First Record of the Ragged-tooth Shark, Odontaspis ferox, off the U.S. Atlantic Coast

On 11 September 1994, a large shark was captured and later identified as the ragged-tooth shark, Odontaspis ferox (Risso). The shark was captured during routine bottom trawl survey operations onboard the NOAA R/V Albatross IV, approximately 25 n.mi. south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C. (lat. 34° 51' N, long. 75° 26' W) with a “36 Yankee” bottom trawl towed at 3.5 knots. Average water depth at the time of capture was 173 m, bottom temperature was 17.8°C, and salinity was 36.41‰. Total length (cm), fork length (cm), weight (kg), and sex were recorded, the specimen was tagged, photographed, and returned live to t

ZnO based SAW and FBAR devices for lab-on-a chip applications

Acoustic wave devices were fabricated incorporating ZnO films deposited using both a standard rf magnetronand a novel High Target Utilisation (HiTUS) Sputtering System. Our results demonstrated the feasibility of using a single SAW-based actuation mechanism for both microfluidics and sensing. To further improve the sensitivity of our bio-sensors we have also investigated the use of Thin Film Bulk Acoustic Resonators.

Sensors based on SAW and FBAR technologies

Over the last few years a number of sensing platforms are being investigated for their use in drug development, microanalysis or medical diagnosis. Lab-on-a-chip (LOC) are devices integrating more than one laboratory functions on a single device chip of a very small size, and typically consist of two main components: microfluidic handling systems and sensors. The physical mechanisms that are generally used for microfluidics and sensors are different, hence making the integration of these components difficult and costly. In this work we present a lab-on-a-chip system based on surface acoustic waves (for fluid manipulation) and film bulk acoustic resonators (for sensing). Coupling surface acoustic waves into liquids induces acoustic streaming and motion of micro-droplets, whilst it is well-known that bulk acoustic waves can be used to fabricate microgravimetric sensors. Both technologies offer exceptional sensitivity and can be fabricated from piezoelectric thin films deposited on Si substrates, reducing the fabrication time/cost of the LOC devices. © 2013 SPIE.

Land-cover changes in an urban lake watershed in a mega-city, Central China

Urbanization can exert a profound influence on land covers and landscape characteristics. In this study, we characterize the impact of urbanization on land cover and lacustrine landscape and their consequences in a large urban lake watershed, Donghu Lake watershed (the largest urban lake in China), Central China, by using Landsat TM satellite images of three periods of 1987, 1993 and 1999 and ground-based information. We grouped the land covers into six categories: water body, vegetable land, forested land, shrub-grass land, open area and urban land, and calculated patch-related landscape indices to analyze the effects of urbanization on landscape features. We overlaid the land cover maps of the three periods to track the land cover change processes. The results indicated that urban land continuously expanded from 9.1% of the total watershed area in 1987, to 19.4% in 1993, and to 29.6% in 1999. The vegetable land increased from 7.0% in 1987, 11.9% in 1993, to 13.9% in 1999 to sustain the demands of vegetable for increased urban population. Concurrently, continuous reduction of other land cover types occurred between 1987 and 1999: water body decreased from 30.4% to 23.8%, and forested land from 33.6% to 24.3%. We found that the expansion of urban land has at least in part caused a decrease in relatively wild habitats, such as urban forest and lake water area. These alterations had resulted in significant negative environmental consequences, including decline of lakes, deterioration of water and air quality, and loss of biodiversity.