Comparison of injuries to New Zealand rock lobsters (Jasus edwardsii) caused by hand versus snare collection

Following the prohibition in New Zealand of lobster snares in late 2005, we undertook research to compare the frequency and extent of injuries to rock lobsters (Jasus edwardsii) (Hutton) caused by recreational SCUBA divers using lobster snares compared with hand collection. Rock lobsters were sampled between January 2006 and October 2006 from multiple dive sites around the North Island of New Zealand. Of the 124 rock lobsters caught, 20.9% were in a soft shell state. Female rock lobsters constituted 43.5% of the catch, but only one was carrying eggs. Female mean tail width was 72.2 mm; male mean tail width was 71.9 mm. We found that hand collection caused significantly more injuries than snare collection, to both soft shell and hard shell animals. Hand collection also resulted in more major injuries, with 18% of hard shell animals and 31% of soft shell animals losing two or more limbs. We recommend that the prohibition on the use of rock lobster snares be lifted, as their use appears to significantly reduce injury and stress to rock lobsters in recreational dive areas, and increase the survival of undersized individuals released after capture

CALCULATING THE EFFECT OF EMPLOYEE STOCK OPTIONS ON DILUTED EPS

This paper focuses on how to calculate diluted earnings per share (DEPS) when a firm has outstanding employee stock options (ESOs). Three possible methods are described and compared. The first is the current International Accounting Standard 33 – Earnings Per Share (IAS 33) approach which is based on the intrinsic value of the ESOs. The second method, advocated by Core et al. (2002), is very similar to that of IAS 33 but instead of the intrinsic value uses the fair value of the outstanding options. This paper derives an alternative method which adjusts the earnings for the year by the change in fair value of the outstanding ESOs, with no adjustment to the denominator in the DEPS calculation. The three methods are compared using a simple firm. The earnings adjustment method best describes the change in economic value of the current shareholders, the fair value is more useful in predicting future profits, and the intrinsic value method appear to provide no additional information to that already contained in the other two measures. The earnings adjustment method has a further advantage in that it provides an identical result at a DEPS level to that which would have been obtained if the ESOs were cash-settled and treated as liabilities in terms of IFRS 2. Thus using this method will improve comparability as cash-settled and equity-settled options have a very similar economic effect on current shareholders.employee stock options EPS Diluted EPS

New low-mass members of the Octans stellar association and an updated 30-40 Myr lithium age

The Octans association is one of several young stellar moving groups recently discovered in the Solar neighbourhood, and hence a valuable laboratory for studies of stellar, circumstellar disc and planetary evolution. However, a lack of low-mass members or any members with trigonometric parallaxes means the age, distance and space motion of the group are poorly constrained. To better determine its membership and age, we present the first spectroscopic survey for new K and M-type Octans members, resulting in the discovery of 29 UV-bright K5-M4 stars with kinematics, photometry and distances consistent with existing members. Nine new members possess strong Li I absorption, which allow us to estimate a lithium age of 30-40 Myr, similar to that of the Tucana-Horologium association and bracketed by the firm lithium depletion boundary ages of the Beta Pictoris (20 Myr) and Argus/IC 2391 (50 Myr) associations. Several stars also show hints in our medium-resolution spectra of fast rotation or spectroscopic binarity. More so than other nearby associations, Octans is much larger than its age and internal velocity dispersion imply. It may be the dispersing remnant of a sparse, extended structure which includes some younger members of the foreground Octans-Near association recently proposed by Zuckerman and collaborators.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS (16 pages, 5 tables

The effects of climate change and variation in New Zealand: An assessment using the CLIMPACTS system

Along with a need to better understand the climate and biophysical systems of New Zealand, the need to develop an improved capacity for evaluating possible changes in climate and their effects on the New Zealand environment has been recognised. Since the middle of 1993 the CLIMPACTS programme, has been focused on the development of such a capacity, in the first instance for the agricultural sector. the goals of this present assessment are: 1. To present current knowledge on likely scenarios of climate change and associated uncertainties in New Zealand; 2. To present current knowledge, based on quantitative analyses using a consistent set of scenarios, on the likely effects of climate change on a range of agricultural and horticultural crops of economic importance; 3. To demonstrate, by way of this report and the associated technical report, the capacity that has been developed for ongoing assessments of this kind in New Zealand. This report has been prepared for both the science and policy communities in New Zealand. There are two main components: 1. The detailed findings of the assessment, presented in a series of chapters; 2. An annex, which contains technical details on models used in the assessment

