Juvenile Bristol Bay Sockeye Salmon Ecology

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2008Predicting annual returns of Bristol Bay sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) has been difficult due to large, unexplained variations in return strength. Ocean conditions, particularly during the first few months after salmon leave freshwater, are believed to have a strong influence on their early marine growth and survival. Limited historical and present research suggests that sea temperature can affect juvenile Bristol Bay distribution. During years with cool spring sea temperatures, juvenile sockeye salmon are distributed nearshore along the Alaska Peninsula, whereas they are found further offshore during years with warm spring sea temperatures. Juvenile sockeye salmon are larger, in better condition, and have higher marine stage survival after the first year at sea when they are distributed further offshore than when they are distributed nearshore along the Alaska Peninsula. Juvenile sockeye salmon stomach contents also shift from primarily Pacific sand lance ( Ammodytes hexapterus) and euphausiids to age 0 walleye pollock ( Theragra chalcogramma) when their distribution changes from nearshore to further offshore. Annual averages of juvenile sockeye salmon growth rate potential (GRP) were generally lower among years and regions with cool spring sea temperatures. In addition, juvenile sockeye salmon GRP was generally higher in offshore regions than nearshore regions of the eastern Bering Sea shelf. A sensitivity analysis indicated that juvenile sockeye salmon GRP was more sensitive to changes in observed (August to September) sea surface temperatures during years when prey densities were lower. The results of the dissertation suggest that variability in early marine survival is primarily due to bottom-up control of the trophic structure of the eastern Bering Sea ecosystem

Economia mineira em um mundo em transformação: atraso tecnológico e dilemas recentes

The aim of this paper is to analyze the implications for Minas Gerais of its specialization in commodities and products of low technological intensity, against the backdrop of an international context in rapid productive transformation. To this end, based on a presentation of the characteristics of the economy of Minas Gerais from the 2000s onwards, we tested the hypothesis whether firms and sectors of greater technological intensity have the capacity to boost the state's economy more effectively, based on the premise that these companies generate a higher salary mass than those linked to other economic activities in Minas Gerais. Econometric results reinforce and confirm the hypothesis that the most technologically advanced firms pay a higher wage premium, inducing a positive effect on economic activity in general. The database used and the period analyzed for the economy of Minas Gerais, except for better judgement, have not yet been tested.O objetivo deste artigo é analisar as implicações para a economia mineira de sua especialização em commodities e produtos de baixa intensidade tecnológica, tendo como pano de fundo um contexto internacional em rápida transformação produtiva. Para tanto, com base na apresentação das características da economia mineira a partir dos anos 2000, testamos a hipótese de que empresas e setores de maior intensidade tecnológica têm a capacidade de dinamizar a economia do estado de forma mais efetiva, fundamentando-nos na premissa de que essas empresas geram uma massa salarial mais elevada do que aquelas ligadas a outras atividades econômicas. O modelo econométrico testado reforça e confirma a hipótese de que as firmas com maior intensidade tecnológica pagam um prêmio salarial mais elevado, induzindo um efeito positivo na atividade econômica em geral. A base de dados utilizada e o período analisado para a economia mineira, salvo melhor juízo, não foram ainda testados

Technology integration box beam failure study

Composite structures have the potential to be cost-effective, structurally efficient primary aircraft structures. The Advanced Composites Technology (ACT) Program has the goal to develop the technology to exploit this potential for heavily loaded aircraft structures. As part of the ACT Program, Lockheed Aeronautical Systems Company completed the design and fabrication of the Technology Integration Box Beam (TIBB). The TIBB is an advanced composite prototype structure for the center wing section of the C-130 aircraft. Lockheed subjected the TIBB to downbending, upbending, torsion and combined upbending and torsion load conditions to verify the design. The TIBB failed at 83 percent of design ultimate load for the combined upbending and torsion load condition. The objective of this paper is to describe the mechanisms that led to the failure of the TIBB. The results of a comprehensive analytical and experimental study are presented. Analytical results include strain and deflection results from both a global analysis of the TIBB and a local analysis of the failure region. These analytical results are validated by experimental results from the TIBB tests. The analytical and experimental results from the TIBB tests are used to determine a sequence of events that resulted in failure of the TIBB. A potential cause of failure is high stresses in a stiffener runout region. Analytical and experimental results are also presented for a stiffener runout specimen that was used to simulate the TIBB failure mechanisms

Can spacetime curvature induced corrections to Lamb shift be observable?

