Life history, habitat utilisation, and biomass of introduced Mysis relicta

AbstractLife history, habitat utilisation, and biomass of benthic and pelagic opossum shrimp (Mysis relicta) were studied in the oligotrophic Lake Jonsvatn, central Norway. Sampling in the pelagic zone was done by means of a closing zooplankton net; in the benthic zone by means of a benthic beam trawl.M. relicta had a mixed one or two year life cycle. In the autumn, the proportion of mature females and males were larger in the pelagic than in the benthic habitat. Copulation took place in late autumn, and the first females with eggs occurred in November. In February, the first juvenile M. relicta were released in the benthic habitat. In May and July, however, juveniles were found in large numbers in all parts of the lake. The length distribution of M. relicta indicates that juveniles partly segregate between benthic and pelagic habitats.Both juvenile and adult M. relicta performed vertical diel migrations in the pelagic habitat. In the benthic habitat, diel vertical migrations along the bottom were not as pronounced as vertical migrations in the pelagic habitat. In the benthic habitat, major migrations were performed only by adults in the autumn. Our results indicate that the light intensity in the green part of the spectrum gives the proximate cue for regulation of vertical distribution of M. relicta.The mean total biomass varied between 288 and 1576 kg dry weight, corresponding to 23.2–127.1 mg dry weight m−2 surface area. M. relicta had smallest biomass during late spring/early summer and largest biomass during autumn and early winter. Estimated pelagic biomasses were largest in February, August, October and November, while benthic biomasses were largest in May and July. Estimated biomass of pelagic M. relicta during autumn was approximately 1/10 of the estimated biomass of zooplankton in this lake

Building information deduced : state and potentials for Information query in building information modelling

In recent years, Building Information Models have become commonplace in building profession. The extensive use and increasing experience with BIM models offers new perspectives and potentials for design and planning. A recent stakeholder study conducted by the authors of this paper show that in practice models are no longer solely observed as culmination of knowledge in a 3d representation of future built structures, but as a source of information in itself. Experienced users of BIM want to Find Information within a model or across a set of these and Compare models in order to evaluate states of a model, differences in separate models or models from different point of time. Current BIM tools support both modes only in a rudimentary form. This paper discusses current modes of information query within and across BIM models, shows beneficial scenarios for building and planning practice through customised queries and exemplifies these on the base of a scripted tool. This customized approach is used to test approaches for a machine-based assessment of Level of detail and BIM-readiness in BIM models

Studying patterns of use of transport modes through data mining - Application to U.S. national household travel survey data set

Data collection activities related to travel require large amounts of financial and human resources to be conducted successfully. When available resources are scarce, the information hidden in these data sets needs to be exploited, both to increase their added value and to gain support among decision makers not to discontinue such efforts. This study assessed the use of a data mining technique, association analysis, to understand better the patterns of mode use from the 2009 U.S. National Household Travel Survey. Only variables related to self-reported levels of use of the different transportation means are considered, along with those useful to the socioeconomic characterization of the respondents. Association rules potentially showed a substitution effect between cars and public transportation, in economic terms but such an effect was not observed between public transportation and nonmotorized modes (e.g., bicycling and walking). This effect was a policy-relevant finding, because transit marketing should be targeted to car drivers rather than to bikers or walkers for real improvement in the environmental performance of any transportation system. Given the competitive advantage of private modes extensively discussed in the literature, modal diversion from car to transit is seldom observed in practice. However, after such a factor was controlled, the results suggest that modal diversion should mainly occur from cars to transit rather than from nonmotorized modes to transi

Implementation of an Optimal First-Order Method for Strongly Convex Total Variation Regularization

We present a practical implementation of an optimal first-order method, due to Nesterov, for large-scale total variation regularization in tomographic reconstruction, image deblurring, etc. The algorithm applies to $\mu$-strongly convex objective functions with $L$-Lipschitz continuous gradient. In the framework of Nesterov both $\mu$ and $L$ are assumed known -- an assumption that is seldom satisfied in practice. We propose to incorporate mechanisms to estimate locally sufficient $\mu$ and $L$ during the iterations. The mechanisms also allow for the application to non-strongly convex functions. We discuss the iteration complexity of several first-order methods, including the proposed algorithm, and we use a 3D tomography problem to compare the performance of these methods. The results show that for ill-conditioned problems solved to high accuracy, the proposed method significantly outperforms state-of-the-art first-order methods, as also suggested by theoretical results.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figure

Interwell Connectivity and Diagnosis Using Correlation of Production and Injection Rate Data in Hydrocarbon Production

This report details progress and results on inferring interwell communication from well rate fluctuations. Starting with the procedure of Albertoni and Lake (2003) as a foundation, the goal of the project was to develop further procedures to infer reservoir properties through weights derived from correlations between injection and production rates. A modified method, described in Yousef and others (2006a,b), and herein referred to as the 'capacitance model', is the primary product of this research project. The capacitance model (CM) produces two quantities, {lambda} and {tau}, for each injector-producer well pair. For the CM, we have focused on the following items: (1) Methods to estimate {lambda} and {tau} from simulated and field well rates. The original method uses both non-linear and linear regression and lacks the ability to include constraints on {lambda} and {tau}. The revised method uses only non-linear regression, permitting constraints to be included as well as accelerating the solution so that problems with large numbers of wells are more tractable. (2) Approaches to integrate {lambda} and {tau} to improve connectivity evaluations. Interpretations have been developed using Lorenz-style and log-log plots to assess heterogeneity. Testing shows the interpretations can identify whether interwell connectivity is controlled by flow through fractures, high-permeability layers, or due to partial completion of wells. Applications to the South Wasson and North Buck Draw Fields show promising results. (3) Optimization of waterflood injection rates using the CM and a power law relationship for watercut to maximize economic return. Tests using simulated data and a range of oil prices show the approach is working. (4) Investigation of methods to increase the robustness of {lambda} and {tau} estimates. Human interventions, such as workovers, also cause rate fluctuations and can be misinterpreted by the model if bottom hole pressure data are not available. A revised method, called the 'segmented capacitance model', identifies times when production changes might not be caused strictly by water injection changes. Application to data from Monument Butte Field shows encouraging results. Our results show the CM and its modified forms can be an important tool for waterflood management. We have moved beyond the proof of principle stage to show it can actually be applied to assess connectivity in field situations. Several shortcomings, however, remain to be addressed before the CM can be routinely applied by field operators. The CM and its modifications analyze well rates in the time domain. We also explored the assessment of interwell connectivity in the spectral domain. We applied conventional methods, based on analyzing passive linear electrical networks, to the analysis of injection and production data. In particular, we assessed the effects of near-wellbore gas on the apparent connectivity. With only oil and water in the system, the results were as expected, giving good connectivity estimates. In the presence of gas, however, the methods could not produce useful estimates of connectivity

Atlas construction and image analysis using statistical cardiac models

International audienceThis paper presents a brief overview of current trends in the construction of population and multi-modal heart atlases in our group and their application to atlas-based cardiac image analysis. The technical challenges around the construction of these atlases are organized around two main axes: groupwise image registration of anatomical, motion and fiber images and construction of statistical shape models. Application-wise, this paper focuses on the extraction of atlas-based biomarkers for the detection of local shape or motion abnormalities, addressing several cardiac applications where the extracted information is used to study and grade different pathologies. The paper is concluded with a discussion about the role of statistical atlases in the integration of multiple information sources and the potential this can bring to in-silico simulations