Survival and Growth of Three Geographically Distinct Stocks of Muskellunge Introduced into Midwestern Reservoirs

Muskellunge Esox masquinongy management programs often rely on stocking to create and maintain populations. In many instances, a native and nearby stocking source is unavailable or a genetically suitable brood source is unclear. Genetic differences among stocks of Muskellunge may influence survival and growth when introduced into novel environments. Consequently, the selection of a suitable brood source can be difficult and possibly critical to the success of Muskellunge stocking programs. We examined differences in long-term survival and growth among introduced Muskellunge stocks from the Ohio and upper Mississippi River drainages and a mixed-origin Illinois broodstock population in three Illinois reservoirs. Catch per unit effort (CPUE) from spring modified-fyke netting suggested that the upper Mississippi River drainage stock at ages 3 and 4 persisted at lower relative abundance compared to conspecifics; however, low lake- and stock-specific catches of older ages precluded robust CPUE comparisons among stocks. Apparent survival, estimated from mark-recapture data with the Cormack-Jolly-Seber open population model, differed among stocks I-year poststocking, with the upper Mississippi River drainage stock exhibiting markedly lower survival compared to conspecifics. Annual variation in survival to age 1.5 was related to water temperature at stocking, fish size at stocking, first winter temperatures, and first summer temperatures. However, survival did not differ among stocks for Muskellunge age 2 and older, indicating that important factors structuring long-term survival exert their effects most strongly in the first year poststocking. Despite overall low survival of Muskellunge from the upper Mississippi River drainage, males that survived exhibited a slight growth advantage compared to conspecifics. No growth advantage was observed for upper Mississippi River drainage stock females. Our findings suggest that stock selection in addition to environmental conditions can influence survival of introduced Muskellunge and subsequent contribution to the fishery

The hunt for the third acceptor in CuInSe2 and Cu(In,Ga)Se2 absorber layers

The model for intrinsic defects in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 semiconductor layers is still under debate for the full range between CuInSe2 and CuGaSe2. It is commonly agreed by theory and experiment, that there are at least one shallow donor and two shallow acceptors. Spatially resolved photoluminescence on CuGaSe2 previously revealed a third acceptor. In this study we show with the same method that the photoluminescence peak at 0.94 eV in CuInSe2, previously attributed to a third acceptor, is a phonon replica. However another pronounced peak at 0.9 eV is detected on polycrystalline CuInSe2 samples grown with high copper and selenium excess. Intensity and temperature dependent photoluminescence measurements reveal that this peak originates from a DA-transition from a shallow donor (<8 meV) into a shallow acceptor A3 (135 [Formula: see text] 10) meV. The DA3 transition has three distinct phonon replicas with 28 meV spectral spacing and a Huang Rhys factor of 0.75. Complementary admittance measurements are dominated by one main step with an activation energy of 125 meV which corresponds well with the found A3 defect. The same defect is also observed in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 samples with low gallium content. For [Ga]/([Ga]  +  [In])-ratios of up to 0.15 both methods show a concordant increase of the activation energy with increasing gallium content shifting the defect deeper into the bandgap. The indium vacancy [Formula: see text] is discussed as a possible origin of the third acceptor level in CuInSe2 and [Formula: see text] in Cu(In,Ga)Se2

A buprenorphine depot formulation provides effective sustained post-surgical analgesia for 72 h in mouse femoral fracture models

Adequate pain management is essential for ethical and scientific reasons in animal experiments and should completely cover the period of expected pain without the need for frequent re-application. However, current depot formulations of Buprenorphine are only available in the USA and have limited duration of action. Recently, a new microparticulate Buprenorphine formulation (BUP-Depot) for sustained release has been developed as a potential future alternative to standard formulations available in Europe. Pharmacokinetics indicate a possible effectiveness for about 72 h. Here, we investigated whether the administration of the BUP-Depot ensures continuous and sufficient analgesia in two mouse fracture models (femoral osteotomy) and could, therefore, serve as a potent alternative to the application of Tramadol via the drinking water. Both protocols were examined for analgesic effectiveness, side effects on experimental readout, and effects on fracture healing outcomes in male and female C57BL/6N mice. The BUP-Depot provided effective analgesia for 72 h, comparable to the effectiveness of Tramadol in the drinking water. Fracture healing outcome was not different between analgesic regimes. The availability of a Buprenorphine depot formulation for rodents in Europe would be a beneficial addition for extended pain relief in mice, thereby increasing animal welfare

Alkali treatments of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin‐film absorbers and their impact on transport barriers

We study the impact of different alkali post-deposition treatments by thermal admittance spectroscopy and temperature-dependent current-voltage (IVT) characteristics of high-efficiency Cu(In,Ga)Se2thin-film solar cells fabricated from low-temperature and high-temperature co-evaporated absorbers. Capacitance steps observed by admittance spectroscopy for all samples agree with the widely observed N1 signature and show a clear correlation to a transport barrier evident from IVT characteristics measured in the dark, indicating that defects are likely not responsible for these capacitance steps. Activation energies extracted from capacitance spectra and IVT characteristics vary considerably between different samples but show no concise correlation to the alkali species used in the post-deposition treatments. Numerical device simulations show that the transport barrier in our devices might be related to conduction band offsets in the absorber/buffer/window stack