The Lamb shift results from the coupling of an atom to vacuum fluctuations of quantum fields, so corrections are expected to arise when the spacetime is curved since the vacuum fluctuations are modified by the presence of spacetime curvature. Here, we calculate the curvature-induced correction to the Lamb shift outside a spherically symmetric object and demonstrate that this correction can be remarkably significant outside a compact massive astrophysical body. For instance, for a neutron star or a stellar mass black hole, the correction is $\sim$ 25% at a radial distance of $4GM/c^2$, $\sim$ 16% at $10GM/c^2$ and as large as $\sim$ 1.6% even at $100GM/c^2$, where $M$ is the mass of the object, $G$ the Newtonian constant, and $c$ the speed of light. In principle, we can look at the spectra from a distant compact super-massive body to find such corrections. Therefore, our results suggest a possible way of detecting fundamental quantum effects in astronomical observations.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, slight title change, clarifications and more discussions added, version to be published in JHE

Communications Biophysics

Contains research objectives and reports on three research projects.National Science Foundation (Grant G-16526)National Institutes of Health (Grant MH-04737-02

CPT and Lorentz tests with muons

Precision experiments with muons are sensitive to Planck-scale CPT and Lorentz violation that is undetectable in other tests. Existing data on the muonium ground-state hyperfine structure and on the muon anomalous magnetic moment could be analyzed to provide dimensionless figures of merit for CPT and Lorentz violation at the levels of $4\times 10^{-21}$ and $10^{-23}$.Comment: 4 pages, accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

Whole Body Mechanics of Stealthy Walking in Cats

The metabolic cost associated with locomotion represents a significant part of an animal's metabolic energy budget. Therefore understanding the ways in which animals manage the energy required for locomotion by controlling muscular effort is critical to understanding limb design and the evolution of locomotor behavior. The assumption that energetic economy is the most important target of natural selection underlies many analyses of steady animal locomotion, leading to the prediction that animals will choose gaits and postures that maximize energetic efficiency. Many quadrupedal animals, particularly those that specialize in long distance steady locomotion, do in fact reduce the muscular contribution required for walking by adopting pendulum-like center of mass movements that facilitate exchange between kinetic energy (KE) and potential energy (PE) [1]–[4]. However, animals that are not specialized for long distance steady locomotion may face a more complex set of requirements, some of which may conflict with the efficient exchange of mechanical energy. For example, the “stealthy” walking style of cats may demand slow movements performed with the center of mass close to the ground. Force plate and video data show that domestic cats (Felis catus, Linnaeus, 1758) have lower mechanical energy recovery than mammals specialized for distance. A strong negative correlation was found between mechanical energy recovery and diagonality in the footfalls and there was also a negative correlation between limb compression and diagonality of footfalls such that more crouched postures tended to have greater diagonality. These data show a previously unrecognized mechanical relationship in which crouched postures are associated with changes in footfall pattern which are in turn related to reduced mechanical energy recovery. Low energy recovery was not associated with decreased vertical oscillations of the center of mass as theoretically predicted, but rather with posture and footfall pattern on the phase relationship between potential and kinetic energy. An important implication of these results is the possibility of a tradeoff between stealthy walking and economy of locomotion. This potential tradeoff highlights the complex and conflicting pressures that may govern the locomotor choices that animals make

Communications Biophysics

Contains research objectives and reports on six research projects