Patterns of growth, mortality, and size of the tropical damselfish Acanthochromis polyacanthus across the continental shelf of the Great Barrier Reef

Age-based analyses were used to demonstrate consistent differences in growth between populations of Acanthochromis polyacanthus (Pomacentridae) collected at three distance strata across the continental shelf (inner, mid-, and outer shelf) of the central Great Barrier Reef (three reefs per distance stratum). Fish had significantly greater maximum lengths with increasing distance from shore, but fish from all distances reached approximately the same maximum age, indicating that growth is more rapid for fish found on outer-shelf reefs. Only one fish collected from inner-shelf reefs reached >100 mm SL, whereas 38−67% of fish collected from the outer shelf were >100 mm SL. The largest age class of adult-size fish collected from inner and mid-shelf locations comprised 3−4 year-olds, but shifted to 2-year-olds on outer-shelf reefs. Mortality schedules (Z and S) were similar irrespective of shelf position (inner shelf: 0.51 and 60.0%; mid-shelf: 0.48 and 61.8%; outer shelf: 0.43 and 65.1%, respectively). Age validation of captive fish indicated that growth increments are deposited annually, between the end of winter and early spring. The observed cross-shelf patterns in adult sizes and growth were unlikely to be a result of genetic differences between sample populations because all fish collected showed the same color pattern. It is likely that cross-shelf variation in quality and quantity of food, as well as in turbidity, are factors that contribute to the observed patterns of growth. Similar patterns of cross-shelf mortality indicate that predation rates varied little across the shelf. Our study cautions against pooling demographic parameters on broad spatial scales without consideration of the potential for cross-shelf variabi

Adaptive management of Ramsar wetlands

Abstract The Macquarie Marshes are one of Australia’s iconic wetlands, recognised for their international importance, providing habitat for some of the continent’s more important waterbird breeding sites as well as complex and extensive flood-dependent vegetation communities. Part of the area is recognised as a wetland of international importance, under the Ramsar Convention. River regulation has affected their resilience, which may increase with climate change. Counteracting these impacts, the increased amount of environmental flow provided to the wetland through the buy-back and increased wildlife allocation have redressed some of the impacts of river regulation. This project assists in the development of an adaptive management framework for this Ramsar-listed wetland. It brings together current management and available science to provide an informed hierarchy of objectives that incorporates climate change adaptation and assists transparent management. The project adopts a generic approach allowing the framework to be transferred to other wetlands, including Ramsar-listed wetlands, supplied by rivers ranging from highly regulated to free flowing. The integration of management with science allows key indicators to be monitored that will inform management and promote increasingly informed decisions. The project involved a multi-disciplinary team of scientists and managers working on one of the more difficult challenges for Australia, exacerbated by increasing impacts of climate change on flows and inundation patterns

Boundary layer reattachment in hypersonic flow

Imperial Users onl

Tuberculosis in childhood : the sources and channels of infection : with special reference to the tonsils

