Using catch rate data for simple cost-effective quota setting in the Australian spanner crab (Ranina ranina) fishery.

For many fisheries, there is a need to develop appropriate indicators, methodologies, and rules for sustainably harvesting marine resources. Complexities of scientific and financial factors often prevent addressing these, but new methodologies offer significant improvements on current and historical approaches. The Australian spanner crab fishery is used to demonstrate this. Between 1999 and 2006, an empirical management procedure using linear regression of fishery catch rates was used to set the annual total allowable catch (quota). A 6-year increasing trend in catch rates revealed shortcomings in the methodology, with a 68% increase in quota calculated for the 2007 fishing year. This large quota increase was prevented by management decision rules. A revised empirical management procedure was developed subsequently, and it achieved a better balance between responsiveness and stability. Simulations identified precautionary harvest and catch rate baselines to set quotas that ensured sustainable crab biomass and favourable performance for management and industry. The management procedure was simple to follow, cost-effective, robust to strong trends and changes in catch rates, and adaptable for use in many fisheries. Application of such “tried-and-tested” empirical systems will allow improved management of both data-limited and data-rich fisheries.

Nursing physical assessment for patient safety in general wards: Reaching consensus on core skills

Aims and objectives To determine consensus across acute care specialty areas on core physical assessment skills necessary for early recognition of changes in patient status in general wards. Background Current approaches to physical assessment are inconsistent and have not evolved to meet increased patient and system demands. New models of nursing assessment are needed in general wards that ensure a proactive and patient safety approach. Design A modified Delphi study. Methods Focus group interviews with 150 acute care registered nurses (RNs) at a large tertiary referral hospital generated a framework of core skills that were developed into a web-based survey. We then sought consensus with a panel of 35 senior acute care RNs following a classical Delphi approach over three rounds. Consensus was predefined as at least 80% agreement for each skill across specialty areas. Results Content analysis of focus group transcripts identified 40 discrete core physical assessment skills. In the Delphi rounds, 16 of these were consensus validated as core skills and were conceptually aligned with the primary survey: (Airway) Assess airway patency; (Breathing) Measure respiratory rate, Evaluate work of breathing, Measure oxygen saturation; (Circulation) Palpate pulse rate and rhythm, Measure blood pressure by auscultation, Assess urine output; (Disability) Assess level of consciousness, Evaluate speech, Assess for pain; (Exposure) Measure body temperature, Inspect skin integrity, Inspect and palpate skin for signs of pressure injury, Observe any wounds, dressings, drains and invasive lines, Observe ability to transfer and mobilise, Assess bowel movements. Conclusions Among a large and diverse group of experienced acute care RNs consensus was achieved on a structured core physical assessment to detect early changes in patient status. Relevance to clinical practice Although further research is needed to refine the model, clinical application should promote systematic assessment and clinical reasoning at the bedside.

Impression creep of zinc and the rate-controlling dislocation mechanism of plastic flow at high temperatures

The impression creep behaviour of zinc is studied in the range 300 to 500 K and the results are compared with the data from conventional creep tests. The steady-state impression velocity is found to exhibit the same stress and temperature dependence as in conventional tensile creep with the same power law stress exponent. Also studied is the effect of indenter size on the impression velocity. The thermal activation parameters for plastic flow at high temperatures derived from a number of testing techniques agree reasonably well. Grain boundary sliding is shown to be unimportant in controlling the rate of plastic flow at high temperatures. It is observed that the Cottrell-Stokes law is obeyed during high-temperature deformation of zinc. It is concluded that a mechanism such as forest intersection involving attractive trees controls the high-temperature flow rather than a diffusion mechanism.

