Early research on the biological effects of microwave radiation: 1940?1960

Two overriding considerations shaped the development of early research on the biological effects of microwave radiation?possible medical application (diathermy) and uncertainty about the hazards of exposure to radar. Reports in the late 1940s and early 1950s of hazards resulting from microwave exposure led to the near abandonment of medical research related to microwave diathermy at the same time that military and industrial concern over hazards grew, culminating in the massive research effort known as ?the Tri-Service program? (1957?1960). Both the early focus on medical application and the later search for hazards played important roles in dictating how this field of research developed as a science

Possible Demographic Consequences of Intraspecific Shelter Competition Among American Lobsters

Pioneering work by J. Stan Cobb described how habitat architecture and body size scaling affect shelter-related behavior of American lobsters. Subsequent research suggested that shelter availability and competition could set local carrying capacity and demographics for this species. To determine how shelter spacing affects population density, the intensity of intraspecific competition and the distribution of body size for this species, I deployed sets of 10 identically sized artificial shelters spaced at distances of 2.5, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 meters on otherwise featureless substrate at 10 m depth in mid-coast Maine, U.S.A. Five sets had two parallel strings of five opposing shelters and an additional linear string set 2 to apart without opposing shelters was the most widely separated treatment. Shelters spaced I m apart and closer had higher lobster population densities, more intraspecific competition and higher proportions of empty shelters. Surprisingly, lobsters there were also significantly smaller, declining from 62.7 mm to 50.9 on the carapace (CL) for 2 to linear to 0.25 m spaced shelters, respectively. Nearly all 932 lobsters measured in this study were juvenile (\u3c 90 mm CL) and preharvestable (\u3c 83 mm CL) sized, so mate selection and fishing effects were unlikely. At the scale of the experiment, larger lobsters leave or avoid areas of high lobster population density and intense competition for areas of low population density and relaxed competition (called demographic diffusion ). Scuba surveys in coastal zones found lobster population densities scale with shelter densities and were highest in boulder habitat where, like the experiment, more than half the shelters were vacant. Fisheries independent scuba and trawl surveys in Maine\u27s shallow coastal zone repeatedly recorded declines of preharvestable, lobsters larger than 60 turn CL in size and increases of those sizes offshore and in deep water. It is possible that this demographic diffusion is driven by behaviors associated with intraspecific shelter competition

Marine Conservation: Moving Beyond Malthus

SummaryA new study has shown that maximum overfishing of coral reefs occurs among countries at intermediate levels of socio-economic development; can managers and policy makers help countries dependent on these ecosystems avoid the resulting poverty traps

The Relevance of the Middle Ages to the History of Science and Technology

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75707/1/j.1749-6632.1985.tb14574.x.pd

Instruction in the Responsible Conduct of Research: An Inventory of Programs and Materials within CTSAs

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) require instruction in the responsible conduct of research (RCR) as a component of any Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA). The Educational Materials Group of the NIH CTSA Consortium's Clinical Research Ethics Key Function Committee (CRE-KFC) conducted a survey of the 38 institutions that held CTSA funding as of January 2009 to determine how they satisfy RCR training requirements. An 8-item questionnaire was sent by email to directors of the Clinical Research Ethics, the Educational and Career Development, and the Regulatory Knowledge cores. We received 78 completed surveys from 38 CTSAs (100%). We found that there is no unified approach to RCR training across CTSAs, many programs lack a coherent plan for RCR instruction, and most CTSAs have not developed unique instructional materials tailored to the needs of clinical and translational scientists. We recommend collaboration among CTSAs and across CTSA key function committees to address these weaknesses. We also requested that institutions send electronic copies of original RCR training materials to share among CTSAs via the CTSpedia website. Twenty institutions submitted at least one educational product. The CTSpedia now contains more than 90 RCR resources.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79071/1/j.1752-8062.2010.00193.x.pd

The Relationship of History to Policy*

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68611/2/10.1177_016224398200700319.pd

Recruitment Habitats and Nursery Grounds of the American Lobster Homarus Americanus: A Demographic Bottleneck?

We have identified benthic recruitment habitats and nursery grounds of the American lobster Homarus americanus Milne Edwards in the coastal Gulf of Maine, USA, by systematically censusing subtidal sediment, cobble, and ledge substrata. We distinguish lobsters between settlement size (5 mm carapace length (CL) to ca 40 mm CL as the \u27early benthic phase\u27 (EBP) because they are ecologically and behaviorally distinct from larger lobsters. EBP lobsters are cryptic and apparently restricted to shelter-providing habitats (primarily cobble substratum) in coastal Gulf of Maine. In these habitats we found average population densities of EBP lobsters as high as 6.9 m-2. EBP lobsters were virtually absent from ledge and sedimentary substrata devoid of vegetation although larger lobsters are commonly found there. It is possible that the requirement for shelter-providing substrata by this life phase creates a natural demographic \u27bottleneck\u27 to benthic recruitment for the species. Prime cobble recruitment habitat is relatively rare and comprises ca 11 % of the 60.2 km of shoreline at our study area in midcoast Maine. If this low availability of cobble exists throughout the Gulf of Maine, as other studies indicate, it could limit lobster production potential. We verified the geographic extent of recruitment to cobble habitats censused in 3 of 4 regions spanning ca 300 km of the coastal Gulf of Maine (from Nahant, Massachusetts to Swans Island, Maine). Early benthic phase lobsters were absent from cobble censused in the northeastern extreme of our survey (Swans Island). This pattern is consistent with earlier speculation that relatively cool water temperatures may limit larval settlement in this region