In conclusion, to summarise my results, I found that out of a total of 307 cases, 213 were of respiratory origin, through the lungs or the middle ear; 53 were due to the ingestion of tuber -l' culous material; 6 were due either to respiration or to ingestion, having been infected through the mouth or pharynx; i was a case of placental infection; 1 possibly of uterine infection; and the remaining 33 cases of doubtful origin. Thus, though infection by air is by far the most frequent method, infection by ingestion is a matter of very real and urgent importance, especially amongst children between the ages of 6 months and 3 years, during which period 30 cases, or 56% of all the abdominal cases occurred. It is in these years also, that the proportion between the thorac=ic and abdominal cases is most nearly approximate, and this, in spite of the numerous predisposing influences, such as measles and whooping -cough, which favour thoracic infection. According to the Registrar General's Reports for the decade 1881- 1890, the total average annual deaths in England of children under 5 years was 201,000, and the average annual number for the same age certified as having died from some form of tuberculosis, was 13,900, or 6.9% of the total number. Of course this does not include the large number of cases which, though suffering from tuberculosis, were carried off by some concomitant disease, or by accident, before the tuberculosis had gained sufficient hold on the system. When we come however, to consider how difficult of diagnosis tuberculosis in infancy so frequently is, even by experienced physicians, and how often it is found at post mortems when least expected, we shall not require very much argument to convince us that death statistics, so far as they relate to tuberculosis in childhood, are utterly misleading, unless based upon post mortem evidence. Recognising this fact, Dr Landouzyl made careful calculations regarding the tuberculosis mortality in infancy in Paris, and came to the conclusion that in the year 1885, out of 12,264 deaths under the age of 2, 2,162 instead of 442 as returned on the death certificates, had died from tuberculosis. Of course, his method of calculation was a rough one, but his result is likely to be much nearer the truth than the original estimate. Landouzy's statistics will apply equally well to the urban population in England, some reduction being made when the rural mortality is included. Let us suppose then, making allowance for this reduction and for some exaggeration in his statistics that 1 in 8, instead of 1 in 5 of all the deaths under 5 years, is due to tubercle; this will mean an annual tuberculosis mortality for that period of 25,000 instead of 13,900 as certified. Now by examination of Table II. it will be seen that 40 out of 227 cases under 5 years, or 17.5% were infected through the intestines or mesenteric glands; and this percentage is slightly below those of other English observers. This will give in round figures 4,400 as the annual number of deaths in England under the age of 5, resulting from the ingestion of tuberculous material. These startling figures bring to our notice again, the question of cows' milk and Professor Koch's statements. About two months after the Tuberculosis Congress of 1901, a Royal Commission was appointed to investigate the relations between Human and Bovine Tuberculosis in general, and the importance of tuberculous milk and meat more particularly. Its report, when the investigations are concluded, will be awaited by medical men at home and abroad, with impatience and keen interest. Should it consider the case against milk proven, we shall expect the Government) to carry out such means for safeguarding the population, as the Commission may suggest; and on the other hand, should its conclusions be similar to Professor Koch's, a stigma will be removed from cows' milk, and a great weight lifted from the mind of the thinking public. Whatever, therefore, the report of the Commission may be, the results can only be beneficial, and the question of the causation of Tuberculosis much simplified.Cases of skin infection, inoculation of wounds, or of the eyes, usually remain local, and are neither of frequent occurrence, nor of great importance in childhood.It only remains for me to express my indebtedness to Dr Coutts, under whose care was the case of congenital tuberculosis, for permission to use the notes of the case, and to Drs Clive Riviere and 0. K. Williamson, the then Pathologists of the respective Hospitals mentioned at the commencement of this paper, for allowing me to use the Post mortem records of those Hospitals

Australian Directors' Duties: What Does It Mean to Say They are Public Duties?

This article pursues the meaning and effect of what are (in Australia, at least )long-standing public duties of directors. It argues that there has been and continues to be, a slow evolution from an exclusively private character, to a hybrid public and private content in Australian directors’ duties. That duties may be both public and private, does not deny the truth of either of those characters. Instead, using the statutory duty of care in s 180(1) of the Corporations Act, this article analyses the juristic features and public elements that animate the duty and its enforcement sanctions. The cardinal legal and practical question of to whom the public directors’ duties are owed, both to no one in particular and to all the world, rather than only to the company, is also considered

Time Allocations of Children in Single-Parent Urban Utah Families to Selected Household Tasks