Rate capability of graphite materials as negative electrodes in lithium-ion capacitors

The lithium-ion exchange rate capability of various commercial graphite materials are evaluated using galvanostatic charge/discharge cycling in a half-cell configuration over a wide range of C-rates (0.1 similar to 60C). The results confirm that graphite is capable of de-intercalating stored charge at high rates, but has a poor intercalating rate capability. Decreasing the graphite coating thickness leads to a limited rate performance improvement of the electrode. Reducing the graphite particle size shows enhanced C-rate capability but with increased irreversible capacity loss (ICL). It is demonstrated that the rate of intercalation of lithium-ions into the graphite is significantly limited compared with the corresponding rate of de-intercalation at high C-rates. For the successful utilisation of commercially available conventional graphite as a negative electrode in a lithium-ion capacitor (LIC), its intercalation rate capability needs to be improved or oversized to accommodate high charge rates.

Fractional power dependence of rate on activation energy for reactions with very low internal barriers

The dynamics of reactions with low internal barriers are studied both analytically and numerically for two different models. Exact expressions for the average rate,kI, are obtained by solving the associated first passage time problems. Both the average rate constant, kI, and the numerically calculated long-time rate constant, kL, show a fractional power law dependence on the barrier height for very low barriers. The crossover of the reaction dynamics from low to high barrier is investigated.

Electrochemical phase formation (ECPF) and macrogrowth Part II. Two-rate models

A general theory is evolved for a class of macrogrowth models which possess two independent growth-rates. Relations connecting growth-rates to growth geometry are established and some new growth forms are shown to result for models with passivation or diffusion-controlled rates. The corresponding potentiostatic responses, their small and large time behaviours and peak characteristics are obtained. Numerical transients are also presented. An empirical equation is derived as a special case and an earlier equation is corrected. An interesting stochastic result pertaining to nucleation events in the successive layers is proved.

Effects of Isothermal and Adiabatic Thermal Loadings on Size and Strain Rate Dependence of Copper Nanowire

In the present paper, the size and strain rate effects on ultra-thin < 100 >/{100} Cu nanowires at an initial temperature of 10 K have been discussed. Extensive molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been performed using Embedded atom method (EAM) to investigate the structural behaviours and properties under high strain rate. Velocity-Verlet algorithm has been used to solve the equation of motions. Two different thermal loading cases have been considered: (i) Isothermal loading, in which Nose-Hoover thermostat is used to maintain the constant system temperature, and (ii) Adiabatic loading, i.e., without any thermostat. Five different wire cross-sections were considered ranging from 0.723 x 0.723 nm(2) to 2.169 x 2.169 nm(2) The strain rates used in the present study were 1 x 10(9) s(-1), 1 x 10(8) s(-1), and 1 x 10(7) s(-1). The effect of strain rate on the mechanical properties of copper nanowires was analysed, which shows that elastic properties are independent of thermal loading for a given strain rate and cross-sectional dimension of nanowire. It showed a decreasing yield stress and yield strain with decreasing strain rate for a given cross- section. Also, a decreasing yield stress and increasing yield strain were observed for a given strain rate with increasing cross-sectional area. Elastic modulus was found to be similar to 100 GPa, which was independent of processing temperature, strain rate, and size for a given initial temperature. Reorientation of < 100 >/{100} square cross-sectional copper nanowire into a series of stable ultra-thin Pentagon copper nanobridge structures with dia of similar to 1 nm at 10 K was observed under high strain rate tensile loading. The effect of isothermal and adiabatic loading on the formation of such pentagonal nanobridge structure has been discussed.

State Dependent Attempt Rate Modeling of Single Cell IEEE 802.11 WLANs with Homogeneous Nodes and Poisson Arrivals

