Mission report: a strategy to inventory, characterize, and monitor the marine region within and around the National Park and Monument boundaries of St. John, USVI, July 21- July 31, 2008

The intent of this field mission was to continue ongoing efforts: (1) to spatially characterize and monitor the distribution, abundance and size of both reef fishes and conch within and around the waters of the Virgin Islands National Park (VIIS) and newly established Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument (VICR), (2) to correlate this information to in-situ data collected on associated habitat parameters, (3) to use this information to establish the knowledge base necessary for enacting management decisions in a spatial setting and to establish the efficacy of those management decisions. This work is supported by the National Park Service and NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program’s Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystem Monitoring Project. The report highlights the successes of this mission.

A report on the fisheries of Uganda investigated by the Cambridge Expedition to the East African Lakes, 1930-31

There was very little previous information to use as a basis for work on Lakes Edward and George, but fortunately the region had been mapped in some detail by the Uganda-Congo Boundary Commission of 1906-08. This map served as a satisfactory foundation, but the western Congo shoreline of Lake Edward was inserted only by a dotted line, and a number of inaccuracies, particularly with regard to the islands and littoral of L. George, came to light during our survey.

Genetic diversity of cattle in South China as revealed by blood protein electrophoresis

Genetic variation of 31 blood protein loci in 236 cattle from eight South China populations (including mithan, Bos frontalis) and a Holstein population was investigated by means of horizontal starch gel electrophoresis. Thirteen loci (ALB, CAR, Hb-b, Np, PGM, Amy-I, PEP-B, AKP, 6PGD, Cp, Pa, EsD, and TF) were found to be polymorphic. The comparison of average heterozygosities (H) shows that all the native cattle embrace a rich genetic diversity Our results on protein polymorphism suggest that cattle in China originated mainly from Bos indicus and Bos taurus; Xuwen, Hainan, Wenshan, and Dehong cattle and the Dehong zebu are close to zebu-type cattle, and Diqing and Zhaotong cattle are close to the taurine. The mithan was very different from other native cattle, and we suggest that its origin was complicated and may be influenced by other cattle species.

Molecular beam epitaxy growth and photoluminescence study of room temperature 1.31 mu m (InyGa1-yAs/GaAs1-x Sb-x)/ GaAs bilayer quantum wells

Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth of (InyGa1-yAs/GaAs1-xSbx)/GaAs bilayer quantum well (BQW) structures has been investigated. It is evidenced by photo luminescence (PL) that a strong blue shift of the PL peak energy of 47 meV with increasing PL excitation power from 0.63 to 20 mW was observed, indicating type II band alignment of the BQW. The emission wavelength at room temperature from (InyGa1-yAs/GaAs1-xSbx)/GaAs BQW is longer (above 1.2 μ m) than that from InGaAs/GaAs and GaAsSb/GaAs SQW structures (1.1 μ m range), while the emission efficiency from the BQW structures is comparable to that of the SQW. Through optimizing growth conditions, we have obtained room temperature 1.31 μ m wavelength emission from the (InyGa1-yAs/GaAs1-xSbx)/GaAs BQW. Our results have proved experimentally that the GaAs-based bilayer (InyGa1-yAs/GaAs1-xSbx)/GaAs quantum well is a useful structure for the fabrication of near-infrared wavelength optoelectronic devices. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of growth parameters of frequency-radio plasma nitrogen source on extending emission wavelengths from 1.31 mu m to 1.55 mu m GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells grown by molecular-beam epitaxy

High (42.5%) indium content GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells with room temperature emission wavelength from 1.3 mu m to 1.5 mu m range were successfully grown by Radio Frequency Plasma Nitrogen source assisted Molecular Beam Epitaxy. The growth parameters of plasma power and N-2 How rate were optimized systematically to improve the material quality. Photoluminescence and transmission electron microscopy measurements showed that the optical and crystal quality of the 1.54 mu m GaInNAs/GaAs QWs was kept as comparable as that in 1.31 mu m.

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE STELLAR REACTION S-30(p, gamma)(31) Cl VIA COULOMB DISSOCIATION

The Coulomb dissociation of the proton-rich nuclei Cl-31 was studied experimentally using Cl-31 beams at 58 MeV/nucleon with a lead target. The relative energy between the reaction products, S-30 and proton, was obtained. The first excited state in Cl-31 was observed which is relevant to the resonant capture of stellar S-30(p, gamma)Cl-31 reaction