Bay Scallops, Argopecten irradians, in the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico (Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas)

There is no evidence that a commercial bay scallop fishery exists anywhere in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. No data concerning scallop abundance or distribution was found for Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Texas is the only state west of Florida where bay scallop populations have been documented. These records come from a variety of literature sources and the fisheries-independent data collected by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (1982–2005). Although common in the diet of prehistoric peoples living on the Texas coast, recent (last ~50 years) bay scallop population densities tend to be low and exhibit “boom–bust” cycles of about 10–15 years. The Laguna Madre, is the only place on the Texas coast where scallops are relatively abundant; this is likely due to extensive seagrasses cover (>70%) and salinities that typically exceed 35 psu. The lack of bay scallop fishery development in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico is probably due to variable but generally low densities of the species combined with a limited amount of suitable (i.e. seagras

A Psychosocial Behavioral Attribution Model: Examining the Relationship Between the “Dark Triad” and Cyber-Criminal Behaviors Impacting Social Networking Sites

This study proposes that individual personality characteristics and behavioral triggering effects come together to motivate online victimization. It draws from psychology’s current understanding of personality traits, attribution theory, and criminological research. This study combines the current computer deviancy and hacker taxonomies with that of the Dark Triad model of personality mapping. Each computer deviant behavior is identified by its distinct dimensions of cyber-criminal behavior (e.g., unethical hacking, cyberbullying, cyberstalking, and identity theft) and analyzed against the Dark Triad personality factors (i.e., narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy). The goal of this study is to explore whether there are significant relationships among the Dark Triad personality traits and specific cyber-criminal behaviors within social network sites (SNSs). The study targets offensive security engineers and computer deviants from specific hacker conferences and from websites that discuss or promote computer deviant behavior (e.g., hacking). Additional sampling is taken from a general population of SNS users. Using a snowball sampling method, 235 subjects completed an anonymous, self-report survey that includes items measuring computer deviance, personality traits, and demographics. Results yield that there was no significant relationship between Dark Triad and cyber-criminal behaviors defined in the perceived hypotheses. The final chapter of the study summarizes the results and discusses the mechanisms potentially underlying the findings. In the context of achieving the latter objective, exploratory analyses are incorporated and partly relied upon. It also includes a discussion concerning the implications of the findings in terms of providing theoretical insights on the Dark Triad traits and cyber-criminal behaviors more generally

Metabolism, Consumption Rates, and Scope for Growth of Porcelain Crab (Petrolisthes galathinus)

Porcelain crabs Petrolisthes galathinus (Bosc, 1802) can be found at high densities in oyster reefs. To examine effects of diet on metabolism, crabs (N = 32) were fed Artemia salina nauplii, mixed microalgae, or algal biofilm extract, or left unfed. Oxygen consumption, ammonia excretion, food consumption rate, and absorption efficiency were determined and scope for growth (SFG) was calculated. Oxygen consumption and food consumption rates were highest in crabs fed Artemia. The energy gained from mixed microalgae (47 ± 143 J h-1) and algal biofilm (265 ± 203 J h-1) was less than the energy gained from Artemia (9,963 ± 658 J h-1). Energy expenditures (oxygen consumption and ammonia excretion) suggest that P. galathinus has a low cost of routine metabolism and is able to consume a broad range of food resources including microalgae, benthic algae, and zooplankton. Consumption rates and SFG suggest that zooplankton, when present, are an important and valuable food source for porcelain crabs

Macrofauna Associate with Ungrounded Prop Roots of Rhizophora mangle in Veracruz and Quintana Roo, Mexico

The prop roots of the red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) provide a solid substrate for diverse assemblages of marine organisms in areas typically characterized by soft bottoms (Bingham 1992, Farnsworth and Ellison 1996). Macrobenthic communities of mangroves have received little attention compared with other components of the ecosystem, largely due to sampling difficulties (Lee 2008). Mangrove root epifauna are likely used by predatory fish, especially juveniles. Thus, these organisms have the potential of being important links between mangroves and adjacent ecosystems. The fauna associated with red mangrove prop roots along Mexican Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and Caribbean shorelines has not been well described. The infauna of red mangrove associated sediments has been studied in GOM sites in the Río Carrizal Estuary, Tamaulipas, Mexico (Rabalais et al. 1989), Laguna de Términos, Veracruz, Mexico (Hernández-Alcántara and V. Solís-Weiss 1995) and Rookery Bay, Florida (Sheridan 1997). Red mangrove root epifauna in the GOM has been described only in Laguna de Tamiahua (Fajardo M. 1990). Although red mangrove root faunas have been described in some areas of the Caribbean, such as Puerto Rico (Mattox 1949, Kolehmainen and Wildner 1975) and Bahia de Buche, Venezuela (Sutherland 1980), in the northwestern Caribbean the mangrove root epifauna has only been described in Belize (Ellison and Farnsworth 1992, Farnsworth and Ellison 1996). The objective of this study was to describe macrofaunal community composition of ungrounded red mangrove prop roots in the southwestern GOM and the northwestern Caribbean, on the Yucatan Peninsula. The communities we describe are compared to others in Mexico, Central America and the wider Caribbean to address factors that may explain similarities and differences