Analytical models of IEEE 802.11-based WLANs are invariably based on approximations, such as the well-known mean-field approximations proposed by Bianchi for saturated nodes. In this paper, we provide a new approach for modeling the situation when the nodes are not saturated. We study a State Dependent Attempt Rate (SDAR) approximation to model M queues (one queue per node) served by the CSMA/CA protocol as standardized in the IEEE 802.11 DCF. The approximation is that, when n of the M queues are non-empty, the attempt probability of the n non-empty nodes is given by the long-term attempt probability of n saturated nodes as provided by Bianchi's model. This yields a coupled queue system. When packets arrive to the M queues according to independent Poisson processes, we provide an exact model for the coupled queue system with SDAR service. The main contribution of this paper is to provide an analysis of the coupled queue process by studying a lower dimensional process and by introducing a certain conditional independence approximation. We show that the numerical results obtained from our finite buffer analysis are in excellent agreement with the corresponding results obtained from ns-2 simulations. We replace the CSMA/CA protocol as implemented in the ns-2 simulator with the SDAR service model to show that the SDAR approximation provides an accurate model for the CSMA/CA protocol. We also report the simulation speed-ups thus obtained by our model-based simulation.

Mortality Rate: 150 People Died Daily Artworks

Digital Image

Mortality Rate: 150 People Died Daily Artworks

postwar version of F 38352

Audience members watching the opening ceremonies of the Heidelberg festival, with opening speech given by Thomas Mann.

Typed caption: Festakt in der Stadthalle zur Eroeffnung der Heidelberger Festpiele 1929. Thomas Mann hielt die Festrede. Unsere Aufnahme zeigt einen Ausschnitt aus der Festversammlung, an der die geistige Prominenz Heidelbergs und zahlreiche bedeutende Persoenlichkeiten des deutschen Kulturlebends teilnahmen. Von links nach rechts in der 1. Reihe: Rene Schickele, Rudolf Rittner, Gustav Hargung, Prof. Dr. Martin Dibelius, Gerhart Hauptmann, Dr. Rudolf H. Goldschmidt, Oberbuergermeister Dr. Neinhaus, Thomas Mann und Frau, Kultusminister Leers, Rudolf G. Binding; In der 3. Reihe: Oberbaurat L. Schmieder, Nobelpreistraeger Dr. F. Bergius, Bankdirektor Fremerey, Prof. Hellpach, Prof. Radbruch

Analysis-By-Synthesis Based Switched Transform Domain Split Vq Using Gaussian Mixture Model

Using analysis-by-synthesis (AbS) approach, we develop a soft decision based switched vector quantization (VQ) method for high quality and low complexity coding of wideband speech line spectral frequency (LSF) parameters. For each switching region, a low complexity transform domain split VQ (TrSVQ) is designed. The overall rate-distortion (R/D) performance optimality of new switched quantizer is addressed in the Gaussian mixture model (GMM) based parametric framework. In the AbS approach, the reduction of quantization complexity is achieved through the use of nearest neighbor (NN) TrSVQs and splitting the transform domain vector into higher number of subvectors. Compared to the current LSF quantization methods, the new method is shown to provide competitive or better trade-off between R/D performance and complexity.

Compressive Sensing For Sparsely Excited Speech Signals

Compressive sensing (CS) has been proposed for signals with sparsity in a linear transform domain. We explore a signal dependent unknown linear transform, namely the impulse response matrix operating on a sparse excitation, as in the linear model of speech production, for recovering compressive sensed speech. Since the linear transform is signal dependent and unknown, unlike the standard CS formulation, a codebook of transfer functions is proposed in a matching pursuit (MP) framework for CS recovery. It is found that MP is efficient and effective to recover CS encoded speech as well as jointly estimate the linear model. Moderate number of CS measurements and low order sparsity estimate will result in MP converge to the same linear transform as direct VQ of the LP vector derived from the original signal. There is also high positive correlation between signal domain approximation and CS measurement domain approximation for a large variety of speech spectra.

Experimental and numerical investigation of strain-rate-dependent behavior of kangaroo shoulder cartilage

This thesis introduces a new animal model, kangaroo, to biomechanical investigations of shoulder cartilage research. It examines the effect of cartilage structure and constituents on tissue behavior and its adaptation to mechanical loading. In doing so, the study explains the relationship of tissue's functional behaviors to its structure and constituents which has important implications for tissue engineering strategies catering joint specific cartilage tissue generation.