A fisheries acoustic multi-frequency indicator to inform on large scale spatial patterns of aquatic pelagic ecosystems

Fisheries acoustic instruments provide information on four major groups in aquatic ecosystems: fish with and without swim bladder (tertiary and quaternary consumers), fluidlike zooplankton (secondary consumers) and small gas bearing organisms such as larval fish and phytoplankton (predominantly primary producers). We entertain that this information is useable to describe the spatial structure of organism groups in pelagic ecosystems. The proposal we make is based on a multi-frequency indicator that synthesises in a single metric the shape of the acoustic frequency response of different organism groups, i.e. the dependence of received acoustic backscattered energy on emitting echosounder frequency. We demonstrate the development and interpretation of the multi-frequency indicator using simulated data. We then calculate the indicator for acoustic water-column survey data from the Bay of Biscay and use it to create reference maps for the spatial structure of the four scattering groups as well as their small scale spatial variability. These maps provide baselines for monitoring future changes in the structure of the pelagic ecosystem

NLO electroweak contributions to squark pair production at the LHC

We present the tree-level and next-to-leading order (NLO) electroweak (EW) contributions to squark-squark production at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) within the framework of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM).Comment: To appear in the proceedings of 17th International Conference on Supersymmetry and the Unification of Fundamental Interactions (SUSY09), Boston, USA, 5-10 Jun 200

Effects of excipients in nasal powder formulations for systemic drug delivery

The nose as a site of drug delivery offers therapeutic opportunities for a variety of indications, due to the presence of immunocompetent cells, direct contact with the central nervous system and easy access to a permeable and highly vascularised mucosa. However, nasal drug delivery is primarily associated with locally acting drugs, being applied as simple liquid sprays or drops. A new generation of nasal products that takes advantage of the opportunities offered, however, will likely require more sophisticated formulations, as it will need to address specific challenges of the nose, such as the short residence time of inhaled particles. The formulation of nasal powders and the targeted use of excipients are conceivable strategies in this regard. This work investigates influences of excipients in powder formulations that affect systemic absorption of nasally administered druds. The first part of the work characterises selected mucoadhesive excipients and fillers regarding their potential to extend the nasal residence time with methods that are suitable as screening tools in product development. Furthermore, the excipients were characterised regarding the occurrence of sensory and toxic effects on the nasal mucosa. Since the benefit of excipient properties depends on the drug to be formulated, in the second part of the work the effect of selected mucoadhesives and fillers was investigated in model formulations. The influences of the formulations on the rheological properties of the nasal fluid, and thus the nasal residence time, on the dissolution and release of the drug, as well as on the permeation of the drug through the epithelium were assessed separately, in order to detect additive and counteracting effects on drug absorption. The consideration of the characterised processes in product development can avoid failures and enable the development of successful nasal products

Precision and accuracy of fish length measurements obtained with two visual underwater methods

During the VITAL cruise in the Bay of Biscay in summer 2002, two devices for measuring the length of swimming fish were tested: 1) a mechanical crown that emitted a pair of parallel laser beams and that was mounted on the main camera and 2) an underwater auto-focus video camera. The precision and accuracy of these devices were compared and the various sources of measurement errors were estimated by repeatedly measuring fixed and mobile objects and live fish. It was found that fish mobility is the main source of error for these devices because they require that the objects to be measured are perpendicular to the field of vision. The best performance was obtained with the laser method where a video-replay of laser spots (projected on fish bodies) carrying real-time size information was used. The auto-focus system performed poorly because of a delay in obtaining focus and because of some technical problems

Bathyal demersal fishes of the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone region (49°–54°N) of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge : III. Results from remotely operated vehicle (ROV) video transects

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Nasal Powder Formulations: In-Vitro Characterisation of the Impact of Powders on Nasal Residence Time and Sensory Effects

Nasal drug delivery is still primarily associated with locally-effective drugs, but next-generation products utilising the benefits of nasal administration-such as easy access to a relatively permeable mucosa, the presence of immunocompetent cells, and a direct route to the brain-are under investigation. Nasal powders offer the potential to improve the drugs' effects by providing higher resistance against the mucociliary clearance, and thus prolonging the contact time of the drug with its target site. However, suitable and easy-to-use in-vitro setups tailored to the characterisation of this effect are missing. In this study, a selection of excipients for powder formulations were used to evaluate the applicability of different methods which investigate the influence on the contact time. The combination of the assessment of rheological properties, dynamic vapour sorption, and adhesiveness on agar-mucin plates was found to be a valuable predictive tool. For the additional assessment of the sensations associated with the close contact of powders and the mucosa, a slug mucosal irritation assay was conducted and adapted to powders. These methods are regarded as being especially useful for comparative screenings in early formulation development

Hadronic Production of Colored SUSY Particles with Electroweak NLO Contributions

We consider the production of squarks and gluinos at hadronic colliders. An overview over the class of processes is given. We investigate in detail the tree-level and higher order EW contributions to the cross sections. Special care has to be taken to obtain infrared finite observables. We study numerically stop--anti-stop and squark--gluino production at the LHC.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures; To appear in the proceedings of 16th International Conference on Supersymmetry and the Unification of Fundamental Interactions (SUSY08), Seoul, Korea, 16-21 Jun 200