First bi-lateral consultation meeting on Gulf of Mannar ecosystem, Rameshwaram, India, 5-6 September, 2011

Status papers on resources, livelihoods and ecosystem approach to fisheries in the Gulf of Mannar(GoM) were presented.Five priority initiatives were agreed: collaborative effort in conservation and management of charismatic species (e.g. dugong),capacity building and training,education and awareness building, strengthening of data collection and sharing of information.

First record of a spindle cowry Crenovolva (Ovulidae, Gastropoda) from Bulleji, Karachi, on the gorgonian coral Muricella sp. and with a note on their association

Attached to hard substrata on our shores occur the branching colonies of gorgonian corals of the genus Muricella (Fig. 1A, Pl. 1B, C, D). Since there is no report on this genus from Pakistan this report be taken as the first record from here. The family Ovulidae comprises several hundred species of marine gastropods, all of which appear to be obligate associates of cnidarians as stated by Robertson (1970) and Hadfield (1976); the present ovulid gastropod genus Crenovolva lives exclusively on the gorgonians (Morton, 1989). Tirmizi and Zehra (1984) recorded thirty-two families of gastropods from Pakistan, but not any representative of the Ovulidae, so the material at hand may be the first record from Pakistan. Since we are unable to reach to specific level the material is being reported as unspecified.

First experimental demonstration of low-cost VCSEL-intensity modulated end-to-end real-time optical OFDM signal transmission at 11.25Gb/s over 25km SSMFs

Low-cost, narrow modulation bandwidth, un-cooled VCSELs can be utilized to directly modulate 64-QAM-encoded 11.25Gb/s signals for end-to-end real-time optical OFDM transmission over 25km SSMF IMDD systems with excellent performance robustness. © 2011 Optical Society of America.

First real-time experimental demonstrations of 11.25Gb/s optical OFDMA PONs with adaptive dynamic bandwidth allocation.

End-to-end real-time experimental demonstrations are reported, for the first time, of aggregated 11.25Gb/s over 26.4km standard SMF, optical orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OOFDMA) PONs with adaptive dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA). The demonstrated intensity-modulation and direct-detection (IMDD) OOFDMA PON system consists of two optical network units (ONUs), each of which employs a DFB-based directly modulated laser (DML) or a VCSEL-based DML for modulating upstream signals. Extensive experimental explorations of dynamic OOFDMA PON system properties are undertaken utilizing identified optimum DML operating conditions. It is shown that, for simultaneously achieving acceptable BERs for all upstream signals, the OOFDMA PON system has a >3dB dynamic ONU launch power variation range, and the BER performance of the system is insusceptible to any upstream symbol offsets slightly smaller than the adopted cyclic prefix. In addition, experimental results also indicate that, in addition to maximizing the aggregated system transmission capacity, adaptive DBA can also effectively reduce imperfections in transmission channel properties without affecting signal bit rates offered to individual ONUs.

The first quarter survey of the aquatic system and fisheries of the upper Victoria Nile, 6th -13th April 2006

The purpose of this present study therefore is to provide and update the AES Nile Power EIA baseline information on the ecology of the river ecosystem prior to the construction of the dam. The study is intended to provide a basis for evaluating the impact of the project on the river environment, the biological resources associated with it and fisheries socia-economics and the vector/sanitation status. This report presents the findings of the first sampling regime which was conducted between the dates of 6th-13th April 2006 and compared with the AESNP Environmental Impact Assessment findings of the second quarter carried out during 5th-14th April 2000.

FIRST PASSAGE APPROXIMATION FOR NORMAL STATIONARY RANDOM PROCESSES.

A new approximate solution for the first passage probability of a stationary Gaussian random process is presented which is based on the estimation of the mean clump size. A simple expression for the mean clump size is derived in terms of the cumulative normal distribution function, which avoids the lengthy numerical integrations which are required by similar existing techniques. The method is applied to a linear oscillator and an ideal bandpass process and good agreement with published results is obtained. By making a slight modification to an existing analysis it is shown that a widely used empirical result for the asymptotic form of the first passage probability can be deduced theoretically.

First direct evidence of infanticide and cannibalism in wild snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti)

Although infanticide has been witnessed in many species of Colobinae, and a case was observed in a captive group of golden snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana), observed cases of infanticide in wild snubnosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus spp.) have not

Real Time Concrete Damage Visual Assessment for First Responders

First responders are in danger when they perform tasks in damaged buildings after earthquakes. Structural collapse due to the failure of critical load bearing structural members (e.g. columns) during a post-earthquake event such as an aftershock can make first responders victims, considering they are unable to assess the impact of the damage inflicted in load bearing members. The writers here propose a method that can provide first responders with a crude but quick estimate of the damage inflicted in load bearing members. Under the proposed method, critical structural members (reinforced concrete columns in this study) are identified from digital visual data and the damage superimposed on these structural members is detected with the help of Visual Pattern Recognition techniques. The correlation of the two (e.g. the position, orientation and size of a crack on the surface of a column) is used to query a case-based reasoning knowledge base, which contains apriori classified states of columns according to the damage inflicted on them. When query results indicate the column's damage state is severe, the method assumes that a structural collapse is likely and first responders are warned to evacuate.