New members of the TW Hydrae Association and two accreting M-dwarfs in Scorpius-Centaurus

We report the serendipitous discovery of several young mid-M stars found during a search for new members of the 30-40 Myr-old Octans Association. Only one of the stars may be considered a possible Octans(-Near) member. However, two stars have proper motions, kinematic distances, radial velocities, photometry and Li I 6708AA measurements consistent with membership in the 8-10 Myr-old TW Hydrae Association. Another may be an outlying member of TW Hydrae but has a velocity similar to that predicted by membership in Octans. We also identify two new lithium-rich members of the neighbouring Scorpius-Centaurus OB Association (Sco-Cen). Both exhibit large 12 and 22 micron excesses and strong, variable H-alpha emission which we attribute to accretion from circumstellar discs. Such stars are thought to be incredibly rare at the ~16 Myr median age of Sco-Cen and they join only one other confirmed M-type and three higher-mass accretors outside of Upper Scorpius. The serendipitous discovery of two accreting stars hosting large quantities of circumstellar material may be indicative of a sizeable age spread in Sco-Cen, or further evidence that disc dispersal and planet formation time-scales are longer around lower-mass stars. To aid future studies of Sco-Cen we also provide a newly-compiled catalogue of 305 early-type Hipparcos members with spectroscopic radial velocities sourced from the literature.Comment: 12 pages. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Luminosity Distributions within Rich Clusters - III: A comparative study of seven Abell/ACO clusters

We recover the luminosity distributions over a wide range of absolute magnitude (-24.5 < M_{R} < -16.5) for a sample of seven rich southern galaxy clusters. We find a large variation in the ratio of dwarf to giant galaxies, DGR: 0.8\le $DGR$\le 3.1. This variation is shown to be inconsistent with a ubiquitous cluster luminosity function. The DGR shows a smaller variation from cluster to cluster in the inner regions (r \ls 0.56 Mpc). Outside these regions we find the DGR to be strongly anti-correlated with the mean local projected galaxy density with the DGR increasing towards lower densities. In addition the DGR in the outer regions shows some correlation with Bautz-Morgan type. Radial analysis of the clusters indicate that the dwarf galaxies are less centrally clustered than the giants and form a significant halo around clusters. We conclude that measurements of the total cluster luminosity distribution based on the inner core alone are likely to be severe underestimates of the dwarf component, the integrated cluster luminosity and the contribution of galaxy masses to the cluster's total mass. Further work is required to quantify this. The observational evidence that the unrelaxed, lower density outer regions of clusters are dwarf-rich, adds credence to the recent evidence and conjecture that the field is a predominantly dwarf rich environment and that the dwarf galaxies are under-represented in measures of the local field luminosity function.Comment: 31 pages including 11 figures. Also available from http://star-www.st-and.ac.uk/~spd3/bib.htm

Development of 2 underseat energy absorbers for application to crashworthy passenger seats for general aviation aircraft

This report presents the methodology and results of a program conducted to develop two underseat energy absorber (E/A) concepts for application to nonadjustable crashworthy passenger seats for general aviation aircraft. One concept utilizes an inflated air bag, and the other, a convoluted sheet metal bellows. Prototypes of both were designed, built, and tested. Both concepts demonstrated the necessary features of an energy absorber (load-limiter); however, the air bag concept is particularly encouraging because of its light weight. Several seat frame concepts also were investigated as a means of resisting longitudinal and lateral loads and of guiding the primary vertical stroke of the underseat energy absorber. Further development of a seat system design using the underseat energy absorbers is recommended because they provide greatly enhanced crash survivability as compared with existing general aviation aircraft seats