The purpose of this study was to investigate how selected factors are related to the time children in single parent families spend in the household tasks of meal preparation; dishwashing; shopping; housecleaning; maintenance of home, yard, car and pets and nonphysical care of family members. The data for this study were collected from 89 female headed single-parent/ two-child households in the greater metropolitan Salt Lake City 1Utah area. Time use data were collected for mothers and their children between the ages of 6 and 17. There were 178 children in the 89 families , of which 150 were in the specified age range. It was not possible to select a random sample for this study. Thus, to reflect a random sample of singleparent/ two-child urban Utah households, data were weighted using standard weighting procedures and 1980 census figures. Two instruments were used to collect data from respondents, a time diary and a questionnaire. Research that has examined children in single-parent households has compared their time allocations to those of children in two-parent households. There has been no research that has specifically examined variations in the time spent by children in single-parent families that could be related to their household work. Multiple regression was used to analyze the relationship between a child\u27s age, gender, birth order, gender of sibling, mother\u27s time in paid work and school attendance, household income, season of the year, household equipment and certain household conditions with the amount of time children of single-parent families spent in the six selected household tasks. This study found that children of single-parent families spent varying amounts of time on household tasks depending on the task, age of the child, gender of the child, gender of the sibling, mother\u27s time in paid work and school attendance, household income, season of the year, household equipment and certain household conditions

Chapter 18: Vulnerability of pelagic systems of the Great Barrier Reef to climate change

This review focuses on pelagic environments. The oceanography of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is dynamic and is the physical template to which organisms respond. Planktonic assemblages are the basis of pelagic food chains and they provide a rich supply of food for high trophic groups (eg fishes, birds and whales) as well as the larvae and adults of benthic assemblages (Figure 18.1). Changes in pelagic systems, therefore, cannot be viewed in isolation from other habitats (such as coral reefs). Plankton ranges from tiny viruses (less than 1 micron) and bacteria, to larger plant (phytoplankton) and animal plankton (zooplankton).This is Chapter 18 of Climate change and the Great Barrier Reef: a vulnerability assessment. The entire book can be found at http://hdl.handle.net/11017/13

Spa47 is an Oligomerization - Activated Type Three Secretion System (T3SS) ATPase from Shigella flexneri

Gram-negative pathogens often use conserved type three secretion systems (T3SS) for virulence. The Shigella type three secretion apparatus (T3SA) penetrates the host cell membrane and provides a unidirectional conduit for injection of effectors into host cells. The protein Spa4 7 localizes to the base of the apparatus and is speculated to be an ATPase that provides the energy for T3SA formation and secretion. Here, we developed an expression and purification protocol, producing active Spa47 and providing the first direct evidence that Spa47 is a bona fide ATPase. Additionally, size exclusion chromatography and analytical ultracentrifugation identified multiple oligomeric species of Spa47 with the largest greater than 8 fold more active for ATP hydrolysis than the monomer. An ATPase inactive Spa47 point mutant was then engineered by targeting a conserved Lysine within the predicted Walker A motif of Spa47. Interestingly, the mutant maintained a similar oligomerization pattern as active Spa47, but was unable to restore invasion phenotype when used to complement a spa47 null S. flexneri strain. Together, these results identify Spa47 as a Shigella T3SS ATPase and suggest that its activity is linked to oligomerization, perhaps as a regulatory mechanism as seen in some related pathogens. Additionally, Spa4 7 catalyzed ATP hydrolysis appears to be essential for host cell invasion, providing a strong platform for additional studies dissecting its role in virulence and providing an attractive target for anti-infective agents

Acceptor–donor–acceptor small molecules based on derivatives of 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene for solution processed organic solar cells

Three simple semiconducting acceptor–donor–acceptor (A–D–A) small molecules based on an electron-rich (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) EDOT central core have been synthesised (DIN-2TE, DRH-2TE, DECA-2TE) and characterised. Organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices incorporating these materials have been prepared and evaluated. The physical properties of the molecules were characterised by TGA, DSC, UV/vis spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. The optical HOMO–LUMO energy gaps of the molecules in the solid state were in the range 1.57–1.82 eV, and in solution 1.88–2.04 eV. Electrochemical HOMO–LUMO energy gaps determined by cyclic voltammetry were found to be in the range 1.97–2.31 eV. The addition of 1% 1,8-diiodooctane (DIO) to photoactive blends of the A–D–A molecules and PC71BM more than doubled the power conversion efficiency (PCE) in the case of DRH-2TE:PC71BM devices to 1.36%