Southern California fisheries monitoring summary for 1993 and 1994

The southern California Monitoring and Management Units collectively gathered 803 discrete samples of 7,329 marine finfishes and invertebrates from local commercial fish markets or authorized fish transporters in 1993. Nineteen different species were sampled and biological information recorded for future summarization and use in formulating fisheries management strategies and decisions. Increased sampling efforts in 1994 resulted in 801 samples of 14,566 marine finfish and invertebrates representing 44 different species. Fisheries trends and threats to local fishing opportunities were identified. Results of Marine Recreational Fishery Statistics Survey interviews were also incorporated for a more complete overview of species targeted by both the sport and commercial industries. (26pp.

Understanding the fidelity effect when evaluating games with children

There have been a number of studies that have compared evaluation results from prototypes of different fidelities but very few of these are with children. This paper reports a comparative study of three prototypes ranging from low fidelity to high fidelity within the context of mobile games, using a between subject design with 37 participants aged 7 to 9. The children played a matching game on either an iPad, a paper prototype using screen shots of the actual game or a sketched version. Observational data was captured to establish the usability problems, and two tools from the Fun Toolkit were used to measure user experience. The results showed that there was little difference for user experience between the three prototypes and very few usability problems were unique to a specific prototype. The contribution of this paper is that children using low-fidelity prototypes can effectively evaluate games of this genre and style

Spin-Peierls states of quantum antiferromagnets on the CaV4O9Ca V_4 O_9 lattice

We discuss the quantum paramagnetic phases of Heisenberg antiferromagnets on the 1/5-depleted square lattice found in $Ca V_4 O_9$. The possible phases of the quantum dimer model on this lattice are obtained by a mapping to a quantum-mechanical height model. In addition to the ``decoupled'' phases found earlier, we find a possible intermediate spin-Peierls phase with spontaneously-broken lattice symmetry. Experimental signatures of the different quantum paramagnetic phases are discussed.Comment: 9 pages; 2 eps figure

Non-Abelian spin-singlet quantum Hall states: wave functions and quasihole state counting

We investigate a class of non-Abelian spin-singlet (NASS) quantum Hall phases, proposed previously. The trial ground and quasihole excited states are exact eigenstates of certain k+1-body interaction Hamiltonians. The k=1 cases are the familiar Halperin Abelian spin-singlet states. We present closed-form expressions for the many-body wave functions of the ground states, which for k>1 were previously defined only in terms of correlators in specific conformal field theories. The states contain clusters of k electrons, each cluster having either all spins up, or all spins down. The ground states are non-degenerate, while the quasihole excitations over these states show characteristic degeneracies, which give rise to non-Abelian braid statistics. Using conformal field theory methods, we derive counting rules that determine the degeneracies in a spherical geometry. The results are checked against explicit numerical diagonalization studies for small numbers of particles on the sphere.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, RevTe

Saturn's Exploration Beyond Cassini-Huygens

For its beautiful rings, active atmosphere and mysterious magnetic field, Saturn is a fascinating planet. It also holds some of the keys to understanding the formation of our Solar System and the evolution of giant planets in general. While the exploration by the Cassini-Huygens mission has led to great advances in our understanding of the planet and its moons, it has left us with puzzling questions: What is the bulk composition of the planet? Does it have a helium core? Is it enriched in noble gases like Jupiter? What powers and controls its gigantic storms? We have learned that we can measure an outer magnetic field that is filtered from its non-axisymmetric components, but what is Saturn's inner magnetic field? What are the rings made of and when were they formed? These questions are crucial in several ways: a detailed comparison of the compositions of Jupiter and Saturn is necessary to understand processes at work during the formation of these two planets and of the Solar System. This calls for the continued exploration of the second largest planet in our Solar System, with a variety of means including remote observations and space missions. Measurements of gravity and magnetic fields very close to the planet's cloud tops would be extremely valuable. Very high spatial resolution images of the rings would provide details on their structure and the material that form them. Last but not least, one or several probes sent into the atmosphere of the planet would provide the critical measurements that would allow a detailed comparison with the same measurements at Jupiter. [abridged abstract

El perro que no ladró: el caso de Juan Carlos Rodríguez

The extensive body of research associated with the name of Juan Carlos Rodríguez has failed to receive the attention it deserves. The reasons commonly adduced, by way of explanation, focus upon factors external to the texts themselves. In this article I review two recently published books by Rodríguez and a celebratory volume with an eye to foregrounding other, internal barriers to Rodríguez’s reception. These include a cyclical style of argumentation, of the kind associated with symptomal reading; the absence of a clear exposition of the Althusserian problematic upon which Rodríguez’s seminal texts are otherwise based; and a critique of Althusser’s alleged historicism, which, while it scores some useful points, was less than attentive to the philosopher’s complexities. More damagingly, this same critique also fuelled the scurrilous distortions of Althusser’s work still circulating throughout the bourgeois academy and so threatens Rodríguez’s own work with premature closure