Occurrence of Larval and Juvenile Fish in Mangrove Habitats in the Sian Ka\u27an Biosphere Reserve, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Mangrove forests are ubiquitous in low lying coastal areas of tropical and subtropical zones of the world, including the lagoons of the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Mangroves are habitat for juvenile fish of both oceanic and estuarine origin (Vásquez-Yoemans 1992, Vásquez-Yoemans et al. 1992, Laegdsgaard and Johnson 1995). Development of the Caribbean coast of Mexico north and south of the Sian Ka’an Reserve is in large part focused on tourism-related endeavors such as destination resorts, scuba diving and fishing. While some of the development is innocuous, land acquisition for development of resorts has fragmented mangrove habitats in the region and likely altered their function. It has been shown in other mangrove estuaries that habitat fragmentation negatively impacts fish assemblages (Layman et al. 2004). Because of the importance of mangrove estuaries as juvenile fish habitat, loss of mangrove habitat may result in noticeable effects on adult recruitment to fisheries in tropical regions. Very little is known about the composition of larval and juvenile fish communities within the reserve. Ichthyofaunal surveys of mangrove-lined estuaries worldwide have shown broadly similar taxonomic composition, including Eleotridae (sleepers), Gerreidae (mojarras), Mugilidae (mullets), Poeciliidae (livebearers), Gobiidae (gobies), Clupeidae (herrings) and Belonidae (needlefish) (Austin 1971, Blaber et al. 1989, Wright 1986, Thayer et al. 1987, Yáñez-Arancibia et al. 1988, Chong et al. 1990, Vásquez-Yoemans 1992; Vásquez-Yoemans and González 1992). In this research, we describe the juvenile fish community of two connected mangrove lagoons within the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve at the end of the dry season (May)

Piezomorphic materials

The development of stress-induced morphing materials which are described as piezomorphic materials is reported. The development of a piezomorphic material is achieved by introducing spatial dependency into the compliance matrix describing the elastic response of a material capable of undergoing large strain deformation. In other words, it is necessary to produce an elastically gradient material. This is achieved through modification of the microstructure of the compliant material to display gradient topology. Examples of polymeric (polyurethane) foam and microporous polymer (expanded polytetrafluoroethylene) piezomorphic materials are presented here. These materials open up new morphing applications where dramatic shape changes can be triggered by mechanical stress

Vice or Virtue? Exploring the Dichotomy of an Offensive Security Engineer and Government “Hack Back” Policies

In response to increasing cybersecurity threats, government and private agencies have increasingly hired offensive security experts: red-hat” hackers. They differ from the better-known “white-hat” hackers in applying the methods of cybercriminals against cybercriminals and counter or preemptively attacking, rather than focusing on defending against attacks. Often considered the vigilantes of the hacker ecosystem, they work under the same rules as would be hackers, attackers, hacktivists, organized cyber-criminals, and state-sponsored attackers—which can easily lead them into the unethical practices often associated with such groups. Utilizing the virtue (ethics) theory and cyber attribution, we argue that there exists a dichotomy among offensive security engineers, one that appreciates organizational security practices, but at the same time violates ethics in how to retaliate against a malicious attacker

Structurally frustrated polar nanoregions in BaTaO₂N and the relationship between its high dielectric permittivity and that of BaTiO₃

This letter presents direct evidence for the existence of the same inherently polar one-dimensional (1D), displacive disorder in BaTaO₂N as occurs in paraelectric BaTiO₃ as well as in doped BaTiO₃relaxor ferroelectric systems. The inherently polar, off-center and oppositely directed displacements of Ta and neighboring O∕N ions along give rise to 1D polar nanoregions (PNRs) and are responsible for the dielectric properties of BaTaO₂N. A bond valence sum analysis of the underlying crystal chemistry of BaTaO₂N shows clearly that O∕N ordering is not directly responsible for inducing the observed 1D PNRs.R.L.W. and Y.L. acknowledge the financial support from the Australian Research Council ARC in the form of an ARC Discovery Grant. P.M.W. and Y.I.K. acknowledge funding from the National Science Foundation through their support of the Centre for the Design of Materials CHE- 043567