optimal bandwidth labeling for graphs in a special class of block graphs (graphs in which every block is a clique), namely those where deleting the vertices of degree one produces a path of cliques. The result is best possible in various ways. Furthermore, for two classes of graphs that are ``almost'' caterpillars, the bandwidth problem is NP-complete.Comment: 14 pages, 9 included figures. Note: figures did not appear in original upload; resubmission corrects thi

Courting Disaster: Climate Change and the Adjudication of Catastrophe

Do we court disaster by stretching the bounds of judicial authority to address problems of massive scale and complexity? Or does disaster lie in refusing to engage the jurisgenerative potential of courts in a domain of such vast significance? This Article examines global climate change adjudication to shed light on these questions, focusing particularly on cases that seek to invoke the norm articulation and enforcement functions of courts. The attempt to configure climate-related harms within such substantive frameworks as tort and constitutional law is fraught with analytical and practical difficulties. Yet the exercise, we argue, is essential. Against the backdrop of a potentially existential threat, judges redeem the very possibility of law when they forthrightly confront the merits of climate lawsuits. Conversely, when they use weak preliminary and procedural maneuvers to avoid such confrontation, judges reinforce a sense of law\u27s disappearance into the maw of normative rupture

Courting Disaster: Climate Change and the Adjudication of Catastrophe

Do we court disaster by stretching the bounds of judicial authority to address problems of massive scale and complexity? Or does disaster lie in refusing to engage the jurisgenerative potential of courts in a domain of such vast significance? This Article examines global climate change adjudication to shed light on these questions, focusing particularly on cases that seek to invoke the norm articulation and enforcement functions of courts. The attempt to configure climate-related harms within such substantive frameworks as tort and constitutional law is fraught with analytical and practical difficulties. Yet the exercise, we argue, is essential. Against the backdrop of a potentially existential threat, judges redeem the very possibility of law when they forthrightly confront the merits of climate lawsuits. Conversely, when they use weak preliminary and procedural maneuvers to avoid such confrontation, judges reinforce a sense of law’s disappearance into the maw of normative rupture

Alignment verification for electron beam lithography

Alignment between lithography layers is essential for device fabrication. A minor defect in a single marker can lead to incorrect alignment and this can be the source of wafer reworks. In this paper we show that this can be prevented by using extra alignment markers to check the alignment during patterning, rather than inspecting vernier patterns after the exposure is completed. Accurate vernier patterns can often only be read after pattern transfer has been carried out. We also show that by using a Penrose tile as a marker it is possible to locate the marker to about 1 nm without fully exposing the resist. This means that the marker can be reused with full accuracy, thus improving the layer to layer alignment accuracy. Lithography tool noise limits the process

A Case of Recurrent Breast Cancer Diagnosed from Symptomatic Metastasis to Bladder

Abstract: Women in the United States have an approximate 1 in 8 chance of developing breast cancer in their lifetime. The main cause of death from breast cancer is from metastatic spread of the disease; with the most frequent sites of spread being to the bone, brain, and lungs. The urinary bladder is a rare site of metastasis that has been rarely reported on in the literature. Here we present a case of recurrent metastatic breast cancer found in the urinary bladder without findings of any other sites of metastasis